184 ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 



I saw one on the pillow behind my head, and now gliding 

 past it. It was a large one, too — so much I could make out 

 — and my blood ran cold, but I managed to whisper, 

 ' Snake on pillow.' 



' Rubbish/ was the feeling reply ; but the next minute, 

 very quietly, as was F.'s wont in a crisis, came, ' Rat- 

 snake ; keep still/ To do that is the hardest thing of all 

 at times ; however, to know that it was only a rat-snake 

 was everything, and I could breathe freely. With a length 

 of his rod F. directed the creature's course upwards into 

 the clump, and it went swiftly enough, inoffensively drawing 

 its six or seven feet of length after it. But such interrup- 

 tions never upset one for very long, so after a look round 

 we soon settled down again on the same spot, there being 

 nothing against it when the unwelcome intruder was gone. 



One form of excitement which I did not enjoy was a grass- 

 fire blowing might and main our way. This happened acci- 

 dentally sometimes, for when the grass and scrub were very 

 parched they were apt to catch alight in a storm. At 

 other times danger arose from the wind veering unexpectedly, 

 when the fire had been kindled on purpose. It was usual 

 just before the rains to burn the old dry grass that the new 

 blades might spring up more quickly, so affording fresh 

 pasturage for the flocks of goats that had to be taken miles 

 in the hot weather in search of something to keep life in 

 them. 



The way to fight an approaching fire was to meet it with 

 its own weapon, by starting another at a safe distance from 

 camp, and sometimes almost girdling it, according to the 

 wind. A sufficiently broad belt was thus made, on reaching 

 which there was nothing left for the original fire to feed on, 

 so it died out of necessity. But it was fierce work. One 

 day, when happily there was very little wind, we discovered 

 that a fire — how caused no one knew — was licking its way 

 very slowly, but much too surely, towards the camp. We 



