58 MAY 



with both hands and carried it out, just as there 

 came the report of the gun. C. S. said the snake 

 had risen to the very top step as he came out ; the 

 instant he pointed his gun, it saw him, sat up with 

 hood extended, hissed and turned back over the 

 parapet into the cemented drain ; and there he 

 shot it. Another cobra! There were the horrid 

 spectacles ; proof positive of its deadliness. C. S. 

 must have been very quick, for snakes disappear 

 like smoke when alarmed. 



" Where could it have been going ? Where did 

 it live ? " we asked each other. It was an awful 

 idea to think it might have curled up my basket 

 chair, or come straight indoors, and we might 

 never have seen it in the dark. For several 

 evenings I could never sit down to dinner, without 

 first having a lantern fetched, to search under the 

 table, for possible "sudden deaths" on the carpet. 

 Fancy putting one's feet on what one imagined was 

 a hassock, and it turned out to be a cobra instead ! 

 Or like a man, some time ago, walking in the 

 middle of the road at night, who saw something 

 black lying there which he thought was a cat, and 

 gave it a push with his foot ; then walked on. He 



