178 AUGUST 



seemed no struggling, only a sleepy lethargy, with 

 two or three wide yawns at the last, and not more 

 than ten minutes after they lay down ; but what 

 was their instinct to rub earth on their wounds ? 

 Klinker had been bitten just under the chin I 

 found four distinct marks of fangs and Nous on 

 the ear. I could see nothing on his paw. I knew 

 now it must have been a cobra. I said : 



" Find the head," and we all searched. It was 

 nowhere near the body. At last it was found quite 

 close to me, where I had been working. Nous had 

 been bringing me the head, as Klinker had a 

 portion of the body, and had left it under the 

 fallen tree. I pressed a stick on its neck, and the 

 hood was there, all loose, and spectacled. An 

 undoubted cobra. If I had only known in time ! 

 But nothing on the wide earth could have saved 

 them. They were evidently bringing me the pieces 

 to get their accustomed pat, and "good dog," after 

 killing a snake. This time they got neither, for 

 they were covered with blood, and I was mainly 

 wondering what kind of a snake it was. After 

 finding the head, I tried to trace back to where the 

 dogs had first found the cobra. I could not have 



