HOW IT HAPPENED 179 



believed there were still any left in the garden. 

 Some little distance from where the mangled body 

 lay, were the large heaps of dead leaves that had 

 been taken out of the corner to make the new fern 

 bed. On the softest bed of this leaf mould was the 

 sign of a scuffle ; and there the attack must have 

 occurred. The soft earth was a disadvantage for 

 the dogs, and when they sprang at the cobra, it 

 must have prevented their aim being true, and the 

 cobra got his teeth in first. Even had I gone to 

 their assistance when I heard them barking, it 

 would not have prevented it, for as soon as rein- 

 forcements arrived, they always attacked at once, 

 and no amount of calling off would have got them 

 away, the brave dogs. Had they been on firm 

 ground it would never have happened. They were 

 always quicker than a cobra there. I feel I have 

 lost two devoted friends. Who will now warn me 

 of danger? Never did I go round the garden 

 without those dogs acting as scouts on each side of 

 me, searching out and warning me of everything 

 that was inimical. Had I passed by that heap of 

 leaf mould alone, I should never have seen the cobra 

 coiled up, so nearly the same colour as the earth, 



