THE KING-COBRA. 21 



Ammavaru (the goddess Kali} herself cannot save 

 you if it gets its poison fangs into you." 



I told Permal I was determined to go, even if he 

 would not go with me, as I had come to see the old 

 pits, and the old pits I must see. After much 

 cogitation with his fellows, he said if Davaru insisted 

 on going, then he would devise a means to outdo 

 even the Raj-Nag. His grandfather had done so 

 years and years ago, when a mad gentleman who 

 broke stones (a geologist !) had visited these parts. 

 Permal promised to come again next day. With 

 this the Chentsus took their departure, and we saw 

 nothing of them till next afternoon, when my 

 servant called out " Sar ! sar ! the village-mans 

 bring the cock-coop." On going out to see what 

 was up, I perceived Permal and another Chentsu 

 with two enormous wicker baskets of the kind 

 known throughout South India as cock-baskets or 

 hen-coops. The baskets were a little larger and 

 rather more strongly made than those ordinarily 

 sold for penning fowls. Permal said these baskets 

 were to be put over our heads when we got near 

 the haunts of the king-cobra, and that we should 

 then be perfectly safe. The meshes of the basket,, 

 he explained, were too small for the serpent's head 

 to pass through, so that it could not bite us, and 

 when it attacked all we had to do was to squat 

 down with the basket over us (like a candle 

 extinguisher) and fire at the brute through the 

 meshes. I laughed at the idea of being cooped 

 up in a cock-basket ; but as there was no other 

 method of inducing the Chentsus to show me the 



