THE KING-COBRA. 23 



five minutes in this position, but no snakes were 

 visible. I could see the Chentsus gesticulating to 

 one another, but could not make out what it was 

 all about. 



It was only now that I began to realise the 

 danger of our position, and the value of the wicker 

 baskets as a protection from a sudden attack of 

 these fearful brutes. The undergrowth was so 

 dense that it was impossible to see more than a 

 yard or two around. It would not, therefore, be 

 difficult for the snakes to attack us unperceived, 

 nor would it be possible to use a gun before they 

 were on us. The Chentsus still continued to ges- 

 ticulate and point in my direction. Keeping a 

 firm grasp of the rope, I turned round, and, there, 

 above me and within eighteen inches of the top of 

 the basket, I saw the expanded hood and gleaming 

 eyes of the dreaded Ophiophagus. How it got 

 there without my knowing it I cannot say, but 

 there it was, looking down at me, and apparently 

 bothered by the novel structure between it and its 

 prey. Immediately I turned the creature set up 

 a hissing that made my blood run cold. It re- 

 sembled nothing so much as the hissing noise 

 made by steam escaping from an engine. The 

 hood appeared to be fully nine inches wide, and 

 over a foot in length, and the forked tongue, 

 which shot in and out, was quite three inches 

 long. I began to feel quite sick and my eyes 

 to swim, whether through the fascinating power 

 said to be exerted by the eye of the serpent, 

 or from the strong musky odour emitted by the 



