Three Common Reptiles of the Australian Bush 71 
opened my eyes. Sleep was immediately a thing forgotten, while fear of a sickening 
nature filled its place. As I lay upon my side I stared straight at a snake which lay 
curled up on the wood-slab floor only two or three feet from my head! 
Slowly, though without cessation, its graceful head and sinuous neck swayed from 
side to side. JI could feel the sweat roll off my face and hear the thumping of my 
heart; but worst of all was a decided disinclination to move—a sort of imability to 
rise; and yet I was, strange to say, fully cognisant of a great longing to escape this 
pending danger. With a truly desperate effort I strove to pull myself together and 
obey the misty reasonings of my mind; nevertheless I felt 1 dare not move! 
Still the graceful swaying of that small, well-shaped head, with its brillant bead- 
like eyes, continued, while across my dizzy brain fait suggestions of a present 
fascinating power nearly drove me mad. 
A MONSTER BLACK SNAKE 
Which nearly cost the Author his life. 
At length every spark of energy I possessed was exercised, and I flung myself in 
the opposite direction across my companion, who still slept peacefully on. In an 
instant I had rolled him over and begged him to get up, while I pointed to the 
doorway through which the snake was fast retreating. Seizing my rifle I followed 
the reptile, pmning it to the ground with the stock, and my companion—now very 
much awake—dealt the fatal blow. 
The horrible experience of those few dread seconds, while lying so close to a 
possible death, is but inadequately expressed in words! Neither my companion nor 
those who read these lines can measure the extent of such sufferme—the agony of 
the mind. It is known only to those who, im like manner, have suffered 
* 
st x 
