CIRCUS DAYS 33 
With bamboo poles we prodded the snake at the 
head and tail, standing by with the nooses, ready 
to slip them on when he stirred sufficiently. Before 
he realized what was happening, we had the head- 
noose over him. The instant he felt the rope tighten 
he was awake! 
The natives holding the tail-ropes became ex- 
cited and succeeded in getting only one of them in 
place. The python suddenly leaped forward, and, 
though he did not loosen the rope, whipped it out 
of the hands of the men and knocked several of 
them flat; then he caught one man, who had not 
been able to get out of the way, and wrapped the 
lower part of his body around him while five or 
six feet of his tail still lashed about with the rope. 
I yelled to the others to pull on the tail-rope, but the 
confusion was so great that they did not hear me. 
I went for the snake’s neck, which is the most tender 
part of him, hoping to sink my fingers in on the 
nerve center and disable him for a moment until 
the men collected their senses and pulled the rope. 
By jumping forward, the snake had loosened the 
head-rope sufficiently to turn on me and sink his 
fangs into my forearm. I sprang back. 
The man who was caught in the snake’s coils 
screamed, and tried to beat off the tail as it was 
drawing in about him. Then the snake constricted 
suddenly, breaking nearly every bone in the man’s 
body and crushing the life out of him instantly. 
Blood spouted from his mouth and ears, and he was 
