154 NATURAL HISTORY READER. 



knife to cut away the woodbine and twigs till I could get 

 a good view of Ids head. One negro stood guard close be- 

 hind me with the lance, and near him the other with a 

 cutlass. The cutlass which I had taken from the first ne- 

 gro was on the ground close by in case of need. 



7. After working in dead silence for a quarter of an 

 hour, with one knee all the time on the ground, I had 

 cleared away enough to see his head. It appeared coming 

 out between the first and second coil of his body, and was 

 flat on the ground. This was the very position I wished 

 him to be in. I rose in silence, and retreated very slowly, 

 making a sign to the negroes to do the same. The dog 

 was sitting at a distance in mute observance. I could now 

 read in the faces of the negroes that they considered this a 

 very unpleasant affair, and they made another attempt to 

 persuade me to let them go for a gun. I smiled in a good- 

 natured manner, and made a feint to cut them down with 

 the weapon I had in my hand. This was all the answer I 

 made to their request, and they looked very uneasy. 



8. We were now about twenty yards from the snake's 

 den. I ranged the negroes behind me, and told him who 

 stood next me to lay hold of the lance the moment I struck 

 the snake, and that the other must attend to my move- 

 ments. It now only remained for me to take their cut- 

 lasses from them, for I was sure, if I did not disarm them, 

 they would be tempted to strike the snake in time of dan- 

 ger, and thus for ever spoil his skin. They seemed to re- 

 gard this as an act of intolerable tyranny in me, and 

 probably nothing kept them from bolting but the conso- 

 lation that I was to be between them and the snake. In- 

 deed, my own heart, in spite of all I could do, beat quicker 

 than usual. 



'.). We went slowly on in silence, without moving our 

 arms or heads, in order to prevent all alarm as much as 

 possible, lest the snake should glide off, or attack us in 



