THIRD JOURNEY. 



175 



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. 



It must be observed, we were now about twenty 

 yards from the snake's den. I now ranged the negroes 

 behind me, and told him who stood next to me, to lay 

 hold of the lance the moment I struck the snake, and 

 that the other must attend my movements. It now 

 only remained to take their cutlasses from them, for 

 I was sure, if I did not disarm them, they would be 

 tempted to strike the snake in time of danger, and thus 

 for ever spoil his skin. On taking their cutlasses from 

 them, if I might judge from their physiognomy, they 

 seemed to consider it as a most intolerable act of tyranny 

 in me. Probably nothing kept them from bolting, but 

 the consolation that I was to be betwixt them and the 

 snake. Indeed, my own heart, in spite of all I could 

 do, beat quicker than usual ; and I felt those sensations 

 which one has on board a merchant vessel in war time, 

 when the captain orders all hands on deck to prepare 

 for action, while a strange vessel is coming down upon 

 us under suspicious colours. 



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 

 self-defence. I carried the lance perpendicularly before 

 me, with the point about a foot from the ground. The 

 snake had not moved ; and on getting up to him I 

 struck him with the lance on the near side, just behind 

 the neck, and pinned him to the ground. That moment 

 the negro next to me seized the lance, and held it firm 

 in its place, while I dashed head foremost into the den 



