202 WANDERINGS IN 



Third to pei'siiade me to let them go for a gmi. I smiled in a 



Journey. 



good-natured manner, and made a fenit 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 



