AN UGLY CUSTOMER. 
101 
before the angry flash of its leaden eyes. The snake 
was coiled around the half-stripped twig from which I 
had requested the man to pull a leaf, and, as the branch 
sprung back and forth after the violent jerking away of 
the hand, he moved his flattened head and outstretched 
neck in keeping with the motion : his whole appearance 
was indicative of anger and readiness for further combat. 
I looked upon its flat head, its leaden body, its hostile 
eye, and its projecting fangs, and then turned to the 
bleeding hand. I felt that it was one of the deadly sort, 
and that a few hours more would probably add another 
to the missing men. 
“ By this time I had recovered my presence of mind, 
and knew that the best thing I could do would be to 
restore his courage a little, and try to get him to suck 
the wound. This I proceeded to accomplish by the use 
of sundry abusive epithets, sprinkled here and there by a 
sneer at his cowardice, which soon gave him something 
to think about. I then made him drink a pint of raw 
gin, and ended by forcing his hand to his mouth and 
telling him to suck it. He shrank from it at first, but 
finally commenced, after which he sucked so hard as to 
bring half the blood of his body into his face. 
I then strove to make light of the whole affair, tell- 
ing him that people were bitten by snakes every day, 
and that they never made children of themselves; at 
which he got quite angry, though the force of habit kept 
him from replying as warmly as he would have been 
justified in doing. 
“‘Just see, now, how I will shoot that fellow’s head 
off!’ I suddenly exclaimed; and, to give his mind occu- 
