SERPENTS 
was best to be done. Night coming on, search was 
out of the question, so I closed the building with the 
intention of searching for the brute in the morning. In 
the meantime I told the watchman to keep a good look- 
THE WATCHMAN. 
out all night in case it should have escaped out of the 
house into the Gardens, but, at the same time, I cautioned 
him as regards keeping the affair a secret. Some time 
afterwards I met him with his legs bound up in hay-bands 
{see Sketeh). 
At daylight I called my eldest son, Edward, to bring 
his collecting gun and prepare to kill the cobra, if possible. 
We all (my son, the keepers and I) entered the reptile- 
house and closed the doors and windows, because we 
275 
