192 
WANDERINGS IN 
THIRD 
JOURNEY 
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 w r ent 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 per¬ 
pendicularly 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 to grapple 
with the snake, and to get hold of his tail before he 
could do any mischief. 
On pinning him to the ground with the lance, he 
gave a tremendous loud hiss, and the little dog ran 
aw r ay, howling as he went. We had a sharp fray 
in the den, the rotten sticks flying on all sides, and 
each party struggling for superiority. I called out 
to the second negro to throw himself upon me, as I 
