Show G t 4 9 4 t t rt t The ue i 4 s s t 8 tt I 4 l 4 it tt t t tt UH S n Ii d a 1 i e s t Att v HH t 4 tt sr I A i t t it t I t I P Paradise iJ r a d I se tt t 4 tt 4 4 O t t I t t i 1 1 ey Bs We vv A Fraser e C JW Islands lie about half asK halfway way Va between it CJ Calcutta ita and Rangoon py fI U e die they 30 to the B Brora Be rora r Ta their paradise par there the th t hold hol high ea val I spent pent tHree years among mOn them and know of these eile things From the giant python phon down to the deadly they are at all there aH aM 1 the ophidians Even Eyen the salt water snakes that are all poisonous pol they too are there thera i Two Europeans had proceeded preceded me on the iI so there was bl history on tap when I ar arm m and we rapidly acquired more 1 One cant live among mong snakes without studying them they tUey insist upon it itAn ItAn ItAn An eternal war raged on the island land i n the forest fore t growth th ana an the sea Be BeThe The jungle crept down from the hills hiU hillsand hillsand and aad preempted every Toot oot of land in insight sight nIght t the sea rushed up and tried to wrest it from the grasp of the giant creeper and aud i J Tore ore stately brothers of the timber r growth The r e little clearings cle worked Into tiny rice nee r fi fields like yellow mosaics mo by the natives were but butt t specks on the green map of the islands extent Our bungalow was built on disputed territory a bit Nt of sand beach inside of ofa ofa a 8 barrier oyster oer eel eef at full tull tide over oer which the hill streams str ma spread a 8 carpet of jungle debris when hen the rains were on and the tides were near Upon my first introduction to the din enn dining lag inc room 1 t observed a R fish flah spear pear placed within easy reach Spear fish from f m the flue verandah I asked Mr Cooke tooke nodding toward it itt t snakes ake he replied calbAs As Aa we sat t down to the bie We le I noticed I Cooke and the other veteran rave raise their eyes eye instinctively and end scan the leaf Ie root roof By UBy Jove Joye theres one exclaimed Cooke reaching for tor the spear Look Lookout Lookout Lookout out you fellows fell ws and he deftly dJs die dislodged lodged I a a long bigheaded bi green snake It was an It arboreal b reel or tree i nake and a Then we ate our tiffin in peace i Scarcely a day passed during the f rainy season son n that one or more snakes were not J Ot kilted killed in the bungalow Dur During During DurIng ing the hot dry months they burrowed when the rains raina came they were flooded out of their holes and were always 1 ways heading h for the pleasant shelter of our leaf thatch Also there thele were rats there for tor them to stalk There was no ceiling to the b so we could plainly f see the creatures coiled colled up between the leaves or lying along tie fae t bamboos bamboo of the roof It exactly ex soothing to the nerves No wan Iran went into a dark clark darkroom darkroom room without a light Ugh t no nan man put on onA A 5 boot t without first tuning tw tu ning it upside up down noV nor wa was any ones bed left day or night nt ht without the strong mosquito curtain tucked in all around Aster After I had been there th e about two weeks and d my nerves had hald become the sum of my existence I got my ny first fright I was awakened from a sound Si sleep by a stinging pain p Jn in my As I awoke I threw my hands bands up a ad aad ada d da a soft mobile body went hurling hurlin over oyer my head aint the mosquito mo quito net I realized that I had Jid been Mitten by a snake I i did not wait to find the open opening opening opening ing in the side of Vie the curtain but came away jIm Pom that bed very fat fast My room was dark daTt hut but in the next was a 3 light Without unnecessary delay I arrived In thAt room Ot t up Bell I said Mid Ive been ben bit bH bitten bittan tan ten bv by r t tob cobra a 1 If you dont get out of here and l lut t me mt sleep p be bitten n by a dub re ye responded i Bell drowsily That was be he because bet heI I t cause practical jokes had bad been our only oaly form of amusement up t tg fI that time For Gods rOOs sake eake ke get up I begged him hlin and something in my voice told it H I 1 was no joke jeke this time I Jumping up hastily he took the light anO examined th t the spot where I had bad fell f H the pain There sure enough we t two o tiny punctures such as a cobras cobra would have hwe made fringed by a drop of rf red 1 blood Then Hell Bell became frightened also The talking had aroused Cooke Cook Cookin in the ne t room the i you fellows hf he inquired sleepily to have a smoke Ive bEen bitten 1 by a cobra and havert haer t an hour hoar to live I replied des dra nati rally Come on well killed Wm thou though h I added and the others tel fol followed I lowed l in ominous silence i 1 i Cooke held the light end and Bell lifted the curtain with commendable caution while I stood tood lt a n avy ready roay to have hava my R re Tie fe was noth tug hig to 10 be he seen I Hes under the pillow I threw him hru over my head heuI Bell quickly turned the pillow over and a adark dark body scuttled down don the white sheet It was a rat Let him go I 1 said aid tide The stick dropped from my hand the perspiration found Its way through the closed drawn pores of my forehead and by heart went a hundred and twenty to the minute Its not fiot good to feel that youve been bitten by a cobra One day Lah Bor Bot headman of the coolies brought me the startling information that a snake about a hun hundred hundred hundred dred feet long was lying in the jungle waiting to be caught A couple of coolies under Lah Bohs direction pre prepared prepared prepared pared a snare anare A rope was made fast to two to long bamboos with a noose in inthe inthe the center Taking my to prevent a surprise from the big fellow ve We e followed Lah Boh Bob The snake was an Immense python about twenty feet long ong He ITe was lying evidently asleep in the te jungle I sat st on a log and held the gun on him while the two each grasping one of the bamboos of i the snare edged ege along cautiously until they had slipped the he noose nose over the sleeping monsters head hed They then pulled back and as the rope rop tightened about abu his b slim sli neck bedlam let loose lo The leaves swirled and ad branches flew few and it was wa as a though some giant were snapping a a yellow whip whiplash whiplash lash lh in the hot Burmese Bur s sunlight The two tw men rocked back bk and forth nearly jerked Jerk off of their ther feet fet at times mes Lah Bohand nd I laid hold of the bamboos Bb with wit them and In the end the mottled thing like a queer quer patterned chain was Avae wa beaten Then he sulked They dragged dr ed him out to the pathway in triumph As A he be lay on the hard hardground hardground ground gound his big bg ugly head hed flattened out he seemed med perfectly indifferent to our presence He looked looke so s that I went up and incautiously touched touche him himon himon himon on the te nose with wih my foot It I was wa as a awis wise wis as t kicking a brick In hat Like the stroke of a boxers arm ar his hideous heed head he with wi the t e meerschaum colored fangs fn shot out Luckily Luckl Lah Lh Boh was warn holding Boling one of or the te bamboos and a observing my approach kept his end of the th rope rp pretty taut Even now nov no I shudder as a I think how close clo he came caine cameto ce to t my mr m foot fot He was wa kept for a 3 long time in a abig abi abig big bi box and ad we fed fe him generously on chicken too generously for he died die and Gaylard man In in n the an east est told tol me that we had hod overfed him Wh n we brought bro ht the python in the evening of his capture Ramia an en anOh Oh felt fel e upon to tell tel me a atte little tte of the habits of these big bg c Cie ea tur tures He Re had ha known kon a python once many many yards in length lengh it i was who had b a 8 tooth tt for foe fo fish eh He would go g to a a large pond twist tw his tail tai around aund a tree tr on one side stretch his body by across acro grasp a tree tre oa on the other side with wh his hi teeth teth and swinging his body by like a S hammock I back am and aad forth throw all al the water out the land Md Then you see s he ate the lisa Ral thel watched my face fa narrowly when w h be had ha finished and seeing sing that that I believed bev told me a second tale te Another snake nae preferred deer and game gme of cf all aU sorts jr He bent beD down trees tre and o vines vine ned and made two tw converging stock ok eUke fences fence running far fa out into ino the te jungle Then Ten he went ent out and beat up the surrounding country When he had got everything thin on the run he ha ct ever drove them tiem m Into his bl corral I Ia and nd caught ut them down at a the small smal end endI a I tried tre tl t t believe beleve this his also alo for sake but he told me inc no more mor a J were also Al dose close coe calls in that I We Ve were sitting sUUn on the veranda one I evening and like men who are bowed bottled botte up together speedily got gt into a a viru virulent lent pt argument r ment over that had happened in America America Three Tree of us u were in pajamas the usual evening dresa drees while pama Townsend who had just come comedown comedown comedown down from A had only ony taken his hi hiJ J J i coat cat off f and ad was wearing weing a n shirt sh rt with wih starched qu 1 a a thing send ahde ve rather felt e Innovation but events It had bad hd muO to 0 do with wie te subsequent I The Te argument had d reached that point at something had got to be done doneA doneA I A fight was wa out of a the question queston it was as too hot for f r violent exercise Look here you fellows raid aid Towns Townsend Tows Towsend Townsend end I can cn prove that youre oure all al wrong Then Ten he did rat at no other man in that bungalow bun ever did Went into his room lm without a light and commenced fumbling about abut on the table a paper We Ve heard heard a sharp Sharp cry half anger half fear and the te next instant he darted out on the veranda Ive Ive been ben struck on the arm by b a a snake he gasped Bell Bel reached reed down Uhe te swinging winging lan Ian lantern lantern tern and we e explored explore for the trail ti of ofte the te serpent Here shout aut the cuff said Towns Townsend Townsend Townsend end And there right enough on the cuff half halt an inch from his wrist were wee two little pricks prick with a circling them where the poison had dried into tine te Imen That was all al there was no mark mrk on the arm not a a scratch We went in a and interviewed the snake sake with wit a light I ht and a couple cuple of f sticks He Hewa was wa lying coiled up on a small smal inclined hand mirror which stood on n the table As Townsend readied reached rece for the paper the snake had bad struck It I was a must most It feared of all al snakes by fine the na natives natives tives They Tey say s that if I a man looks steadily ly for a long time into the eye of ofa ofa ofa a he will win go g stark staring mad The Te eye is i email red re and perfectly de devoid devoid void oid of expression Later Lter on o my companions cm went nt to tooth oth other er parts Each evening I killed an hour or so of the monotony by toy walking walkin up and down the path in front of the bunga bungalow bungalow low lw A big bt cat at was wa my usual com corn companion panion His method of introducing himself to t my notice was s generally I abrupt He would lie le in wait wai and as asI asI asI I I came along aing spring out upon me alighting against one of my legs At I i other oter times he would lie le on his back in inthe inte inthe the te path and claw caw at t my feet as a I passed Ped One evening just after atter turning Into the path from fr the bungalow I felt something soft and ad yielding against my foot fot Thinking it was w Billy I gave the mass a gentle gente push puS As I shifted the th something I saw sw a twisting gleam of o white not at all al like the I I soft gray of BUryS Billys fur Of course I J know what wiit that meant Jumping back backI I I brought rought down my walking waikin stick on I the twisting thing and yelled for a alight alight I light te servants came running from I the cookhouse use with wih a p lantern l and I saw sw that I 1 had laid out tut a a most villan vian ous One touch tom from the cat catlike catlike like fangs on n my hosed instep and nd within an I would have nave been dead ded One of our OUI party had la occasion to visit visita a Mr Savage Sa e a land hind owner on the other oter side of the te land island i He Hewet I went wet in a boat bt and while the coolies coles were bringing up his traps went up to the te bungalow He was sitting in a big biS I chair on te the veranda venda talking to Sav Say Savage I age ae when he be felt something drop d op from the lerf on 01 his shoulder Leisure Leisurely ly he started stat to t rise rie to see se ee what had fallen falen when wien wien the other othe man map cried ried out ut For Gods Guta sake aake ae dont move keep per perfectly perfectly still sum Dunlop knew what hat that meant ment Stealthily the old d mn man took a Bur Burmese Burmese Burniece mese niece dah sword sor from fm the wall wali wal and catlike crept et toward towa the hIte man with the thing tin on his i shoulder Within striking stalking distance dince he paused and raised the dab dah da high hig in air er to cut the thing in two tw with one swift downward stroke Then his nerve perve rattled d and tugged at for sixty years ys until it was as weak failed him and ad t sword clattered from his numbed nume 6 gers to the floor for My Go Got U I ant nt do It he ie e whined whine in a 1 brok broken rok n voice vice and ad reeled back against th Ui th wall vali wal where Were he stood tood star starIng str strIng staring Ing with wih eyes eye at the te sahib shib and L his burden burden Dunlop neither etther moved nor nr spoke pok hIs only safety lay in keeping perfectly still motionless It I might be minutes or a thousand d years they would have to tl t wait till the boatmen came What would happen then h he could not say Sy He could feel the clinging pulling thing on o n his right shoulder There AVUS as asan an undulating pressure that told him the head of the he snake was Avas swaying back and rth just above abye his neck Then the te song of the boat boatmen boatmen men as a they came swinging along with his luggage broke upon his ear Those voices the coarse cars refrain to t the time of f the th meas measured me measured trot tot were angel voices Yole What would the te coolies do dOe he wondered If I Emir Ally Aly his trusted servant saw sw the thing it might be well wel he had ad nerve and nd judgment nt even close to that of o a sahib Emir Ally Aly wad wf In the te lead When he came to the steps step Savage Bavage avae jerked jerke out an expression expresion that called cale his atten attention attention tion ton to the tableau Gathering his tight about abut his loins he slipped along the veranda like a shadow grasped the fallen dab dah d h and poising gap his black lithe body bd for swift strong stron stroke brought the sword through h the theair theair theair air with wih a sw Ing cut that laid a full ful gr sW grewn wn cobra in two to neat pieces al almost almost almost most at the feet fet of the te man who had waited l 1 lOnce Once an esil 01 spirit pIrl whispered to ona on ff pf t out our ou party Ben Be stationed stat f T olk and he bought a pair of king cobras for 16 lt 1 rupees They were very ver rare and he meant meant to send them to the London zoo zo They were a beautiful pair each being about ten feet long They were put in itt a box with Avith slats slat up the front and for a a time it seemed an interesting I investment Is an old penal settle settlement settlement ment and most of the th native workers are exiled murderers or worse wor |