Show SNAKES IN HIS BED magician bellars Kel lars very unpleasant adventure in india he it ivaa the clover of a akar rut cannot tell how it iva boue at any kate the fellow cot money for tho Kep 1 I had been in india a number of times and had visited all the cities says magician kellar gihei in 1883 I 1 found myself in the prett city of lucknow I 1 biad been in th city long enough to have acquired atu ennui of the people and was faehn easily into their listless luxurious ways when one this adaven ture befell me and caused me to all at once lose all that sense of serene and peaceful quiet that I 1 had before possessed in india in the summer season it is too hot to sleep apon mattresses 0 under much bed clothing in my room in the neat little bungalow where 1 was stopping 1 had a bamboo couch without a mattress and vay only covering was a linen sheet I 1 had rested there in comfort for many nights and was just about to arise one morning when a hindmo fakir entered the door he was a tall lank solemn individual and salaamed sala amed profoundly as he entered I 1 sat up on the edge of my cot to get a good look at him and asked what he wanted he looked at me an instant and then slowly drew from liis breech cloth pipe heap big snake in sahibo sahibs bed he ejaculated in the same calm unruffled manner snakes in my bed I 1 yelled as I 1 bounded to the floor with visions of writhing hissing cabras cobras in my mind snake where in sahibo sahibs bed heap snake the rogue replied as ho slowly released a small earthenware pot or jar from his girdle then he placed the reed pipe to his lips and proceeded to extract from it the most painful music I 1 ever listened to serpents galore would have been welcome if that music could have been banished I 1 thought but as I 1 watched the bed my sentiments underwent a rapid change in the middle of the couch underneath the sheet I 1 saw something moving the sheet became elevated in a conical form and there was a hissing and spitting underneath it that made my blood run cold then there emerged from the edge of the covering the slimy horrible head of a monster cobra that tnt otar 1 fat colled himself upon the floor 1 stood looking at him with my eyes bulging with terror the doleful seductive plaintive strain of the pipe continued and the head of the monster slowly arose to a level with the cot his hood began to swell and lie showed every sign of intense anger the weird masic grew faster and faster and the oscillating motion of alie serpents head kept time to it the little pipe shrieked and alic fakir was perspiring from every pore his eves were from his head and liis foot was keeping double time to his piping shriller Sh riller and more penetrating grew the notes until of a sudden they became again plaintive and sad the time was slower the tune sweet and harmonious the motions of the monsters head were slower and slower and then the fakiri fakirs hand stole quickly to his side A sword leaped out there was a flash a glint of steel and the cabras cobras head rolled upon the floor while the dismembered body thrashed itself about the apartment I 1 staggered to the door almost overcome by nervous strain and the ordeal was over the muttered backs heesh of the fakir was generously responded to you may be sure and he left my bungalow leaving only the severed head and body of the cobra as reminders of the scene through which I 1 had passed how was it done I 1 dont know I 1 never knew whether that scoundrel brought the snake in with him or not but while he was playing I 1 saw him crowding another cobra as big as the first into that little earthen pot which he carried at his girdle |