The Jungle Fugitives: A Tale of Life and Adventure in India
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A STIRRING INCIDENT.
India is the home of the deadliest serpents and fiercest wild beasts onthe globe. When it is stated that more than twenty thousand personsare killed annually by the snakes and animals of that country, someidea may be formed of its attractions in the way of a residence. Tothis should be added the fact that, during certain seasons, the climateis like that of Sahara itself. For days and nights the thermometerstands above one hundred degrees in the shade and in the city ofMadras, unacclimated persons have died at midnight in their beds fromapoplexy caused by the appalling temperature.
Among the venomous serpents of India, the _cobra di capello_ holdsforemost rank, though it is claimed that a still more deadly reptilehas been found in the interior, and I believe the British Museum hasone of these terrible creatures, whose bite brings death with thesuddenness of the lightning stroke. However, the cobra has been knownto strike two persons in instant succession, proving fatal to bothwithin ten minutes of each other. It is hard to conceive of anyserpent more venomously destructive than this.
On one of the flaming Sunday mornings, when there was not a cloud inthe brazen skies, a well known missionary came home from early serviceand seated himself at the breakfast-table with his family. The door ofthe dining-room was open and the Teluga school-teacher was outside,when he became interested in a novel sight. A frog was hopping alongthe front veranda, with an immense cobra chasing it. The serpentstruck at it repeatedly, but the fugitive, in its desperation, eludedeach blow, giving utterance to pitiful cries, as a frog will do whenpursued by a snake.
The end of the veranda reached, the frog leaped off, and the cobradropped to the ground in hot pursuit, but a box, standing near, offeredshelter. The creature scrambled beneath, just in time to avoid anotherswift blow of the reptile, which was unable to follow it. The cobraglided around the box, seeking some avenue by which to reach hisvictim, but, finding none, moved off in the grass and disappeared.
The teacher hurried into the dining-room, with the announcement of whathe had seen. The missionary listened gravely and then inquired:
"Where is the cobra now?"
"I cannot tell, sir; he moved off among the flower-pots, but I do notknow whither he went."
"It is not my practice to go shooting on Sunday," remarked theminister, "but it won't do to have that serpent where it is liable tobite one of us. He must have a hole somewhere near the flower-pots;please keep watch while I get my pistol."
The missionary always kept a loaded revolver for use when travelingthrough the jungle at night, and he speedily stepped out on theveranda, with the weapon in hand, and started to find the cobra.
Two large native flower-pots stood within a couple of yards of theveranda. Each contained a fragrant rose, of which the good man's wifewas very fond. Every day she spent some time sprinkling them withwater or removing the dead leaves, never suspecting what proved to bethe fact that while thus employed, she continually moved about a spotwhere an immense cobra lay coiled.
An opening was discovered directly between the flower pots, partlyconcealed by the grass. It was about as thick as a man's wrist, anddescended perpendicularly, expanding into a small chamber.
The minister called for a hand-mirror, and with little trouble threwthe bright reflection of the sun into the hole, a little more than afoot deep, fully lighting up the interior.
The cobra was there! It lay motionless in a glistening coil, as ifresting from its fruitless pursuit of the frog and brooding over itsdisappointment. It was an alarming sight, but the good man kept cool,and meant business from the start.
Taking a piece of broken wagon tire, he thrust it slantingly into thehole, to hold the serpent a prisoner, and shoving the muzzle of hisrevolver forward, he let fly.
Not the slightest motion followed. He had missed. He now gentlyturned the tire edgewise and fired again. A furious writhing followed,proving that the snake had been hit hard. The tire was instantlyturned over flat to prevent its coming out. It struck fiercely at theiron, which in a minute was shifted on its edge again, and themissionary emptied the remaining chambers of his revolver down thehole. Then he turned up the tire once more, and allowed the hideoushead to dart forth.
The minister had brought with him a pair of large hedge shears, withwhich he seized the protruding neck, drew out the snake and gave it aflirt toward the compound. He was so absorbed with his task that hehad not noticed the crowd of men, women and children that had gatheredto watch the results of his hunt. When they saw a huge cobra flyingthrough the air toward them, there was a scampering and screaming,which might have been less had they known that the grip of the shearshad dislocated the serpent's neck.
The good man did not forget that whenever you find one deadly serpent,another is quite certain to be close at hand. He had passed the wagontire to the teacher, when he began pulling out the wounded cobra, andasked him to insert it again without an instant's delay. This wasdone, and returning with the hand-glass, the missionary once moreconveyed the rays into the underground chamber.
Sure enough a second cobra was there, wriggling and squirming in a wayto show that he had received some of the bullets intended for hiscompanion. The revolver was reloaded and a fusillade opened, standingoff a few paces, the marksman waited for the head to come forth that hemight seize and draw it out as he had done with the other.
The wounded reptile continued its furious squirming and striking, butits head did not appear, until shot after shot had been fired. At lastit showed itself, and was immediately gripped with the shears.Dropping the pistol, the missionary employed both hands in the effort,and running backward a few steps, the whole frightful length of theserpent was drawn out upon the ground.
Remembering their former experience, the crowd moved away, but themissionary spared them a second fright.
Both cobras being helpless, an examination was made of them. Thesecond one showed the marks of fourteen pistol balls through his body,any three of which would have proved fatal, but he was still full offight, and died while trying to strike the persons near him.
The serpents were now stretched out on the veranda and measured one ofthem five feet eleven inches long, and the other six feet two inches.The last is an extraordinary size, rarely seen even in the favoritehaunts of the reptile. An investigation of their home left no doubtthat they had been living for months right among the flower pots thatwere attended to daily, and within six feet of the veranda and twelvefeet of the door of the missionary's study.
As for the frog that crawled under the box just in time to savehimself, he was well and flourishing at the last accounts.