Wichita eagle., 1888-03-24
THE SNAKE CHARMER.

l
THE SNAKE CHARMER.
San old, white bearded Hindoo, vel
known in South London as q street ven
der of pieces Of scented wood, wicker
baskets and other Oriental trif1es, hat
been knocked down and run over by 8
butchers cart, in the shafts of which, a
Is the butcherly custom, . swift trottine
! pony was driven by a reckless, bare
headed youngster. The old mans wris,
only was broken, but the shock to his
system seemed likely to prove fatal at his
| advanced age, which rumor fixed at con.
| siderably over 100 years.
From the moment that the old fellow
vas put to bed, Mascarenhas, Hindoo
attendant, was unremitting in his atten.
ton to him. He could converse with him
in his own language; he spent hour after
hour by his bedside and exhausted the re-
sources Of the hospital in making him as
| comfortable as might be. One disciple OF
Esculapius ventured to ask him in the
chatting style current at st. Dots, if he
had found his long lost great-grandfather.
The fire that blazed from the young
darkey's eyes at this was enough to warn
his questioner that there was danger in
pressing the point, and he dropped the
subject like hot potato
THE old heather had only one visitor
during his four days lingering in the
ward-a young Hindoo cadger, who had
roamed the streets in his company beat
ing tom-tom and chanting some sort of
gibberish to a melancholy tune He
claimed to be distantly related to him,
but the patient received him with such
undisguised dislike that he was requested
after second call not to repeat his visits,
which seemed to agitate the old man ex-
cessively.
ION tho morning Of the fourth dav the
old Hindoo gave up the ghost more from
old age than anything, and the customary
white screen was placed around his bed,
while the nurses prepared his body for
the visit of the parish undertaken. A
hurried inquest had been held, in which
the old mans body figured as one of a
batch submitted to the grumbling dozen
OF shopkeepers, who did duty as a jury
The coroner's order had been made out
for burial, and had fairly forgotten all
about the case, when note from Mascar-
enhas, delivered at my lodgings, brought
me down to the hospital in eager curios-
ity.
at was midnight when I reached the
house surgeons room at St. Dots, to find
Mascarenhas in a state of wild excite
ment, surrounded by knot of physicians
and students, whose faces wore an air Of
curiosity, mixed with incredulity. The
Eurasian was talking volubly as I en-
tered. In his hand he held what ap-
peared to be dead snake, of some non
venemOus species, fangless and hoodless,
but marked along the back with scales of
peculiar green luster, which glittered in
the gaslight as he turned it about with
eager gesticulations. Among the men he
was addressing were some Of the most
learned and earnest of the faculty at
tached to the hospital, men open to con-
viction, but not likely to be victims Of de-
ception, even if it had been his wish to
deceive them.
Il tell you, gentlemen he said, in the
peculiar screeching tone he always used
when highly excited, Il tell that you are
about to witness q vindication of that
eastern science for whose reality 1 have
so often commended. The old man who
lies in the operating theatre yonder is q
Brahmin of the highest caste, as you may
see by the sacred cord he wears, from
which, once assumed, his compeers never
part in life and death. He has been
the master of mighty secrets, a serpent
charmer OF the most advanced order, and
in his time high priest of Mariatele. All
that is involved in that description l will
not attempt to ten you, lest should con-
vert your disbelief into ridicule But /
declare that he has proved to me his
knowledge of the dread mysteries of life
and death, Of the power attributed in
fancy to the tabled Frankenstein. have
promised you that within an hour you
shall see the dead brought back to life.
And for this boon, conferred upon him by
my weak hands, he has sworn by his
goodness and the sacred vedas to make
us partners In his knowledge Is this
mighty secret worth an hours experiment
or MOP ..
"'Will you kindly explain the treat
ment you intend to adopt? asked Dr.
McP-, a grim old Scotchman, who re-
garded the enthusiast with the plying
expression of one who hears the vagaries
of hopeless lunatic.
The talisman is here said Masca-
renhas, holding the limp body of the rep
tile aloft. This creature, lying appar-
emily ifeless on my palm, has existed in
this state for unnumbered ages. The
perfect balance of its natural juices re-
strains the process Of decay and imparts
to it magnetic power Of the highest pos
sible order. 1t has been preserved in the
Brahmin's family for countless genera
tons, and used, as we shall use it to-
night, to give vitality to the dead in days
before your western civilization was
dreamed Of 1t is the sacred snake Of
Vishnu; il others of its tribe are yet to he
found they are in the possession of the
members Of her priesthood, and their ex-
istence is guarded from the vulgar as a
dread and unattAinable secret Yet its
images are worshiped to this day in count
less shrines. from Calcutta to Kurrachee,
from the Hindoo Koosh to Mysore'
Clean madr mttered the old doctor.
If properly applied within twenty
four hours of death to body in which
no vital organic Lesson has taken place.
continued Mascarenhas, 'revivification is
as certain as that steel strikes fire from
flint. But follow me, gentlemen, and let
me convince the most skeptical among
you. You shall see the dead man live,
move and possess his being again in re-
newed vigor, and the dread secret Of ages,
on which all the visions Of the Rosicru-
clans and other sects Of dreamers have
been based, shall be mine and yours
IF unconvinced, our curiosity was
excited. With rapid footsteps
we followed the young mystis through the
long, whitewashed corridors into the
IN fhoofro nh