St. Paul daily globe., 1890-10-20

had been presented to the society by
Mr.. Cumfieid, the commissioner of
Jatpore.
"Close by, SIR answered tfe man.
adroitly slipping the money into his
pocket and. leading the way to the den,
he extended his hand towards full
grown tiger reclining listlessly upon the
sanded boards of her cage.
Hi. Notice. Motee!' cried the man;
'shere is q gentleman to have {, look at
you."
The creature blinked laziIy at him.
out took no further notice OF his adj
dress.
imprisonment does not seem to
agree with her constitution" remarked
Manvers. ''When last saw her in In
dia she was as frolicSome as Kitten"
And she is now, sir,' answered the
keeper. when night comes she tears
about the cage like mad thing. and,
for the matter of that, SO do all the
striped and spotted creatures"
THAT must be very interesting
sight" observed Manvers, interested in
spite of himself at the mans narration.
what pity that the public are not ad-
mitted to the garden after dark
''But some of them are. SIR replied
the man: sand as I sees that you are
gentleman think I could manage it for
you. There is an old chap with white
beard and a face like corpse that often
comes in and talks to the reptiles for
hours in their native language. He
from the Injees. and he come to see how
it gets OH; it's as good as play to hear
what he says, and see what he does,
too, for the matter of that"
"An old man with a white beard!''
exclaimed ManyerS; san old NAH who
talks in Hindustani to the snakes"
II don't know what name he calls his
lingo by" replied the keeper, 'but his
own particular reptile seems to under
stand him thoroughly"
when does he c0me?' asked the
major.
| "Let me see,' answered the man,
scratching his head thoughtfully: ITO
day is Thursday. He'll be here to-mor-
rOW-he always comes OIL a Friday-at
least most always"
"Can you get me into the gardens on
that night?" inquired the major; ''if
you can manage it l will give you a
sovereign"
Its worth all the money" replied
the keeper; "but Pm on-you be at the
Primrose Hill gate at Z O'clock Friday
night and I'll see you are passed. AK
| your pardon, Sir" he continued; ssbut
like a swell; it would make matters bit
eaSier.'
The arrangement was soon COM
pleted, and Manvers left the gardens
prey to the widest feeling of excite
ment. A deep-rooted conviction,
founded upon no logical base, made him
| feel certain that the white-headed Wis
| itor to the Geological gardens was DR..
! Langton Hesseiton, and he at the same
time felt perfectly certain that strange
revelations were nigh at hand. The
| intervening hours were spent in a state
| of feyeriSh excitement, and the ap-
| pointed time found him at the
gate which had been selected by
the keeper as the place of rendez-
v0us. According to the wish which the
| man had expressed, he donned black
| felt hat and a serge coat, though. as the
| keeper muttered. she wasn't half
shabby enough by long chalk" The
| gate was soon opened, and as the pair
passed through the tunnel which led
| from one portion of the gardens to the
other, Manvers eagerly inquired if the
| nocturnal visitor had yet made his ap-
| pearance.
He came about five inmates before
| you arrived, and went straight to the
| reptile house." answered the man.
/ ''Let us go then, at once," returned
/ the major.
Won't you sec Motee first, SIR" asked
| the keeper. ''She is real frolickSome
| tonight"
81 Later, LATER" replied Manyers I'M
! patiently, and without another word the
/ mar led the way in the required direc-
| ton.
The night was Intensely hot and sui
| try, and as they passed some of the
| denS the 7ariouS inmates could be seen
| moving reStleSsly backwards and for
| wards, as though influenced by the at
| moSpheric conditions of the night. All
| at once there was a binding flash
| of lightning followed by crash of
thunder, and then the rain began to fall
| i'll warm. heavy drops. They had by
| this time, however, reached the door Of
the reptile house. and as Manvers
| crossed the threshold he came to a sud-
den halt, absolutely petrified at the
| spectacle which met his eyes. The gas
was alight, and the bright glow pene-
| trated into every nook and corner of
| the spacious room. The electricity OF the
! atmosphere appeared to have strange
| and terrible effect upon the denizens of
| the various cages and glass houses.
| The huge pythons were darting about
| from branch to branch of the leateSS
| tree trunks, which had been planted for
| their convenience. Their eyes flashed
| with wild CLEAN. that was absolutely
terrifying, while their jaws were widely
| extended as though in search of prey.
| The yenomouS snakes, too, were moving
| reStleSSly about, the death adder and
| the water yiperS were pressing their
| hidGous heads against the thick plate
| glass sheets with which their compart-
mentS were faced. The sharp skirr of
the rattleSnake was distinctly audible.
| Repulsiye-looking lizards scraped the
| gravel with their claws, and every now
and then opened a MISUNDERSTANDING
mouth, plentifully furnished with sharp
| file-like teeth. Even the aliigators
were not free from the prevailing influ-
| ence, and darted about with quick and
sudden jerks, which converted the
water Of the little tank, in which they
were confined, into sheet of foam.
For brief space Manvers was so fas-
| cinated by this strange spectacle of the
4 reptile world that he hardly noticed a
little group gathered round table n
| one corner of the room aud which con :
| sisted of the keepers and tall, white
bearded figure, in which the major
| at once recognized DIR. Lapgton Hessel-
ton.
| ".
All at once the men made brisk
| movement. which had the effect of i'm
| mediately taking them some feet from
| the table. Take care sir!" cried one
| of them, "for heavens sake, take care
On a night like this the creature can
| not be safely handled"
A contemptuous smile passed over the
, iiyid face Of the doctor. .'You do not
know what you are talking Off
answered he. 'Bhoot (the ghost) knows
me perfectly we'll, and would not harm
me for the world. Ii you are afraid
| you can leave me; my work will be over
| in a very few moments" AS he spoke
| he then raised the lid of a deal box,
which had been placed upon the table,
and in another instant the fiat head and
dark, shining body of a cobra. some