The Big Stone post. (Big Stone Gap, Va.) 1890-1892, 1891-08-07
rur TERRIBLE COBRA.

-, VeDo IN tus SerpVaG AaaS 40 90
midas Ore, .,i ~ tho Natives.
,,,s /, hot Sunday morning in India,
!' W.T. . cloud in the brazen skies, says
wi'nv ,,r IN thc Christian Intelligenccr.
VII, no,1 lust come homo from early
w services and had taken our
n0."' y, the breakfast table. at the
seas 1n,r Of our dining-room our Telu-
oET" .oJhool-tcachcr appeared, saying:
gu a.. . biz cobra has just been chasing
9 ,,o ;, through the whole length Of our
a ',v'' rrranda. He struck at it again
'ro,' lain as it sprang past the open
anu 1'r GO 1T your sitting-room, but the frog,
oo ..nr;no piercing shrieks (as q frog can
ut ,an nursucd by q serpent) sprang
VIZ VIZ, ,i1,c quick enough to elude it's
t .,rs and together they rushed Off the
l~ aS If The vcranda and the frog sprang
en- ,.r box that is standing there, too
"n INV down upon the hard floor for the
, Eco obra to get under, and so escaped. "
Up sWcll" said I, where is the cobra
Vs. That is just what don't
How said nc. ''for while I was look
nav NO 80 sec what had become of the frog
ny low he had got away-the cobra dis
1nnorcd among the Aower-pots, and I
1f dno. sec where he has gone" HE
e" have a hole there close by the
'--e somewhere" said l. "Will
w. n,rasa 90 and watch until come,
so1 see II YOU can get sight Of him again,
|n. -, hc killed If he lives as near
.Sc house us that"
W don't ro a-shooting on Sunday, but
,rnrt for nv pistol then, for / consid-
r.6 i decidedly q work of necessity
aad mercy to put an end to the danger
- ''.'( arrsclycs or our people being bitten
-. +ha- deadly cobra. Soon appearing
n.;,h = revolver, which kept for trav-
1,;nr through the jungles at night, I
,rant 70 hunting for the cobra's hole.
Two LARGE native Aower-pots stood
aho,, six feet from the end of the We
~onda with each q beautiful rose grow
;"', IN il OF which my wife was very
trod and beside which she almost daily
,t,o5 nici,ing off dead leaves or water
;n4 md tending the roses. | soon dis
.overed 4 hole in the ground about as
lorrc rs iav wrist, partially concealed
h,,,be .rass that was growing right be-
t,rccn The two nowcr-pots, which were
fa.cnough apart for Il person to stand
Io.,yccn them. The hole went down
n,rpcndicularlv, growing larger as it
went deeper. 1t took but moment to
h.ipr 4 hand-mirror and throw re-
4ac,jon Of Il c bright sun right down
into the hole. 1t revealed q horizontal
chamber only n foot or SO deep, and the
r},tenins scales of cobra coiled up at
Taking piece of broken wagon-tire
in my left hand to stop up the hole with
and placin1, the end of it slantingly in
the hole. tired down into it. Not a
motion was seen had missed. Turn
inc the tire up cdgcwisc [ fired again.
What a squ:rming there was! The
cobra had b,cl wounded He struck
mn vi.ious. ut the iron, which was
tur,,el DIVA iiat as soon as | had fired
10 lrg., HIN from larting out at us. l
t.lrncI the i.on 81 ;cwisc and fired again
aala..lia. },nca had unloaded the
sixth barred let him strike his head
ont and caught it against the side with
the IRON tire had brought with me n
pair II r. :, !lcl ,c-shcars. With these
can-..t ,lp! Of his protruding neck
and VITA a:,t,ut pull with both hands
pulled h,.1 out and gave him flirt out
into the compound. What scattering
tAere WIS Of mon. women, and children!
Ny attention had been SO taken up by
tn snake That had not noticed what a
biz crowd had gathered around. How
they screamed and ran! for they did not
know that the grip of the shears had
dislocatcd the fellows neck, and seeing
full-si.cd cobra dying out toward
them they seemed to think he was
springing at them.
rs had graspcd the head of the COS
bra with the shears l had given the
wagon-tirc to the teacher, asking him
TO insert the end again instantly that |
drew the cobra out, for where one Cos
bra is YOU will usually find q second, !
came back and threw the rays Of the
sun in again Yes there were bright
cobra's scales and another cobra wrig-
Cling Loading my pistol again I re-
peatcd the firing, hoping that he would
strike his head out SO that [ could
catch his head also Squirm and strike
as he did his head did not come out Of
the hole until had fired many times;
bu, it finally came and I secured him.
also On drawing him out and exam
ming him closely we found fourteen
pistol-ball holes through his body, and
still there was tight in him. Any three
OF the wounds would have proved fatal
in time; but he died making a splendid
fight. We laid the cobraS out on the
ycranda and measured them. One OF
them measured five feet eleven inches
and the other six feet and two inches.
than which one rarely finds a cobra
larger. Their hide showed that they
had evidently been living there right
among the lowcr pots that were tended
oallEGnd within six feet of our veranda,
am! within twelve feet of my study door
for weeks, or months. Though the co
bra is the deadlicst serpent known, and
thousands of persons die of their bite
yearly in India, no one in our mission
has ever been harmed by one.
/ Handy Carriage,
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