Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1894-03-30
NO13
SNAKES In HIS BED.
Magician Kellars Very Unpleas-
ant Adventure In India
He Thinks II Was ihs Clever Trick OF q
Fakir. But Cannot Tel How It Was
Done-At Any Rate tho Fellow Got
Money for KilIInE the Reptile.

~-ct tDA AAAAs1E tno ks0ptEA0-
~ had been in India a number Of
times and had visited all the principal
cities" says Magician Kellar. when
in 1888 | found myself in the pretty
city of Lucknow. had been In the
city long enough to have acquired tho
ecaui of the people and was falling
easily into their listless, luxurious
ways, when one morning this adven-
turc befell me and caused me to all at
once lose all that sense of serene and
peaceful quiet that had before DOS
sessed. In India in the summer season
it is too hot to sleep upon mattresses or
under much bed clothing. Inmy room
in the neat little bungalow where I
was stopping had q bamboo couch,
without mattress, and my only COW
ering was a linen sheet. had rested
there in comfort for many nights, and
was just about to arise one morning
when Hindoo falSir entered the door.
He was tall, lank, solemn-visaged in
dividual. and salaamed profoundly as
he entered. ! sat up on the edge of
my cot to get good look at him and
asked what he wanted. He looked al
me an instant and then slowly drew
from his breech cloth small reed pipe.
Heap big snake in sahib's bed,' he
CALCULATED in the same calm, unrufaed
manner.
" Snakes in my bedr yelled, as I
bounded to the floor with visions Of
writhing. Kissing cobras In my mind.
'Snalel Where?
" In sahib's bed-heap snake the
rogue replied, as he slowly released q
small earthenware pot or jar from his
girdle. Then he placed the reed pipe
to his lips and proceeded to extract
from 1t the most painful music ever
listened to. Serpents galore would
have been welcome il that music could
have been banished. thought, but as
I watched the bed my sentiments
underwent rapid change.
''In the middle of the couch, under
meath the sheet, I saw something NOV
ing. The sheet became elevated In q
conical form and there was Kissing
and splitting underneath it that made
my blood run cold. Then there emerged
from the edge of the covering the
Shiny, horrible head of monster cobra
that wasn't AM inch less than eight
feet long, and slowly slid from the bed
and coiled himself upon the floor I
stood looking at him with my eyes
bullying with terror.
The doleful, seductive, plaintive
strain of the pipe continued and tho
head of the monster slowly arose to q
level with the cot. His hood began 10
swell and he showed every sign OF In
tense anger. The weird music grew
faster and faster and the oscillatinR
motion of the serpent's head kept time
to it. The little pipe shrieked and the
fakir was perspiring from every pore.
His eyes were bullying from his head
and his foot was keeping double time
to his piping. Shriller and more pene-
trating grew the notes, until of sud-
den 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 fakir's hand stole
quickly to his side. A sword leaped
out, there was fash, CLINT of steel,
and the cobra's head rolled upon the
floor, while the dismembered body
thrashed itself about the apartment
/ staggered to the door, almest over
come by nervous strain, and the ordeal
was over. The muttcrcd backsheesk
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 remind
ers of the scene through which 1 had
passed.
How was it done? don't know.
never knew whether that scoundrel
brought the snake in with him or not.
but while he was playing saw him
crowding another cobra, as big as the
first, into that little earthen po. which
he carried at his girdle."