The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-18
COBRA TACKLES A BICYCLE.
Lively Experience of a WheeIman In
Southern India.
From the Madras Mail.

From the Madras Mail.
Everyone who has been on the Anna
malay Hills knows that after he passes
Podanur Junction the road crosses an I'M
dulating country, and the oyclist has to
toll up ridge after ridge although, of
course, he has the compromising pleasure
of letting his machine go when he runs
down the slopes. 1t was when l was spin
ming down one of these ridges that this
adventure came upon me. / was looking
at some gathering clouds on the horizon
which foretold a thunderstorm, and l was
meditating on my chances Of arriving at
my destination with dry coat when sud-
denly | saw right in front of me, across
the road, long snake. 1t was impossible
to swerve TO either side and avoid the
loathsome reptile, for the slope was too
steep, and l was going fast. The only
thing to do was to stop. I back-pedaled
with my whole weight. The rising crank
lifted me out of the saddle as l straight
ened my knees. I put on the brake with
all the force that my right hand could eX-
ert But the momentum was too great
or the hill was too steep. The brake-rod
had not been adjusted so az to make the
brake very powerful, and II only checked
the speed of the front tire, which still
ion as the bicycle went on over the snake,
which rose with hiss to meet me and eX-
tended its hood. Quick as lightning 1T
struck at the front wheel, and as 1t struck
I instinctively lifted both hands from the
handle bar out of harms way and lean
ed back in my saddle the thought flash
ing through my mind that shoes and hose
gave my feet and legs chance, but that
my hands were naked.
The instant my hand was off the brake
the bicycle shot forward, for In my fright
/ had forgotten to continue to back-ped-
al. and the road was very steep, and l
weigh / regret to say more than four
teen stone so that the bicycle simply gave
a bound down hill. But only one bound.
l had not had time to replace my hands
on the handles, when, with unutterably
sickening horror, l saw that the snake
was half through the front wheel, and
that the wheel was drawing it through
the fork with horrd Swish" and a sem
sible slackening of speed. Then there was
a thud as the head of the snake was
drawn through the fork and hit the road
on the left, and a fraction of a second
later a flap of the tail end of the snake,
as II was drawn through and hit the road
on the right, followed by the horrid
''whish" again as 1t was once more drawn
through the fork. There was no time to
think. The one idea that possessed me
forward over the handle bar aud pedaled
with all my strength How that bicycle
did fly down the hill! The trees by the
roadside passed me like a ribbon. The
dreadful "whish," thud, flap. "whish,"
thud, flap, continued, but the "whish" was
not so loud, and did not perceptlbly af-
feet the speed Of the cycle. as the snake
softened under the treatment. The level
ground al the foot of the slope l sped
across al racing speed, and l rushed the
opposite slope as long as ! had any
breath left in me. Then l ventured to get
off The snakes head was gone as far as
the spectacles on the hood. pounded into a
jelly by the hard high road; on the right
Side of the wheel the snake tapered off
into a few feshless vertebrate. Two herd
boys in the field by the roadside came to
see what had happened, and with sticks
helped me TO remove the carcass from my
front wheel. When 1 reached Pollachi
had a whisky and soda. / think that no
man knows how good a whisky and soda
can be until he has had a cobra in the
front wheel of his bicycle for a mile or
more, the while he has been pedaling for
dear life!