Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1899-09-09

bungalow say f1knt In Engnsng 1
Yes2 The luck OF the bungalow. 1t was
bis treasure. Do not kill e."
The snake Tapped up the rest Of To
milk. and in a twinkling slithered away
again. De Silva went back to his shelf,
and Ralph went to bed.
But he could not sleep. Above his
head that night and every night he
could hear the scamper of rats on the
ceiling cloth, and after them the rush Of
the snake, and then u faint, forlorn
squeak, and he knew that Magog was
doing his duty as a colonial house cat
The snake may have been doing his
duty, but Ralph could not bear the
thought of it's nearness. He tried TO
conquer the feeling, but he couldn't
Poor Magog, used to being petted by |
it's last master, would peer out from the |
ceiling cloth for hours in the evSning, |
while Ralph was trying to read, and
Ralph would look up from his books |
and see its black head and quiet, watch |
full eyes, and be Mortified. Between its
noise by night in the roof and its pres
ence in the evening, Ralph grew so
nervous that, in spite of De Silva's
warming and wishes, he tried to kill the
snake.
He sat one evening at his table with a
revolver in hand, and when Magog APP
peared as usual, he took fair aim and
fred. The bullet went into the wall;
Magog withdrew like flash. De Silva
came rushing.
"I think hit the brute" said Ralph,
and pointed to spot of blood on the
whitewashed wall.
"Ol honorable dore," said De Silva,
superstitious as his kind, 1T was the
luck of the bungalow-say it right?
Ny last dore said Magog was the luck
of the bungalow"
And he went away to his kitchen a
sorrowing. but Ralph felt as If he had
done a good deed and rid the world of
hideosity.
No more came Magog to plague the
young sinnadore. For many nights the
rats scampered over the ceiling cloth
without any pursuer. Ralph, In his lone
" evenings, looked at the vacant crack
, and congratulated himself.
at must have killed the horrid brute, :"
: said he, land a good job, tcA- Probably
) the rats avenged themselves by eating
: him"
: So the young sinnadore rested and
| told, when he was at the periadore,
: bungalow for dinner, how he had made
t n marvelously good shot at the snake
! and ridded himself of an intolerabls
j nuisance
1 "You oughtn't to have done that.
( said the periadore," smoking his che
, / k1,e.1 how
''Why not? hate snakes--I abho'
them"
!, Maybe, but they have their uses,
e said the perindore. ''I'Il kill n cobr1-o
g tic-polonga quick as anybody, but
k would not kill a harmless ratsnaks
h which Is poisonless, and which, my lac
d has been cleaning out the rats an
'e mice from your bungalow for years. Il
n put il mildly (it was not only cruel, bu
1T a mistake. Marigoid, your predecessor
d cheri-hed old Magog. He used TO tie
j. me the brute was boss of the hous'
n and that if Magog were not there til
rats would make his life not worth liz
ae ing"
I'd ssYes, but the beast was so familiar
el coming out at dinner to hang there
asking for milk-ughl"
On "An right, old chap" said the peri
dore: ''it's your bungalow, not mine"
If Within n week of the night wht
IN Ralph shot at the snake, there can
one of those tumultuous rainstorn
n which are never seen anywhere exec
M in the tropical rainy seasons.
~ Try and picture to yourself the d.
Il of Judgment, with the whole heave
j tumbling in. like a falling roof, on Il
of YOU, with all the navies of the wor
N firing turret guns at you, with all I
Z lightning of the skies concentrate
. upon You, with not soul, white
~ black. near you, without a sing
II tongue to cry 'Here!" when 70
nj tongue cries "Helpl" without a ha
al to reach out to touch yours-try a
% | picture yourself scene like that, a
n You have some idea of the tempest
III which Ralph one lonely night in
VI bungalow on the mountain went to
: and slept-slept, utterly tired out FIR
working up the mountain with
Il periadore and the coolies to strength
the dam which guided the hin sire
from its natural path to irrigate
MI low-lying land.
Ralph's bedroom was off the sitt
room, under the same ceiling clio
Z and his bed lay close to the wall
: was utterly tired. but he dreamed, I
70 - in his dream somehow Magog the sn'
was mixed up.
He dreamed the snake was follow
@of him revengefully; he dreamed it ca
90, up to him, running; he dreamed
caught him; he dreamed that he
- down: he dreamed that the snake co
N and struck at Mis- chest. He woke
!. with the yell of nightmare
choked. horrible. And it was truei
L.. he awoke, Magog. the great sni
~ dropping from the ceiling. fell on
and swiftly glided away out of the d.
Ralph was on his feet instantly,