Evening star., 1909-06-24

reach Of Mister King Cobra? Not him.
He, or his boss. | guess, had learned TO
read snakes like | read men. What does
he do? He slaps open little door In the
back of the cage, sings in two-foot
black snake an slams shut the door.
quickern scat. before the cobra knows
what's up. There lays the little black
snake wrigglin'. scared like, on the moor
of the cage among lot of little red liz
ards that's runnin' round in TIE sand
1.-The king cobra lifts up till his heads
about six foot above ground. an he looks
down at the wrigglin' black snake, like
he was sizin' up whether the little feller
has any fight in him or not. An say! 1t
was 'nough to give feller the creeps to
see that cobra snakes eyes as he watched
'tother. Then, he seems to make up his
mind the black snake amt bent on en-
ittin' sooside by beginnin' the fight. So
down swoops the king cobra with sort
of rustly. swishin' rush; an he rabs the
| little snake around the middle. No-not
| by the head or tail He's more mad than
| hungry. So he grabs him by the middle.
| An he hangs on.
! Now what does the attendant do? He
opens the door at the back. kneels on the
! threshold, leanin' out right above the
| king cobra, an ca'mly begins WaShin'
| the winders with his long mop. Ev'ry
swipe that man makes at the glass. his
, hand comes within a foot of the cobra.
But he didn't even look at the big. pizen-
Gus brute coiled up there below his hand.
| He goes on washin the winder like there
| wasn't a snake within ten miles"
But" asked caine. interested in spite
| of himself there was surely danger that
| the cobra might drop the little snake and
| strike at the man. If
That's just the point" cried Caleb.
HE wouldn't. His pizen an his temper
was otherwise engaged. He'd sunk his
fangs into one emmy. An 1t amt cobra
| natur' to let go, once he's got his grip.
| found that out by askn' one of the
keepers. The man with the mop was as
Sc, hat t1,Ay, lnsI -
| been in Methodist conference The cobra
| had just one idee. An that idee was al
ready on the job.
Now, maybe you're wonderin' what
| this long yarn has to do with Blacarda.
| 1t has evrythng to do with him. He's
| the king cobra sort, if ever any man was.
| An In his case, I'm the man with the
| mop. Blacarda's fitted out with whole
| lot of fancy venom An he'd like nothin'
better'n to get his fangs in me. / can't
say | exac'ly blame him. But / amt
hankerin' to get bit. So throws into his
cage little snake called 'Steeloid. An
he nabs it. So longs he's got his teeth
| in that, he amt got the bigness of
mind to bite anything else. When Steel
oids over. I'll toss him another little
snake, an SO on to the end of the chap
| ter. He'll keep gnawin' away. with the
idee he's hurtin' me terrible. An I'll go
| bout my winder- ashin' business mean
| while: KNOWN he's too much took up
| with his little snake to do me any hurt.
Why. son, twas one OF my men that put
Blacarda up to this scheme of gettin'
special session called he could knock
my Steeloid Company out"
Caine made no reply but watched Caleb
mop the perspiration of unwonted ver-
bosity from his forehead. At last he
asked. with bantering smile:
Have you read me. by any chance?'
Have / read my A B c." retorted
Caleb in fine contempt.
I, I'm not buyin' red can'py an givin'
two-dollar character readins,' said Con-
| over, brusauely. Ever in the Adron-
dacks? Anything to do there?"
"Plenty-for the man who can appre-
ciate It's glories. retorted Caine with
pleasant insolence. Very little for
Il hope maybe you could put me on to
some OF the pointers answered Caleb.
Its the first vacation l ever had. An
want all the fun out of 1t l can get. But
Tn blest if l know where the fun comes
in"
a ward heeler would probably regard
Corot in much the same way" observed
Caine, still inwardly smarting at the
Fighters good natured contempt But
surely Miss Shevln must have told you
in some OF her letters the sort of life
they lead there-something Of her amuse-
ments? You can probably get better
anything | could tell you. Doesn't
She
"Oh, ev'ry letter she writes is full OF
it," acquiesced Caleb. gloomiiy. But I
cant make out what the good times are.
just lisen to this, f'r instance. First let
ter had from her-no the second"
(To be continued tomorrow