Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-23

for to him the snake represented the lord OF
all things. But Humphries was his master.
and he obeyed.
Il Thought sol' said Humplnies. ~ he turned
over the dead snake with the toe Of his boot.
He pointed out . Moose Of plant vine tightly
fastened at the back OF the snakes head The
free end Of the vine was several feet long
-AGira-Oae" he said once more, although how
he could ten there was the old mans finger in
the business puzzled me. But he refused to
satisfy my curiousity. and insisted on going on,
after DensO had tenderIy borne the snakes
carcass on the trail and laid 10 in the grass.
Unless I'm mistaken can show you better
than can tell you." Humphries told me- A
few yards farther on, round q bend in the
trail, we found the other policeman standing
beside bed Of hot Goals. On the IRE was
deep earthenware pot and beside It q piece OF
wood and q stone-evidently the cover Of the
pot and the weight which held IL down. In the
dust about the IRE were the prints Of naked
feet To one side peg had been driven deep
into the ground and fastened to It was another
length Of the same kind OF plant wine which
had been tied to the snake. 1t was all very
mystifying to me.
Look inside the pot" said Humphries
although he had not done so himself. with the
stick carried turned the hot vessel over ara
nshed inside it / brought TO Light khaki
eoloFed handkerchief, ummistakably one OF
those which had disappeared two nights before
when the old sorcerer bad hung up our clothing
to dry.
IF those carriers had been close to lB we
should have had nice little mNtiny on our
hands" the magistrate told me. That Is one
Of the favorite methods used by q sorceser to
Get rid Of an enemy whom he cannot poison
Ia uknx
handkerchiefs. Probably that one you saw in
the pot was mine, he would want to get rid
OF me most of all.
1T isn't hard to guess what happened Mira
Ga fed from the village last night and crossed
the river to this side Early this morning he
took the handkerchief and put IL and the snake
in the pot. after fastening Moose about the
snake and tying the other end Of the vine to
the peg Then he put the lid ON the not
weighted it down and built fire under the pot
The snake, tortured by the heat associated
its suffering with the smell that was closest to
h--that of tine sweaty handkerchief when we
drew near the SOTceFer tilted the lid OF the
pot and let the snake out Then he cut the vine,
knowing that the snake. Infatuated by it's ssOny
would make straight for anything that had the
same smell IS the handkerchief which he
blamed for his pain. In other words, that
snake was bent on attacking the person whose
scent the handkerchief. In this case
I believe 1t was me, but 1t might have been
you, so when I ran pulled you along as well -
1t sounded preposterous then. 1t sounds that
way now. even though have seen similar cases
narrated in ofhcial government reports
But that marked the end of Mira-Oa so far
we're concerned. We made inquiries for
him when got back to the coast weeks later.
but he hadn't been seen for several DAYS
Probably word of our return reached him when
we were still long way or Such rnessmees
travel very rapidly by means OF the mysterious
bush telegraph" and REira-oa no doubt de-
ctded that short exile from his vfalzxr was
preferable TO facing Us.
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