Page:McClure's Magazine volume 10.djvu/581

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their light-built house stood—the balance of things having been hastened on to the next town.

And in the line of epidemics, below typhoons and earthquakes, come house snakes, which live up in the rafters of some of the older structures and chase rats in the small hours. These reptiles, though big, are harmless, and rarely show themselves. They are good, though noisy, rat-catchers; but since they must needs eat all they catch, their efficiency is limited to their length of stomach, and one night of energetic campaign is generally followed by several days