Page:Old ninety-nine's cave.djvu/264

 "Were you ever bitten by any of the snakes?"

"No, immediately after arriving there, I received my first injection—an infinitesimal amount, of course, and one which produced no toxic symptoms; but, strange as it may seem to you, none of the snakes came near our cottage, and though frequently encountered and provoked in our rambles, they did not retaliate. Wing, my companion, did not arrive until some days after I did so I was in a measure prepared for the horrible sight he presented. His rigid forehead, entirely bare of eyebrows; the knotty, flattened nose; face and hands completely covered with leprous tubercles; immense ears and peculiar leper tones—but let us not dwell on this.

"Dr Herschel began treating him at once, and after a few days, during which he taught us his methods, we were left on honor to carry out orders implicitly, with a promise that he would return in about six weeks.

"Neither Wing nor I had one grain of confidence, in fact, we regarded the whole thing as a fetish which, believed in, would un