Page:Scented isles and coral gardens- Torres Straits, German New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies, by C.D. Mackellar, 1912.pdf/89

Rh “Don’t kill it, don’t touch it!” cried the Captain. “It is a splendid one, let us get it alive.”

Get it alive, indeed! How glad I was it was getting away! Every thought of the blacks had gone out of our heads.

The snake—it was over ten feet long and very thick—by this time had got up on top of a huge boulder over the stream, and from this little plateau rose another huge pinnacled boulder. A shaft of sunlight just struck this spot and brought out all the colours of the snake’s skin, and it certainly made a wonderful effect. Up we went after it and were soon on top of the boulder, which gave us a few flat feet of stone to stand on. Directly beneath was a deep, clear pool of the stream. It was simply an ideal spot and stood out conspicuously amidst the luxuriant vegetation. The snake had got round the pin- nacled boulder which rose above us, its head one side, its tail the other. We were all at such close quarters that it was quite exciting. The Captain made dashes at its head with the pick- axe.

“Hold it by the tail,” he cried excitedly, fearful lest it should get away. I hesitated— I am not surprised I did. Had any one told me that I should, under any circumstances, seize a ten-foot-long snake by the tail I should have said “Impossible,” so great is my fear and repul- sion for these brutes. Even a dead one gives me cold shivers. Mack pushed me aside and, grasping its tail, hauled lustily, and in the excitement I forgot everything and pulled away too. It had such a strong grip round the rock that, haul as we would, we could only drag it back inch by inch—the Captain meanwhile giving it blows on the head, not to injure it, but to make it