Page:Scented isles and coral gardens- Torres Straits, German New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies, by C.D. Mackellar, 1912.pdf/90

60 relax its hold. This so infuriated it that it snapped like a mad dog, and the writhings and contortions of its body were so strong as to fling us about. Our orchids, borne on our heads, fell over our faces and almost entangled us. We only had a small space to stand on, and all the time in my mind was the thought of what we were to do if we did pull it round, or that if it let go suddenly we―that is, Mack, I, and the snake―would instantly go over the edge of the plateau into the pool, twenty feet below us, together! Bit by bit, weakened probably by the blows, we dragged it round, and as we got it clear of the stone, too bewildered, I expect, to realise the situation, the Captain dropped his pickaxe on its head and pressed it down.

“Hold this,” he said to me, so I let go its tail and, seizing the pickaxe, pressed its head well down. “Don't kill it,” he said, seeing I was being very energetic over it. Then he went and cut a long stout wand, and, returning, I let its head loose, but still kept its neck down with all my strength, avoiding the writhing coils as best I could, whilst Mack still hung on in the rear. The Captain then tied its neck firmly to the end of the long wand, and we had it!

“Well, I'm blessed!” said Mack, staring at me, for all this had taken place so unexpectedly, and our tussle at the end of its tail had been so unpremeditated, that we only realised the whole thing when it was over. As for me, I couldn't believe I had done such a thing―hung on to the tail of an infuriated snake! It was non-poisonous, a “carpet snake,” but there had been no time to think of that. Of course it could have crushed us in its folds had it had the chance.

Then Captain Thompson raised its head up at the end of the wand, whilst he allowed its body to