d so as to bite the rat who was clinging on like the old man in
'Sindbad the Sailor.' Soon, however, cobra changed his tactics. Tired,
possibly, with sustaining the weight of the rat, he lowered his head,
and the rat, finding himself again on terra firma, tried to run away:
not so; for the snake, collecting all his force, brought down his
erected poison-fangs, making his head tell by its weight in giving vigor
to the blow, right on to the body of the rat.

This poor beast now seemed to know that the fight was over and that he
was conquered. He retired to a corner of the cage and began panting
violently, endeavoring at the same time to steady his failing strength
with his feet. His eyes were widely dilated, and his mouth open as if
gasping for breath. The cobra stood erect over him, hissing and putting
out his tongue as if conscious of victory. In about three minutes the
rat fell quietly on his side and expired; the cobra then moved off and
took no further notice of his defunct enemy. About ten minutes afterward
the rat was hooked out of the cage for me to examine. No external wound
could I see anywhere, so I took out my knife and began taking the skin
off the rat. I soon discovered two very minute punctures, like small
needle-holes, in the side of the rat, where the fangs of the snake had
entered. The parts between the skin and the flesh, and the flesh itself,
appeared as though affected with mortification, even though the wound
had not been inflicted above a quarter of an hour, if so much.

Anxious to see if the skin itself was affected, I scraped away the parts
on it with my finger-nail. Finding nothing but the punctures, I threw
the rat away and put the knife and skin in my pocket, and started to go
away. I had not walked a hundred yards before all of a sudden I felt
just as if somebody had come behind me and struck me a severe blow on
the head and neck, and at the same time I experienced a most acute pain
and sense of oppression at the chest, as though a hot iron had been run
in and a hundred-weight put on the top of it. I knew instantly, from
what I had read, that I was poisoned; I said as much to my friend, a
most intelligent gentleman, who happened to be with me, and told him if
I fell to give me brandy and "eau de luce," words which he kept
repeating in case he might forget them. At the same time I enjoined him
to keep me going, and not on any account to allow me to lie down.

I then forgot everything for sever