nerally accepted at the time as a solution of the
mystery:

"SIR,--I keep snakes as pets, and allow them a wriggle on the grass
every day. Early last week I missed one, a little black chap about
10 to 11 in. long, and have not seen him since. Perhaps the one Mr.
Harry Furniss found on Saturday is my lost pet, carried away, not
by one of the expected vultures, but by a roving Regent's Park
rook."

This soothed some nervous readers' fears; but not all. Another
correspondent wrote:

"The tale of the Regent's Park serpent (_Likajokophis
harryfurnissii_), discovered, patented, and greatly improved upon
by the vivacious caricaturist, appears to be even now not told to
its bitter sequel; for I am credibly informed at the Zoological
Gardens that an official of a large hospital in the neighbourhood
was sent there yesterday to enquire how soon it would be safe for
the convalescent patients to resume their daily airing in the
Park, as to the probabilities of further lethal reptilian monsters
lurking within its fastnesses, etc."

The truth of the matter was, several snakes were at the same time found
in gardens of private houses close to the Zoological Menagerie. "Mr. A.
B. Edwards" wrote, from an address close to the Zoo, to the _Daily
Telegraph_, a few weeks after my finding the cause of all the snake
sensation:

"This afternoon we were taking tea in our garden when we saw a
snake 2 ft. long frisking on the lawn close to our feet.
Fortunately one of our fowls had got loose from the cage, and came
to pick up the crumbs. When it caught sight of the snake it pounced
upon it, and a great battle was fought between fowl and serpent.
After ten minutes' hard fighting, the snake lay dead. Your readers
may be interested to hear of this, and, being forewarned, they will
be forearmed against snakes in their gardens."

The _Westminster Gazette_, _a propos_ of this:

"'Lika-Joko's' snake may now crawl away into its native
insignificance when it reads of the exploits of its comrade, who
preferred death to captivity."

But my snake did not crawl away; far from it. The man in the reptile
house, who "looked puzzled" and grinned, and had to grope about the sand
at the bottom of the case to find the snake for the edification of the
_Westminster Gazette_ interviewer, did not grin to that purpose for
long. Never