his left instep. I do not
think I ever saw anything more heroic than this act of the savage, for
though the flesh hissed and smoked and gave forth a most horrible odour
of burnt flesh, the man never winced, but calmly and deliberately
cauterised the bite with as much care and thoroughness as though he had
been operating upon somebody else. But that he was not insensible to
his self-inflicted torture was very evident from the fact that in a few
seconds he was literally drenched with the perspiration that started
from every pore of his body.

While this was happening, the leader of the party had hurriedly raked
from the fire the scorched and blistered half of the snake to which the
head was attached, and, seizing it by the neck, squeezed it until the
jaws were forced open, revealing two long, slender, needle-like fangs
projecting from the upper jaw. Holding this horrible object between the
finger and thumb of his right hand, he approached me, and, before I had
the least idea of what he intended to do, seized my wounded hand and
approached the head of the still living reptile so closely to it that it
was easily to be seen that the two tiny punctures in my flesh were
exactly the same distance apart as the snake's fangs, the inference
being that this was the identical reptile that had bitten me. Having
satisfied himself of this, the man flung the loathsome object back into
the heart of the fire, where it was soon consumed.

I was by this time suffering the most dreadful agony, my hand and arm
were so terribly swollen that they had almost lost all semblance to any
portion of the human anatomy, while the two punctures made by the poison
fangs were puffed up, almost to bursting, and encircled by two rings of
livid grey colour. The throbbing of the limb, as the blood forced
itself through the congested passages, can only be compared to the
pulsing of a stream of fire, and I am certain that, had I been within
reach of qualified surgical assistance at the moment, I should have
insisted upon having the limb removed, as I was convinced that the pain
of amputation would have been less acute than that from which I was
suffering. Needless to say, I had no appetite for food when it was
offered me a little while afterward; but I felt thirsty enough to drink
the river dry, and quaffed several cocoa-nuts with an ecstasy of delight
that almost caused me to forget my pain--for the moment.

Breakfast over, the word was given to re-emb