, and cut down some
boughs, with which we constructed a rude arbour to shelter our heads and
bodies from the night dew, although it would have been of little service
in case of a fall of tropical rain. Tom suggested that, as Charley was
leader, he ought not to keep watch.

"No, no," said Charley. "I will share with you all in that respect;"
and he offered to keep the first watch. Harry took the second, Tom the
third, and I the morning watch.

Tom called me, saying that he had been listening to the mutterings and
roars of lions, the occasional cries of deer as they were pounced on by
some savage beasts, and the shrieks and other strange noises of night
birds. "But you mustn't mind that, sir," he said; "you'll soon get
accustomed to them. If you see anything suspicious, don't mind rousing
me up, although you may not wish to awaken the whole party."

I promised to do this, and began to walk about in front of the fire.
However, feeling very tired, I sat down, placing my rifle by my side.
While thus seated, I confess that, unexpectedly, my eyes closed. It
appeared to me but for a moment, although when I opened them daylight
had broken, and a bright gleam cast from the orange-tinted sky was
thrown over the lake. I was about to spring to my feet and stoop to
pick up my rifle, when I found it had gone. On looking round, I saw
Aboh holding it in his hand and moving cautiously away from the camp,
while he presented it at some object of which he had caught sight a
little distance off, and on which his eye was intently fixed. He did
not appear to hear me as I followed, when what was my horror to see an
enormous serpent, its neck rising in the air, its mouth extended as if
about to spring. Aboh stepped behind a small tree, which afforded him
some protection, and resting the barrel of the rifle against the trunk,
fixed his eye on the creature. It seemed to me about to make its fatal
spring, when he, and perhaps my companions and I as well, might have
been destroyed. The serpent rose in the air, Aboh fired, its head
instantly dropped, although the body continued to writhe and twist along
the ground.

The report aroused the rest of the party, who sprang to their feet.
They looked greatly astonished when they found it was Aboh and not I who
had fired. This, I may say, was the first of many dangers we escaped
from the huge monsters of that region. On measuring the snake, we found
it full thirty feet in length, with a gi