A SNAKE IN CAMP.
The tent was moved a dozen yards or so, and if there were any more snakes in that hole they had no occasion to complain of disturbance. Another snake was killed close to the camp, and altogether it seemed as if their lines had not fallen in pleasant places.
The snakes were not without their uses, as they were carried off by some of the black soldiers of the detachment, and soon found their way into the cooking-pot. Abdul said there were not many snake-eaters in the detachment, but enough of them to make any ordinary serpent come handy. "The flesh," said he, "is as sweet as that of a chicken, and it is only prejudice that keeps us from trying it."
Of course the incident led to anecdotes of a snaky character, and between dinner and the hour of retiring there were many wonderful narrations. The precaution of sleeping with the legs crossed or stretched wide apart was again enjoined upon the youths, in case they wanted to save themselves from pythonic deglutition. Abdul repeated a tale he had heard of a snake on the banks of Tanganyika Lake that used to swallow the natives when they paddled their rafts near his lair. He was large enough to take in man and boat at a single gulp, and the boats seemed to aid his digestion instead of injuring it.
Ali said that in his country the antelopes were so large they would be mistaken for elephants, except for their shape; and his statement was verified by another narrator, who declared that in his native place the goats were provided with trunks like elephants, while the chickens had heads and necks like serpents, and could inflict a bite which was instantly fatal. Another disciple of the marvellous told of cats larger than cows, and mice like bull-dogs, and he averred that his brother had been in a country where the flies were used as horses, and a strong fly could carry a man five or ten miles without lighting down for a rest.
The next day the weather was better, but the necessity of drying the camp equipage prevented an early start. Everybody rejoiced at the reappearance of the sun, and the horses and donkeys seemed to share in the pleasure of the return of the clear sky.
In the last camp before they reached Miani's Tree, Doctor Bronson told the youths he had a plan for their future movements which he had been carefully considering for several days, and would now unfold to them.
"It is this," said the Doctor: "from Afuddo we have a choice of two routes to the country of King M'tesa—one by land, and one by water. If the steamer is in running order we can explore the Albert N'yanza, making the circuit of the lake, and ascending the Somerset River, or Victoria Nile, to Murchison Falls, twenty-two miles above the river's mouth.
"The other route is altogether by land, through the M'rooli country, to Foueira, the station of the Egyptian troops where our detachment is going.