A NARROW ESCAPE. 349

He had nothing on but his drawers and a short cloak. The
travellers saw the form of the snake under the drawers ; they
dismounted, put on thick gloves, took a pair of scissors, cut
very carefully through the drawers till they came to the head
of the animal, still fast asleep, and then one of them seized it
by the neck, and so released the poor man. It was nearly
three feet long, as thick as a walking-stick, coral-red in colour,
with yellow rings. The poor man said he had passed two or
three hours in that dangerous situation, which appeared as long
as weeks, and had called to two or three passers-by, who had
all avoided him, from the supposition that it was the decoy of
a marauding Indian. He was completely unmanned, and his
strength was prostrated by his apprehensions. ’’