ie helpless?"

"The Brahmans would never suffer that. If the Government took the
trouble to examine carefully the statistics of deaths caused by snakes,
it would be found that no Hindu of the Shivaite sect has ever died from
the bite of a cobra. They let people of other sects die, but save the
members of their own flock."

"But did we not see how easily he parted with his secret,
notwithstanding we were foreigners. Why should not the English buy it as
readily?"

"Because this secret is quite useless in the hands of Europeans. The
Hindus do not try to conceal it, because they are perfectly certain that
without their aid nobody can make any use of it. The stone will retain
its wonderful power only when it is taken from a live cobra. In order to
catch the snake without killing it, it must be cast into a lethargy, or,
if you prefer the term, charmed. Who is there among the foreigners who
is able to do this? Even amongst the Hindus, you will not find a single
individual in all India who possesses this ancient secret, unless he be
a disciple of the Shivaite Brahmans. Only Brahmans of this sect possess
a monopoly of the secret, and not all even of them, only those, in
short, who belong to the pseudo-Patanjali school, who are usually called
Bhuta ascetics. Now there exist, scattered over the whole of India, only
about half-a-dozen of their pagoda schools, and the inmates would rather
part with their very lives than with their secret."

"We have paid only two rupees for a secret which proved as strong in the
colonel's hands as in the hands of the buni. Is it then so difficult to
procure a store of these stones?" Our friend laughed.

"In a few days," said he, "the talisman will lose all its healing powers
in your inexperienced hands. This is the reason why he let it go at such
a low price, which he is, probably, at this moment sacrificing before
the altar of his deity. I guarantee you a week's activity for your
purchase, but after that time it will only be fit to be thrown out of
the window."

We soon learned how true were these words. On the following day we came
across a little girl, bitten by a green scorpion. She seemed to be in
the last convulsions. No sooner had we applied the stone than the child
seemed relieved, and, in an hour, she was gaily playing about, whereas,
even in the case of the sting of a common black scorpion, the patient
suffers for two weeks. But when, about ten days later, we tried the
experiment of