rnoon, while she was out at tea with some friends, the Malay
gardener brought to the house the carcass of a hamadryad which he had
killed in the garden. The hamadryad, as you probably know, is perhaps
the deadliest of all Eastern reptiles. Its bite usually causes death in
a few minutes. Moreover, it is one of the few snakes that will attack
human beings without provocation. The husband, with two other chaps,
both officers in his battalion, was sitting on the verandah when the
snake was brought in.

"'I say,' suggested one of the officers, 'here's a chance to break
Madge of her fear of snakes. Why not curl this fellow up on her bed?
She'll get a jolly good fright, of course, but when she discovers that
he's dead and that she's been panicky about nothing, she'll get over
her silly fear of the beggars. What say, old chap?'

"To this insane suggestion, in spite of the protests of the other
officer, the husband assented. Probably he had been having too many
brandies and sodas. I don't know. But in any event, they put the
witless idea into execution. Toward nightfall the young wife returned.
She had on a frock of some thin, slinky stuff and a droopy garden hat
with flowers on it and carried a sunshade. She was awfully pretty. She
hadn't been out there long enough to lose her English coloring, you
see.

"'Oh, I say, Madge,' called her husband, 'There's a surprise for you in
your bedroom.'

"With a little cry of delighted anticipation she hurried into the
house. She thought her husband had bought her a gift, I suppose. A
moment later the trio waiting on the verandah heard a piercing shriek.
The first shriek was followed by another and then another. Pretty soon,
though, the screams died down to a whimper--a sort of sobbing moan.
Then silence. After a few minutes, as there was no further sound from
the bedroom and his wife did not reappear, the husband became uneasy.
He rose to enter the house, but the chap who had suggested the scheme
pulled him back.

"'She's all right,' he assured him. 'She sees it's a joke and she's
keeping quiet so as to frighten you. If you go in there now the laugh
will be on you. She'll be out directly.'

"But as the minutes passed and she did not reappear all three of the
men became increasingly uneasy.

"'We'd better have a look,' the one who had demurred suggested after a
quarter of an hour had passed, during which no further sound had come
from the bedroom. 'Madge is very high-strung. She may