ed certain death, and not only that but had obtained power over the
venomous reptiles, one of which ought by all physical laws to have been
his destroyer on that first occasion? Could he have discovered some
wonderful remedy known only to the natives, which had not only cured him
but had rendered him thenceforward immune from their venom? It might be
so; and being so the man might have turned the circumstance to account
by setting up as a magician, and so have wandered up here.

"These are mine!" he mouthed, pointing to the luckless pair. "I claim
them. Now shall my serpents rejoice."

A murmur of respectful assent went up at this, of eager assent. This
would be a new and original mode of amusement, in fact an improvement on
the ants' nest plan.

"This one first," said the Snake-Doctor, designating Wyvern, who in
obedience to another signal was seized and dragged a little further off
to a spot where the ground was quite smooth and open. Those who had
thus dragged him withdrew, not without some alacrity, to a respectful
distance, to watch the fun.

The Snake-Doctor advanced and drawing forth a long reptile, of the
yellow-snake variety, held it by its middle, and, standing over his
victim allowed it to make a vicious dart, which just stopped short of
the latter's face. This was repeated again and again, the while from
the crowd which ringed them around, now in respectful silence, a
deep-chested gasp arose with every strike.

The said victim lay, looking upward at his tormentor. He had first
intended awaiting the death stroke with closed eyes, but a sort of
unaccountable fascination held them open. The black, cruel face,
hideously pock-marked, the wool standing out in fantastic plaits from
the head, like so many horns, made a satanic picture which the writhings
of the satanic reptiles completed. A cold perspiration stood forth upon
his face, as he expected every stroke of the deadly reptile to be the
last. Then the Snake-Doctor desisted, gathering back the thing again.

Now the next act in this drama of torture by anticipation was to begin.
All the loathsome glistening coils which enveloped the person of the
Snake-Doctor like clothing, were in motion as he cast forth some half
dozen of the reptiles. These crawled around the helpless victim, heads
erect and hissing horribly. It was clear that some marvellous magic
controlled them as they moved to and fro, obedient to a scarcely
perceptible hissing chirrup