The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 365: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. 359 | — A sinister fire burnt in her large dark eyes as she approached the case containing the deadly cobra. He darted his head somewhat forward, as if with an inveterate malignity longing to spring at her, but yet with the instinctive knowledge that there was a barrier of glass between them and that he would only sustain a hurt by dashing himself’ in- effectually against that transparent frontage. The calm intrepidity of ten thousand amazons was con. centrated in the soul of Sagoonah then! She elanced at the arrangements of the cases: she saw that the glass fronts were made to slide up and down, but that they were fastened by small brass padlocks, one of which was fixed on the top of every case. She tried the padlock above the case in which the cobra lay; and as if Satan him- self had purposely lent his aid to further her foul design, the padlock yielded to her hand. The keeper had either omitted to lock it—or else had so slovenly done his work as not to see that the semi-circular bolt had not been thrust in far enough to meet the lock itself. But whichever it were, the padlock was now removed by Sagoonah’s hand; and again did her eyes flash forth the fire of triumph. “ Once more she sped to the entrance of the snake-house and swept her looks around. Still the coast was altogether clear; and she retraced her way towards the deadly cobra’s den. Then from beneath the folds of her garments she drew forth a small bag of the thickest and strongest Iecather, —a bag that was about large enough to contain a fowl or small rabbit. She had so skilfully arranged a piece of whipcord to pass along the top or open- ing, that it could be closed and drawn tight in the twinkling of an eye—just as a lady’s reticule is made to shut. This bag she opened to a suitable width, and placed it in readiness to receive the reptile. Then without the slightest fear—without even so much as the faintest sensation of a curdling of the blood—she lifted the glass with her left hand, —having her right in readiness to use at the moment that should seem advisable. The reptile appeared to watch for a few instants the ascending glass, as if it were something to which it was totally unac- customed: for be it well understood that the glasses of those cases were never raised while the reptiles were in them, and only when they had been driven or lifted into an adjoining empty case by a stout wire passed through a small hole at the top. Thus the cobra now seemed to follow with its cold vibrating eyes the ascending glass, as if it were something that struck it with a vague terror: then it closed its hood—turned its head round— and began to glide to the back part of the case. Not more quickly could the reptile itself have darted at Sagoonah than was her right hand thrust into the case; and ere her eye could wink she had clutched the serpent by the neck, but so close to its head that it could not possibly turn its mouth sufficiently so as to touch her finger even with its tongue. Its tail was instantaneously cailed round Sagoonah’s dark but admirably modelled arm: but in another moment the head of the reptile was forced into the opening of the bag. A partial drawing of the string constricted the opening to just the limit of the reptile’s dimensions, so that it could not turn its head to bite as it gradually glided through her loosening grasp; and just as the point of its tail slipped through her palm, the string was drawn completely tight. Sagoonah then lowered the glass to within about an inch of the bottom of the case,—thus giving it the appearance as if the serpent itself by its own efforts had raised it thus far; and she sped to rejoin her mistress and Christina,—the leathern bag with its fearful contents, being concealed under her garments. She had not been altogether separated from the Prin- cess and our heroine more than five minutes before she thus overtook them; and it was with a de. meanour as calm and collected as if nothing at all extraordinary had taken place. Our young heroine had been shocked and sick- ened by the contemplation of the reptiles; she felt faint—she looked very pale—and the Princess In- dora accordingly resolved to take her home at once. They were in the close vicinage of the revolving- gate which affords egress exactly opposite the principal entrance: the carriage was in readiness —and thus within two or three minutes after Sa- goonah had rejoined them, they were seated in the equipage once more. A quarter of an hour had probably elapsed from the departure of the Princess, when the principal keeper of the snake-house, on entering the room, was smitten with horror on observing that the glass front of the cobra’s case was raised, and that the cobra itself had disappeared. The cold per- spiration burst out of the man’s forehead; and he shuddered with a convulsing terror as the dreadful thought struck him that from some corner the deadly serpent might spring upon him. But the room isso arranged that a few moments’ careful scrutiny is sufficient for the eye to penetrate into every nook; and the keeper, regaining somewhat of his self-possession, was thus enabled to satisfy himself that the cobra was not within that room. He was a prudent man—he did not wish to excite a consternation amongst the visitorsin the grounds: he closed the glass of the case, and sped away to the superintending authority of the Gardens. This individual was speedily on the spot: there was evi- dence to prove that the padlock had been neglected by the under-keeper ; and the natural surmise was that the reptile, by dint of its own muscular ac- tion, had succeeded in raising the glass. The cir cumstance was whispered to some of the most trustworthy of the men employed on the grounds; and a search was instituted for the missing snake: but it is scarcely necessary to inform the reader that this search terminated unsuccessfully. The matter was consequently hushed up: and to those who inquired what had become of the cobra, the response was given that it had died. CHAPTER LXIX. THE COBRA. THE Princess, Christina, and Sagoonah returned to the villa; and by the time of their arrival, our heroine’s indisposition had passed off. She ex- pressed a hope that her Highness would not accuse her of any foolish affectation; and Indora has- tened to reassure her on the point in the most friendly terms. The hours passed on—it was close upon ten Eee eee SS... MICLOOOKS (C(O) CO)