When we had the trying-out finished—the whale made about sixty-three barrels—we were not far from Bazaruta Island, and the captain thought it a good chance to lay in some wood. Two boats were sent ashore, the men taking axes, while the Clearchus lay near, and the rest of the crew were busy with their cleaning and scrubbing. I was sent ashore with the boats. The island, or at any rate the part of it which we saw, was uninhabited, and was covered with a dense jungle of woods and vines and creepers. There was an abundance of wood, but it was rather hard to get, and we were there for two days, the boats taking off the wood as fast as we got it cut. The second day I got lost in the jungle, and I might be there yet if it had not been for Peter. There were a good many snakes in the jungle, the cobra among them. I did not know much about snakes, did not recognize the cobra, and did not appreciate its quality. I had become separated from the others in my pursuit of trees which I could tackle alone, and which would be of any value as fuel. When at last I looked up, I realized that I was lost. I had stepped so thoroughly around the tree that my trail in had become obliterated, and I could not tell which way to go. I tried several ways, but they all ended in a tangle of vegetation, and I began to get really scared, but I did not like to yell. I stopped and looked about me, and I saw a snake crawling sluggishly away. My only experience with snakes had been with these little green or mottled-brown grass snakes, about two feet long or less, or with adders, and a couple of big blacksnakes. The blacksnakes I let alone, but I was accustomed {221} to catch the grass snakes and treat them as pets. I had a box in our back yard, covered with wire netting, in which I put them, and kept them until my mother made too strenuous objection to the practice. Then, although I could not understand why she should object so strongly, I bowed to the inevitable. They were pretty things, and quite harmless; even useful, but she neither knew nor cared about that. So, when I saw that snake in the jungle, instead of letting him go peaceably, as anybody else would have done, and glad that he was going, I leaped after him. It was not so very big, perhaps three or four feet long. The snake hurried when I jumped, but I kept on, and it stopped and faced me, rearing its head erect, some distance from the ground. Its hood puffed out, and its head waved slowly from side to side. I began to be scared then, and backed away. There was a slight movement in the vines and bushes back of the snake, they parted silently, and I saw Peter looking at me. I did not speak, but pointed at the snake. Peter did not delay. His axe fell upon the snake, and cut it cleanly in two parts. “Come, lad,” said Peter. “We missed you, and nobody knew which way you ’d gone. They ’re about done.”