word of panic. Danger and fear may occasionally dull the sense and
paralyse the faculties, but they more frequently sharpen both, and ere I
could wink my eye, I was broad awake and aware that, coiling and coiling
itself up into a circle of twists, an enormous serpent was on my breast.
When I tell you that the whole of my chest, and even the pit of my
stomach, were covered with the cold, scaly proportions of the reptile,
you will own that it must have been one of considerable size.

What my thoughts were--so made up of abhorrence, dread, and the
expectation--nay, assurance of speedy death, that must follow any
movement on my part--I can never hope to tell in language sufficiently
distinct and vivid to convey their full force. It was evident the
loathsome creature had at length settled itself to sleep; and I felt
thankful that, attracted by my breath, it had not approached the upper
part of my throat. It became quite still, and its weighty pressure--its
first clammy chillness becoming gradually (so it seemed to me) of a
burning heat--and the odious, indescribable odor which exhaled from its
body and pervaded the whole air--so overwhelmed me, that it was only by
a severe struggle I preserved myself from shrieking. As it was, a cold
sweat burst from every pore. I could hear the beating of my heart--and I
felt, to my increased dismay, that the palsy of terror had began to
agitate my limbs! "It will wake," thought I, "and then all is over!" At
this juncture, something--it might have been a wall-lizard, or a large
beetle--fell from the ceiling upon my left arm, which lay stretched at
my side. The snake, uncoiling its head, raised itself, with a low hiss,
and then, for the first time, I saw it,--saw the hood, the terrible
crest glistening in the moonshine. It was a Cobra di Capello! Shading my
eyes to exclude the dreadful spectacle, I lay almost fainting, until
again all was quiet. Had its fiery glances encountered mine, all would
have been over; but, apparently, it was once more asleep, and presently