I set my teeth and lifted the
loading-rod, for I had not the least knowledge of what might descend.
loading-rod, for I had not the least knowledge of what might descend.
Kipling - Poems
"
"You ought to get your thatch over-hauled," I said. "Give me a masheer
rod, and we'll poke 'em down. "
"They'll hide among the roof beams," said Strickland. "I can't stand
snakes overhead. I'm going up. If I shake 'em down, stand by with a
cleaning-rod and break their backs. "
I was not anxious to assist Strickland in his work, but I took the
loading-rod and waited in the dining-room, while Strickland brought a
gardener's ladder from the veranda and set it against the side of the
room. The snake tails drew themselves up and disappeared. We could hear
the dry rushing scuttle of long bodies running over the baggy cloth.
Strickland took a lamp with him, while I tried to make clear the danger
of hunting roof snakes between a ceiling cloth and a thatch, apart from
the deterioration of property caused by ripping out ceiling-cloths.
"N o n s en s e," said Strickland. "They're sure to hide near the walls
by the cloth. The bricks are too cold for 'em, and the heat of the room
is just what they like. " He put his hands to the corner of the cloth
and ripped the rotten stuff from the cornice. It gave great sound of
tearing, and Strickland put his head through the opening into the
dark of the angle of the roof beams.
I set my teeth and lifted the
loading-rod, for I had not the least knowledge of what might descend.
"H'm," said Strickland; and his voice rolled and rumbled in the roof.
"There's room for another set of rooms up here, and, by Jove! some one
is occupying em. "
"Snakes? " I said down below.
"No. It's a buffalo. Hand me up the two first joints of a masheer rod,
and I'll prod it. It's lying on the main beam. "
I handed up the rod.
"What a nest for owls and serpents! No wonder the snakes live here,"
said Strickland, climbing further into the roof. I could see his elbow
thrusting with the rod. "Come out of that, whoever you are! Look out!
"You ought to get your thatch over-hauled," I said. "Give me a masheer
rod, and we'll poke 'em down. "
"They'll hide among the roof beams," said Strickland. "I can't stand
snakes overhead. I'm going up. If I shake 'em down, stand by with a
cleaning-rod and break their backs. "
I was not anxious to assist Strickland in his work, but I took the
loading-rod and waited in the dining-room, while Strickland brought a
gardener's ladder from the veranda and set it against the side of the
room. The snake tails drew themselves up and disappeared. We could hear
the dry rushing scuttle of long bodies running over the baggy cloth.
Strickland took a lamp with him, while I tried to make clear the danger
of hunting roof snakes between a ceiling cloth and a thatch, apart from
the deterioration of property caused by ripping out ceiling-cloths.
"N o n s en s e," said Strickland. "They're sure to hide near the walls
by the cloth. The bricks are too cold for 'em, and the heat of the room
is just what they like. " He put his hands to the corner of the cloth
and ripped the rotten stuff from the cornice. It gave great sound of
tearing, and Strickland put his head through the opening into the
dark of the angle of the roof beams.
I set my teeth and lifted the
loading-rod, for I had not the least knowledge of what might descend.
"H'm," said Strickland; and his voice rolled and rumbled in the roof.
"There's room for another set of rooms up here, and, by Jove! some one
is occupying em. "
"Snakes? " I said down below.
"No. It's a buffalo. Hand me up the two first joints of a masheer rod,
and I'll prod it. It's lying on the main beam. "
I handed up the rod.
"What a nest for owls and serpents! No wonder the snakes live here,"
said Strickland, climbing further into the roof. I could see his elbow
thrusting with the rod. "Come out of that, whoever you are! Look out!
