I Bagged Him
With The Two-Ounce Rifle, But The Large Ball Damaged Him Terribly.
There
are few better birds than a Ceylon peafowl, if kept for two days and
then washed in vinegar:
They combine the flavour of the turkey and the
pheasant.
I was obliged to carry the bird myself, as my two gun-bearers were
staggering under the weight of the deer, and the spare guns were carried
by my tracker. We were proceeding slowly along, when the tracker, who
was in advance, suddenly sprang back and pointed to some object in the
path. It was certainly enough to startle any man. An enormous serpent
lay coiled in the path. His head was about the size of a very small
cocoa-nut, divided lengthways, and this was raised about eighteen inches
above the coil. His eyes were fixed upon us, and his forked tongue
played in and out of his mouth with a continued hiss. Aiming at his
head, I fired at him with a double-barrelled gun, within four paces, and
blew his head to pieces. He appeared stone dead; but upon pulling him by
the tail, to stretch him out at full length, he wreathed himself in
convulsive coils, and lashing himself out in full length, he mowed down
the high grass in all directions. This obliged me to stand clear, as his
blows were terrific, and the thickest part of his body was as large as a
man's thigh. I at length thought of an expedient for securing him.
Cutting some sharp-pointed stakes, I waited till he was again quiet,
when I suddenly pinned his tail to the ground with my hunting-knife, and
thrusting the pointed stake into the hole, I drove it deeply into the
ground with the butt end of my rifle.
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