I suppose it was through being weak, and having passed through a
feverish state, which made me dream to such a tremendous extent, with
everything so real and vivid that it was horrible. It comes natural to
a man to dread snakes. It is as part of his education, and the dread
was upon me terribly that night.
For I was pursued by them in all kinds of grotesque shapes: now they
were all sowars in white, but with serpents' heads, galloping down upon
me in a mad charge; now they were slimy monsters, creeping round my
tent, trying to crawl in and murder me because the rajah had taken me
under his protection. Then Ny Deen himself came to me, all glittering
with gold and gems, but in a confused way. He did not seem to be any
longer a man, for his face looked serpent-like and treacherous, and one
moment there were glittering jewels, the next it was the light
shimmering upon his brilliant scales.
And so on for the rest of the night, till I dreamed that the serpent
slain by the attendant had revived, and crept back through the hole
between the two portions of the canvas, after heaving off the earth and
sand in which it had been buried. And then it came gliding and writhing
its way over the carpet, nearer and nearer to where I lay, not with the
graceful, gliding motion of an ordinary serpent, but clumsily, with its
neck broken and a portion of its tail bent almost at right angles. But,
all the same, as I lay there, it came on nearer and nearer, till it was
close to my couch in the full light of the lamp, and then, to my horror,
it raised itself up, bent its broken neck over me, and glared down with
its horrible eyes threatening to strike.
I awoke then, and it was quite time, for the agony was greater than I
seemed to be able to bear. And there was the bright glow of light, and
the eyes gazing down into mine, not with the malignant glare of a
serpent, but in a pleasant, friendly way.
It was morning, and on one side the tent wall had been lifted, so that
the place was flooded with the clear, soft, early sunshine, and the
place was sweet with the fresh, cool air which came with the dawn even
in that hot land.