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Before it could recover itself it was once more in the beak of the serpent-eater, and trailing through the air. This time the bird rose to a much greater height than before as he was not hampered by the writhing of the serpent and as before suffered the reptile to fall, and then darted suddenly after.
Now the bird which had so opportunely appeared between Jan and Truey, and had no doubt saved one or the other, or both, from the deadly bite of the spuugh-slang, was a serpent-eater, one that had been tamed, and that made its home among the branches of the great nwana-tree.
Of course it was Jan's pet, and Jan was very good to it; but it now repaid all his kindness in saving him from the fangs of the deadly cobra. The children, having recovered from their alarm, stood watching the singular conflict between serpent and serpent-eater. On first seizing the reptile, the bird had caught it by the neck in its beak.
O Brahmana, even he is the charioteer of Surya, always seen in the hour of morning! "Then at the expiration of the five hundred years, bursting open the other egg, out came Garuda, the serpent-eater. O tiger of Bhrigu's race, immediately on seeing the light, that son of Vinata left his mother.
His object was to stun the latter by the fall; and the more effectually to do this, he would have carried the cobra still higher, had not the latter prevented it by attempting to coil itself around his wings. Upon letting fall his prey the serpent-eater did not remain in the air.
It is sometimes also called "the messenger," from the staid solemn manner of its walk, as it stalks over the plain. Of all its names that of "serpent-eater" is the best adapted to the character of the bird.
In the African species the two middle ones are the longest, while in the serpent-eater of the Philippines it is the two outside feathers that project giving the bird the appearance of having a "fork" or "swallow" tail. Some points of distinction have also been observed between the South African bird and that of the Gambia.
Life was now extinct, and the hideous form, extended to its full length, lay lithe and motionless upon the grass. Jan and Truey clapped their hands, and uttered exclamations of joy. The serpent-eater took no heed of their demonstrations, but, approaching the dead cobra, bent over it, and coolly set about making his dinner. Von Bloom and his family had now been months without bread.
Before it could recover itself it was once more in the beak of the serpent-eater, and trailing through the air. This time the bird rose to a much greater height than before as he was not hampered by the writhing of the serpent and as before suffered the reptile to fall, and then darted suddenly after.
It is sometimes also called "the messenger," from the staid solemn manner of its walk, as it stalks over the plain. Of all its names that of "serpent-eater" is the best adapted to the character of the bird.
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