night, and must trespass upon somebody's kindness for a bed. He was assisted to a room, and the lights were being put out in the mess when we heard a series of wild shouts up stairs, and then a noise as of some heavy body thumping and banging down the steps. We ran out into the passage, and discovered the naval man lying curled up, half undressed, at the bottom of the stair-case; so we lifted him up and asked what was the matter. He appeared very much frightened, and gasped out:—
"Oh, Lord! I've got them at last."
"Got what?" we inquired.
"Oh, Lord: I've got them at last—Oh, send for a doctor will you. I'll never touch another drop of that cursed ship's rum, if I get over this."
"But what have you got?" we reiterated.
"Got? I've got the jumps—that's what I've got."
"Nonsense! go to bed! you're all right."
"I tell you I'm not. I could have sworn I saw a snake in my bed just now, and that's one of the first signs."
He was so eager to see a doctor that we took him to one, and then went up to examine his room. True enough there was a snake, coiled up in the blanket on his bed. It was a python, which had escaped from a
