' ''
``There is practically no gloaming in tropical
countries,'' said Bertie indulgently; ``but I like the
masterly reticence with which you treat the cobra's motive
for gloating. The unknown is proverbially the uncanny. I
can picture nervous readers of the _Smoky Chimney_ keeping
the light turned on in their bedrooms all night out of sheer
sickening uncertainty as to _what_ the cobra might have been
gloating about.''
``Cobras gloat naturally,'' said Clovis, ``just as wolves
are always ravening from mere force of habit, even after
they've hopelessly overeaten themselves. I've got a fine
bit of colour painting later on,'' he added, ``where I
describe the dawn coming up over the Brahmaputra river:
`` `The amber dawn-drenched East with sun-shafts kissed,
Stained sanguine apricot and amethyst,
O'er the washed emerald of the mango groves
Hangs in a mist of opalescent mauves,
While painted parrot-flights impinge the haze
With scarlet, chalcedon and chrysoprase.'' '
``I've never seen the dawn come up over the Brahmaputra
river,'' said Bertie, ``so I can't say if it's a good
description of the event, but it sounds more like an account
of an extensive jewel robbery.
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