The cow has lost her milk. Could it be Judson who was stealing it, the old man thought? He killed the old man's dog. At night the old man went to look after the cow. She stood peacefully, chewing her gum and looking at the moon. An hour before dawn the udder was full. And then the old man saw her. A large black snake, a mamba, eight feet long and as thick as a man's arm, was crawling through the damp grass straight towards the cow, and quickly at that. The mamba raised the front of her black body just below the cow's udder, took one of the thick teats and began to drink the milk. This was the case the next night. And on the third night Judson, a man who killed other people’s dogs, went with him. When a black mamba bites, everything happens very quickly.