The Adventure of the Speckled Band the snake wrong, a theory that the swamp adder was an artificial hybrid between the Mexican Gila monster ("Heloderma suspectum") and "Naja naja". His speculation suggests that Doyle might have hidden a double-meaning in Holmes' words. What Holmes said, reported by Watson, was "It is a swamp adder, the deadliest snake in India"; but Klauber suggested what Holmes really said was "It is a "samp-aderm", the deadliest skink in India." "Samp-aderm" can be translated "snake-Gila-monster": "Samp" is Hindi for snake, and the suffix "aderm" is derived from "heloderm", the common or vernacular name of the Gila monster generally used by
The End of the Party (short story) The End of the Party (short story) "The End of the Party" is a short story by the English writer Graham Greene (1904–1991). It was first published in 1929, and has been reprinted many times in anthologies. It is viewed as a classical expression of the English tradition of horror fiction, as it elicits a well-founded and increasingly intense sense of impending doom without inserting any scenes of physical violence. The two principal protagonists of "The End of the Party" are nine-year-olds, Peter Morton and Francis Morton. The story makes clear that although they are identical twins, they possess profound