The Placer herald., 1857-11-07


forever. The reptile all this while being con-
scious of, and seeming to sport with while
seeking to excite her terrors. Now, with its
flat head, distended mouth, and curving
neck, would it dart forth its long form to
warn her-its fatal teeth, unfolding on Ell
ther side of its upper jaws, seeming to
threaten her with instantaneous death
while its powerful eyes shot forth glances
of that fatal fascination Indignantly bright
which by paralyzing with moved form
of terror and of beauty, may readily ac-
count for the spell which it possesses Of
binding the feet of the timid, and denyin 9
even to fear the privilege of flight. Could
she have fled? She felt the nece ssity but
the power of her limbs was gone; and there
still it lay, coiling and uncoiing, its arch
ed neck glittering like ring of bronzed
copper, bright and lurid, and the dread
ful beauty of its eye still fastened, eagerly
contemplating the victim, while the pendu
lous rattle still rang the death note, as if to
prepare the conscious mind for the fate
which is momently approaching the blow
Meanwhile, the Stiffness became deatA- like
v'M all surrounding objects. The bird
had SoHc Will NS SCfediIl anu TUSH. lHc
breeze was silent. The vines ceased to
wave. The leaves family quivered on their
stems. The serpent once moro lay still,
but the eye was never turned away from
the victim. Its corded muscles are all in
a coil. They have but to unclasp suddenly,
and the dreadful fois will be upon her
in full length, and the fatal teeth will strike
and the deadly venom which they secrete
will mingle with the life blood in her veins.
"The terrified damsc her full consci.
business restored but not her strength
feels all her danger. She secs that tie spor
Of tile terrible reptile IS at an end She can
not moac mistake the hovid expression 0,
his eye. She tries to scream, but her voice
died away to feeble gurgling in her throat
Her tongue is paralyzed-hor lips sealed;
once more she strives for flight, but her
limbs refuse their office. She has nothing
left of life but its fearful consciousness
1t is in her despair, that, as a last effort
she succeeds to scream-a single wild CRY,
forced from her by this accumulated agony:
she sinks down upon the grass before her
enemy-her eyes however, still open, and
still looking upon those which directs for
ever upon them. She sees him approach,
now advancing, now receding; now swelling
in every part with something like anger
while his neck arched beautifully, like that
Of a wild horse under the curb, until at
length, tired as it were Of play, like the
cat with her victim, she sees the neck
growing larger, and becoming completely
bowed AS if to strike-the huge jaws
unclosing almost directly above her; the
long, tubulated fang, charged with venom,
protruding from the cavernous mouth-and
she sees no more! Insensibity came to
her aid, and she lay almost lfeless under
the folds of the very monster"
Nothing in ancient or mordern litera-
ture is more strkingly conceived, or viv-
idly described than this scene. At this
moment when we feel that the summer air
is unchanged with this evil presence, and
nature aghast in her soitudes under these
human pangs, the arrow Of young saw
age transfxes the neck of the reptile, and
thus turns aside the deadly fang The
accessories are all in keeping-the snake
like vine; the golden and crimson bloom
the shadow of the old woods, the cry of
the bird, all enhance the sense of the beau
tifu and remote, while the touches which
we have itaicised heighten the effect, till
we feel the glittering eye of the beast, and
its terrible undulations rise image like to
the mind, and we see how all the benignties
of nature are at war with the spirit of the
reptile.