New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1860-02-20


blew msrnins and evening. The brook fell over
shell of rock, about ten feet In depth and then lay
calm and quiet In fair round pool. Two or three
palms were On one VIDE and large Spanish chest,
nat ON the other. giving us nmple shade. We had I
j lovely view Of the whole bay, and were, as we
thought quite secure from any dangers above, the
rock being very preciritafe, but the dogs never
While the Others were busily employed running up +
and down 10 bring cur goods and tchattels 70 the
new absde, and the Two little girls arranged them
ID they were brought up They were merrily +
singing ON oyae side of the brock, clearing place
for she tent u be placed. while : ON the other,
Vas arranging seats for dining place. Suddenly L
the song ceased abruptly Looking up 70 see the +
cause al wen as that Of sudden crashing noise saw
little girls gazing inspeechess aMazenncnt atthe
rreat Chestnut tree, and again, without apparent
cause, "A hehsld the huge branches snake aad
CULVER like an aspen tree in the storm. sprang
across the stream and stood before the little gas
From between the branches there appeared ana |
disappeared d horrible head, with giittering eyes
and forked tongue, and, as gazed still more the
whole tree seemed to me To he enyeloped IN the I
folds of an enormous serpent.
The little girls now began to utter shrek upon
shrek, watch brought Serena, with the speed Of
lapwing to our side. Take the children away Z /
whispered, fly, hys quick " n Run little ones
rum she said, feeling there was danger but hardly
realizing The full horrors Of 1t. They obeyed her,
and al their little forms disappeared from behind
us fleeing for their lives, the monster looked out
still further from the groaning tree his diamond
eyes fixed upon their recedng frames
Fold upon fold seemed rapidly unwinding from |
the branches. In the agony Of the moment
Serena flung Il Ratchet she had in her hand at
the head she now for the first time saw. fright.
fnf hiss and q loathsome and deadly odor, told
us 1t had taken effect Again il eoiled itself round
the tree, which rocked and groaned with its |
furious movements. Faint with fear and the hor-
rible smell, knew not my own voice, Is said TO
Screens, Fly child, hy ana send aIa and
have one victim to save the others" No, no, |
let us both 60, 4 will not so without you, Serena,
II command you go, it comes nearer and nearer /
arms round me, burying her face in my neck, to |
avoid seeing the dreadful jaws opening 80 near rs.
Il flung her off and thought would Il not be better
for us to be dashed to pieces over the rocks Than
to be grasped in those deadly coils. s. We will
both NJ Y said we turned and fled. looked
behind; he was not more than thirty yards from
u.s. tried to shout and scare him with my voice, II
but All sound died away IN my throat. AK heart
choked. Everything seemed to be moving With
the same angry, springing motion Of the snake.
Nothing stopped our flight; needless "a every
impeachment We bounded over stones, bushes,
ruflers rocks but each glance showed him adj
yancila We now came to an open smooth plat 9
form IF turf from whence ! knew there was
i precipitons fall Of twenty feeti unless vs. nI
ourselves down, N whispered. Anywhere with p
I'D. ale answered "but, oh horrible fate, was
iat another monster just before Us OF the same n
n
ana be knew he had her safe, for his n
YES grew larger and more glowing as he bounded Il
nd lsaped on every side OF us each bound and u
ach leap bringing him nearer Was there no q
scapeg Yes almost before saw il myself, the il
1osters quick eye has dscerned tive horns rising IL
it the sloping ground, and with bonnd which i
areW us both down, be darted forward. A rush T
IS deadly wind seemed to blow over vs. and ere il
as past tie crashing bones and dying below Of NJ
10 COW gave us warning Of the horrible fate from
lhieh she had saved us. In
We heipsd each other to rise, and serambling /,
own the rock, we never stopped OF spoke until o
u sunk breathless by the tents, where the little
iris had only just arrived. But it was many
ainsltes ere we could tell the frightful scene j
DING On above. We chung together and all drew Il
within the tent while Smart went to summon the D
aptain. The poisonous breath Of the monstrDus i
reature made Serena and myself the victims of | 4
fainting fits, we had the greatest diff
ulty in swallowing anything, and only revived
.nder the influence of strong salts and constant
aiming. Our features assumed the paleness Of III
Ieath, and cold dew rolled in large drops from
,ur foreheads. The moment we raised our heads FL
ireadfnl sickness overeame u.s. and when the
.aptain and his men arrived, we were totally mn
.ble to give any particulars beyond the creature
being INDUSTRIOUS and the cow destroyed.
The captain desired every one to keep as quiet
u possible and directed the sides OF the tent to be
raised to give us air and faces and heads to be
spenged with cold vinegar and water. He entreat-
I'd no 0neto be alarmed as the serpent would not
eave his prey, and might be day or two swal- /
owing 1t, during which time we were quite safe,
and afterwards in his gorged state he would be an
.asy victim, Towards evening. Benjie crept up as
iear the spot he dared, and came down report
ng the snake was still occupied In reducing the
Door cow to q shapeless mass, and had not even
legun to swallow his intended meal. Even his
lark skin showed the fear and horror he was in,
lis look being quite pallid and his eyebaIls lyid
lis teeth chatterng. He declared the snake to be
he most monstrons Of its kind ever seen, and
,aled it an anaconda. On the second evening, the
,aptain, Smart and Benje all went cautiously up.
When they returned the good captain seemed una !
de to express bis mixed feelings, amazement at its
arge size, horror at what might have been our
ate thankfuness at merciful escape, all over
came him. He could only wiring our hands and ,
ondly and earnestly thank God ,
After while he took the two little girls in his
arms, and said, s Oh my darlings, my precious
little ones, had yon found horrible grave in those
dreadful jaws, swallowed as If you had been two
little innocent lambs, must have laid my
head on the nearest stone, and burst my heart
with sorrow.' Smart openly numbered like
great school boy as he described to Oscar, & that
It was the awfullest worm he ever seed, and that
the poor cow was nothing buta bloody, broken mass
enough to break the heart Of . toad in stone.'i
It had only swallowed half Its meal, and the tail
was still 80 active and full Of muscular movement
hat the captain did not seem 1t safe to try to de-
stroy IT till the next evening.
He particularly requested Schillie and everybody
HAT could, to come up and sec the creature before
he man cut it up, saying, that they might live one
thousand years and never see such sight again.
50 they all set OFF, leaving Serena and to the care
ii Hargrave, who declared that IL st. George and
the Dragon we're fighting up above she would not II
leave her mistress to see them. Schillie came back
very soon, and folded me in her arms, while the
tears rained down her cheeks; not q word said
she, but SO unusual d sight told me all she felt.
By-and-by all came down, poor madame clasp
ing her hands, invoking blessinga and showering
kisses on her pupil, Serena. The little ones were
in full fuss, especially the two who had first seen
the snake, and who now detailed all their fears and
feelings at full length, !. Mamma = said Felix, n
give him q good kick with my thick-nailed boots
for daring to think of eating your Gatty from a
similar feeling had INDUCED herselfwith chopping
the tail into little bits and even the gentle and
sweet syb had bestowed some very hard words,
let alone blows, on the inanimate body. ''Wen,
now then, said !, captain, wish to go on board
Is soon as possible & Whyf why2 why ~
sounded ON all sides. " Because there may be |
more OF these snakes on the island, Y said j with
shudder.
No, Madam, lyon may rest assured the only |
enemy YOU have Oh this island is now dead. can /
assure you have until now been much puzzled to /
account for the lack Of living things on this luxu-
RANT and lonely island, save birds. The sight of I
this anaconda has solved the mystery; be has de- |
populated il iii may say SOY OF every creeping |
or four-legged thing. Nay, am almost certain /
it has destroyed its own kind too. By what means
1t became OF SO monstfous a size know not; but,
having become so it was lord or master Of the ISL
and moreover, am certain that Of late It's food has
run extremely short; nothing but extreme hunger 1
could have driven it down those sharp rocks in /
search Of US, the prey ii saw before 1t In many