The Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1859-1865, 1865-02-16

upon the elephant. a most singular good
fortune had attended me, however, for,
instead OF being crushed into mangled
mass with the unfortunate cow, my left
forearm had only been caught In between
the buialo's body and single fo.d Of the
constructor. The limb lay just in front of
the shoulder, at the root of the neck, and
thus had soft bed of flesh, into which it
was jammed, as it were, By the immense
pressure of the serpents oody, that was
iron-like in hardness
As | saw Grant about to shoot, a terror
| took possession of me, for if he RETAINED,
| might possibly escape after the boa re-
leased his hold from the dead COW. But
should he fire and strike the reptile, in its
convulsions it would crush me to pieces.
Even as The idea occurred to me, beheld
Grant pause He appeared to fully COM
prehend all. He could see how ] was
situated-that l was still living, and that
my delivery depended on the will of the
constructor. We could see every line on
each others face, so close were we, and [
would have shouted or spoken, or even
whispered to him, if [ dared But the
boa's head was raised within few inches
OF mine, and the wink of an eyelid would
perhaps settle my fate; so stared like
| dead man at Grant and the blacks.
Presently the serpent began gradually
to relax his folds, and after re-tightening
| them several times, when the buffalo
| quivered, he unwound one fold entirely.
Then ne paused. The next iron-like band
was the one that held me prisoner; and
as [ felt it little by little unclaspins, my
heart stood still with hope and fear. Per-
hapS upon being freed, the benumbed arm
uncontrolled by will might fall into the
| cushion-like bed in which it lay. And
such mishap might bring the spare fold
around my neck and chest, aud then
farewell to the sources of the Nile. Oh,
how hard, how desperately [ struggled to
| command myself. / glanced at Grant.
L glanced at the negroes, and saw them
gazing as though petriied with horror
L glanced at the serpent's loathsome head,
and saw Its bright, deadly eyes watching
for the least sign OF life in its prey.
Now, then, the reptile looseneo its fold
on my arm a hairs breadth, and now .
little more, until half aB inch of space
separated my arm from It's mottled skin.
l could have whipped out my hand, bat
dared not take the risk. Atoms Of time
| dragged themselves iuto ages, and a min
ute seemed eternity itself! The second
fold was removed entirely, and the next
one was easing. Should dash away now,
or wait more favorable moment? [ de-
| cided upon the former; and with light
| ming speed [ bounded away toward Grant,
the crack of whose piece l heard at the
same instant. For the first time in my
life, [ fell into state of semi-conscious-
| ness, and remained therein for several
minutes.
When / recovered, Grant and the ever
joyed negroes he'd me up and pointed to
the boa, who was still writhlng in his
death agonies. [ shuddered as I looked
upon the effects of his tremendous dying
strength. For yards around where he
lay, grass and saplings, and in fact every
thing except the more fully grown trees,
were cut clean of, as though they had
been trimmed with an immense scYthe.
This monster, when measured, proved
fifty-one feet two inches and half in
extreme length. while round the tbickest
portion OF his body the girth was nearly
three feet-the largest serpent, | believe,
that has ever authentically been heard Of.
= Captain Spoke.