The Placer herald., 1874-05-30
NUMBER Al

the cover Of tfa worm, drew the wadd,ns.
reversed the piece and let the shot fall bat:
tering out, when | softly forced down The
bullet upon the powder examined the can
and stood ready waiting for chance; for !
thought the shot might have scattered, and.
if eyer 50 little, might have injured the child
instead Of its enemy.
And there we stbod for quite hali-slnrl..
hour. watching intently that horrible beast
completely nestled in the blanket, expecting
momentarly that the baby would awake:
while my hand trembled so that could not
hold the gun steady. One minute l was
thinking | had done wrong in changing tho
charge, the next minute that was righti
then l fanced the gun might miss tirv, IL
that might slay my own child. A hun.
dred horrible thoughts entered my mind b.
fore little Joe began to cry out to bis mother,
and she glided away while l muttered u
myself {" Thank Heavent" for she was
spared from seeing what followed.
As if at one and the same moment. the
child and the snake woke up. saw the
baby's hand move, and its little arms thrown
out, while from the motion beneath the
blanket | knew that it must have kicked 1
little. Then there was rapid movement in
the cradle, and as glanced along the Ktt.
barrel, taking aim, there was the whole OF
the horrible reptile exposed to view, coil
gliding on coil, as it seemed to fill the whole
cradle; had my gun been charged with shot
| should have fired, SO as to have disabled
some parts Of its body; but with only single
bullet, felt that the head must be attacked
when opportunity offered.
Glide, glide, glide, one coil over another
quickly and easily, as 1t were untying its
knotted body, while now the head slowly
rose from where it had been lying, and erspt
nearer and nearer to the chid's face. the
forked tongue darting III and out, and play
ing rapidly on either side Of its hidsouS
mouth. could see the glance of the snakes
eyes, and expected every moment to hear
| the little one shrek In terror, al the lowered
head rested over her breast. But no; The
child lay perfectly still for few minutes.
and then stood trembling in every limb III
| saw the snakes head drawn back, and
then begin to sway to and fro, and from side
to side, the glistchng neck Of the beast gehts
ly undulating while the tongue still darted i'll
and out Of the dreadful-looking mouth.
Now was the time when | should hstH
fired, but l was too unnervedl and laying
down my gun, seized my hoe, meaning Is
attack the beast with its stout handle but
my hand fell paralyzed at my side as saw
the little one in the cradle smile and laugh at
the gently unduating head of the snaket
while, as the agony grew to be greater thah
| could bear, in seeing the little white hands
trying to catch at it as it swayed to and fro;
my powers seemed to come back. l snatch:
ed up the gun, and as the snakes head wal
drawn back preparatory to striking, pulled
the trigger, when the sharp crack of the per
cussion cap alone followed-perhnps provi.
dentially, for in my trembling state might
have injured the child Then | saw rabid
wreathing of the coils in the cradle, and al
the tail of the snake glided over the side,
everything around me seemed to swim, and
| tried to catch at the wall of the hut to taye
myself from falling.
But that soon went off, and gazing in at
the window, tried to make out the where
abouts OF my enemy, as | recappeared and
tapped the gun, so that the powder might run
up the nipple.
dartng in seized the child and carried It
out to its mother. when, now feeling relieved
of one horrible calamity, obtained my shot
pouch from the kitchen, rammed down a
charge upon the bullet, and cautiously went
in search of the reptile.
knew be must still be in the part of tho
hut we used for sleeping place, and after
cautiously peering about, came upon tho
the hole where it had taken refuge-an
opening between the roughly sawn planks
laid loosely down to form a floor; while, I'm.
less there was an outlet beneath the wood
work, | felt that the beast must be there,
and to make it more probable there was our
cat, that we had bought kitten in Sidney,
gazing with staring eyes down at the hole.
just then ! heard soft rustling beneath
my feet, and as l looked down, could see
between the two boards the scaly body Gid.
ing along. The next moment there came
the loud report Of the gun, the place was full
OF smoke, there was a loud scufling noise,
and AZ l looked down between the boards
where the charge had forced q passage
through, there was no sign of the snake.
"Hary, Harry" shrieked my wife just
then; and on rushing out, there was the
beast writing about ID the path, evidently
badly wounded, while some crushed-down
flowers by the hut wall showed plainly the
path of communication. Inever saw a snake
| writhe and twist az that creature did, but
| was too excited then to feel afraid, and q
few blows from the but-end of my gun laid
it so that there was only little movement
left in its body, which did not stop for an
hour or two after had cut off its head with
an axe.
should have liked 10 skin the beast, but
could not master my horror. measured
it, though: fourteen feet and three inches
long it was, and as thick as my arm; while
as to its weight, saw the cradle rock to and
fro heavily ~ it glided over the side.
Snakes are scarce now in these parts; for
there isn't q man in Queensland that does
not wage war against them, and where there
was one settler then there are scores now
CasscUs Magazine.