The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1874-05-15
in and out of the dreadful. looking

in and out of the dreadful looking
mouth.
Now was the time when l should
have fired, but I was too unnerved !! and
laying down my gun 1 seized my hoe,
meaning to attack the beast with its
stout handle but my hand fell par.
alyzed at my side as 1 saw the little one
in the cradle smile and laugh at the
gently undulatiDg head of the snake !;
while, as the agony grew to be greater
than l could bear, in seeing the little
white hands try to catch at it as it
swayed to and fro, my powers seemed
to come back. I snatched up the gun
and, as the snake head was drawn back
preparatory to striking, I pulled the
trigger, when the sharp crack of the
percussion cap alone fo1lowed-perhaps
providentially, for in my trembling state
1 might have injured the child. Then
1 saw a rapid wreathing of the coils in
the cradle, and as the tail of the snake
glided over the side, everything around
me seemed to swim, and l tried to catch
at the wall of the hut to save myself
from falling.
But that soon went off, and gazing in
at the window 1 tried to make out the
whereabouts of my enemy, as I%recapped
and tapped the gun, so that the powder
might u up the nipple.
The snake was nowhere to be seen,
and darling in 1 seized the child, and
carried it out to its mother, when, now
feeling relieved of one horrible calami-
ty, 1 obtained my shot-pouch from the
the kitchen, rammed down a charge
upon the bullet, and cautiously went in
search of the reptile.
l knew he must still be in the part of
the hut we used for a sleeping place,
and after cautiously peering about, l
came upon the hole where it had taken
refuge-an opening between the rough
ly-sawn planks laid loosely down to
form a floor, while, unless there was an
outlet beneath the woodwork, | felt that
the beast must be there; and to make it
more probable, there was our cat, that
We had bought a kitten in Sydney, gaz.
ing with staring eyes down at the
hole.
just then l heard q soft rustling be-
meath my feet, and as l looked down,
1 could see between the two boards the
body gliding along. The next mo-
ment there came the loud report of the
gun, the place was full of smoke, there
a loud scufiing noise, and as I
down between the boards where
the charge had forced apassagethrough,
there was no sign of the snake.
Harry, Harry" shrieked my wife
just then, and on rushing ont, there
the beast writhing about in the
path, evidently badly wounded, while
crushed-down flowers by the hut
wall showed plainly the hole of commu-
Inever saw a snake writhe and
twist rs that creature did, but l was too
excited then to feel afraid, and a few
from the butt-cnd of my gun laid
It SO that there was only II little move
nentleft in its body, which did not stop
or an hour or two otter | had cut OIL its
head with al Ak.
l should have liked to skin the beast,
| could not master my horror. |
measured it, though fourteen feet
.hree inches long it was, and as thick
rs my arm while as to its weight, / saw
he cradle rock to and fro heavily as it
ylided over the side. ,
Snakes are scarce now in these parts
or there isn't a man in Queensland that
loes not wage war against them !; and
where there was one settler then, there
ire scores now