American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1874-05-02
VOL. XIV.

she glided away while l muttered to my
self, "Thank Heavenv for she was
spared from seeing what followed.
As if at one and the same moment the
child and the snake woke up. l saw the
baby's hand move, and its little arms
thrown out, while from the motion be-
meath the blanket l knew that it must
have kicked a little. Then there was n
rapid movement in the cradle, and as l
glanced along the gum barrel, taking aim,
there was the whole of the horrible rep
tile 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 a single
bullet I felt that the head must be the
part attacked when opportunity offered.
Glide, glide, glide, one coil over another,
quickly and easily, as it were, untying its
knotted body, while now the head slowly
rose from where it had been lying and
crept nearer and nearer to the child's face
the forked tongue darting in and out and
playing rapidly on either side of its hid
eous mouth. l could see the glance of
the snakes eyes, and expected every mo-
ment to hear the little one shrek in ter
ror as the lowered head rested over her
breast. But no, the child lay perfectly
still for few minutes, and then l stood
trembling in every limb as l saw the
snakes head drawn back, and then begin
to sway to and fro, and from side to side,
the glistening neck of the beast gently IN
dulating, whilst the tongue still darted in
and out of the dreadful-looking mouth.
Now was the time when / should have
fired, but l was too unnerved; and laying
down my gun l seized mydhoe, meaning
to attack the beast with its stout handle
but my hand fell paraIyzed at my side as
l saw the little one in the cradle smile
and laugh at the ently-undulatIng head
of the snake; while, as the agony grew
to be greater than 1 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. l snatched up the gun,
and as the snakes head was drawn back
preparatory to striking l pulled the trig-
ger, when the sharp crack of the percus-
sion cap alone ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS provi-
dentially, for in my trembling state l
might have injured the child. Then l
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 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 l tried to make out the
whereabouts of my enemy, as l recapped
and tapped the gun, so that the powder
might run up the nipple.
The snake was nowhere to be seen, and
darting in seized the child and carried
it. out to its mother, when, now feeling
relieved of one horrible calamity, l OBJ
tanned my shotpouch from the kitchen,
down charge upon the bullet,
and cautiously went in search of the rep
tile.
1 knew he must still be in the part of
the hut we used for a sleeping place, and
after cautiously peering about 1 came
upon the hole where it had taken refuge
an opening between the roughly -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, gazing with staring
eyes down at the hole.
Juststhen l heard soft rustling be-
meath my feet, and as l looked down
could see between the two boards the
scaly body gliding along. The next mo-
ment there came the loud report of the
gun, the place was full of smoke, there
was a loud scuffiing noise, and as I
looked down between the boards where
the charge had forced a passage through
there was no sign of the snake.
Harry, daTTyl SnTlekeu my WIG just
then, and on rushing out there was the
beast writhing about in the path, evil
IDENTIFY badly wounded, while some crushed
down flowers by the hut wall showed
plainly the place of communication. /
never saw snake writhe and twist as
that creature did, but was too excited
then to feel afraid, and few blows from
the butt 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 ak.
should have liked to skin the beast,
but l could not master my horror. /
it though; fourteen feet three
inches long it was, and as thick as my
crm; while as to its weight l saw the era
die rock to and fro heavily as it glided
over the side.
Snakes are scarce now in these parts;
for there isn't man in Queenland that
dOes not wage war against them, and
where there was one settler then there are
scores now.