The Weston Democrat. [volume] (Weston, W. Va.) 1875-current, 1876-10-09
THE BRAVE RESCUE.
A STORY OF cEY1oN.

I was IN only child, auA my fatherwas
q widowcr, 80 tlMt our actual necessities
in thGt cheap and frugal country, Cey.
lon, We're easily provided for.
Our nearest neighbor was Mr.. Fors
tor, Il platter. by far woalthier than we
were. Now Oswald Forster and were
plighted lovers, but tue very idea Of IN
engagement between his only son and
the daughter Of his embarrassed neigh
Dor was gall and wornwood to Oswalds
fathor-a proud, stroug-willed man.
DESTROYS tn rfIace from Oswald's mind
the idea of mtrryirg poor little Ellen
Havers, Mr.. Forster, with his wife's
concurrence. proposed to send his son
to Europe, confident that foreign travel
and change Of scene would soon obli.rr.
ate from his memory the image Of the
lonely little girl beside the grcat tauk Of
NTiuNry. Aud now word concerning
the tank itself, the name of which, |
fear, Conveys to readers bit a very i'll
ade Juate conception OF the stupend-us
reality. The tank Of Alinary, justly
reckoned among the matvels which the
island Of Ceylon has still to show, is
perhaps the granGest OF the artificial
lakes ever planurd by mortal engineer.
More than two thousand years have
passed since, before the Christian era, n
Buddhist king bade his subjects toll to
erect tho massive walls OF hewn stone
md tough chunam TINT environ that vast
sheet Of water, twenty-five miles in cir
cumferencc.
With the Mirary lake, or tank, which
lay close to my own home, I had been
from childhood familiar, and dearly
loved the mirrorlike expanse OF its calm
waters, studded with floating islands OF
the crimson blossomed lotus Of India,
the red flowers aud green leaves OF which
covered many thousand acres OF tue sur
face. Strange fish OF brilliant colors
glilod in glittering shoals through the
deep, clear water, rarely disturbed by
prov or paddle; bright birds OF every
size, from tho scarlet famingo to the
tiny oriole or tho towering adjutant,
haunted it; aud all around grew in dense
pro!us;on the mighty trees and h1wer-
ing creepers OF the virgin forest, whence
came at times the complaining cry OF
the mountain cat, tho belling OF the
deer, the pauther's snarl, or the crash
ing OF caue aud sapling, rs wild ele.
plants forced their way through the
trackless recessCs OF the jungle.
Alligators wcre very common, snakes
plentiful, aud the scorpion, tho cent?
pede, aud tho tree leGch were often to
be met with in tho more swnmty and
tangled tracts OF the woodlands. .
Oswald was going away, and it would
be but very seldom that we were to meet
henceforth, since, poor fellow, he was to
soil by tho Lord Dalhousie, expected at
Point dc Gale on the thirty-tirst OF the
month. -,
l went with heavy heart to the spot
where We always met. To my surprise
| did not at first SEQ him for whom |
looked, and begun to fear that he had
forgotten to keep his wonted tryst; but,
on drawing nearer, l behcld a sight that
for the moment iroza my very veins
with horror, and caused the cry OF Nn-
ruish that rose to my lips to die nwhy.
Oswald, lying on the turf Among th,
roots of the gigantic palm tree. seemed
to be asleep. overcome. probably, ny the
unuFuli heat, while around LIni was
loosely coilcd something that rcsembl.d
a stout rope, cnriously strcakcd with
black and grange aud white-something
that caused tho withered leaves md crisp
grass 10 rustic, rs it stirred, writling.
l had never seen living tic pa!urga,
but knew at the first glauce that tho
snake before my eyes wns 10 other than
n large specimen Of that dreaded reptile,
Which ia Ceylon takes the position that
in continental India belongs to the co
bra, and for tho bitO Of which there IL
no known remedy. Twice Within the
last three years Iaborcrs on my father
plantation had been brought in dying
from tue venom OF the tic palnnga, but
in each iustance the skill OF the native
snake charmer lad led to the capture Of
tho reptile, aud It was not believed thai
any Of this species, rare rs well as dan