The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1876-09-13
A DRAGON IN COLORADO.

A DRAGON IN COLORADO.
The Strange Story ola Travelorin tho Great
American Desert.
A correspondent OF the Denver News
SAYS: I was travelling horseback aonga
stretch of country which, for a long dis
lance, merits the ~appellation OF the
Great American desert. AS far as the
eye could reach not a living thing or OBJ
iect created by the hand OF man could be
seen. On every side the horizon only
bounded the view, and not even where
the sky kissed the plain did aught but
tue scanty prairie grass, already burned
to brown under the raysof the fast sum-
mering sun, lift itself, dotted here and
there BY innumeraBle cacti, from mother
earth. Save the quickly recovering
thud Of my horses hoofs as he loped
over the prairie, not q sound was to. be
heard, and the stiffness was profound.
But the silence and the solitude were
not for long. As I was about to seek q
place to build a fire and bivouac tor the
night, suddenly a long trailing form
started from the earth, and a queer rum
bling cry was borne to my ears upon the
western wind. Hardly had the sound
died upon the air when an intense trem-
bling seized my horse, and, with e1-
tendednostrils and dilated eye, he begun
looking on all sides as if to find a way Of
escape. And now the same strange cry
was repeated, and my terrified sight per-
ceived an enormous reptile, half SER
pent, half quadruped, that was now run
ming, now creeping along the earth,
with incredible rapidity. Although my
limbs almost refused to perform their
Office for terror, I had turned mechanic
ally to leap on my horse, notwithstand-
ing that I knew that the pace at which
the monster was coming was far faster
than that of a horse at full gallop, but
the beast had broken away from where l
had tied him, and was quickly devour-
ing the earth with rapid feet. Not,
however, away from the coming danger.
Although destruction stared me in the
face, I almost lost consciousness OF my
peril in viewing the strange scene that
followed. As soon as the terrible thing
perceived that the horse was able to run
at q rate that compelled an in~convenient
degree Of speed to catch up with him,
he suddenly stopped in his career, and
for q moment remained silent and mo-
tionless, and the only sound to be heard
was that made by the retreating horse,
which was growing fainter and fainter.
Immediately, ere it had become quite
lost to the ear, the cause of the brute's
flight begun to utter c sonorous roaring
that one moment sounded like some
british mother calling her young, and
another q weird imitation OF the coolng
of a dove. Hardly had the sound been
uttered, when the horse, which was now
almost lost to sight in the rapidly grow
ing darkness, stopped. Presently he
turned around and begun with hasten
ing steps to return. The noise still con-
tinued, and even to my human hearing
seemed to have a pleading, inviting
note in it. The Brobdingnagian beast,
too, had assumed the shape at once OF o
cat ready to play with her kittens, and
of a serpent when trying to charm its
prey into it's folds.
And now let me describe the monster.
Like other saurians, it had the body of
a lizard, uplifted on, as near as I could
Judge, eight feet, but it's propelling
power, as already noted, seemed to exist
chiefly in it's tail, which streamed behind
the body at least q hundred feet. The
trunk Of the monster must have been
thirty feet long by about half that figure
in width, and at least from eight to ten
feet through. The feet seemed little
more than paddles with which to push
this huge body along, and apparently
had little supporting power, the crea-
lures belly touching the ground except
when it's rapid motion forced it forward
in the air. The head was fattened at
the top, and lowered high up over the
body on q neck greater in diameter than
a barrel, and fully ten feet in length.
The eyes, as large as saucers, were about
q ward and q half apart, and cleaned
like lanterns on either side of a carriage.
Thus far, the mouth was only partly
open, to emit the sound above noted, 80
that in the comparative darkness 1 could
not sec it distinctly. The color was a
dark purple, such as is sometimes used
in churches OF Lenten time, notified
with black.
By this time the horse had come with
in the embrace OF the seducer, and the
charming all at once ceased. Another
movement, and the terrible mouth,
which I could now see was az large as q
barn door, opened, and q forked tongue
darted out and pulled my poor beast
within. Then came the sound of the
teeth crunching and the breaking OF
bones, mingled with the stifed death
CRY of as faithful a brute as ever man
bestrode. Then all was still, and the
frightful creature lay motionless, as If
digestiug its meal. Presently it stirred,
and, giving myself up for lost, I made
up my mind to be its next victim, when,
turning, it rapidly rolled away in the d.
.~rection from which it came, without as
much as looking at me. More dead than
alive with terror, I made the best of my
way to this place.