The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1878-10-07

treme exhaustion, the benumbed mind
slowly resumes some train of abandoned
thought, and thus it was with me- By
degrees | remembered Oswalds danger.
| my own efforts TO savs b i'm, and
WHAT was that rustling among the
stems, and leaves, and buds of the lux
urious plants that festooned the shat
tered windows of the summer house, in
all the rank lprofusion of their tropical
growth? =? Surey-surely not the rip
pling, undulating motion with which
huge snake drags himself through the
brakes and jungle grass Yes; my fears
were but too true, for there in the open
window space-the broken trellis work of
which had been replaced by wild vines
and dangling orchids-appeared, at
height of six or seven feet above the
ground, the hideous head of the serpent
that had lately menaced Oswald, and now
confronted me.
And then it flashed upon me that the
deserted kiosk was probably the reptiles
actual home, and that, as though in the
very irony of tt rror,I had ventured to in
trude into the lair of the terrible Great
ure. from the sight Of which had-once
that Oswald's safety seemed assured
reeled dizziy away. had often heard Of
the strange taste which snakes evince for
an abandoned human dwelling, and how
frequently they haunt the outbuildings
of Europeans abodes and the huts OF
the natives; and yet here had | rashly
strayed into the lurking place of the
deadliest guardian of the Ceylon Jungle.
That the snake was pert1rbed there
could be no doubt. 1t curved its grace
full neck like that of swan, and Kissed
slightly, while it's broad jaws were part
ly opened fancied that | could see the
curved poison-fangs gs-more to be dreaded
than ever was Malay creese or Moorish
dagger - while the jewel-bright eyes
glistened ominously. One wild, piercing
shrek I could not repress; and then tho
futility of resistance OF of fight forced
itself upon me, and stood, motionless
as marble statue of embodied fear,
gazing at the emeraldne eyes, fixed
with so pitiless stare on mine. The
subtle, suffocating odor which large SER
pents exhale, when angry, reached mes
but already gave myself up for losb'
and waited passive till the tic palunga
should make his fatal dart.
The sibilant noise from the snakes
half shut jaws had grown louder, and the
bright, baleful eyes more menacing;
while the grim head lowered high aloft,
ready to strike-when, suddenly, some
thing bright flashed through the flower
ing vines of the creeping plant, and the
snakes hideous head and 1.-THE body
disappeared, as if by magic. Then fol-
lowed the sounds of fierce struggle, re-
peated blows, trampling feet, and snap
ping boughs, and the accents of human
voices; and then Oswald came leaping
through the doorway, clasped me in his
arms, and bore me out into the broad
light of day, where lay-writhing yet
the carcase of the dead snake, hewn
through by the sharp-cutting axe which
Oswald still grasped in his right
hand.
"Shahash % exclaimed Lall Singh,
whose swarthy face cleaned with de-
light, as he spurned the body of the
vanquished reptile. "It was well that
the first blow went home, or it would
have Jared but badly with the young
sahib when this acrursed slayer of men
turned on him. Wah! I'd sooner have
faced tiger"
To Lall Singh I was, indeed in no
slight degree indebted for my safety.
Convinced, from the agitation of my
manner, that somef hing was wrong, he,
had followed me, and was in the act Of
arousing Oswald from his slumber, when
the piercing shrek which fear had
wrung from me re-echoed through the
woods, and called attention to the i'm
minence of the peril Then Oswald had
which the native woodcutters had left
sticking in tree-trunk and had been
fortunate enough to disable the snake at
the first blow.
My story is now told, and have only
to add that | was overwhelmed with
praises and caresses by the Forster fami-
ly-hltherto so cold and that, on the
following day, Mr.. Forster himself rode
over to my fathers house, to entreat Mr..
Travers, from whom he had Of late been
estranged, to accept his renewed friend
ship, and to ask for my hand on behalf
of his son. Oswald lost his passage on
board the homeward- bound steamer that
was to touch at Point de Gale; and
when he did visit Europe he took with
him Ellen Travers as his wife.
We have long been happily settled
FAR from tropic iunrles and their dan