The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1878-03-08
A BIG SNAKE S1ORI.

of frightened womau-anu we stood :, in.
| so fuii OF error and wild alarm had been
| tie cry There WAS in front of us "a rock
! On one side led path. on the other the
/ same. F,om the other side Of the barrier
seemed To come the ciy.
L arrived first un the spot, a cleared
space henhIned Ia 10y rocks, aud my eyes
heheid What till then had never So ex I,and
ed their sockets with horror On the
ground beside "a bowlder. against which
one exquisite bate arm, claSird with "A
J-weled bracelet, was stretched lay "a ytunp
Mexican giIl ot astonishing luvcliness her
Wonderful beauty veiled toy mass of
black, wavy hair, that fell in perfect
cloud to her feet. She lay as still and
white as one dead on the solid rock.
HoIror fioze me al the next sight. AT
HE opposite side of he ibclosure, and tifty
fee: away. was one of The largest serpeu,s 5
ever saw. He VAS wrigg ling down from
the rock, and his filthy head was already
slowly Approaching the giil.
lhe INDUSTRIOUS tpeuL-which At once
took for a species uf aiiacunda-was slowly
extending bIs SHINY length toward his
Piey. his neck seeming To stretch like Il
mass ot rubber out of the fri.htful folds on
the rock for the head and nt ok elongated
yeI the i'"riible coil did not decrease HIS
shoit. forked tongup. darted forth veupe-
taily, aud his " Icked, dun eyes snapped
WITH dIaOulicai eageruesS, yet he steadily
came on.
SERPENT and girl were hardly sixteen
ys,ids apart, aud the girl still lay as life
less, To all appearances, as if the vital
spark had fed.
For heavens sake save her-drau her
away - yelled wilson
In his excitement her drew his revolver
and fired shot at the head of the snake
which had no effect.
The sound of hIs voice and the crack of
tie shot brought me To my seuses, for |
was standing like para |, zed. With a
spiiug or two | stood between the serpe,t
aud The girl, the attention of the former
luckily irifie distracted by Wilson's rash
shot. acted quickly, but The case seemed
IL desperate one.
thrill seemed 10 GO tn my fi,,gers' ends
as touched Tie ioIm al tie uirI. She
was wondeiously y beautiful yet she Law
thotioiiiesS, every moulded contour of her
fiSuie IN ielose, white and rigid, classic as
a n'aib Statue at innocence itself
L 'ook the Iuaii,nate form of the girl in
my aims and rushed away from the naw
of the huge snake. In my excitement |
could not help shuCderiuy at The frlyhtful
presence al tbe serpent Few would " iiIiup-
iy be bcar such All object, and, whether by
intuition or superstition | knew nos, there
seemed To be tull fascinaIIon, horrible.
OUT Iriesisii5 e, ii the creature : presence
rushed past W isou with my burden A
torrent Was at hand. | Land INV frail bui-
den on noSsy bed, while Wilson came To
:he spot oppmlunely, bringing with him a
ha'ful of coid waIer.
gentle application of this the first time
pi'nuced u" effect. A second and third
more violent, seemed fuuless. She Law
like one dead. We became "A alarmed. Was
she really dead? We buie her To the side
of the boiling torrent, aud poured be lev
torrent on her pure forehead All of :,
sudden she seemed To return To the p,,sS,s.
Sion oi her SENSES. She STATED up, stared
AT us, III alright, gaZcd about her, and
then seenIed to oc Trying to reca II the mem,
oy of all that had befalleu her All at
once size cla>i"d her hands to hei face, and
with wild shrek of terror, she fell iuto
my arms. crying out :
'Por Dh,S, ie auaconda ~
Then she tainted again. The frirbtful
encounter with the serpent had absolutely
crazed the poor gIl. Water was again an
Piled, aud this time she awoke WIN less
difficulty tBan before. We watched In.
dark eyes un old With no little apprehen
SION. She regarded Us with the same
vacant stare. | said as suothing as could ::
Don lear, Senoiiia, you are among
friends
She seemed to gather her senses and
take courage. After "a little while she was
enable To explain to us that she lived in the
Nelghboi hood viii her father aud family ::
tiac she had strolled out among the noun
.dinS fuitlIer than usual on the present &c
casiun That she had sat down to rest, and
that all of a sudden her appalled, vision en-
c"untered the ugly head If the serpent ad-
vancing toward her. She screamed aud
faInted. We arrived on the scene a mo
nent late-, and the reader knows the rest .
We told her We were Eng lush travellers.
mat We c"tid lave no greater pleasure
Than - befrIeud her, and that We would
see her home. This we did, and. HAVING
rec, ived The thanks of herself and relatives.
we started to lo.,k again after the serpent.
Ihe animal was either summing himself
or plotting more mischief in a state of de-
lbeiative repose-perhals both. In size
tins ~as the largest specimen | ever saw
and AS large as any truthful description
ever heard narrated. II Was, l may safely
say, with every regard for veIaciiy. as
large round az mans body, aud this in
his ante breakfast condition. We stood
h"king at him will, disiended eyes as he
lay in the sun. his back in The light eleam-
ing like FURNISHED brass. His was, Low
ever, a case that admitted of small delay
Should we at ract his attention we might
not be objectionable to his palate for a re-
past.
''IIist ~ said Wilson, '.let's get in front
of i'm if we cam"
so as to get good chance at his eyes ?''
Yes; creep after me-still. He's in
an admirable position"
We found oui S. Ives on he top of the rocks
at the opposite side Of the enclosure
The monster lad no: stirred. As we
raised our iif1es lie began to twinkle his
"ickcd eyes at us, seeing US for the fi.st
! time. Even as We raised the hammer of
our weapons he began To wriggle, prelara-
tory To motion toward us. Evidently he
thought he should not be cheated out of
his bre fast afte: ALL
''N'w. my boy. aud look alive as soon as
You fire One. two. thr-''
Bang went both of our pieces simultane-
'u>ly. The smoke rolled out, We ran
along till we could see the effect of our
shots. Both bullets seemed to have taken
effect. The creature had drawn back ss
IL stunned, with the blood flowing frsm
his head, aud his eyes apparently demol.
ishtd. 1t was only for moment, aud
then-well. never before had nm idea OF