The Red Cloud chief., 1881-10-06

%~AN
cuts OF his chopper. he c,eaved of the
con- from the limb. and lowered IL IN
broken to the ground. In three min
utes more he had walked down the tree.
much as he had walked up, and stood
among Us. none the worse for his ex-
plot. with the exception Of a few
stings.
Aftcrward, ! repeatedly saw Fola.
ANIME. Motuleet and a dozen others Of
our native squad. climb up for nests in
the same way. II was their customary.
method. Nothing would have induced
me to attempt such a feat; nor could
any Of our sailors be induced or cajoled
into attempting it.
A little way out from our huts, on the
further side, and just beyond the three
dardcc trees, there was a rocky gully
or gulch. twenty-five or thirty feet in
depth. and from forty 10 fifty feet wide.
So steep were its sides, and so tangled
with crcepers and vines. that TO cross il
we should have been forced TO made a
long detour, either below or above, had
it not been for a bridge, which nature
had provided in the shape OF a tree
I which had fallen across the ~ravine,
spanning il completely from bank To
bank. II had been a very large. old
tree. The shattered top Law on the side
next our huts; and the ends were over
run by a luxuriant wild grapevine,
loaded down with clusters of grape
the outer skins OF which were covered
with hair! But their flavor was deli
cious, though on first putting n in
your mouth, the hair gave you a very
peculiar sensation. Winding through
the top of the tree with the vine, there
was a beautiful crown-lily, displaying
its glorious festoons of blossoms side by
side with the strange hairy grape clus-
tiers, so that a most singular and gOr-
geous effect was produced. The trunk
Of the tree, which was at least four feet
in diameter. offered "a perfectly safe
bridge across the gully; and for the first
four days we were constantly going
back and forth on il. il had evidently
been used for this purpose, either by
men or wild animals, long before our
arrival. for the log was worn smooth,
apparently, by the many feet that had
passed and repassed OF it.
Though still tolerabiy sound and
strong. the log was plainly a hollow one;
and out near the middle of it there was
a hole in the upper side. | noticed
this hole the first time | went across.
and thought what an ugly thing il
would be To step into it when crossing
with a load. II must have been not far
from a foot and a half in diameter.
Several times. while walking over
this log. | noticed a strange, sickening
odor coming from it, which, though
faint, was very nauseating, and once,
when standing still for a moment,
looking down into the gully beneath
it. | saw some punches of what ap-
peared to be bones wadded together.
There were a good many of these lying
there among the rank grass, and l con-
cluded that a number of animals had
died. or been killed there, and that the
peculiar odor came from these.
The fourth evening we were there,
Just ut sunset, when the natives were
coming from ~bec-hunting, each with
his great sack of mashed comb on his
head, | suddenly heard fearful outcry
in the direction of this gully.
"Some of 'em have tumbled oTn
that log" Myers. one of the sailors
with me, called ont, and we all ran
from the hut where we were eating
supper, 10 see what had caused so dread
ful n shrek.
On coming in sight of the log that
SPAWNED the ~ravine, a strange specta-
Gle presented itself. Dangling from the
under side of the log. struggling and
shricking. hung one of the natives-a
brother of Benu, named Oati. At the
same instant | perceived the folds of a
moustrous, notified snake, rising in
great loops above the log, and heard a
native who was standing on the farther
end of the log. screaming U'iar Le-
hal U'iar iehai!! Great snake! Great
snake!) Tdsahu! tasahu!" (Help,
help) "Come forth, white chief, with
your fire gum
Without waiting to get my gun, for
poor Oati's shrieks were awful to hear.
l seized a large handspikc l%ying.near.
and dashing out on the log, delivered
two heavy blows upon the serpent's
writhing folds, either of which l feel
certain would have broken an oX's
back. Feeling these, the monster
dropped Oati, whom it had seized by
the thigh in its mouth and was holding
up by main strength, and rearing its
huge, flattened head six or seven feet
above the log, looked me full in the
face, its great esdilated with fury and
its tongue licking the air with a strange,
Kissing sound.
1t was n sight to startle the bravest
of men. | struck at its head and leaped
backward on the log. but lost my foot
ing when close to the bank of the gully,
and. slipping off the tree-trunk, went
tearing down through the vines TO the
bottom. The fall did not hurt me
much, but l was snarled up in vines.
and it was some moments before | could
struggle out, or even clear away the
foliage sufficiently to see whether the
great snake was after me or not. L
could hea~ a tremendous shouting and
noise, however, and soon the reports of
several guns.
The moment [ got clear of the liands,
l ran through the bushes and grass.
down the bed of the gully; and here |
came upon Oati, crawling off on his
hands and knees. His thigh was bleed
ing profusely from several deep, ugly
looking holes. and his ankle was out of
joint from the fall.
There was so savage a battle going
on above us. that my shouts for assist
nee were unnoticed. After several eff
forts L succeeded in throwing Oatis
ankle-jOint hack into place; and then,
binding up his leg as best l could, L
helped him along to a place where it
was possible for us to climb out.
But altogether this had occupied if
teen or twenty minutes; so that the
fight which Myers and Benu. ANIME,
Fola and the rest were making with the
U'tdr tShlf' was now for the most part
over. The shots had driven the SER
pent back into the log; whence. ac-
cording to Oati, it had darted its head
out to seize him. as he walked across.
MYERS was now watching for it-firing
whenever it thrust its head out from
the hole. He said that he had put two
balls clean through its body before it
had commenced to slide back into its
retreat.
Benu now brought an axe, and in the
course of an hour the great log was cut
of. close to the bank, and fell down
with a loud crash-one end of it-in,o
the gully. 1t split as it fell. and the
4 hoIy Of tho nyfhpp rros thrnu-p ,,rti,-