The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1883-05-24

| quantity OF ram ana the river rose and
Hooded the whole of this swamp. The
nearest piece of dry land to the river
was the little rising ground which | had
turned over and sowed with meales. and
on which my hut stood.
| One evening, during the time that the
flood was out, came back from shoot
ilrg just as the sun was setting. / had
shot large buck which / had found out
in the open ground, behind the Berea
/ Bush. Plache was with me, and I left
him and Caffre to bring in the buck,
whilst | returned home alone, to pre-
pare fire and get ready the cooking
pots.
! / noticed that the water was very
high, and had not left more than hun
dred yards clear round my hut, which
was, however, still some ten or twelve
feet above the level of the flood.
placed my gun outside, and crawled
into the doorway of the hut You must
know that the only light that enters
these buildings is by the doorway, SO
when | blocked up this, the only aper-
ture, the interior was rather dark. |
knew that my flint and steel box were
stuck up in the hatch of the roof, and
these | could use to obtain light, in case
the embers were not snouldering in the
center of the hut, where | usually kept
up fire.
could not see "a sign of a spark
amongst the ashes when | first entered
the hut; and as the evening was closing
IN, thought might have difficulty in
making fire, as the dew was so heavy
| that all the wood became damp, even
inside the hut; SO / lay down and blew
amongst the white-wood ashes, to try
and rouse flame
Whilst | was occupied, | fancied that
heard something move amongst the
blankets that lay by the side of the hut.
l looked at the spot, and there, to my
astonishment, saw gigantic snake,
which appeared nearly as large round
as my body The animal was coiIed up
amongst my bedding, but had about
three feet, head and neck, stretched out
and pointed at me-its forked tongue
now and again shooting out some inch
or two from its mouths
The instant that saw the monster,
jumped upon my feet, and looked
around for weapon, but there was not
one at hand. Ny gun had placed out
side; my large knife | had left with
Plache, to enable him to cut up the
buck, and, in fact, was unarmed. A
cold shudder came over me when /
realized the state of affairs; the door of
the hut was only two feet high, and to
escape, therefore, must crawl out, and
L felt certain that if | stopped down, the
snake would instantly dart at me.
] was not at all aware what power
these snakes might possess; / had heard
that they could kill nearly full grown
calves, and could crush and swallow a
buck; and therefore, i believed mon
ster like this would make short work of
me. might fight and struggle, but.
unarmed, W hat could l do?
How long | stood looking at the
snake, do not know, but it could 1ot
have been many seconds, although the
time appeared minutes; suddenly | re-
membeied that my Caffre had, few
days before, asked me to allow him to
place his assegai in my hut, because the
night-dew caused the blade to rust when
the weapon was exposed. Here, then.
was hope for me, for knew that the
man had not taken away the assegai
with him.
scarcely dared take my eyes off the
snake, lest the brute should dart at me;
but giving glance round the upper
| part of the hut. | saw the handle of the
blade protruding from the thatch and
nearly within reach of me. Something
seemed to tell me that the instant /
moved the snake would spring at me.
|, however, raised my hand and arm
very slowly towards the instrument,
and at length, by bending over a little,
managed to grasp the handle. AS
did so, the snake, which had gradually
unceiled during my movements, darted
towards me. dumped aside, and pulled
out the broad-bladed assegai, which had
been sharpened to the keenness of a
razor; but the snake moved like light
ming, and although he had missed me
in the first dart, he recovered himself
instantly and sprung at me again.
Before [ could make a cut at him, his
teeth caught in my leather trowsers,
and he thus obtaineda strong hold, and
with pull as sudden as his lunge, he
dragged my feet from under ME and
brought me to the ground; big fold of
his body rolled over his head, and fell
upon my legs, which it weighed to the
ground as if a loaded wagon were on
them.
He managed this in very short time:
but | was not idle, for knew that if he
could once manage to press down my
chest, or my arms, he might kill me.
Now, the feeling that first came upon
me was certainly not a very pleasant
one, because | was without d weapon:
but as soon as / grasped the assegai l
knew that | was safe; consequently,
when he really attacked me, felt as
though it We're a piece of impudence on
his part, for / never expected the affair
would have been as dangerous to me as
it proved to be- These things take
some time to tell, but they do not take
long to happen, and struggle for life
or death is frequently decided in half a
minute. So it was with me. The in
stant the snakes body came over on
my legs, twisted round, and sliced it
with my assegai. | gave two terrible
gashes, and the monster, releasing its
hold of my feathers, sprung at my face
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