The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1883-04-28
pars fire and get ready the cooking


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 We're not smouldering in the
center of the hut, where l usually kept
up fire.
| could not see sign of spark
amongst The ashes when | first entered
the hut; and as the evening was closing
| in, | thought l might have difficulty in
! making a fire, as the dew was SO heavy
| that all the wood became damp, even
inside the hut; so lay Gown and blew
amongst the white-wood ashes, to try
and rouse a flame.
Whilst 1 was occupied. | fancied that
| | heard something move amongst the
blankets that lay by the side of the hut.
| looked at the spot, and there, to my
establishment, saw a gigantic snake,
which appeared nearly as large round
as my body. The animal was cooled 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 mouth.
| The instant that / saw the monster, !
jumped upon my feet, and looked
around for a weapon, but there was not
one at hand. My 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
| 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 q
buck; and therefore, | believed mon
ster like this would make short work o,
me. | might fight and struggle, but.
unarmed, what could | do?
How long / stood looking at the
snake, | do not know, but it could moi
have been many seconds, although the
time appeared minutes; suddenly | re
membered that my Caffre had, few
days before, asked me to allow him IL
place his assegai in my hut, because Tho
night-dew caused the blade to rust wher
the weapon was exposed. Here, then
was hope for me, for | knew that the
man had not taken away the assega
with him.
! scarcely dared take my eyes OF tn,
snake, lest the brute should dart at me
but giving glance round the upper
part of the hut, | saw the handle OF tn,
blade protruding from the thatch anc
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 little
managed to grasp the handle. As
did So the snake, which had gradually
uncoiled during my movements, dartec
towards me. dumped aside, and pulled
out the broad-bladed assegai, which haC
been sharpened to the keenness of &
razor; but the snake moved like LIGHT
ming, and although he had missed me
in the first dart, he recovered himselt
instantly and sprung at me again
Before l could make a cut at him. his
teeth caught i'll my leather trowsers
and he thus obtaineda strong hold. and
with a pull as sudden as his lunge. he
dragged my feet from under me and
brought me to the gronnd big fold oil
his body rolled over his head, and fell
upon my legs, which it weighed to the
ground as if loaded wagon were or
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 a weapon:
but as soon as l grasped the assegai
knew that / was safe; consequently
when he really attacked me, felt as
though it were 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 a struggle for life
or death is frequently decided in half a
minute. So it was with me- The in
slant the snakes body came over on
my legs, twisted round. and sliced il
with my assegai. l gave two terrible
gashes, and the monster, releasing its
hold of my feathers. sprung at my face
| raised my arm instinctively to protect
myself, which saved me from being bit
ten; but was knocked down fiat, and
the brute was again on me; but this
time l caught him by the neck with nv
left hand and in an instant had nearly
severed his head with the assegai.
scrambled away from the monster,
which was writhing about in its agony,
and escaped from the hut Then be-
gan to examine how / had Jared in the
fight. To my surprise found that few
deep scratches near the ankle and bite
near the wrist, neither of which was
of very great importance, were all the
wounds which | had sustained. For
some days afterwards, however, suf-
fered a great deal of pain in my legs,
/ do not think that | should have es-
capped to tell the tale if / had not found
the assegai, as the boa, although unwil-
ling to attack you in the open country,
is pugnacious enough when shut up with
you in a small hut only eight feet in di-
ameter.
We soon hauled the snake from the
hut, when my Hottentot arrived and
found it to measure twenty-eight feet in
length and nearly foot in diameter in