Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1888-11-10

minutes ne was rol..ng on the ground in
agony, ami in fifteen his body began to
swell. While he had Lot seen tie ser
pent. we had no doubt ot t, species. 1t
Is Known II the East the col ar snake,
and : found on all the islands in the
I'D All cean. Il attains a length of
two feet, and has a white ring or collar
about It's neck There i no more
poisonous snake. In forty m nutes from
he I me the man received the bite he
Was dead and his body was q terrible
sight 10 look at
Wheo we had buried our companion
II he sands We loaded our guns with
Inc shot and went snake hunting We
Killed a roma dozen oi the collar snakes
uesWeen the tent anu the spring, and
.tit surcI that the firing would rid the
nrighburhood Of any which had es-
capped II. They had probably beer
drawn that WY by the scent Of the bloeu
aEd meat. The tragedy had upset US
both. and neither WAS inclined TO sleep
that n ht. 1t was well that we were IN
Wakciul moot. Ever s.nce the Indian
Sea WAS navigate! by European vessels
there has been more or less piracy. At
this tine most every island Lad its
boss WIG kcr, ho was no better than
pirate While not daring to attack
sh;p. if She was caught in distress it
Went ha'd with her. 1t was a quiet, star
light night, aud | was sitting outsides
tke tent while my comrade was living
uown inside, when | caught a sound
from thelwatcr when alarmed me AS !
rose up and advanced | caught sight of
native craft stealing into the rip from
the lower s;de. She was from the Pindo
Islands, to the north Of US and was
,pIee boat She had a single mast and
lateen sail, and during a ca IN was pulled
/ Y oars. | ran back to my companion,
end we crept forward on hands and
lnecs to discover the object Of the visit
lad the men been \>honest they woulo
have been talking and singing. They
would not have come into the rip haC
they not known Of our presence and thu
fact Of their coming SO quietly boded il
Tor us The craft was grounded about
11O feet above US, aud twelve or fifteen
natives leaped out on the beach.
When we had seen this much we re-
turned to our tent, secured the three
guns and course ammunition, and took
up our stations between the tent and the
water In five minutes we had burrOwed
our rifle pts and ch rged the guns with
/ bnck~hot 1t was not for us to open the
fight We cou,d Just make out the
group of figur, around the boats and
they would soon let us know whether
they were friends or enemies. We had
lust got fairly settled when we saw the
crowd stealing over the sands i'll the
direction of the tent. All had spears
and clubs, and their cautious movements
proved them bent on mischief. When
they came up quite close to the tent they
raised a loud veil and dashed forward,
/ hurling their spears and swinging their
t clubs, and it was two or three minutes
| before they discovered that the tent was
unoccupied. Then, as they9 huddled
! together, we opened fire They were
not more than sixty feet away, and the
buck had to tell There were
screams, and shouts, and a stampede.
All broke for the boat-all who were or
their feet after our fire. Two or three
men had been left in charge of the craft
and as soon as they heard the firing and
pushed the boat off, sprang into her,
natives were thus left in the lurch The,
raised great cry, calling and command
jnr. but those in the boat did not ever
reply.
The situation was this We had th'
fellows, penned up on a neck of sane
! without cover, and we had firearms ant
they had none | have no doubt we haC
been spicd upon before they came t
make the attack, and very likely the,
beiev, q there were three of us. The
were afraid to attack is, and as for sur
render II wa, not to be thought of Ii
the five years | sailed among the island
| neser knew a quarrel between whit
men and uatlxcs TO terminate in a draw
n party or the other ran away or wer
wiped osit. These wicckcrs had mean
20 butcher us Had offered them terms
they would have refused. Had the
captured Us alive. they would hay
lanecd Us ntf hand, and been astoni he
1T anv protest Living IN our riff
pits we 9th realized that it was a ques
ton of the survival of the strongest, an
that We would have no relief until tn
las, man was wiped out. We hear
them cnatterlng anu curslng Tor an hou
or 50, the lcader evidently seeking /
work Their courage up 10 the attack in
point, and then all was quiet.
Daylight came 1t at, and what wa
oar astonl~hmcnt to Il over that til
niue had crossed the haunel to the san
har, leaving most Of their weapons O
the main shore We also soon disc o,
croa why they had hrayed the sharks /,
reach that spot. The boat had I'll