West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1888-01-05

taken him away from a crowd of his
friends and delivered him over TO Justice
On bet of CPS he had swum the river
amid the alligators, and he would stand
Tor the rush of tiger or the spring of a
panther with q laugh on his lips They
SAID OF the Major that he did not know
what fear was. He, perhaps, thought so
himself.
The camp was on the bank Of the river.
and only temporary one, and nc tents
or covers were erected We sat around
the fires until late hour, smoking and
EARNING, and when we rolled ourselves
up for sleep the Ma or and l were only
about four feet apart, with nothing be
tween us. The camp grew silent at once
and everybody was soon sound asleep. |
was Just doing of when l thought de-
tected the crawl Of snake near me, but,
after listening closely for a minute, |
concluded that it was a lizard or insect.
/ The air, the earth, the forests, and the
waters of India are full Of animal life by
day and by night. A camp no sooner
grows quiet than wild rats aud mice, liz
Yards, great beetles, and three or four
sorts of squirrels begin TO prospect
around, while night birds circle about
and the wolf, fox, jackal, hycna, and
I
always to be feared but if one started
up at every suspicious sound he would
never get an hours sleep.
Daylight was just coming when
opened my eyes i was on my left side.
turned toward the Major, and l noticed
that he was on his back Close beside
me was revolver, VIII ch ! mad slipped
out of lis holster the night before tn Il
might have it handy in case of need.
Not another soul in the camp was vet
aroused, so far as / knew, and lay lis
tening to the noises in the surrounding
forest while daylight continued to grow
stronger. l WAS about to arise, when
suddenly saw the head OF a serpent lift
itself above the Ma or's breast aud wave
to and fro. | shut my eyes for fen
seconds and then opened them 20 see the
same sight again. even tried il again
and again, fearful that / was doing. and
not wishing TO believe what | plainly
saw. 1t certainly was the head of ven
emOus serpent, species closely resem-
bling the American black snake, and as
deadly as any serpent in India. 1t
waved its head and darted its tongue for
moment, and then settled back into its
coil AS soon as the head went down l
felt Tor my revolver aud drew back the
hammer. The click click! alarmed the
snake, as l knew il would. bu by the
time he had elevated his head again |
had my arm outstretched and the muzz,e
of the revolver within two feet OF him.
1t was n snap shot and had to lie made
on the instant, and il was by pure good
luck that i sent Il bullet through his
ugly head. He was writhing and hop-
ping about as / sprang up, and was dead
us bent over the Major.
The snake had crept out OF the bushes
and upon the Majors breast early in the
night. 1t was not more than midnight
when the latter awoke and found the
serpent coiled up, and he knew that any
movement on his part would result in
certain death. For three hours and
half he had rested on the broad of his
back, never moving q muscle, with his
eyes wide open, and that serpent's head
part of the time waving to and fro, within
SIX inches of his face. When | bent
over him he was helpless. When we
got him off the ground he sank down
again and began to weep, and il was
fully two hours before he could talk to
us. The result OF his cxDcr. .ence was
that he became a perfect physical cow
ard, startled at the slightest noise, and
was ready to run from even house
dog
Eangoon Bay i infested with the
largest man-eating sharks on the coast.
One season | was out for two weeks i'm
small schooner with party of engineers,
hunters and fishers. We had with us a
Captain Scott, an ex-olficer Of the army.
and man whose reputation for bravery
extended over large district On one
occasion be followed native who had
committed murder forty miles into the
interior, and took him out of VILLAGE Of
excited people without a man 70 back
him. lie had thirty four tiger skins Of
his own X ling, and once when band
OF five natives, each armed with q crcese.
attacked him, he drew his cavalry sabre
and killed three, and drove the other
two of with wounds TO nurse One day
as we lay on the west side Of the bay.
swinging az our cable, and being within
q hundred feet Of shore, / counted the
snouis Of four aliiCators between us and
the bank. We were having an after
Inner smoke under the awning and
! called the attention Of the crowd 10
the sauuans. Captain Scott got up with
luug1, threw away his cigar. and, be
fore any Of us suspected what he
had in mind. he sprang upon the rail and
went overheard and swarl ashore. We
ran for our rides. hoping TO frightcn the
monsters of, but he reached the bank I'm
So ETY., rested FOR q couple Of IN nutcs.
and then swan back There wasn't an
other man Of us who would have taken
that swim for all the jewels Of the
nabObs.
Three or four day latc-. as we were
beating across the buy, the schooner was
capsiIcd b. % sudden squul. Two white
men and three natives were DIR wncd.
and the rest Of us managed 20 &c ON ihe
schooncr's bottom and hang on 90 the
keel The squall soon passed. but %
breeze from thc north drove us down the
bay and brought q lu upy sea- Pretty
soon the sharks gathered If there was
one there were 90 aud they had no fear
OF Hs. They took of n white man and
another native. and some of the largest
sprang out Of water until they rested
half their length ON the bottom Of the
craft Strangely enough, Captain Scott
was the FIRST 90 exhib terror and to
break down Within half an hour from
thc time the accident happened we were
compelled 10 seize hold Of n IN 10 keen
him with he, and su j. was his fear that
hc almost lost his mind. We were res.
cucd I'm about an hour. but The Captain
was done for Tic was almost % wreck