The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1888-01-25

On bet of e2j he had swum the river
amid the alligators, and he would stand
for the rush of tiger or the spring of
panther with 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 no 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 Major 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 thought de-
tected the crawl of a snake near me, but,
after listening closely for minute,
concluded that it was 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 and mice, liz
yards, great beetles, and three or four
sorts of squirrels begin to prospect
around, while night Lirds circle about
and the wolf, tox, jackal, hyena, and
other animals draw near. Snakes are
always to lie feared, but if one started
up at every suspicious sound he would
never get an hours sleep.
Daylight was just coming when l
opened my eyes. | 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 ! had slipped
out of its holster the night before tn It l
might have it handy in case of need.
Not another soul In the camp was yet
aroused, SO far as | knew, and lay lis
tening to the noises in the surrounding
forest while daylight continued to grow
stronger. ] was about to arise, when |
suddenly saw the head of a serpent lift
itself above the Ma ,or's breast and wave
to and fro. shut my eyes for a few
seconds and then opened them to see the
same sight again. / even tried it again
and again, fearful that was doing, and
not wishing to believe what l plainly
saw. 1t certainly was the head of ven
emOus serpent a 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
a moment, and then settled back into its
coil. AS soon as the head went down
! felt for my revolver aud drew back the
hammer. The click click! alarmed the
snake. as l knew it 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 snap shot and had to lie made
on the instant, and it was by pure good
luck that l sent bullet through his
ugly head. He was wri hing and flop
ping about as sprang up, and was dead
as | bent over the Major
The snake had crcpt out of the bushes
and upon the Ma ajor's breast early in the
night II 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 a
/ half he hal rested on the broad of his
/ back, never moving a 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 hun he was helpless. When we
got him off the ground he sank down
again and began to weep, and it was
/ fully two hours before he could talk to
us. The result of his experience was
/ that he became a perfect physical cow
ard, startled at the slightest noise, and
was ready TO run from even a house
/ dog.
hangoon Bay i infested with the
/ largest man eating sharks on the coast.
One season was out Tor two weeks in a
small schooner with party of engineers,
hunters and fishers. We had with us
I Captain Scott. AN ex-ofiicer of the army,
! for hra
extended over large district. On one
occasion he followed a native who had
committed murder forty m les into the
interior, and took him out of avillage of
excited people without man to back
HIM. lie had thirtyfour tiger skins of
his own k ling, and once when band
of five natives, each armed with creese,
attacked him, he drew his cavalry sabre
and killed three, and drove the other
two off with wounds to nurse. One day
as we lay on the west side of the bay,
swinging at our cable, and being within
n hundred feet of shore, | counted the
snuuts of four aligatoIs between us aud
the bank. We were having an after
4 nner smoke under the awning, and
! called the attention of the crowd to
the saurians. Captain Scott got up with
II laugh, 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 swan ashore. We
ran for our rides, hoping to frighten the
monsters off, but he reached the bank in
safety, rested for couple of minutes,
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 days later, as we were
beating across the bay, the schooner was
capsized by sudden squall. Two white
men and three natives were drowned,
and the rest of us managed to gel on the
schooner's bottom and hang on to the
keel. The squall soon passed, but {
breeze from the north drove us down tho
bay and brought lunpy sea. Pretty
soon the sharks gathered If there wa
one there were so >, and they had no feal
of us. They took off white man auC
another native, and some of the largest
sprang out of water until they rested
half their length on the bottom of thu
craft. Strangely enough, Captain Scot
was the first to eXhib terror and t
break down. Within half an hour from
the time the accident happened we wer
compelled to seize hold of m to keel
him with us, and such was his fear tina