Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1888-12-22
SNAKE AND STAG.
One of the Most Singular of Mr.. Barras'
Adventures in india.

One of the Most Singular of Mr.. Barras'
Adventures in india.
Mr. Barras, in one OF his tiger-shoot-
ing expeditions in India, had a singu-
lar adventure with a serpent which
some Of his men found in the act of
swallowing a stag The front part of
the reptile was tremendously distend-
ed, so that it looked exactly like a
small beer-barrel with a long tail, On
d nearer inspection It's head could be
seen projecting from the thick end,
with the hind feet of the deer sticking
out of one corner Of its mouth.
We could not shoot the monster
for fear of disturbing the tiger
of which we were in pursuit. We,
therefore, commanded one of the ma
tives to go and cut off its head. But
none of them seemed inclined to obey.
The more we reiterated our orders,
the more seriously they wagged their
turbaned heads, and the more they
seemed glued to their respective ele-
plants.
At last the veteran Seesoo raised his
voice, and thus expressed the sense of
the company:
80 my lords, | am indeed the slave
of your highnessess, and were the
creature before us only n tiger, bear,
or indeed any four.footed beast, l
would at once advance to the combat;
but this is an awful brute, and the
most baleful of all the inhabitants Of
the jungle. If any one goes within
reach of his tail, he will be killed to d
certainty"
In short, our native assistants meant
to keep clear of the huge reptile,
which they probably mistook for a god
or devil, on no account to be inter-
fered with. So, as my friend assured
me that these snakes were not danger
Gus, | descended from my elephant,
and proceeded against it with heavy
hunting-knife.
| confess to some misgivings whether
his or the natives estimate of the
beasts character might prove correct.
What more likely than that it should
be able to throw II fold of its body
round any one approaching within
range? for behind the inflated portion
containing the deer there must have
been about thirteen feet Of the serpent
in its normal state.
However, | advanced, knife in hand,
on line leading straight to the head
of the reptile, and watched narrowly
for any sign of its moving; but it re-
manned motionless as | stood over it
and looked upon its weird coun-
tenance, capable of but one fixed ex-
preston.
All its life seemed concentrated in
the bright yellow eyes that returned
my gaze with Il glittering stare.
raised the knife, and brought it down
with all my might ON its neck, think
ing to cut its head off But the bones
were solid, and nothing but q
horrible cash was the result Even
at this not Il muscle stirred, and
the eyes glittered and looked piercing
as before. | was now advised to dis.
patch him by severing the spine just
behind the great enlargement caused
by the body of the stag. But the snake
instantly hished out so vigorously that
I thought it prudent to return to the
head, and with a few more blows
killed it. Its length was just seven
teen feet.
The stag, on being taken out looked
as if it had been neatly trussed for the
table. 1t was about the size of an or.
binary sheep, and its head, neck and
limbs were packed into a sort OF
square, but none of the bones were
broken, nor were there any signs of OK
ternal damage. The poor thing was
quite dead, and we abandoned the two
bodies to the vultures and jackals.-
Youths Companion.