Daily Republican., 1888-05-12
TEL RRIIILE ORDEAL.

AosbnpOro hte not UNCOMMON OF m0I
who have displayed most remarkabli
courage and featlcssness, aud have
faced even death itself, until all dam gel
was past, and then have broken dowI
utterly, and been % oowardly as ohil
dren ever after. A writer for the New
York Sun gives thrilling incident Of
this hind, which happened In India
On one OF his many trips up the Little
hsnaoon river he camped one night
with O party OF British oficsra, who
were out on hunt. The leader OF the
party, Asd the best thot and braveat
m'n In 1t was Major Ourtiss, q man
about 40 > ears old
He had killed more wild animals
than any other white man In the prov
iuee Armed only wiki a revolver. he
had entered the bungalow In which a
murderer was ooncea'e !, and taken him
away from crowd of his frienda. and
delivered him to Juatioe.
He had swan the river amid this ALL
gators, and he would stand for the rush
OF n tiger or the spring Of o panther
with laugh on bis lips. They said the
mtjor did not know what foar was
He, perhaps, thought so himself
The camp was on the bank OF the
river, and osly temp orcry one and no
tents or covers were erected. We sat
around the fires until late hour. and
when we rolled ourselves up for tleep
the major and were only about four
feet apart, with IothinR bstwfen us.
The camp grew silent at once, and
everybody was soon sound asleep.
was Just dcElng Of when 1 thouRhs
detected the crawl OF a 81 AXE near me,
but, after listening closely fer minute.
concluded 1t wss lizard or an insect
Tho air, the earth, ths forests aud 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, lizards, great beet.
les, and throe or four kinds OF sQuIrrels
begin to prospect around, while night
oirds circle about, and the wolf, the
jAckal, hyenA,and other animals draw
near Snakes ave always to be feared,
but IL one stared up at every suspi. |
Gus sound he would never get an |
hours sleep.
Daylight wss just coming whom l |
opened my eyes. 1 was on my left side,
turned toward the Major, and noticed
hat he was on his back. Close beside
ne Was q revolver, which had slipped
,ut OF his holsters the night before that
might have it handy lD cahe OF need
Not another soul in the camp was yet
iroused, 30 far rs l kRew, and lay lis.
eninR to the noises In the surrounding
crest while daylight continued to grow
;ronRer. l was about to rise, when
uddeAly saw the head OF serpent lift
iself above the Majors breast, and
rave to and fro.
shut my eyes for few seconds, and
hen opened taem TO sea the same sight
gain. even tried IL again aud again,
sArful that was doztng, and not wish
ng TO believe what plainly saw.
IL certainly was the head of venom.
us serpent, q species closely re
the American black snake,
nd Ms deadly rs any serpent In InoiA d,
waved Its head and dArted i;s tongue
Or moment, aud then settled back in.
0 col.
As soon as his head went down 1 felt
)r my revolver and drew back the
annmer. The click cliokl alarmed
no snake, as knew II would, but by
30 time he had elevated his head again
bad my arm outatretohed aud the
luzzle OF my revolver within two fee. !
him.
1t WAS q snapshot aud had t, bs
laue on the inAtant,an II was by pure :
ood luck that 1 ie1t q bullet through :
10 ugly head. He wAs writhinR and
opping about as sprang up, and wAs =
sad rs bent over tue Major.
The snake had orept out OF the bushes .
nd upon the Majors breast early 10 q
le night. 1t was not more than mid
IRht when he awoke aud found o
10 serpent ooiled up, and he knew :
IAt any movement on hIs part L
ould result In certain death. For '
rec hours and half he rested on .
10 broad Of his back, never moving Y
muscle, with his eyes wide open, y
Id that ssrpent's head part Of the II
me waving to and fro within stx inches Q
his face. u
When l bent over him he was help. Q
ss. When we got him off the ground II
sank down again and began 10 weep, y
ID u was fully two hours before he q
onld talk to us. The result OF his ex. u
rienco was that he became . perfect
iystcal coward, started NJ the sllehtestl q
Use, and was ready to ron from a p
'uss dog. sl
-sse- "a