Marble Hill press., 1889-11-07
AN AWFUL SPECTACLE.
Watching the Deadly Tarantu
Making Up Its Mind to Bite.

Watching the Deadly TarantuIa
Making Up Its Mind to Bite.
We had camped down on the plains
of Texas one noon to boil q cup of
coffee and get a bite to eat, and while
Private Mallory was getting the coffee
ready, three or four Of the men stretch
ed out for a quarter of an hours sleep.
There were seven of US, United States
Dragons, searching for horses which
had broken away. and big George"
as We called him. who was a sergeant.
was in command. l was very wide
awake, having caught sight of snake
moving off as We came up, and as the
sergeant lay ON his back. his face
sheltered from the sun. looked him
over and admired his proportions. He
was man who stood exactly feet tall
in his stockings, weighed 2l8 pounds,
and it was no trick at all for him to
take two of the strongest men in the
regiment and hold them at arms length
or dance them about like puppets.
1t might have been ten minutes after
he lay down that l suddenly caught
sight of tarantula on his breast-the
largest and most horrible looking spec
linen | ever saw, and l lived for seven
years. among them. The sergeant had
on the regulation cavalry jacket, and
it was buttoned all the way up. He
lay on the broad of his back, arms
down beside him, and l had no sooner
caught sight of the spider than l saw
that the mans eyes, which l could see
under his red handkerchief, were open.
He saw the tarantula perhaps before I
did. l turned my head to the right,
and Malony, who stood upright at the
fire, was looking at the sergeant with
face as white as snow. l turned to the
left, and the two other men who had
mot sought sleep were also gazing in
horror.
Not one of us dared move. Should
we do SO the spider might spring away
in alarm, but the chances were that he
would bite before doing so. | was only
q foot away from the sergeant's feet
and on line with his face, and l could
look into his eyes and read his thoughts.
He was game man. He had been
tested over and over, but never in such
a manner. How would he stand the
ordeal9 The spider had curiosity re-
garding the brass buttons on the jacket.
He hovered over the fifth one from the
top for three or four minutes. read in
the sergeant's eyes surprise, repugnance
and calculation. l carefully watched
the muscles Of his face. He might as
we'll have been dead for all the movc-
ment l could detect.
Now the spider moves up button
now back two. Those shining metals
are anew sight to him. As he moves
up again l read anxiety. Nota finger
moves. His chest heaves as regular as
the beats of clock.
Now the spider moves up to the sec
ond button from the top and shakes
himself nervously. He is right under
the sergent's clean shaved chin and not
over foot from his eyes. Now fear
comes to the mans eyes and l see
beads of perspiration start out on his
big red hands. He has been hemmed
in by Indians, chased by hungry wolves,
lost on the trackless plains without
losing his nerve. 1t is going now. The
spider shakes itself an d the look Of fear
gives place to one of terror. We know
and the sergeant knows that the in
sect is angered and that its next move
will be upward.
The coffee is boiling over into the
fire, and two or three of the horses are
looking at us in an interrogative way,
as If puzzled at our attitudes. I fairly
ached to shout--to spring up-to do
something, but l dared not move a
finger.
Flash! The great spider jumps into
the center of the handkerchief spread
over the sergeant's face and glides
here and there in wonderment. The
sergeant's eyes express hope. The
horrible thing may leap from his face
to the earth. No! 1t crawls slowly
down to the lower edge of the handker-
chief, and the sergeant's eyes speak
horror and desperation, and his hands
are as wet as if plunged into bucket
of water. Now the spider crawls off
the handkerchief onto the sergeant S
chin. and for thirty seconds is entirely
motionless.
The man is doomed. His eyes tell
me so. His soul is sick with horror,
but what nerve to hold himself down
and take the chances! Not one man in
Il million could do it. Not a muscle
moves; not the slightest change in the
heave of his breast. He is in more
torture than tn man at the stake, but
his nerve is not broken.
The spider suddenly shakes itself,
inficts its bite. and is gone like a
flash, springing clear over one of the
other men. Then with a scream oil
despair the sergeant springs up, eyes
full Of terror and face distorted, and
goes rushing away on foot over the
plains We saddle up and pursue. but
he lodges, turns and twists about, and
it is an hour before we can catch him.
Then he sinks helplessly down, and in
side of two hours is dead.-New York
Sun.
IA Entor q 0nnun