The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1889-01-25
NUMBER 90.
opp essiveness. but there was an utter
absence of acute pain.


entombed my feet and legs. and would
ere long close over my head. Mad
dencd at the loathsome prospect, l
gave a horriiled scream of agony, and
clutching frantically at the ground L
struggled frantically to release myself
from the deadly embrace OF the SER
pent's throat.
As well might some modern Canute
try TO stay the tidal waves resistless
course as l to struggle for freedom
from that living wise stretched like
rubber about every hair-breadth OF
what it engulfed. AS / struggled i
could feel the hooked fangs of my de-
vourer clutch the buckskin jacket L
was wearing and hold me like pair
OF hungry nippers, while the horrible
suction-pump below seemed to be
worked with anxious energy.
As soon as realized the utter hope
lessncss of accomplishing any thing by
struggling a complete change came
over me. / became as calm and col
lectcd as if there was nothing 10 be
alarmed at in my position. So cool
and philosophical did / begin to re-
view the situation that 1 concluded
must have suddenly gone mad.
II there was the slightest hope of
escape. l argued with myself. it would
be in keeping my presence of mind
and remaining perfectly quiet. Every
struggle / might make TO get loose
would land me an inch further down
into the depths OF the boa's slippery
tomb, by bringing into play the hooked
fanss and arousing the activity OF that
horrible suction force within.
From my school-boy recollections OF
natural history came the conclusion
that my devourer must have been a
good twenty-four hours engulfng me
up TO the waist, and that by Offering a
merely passive resistance / might
keep my head and shoulders outside as
long as life remained. From the time
j discovered myself to be in the boa's
lethiferous grip until the above sensi-
bic resolve was arrived at could hardly
have been three minutes.
For the first time since recovering
consciousness my thoughts now found
opportunity to wander from my own
sensations, and my first thought was
of Murilla- What had become of him?
Was he, too, being devoured. or was
he already destroyed? a gleam of
hope shot through my brain at the
query. Perhaps he IS unharmed. and
when he RECEIVERS from the stup efying
effects OF the berries viii be able to rem
der me assistance.
In my anxiety to see II Murilla were
-b.a,~ i
me. The movement disturbed the boa.
and again he dragged me backward
two o. three feet. and again the pres
sure from below eXerted itself anew to
try and drag me in. So long as re-
mained perfectly quiet the boa seemed
content to let nature take its course,
and to remain in a semi-comatose con-
dition. He seemed 10 realize that he
had undertaken a tremendous job, and
one that required great deal of pa
tlence- The least movement on my
part, however, he would interpret at
once into an effort Of his prey to escape,
and would reclprocate by trying to
swallow me.
Hours, that the horror of my position
seem to lengthen into days. passed by;
Ithonght l should go stark. raving
mad, as felt the fangs of my hideous
devourer scraping against my buckskin
jacket to try and inch me further down
his throat.
The heavy odor of the reptiles
breath was like some overpowe ing
drug. which. if distilled and applied
in moderation. might even be toler-
able TO the nostrils. Darkness came,
and added 10 the terror OF my situa-
ton My nerves were now badly
shattered, and, in the darkness, my
plight was pitiable in the extreme,
How shall describe the weird hor-
rors OF that dreadful night? II
seemed an eternity spent amid all
the blackness and the mental tortures
of hell itself.
Morning dawned at last. although
l never thought it would come and
find me in possession of my senses.
Why it didn't find me a raving
maniac, or blubbering idiot, seemed
the st angest thing that had yet hap
pened.
My first thought was TO ascertain
whether the gutta-percha-like opening
in my living tomb had gained on me
during those awful hours of darkness
or not. l was lying all this while
face downward, and, although by this
time weakened almost to state OF
helplessness, used my left hand to
feel the taut rim of the boa-constrict-
or's jaws They were three full
inches higher up my body than yester
eve The excitement of the night
had just passed through had ex-
hausted my emotions. and / remem-
Der that this sinister discovery
awakened in me no sense of uneasi-
ness.
tried 10 form some plan OF putting
an end to my existence; but my brain
refused to make connection between
my dim, disjointed flights of thought.
1t was no longer equal to the concen-
tration OF a definite idea / was now
beyond all active emotions. Once
fancied / heard the cry of somo ami
NAL or human being near oy, but I
was too far gone TO pay any attention.
At last all seemed TO be over with
me. 1t was as though the darkness
of night had gradually closed over me
again; q roaring noise in my ears con-
tinued for awhile in the darkness, and
then all was silent / had sank into
the Inconsistencies of complete ex-
haustion.
l remember nothing moro until /
came to my senses again in our camp
on the river bank. A couple of days
nursing by Murilla brought me round
so that j could sit up and listen TO his
account of my rescue. The cry
fancied i heard just before sinking in
TO Inconsistencies was from Murilla.
The effects Of tho berries had kept him
etupched until the dawn Of the second