The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1889-07-10
WORSE THAN THE STAKE.
g'he Big Tarantula and the Mental Torture
of Its Soldier Victim.

| ?lle Big Tarantula and the Mcntal Tortur
/ of Its Soldier Victim.
We had camped down on the plain
of Texas one noon to boil cup of cof
fee and get bite to eat, and whil'
Private Malone was getting the COFFEE
ready three or four of the mel
stretched out for quarter of al
! hours sleep. There were seven O
us, United States dragons, searching
for some horses which had broker
away, and Big George" as we called
! him, who was a sergeant, was in com
mand. l was very wide awake, hav.
ing caught sight of snake moving of
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 q
man who stood exactly six feet tall in
his stockings, weighed 2lS 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 pup
pets.
1t might have been ten minutes aft.
err he lay down that sud lenly caught
sight of a tarantula on his breast-the
largest and most Notwithstanding
specimen l ever saw, and l lived for
seven years among them. The SER
geant 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 I
had no sooner caught sight of the big
spider than | saw that the mans eyes
which | could see under his red hand
kerchief, were open. He saw the
tarantula, perhaps, before l did. 1
turned my head to the right, and Ma
lony, who stood upright at the fire,
was looking at the sergeant, with face
as white as snow. turned to the left.
and the two other mon who had not
sought sleep were also gazing in hor-
ror.
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. I was only
a foot away from the sergeant's feet
and on u line with his face, and could
look into his eyes and read his
thoughts He was a game man. He
had been tested over and over. but
never in such a manner. How would
he stand the ordeal? The spider had
curiosity regarding the brass buttons
on the jacket. He lowered over the
fifth one from the top for three or four
minutes. | read in the sergeant's eyes
surprise, repugnance and calculation.
carefully watched the muscles of
his face. He might as well have been
lead for all the movement | could de-
tect.
Now the spider moves up a button
low back two. Those shining metals
ire new sight to him. AS he moves
Town | read relief in the sergeant's
eyes. As he moves up again read
anxiety. Not a finger moves. His
hest heaves as regularly as the beats
If clock.
Now the spider moves up to the Sec
md button from the top and shakes
himself nervously. He is right under
he sergeant's clean shaved chin, and
lot over foot from his eyes. Now
ear comes to the mans eyes, and |
&c beads OF perspiration start out on
us big. red hands. He has been
lemmed in by Indians, chased by
ungry wolves, lost on the trackless
lains without losing his nerve. 1t is
DING now. The spider shakes itself,
nd the look OF fear gives place to one
+ terror We know, and the SER
cant knows, that the insect is an
cred, and that its next move will be
pward.
The coffee is boiling over into the
re, and two or three of the horses
re looking at us in an interrogatiye
ay. as If puzzled at our attitudes.
'lrly ache to shout-to spring up-to
0 something; but l dare not move a
niger.
Flash! The great spider jumps into
le center Of the handkerchief spread
YER the sergeants face and glides
ere and there in wonderment. The
'rgeant's eyes express hope. The
orrible thing may leap from his face
the earth. No! 1t crawls SLOWLY
own to the lower edge of the hand
srchief, and the sergeant's eyes speak
orror and desperation, and his hands
e as wet as if plunged into bucket
water. Now the spider crawls off
g handkerchief onto the, sergeant's
lin, and for thirty seconds is entirely
otionless.
The man is doomed. His eyes tell
so. His soul is sick with horror,
1t what nerve to hold himself down
I'd take the chances! Not one man in
million could do it. Not a muscle
owes; not the slightest change in the
ave of the breast. He is in more
rture than the man at the stake, but
S nerve is not broken.
The spider suddenly shakes itself,
flicts its bite, and is gone like flash,
ringing clear over one of the other
On. Then, with ascream of despair,
sergeant springs up, eyes full of
'ror and face distorted, and goes
Shing away on foot over the plains.
G saddle LIN and ,,,,ns,,o hit L.