Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-11-30
CHAPTER xx.-A RESCUE.

iiment in his nature and made sleep al
most u terror TO him for many months.
Sometime in the night, It seemed an
age, the pressure round the leg relaxed ,
auh the coils were drawn slowly over the
sand for few feet, when the reguinT
breathing Of the gorged reptile warned
him TINT il slept.
He attempted to change his position
when his leg bent under him, and he had
to rub L vigorously 10 restore the blood
which had been forced out by the pres
sure.
While he rubbed he pondered over his
POSITION, but The more he dvelt upon i:
The more hopeless 1t appeared. &c; out
through the assure he could not, and re-
main in that horrible hole for another
night was impossible.
There was only one chance OF escape
that presented Itself to him, and TINT
was OF The slightest. II was through the
hole by which the python had entered.
The chance was indeei email. In the
first place the hoe was probably not
large enough, IN the second he was not
sure that It led TO any opening ana
InstIy, its passage WAS barred by the
serpent.
mind TO take the desperate course, and
nj the first ray OF light which struggled
through the crHck above. he warily
moved forward, feeling about with HE
toe gently, to locGie the sleeping mou-
steT.
He struck against something hard, and
picked up The asSrga which the Zulu had
dropped. With the butt of this h. softly
prnuei the cave ahead, ana could not
suppress 1t shudder us he touched the
cOiled body.
The creature Kissed NJ the touch, aud
its great DIAMOND shaped head was
slowly advanced "A yard or two, urtil it
rested on the spot where the ray Of light
shone on dark stain of blood.
Its forked tongue darted out from the
grim jaws meGGcingty, but its stony eyes
were dull, aud the muscles along its
neck were iinccd.
A wave of disgust and rage snrGed
through Blaine; he poised the asSegai.
then drove il with fierce thrust right
through the prone head, aud before the
writing coils could ovewhelm him, he
darted head irst into the hole beyond.
He wriggled along in mad haste, with
an awful sense that the serpent would
seize him from behind, dar;ed into nest
OF large eggs, which smashed under his
weight, releasing number of half
hatched pythOns. which Kissed and
squirmpd. With q grOau of horror ne
scrambled on, the tunnel narrowing ut
every foot, until it caught hun fust by
the sho liders.
Here he remained painting and fighting
for breath, unable to advance. aud
afraid 10 retreat, with strong, musky
smell Hssailiug his nostriis, and foul,
drmD air passing into his lungs Mt every
laboreI breath. Intense darkness com
plet ed the horror of his position, and q
strange sensation OF light headedness
came over him. In another hour, If he
had remained in that state, he would
have grown delicious, If not mad.
Fortunately, some of the young
py thons, in their blind movements, fol-
lowed him, and the cold touch on his
legs acted upon his nerves like n spark
on bnrTel of guupowder. With cry
of disgust, he forced himself through
the narrow place, leaving part OF his
coat behind, and found himself able to
move more freely.
Then Il cool draught gave him renewed
strength, and the next Instant, with his
lungs drinking in the pure air and his
eyes blinking at the glorious light of day,
he found himself on the face of the pTeri-
pice, up which he had climbed the day
before. lie rested on a ledge of rock,
pressing his lips against u cold stone for
the moisture IN il, then gradually reused
himself.
He looked below upon the circle OF hu:s
and saw number OF dark skinned war
riuTs clustered about fires AZ the morning
meal, ami then he glanced over the
couu Try, which stretched like map be-
fore aim TO au,lauR range on the left,
H!oDaue mountain 10 the right. Afpr
of b. saw two black specks moving,
abreast, uut NJ wide distance apart. He
settl ed himself to watch these with
ling ering hope that they were friends.
AS they advanced, there came into
view behind them three dark lines, and
ne drew deep sigh OF relief. Butler
aud ms rough horse were evidently out
IN force, and very soon il was plain 10
MIN that they were making direc. for
the stronghold below.
The scouts thrown out in advance took
ziE-zaE course rs they swerved to right
or lett 10 mount ridge or search
donua, but the mass behind came on
steuGilT at brisk walk One of the
the three troops, IT was soon apparent.
was not composed OF rough horse. The
Sav iug ppnuons and the large English
horses marked that column out as de-
zach meut of LaucprS.
Al the kraal below, the Zulus had no
susI icion that All attack was imminent.
They sat about the fires, chatting with
rha wealth OF gesture ana redundancy
of description which characterIzps the
sGv age man for whom time has little i'm
poT lance.
" hen the leading scout OF the advance
ing force topped the ridge facing the
square mount. and his shadow outlined
IN gigantic shaps by the young sun, was
thrown almost up to the krGal, they did
nOt see him.
The man remained but moment in
dark silhouette against the BLAZING dawn,
tkeu galloped at full speed back to the
main Lody, which paused 10 receive his
news. The other scouts were called In,
and The column crept along the ridge,
disappearing from Biaine's sight, and
ne eagerly waited for their resppesr-
auce.
Soon they topped the ridge in extended
line, paused "A moment, then Numbered
down 10 the donga.
As the rosr OF the charge broke sud-
denly on the ears OF the Zulus, they