New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1891-03-11
ened scream followed byloud calls for

She waited for nothing more, but
sprang down the back stairs and
turned Rover loose. The instant the
Intelligent dog was free he disappear
ed with a savage groWl in the direct
ion Of the, struggle, which now she
could plainly hear.
Let us now return to Fred.
He was awakened by the scatter
ing of the sheep and lay quite still
for a moment grasping his axe and
looking to see if it was a bear or Hank
Garcelon, as he had ina gined that was
depicting the flock.
What allied that tree? He did not
remember that either limb reached
the ground when he was there that
morning. Now it was sweeping the
ground and waving into the air more
than any Of the other limbs.
Great Scott! Look at those gilt
tering eyes! With the scream Nellie
had heard he sprang to his feet to
face the oscillating body capped by
the horrible head of an immense
snake! IS. ~
The long limb of that tree had
evolved a great serpent! T.
| Months before the story had been
circulated that a python had escaped
from a travelling mena gerie which
had been exhibiting in that vicinity,
but people had laughed at the report
as a good advertisement and also a
good excuse for the absence from
their exhibition of the interesting
reptile. .. .s.
Here he was tonight to answer for
himself, however. Nothing to laugh
at, either! .. -. ...-. -.
He had probably been coiled under
that pile of wood or quite possibly
within that very tree-top all through
that hot July day. The GOODNESS
and quiet of evening; had tempted
him out for recreation or plumber.
and poor Fred had chosen the right
time and place to get a good view of
a rare specimen" without paying
his quarter!
Fred raised his axe to strike, but
before he could bringit down upon
the sleek: fat body Of his dreadful
antagonist there was a blood-curd-
ling hiss, a lightning-like glide along
the short distance between them, and
the snake, with one sweep of his 1.-the
coil, had enveloped the boys body
and right arm in an ever-tightening
fold that, without immediate outside
interposition, would soon have rem
dered this story too tragic to be
told.
Then rang out his cries for help
from those who would so gladly aid
him did they know his peril.
AS he struck away the distended
jaws and sWaying head, which seemed
to be forever before his face, and
every moment to threated him, his
situation was not unlike that of
LAGOON Of old.
All his efforts seemed to be in vain:
the awful, crushing construction was
fast telling upon his strength and he
1ef1 on one knee upon the body of the
python. =.
He will never forget just how it
seemed; the cold, shiny surface and
it's ivory-like impenetrability and
resistance to the touch of his hands.
Could no one hear his cries, which
he felt were growing fainter? g..
just as he was about to succumb
to his fate, and the fiercecompression
of that tense, steel-Iike coli, so cold.
SO revolving, he heard Rover's say
age grOWl and with a last CRY of:
'1Take him, Rover! Take him, old
fellow!'' he tainted.
AS Nellie rushed down the road to
the pasture bars she encountered a
two-horse hay-rack loaded with the
the paraphernalia ofhay making and
with three men on board; neighbors
returning from cut ting hay on dis
tant meadow. -
She hastily summoned them to her
assistance.
They ARRIVED ON the ridge just in
time to hear Fred's last cry, and see
Rover plunge desperately to the res
cue .
When Rover's sharp teeth closed in
the snakes body, he swept one coil
from about the boy, and turninglike
a flash attacked the dog, kissing
angrily. -
Rover sprang back inaffffright. but,
still true to his young master, he i'm
mediately charged upon his foe with
renewed vigor. But here the terror-
stricken spectators came to their
senses; and while one poundedsthe au-
dacious eannibal with pitch fork he
had brought with him from thewag-
on, another seized the axe Fred had
dropped, and cut him into a dozen
pieces before he wonld let go his wise
Hike grip upon poor Fred, who now
lay like one dead.
The boy was taken home, and lby
their united efforts was finally restor-
ed to consciousness. He looked
around the room, al his nearly fran
tie mother; at his father, pale and
trembling, seated beside the bed; hook
as hong a breath as his strength and
recent squeezing he had been subject
ed to would admit, and asked in a
voice scarcely above whisper:
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