Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1892-10-20

trayed the great alarm they were ex-
pericncing, and yet the magnetism OF
their enemy's brilliant eye seemed to
draw them ever nearer to him. Sud
denly the snakes head shot out, and
one of the poor trembling little war.
blers fell into the open jaws The re.
mainder of the birds few off at once.
determined to have that snake or know
the reason why, but did not feel very
much like shining up the tree to get
him after my experience of the pre-
vious hour, so determined to move him
by other means. My servant and col
lecteda number of stones and proceeded
to make it pretty warm for the bird
catcher. Two or three of our missiles
struck him, but not one in vital part.
and after awhile the snake seemed to
think that sort of fun had been going
! on long enough, and he came rapidly
down the tree. We did not succeed in
hitting him during his descent, and he
was soon gliding down the trunk. 1t
CHANGED to be of the cobra species,
which will attack a man if disturbed.
Directly it touched the ground it made
straight for the Zulu, who dropping his
stones, made the best running time on
record towards an activity close to
where we stood. Attaining the sum-
NIT of the hill, he looked quickly be-
hind, only to find his pursuer close at
his heels. The descent before him was
very steep, one, in point of fact man
under ordinary circumstances would
| carefully pick his way down, but the
| exigencies of the Znlu's position did not
leave much margin for accommodating.
With a yell like twelve basketsful OF
| devils. as Friend Rabelais would say,
he started down the hill, closely fol-
lowed by the snake. I followed, but
regard for my neck made my prog
ress much more moderate. Besides l
had not such an important engagement
to keep as the Zulu. The latter had
lost all control of his movements, and
flew down the declivity at express
speed, the cobra making prodigious
bounds behind him. When the dis
tapce between tho Zulu and the snake
was not more than three feet, the
former caught his toe in the root of a
tree and fell full length on the ground,
clutching some TUFTS Of grass to pre-
vent rolling. The snakes impetus was
evidently uncomfortable also, for it
bounded clear over the Frustrated Zulu
and continued the pace to the bottom
of the hill.
fastened to join the boy, thinking
the snake might return to attack him,
but it had abandoned the hunt. ! was
| bent on having the snake, however,
and told the native to cut two stout
sticks, armed with which we proceeded
to hunt up our whilom pursuer. II
took some little time in the thick
grass, but we eventually spotted him,
stretched out near tree. AS we came
in sight he made for us viciously, but
a blow from my stick made him retreat
Following him up saw him attempt
to hide in hole about twelve inches
| deep, scratched in an ant heap. he
was obviously under the impression
tina. he had struck deep hiding place
and as he touched bottom turned
sharply around to come out again
when placed my stick below his head
and held him to the ground to watch
his antics. The fierce look of baffied
|
shone in his eyes was simply in
describable. AS bent down to look
into them forgot the danger was in.
curing and became quite interested in
watching the reptile, when Pit! Pit
the cobra discharged it's venom at me-
A second later and I crushed its head
with my stick.
When we returned to the wagons the
first remark my companions made was
''What the mischief is the matter
with your hair? 1t is quite green.
And SO it was; the poison from the
snakes fangs had struck my hair above
the right temple and turned it as YER
dant as young corn. lost no time in
shaving that portion of 1ny head, as
there was some risk in the venom be-
coming absorbed through the pores OF
the scalp.
Of course this incident naturally lee
to snake yarns, and one of our party
related sad misfortune which befell 9
relative of his, who had, under some
what similar circumstances to those
related, been spat upon by snake ir
Natal. The venom, in his case, haC
entered his eye, causing excruciatine
agonies and completely binding it.
After fortnight the other eye had also
lost it's sight, and the man is now total
ly blind. My escape was therefore q
very fortunate one.
| A few days after this we were in an.
other part of Zululand, and my three
companions had gone on two days
hunt with some traders, remaining to
look after our outfit The evening was
~ery sultry, and instead of sleeping in
the wagon, as usually did, I spread
my blankets on the ground and slept
with the azure canopy of heaven above
me- know no more delightful feel
ing than that of waking up under a
s,tarlit summer sky in Africa, with the
refreshing night breeze softly tanning
your cheek; but on this special occa.
sion as l woke | was conscious of a
creepy sensation about my neck, which
took all the romance out of the situa.
ton. Feeling cautiously to ascertain
the cause, was Mortified to feel my
fingers come in contact with the moist
body of snake. The position was
! fearfnlly trying to the nerves. dare
not shout to the wagon boys, who were
sleeping within ten yards of me, Still
less could venture to roll away. The
least movement on my part might cause
the visitor to fasten its fangs in my
neck. So there / lay, hoping against
hope that one of the snoring natives
would wake up and discover my posi-.
| ton. TO make the situation still more
intolerable, first my nose began to itch
consumedly, then the tickling sensation
spread to every individual inch OF
my anatomy and each itched worse
than the other, and dare not scratch
or move in any direction l had nc
means of knowing where the snakes
head lay or how far it had coiled itself
around my neck. In fact, it seemed tc
me, as lay counting the seconds, that
its body was in contact with every
part OF my frame. Slowly and YEARLY
the minutes dragged on until began