The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-07-14

on my face, as 1t were, leaving nv
mouth wide open For there, hanging
from the hole in the roof and graceful
~ waving to and fro, was about eight
feet Of snake. And such a snalsci
Boys, l don't believe l am ex-
aggerating ono particle when
Tell you that it was US large around "a
my body. While lay there and looked
Ut MIN, and saw those smooth, waving
motions, that enormous head and the
darling tongue that was kept in con-
slant play, felt perfectly conscious
that this snake could have swallowed
mo without particle of trouble. And
however anxious might have been for
sport, you know had no anxiety to ex-
plore the interior of boa-constrictor.
with some faint idea of selling nv
life as dearly as possible, 1 slipped my
hand softly under tho pillow and got
hold of my revolver. The motion, eosy
as it was, reused jack. and he half
turned. Instantly two or three feet Of
the huge, shining body slipped down
through the roof, and the horrible head
came nearer. Jack saw it then-that
citizen of the world always so fertile in
cxpedients-and with one wild shout Of
Great Scott! Jump for the cupboard,
Arch he flung himself in that direo-
ton. With glimpse of returning rea-
son scrambled after him, and in on
instant we were crouched on the floor,
under the lowest shelf. with the door
shut behind us We were safe, for the
snake could not open the cupboard; and
we sat there and laughed and cried in
the most nonsensical fashion, with our
self-control entirely gone.
Well, if that snake amt soldv WINS
jacks version of it, but think he felt
pretty serious when he said it After
awhile we began to find that it was too
close in our cramped quarters and I
opened the door tiny little bit so that
we could get breath of air. We found
then that the candle had gone out and
the room was as dark us Egypt But We
could hear something moving in that
dark room-soft, gliding motions
that made MS thankful there
were good, strong planks between
us and the something on tho
other side. Time began to pass
somewhat heavily in the cupboard
pressed my face close to the crack in
the door to get more fresh air, and sud
denly something lightly brushed over
my face again and again didn't know
what it was at first but all at once it
flashed upon me that it was the tongue
of that snake That was more than I
could endure With murmurcd warn
ing, Look out, jack, I'm going to fire. >
! put my revolver to the crack and
fired ut the horrible creature that was
carcssing me with its Shiny tongue.
OF course, shut up in that little closet
It sounded like tho very crack Of doom,
and we were deafcn ned so that it was
some time before we could hear any,
thing When we recovered a little such
sounds as did greet our cars! Half q
dozen wild horses couldn't have made
more noise than that snake was making.
We could hear it leap away up against
the walls and fall and twist and writhc,
flashing about with its tail and knock
ing down everything in the room. At
the same time the mir became so heavy
with the rank, poisonous odor the rep.
tile emitted that both of us turned
deathly sick, and Jack began vomiting.
AT last, while the snake was beating
against the walls on the other side of
the room, l opened the door q little
way, reached out in the dark and found
the candle. had one Inst match in nv
pocket If it should go out thought
it was all up with us, for was quito
sure we couldn't live till morning in
that closet. But fortunately the match
was good one aud / made light,
thrust 1T out into the room little and
viewed the wreck. Coiling, twisting
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