Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1894-11-01

IL WIS ndnd
some enough
to figure at a church parade in Hyde
Park, and strong enough to fell an o,
with.
In my peregrinations through the
bush of Australia this stick was ALWAYS
with me. twas a stout support and
weapon of defense in case of need
II ever snake had confronted me
leave you to guess the reception he
would have got. Talk about mince.
meat
l have perfect horror of snakes
those pests of central Australia-and
So as soon as had arrived In the coun.
try, made every inquiry as to the best
methods of protecting ones self against
the reptiles.
Cover your legs with leather gai-
ters," was told, land then, with good
stick in your hand, you need have no
fear.'
Thereupon l was enlightened as to
the lnfallible manner of Staying the
enemy:
Avoid placing yourself behind or
In front of your snake-behind es-
pccially-but take it side on, grip your
stick hard and bring 1t down on its
back with all your might: Bang.-
there you are; you have broken it's
slippery spinal column, and your snake
is soon as dead as door nail"
over and over again people said to
me: Surely you will not return to
Europe without being able to say to
your compatriots: 4 killed serpent
III Australia, and this is how it was
done? Every Frenchman who has
travelled in far countries is supposed
to be more or. less tinged with tar
tarinade.
All that is very we'll, but / am a pru-
dent man, and I said to myself: "In-
stead of Frenchman telling his fell
low-countrymcn how to kill snake, it
might just as likely end in a snake tell
ing its friends and family how to pol
ish off a Frenchman."
However, when l was in the bush,
wandering about armed with that new
stout walking g-stick, l went through
the roll that might be called upon to
enact at any moment, and / killed
them by hund reds-the snakes that
were not there. Not one escaped.
just tremendous whack, and the
thing was done exactly as my friends
had tol d me: "Bang!-there you are"
In the ca Sc of two enemies, the one
who is first discovered by the other is
half beaten. And SO the snake /
feared especially was the one hidden
in the grass or the dead wood with
which the bush is strewn and which,
being walked upon, has way of en-
tering an energetic protest in the form
of bite on your calf before you have
time to know where you are.
But the snake that l dreaded most
of all was the one which insinuates it.
self at evening into peoples houses,
glides into bedroom and quietly
curls up in the bed
arrived one event ng in town sit
uated in the interior of New South
Wales. The season was what the in
habitants of those parts called win
ter; 105 degrees of heat at midday and
SO ut nine in the evening-regular
snake weather. Not leaf stirred; one
could scarcely breathe in the leaden
atmosphere. The little town was
right in the bush. Behind the ho-
tel where | had alighted ran small
river that furni she d.the establishment
with mosquitoes of an energy and vo-
racity beyond competition. The cook
cry in that hotel was atrocious. Like
poor dead Polonius, we, the guests,
were at feast, not where we ate, but
where we were eaten. Before retiring
to rest on the first night had a chat
with the landlord, who informed me
that the district was infested with
snakes. The close vicinity of the bush
and of the river, added to the intense
heat, naturally rendered the town
likely resort for snakes. That very
afternoon my host had killed one
measuring eight feet in one of his
flower beds. And" he said, "the
plague of it is th at the brutes are con-
stantly getting into the house and
hiding in the bedrooms"
You may imagine whether searched
my room in every part; in the corners,
under the furniture, under the bed and
in the bed. l carefully prodded with
that good site k of mine the bed-cover.
ings and the pillows
No snakes anywhere.
Quite reassured, l closed the win.
dow, undressed, put out the light and
got into bed.
The heat was sitting.
Presently some mosquitoes began to
buzz around my head, intonating the
battle cry that heralds combat with.
out quarter. There were curtains, but
with holes in them; worse than none
tbs generally SO with Australian ho
tells. The consequence is that when
the beast is inside he cannot get out
A duel mort You or he must die
That buzz of the mosquitoes is as irri.
tating as the whizzing of bullets Oh
the battlefield, but with this differ
ence, however, that the ball which has
just gone singing past you is gone for.
ever, while the buzz of the mosquito
announces to you that the battle Is
about to begin.
AS protection for my head, and at
the risk of suffocation, l drew the |
sheet over my face, and then, bathed
in perspiration, tried to forget in
sleep real mosquitoes and imaginary