The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1895-04-18

lew yards away lay the crushed body
Of her pet dog, and stretched out beside
1t the yet quivering form of monstrous
though beautifully notified boa con-
strictor! " .%'s@'.@
With fervent cry of thanksgiving,
the relieved father snatched the entire
ly uninjured child to his breast, when,
between her sobs, she pitifully moaned:
"Oh, papa papa! that awful big snake
killed poor Carlo!'
For many minutes the frightened lit
tie thing could not be comforted, but at
last, while her soft arms still clung to
her fathers neck, the violence of her
grief subsidized. Then, gravely question
ing, Mr.. Dyett said:
walter, my son, why in the world
did you bring Addie so far from camp?
If the poor dog had not been more
tempting prey, she would surely have
been destroyed by this monster"
1T was very wrong of me, papa" re-
piled the penitent boy, but after had
shot all the squirrels I wanted, she
begged so hard to be taken out for a
walk. that I asked mamma to let her
go with me, and always finding new and
strange flowers to pick, we came farther
than we intended"
Tell us about 1t, Walter" I said.
you've bravely atoned for your error,
at all events, for I see that your bullet
has completely shattered the boa's spine
just back of its head-the only way in
which 1t could have been so quickly
killed."
'Well,' resumed the young sports
man. when we got to this bed Of flow
ers, Addie began to fit about just like
butterfly, and I sat down, watching
her pretty motions.
After a minute or two, with Carlo
In front of her, she ran over to the rub
ber-tree grove, and then called out to
me:
" oh. Waite, come quick and see
such a booful thing all curled up in the
tree!
thinking that it might be one of
those prettily spotted little wildcats. T
was just getting up, when I saw black
and yellow streak dart down from low
tree, and in one second the big snake
caught Carlo by the nose, and quick as
flash of lightning wrapped itself
around him.
The poor little fellow had time to
give only one yelp, and then Addie be-
gan to scream. I was there almost in
a moment, but it was too late to save
the dog, for when the snake uncoiled
Itself, after I'd put the muzzle of my
rifle close to it's head and blown it's neck
to pieces, he was quite dead and all
crushed out of shape"
We'll, my boy" said Mr.. Dyett, you
certainly acted with rare judgment, but
now did you know so we'll where to
ShOOt?'
why, I'd often read, papa, that the
very largest snake is easily killed in
that way; so I made sure of this one
by almost touching it's neck with my
rifle before I fred
Pretty cool for 15-year-old
youngster," I remarked; but the boy, a
born hunter, seemed to think nothing of
his daring feat. Indeed, his joy at find
ing Addie unhurt was too great to
admit of other Civilizations.
Mr.. Dyett rejecting upon what might
have been, shuddered when. on
measuring the great reptile, we found
1t to be thirteen feet long, a creature
quite capable OF not only killing but
also of swallowing an ordinary-sized
man!
This,' said he, will prove a valu-
able lesson to us all. Even the river
crocodlles are not nearly so dangerous
as these large tree-boas, because the
latter can rarely be seen before they
strike, and their approach is noiseless."
Then. while the little girl still nestled
in her fathers arms Walter and I
gathered up the dropped gum and the
whole party hurried back to camp,
where, When our startling story was
told, the trembling mother wept over
| and fondled her now smiling darling
as IT she had indeed been snatched from
the jaws of death.
After dinner, two of the MALAY boat
men were sent out to strip the bril-
l1antly marked skin of the snake and
to bring in, for honorable burial. the
body of the lamented Carlo, the in
voluntary sacrifice of whose life had
undoubtedly saved that of his Young
| mistress.
Not content with performing their
assigned task, the fellows brought back
with them great flakes of the snow
white fat which underlies the skin of
these huge serpents, the oil tried out
from this being considered by allaborig-
NAL Borneans, a sovereign remedy for
almost every conceivable ailment.
l have no wish to inf1ict upon nv
readers any further account of our do
lngs on that trip; but, as confirming the
popular belief that serpents of all kinds
Will, when possible, trace a missing
| mate, 1 may say that, two days after
the first was killed, we shot a second
and equally large boa not ten feet from
the spot where still lay some fragments
of it's departed relative