New-York tribune., 1896-01-12


| sighting the serpent and my burst Of laughter
| | had never taken my eyes off him for a second,
| and now. when let out my mirthless cacke'
| | that he suddenly stopped the gentle move
ment of his head and shrank back little as II
daunted by the sound.
A wild geam of hope lit up the situation for
me. Might it rot be possible by noisy demon
strations on my part to frighten him away. or
| at least to deter him from attacking me? With
| daylight-surey with delight-help must come.
| If not from Garth and the boatmen. then from
| the Indians. There were Indians living on that
| creek knew. and at daylight some would sure
| y be about in their canoes. If | could only
| keep the Comudi al bay till then
Thercupon. | began making violent gestures
with my arms and emitted Il series of blood
curdng yells which think even Fuzzy-W uzzy.
| In his home in the Soudan. could scarcely have
bcttered. The Comudi did not unwind his tail
and fee But H. was evidently impressed by
| these demon.trations-stron impressed They
| seemed to take the keen edge off his appetite.
| No doubt he wanted his supper very badly but,
as there seemed to be something In II ne didn
| quite understand. he evidently decided to in
! spect it little longer before making his as
sault.
So ne continued 10 inspect me with cold. gilt
tering eyes. while tried 10y converting my arms
! into windmills every now and then and yell
ing at the top of my voice, to MAKE him afraid
| Of attacking My tactics were so far sue
tessful. but the anaconda was not to be fright
rncd off the field. He seemed To know instinct
lively that my powers were limited and his posi-
ton With some Of his great black and
yellow coils embracing the tree. and the rest
!
! looked very much at hOme-as darcsay hc was.
How slowly the time passed, | suppose the
Comudi. having. seemingly. no pressing engage
ment elsewhere. didn find II very tedious waiting
| till the supper he had in view should cool d)Tn
enough to let him gin upon ii. but snail never
forget the long. tortuIinE suspense that waiting
| meant to me. Every moment | was expecting
| him to overcome his doubts OF me and max" the
| fatal spring: and | kept an unwinkinS watch
| upon him. with my nerves strung up tD an al
| most unbearable degree of tension. Then, rs
| time went on. the violence of my demonstra-
| tions to keep the Comudi in awe began To- eN-
| haust mo physically. | grew hopeless Of es-
Gaping those cruel jaws. though was doggedly
| determined to show fight to the end.
My thoughts would conjure up all the horrible
! details Of that end. and dwell on them WIN an
odd fascination. Sooner or later my vigilance
| must relax and then the watchful serpent would
seize his opportunity and hurtie himself through
! the air upon me. | would feel his sharp teetn
piercing my flesh. Then | would know myself
involved in the cold scaly coils of his body. and
feel them pressing tighter and tighter TIL my
ribs cracked and suffOcation began. And then
well ! hoped | should be dead before he began
swallowing me. 1t seems rather absurd that at
that moment | should have felt sort Of hnnick-
ing disgust at the idea Of being passed through
the process of degluiitiOn. but did.
The dreadful hours passed somehow. and the
morning found me-a ghastly-looking object.
make no dOubt-still perched on the Wallaba,
desperately watching my neighbor on the other
tree Ny body ached with fatigue, the wild mo-
tions | still made with my arms from time to
time were purely mechanical. my tongue Glove to
the roof of my mouth. seemed to be almost
past thinking or feeling about wha' was gong 10
happen to me.
AS the sun rose the Comudi began. by his rest
lcssness to plainly express his Indignation az
having his supper merged in his breakfast IN TINS
fashion had seen that latterly my attempts IL
intimdate him were losing their effect. and
knew that the end at hand. did not seem
knife and opened Ii. think meant to Try to do
| something with 1t, If the Comuh WASH 100
quick for me.
waited. making no further attempt to delay
n CDrinC
| waited long before it came; but perhaps was
mistaken.
vision of something darting toward me
Instinctively leaned forward and threw out
the hand which held the knife. At the same in,
slant felt myself encircled by the huge body of
the anaconda.
The touch Of the reptile seemed to galvanze me
into fresh life. / looked and saw what ! had
escaped by my sudden. unthnkng change ~
position The boas powerful Jaws were nearly
closed In the wood Of the wallaba. exactly at the
spot where my head had been resting the instant
before.
remembered that the peculiar formation of the
teeth Of boas makes II difficult for them T. LEI &
what they have once seized with their mouths.
and I simultaneously OWNED my advantage.
Bringing my free hight hand with the knife into
play. struck repeatedly at the Comudis massive
coils devouty trusting 10 reach some vital part
sitting in the fork of two branches which
were both included in the Comudi's embrace. ana,
as the pressure # his powerful muscles were
first expended on those. had not felt II as yet
But now | heard the slighter branch crack. and
Immediately afterward / felt the terrible con-
volutions tightening round me.
was all was over, but. actuatcd by n
blind instinct Of revenge rather than by hope
of setting myself free. again and again drove my
knife UP 10 the handle into the cncirc1ng folds.
The last time it broke. but It had done its work.
The Comudfs great coils. With blood squirting
out of some OF them, spasmodicaliy unwound
themselves and fell Imply down. But. as his teeth
were still buried in the wood If the tree. a big
length of him remained hanging plumb with the
wallaba. while the rest-a good twenty feet
trailed the ground A violent trcnor ran
through him from head to tall, and then ne hulg
motionless. He dead.
II had been a woman suppose should have
tainted then. As il was sat quite still. staring
stupidity at the dead Comud Now and then put
/ out my hand timidly. ike child, and touched
the still flexible carcass.
After a time ! heard the sound OF paddles. |
looked round slowly. and there was an Indian in
large woodskn padding down tne stream l
hailed him with rather feeble croak
He padded quickly toward me. stared blankly
at me and the pendant blood-stained Comudi,
and said Huh He did not seem to quite take
He could not speak English. and could not
speak Macusi. But the language Of signs is uni
vcrsal. and in very short time both and the
Comud were slowed away somehow in the wood
skin beside the Indian. The serpents huge car
cass made 1t rather tight fit. but didn't mean
to leave him to the king vultures-l wanted to
have at least something to show for what mad
suffered
On our way down to the camp we came upon
the errant bateau with its nose gently run INTO
the soft oozy bank Apparently II had dilitcd
only a short distance before sticking.
We transshipped ourselves into the batcau and
took the woodskin, with the boa. In tow.
AS We approached the camp saw Garth walk
ing about in a very forcible style. ana knew by
the token that he wa* angry could conceive
that ii might be with me he was angry. II was.
when next the whim takes YOU 70 go off in
the bateau by yourself, Kenyon he shouted
out angrily as soon as he caught sight of me,
you will please have the courtesy 10 manage II
so as not to upset all our arrangements. We
We're as you know. to break up camp and start
away at dawn. and now
Then his tone suddenly changed as the batcau
and the woodskin touched the landing-placc.
by Jove my dear fellow. where did YOU get
hold of that COmudi? It's the biggest I've ever
set eyes on, 1t can't be less than thirty feet