The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1896-12-09

COulu meeJ WlJn iOTtlJuuC Dub 10 ulo
bowling from the bite OF a spider
What philosophy Is strong enough to
meet such fate with equanlmity?
As 1 lay thus could hear faint
scratching sound, which / knew was
caused by the horny claws of this
spider crawling about the floor. And
now a strong musky olor came TO my
nostrils' The tarantula, when irrita-
ted, casts forth 81 ch an odor. He was
approaching me; perhaps his next
leap would be upon my bed, to fix his
venom charged mandibles in my
flesh
l could bear it no 10 1ger would
at least make one effort for life. J
would try TO reach the door, before
the spider could spring upon me. |
put one naked foot to the floor, but
Instantly drew it back with a cry OF
agony. A sharp, lacerating pain
warned me that had been bitten.
fell back in O stupor OF despair.
1t was useless to move now. The
poison was in my blood and there was
no hope for me; the scratching sound
had ceased; the malignant thing had
done his work and he was satisfied.
But the odor of musk was stronger
than ever. He was evidently crouch
ing there in the darkness, wat ching
me die.
Slowly, moment by moment, ! felt
the death languor creeping Ger me.
felt the venom coursing through my
veins My senses wers leaving me. /
could make no effort to rouse myself.
l thought of my Northern home, my
boyhood, my friends, the bright hopes
thus miserably darkened IN my prime.
My eyes closed, my limbs relaxed
certainly this was not the death they
told me off, not that had witnessed in
the victims of the tarantula. But for
the pain in my foot, | should have
been almost comfortable. Strange
Rap, rap, rapl The sound of re.
iterated knocking penetrated to my
dulled brain. l opened my eyes and
gazed vaguely around. Bright streaks
of morning sunlight were streaming
through cracks in door and shutter. l
was not dead, then? The bite of the
deadly tarantula had not destroyed
me. How was it?
''Senor Carlos 1t is 7 o'clock !"
l recognized the voice of my fore.
man at the mills.
sat up in bed and examined my
foot. The wound, sore enough still,
was not from the jaws OF the tarantula.
And there upon the floor at my bed
side was the cause both of my wound
and of the musky odor which had
attributed to the spider-the frag-
ments of my perfume bottle, which
had overthrown in the darkness.
arose, and, chary both of broken glass
and the hidden spider, slipped to
the door and admitted my foreman,
to whom communicated the fact OF
the presence of tarantula in my bed.
room, and scuttled back to bed, while
he, protected with high boots and q
stout stick, made q search for the in
sect. He found it presently, drowned
and harmless, in bucket of water into
which 1t must have fallen while trying
to drink.
was careful not to relate my ex'
perience of that dreadful night, and
Nanita was equally careful to suppress
her own part in the tragi-comedy.
often danced with her after that, and
when she was married, some tor
months later, to Joe Marialoa, the
drover, presented her with neck
lace of amber beads from which was
suspended silver spider, which had
ordered especially at Aspinwall. With
her marriage and the appearance OF
two or three brown, chubby little
Marialoas she ceased to merit hel
nickname of "La Tarantola. New
York Ledger.