The herald., 1897-08-08

though very deep, are narrow, so that
the tops of the trees meet overhead,
producing the effect upon the voyager
Of passing through a tunnel. From
these overhanging branches the great
water boas hang, head downward, wait
ing TO seize any prey that may pass on
the current beneath them. A party of
us were coming down one Of these
streams in a couriel (dugouD, pad
died by Indians, and. from time to time,
an Englishman of the party. named
Yeo fired his rifle at some snake. The
rest of us had cautioned him never to
fire at any snake until after we had
passed it; but with true English self
sufficiency he acknowledged our advice
by firing at a large boa hanging from
limb just as the canoe was beneath
it. He hit the snakes body but did not
break its back, and instantly uncoling
from the limb the boa dropped plump
into the boat AS nobody cared to
share the canoe with a wrthing, twen-
ty-foot boa, every man went out of the
craft as suddenly as the snake had
dropped in The boa glided into the
water as soon as he could pull himself
together, and made for the shore. Those
canoe with the snake made haste to
swim round to the other side, and we
all got safe aboard before the aligators
found out what was going on. Yeo,
who had swum to dry tree root and
perched himself upon it. was the last
man to be taken in. We didn't hurry
bit about going for him, but gave him
a full half-hour there to reflect upon
the wisdom of sometimes taking ad
vice.
In our camp on the Guanuco River,
on the coast of Venezuela, a little Irish
man named McCarty had a thrilling eX-
perience He was a devil-may- care,
reckless fellow; and rising one morning
before the rest of us were awake, he
thought he would take a swim. Run
ming to the edge of the high bank he
dived without first looking about him,
far out into the water AS he came to the
surface in the middle of the narrow riv-
er, and shook the water from his eyes,
the first sight that met his gaze was two
jaguars on the opposite bank, looking
at him and snuffing inquisitively He
turned, only to see on either Side-and
altogether too near-an alligator regard
ing him with marked attention. while
under the bank from which he had leap
ed, lying with its tail in the water was
coled big boa, that he must have
passed directly over in diving. The
situation was too much for McCarty,
and he yelled for help. At his outcry
all of us in camp jumped to our feet,
grabbed shot-guns and rifles and ran to
the bank There we saw McCarty
'treading water out in the river with all
his unwelcome company about gazing
at him with growing interest. They
clearly had been taken aback by the
suddenness with which he had appear
ed among them. but as their surprise
wore off they seemed disposed toward
closer acquaintance.
I'VE shot one of the jaguars and the
boa; the other jaguar ran away. Then
we peppered the allgators with bullets
and shot so hotly as to keep them away
from McCarty while he swan to the
shore. 1t was a fine sight to see him
clawing his way up the steep bank
slipping back in the wet clay almost as
fast as he climbed until he got near
enough for us to give him a hand. He
had lucky escape and a practical IL
lustration Of the wisdom of the saying
Look before you leap"
Copyright. 1897, by Bacheller Syndicate