The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1899-08-03

Manila 10 1873, ] thonsb', snd seht
90 bed.
~ The night vas aOl uaeomiorisbly ho
70 blsw oai The feeble lamp snd FELL ssles
] 81 once
% A searias soaad seon ssked me-; n
sss dragging one Of my sboes aero" th
ID tile door. wtea ! struck . match. th
n bis srsy iellos dropped the shoe 40
o. .eurried INTO corner. where could Sc
:. hi. .m.ll eye. u a sclins The HIGHT.
' pat ny sboes aud socks on my bed
e sod sssiu fell asleep; bal no. for long
d Fdsblill slassliuss broke ont. A bssis
, iop Of cb.r ing friipiuos could hsrdl.
. hsve made sharper upror-snd II va
). overbesai somstbipg larger than rat
u this time. l thought. starting mp, and one
! more lighted my lamp
. Tue c,ilipgs OF these old Spsnist
houses nsuslly show The beans and
boards A heavy obiActwss rolling and
: ,nm bling 10 the left s5ore the ceiling oil
, IN room. and could hear an occasional
clsng sssiosl the iron roof sbovs 1t. Then
strange. grating, sliding noise succsded,
followed Immediately by suo,her irightful
ouiburst OF screams; then bump-thump.
pIump all over the loft
Considerably excited. lumped mp. and
seizi is the cid lsnos, struck and prodded
the oeiliog boards vigorously. These
proved no, to be nailed or fastened 10 any
way; they turned over easily. Dirt, dust
and spd sboser OF rubbish fell Bu, my
demonstration had the ,il4et OF quie,ing
the noise for the time being
From the sounds Vas sure thst man
or some large animal, as well as rats, mu't
be in the lCft "a gressed picars. perhaps
Mounting 3 chair, With the lance 10 one
hand, held up the lamp. As raised
The light there wsss sudden commotion
above, . clstter OF the overturned boards,
aud there slid down. not 9 ysrd from my
face, fully = isthom's length Of the usliest
scaly serpent that ever SCI my eyes on.
yelled outright, purely from terror.
aud Jumped town from the chair. The
monster sppesred to be coming down tail
first. The lamp chimney fell to the floor
and broke, by no mesns improving the
feeble light, The snake more OF it
was still sliding down. Apparently there
rrara ya,dc NJ il hahlna
Its tail now nearly touched the floor.
Putting down the fsring lamp, | snstched
my csrbine aud literally blew hole
through the reptiles body. II fell, bleed
ing and thrssbing, on the tiles.
But the noise in the loft had increased,
Glsncing up. saw the tail OF another
python whipping down ss be ran over the
beams. A second shot sent it executing
even wilder syrstions.
At length, catching sight OF its body
gliding across Que OF the wide cracks !
had made by eyer,urning the boards. l
fred and brought it down through the
hole.
Both snakes. the sus usller OF which was
not le,s than nine feet long, were nov
,um bling spssmodicslly about the room,
aud lesped upon the bed, for my feet
were bare, sad Was otberwise 10 scanty
r riiment.
AT that moment there came . hssty
knec ing at the door, with Florsncio CRY ,
log 10 alarmed sccents, Ssnol Senior Qae
hay?
He had naturally concluded that . bat
lie with robbers wss raging. 1t is good q
evidence OF his fidelity that be mad seized
,is lance and como to my assistance. n
With sn eye to the writhing ssrpents,
rot down. threw the door open and Jump A
ID hastily back onto the bed. Fiorsucio. h
Weapon 10 hand, peered 10. He vas sshen h
vith terror. But ss his eyes took 10 the 1,
the dying serpents and the dam
sed ceiling. bis face resained its wonted
IMPRESSION, Nay, be even smiled II
Then, marking my excitement. be be
IAN reassurlng discourse, Of which IN 3
Iers,ood scarcely 3 worJ. Qlile fearless a
=, ss it seemed to me, he seized the ;,
makes by the tail, aud hsuling them out =
% the gallery. threw them down into the a
,atio. Then be began to tidy up the :.
oon, eli the while repeating something
bout culebras de casa (bouse snske') and ).
seuor (uyselD no conocs lid not q,
now a,
II wss not Until the nsxt day that / ,
sme fairly understand that | bad foolish :, :,
, killed two harmless boas which filed
be necessary office Of rst.cstcbers in the :
Id house for yesrs. and whose place "
Ioud have TO be filled by Others OF thei'
peci.s il we expected TO live there. =
then learned the. % ost old houses and y
q uuRslows d Msnils have their msju. or ~
ouse serpent', . species OF boa. from y
isht to twelve feet long, which live 10 -
be lofts and sltics above the ceilings. rare =
or never giving the people any trouble. "
hese suskes. 10 fact. are soll BY native "
eddIers on the street. -
Not many days lster, itinsrsnt vendsr, y
sting from some hint OF FIorencio's prob ~
bly,, came to the hoase door, each bear ue
n . BAN boo pole over bis shoulder, with VI
bos coiled around it. The reptiles neck
ss tied fast to the pole sloi'. to prevent ~ ~
lem from escaping. Ii cost me two of ~
,e cart wheel dollars Of the country to &c
axe good the wi,less slaughter which ny Oh
had occssIored. wv
suikipg Contrsdietions, -
A gres, contrast will often be found to 10
,.t betv the authors sud their works.