Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1901-02-07
Like him tiled to cross the avenu.

Like him tried to cross the avenue
upon the interlacing branches, but
their twig-like ends, although stout
enough to bear him. were not sufi.
cient to support me. So I descended
from the trees, crossed the roadway,
and climbed again on the side where
he was. Here l found him at bay,
lashed in the very tip of branch.
l had failed so often in trying to
grab him as he glided along the
branches, that 1 now resolved to try
another plan, namely: to snare him
by passing a running moose over his
head. Consequently l called for my
long stick, which was passed up to me
with the moose fastened to the end of
it. Then / slowly climbed toward
him.
AS usual, he faced me. BY moving
very cautiously l succeeded in get
ting within six feet of him; but when
pushed out the stick. with the moose
dangling from the end of it within
foot of his nose, OF he darted.
dashed the stick among the leaves in
front of him, and back he turned.
1 was desperate. l could not grab
him, for he was on the very outer
ends of the branches.
Two were so far apart that there
was an open space of perhaps four
feet or more between them. Across
this open space he darted, and while
he was passing, down came my stick
on his back, not striking, but pushing
him downward Just what l intended
happened He lost his hold and down
to the ground he tumbled; for not a
branch was beneath for him to catch
upon.
l could see him as he alighted on
the grass, and down l dropped after
him. AS l touched the earth l rolled
over, for the height was probably
20 feet. l saw the snake. He was
was gliding away at great rate over
the short lawn grass. The shouting
Kaffirs were pointing him out to me.
Picking up my stick, rushed after
him as fast as my legs could carry
me. Forty or so yards. perhaps. he
ran. Then l overlook him. Suddenly
he turned and faced me. The excited
Kaffirs, well in the rear, yelled out
directions, praises and warnings, but
l needed them not.
There before me was the long-de-
sired boomslange, a picture of beauty,
coiled to strike. with the fore part OF
his body raised after the manner Of
a cobra His head was fiattened out,
his inflated neck purple, the bifid
point of his tongue quivering in the
brilliant sunlight. Now was his mas
ter, for | was swifter than he was
upon the ground. But | lost no time
admiring him, for l was ready to sink
from exhaustion.
got my stick across the middle of
away again. AS it touched him he
turned and bit it savagely. BY
quick movement | shifted the stick,
and got it close to his head. Then
grabbed him with my fingers round
the throat.
He was a furious captive. To and
fro he lashed himself, his long body
anu WOlp-llke Tall SlTlhiuS lue al bNtl
my body, legs and face, so that | had
to drop the stick and hold him with
the right hand at the middle, to keep
him from breaking his own neck by
his struggles.
Within half an hour I had him in a
cage in my room; and within an hour
after that he had lost his fear of me,
and had lost my fear of him to such
an extent that | allowed him to glide
along my shoulders and around my
neck.
Beautiful, gentle and harmless. he
was now the gem of my collection,
and | treated him as one entitled to
unusual privileges; for while the
other snakes were confined to their
cages, the boomslange was prisoner
at large. He lived on some branches
suspended from wire halfway be-
tween the ceiling and the floor. On
these branches | would put chamelons.
and the boomslange would catch and
swallow them as contentedly as If he
were still free in the wild BUSH
Youths Companion.