Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-07-26
The minutes dragged out their unnatural

| length.
Lashed upright and n,fionless to q stake
round IN narrowing cifcle of imaginings
| He might have many hours to wait before
death came TO him, for the anaconda does
! not leave the river ooze-untn the sun has
| warmed his basking place.
| rear is Kept alive by hope, and In spite
| OF everything Gordon toLed to free himself
! HIS mouth was parched with effort, his
| eyes were swollen and aching cramps came
upon him, and so was made up the endless
| sequence of his agonies A weak man
| would have dropped alt effort and resigned
| himself; but to Gordon such surrender
| would have been cowardly It was outside
| his nature to give up the battle.
DO what he would, the mans eyes turned
ana turned again through all those awful
hours OF darkness to the faint glimmer of
! steel beneath him. For Emio, as a last
addition to the torture. had bethought him
! Of leaving a knife upon the ground in
| front of his victim, within reach of free
| arm, but impossible for Gordon.
His view was terminated in front by a
| cane swamp, and above him the great tree
| spread like the frame of some gigantic fan
over which writhed a network of fat
| leaVed creepers.
The day found him still battling with his
| ponds. Slowly the full sunshine permeated
the forest. The monkeys ceased their gam
bols and their chatter He had worked his
lett arm almost loose when he was aware
that an uncanny hush had dropped over
the forest. Then the hush merged into
swish of reeds and the shutting, kissing
SOUND OF a great body moving. His strug-
S!es Waned to rigidity. He could not see,
MS only view was the cane swamp, now all
dfmmed and blood spotted through the an
suish of his vigil He forced his neck
Iouho uhtli ne saw the knotted ends of the
prallch ana ne knew he was a bare ten feet
from the monstrouS presence above. He
was waiting, and the intensity of his COM
PEELED stiffness ached and throbbed.
Inc distant sounds of the swamp grew
nd h6y> vat Hi- ybpla
world was compressed into the shadow of
the creeperhUng tree. The voice of the
river droned, and then it ceased altogether
from his ears His senses were dead to
anything outside his own agony He drew
up MS shoulders to protect his head, and
the moment seemed to stay with him for
ever.
| Then he heard the sound like the cracking
ana grinding of coffee beans in a mill, hiss
drilled in upon the silence, as the great
bulk of the snake Embossed and whipped
through the leafy gloom above him. The
impact OF the whiriing coils carried him
and the broken stake to the ground to-
gether
The breaking of the stake partially re-
| leased leased Gordon; his arm was free, and in
falling he snatched at the knife as he was
swept INTO the crushing battle.
All 1eeilng passed from his lower limbs
IN the swelling of pain. the fetor of the
snake breath struck him like a blow a
me hickerlng tongue darted about his
cheek. In swung the head and the paint
lngS and pencilings of it leaped and danced
6efore his eyes. He was not afraid now
he slashed at 1t with the knife; missed,
then caught, and he thrust it in and in
The cane swamp receded into distance
the great tree above seemed to climb noun
talnously into heaven and then swoop down
upon him. A lizard by its hole changed into
all the colors of the rainbow and settled
II a deep glowing scarlet.
He awoke to the crack of a rifle and
confused shouting His chest seemed burst
ing under great weight, and as he opened
MS eyes the world swayed about him
Here he isl" shouted A voice .RIr 1.-Two
he's alive! Here, Gordon, old man.
For heavens sake. O'Brien, take me out
of thts!' he groaned .F
Here, catch hold of me-" said O'Brien.
1oure all right I've just shot that mu-
iatto foreman of yours. He seemed to de-
serve it, That's the way. Chisholm? We
have him safe. He'll pun through. We
came over to borrow some paradox car
trldSes and found-hold up, Walters! Now
shove the beast off him.
Ihe great reptile dropped lifelessly away
from Gordon's body into the slime below
MN, and for a period he almost wished
they had left him to die as the blood began
TO return to his compressed limbs with
great throbs.
You got him Just on the spot" Walters
kicked the snakes head over. Just where
head" lio
Gordon pushed his wet hair from his
paln-Weary eyes. The blossoms of the
creeper glowed in the light fitering down
from above the disturbed and disguised
monkeys chartered again in the branches
the forest life fell back into its usual
channels
They lifted Gordon into sling hammock.
borne by four sullen negroes, and the little
group padded heavily away