The Jennings daily record. [volume] (Jennings, La.) 1900-1903, 1902-06-06

If. however, it had hidden under that
Quandary.
The men continued to look under
various things. likely and unlikely;
and presently they discovered II broad
mark which seemed to be the trail of
the serpent. leading under the cook
house. A close examination confirmed
this theory, and then it was also re-
ported that no similar trail could be
found leading out. A carpenter was
hurriedfy sent for to remove the
boards from the floor.
Now many courageous men have
such an inborn aversion to snakes that
the touch OF IA serpent's body seems TO
create in them an entire new system
of nerves, and l wondered how my
men would act if we should really
encounter that creature With the beady
brown eyes, fOrlled tongue. and teeth
all pointing inward-the wrong way
for :aIf Sassailant. Up to that point
the search had gone on as quietly as
if we had been seeking Il lost piece of
rope.
Fortunately the floor boards of the
cook house We're nine inches wide and
in short time one of them was re-
moved Down went four heads. and
all four came up again, very hastily;
There he ISL
Close beside the opening in the floor
lay about a bushel of big brown and
yellow coils. and above the pile hoy
cred the massive head of the python,
threatening 10 strike the first living
fhinU h.
noise and jar of the carpenters efforts
in removing the board had greatly IL
ritated the reptile.
MI Ditmars. our curator of reptiles.
had provided himself with large bag
of heavy cloth. hoping to he able to
throw it moutht downward over the
coils of the serpent-the usual way of
capturing snakes at large. But there
was not sufficient space between the
floor and the serpent to carry this plan
into effect; and moreover. the serpent's
head was altogether too threatening.
Pending further efforts. We procured
boards and endeavored to cut off the
python's escape. front and rear.
The python waited until We had
placed the boards to the best possible
advantage, then uncoiled himself
showed the boards out of position as
if they had been so many straws put
there for his amusement and quickly
disappeared under the ant-eater's cage.
The carpenter fell to work again to
remove several other boards of the
floor. while the messenger boys were
stationed outside the building to see
that our quarry did not get out and es-
cape to the forest
In a short time the python's head
again appeared at one of the long.
narrow openings made by the carpen-
ter, but as Mr.. Ditmars took favor
able position for grabbing the crea-
ture by the neck, clos up to the Jaws
it struck at him most viciOusly.
Look OUT cried some che, en-
phaticalfy.
Clearly, it would not do for any of
our men to be seized by that savage
creature: for although the python was
of course not poisonous. and although
we might even prevent it from wrap
ping itself around any one of us. the
iaceration Of Il mans hand by that big
muscular mouth, filled with four rows
of hooklike, backward pointing teeth.
would have been Il serious matter
Presently the snake left its place I'M
der the ant-eatlr's cage gliding along
the side of the building farthest from
the door. alert aggressive. and so
ready to strike any one who came near
its head that 1 forbade the lien to
take risks.
AS its five yards of length senior
cled around the cook stove, part of its
BODY passed under one of the floor
openings. This was our opportunity,
and in an instant two of us seized it
and triumphantly hauled up about six
feet of the serpent'S body and tail
How big and muscular il was, Its
skin was as smooth and glossy as sat
III and cleaned with rainbow rides
cance. 1t writhed and worked in our
grasp. and pulled downward with such
power that it required all the strength
OF the chief forester and myself to
retain any portion of it within cur
grasp. We br3"ed ourselves, heaved
hard, an, by main strength tried to
prll the python cut backward: but not
one inch could we gain. On the con
trary, inches We're drawn away from
us in spite of all we could dc l be
Heye that ten men could not have
pulled that python out backward al
though they night possibly have torn
it in two.
All this tine Mr.. Ditmars kept trying
to seize the python by the neck, but it
was constantly alert, anxious to seize
nm, and gave nim no opportunity
whatever. 1t was evident that with
our unaided hands we never could