The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-07-27

mind wore round in an arrowing circle
of imaginings. He might have many
hours to wait before death came to
him, for the anaconda does not leave
the river ooze until the sun has warmed
his basking place.
Fear is kept alive by hope, and in
spite of everything Gordon toiled 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 all effort and resigned him
self. but to Gordon such surrender
would have been cowardly. 1t was
outside his nature to give up the bat
tie.
Do what he would, the mans eyes
turned and turned again through all
those awful hours of darkness to the
faint glimmer of steel beneath him.
For Emio, as last addition to the
torture, had bethought him of leaving
"A knife upon the ground in front of
his victim, within reach Of a free arm,
but impossible for Gordon.
His view was terminated in front by
cane swamp, and above him the
great tree spread like the frame of
some gigantic fan over which writhed
network of fat-leaved. creepers
his bonds. Slowly the full sunshine
permeated the forest. The monkeys
ceased their gambols and their chat
ter He had worked his left arm al
most loose when he was aware that an
uncanny hush had dropped over the
forest. Then the hush merged into a
swish of reeds and the shuffling, hiss
ing sound of a great body moving. His
struggles waned to rigidity. He could
nf sC
swamp, now all dimmed and blood
spotted through the anguish of his
vigil. He forced his neck round until
he saw the knotted ends of the branch
and he knew he was a bare ten feet
from the monstrous presence above.
He was waiting, and the intensity of
his compelled stiffness ached and
throbbed.
The distant sounds of the swamp
grew farther away,and farther yet His
whole world was comprised into the
shadow of the creeper-hung tree. The
voice of the river droned and then it
ceased altogether from his ears. His
senses were dead to everything outside
his own agony. He drew up his
shoulders to protect his head and the
moment seemed to stay with him for
ever.
Then he heard the sound like the
cracking and grinding of coffee-beans
in mill hiss drilled in upon the 81
lence, as the great bulk of the snake
Embossed and whipped through the
leafy gloom above him. The impact
of the whirling coils carried him and
the broken stake to the ground to-
gether.
The breaking of the stake partially
released Gordon: his arm was free.
and in falling he snatched at the knife
as ne was swept into the crushing bat
tie.
All feeling passed from his lower
limbs in the swelling of pain, the fetor
OF the snakes breath struck him like
blow as the Pickering tongue darted
about his cheek. In swung the head,
and the paintings and pencilings of it
leaped and danced before his eyes. He
was not afraid now. He slashed at it
with the knife, missed, then caught,
and he thrust it in and in.
The cane swamp receded into dis
lance, the great tree above seemed to
climb mountainously into heaven and
then swoop down upon him. A lizard
by its hole changed into all the colors
of the rainbow and settled into a deep
glowing scarlet.
He awoke to the crack of a rifle and
confused shouting. His chest seemed
Jul SllliS ulu6T d great weight, and as
he opened his eyes the world swayed
about him.
Here he Isl" shouted voice. by
Jove, he's alive! Here. Gordon, old
man"
For heavens sake, O'Brien, take me
out of this!" he groaned.
Here, catch hold of me-" said
O'Brien. You're all >Hght. I've lust
shot that mulatto foreman of yours. He
seemed to deserve it. That's the way
Chisholm? We have him safe. He'll
pull through. We came over to borrow
some paradox cartridges and found
hold up Walters! Now shove the
beast off him.
The great reptile dropped lifelessly
away from Gordor's body into the
slime below him. 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" Wal
tiers kicked the snakes head over.
Just where the backbone meets the
structure of the head"
Gordon pushed his wet hair from his
pain-weary eyes. The blossoms of the
creeper glowed in the light flittering
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 ham
mock, borne by four sullen negroes,
and the little group padded heavily
away.