The Opelousas courier., 1904-03-26

r Gouth to take fight, gave them the's
|gSst view at close range.
EhYBarry says that the hackneyed
phrase of eXaggeration. made his
blood run cold,' is none too strong for
the sight they saw.
The monster slowly moved his
great jaws declared Nne hunter, in
speaking of his experisnce, until it
seemed as If he could have Sw9llowed
a large horse at one mouthful. He
gave a snort that might have been
heard Il mile, and then slowly spread
huge bodS was coated with salt, ap-
parently nearly a foot in thickness.
This explained why the salt Jumps
dropped at Jul feet when the bullet
struck the monster. BY this we knew
that the creature must spend much
OF its time in the waters of the lake.
The great beast made a short run
before taking flight, taking long jumps
ueon its hind legs and tail. The fore
legs were comparatively short, and ap-
peared to be used only when it crawled
fiat upon the ground.
THE frightful head was mot mora
than ten feet from us whefM rose ia
the air, but s@well were MGcreened
by IL shelly of rocks tina. We were
unobserved.~ The largeY fiercely
cleaning eyes, the sharp serrated
teeth Athe wide expanse of Wings that
beganNto nov rapidly as he h&Srible
beast rose from the groun1and yEsed
directly over our heads, tombie4fa to
make a terrible sight-on9 that T,11!i all
never forget. M
"We watched it dissf sear in ~
gathering gloom of nigh But were ( (
a long time paralyzedS 9Th fear, not
knowing when it miAf return. 70
was probably an hou Ylater when it
did come back.
I'VE heard the swi%h Of the mighty
wings before it coulG sbe e but as
it drew nearer, by be light of the
young moon in the y st. we saw that
carried in its great Tvs was a large
horse, which / supposJit had swooped
wv" k1JSA l. CCO11IS LIE 1lUl SC I
was badly crushed and mangled.
FEASTED ON THE HORSE.
THE monster carried its burden into
the cave and we could hear the crunch
of its jaws and the cracking of the
bones as the beast deyoured
its victim. After an hour or so all
was still and we then slipped quietly
away in the darkness and returned to
our camp on the eastern shore of the
Had it not been for a bad break in
our boat we would have fed the island
night. AS it was we worked all
night to repair the craft. although the
task might have been accomplished in
two hours except that we feared to
build a fire to afford light.
1T was just dawn and we were pre-
to launch, when Gilbert said:
it comes again. In an instant
turned the boat bottom up and
'rawled under it. One end was lifted
lbout a foot above the end by q rock,
We were able to watch the mon
actions.
ut settled down on the beach less
han fifty yards to the north and dived
into the lake. From it's &C.
ions while nearly buried under the
waves I judged that the creature was
altering and feeding Upon the salt
water shrimps which abound along the
'oast there. When ~tkas~onster came
p i vas yeGE~~~~~~us, and we were
1TE~rn1pressed by the fact
nat the strong brine had no effect
lpon its eyes, which appeared lidless.
evidently the animals food in the wa.
er was found by the sense of sight.
Although of such gigantic size.
here was nothing sluggish in the
movements of the monster. It,swam
nd diyed as rapidly as any large fish.
I'VE watched it for perhaps half an
our as it gradually worked it's way
orthWard and finally disappeared."L
Philadelphia Record.