Evening star., 1921-05-08

revolver and fired. hitting the man in
the left arm. He stopped for a mo-
me-. the other natives seized him
and stabbed him to death. At the in
vestigation. the hadji explained to the
resident that / was not responsible
for the mans death and that | had
acted on his suggestion. to save tns
lives of the natives. AS the man had
siashed about eight people before
shot. the resident ended his investi-
cation by thanking me and renewing
my permission to live in the Malay
quarter. l returned to the hadjis
house more popunar with the natives
than ever before.
A native came running to the hadjfs
house one day with the news that he
had seen big snake. He said thai
il was at least nifty feet long and as
big as tree. Knowing the Malay
habit of exaggerating, ] put ii down
as about twenty feet long: but | gath
cred crew Of natives and we built
a crate from the limbs of trees and
bamboo, binding it together with
green rattan. According to the ma
tive's tale, the snake had just swal
lowed pig, and so, knowing that
where he had first been seen. he
| would remain. sleeping and dgesting
his meal, we postponed the capture
until the next morning.
A python always kills his food by
coiling around il and crushing il To
death; then he swallows ii whole,
soldering so that IL Will pass his
throat. During the digestive process,
he generally becomes torpid and,
without putting up much fight. sub
mitS to capture.
Before we went out for the snake.
| told each mar what he was to do.
explaining carefully how I intended
to get the snake into tho crate. when
! was sure that they understood. We
started into the jungle, led by the
native who made the discovery. 7 was
surprised to find the largest snake I
had ever seen. 1t looked at least
| thirty feet long and about eighteen
| inches in diameter. For a moment we
stood there gasping.
! THE python was sleeping peaceful
ly. digesting the pig. called to the
| men and put them to work at stalking
| the crate to the ground and securing
| it so that the snake could not lash it
around. The crate was about eight
| feet long. six feet wide and two and
| one-half feet deep: just large enough
| to hold him and just small enough so
| that once inside, he would not he
able to get leverage and break it.
| Again / explained what each man was
! to do. Then / passed rope through
| the crate. tying one end to a tree and
preparing a running moose to be slip
| ped around the snakes head when we
| were ready to draw him forward.
Two more ropes were laid out, run
| ming from his tail. These we wrap
1 ped around trees on each side of the
! tail, and I stationed men at the ends,
| showing them how they were to play
out the rope as the snake was drawn
| toward the crate, keeping II taut
enough to prevent him from lashing.
| The python slept soundly through
all these preparations. When We were
| ready, l gathered the men about me
and cautioned them against becoming
excited. / warned all those who had
/ not been given work to do to stand
back out of the way and not to ap-
| proach unless we needed them.
! With bamboo poles we prodded the
| snake at the head and tail. standing
f; by with the nooses, ready to slip them
on when he stirred sufficiently. Be-
| fore he realized what was happening.
| we had the head moose over him. The
| instant he felt the rope tighten, he
/ was awake.
The natives holding the tail ropes
became excited and succeeded in get
ting only one of them in place. Tha
python suddenly leaped forward. and,
though he did not loosen the rope,
whipped il out of the hands of the
men and knocked several Of them
fat: then he caught one man. who
had not been able to get out of tho
way. and wrapped the lower part OF
his body around him while five or six
feet of his tail still lashed about with
the rope. l yelled to the others to
pull on the tail rope. but the confu-
sion was SO great that they did not
hear me. ] went for the snakes neck,
which is the most tender part of him,
hoping to sink my fingers in on the
nerve center and disable him for "a
moment until the men collected their
senses and pulled the rope. By jump
ing forward. the snake had looSened
the head rope sufficiently to turn on
me and sink his fangs into my fore
arm. 1 sprang back.
The man who was caught in the
snakes coils screamed, and tried to
beat Off the tail as it was drawing in
about him. Then the snake construct
ed suddenly, breaking nearly every
the life out of him instantly. Blood
spouted from his mouth and ears, and
he was thrown Imply about as the
snake lashed in the air.
l yelled to the men to pull the head
rope taut. Fortunately, the tail rope
had not become loose, and we caught
it just as the snake tried to lurch for
ward again. We allowed him to move
forward slowly. drawing his head to-
ward the crate and. at the same time.
holding his tail until we had him
stretched out. By prodding his tail
with sticks, we forced him to uncoil
and to release the body of the native.
x x X
THE head moose had been slipped
farther down than / wanted. and
was giving his head too much play.
Assuring the men that he could do no
more harm. took three OF them with
me and we grabbed the snakes neck.
He tossed US about. and we had sew
eral minutes of exciting work before
we got the head into the open end of
the crate. When the rope was Sc
cured. we fastened another rope about
the middle Of him.
The snake lashed furiously, knock
ing several of the natives down. Sta
tioning crew Of men at the tail rope
to slacken it as we moved forward,
took the others to the crate and set
them at pulling on the middle rope.
AS we dragged the python forward.
he icoiled in the crate; then, when he
was half in. we secured the middle
nd