Year: 1868

And there we stood for quite half an
hour, watching inteHtly that horrible
beast comfortably nestled in the blank
ct, expecting momentarily that the ba-
by would wake, while my hand trem-
bled so that l could not hold the gun
steady. One minute l was thinking
that had done wrong in changing the
charge, the next minute that l was
right; then / fancied that the gun
might miss fire, or that might slay
INV own child. A hundred horrible
thoughts entered my mind before little
Joe began to cry out to his mother, and
she glided away while | muttered to
myself "Thank Heaven w for she was
spared from seeing what followed.


AS if at one and the same moment,
the child and the snake woke up, while
from the motion beneath the blanket
knew that it must have kicked little.
Then there was rapid movement in
the cradle, and as l glanced along the
gRn- barrel taking aim, there was the
whole of the horrible reptile exposed to
view, coil gliding over coil as it seemed
to fill the foot of the cradle; and now,
had my gun been charged with shot, |
should have fired, so as to have disabled
some part of it's body, but with only a
siaglc bullet | felt that the head must
be the part attacked when opportunity
served


Glide, glide, glide, ono coil over the
other quickly and easily, as If 1T vera
untying its knotted body, while now
the head slowly rose from where it had
lain, aud crept nearer and nearer to the
child's face, the forked tsngue darting
in and out, and playing rapidly ON
either side of the hideous mouth. l
could see the &ance of the snakes
ewes, and expeeBed every moment to
hear the child shrek out with terror, as
the lowered head now rested over its
breast. But no; the child lay perfectly
still for few moments, and then l
stood trembling in every limb as L saw
the snakes head drawn back, and then
began to sway to and fro, and from side
to side, the glistening neck of the beast
gently undulating, while the tongue
still darted in and out of the tight,
readful-lookiRg mouth. =.


Now was the time when | should
have fred, but | was tooiunnerved; and
laying down my gun, l seized the hoe,
meaning to attack the beast with the
stout handle; but my hand fell paralyz'
ed to my side as l saw the little inno,
cent in the cradle smile and laugh at
the gently undulating head of the snake;
while, as the agony grew to be greater
than | could bear, in seeing the little
white hands try to catch at 1t as 1t
swayed to and fro, nay power seemed to
come back. snatched up the gun, and
as the snakes head was drawn back
preparatory to striking, / pulled the
trigger, when the sharp crack OF the
percussion cap alone followed-perhaps
providentially, for in my trembling
state might have injured the child.
Then 1 saw a rapid writhing Of the
coils in the cradle, and as the tail OF
the snake glided over the side, every.
thing around me seemed to swim, and
tried to catch at the wall of the hut to
save myself from falling.


But that sooE went of; and then,
gazing in at the window l tried to
make odt the whereabouts of my enc.
my, as recapped and tapped the gun
so that the powder might run up the
nipple. The snake was nowhere to be
seen, and darting in seized the child
and carried it out to its mother, when
now feeling relieved of one horrible
anxiety, obtained my shot-pouch from
the kitchen, rammed down a charge up
on the bullet, and cautiously went in
search of the reptile.
l knew that he must still be in the
part of the hut we used for a sleeping
place, and, after cautiously peeriag
about, l came upon the hole where il
had taken refuge-an opening betweer
the roughly-sawn planks laid loosely
down to form floor; while, unless there
was an outlet beneath the woodwork,
felt that the beast must be there; and
to make il more probable, there was oul
cat, that we had bought q kitten in sgd
ney, gazing with staring eyes down a,
the hole.


Just then heard soft rustling be.
meath my feet, and as looked, down,
could see between two boards the scaly
body gliding along. The next moment
there came the loud report of the gun
the place was full of smoke, there was
tremendous scuffiing noise, and as
| looked down between the boards where
the charge had forced q passage through
there was no sign of the snake.


"Harry, HarryT shrieked my wife
just then; and on rushing out, there
was the beast writhing about in the
path, evidently badly wounded, while
some crushed down flowers by the hut
wall showed plainly the hole Of com
munication. / never saw snake
writhe and twist as that creature did
but l was too excited then to feel afraid
and few blows from the butt end o.
the gun lsid it so that there was only 8
little movement lefs inits body, which
did not stop fer an hour or two after
had cut off its head with the ak.


Ishould have liked to skin the beast
but l could not master my horror.
measured it though; fourteen feet three
inches long it was, and as thick as ny
arm, while, as to its weight, saw the
cradle rock to. and fro heavily as it Gid
ed over the side.