Year: 1874

4 e-oOAS eAAoS AAs>'~ $~' = i
What should I do? 1 asked myself
as the horrible feeling Of helplessness
wore off. If I crept in and reached
the cradle si6e unheard, [ dared not
| chop at the beast for fear of injuring
the child, for I could see that some Of
the folds lay right across it. I dared
not make a noise, lest the next moment
the child should wake up as we'll as the
reptile, for I knew the rapidity with
which the reptile could wrcathe fold
after fold around the object it attacked;
while. if of a poisonous nature, they
strike in an instant. Thoughts came
swiftly enough, but they were unavail-
ing; for to wait till the baby awoke,
or to 60 in and attack the snake, seemed
equally dangerous. Even if I made
slight noise the danger seemed as great,
since, though the snake mi ght wake
first and glide of, the probabilities were
just as great that the child might wake
at the same time.


And SO I turned over the chances
again and again my eyes all the while
fixed upon the two sleeping occupants
of the cradle, whose pleasant warmth
had evidently attracted the reptile.


Il went in and saw it there" whis-
pered my wife, and then, without taking
my eyes for an instant from the snake,
I whispered the one word gun, and
she glided from my side


did not know then, but she told me
afterward, how she carried the little
boy to distance and given him some
flowers to play with, while she crept
back to the hut, and reaching in at the
kitchen window, brought ME my gun,
for I had not stirred And now, as
grasped the piece in my hand, knowing
as I did that it was loaded, it seemed Of
no use: for I dare not fire; but with
trembling hands, I felt in my pocket to
see if there was bullet in them, and
then softly pulling out the ramrod, I
unscrewed the piece and let the shot
pattering out, when l softly forced
down the bullet upon the powder, ex-
amined the cap and stood ready waiting
for chance ; for [ thought that the
shot might have scattered, and if ever
sv little, might have injured the child
instead of the enemy.


And there we stood for quite half an
hour, watching intently that horrible
beast completely nestled in the blanket,
expecting momentarily that the baby
would awake, while my hand trembled
so that I could not hold the gun steady.
One minute was thinking that I had
done wrong in changing the charge, the
next minute that was right, then
fancied the gun might miss fire, or that
I might slay my own child. A hun
dred 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 " for she was spared from see
ing what followed.


AS if at one and the same moment,
the child and the snake woke up. I
saw the baby's hand move, and its little
arm thrown out, while from the mo-
tion beneath the blanket knew that it
must have kicked little. Then there
was rapid movement in the cradle,
and as I glanced along the gun. barrel,
taking aim, there was the whole of the
horrible reptile exposed to view. coil
gliding ON coil, as it seemed to ill the
whole cradle; had my gun been charged
with shot should have fred, so as to
have disabled some part of its body ;
hut with only single bullet, I felt chat
the head must be the part attacked
when opportunity offered.


Glide, glide, glide, one coil over an
other, quickly and easily, as it were,
untying its knotted body, while now
the head slowly rose from where 1t had
been lyin":'and crept nearer and nearer
to the child's place, the forked tongue
darting in and out, and playing rapidly
on either side Of it's hideous mouth. I
could see the glance Of the snakes eyes,
and expected every moment to hear the
little one shrek in terror as the lowered
head rested over her breast. But no.
the child lay perfectly still for few
minutes, aud then / stood trembling il,
every limb as l saw the snakes head
drawn back, and then begin to sway t.
and fro, and from side to side, the giist-
cniny neck Ut the beast gently undula.
ting, while the tongue still darted in
and out Of the dreadful looking mouth


Now was the time when should
| have fred. but I WAS ton unnerued aud