A Boy's Fight with Snakes.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Issue 51, 13 May 1899, Page 4

A Boy's Fight with Snakes.

Jack Fay was spending his winter vacation in the backwoods of Lousiana. Hit. lather had recently purchased a sawmill and a lumber propeity in that distuct, and Jack thought it a capital idea that he should accompany Mr Casey, the engineer, who had undertaken to open the business, wntes Mr C. F. Fraser in the " Wide World Maga/mc." Mr Caso\ diuded his mon into gangs aid sent thorn out to fannhuise themsehoswith the woods and to leport on timber lands. With Jack's .is .istance he felt equal to the task ol getting up steam. Scarcely had the water began to bubble when one of the men lotmnod to ask Mr Casey to examine some fine t'mber close ab hand, and the engineer left the mill. At the most he would not be gone more than twenty minutes, and he had every confidence m Jack, who had been about machine shops e\cr since his infancy. The steam had generated with unexpected rapidity, and the qunenng gauge showed a piessuic of 110 pounds. He loinenibered having heaul Mr Casey say that the boiler's tost was 100 pounds, and he knew that the result of the present state of affairs was a probable explosion. Ho made a frantic dive for the open door, but .is he ]umped he slipped in his great lubber boots and fell sptawlmg on the floor. His outstretched hand ga\e tho door a rap, and. to his honor, ho heard the shaip click of the spring lock that declared him a prisoner. His one chance was to open the safety A.iho. He approached tho loai ing boiler and looked for the \,ihe. He saw whore the tiouble lay. Tho val\e was fastened d)wn with lust which the cleaners had o\eilooked. Ho felt sure that he could w rench ifcopen, but as lv w as about to grasp the supply pipe to hoist himself to the pioper level a fearful spectacle caught his e\ c. Coiled about the pipe was an enormous rattlesnake. With a frightened scieam Jack jumped backward to the floor, onl^ to find that lie had stepped on a soft, writhing mass. Then it all flashed upon him. The snakes had ciawled into the walls of tho disused mill in search of winter quarters. Tho heat had awakened them fioin the lethargy m which they commonly passed tho colder months, and they had come out of their hiding places hungry and MCIOUS. J-Aiiig on the shadowy floor, not a A'ard fiom him, a wicked loouing black head was lilted threateningly, and a pair of given e\ds glittered in tho daik. Instmctneh he reached out his hand, and to his delight it touched an non bar leaning against the wall. He shuddeiod as lie grasped it, for the boiler seemed to bo making frantic lunges m his dnection, so gieat was tho -übration. Yet m a moment he masteied himself. The snakes weie his piesent foes, and theie aiose within him a wild desire to encompass their desk notion. The up 1 aised bar came down with grea,t force on the head 6f the snake that had attacked him. He felt its body yield and bicak with the blow, and he bui^t into a savage laugh. A second stroke brought death to the cieature he had tiod upon Yet all the time he knew that the real fight would come between bun and the leptile that had coiled about the supply pipe. The creature was becoming miuuated at the jarring of its place of iest, and was prepared to vent its venom of Jack. As he appeared the creature unwound a couple of coils and darted its head out at him threatemngh . The wily snake would not allow him to come within aim's length, and he could get no opportunity to aim a blow. Jack saw that the intense heat was compelling the reptile to leave the supply pipe. It might be possible vet to open the valve and avert the explosion. The gauge was showing 120 pounds. He began to play fast and loose with the snake, tormenting it danngly with his iron bar, and apparently tin owing himself in its way. His wiles had the desned effect. The great creature, aggravated past beaiing, dropped heavily to the floor, and began to coil for the fatal spung. The bar came down with a flail-like sound, and the snake lay dead among its kindred, while Jack at last i cached the supply pipe, and with one miyhty blow knocked off the's&tetv valve, and let the cloud of vapour rise sk^waid. Mr Casey saw the -\olume of steam as he returned fiom the timber stup. Fearing that something had gone wrong, he ran to the boiler room and burst open the door, only to find his voting friend lying on the floor along with the bodies of three great rattle-snakes.