"Harry was not much afraid at first at finding himself in a savage country, alone and unprotected. To the heedless, whatever is new is charming.
"It was now bright moonlight, serene and still. Harry, exhausted and tired with his flight, lay down on the luxuriant grass.
"At home, lying down in such a bed would have given him so severe a cold in his head, that he would have nearly sneezed and snuffled it off. Not so in Senegal. Still there were other inconveniences, for Harry had not rested for five minutes, when he heard a stealthy footstep; his heart began to beat. He had learned in his Geography that Senegal was full of wild beasts, as well as the sugar plums the treacherous sailor talked about. He began to wish he had staid in the ship; but if he returned, there was Jack Bowsprit, and there was Susan as sure as a gun. It is no doubt very disagreeable to be devoured by wild beasts; but then again it is very painful to be beaten by a Susan. Harry was sure of the beating if he returned, and he was not quite sure of being eaten up if he remained; so he concluded to stay.
"While he was cogitating all these things, he heard again the same stealthy tread; and, in a moment, he saw in the bright moonlight a jackal, about the size of a big dog.
"Our heedless Harry was without weapons of defence, but he was by no means without courage. Up he sprang, seized a large stone, and flung it at the jackal; at almost the same instant the wild beast leaped at him and bit his leg.
"Both gave a howl of pain at the same moment. Happily, Harry was not much hurt; while the jackal, with another cry, lay dead at his feet.
"Harry gazed at his fallen enemy, his heart beating with excitement; he could not help thinking that if any thing a quarter as bad had happened to him at home, his kind mother could not have found caresses and court-plaster enough to console him; and here he was, alone, and wounded. He went to a stream near by, and washed and tied up his leg as well as he could; and then he began to think how he could pass the night without danger. To rest on the bosom of the earth was not safe; another jackal might come after the first to help him pick the bones. To be sure he might regain the ship—but Susan!! At last he concluded he would leave the earth, and climb a tree. After much toil, and terrible scratching and scrambling, he managed to get into an immense tree, and settling himself in a fork like an arm-chair, he fell into a troubled sleep.
THE ANACONDA THAT HARRY KILLED.
"The first rays of the sun awoke our hero. Just as he was about to descend from the tree, he heard a slight noise above. He looked up, and there he saw (oh! oh! what I hope you may never see except in a Menagerie or Barnum's Museum) an enormous boa constrictor, at least fifty feet long, suspended from the top boughs of the tree, twisting about. With a fierce and horrible hiss, which froze the blood in Harry's veins, he twisted, and turned, and looked at the terrified boy.