“Even as the idea came to me, I beheld Grant pause. He appeared fully to comprehend all. He could see how I was situated, that I was still living, and that my delivery depended upon the will of the constrictor. We could see every one of each other’s faces, so close were we, and I would have shouted or spoken or even whispered to him, had I dared. But the boa’s head was reared within a few feet of mine, and a wink of an eyelid would perhaps settle my doom; so I stared, stared, stared, like a dead man at Grant and at the blacks.
“Presently the serpent began very gradually to relax his folds, and, after retightening them several times as the crushed buffalo quivered, he unwound one fold entirely. Then he paused.
“The next ironlike band was the one which held me a prisoner; and as I felt it, little by little, unclasping, my heart stood still with hope and fear. Perhaps, upon being free, the benumbed arm, uncontrolled by any will, might fall from the cushionlike bed in which it lay! And such a mishap might bring the spare fold around my neck or chest—and then farewell to the sources of the Nile!
“Oh, how hard, how desperately I struggled to command myself! I glanced at Grant, and saw him handling his rifle anxiously. I glanced at the negroes, and saw them still gazing, as though petrified with astonishment. I glanced at the serpent’s loathsome head, and saw its bright, deadly eyes watching for the least sign of life in its prey.
“Now, then, the reptile loosened its fold on my arm a hair’s-breadth, and now a little more, till half an inch of space separated my arm and its mottled skin. I could have whipped out my hand, but dared not take the risk. Atoms of time dragged themselves into ages, and a minute seemed eternity itself.
“The second fold was removed entirely, and the next one easing. Should I dash away now, or wait a more favorable moment? I decided upon the former: and with lightning speed I bounded away toward Grant, the crack of whose piece I heard at the next instant.
“For the first time in my life I was thoroughly overcome; and, sinking down, I remained in a semiunconscious state for several minutes. When I fully recovered, Grant and the overjoyed negroes held me up, and pointed out the boa, which was still writhing in its death agonies. I shuddered as I looked upon the effects of its tremendous dying strength. For yards around where it lay, grass and bushes and saplings, and, in fact, everything except the more fully grown trees were cut quite off, as though they had been trimmed by an immense scythe.
“The monster, when measured, was fifty-one feet two and a half inches in extreme length, while round the thickest portion of its body the girth was nearly three feet, thus proving, I believe, to be the largest serpent that was ever authentically heard of.”
POWERFUL BEGGARS.
The Chinese are more charitable than they have been given credit for. They give freely, especially on occasions of public or private rejoicing.