A BOY'S FIGHT WITH SNAKES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 88, 15 April 1899, Page 7 (Supplement)

A BOY'S FIGHT WITH SNAKES.

THRILLING ADVENTURE OJF JACE;

PAY IN THE LOUISIANA BACKWOODS.

Jack Fay was spending his winter vacation in the backwoods of Louisiana. His father had recently purchased a sawmill and a lumber property in that district, and Jaws thought it a capital idea that he should accompany Mr Casey, the engineer, who had undertaken to open the business, writes Mi C. IVFraser in the 'Wide World Magazine.'

Mr Casey divided his men into gangs and sent them out to familiarise themselves with the woods and to report on tiraber lands. With Jack's assistance he felt equal to the task of getting up steam. Scarcely had the water begun to bubble when one of the men returned to ask Mr Casey to examine some fine timber close at hand, and the engineer left the mill. At the m-o?>i he would not be gone insre than twenty minutes, and he had every j^nfidence in Jack, who had been about machine shops ever since his infancy. The steam had generated with unexpected rapidity, and the quivering gauge showed a pressure of -110 pounds. He remembered having heard Mr Casey say that the boiler's test was 100 pounds, and he knew that the result of the present state of affairs was a probable explosion. He made a frantic dive for the open door, but as he jumped he slipped in his great rubber boots and fell sprawling on the floor. His outstretched hand gave the door a rap, and, to his horror, he heard the sharp click of the spring lock that declared him a prisoner.

His one chance was to- open the safety valve. He approached the roaring boiler and looked for the valve. He saw where the trouble lay. The valve was fastened down with rust which the cleaners had overlooked. He felt sure that he. could wrench the valve open, but. as he was about to grasp the supply pipe to hoist himself to the proper level a fearful spectacle caught his eye. ..',,, , Coiled about the pipe was an enormous rattlesnake. .""' ® ", ; "\-'^" :

With a frightened scream Jack jumped backward to the floor, only to find'that he had stepped*''(im-a/soft, writhing mass. Then it all flashed upon him. The snakes had crawled into the walls of the disused mill in search of winter quarters. The heat had awakened them from the lethargy in which they commonly passed the colder months, and they had come out of their hiding places hungry, and .vicious.

Lying on the shadowy floor, not a yard from him, a wicked looking black head was lifted threateningly, and a pair of green eyes glittered in the dark. Instinctively he reached out, his hand, and to his delight it touched wn iron bar leaning against the wall. He shuddered as he grasped it, for tho boiler seemed to be making frantic lunges in his direction, bo great was the vibration. Yet in a moment he mastered himself. The snakes were his present foes, and their arose wittiin him a wild desire to encompass their destruction. The upraised bar came down with great force on the head of . ac snake that had attacked him. He felt its body yield and break with the blow, and he burst into a savage laugh- A second stroke brought death to the creature he had trod upon. . . Yet all f!he time he knew that the real fight would come between him and the reptile that had coiled about the supply pipe. The creature was becoming, infuriated at the jarring, of its place of rest, and was prepared to vent its venom on Jack.

As he s.pproached the creature unwound a couple of coils and darted its head out at him threateningly. The wily, snake would not allow him to come within arm's length, and he could get no opportunity to airii, a blow.

Jack saw that the intense heat was compelling1 the reptile to leave th»i supply pipe. It might be possible jet to open the valve and avert the explosion. , The gauge was showing I'M pounds. He began to play fast and loose with the snake, tormenting if daringly-with his iron bar, and apparently throwing himself in ite way. His wiles had the desired effect. „ The great creature, aggravated pstst bearing,, dropped heavily to the floor, and began to coil for the fatal spring.

The bar came down with a flail-like sound, and the snake lay dead among its kindred, while Jack at last reached the supply pipe, and with one mighty, blow knocked .off the safety valve, aud let the cloud of vapour rise skyward.

Mr Casey saw the volume of steam as he returned from the timber strip. Fearing that something had gone wrong, he ran to the boiler-room and burst open the door, only to find his young friend lying on the floor along with the bodies of three great rattlesnakes.