A BATTLE WITH THE SERPENT.
I had no idea what the snake was, for I had never seen one of that kind
before. I am not particularly afraid of snakes, though they are very
disagreeable to me. When I was at work in the field as a farmer, I
suppose I never lost an opportunity to kill one that came in my way.
But all these were harmless reptiles, and of late years I have not been
disposed to meddle with them.
The snake that introduced himself to me so unexpectedly was not more
than three feet long. He was of a greenish-brown color, with some
yellow on the sides. I had the strip of board I had taken from the
window in my hand when the reptile darted out of the closet. I don't
think he had any particular intentions, at first, except to get out of
his prison, as I had to get out of mine. I could not blame him for
anything he had done so far. Like myself, he was a prisoner, and we
ought to have been in full sympathy with each other.
I had released his snakeship from one prison, and placed him so much
nearer to entire freedom. To this extent I was entitled to his
gratitude, though I did not expect much of him. As he darted out of the
closet, I sprang from his path into the corner of the room, behind the
hall-door. The next instant he was coiled into a round heap. Then he
raised his head from the middle of the coil about a foot, as it seemed
to me, though it could hardly have been so high.
So far from feeling anything like gratitude for the favor I had done
him, the villain made war upon me. Suddenly he made a spring at me; but
I had both eyes wide open, and was watching him with the most intense
anxiety. As he leaped, I hit him with the stick in my hand; and he
fetched up against the wall, on the inside of the closet. I have no
doubt his striking against the partition caused some confusion in his
ideas: at any rate, he dropped on the floor, and began to wriggle about
in such a manner as no decent snake would, unless his ideas were
confused.
[Illustration: A BATTLE WITH THE SERPENT. Page 94.]
My curiosity in regard to that identical snake was entirely satisfied,
and I made haste to close the closet-door. I felt that I had no further
business with that snake. It has taken me some time to tell about this
reptile; but I think the villain was not out of the closet more than
three seconds; at any rate, it was a very few seconds. He did business
with great rapidity. He had lost no time in coming out of his prison,
and none in making his attack on me. He had wasted no time in
conducting operations; and if I had not had the bit of board in my
hand, I am afraid the snake would have got the better of me.
At the time I had no acquaintance with this snake, though he never
waits for a formal introduction when he means business. I know now that
he was a moccasin. I saw many of them in the woods of Florida. They are
as venomous as the rattlesnake, and are even more dreaded by many
people, for they give no notice of their intention to strike. In the
English books of natural history this snake is called the water viper.
The copperhead is one of the same sort.
I felt as happy as the patron saint of Ireland must have felt after he
had boxed up the old serpent, and sunk him at the bottom of the lake. I
had the enemy where he could not harm me, for it was not possible for
him to make his way through the door. I took the precaution to see that
there were no holes or cracks through which the snake could again force
himself into my unwilling company. I could find no opening of any kind.
For the present I felt entirely safe.
Though I did not know anything about the kind of snake I was shut up
with, I felt from the beginning that he was poisonous, and that his
bite would make an end of me. I had closeted him; and now I had time to
consider the situation. I came promptly to the conclusion that he was
put into that closet for my benefit. The conspiracy seemed to be almost
too crafty for Captain Boomsby; though I knew that he was capable of
doing such a thing.
When I had considered this subject for a few minutes, I found my blood
boiling with indignation. Before I saw the snake, I was more inclined
to regard the whole trick in the light of a practical joke, rather than
as a serious matter. It seemed to me just then that my ancient enemy,
in his bargain with Carrington, intended to resort to some such device
to get rid of me.
I did not intend to spend the night in that attic chamber; and when my
blood began to boil, I aimed a blow at one of the panels of the door
with the heavy stick in my hand. The thin board that formed this part
of the door split under the blow. I followed it up as though I had been
chopping wood. The panel shivered under the vigorous assault I made
upon it. In a minute, I had a hole through. Inserting my stick in the
opening, I pried out the rest of the panel. But the hole was not big
enough to admit the passage of my body.
I had hardly succeeded in making a breach in the door, before I heard
the most lusty screams in the lower part of the house. I had no
difficulty in recognizing the voice of Mrs. Boomsby. She heard the
noise of my bombardment, and was calling her husband in her usual
affectionate manner. But I was not at all disturbed by the outcry. I
was even willing they should bring the police to their assistance. But
I did not expect any outside aid would be called in, for that would do
the Boomsbys more harm than it would me. In a word, I did not care who
came: I intended to break my way out of my prison, all the same.
Placing my stick edgeways in the opening I had made, I had a good
leverage, the end of the bar being outside of the stile of the door,
and the face of it against the middle piece. I pushed against the end
of the lever with all the power I had. The middle stile snapped in the
mortise, for the whole door was not more than an inch and a quarter
thick. I had broken out the mortise, and the lever went "home." I could
no longer apply the implement with effect, and I expected every minute
to see the portly form of Captain Boomsby on the stairs, hurrying up to
save his prisoner. But I had no fear of him: if he attempted to prevent
my departure, I should use the stick as an argument with him, as I had
done with the door.
Finding I could no longer use the lever to advantage, I grasped the
middle piece of the door with both hands, and gave a desperate pull at
it. There were no nails or pins to resist me, and the parts of the door
snapped like pipe-stems. I wrenched out the middle piece, and then the
other panel. Then I had an opening in the door eighteen inches wide,
which was almost enough to permit the passage of my fat foe.
The middle piece and both panels of the upper part of the door lay in
many pieces on the floor, in the room, and in the hall. I used all
reasonable haste in making my way through the opening I had forced.
When I was in the hall, I began to feel good-natured again; for I will
not deny that I was mad when I realized my relations with that snake. I
did not care a straw for Captain Boomsby. If it came to the worst, I
believed I could "handle" him, to use his own choice phrase, with the
aid of the stick in my hand. I was determined not to let the piece of
hard pine go out of my hands while I remained in the house.
Mrs. Boomsby was still shouting for "Parker Boomsby," for she always
called him by his full name when she was excited. I was willing she
should shout. I felt quite cool, composed, and pleasant. I was ready to
make an orderly retreat from the house. But I had not lost all interest
in that snake, which I believed was intended for my executioner. I put
my head into the opening I had made in the door. I found I could reach
the door of the closet; and with a very hasty movement I threw it wide
open.
I wondered whether or not I had killed his snakeship when I poked him
back into his prison. The last I had seen of him he was wriggling on
the floor, stirring himself up in the most lively manner. But the
reptile immediately proved that I had not killed him by darting out
into the room as lively as he had done the same thing before. I did not
believe it was possible for him to get out through the opening by which
I had escaped from my prison; but I was not quite willing to wait to
test the question. The villain could crawl like most other snakes with
which I was familiar, but he also had a talent for leaping. I
considered it wise and prudent to begin my retreat without any delay.
I took a last look at the snake. He had retreated to the corner of the
room opposite the closet-door and coiled himself up, with his head in
the centre. He kept his eyes fixed on me, or I fancied he did. He
looked as ugly as sin itself. He seemed to me to be as near like
Captain Boomsby as one pin is like another. They both did business on
the same principle. Mentally I bade him an affectionate adieu. So far
as I was concerned, he seemed to have none of the serpent's power of
fascination, for I had not the slightest inclination to continue gazing
at him after I had gratified my curiosity. I descended the upper flight
of stairs. The doors of the rooms on this floor were all open, and I
saw that the two rear chambers were furnished as bedrooms.
I went into one of these rooms, and seated myself in a chair. Mrs.
Boomsby was on the floor below, standing at the head of the stairs,
calling for her husband. It has taken me a long time to record the
incidents of my escape so far, and my reflections upon them; but when I
looked at my watch I found that only eight minutes had elapsed since I
consulted it before, at half past five. Probably it was not five
minutes from the time I first saw the snake till I was seated in the
chair in the room below. The lady of the house had not, therefore,
stood a great while in her present position. Her husband had had time
enough to come up-stairs since he was first called, but he probably had
a customer in the saloon.
As I sat in the chair, I suddenly began to wonder whether snakes had a
talent for coming down-stairs. The idea was just a little bit
appalling, for I had no desire to meet his snakeship again. Neither the
stairs nor the halls were carpeted. If he came down in the usual way, I
should be likely to hear him tumbling down the steps. But I rejected
this idea; for on further reflection I concluded that a snake would not
come down like a man, when there was a better way for one of his habits
to accomplish the purpose. Whatever the villain was, if he came down at
all, he would take to the stair-rail. I felt sure of this, for it
seemed to be the most natural thing for a snake to do.
I could not see how the snake was to get out of the room. I did not
think he could crawl up to the opening I had made, for there was
nothing for him to fasten to in his ascent. It did not seem to me that
he could get out unless he made a flying leap through the opening. I
was by no means sure he could not do this; and I did not care to wait
for him to experiment on the matter. Just then it occurred to me that I
was not the only person liable to be bitten by that snake. As I thought
of it, I walked down the stairs. I knew that Mrs. Boomsby had a mortal
terror of snakes when I lived with the family.
She confronted me in the hall of the second story.