A friend of Samson Harris, whom I met at the old settler's house, gave
me the following account of his experience in Australia. He had been a
neighbour of the old settler, had prospered as well, and had returned to
England about the same time.
I was rather amused at his idea of being a neighbour; for, on asking a
question or two, I found that they had lived a hundred miles apart, and
only met about once a year, at the station of a settler about midway
between them.
The conversation had turned upon the dangers to be encountered in the
new country, and among others snakes were mentioned.
"Ah, I can tell you something about snakes, doctor," he said. "We had a
singular adventure. It was soon after we had settled out in the up
country, and there was only another hut here and there in those days;
but, after years of knocking about at home, trying hard to get an honest
living and never succeeding, we had made up our minds to try Australia,
and here we were, living in the log hut I had knocked up for myself,
shepherding, and doing what little I could in the shape of gardening;
for, that being my right trade, with all the beautiful rich soil lying
fallow, it did seem a sin to me not to have a turn at it; so, getting
what seeds I could from Sydney, and adding to the few I had brought in
my chest, I managed to make quite a little Eden of the bit of land I
broke up round our hut. We were not saving money--not to any extent--
but there was a roof over our heads, and no rent to pay, plenty of
vegetables of my own growing, and them costing nothing, plenty of work
to do, and, one sort and another, always plenty to eat; so that, after
what we had gone through in England, you may be sure we were willing
enough to try and put up with such inconveniences as fell to our share,
and, as a matter of course, there were things to encounter out in what
some people would call the wilderness, though it was a wilderness that
blossomed like the rose. There were times, for instance, when, like
Harris, we were in dread of the blacks, who had done some very queer
things here and there about; then the place was terribly lonely, and out
of the way if you wanted a doctor; and Mary used to joke me because I
could never get half a pint of beer, but I found I could get on just as
well without it; and, my word, what a capital cup of tea we always did
have!
"Well, Mary came out to me one day looking that horribly ghastly that,
being naturally rather too fast at fancying troubles in advance, I saw
directly half a score of blacks coming to spear as, and some of them
knocking out the children's brains with their clubs--and not the first
time neither. `Harry!' she gasped, in a strange, harsh, cracked voice;
and, as I started and looked up from my work, there was my wife coming
towards me, with her arms stretched out, her eyes fixed, and a look upon
her white face, that made me drop my spade and run to meet her. I
caught her just as she was falling, when her eyes closed, and she gave a
shiver that seemed to shake her whole body; but in a few moments the
poor girl opened her eyes, and began to stare about her. There were no
blacks to be seen. Little Joe was sitting in the path playing, and,
though I looked along the edge of the scrub behind the house, I could
see no signs of danger; so I began to think she must have been taken
ill, and turned over in my own mind how I could get any help for her.
"Just then her face grew contracted again as her thoughts seemed to come
back, and gasping out once more, `Harry, Harry,' she gave a shudder and
said, `The baby--a snake!'
"I couldn't see myself, but I know I turned white, all the blood seeming
to rush to my heart, for if there is anything of which I am afraid it is
a snake, even going so far as to dislike eels, of which there was
abundance in the river close at hand.
"I don't know how we got there, but the next thing I remember is
standing at the hut window with Mary holding little Joe tight in her
arms, and me looking through at the cradle where our little thing of
nine months old was lying; and my heart seemed to be turning to ice as I
saw nestled in the foot of the cradle, partly hidden in the blanket, but
with some of its horrible coils full in sight, and its head resting upon
them, the largest snake I had seen since I had been in the country. The
feeling was something awful, and I stood there for a few moments leaning
upon the rough handle of the hoe I had caught up, not able to move, for
my eyes were fixed upon the head of that hideous beast, and I expected
every moment that the baby would wake and make some movement sufficient
to irritate the snake, and then, whether poisonous or not, I felt that
the little thing must die.
"What should I do? I asked myself, as the horrible feeling of
helplessness wore off. If I crept in and reached the cradle-side
unheard, I dared not chop at the beast for fear of injuring the child,
for I could see that some of the folds lay right across it. I dared not
make a noise, lest the next moment the child should awake as well as the
reptile, for I knew the rapidity with which the horrible creatures could
wreathe fold after fold round the object they attacked; while, if of a
poisonous nature, they struck in an instant. Thoughts came swiftly
enough, but they were unavailing, for to wait till the baby woke, or to
go in and attack the snake, seemed equally dangerous. Even if I made a
slight noise the danger seemed as great, since, though the snake might
wake first and glide off, the probabilities were just as great that the
child might wake at the same time.
"And so I turned over the chances again and again, my eyes all the while
fixed upon the two sleeping occupants of the cradle, whose pleasant
warmth had evidently attracted the reptile.
"`I went in and saw it there,' whispered my wife, and then, without
taking my eyes for an instant from the snake, I whispered the one word
`Gun,' and she glided from my side.
"I did not know then, but she told me afterwards, how she had carried
the little boy to a distance and given him some flowers to play with,
while she crept back to the hut, and, reaching in at the kitchen window,
brought me my gun, for I had not stirred. And now, as I grasped the
piece in my hand, knowing though I did that it was loaded, it seemed of
no use, for I dared not fire; but, with trembling hands, I felt in my
pockets to see if there was a bullet in them, and then, softly pulling
out the ramrod, I unscrewed the cover of the worm and drew the wadding,
reversed the piece, and let the shot fall pattering out, when I softly
forced down the bullet upon the powder, examined the cap, and stood
ready waiting for a chance; for I thought that the shot might have
scattered, and, if ever so little, I might have injured the child in
place of its enemy.
"And there we stood for quite half an hour, watching intently that
horrible beast comfortably nestled in the blanket, expecting momentarily
that the baby would wake, while my hand trembled so that I could not
hold the gun steady. One minute I was thinking that I had done wrong in
changing the charge, the next minute that I was right; then I fancied
that the gun might miss fire, or that I might slay my own child. A
hundred horrible thoughts entered my mind before little Joe began to cry
out to his mother, and she glided away, while I muttered to myself
`Thank Heaven!' for she was spared from seeing what followed.
"As if at one and the same moment, the child and the snake woke up. I
saw the baby's hand move, and its little arms thrown out, while from the
motion beneath the blanket I knew that it must have kicked a little.
Then there was a rapid movement in the cradle, and as I glanced along
the gun-barrel taking aim, there was the whole of the horrible reptile
exposed to view, coil gliding over coil as it seemed to fill the foot of
the cradle; and now, had my gun been charged with shot, I should have
fired, so as to have disabled some part of the creature's body; but with
only a single bullet I felt that the head must be the part attacked when
opportunity served.
"Glide, glide, glide, one coil over the other quickly and easily, as if
it were untying its knotted body, while now the head slowly rose from
where it had lain, and crept nearer and nearer to the child's face, the
forked tongue darting in and out, and playing rapidly about the hideous
mouth. I could see the glance of the snake's eyes, and expected every
moment to hear the child shriek out with terror, as the lowered head now
rested over its breast. But no, the child lay perfectly still for a few
moments, and then I stood trembling in every limb as I saw the snake's
head drawn back, and then begin to sway to and fro, and from side to
side, the glistening neck of the beast gently undulating, whilst the
tongue still darted in and out of the tight, dreadful-looking mouth.
"Now was the time when I should have fired, but I was too unnerved; and
laying down my gun, I seized the hoe, meaning to attack the beast with
the stout handle; but my hand fell paralysed to my side as I saw the
little innocent in the cradle smile and then laugh at the gently
undulating head of the snake; while, as the agony grew to be greater
than I could bear, in seeing the little white hands try to catch at it
as it swayed to and fro, my power seemed to come back. I snatched up
the gun, and as the snake's head was drawn back preparatory to striking,
I pulled the trigger, when the sharp crack of the percussion cap alone
followed--perhaps providentially, for in my trembling state I might have
injured the child. Then I saw a rapid writhing of the coils in the
cradle, and as the tail of the snake glided over the side, everything
around me seemed to swim, and I tried to catch at the wall of the hut to
save myself from falling.
"But that soon went off; and then, gazing in at the window, I tried to
make out the whereabouts of my enemy, as I re-capped and tapped the gun,
so that the powder might run up the nipple. The snake was nowhere to be
seen, and darting in I seized the child, and carried it out to its
mother, when, now feeling relieved of one horrible anxiety, I obtained
my shot-pouch from the kitchen, rammed down a charge upon the bullet,
and cautiously went in search of the reptile.
"I knew that he must still be in the part of the hut we used for a
sleeping-place, and, after cautiously peering about, I came upon the
hole where it had taken refuge--an opening between the roughly-sawn
planks laid loosely down to form a floor. Unless there was an outlet
beneath the woodwork, I felt that the beast must be there; and, to make
it more probable, there was our cat, that we had bought a kitten in
Sydney, gazing with staring eyes down at the hole.
"Just then I heard a soft rustling beneath my feet, and as I looked
down, I could see between two boards the scaly body gliding along. The
next moment there came the load report of the gun, the place was fall of
smoke, there was a tremendous scuffling noise, and as I looked down
between the boards where the charge had forced a passage through, there
was no sign of the snake.
"`Harry! Harry!' shrieked my wife just then; and on rushing out, there
was the beast writhing about in the path, evidently badly wounded, while
some crushed-down flowers by the hut wall showed plainly the hole of
communication. I never saw snake writhe and twist as that creature did,
but I was too excited then to feel afraid, and a few blows from the
butt-end of the gun laid it so that there was only a little movement
left in its body, which did not stop for an hour or two after I had cut
off his head with the axe.
"I should have liked to skin the beast, but I could not master my
horror. I measured it, though: fourteen feet three inches long it was,
and as thick as my arm; while, as to its weight, I saw the cradle rock
to and fro heavily as it glided over the side.
"Snakes are scarce now in that part; for there isn't a man in Queensland
who does not wage war against them, and where there was one settler
then, there are now scores. But all the same, if I had my time to come
over again, knowing what I do, I should not hesitate for a moment if I
were not doing well here. Snakes are bad, doctor, and the blacks are
worse; but it was a free and healthy life out there, and one always felt
as if one was getting on."
"And not only felt," said Harris smiling, "one was getting on. Yes, I
agree with Harry Maine, I'd go out again to-morrow without a murmur;
though, in my time, there weren't any of your sort, doctor, within a
hundred miles."
"How did you manage, then, if you were ill?"
"We never were ill, doctor; and few as the medical men were, they seemed
to be enough."