THE PYTHON ESCAPES. 539 



tliat tlie monster liad escaped. Every one then asked, 

 " Where is he ? " but no one could tell. I assured 

 the captain that he was in the box when I put it on 

 the samj^an to come off to the ship. " Is he on 

 board ? " was the next question from the mouths of 

 all. AYe looked carefully in the boat and round the 

 deck, but could detect no trace of him whatever, and 

 all, except myself, came to the conclusion that he was 

 not brought on board, and then went back to their 

 work. The l^ox in which he had been confined was 

 al)out a foot and a half long by a foot high and 

 a foot wide, and over the top were foiu* or five 

 strips of board, each fastened at either end vdth a 

 single nail. On inquiring more closely, the sailor 

 told me that before I seized the box, the side mth 

 the slats was one of the perpendicular sides, and had 

 not been placed uj^permost, as it ought to have been. 

 " Then," I reasoned, " he is here on board somewhere 

 beyond a doubt, and I brought him here, and it's my 

 duty to find him and kill him." 



We had four horses on deck, and the middle of 

 the boat Avas filled with hay for them, and under 

 that it was probable the great reptile had crawled 

 away. In the bottom of the Ijoat, aft, was a tri- 

 angular deck, and, as I climbed uj:) a second time, I 

 noticed that the board which formed the apex of the 

 triangle was loose, and moved a little to one side. 

 Carefully raising this, I espied, to my horror, the 

 great python closely coiled away beneath, the place 

 being so small that the loose board rested on one of 

 liis coils. I wore a thin suit, a Chinese baju, or loose 

 blouse, a j)air of canvas shoes, and a large sun-hat. 



