200 



WANDERINGS IN 



Third get tliG lioriis down ; SO he had to wait m patience with 



Journey. 



that uncomfortable mouthful till his stomach digested 



the body, and then the horns would drop out. In this 

 plight the Dutchman found him as he was going in his 

 canoe up the river, and sent a ball through his head. 



On ascertaining the size of the serpent which the negro 

 had just found, I retired slowly the way I came, and pro- 

 mised four dollars to the negro who had shown it to me, 

 and one to the other who had joined us. Aware that the 

 day was on the decline, and that the approach of night 

 would be detrimental to the dissection, a thought struck 

 me that 1 could take him alive. I imagined if I could 

 strike him with the lance behind the head, and pin him 

 to the ground, I might succeed in capturing him. When 

 I told this to the negroes, they begged and entreated me 

 to let them go for a gun, and bring more force, as they 

 were sure the snake would kill some of us. 



I had been at the siege of Troy for nine years, and it 

 would not do now to carry back to Greece, " nil decimo 

 nisi dedecus anno." I mean, I had been in search of a 

 large serpent for years, and now having come up with 

 one, it did not become me to turn soft. So, taking a 

 cutlass from one of the negroes, and then ranging both 

 the sable slaves behind me, I told them to follow me, and 

 that I would cut them down if they offered to fly. I 

 smiled as I said this, but they shook their heads in silence, 

 and seemed to have but a bad heart of it. 



