The Castaways

by Mayne Reid

  CHAPTER TWELVE.

  KRISSING A CONSTRICTOR.

  It took them nearly an hour to get the pinnace round into the stream,and opposite the place they had fixed upon for their temporaryencampment. The current acting against their feeble efforts at rowing,was the cause of delay. They succeeded, however, and the boat was madesafe from being observed by the eye of any one going along the beach.But, to make it still more secure, they poled it in under the branchesof an over-hanging tree not far off--a large Indian fig, or _banyan_,whose umbrageous top overshadowed the water nearly half-way across thestream.

  To one of its numerous root-stems the craft was made fast by means ofthe tiller-ropes; and they were stepping out of it to return to theircamping-place, when a shout from Saloo warned them of some danger ahead.

  It was not ahead, but _overhead_; for, as his companions looked up--following the example of the Malay--they saw what at first appeared tobe one of the stems of the banyan in motion, as if endowed with life!

  They were soon convinced of their mistake; for instead of the movingthing being part of the fig-tree, its supple, cylindrical body andglittering scales showed it to be a serpent.

  It was a python, and one of enormous dimensions, as they could tell bywhat they saw of it, knowing that this was only a portion of the whole;at least ten feet of it were depending from the tree, while, judging bythe taper of its body, and applying the ordinary rule as to serpentshape, there could not be less than ten or twelve other feet concealedamong the branches above.

  As Saloo first caught sight of it, it was descending from the tree, nodoubt having been disturbed by the noise made in mooring the boat, andtempted to forsake its perch for some purpose unknown. It was comingdown head foremost--not along any of the stems, but in an open spacebetween them--its tail coiled round a branch above, affording it asupport for this descent, monkey or 'possum-fashion.

  Its snout had already touched the ground, and perhaps its whole bodywould soon have been elongated upon the earth but for the shout ofSaloo. At this it suddenly jerked up its head, but without taking inany of its coils above; and with jaws agape and tongue protruding, itcommenced oscillating around as if trying its range, and ready to pounceupon any creature that came within the radius of that wide circle ofwhich its forked tongue was describing the circumference.

  The warning of the Malay was given soon enough to save Captain Redwood,but not the ship-carpenter. Murtagh was either too long in hearing, ortoo slow in giving heed to it. He was a step or two in advance of theothers, carrying in his arms some implements from the boat. In lookingaround and above he saw the snake sweeping about in its grand circularvibrations, and at the same time perceived that he was within theirrange.

  It was but the simple obedience of instinct to leap to one side, whichhe did; but as ill luck would have it, hampered by the _impedimenta_carried in his arms, he came in violent collision with one of the stemsof the banyan, which not only sent him back with a rebound, but threwhim down upon the earth, flat on his face. He would have done better bylying still, for in that position the snake could not have coiled aroundand constricted him. And the python rarely takes to its teeth till ithas tried its powers of squeezing.

  But the ship-carpenter, ignorant of this herpetological fact, and as anIrishman not highly gifted either with patience or prudence, afterscrambling a while upon his hands and knees, stood once more upon hisfeet.

  He had scarcely got into an erect attitude when his body was embraced bya series of spiral annulations that extended from head to foot--hugethick rings, slimy and clammy to the touch, which he knew to be thefoldings of the python.

  Had there been any Lanoons, or Dyak pirates, within a mile's distance,they might have heard the cry that escaped him. The forest birds heardit afar off, and ceased their chatterings and warblings, so that therewas no sound for some time save the continuous shrieks and ejaculationsthat came from Murtagh's lips.

  Captain Redwood, altogether unarmed, leaped back into the pinnace toseize the boat-hook, thinking it the best weapon for the occasion. Itmight have been of service if obtainable in time. But long before hecould have returned with it the ship-carpenter's ribs would have beencompressed into a mass of broken bones, and the breath crushed out ofhis body.

  This would certainly have been the lamentable result but for a weaponwith which a Malay is always armed, carrying it on his body nearer thanhis shirt, and almost as near as his skin. It was the _kris_. As amatter of course, Saloo had one, and luckily for his old shipmate,"Multa," he knew how to handle it with skill, so that, in driving itstwisted blade through the python's throat, he did not also impale uponits point the jugular vein of the Irishman. He did the one dexterouslywithout doing the other, and the consequence was that the huge snake,suffering keenly from having its throat pierced through, quicklyuncoiled itself from the body of its intended victim, glad to let thelatter escape, and only thinking of getting free itself by scuttling offinto the thickest of the underwood, where it disappeared evidentlywrithing in pain.

  Too anxious about the condition of their comrade, neither CaptainRedwood nor Saloo thought of pursuing it, but stooped down over thereleased body of the Irishman, who had fallen prostrate to the earth.

  On due examination it proved that there was not much harm done beyond aterrible fright; and after some congratulations, he was induced to getonce more upon his feet and accompany them to the camp. But for Salooand his kris, beyond doubt he would never have returned to it alive.

  For the python in the Old World is quite as formidable as the boa in theNew. Perhaps it is even more to be dreaded; for, notwithstanding itsgreat length--twenty-five to thirty feet--it is exceedingly nimble andits muscular strength is immense. There are numerous authentic storieson record of its having crushed the buffalo and the tiger in its hugeconstricting folds. The _python reticulatus_ is probably the largestspecies.