FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110  
111   112   113   >>  
if I saw him at all, I thought it was a great big vine hanging from that tree! Ugh! look at him stretch his mouth, would you? Andy, thanks to your sharp eyes I'm here, instead of in his slimy folds. I guess he could crush an ox. They say nothing can stand the pressure, once they get a couple of folds around." "Is it a python?" gasped Andy, his horrified eyes glued on the spectacle of the slightly swaying ten feet of snake that hung from the limb of a great tree, in part as thick as Frank's thigh. "About the same thing," replied Frank. "Down here they call them anacondas, and in other parts of the world they're boa-constrictors. I guess the whole bunch belongs to the same family of squeezers. But that fellow is in our way." "Well, yes, if you're still determined to run the aeroplane across lots toward this side of the opening," Andy remarked with a shudder. "Why, perhaps that old chap might get gay, and grab hold, just when we expected to go sailing off. That would be a calamity, not only for him, but the Bird boys in the bargain." "All right. Then he's got to get his," Frank observed. "What are you going to do?" demanded the other, nervously. "Take a crack at his head," came the reply. "Once let a flat-nosed bullet from this little Marlin hard shooter smack him on the coco, and there'll be a funeral in the anaconda family." "But for goodness' sake make sure work of it, Frank. What if you just wounded the monster? He'd come whirling along at us like a hurricane. And I'm sure he must be thirty feet long, if he's a dozen. Look at the thickness of his neck, would you? Be mighty careful, for his head's swinging a bit, you notice. That was what made me get sight of him. Say, Frank!" "Well, hurry up. He may take a notion to move off, and I'd lose my chance, Andy." "How'd it do for me to get some fire, and shoo him away?" suggested his cousin. "Don't know how it would work," replied Frank, smiling a little, however, at the faith Andy seemed to have in a blazing brand, now that he could look back to his late experience with the jaguar. "Never heard that snakes were afraid of fire. And besides, there's no need. Now keep quiet, and watch. You'll see something worth while; but be ready to jump clear." He had already dropped down on one knee. The Marlin stock rested against his cheek, and his eyes sighted along the barrel. Andy fairly held his breath, his startled eyes glued on that swaying head of the mo
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110  
111   112   113   >>  



Top keywords:

replied

 

swaying

 

family

 

Marlin

 

suggested

 

chance

 

notion

 

notice

 
careful
 

whirling


monster

 

wounded

 
goodness
 
hanging
 

hurricane

 

thought

 

mighty

 

cousin

 

swinging

 

thickness


thirty
 

dropped

 

fairly

 
breath
 

startled

 

barrel

 

sighted

 

rested

 

blazing

 

anaconda


smiling

 

experience

 

afraid

 
jaguar
 

snakes

 
belongs
 

squeezers

 
constrictors
 
fellow
 

aeroplane


determined
 

anacondas

 
couple
 

slightly

 

horrified

 

python

 

spectacle

 

pressure

 
opening
 

remarked