style="font-size:15px;"> "The devil! he was slender, 'tis true; a rod of steel is, also, slender, but that does not prevent its being furiously strong. See here, colonel, that man was made of iron. He was so strong that I have seen him take an insolent negro by the middle and throw him ten feet from him, as if he were an infant, though the black was larger and more robust than you. So, colonel, if the man you seek resembles that one, we would be unwise to bait him—as you say——"
"Less than you believe. I will explain to you——"
"And then," continued John, "if by chance the filibuster, the buccanneer or the cannibal who they say frequently visit the widow, should also be there, it would become somewhat embarrassing."
"Hear me; after what you have told me is there at the end of the park a tree where one could hide?"
"Yes, colonel."
"With the exception of the buccaneer, the filibuster or the cannibal no one enters the private habitation of Blue Beard?"
"No one colonel except the mulattresses who wait upon her."
"And except also the man whom I seek, be it remembered; I have my reasons for believing we shall find him there."
"Well, colonel?"
"Then nothing is simpler; we will hide ourselves in the thickest tree until our man comes to our side."
"That cannot fail to occur colonel because the park is not large and when one walks in it he is forced to pass near a marble basin not very far from the place where we shall be hidden."
"If our man does not take a walk after night comes, we will wait until he has gone to bed, and we will surprise him there."
"This will be easy, colonel, unless he calls one of Blue Beard's comforters to his succor."
"Be easy about that; for with your assistance I can place my hand on him and then though he were surrounded by a hundred men armed to the teeth he is mine; I have a sure means of obliging him to obey me; this concerns me. All that I require of you is to conduct me into the ambush from which I can spring upon him suddenly."
"This shall be done, colonel."
"Then let us be going," said Rutler, rising from the ground.
"At your orders, colonel; but instead of walking, we must creep. But let us see," continued John, bending down, "if we can perceive the daylight. Yes, it is there—but how distant it seems. Speaking of that, colonel, if, since I came by this road, it should have been stopped up by a landslide, we should cut, in such a case, a sorry figure! condemned to remain here, and to die of hunger or to eat each other! Impossible to get out by the gulf, seeing that one cannot remount a sheet of water as a trout ascends a cascade."
"That is true," said Rutler, "you appal me; happily, there is no likelihood of this. You have the sack?"
"Yes, colonel; the straps are strong and the skin impervious. We shall find our knives, our pistols and our cartridges in it as dry as though they came from an armory."
"Then, John, let us be starting; go ahead," said the colonel. "We must have time to dry our clothes."
"That will not take long, colonel; once at the foot of the precipice we shall be as in an oven; the sun shines full upon it."
John lay down on his face and commenced to glide into the passage, so small that he could scarcely enter. The darkness was profound; in the distance only, one could distinguish a faint light. The colonel followed, dragging himself over a damp and dirty soil.
For some time the two Englishmen advanced in this manner, crawling on their knees, on their hands, and on their stomachs, in total darkness. All at once John paused suddenly and cried in a frightened voice, "Colonel!"
"What is it?"
"Do you not notice a strong odor?"
"Yes, a fetid odor."
"Do not move; it is the serpent—'Fer de lance'—we are lost."
"A serpent!" exclaimed the colonel, with horror.
"We are dead. I dare not advance; the odor is growing stronger and stronger," murmured John.
"Be quiet—listen."
In mortal terror the two men held their breath. All at once at some little distance they heard a continuous, rapid sound, as if something was beating the earth with a flail. The nauseating and penetrating odor which exhales from these large serpents became stronger and stronger. "The serpent is furious; it is his tail which is beating the earth thus," said John in a feeble voice. "Colonel, let us commend our souls to God!"
"Let us cry out and terrify the serpent," said Rutler.
"No, no, it would but precipitate itself at once upon us," replied John.
The two men remained for some moments a prey to the most horrible suspense. They could neither retreat nor change their position. Their chests rested upon the earth; their backs touched the rocks. They dared not make a movement of recoil for fear of drawing the reptile in pursuit of them. The air, more and more impregnated by the infectious odor of the serpent, became suffocating.
"Can you not find a stone at hand in order to throw at it," said the colonel in a low tone.
Hardly had he said these words when John uttered the most piercing cries and struggled violently, exclaiming, "Help! help! I die!"
Paralyzed with terror, Rutler strove to turn about, but he struck himself violently on the head against the side of the passage. Then, retreating as rapidly as he could with the assistance of his knees and hands, he sought flight by backing out, while John, in extremity with the serpent, made the most terrible and pitiful cries of terror and suffering. All at once these cries became fainter and inarticulate, as if the sailor was strangling. In fact, the enraged serpent, after having, in the obscurity, stung John in the hand, the throat and face, attempted to introduce its flat and lance-like head into the open mouth of the unfortunate man, and stung his lips and tongue; but this last assault finished the sailor.
The serpent, having satisfied his rage, withdrew his horrible fangs and took to flight. The colonel felt a damp, icy body touch his cheek; he remained motionless. The serpent glided rapidly along the side of the subterranean passage and escaped.
The danger past, the colonel remained some moments petrified with terror; he heard the last struggle of John; his agony was short. Rutler heard him make several convulsive shudders and that was all. His companion was dead. Then Rutler advanced and seized the sailor's leg. The leg was already cold and stiff; for the venom of the serpent works rapidly.
A new cause for fear assailed the colonel. The serpent, not finding an egress in the cavern, might return the same way it had gone. Rutler seemed already to hear a slight noise behind him. He could not proceed in advance, because the body of the sailor completely blocked the passage; flight by the rear was only to expose himself to an encounter with the serpent. In his terror the colonel seized the corpse by the two legs, to the end that he might drag it to the entrance of the subterranean passage and thus clear the only outlet to the cavern. His efforts were in vain. Whether his strength was paralyzed, he being in such a cramped position, or whether the poison had already distended the body, Rutler could not extricate
