Читать книгу National Geographic Kids Chapters: Scrapes With Snakes: True Stories of Adventures With Animals - Brady Barr - Страница 8

My brain began racing with scary thoughts. I was only a few feet away from an animal that could swallow me whole. If it decided to strike, I wouldn’t be able to move away fast enough.

“Snake! Giant snake! Giant snake!” I yelled. I was startled by the sound of my own voice in the silent swamp.

I knew my screams wouldn’t startle the snake, because snakes don’t have ears like we do. But I sure hoped Gerry was close enough to hear me.

With my eyes still glued to the snake, I heard Gerry slogging toward me. When he spotted the giant python, his eyes grew as big as plates.

Gerry had more experience with big snakes than I had. But he had never seen one this large. “We have to catch it!” he shouted.

“Catch it?” I cried. “Are you kidding me? That thing could eat us both for lunch.” I had a better idea: Let’s not catch it. Let’s run for our lives. But I kept that thought to myself. I knew Gerry was right. We had to try and capture this snake before it got into any more trouble. If it did, the villagers might harm it.

“On the count of three, jump on it,” Gerry said. “I’ll go for the head. You secure the body.”

Secure the body? I thought. That snake looks a lot stronger than I am. Still, that sounded easier than trying to grab the toothy end. There’s nothing fancy about catching a big snake. Just jump on top of it and hang on. And avoid the mouth. It’s just a matter of muscle against muscle. Or in this case, our combined total of less than 2,000 muscles against the snake’s 10,000!