Читать книгу Munchausen XX - W. G. Worfel - Страница 6

Table of Contents

I here chronicle the arrival of my twenty-fifth birthday and give the reader some little idea of my mode of life, retailing for his especial benefit the trouble I had in regaining possession of my treasure which I had hidden so carefully; informing him also of the manner in which my ingenuity came to my aid in getting at the contents of the box.

AT last my twenty-fifth birthday arrived, and I went into the woods to an old hollow tree in which there was a hole large enough for me to enter, and having ascertained, by careful inspection, that I was unobserved, I entered. Climbing up some twenty or thirty feet, I thrust my hand into the hollow of a limb which extended at right angle from the trunk, to get the package I had carefully placed there sometime before.

I felt my hand firmly grasped and a thick astonishment fell upon me, as I sought to ascertain the cause of the pain which I now felt tingling up my arm. I tugged and pulled and gradually began to withdraw my arm, bringing with it whatever it was that held it.

As I continued my exertions I soon saw two gleaming eyes.

This so frightened me that, for once in my long and eventful life, I lost my head, so to speak, and likewise my foothold, and should have fallen had I not been in the death-grip of some fearful monster.

I renewed my wiggling and twisting and jerking, by dint of which I continued slowly descending until I was opposite the opening through which I had entered, and out of this I struggled, drawing my enemy after me.

By getting a good purchase against the tree, I started the great serpent, as I now saw the thing to be, through the aperture.

He now ceased his reluctance to follow me, evidently being now determined to help matters along by coming out himself, and within an incredibly short space of time there was so much of him coiled upon the ground and around the tree that it was impossible for me even to estimate his enormous length.

But, behold my horror! For now he had coiled himself firmly, and while holding me some twenty or thirty feet from the ground was proceeding to draw me into his cavernous throat, in spite of my frenzied efforts to combat him.

My horror did not reach its climax until I found my head and shoulders surely entering the terrible maw.

It makes me all goose-fleshed to think of it—it was a terrible experience. Finally he had swallowed me, and I fell with a slippery thud to the point where his body was coiled upon the ground.

I was still vigorous and was struggling desperately; so much so that the serpent seemed to be suddenly filled with a great questioning as to whether he had not made a serious mistake.

In threshing around within this cave my hand struck something which I quickly ascertained to be the package I had sought. I hugged it tightly to my breast, for the moment forgetting my danger.

The air was becoming stifling, as you may well imagine, and I soon became desperate. I ran my hands through all my pockets, in a vain search for my knife which I had left somewhere. The only thing I found was a mouth-organ. I scratched the wall of his stomach with this most fiendishly, but it had no effect.

Thinking of another pocket upon the inside of my shirt, and it requiring the use of both hands to unbutton the shirt and get inside, I put the organ between my lips. I presume I was short of breath, for I had been quite busy, and in trying to get my breath I drew the air through the organ and made a note or two.

I was surprised to feel the actions of the monster at this moment, and I withdrew the organ from my mouth to observe them. As I did this, the action stopped.

I then blew the good old tune of “Yankee Doodle,” and the contortions of the snake were tremendous. He swayed and writhed and seemed to be catching my feet in a terrible grasp, and I soon became aware that I was being pushed rapidly upward by the contractions and expansions of the muscles of his body below me.

I had been conscious that the serpent had been all the while traveling, but I had not noticed in what direction, and when my head was projected from between his enormous jaws I saw the earth very far below me. I then observed that he was upon one of the tallest trees on the peak of a mountain and had extended himself into the air as far as he could above the tree top, his body, however, reaching almost to the ground.

I was therefore in a frightful dilemma; for, if he should spew me forth into the atmosphere, I should surely be killed by the fall. My natural ability to meet any emergency came at once to my rescue, and as I came forth I curved myself around his under lip and grasped his body firmly with both arms. His skin was slimy, and had it not been that he had wrapped himself around an immense tree in various directions, thus forming undulations which permitted me to slacken my speed at each depression, I should most likely have been crushed on striking the ground. As it was, I landed gracefully upon my feet.

As you can imagine, I was heartily glad of my escape from such a terrible death as had so lately confronted me, and happily pursued my way with my prize in my bosom.

I entered a secluded nook and prepared to open the package.

After removing the paper which formed the outer covering, I found a tin box, the lid of which had been carefully soldered down. As the reader already knows, I had lost or mislaid my knife and, therefore, had nothing with which to open the box. My disappointment was intense. It had become so hallowed an object I dared not crush it with a stone, which I refrained from doing upon that ground, and upon the further ground that I knew not its contents and feared to damage them by such an operation.

At this point I was attracted by a noise behind me in the woods. My curiosity overcame my disappointment and I hastened away to discover the cause of the disturbance.

In a little glen, I saw two monstrous stags engaged in battle. They rushed together with such force that the striking of their antlers caused streams of fire to fly forth. Though I stood quite near them, they were so intent upon each other’s destruction they observed not my presence.

As I viewed the combat, a happy thought struck upon my mind.

I was by nature very agile, and as the stags came together at the next onslaught I so held my box as to permit a stream of fire from their horns to fly upon the solder on one side of the lid, and so great was the heat therefrom that the solder quickly melted and ran upon the ground. By turning the other side and ends in quick succession, I soon left my angry friends, for such they had been to me, and betook myself to my retreat, with the lid in one hand and the box in the other.

I seated myself upon a log, which lay upon the edge of a precipice, as I now may state, although at the time so absorbed was I in solving the mystery I did not observe that fact.

The first thing I came to in the box was a sheet of paper, carefully folded so as to fit snugly therein. Just as I had withdrawn it, some insect, probably a wasp or a yellow-jacket, stung me so sharply upon the foot that I lifted that member with enough animation to throw myself backward from the log and over the precipice.

With an intention to stop my progress through the underbrush, I had loosened my hold upon the box and also upon the paper. I caught upon a root and held on, thus hanging suspended between heaven and earth. As I glanced about me, I saw the paper floating off upon a gust of wind, wending its way I knew not whither.

I gazed with longing eyes upon it. But my longing was superseded by determination as I remembered my bow and arrows, which I always carried with me.

Quickly adjusting a heavy arrow I sent the bolt speeding onward. I did not wish to tear the paper; for, in so doing, I might destroy the message it contained. In avoiding this I was favored by the great distance to which the paper had flown. I had given the arrow such a proper upward curve it came gently down upon the paper and carried it softly to earth by the pressure, only, of its own weight.

To extricate myself from my dilemma and recover the paper I set myself about, and it was soon accomplished; for, finding the root upon which I had lodged extended a great distance along the cliff, I had but to cut one end of it and climb down it as it hung suspended.