| Show 1 ADVENTURERS ADVENTURERS' CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE Terror in a Tent ELLO EVERYBODY HELLO H You know theres there's always a lot of hard luck on campIng camping camping camp- camp Ing trips Somebody is sure to get sunburned and somebody somebody somebody some some- body else always steps on a rusty nail or clips himself with the hatchet while chopping wood for the fire The bird who is doing the cooking burns half balf the food and just when youre you're comfortably settled and getting along fine Farmer Jones comes along and orders you to move on Camping trips just breed hard luck but the one Syd went on was the champion hoodoo camping trip of them all It started dealing out tough breaks before Syd and his Ms pals even got started Syd lives in Brooklyn N N. Y It was in the summer of 1935 that he and half hail a dozen other lads began planning that camping trip They had picked a spot upstate In the neighborhood neighborhood neighborhood neigh neigh- of Poughkeepsie and were all ready to go Then I two days before they were due to leave there was a terrific rainstorm in New York and after inquiring abou about the weather they learned that it was the same upstate The gang decided to go anyway anyway at at least some of them did When the day of the big trip rolled around one fellow had bad the mumps Another was laid up with an infected foot toot and two other fellows had mothers mother who said they couldn't go 10 camping in tn such weather because they'd catch their death of pneumonia sleeping on damp ground The trouble had started early but it was nothing to what Syd was to get Iet into before that trip was many days daYI older The Hikers Find a Camping Site There were only tw twe brothers and myself left says lays Syd but bat we went anyway The brothers were Harold and JerT Jerry Left LeL The three of them took a boat to Bear near Mountain and then started t t. t bike with two tents tenia and blanket blankets and equipment on OD their heir backs After a da day on the road road and and Syd doesn't lIa say cay whether they walked or thumbed ride they reached the spot the they bad bail chosen and picked a camping site lite The ground was wet and the earth was loose The They had bad a little trouble put putting up their two small Iman tents But finally everything was as FInaU Finally be had bad a horrible dream shipshape They got a lire fire going cooked a meal and when they had eaten It they were ready to turn In Jerry and Harold occupied one tent and Syd slept alone in the other Syd dropped off oft to sleep but he didn't sleep leep very well welt Finally he had a horrible dream dream dream-a a dream that something cold and slimy was crawling over his arm The dream woke him up and as he came slowly to his senses he realized that that dream was a cold hard reality Something cold and slimy was resting against his arm In an Instant Syd was wide awake A toll full moon was shining and Its it bright ht light streamed In through the open flap of ot the pop pup tent In that light Syd saw something that made his hla blood run rOD cold Ills His arm ann was Wall lying outside the blanket and a snake anake bad crawled up ap and nestled ar against It And Syd recognized that snake for tor a poisonous copperhead I Frozen With Fear He tie Cannot Move Says he ho My ly first Impulse was to Jump up and scream But ButI I couldn't have moved to 0 save m my life We I waa was frozen rosen stiff with fear rear The moon bathed the head of ot the snake with light licht and as I Ilay Ilay Ilay lay there stiff and trembling It crawled op un to my shoulder boulder A co cold d sweat broke out on oa my r forehead Now i I began to to realize that I didn't dare move even If I could One move would cause the reptile to strike But It seemed to Syd that be he could hardly keep himself from leg ing ID Somehow he managed to lie there sUIT sUf and still lUll The hours rolled on Syd doesn't know how many of them went by Each minute seemed like a year and each second was like a week of torture I l wanted to scream he says I felt as If Il I could control myself no longer At last the sky began getting gray and off In the distance I could hear some lome farmers farmer's rooster crowing Then again the snake shifted its III position This time Ume it came to r ret rest t with its head across my gullet Now Syd was afraid to swallow for fear tear of disturbing the snake He lie felt feU his hll spine begin to creep and his hair felt feU as If II it were standing up upon upon upon on his head bead It was getting lighter now and Syd was able to distinguish distin objects around him that be he had lost sight of when the moon went down Still it was a I long time before dawn and his only hope was to lie still until his pals awoke The Snakes Smelled of Rotten Cucumbers ne He could see the snake clearly now And then out of 01 the corner corner cor cor- ner of or his eye he saw uw another another and and another There were a bunch of or them In ID the tent And two of ot them were over tour four feet teet longI long loog I 1 couldn't see the others very clearly be he says sas for I didn't dare turn tura my head and It strained m my eyes to look at them from trem m my position I was beginning to shiver My muscles were cramped and saliva dripped from m my mouth The snakes smelled of or rotten rolten cucumbers and the odor sickened me me Hut But the sun was coming up and I could hear bear movements In ID the other tent That renewed my courage Harold and Jerry were up A couple of times they walked past Syd's tent but they didn't look in Then Jerry glanced through the open flap and aDd his eyes froze on the terrifying sight Syd says lays he owes his hla life to those two brothers lie He thought Jerry was going to scream but he didn't lIe He remained cool and so did Harold The pair of them stole tole up behind Syd's tent gathered some damp hay from a field and let set it afire Huge billows of ot smoke poured through the tent I 1 began choking says lay Syd but Taut so 10 did the snakes snake They moved and I lay lar back and breathed a sigh of relief After a few minutes I went outside picked a spot in the sun and dozed of oft off It was seven leven hours before I woke up again And if you want to know what a nightmare Is like just ask me mc Ive I've had dozens of them since e that night Copyright Copyright Service |
