Show fow d v 4 v adventurers ADVENTURER SY CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF held captive by a cobra cobrac by FLOYD GIBBONS famous headline hunter H HELLO ELLO today EVERYBODY the magic carpet of adventure whisks us away to edward far off india under the command of ex british soldier carnell of valley stream L I 1 british indian army W was as member of the some years ago ted as a stationed in the little indian town ol of n not ot far from mandalay andalay M of in the mountains of 0 burma there he made the acquaintance a mr and mrs slack who were in india on charming english couple a government business the couple lived in a bungalow on the edge of the jungle and ted used to ride over on his bicycle once or twice a week for dinner on one fateful night as ted rode along nursing a healthy appetite for the he coming home cooked meal he be got a puncture and fixing the tire delayed him about halt half an hour on the road to 1111 mandalay andalay well sir the slacks while waiting for their guest decided to while away the time with a little music mrs slack was an accomplished violinist and her husband sang with a pleasing voice the evening was that follow the monsoons or rains when the one of those hot sticky ones indian heat and humidity are at their worst and the windows and doors in the bungalow were wide open to get whatever breath of air was stirring As ted rode along the narrow jungle path leading to io the house he heard the strains of mrs slacks violin playing a famil familiar aar piece ted sang the words to himself as he pedalled pedal led along on the road to mandalay andalay BI where the alyin fishes play an the dawn comes up like thunder outer china cross the bay kipling put the strange charm of india into that little piece and I 1 for one never tire of hearing 0 it but to ted carnell it brings back too vividly the night of bf horror t that hat he spent on the road to mandalay slack sang his call for help 1 I parked my bicycle ted writes and stepped on the veranda which ran around the house then I 1 stopped and listened to the song not wanting to interrupt mr slack in the middle of it from where I 1 stood I 1 could coula not see them because of a small hallway however ap ky 6 11 they continued to play and sing for or the cobra ardently arent ly mr slack had heard my footsteps because I 1 noticed that he was changing the words of the song while making an effort to fit them to the music this amused me until I 1 suddenly realized that he was making an effort to tell me something and at the same time continuing with the tune that mrs slack played ceaselessly on her violin I 1 felt myself go pale as the meaning of it all came to me ted ted he sang a cobra has come into the house attracted by the music and sits in a poised position ready to strike dont come in the door and dont make a sudden move we must continue to play and sing or we are lost but hurry burry hurry burry our nerves are about to break 11 well sir for a moment ted stood paralyzed with horror he knew the cobra was the deadliest of all snakes but he felt powerless to help his friends his hand brushed against his holster holste r arid alid he withdrew his revolver and then crept noiselessly around to the open window beekin peeking 9 in quietly he saw a huge cobra a few feet away from the slacks standing on its tail as they do swaying to the music ile he had to take a chance and shoot mrs slack continued to play her vion mechanically with little or no tune as her husband drawled out his words the snake seemed to be watching their slightest movements of lips and arms and was to strike to kill at the first sign of alarm ted slowly raised his revolver and resting it on the window sill took careful aim but as he be looked along the barrel he saw that one of mrs slacks legs was in the direct line of fire mr bir slack sang on his voice quivering 7 with terror take a chance ted a bullet is nothing to what might happen hurry she cant hold out much longer P ted aimed and again held the shaking revolver firm with two hands he followed that swaying deaths head back and forth and then as it seemed to sway away from mrs slack he fired teds beds bullet found its mark A flash A deafening coarl roar the music stopped A scream and ted heard a heavy body fall fail to the floor the smoke from the shot shut out his view for a few seconds and then to his horror as the smoke cleared he saw mrs slack prone on the floor the snake wriggling in in its death throes just a few inches from her body he jumped through the win window dow and with a bamboo pole beat out the remaining life of the cobra not knowing whether it had bitten mrs slack or if his own bullet had cut her down the shot brought the native servants in on the run and they found mrs slack unhurt but unconscious mr slack too had fainted quietly in his chair teds beds bullet had found the snakes head and the cobra had tried to tio strike mrs slack as she fell mr slack quickly revived revive d but his brave wife lay in a coma for several days and when she finally recovered her hair had turned completely white well sir what happened to ted carnell on the road to mandalay so you can see why he turns the dial 0 on n h his is radio when someone sings it copyright service |