| Show adventurers club the crawling horde by FLOYD GIBBONS famous headline hunter N NOW OW here comes pat mangan t of brooklyn N Y to get me all balled up pat talk my language at all in spite of the fact that judging from his name his folks came from the same part of lithuania that mine did no pat talks about bil lycans and about carrying his swag swag and a lot of other things that have me running round in circles I 1 know that talk is australian lingo but I 1 dont know what it means it was in the spring of 1902 that pat arrived in sydney way down on the southeast coast of the island continent he had heard a lot about the australian bush the great open spaces just back from the narrow belt of civilization that fringes the shore and he wanted to see it the men he net met around sydney all talked of carrying your swag and ill int t and his partner bob decided to have a try at it australian Sw agmen travel by the stars now a swag as near as I 1 can figure it out Is a sort of pack you carry on your back anyway pat says he and bob bought a tent a tommy hawk blankets and a rolled them up into a pack and boarded a train that took them ona 14 hour trip through the bush to the town of dastol a little way station consisting of a saloon a blacksmith shop and 15 houses they got off the train at dastol and went into the saloon most of the customers in the bar says pat were like ourselves we asked one of them if there was any work to be had around town why yes he said theres plenty at the smelting smelling sm elting works we asked him where the smelting smelling sm elting works was and his answer astounded us oh its about forty five miles farther south he said the easiest way to find it Is to wait until night and then follow the tall star of the southern cross the way distances go in australla australia forty five miles Is around town and you navigate the bush by the you would the ocean snaky visitors invade the adventurers camp that night bob and pat shouldered their swags shags again and hit bit the tr trail all they pushed along for about twenty miles until they came to a freshwater fresh water stream they were both dead tired by that time and decided to pitch camp and stay there for the rest of the night we made a fire says pat and boiled some coffee in our billy bil lycans eans 1 we had a bite to eat and then retired into the tent tor for a smoke bob suggested e it lip ti countless snakes were writhing on top of the tent that we write some letters and we got out pencil and paper and la lay down on our stomachs we had been writing for about twenty minutes aben bob heard a noise on the side of the tent lie ile looked up and uttered a frightful cry bobs cry startled pat half out of his wits it was a sudden terrified scream my god paddy dont move pat turned his head the matter bob for answer bob pointed mutely to the top of the tent it was still dark but a bright moon was shining in the sky in its yellow beams both men could see shadows of objects on the top of the tent long writhing shadows snakes dozens of them crawling all over the upper side of their flimsy canvas shelter I 1 the reptiles stayed outside of the tent pat raised himself up on one elbow and took a cautious look around there were no snakes inside tile the tent not yet but outside there were thousands of them swarming toward them from every side while they watched the dozens of reptiles on top of the tent became hundreds as more and more of them began creeping up its sloping sides we know whether they were poisonous or not says pat but a bite from one of them might easily mean death there any possible means of escape bob was hysterical and I 1 was cold with fear the snakes were closing in on us in another moment they would be crawling into the tent I 1 began to wonder why they had not come in long before something seemed to be holding them back the more pat thought of it the more he was convinced that something was keeping those reptiles out of the tent then it occurred to him that maybe it was the light they were afraid of that gave him an idea lie ile told it to bob and immediately they began piling the blankets the paper they had been writing on everything inflammable along the sides and around the front and back ends of their shelter ordeal by fire drives away the slimy invaders when that was done pat picked up the candle and prayed that his scheme would bould work lie he held the candle to the top of the tent the canvas began to blaze in ten seconds the tent their blankets everything they owned was going up in a merry blaze we huddled in the center of the tent says pat while fire burned all around us and over our heads in no time at all the tent fell in ashes but the blankets continued to burn forming a ring of flame that I 1 had hoped would keep the snakes at bay that ring of flame even necessary for at the first sign of fire the snakes fled tats puts hunh had been right tile the light was what the snakes were afraid of ue ile and bob never got to the sm smelling smelting elting works they ere headed for they turned right around and went hack back to tile the blight lights of sydney they had had enough of the bush and of if car barring carri rIng ln their swag 0 service |
