Show tad adventurers CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE OF PEOPLE LIKE A river of death H HELLO ELLO EVERYBODY heres a yarn of two men who followed a dog almost cosito to their doom one of these mencas men was fred rowan of pelham N Y the other was his friend and hunting com companion bat fred was working down in costa rica in 1922 as overseer of a banana farm bat was another young american who also alio worked hii on the plantation tion on new years morning in the pair of them started out on a hunting trip taking eng g bats dog and that mutt led them into the worst spot either of them had ever been in in their lives ti the dog fred says was a brainless animal untrained and more trouble than he was worth on a hunting trip they had crossed a bridge over a river struck into the tropical jungle along a well known trail and had been hunting for an hour when the dog ran off into the underbrush and a few moments later set up a terrific yelping tat bat yelled come on the pigs have himl him and the two men were off the trall trail crashing through matted brush to save the dog from the wild ivald pigs of the region which would tear him to pieces in no time they plunged into low swampy land and found the dog to freds disgust there were no pigs the cause of at all the commotion was a little moth eaten swamp squirrel rain drives them toward higher ground at that moment it started raining as only it can ram rain in the tropics hastily the two men started back in what they thought was the direction of higher ground but says fred we see more than SO 30 feet ahead through the dense vegetation and soon we were hopelessly muddled all day long iong we tried this direction and that but to no avail let he be covered the crossing with a big automatic rifle stumbling over vines and roots we floundered helplessly in that tropic swamp late to in the afternoon we came out on a bit of solid gro ground und beside the river we tried to head upstream but ran into another swamp we made our way back to the high ground and all night we huddled there cold and wet with the rain dinning in our ears dawn found us wretched with hunger and thirst for with all the water aro around u n d us none of it was sate safe to drink across the river we could see dav waving 1 ng banana banana leaves over there would be trails and a trolley line leading to the railroad if we could only get across but to get cross across that river meant Gw swimming ImmIng and the river was full fall of ot alligators on the other hand it would be almost as bad to go back into the jungle in front of freds eyes was a picture of a native he had found a month before ile he had been lost for 13 days and when fred found him he had gone into his last sleep sleeda shrunken body covered with torn and festered skin even alligators would be ba better than that it was bat wh who decided fred bat was just over an attack of 0 fever and he was the weaker of the two stay here and rot it if you want to he croaked im going across the river fred felt the same way about it he told bat to go ahead that hed stay on the bank with a rifle androver and cover his crossing with his big automatic rifle carrying the I 1 lighter I 1 eghte rifle a 22 bat called his dog and plunged into the water he made steady progress and no alligators showed their noses above the surface of the stream gutfred but fred was relieved when at last h he e climbed up on the other bank bat motioned to me to come along says fred and with a sick feeling I 1 made a few simple preparations my rifle was much to too 0 heavy and awkward to hold so I 1 unlaced my belt half way threaded it the trigger guard and re fastened ned it around my waist this permitted the barrel to swing between my legs and gave me freedom to kick As I 1 entered the water it occurred to me that bat was covering my approach with a 22 full of water A 22 even dent an alligators tough hide but by then I 1 was out in the current and swimming fred swam steadily he was making it and then when he was a scant 15 feet from shore something struck him a terrific blow in the small of the back at that moment fred had visions of a big scaly snout poking at him before making the final grab an n alligator panto panic seized him he threw up op his hands and screamed sere a ined oh my godt god and as he did so he got a glimpse of bats face above him and horror was written all over it he crawled ashore and fell face down 1 I thrashed madly in the water be says and as I 1 did so I 1 felt bottom with my knees I 1 crawled ashore and flopped face do down wn on the ground gagging and retching with nausea I 1 lay there for a while and then bat helped me to my feet and steadied me while I 1 took the rifle off my belt As they started to walk away neither man spoke nothing wu was said about freds terrifying experience darkness had bad fallen again when after much stumbling they came to the trolley line that led to the railroad just before midnight they came in sight or of the winking lights of their plantation camp they took some whisky and a stiff dose of quinine apiece and went to bed the next morning fred got up and began taking got the surprise of his life when he came to examine his rifle he found that the barrel was split pill from the muzzle almost up to the stock then he be asked bt a few questions they spoken 0 of f that swim across the river before and found out au all about that alligator that had bad given him such a scare the evening before that alligator just exist it was the gun that had given him that poke the motion of swimming fred says had pushed ur tho catch off safety and the drag against the belt had bad pulled the trigger the cartridge exploding under water created a terrific recoil which drove the stock of the gun into the small of my back bat had bad seen what took place and thought from my cries that I 1 had bad been shot hence the expression of horror on his face and I 1 of course thought it was be because 1 cause something had bad attacked me my mind had bad been too dazed to realize th the e folly of swimming with a loaded gun and another folly fred says hell never repeat is going to the 0 of a half witted dog copyright service |