Show thoyd J adventurers CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES 0 OF F PEOPLE LUE LIKE YOU terror in a tent H HELLO ELLO EVERYBODY you know theres always a lot of hard luck on camping trips somebody is sure to get sunburned and somebody 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 the food and just when youre comfortably settled and getting along fine farmer J jones ones 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 pals even got started syd lives in ila brooklyn N Y it was in the summer of 1935 that he and half a dozen other lads began planning that camping trip they had picked a spot upstate in the neighborhood of poughkeepsie and were all ready to go then two days before they were due to leave there was a terrific rainstorm in new york and after inquiring abou the weather they learned that it was the same upstate the gang decided to go anyway at least some of them did when the day of the big trip rolled around one follow fellow had bad the mumps another was laid up with an infected foot and two other fellows had mothers who said they go camping in such weather because catch their death of pneumonia sleeping on damp ground the trouble had started early but it was nothing to what syd was to get into before that trip was many days older the hikers find a camping site there were only two brothers and myself left says syd but bt we went anyway 11 the brothers were harold and jerry left deff the three of them took a boat to bear mountain and then started to like hike with two tents and blankets and equipment oi n their backs after a day on an the road read and syd say whether they walked or thumbed rides they reached the spot they had chosen and picked a camping site the ground was wet and the earth was loose they had a little trouble putting up their two small tents but finally everything was 4 V finally he had a horrible dream shipshape they got a fire going cooked a meal and when they had bad eaten it they were ready to turn in jerry and harold occupied one tent and syd slept alone in the other syd dropped off to sleep but he sleep very well finally he had a horrible dream a dream that something cold and slimy was crawling over his arm the dream woke him up and as he ha came r slowly lowly to his senses sensed he be realized that that dream was a cold hard reality something cold and slimy was resting against his bis arm in an instant syd was wide awake A full moon was shining and its bright light streamed in through the open flap of the pup tent in that light syd saw something that made his blood run cold his bis arm was lying outside the blanket and a snake had bad crawled up and nestled against it and syd recognized that snake tor for a poisonous copperhead frozen with fear he cannot move says he my first impulse was to jump up and scream but bat I 1 have moved to save my life I 1 was frozen stiff with fear the moon bathed the head of the snake with light and as I 1 lay there stiff and trembling it crawled up to my shoulder A cold sweat broke out on my forehead now I 1 began to realize that I 1 dare move even it if I 1 could one move would cause the reptile to strike but it seemed to syd that he could hardly keep himself from moving somehow he managed to lie there stiff and still the hours rolled on syd know how many of them went by each minute seemed like a year and each second was like a week of torture 1 I wanted to scream he says 1 I felt as if I 1 could control myself no longer at last the sky began getting gray and off in the distance dis taace I 1 could hear some farmers rooster crowing then again the snake shifted its position this time it came to rest with its head bead across my gullet now syd was afraid to swallow for tear fear of disturbing the snake he felt his spine begin to criep creep and his hair felt as if it were standing up on an his head it was getting lighter now and syd was able to distinguish h objects around him that he had lost sight of when the e moon went down still it was a long time before dawn and his only hope was to lie ile still until his pals awoke the snakes smelled of rotten cucumbers he be could see the snake clearly now and then hen out of ef the corner of his eye he be saw another and another there were a bunch of them hem in the tent and two of thim hem were over four feet long 1 I see the others very clearly early tl he says for I 1 dare turn my head bead and it strained my eyes to look at them from my position I 1 was beginning to shiver my muscles were cramped and saliva dripped from my mouth the snakes am smelled belled of rotten cucumbers and the odor sickened me but the sun was coming up and I 1 could hear bear movements ments in the other tent that moZ renewed my courage N harold and jerry were up A couple of times they walked past sods tent but they look in then jerry glanced through the open flap and his eyes froze on the terrifying sight syd says he owes his life to those two brothers he thought jerry was going to scream but he be he remained cool mid and so did harold the pair of them stole stol up behind syd sods s tent gathered some damp hay from a field and set it afire huge billows of smoke poured through the tent 1 I began choking says syd but so did the snakes they moved and I 1 lay back and breathed a sigh of relief after a few min minutes utes I 1 went outside picked a spot in the sun and dozed off it was seven hours before I 1 woke up again and if you want to know what a nightmare is like just ask me ive had dozens of them since that night copyright service |