University High School - Cub Yearbook (Oakland, CA)

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shipped me out, and that was the last they ever saw of me. Lord knows there was nothing to it but graft. The consul needed a secretary like he needed an overcoat-might come in handy somewhere, but not in that climate. He had nothing to do, he wasn't in 142 his office six months in the five years that I was there. He used to go big-game hunting up coun- try half the time. g'YVe was a gay crew. There was a good many British officials of one sort or another with their wives, sisters, and daughters, and there was missionaries too, but they wouldnit have nothing to do with us, said we was all headed straight to perdition. VVe was al- ways having dances, and that sort of thing,--I guess they was afraid of getting home-sick if they didn't raise Cain continuous. There was ust one thing that 1 couldnit abide. That was snakes. I never got used to them like the -rest of them did. I'd always be just as scared, even of the harmless ones. There was one girl in par- ticular that used to make pets of them. Her name was Edith Par- ker, and shortly after I got there, she took up a regular monster, a young boa-constrictor, - raised him out of the egg. She called him Tom, and she used to wear him around l1er neck like a sca1'f until he got too big to handle. She was real fond of Tom, and he was of her, but finally he got too big and heavy, and she had to let him go. For a long time, weld hear stories: about this big snake that would come into the houses and scare the natives. After a while they stop- ped, and we figured that Tom was either dead, or had migrated. The natives worked up some myth about him, and he got quite a repu- tation as a local deity. But we was to meet him again. One time we all went hunting up in the hills after birds and possibly a pig or two, and lNIiss Parker and I got separated from the rest. There wasn't any use trying to find the bunch in that jungle, and we kI1CVV that they'd find us if we didnit wander away, what with their native trackers and all, so we got down off' our horses and sat under a big tree to wait until our party should find us. 'cSuddenly there bl11'St through the bushes tl1e biggest wild boar 33

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TI-IE BATTERED HAT By Richard Gettell E YVAS probably the of all the p znh indleis in a city where meg ging is a profession, and the art of make-up a science. It was his hat which attracted me first, an old black derby, spotted artistically. It was battered and torn, but it hung just the least bit to one side and seemed to defy the whole world in a most jaunty and fetch- ing manner. As I came opposite him, I slowed down to better ob- serve his unique head-covering, and when he noticed that I was looking at him, instantly came the well known whine of the street bum. Please, mister, can you spare a few pennies to a man what ain't et in days? It was late evening, n1y work for the day was done, and so, re- membering Van Bibber, I said, 5 Emost wretched looking .f .Q - mostly on impulse, If you know a good place to eat, letls go. He accepted with an alacrity that soothed some of my doubts, and led the way to a little one-arm lunch, where he dof fed his remark- able hat and proceeded to wrap himself around a supper that un- doubtedly would have fed three starving Armenians. Wfhen fin- ally he laid down his instruments, I gave him a cigarette and encour- aged him to talk. And there in that little white-tiled restaurant, with our C31'S filled with the rat- tling of dishes, he told me this tale. Alt was 'way back in the time when a man could get a hand-out at a back door without getting run in. I was no bum like I am now. I was a young fellow then, and handsome and full of devilment. The family thought I was a bad egg,-guess I was, and finally my uncle had a pull with somebody else, and he got me a job as some sort of secretary to the American Consul at Bombay. Probably the family thought I couldn't disgrace 'em 'way out there. Anyway, they 32

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that I ever hope to see. He must have weighed a half a ton or more, and his tusks were long and gleam- ing, and he had a. wicked eye that shone balefully in the jungle sha- dows. Of course, our horses bolt- ed at once, with our guns in the saddle holsters. I didn't waste any time staring, but got lNIiss Parker and myself up into the tree as soon as possible. Then the old snorter parked himself at the foot of the tree and glared at us. There was nothing we could do but wait until somebody came along and chased the brute, so con- sequently we settled ourselves for a long wait, while the old boy down below us settled himself, and pro- ceeded to go to sleep. With the intention of making ourselves more comfortable, I moved up higher, and grasped a thick, gnarled branch above my head. I nearly fell out of the tree, for the branch was cold and clammy, and moved under my hand. Slowly it uncoiled, and re- vealed itself as a boa-constrictor of magnificent proportions. I gave a yell, and prepared to throw my- self out of the tree and take my chances with the boar, for an adult boa is an ugly customer to stick around with. I was stopped by an answering cry from lNIiss Parker, and by the time I had recovered my balance and looked around, here she was talking to the brute, and it was resting its head on her shoulder as if it were glad to see her. Yes, it was Tom, right enough. Personally, I shouldn't have recognized him, but then he wasn't my pet. Bliss Parker was talking to the reptile, and pointing to the snort- 34 ing beast below. I canlt p1'etend to say whether the brute understood her, or whether, freshly awakened, he saw breakfast waiting for him, and acted accordingly. The girl always claimed he understood her. However that may be, Tom un- wound himself some more, and dropped a couple of coils around the boa1'. Then began a mighty battle. The pig, uttering piercing cries with a horrible human note in them, fought and thrashed in a vain en- deavor to free himself from those dreadful coils. It was horrible to watch, and Edith leaned trembling against me, her eyes closed, and scarcely breathing. I put my arm around her protectingly, but I could not take my eyes from the struggle below. For some time they fought, the frantic efforts of the boar preventing the snake from getting his deadly grip. Fin- ally Tom anchored himself with a couple of turns around the base of the tree, and then, slowly, inex- orably, the huge coils began to con- t1'act. The boar, feeling it, re- doubled his struggling, and his shreiks became continuous and soul-rending. As I watched, I could see that they were coming near to the edge of the gorge, where a little river flowed. Tight- er and tighter grew the pitiless coils, weaker and weaker grew the boar,s efforts, but nearer and nearer they came to the brink of the precipice. At last, about a yard from the edge, the boarls struggles ceased, and there was a hideous sound of crunching bones. HThen, crash! The edge of the gorge caved in, and victor and vanquished disappeared over the