Chapter 14 Farewell to a Friend.
Why don't we build a basket chair for Mother to ride in, asked Fritz.
Yes, said Ernest.
We can make it and then pull it on the bull and the buffalo.
Soon enough.
The boys had hung a large basket between Storm and Grumble, and Fritz and Jack hopped up onto one animal each.
Then Ernest got in the basket to test it out.
They walked along slowly, and it seemed to work wonderfully.
It's great and smooth, said Ernest.
Fritz, go faster.
Soon.
The animals were racing along, and Ernest was being bounced all over, as his brothers laughed and laughed.
But our fun was to be short-lived.
That day, as we were sitting on the porch of the cave, Fritz suddenly yelled, looking up the road.
I can see something strange and terrible.
It rises up and then goes flat like a cable.
It slinks on huge coils and it's coming for the bridge.
I jumped up and looked through my telescope.
It is as I feared, I cried.
It's a giant snake of some kind, and it's coming this way.
Let's attack it, yelled Fritz.
If we do, it will only come after us here in our home, I answered.
We must find a way to fight it away from here.
Go and get the guns, and we'll all hide and watch it.
I watched the serpent come closer and sure enough, it crossed the bridge, lifting up its massive head almost twenty feet in the air.
It was out hunting prey.
We hid as it crossed the bridge, and—
Got ready for it, our guns loaded and our hearts thumping.
As it came closer, it stopped, as if it had smelled us.
It lifted itself up, moving its head from side to side.
The boys couldn't resist an open fire.
Even my wife shot at the beast, but the shots had no effect.
It simply glided by our cave and into the marsh.
We were free for the moment, but we were all very worried.
Boy, I said, that was a boa constrictor, and I believe it is more than 30 feet long.
I told the family that no one was allowed to leave the house until we had killed the monster.
We knew it was nearby, as we could hear our ducks and geese reacting in fear near the reeds.
Suddenly, they all flew away and didn't stop until they reached Shark Island.
Until we could draw the snake into an open space away from our home, we were all trapped.
Finally, we were saved by an unexpected hero, our donkey.
As we could not leave the cave to feed the animals, I shooed them out across the bridge to go back to their feeding place.
But the donkey was too excited to be on the loose, and it ran to the marsh.
Suddenly, the boa reared up, its tongue flicking, jaws wide, and lunged on the poor animal.
It was all over quickly.
Father, cried the boys, shoot the snake now.
Not yet, I told them.
Our best chance now is to wait until the snake has eaten its prey and then take it.
We all thought about our own lives in the giant snake so nearby.
My wife and Franz could not watch and went inside.
Soon, the snake lay almost asleep by the side of the river, bloated.
Now was our chance to attack.
We stepped up quietly, sneaking up with our guns drawn.
The snake lay still, its tail twitching, its eyes firing.
We were all scared and excited.
All at once, we fired on the monster's head, and its eyes went dead.
The whole family stood over it, amazed.
Let's stuff it, said Fritz.
We can put it in our museum.
Could we eat it? asked Ernest.
Of course not, said my wife.
Snakes are poisonous.
Not true, I answered.
In fact, people eat rattlesnakes and other snakes after they throw away the fangs.
You can even make soup from them.
But Ernest, I asked can you first think of some words to say for the poor donkey who gave his life for us?
Let me think, said Ernest, and we all waited.
I have it, he said at last, but you can't laugh.
Of course not, I answered, and so he began.
Beneath this stone, poor Grizzle's bones are laid.
A faithful friend he was, and loved by all.
In the end, our call he disobeyed, and that is how he came to fall.
The serpent springing from the grass swallowed him before our eyes and, even though he had to pass, we're grateful that he saved the lives of all the people on this shore father, mother and children four.
We all cheered his poem, and I wrote it down on a flat stone where we would later bury our hero.
After dinner we dragged the snake away and then we skinned, stuffed and sewed it up so the boys could study it.
We set it in the museum with its jaws wide, curled around a pole, making it as scary as we could.
We even made a tongue and a pair of eyes out of shiny beach stones to make it more frightful.
