leaned so far backward that his legs were inclined at a sharp angle.
His feet sank slowly and he yielded a short, reluctant step. Then he
paused and putting forth his great strength gradually moved the hoofs,
one after the other, backward. He strove mightily to continue his
retreat, but the uplifted fore foot was instantly jammed down again,
and the utmost he could do was to hold his own.

The black thing which had flashed out from the mud a few paces away
was the head of a gigantic anaconda that had hidden itself in the
slime and was waiting for cow or bull to come within reach. The
instant the king of the herd did so, the head shot from its
concealment and the teeth were snapped together in the cartilage of
the animal's nose. Then the serpent began drawing its victim forward
with terrific power. The bull knew his peril and resisted to the last
ounce of his strength.

But the reptile was a fool. Had it voluntarily freed itself, or
allowed the bull to get clear of the enveloping mushy earth, it could
have whirled its entire length around the quadruped and mashed it to
pulp. But the Atlamalcan tugboat, if tied by a hawser to the reptile
could not have drawn it forth, for it will allow itself to be pulled
asunder before yielding. Nor can any conceivable power induce the
serpent to let go, its unshakable resolve being to draw its prey
within its folds, instead of meeting its victim.

It was a veritable tug of war, and the sympathies of Major Starland
were wholly on the side of the bull. Slipping a bit of rope over the
tiller to hold it in place, he knelt on one knee and sighted with the
utmost care. The six or eight feet of the reptile which was clear of
the mud had been stretched to nearly double its natural length by the
furious pulling of the bull, and was as tense as a violin string and
so attenuated as to be hardly one-half its ordinary diameter. The
American aimed at a point just back of the head and the bullet sped
true. Perhaps, as is sometimes the case, the serpent's body would have
yielded in the end, but the missile expedited matters. It snapped
apart, the bull with another bellow whirled about and galloped up the
bank and away, with the appendage dangling and flapping from his nose,
there to hang until it sloughed off.

The report of the rifle awakened Captain Guzman, who sat up, but did
not understand all that had taken place until it was explained to him.
Then the two partook of the lunch they had brough