Presently I saw in the
direction we were going a huge serpent, thick as a man's thigh, its
head lifted high above the grass, and motionless as a serpent of stone.
Its cavernous, blood-red mouth was gaping wide, and its eyes were fixed
on the struggling fox. When about twenty yards from the serpent the
fox began moving very rapidly over the ground, its struggles growing
feebler every moment, until it seemed to fly through the air, and in
an instant was in the serpent's mouth. Then the reptile dropped its
head and began slowly swallowing its prey."
"And you actually witnessed this yourself?" said I.
"With these eyes," he returned, indicating the orbs in question by
pointing at them with the tube of the _mate_-cup he held in his
hand. "This was the only occasion on which I have actually seen the
lampalagua take its prey, but its manner of doing it is well known to
everyone from hearsay. You see, it draws an animal towards it by means
of its power of suction. Sometimes, when the animal attacked is very
strong or very far off--say two thousand yards--the serpent becomes
so inflated with the quantity of air inhaled while drawing the victim
towards it----"
"That it bursts?" I suggested.
"That it is obliged to stop drawing to blow the wind out. When this
happens, the animal, finding itself released from the drawing force,
instantly sets off at full speed.
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