The Fight

with the Suapping Curtle:

or, the American St. George.

FYTTE FIRST.

HAVE you heard of Philip Slingsby,
Slingsby of the manly chest ;

How he slew the Snapping Turtle
In the regions of the West?

Every day the huge Cawana

Lifted up its monstrous jaws;

And it swallowd Langton Bennett,

And digested Rufus Dawes.

Riled, I ween, was Philip Slingsby,
Their untimely deaths to hear;
For one author owed him money,
And the other loved him dear.

"Listen, now, sagacious Tyler,
Whom the loafers all obey;
What reward will Congress give me,
If I take this pest away?”

Then sagacious Tyler answered,

"You're the ring-tailed squealer! Less

Than a hundred heavy dollars

Won't be offered you, I guess!

"And a lot of wooden nutmeg's

In the bargain, too, we'll throw—

Only you jest fix the criter—

Won't you liquor, ere you go?"

Straightway leaped the valiant Slingsby
Into armour of Seville,
With a strong Arkansas took-pick
Screwed in every joint of steel.

"Come thou with me, Cullen Bryant,

Come with me as squire, I pray ;

Be the Homer of the battle,

That I go to wage to-day."

So they went along careering

With a loud and martial tramp, Till they neared the Snapping Turtle In the dreary Swindle Swamp.

But when Slingsby saw the water,
Somewhat pale, I ween, was he.
"If I come not back, dear Bryant,
Tell the tale to Melanie!

"Tell her that I died devoted,
Victim to a noble task!
Ha'n't you got a drop of brandy
In the bottom of your flask?"

As he spoke, an allegator

Swan across the sullen creek;

And the two Columbians started,

When they heard the monster shriek :

For a snout of huge dimensions

Rose above the waters high,

And took down the alligator,

As a trout takes down a fly.

""Tarnal death! the Snapping Turtle!"
Thus the squire in terror cried;
But the noble Slingsby straightway
Drew the tooth-pick from his side.

"Fare thee well!" he cried, and dashing Through the waters strongly swam : Meanwhile, Cullen Bryant, watching, Breathed a prayer and sucked a dram.

Sudden from the slimy bottom

Was the snout again upreared, With a snap as loud as thunder,— And the Slingsby disappeared.

Like a mighty steam-ship foundering,
Down the monstrous vision sank;

And the ripple, slowly rolling,

Plashed and played upon the ba nk.

Still and stiller grew the water,

Hushed the canes within the brake;

There was but a kind of coughing
At the bottom of the lake.

Bryant wept as loud and deeply
As a father for a son-
"He's a finished 'coon, is Slingsby,

And the brandy's nearly done! "

FYTTE SECOND.

In a trance of sickenning anguish,
Cold, and stiff, and sore, and damp,
For two days did Bryant linger

By the dreary Swindle Swamp;

Always peering at the water,
Always waiting for the hour,
When those monstrous jaws should open

As he saw them ope before.

Still in vain ;-the alligators

Scrambled through the marshy brake,

And the vampire leeches gaily

Sucked the garfish in the lake.

But the Snapping Turtle never
Rose for food, or rose for rest,

Since he lodged the steel deposit
In the bottom of his chest.

Only always from the bottom

Violent sounds of coughing rolled,

Just as if the huge Cawana

Had a most confounded cold.