Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1861-04-05
An Adventure with Ra,,le.nake,.

An Adventure with Rattle,nakes.
4 writer in The Boston Courier. several
years asn. communicated the following sin.
:ulir adventure. which would interest tho
author Of E'ns H,lasr:
noticed u j" sketch " in 'hc Courier. q
few days ago, entitled " raugk.nnge Noun.
tain" that called TO my mind an incident
tha, occurred 10 mo on those mountains.
some tsen'y Eve or thirty year. ago. I
was a, that time a resident a, Sheffield 1,
the time u which refer formed one Of
party ofyoung men who made an EXCURSION
u the summit OF those mountain. 90 hunt
partridge. g.. There are. or wrre at ,hi,
time. pl,cs. there - infested with rattle
snakes. that It wa' dangerous to approach
them. IT, avoid ,hss' nbJic.. W. relied IN
tho ncluainhnc~ Of one ot our party with
their lor,ll,y. Af,er chasing over the hall.
for siK or cish, hour'. we wer tired enough
rp think of our homes. We sero proceed.
along in an " Indian dle," through drdle
.lme tour od. wide. one sid, Of wLicn was
q mountain: the other some forty feet high.
composed of looss leIse- that were over.
grown with Uie.. when sharp rattle ~.
beard that s,nta chill % our hearts. The
hremo', Of our line 'aw the reptile jus,
ahead Of him. and withou, thought raised
hi. gun and fired ~ the repor, Of the
gun echoed along the crass most hilcuu'
rl,tlins and hi,sing arose on all sides.
We we're in The miis, Of " den" Each
rock and bush seemed populou. with rattle
snakes. and wo could sec thcn descending
from The higher crass. We .,ond .,ill, no.
knowing what u do. T. 90 back would bs
as dangerous a. 10 advance, and 70 remain
where We were a' perlou' a. titber. for SET.
eral were moving in the bushcs near ".
The slightest touch u ~ fan; was certain
death as We were top far irom any hab,n.
ton TO enable u- TO reach It bciurr the ,ir0-
wouli have taken elect. We iclrei % .tir
let We should attract their attention spJn.
cr than II We remained quiet, What pas.
ei in the midst Of my comPanion'i | knew
not, bu, remember my own thought. were
Of no very agreeable mature.
At thi. juncturc one of us perceived a
large lat rock. some thrr, rods from Us, and
proposed in whisper thi, We should make
Tor il. Having asecr,alned ,ha, none oi
our a..lian,s were between Ne and It, We
made rush ior IL. and gained Il un'c,thel.
Our last movements not6si our creeping
f,e. Of our whereabouts. a. well as 10 irri
tate them more, and they made for our p.
stiUn.
Oar weapons OF defence were four guns.
two pistols and an axe. We were then -
situated a. to be a5ls To defend oursclve. ia
some MEASURE. We cut courle OF very
slender .prou,. tha, grew Gloss by the rick.
stationed ourselves in the centre, and as the
snakes same on the edge OF our citadel. we
killed them. Only five OF six made the a..
tempt. and We pitched their mangled car.
cases back TO their comrades !: wa. eS'.
den, ,ha, 50 long as We remained on the
rock We were safe but how to escape WAS
more than We could predict. II we could
have kil!ed all the reptiles on ono side with
our guns and cudsels, We should have en-
countered more scaling the ledge.
We remained quietly on the rock. and
in a short time. the rattlesnase' ceased th'ir
attacks, but on making any movement, they
commenced their kissing again. The snakes
emi, a dl-agrceable odor when Disturbed
aud the air WIS flied with IL. Wshad no.
tice4 tall tree growing close by U.s. and
ono Of our parry proposed to cut IT. 80 as TO
fall again,, the TOP OF the led:e, and thereby
form. II 1, did MT Lreak. way by which
We might eI,ricaie ourselves. We instantly
commenced eating 1t, keeping sharp look
ou, on the spotted rascals. Who were ioubly
cnrased at the resounting blows.
The tree fell, with ia top against the
summit Of the ledge, and we ascended IL
trunk and escaped. Before we left we just
took farewell glance at our bafiisd bel's'
erents, who had then taken possession OF
our rock. and were engaged in snapP'ps
handkerchief dropped BY one Of vs.. w
formei . line, and shot ut them. and 'het
lOft.