, 1864-03-05
The Serpent's Den.

The Serpents Den.
In the year 1892, man by the name o.
Job Slocum, together with his family, con.
sisting of wife and two sons, settled in
the northwestern portion of Virginia. His
rough cabin was built upon the banks of q
beautiful and romantic stream, that, after
meandering in the valleys and through the
dense forests, at length emptied its waters
into the Ohio.
One day, in the spring Of 1899, Jobs
two sons, Jesse and Thomas, in company
with several other Of the neighboring set.
tiers, had made up hunting party, in.
tending to be gone some days. They took
up their line Of march into dense piece
Of woods to the nOrthward, and after max.
ing their exit from this, commenced the
ascent Of steep and rocky declivity. They
had reached about halfway up, when all al
once the foremost Of them started back
with surprise and horror, as the well-known
sound Of tho rattlesnake fell upon their
ears. Immediately following the alarm
they behcld numbers Of these venomous
reptiles directly in their path, some Of them
Of huge size, and all having their heads
raised and thrown back in threatening
manner. But the early pioneers were men
not easily frightened by such foe; and
our heroes, after procuring good hickory
cudgels, pressed on to the encounter.
Asthey approached, the eserpents-which,
while the party had been cutting their
slaves, had become passive-again reused
up and assumed the defensive, darting out
their tongues and sounding thoir rattles
iiercely in defiance. The battle now com.
menced in earnest--the snakes striking in
great anger at the men, and thoy in turn
avoiding the danger Of being bitten, and
showering desperate blows upon the rep.
tiles. The latter, after a prolonged and
savage contest, finally fed, or rather re.
treated, down into thc crevice of some
rocks near the brow OF the hill.
The attacking party advanced with great
caution to the opening, expecting to see
the enemy start up and renew the fight.
Hearing no ratio, however, the boldest Of
the men, going down upon their knees,
peered into the fssure but nothing was to
be seen Of the serpents.
On counting the number that had been
killed, the hunters found that there were
between fifty and sixty, some Of them being
nearly five feet in length, and in the largest
part Of the body were as thick as mans
leg below the calf aa ,.
None Of the party having received any
injury, they all proceeded on their way 70
the place where they intended 10 hunt.
After prOlonging the excursion some three
or four days, the company returned in fine
spirits. jesse and Thomas mentioned the
incident Of their encountering the rattle
snakes to their father, who, after question
ing them as TO the natural peculiarities Of
the spot, rcjoined: lm aEsa 1st.
"Well, lads, we will 60 over there to-
morrow, and I'll warrant you, wen have a
fine time Of II. T.HA 10
Accordingly, the next morning, together
with his two sons and several Of his neigh
bors, JOB proceeded to the scene Of the pre-
vious encounter. And there, piled in a
heap, he saw the dead serpents, just as they
had been left by the victors But the most
thorough search Of the locality failed to dis
cover the whereabouts Of single living
one. This very much astonished all pre-
sent, with the exception Of old Job, who,
turning to Jesse, said: ~ roiias '. q.
"Lend me that pole, lad, and I'll see if
I can't find them" ig1 10
Having obtained the instrument referred
to, which was nothing more than a large
and heavy plane iron, lashed 10 the extrem-
ity Of long ashen pole, he proceeded to
the crevice where the reptiles had rctreated
after their previous defeat. Parting some
Of the thick uuderbrush that covered IL
partially over, he thrust his weapon as far
down as practicable, though the Jagged ma
ture Of the sides Of the fssure prevented
him from pushing il further than half the
length Of the pole. %
"There must be some sort Of o hiding
place where the rafting eels have crept into,
and sneaked themselves snug awayp ex-
claimed Job, determinedly and angrily, as
he arose 10 his feet, and drove the keen
edged weapon into the trunk Of an old tree
that had been blown down by the storm.
And as he did 30, sharp rattle was heard
In 0 dense, almost impenetrable thicket,
some ten or twelve feet behind where he
stood. dquui .i .il }ttE a
Look out, lads--there's the ugly var
mints, and we'll have them all around in
the shake Of bucks tail" cried old job
turning in the direction from which the
ominous warning had come. g ais 3
In few moments, by Jobs order, two
sturdy fellows were clearing away the en-
tangled growth Of bushesj and after work
ing hard for half an hour, they succeeded
in solving the mystery, in the discovery Of
the hiding place Of the reptiles. a.!
Il was an irregular cavern, or rather
natural pit, whose sides were almost per-
pendicuiar, and about thirteen or fourteen
feet deep. On the western edge ef this
natural well, a large tree Ind been growing
and had fallen across the top in such man.
ner that, the roots resting on one side and
the branches on the other, it formed com-
plete bridge across. The bottom, of the
pit was literally swarmiug with the loath-
some serpents, which mo sooner perceived
the hunters than they set up a hideous