Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1881-06-08
A Rattiesnake's Spring.

ever in your life see anything more beauti-
1ul than that 2" and he pointed to the bill
lowy range of Blue Ridge Mountains,
whose tops were losing themselves In the
soft, misty hue of twilight 81 tell you, "
he continued, ''there are no more beautiful
mountains in this country than these Viz
ginia peaks. There is only one thing l
have got against them-they are just jam
full OF snakes"
$50 have heard, but IT has never been
MY fortune TO meet with any face to face "
you can thank your lucky stars, then, "
SAID the man, who was drummer for 8
Baltimore firm Il met one face TO face
in the most unpleasant manner recently. L
had occasion to take quite trip on horse
back-you know everybody rides horse
back in these parts-and, after Iottlng
along for two or three hours, / struck up
into the mountain. The sun was slowly
sinking. casting its beautiful lights and
shades, with all their delicate witchery,
over the surrounding landscape 1t was
beautiful, and gazed, enchanted, upon a
scene which | cannot describe. Arousing
myself from my reverie, | was warned by
the deepening shadows 10 hasten on. /
had chosen path which little more than
bride path, and al each step the way was
becoming more rough and rugged. Over
broken rocks and fallen trees L pursued
my way with great difficulty. As the
shadows deepened and objects became less
discernable my horse began to manifest
unn istakable signs Of fear and uneasiness,
shying at times so violently as to almost
throw me from the saddle.
cat last, TO my great satisfaction, dis
tIngui.hed the sounds Of human voices.
Pushing on in the direction from which
they proceeded l came upon a group of men
standing in front Of rude log cabin. They
were rough mountaineers, and made hy-
ing by distilling whisky. Riding up IN
quired the distance to my place of destlna-
ton. 1t was several miles further on. i
was not acquainted with the way. II
would have been dangerous for me to have
kept on, and asked if could be accom-
modated for the night. ''Get down, stranger;
get down." was the ready response. we
haven't much il this wild country, but
what we have Is at your service
Il was pretty stiff after my long ride,
and gladly dismOunted. As jumped from
my horse saw upon the ground at their
feet what, upon examination, proved to
be large snake. 1t was mOccasin, six
fee. long, and al ugly-lOoking customer.
Ny exclamation of alarm drew from one OF
the men the remark that the snake had
been dispatched but few moments before
nv arrival. we have had a pretty hard
lob OF it, he said, 'but we fixed him at last.
We don't care much for them, but the fact
is, when we do spot big snake close by
we don't choose 10 have him loating about
the place too Familiarity, you know, for he
might snap up some one Of us when we are
not thinking of ii, so We settled him at
once
How 90 you do il = | asked.
"WeIl, when he is fine old rattler we
try to secure him without bTe king his
hide. We draw his attention by putting
something on the end of pole on which IS
also a snare, and when the old fellow pops
up his head from behind the log We just
drop the snare over him and one OF US
runs up, catches him by the neck and puts
a spike through his head. That Is, when
we catch them to stuff for your museums.
O. there are lots of them about here, lots OF
them. We have several fine old fellows
on hand row.
Il listened in silence. Not very ill.,
yiting prospect for q nights lodging,
thought, as | stood debating in my mind
the ACCESSIBILITY of moving on III spite of
darkness and rough roads. a summons
from the cabin to supper decided me, how
asr l,al oil
a keen appetizer and | thoroughly enjoyed
the plain but substantial meal of cOrn-bread
and bacon. Supper over, we repaired
again to the front Of the ca5in.A feeling of
exhilaration came over me-a feeling which
q man can only experience By going into
the very heart OF the mountain. The moon
had risen and around and above me the
trees nodded in flood of silver light.
Picturesque and beautiful beyond descrip-
ton was the scene, banishing from my
mind all dlsagreeable and unpleasant
thoughts. Each rock, crag and bush
seemed under the mystical light to become
,ransformed into some, h ng lovely and
fairy-like.
"But ever the loveliness of the night
could not dIspel the WEAKNESS which was
gradually stealing over me nor tempt me
longer TO remain, so accompanied by my
host was shown my quarters. 1t was a
little, low room, seeming to be off from the
main building. Through the chinks in the
logs came the moonlight in little patches.
The window, a small poIt-hoie concern, |
was built right up against the mountain |
and beneath it huge clumps of rock and |
As stood in the dismal, |
comfortless room | confess to feeling of
great nervousness. did not like the looks |
of things at all. Back TO my mind flashed 4
the stories of the evening. | was conscious |
for the first time in my life of being actu- |
ally afraid. l set about my preparations
for the night with as good stock Of cour-
age as | could summon to my aid, making
A careful survey of the room and filling up
be chinks as best as could. Hardly had
finished ere my candle tiickered, sputter-
ed spitefully and went out. | sought my
straw bed, placed my revolver under my
coat and settled myself to try and sleep.
But sleep l could not.
"After passing what seemed hours of
extreme WEAKNESS and low
# last into restless, uneasy slumber, IN
which nv dreams were filed with fright
ul visions. From one more horrible than
III the rest awokc with start. From
he foot of the bed came a harsh. grating
.ound. What could it be- J tried to as
ure myself that the sound held no signifi-
;ance tor me. but instinctively l felt
lorrible sensation of something near
dangerously near. 1 raised myself up, only
10 sink back with low cry of horror. The
streaming into my window, re-
realed TO me my situation. There, at the
tide of the bed, slowly coillng itself for
pring, was huge snake. l quickly felt
or my revolver. 1t was gone. The agony
t the moment was beyond all words. |
ried to jump to my feet. At that mo-
nent the snake sprang toward me, just
-razing my shoulder and falling with a
eavy thud on the other side of me. With
me bound / reached the door, and with a
Wild CRY Of alarrRaroused the inmates Al
most instantly all hands were on the spot.
They found his snakeship just retiring
Trough one of the holes between the logs