The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1883-11-16

| OH ~ WoS III tu0
Turn to the left a little more. There
it is! Thirty feet from the sleeping
man rattlesnake rcars its head above
| the grass and looks around. It's eyes
CLEAN like stars. The neck swells. the
tongue flashes in and out and it coils
and uncoils itself as if in fierce combat.
Now it is Advantageous it swerves to
the right---now to the left-now it halts
and coils itself to strike. 1t might creep
up and bury its fangs in the flesh Of
the sleeping man. and it will! 1t creeps
again. 1t glides through the grass like
gleam--nOw 10 the right-now to the
left-now straight ahead.
'S-s-s-h!'
The serpent halts. Twenty feet more
| ami 1t could have struck the sleeper.
but some movement of his has alarmed
1t, and it glides away for fifty feet, as
fast as a shadow travels.
Now look beyong the snakep Is it q
second serpent wOrming its way over
the ground to surround the sleeper with
peril? Is it wolf or panther creeping
forward to make victims? Now, you
can sec more clearly. There is the
scalp-lock and feathers-the dark face
the cleaning eyes-the shut teeth and
bronZed throat Of B.ackfoot warrior.
A courier from one branch of his tribe
to another; he has discovered the en-
campment, circled around it twice, and
is now creeping upon the man, who
sleeps instead Of watches.
How softly he moves! A panther
stealing upon listening doe would not
exercise more care. Almost inch by
inch, and yet he is slowly approaching.
He was hundred feet away. Now he
is ninety-eighty-seventy-sixty! He
can see dark mass ut the foot of the
tree. and he knows that the sentinel
must be asleep or he would not be in
that position.
See the rat,lesnake! It has faced
about. If il was daylight you could see
fiercer gieam in It's eye-a tightening
Of the cords and muscles--a fiercer
flash of The red tongue. A straight line
of sixty feet drawn from the Indian to
the tree would pass over the snake.
Now the warrior crecps forward again
not weed breaking-nOt a rustic to
prove his presence. Two feet-four-
six! See the snake! Its head is
thrown back-its eyes shoot sparks
there goes the deadly z-z-z-z-z of his
rattle. The head of the Indian is not
three feet away rs he hears the ominous
sound. He draws back. but there il q
dart. a flash. and something strikes him
full in the face aud is not shaken of
until he springs to his feet with a cry
heard for a half mile around and
rushes away in the darkness.
What was it? The sentinel is wide
awake and upon his feet Wife and
children have been startled from slum-
Der to grow whitefaced and tremble.
Even the horses have raised their heads
and are peering into the night. There
was a single cry-the wild scream of q
human being suddenly terrified.
at was nothing-nothing but the
howl of wolf!' whispers the sentinel,
as he walks over to comfort wife and
children; and by and by all is quiet and
peaceful as before. The night grows
apace-the stars fade-daylight breaks.
AS the sun comes up the wagon moves
on its way and the brook and the camp
and the cotton wood are left behind.
"Yes. it was the howl of some wolf
prowling about" whispers the emigrant
to himself as he walks beside his wagon
and cautiously scans the prairie.
Three hundred feet to the left is coiled
snake, which darts its venomous
tongue at the rolling wagon. Half a
mile beyond lies the dead body of the
Blackfoot-swollen. distorted-a horri-
BILE sight under the light of the morn
ing sun. Overhead circle three or four
vultures of the prairie, and creeping
through the grass come the lank hum
CRY wolves to the feast. The wife laughs
the children frolic. the husband regains
mis- light heart. Night wrote. the record
of the serpents in the grass, and he will
err read it. ,,...