Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-10-18
A Snake in the Grass.
Detroit Free Press.

z11thIltSS YOU So&AA sc IL oil. 1leTH Is
wagon of lone elnigrant family, its cover
weather-worn and rent to prove that the
journey has been long and weary. Ten feet
away are the eInbers OF the fire on which the
evening meal was cooked. Between the wagon
and the fire is the rude bed Of robes and
blankets on which mother and children are
sleeping. On the other side of the vehicle
stands the horses, Inunching a tie short
sweet grass or listening to the faI-of voice Of
the wolf.
This IS the background. In the foreground
. sentinel sits with his back to the solitary
cottonwood. At his right hand Iun5 little
brook-a5 his left is the bounsless prairie
GER which night has spread her mantle.
Forty feet away are wife AM children trust
ing in his vigilance. Over head gray-white
clouds are driving across the starlight heav-
ems, and the moan of the wind has an uneasy,
nervous sound. Away out on the prairie the
wolf galIops from knoll to knoll and snuffS
the air. and the coyote gnaws at the bleached
bones of the buffalo, and utteTs his short,
sharp cries of hunger.
Is there dangers All day long as the tired
horses pulled the wagon at slow pace, the
emigrant has carefully scanned the circle
about him, but without cause for uneasiness.
He knows be is in the Indian country, and
for the last twenty-f II hours his nerves have
been braced to he = their dreaded war
whoop and to catch sight of a band riding
down upon him.
1t is midnight as =. fnd'him. His ear has
been as keen as fc4'S and his eye has not
rested for a moment. The stakes are human
ives-2is life with the rest. The odds are
ten to he against him.
''Ah! f we were back to the old home in
al y .,-ry. H. LII o.
hidden away among tae chevy and pear
trees! There is the highway lined with
dusty May weeds ialf mile beyond is the
quaint little school-house, where the chill
dren learned their A, B. c. Half mile
above is the bridge across the
The sentinel rouses up and ruos his eyes.
1t was the creek talking to him. As he lis
tened so its monotonous babble it suddenly
began to converse in plain tongue. For
moment he is thrilled and alarmed. He looks
keenly about and listens with hated breath
There are the same sounds-tna .aunching of
the hOr5es-the babbling of the brook-now
and then half groan from one of the chill
dren sleeping an uneasy sleep. And
now tie brook talks again.
There was tie big brown barn fuu sof
sweet-smelling hay--ohe pasture lot with its
cows-the pond in which .he bare legged
children used to wala-the orchard with its
burden OF fruit. Don't you remember how
you used to sit on the stoop at evening-ti1ne
and smoke your pire and watch the children
at play on the grass! How peacef L every
thing was! There was a drowsJ feeling in
the summer air-the lazy hum Of Insects
the low songs Of the good wife as she rocked
baby to sleep-why, you sometimes fell
asleep and let your PIPE drop from -
The brook baJbi , and the man slept,
Aye. the sentinel VINO had i've lives in his
keeping slept and ..rsaned, and IN his dreams
wandered back to the old home and heard
the Old familiar sounds.
'Sll 1t was rustic in the grassl Turn
to the left little more. There it is. Thirty
feet from the sieer-rg man a rattlesnake
rears its head abors the grass and looks
around. It'seyeS glC,tn like stars. The neck
swells, the tongue flashes in and out, andit
coils and uncoils Itself as if in fierce combat.
NoE it is advancing-now it swerves to the
right-nOw to the left-now it halts and
coils itself to strike. 1t might creep I'D and
bury its fangs in the flesh of the sleeping
man, and it VIII! 1t creeps again. It glides
through the grass like a gleanl-now to the
rght-now to the left-noW straight ahead.
''S-s-s-hr
it could have struck the sleeper, but some
movement ~ lis alarmed it, and it gides
away for f = -eet, as fast as shadow tray
els
Now look beyond the snakel Is it a second
serpent worming its way over the ground to
surround the keeper with perila Is it wolf
or panther creeping forward to make a vic
tim? Now You can see more clearly. There
is the scalp lock and feathers-the dark
face-the cleaning eyes-the shut teeth and
bronZad throat of a Blacktoot warrior. A
courier from one branch OF his tribe to
another; he has discovered the equipment,
circled around it twice, and is now creeping
upon the man, who sleeps instead of
watches.
- How softly he moves! s panther stealing
upon q listening doe would not exercise
more care. Almost inch by inch, and vet he
is slowly approaching. He was a hundred
feet away. Now he IS -eightv-sev-
enty-sixtyi He can see q dark mass at the
foot Of the tree, and ne knows that the senti-
mel must be asleep or he would not be in
that position.
See the rattle snake It has faced about.
If it was daylight YOU could see a fierrer
CLEAN in is eye-a fercer flash of
the red tongue. a straight line
Oh sixty teet drawn from the Indian
to the tree would pass over the snake.
Now the warrior creeps forward again-not
a weed brealing-not a rustic to prove his
presence. Two feet-four-six-! See the
snake: Its head is thrown bacs-its eyes
shoot sparks-there goes the deadly z-z-z-zz
of his rattle. The head Of the Indian IS not
three feet away as ne nears the ominous
sound. He draws back, but there is a dart,
dash, and something strikes him full in the
face and IS not shaken off until lie springs to
his t-et with a cry heard for half mile
around and rushes away in the darkness
What was it? The sentinel is wide awake
AID upon his feet, Wife and children have
been startled from slu1nber to grow white
faced and tremble Even the horses have
raised their heads and are peering into the
night There was q single cry-the wild
scream OF a human being suddenly terrified.
sit was nothing nothing but the howl of
wolf!' whispers the sentinel as he walks
over to comfort wife and children: and oy
and b,r al is quiet and peaceful as befora
. The night grows az ace-the stars fade-day-
light breaks. As the sun comes I'D the
wagon moves on its way and the brook and
the camp and the cottonwood are left be-
hind.