The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1883-10-25

, man Il rattlesnake rcarS its head apoFe
the grass and looks around. It's eyes
glcam like stars. The neck swells, Inc
tongue flashes in and out, and 1t collS
and uncoils itself as if in fierce combat
Now it is Acknowledgements it swerVes tt
the right-now to the left-now it halts
and coils itself to strike. 1t might creeI
up and bury its fangs in the flesh o
the sleeping man, and it will! 1t creep;
again. 1t gldes through the grass like
81 gleam-now to the right-noW to the
left-now straight ahead.
'.S-s-s-hr'
The serpent halts. Twenty feet more
and it could have struck the sleeper,
but some movement of his has alarmed
it, and it glides away for fifty feet, as
fast as shadow travels.
Now look beyOng tie snake? Is it g
second serpent worming its way over
the ground to surround the sleeper with
peril? Is it wolf or panther creeping
forward to make victim? Now, you
can see more clearly. There is the
scalp-lock and feathersr-the dark face
the cleaning eyes-the shut teeth and
bronzed throat of q Blackfoot 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 a 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 at the foot of the
tree, and he knows that the sentinel
must be asleep or he would not be in
that position.
See the rattlesnake! 1t has faced
about. If it was daylight you could see
a fiercer gleam in its eye-;s tightening
of the cords and MUSCLES 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 crceps forward again
not q weed breaking-not 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 us he hears the ominous
oOuLb- IAC I'll si"S DstCh4 DUU JilGIO 10
dart, q flash, and something strikes him
full in the face and is not shaken off
until he springs to his feet with cry
heard for a half a mile around and
rushcs away in the darkness.
What was it? The sentinel is wide
awake and upon his feet. Wife and
children have been startled from slum-
ber to grow whitefaced and tremble.
Even the horses have raised their heads
and are peellng into the night There
was Il single cry-the wild scream OF a
human being suddenly terrified.
cit was nothing-nothing but the
howl of u wolf!' whispers the sentinel
rs 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.
Eyes, it was the howl of some wolf
prowling about, " whispers the emigrant
to himself rs 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 tha
BfaCkrUuJ-SwO11en, distorted: 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 hun
cry wolves TO the feast. Tie wife laughs
the children frolic. tho husband regains
his light heart. Night wrote the record
of the serpents in the grass, and he will
never read il.