The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1884-10-10

aAs + told you, / fixed up things
around the house during the slack time.
One of the bits of furniture / knocked
together was q bedstead. IL was more
like q broad lounge than a badstead, for
it had neither o head footboard.
One end was raised . little like a couch,
and that was the head. We had some
bearskins and blankets to sleep on, and
more blankets to cover US. It was o
big Improvement on the floor where we
had been sleeping, and after a days
hard work handling logs fused to think
IL about as comfortable q spot as I
knew.
1Wen, it got along into the fall and
We began to have chilly nights. The
equinoctial gave us a big rain and for a
fortnight had all the water could use.
Then it got dry again. One afternoon,
after several days of threatening wealth
er, it began to rain. Hour after hour the
rain came down till about 8 O'Clock in
the evening, when it suddenly cleared
off and turned cold. 1t was late in
October, and Wa kept a fire burning on
the hearth nights, more for the baby's
sake than for our own. Our bed was
parallel with the fireplace, and stood
out near the middle Of the room. We
had N English shepherd dog named
Leo, which we took with us from Mas
sachusetts. He was a black-and-white
beauty, and my wife, who had raised
him, Thought about as much of him as
she did of the baby and me-or, at
least, I used to tell her SO. Tho dog
was fond of me, and / made a great pet
Of him. He was q noble fellow, and all
he wanted was for me to whistle just
once and he'd come. We let him sleep
in the room at the foot of the bed.
Sometimes in the morning I'd wake up
before my wife, and I'd whistle just
once to the dog. Up he'd come over the
foot of the bed and wake Katie by lick
ing her face.
"That night we were just going to bed
when it turned cold. / thew an extra
pine knot on the fire and went to the
door and looked out. [ shall never for
get that look, for it was the last time /
ever stood there and saw stars above
Skinner Hollow. I closed the door and
went to bed and soon fell asleep. I
slept on the side of the bed nearest the
hearth, my wife slept on the further
side, and the baby lay between us. For
some reason I didn't sleep long, and
when I waked up I couldn't 60 to sleep
again. Finally / got out of bed and
threw another knot on the fire. Leo
was stretched out on the floor, with his
nose between his paws. He eyed me
sleepily as I walked around the room,
and gave me a loving look AZ I stopped
down and patted his head. Invent back
to bed and fell into an uneasy sleep. All
at once / awakened with . start. 1t
must have been past midnight. Iseem-
edto be fully awake the moment Iopen-
ed my eyes, and such asight as they rest
edson God grant they may never see
again. / wa lying on my left side, fac
ing my wife, who was lying on her right
side. The baby lay on its back between
us. As / opened my eyes a dark OBJ
ject glided down from off the baby, and
just then the knot burst into flames and
flooded the room with light. A rattle
snake, fully five feet long, had slipped
down from between my wife and myself,
whereit had been stretched out pre-
sumably to get warm, AMI startled, no
doubt, by some movement ] had made
in waking had thrown itself into q coil
on the bed at the baby's feet and just
opposite my knee.
Somebody asks if life is worth liy.
ing. I think it is as a general thing,
but if life had many such moments as
that I should say emphatically that
death were preferable. For q moment
/ lost my head. I did not move, for
tunately, but Iseemed to drift entirely
out Of all consciousness. For a mo-
ment only this lasted: Then my eyes
came back to me and / felt that from
the reaction / would probably trem-
Bile from head to foot. How I ever
managed to keep my body rigid Idon't
know, but by an awful effort / did. ]
knew that to stir was death, perhaps for
myself, perhaps for my boy, perhaps
my God, the thought was agony-for
my wife. Outside 1 could hear the
caves dripping from the rain, and I
could detect the sound of water rum
ming to waste over the fume. To-mor-
row! Would 7 ever see tomorrow
again? And i'll did would l not meet
it alone? In spite Of all / could do a
shudder ran through my body.
The snake felt it and raised his
head. ! could see its eyes glisten and
dance in the freight, and the bright
rays glanced over the undulatlng coils.
/ could see that the snake was irritated,
and / knew that it was liable to spring
any moment. Who would it strike?
Either of us was within easy distance.
II seemed to me that / could see the be-
ginning of the muscular contraction
which would precede the spring.
aAIlthis, ofcourse, passed in a fraction
of the time / have occupied in telling
it. My wife and boy had slept on. ]
prayed that they might not move, for
if they did / felt the snake would throw
itself forward. / moved my hand
slightly. The snakes head again arose,
and for the first time it sounded its rat
tie. Instantly my wife opened he,
eyes, and some way they rested on the
snake. / could see that every vestige
of color had left her face, but she die
not move q muscle. Then her eyes
slowly left the snake and came up tc
mine.
Looking back over the nearly thirty
years which have elapsed since then ]
can see the look in her eyes yet. We
had sometimes talked about meeting
death together. Now it lay between
us in a more horrible form than we had
ever dreamed of. Yet the look of per
feet; confidence in me, which my wifes
eyes almost spoke, was something a MAJ
does not see more than once in o life
time. That loak seemed to say, fol
baby's sake, and like q fash I became
as cool as I am at this moment. / coult
not speak, but my wife understood tina
she must keep perfectly quiet and jump
When the time came, slowly and wifi
infinite are | raised my head till
could look down the bed TO the floor