The Arizona sentinel., 1889-12-21
PECCARY AND RATHER.
A Fierce Fight Which Ended in Victory
 for the Little Pig.

l
 for the Little Pig.
 Not long since, while in camp near | the foot hills of the Diablo mountains,
 our MeXic m scout was heard hallooiDg
 and bawliG;g from amid the bush about
 one hundi ed yards down stream. We jumped to Sur feet and ran to the spot,
 where we found the descendant of
 Montezuma gazing intently on the
 ground and nearly frightened out of his
 Seven senses by something he saw there. Approaching carefully, we beheld in a little clearing an immense rattlesnake coiled, with his fourteen rattles poised in the air and making music for all he was worth, to the terror and distress of the horror-stricken Mexican The snake was one of those bloated yellow things, a genuine Staked Plains rattler, and from his ugly, horrid appearance I could see the reptile was simply overloaded with poison. Such are the kind the Apache Indians seek when they want to secure materials for poisoning their ar rows. l must admit that, although l have killed scores and hundreds of rat tlesnakes in my time, yet this fellow looked so perfectly horrible and deadly that 1 hesitated to undertake the duty of destroying him.
 While watching him, and carefully calculating the best and safest means of putting an end to his existence, whist! rush! like shot from a rifle out from the bushes darted small, brown object, which leaped headforemost headlong directly upon the serpent. It was a very small peccary. Quick as the latter was, yet the rattler was quicker, and succeeded in making two strikes at the pig, burying it's fangs first in the lip and next in the leg, but the peccary paid no more attention to those trifing taps than If the strokes had never been made. He caught the rattle snake about the middle with his mouth, and placing his sharp fore hoofs on the lower coils of the shiny creat- ure, proceeded to tear the reptile into Shreds. Tortured by the enemy, who was destroying him, the head and upper portion of the snake worked like light ming. delivering stroke after stroke with such rapidity that it's body looked like an elongated yellow and brown streak. Indeed, the motion was so in- tensely swift that could only compare 1t to the piston of locomotive when the engine is going at full speed. We had retired to the shelter of the nearest brush, where we stood observing this strange combat without disturbing the parties most interested. The little ag- gressor had now stretched the links of the snake with such tension that he was unable to do more damage, and so was forced to let go in order to catch hold further down. The moment he released his foot grip his bristly little body was en- veloped by the coils, and the rattler proceeded to squeeze with his lower half, while the head portion was still going it hammer and tongs as before. But the rattlesnake is no constructor and the contest was soon over. Making a grab at the darting fangs, the little quadruped caught the head in his mouth, and with a vicious snap com pletely severed that member from the body. This he proceeded to swallow with great relish. The headless coils now relaxed and fell to the ground, where they lay squirming and wriggling until the head with it's load of poison had been disposed of. Then the little fellow grabbed the body, secured a good hold, and with self-satisfed grunt ran off and disappeared in the forest.-Fort Davis HHnyl Cor N Y Iyinnnc