The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-07-30

battle note OF the deadly rattlcsuake
7 The sound grew in intensity. Clearly
] the snake was coming closer. though Pab-
I 10 could not see Dc.
Then presently. as he rolled his head
from side 20 side he saw the black siuu-
Z GUS body, marked iH diamonds, with
/ spots Of shining white, come creeping
/ down the trail To came on, the Shiny
monster, but slowly, as though drcadlug
Z treachcry from its natural foe Still the
man lay there helpless, and the serpent
came on and on. just out Of arms reach
il cOiled, waving is fat head backward
and forward, and once more was the air
filed with the rhythmic sound Of its whir-
ring. Again and again the rattles sound
ed and into the cold, shining eyes there
came fires baleful as the flames Of hell
The man raised his head, cusing his foe
in the rage Of impotence
Cold fear seized him, and he yelled
aloud, the echoes sending back his yells
with demOniac vehemence, and then
whiteanCer seized him. blazing in his
eyes, and again he cursed the snake.
Still the fat head swayed backward and
forward and the cold eyes CLEANED. and
into the quiyerinR sunshine was merged
the rhythm of the rattles The man was
silent now Something in the whirr and
in the slow moving of the fiat head and in
the cleaning eye had sOOthed and
Gained him, and even his pain was for
gotten and the sun S heat and the thirst.
Slowly he reached out his hand as if TO
caress the cleaning, beautiful body Of
the snake, slowly, slowly, and then,
quick as the lightning flashes at md
night, the fiat head darted forward, the
curved body Strengthened and he saw
the cleaning eyes looking into his own
almost sinking into them. The snake
had returned the offered caress, striking
him fair upon the forehead. IL was the
kiss of death.
With a cry from the sharp pain the
man awoke from his trance, aud, quick
as the serpent had struck, seized il about
the neck in his strong right hand, strang-
ling it. In vain the rattlesnake threw its
sinewy body now this way and now that,
striking his breast again and again in its
struggles to escape that grip. 1t had
given the caress of death-and, giving it,
had itself found the end of life. The man
was demon now. dying with murder in
his heart and hate. The world swan
round him. Even the sunshine grew
dark, and the heat seemed to have in it
an opiate effect.
The venom was in his brain, in his body,
in his heart He was dying, but he would
not die alone. Slowly, slowly, sensation
was leaving him. The snake. writing,
made two or three more turns in his hand
and lay still In death there was no
lOosening of the grip about its neck
Pablo, no more conscious of pain, lay back
upon the rocks. He seemed to be floating
of into darkness. He sank down and
down and down He lost consciousness.
He was dead-and in his hand the great
serpent lay dead also, its fiat head resting
upon his lips and its great bouy stretched
out across his chest.
So that night, even before the sun went
down, they found them, for the pinto had
returned to the ranch-house, and the
men, surmising an accident, had gone in
search of their compadre Men have
hearts in the mountains, senior, and
good vaquero finds friends in his suffer
ing. So they found them, and they bur
led the man with the snakes neck still in
his grasp, though the good priest, who