The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1893-08-23

long and narrow and the eyes closed.
The body bent sideways, but otherwise
was as rigid as stick Of wood. The
professor carefully turned Il over 10 ex-
anime the bright, yellow belly
''Irs a glass snake, " he whispered, in
an ecstasy Of delight ''The first live
one have eyer handled
"But II Is dead now, said the other.
The professor chuckled Dead,
dead. '' he replied. "Nvt al all; He viii
live many years with the care will
bestow upon him. lie Is playing pos
sum. II he had only had time lie would
have disjointed himself like a lizard
and lost the three -fourths or himself
until we were out Of sight and hear
ing
They returned to the rendezvous and
found their two companions there. OF
course they laughed at the professor for
the tender care he took Of his treasure,
and against his vigorous protests laugh
ingly hung the specified beauty on the
branch with the other victims 81 the
hunt. II was impossible 20 convince
the professor that his little pet was
dead, but at last he consented To leave
It long enough TO join us In one more
hunt
~ will 90, & he sighed, hut half Of
my snake will be gone when ! return,
and am too old ever to hope to capture
another specimen alive Reluctantly
the old man followed them, frequently
casting o glance behind until they
were ont OF sight ~ the inoss.covered
liye-oal. They did not 10 far before
encountering two Or three lazy moe
casins summing their ugly brown bodies
by the side Of the road Kill them
shouted two voices in unison. They
were killed.
.why not save one alive9'' ! asked
the stranger
"Becausc II you did, was file reply,
.'thc chances are that You would get
bitten in the back Of the leg when you
least expected IL wonldnot trust a
dead moccasin have seen one with
It's back broken creep up TOT man ard
try 10 bite him. Y
They succeeded in catching several
small snakes Of the garter variety md
any quantity Of grass snakes whieh
were very common.
One little reptile, some three feet in
length and about as large round as a
mans little finger, was mainly d bright
vermilion; its velvet back was striped
| with brilliant yellow and dotted with
black Little white spots covered IT'S
head aud gave the appearance Of a
Thousand eyes. The professor gave 1t
a long name and declared 1t was poison
Gus. 1t was turned over To him for safe
keeping, and he was soon on anicable
terms with the Misunderstanding crea-
ture, which he declared bit only upon
severe provocation.
For nearly half an hour no snake
turned up. This was unusual, and the
hunters were about to tlIrn back and
try another road. when negro boy Of
about eighteen came in sight and said
! he had seen snakes.
just then a large king snake was OBJ
served moving in the grass at the boy S
/ feet and several men sprang forward,
Don't hit un. Nasal exclaimed the
boy. Isc brung him out ter catch
/ rattlesnahe. De ole man got de rune
tism. an snake lie Is d. bess ting in de
world fer UNI
/ Suddenly behind an azalea bush some
4 yards ahead there was heard a sharp,
/ rafting sound. Like a fash the swift,
black body OF the king snake larted
| forward There wasa sound of com
motion in the bush, and an instant
later the duh brown 'engtho an cnor
nous rattlcsnake slowly came into the,
open roadway.
Like streak Of black Lightning the
I king snake dashed by aud as quickly
turned and brushed across the rattlers'
diamona=narked back His venomogs
| antagonist sprang at his foe, only to
bury his fangs in the earth, Again the
tail shook and rafting broke the
! stiffness. The ,attlesnalSe coiled his
1 tail, moving nervously to and fro. The
i rafting was now. continuous. Twice
1 the king snake moved rapidly ina cii-
Gle about his enemy, who followed Its
every movement BIZ merely turning its
4 head, but Ut the second round the rat
i tier stopped as if to straighten his
neck, and AT that instant the king
snake dashed across the folded coil.
i Like fash the rattlesnake struck at
4 its enemy, but sank its fangs deep into
its own flesh. The angry reptile seemed
TO realize that il had inflicted death
wound upon itself, for ii no longer
acted On the defensive. but took the Of
! fensive But the king snake was too
Il quick for its heavy antagonist and,
gliding out Of the way, waited as
4 itf sprang and waiting then until
the RATHER lay full length on
its belly after NstrilSing. Finally
the king snake sPrang upon itsenemy,
and twining itself about its Iinassive
body slowly frightened its folds until
the rattlesnalte was powerless in its
muscular hold Then slowly exertine
n the fun forcezof. its powerful muscles j,
4. slowly CONSTRUCTED the other There
n was q crnnching sound as the body y
the rattlesnake was tor4 in d ,tlozen
places,
Slowly slaekening its folds the kim
snake prepared to swallow its late en-
envy head first, but the eotored b0y was
J too quick for It and seized the prize fol
the sake Of its oil
II was amusing to see Ms rleii8ht al
finding his glass snake whole ana I'M
molested, but his JOY was brief-Iiyed
for Cuffee, the colored youth, stretched
out his hand to stroke its CLASSY coat
when two-thirds Of the snake fell to thu
ground. Il had parted evenly Foui
diaphragms seemed to divide the body
At these places the vertebr;r were *
loosely joined that in moments Of terror
/. Ia U.s. = /. ~ \