St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1895-02-02

1t. head to bite him. Having the prev
now securely the hunter drew it forth
from the coil, which had never moved
In the slightest. But on drawing ou,
the snake what was O'Reiliy's horro,
to discover that the coil was not one
snake but two; and the second and
larger reptile, now for the first time
showing its head. was hurriedly
getting ready to strike.
Strike Il did, and it was only the
multitude Of the weedstalks in which
it lay that saved the naturalist's hand
from the deadly venom In his long
training as snake hunter quickness
OF thought and action grows to be
second nature with Mr.. OReilly. A
leap backward carried him out OF
range. The next thing was to capture,
il possible. the second snake. for the
hunter had no thought Of letting any
chances escape him. Ho;'ing his
writhing captive in his left land, and
gripping his stick firmly with the
right, he pressed it over the aeck of
the second reptile. But this was q
powerful copperhead. 1t easily glided
from beneath the stick, biting at it
savagely. and made straight for its
prosecutor. Then changing its mind,
1t sweryed and glided away In the un.
derbrush. More than ever determined
not to lose this specimen, O'Reilly fol-
lowed, tramping down the weeds and
calling at the top of his voice:
''Lasher! Lasher! Help! Copper.
heads! Come in here quick;'
A crash in the underbrush told the
scientist that help was coming, but it
would be too late for the capture of
the copperhead. A few yards of was
refuge for the snake. A large rock
rested partly over another and smaller
one, leaning against it at an angle OF
forty-five degrees to the ground, thus
leaving an opening behind the smaller
rock. Into this opening the snake
darted its head. At the sight Of his
quarry thus escaping, the pursuer grew
reckless Dropping his stick he threw
himselfdown upon the ground, reached
forward with his unoccupied hand and
grabbed the fugitive by the tail. But
he had not calculated on the shape of
the rock crevice and In . moment, to
his dismay, he saw the flae heed Of the
enemy twist up from anoslprVpening
between the rocks and slowly eer his
face.
Once, twice. and . third time the
savage reptile struck at his face, and
the last time Mr.. OReilly thought
that he felt drop OF venom flung
from the fanRs to his cheek But the
snake couldn't reach any further.
Still. it was an alarming position. II
O'Rcilly let 60 the snake would be
upon him before he could get to his
feet His position was not only pain
full, but very tiring, and he felt that
he could not hold out long. The cap
tive in his left hand was writhing and
winding about his arm, and, worst Of
all. Lasher had evidently missed his
direction, ss, to judge by the sounds,
he was crashing underbrush a con.
siderable distance away. The hunter,
now captive himself, shouted to him
again, and after what seemed a long
time the young man burst through the
bushes and ran to the PROSTATE
O'Reilly, only to leap back with a cry
Of terror. He had all but touched the
copperhead in the naturalist's left
hand.
"What's that you've got there?" he
cried.
So great was O'Reilly's relief that he
grew facetious.
That's an African rhinoceros," he
replied, '.and that thing in my other
hand is polar bear. Can't you see for
yourself? If you're through asking
questions Of great scientific interest
perhaps you'll open that bag and help
me cage my menageric."
Tho young man got the frst-caught
copperhead into the bag, after which
he flattened his gun barrel down over
the other snakes head Fearing, how
ever. that this would kill or injure the
snake. the scientist told him to raise
the gun. At this the reptile turned
back on its own length and made for
the hand that held it. Lucky it was
for O'Reilly that it had not made this
move before. Upon seeing its head
coming he let 60 his hold on the tail
and took up his stick to be ready. On
came the snake right out of tho hole
and commenced to coil for a spring,
in the open within shadow of
the rock. But OReilly's snake stick
it, and slid in over its neck
Just behind the head. Then it was
dropped into the bag with It's compan-
ion.
That ended the snake hunting fos
the day. The two specimens are now
in Mr.. OReilly's collection in this city.
Even without them for mementocs he
will not be likely soon to forget how
he was caught between two copper
heads and for a short space held cap
tive with death only a short inch from
his face.-N. Y. Sun.