Southwest-sentinel. [volume] (Silver City, N.M.) 1883-189?, 1895-01-29
HELD UP BY sNAKEs.


" n" ""| """M """"IN"IH
"Wo reached tho Wolf mountain. in
lho ZIG Horn country. enc day ia Sep
tcmbur. said H. p. Tntiie, formerly an
army engineer. "whilc 20 tho south woro
dimly visible tho outlines Of Tho Battlo-
snake mountains. These namoa woro
given 60 these mountains hy both Che
Grow and Sioux Indians. who regarded
them with horror. Late on tho afternoon
Of our FIRST dry ia these mountains !
sent ali Of my party 70 oamp about two
miles 20 tho southwest Going forward
with my transit to where / had sent my
head fogman. placed Il IN position and
told him he could return to camp, aa i
had 10 romain ia order TO make an as.
Economical observation early ia the even
ing.
Taking or his belt which held q
hugo revolver and a sheath knifo about
a foot in length. he handed IL TO me.
saying that j might nood it after dark,
as ho had just seen q small pack Of
wolves nhoad After he had gone I look
ed over tho ground about mo and saw
that ! was on o Eat topped hill covered
with large b0wldors and small stones,
but entirely destitute Of vegetation.
Seating myself beside q big boygldcr, /
took out my notebook aud began writing
mp my notes for tho day, when darkness
fuddenly reminded mo that it twas about
time tJmake my astronomical observa-
TONS This was soon over. and I started
off at a brisk walk toward u camp.
chad not gone over a hundred yards
when I saw, o fow feet ahead Of me- n
long, black object lying directly in my
path. / wanted a walking stick badly,
and was stopping down to pick IL up
when I noticed the end OF it farthost
from me was white. Taking a match
from my pocket and tcaringa leaf from
the back Of my notebook, I soon had
the desired light, and what was my hor-
TOR to see that the supposed stick was
nothing but one Of tho deadly green rat.
tlesnakos, completely paralyzcd by the
chilly night air.
Another light showed that the white
object was the snakc's rattlos. So old
was no that his raitlcs had turned white.
Holding my revolver within a foot Of
his head, l fred and biowit entirely of.
But now came another surprise, which
for q moment made me tremble. Tho re-
port Of my revolver had awakened doz-
ems Of rattlors who had sought shelter
under tho loose rocks before sunset. The
sounds came from all diroctionr, and
some seemed close to my feet
ITO one who has been in the forest
and heard tho noise Inado by hundreds
Of locusts he can readily realize my stu
alton, for the buzz Of q rattlesnako is
exactly like the buzz Of a locust The
only thingnow for me to do was to stand
in my tracks al night or make my way
back to thu bowlder from which / start
ed, but there was q difficulty, for in the
excitement I had forgotten the direction.
But where there is a viii there is a
way, and by stopping low down and
scanning the horizon / soon detected the
outline Of ray transit against the sky,
and cutting OF the rattlcs / was soon bo-
side the bowlder and filed with excite
ment enough for night.
"Sitting dc-Yn by the BOWLER, ] made
up my mind to pass the night at that
spot and was soon sleeping as soundly
as cre can in tho open sir, with only a
amyas coat Ind the mercury below freez-
ing. About midnight | was suddenly
aroused by something trying to pull OF
the shoe from my loft fact. In an instant
/ caught the glaring eyes and outline of
a wolf. he had given up his grip as he
saw mo move, and mechanically / seized
my revolver, which had left lying in
my lap and fired rs best I could with
my half frozen hand.
"a loud yell showed that he had been
struck, and Immediately a dozen or
moro wolves who had been close by set
up a bowling, which in the still night
air could have boon heard for miles
around. For an hour CT two all was
quiet, when a solitary howl u few yards
from mo vas answered by a dozen 9TH
ers not 100 yards away. It was too dark
to see an animal Of tho size of a wolf
more than 90 feet away; but, trusting to
luck, Itook tho direction Of the pack as
heal as possible and sent three shots at
them as rapidly ns I could fire.
"a couple Of yclls showed two had
been hit, most probably by glancing bull
let's. Soon after this the bowling Of tho
wolves ceased, aud for awhile all was
quiet again.
"As soon rs ii was light enough /
picked up the string Of rattles which
had secured the night before and found
thoro were 10, and as tho button was
missing he may have had several more
A few rods from my transit lay tho
cioanly picked bones Of q wolf which ono
Of my random shots had killed during
the night, and on which tho coyotes had
made a substantial meal, but. not salts
fed with this. they had devoured the
big RATHER had killed, head aud all
Returning to camp. I ordered N Of
my men TO out ten small poles, not less
than eight feet in length, and 10 wake
me up nt 10 o'clock. At that hour wo
all started for the place whore I had
passed tho night Hero we found, as /
had expected, tho warn rays OF the sun
had brought out tho snakes from their
hiding places to bask IN tho sunhsine.
1--WE wero greeted with q dohanco not
unlike that Of a thousand Jnly locusts,
and The work Of destruction began in
teal earnest. In one hour and ten min
ntes our bag contained 2l3 rattlers,
varying from one foot TO over three feet
in length, and of q dark green color.
Only two Wcro found whose rattlos had
tnrncd gray. We could have destroyed
hundreds more lad cur time not been too
valuable % waste IN such sport. We saw
but faw ratders after leaving this point,
but tho wolves mado night hidoous until
we. reached tho Little Missouri riVor q
month later, kansas City Journal
The unrolli,g ~ an Fgv,so,