Daily Kennebec journal., 1896-04-25
ESKIPPER'S SNAKE.
.thE LUCY ANNWENT.AS SHE PLEASED
WHILE THE STORY WAS TOLD.

The Rattler That Was All Right Until He
Celebrated-The Skipper Repented His
Part In That Act-A Wife Who Wasn't
! Fooled by Yarns Of Prairie Rattlers.
"Petse Well, 1 guess not!' And the
long and lanky skipper Of the Lucy Ann
took the brown jug from his lips and set
1t on the rail close at hand, casting his eye
aloft to the bellying canvas that was stand
ing full and smooth before the wind. 1t
was only little ship, the Lucy Ann, but
her skipper was her owner and salt who
had followed the sea for years, until his
skin was as brown as the tiller arm and
his muscles rs knotted and hard as the
pieces of oak piled upon the deck as the
little vessels only cargo.
"There amt nuthn aboard that crawls
nor creeps now" His eye ran over the
deck load and to the hatch, as if to mako
sure that he was speaking advisedly. He
straddled the tiller and swayed with the
roll of the ship, still with weather eye
toward the hatch and the crevices in the
Lucy AIMS cargo.
II liked pets Once-all kindS-even
snakes" And look OF momentary terror
clouds overspread the canvas aloft. Queer
pets-ain't they?-but l had one, a prime
rattler an beauty. Come from Tennes
see in a box. Tricks? Why, that feller
would do anything for me. Many q night
he'd come on an take my place here at the
tiller. lockin his head on the arm here an
his tail In that ring bolt there, an a-holdin
her to her course, while went fer Il nap
Onct, when some riggin broke aloft, an
there wasn't II ropes yarn aboard ter fix
it, up he went, an, splicin hisself to the
busted rope, held on there fer nigh ON to
two days an nights till we gets to port.
I'd go up there in the moonlight an talk
to him an feed him, an he'd try to sing to
me with his tail, but he couldn't, fer 1t
was spliced up in the busted rope.
''When we got to port that trip, he was
larger than afore but loved him better II
ever any one loved prairie RATHER TO
celebrate the job he'd done for me aloft
piped him off to grog. He wasn't much
on drinkin, that prairie ratter, afore
that nuther was l. But l insisted on his
celebratin au he never was the same snake
agin.'
The old skipper was holding the tiller
at arms length now, and he swayed more
with the heaving of the ship. He kept his
eyes on the hatch, as before, but now con-
stantly. The topsails wrinkled as If the
wind had shifted, but the old fellows
practiced eye noted nothing OF the doings
up alOft.
"Yes, sir, that snake changed from the
day we celebrated an got as cussed as
prairie rattler kin. l argied with him
consider BILE, but it didn't do no good
He just kept gittin cusseder and cusseder.
kinder thought 1t was on account Of his
bein in port, fer I never seen a snake
what hated port an loved the water like
him afore the celebration. So got on my
cargo an made fer the open sea. But it
didn't do no good to his feelin's He got
cusseder an cusseder.
The tiller was swinging free and the
sails tapped aloft as the ship swung of
her course But the captain didn't seem
to mind He drank another draft from
the jug on the rail, with always an eye for
the hatch.
"Along bout the second night from
port the wind came on n gale,s an up from
the west there come cloud as black as
any had ever see. 1t sailed and sailed
right up aloft, and then it busted. Rain.
hail, thunder lightnin-all the tormints
which clouds kin hold-come down about
us on the Lucy Ann. l seen her built, an
knows her maxim, every pin au plank
from keel to top, but she shook that night
like she had a spell of agy.
"Swish! Bang! Bump! And canvas
went a-kitin. Ropes was snappin and
splinters f1yin. Me an the snake was up
on deck. The noise seemed to git him
wild, an when the lightnin come agin,
maxim it as bright as day, seen the snake
a-standin on his tail an just drinkin In the
fire. He just got full of it, rs he did OF
rum the day we was celebratin back in
port. / seen it blazin from his eyes. He
just opened up his jaws, laughin likesN
me, an l heard his hiss in all the Dustin
noise an howl of wind. Them eyes was
lookin right at me.
Il knowed he was comm, but couldn't
move at first. l seen him hoppin an a
skippin toward me. felt his hot breath
ON my face a-stronger' l felt the wind
a-blowin so knots a hour. Fust he slapped
me with his tail-a whack that sent me to
the deck like dead. He danced on my
face as 1 lay there on the deck-poked his
tail i'll my eyes an ears an hissed at me
things no sailorman had ever heard afore.
II howled an kicked an fought him.
He let me git on my feet an knocked mo
fore an aft, an then down the hatch to-
gether into the black of the hold. All
could see Of him there, when l came to,
was his eyes a-blazin an a-blinkin in the
dark But could hear him a-crawlin TO
port to lee, fore an aft, all around me.
Them scales was crapin, an his body was
a-thumpin. BY all the winds that blow,
that snake had growed until he was film
up the hold. knew what that was for
me, an l started up. The hatch was chook
ablock with snake. couldn't feel nothin
nowhere but snake-cold, Shiny, slippery,
movin snake"
He wiped the cold beads from his face
and didn't mind the pounding of the
boom or the tapping sail. The tiller
creaked, and the Lucy Ann rolled heavily
In the trough of the sea. Suddenly he
jumped to where the hatch cover lay upon
the deck, clapped it down over the dark
opening and danced upon it with wild,
fantastic steps.
"Ha, hap he shrieked. "You didn't get
out, my boy-my prairie rattler!'
He paused as if to complete his yarn and
added In an undertone: II whitfield up my
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