The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-31

so that all its rooms are on the ground
floor. NV sleeping room opened upon
long narrow hallway with a door OPEN
ing upon the court yard. had occasion
one morning to go TO the turther ehd OF
this hallway to get some business papers
that | kent there on a shelf. A snake
must have crawled into the halfway tine
dav before when the outer door was open,
l passed where il lay without seeing or
arousing it, for the first that l knew or
its presence was the loud buzzlng OF lts
rattle behind me as l rummaged among
my papers. l turned to see slx-toot
rattlesnake coiled between me and hoth
the doors. 1t was thoroughly angry ana
was advancing upon me after the fashloh
of a rattlesnalxe that means to attack
lungjng forward a third of its length ana
then bringing It's coils up the same dis
tance-while its rattle in the closed ana
narrow passage filled the place with its
sound.
''I was clad only in nightshlrt, trousers
and slippers, and Nhere was nothing in
sight with which to defend myself. The
reptile was all the time drawing nearer
and had covered half the distance TO me
before / thought Of the silver bullet IN
my trousers pocket and realized that my
one chance of stopping the snake lay In
my striking it's head with the bullet l
throwing of a stone, and the art has never
left me- A thing that made my chance a
little better than it might seem in telling
is the rattlesnake's manner of meeting an
attack. 1t does not try to avoid, but con-
fronts whatever threatens it, always turn
ing its head so as to face the object. l
chose a time when, after forward lunge,
it drew forward into coil and, at six feet
away threw the bullet at its head with
all my force 1t struck true, and as the
snake half Strengthened it's coils and
Writhed upon the floor l stepped safely
past it into my room. After that, of course,
it was easy to make an end Of the snake
with my pistol. r
1.-The silver bullet had certainly been my
salvation in this case. 1t was less than
two years afterWard that it was the means
| of saving my Lire in another and very sur
| prising way. was in Chihuahua visit
! ing the Las Quesadas mines, in which
held an interest, ai1d on the day after my
! arrival rode in front of the hacienda six
! miles away where l was staying, to see
| the mine superintendent. He was in the
magazine where the explosives used in
| blasting were kept. 1t was stone house,
| or dugout built ia the side of a hill, and
was reached from the foot of the slope
| by a steep path. l started there to find him,
and had climbed the hill to the very step
| of the house when in taking my handker-
bullet out and it fell and rolled down the
slope l turned and ran back after 1t,
| keeping my eye on it as 1t rolled, for I
! knew that If / once lost sight of the bull
| let my chances of finding 1t were small.
81 followed it to the foot of the hill and
saw it roll into ditch that once had been
| used in draining a mine working The
| ditch was about four feet deep, and just
| as / jumped into ii and stopped to pick up
| the bullet there came a roar like the burst
| ing of a hundred cannon and a shock that
sent me fiat on my face, stunned, In the
| bottom of the ditch. When 1 came to my
senses found myself half buried in dirt.
got clear of that and upon my feet, so
| that I could look around to see what had
| happened. Where the magazine had been
there was a a great hole in the hillside,
| with smoke floating about 1t, and not so
much as one stone of the building to be
! seen.
1.-The wreck was caused by the explosion
of half a ton OF giant powder that had
been stored there. What had set it off
could not be known, for not trace of the
| superintendent the foreman, and two
Mexicans who had been with them was
| ever found The shock and flying rock
wrecked half the buildings at the mine
| camp and several persons there were hurt.
| You can judge for yourselves what my
chance would have been of ever telling this
story to you if 1 had gone on into the
| magazlne-if the bullet, falling from my
| pocket had not been the cause of my
turning back down the hill and going into
| the shelter of the ditch just as the explo-
| sion came.
''This silver bullet is the bullet that kill
ed the bandit Tomas Viejada, who, for
several years following the fall and ban
| ishment of President Lerdo, terrorized Sin
aloa and several Of the adjoining states
| of the Mexican republic. He had been one
| of Lerdo's partsans and was very bitter
| toward. whoever was prominent as a sup
| porter of the Dlaz government. The best
| that one who was so unfortunate as to fall
! into his power could hope was to be held
| for ransom. l was on my way to my ranch
journey of two full days on horseback,
| carrying money with which to pay my
| men. Being delayed by the difficulty IN
| crossing q flooded stream, was not able 70
| get to the estancia-the home ranch,
| Americans would say-by daylight on the
| second day, but stopped in the early even
| ing at the hut of one of my shepherds for
supper and TO rest my horse. The man,
| Antonio Bajada, an old and faithful en-
| ploye, had something important to tell me.
| Tomas Viejada has planned to way
lay you in the Puerto del Leon the shep-
herd said. TO rob and kill you, or hold
you captive for ransom, learned OF 1t
| only tonight. How / found out? Well,
senior, my daughter at San Elizario has a
| sweetheart in Viejadas band, and my lit
| tie son overheard him telling her yester-
day what the chief meant 10 do and came
| tonight to tell me. He started back for
home only a few minutes before you
| came
1.-The Puerto del Leon was gap In the
foothills four miles beyond, through
| which the road to the estancia lay. l felt
that my course was to try to get to the
| estancia that night.
Antonio, / said to the shepherd, give
me to eat what you can most quickly, and
then l will go on to the estancia by the
| path round the Venada peak. The band
Its win have no idea OF my coming by that
route. You shall guide me-