Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1897-12-30


his body grew more and more rigid.
With his eyes fixed on the half-open
door, he drew back as if from the ap-
proach of some dreaded object, raised
his head with pitiful attempt at a
bark, which broke off into stihed
howl, rolled over sideways suddenly,
and lay dead. The horrid stiffness of
the body, almost resembling stuffed
creature overset, made me believe that
he had died as he stood, close to my
side, perhaps meaning to defend me.
Unable to resist the unintelligible idea
that the dog had been frightened to
death, L followed the direction of his
last gaze, and at first saw nothing.
The next moment L observed round
the corner of the veranda door n small,
dark and slender object, swaying
gently mp and down like dry bough
in the wind. 1t had passed right into
the room with the same slow, regular
motion before / realized what it was
and what had happened. My poor,
stupid Ruby must have nosed at the
basket on the veranda till he succeeded
somehow in opening it, and have been
bitten in return for his pains by the
abominable beast which [ now saw
angrily rearing its head and kissing
tiercely at the dead dog within three
yards of my face.
L am not one of those women who
jump on chairs or tables when they
see mouse, but I have constitu
tional horror of the most harmless
reptiles. Watching the Blue Dryad
as it glided across the patch of sun
light streaming in from the open win
dow, and knowing what it was, con-
fess to being as nearly frightened out
of my wits as L ever hope to be. L
simply dared not speak or move fin
ger for fear of attracting the beasts
attention to myself. Suddenly, Stof-
fes, weary of patting flies and spiders
ON the back, appeared gently purring
on the back of the sofa.
Stoffies, as / have said, was inordi-
nately vain and self-conscious. Stalk
ing along the top OF the sofa back and
bearing erect the bushy banner of her
magnificent tail, she looked the most
ridiculous creature Imaginable. She
had proceeded half way on this pill
grimage toward me, waen suddenly,
with the rapidity OF lightning, as her
eer caught the sound OF tho hiss and
her eyes fell upon the Blue Dryad,
her whole civilized 'play acting" de-
meanor vanished, and her body stiff
fened and contracted to the form of q
watchful wild beast with the ferocious
and instructive antipathy to natural
enemy blazing from its eyes. In one
light bound she was on the floor in a
compressed, defensive attitude, with
all four feet close together, near, but
not too near, the unknown but clearly
hostile intruder; and to my surprise
the snake turned and made off toward
the window. Stoi1les trotted lightly
after, obviously interested in its
method of locomotion. Then she
made long arm and playrully dropped
a paw upon its tail The snake wrig-
gled free in moment, and coil;ng its
whole length, some three and half
feet, fronted this new antagonist.
At the very first moment, L need
hardly say, [ expected that one short
stroke of that little pointed head
against the cats delioate body would
quickly have settled everything. But
one is apt to forget that snake can
move but slowly and awkwardly over
smooth surface, such as tiled or
wooden floor. A snake that darts
,rL ~, - bo, no4hinn, oo,uro 70 boIJ 90,
by, only overbalances itself. This par
ticular reptile, perhaps by some iu-
stinct, now wriggled itself on to large
and thick fur rug about twelve feet
square, upon which arena took place
the extraordinary contest that fol-
lowed
The audacity of the cat astonished
me from the first. have no reason
to believe she had ever seen snake
before, yet by sort of instinct she
seemed to know exactly what she was
doing. As the Dryad raised its head,
with glittering eyes and forked tongue,
Stoffies crouched with both front paws
in the air, sparrinS as | had seen her
do sometimes with large moth. The
first round passed so swiftly that NOR
tai eye could hardly see with distinct
ness what happened. The snake made
dart, and the cat, all claws, two
rapid blows at its advancing head.
The first missed, but the second
could see came home, as the brute,
shaking its neck and head, withdrew
further into the rug. But Stoffles
crept after it, with an air of attractive
carelessness which was instantly re-
warded. A full two feet of the Dryad' s
body Strengthened like black arrow,
and seemed to strike right into the
fury side OF it's antagonist-seemed,
say, to slow-going human eyes; but
the latter shrank, literally fell back,
collapsing with such suddenness that
she seemed to have turned herself in
side out, and became the mere skin, of
cat. AS the serpent recovered itself,
she pounced on it like lightning, driv-
ing at least half dozen claws well