Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1897-08-06
THE DUDE HAD GRIT
BUT IT WAS A CLOSE CALL FOR THE
SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN.
He Picked Up . Frozen Rather, Which
Thawed Out as he Carried II In the
Hot August sun-Fiorida Snake sharps
Astounded at tho Deed. "a

N~' A"kost 5uh-Niorido Snake Sharp
Astounded at the Deed.
i was once ON agunning trip durin,
the month of August in the hammock
along the lower st. Johns river. Team,
to q hotel on the river bank that wal
keeping open for the little business
brought to it by the river traffic. Bach
of the hotel was a fringe Of pines, and
beyond the pines was a reach Of barren
country covered with q growth Of blue
palmetto and gallberry.
Among the persons staying at the
hotel were two young men whose in
terest in the region conferred in those
things which pertained to natural his
tory. Both were we'll dressed. Their
hands were white and smooth. In town
they might have been taken for bank
t%eliers. One morning, before the sun
had taken the chill out of the air, one
OF these guests, in a pair Of rather gem
teel top boots, wandered for a consider
able distance through the low palmetto
scrub. In his path he found q rattle
snake twice as long as the a wood
stick with which he walked.
1.-THE chill of the night air was still
IN the marrow of the reptile, and 1t was
an easy matter for the young naturalist
to clutch the snake just back Of his jaws
and hold him in a firm grasp with the
thumb and circling forefinger Of the
right hand. Carefully lifting the body
OF h snake with the left hand the nat
uralist started for the hotel with his
greatly valued prize, carrying his orange
wood cane under his left arm.
There is nothing else that so warns
the cookies OF a rattlesnake's heart as
The vertical rays of the sun, and before
n young naturalist had made half the
journey to the hotel, the captive snake
mad managed, unobserved, to twist his
tail about his captor's thigh. Thus an
chored, he gave an ablebodied pull, |
which was the n~aturalist's first intima- |
ton that the snake was putting off his |
sluggishness. With bis left hand the |
man was about to unwind the coil from
his thigh, but he found that if he lot 90
the snake at its middle the muscle of
a reptile would be too much for the
right hand grasp at its throat, which
the only safeguard against a stroke
from it's deadly fangs. So he frightened
his grasp upon the neck and quickened
his pace toward the hotel.
"The sun mounted toward the zenith
and his rays became warmer. They
gave strength and quickness to the cap
tive reptile. Instead of a steady draw
from the tightening coil around the
mans thigh came a series of angry
writings which severely tested the
strength in the hands and arms unused
endurance. With each commission a
'hange i'll the tint reflected from the
scales ran like a thrill from
is head to its tail, and then came the {,
warming rattle that nobody has to hear /,
second time in order that he may /;
now its meaning. The flag on the :
upola of the hotel hung limp in the {
'azy distance. The orange wood stick
lad fallen from beneath the arm of the s
Dung naturalist. A numbness was $
aklng possession of the muscles in his I
and wrists. He knew what that T
ieant. Meanwhile the diamond marked h
sptile was warming up for the strug- :
lie. His eyes from pits of molten lead
ad become deep set diamonds. His :
ngry writings were fearful to see. He
as venom incarnate.
ut was looking exceedingly serious,
to say desperate, for the young nat
'alist. Cheerfully would he have put t,
ide his enthusiasm in the cause of
fence and cast the reptile from him, 1
it that he could not do. The rattler's y
was coiled tightly about his leg,
ID it the man had loosed his hold upor
Q neck and middle of the reptile it's
ngs would have made their deadly
ark upon him while yet the coil was
broken. His life depended upon his +
the hotel before the strength O.
his arms gave cut, and how much al
he had left no knew not, for
Q numbness i'll them had driven ont eft
9 Of feeling. Again he quick. y,
ed bis pace. In
1T must have seemed an endless iour. co
= to tie young naturalist as he hurried IN
ing. his eyes fixed upon the writhing RI
except when they were raised Of
an instant to glance at the flag hang ~--
! above the hotel; but at last he was !
thin the grounds. His friend rushed for
ward from the little group on the n IN
'anda, but turned and ran back when r,H,
saw the look en- the young natu-
lists face. In q moment he appeared Pl
ii q strong cord and o cane, which regr
bad caught Up in the hallway. a. q
ito he wa tying a slip moose in the
4 bother OF the men spoke, but it p
) easy 10 500 that both knew there coa
no time to waste. s
AS the moose was slipped over the r."
head and frightened by means
the care q c0nyplsion fironger than
that had preceded it drew together
berumbed hands which held the Deen
creature, and they yielded to srno'
force that drew them toward the found
which now twice encircled the ened
8 thigh. kept
I've got him. said the man who body
the moose. IKc.
Well, kindly untwist his tail. MY not p'
Is arc o trife tired, said the other. -,
This service was done quickly, and !"
w0 young ~natura1ists went to their am ia
IS with their captive. z'VUt
saaong those who had stood speech IA.
these things were going on Can,
Rattlesnake Bob, a local snake ex- 'oc.s5
from up the creek. AS the young
disappeared be said, without shut. j.
his mouth: Luis
WAL, III be -i IL them dudes wool
t got gritr in FoI
Yes, said n of the guests.
PRO oafchino rnalroc fo,r Ana C~.stls