The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1898-11-30

pressed, defensive attltuue.- WIKI dh
four feet close together. near. but not
100 near, the unknown but clearly nos
tile intruder; and to my surprise the
snake turned and made off toward the
window. Stofaes trotted lightly after,
obviously interested in its method OF
locomotion. Then she made long
ann and playful!y dropped paw upon.
its tail. The snake wrigg!ed free in
moment. and coiling It's whole length,
some three and half feet, fronted this
new antagonist.
The audacity of the cat astonished
me from the first. I have no reason to
believe she had ever seen a snake. be-
fore, yet by sort Of instinct she seemed
to know exactly what she was doing.
As the dryad raised its head, with gilt
tering eyes and forked tongue, Stofaes
crouched with both front paws in the
air, sparring as had seen her do some
times with a large moth. The first
round passed so swiftly that mortal eye
could hardly see with distinctness what
happened. The snake made a dart, and
the cat, all claws, TWO rapid blows atlts
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. BIZ
stoHes crept after it. with an air Of at
tractive carelessness which was instant
" rewarded. A full two feet of the
drvad's body Strengthened like black
arrow, and seemed to strike right into
the furry side of its antagonist
seemed, I sag, to slow7going human
ewes; but the latter shrank, literally
fell back, col,apsing with such sudden
ness that she seemed to have turned
herself inside out, and become the mere
skin of a cat. AS the serpent recovered
itself, she pounced on it like lightning.
driving at least half dozen claws Wei
home, and then, apparently realizing
that she had not good enough hold,
spranp lightly into the air from on the
BODY, alighting abouta yard of. There
followed minute OF sparring IN tne
air; the snake seemingly half afraid TO
strike, the cat waiting on its every
movement.
Now the poisonous snake when pro-
voked is an irritable animal, and the
next attack of the dryade raaddened oy
the scra tchings Of puss and it's own un-
successful exertions, was so furious,
and so close to myself, that shuddered
for the result. I could not have left my
position on the sofa without almost
treading upon Stofaes, whose bristhng
back was not yard from my feet. At
last, thoughts the blue. dryad, foS
one second coiled close as black Six SIX
cable, sprang out the next as straight
and sharp as the piston-rod Of an en-
cine-this lump of feline vanity and
corceit is done for, and-l could not
help thinking-it will probably be my
turn next! Little did appreciate the
resources of Stofies, who, without
change in her vigilant pose, without a,
wink cf her fierce green eyes, sprang
backward and upward on to the top OF
me, and there confronted the enemy
calmly as ever, sitting, if you please,
upon my feet!
Trembling all over with fright, I
could not but observe that she was
trembling toe-with rage. The last
act rapidly approached, and no more
strategic catastrophe was ever seen.
For snake, as everybody knows, natur-
ally rears its head when fighting. In
that position, though one may hit it
with stick, it is extremely daicut,
as this battle had shown, to get hold OF.
Now, as the dryad, curled to a capital S,
quirering and kissing advanced for the
.ast time to the charge, it was bound
to strike across the edge of the sofa on
which lay, at the erect head of StofHes,
which vanished with a juggling celerity
that would have disiocated the collar
bone Of any other animal in creation.
From such an exertior the snake re-
covered itself with an Obvious effort,
quick beyond question, but not nearly
quick enough. Before could well see
that it had missed its aim, Stofies had
launched out like spring released, and,
burying eight or ten claws in the back
of its eneny's head, pinned it down
against the stiff cushion Of the sofa.
The tail of the agonized reptile flung
wildly in the air and tapped on the
arched back of the imperturbab.e
tigress. The whiskered muzzle of
Stotfles dropped quietly, and her teeth
met once, twice, thrice, like the needle
and hook Of a sewing machine. in the
neck of the blue dryad; and when, aft
er much deliberation, she lett SO. the
beast fell into limp tangle on the floor.
From the gland of the beast, as
afterward learned, they extracted
enough poison to be the death of 20
ful,-grow.n human beings. Tightly
clasped between it's minute teeth was
found fesv long hairs, late the proper
ty of StoMes.-From animal Episodes
and Studies in Sensation"