The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-04

declare to goodness, I could almost hear
that snake snore!
L began to get sleepy myself, and I'd
nave dropped Off to sleep too II some
thing hadn't begun 10 happen just then
saw the point of the snapper's nose COM
ing cautiously out of the shell again. Pret-
ty soon the head was out so far that
could see the snapper's eyes. The snap-
per rolled them back and the outlook
must have been satisfactory, for the head
Kept on coming out until It was out neck
and all. The snapper began to unfold its
legs gently, until 1t had risen on all tours
with no more fuss than if the reptile had
been raised with a hydraulic jerk Then
away IL started toward the pond, slow and
cautious and careful as if il was a train
ed elephant In a circus walking over it's
master. 1t was all done so Slick and
smooth that the sleeping RATHER on the
snappers back never knew thing about
II. 1t took the snapper a good while to
get to the pond, but it got there al last
with the rattler still snoozing away like
a drunken sailor The snapper slid into
the pond as If it had been creased, and
kept its back high and dry above the
water as 1t swan stealthily along. bearing
the unconscious RATHER further and furth-
er from shore, and when it had got about
twenty feet out into the pond the snapper
sank like plummet.
''Of course, the water washed the rat
tier from the snapper's back and the rat
tier woke up the most surprised member
of the animal kingdom that ever was He
thraehed and squirmed in the water but
before he got his bearings or knew where
he was at ! observed him disappear so
quick and sudden that i felt thar some
thing must have yanked him down from
below. A minute later | was sure of II.
for the RATHER came to the surface dead.
and few seconds afterward the snapper
appeared there too, very much alive. 1t
had snatched the RATHER under and drown
ed him. There was nothing clearer to my
observation than that. After glaring at
its dead foe for a while the snapper swan
ashore, crawled back to its old place end
shut itself up i'm its shell again. l hadn't
time to stay there any longer to observe
the cunning creature, so l concluded to
take it to the farmhouse where / was
staying and observe II at my leisure.
tapped the snapper on the back with a
stick. Up It rose and out shot Its head
and tail. 1 grabbed the tail and lugged
the surprised snapper home with me. The
reptile didn't like 1t much there, and the
folks didn't take to the reptile much at
first, but after I had fed it and coaxed
it up a day or so 1t grew contented and
the folks wouldn't have sent IL away for
a small farm. The snapper hadn't been
there three days before 1t had coaXed an
old hens brood of chickens on its back
and was giving them a ride on the goose
pond, greatly to their delight and to the
terror of the old hen who ran brlstling
and clucking all around the pond until the
snapper brought her chicks in at last and
delivered them safe and sound and happy
10 their angry mother. The hen pitched
into the snapper with beak and claws, but
the snapper pulled itself into its shell and
didn't say a word. When / left there a
week later they had that remarkable
beast running the churning machine and
It was buckling into IL better than a churn
sheep and seemed all but tickled to death"