The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-06-25

in, and you kin bet was holdin' the door,
too The t'rantuly digs himself a hole in
the ground and fits door over 1t with
hinge on one side He makes the door out
of leaves and stocks and dirt gluin il all
together with some patent cement of his
own, and hangs Ii on a swivel, so it'n open
easy. When he's out on the Warpath he
leaves the door shut and when he comes
home he dashes up like a flash and gives
the door some sort of a hist. The trap
flies up and the spider drops in his den.
and the door closes down. The trick is
done so quick that no Twin man kin see
how it's done It's all you kin do to slip
a knife blade under the door. and you have
to pry hard to raise the trap. as the hairy
chap in the den holds on to 1t with all his
strength TO keep it shut
In their settlements is where used to
angle for trant. Ia first go out aud
ketch dozen or two O. brown lizards. 1
fished with light trout tackle. I'd run the
fine hook into the lizard about where the
tail always broke off when anything
grabbed it,, and draw il out half an inch
below The lizard didn't seem to have
any feelin' in the tail.
When everything was ready sneak up
and set on the edge of a spider colony.
Then II drop the lizard over on the adobe
ground. I don't know whether t'rant
can smell them lizards, or whether he kin
bait would scarcely touch the ground, and
begin to move off before popl pop! pop.
up come t'rant trap doors on every side
and the next second a dozen big spiders
would dash across the space between them
and the lizard, and come together at
common center in a mass of bristing hair
and claws. The lizard knowed she was
on dangerous ground the instant
she touched the adobe, and
would be making her best tracks
for safer pasture when the rush of
spiders came. One of them t'rants was
bound to grab that tail and the minute he
done it, sanpl it went, and away went
Miss Lizard. She was never followed by
any Of the trants, for the coming together
of the spiders and the necessary diSap-
pointment among all but one of EN- in
not gittin' a piece of the bait always
wound up in free fight. and that lasted
until the antics of the t'rant that had cap
tured the tail got to be so uncommon that
the others had to pause and look on in as
tonlshment.
THE hook in the lizards tail wouldn't
tarry, but would just bury itself in the
spiders jaw from the word GO and the
spider would begin to lay himself out in
dom some O. the highest old hornpipe
steps that any one ever looked at. When
the other spiders got a little over their
astCnishment at the COINS on of their
friend, they would turn tail and cut for
their dens like mad. Then they'd shove
their door half open and peek out to sec
the rest of the show By and by the spider
on the hook would start for his home, and
then I'd reel him back and start him tc
dancin' and jumpin and cuttin' pigeon
wings agin.
Sometimes a t'rant that was lookin'
on would come out of his hole and sneak
up by easy stages to see what was the
matter with his corhrade and then shoot
I Ir,a1 , ,a ~fz,a
soaring him to death. Sometimes as the
hooked t'rant would waltz and caper along
by another trants den the latter would
pop out and give the poor fellow a dig
and then pop back ag' in. Once a great big
t'rantuly, a brown fellow, seemed to take
the prancin of the spider I had hooked as
a challenge to come out. He pitched into
my spider and after few minutes fight,
| hooked as he was, I'm greaser if my
spider didn't knock the brown feller toes
up and kill him deader than a stone.
Sometimes a hooked trant would break
loose and then he'd sail around that set
Element bangin' at every door he'd come
to, until the whole population d sally
forth and join in a general engagement,
which never ended until half a dozen or
so of trants was stretched dead on the
field.
"Often I'd play a t'rant for half an hour
or more, and then I'd reel him up off the
ground and send pistol ball through him
as he jumpin' jacked it in the air. That
always ended the fun. I've hooked as
many as a dozen in one days ishin' and
only stopped then because 1 ran out O..
lizards. I'd like to take you out there TO
the foothills some time, stranger, and in
troduce you to trant fishin' and RATHER
bobbin. and lizard ketchin' and scorpion
-
But the passenger in the next seat took
his valise and moved to the other end of
the car while the big man was talking.
Then the big man knocked the ashes out
| of his pipe and went to sleep.