Cañon City record., 1898-02-03
The BLUE DRYAD. +!
ny G. II. posueli.

CTOFFLES was her name, a familiar
- abbreviation, and Mephistophelean
vas her nature. She had all the usual
ices Of the feline tribe. including a
ioubKe portion Of those which men are
70 fond of describing as feminine. Vain,
,ndOIent. selfish. with a highly-culti-
vated taste for luxury and neatness in
her personal appearance, she was dis
tinguished by all those little irritat-
ing habits and traits for which nothing
but an efIeminate heart-a thing in
her case conspicuous by its absence
can atone.
We live in a comfortable, old-fash-
toned house facing the highroad. Isay
we. but in fact for some months had
been alone, and my husband had just
returned from one of his sporting and
cientific expeditions in South Amer
ica. He had already won fame as q
naturalist, and had succeeded in bring
ing home alive quite variety of beasts.
usually of the reptile order, whose ex-
treme rarity seemed to me n merciful
provision of nature. But all his pre-
vious triumphs were completely
cclipsed, I soon learned, by the capture
alive. on this last expedition, of an
abominably poisonous snake, known to
those who knew il as the blue dryad,
)r more fnmilinrly. in backwoods slang,
as the 'hslf-hour striker" in vague ref
erence to its malignant and fatal quail
ities
Being in extremely delicate health at
Z H.. t.vp. r ra.I y rdly 7 lpexy
othing of these grewsome details un
il afterward. Henry tthat is my hus-
iand) after entering my room with
robust and sunburned appearance that
did my heart good. merely observed
as soon as we had exchanged greeting
that he had brought home a pretty
snake which wouldn't do the slightest
harm"-an evasive assurance which lac
cepted as became n nervous wife of an
naturalist 1 believe I
insisted on it's not coming into the
o,tsc. Fortunately the weather was
cry hot. so II was decided that the
.lne dryad. wrapped in flannel and
ecurrly confined in a basket. should be
eft in the sun and the furthest cor
rr of the verahds. during the hour or
o ia the afternoon when my husband
sad to visit the town on business.
lie had gone on with n cousin of
nine. an officer of engineers in India,
stationed. think. AT Lahore. aud home
IN leave. remember that they were a
long time, or what seemed to me a
org time. over their luncheon; and
the las, remark of our guest as he came
,ut of the dining-room remained in
ards
iii run in the head OF an Idle invalid
nut up for the most part of the day
~ silent room. What lac said was,
the positive tone of one emphasizing
curious and surprising statement:
'D'you know. by the Way. it's the one
niIpai that doesn't care a rap for the
eebra?'' And then. my husband seem
irg 10 express disbelief and n desire TO
change the subject as they entered my
boudoir: -Ii's holy fact: Goes for il,
% smart, Has the beggar on toas; be-
fore yon can say Jack Robinson,'
The observation did no, interest me.
but simply ran in my head Then they
came into my room, and only for a few
moments, as I was not to be tired. The
engineer tried TO amuse StofYie., who
was seized with such fit ofmortal bore
dom that he transferred his attentions
to Ruby. the Gordon rest-r. devoted
and iuseparlble friend of mine. under
whose charge I Was shortly left as
they went out.
suppose ! may have been asleep for
ten minutes or 40 when i was awak-
ened by the noise Of Ruby's heavy body
jumping out through the open win
dow. Feeling restless and seeing me
asleep. he had imagined himself. en-
titled to a short spell of guard. Had
the door not been osiensibly latched he
would hare made his way out by il.
being thoroughly used TO open doors
and such fricks--a capacity which, in
fact. proved fatal TO him. That it was
saw in a few moments,
FOR the dog on his return forced IL
open with a push and trotted up in a
disturbed manner to my bedside. 1
noticed tiny spot of blood on the black
side of his nose. and naturally supposed
he had scratched himself against a
bush or q piece of wire. Ruby" ] said,
"what have you been doinHe" Then he
whined as IL In pain. crouching close to
my side. and shaking In every limb.
with shawl over my feet on deep
sofa with a high back. l turned To-
look at Stoffics, who was slowly peram-
bulating the room, looking for hics and
other insccts-her fsvorite amusement
-ou tho wainscot. When l glanced
again at the dpg. his appearance filed
me with horror; he was standing. OBJ
yiously from pain, swaying from side to
side and breathing hard. As watched.
his body grew more and morc rigid.
With his eyes fixed on the half-open
door, he drew back as II from the APP
proach of some dreaded object. raised
his head with a pitiful attempt at bark,
which broke of into n stihcd 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 stoed. close TO my side. per-
haps meaning to defend me. Unable
to resist the uninteilIgibie idea that
the dog had been frightened to death. l
followed the direction Of his last gaze.
and at first saw nothing. The next mo.
menf I observed round the corner of
,hc veranda door n small, dark. and
slender object, swayinr gently up and
down like dry bourh in the wind.
I, had passed right into the room with
the same slow regular motion before
I realized what It was and what had
happened. My poor, stupid Ruby must
have noscd Mt the basket on the yer-
anda till he succeeded somehow In open.
ing IL. and been bitten In return for
his palms by the nbowinnbie beast,