The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-07-22
A SNAKE FIGHT.
The Black Reptiles Victory was
Followed by Feast.

The Black Reptiles victory was
Followed by Feast.
Chambers Journal: It was in Austria
lla, and In the fall of the year. My
friend and were returning from tour
which had carried US far into the bush,
as the forests of gum. trees and scrub
are there called. We were walking
through clearing, when the unmis-
taxable rattle Of snake arrested US,
and in a few minutes we saw the be-
ginning Of a fierce encounter between
two deadly enemies-a blacksnake and
a rattle. These two branches of the
snake family are hereditary and i'm
placable foes. though what was the ori-
gin of the feud Darwin saith not. Be-
tween them there can be neither fellow
ship, amity, compromise nor even arm
ed neutrality. War to the death is
their unalterable law from generation
to generation. The blacksnake Is much
smaller than the rattle, but he is ter
rible, formidable foe, and, as science is
superior to mere size and strength, he
generally comes out victorious. He
seems to scent the battle Tor rather the
rattleJ from afar," and gives himself
no rest until he gains point of van
taEe from which he can make u sudden
swoop upon the noisy foe. on this oe-
casion we did not see the blacksnake
until he leaped on the rattle's throat,
nor did we afterwards make out how
he had got 50 near without being seen.
That power of silent, stealthy. rapid
movement gives the black fellow an i'm
mense advantage over the rattle enc
my. 1t is that, indeed, on which his
hope Of victory mainly depends. Let
the blacky by a sudden leap grasp the
throat OF the unwary rattle, and the
chances are he will never let go again
until death them do parts" but II that
first chance be lost. and the two meet
in fair fight. after fair warning, the
fangs Of the rattle are pretty sure to
gain him the victory.
In this instance no such misfortune
was the blacky's. He made his spring
and got his grip of the throat and there
he held on, like grim death" With a
fury that was sometimes awful the
rattle wriggled and shook, and rolled
and wrlthed. He leaped into the air.
twisted and tossed himself about,
banged his assaIlant down on the
ground, rolled on and over him. but all
In vain. Blacky simply stuck. Moth
ing could move him, nothing tempt him
or compel him to relax his hold for a
single moment. To have done so would
have been almost certain death to him
self; but, through all the rearingS, leap
ings, tosslngs, writings and hissings
of his victim, on he held with relent-
less tenaclty that was equal only to his
love of his own life and his hate Of his
foes,
Thus for more than an hour and n
half the life and death game was kept
up without a minutes intermIssIon,and
without any sign OF weakening on
either side. Then we preceIved that the
rattles strength seemed to be giving
way and all of sudden he coIled him
self up and lay still, as II to die.
Whether is was from sheer exhaustion
or only ruse to deceive his enemy, a
faint or n feint, we were not sure. We
thought It was the former, but blacky
evidently thought otherwise. He un-
derstood his enemy better than we did,
and did not mean to be tricked. Down
he lay by the side of the PROSTATE vic
tim, but with his teeth firmly set in the
now torn and crumpled throat.
Then, after n quiet interval the one
sided truce having come to an end. or
the ruse having failed. the rattle rose
again and renewed the unequal strug.
gle with the energy Of desperution--a
supreme struggle for life. Again he
reared and rolled and colled, and dart
ed up and down. forward and back
ward, carrying his enemy with him In
all his contortlons, trying by every con-
celvable twist to get his fangs into the
merclless foe; but all in vain. Then we
began to see in the poor victim renewed
signs OF failing strength; but notwlth-
standing Increasing weakness. he strug-
glcd for time continuously. then in
termlttently, until, more than two
hours and a half after the FIRST attack.
the poor rattle gave up the contest and
lay down to die. This time It was no
ruse. The poor fellow was done for,
and within ten or fifteen minutes after
the mute surrender he yielded up the
ghost. But even then blncky stlll stuck,
and II was not until the corpse began
to stlfrcn that he for the first time
withdrew tho nails which had been
driven nearly three hours before into
the sure plncc-the thront OF the I'M
happy rattle.
Then, the tragedy being ended. the
comedy began, and n comedy indeed It
was, at any rate to the two spectators.
on the part or the victor there was no
sign OF triumph. no dancing around the