Arizona republican., 1901-10-10
ONE OF THE BEST
A Snake Story That Is Told by sn
 Artist,

''Snakes is pecooliar things" said John Hance. the notorious discoverer of things and animals, the other day. as he rubbed his whiskers dry or his pants leg.
 ''I u:ster wonder how in thunder they made a livin' out on the desert and where they went to get a drink, and sech things, till one day I discovered all to onct something that made me do a lot of thinkin'.
 'I hadn't taken a drink for over three months-now, laugh. you durned fool. but it's fact: I'd been out on the desert four months and we was out of drinkin things.
 We was pretty nigh done out trav- elin'. and had been maxim slow time, too, over the sand. when We come to a place by the side of little knoll and sat down to rest and 'cuperate. It was along bout sundown.
 We hadn't been settin' there long till we heerd a kinder 'chug, chug. chug' noise a-hitten of the earth pretty reggler like, and we sot thar .wonderin' what in thunder could be a-doiu round thar. The other fellers got scart almost ter death. and spishoned that it was ghosts on the desert or sum other durned thing. because 1t was so pecooliar and onaccountable noise.
 ''Fearin' nothin' and bein' man of unoompromsin' disposishun. I crept slowly toward the hill where the noise come frum, gradually and slow, with
 my rife at my side. When I got juct under the brow of the knoll l heerd sounds like this: Err. b-r-r. br--- rupt. chug,' I got more and more mys- terrified. and I'll be gol danged If all the nice curly rinkles didn't sorter com mence to cum out O my hair. and my scalp kept curlin' up till my ears, got tired of tryin' ter shove my hat off. Howsumever. I kept my crawlin' up. usin' all my morrel courage to do it. too.
 Well. sir. may I be tuck fer mill yonaire CT a parson the rest O my days if there want big snakes. little snakes and mcjum sized snakes, all in seemin' great excitement. doia' some kind of game that made me ez curi- ous as antelope.
 Thar was d big rock that run up slantin' like. and the other end was rig up severil feet frum the ground. Well, sir. them snakes was comin' up ter the top of that rock frum the slantin' side and thay was a big rattler settin' up ter one side. with his tail in the air. w NOuau lHt SlSildl Wlln his tail-'b-r-r. b-r-r. b-r-rupt-kini of a one. two three business. away would go one of them air snakes over that rock till he struck the edge: then he would jump up and out. and stiffen Up his hull boddy. and come down with a chug. tail end first, on the ground.
 Fact. by gosh. I stayed round there till they all quit work and went homo fer the night. then went over to see what in thunder thay was doin'.
 I'll be everlastin' unsoaked if thay wasn't drillin' fer water fer every snake hit in the same hole with his tail. and the hole was as straight as ar TOW. too. I never knowed before whut made so many short. thick snakes. but here was the hull mystery solved"
 How did you know they were drill ing for water?" asked the smart young man who always hangs around where men Of intelligence are conversing.
 Know, Know," snorted the old phil osophcr. Why. dunn it. there was the green switch what they had found the vein of water with. like any othe.' water witch would: huh
 Then for fear he might have been bitten by a snake when too much inter- ested in their work to notice it, John q absorbed.-CocOninoS Sun.