The Savannah morning news., 1901-07-16

foot by way of a zig-zag path through
the woods.
He always carried a small lantern
which, when he rides his velocipede car
he hangs on the front as a headlight.
One night he received a telephone mes
sage to come to the Forest to attend
woodsman who was very i'll. 1t was al
most midnight when he left home. The
moon shone brightly and he did not
light the lantern. At the end of the run,
however, where he left the car he de-
tached the lantern and carried it in
his hand, thinking he might need 1t to
ligh his way back.
In his other hand he carried a medi-
cine case, which contained among 9TH
er things a pint bottle of chloroform.
At a point along the way the path
runs through a small clearing where
once the stable of lumber camp stood.
This is now grown over with crop or
grass nearly a foot high.
DR.. Delaney had just stepped into
this grass-covered clearing when he
was startled by the smart unmistak-
able sound of a snakes rattle at his
feet. Involuntarily he leaped forward,
landing almost in the centre of the
grass plot, when to his horror and dis
may, he heard a chorus of rattles. The
sounds seemed to come from all sides
step on the venomous snakes, and to
stand still seemed almost as perilous.
He lighted his lantern that he might
see where to step, but the sudden glare
of the lamp had a most startling effect
upon the snakes. Lifting the lantern
above his head, so that its rays be
cast in radius covering the grass plot,
the doctor beheld a sight that made his
blood run cold. He found himself prac-
h o11 ~, hxre 10, q W
no less than a dozen of the serpents,
and every one of them had risen to
hight so that their heads were from
six to ten inches above the top of the
| grass. The light of the lantern had
evidently caused the rattlers to take
this position, but the chorus or rafting
that was kept up constantly made the
shivers run down the doctors spine.
| Turn in any direction he might he
found himself confronted with the ug-
| ly head of one of the venomous crea-
lures, each one ready to strike at an
approaching foe. Some of the snakes
were within four or five feet of him,
but none appeared to move, except as
they swayed their heads in a rhythmic
movement that set the doctors head
| awhirl.
| He dared not move lest one of the
snakes sink its deadly fangs into his
| bOuSg yet he lOuIlQ UlIlSSll
| sick and faint from a nauseating odor
that arose from the ugly reptiles.
| The snakes, evidently drawn to the
clearing from the woods, had collected
| there for a nocturnal sesta and 1t
was his luck to walk into this charmed
| circle and become a prisoner, much as
| the fly became a prisoner in the spi-
| der's web.
But a bright thought struck him. He
had no weapon with which to fight his
| way out, but lying within reach of
| him, half concealed in the grass, was a
piece of bark, probably three feet long.
| He knew the effect of chloroform on
| breathing things, and he determined
to outwit the deadly rattlers. Wrap
| ping a handkerchief as best he could
| about one end of the bark, while he
still held aloft the beacon light, he
saturated the cloth with chloroform
from his bottle. Then, cautiously polk
ing the bark at the heads of the rear
ing snakes, one after another again
and ENTHUSIASTICALLY renewing the
saturation-he finally had the salts
faction of seeing the snakes begin to
| slowly and drowsily descend into the
| grass.
Their rafting, which had lessened
| from a shrill whizz to a lazy buzz,
| finally stopped altogether, and inside
| of ten minutes the doctor had conquer
| ed the whole Gordon of reptiles.
He then escaped unframed from
! their midst and proceeded to the camp
From there three men, with torches
| were sent back to the grass patch to
| dispatch the snakes. They found the
reptiles in a half dormant condition.
When they had cleaned up the bunch
| they had just sixteen rattlesnakes,
among that number two of the yellow
variety, each of which measured over
| five feet in length.