St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1902-04-12


/ was startled when | noticed that
could see the little stream by looking
down between my knee and the Skin
of the saddle She stood there per
fectly still, with the one exception
that her intelligent eyes were turned
on me in an inquiring sort of way.
was nervous about the place and pro
voked with her for stopping and wax
ing me from my reverie. These mat
ters did not have much weight will
her, for she made no effort to respone
when l chirruped and told her to g
| on about her business. For perhaps {
minute she stood still, but when
raised my quirt and made motion a.
if l was going to bring it down on he1
! rough side, she laid her ears back OF
her neck and switched her tail witt
menace in every movement. l hae
never quarreled with her before, bu1
l was provoked and finally struck he1
with the whip. She quivered all over
but made no effort to obey me. Agar
l brought the lash down and at the
same time drove home my rather crue
Mexican spurs. She turned and gave
me look that | will never forget as
long as / live, and said as distinctly as
anything ever heard: We'll, look out
for yourself, I'm going to town Hell
remark was only barely finished when
she added: Cling tight with your
knees, this is bad place.
II saw that she was about to start
quick, SO l settled myself in the saddle
and she certainly did start. She left
the place where she had been standing
and shot right straight out into the
air for distance that seemed to me
a hundred feet. When she landed we
were still in the deer trail and she
made several more astounding leaps
The hair on my head stood upright
between the effects of the wind and
my fright. On the mountain side OF
the trail, right ahead of us, was
bowlder about the size of freight
car, and beyond it several other
stones of smaller size. Now that was
the particular spot in the whole
length of the trail that frightened me
most. In passing over it before had
said more prayers than ever said be-
fore or since that summer. The big
bowlder projected so far over the
trail that my leg often came gently IN
contact with it when we passed that
way. In order to pass the rock Dolly
swerved out, and for a fraction OF a
second we hung over precipice near
" half a mile above the rocky bottom
of the canyon. She had to almost bend
her body in order to regain the course
of the trail after passing the rock, and
in doing so my left leg came against
the rock with force that makes me
sick to remember even now. The blow
must have been powerful one, for as
she scraped past felt the girths give
and heard the rending tear OF the web
bling as it gave way. Down went, but
luckily on the hillside in the trail. !
struck hard enough to render me I'M
conscious. Isuppose must have been
where fell for several minutes before
I came to, and then learned my les
son. About ten feet from my head,
coiled, and with head and tail ready to
do business, was the grandfather OF
all the rattlesnakes ever saw.
HE was in a most perturbed state OF
mind, too, shaking his rattles and NOV
ing his head slowly from side to side.
l had read that rattler will not de-
iberately go hunting for trouble, and
will not modest person if the person
will treat him with the same measure
of consideration. I looked at the rat
tier, and / guess he looked me over
pretty carefully, and I believe did not
find much favor in his sight, for after
a few moments of hair-raising sus-
pense on my part, he slowly crawled
away and lost himself in the rocks.
BY that time the pain in my leg had
succeeded the numbness which fol-
lowed the shock. thought the limb
was broken, but pretty soon found
that could wiggle my toes, and con-
sequently was immensely relieved.
But, to my dismay, when 1 tried to get
up from where had fallen 1 found
that I could not bear any of my weight
on the injured leg. There l was on the
side of a mountain ten miles from
camp, in the middle of the blazing day.
Furthermore, l knew that the first
person who would pass that way was
one of the timekeepers, and that he
could not be reasonably expected be-
fore about four o'clock. 1 had just de-
termined to crawl along the trail and
find some sort of shelter, when !
raised my head and say Dolly without
the saddle walking sedately around
the bend in the side of the mountain.
I called to her and she slowly came
up to where lay, and after looking me
all over with distinct disapproval al
lowed me to pull myself up by her legs
and after a struggle to throw my in
jured limb across her bare back. Ely
head was swimming, and to use COM
mon expression I was all OUT But
put my arms around that old mares
neck and she carried me back to camp.
Now if a man ever could learn any
thing about a horse by rights ought
to be that man, but do you know it
was fully two weeks before 1 realized
that the mare had smelled-or heard
the snake rattle, and stood still behind
the rock in order to give his snakeship
a chance to get out of the trail. Then
when / remember that she came back
to me and carried me to camp when I
was sorely injured, surely ought to
have been able to gather a lesson in
horse sense from it, but in my ignor-
ance I thought it had just happened
No, you can never tell about a horse"
N. o. Times-Democrat.