Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1903-04-16
Tusk and Coil
BY DALLAS LORE SHARP.

ID Well, no: but still, il You can
call q big scare an adventure then l
have had one. 40 least 4 museum
makers life is as humdrum, for the
most part, as the average mans,
though once in awhile he is pretty
sure to have a strange berth. The
nearest / ever came to escaping was
from this specimen here" lie point
ed TO a jar IN which hung the head and
skin of what had once been huge dia-
mond rattlesnake.
1T was while ] was collecting rep
tiles on the Altamaha river. We had
been along Cedar creek and were maxi
ing across the swamp toward the rail-
road at Lumber City. We had been
out several days and every bag was
full. / never saw snakes as we saw
them there. If there Is a snake heaven
anywhere, then il lies in that stretch
of swamp between Cedar Creek and
Lumber City And that Is original
bona fide swamp. too, along the Al
tamaha. had heard of dismal
swamps. and thought had seen them,
but never till I camped among the
cypress Of the Altamaha.
"The day before we reached the
railroad we caught this big fellow here
in the bottle. We had to spill out
whole bagful Of smaller specimens to
make room for him. but he was the
largest and the most beautifully
wicked rattlesnake | had ever seen.
i had 10 have him. He was over five
feet long. thicker in the middle than
nv upper arm. and all a-glitter with
color and malice.
"There was no serpentine taper and
grace about him. Not any. Power
only. and malignity. compressed and
concentrated. His body was sawed
square off at the tail, and his thick
neck sweIled into the head that you
see here. Put poison into those heavy
laws and glitter into those eyes and
YOU viii have a face as devilish as ever
crawled the earth.
ave had a tussle 10 bag him. We
finally got him. however, without
rucked scale or broken fang.
COMBS. a naturalist along with me.
shouldered him for the afternoon and
we kept on toward the station. Along
near night we struck a trail. but the
blazings were few and faint and there
were no signs OF a ca bin in sight when
the darkness began 10 fall. II was
time to look sharp for bed In half
an hour more the swamp would be as
black as the heart of the Catacombs
There is no place on earth where the
darkness falls faster and thicker than
in those cypress swamps Of the south.
eve soon found little knoll that
was high enough 10 give MS dry
berth. and. leaving our specimens at
the foot of a cypress. we laid down
within easy reach of them and began
to wait for daylight.
"Sleep seemed out of the question.
We hadn't even an oyercoat for cover
ing. and II was along in October. We
put our backs together and warmed
up a little: but the night air had a
deadly chill in IL. II was grewsome
Mace. too. The silence was awful.
There is something about tall cy-
press with its draping moss. some
thing in the depth and stirlessness Of
the night in those great swamps,
that's like the grave. 1t was so still
that / seemed to hear the cypress
needles let go and fall. The autumn
had come far enough TO hush the in
sects: but off in the dead. dark calm
the cry of an owl now and then OF
the whinny Of coon would give the
quiet tongue.
"For a long time il was a struggle
between WEAKNESS and cold; but at
last WEAKNESS won the field, and we
went to sleep.
sit must have been near midnlght. 1
don't know. But the moon was high
above the swamp. when felt her iight
upon nv face. Nothing ever touched
me more softly than the fingers OF
that moonbeam. Nothing ever woke
me more thoroughly. The scream OF
a wild cat. the touch of cold Steel
could not have done it more effectuai-
". And vet. had not moved muscle.
I could not. The soft touch that woke
me gripped me like death.
81 had rolled completely over II my