The Savannah morning news., 1903-11-15
By AMOS R. ELLIOTT.
Copyright, 1908, by T. C. Mcclure.

"Jim," said the eldest of the four
miners, gathered about the evening
camp fire, ''fore we turn in loop yer
lariat round the camp. an If it amt
long enough, tie mine onto it,
What for?" asked the youngest of
the prospectors, his beardless face
looking questioningly across the Goals
to the bearded pioneer who had
spoken.
WALL" continued the latter, III you
amt pertickler, 1 amt. P'raps We
like to wake up with six-foot RATHER
fer bed mate. 1 amt got none O.
these yere Eastern prejudices agin
snakes, but must say 1 don't like 'em
to sleep with"
The young fellow understood and
Iooped the lariat around the spot
where the four had spread their COM
forters and blankets about the fire. No
snake will cross a rope.
'S'far's 1 am concerned" said one of
the men who had not spoken, ''ye
needn't spread the rope. I've got a
particklery high respect fer snakes,
an If one lonely RATHER likes to bunk
with me- he kin an welcome"
"Yas, Bill, l reckon we've seen con-
siderable O. snakes" commented the
old man, down thar in Arizona. I've
heard tell as the rattlers thar Is
mighty intelligent an they say We kin
tame 'em."
Tame 'em!" exclaimed Bill. ''Ye
don't need to tame em; they're tame
already, If We only get acquainted with
'em. Now, thar was my RATHER Mike.
what 1 had fer three summers. as
smart as any human. an If he had
known just a little more bout chem
istry, I'd we had him yet, but he
crawled into a powder key, which
started rollin' down hill till 1t struck
a rock, an that was the last O. pow
der keg an Mike. too
What tricks could Mike do?" in
quired the unsophisticated Jim, with
youthful interest.
wall, l don't know as he had any
pertickler tricks, no more'n you nor I
have" said Bill, but he was jest an
all round educated snake. He had
Judgment, Mike had: We didn't have to
teach him. He could take in stu
alton at a glance himself. We got ac-
quainted in very natrul way. He
crawled under my blanket one night,
an next mornin'. when 1 sees him. 1
SEE:
Good mornin.' subj An then he
nodded at me. an after that we was
partners.
1T didn't take me long to rekernize
the fact that Mike was powerfully
smart, even for a snake. Bless you,
the way he took to civilization was
wonderful. One mornin', as 1 came up
from the erik with some water for
cookin', saw Mike had got hold O.
one O. my plugs o. terbacker, an he
was bitin' off piece, an then he
chawed it, same's you an I would.
But the funniest part was the way
he'd shet one eye an squirt the Juice
through his teeth from one side of his
mouth, sames held seen me do. The
little cuss, / larfed an larfed, COS /
knew he was a maxim fun O. me.
wall, thar was nothin' really Won
derful about that, considerin how
quick Mike was to pick up new ways.
He was a sinful little cuss, though, an
took quick 20 all my bad habits. II
wasn't safe to leave any bottles Of ta-
rantala Juice around, cos he had a
way o. gettin' out the cork and film
hisself. Lord, how he would carry on
when he got loaded-jest whoop around
the camp huntin' trouble, tumblin' all
over hisself.
Most amusin', though, was the way
he'd smoke my pipe. After he took
to that habit, i got him a pipe. an
we'd jest laze about the fire o. even
ms, putin away an winkin' at each
other.
But let me tell we the real smart
things Mike could do. Ye never saw
any man as could smell color the way
he could. When / was out prospectin
I always had Mike along, coiled about
the pack saddle of my donkey. When
I'd get to promisin' lookin' spot. I'd