Perth Amboy evening news., 1905-02-02

'N vi tIuus 10 hurry UP Tue udIrs
cause he wanted It.
'Tother side o that spring, maybe
a couple hundred wards. he overlook
a pack pedler who was Tudging along,
and Dan tried to walk along with him
Tor company, but the pedler Travelled
too slow for Dan. and he pulled out
and left him behind
When Dan come TO the little run
across the road he thought II must
come from a spring. and bein' mortal
thirsty he looked for 1t. The grease
was runnin' down bis face. and ali
through his hair, aud he said the heat
had made it smell 4 leetel worse thar
common, If that could be.
Dan found the spring and took a
good drink, and swashed his face in il
awhile. Then he started on. He
hadn't gone mor than 90 PAGES when
he heard a most appallin' y-- behind
him. He looked back and seen the
pedler he had passed layin' in the road
and within tremendous.
Dan ran back as fast as he could 10
see h was the matter. The pedler
was clutchin' his neck with enc hand.
His yes was starin', and his + e was
purple. He recognized Dan and man
aged to say:
IA RATHER bit me in the neck! Yen
der he lsys!"
Dan looked where the ped,er w2s
pointin', and there, sure enough, lay a
big RATHER at the edge o the bushes that
MD the spring. coiled up and glarin' like
fury. Before Dan could grab a club and
XIII the snake. the pedler threw him.
self forward and grabbed the RATHER.
The snake sank his fangs into the man
again, this time at the wrist. The ped
Ter tore the snake in two and throwed
the parts on the ground and stamped
EN- into the earth.
He was able to tell Dan before he
keeled over, with his head and neck
swelled most to bursting, that he had
kneeled at the spring to get a drink
when the r%attler, that laid in the ferns
on t'other side O the spring, had struck
him, sinkin' its fangs so deep in his neck
that when he sprung backward TO the
road and fell there he drug the snake
back with him. The poor fellow died In
a short time. Dan put his body In the
bushes and went on to find somebody TO
tell the news TO.
THAT crumblin' old derrick that you
see over yonder on the hill was the we'll
that I was hclpin' put down at that time,
and Dan came over there with his news.
Lucky for me that RATHER wasn't
there when l stuck my head over that
spring. wasn't it?" says Dan.
1.-THE snake was there, all right"
says |. you was d~octorin' that bald heal
o your'n. There's where the luck comes
in. If it hadn't beer for the smell o. that
bald head cure" says the pedler
would be here now askin' us to go bac.i
and help plant you" | says. INSTEAD o,
you beinF here askin' the favor for him.
Rattlers will squat and lay down close
when they smell crude grease" | says.
I'VE went back with Dan and buried
the pedler where you Seen hat num-
mock. and the spring has been called
Dead Mans Spring eveflsince.'
II didn't make any remark abou. tbs
story for some time, and then, with a
grin that meant to be ~aggrayating, /
said:
did Dan MitchelFs hair come in?'
Ibid it, exclaimed the native, and /
saw that my grin had not been in the
least ~aggravating. You bet IL die.
Shocks of it.! But twas a great Gisap-
ointment to Dan
"'Dica Dnpiutment2' said
Yes replied the native, Tipping a
fly from his horse. The hair ought to
been black, but it come in as white as
his grandfather's, Dan got setch a scare
over that narrow escape o. his'n.'
"When We got to the place where W
we're going | told the man at the tavern
to let my driver have what he wanted
and charge it to me. The bill was a
%rouser, but | didn't ~begrudge the cost,
\. Y. Sun.