The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1906-07-26
ON THE MAN AND THE SNAKE N0
S 80. BY 4. MTRRIELEs. NN

BY e. MIRRIELES.

Law baked and breathless. Over 1t the
tense air quivered with heat Within,
no bird futtered nor water purled nor
green plant raised its head Only the
desert children, sage-brush and grease
wood and long-spined cactus. gray but
never dying. lived on there in the
drought. sterile and forDidding as the
land which gave them birth.
Everywhere was silence upon the
Mace. everywhere was immobllity, save
where the man lay and where beside
him the bound snake whlrred and
writhed and ratified in the impotent
fury IF fear.
The man lay stretched on the hot
earth. stark naked, his face turned to
the sky. A buckskin thong passed
across his throat and was drawn taut
between two roots of sage-brush. The
moose which held his ankles was Sc
cured about clump of greasewood
and both arms thonged at the wrists,
stretched wide as in crucifiXion.
Heavy bands of buckskin spanned his
body so that to the prisoner there was
left but two possible movements. He
could turn his head from side to side,
facing on the one hand the snake, on
the other the miniature forest of sage
brush; and he could clench and un-
clench his pinioned hands.
In this last freedom the final in
genuity of savage captors had found
expression. With the left hand tight
clenched. the snakes wild stroke fell
just short of its aim. Should sleep
or nsensibllty relax the fingers, the
reptiles head might overlap him.
Since early morning, through the
increasing heat of the day, t.,e man
had lain there, grim and silent as the
gray hills around him, save when now
and then he raised his hoarse voice
in defiant shouts. The snake, on the
other hand, struggled and fought un-
ceasingly against the cord which held
him, striking impartially at it. at the
just removed fingers or at the wooden
stake TO which the cord was tied,
grovelllng his body in the sandy earth,
wrlthing and tugging with protrudlng
tongue, and all the while translating
in whirr and hiss the blind fear of
his captivity.
Sometimes the man turned his head
to watch once or twice when the
snaka's movements tagged he slightly
stirred his fingers in the sand, the ruse
each time rewarded by the swift spring
ana trultless stroke. But mostly he
lay still, all his mind bent on endur-
ance
The man had been placed there to
ule. lie knew 1t and the knowledge
tinged his thoughts with a strange
curiosity. There were three ways in
which death might reach him; through
the snake, through sunstroke or by the
weary route of thirst and hunger. The
second and quickest of these ways the
light mountain air, vibrantly hot
though 1t might be, rendered improb-
HDle For the snake, it wag part of
the mans torment that at any minute
he might stretch forth his hand and
by the movement invite an end. brief
indeed but horrible to the mind.
uouoly horrible to the strained mag-
ination.
Ihere was one other chance. An
unexpected rain-storil, heavy night
uew IN that barren place. would so
stretch the slender buckskin thong
"hlch held the rattler that unaided he
nisht reach and strike his victim.
rms was the element of uncertainty
III the grim problem This 1t was that
sent the mans eyes searching the bare
hori2on with n look half dread, half
longing.
on one of these weary journeys Of
n'sht tiny speck Of black above the
western hills attracted hhu-a steady
pih'polht in the dazzling blue. He
snut MS eyes Il moment in order TO
,ooA again the more intently, and when
ne opened them, 10, the dark points
were two. He watched them uncom.
ptenehdingly' as slowly and steadily
nlgh IN air they moved from west to
cast when Mt last in mid-heayen the
euiis Sheer strength beat down his
suAe' he was the lonelier for loss of
'nIs one sign Of movement.
Vhe sense of heat hau by now oro,cn
.nto anguish The mans exposed body
urew ana qniyered beneath the sun's
rays as though each inch of II were
endowed with Il separate life Unseen
insects brushed ANA nuttered upon If
,eaVihg bcneath their light pressure n
',"ii IKE hre On the bllstered surface
Inc snake lay prone, exhausted nj.
iost beyond striking. The man NOT
lns H. smiled grlmly and scroned his
nnsers hoisily in the loose earth As
,ne snake whlrlod TO front the choI.
,ense' ne curled his hand close with a
'"unt Tor Its futile effort
ne was thus engrossed when s,d
ueniy across his face swept n sense
OF delicious coolness. ue turned h,s
neau close above him almost within
.ouch OF his free hand, a great blooI,
pira' carrlon in every movcmont hov,
ered on steady, outsprcad wings It's
snuuow Tell across his face: its eves
peauiike and listening and ereedv
looked straight into his own.
hor an instant they stared tins man
ana bird. Then with cry the mar
nuns himself against his bonds str,o
siins and straining Mt them for as
cape from this new horror. On his
Douy' dry TIL now, the sweat poured
iorth In streams. Blood gushed from,
h's nostrils. With shrieks, with oaths
with stumbling word, 90