The Democratic advocate., 1907-07-19
FRIDAY AFTERNOON, JULY 10, 1907.
Seleft Stnrp.
The Greatest Scare | Ever Got.
BY G. R. O'REILLY.

kent a collection of them living in my
house. vet under certain circumstances L
fear them as much as any one else.
OF all the snakes of Florida, that which
most claimed my attention when arrived
there was the great diamond rattlesnake
(Crotalus adamanteus), that most danger
GUS of all the living creatures that ever IN
habited the wild places of the South
Fortunately these great vipers are not
plentiful One may live two or three years
in the widest part of the country and never
see one; yet they may be encountered any
where.
Throughout most of my sojourn inFlor-
ida I have lived or camped in the woods,
that the subjects of my study might be
around me.
One morning, as I was getting ready to
set out from my woodland retreat tor a
ramble along the waterside, l saw three
bows come running toward the house. One
of them had shot gun, and dog gal
loped along before them. Some fifty yards
off they halted, and the painting leader
called, "Do you want big rattlesnake ?
We've found one, and you can catch him
easily. He's coiled up in hollow tree.
"Where is hep
'Oh, half mile off, up there in the
woods
sDid he rattle?''
"No. he didn't rattle. He's asleep.
ooh or thought I. cit S some harm
less pine-snake or large king snake for
people often mistake these big mottle rep
tiles for rattlesnakes. The chances are
that this one, if he was Il rattlesnake,
would have ratified as soon as he was dis
covered by three idgety boys and a frlsky
dog.
Believing, therefore, that it would prove
to be some large, harmless snake that |
might possibly want to add to my collec-
ton, | seized my six-foot snake stick and
set out at once with the boys. | made no
other preparation whatever. | did not
even put on leggings.
In few minutes we were close to a
thicket of palmetto and sweet myrtle. "ln
there he is, said the boys, pointing to the
thicket; and just as they spoke saw,
marked across a mole-heap by the path,
the broad, smooth trail of rattlesnake.
1t was nearly four inches in width.
Leaving the foot-path and going over
toward the thicket, saw the same mark
on two other mole-heaps. From this l
Judged that most probably the boys were
right, and that they had really seen a rat
tlesnake and large one.
Before entering among the bushes, the
boys called up the dog, and held him in
leash lest he should run up on the snake
and be killed, as are many dogs in Florida
every year.
''You 90 in first" said one Of the boys.
"We'l follow and show you where he is. .
''Give me that gun, then" said |; for
it was dangerous enough to have one or
more rattlesnakes before me, without also
having behind me gun in the hands of
nervous boy. OF the two the rattlesnake
was the lesser risk.
We came to an open space where tree
had fallen. 1t was an oak laid low by a
storm. Its branches were now leatess
and rotten, and the trunk lay across pine
stump, which held it up some three feet
above the ground. Near by was the old
oak stump from which it had broken off,
with good sized hole rotted into its side.
This opening was down at the ground and
at its lower part not large; but at the top
it was wide.
"He is in that stump said the lead
ing boy. ''If you 60 over and look down
through the hole in the top you can see
him."
Telling the boys to stay where they
wers, and watching every step | took, lest
I might accidentally put my foot on anoth
er rattlesnake- because there are often
two where only one is seen,-I went over
to the oak stump and peeped down into its
interior.
why, there's no rattlesnake here y
said l.
"Well, he must be there said one of
the boys, ''because we never bothered
him, and he was asleep and didn't rattle.
And we all looked in at him. Didn't we,
Tom?"
"Come and look for yourselves" l
said, "and you'll see he's not here now
So they all trooped over to my side and
peeped down into the hole in the stump,
and were much disappointed to find that
he was not in it.
As the sun was shining into the hole at
the top, dropped down on my knees to
look in through the lower orifce, so as to
be sure whether rattlesnake had really
lain there or not. A momentary glance
convinced me that the boys were telling
the truth; for there on the soft, black mold
at the bottom was the imprint of his body.
Even in the entrance the soil was freshly
rubbed where he had passed, going in and
coming out again.
"All right I said, jumping up. "He
was there, sure enough; and he is not far
off now
handed back the gun to the boy who
owned it, and then I said, "Will you help
me to look for him?''
ssOf course we will
every good. The first thing to do is
to stand still where you are, and search
with your eyes every inch of the ground
you can see.''
Now this open space was almost clear,
the only thing growing in it being sparse
and ineagre crop of huckleberry bushes not
more than foot in height. IF the rattle
snake were there we could probably dis
cover him.
For some minutes we looked and looked,
but could see no sign Of him. Thinking
that he might be lying under the shady
myrtles surrounding the open patch, ! sent
the boys into the bushes, with instructions
to keep in the thicket about ten yards in,
from the edge, and beat carefully all around
the circumference of the clear spot. ex-
planned to them that if they kept too close
to the edge they would probably come upon
the make, and maybe one of them might