The new enterprise. (Madison, Fla.) 1901-1908, 1907-06-27
The Greatest Scare ]
Ever Got.
- " ~
- - -
By c. n. O'Reilly.

Although | have hunted Tor ana
caught the most venomous OF snakes,
and always kept collection of them
living in my house, yet under certain
circumstances | fear them as much rs
any one else.
OF all the snakes of Florida, that
which most claimed my attention when
I arrived there was the great diamond
rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus),
that most dangerous of all the living
creatures that ever inhabited 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 anywhere.
Throughout most of my sojourn in
Florida | have lived or camped in the
woods, that the subjects of my study
might be around me.
One morning, as | was getting ready
to set out from my woodland retreat
for a rambe along the waterside, saw
three boys come running toward the
house. One of them had a shotgun,
and a dog galloped 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 he?"
ooh, half a mile off, up there in the
woods"
did he rattle?"
NO, he didn't rattle. He's asleep"
"Oho!" thought l TITS some harm
less pine-snake or large king-snake';
|, for people often mistake these big mot
tie reptiles for rattlesnakes. The
chances are that this one, If he was a
rattlesnake, would have ratified as
son as he was discovered by three fld-
getty boys and frisky dog.
Believing, therefore, that it would
prove to be some large, harmless snake
that | might possibly want to add TO
my collection, seized my siX-foot
snake stick and set out at once with the
boys. | made no other preparation
whatever l did not even put on leg
gings.
In few minutes we were close to
thicket of palmetto and sweet myrtle.
'In there he is" said the boys, point
ing to the thicket; and just as they
spoke ] saw, marked across mole
heap by the path, the broad, smooth
lie
four inches in width.
Leaving the foot-path and going over
toward the thicket. l saw the same
mark on two other mole-heaps. From
this | judged that most probably the
boys were right, and that they had
really seen a rattlesnake and a 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 go in first" said one Of the
boys. well follow and show you
where he is"
Give me that gun, then" said |; for
1t was dangerous enough to have one
or more rattlesnakes before me, with
out also having behind me gun in the
hands of a nervous boy. OF the two
the rattlesnake was the lesser risk.
We came to an open space where
a tree had fallen. 1t was an oak laid
low by storm. It's branches were now
leafiess and rotten, and the trunk lay
across a pine stump, which held 1t up
some three feet above the ground.
Near by was the old oak stump from
Which 1t 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 1t was wide.
''He is in that stump" said the lead
ing boy. IF you go over and look
down through the hole in the top you
can see him"
Telling the boys to stay where they
were, and watching every step took,
lest | might accidentally put my foot
on another rattlesnake-because there
are often two where only one is seen,
II went over to the oak stump and
peeped down into its interior.
why, there's no rattlesnake here!'
said I.