The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1908-02-20
4 ne Man
and the
~Sg1 c.
~ n. Siirr,eles.

'sb udsSiihA NY plbSSSu uONn uh-
c-ouded to the touch of the parched
~ 1-roch. Bstwsen the hills the
f..iiow basin lay baked and breath
L. over It the tense air QulWered
N heat. Within, no bird luttered
;."r water puried nor green plant
se1 it's head. Only the desert
e.. ..dren. sagebrush and grease-wood
,.ad long-spined cactus, gray but
never dying. lived. on there IN the
drought. sterile and forbidding as
the land which gave them birth.
Everywhere was silence upon the
place, everywhere was immobility,
save where the mn lay and where
beside him the bound snake whirr-
cd and writhed and ratified In the
impotent fury OF fear.
The man lay stretched on the hot
earth stark naked, his face turned
TO the sky. buckskin thong passed
across his throat and was drawn
taut between two roots of sage
brush. The moose which held his
ankles was secured about clump of
grease-wood and both arms, thonged
at the wrists stretched wide as in
crucihxion. Heavy bands of buck
skin spanned his body so that to the
prisoner there were but two possible
movements. He could turn his head
from side to side, facing on the ono
hand the snake, on the other the
miniature forest OF sase-brush; and
he could clench and unclench his
pinioned hands.
In this last freedom the final In
senuity of savage captors had found
expression With the left hand tight
olinched, the snakes wild stroke fell
just short of it's aim. Should sleep
or insensibility relax the fingers tho
reptiles head might overlap them.
Since early morning, through the
increasing heat of the day, the man
had lain there, grim and silent as
the gray hills round him. save when
now and then he raised his hoarse
voice in defiant shouts. The snake,
On the other hand. struggled and
fought increasingly against the cord
which held him, striking impartially
at it, at the just removed fingers or
at the wooden stake TO which the
oord was tied, grovelling his body in
ne sandy earth. writhing and tug
s with protruding tongue. and all
while trsnslating in whirr and
the blind fear Of his captivity.
jometimes the man turned hts
lad to watch; once or twice when
.se snakes movements tagged he
5lightly stirred his fingers In the
sand. the ruse each time rewarded
by the swift spring and fruitless
stroke. But mostly he lay still. all
his mind bent on endurance.
The man had been placed there
to die. He knew It and the know
ledge tinged his thoughts with
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
it might be, rendered improbable.
For the snake IL was part of the
mans torment that at any minute he
the movement invite an end brief
indeed, but horrible to the mind,
doubly horrible to the strained i'm
agination.
There was one other chance. An
unexpected rainstorm, a heavy night
dew In that barren place, would 20
stretch the slender buckskin thong
which held the rattler that unaided
he might reach and strike his VIC
tim. This was the clements of un-
certainty in the grim problem. This
1t was that sent the mans eyes
searching the bare horizon with a
look half dread, half longing.
On one of these weary journeys OF
sight tiny speck of back above the
western hills attracted him-a steady
pinpoint of the dazzling blue. He
shut his eyes moment in order to
look again the more intently, and
when ne opened them, 10! the dark
points were two. Ho watched them
uncomprehendingly, as slowly and
steadily high in air they moved from
west to east. When at last In mid
heaven the suns sheer strength beat
down his gaze, he Was the lonelier
for loss of this one sign of move
ment.
The sense Of heat had by now
grown into anguish. The mans ex-
posed body drew and quivered be-
meath the suns rays as though each
inch of 1t wors endowned with a
separate life. Unseen insects brush
ed and nuttsred upon It. leaving be-
meath thsir light pressure trail like
fire on the bhstered surface. The
snake lay prone. exhausted almost
beyond strasaAs. The mani noting
It, smiled s.tinly and scraped his
fingers noisiS in the loose earth. AS
the snake whirlsd to front the chal-