The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-04-12

hoarse, greasy gntturals mingled IN &
grim powwow on the sandy plain
stolid, copper-colored faces, smeared in
like so many hideous masks; ponies
pranced and whinnied, tapped their
beaded trimmings and curveted anx-
iously, as if they were eager to be
done with the dreadful business. The
whole stretch of dirty yellow earth lay
blistering beneath glazed Arizona sky,
a sky once turquoise which now had a
brazen hint of thunder and of lightning
in it; indeed, the desert air was almost
humid with the wretched tension of i'm
minent storm. The whole scene, tax
of CLASSY blue inverted and set down
upon an illimitahle sandy floor; the
little group moved like ants beneath the
sky The color scheme, upon this Wes-
tern stage, was a riot of hot Oriental
splendor.
Now and then a horse. more nervous
than the rest, would break loose from
the circle of men and dash out into
the distance, the 1.-THE, naked limbs of
its rider rising and settling with unctu-
Gus ease upon its bare back, the blan-
ket about the horseman' shoulders
flaring in one splotch of red behind
him as he rode. There was a jingle
of braceleted arms, of ornamented bri-
dies, of gaudy, aboriginal accouter-
ments; and, above all, came the raucous,
unpleasant chant of barbaric voices
raised in argument.
1t is a reproach to the ingenious
minds of the Spanish Inquisition that
they did not comprehend the possibili-
ties of wet rawhide Geronimo, Apache
devil, surpassed them in this respect.
AS he seurried across this last patch
of barren country with his band of fifty
ocher-daubed Indians he was conscious
of but two things; that he must get
rid of his prisoner, and that thunder
storm was coming up.
Evidently unique torture was plan
ned; stakes were driven deep into the
earth, a strip of rawhide was produced,
and something squirming was taken
out of buckskin bag.
The last thing the scene revealed
was lone Indian, looking down and
laughing horribly at the sight, before
he rode off to join his bowling fellows.
The ranchman was staked out so that
he could not move; face downward, his
hands and ankles tied by bits of horse
hair rope to the four stakes about him;
across the small of his back another
piece of rope, dashed tightly on each
side of him to fifth and sixth stake
and holding his belly fiat against the
earth. He was absolutely fixed; save
slight action of the knees and elbows,
the only part of him which could move
was his head. He waited, cunningly,
until after the Indians had departed,
and then he threw his head up, his
posture being now like that of a swim
mer. What We're they doing to him?
Had they staked him out there to die?
He looked about him carelessly I'M
surveyal.
The next moment he gave an excla- |
nation of horror, and thrill of fear
swept over him like a rush of cold
water. His heart, shocked at the sight,
seemed almost frantic and jumped be
meath his ribs with rapid throbs; his
neck at once filed with unwonted
blood; his legs trembled and sweated
with a peculiar coldness. For there,
as he lifted his face from the ground,
he saw. vis-a-vis, coiled and palpitant,
its eyes scintillating, it's hard head
poised-a rattlesnakel Even as he
moved, the reptile struck, struck,
struck-three times, yet so quickly that
it seemed but one stroke. The man,
suddenly confronted by the horror, al
most swooned at the thought of his
cruel death, at his helplessness, at the
imagining already of his poisoned ago
MES there beneath the hot sun; but,
even with the faintness. a sudden real
ization also went through his mind that,
although the snake had come close to
him and had leaped for his cheek, he
had not felt the impact of the fangs.
He had not been touched by the reptile
Why? How had this happened?
He looked more closely, and saw at
once. The rattlesnake, like himself,
was also staked out There, just back
of the things head-its ugly, fat head
that reminded him of some clumsy In
dian arrowhead made out of black,
notified f1int-he observed loop, the
loop of rawhide strip. tied in a tight
knot. This strip of rawhide was fast
ened at its other end to a stake plant
ed in the very center of the thing s |
coil. Therefore, when the snake struck |
at him, it could only come to the end |