Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1909-01-27
Which Was Put in jeopardy by the Facility
/. With Which the Bird Learned Mexican oaths

1eSIIlSQ NlCAlCGll CdtlkS
/ of great excitement. His feather:
we're ruled, his head was thrust
forward on a short neck, his wing:
were extended and shrill scream fol.
lowed scream frcREhis wide-opened
beaked mouth.
Mrs. Andrews was just in the act
of ascending the three steps which
led from the yard to the gallery
when the. door of an unusued room
facing the landing was softly opened
and the Yillainous face CT Miguel, the
Mexicea, showed in the aperture
Mrs. Andrews, seeing the man, and
reading murder in the expression OF
his features, rushed past him on the
gallery, screaming for help and In
tending to seek refuge behind the
barred door Of her room. but Miguel
was swifter than she, and, overtaking
her, seized her by the arm and drew
her toward him.
4The Mexican, iragging the
screaming woman to the door Of the
unused room, suddenly threw her
with great violence to the floor, and
then, reaching behind him, picked up
q sack, beneath the rough felds CT
which some object was moving, and,
swinging the sack from side to side,
sncok out q, three-foot rattlesnake.
Miguel was quick to bound from the
gallery to the yard, and the snake,
wriggling two inches from Mrs. An
drews' feet, in wild rage threw it.
self into coil and thrust forward a
fat, ugly head, from the scaly jaws
OF which protruded quiyering. split
tongue. And. while the head de-
scribed short half-circles, which al
ways come before the fatal cast, the
pointed tail of the reptile showed
from the rear of the folds, AMI, vio-
lently. agitated, gave off a peculiar
burning noise from the rattles.
Mrs. Andrews lost one Of her Slip
pers in the struggle, and the sole Of
her foot, covered only by a thin
stocking. offered an easy target for
those vencmous fangs. The lady sat
up and gazed at the snake, and, held
powerless in the chains of benumb-
ing terror, was unable to move. The
snake darted its head back and forth,
and gradually its scaly head on an
ever-lengthenipg neck came closer t.
the foot, until finally 1t was only a
few inches from it. The rattler drew
back its mead, arched ITS neck to one
side, and opening wide its Jaws, was
Just IN the act of max ing dts terrible
cast, when the uni foresse happened.
IS ~. s. 2 AFRO. VINO had been swaying
Wild " on his perch, with rufied
feathers and open beak, and screech-
ing the while, tapped his wings, de-
pressed his head and flew like a
streak of lightning toward the srake.
The parrot landed en- top of the scaiy
folds, and instinctively sought to
grab the reptiles neck in his strong
bill. The point Of the beak instead
caught the snake on the head and
the lower structure of the mouth
sunk with crushing force int, the
side of the rattler's neck. The snake,
in raroxysm Of pain, wriggled and
twisted, and Pedro was thrown some
feet away. but the. bird, with
squawk Of anger, quickly recovered
himself, and, with wings extended
and beak open, he hcbbled on his
uncertain legs toward the writhing
terror.
THE diversion created by the par
rot.s attack had given Mrs. Andrews
opportunity to regain her presence
OF mind. and the lady, springing to
her feet, seized handy broom and
smashed and battered the snake with
1t and brushed the belligerent Pedro
back, to keep the parrot from coming
into proximity Of the deadly fangs.
The snake was soon out Of the fight
ing, the broom having broken his
back in several places, and Mrs. An
drews swept the still wriggling form
from the gallery to the yard. Pedro
showed On inclination to follow the
snake, but Mrs. Andrews stopped,
and, gathering her brave champion
into the folds Of her apron, fed with
him into the house. s.
Miguel, during the strange and
thrilling scene, had stood in the yard
close to where the box in which he
brought the snake lay, contemplate
ing. with devilish satisfaction, the
peril Of his enemy's wife, but when
his vengeance was baked by the par
rot and the rattler was subsequently
routed. with an oath he fled, and,
leaping onto the back of his mule,
which was hidden in copse of trees
a short distance from the house, gal
foped away,
@The terror of these awful mo-
ments had SO unnerved Mrs. An
drews that she went into Mysteries.
q x X X 4 4 * X /,