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rood his retreat to the cane-brake. He
evidently had had enough of it, for he
never attempted to poach again'upon my
premises as long as I remained there.
As I felt quite unwell to-day, (1 rather
suspect I had been indulging my appetite
a little too freely in fried chicken, etc.,) I
thought it prudent to keep quiet for the
balance of the day. I passed it very plea
santly reading Hon Quixote, and repair
intr my wardrobe, which had suffered con
siderably in my frequent encounters with
the cane-brake.
In the evening, I took a little stroll for
exercise, and in passing through some tall
grass I came very near putting my foot
upon a large rattlesnake, the first 1 had
seen in Texas, although some portions of
the country 1 had already traveled over
were very much infested with them at
that time; but the season was not then
far enough advanced to induce them to
leave the dens or holes in which they had
taken their winter quarters. Often since,
in traveling over the uninhabited plains
between theATueces and Rio Grande rivers,
I have found them so numerous in some
particular localities, that the traveler was
scarcely ever out of hearing of their rat
tles. They are not, however, nearly so
vicious as in most other countries, and
seldom attempt to bite except when at
tacked. I have ridden and walked over
them hundreds of times, and never knew
one of them attempt to strike, except on
one occasion, which happened in this wise:
I was once creeping upon some deer in
the prairie when I stepped on a rattle
snake lying coiled up in the grass. I in
stantly sprang back, without waiting for
orders to do so, and as I did not wish to
shoot him for fear of alarming the deer, I
drew the ramrod from my rifle and tapped
him upon the head with it. The blow
stunned him, and I then, with the breech
of my gun, mashed liis head completely
into the ground. Supposing, of course, I
had killed him, I went on after the deer,
and thought no more of the snake. Three
days afterwards, when passing this spot
again, that same snake came very near
biting me. I knew it was the same, for
one of his eyes was out, and his whole
head bruised and bloody from the wounds
inflicted upon it by the breech of my gun.
I really believe that he recognized in me
the author of all his ills, for whenever I
attempted to approach him, he would
’’aise his head a foot or more from the
ground, and with his rattles going inces
santly, would glare upon me witn his one
e }e in the most vindictive manner. I de
termined to make sure of him this time,
so I levelled my rifle at his head, and fired.
The ball scattered his head into a dozen
BURKE’S WEEKLY.
fragments, and one of them rebounding
from the ground, struck me upon the
forehead, inflicting a slight wound. The
idea immediately occurred to me that I
had been struck by one of his fangs, and
consequently that I was fated to be killed
by this particular snake. However, after
bathing the scratch in a pool of water,
and finding that my head had not swelled
up to the size of a beer barrel, as I anti
cipated would be the case in a short time,
I took courage, and went on my way re
joicing, and congratulating myself upon
my double escape from my vindictive foe.
Whilst on the subject of snakes, I must
narrate an incident that occurred some
years ago, when I was a member of Capt.
ll —’s ranging company. We had just
moved our camp to anew locality, and as
there was every appearance of a heavy
rain coming up, a little before night we
hastily pitched our tent, and by the time
it was fairly stretched the rain came down
in torrents. Resides our own mess, first
one and then another straggler had
crowded into it for shelter, until there
was scarcely room enough to turn around.
We were all sitting up, endeavoring to
while away the time as best we could,
when suddenly a snake sprang his rattles
right in the midst of us. I have never
seen a place so quickly evacuated as that
tent was. By a simultaneous movement,
we all “pitched out,” —some through the
usual way of exit, and others through the
sides and back of the tent, in which they
had hastily extemporized passages by
means of their knives. Here was a pre
dicament! The night was as dark as
pitch, our fires were all put out, the rain
was pouring down in a deluge, and a rat
tle-snake in our tent. We held a “coun
cil of war,” and some bright genius at
length suggested the feasibility of procur
ing a substitute for a lamp, by means of
tallow rags and a frying-pan. Acting at
once upon the hint, and with the light
thus obtained, several of us re-entered the
tent and dispatched the intruder, a huge
fellow, more than six feet in length, and
another nearly as large, that we found
snugly coiled up under my saddle, on
which I had been sitting a few moments
previously. Upon a further examination,
we found a hole that had been hidden
from view b} r the rank grass, extending
several feet into the ground, at the bot
tom of which there must have been a
dozen or more, judging from the din of
rattles that proceeded from it when it
was probed by a stick. We had pitched
our tent over a den of rattle-snakes, a fact
which was verified the next morning by
some enterprising individual, who screwed
out three more from this den by means
of a gun-wiper attached to the end of a
long stick. He wanted them for their
iat, which affords an excellent oil for
greasing harness, shoes and leather hous
ings of all kinds, and I remem
ber that he “ tried it out ” in the frying
pan, in which he subsequently cooked our
breakfast.
The Christmas Stocking.
the evening next to Christmas:
Afl Little Mertie Arrowhill
(JMH* Hung her stockings on the bed post
For good Santa Claus to till.
Mertie dreamed all night about it,
And she more than once or twice
Thought she heard the old man’s footsteps,
When ’twas only spreeing mice;
Till she wondered if the fishes,
Covered up the sands among,
Out of reach of pleasant sunshine,
Felt the winter half so long.
Then at last her eyes she opened,
As the night was stealing out,
And she sprang up from the pillow,
Looking eagerly about.
Very plump appeared her stocking.
Plump at top, at toe and heel;
Warm and soft as hasty pudding.
When she touched it, did it feel.
What could Santa Claus have brought her ?
Asked the child with curious awe;
Slyly peeped she in the stocking,
And what think you Mertie saw ?
Why, her tiny, spotted kitten,
W r ith its half-shut, yellow eyes.
It began to purr, ami Mertie,
Laughing cried, “ 0, what a prize!”
Hut down in the stocking deeper,
When Miss Kitty had crept out,
Mertie found the toys which made her
Gaily laugh, and dance, and shout.
A Ludicrous Error.
There is in Webster’s old spelling-book
a spelling and defining lesson of words of
four syllables.
A ludicrous mistake was once made by
a school boy in the exercises of this les
son. One of the words happened to be
“Acephalous, without a head.’ It was
divided as usual into its separate syllables,
connected by a hyphen, (which “joins
words or syllables, as sea-water!”) which
probably led the boy to give anew word
and anew definition :
“ I kun spell it and d’fine it!” said a lad,
after the boy above him had tried and
missed. “ I kun do it! ’
And he did:
“ A-c-e-p-h , cef, Aceph — a louse without a
head!"
Most every one laughed when the boy
said that. _______
In the voyage ot life we should
imitate the ancient mariners, who, with
out losing sight of the earth, trusted to
the heavenly signs for their guidance.
jg@”Tn time of danger and trouble, think
first, and then act coolly and decisively.
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