80 A BOOK-LOVER'S HOLIDAYS 



ful not to betray too much curiosity or touch on 

 any matter which they might be reluctant to 

 discuss. The snakes behind me never rattled 

 or showed any signs of anger; the translator 

 volunteered the remark that they were peace- 

 able because they had been given medicine — 

 whatever that might mean, supposing the state- 

 ment to be true according to the sense in which 

 the words are accepted by plainsmen. But 

 several of them were active in the sluggish 

 rattlesnake fashion. One glided sinuously to- 

 ward me; when he was a yard away, I pointed 

 him out to the watcher with the eagle feathers; 

 the watcher quietly extended the feathers and 

 stroked and pushed the snake's head back, until 

 it finally turned and crawled back to the wall. 

 Half a dozen times different snakes thus crawled 

 out toward me and were turned back, without 

 their ever displaying a symptom of irritation. 

 One snake got past the watcher and moved 

 slowly past me about six inches away, where- 

 upon the priest on my left leaned across me and 

 checked its advance by throwing pinches of dust 

 in its face until the watcher turned round with 

 his feather sceptre. Every move was made 

 without hurry and with quiet unconcern; nei- 

 ther snake nor man, at any time, showed a trace 

 of worry or anger; all, human beings and reptiles. 



