A Trip on the Prairie. J 93 



face and push myself along with my hands and feet. 

 While cautiously moving on in this way I was electrified 

 by hearing almost by my ears the well-known, ominous 

 " whir-r-r " of a rattlesnake, and on hastily glancing up 

 there was the reptile, not ten feet away from me, all 

 coiled up and waiting. I backed off and crawled to one 

 side, the rattler turning its head round to keep watch over 

 my movements ; when the stalk was over (the antelope 

 took alarm and ran off before I was within rifle-shot) I 

 came back, hunted up the snake, and killed it. Although 

 I have known of several men being bitten, I know of but 

 one case where the bite caused the death of a human 

 being. This was a girl who had been out milking, and 

 was returning, in bare feet ; the snake struck her just 

 above the ankle, and in her fright she fell and was struck 

 again in the neck. The double wound was too much for 

 her, and the poison killed her in the course of a couple of 

 hours. 



Occasionally one meets a rattlesnake whose rattle has 

 been lost or injured ; and such a one is always dangerous, 

 because it strikes without warning. I once nearly lost a 

 horse by the bite of one of these snakes without rattles. 

 I was riding along a path when my horse gave a tre- 

 mendous start and jump ; looking back I saw that it had 

 been struck at by a rattlesnake with an injured tail, which 

 had been lying hid in a bunch of grass, directly beside the 

 path. Luckily it had merely hit the hard hoof, breaking 

 one of its fangs. 



Horses differ very much in their conduct toward 

 snakes. Some show great fright at sight of them or on 



