210 Hunting Trips on the Prairie 



and on the prairies and the great desert wastes alike. 

 Every cowboy kills dozens each season. To a man 

 wearing top-boots there is little or no danger while 

 he is merely walking about, for the fangs can not 

 get through the leather, and the snake does not 

 strike as high as the knee. Indeed the rattlesnake 

 is not nearly as dangerous as are most poisonous 

 serpents, for it always gives fair warning before 

 striking, and is both sluggish and timid. If it can it 

 will get out of the way, and only coils up in its at- 

 titude of defence when it believes that it is actually 

 menaced. It is, of course, however, both a danger- 

 ous and a disagreeable neighbor, and one of its 

 annoying traits is the fondness it displays for crawl- 

 ing into a hut or taking refuge among the blankets 

 left out on the ground. Except in such cases men are 

 rarely in danger from it, unless they happen to be 

 stooping over, as was the case with one of my cow- 

 boys, who had leaned over to pick up a log and was 

 almost bitten by a snake which was underneath it ; 

 or unless the snake is encountered while stalking an 

 animal. Once I was creeping up to an antelope under 

 cover of some very low sage brush so low that I 

 had to lie flat on my 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 



