A Trip on the Prairie 211 



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 tremendous start and jump; 

 looking back I saw that it had been struck at by a 

 rattlesnake with an injured tail, which had been ly- 

 ing 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 hearing their rattles, plunging and rearing and 

 refusing to go anywhere near the spot ; while others 

 have no fear of them at all, being really perfectly 

 stupid about them. Manitou does not lose his wits 

 at all over them, but at the same time takes very 

 good care not to come within striking distance. 



