A FIGHT TO THE DEATH 329 



larked in the land of Pike. My friends and myself 

 were gathered around the grateful log-fire in the club- 

 room and our talk turned chiefly upon this sorrow, 

 coupled as it was with the tragic death of young 

 Walter Clark. Walter was the son of Squire Clark — 

 a respected magistrate of the county — and the cause 

 of the boy's death was a fight to the finish with a big 

 and vicious rattlesnake. The snake won and the boy 

 won, for each killed the other. " 'Twas a fight to the 

 death," and the story of it had to be told by con- 

 jecture. It took place in the seclusion of the woods, 

 with no eye-witness, and one of the combatants was 

 dead and the other unconscious when found. Walter 

 Clark was a boy of eleven summers, sturdy and strong 

 for his age, but a fever had left him, as a proof of its 

 virulence, an impaired mind and imperfect speech. 

 He had one marked trait — a strong antipathy to 

 snakes and hornets and he would gladly fight either 

 when opportunity offered. On the day of the fight 

 the father was working in the field and Walter was 

 helping him, barelegged, with but shirt and pants on. 

 The boy heard the ringing of a cow-bell, and said to 

 his father, " Cow I cow ! " His father replied : " Yes, 

 I hear the bell," and went on with his work. The 

 boy started down the road in the direction whence 

 the sound came, and that was the last seen of him 

 until a search was made over three hours after. He 

 was found away from the road, swollen and uncon- 



