CHAPTER VI. 



DAGGER FROM RATTLESNAKES. 



The first season of our residence there the snakes 

 were so numerous that we used to clear the yard and 

 build fires around the house to keep them away. We 

 were careful to have the house made very tight to 

 prevent their entrance, and we closed the door early 

 in the evening in summer, and did not open it until 

 day-light in the morning for fear of them, they were 

 so numerous. Before we commenced making fires 

 around the house in the morning, we frequently found 

 the snakes lying in the yard near the house. One 

 morning quite early, as my father was leaving the 

 house, he heard a hiss like a goose nearly over his 

 head. He paid no attention to it, however, and on 

 his return he cast his eyes up over the the door, and 

 discovered a large rattlesnake lying directly over 

 his head, hissing and darting its tongue toward him. 

 He killed the snake and went into the house much 

 alarmed, saying that he should leave that place, as he 

 feared we would all be bitten by the rattlesnakes. 

 About three days afterward, the hired man went on 

 the roof of the house to repair it, he found a large 

 rattlesnake in quiet possession, seeing which he was 

 terribly alarmed, and jumped to the gTound. I then 



