Little Bighead 



have seven rattles. Sometimes a snake will 

 develop two rattles a year, and occasionally 

 not any. It all depends upon how many 

 times he sheds his skin. The rattle is a 

 hard bit of skin at the tip of the tail which 

 does not come off in the process of shedding. 



The second time that Shep came to the 

 rescue of the calf was the same year, but in 

 late November, when the calf was a year 

 and a half old. It was a cold bleak day of 

 scudding wind-clouds and stinging winds 

 that swept the unbroken plains with great 

 force. The ducks had all gone south 

 nearly a month before. The gopher and 

 the prairie dogs had denned up. The mus- 

 quash had builded his house by the stream 

 and everything was in readiness for winter. 



Little Bighead had wandered half a mile 

 up the creek near which the Andersons 

 were located, looking for choice bits of late 

 grass which the frost had overlooked. 

 Shep was busy on the side hill a quarter of 



