Ihe Wit of the Wild 



r 



seen was long enough to reach from rut to rut 

 of the wood road across which it lay, I was 

 bound to believe her identification. 



" What did you do? " I asked. 



"Do? I stiffened with fright, and just 

 looked at him as he lifted his head six or eight 

 inches from the ground and dared me to disturb 

 him. I turned back and crept home a quarter 

 of a mile around." 



" Why didn't you kill him? " 



" I had nothing to do it with, and he looked 

 so fierce I thought he'd leap at me if I stayed 

 there an instant longer." 



" But those snakes never attack anybody out 

 of their reach," I said. 



" So they say. But I didn't care to take the 

 chances. A garter-snake rushed at me the other 

 day, and why shouldn't a copperhead? " 



" Oh, the little, harmless serpents have to 

 bluff like sixty to make up for their real weak- 

 ness; but the poisonous ones know their power 

 and don't bluster. Next time you must take a 

 good, long stick with you. I'll get you one 

 now." 



+$ 84 ^ 



