ambling on, half-stupefied with the 

 heat, as I was, when from the road just 

 in front came a peculiar sound. I did 

 not know what it was, but Whiskers 

 did, and he immediately executed a 

 demi volte (see Webster) with an en- 

 ergy I had not thought him capable of. 

 Again came the noise, yes, surely, 

 just as it had been described like 

 dried peas in a pod and gliding across 

 the road was a big rattlesnake. I con- 

 fess had Whiskers been so inclined, I 

 should have been content to have 

 passed on with haughty disdain. But 

 Whiskers performed a left flank move- 

 ment so nearly unseating me that I 

 deemed it expedient to drop to the 

 ground, and Whiskers, without wait- 

 ing for orders, retreated down the road 

 at what he meant for a gallop. The 

 rattler stopped his pretty gliding motion 



