| 
! 
| 
at 
OOMAMUZM ZHZEOS 
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 
