400 DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



part of the country around; so fearing for the repu- 

 tation of my sacred monkey, I began to explain 

 that it wasn't a good season for rattlesnakes; that 

 we had had bad forest fires in the spring, and so 

 on. We were trudging along a dusty road and 

 my guest insisted upon sitting right down there 

 in the dust, going through an incantation, and ask- 

 ing the ape to produce a rattlesnake. I reluctantly 

 consented, telling my friend at the same time that 

 this was a very severe test, for I did not believe 

 there was a rattlesnake in the township. We both 

 sat down, however, in the dusty road and I drew 

 a magic circle with my finger, and put the poor old 

 ape from Hindoostan in the center, and as solemn 

 as any priest of the ancient gods, went through the 

 mummeries. Now here is where luck favored me. 

 We had not gone a quarter of a mile when we 

 heard a locust singing in a huckleberry bush. 

 When you hear a locust in a huckleberry bush, 

 it isn't a locust you hear at all, but a rattlesnake. 

 By locust I mean the cicada, or harvest fly, which 

 is commonly known as a locust. I looked around 

 at my friend and he was stepping as high as if the 

 snow was three feet deep. His eyes were as big 

 as saucers. I told him the snake wasn't in the road 

 where he could see it, it was in the huckleberry 

 bush ; I then cut him a switch so that he might kill 

 the snake without injuring its skin. Bless your 

 soul ! He did not hear a word I said to him, but 

 when I pointed out the snake to him in the huckle- 

 berry bush he snatched a big club and would have 



