THE SIDEWINDER 251 



across it at night in summer whenever possible, 

 and if it is absolutely necessary to go over it 

 they all resolve in most solemn terms "to go 

 straight through and not stop to camp once." 

 Who enjoys a rattlesnake crawling over one's 

 covers at night? 



One evening in late May, while a friend and 

 myself were sitting on a rock quietly munching 

 a crust, I espied a moving object near one of 

 our bed-rolls. Watching it more closely I no- 

 ticed that it was a small serpent crawling into 

 the blankets. Realizing that it might be a 

 dangerous reptile, I took a near-by stick in my 

 hand and went up and carefully unrolled the 

 bedding. As I had suspected, there lay a little 

 sidewinder. I do not like to think of what 

 might have happened had my eyes not detected 

 in the semi-darkness the snake moving into his 

 hiding. I cannot too strongly urge my readers 

 when camping on the desert in late spring and 

 summer always to make up their beds anew 

 each evening just before retiring; for not only 

 rattlesnakes, but such other unpleasant visitors 

 as centipedes, vinegaroons, and scorpions may 

 have found a hiding-place between the covers 



