30 
CREATURES OF MYSTERY 
he appeared in great distress. He was racing wildly back and 
forth on this natural arch. Each time he ran toward the top 
of the tree he shortened the distance as he retreated, and each 
time he ran toward the root of it he advanced to a point nearer 
the ground. He appeared to be under the greatest imaginable 
nervous strain, and yet there was no enemy within her range 
of vision. Finally he ran all the way to the ground and stopped 
as motionless as a statue, tail uppermost. She had heard others 
relate stories of being witness to diamond-backs “charming,” 
or hypnotizing small animals and birds. Such information, 
coupled with woman’s intuition, influenced her to do some in¬ 
vestigating. As she went forth she picked up a small pole, just 
in case her suspicions were well founded. At the root of the 
tree she found, just as she had expected, a large rattler, coiled, 
and motionless, except that he was singing his rattles gently. 
The squirrel appeared sleepy and weak. His tail had fallen 
down limp over his back, reaching the point of his nose, while 
the heads of the two were almost touching. The rattler had 
not attempted to fang him, nor in any other manner, other 
than that just described, molest him in the slightest. With her 
weapon she rained blow after blow upon the reptile, but it was 
not until she struck him the second time that the squirrel took 
the slightest notice of her presence. He staggered off through 
the weeds, scarcely able to move along. 
As much reverence as Uncle Dave had for his mother, who 
was richly endowed with all the primitive virtues, it is fortunate 
that he does not have to rely wholly upon her testimony to 
establish proof of his contention that hypnotism is a common 
practice among reptiles. It was his good fortune on one occa¬ 
sion to occupy a grandstand seat and observe such an act from 
the beginning of the performance. Sitting quietly on his front 
porch one day he observed his kitten in the front yard behav¬ 
ing in the same manner as the squirrel. With bushy tail and 
arched back he was parading back and forth between the porch 
and the split rail fence surrounding the yard. As he retreated 
toward the porch he covered less distance each time, but as he 
advanced toward the fence he drew nearer and nearer. He 
was meowing all the while, and seemingly in very great physi- 
