CREATURES OF MYSTERY 
57 
To Uncle Dave it was readily understandable. He had had 
an experience once which served to lay bare this old wizard’s 
strategy. He and his boys had gone hunting for them once 
during the winter months when the whole earth was all but 
inundated by reason of continuous cloudbursts. The whole face 
of the earth was so soft by reason of these continuous rains that 
the sod would quiver for several feet around when any mem¬ 
ber of the party stamped heavily upon the ground. The gopher 
holes were filled to overflowing. Severe cold had not followed 
these rains as ordinarily happens during winter months, so he 
reasoned that they would be lying out of their holes sunning 
themselves in this spring-like sunshine. His reasoning proved 
to be well founded. They had doubled and trebled their nor¬ 
mal catch during this balmy period of winter weather when 
the rattler’s quarters were rendered uninhabitable. Two fac¬ 
tors were working in the old gentleman’s favor just at this 
time, and he was not the type of person to miss such an oppor¬ 
tunity. Much to their surprise, one large fellow determined 
that he would not be taken captive, so made a lunge for his 
hole, slithering all the way to the bottom of it, leaving the pool 
of water a creamy color and the surface frothing with yellow 
foam. Seating himself upon a nearby log, and with absolute 
calm, he said to his boys: “I suppose we can rest out here bet¬ 
ter than he can down there.” So saying, he had one of them 
prepare a noose and “ring” the hole of water with it. Soon 
the water boiled violently and the old villain’s uninviting coun¬ 
tenance surfaced through the foam in the very center of the 
noose. One quick, firm jerk, and he had the halter on him. 
Having observed all this, it was no difficult matter for him to 
follow the mental processes of the one which fanged his neigh¬ 
bor’s son gathering huckleberries. In these spring heads and 
bayous are always found spots where subterranean streams 
surface. Falling leaves and other decaying vegetable matter 
eventually transforms such spots into an impenetrable morass. 
The rattler had simply availed himself of the protection it 
afforded until traveling became safe and comfortable over the 
ash deposit left in the wake of the fire. 
On another occasion a number of imprisoned rattlers were 
