CREATURES OF MYSTERY 
81 
One old observer who had spent more than half a century 
out in the wild lands reported an incident which, if it does not 
prove definitely their power to hypnotize, will surely leave the 
reader impressed that they possess some other mysterious 
power hitherto undefined. As he was walking leisurely through 
the wiregrass he observed a cow behaving in such manner as 
would warrant turning aside and investigating. She was stand¬ 
ing as motionless as a statue, with her nose almost in the grass, 
but was not feeding. How long she had been standing there 
was, of course, impossible for him to determine, but it was 
noted that the herd with which she usually grazed had passed 
on entirely beyond his range of vision. As he drew near to 
her she took no notice whatever of his presence. She could 
not be sleeping, he reasoned, in such a posture, so he struck 
her lightly with a limb. She jumped, apparently excited, then 
seemed to come to herself. When he got her on the march 
she again appeared normal, but he could not dismiss the inci¬ 
dent from his mind, so concluded that he would return to the 
spot and look the ground over. On the straw-littered ground 
where he had found her with nose almost upon the ground 
was found a full-grown rattler. So, concluding this old gentle¬ 
man’s story in his own words—“I’m derned if them things 
can’t charm a critter !” 
Another trustworthy observer reports an incident like this 
between a swamp snake and a cat-squirrel. He is called a 
swamp snake because Uncle Dave has not provided us with a 
better name. He feeds after the manner of the rat-snake, but 
lives in the woodland. Brown in color, with a lighter band of 
brown running his full length on both sides of the spine. He is 
the terror of birds and squirrels, and can run through the top 
of a green oak with the speed of the latter. This old gentle¬ 
man was fishing at the time, and the fish were biting well. At 
first he paid little heed to the barking of a squirrel in a dwarfed 
tree nearby, but when he pitched his voice higher up the scale 
and became so noisy and persistent, he dropped his fishing pole 
and went into the underbrush to see what it was all about. He 
found the squirrel face to face with the swamp snake, barking 
and beating the air with his bushy tail. He looked like an easy 
