82 
CREATURES OF MYSTERY 
target to the serpent, so he made a lunge forward, catching 
the squirrel firmly in his jaws. A fight of considerable intensity 
ensued, the squirrel biting, barking, and scratching while the 
snake attempted to tie him up in his coil. Finally, the squirrel 
extricated himself and retreated to the top of the tree, fright¬ 
ened almost out of his wits. He committed the almost fatal 
mistake of looking again upon the same creature which had so 
recently menaced him. After he had looked upon his assailant 
once more, and not for long at that, he returned to the fray. 
Seeing this, the fisherman remarked in disgust: “Fool squirrel! 
If it wuz any other enemy in the swamp ye’d run fer the life 
o’ ye, but when ye looks into the eyes of a serpent, it ’pears ye 
lose all the sense ye ever had.” 
It was not the thoughts of being bitten which caused Uncle 
Dave some rather grave concern on this particular occasion. 
No, it was not that. He had long since conceived the idea that 
he was born under a lucky star, and therefore not destined 
ever to become prey for any rattler that ever jingled a bell. 
The cunning of the rattler involved in this story was simply 
uncanny, and this was what was worrying the old gentleman 
—not necessarily his presence upon the farm. In fact, it kept 
him thoroughly alert and in love with life to realize, or to 
have the feeling that his enemy was somewhere near at all 
times. The farm he was cultivating at the time was divided 
by a graded sand road, and the signs of this intruder were 
found first on one side of the road and then on the other, but 
for the life of him he could never find where he had effected 
a crossing. This state of affairs continued all summer, result¬ 
ing in great perplexity of mind as he pondered the question. 
Finally, to put his mind to rest, he took it upon himself to 
survey every foot of the road just to see if anything might be 
revealed. The only thing which offered the slightest hint of 
a solution to the mystery was a corrugated iron drain pipe. 
It was not visible from the road. Both ends were concealed 
from view by briars and shrubs. Looked like a poor clue to 
him, but he would take a look into the pipe, anyway. A care¬ 
ful examination of the sand deposit within the pipe and at 
each end revealed unmistakably that he had been using it to 
