CREATURES OF MYSTERY 
103 
tion purposes. Strange as it might seem, he eventually began 
to show some degree of affection for his master, or should we 
say, understanding and appreciation of him. And why not? 
He fed him the choicest of food—even sweet milk, of which 
he was so fond. Then, too, he took him from city to city where 
he had the opportunity of meeting the best of people. He was 
prepared for exhibition in a neatly carpentered, screened bun¬ 
galow.* 
One afternon while the two were enjoying a much-needed 
rest from their travels, he had an experience he never forgot. 
They were together in the back yard of his modest little cot¬ 
tage. It was time for milk, and the old gentleman’s traveling 
partner knew it. As a matter of fact, he both smelled and saw 
it while his master was pouring it into a bowl in which he 
usually served him. Just at this time all things seemed to com¬ 
bine to irritate the nerves of this old rascal. It had been a dis¬ 
tressingly hot afternoon, and a dark cloud was forming in the 
west. The lightning was flashing and the thunder roaring as 
the landscape began darkening and a cool breeze arose. All 
these influences evidently had woven such a spell about this 
old wizard that he completely forgot himself and laid bare one 
of his most carefully guarded secrets. Giving utterance to a 
weird and unearthly wail or two he completely unnerved his 
partially deaf master who immediately abandoned the task 
engaging his attention at the time and commenced searching 
for whatever it might prove to be that had uttered such an 
unusual cry. Finding no animal or bird upon whom he might 
hang the crime, it was evident that his prisoner was the culprit 
who had frightened him so. 
In all our conversations with lay observers who had gained 
quite a bit of familiarity with rattlers in the wild we never 
encountered but one old gentleman who ever witnessed a 
female carrying her babes upon her back. It was merely his 
own idea, but he reasoned thus about it: she had a schedule to 
keep and they were too large to admit to her inner chamber and 
too small to keep the pace she would have to set, hence she 
induced them to climb upon her back, and with all passengers 
aboard she was on her way when he chanced to come upon her. 
*S'ee sketch, page 124. 
