CREATURES OF MYSTERY 
107 
stood and gazed upon the king, snake for some time. His born 
antipathy for all snakes, dating back to Eden days, all but got 
the better of him, &nd while in the act of killing him, he did 
some reflecting which was the cause of him abandoning his 
murderous intentions. Up to the present time he had no proof 
of it, but he had it on rather good authority that they pursued 
and killed every rattler whose trail they chanced to cross. So 
he would give him the benefit of the doubt and permit him to 
live. The snake knew well that he had been observed. On 
future occasions they met with such frequency that the man 
commenced to believe that his friend intercepted him on pur¬ 
pose. Their frequent meetings soon resulted in a very fine 
friendship growing out of their association. Finding a bed 
full of young tender rats, he procured a suitable receptacle and 
carried them along with him until he chanced to again fall in 
with his friend. They were fed to him one by one until he had 
consumed the entire rat family. From that day on the king 
snake would come to his friend each day as he sat down for 
his noonday meal, accepting with gratitude such crumbs as 
might fall from his friend’s table, then crawl upon his lap as 
playfully as a kitten. 
Finally this gentleman entered into business which required 
that he take up residence in another locality. Returning to his 
old home with some friends after a lapse of several years, he 
very naturally thought of his woodland friend and wondered 
if some evil had befallen him by this time. Speaking to his 
friends concerning the friendship which had grown up between 
himself and the king snake, they were rather skeptical of the 
entire story, feeling that they were about to become victimized 
by a practical joker. Returning to the spot where he would so 
frequently rendezvous with his friend, he whistled loud and 
long—this being the call to which he always responded. They 
tarried upon the spot for some time, and presently he came 
crawling up out of the underbrush. 
It is the contention of some who profess to know about rep¬ 
tiles that they hear with their forked tongues. Laymen know 
that they do not go about with their tongues protruding, but, 
on the contrary, this particular organ is brought into play only 
