142 
CREATURES OF MYSTERY 
mother and fourteen young loitering about a gopher hole 
which she was utilizing as a hideout for her offspring. He 
captured all of them as part of one day’s work. His employer, 
being a just man, did not lay down any definite specifications 
as to size—just so he was of the species his head was worth 
as much as any old patriarch of the hummock. It was his good 
fortune that he came upon, them at the time he did. The sum¬ 
mer was well advanced and the mother would soon have 
weaned them, distributing them in pairs up and down the 
swamp, as has been shown heretofore to be her practice. In 
such event it would have been necessary to hunt them down 
one at a time. The babies are even more difficult to locate than 
the larger ones due to the fact that they can hide so securely 
in such unexpected places. No sooner than she became aware 
that she and her brood had been observed, all of them took 
refuge in the depths of the hole. Having them at bay he could 
take his own time bagging them. His first act was to clear the 
ground of all grass and litter immediately surrounding the 
hole. He provided himself with the necessary weapons, con¬ 
sisting of a club and a bough of pine needles. Running the 
sharp needles of the bough to the depths of the hole he jabbed 
them with the ends of a thousand sharp weapons which they 
could not endure. Scurrying out of the hole to find relief from 
those tormenting needles they were clubbed to death as they 
emerged. His work netted him well—thirty dollars for one 
day’s work for an unskilled laborer was not bad. 
Sad to relate Dame Fortune withdrew her favors from him 
for just this one day—one mistake is enough. On the day of 
which mention is made he had the rattler securely in the bag. 
On his way home he became weary, for the walk was long. 
Depositing his bag near a large fallen pine tree, he sat down 
upon the log for a brief breathing spell. No sooner than seated 
he heard the buzz of one’s rattles and felt the dreadful sting in 
the calf of his leg. His tragic end was not necessarily charge¬ 
able to the hazardous nature of his employment—it might very 
easily have happened to anyone, since the one which fanged 
him was lying coiled by the side of the log upon which he sat 
down—not the one he carried in the bag. 
