CREATURES OF MYSTERY 
155 
There is a definite challenge even in the retreat of a diamond- 
back, but when one is charging, with head reared high and 
rattles giving off that blood-chilling whir—well, the wicked 
and the righteous flee together. 
The writer enjoys personal acquaintance with three repu¬ 
table gentlemen who have been forced to run for their lives, 
and are by no means ashamed to publicly acknowledge the 
fact. The gentleman whose thrilling encounter we are about 
to relate was no weakling, weighing about two hundred and 
twenty-five pounds, neither was he lacking in personal courage. 
The diamond-back which drove him from the woods was a 
superb specimen. His presence in the community had been 
known for years because of the large trail frequently seen. He 
had even been met with by many persons, but none had the 
courage to attack because of the size and menacing attitude of 
the brute. Efforts had been made to locate his place of hiber¬ 
nation, but without success. His wisdom seemed to have kept 
pace with his lengthening span of life, so notwithstanding the 
determination of his human neighbors to effect his destruction, 
he persisted in parading up and down the earth, seeking what¬ 
soever he might devour. 
The gentleman whom fate had booked for an encounter 
with this old bully of the hummockland was riding his horse 
through the moss-draped oaks near the river when his horse 
shied from something, blowing as he sidestepped a bit. Look¬ 
ing upon the ground he saw a great snake upon a dense cover¬ 
ing of wiregrass. When this grass has not been burned for 
several years it attains a depth of a foot or so, and was so soft 
and spongy that the reptile was experiencing some difficulty 
in getting the necessary traction to push himself along. To 
overcome such disadvantage he was lunging forward and buck¬ 
ling or forming his body into arches as he lunged, thus over¬ 
coming his lack of traction. He could not at first believe that 
he was a diamond-back. He had lived for years in infested 
territory but had never seen anything like him. He insists, 
even though admitting that he was decidedly excited during 
the battle, that he was not less than seventeen or eighteen 
inches in circumference. . Others who saw him on other occa- 
