156 
CREATURES OF MYSTERY 
sions concurring, his figures must have been conservative. The 
thought at first occurred to him that he must belong to a species 
not native to the territory in which he was found—perhaps 
had escaped from some traveling circus. But no, he was a 
rattler. By this time he was singing his rattles gently as he 
continued crawling, endeavoring to avoid possible unpleasant¬ 
ness with the horseman. Making his way slowly toward a 
small liveoak tree with low-hanging limbs, he crawled under¬ 
neath it to await eventualities. The rider, being confident of 
his prowess, dismounted and cut himself a long pine sapling 
with intentions of breaking his back at the first blow, thus ren¬ 
dering him helpless. Due to the low-hanging limbs of the tree 
he did not deliver the fatal blow as hoped for. While striking 
him a terrific blow, it did not hit a vital spot, but on the con¬ 
trary served to thoroughly enrage the old rascal. With one 
mighty lunge he attained his full height—leaping straight up¬ 
ward, parallel with the body of the tree. At the same instant 
came the most blood-chilling whir-r-r-r from his rattles that 
he had ever heard. It seemed that the very leaves of the tree 
and blades of grass quivered from the effect of the piercing 
note. He had not anticipated the situation he had created—he 
had never seen a rattler behave in the manner of the one 
before him. The scene was suddenly transformed into some¬ 
thing he lacked the courage to look upon. He instinctively 
sought shelter behind a large nearby pine tree, risking one eye 
at him, so to speak. His assailant having disappeared from 
view, the rattler reared his ugly head to a height of fully four 
feet, standing upon the flattened portion of his tail, and com¬ 
menced circling around underneath the tree, looking every¬ 
where. His horror-inspiring form and his savage, flashing 
eyes were too forbidding to look upon. His eyes, however, were 
an unerring index to the fury raging within him. In ever- 
widening circles he moved, looking and listening for the man 
who smote him. His assailant, who had been standing behind 
a tree observing him with one eye that he might keep check on 
his movements, had concluded by this time that since he was 
about clear of the limbs of the tree, his chances were improved 
for carrying out his original design. He took note of the fact 
