CREATURES OF MYSTERY 
161 
steeled that under such circumstances they instinctively did the 
right thing without taking time out to think—their reflexes 
took care of them, as it were. This incident should be a lesson 
to all who would like to engage in this thrilling pastime. Not 
even a veteran hunter should ever get in a hurry on a spot 
where he senses danger. Fang-proof boots would not have, 
under such circumstances, availed him anything. The stroke, 
had it not been a miss, would have landed upon the body of 
some member of the party. 
There is one safe rule, or pretty nearly so, by which those 
hunting such a deadly foe should be governed, and that is, 
never step on one. During their period of hibernation they act 
very much as though they had been given a “shot in the arm”— 
they want peace and rest above all things. It is fairly safe to 
brush past one, or to step over and beyond him, but woe unto 
him who steps squarely upon him. This can be avoided if 
hunters will remember to step only where they can see the 
ground clearly, or either comb the grass and litter with ex¬ 
treme care before advancing. One might brush past him times 
without number and suffer no harm. Under such tenseness, if 
the hunter should hear a sudden, violent whir of one’s rattles, 
remember one thing^jump as quickly as you can and as far as 
you can. You can apologize to your friend for knocking him 
down later. 
It was on another occasion, but the same rattler which chal¬ 
lenged the horseman which managed to get his personal affairs 
rather w T ell fouled up with his hostile human neighbors. He 
was loitering about a huckleberry flat beside the river await¬ 
ing the arrival of some hungry bird. To his complete surprise 
a large truck unloaded a full dozen berry pickers almost upon 
him. They came into the flat so unexpectedly, and unloaded 
so quickly, that they almost had him surrounded before he 
could conjure up any plan for extricating himself from this 
human trap into which he had fallen. When they began closing 
in upon him he realized that something must be done quickly. 
Without further loss of time he reared up out of his coil, sing¬ 
ing his rattles defiantly as he commenced advancing upon those 
blocking his chosen course to the nearest underbrush. It had 
