208 
CREATURES OF MYSTERY 
rings, was much larger though slimmer than that of the other. 
The scales of the newcomer, moreover, were smooth instead 
of being ridged as were those of the rattlesnake, and its lithe 
body slipped over the sand with a speed which no rattlesnake, 
the heaviest of all venomous serpents, could equal. 
Slithering through the sand, the shimmering black figure 
approached the coiled rattler unconcernedly, for the newcomer 
was no other than one of the king snakes, whose blood is im¬ 
mune to the venom of any reptile of the Western Hemisphere, 
he it rattlesnake, moccasin, bushmaster, or fer-de-lance. 
As by scent the diamond-back sensed the approach of the 
other, its rattles again whirred warningly and the fixed, lidless 
eyes took on that look of terrible menace which neither man 
nor beast can endure to face. 
The king snake, however, showed no fear, but shot straight 
toward the heart-shaped head which waited for him. Then, 
like the sudden flicker of light upon water, the rattler struck, 
driving its curved fangs deep into the back of the other, and 
was instantly back in position. The next instant there was a 
writhing tangle of coils in the path, and like a narrow ribbon 
of black silk, the slim body of the king snake wound around 
and around the rattler’s huge bulk. Again and again the dia¬ 
mond-back drove its fangs into the other’s body. A man would 
have died in a few minutes and most snakes almost as soon 
from such a tremendous dosage of venom. Its only effect upon 
the king snake, however, was the winding more closely of its 
relentless length, while its taught body and prismatic scales 
beamed in the sun like burnished metal. Then the choking 
coils tightened and the rattler’s mouth gaped wide open as it 
gasped for air. Not until the bloated body lay limp and lifeless 
upon the sand did the king snake loosen its grip and disappear 
to the brush, the avenger of a long line of little victims who had 
fallen prey to that dead ruler of the dark places of the marsh. 
— (Adapted from “The Diamond-back,” by Samuel Scoville, 
Jr., in Nature Magazine, Sept., 1929.) 
