210 
CREATURES OF MYSTERY 
By way of substantiation of such contention “Uncle Dave” 
once made an interesting observation. He was on his way 
fishing, following a cattle trail across a muddy flat adjacent to 
the stream. On his return several hours later he took notice of 
a large king snake lying across the trail, dead, and with suffi¬ 
cient sign of a struggle to indicate that the spot had been the 
scene of a death battle between himself and some other reptile. 
Fang signs were noted about his midsection. A short distance 
away he found a large water rattler, crawling triumphantly 
away from the scene of the encounter. What is your answer, 
based upon the above evidence? Mine is that the king snake 
had been too busy with his hunting and had neglected his im¬ 
munizing weed. 
It has been related elsewhere herein that the Hopi Indians 
of Arizona have a remedy which does not fail, and that the 
same is brewed from the leaves of some wild herb not known 
to the white man. The reader need make but another addi¬ 
tional step in his line of reasoning, and such step is entirely 
logical, to arrive at the conclusion that the king snake does 
employ such method in rendering himself immune to the venom 
of the rattler, and that the Indian learned the secret from the 
king snake by such observation as that related above. 
