212 
CREATURES OF MYSTERY 
of the rattle. But the most disconcerting feature of his attack 
was the deadly collectedness and assurance of power which 
fairly radiated from his glistening body. He was consciously 
master of the situation and determined to make a kill. In some 
subtle manner this assurance communicated itself to his victim 
and overcame his rapidly waning power of resistance. 
Because of the superb beauty of his body markings and the 
cleanliness of his skin—it was evident that the rattler had 
recently sloughed his skin—leaving all dust and discoloration 
with the old garment. Had his new scales been unaided by 
the brilliance of the morning sun, he would still have been a 
thing of beauty to behold, but each scale seemed to possess 
the refracting quality of a prism, with the result that the sun’s 
rays were reflected in all the varying hues of the seven colors 
of the rainbow, rivaling in beauty the most dazzling tiara 
worn by a Maharajah of the East Indies. For the rattler’s 
scales seem to possess some of the qualities of the pearl, which 
is built in layers of varying thickness, so that when the sun’s 
rays are absorbed by the first layer they are reflected by the 
deeper layers, giving them a delicate tint made up of all the 
shades which might be compounded by any of the great masters 
from the seven basic colors. Then, too, it seemed that the rat¬ 
tler had the ability to move the skin of his neck in such manner 
as to reflect and refract the rays of the sun most effectively. 
The whole spectacle filled the old gentleman with mingled 
emotions. The beauty of the snake was so striking that he 
could not refrain from wishing that he might preserve him 
permanently. Yet at the same time he felt the opposing desire 
to destroy him and all his kin as the embodiment of the Prince 
of Fallen Angels. His love of the artistic created the desire 
to preserve, while his hatred for that which was utterly evil 
urged him to destroy. Such conflicting emotions are common 
to the human heart. The dividing line between love and hate 
is often extremely narrow. As he looked with pity and amaze¬ 
ment upon the tragedy that was about to be enacted before his 
eyes, he deplored the weakness of the harmless creatures that 
came within the range of their arch enemy’s Satanic powers. 
How pitiful were their futile efforts to escape that diabolical 
