260 
CREATURES OF MYSTERY 
not die until the sun goes down, no matter if his head be com¬ 
pletely beaten off during the early part of the day. Such report 
is not entirely without foundation. The reader has surely 
taken note of the fact that the flesh of beef will continue jump¬ 
ing and quivering until the carcass of the slain beast is entirely 
cold. Now, the brain of a rattler may be entirely destroyed, 
yet he remains capable of directing a thrust with amazing ac¬ 
curacy. If, for any reason, the brain becomes wholly inca¬ 
pacitated or destroyed, the solar plexus (that secondary nerve 
center about his midsection) seems to take over, performing 
practically all the functions of the brain so long as the flesh 
remains alive. 
The following incident has been reported to me which pro¬ 
vides a graphic illustration of the danger to which one exposes 
himself when he trusts too much to the behavior of a rattler— 
I mean one supposed to be dead. This uninformed person had 
slain a large one while fishing and conceived the idea of taking 
his long string of rattles as a trophy of combat. The head of 
the brute had been so completely pummeled that he entertained 
not the slightest fear that the reptile would behave in a manner 
unbecoming a dead rattler, so laid hold upon his tail to cut the 
rattles off. When he did so, the rattler gave an over-body 
thrust, piercing his hand with one fang hanging loose about 
the disfigured head of the reptile. The wound inflicted caused 
him no little pain and inconvenience. Thereafter he refused 
absolutely to trust rattlers—no, not even a dead one. 
In the rural areas of one of the Carolinas, a diamond-back 
once perpetrated a triple tragedy in a single home where the 
victims had a perfect right to feel themlselves far removed 
from such menace. The mother and housewife was busy com¬ 
pounding ingredients for a cake she was preparing at the in¬ 
stance of her three small daughters. Her supply of eggs in 
the kitchen being depleted, it became necessary to suspend 
operations while she rushed the three children off to the barn¬ 
yard where a hen nest was attached to the side of the barn. 
The same being above their heads, it became necessary to 
reach and feel for the eggs. The first withdrew her hand in 
haste, screaming, saying to her sisters that the hen had pecked 
