CREATURES OF MYSTERY 
263 
as he thought, for his life, but when he reached the rail fence 
two hundred yards away, the snake was already there, waiting 
for him on the other side. 
A newspaper story was brought to me, in substance as fol¬ 
lows: A gentleman with two or three small children had his 
attention attracted to them, seemingly playing a game of 
“Ring around the Rosie.” They were running in a circle, and 
at a certain point in the circle would leap over some imaginary 
object, as he thought. Their behavior was so unusual that he 
went to look into matters. He found them playing with a large 
rattler, the latter enjoying the game as much as they. 
After slaying the reptile he instituted a search in the vicinity 
and found four others. I was asked if I had any faith in the 
veracity of the one who sent in the story. All I could say was 
that everything was strictly in line with the known habits of 
the creature. The time was mid-September, their mating sea¬ 
son. The one with which the children were playing was evi¬ 
dently the female, who was taking no part in the fight going 
on inside the nearby, “rough,” but crawled forth at the sight 
of the little children for a little innocent pastime with them. 
It was as certain that the other four were males, engaged in a 
regular love tournament to determine whose bride the female 
would be. The female rattler is utterly devoid of any sentiment 
in such matters—her love goes to the strong man, whoever he 
might prove to be. 
