10 
along his sides, and becoming disgust- 
ed with his laziness, I tried to madden 
him, prodded him and tried to roll 
him over. He stood for it a few min- 
utes, then crawled off into the water. 
He never attempted to bite. Per- 
haps he knew the difference between 
a pole and manflesh, and didn’t want 
to waste his poison. 
As he went into the water I turned 
to go back, and there, not over two 
feet away, was another brown and 
black monster, walking toward me, 
his yellow (trimmings glistening like 
gold in the sunshine. 
One yell—l’ll bet it carried to 
Phoenix. One standing high jump, 
and I’ll bet it. broke Lanson’s record. 
I thought there were monsters all 
around me, (that I had been sitting on 
them. I dropped my pole and it fell 
down the bank. About fifty yards 
away my fright and breath ran out, 
and my nerve came back. I found 
some stones and went after that slow 
old lizzard. 1 narrowly missed him, 
and he crawled over the bank. 
There is absolutely no disputing, 
but that these monsters are venomous 
and deadly, yet I am told very few 
are bitten. Kids swim in the river 
where the reptiles abound, but they 
say they drive them out before they 
undress. 
The Gila monster and the rattle- 
snake are said to be the only venom- 
ous reptiles in Arizona, | have travel- 
ed nearly all over Arizona, New Mex- 
ico and ‘Texas, and I have never seen 
any other poisonous specie. On the 
Devil’s River, Country of Texas, I 
killed a monster snake that was busy 
swallowing a nest of young rabbits. 
He was too full of rabbits to run, 
but he raised his great head and his- 
sed at me like a cat, 
The cowboys afterwards told me this 
big reptile was jbsolutely harmless; 
that one can pick them up. They will 
wind around your leg or arm and 
squeeze some, will strike and bite, 
leaving fang wounds like a pin prick, 
and as harmless, as they are not 
poisonous. 
V’ll take their word for it. 
There is another lizard, the Blue 
Mountain Boomer. I never could dis- 
cover how he got his name. He lives 
on the desert, in the hottest places in 
America, and they say never takes 
moisture. ‘This fellow is a hundred 
times more scary than the Gila reptile. 
and is the quickest bit of life I ever 
saw—so quick in his movements thiat 
the eye can scarcely follow him, You 
can get very close to him then he will 
simply scoot away six to eight feet, 
and before you have sized up where 
he went to, he is back again. Like 
lightning they will dart out and back 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
—in a second of time. ‘ 
With a .22 rifle, standing not over 
six feet from a boomer, with a dead 
rest over a rock, I shot at him. In the 
wink of an eye he darted away and 
back again. Three times I {tried to 
shoot him and failed. Perhaps I am 
no sure shot, then again perhaps the 
story is true, that you can’t kill them. 
I remember years ago, in a cow 
camp in West Texas, | worked for a 
week to trap one. He lived in a little 
scrub oak, and got his board regularly 
from the camp scraps. Tiheir skins are 
beautiful, with nearly all colors beau- 
tifully blended. I wanted him, because 
it is said they cannot be caught. I 
had 18 hours of daylight ito while 
away day afiter day, and only those 
who have endured the awful monot- 
ony of the dry land can appreciate 
what little trifles interest. 
I rigged up a box trap, similar to 
a squirrel trap and had it down so 
fine that it hung on a linen thread. I: 
covered up all the scraps around the 
camp, and put a nice bait in the box. 
It was three days before he would go 
near it; then he grew bolder and bold- 
er, and finally would slip in, grab a 
crumb and dart out again like a flash. 
And when he became bold I laid for 
him. Four or five rods away I held 
a knife over the back thread. The 
minute I saw him dart for the box I 
cut it. It was guess work, but it hap- 
pened to be rightly timed. The liz- 
zard started in and started out when 
the lid came down and caught him, 
half in and half out, and so badly in- 
jured him he died in a few minutes. 
I did a splendid bit of prairie taxi- 
dermy on the boomer, disembowelled 
him, put him to soak in sheep dip, 
stuffed him with ttobbacco and cotiton 
and laid him on a rock to embalm. 
The next morning there was no 
boomer, 
The devil’s horse is a huge cross be- 
tween a bug and a grasshopper, and 
the Mexicans have a deadly fear of 
it. I never found or saw but one. It 
was a livid green, about two inches 
long and an inch or so tall, somewhat 
resembling a big locust. Some say 
they bite and are deadly; others that 
they get in your food and poison it. 
The one I found would not bite or do 
anything wicked or out of the ordi- 
nary, and when I dosed it with to- 
bacco juice it just settled down and 
died. 
The vinegarroon is another deadly 
resident of Arizona and West Texas. 
He isof the scorpion family and 
when disturbed emits a sickening 
odor. Poison is exhuded through the 
legs. 
The scorpion is something like a 
crab, with pinchers in front and a 
tail behind, armed fore and aft, With 
the tail he stings, Stories tell us that— 
sting is deadly. Itisn’t. It is poison- — 
ous and will cause severe swelling and 
inflammation, but won’t kill. 
The centiped, that great worm that — 
grows to ja length from eight to nine 
inches, is also exaggerated in kilting 
records. Stories tell us that if this 
worm crawls over one the flesh will 
slough off and the person dies. They 
are poisonous, but not fatal, 
The tarantula, the monster brown 
and black spiders, abound in the des- 
ert spots, and he is a spider to keep ~ 
away from. But like the others he is 
not as deadly as he is printed. 
In an open space I found one of 
these big fellows, far away from his 
hole. I cut a long brush and tanta- 
lized him, and would not let him es- 
cape. I had heard they would jump 
but I never saw one do it. This one 
did, After I had prodded him he leap- 
ed at me, fully three feet. I knocked 
him down with the bush and held him - 
while the rancher put a tomato can 
over him. At the ranch house I killed 
him with gasoline. He measured five 
inches across from the tip of his legs 
and was covered with hair. 
But most to be dreaded is the dia- 
mond rattle snake. While some live 
after having been bitten, the most of 
them die, and the death is horrible. 
Nearly everyone wears high topped 
boots or leggins. 
Yet with all these poisonous worms, 
snakes, spiders and lizards, very few 
are bitten and the people apparently 
use very little caution. None of them 
will bite if they can escape, and it is 
only when one steps on them or ac- 
cidentally puts hands on them that 
they are bitten. 
GREAT PETS ARE THESE SWANS 
A pair of beautiful white swans, 
owned by William A. Tucker, have 
been one of tthe features of Manches- 
ter harbor during the past six months. 
Although their official residence is on 
the shore of Mr. Tucker’s West Man- 
chester estate, the swans are to be 
seen — always together — at a differ- 
ent part of the harbor at almost every 
hour of the day. Last week they 
ventured in the ocean outside. Great- 
ly to the surprise of their owner, 
and of every one else interested in 
their movements, the swans were 
picked up one day recently off Rock- . 
port, fully 12 miles by water from 
Manchester. They were brought 
home on shipboard and are said to 
have remained in ‘Tucker’s creek 
since thiat time, —Gloucester Times. 
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