THE YOUNG FOLKS.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 2499, 30 August 1890, Page 7 (Supplement)

THE YOUNG FOLKS.

WONDERFUL NERVE. “ Speaking of snakes in one’s boots,” said the “old timer,“it was on this road in the time of its building, and iu this same rising country we are now passing through, that a man had the worst case of a snake in his clothes that I ever knew of. But this was no mirage, but a real, sure-enough rattler that crawled under the shirt of a sober man.” . The Union Pacific train was then entenng the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. _ A little party of passengers, accidental acquaintances, were in the smoxing compartment of the palace oar enjoying their cigars and talking of matters relating to the country through which we were travelling. The conversation had turned upon snakes, the subject arising, perhaps, from the fact that a commercial traveller in the sleeping car behind us, who had for several weeks been rehearsing tho overture for the occasion in the drinking places of Denver, had been entertained in his birth all the previous night by a panoramic procession composed of representatives of the reptile kingdom iu a state of tontorted activity. He had become somewhat worked up under the persistency of the visitation, and so disturbed his fellowpassengers by vociferous attempts to Bcare away the intruders that he had been taken from the train and left under medical care at a wayside station. This final episode had just occurred, and as the train moved on the passengers fell to talking upon the Bubject of the delirtum tremens as manifested under the in-, spiring conditions of the boundless West, and from talking of imaginary snakes, we came to the subject of real ones. “The old timer,” a portly capitalist from the mining region, went on with his narration, and we all listened. “ A party of us were in those hills yonder,” he said, “ wheu the railroad was building, getting out ties on contract, and were camping one night in a little grassy valley among he bluffs. We were sleeping on the bare ground in the open air. It was late in September, and the nights were getting cool in the mountains, and each man had turned in with his clothes on, and rollod up in all the blankets he could muster. Next to me lay an Illinois man named Robert Jellison —a cool, moderate sort of fellow, but with plenty of nerve, as you shall hear. Some time about midnight I was awakened by hearing Jellison call to me in a low voice. My first thought on waking was that some one might be tampering with the horses, and not wishing to make any demonstration until I found out what quarter the trouble was iu, I got my hand on my revolver and whispered, without moving : “ ‘ What’s up, Bob ? Indians ?’ “Jellison was lying on his back, perfectly motionless. "Without s lining, he spoke in the same tone as before : “ ‘ No; I wish it were. I think a snake has crawled up my trousers’ leg. Don’t move; only as I tell you. Don’t wake tho boys. He’s quiet now and I don’t want him set a-going. But get up easy, and start a fire.’ “So I slipped out of my blankets : and moving around easy, raked the brauds of the camp-fire together, piled on some wood and soon had a blaze. While I did thi3 Jellison was speaking in a monotonous tone without moving his lips. “ ‘He’s feeling his way along under my shirt, but he keeps moving up all the time. His head is as far up as my armpits already, and his tail ! isn’t over my instep yet. I think he’s a mile long and weighs a thousand pounds to the inch. The fire’s all right, isn’t it ? Now come here | the blankets away from me. The '‘cussStuYeutile is lying on top »f me along my I left leg and side. * Begin on the right side, ami work easy.* “ Jellison’s blankets were tucked tightly under him, and it was a ticklish proceeding to pull their edge from beneath him without moving his body, with the chance that at any moment I might encounter the head of his unwelcome visitor. Jellison swore from time to time with suppressed emotion as I jarred him ever so little and kept saying, « Work easy 2’ Finally I got the blaukets clear on one side, and gently lifted them away from his body. He had turned in with his shirt, trousers, and stockings on, and by the firelight I saw protruding from the left trousers leg six inches of the tail of a snake tipped with a big rattle. The reptile, which had sought his present quarters for warmth, evidently did not like the sensatiou of the cold air on the exposed extremity, for there was immediately an ugly wriggling movement under Jellison’s clothes, ami the snake’s tail disappeared upwards clear to the rattle. “ With all his nerve and coolness, the suspense was telling on Jellison. His face showed white in the firelight and the cold sweat stood in big drops on his forehead. “ * The snake’s head is up to my shirt collar now,’ he gasped. ‘ Take your hunting knife and rip nay clothes open on the right side. His cold body is taking all the strength out of me. Work quick, and don’t mind the risk of catting “ My hunting knife wns as sharp as a razor, but I strapped it a little on my boot to give it an extra fine edge, and, working so as not to turb tho snake, I began at Jellison‘s right shoulder, and cut clean through his clothes from the shirt collar to the bottom of tho left trousers le". Then stepping round to the other side, ami holding the garments so as they would serve as a shield. I laid them over on the left, so a 3 to leave Jellison’s body exposed. A liugo rattlesnake lay the whole length of the man’? body, its tail resting on hia instept, and its big, triangular head reposing in tlie hollow ©f his throat. The reptile, on being uncovered, curved its neck a little by drawing up its body so as to look behind and see the cause of its being disturbed, then threw itself iuto half a coil, assuming the form of the letter S, with its head turned backwards towards me. It then lay wholly on the bedy of Jellison. I remained perfectly still, except to take a position so that I should not be between the snake and the fire, and there waited. . “The reptile kept his position for awhile, and Jellison was beginning to feel the chill of the frosty air, so that his body shook in spite of himself. But the cold was telling on the snake likewise, and the warmth of the fire appealed to its feelings. As I kept quiet it ceased to regard me and began to move slowly towards the blaze, and presently slid entirely off the body of the man and glidedjoYer the blankets towards tho fire “ By tho time the snake was a iongtn away i had caught Jellison by the shoulders and pulled him up standing. I threw a pair of blankets over his shoulders, for lie’was shakings with a fit of the ague.

“ ‘ New, old man,’ I said, * you're all right. Hold still till I kill the snake.’ « ‘ H-h-hold on 2’ said Jellisen. his teeth clicking as he shivered with cold and the reaction from his nervous tension. ‘ N-n-no m-m-man k-kills that snake but m-nx-me ?’ “ Up to this point no snake had ever been treated with greater consideration, and wo had deferred to its prejudices at every stage of the proceedings. The reptile—a mountain monster over five feet long—was lying in coil near the fire, basking comfortably in the glow, but keeping his eye on us at every turn. Jellison picked up a revolver, and approaching to within a few feet of the snake, tired six shots into the coil as if it did him good to do so. By the time he hail emptied the pistol the snake was dead, and pretty thoroughly cut to pieces. The rest of the bovs had slept through all that had been going on, but at the *-und of the first shot they came tumbling up in a great hurry, with their guns iu hand, ready tor Indians. The business was over, however, and there was nothing for them to do. “ Jellison spent the next day in samp, with a needle and thread drying to get his clothes sewed together. He said for weeks that fie •oukl feef that snake on his body whenever he laid down, and he dreamed of it at nights. He was with us for several months after, and to the last asserted that he had never got warm all over, but had always a cold streak on his body where the snake had lata.” —lVceMff Eu