Few strangers ever came to Cornham after the 1st of April. It was a
sleepy little Southern town, and even the approach of spring made it too
warm for comfort.
But one morning, when the sun was pouring down its beams with particular
brightness, the few loungers at the railway station were astonished by
the arrival of a middle-aged gentleman with a red beard and a pair of
gold spectacles. He took lodgings at the only tavern in the place--the
Bull's Head--and before he went to bed that night he had posted up by
the side of the tavern door the following notice:
"WANTED, A LIVE RATTLESNAKE.
"The undersigned will pay for a live rattlesnake, not less than
thirty inches long, and with at least three rattles, the sum of one
dollar. The fangs of the snake must be extracted before it is
offered for inspection, but the animal must not be injured in any
other way, and must be perfectly healthy and lively. For a snake
four feet long, with six or more rattles, two dollars will be paid.
"JOHN G. HARRIMAN."
This notice attracted the attention of a number of the people of the
town, who gathered in a little crowd to read it; and after that had been
done, most of the good folks sat down on the benches in front of the
tavern to talk about it. It was generally agreed that Mr. Harriman must
be either a showman, or one of those scientific fellows who go about the
country collecting weeds and bits of stone, and all manner of worms and
insects. Whatever he might have been, any one in the town who had
happened to own a live rattlesnake would have been glad to let him have
it for a dollar; but it was pretty certain that no one possessed such a
creature. There were, however, in the stony hills and mountains around
Cornham plenty of rattlesnakes, and it was in the hope of inducing some
of the villagers to capture one of these for him that Mr. Harriman had
put up his notice.
About nine o'clock Tom Welden came walking by the tavern, and stopped to
read the notice. Tom was fourteen years old, and was the son of a farmer
in the neighborhood. He had finished his morning's work about the barn,
and had come into town to get something from the store.
The notice was very interesting to Tom, and he read it twice. A dollar
was to him quite a large sum of money, and he was not long in making up
his mind to try to get a rattlesnake for Mr. Harriman. If he could catch
one four feet long, so much the better. He had nothing in particular to
do that day, and he would start off at once for Block Mountain, where it
was understood there were always rattlesnakes to be found.
He did not, however, wish to go on such an expedition by himself, and so
he called on Charlie Crawford, one of his boy friends, and asked him to
go with him.
"Is it to be half and half?" asked Charlie.
Tom hesitated a little at this. He had not thought of dividing the
reward.
"All right," said Charlie, laughing. "I don't want any of the money;
I'll go for fun."
But Tom was too generous a fellow to consent to anything like that. "We
will first get the snake," he said, "and then we will see about dividing
the money. But we must hurry up, for I've got to stop at the house on my
way to the mountain."
In an hour from this time the boys had begun the ascent of Block
Mountain, which was about two miles from the village. They had not gone
very far up the mountain-side before they came to a cabin standing by
itself on a small level space. An elderly man, very roughly dressed, was
sitting on a bench by the door.
"Charlie," said Tom, "I'm going to stop for a moment to speak to old
Ramsay. He can tell us more about rattlesnakes than anybody in these
parts."
The boys found old Ramsay very willing to talk about rattlesnakes. "If
it wasn't for my rheumatism," he said, "I'd just as lief go with you as
not. But if you go up to the Break-Neck Rocks, and look around in the
sunny places, you'll be sure to find some. You know how to scotch 'em,
don't you?"
"Oh yes," said Tom, "I've done it before; but what bothers me is how to
get the fangs out of the snake after we catch it. It's got to have its
fangs out before it's delivered."
"Don't you try to take 'em out at all," said Ramsay. "Just you get your
snake into this basket, and fasten the lid down tight, and then bring it
to me. I'll take the fangs out."
The man then handed Tom a small but strong basket, made of split white
oak, and thanking him for it, the boys started off again. On the way up
Tom cut a pole about six feet long. He whittled off the upper branches,
leaving only a small crotch at the top.
The Break-Neck Rocks were near the top of the mountain, but before they
got there the boys sat down to rest.
"Tom," said Charlie, "if I'd been you, I would have put on my shoes
before I came out to hunt rattlesnakes."
Tom looked at his bare feet in despair. "I never thought of it," he
said. "I had so many things to do, that shoes never entered into my
head."
"If your feet had entered your shoes, that would have been much better,"
said Charlie.
"Well, I'm not going back," said Tom, "for it's too far. I'll pick my
way gingerly, and I guess I won't tread on a snake."
[Illustration: "FOR SOME TIME THE BOYS RESTED ON THE SIDE OF THE
MOUNTAIN."]
For some time the boys rested on the side of the mountain, looking out
over the country below them, and at the river which flowed not far away.
Then they started up again, and soon reached the Break-Neck Rocks.
These rocks covered several acres, and between them were clefts or
openings, often a yard or more wide at the top, and extending downward
for fifteen or twenty feet. In the middle of the day, when the sun shone
down into these great fissures, the ground at the bottom was a favorite
resort for rattlesnakes; and here it was old Ramsay had meant the boys
to look for them.
Tom and Charlie now began their search, stepping from rock to rock, and
carefully looking into every cleft. It was not long before they saw very
plainly a large rattlesnake on the ground at the bottom of the cleft. He
was coiled up, and evidently fast asleep.
"How are we going to get him?" whispered Charlie. "The pole won't reach
down there."
"I think we can manage it," said Tom. "I'll get part of the way down,
and then you can hand me the pole, and I'll rouse him up, and when he
sticks his head out to crawl, I will clap the crotch down over his neck,
and hold him fast."
"All right," said Charlie.
Tom now began to cautiously clamber down the sides of the cleft. He had
often gone down into these little ravines, but the walls here were much
smoother than he had generally found them, and he did not meet with many
projections on which he could place his feet. He was, however, slowly
working his way down, when, to his own horror, and that of Charlie, who
was watching him from above, he suddenly began to slip. He vigorously
thrust out his arms and legs on either side, and as the cleft gradually
narrowed in a downward direction, he succeeded by a great exertion in
stopping himself when about half-way down. But now his position was very
critical. If he slipped to the bottom, he might not only hurt himself,
but he would most likely come down with his bare feet right on the
sleeping snake. In working his way down he had, without intending it,
got into a position directly above the creature.
It was a situation of great peril, and Charlie, who watched the scene
from above, was even more frightened than Tom. He reached down the pole
to his companion, but Tom could not take either of his hands from the
rocks to seize it, and even if he could have done so, it would have been
of little service, for Charlie was not strong enough to pull him up.
Then another idea struck Charlie. "If I can drive away the snake," he
thought, "it will not be so bad for Tom, if he must fall." He picked up
some small pieces of stone, and going back a little distance, where
there would be no chance of his hitting Tom, he began to hurl the stones
at the sleeping snake. One of them soon struck it, and in an instant the
animal was aroused; but instead of uncoiling himself and crawling away,
he thrust up his head and glared around, at the same instant raising his
tail and rattling violently.
"Now I have done it," thought poor Charlie. "Tom might have got away
from the snake when it was asleep, but now it is all ready for him."
Charlie was in despair, but stepping back to a point just above Tom, and
looking down upon his friend, another idea entered his mind.
"Tom," he cried, "can you hold on for half a minute longer?"
"Yes," said Tom, rather faintly.
"All right, then," cried Charlie. "Hold on tight, and shut your eyes."
Charlie turned around, and looking about him, picked up a piece of rock
as big as his head. Taking this in both hands he stepped across the
chasm, and stood astride of it, not exactly over Tom, but a little in
front of him. Charlie had noticed that the snake had moved a little, and
its head was now so far forward that a large stone might possibly be
dropped upon it without hitting Tom. To do so, however, the stone must
almost graze Tom's nose. But there was no time to be lost, and this was
the only plan Charlie could think of to save his friend.
"Keep your eyes shut," he cried, "and don't move."
Down dropped the stone, and the wind of it as it passed Tom's face made
him jerk back his head.
"Did it touch you?" cried Charlie, excitedly.
"Nothing touched me," answered Tom.
"It's on top of the snake!" cried Charlie. "Now get down as fast as you
can."
Tom gave a glance downward, and then, half-slipping, half-scrambling, he
came heavily to the bottom of the ravine. Charlie now ran off some
distance to a place where there was a comparatively easy descent to the
paths among the rocks, and he soon reached the spot where Tom stood.
"Are you hurt?" he asked.
"No," said Tom, "only scratched a little. But there isn't a man alive
who would give three cents for this snake. You've smashed its head
nearly off."
"That is what I tried to do," said Charlie. "Now we will go and look for
another one."
The boys moved slowly among the rocks, and it was not long before they
saw another snake, coiled up and asleep. Tom roused him with the
crotched end of his pole, and when the snake, after rattling and
hissing, laid his head upon the ground to crawl, Tom clapped the crotch
over his neck, and held him firmly down. It was of no use for the
creature to squirm and wriggle; he could not get his head from under
that crotch. Charlie carried the basket, and he now ran up to the snake.
Taking a piece of twine from his pocket, he slipped it under the head,
and tied it around the neck just in front of the crotch. It required
some care to tie the cord tightly enough to prevent its slipping, but
not so tight as to choke the snake. The ends of the cord were about two
feet long, and each of the boys took hold of one of them. The stick was
now removed, and the snake began to struggle violently, but could not
get at either of his captors. He was then lifted up by the cord, and
dropped, tail foremost, into the basket, when the lid was clapped down
quickly upon him, and securely fastened. The ends of the twine, which
hung outside, were tied together under the basket, and the boys started
homeward with their prize.
When they reached the cabin of old Ramsay, the veteran snake-hunter was
still sitting at his door. As soon as he heard that the boys had caught
a snake, he began to make preparations to take out its fangs.
"It's too tetchy a business for young boys like you," he said.
Ramsay hobbled into the house, and brought out a strong leather strap.
He then untied the ends of the twine, giving one to each of the boys to
hold. The lid of the basket was removed, and the snake angrily raised
its head. Ramsay then held the end of the strap toward it, when, quick
as lightning, the shake struck at the leather, and fiercely bit it. The
moment the creature's fangs entered the strap, Ramsay violently pulled
it away.
Glancing at the end the snake had bitten, Ramsay held it out toward the
boys.
"Thar's his fangs," he said, "sticking into the leather. I jerked 'em
out. Now the varmint couldn't hurt a baby--that is, till his fangs grow
again, which won't be for a good while."
When the snake was delivered that afternoon to Mr. Harriman, it was an
object of great attention to that gentleman and many of the villagers.
It was found to be forty-nine inches long, and had seven rattles.
"Why, it's a two-dollar snake!" said Tom.
"Yes," said Mr. Harriman, "it is a very fine specimen, and I gladly pay
you the two dollars. To which of you must I give the money?"
"This is Tom's snake," said Charlie, quickly. "The one I got, I smashed
to flinders."
And in spite of Tom's arguments, he refused to accept a cent of the
reward.
"It was a plucky thing in you," said Tom to his friend as they walked
away, "to drop that big stone so close to my face."
"There was nothing plucky about it," said Charlie, laughing. "It
wouldn't have hurt me if it had hit you."
"I don't believe a word of that," said Tom. "I believe it would have
hurt you just as much as me."
Which was exactly the truth.