The Desert Home: The Adventures of a Lost Family in the Wilderness

by Mayne Reid

  CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.

  THE BATTLE OF THE SNAKES.

  "I need not tell you that the announcement was received with joyfulacclamations; and that one and all satisfied themselves by tasting ofthe salt. It had crystallised into small cubes, as salt always does;and it was as white as snow, which proved its great purity. We had putinto the kettle--which was a large camp-kettle--about four gallons ofwater, and when it was fully evaporated, we obtained not less than tenpints of salt, showing that the water of our spring was much more salinethan the sea itself.

  "When our first kettle-full was disposed of, we re-filled it with water,and again hung it over the fire. We also hung another vessel beside thekettle; and that was our frying-pan, in which several fine steaks ofvenison, seasoned with the new salt, were cooked for our dinner. Wewere not unmindful of the thanks which we owed to God for giving us thismunificent supply of an article so much needed by us; and as soon asdinner was over, my wife took occasion to bring this subject pointedlyforward and we sat for some time conversing upon it.

  "All at once we were interrupted by a series of curious incidents, whichtook place within sight of our fire. Our attention was first drawn tothem by hearing loud screams at a short distance from us, which we allrecognised as the voice of the blue-jay. There is nothing unusual inhearing this bird screaming half the day--for it is, perhaps, moreeasily excited than any other feathered creature. But, if you have evernoticed, it utters a very peculiar cry when there's something unusual`in the wind.' When some much-dreaded enemy is at hand, its notebecomes extremely shrill and disagreeable. So it was then; and for thatreason it drew my attention, as well as that of my companions.

  "We looked towards the spot whence the cry came. We could see thebranches of a low tree in motion, and the beautiful sky-blue wings ofthe bird closing and spreading again as it fluttered through them. Wecould see nothing else upon the tree--that is, no enemy of the bird--noron any of the trees near it. On lowering our eyes to the ground,however, we perceived at once what had set the jay to scolding. Slowlydrawing itself along the earth, gliding through the grass and over thedry leaves--without causing even the driest of them to rustle--went ahideous reptile--a snake. Its yellowish body, dappled with blackblotches, glittered as the sun glanced from its lubricated scales; whileit rose and fell in wavy undulations as it moved. It moved slowly--byvertical sinuosities, almost in a direct line, with its head slightlyraised from the grass. At intervals, it stopped--elevated its neck--lowered its flat coffin-shaped head, like a feeding swan--gentlyoscillated it in a horizontal direction--touched the crisp leaves withits red tongue, as though it was _feeling for a trail_--and then movedon again. In its frequent pauses, as it lay stretched along the groundit appeared cylindrical, as long as the tallest man, and as thick as aman's fore-arm. Its tail ended in a horny appendage about a foot inlength, and resembling a string of large yellowish ill-shaped beads, ora portion of its own vertebrae stripped of the flesh, this peculiaritytold us its species. We saw before us the dreaded rattlesnake--the_crotalus horridus_.

  "My companions were eager to rush forward and at once attack themonster. I restrained them, dogs and all. I had heard--who has not?--of the power of fascination which these reptiles possess. I knew notwhether to believe or disbelieve it. Here was an opportunity to testits truth. Would it charm the bird? We should see. One and all of usremained motionless and silent. The snake crawled on.

  "The bird followed over-head, pitching itself from branch to branch,from tree to tree, screaming with open throat. Neither of them noticedus, as we were partially concealed where we sat.

  "On reaching the foot of a tall magnolia, the rattlesnake--after goingonce round the tree, and apparently smelling the bark--slowly andcarefully wound itself into a spiral coil, close in to the trunk. Itsbody now presented the appearance of a speckled and glittering cable, asthey are usually coiled on the deck of a ship. The tail with its hornyappendage protruded beneath, and the flat head peeped over above,resting upon the uppermost ring of the body. The nictitating membranewas drawn over its eyes. It appeared to sleep. This I thought strange,as I had heard that the fascinating power of these creatures lay in theeyes. It soon became evident, how ever, that the bird was not itsobject; for the latter, on seeing that the snake lay still, ceased itschattering and flew off into the woods.

  "Believing that the interest of the scene was now over, I was aboutraising my rifle to take aim at the snake, when a motion on its partconvinced me that it was not asleep, but watching. Watching for what?A squirrel, perhaps, for this is the creature's favourite prey. Ilooked up into the tree. It had all the appearance of being what istermed a `squirrel-tree'--that is, a tree in which squirrels have theirnest. Ha! just as I expected--there was a hole in the trunk, high up;and around its orifice the bark was slightly discoloured, evidently bythe paws of the squirrels passing in and out. Moreover, on looking tothe ground again, I perceived that a little beaten path, like arat-track, led off through the grass. A ridge-like protuberance thatprojected from the foot of the tree--marking the direction of one of itsgreat roots--ran right into this path; and, from the discoloration ofthe bark above it, it was evident that the squirrels usually climbed upor descended along this ridge. The rattlesnake was coiled beside it--soclose that no animal could pass in that way without coming within hisreach! I felt certain, then, that he was waiting for the descent of thesquirrel; and desirous to see what should happen, I muttered some wordsof caution to my companions, who remained silent as before.

  "We sat watching the hole, in expectation to see the squirrel comeforth. At length, a little rat-shaped head peeped cautiously out; butin this position the animal remained, and did not seem inclined to trustitself beyond the mouth of its den. It was evidently observing us--which it could easily do from its elevated position--and had nointention of coming down.

  "We were about giving up all hopes of witnessing a `scene,' when ourattention was drawn to a rustling among the dead leaves in the woodsbeyond. We looked in that direction. Another squirrel was runningtoward the tree. It was running at full speed,--now along the fallenlogs, now through the grass and dry leaves--apparently pursued. It_was_ pursued; for almost at the same instant its pursuer came insight--an animal with a long, slender body, twice the length of thesquirrel itself, and of a bright yellow colour. It was the_pine-weasel_.

  "There were not twenty feet between them as they ran; and both weredoing their best.

  "I cast a glance at the rattlesnake. He knew what was coming. His jawswere extended--the lower one drawn back until it touched his throat,--his poisoned fangs were naked and visible; his tongue was protrudedforward; his eyes glanced like diamonds; and his whole body rose andfell as with a quick respiration. He seemed to have dilated himself totwice his natural size!

  "The squirrel, looking only behind, ran for the tree, and, like a streakof light, passed along the ridge and upward. We saw the snake launchout his head as the other passed him; but so quick had been the action,that it did not seem that he had even touched it.

  "`Good!' thought we, as we saw the little squirrel sweep up the trunk,and fancied that it was safe. Before it had reached the first fork,however, we observed that it climbed more slowly--then faltered--thenstopped altogether. Its hind feet slipped from the bark; its bodyoscillated a moment, hanging by the fore-claws, and then dropped heavilyback into the very jaws of the serpent!

  "The weasel, on seeing the snake, had suddenly stopped a few feet fromit; and now ran around, doubling its long worm-like body, andoccasionally standing erect,--all the while spitting and snarling likean angry cat. It was evidently furious at being robbed of its prey; andwe thought for awhile it was going to give battle to the snake, whichhad re-coiled himself on seeing this enemy, and lay with open jawsawaiting the attack. The body of the squirrel--now quite dead--wasclose up to his coil, so that the other could not snatch it withoutcoming within reach of his dangerous fangs.

  "On seeing this, and evidently afra
id to encounter such a terribleantagonist, the weasel, after a while, ceased its hostiledemonstrations; and, turning to one side, bounded off into the woods.

  "The reptile now leisurely uncoiled the upper half of his body; and,stretching out his neck toward the squirrel, prepared to swallow it. Hedrew the animal out to its full length along the ground, so that itshead lay towards him. He evidently purposed swallowing the head first--in order to take it `with the grain'--and he commenced lubricating itwith the saliva that ran from his forked tongue.

  "While we sat watching this curious operation, our attention wasattracted to a movement in the leaves over the spot where the snake lay.Directly above him, at a height of twenty or more feet, a huge _liana_,of the trumpet species, stretched across from tree to tree. It was fullas thick as a man's arm, and covered with green leaves and large crimsoncuneiform blossoms, such as belonged to itself. There were otherblossoms mingling with these, for still other parasites--smaller ones--were twined around it; and we could distinguish the beautiful star-likeflowers of the cypress vine. Among these an object was in motion--aliving object--a body--the body of a great snake, nearly as thick as theliana itself.

  "Another rattlesnake! No; the rattlesnake is _not a tree-climber_,--itcould not be that. Besides, the colour of the one upon the vine wasentirely different. It was of a uniform black all over--smooth andglittering. It was the _black_ snake then--the `constrictor' of thenorth.

  "When we first noticed it, it was wound upon the liana in spiral rings,like the worm of a gigantic screw. We saw that it was slowly glidingdownward--for the vine tended diagonally from tree to tree, and itslowest end impinged upon the trunk of the magnolia, about twenty feetfrom the ground.

  "On reaching this point, the snake gradually drew its rings closertogether--until they appeared to touch each other, lapping the liana.It then commenced unwinding itself, by the head, which was slowlycircled backward around the vine--still, however, creasing closely alongit. After a sufficient number of evolutions, the rings had completelydisappeared--with the exception of one or two near the tail--and thereptile lay doubled along the liana. These manoeuvres were executedsilently and with great caution; and it now seemed to pause, and surveywhat was going on below.

  "During all this while, the rattlesnake had been busily engaged with thesquirrel, and thought of nothing else. After licking the latter to hissatisfaction, he extended his purple jaws, drew in the head of hisvictim, and, stretching his long body to its full extent, proceeded toswallow it, tail and all. In a few seconds, the head and shoulders ofthe squirrel had disappeared.

  "But the glutton was suddenly interrupted in his meal; for, at thismoment, we observed the black snake gradually lower himself from theliana, until nothing remained upon the tree but a single loop of hisprehensile tail; and his long body stretching downward, hung directlyover the other.

  "`Surely,' thought we, `he is not going to encounter the rattlesnake--the most terrible of all reptiles.' But the constrictor understood_one_ chapter of herpetology better than we--for the next moment we sawhim drop to the ground; and, almost as quick as thought, appear lappedin sable folds around the speckled body of the `crotalus!'

  "It was a singular sight to see those two creatures writhing andwriggling over the grass; and it was some time before we could tell howthey battled with each other. There was no great difference betweenthem, in point of size. The black snake was longer--by a foot or so--but much more slender in the body, than his antagonist. He possessed,however, an advantage that soon made itself apparent--his activity,which was ten times that of the rattlesnake. We saw that he couldeasily evolve or wind himself at pleasure around the body of thelatter--each time compressing him with those muscular powers which haveentitled him to his name `constrictor.' At each fresh embrace, the bodyof the `crotalus' appeared to writhe and contract under the crushinginfluence of his sable adversary.

  "The rattlesnake had but one weapon, which he could have employed witheffect--his fangs. These were already locked in the body of thesquirrel, and he could not use them upon his adversary. He could notget rid of that hairy morsel, that, like a barbed arrow, was nowsticking in his throat. We could see that the squirrel still remainedthere; for, as the two reptiles struggled over the grass, its bushy tailwas seen waving in the midst of their tortuous contest.

  "At length, the battle began to flag. The motions of both combatantswaxed slower and slower. We could now see _how_ they fought. We couldsee--strange it appeared to us--that, instead of battling head to head--face to face--the fangs of the `constrictor' were buried in the rattlesof the `crotalus!' Stranger still, the tail of the former rose and fellwith a muscular and powerful impetus, whipping the latter to death!

  "The contest was soon ended. The rattlesnake lay stretched at fulllength--evidently dead; while the black constrictor still continued tohug the speckled body, as though it was an object to be loved. Thislasted for a moment or so; and then slowly unwinding himself, theconqueror turned round, crawled head to head with his victim, andproceeded to appropriate the prey. The `scene' was over, and we allleaped to our feet to enact the _finale_. I should have spared theconstrictor, after the good service he had done in destroying therattlesnake; but Cudjo, who hated all sorts of creeping things, wasahead of me; and, before I could come up, I beheld the victor suspendedupon his spear!"