clip him the last stunner. He’s settled, don’t you think?”

Elmer breathed easier when he saw that bulky Perk had snatched up a convenient pole, and with this had proceeded to break the back-bone of the angry snake. It was even then squirming on the ground, and judging from its length must be an old campaigner, being fully three feet, which could be considered fair proportions for a Northern specimen.

“He didn’t get to you, I hope, Perk?” was the first question Elmer asked, at which the other grinned, and shook his head vigorously in the negative.

“Glad to say he didn’t, Elmer; but shucks! if he could only have flung himself his full length, instead of only half, I believe he’d have struck me. But I did for him, let me tell you, that’s right. Six rattles, and a prime button to wind up with, to show for my encounter! Whew!”

“But didn’t you hear his warning rattle?” demanded Wee Willie; “I never knew a case where one of his stripe didn’t shake his can like thunder before you almost stepped on him. They’re the only honorable snake there is.”

Perk colored up, and then candidly admitted his shortcoming.

“Why, er, you see, I just must have thought it was only a locust buzzing away like all get-out,” he confessed, in some confusion. “Then all at once he launched himself out at me, to fall short; but like a flash he was coiled again, and starting in to make that queer buzzing sound once more. Oh! yes, I did get a shock, and felt as cold as ice for a few seconds; then my dander seemed to rise, and I just looked around for a pole, which luckily enough happened to be handy. It knocked him silly, you can see.”

“We’ll take no chances with such a slick neighbor,” said Wee Willie, who happened to be carrying the camp hatchet in his left hand; with which he now proceeded to decapitate the squirming snake. “There, be careful not to step on his head, Perk; I’ve heard of a case where a man died by doing that, the sharp fangs running into his foot through his soft moccasin.”

Perk was contented to obtain possession of the rattle as a memento of his late exciting encounter. He showed some concern over the matter.

“I certainly hope there isn’t a nest of these chaps hanging around Log Cabin Bend,” he remarked, solicitously. “What with watching for snakes, and escaped lunatics, I can see where we’re bound to be on the alert every minute of our stay up 

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