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Show ADVENRERS' CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES J OF PEOPLE ME YOURSELF1 W "Man Who Didn't Reply" j By FLOYD GIBBONS j Famous Headline Hunter HELLO EVERYBODY: You know, boys and girls, there are times when tt. a doggone sight harder to just remain still and do nothmg thaTit would be to climb the Alps. Everybody knows that feeling. Usually it comes from boredom. But here s one case where it didn't. If. the story of Albert Jones of Chicago, that I'm telling you today. And a! remained still as death for 10 terrible minutes, not out of boredom, bore-dom, but in the most exciting circumstances anyone could Imagine. During that time, Al's brother spoke to him-twice. And Al cVdn't answer. He didn't dare to speak. One word would have cost him his life. Death was so close that he hardly even dared to breathe. All that happened in the summer of 1919. when Al was living In southern Texas. His brother lived with h.m and the pair of them had a house near the town of Sinton. The house was built on , post that ros e up about two and a half feet from the ground. A lot of houses are built that way down there in the warm country, where people don t need cellars to keep their furnaces in. Looking for Snakes Under the House. I'll bet that nowadays Al lives in houses with foundations that go right down to the ground. And I'll further bet that he never tries crawling under a house of any sort again. "This story," he says, "may be a thriller for the people who i just read about It. But it was a nightmare for me." I The trouble started one summer day just as Al and his brother were getting ready to go to town. Al heard an unusual noise under the floor and he didn't like the way it sounded. He thought It might be a snake and he told his brother he was going to crawl under the house and , take a look. He went outside and peered between the posts that held the house ' up. He didn't see anything under there, but. Just to make sure, he began ! to crawl under the floor on his hands and knees. He moved forward slowly and carefully, scrutinizing every inch of the way. ! Doggoned well he knew that it wouldn't do to be careless at a time i like that If there was a snake under there and if it turned out, as was l An enormous rattler raised his head. ' extremely likely, to be one of those Texas rattlers he wanted to give it as wide a berth as possible. i Al looked around a long time. There wasn't a snake anywhere in sight. He had just about decided he was mistaken was just about to give up the search and crawl back, when his brother, inside the house, dropped a pan on the floor right above him. And then suddenly Al'i ! whole body stiffened. There Was a Huge Rattler. Dead ahead of him, scarcely two feet from Al's face, an enormous rattler raised his head out of a depression in the j ground where he had been lying hidden from view. "I was paralyzed with fear," he says. "I knew that the slightest 1 movement on my part would be fatal, for a snake as big as that one , could strike like lightning over that scant two feet of distance, while : I was stooped over in such an awkward position that I could scarcely ; move at all. ' "Although it was a hot day, cold sweat began to cover my face. Every minute seemed to be an hour. I was hoping against hope that my brother would come out to investigate, and see my danger. Finally I did hear him start out of the door and my heart leaped. I didn't stop to think that even if he did come out he couldn't see the snake from where he d be standing." Al's brother came out and stopped by the side of the house. of hc'S" n Ut f there'" Said' "thre isn'1 8 Snake Within 3 mile One Word Might Mean Death. h-.vfstn?' E?k' ?6 Wrd out ' him and 0134 ske would Jave bS -O, Jea'hV" " SPkCn hiS a"SWer WOuld Prbab "And there I was," Al says, "afraid to breathe. After what to traw bet!1"0 V "" S'Wly Uncoilcd "nd to tram between my hands and knees." undeArr,Sfurk,CheP mVing 33 that r "thered along a.aiATdidn'Ware'0: T,8 there' And S frotvT a ST 'fror your life, don't move1" Then hQ . Al heard him dah aTros," th. n ? """""" t0Ward the house' li-ard the crashrf a shot and Vr T 8 minute he was ba- Al like a leaf. ' and crawled out frw" under the house, shaking measured t had Cnis,"d and was quite dead, the two : tr-:: it Ai- ;and 4 A n.cnt alm..st certain death." unprotected surface would have that's why I'm betting that M rra.i, a b m,lt ai crawls under no more houses C'Wnuht.-WNU Service nouses. |