Show A QUEER BEDFELLOW BED FELLOW CHILLED BY COLD A BULL alk CROWDS UNTO INTO A prospectors BED I 1 am en encamped c in a P e d la in the deep forests on the caff erous hills of 0 young county M my y temporary I 1 shelter is a small cabin of a single room lull full of cracks through which many things can creep this morning an hour or two before dawn a heavy rainstorm rain storm descended upon vs s and the air grew quite ite chill chilly ahl white lying in my corn com ble I 1 little aie bed listening justenin g to the howling of the wind and pouring of the rain I 1 felt a strange movement in the bed if was not t the he movement of an aa earthquake or of a whale or of an elephant yet I 1 immediately recognized it as a movement of ef a very moving nature one that might involve terrible consequences I 1 felt it again and it was not onely om in the bed but under cover with rae me just at this juncture I 1 felt so something ip ething very a sack k and of a somewhat cold d nature move ove against my kand hand the time lor for action evident evidently Jy had come and I 1 did not deliberate what action to perform but performed per termed it atone at once with one tell fell bound I 1 vacated that bed and landed in the mid hole of the floor with such a thump that the cabin shook allover all over ina in a moment my lamp was burat burning and seizing a club I 1 F a approached pro ached the bed and cautiously pad pulled do down a th the cover there laya lay a snake bea beautifully t all colled coiled up with his head so somewhat 9 ha uplifted licking out his tongue at me he was about tour four feet abet long he looked at me aad I 1 looked at him ire he made no motion as if lie he would run ran and neither did 4 I 1 It bought I 1 spied a gentle gentie and r solos in his eye IBS as if he said you reed aeed not be alarmed it if you will flot kurt hurt me neither will I 1 hurt yol you ou IX it you will be my friend I 1 will be yours I 1 threw toy club aside I 1 perceived that my bedfellow was ras a bull snake almost precisely like the rattles aaka in markings but in no other respects like that monster he is without tango fangs without poison andoe A gentle and amiable astare he a grows eight or nine alne lost feet long boug I 1 said to him that he and I 1 should be tris do that ike he might not only dwell iric with me la in my cabin but that it if he be liked he be could sleep with me in my bed having sail said that much I 1 carefully caret ally spread the cover over him aim and told him to sleep on and he did so but I 1 did not go back to bed to him I 1 sat by my table edd read a lew few chapters of 5 st t P paul a ua who wh 0 ot of all authors is my favorite how logical how bow forceful how grand and ennobling he is on re returning breakfast I 1 brought one of my fellow workmen with me to show him my friend and bedfellow bed fellow when I 1 drew back the cover there he lay perfectly quiet and content but licking out his tongue my fellow fello w workman was dumbfounded I 1 then put the cover back again A few moments ago my snake descended from tee bed in a quiet dav as it if entirely at home and is still p somewhere in the house he fie was probably engaged in hunting mice when the storm came up and becoming chilled in the changed atmosphere hi he found my bed pleasant and concluded to sleep with me texas jw cor forest and stream |