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Show DARING DEED OF A DOG MALTY IN .THE MOCCASIN'S DEN. xnsera&KrjAOK, boiling clouds were if f-fcs massing In tho soutliwcst. I K I The soft, sweet, voluptuous wR ZlMOK urcczc nna l)ecn succeeded NBKKRKK by nn ominous cnlm. The gny music of most of the birds had died away; even the noisy, irrepressible yellow chat which here renders day and night hideous wltli his Incessant screcchlngs (which may seem nlmost entrancing music to his kin)' was nwed Into comparative silence. It wns evident that "n clash of the elements" was Impending; nnd that, in tho Ozarks, means something dreadful; for though wo seldom get visit from n dangerous wind, the lightning light-ning nnd thunder nre ns terrible ns any region of the earth can produce. Sometimes Some-times the thunder Is so loud that a timid being wonders the very globe Is not split open and the concussion causes even the firmest substances to shnkc nnd rattle; while the power of the lightning does not need to be merely mere-ly guessed nt, but lenves evidences "susceptible to ocular demonstration." I have seen n round ball of red, white or blue lightning apparently twenty inches In diameter, crush an oak of at least equal thickness Into cord wood and kindling-wood, nnd scatter scat-ter the fragments In every direction more than 100 feet-that is, they were distributed about the site of tho tree In a circle over 1100 feet wide. I have known It to break off the upper half,ot a tall pine about eighteen inches thick at that part and hull the great, benvy top sixty feet from tho stump. Last summer Ave or six trees from fifty feet to 200 yards apart, and most of the poles of n rural telephone lino parallel with them for a distance of about nx furlong, between Hot Springs and tho Ouachita, were struck simultaneously, It Is thought, by one and the samo discharge. dis-charge. The awful crash was beard at my home on the west side of the Oua-chlto, Oua-chlto, about three miles distant Indeed, In-deed, It sounded ns If It had burstcd a mountain at our very ears. This much I have said about the lightning terrors of tho region to Impress Im-press more fully upon tho reader tho desperate nature of tho canine adventure adven-ture I desire to try to narrate; which, though It may read like a chapter from a "blood and thunder" novel, will, nevertheless, be as literally true as my memory and Judgment can make It. Malty, my faithful friend and well-nigh well-nigh Inseparable companion, had called mo forth perhaps the "red gods" 'had .something to do with tt, too and I was following her anxiously, for her excited manner bristling and growling growl-ing Indicated tho proximity of some-tlilng some-tlilng more formidable than n rabbit. What It wns I never found out, for soon wo came to the brook, and on the shore wo woro distracted by a vew enemy, a good-sized water moccasin. Now, Malty was not an invincible snake dog ns Conllle now is. On the contrary she had been, up to this time, always so rattled at the sight of n snake that I did not consider it safe to allow her to nttnek one, even of the less venomous sort. Once she hnd poked her nose right into the Jnws of n moccasin while I avos pulling at her tall trying to prevent her, and the foe fastened his rough teeth Into her so firmly that she drew him backward about n yard before tearing loose from him. Her body soon swelled to nearly twice Its proper size, In spite of all I could do, and she was sick with the poison for about two weeks, during which tlmo she refused all food nnd drink, and kept her head covered up In n dark corner of her room. When anyone uncoyered her for exnmlnntlon of hcrwound she, looked nnd behnved like ono nshnmed, nnd Immediately hid her head If permitted to do so. So I now reminded her of her former Indiscretion nnd checked her rashness' while I cast my ryes about for n club, clod or any sort of weapon. Although the snnkc wns surrnuudotl with driftwood, drift-wood, I could not pick up even n rotten stick before ho tried to cscnpe. Somehow Some-how nil snakes seem nfrnld of me, and I must look one steadily In the eyes from the firm If I would strike it cro It rushes nwav. MnltV leaned after him In a fearful rage. Ho fell Into the swift water, now so muddy that nothing noth-ing could bo seen nn Inch below the surface, for tho rain had been literally pouring down for several m!nu,tes, and the sky was aflame with blinding lightning. "Great Jove" .hurled his mighty thunderbolts right and left with such apparent recklessness that we couldn't tniaglue who'ther Ho favored our side or tho snake's, or was against u b all. A great piuo was so near mo that I ran on to another which had fallen long be for 6 nnd bridged the creek (n standing plno is not a lafo companion in n thunder storm). Not that I felt much safer there, the pine wns still too near; but I could not desert de-sert Malty now poor llttlo "fuss-and-trouble," alio had always heretofore been so nervous nbout thunder. Hut on this occasion she seemed to defy everything to capture'that snnke. Per-haps Per-haps sho had mn.do 'solemn vows of vengeance during her long illness. As the suako struck the water nu-other nu-other nnd larger ono appeared ut Its sldo with wide open inoujh. Shu rushed out ou-.tlto, log beside me nnd Instantly hurled herself down upon them, nnd all disappeared In tho torrent. tor-rent. Now comes tho woudeiful, the amazing, amaz-ing, the Incredible part of the story. I can't ny how It was. I enn't explain It. I only know It really happened, und was no dream, Of course I expected her to reappear in u moment, and my mind worked very rapidly. I wondered if she would bo blttcii under water; if, under such clrcunistiuuTS, the bite would be harm-I harm-I ful, If shv could Hud or catch a snake under wntcr, etc. But sho did not come up; neither did any snake. 1 searchAl the water from bank to bank with my eyoa; down stream, up stream, carefully scrutinized the shores. No dog. No snake. No living .thing. 1 was alone with tho flood, the car-splitting car-splitting thunder, the blinding lightning, light-ning, the roaring tempest. Had I lost that faithful, loving, thinking, passionate passion-ate dumb brute forever? Hod some largo aquatic monster actually swallowed swal-lowed her? Or, had she caught in a network of roots? Ah! that wns It! The only likely thing. I hnd rend of such a fntc overtnklng land nnltnnls. I was tempted to plunge in I was wet ns could be already. Hut I believed be-lieved I could search tho bottom mpre quickly with a pole, and every Becoud was most precious now. She might be struggling In nwfnl agony on tho bottom, might bo drowning, might already al-ready lie past help. I am not nshnmed to say that I prayed for tnat little dog. while mentally recalling Instances wherein I had been unkind nnd unjust to her. Never had sho seemed so precious feme. j Sentimental? Silly? Yet, I believe all true sportsmen capable' of so loving any really worthy dumb companion, only some would not admit it, even to their dearest friends. I certainly would not confessMhls "weakness" in Forest and Stream if I believed Its readers, in the main, held the contempt con-tempt for animals that some do. I quickly found a long pole, with which I rapidly but carefully prodded the bottom all about. It did not come in contact with anything that felt at nil like nny animal. I was In despair. " Suddenly I heard a sound very different dif-ferent from the noise of the elements. I could not decide what nor whence It came. It seemed faint and far away. I soon decided, however, that It was near, and moved about to get the direction; Whereat I noticed that it became be-came more distinct as I ncared the south shore, so I crossed over. Then I noted that It came from the ground. I' kept on until I stood directly over the spot. The sound now became n furious, though muffled, barking, and tho ground shook like the deck of a boat In a storm. "Is it possible? Is Malty here under this ground? How did she get hero? There must be an outlet under the water! Humph! too much like a novell' I mentally exclaimed. "Mnlty! Mnlty!" I culled nloud, and began tenrlng nt the sticks nnd roots thnt were In pnrt exposed, for I dls-covercd-thnt this was a drift thinly and irregularly covered ' with earth, although al-though n space of two or threo yards .between it nnd the creek appeared solid ground. I soon had her uncovered, but sho was so eager after the snakes that she paid no attention to me, but kept' on digging, barking and growling. The passages among the sticks were bo narrow and tortuous, however, that I do not now recollect whether we got any of tho snakes or not. My Joy nt her exploit made mo comparatively indifferent in-different to all that happened afterward after-ward for the romnlnder of the day. L. It. Morpbcw, In Forest nnd Stream. |