Show t- t Td ADVENTURERS' ADVENTURERS CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE Fanged Fa F iz ged Death HELLO Jj ELLO EVERYBODY 11 Distinguished Adventurer Graham Babcock of Paterson N. N J. J J takes the Adventurers' Adventurers club rostrum today and Graham wins ten bucks because he wouldn't take another fellows fellow's f advice If hed he'd done what that fellow told him to hed he'd have had no story to tell teH us today But Graham paid no attention to that fellow and the result is one of the most thrilling curdling blood-curdling adventure adventure adventure ture yarns Ive I've seen in a coons coon's age It was in August 1913 Graham was just seventeen years old lived in Suffern N. N Y and spent his spare time hunting in inthe inthe inthe the Ramapo mountains in season and out At the time hunting was out of season so Graham carried his rifle in a gun case and took took along a fishing basket just in case he happened to meet up with a game warden Game wardens can put you in the jug for hunting in August but theres there's no law against fishing for minnies at that time of year Graham started out up the tracks of the Erie railroad and walked as far as the Ramapo crossing From there he planned to cut into the mountains but the crossing tender an old friend of his and an timer old-timer in that th t section tried to dissuade him Theres a rattlesnake den just up the side of that gully he said and rattlers are mean at this time of year car Better go in up the track a ways Graham Unknowingly Walks Into Nest of Snakes But Graham had seen rattlers before and he wasn't afraid of them Whenever hed he'd come on them they had always wriggled out of sight as fast as they could He forgot though that a nest of rattlers in the late summer season might actually be LOOKING for trouble Graham climbed up the side of the hill and walked along a ridge until he came fo a place where a big boulder jutted out over the edge of a small cliff There wasn't a rattler in sight and he began to think he must have passed the nest the crossing tender had spoken of He saw some berry bushes a few yards away and set his gun and fishing rn- rn I r 1 cP 5 I remembered everything I had bad ever heard about rattlers basket down on the boulder while he climbed up to pick a few berries But Graham never picked so much as a single berry The minute he reached for them things began to happen As he stooped down dowD to part the leaves of the first bush a rattler shot out ont from beneath it and landed almost at his feet Graham leaped back As he did the starring skirting ruffle rume of another rattler rattier sounded from a niche in the rock just over his head Then all at once that sound was repeated from a dozen From the right From the thc left From behind bel nd him The sound swelled into a low ominous hum Graham realized then that he was right in the middle of that nest of vipers He lie took a quick step forward forward and and stopped dead in his tracks A big one lay right in my path he says coiled and ready to strike its whole body swelling and deflating with anger as if it were being blown up op by a bellows Its tail sounded its threatening war-note war and its head was flattened and drawn back for the kill I tried to back up and right behind me near a rotted tree trunk another one reared its head and rattled and hissed Talk about things flashing through your mind In a split second secondI I II I remembered everything I had ever heard about rattlers I remembered my grandfather telling that this was the worst time of year to be bitten II for in late August when the rattler is about to seek his winter quarters his venom is twice as poisonous as it is at other times And I remembered remembered remembered hearing that the speed with which the venom takes effect depends on where you are bitten My uncle once told me of a woman bitten in fn inthe inthe the breast who lived just 17 minutes Those thoughts went through Grahams Graham's mind in just the smallest fraction of a second and they stirred him into action Over his rus head was a tree limb He leaped for it caught it and swung out from be be- between between between tween the snakes that had him cornered He landed in an open space grabbed up a stick and began flailing the bushes to right and left I Imade Imade Imade made for the boulder where I had left my gun and fishing basket he says still beating frantically with my stick Another snake struck at the stick and I threw it away as hard as I could and tore through the bushes like a madman Suddenly He Heard Another er Pitched Low V Lo itched Ominous Hum Hwn Graham reached the boulder where he bad had left his gun out of breath and shaking like a leaf He had hurt his knee in his mad scramble through the brush and now believing himself out of danger he sat down to look it over And then suddenly he heard another pitched low-pitched ominous buzz Says he I looked back over my shoulder just in time to see another big rattler leap at me How I ever did it Ill I'll never know but from a sitting position without getting to my feet I actually jumped three feet to one side and the snake missed me by a foot It knocked over the basket and landed coiled right on my gun case I ran to the left edge of the boulder and broke a a limb from a green sapling as if it were a pipe I saw the infuriated snake make ready for another strike and I knew it wouldn't miss this time Behind me was the cliff In front of me mo was the snake and andI I couldn't get oil oft the boulder without getting in range of its strike Then I saw two other rattlers edging up up- to join in the attack and although it was a terrible jump I preferred the cliff eliJI to death by snake I hesitated only an instant hoped for the best and leaped into space The top of a cedar tree broke Grahams Graham's fall He landed in a bed of pine needles below it and he says he fairly bounced as he landed Luck was with me he says and the only injuries I suffered were the terrible scratches on my body arms and face I went home leaving my gun and and basket right where they were and I didn't go back for them until after cold weather set in and the snakes were all holed up in their winter quarters Copyright Service |