Show ai y lid adventurers CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE K fanged death deatha H HELLO ELLO EVERYBODY distinguished adventurer graham babcock of pater sonn son N J takes the adventurers club rostrum toda today y and graham wins ten bucks because he take another fellows advice jfred if hed done what that ferow fellow told old t him to hed i have had no story to tell us today but graham paid no attention to that fellow and the result is one of the most thrilling bloodcurdling blood curdling adventure yarns ive seen in a coons age it was in august 1913 graham was just seventeen years barq old lived in suffern ern N Y and spent his spare time hunting in the ramapo mountains in sea season and out at the time hunting was out of season so graham carried his rifle in a gun case and took alonga along a fishing basket just in case he happened to meet up with a game warden game wardens can pu put t you in the jug for hunting in august but theres no law against fishing for minnies at that time of year grahan graham started out up the tracks of the erie railroad and walked as far as a 9 the ramapo crossing prom there he planned to cut into the mountains but the crossing tender an old friend 01 of f his ind and an old timer in that 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 better go in up the track a ways graham unknowingly walks into nest of snakes but graham had seen ritt rattlers lers before and he afraid of them whenever hed come on them they had always wriggled out of sight as bastas they could he forgot though that a nest of rattlers in the late season might actually be LOOKING for trouble grahim graham climbed up the side of the hill and walked along a ridge until he came cam e to a place where a big boulder jutted butted out over the edge of af a small cliff there a rattler in sight and he be began to think he must have passed the nest the crossing tender had spoken oft of he saw some berry bushes a few yards away and set his gun and fishing 01 I 1 remembered remember id everything I 1 had 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 re reached ached tor for them things began to happen As aa be stooped down to part the leaves of the first bush a rattler shot out from beneath it ind and landed lanaea almost at his feet graham leaped back As aa he did the shirring skir ring ruffle of another rattler soun sounded ded from a niche la in the rock just over Us his head then oil all at once bat that sound was repeated from a dozen directions from the right from the left from behind hahnl the sound swelled into a low ominous orni hum graham realized then that he was right in the middle of that ne nest t of vipers he took a quick step forward forwar dand 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 d deflating with anger as if it were being blown up by a bellows its tall sounded its threatening war note and its head was flattened and d drawn bac back k tor for the kill I 1 tried to back up and right behind me near err a rotted tree trunk ano another therone one reared its headband hea dand rattled and hissed talk about things flashing through your mindl mind I 1 in a split second I 1 remembered everything I 1 had bad avei ever heard about rattlers I 1 remembered my grandfather telling that this was the worst time of year to be bitten tor for in late august when the rattler is about to seek his winter quarters his bis venom is twice as poisonous as it Is at other times and I 1 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 the breast who lived just 17 minutes those thoughts went through gli grahams mind in just the smallest traction fraction of a second and they stirred him into action over his head was a i tree limb he leaped for far it caught it and swung out from between 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 1 I made tor for the boulder where I 1 had left my gun and fishing basket he says still beating frantically with my stick another snake struck struck at the stick and I 1 threw it away as hard as I 1 could and tore through the bushes like a madman suddenly he heard another low pitched ominous hum graham reached the boulder where he had left his gun out of breath and shaking like a leaf he had bad hurt his bis 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 be heard another low pitched ominous buzz says he 1 I looked back over my shoulder just in time to ste see another big rattler leap at me how I 1 ever did it ill never know but from a sitting position without getting to my feet I 1 actually jumped three feet toone to i one side and thi the snake missed me by a toot foot it knocked over the basket and landed colled coiled right on my gun aase case I 1 ran to the left edge of the boulder and broke a limb from a green sapling as if if it were a pipestem pipe stem 4 I 1 saw the infuriated snake make ready tor for another strike and I 1 knew it miss this time behind me was the he cliff in front of me was the snake and I 1 get off the boulder without getting in range of its strike then I 1 saw two other rattlers edging up to join in the he attack and although it wits was a terrible jump I 1 preferred the cliff to ti death by snakebite snake bite I 1 hesitated only an instant hoped for the best and leaped into space the top of a cedar tree broke grahams tall fall he landed in a bed of ato e needles I 1 below iland it and he says he fairly bounced 49 as he landed luck was with me 1 he says and the only injuries I 1 suffered were the terrible scratches on my body arms and face I 1 went home leaving my gun and basket right where they were and I 1 go back tor for them until after cold weathers herset set in and the snakes were all holed up in their winter quarters copyright service |