laying them between two flat stones crushed them. Then
pressing the juice into a drinking cup they had procured at the Indian
village, held it to her lips. She made a motion as if she would drink,
but her limbs were powerless, her teeth set, and every muscle rigid.
With a low moan she closed her glassy eye, and hope then even fled from
her heart. Not so the chief; prying open her teeth with the aid of his
hunting-knife, he poured the extract down her throat, and then with a
solution of it mixed in water, washed the wound, binding over it the
bruised roots from which he had extracted the antidote. He then
procured more of the same roots,[11] extracted the juice and repeated
the process, continuing his efforts for half an hour, when she slowly
opened her eyes, looked around, and whispered faintly, "I shall not die
now, uncle. I breathe easier," then closed her eyes again with a sweet
smile playing around her lips.

[11] Rattlesnake root--Botanical, _Polygala senega_--being an
active stimulant, will counteract the bite of this most poisonous
of reptiles.

Still the chief did not for a moment relax his exertions; he knew too
well the subtlety of the poison of the rattlesnake, but while the rest
were active in building a soft couch of boughs and leaves on which to
lay her, he continued extracting the antidote with as much energy as at
the first moment.

Her skin now began to assume a more natural hue; the eye lost its
glassiness, and she could articulate with ease. An hour afterwards the
swelling began to subside, and the danger was past. The chief had again
saved her life.

He said not a word in exultation of his success, but it gleamed from
his dark eyes, flushed his swarthy cheek, and swelled his brawny chest.
Never strode he with loftier step or more regal carriage--a very
impersonation of barbarian royalty. His superior knowledge in many
emergencies into which they were brought in their primitive mode of
life, his coolness, courage and energy under the trying circumstances
that often occurred, commanded their voluntary reverence for the
untaught, uncivilized Indian chief. The day and night wore away, and
when they had hoped to resume their journey they found that a fever had
succeeded the prostration produced by the poison, and she was too ill
to travel. Dismayed at this new calamity, they were at a loss for
awhile how to proceed. Their guide settled the point for them by
insisting that the sick