tarted on a series of quick, short steps, which were to
give him the necessary momentum to win the victory over his friend. At
that instant Fred landed and emitted a cry of terror and warning.

"Look out, Jack! Don't jump! Stop! stop!"

But, though Jack heard the cry, it was too late to heed it. He was so
near the edge of the canyon that had he checked himself he would have
gone spinning to death down the abyss. The leap must be made, and,
gathering his muscles, he rose in the air, with his legs gathered under
him, and with the certainty that the jump would far surpass the one that
he had just witnessed.

In that critical moment, when his body rose and seemed suspended over
the gorge, Jack's attention was fixed upon the strange actions of Fred.
The instant he landed he darted to one side, and with his rifle struck
at something in the bushes which Jack could not see. As he did so he
recoiled, and was in the act of advancing and striking again, when Jack
landed upon the ground beyond.

As he did so he heard a vicious, locust-like whir, whose meaning he
recognized. An immense rattlesnake was in the bushes, and Fred had
descended almost upon it. But for the tremendous effort of Jack he would
have dropped squarely upon the velvety body, with consequences too
frightful to be thought of; but his great leap carried him over it,
while the attack of Fred upon the reptile, in the effort to save his
companion, diverted the attention of the rattlesnake for an instant.

Jack saw the flat, pitted head, the gleaming coil, the distended jaws,
while the slightly elevated tail vibrated so rapidly with the warning
which, once heard, can never be forgotten, that it looked hazy and
mist-like. Before Fred, at imminent risk to himself, could bring down
his clubbed gun with crushing force, Jack felt a sharp sting in his
ankle and called out, in the extremity of terror:

_"I'm bitten!"_

He was not only terrified but angered, and whirling about, he brought
down his gun with spiteful violence on the writhing body. The reptile
struck again, but it was already wounded to that extent that its blow
was erratic, and, though it came near reaching the hand of Jack, it
missed by a safe margin.

CHAPTER IX.

NIGHT IN THE MOUNTAINS.

One of the singular facts connected with the _crotalus_ species is the
ease with which it is killed. The writer once ended the career of a huge
specimen with a single blow of a whip-lash. The first impact o