amped. Tim would have nothing to do with
the blanket, so the boys spread it upon the earth, lay down upon it, and
then drew the borders over them.

Wearied out they soon fell asleep, depending, under the kindness of
heaven, upon the watchfulness of the faithful Newfoundland that had
never yet proved unfaithful to his trust.

In the middle of the night Elwood awoke from a feeling of uncomfortable
warmth, and threw the blanket off and slept thus until morning. He was
the first to awake, just as light was dawning, and was on the point of
rising when he started and became suddenly transfixed with horror at a
sight directly before his eyes!

CHAPTER XV.

THE CROTALUS.

There are several species of rattlesnakes found in California, among
which are the black, spotted and striped. Some of them grow to an
enormous size and are anything but pleasant strangers to encounter,
especially when you come upon them suddenly and find them coiled. It is
a peculiarity of these specimens of the _Crotalus_ of America that they
strike only from the coil, are easily killed, and generally, although
_not always_, do they rattle before they dart forward their poisonous
fangs.

We can conceive of nothing upon the face of this beautiful earth more
shudderingly repulsive than a rattlesnake. The arrowy head, and shiny,
flabby body, with its glistening scales and variegated color, its
tapering tail, with that dreadful arrangement by which it imitates so
closely the _whirr_ of the locust, the bead-like eyes, with no lids and
a fleshy film dropping over them--all these make up the most terrible
reptile found on the American continent.

And then imagine one of these creatures _coiled_! The thick, heavy body
with the tail projecting upward from the center, the head drawn back,
and the red, cavernous mouth open, with the curved, hollow teeth and the
sacs at their roots filled nigh to bursting with this concentrated
essence of the vilest of all poison--imagine this, we say--but don't do
it either! If you have never seen a rattlesnake, don't go near one,
unless you have a chance to kill it, even if his fangs have been
extracted. The heel shall bruise the serpent, and that is the best use
to which they can be put.

But as Howard Lawrence opened his eyes, in the dull light of this summer
morning, he saw coiled within five feet of him a striped rattlesnake,
its intensely black eyes fairly scintillating light, and its rattle
gently waving but m