attress, for the wild rice grew all
around the blazing tree. All they had to do was to pull it up in great
handfuls and stack it before the fire.

Suddenly Charley gave an exclamation and leaped back out of the grass.
"Come out of that grass, Walt," he cried, "I have been bitten by a puff
adder. I heard it hiss."

"Oh, Charley," cried his chum in terror, "what can we do?"

"Quick," commanded Charley, "open one of your shotgun shells and take
out the shot." While he had been speaking the lad had slipped one leg
out of his pants and exposed the wound to view. It was only a tiny red
puncture of the skin midway between knee and hip, but the bitten one
knew that tiny place was more dangerous than a rifle ball. Like a
flash, he drew his hunting-knife and cut out a chunk of flesh as big as
a hen egg where the wound had been. "Give me that cartridge," he
commanded, his teeth gritting with pain.

Walter passed over the open shell and Charley emptied its contents of
powder into the open cut. Quickly, he applied a match to the black
grains and they caught with a hiss, there was a tiny cloud of black
smoke and a whiff of burning flesh.

Walter sprang to his chum's side and caught him, as he staggered and
reeled under the awful pain.

"Gee, but that was a plucky thing to do," he cried.

"I guess I got it done in time," murmured Charley, through pale lips.
"It was the only thing to do. I would have been dead in half an hour
otherwise--and such a death. But I guess I've got the best of it, I
cut out that piece before the poison had a chance to get into the
circulation, I think. Give me a hand to bind up the cut before
anything gets into it."

Walter hastened to comply and bound up the gaping cut as well as he
could with the means at his command. While Charley lay back and
gritted his teeth to keep back the moans of pain.

"Strange the place don't bleed any," said Walter, curiously.

"The heat of the powder flash cauterized the cut ends of the veins and
closed them up," Charley explained. "I have seen the same thing done
before and the wound never bled."

"Is it always a good thing to do?" his chum inquired.

"It is useless in some cases. It all depends upon the kind of snake
and where the person is struck. I never knew a case of a person
recovering when hit by a genuine Florida rattlesnake. Puff adders and
moccasins are deadly enough, but they are mild beside the rattler. The
rattler's fangs are so long