"Polly, you're sure you know the road?"
"We can't go very far wrong! If we keep to the trail we are bound to
come out on the top--somewhere!" laughed Polly, giving Noddy her head
in selecting a safe footing on the rough trail.
Eleanor, eager to show how well she could ride, forced her burro past
Noddy while the latter was making a slight detour about a sage-brush.
She turned partly around to laugh at Polly, when her burro made a
sudden lunge away from the trail, and at the same time, a diamond-
backed rattlesnake struck out from its coil, reaching at least two-
thirds the full length of its body.
"Help! Save me!" screamed Eleanor, frantically, but the brave little
burro knew how to carry his rider safely out of the way of the reptile.
Polly saw the snake coil for another strike at Barbara's horse, which
had almost reached the place before Eleanor screamed. The whole
occurrence was so unexpected and sudden that Barbara had not seen the
swift flash of cinnamon-red and dark diamond-patterned rattler.
With great presence of mind, Polly instantly pulled Noddy up on a mound
of ground just above the reptile, and caught hold of a long supple
branch of wood. In another instant she was whipping the snake until it
could not tell from which direction the blows were descending--right,
left, front or back! In a moment of indecision, the snake remained
quiet and in that second Polly brought down her solid heel upon its
flat head.
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