The other girls screamed and turned pale for they thought Polly had
fallen from her burro upon the rattler--so quick had been her action.
But the moment the daring girl looked up and laughed at them, they also
jumped from their saddles and ran up to help.
Polly made sure the rattler was quite dead, then took a forked stick
and held it up to view. It had beautiful diamond markings of dark-
colors on cinnamon-red ground. The belly was of creamy white, and the
tail had eight rattles attached to it by means of a peculiar fibrous
ribbon. These rattles seemed to be of dry horny skin that made the
buzz-sound when shaken. The head had been so crushed open that Polly
could easily show the curious girls the poison-fangs which were hinged
to the upper jaw.
"When a rattler intends to bite, its mouth grasps the object and these
fangs drop down into the flesh, puncturing tiny holes into which the
fatal poison flows."
Polly described the action of the bite minutely, causing her hearers to
shiver with dread. Seeing the effect her words had made, she laughed,
adding, "A snake does not always bite clear! I mean, the least thing
keeps his teeth from driving straight into the flesh, so that the
poison bag cannot empty its fluid under the skin. It is often a loose
or sidewise bite, so that much of the poison never enters the wound.
That is why so many folks survive rattle-snake bites. If it went clean,
and the poison bag was emptied under the skin,--pwhew!"
Polly whistled to denote her sense of the outcome of such a bite, and
Barbara cried, "Oh, mercy, Polly! I feel so sick after hearing you,
that I want to go back to Chicago!"
Anne laughed at Barbara's fears, saying, "We may not see another
rattler all summer!"
"Anyway, Bob, you're perfectly safe while on a horse, for they can
always tell when a rattler is near and they avoid it.
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