He uttered several sharp yelps and began circling around the fallen tree
on which Sam was sitting. He went with what might be called a nervous
gallop, frequently turning about and circumnavigating the lad and the
log in the opposite direction.
All the time he kept up his barking and demonstrations, now and then
running up to Sam, galloping several paces away, and then looking toward
him and barking again with great vigor.
Sam watched his antics with amusement and interest.
"He acts as though he wanted me to follow him from this spot, though I
cannot understand why he wants me to do that, since he is so lazy he
would be glad to lie down and stay here till morning."
Studying the maneuvers of the hound, Sam became satisfied that the brute
was seeking to draw him away from the fallen tree on which he was
sitting.
The dog became more excited every minute. He trotted back and forth,
running up to his young master and then darting off again, looking
appealingly toward Sam, who finally saw that his actions meant something
serious.
"I don't know why he wishes me to leave, but he has some reason for it,
and I will try to find out."
Sam slowly rose from the fallen oak tree on which he was sitting, and as
he did so his cap fairly lifted from his head with terror.
He caught the glint and scintillation in the sunlight of something on
the ground on the other side of the trunk, and separated from him only
by the breadth thereof, at the same instant that his ear detected the
whirring rattle which told the fact that an immense rattlesnake had
coiled itself therefor, and had just given its warning signal that it
meant to strike.
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