Page:Weird Tales Volume 3 Number 1 (1923-12).djvu/96

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times the scraping of boughs brought him up standing, so much like the groan of a stricken woman they sounded. It was with a somewhat shaky set of nerves that Snake pushed open the cabin door. Into the cellar Snake dragged a few blankets. His pack of provisions and two canteens of water followed. It was pitch dark. Not daring to strike a light, he spread the blankets and lay down to dream-troubled sleep.

His neighbors were on the trail sooner than he had expected. Attracted by the light from the burning cabin, Jean Parton was the first on the scene of the tragedy. He lived but half a mile down the valley and arrived in time to read the marks. Soon a dozen well-armed men were on the trail.

Knowing of Snake's mountain cabin, it was there that the hunt centered. A thorough search failed to reveal the well-concealed hiding place. On account of the intense darkness it was useless to search further that night. The man hunters bunked down in the cabin to snatch a few hours of sleep before dawn. It was their stirring that awakened Snake. Day was just breaking. For some moments he lay with his eyes closed, listening to the comments on the killing.

"Hangin' is too good for the dirty devil," growled Jem Bates. "Burnin' is better, but I vote for slow burnin', you bet."

"Bet he's lit out across the Divide," hazarded Jack Williams, veteran trailer. "We'll foller him clean to Californy. The Law will never git its hands on him."

Snake almost chuckled aloud as he slowly opened his eyes. Instantly he froze with horror. Not three feet in front of his face was a sinister and menacing coil. Quickly he closed his eyes for a few seconds. It was no dream—the coil was there.

He could almost see the quiver of a sinuous body about to strike. It seemed he could feel the pair of jet black, glistening eyes glaring into his own. He could imagine deadly fangs fastened into his cheek. If he only dared draw his gun and blow off the reptile's head. That would bring more enemies more deadly about him. If only the men above would leave before some inadvertent movement drew that attack.

Then stark terror took him. Now the reptile breathed twin jets of fire. Now it grinned at him in hideous fashion. Again it grew—and grew—until it almost crowded him from the cellar. It disappeared for a second. Then the blessed relief was broken by finding it more menacing than ever in another corner.

Through it all, Snake uttered no word. At

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