He saw the cavernous mouth of the snake opened to an amazing width; the thin tongue, that resembled a tiny stream of blood; the small, glittering eyes; the horn-like fangs, at the roots of which he well knew were the sacks filled almost to bursting with the most deadly of all poisons; the thin neck, swelling out until the scaly belly of the loathsome reptile was visible.
The Huron continued steadily approaching the revolting thing.

He was scarcely a yard distant when the neck of the snake arched like a swan's, and the head was drawn far back to strike.

In an instant the stock of his rifle swept over the top of the log with the quickness of lightning.

There followed a sharp, cracking noise, like the explosion of a percussion-cap, and the head of the rattlesnake spun twenty feet or more out over the swamp.

It struck the branch of a tree, and, dropping to the water, sunk out of sight.