"I did, when I first came to these parts. I was riding over a rocky trail when my horse suddenly stopped, nearly throwing me. On looking ahead to find out what had frightened my animal, I discovered two of these snakes. They were facing each other, with mouths wide open and fangs showing. Each was so interested in the other that neither noticed me or the horse. They faced each other for fully a minute, and during that time began to hiss louder and louder. Suddenly they sprang at each other, and one snake was stung in the eye. He curled himself around the other snake's neck, and in an instant both were in a tight ball. They rolled around and around among the rocks. Once in a while a head would show itself, and then there would be more hissing. After ten minutes the ball fell gradually apart, and then one snake crawled slowly away, more dead than alive. The other snake proved to be dead, with both eyes torn from its head."
"Didn't you kill the other snake?" asked Darry.
"I did. That's the first and only battle I ever saw between snakes, and it was terrible while it lasted, I can tell you that."
Fishing over, they went into camp, and here rested until old Benson came back.
"The colonel was tickled to death to receive so much deer meat," said the old scout. "And he says you can stay until Saturday night if you wish. His lady said she had been wanting some venison for several weeks."
Captain Moore felt glad to think he could be out four days more.
"We'll have a grand time now," he said. "Benson, we can go right over yonder mountain, can't we?"
"To be sure," answered the scout.
"Is the hunting good over there?" asked Joe.
"Yes, lad. There used to be some buffalo there."