There was a good reason for this. Rattlesnakes may be all very well in cages, with a strong sheet of glass separating them from you; but no ordinary person cares to run across them in the open, where they can suddenly throw themselves into a coil, and be ready to thrust out their venomous jaws at a nearby leg.
And it was generally understood that in the wonderful and thrilling ceremony about to take place as the wind-up to the yearly festival, the Zuni braves would introduce scores of the crawlers, so that there was always danger that one might break away, and wriggle in among the bystanders.
So the white visitors were not taking any chances that they could avoid, though eager enough to see all that would take place in the arena below.
The music of the native tomtoms and reed instruments was exceedingly doleful. Yet it must have possessed a peculiar significance for the people who gathered around, their dusky faces filled with the keenest appreciation. To them this dance meant the greatest religious frenzy, and was of deepest significance; while to the whites it stood only for a queer proceeding in which danger lurked in every dusky hand that gripped a serpent back of the neck.
Presently the ring began to form.
Those who have observed the dances of savage people in many far distant parts of the earth have noticed a strange similarity in the methods and customs of different nations. Men and women seem to dance pretty much the same, whether it be among the Zulus of South Africa, the Bontoc Igorottes of the Philippine Islands, the Hottentots of Darkest Africa, or the Indians of our own West. There is the same crouching attitude, the bending of the knees, a springy step like unto that of the tiger or panther, and very much the same monotonous chant that rises and falls in a thrilling cadence.
Donald was not so deeply interested as his two companions, for he had seen something very similar to this dance before. Billie squatted there, and his eyes grew as round as circles, while he stared, and
noted many remarkable things in connection with the dusky dancers, carrying on their grotesque ceremony.
“Oh! look at that lanky fellow holding his rattler between his teeth!” he called out, as he pointed at the object of his discovery. “All the money on this same old earth couldn’t coax me to try that dodge, no siree bob!”
“But he knows just what he is doing,” said Donald; “and hasn’t the slightest idea that he’ll be struck. If he is, they have some sort of remedy, and in most cases they get over it. But you see how careful they are never to try and touch a rattler when he’s in coil; because they know how he can strike out like lightning, so that the quickest hand couldn’t draw back in time. They keep the reptile extended at as near full length as they can, for then he’s practically helpless to jab you, and the snake knows it too, so he seldom tries.”