“Dat’s good. You got mo’ grit dan Sherry. Sherry never would try dis. But den, Sherry ain’ got blue gums like me an’ you.”
The snake’s plunging and twisting grew less violent. The huge body writhed sluggishly. Had April really poisoned the creature by spitting into its tongue? Or had he choked it to death? Its life was going out, that was certain.
Suppose April’s fingers took cramp. What would happen then? April turned his face toward home.
“Le’s go, Breeze. It’s too late to git a turkey. I’ll take dis snake to Uncle Isaac. He axed me to git him one to make some tea for his rheumatism. Po’ ol’ man. Rheumatism’ll make a Christian out o’ em yet!”
Full daybreak shed its light everywhere. Night and stars were gone out of the sky. The sun would soon be up. But at Uncle Isaac’s cabin, the doors and windows were shut tight.
The snake couldn’t die altogether until sun-down, but April dropped it on the ground and used his forked stick to beat hard on the sides of the house.
“Hey, Uncle! Hey! Wake up!” He shouted until the old man opened the door. “I got a present fo’ you! A rattlesnake! Me an’ him had a tight time dis mawnin’! Lawd! Yes! I sho’ love to fight wid a snake!”
Uncle Isaac hopped around, exclaiming over the snake’s size. He was glad to get him. He’d fix some snake tea to-day.
As they walked home down the avenue, April talked cheerfully. He said Uncle Isaac had taken so much snake cut that snakes got weak if they crossed his path. If one came near him it got stiff as a stick, and helpless. Next time Breeze saw the old man he must look at his ankles where they’d been cut and cut for snake poison to be rubbed into them. His feet were full of scars too, but Uncle Isaac had worn shoes ever since he chopped off a big toe.
April had walked up on snakes that were stricken by getting too close to Uncle Isaac. They’d be blind and numb, unable to move a step. God gave Uncle Isaac a strong sweat too. If he had never taken snake cut, he could send any snake into a trance by wetting his hands at his armpits and waving them in the snake’s face. They’d faint right off, and stay dead a long time.