m,
bearing down upon him, smothering him, crushing in his chest! He
sought to shriek, and found himself dumb.

Suddenly an Indian stood over him, a gigantic Indian with feet set
upon his breast. The red giant was a medicine man, for he clashed and
rattled an enormous gourd full of bowlders.

The rattle sounded sharper, shriller, more vibrant in the ears of the
rousing sleeper. His eyelids fluttered, rose a little way, and snapped
wide apart. His eyes, bared of their covers, glared in utter horror of
that which they saw. Their pupils dilated, their balls bulged as if
about to burst from the sockets.

The weight was still on his chest,--a weight far more to be dreaded
than a canyon full of water or the foot of an Indian Titan. It was a
weight of living, quivering coils. Above those coils, clearly
illuminated in the full daylight that streamed through the open door
of the bunkhouse, there upreared a hideous gaping maw, set with four
slender curved fangs of dazzling whiteness.

The snake's eyes, green as emeralds, glared down into the face of the
man with such intense malignancy that they seemed to stream forth a
cold evil light. Fortunately he was paralyzed with fright. The
slightest movement would have caused that fanged maw to lash down into
his face.

Something partly obscured the light in the doorway. Ashton was too
terrified to heed. But the snake was more sensitive to the change in
the light. Without altering the deadly poise of its head, it again
sounded its shrill, menacing rattle. The shadow passed and the light
streamed in as before. The rattling ceased. There followed a pause of
a few seconds' duration--To the man every second was an age-long
period of horror.

A faint metallic click came from across the room. Slight as was the
sound, the irritated snake again set its rattle to quivering. The
triangular head flattened back for the delayed stroke at the ashen
face of the man. The billowing coils stiffened--the stroke started. In
the same instant came a report that to the strained ears of the man
sounded like the crashing roar of a cannon.

[Illustration: It sounded its shrill, menacing rattle]

The head and forepart of the snake's body shot alongside his face,
writhing in swift convulsions. The first touch of its cold scales
against his cheek broke the spell of horror that had bound him. He
jerked his head aside, and flung out his left hand to push the hideous
thing from him. As his fingers thrust away