A Snake Story From Portage Lake

A SNAKE STORY FROM PORTAGE LAKE

"On at least one occasion I had snakes in my boots," said the man with the red nose, to the Jackson Press, "and it was no wild, delirious fancy, either. The snakes were genuine. They were very much alive, could crawl, and did crawl, and they had eyes and fangs, and forked tongues and all the other things which go with a well-made and complete member of the reptilian species. I had gone out on a fishing trip with some friends up to the Portage lake. It was during the hot season. I never saw so many snakes in all my life as we found around that lake, and they were of all sizes, shapes and colors. The heat was so intense – it was during a severe drouth – that all the snakes of that section gathered around the lake in an effort, no doubt, to keep cool. They would slip down to the water's edge, burrow in the mud and cut other curious capers because of the prevailing drouth. Late in the evening they would take a whirl at swimming, wriggling out into the lake for some distance, and then pull back to the shore again. I mention these facts merely to show that snakes were plentiful in that section. The heat had made them desperate, but we never anticipated any trouble from this source.

"We pitched our tent at the head of the lake, and were inclined to gloat somewhat over the splendid location we had secured and the coziness of our surroundings generally. Of course we had the usual quantity of stimulating things which belong to a first class fishing outfit, and, to tell the truth about the matter, I had been pulling away at the jug and popping beer bottles until I was just a little shaky. After we had been out about a week I began to see things that a man under ordinary circumstances could not see. I was just in this condition one morning when I rolled out of my cot to begin the day's sport. The sun had been up for some time. My boots were standing beside the cot, where I had put them the night before. In throwing my legs over the side of the cot I knocked both boots over. You can guess how I felt when two or three snakes wriggled out of my boots. I simply went up in the air. My nerves were in no condition to be tampered with. I couldn't get out of the cot and I couldn't stay in it. I simply felt like melting into thin air. One of my friends witnessed the whole thing, although I didn't know it at the time. I was ashamed to say anything about the snakes until he brought it up. Finally he said something about snakes that had spent the night in my boots, and I’ll swear to you that I never felt better in my life, for up to that time I was very much in doubt about the genuineness of the vision. I was glad to know that the snakes were real live snakes.