Phillips' Snake Story

The DanvlUe Advocate begins lts series of snake storles with the following, told by John Phillips, a Boylc eounty farmer: Phillips told of a ven flne piece of asparagus land back o! Juncüon City. lts owner, desiring U dispose of the property, had cleared i. of all unslghtly growtha and debrh and surrounded it with a very fim fer.ce. One day, said Phillips, a huge rattlesnake, while n.eandering over th. place, encountered a fat, plump rabbi and swallowed it. After baving pu away the morsel lt glanced through ; crack in the fence and noticad upon thother side of the obstruction anothe; very fina rabbit. The crack in the fenc was large enough to admit of the pas sage of the snake's body, and cautlou3 y crawliiig through it oon gobbled u: hare No. 2. After thls second meal th: snake concluded that lt wa time to re turn to lts den and take an after-din ner nap, but here a most unexpecte (Hfflculty presented itself. The snak' had not gone entlrely through ti crack in the fence when lt Btarted fo the second rabbit, for the first on. swallowed had so enlarged lts bod. that lt could not go all the way; ar. so, likewise, after the second rabbi had dlsappeared the front half of th reptlle could not, for the eame reasor be wlthdrawn, and thus lt was lm prlsoned, unable to go elther backwar. or forward. Phillips, after watchln; the snake's desperate but futile effort to libérate hlmsslf, put an end to h: sufTerings by striking it over the hea wlth a stick. But the Interesting ie: ture of the incident didn't end hen Phillips, after killing the snake, rippe open lts hlde, and the two rabbit then hopped out and scrambled o' without loss of time, more' or les frightened, but otherwtse none th worse off beeause of their thrillln 7onah-like adventure.