OT ’ TATTLT The Warrior of
J J J -t\. IV J_> Drummonds Lake
Pine Snake Returns
Friendship of Man
Who Saved It by
Attacking and Killing
Five Rattlers That
Had Him Surrounded
By WILLIAM HORNE
TN READING the headlines of North
Carolina's newspapers not so long
ago you may have seen: “Recluse of
Dismal Swamps Held Captive of Deadly
Diamond Backs Until Rescued by Pet
Snake ”
But this short, two-inch item that
gave mention to the harrowing ex
perience of one Jud Baker, aged hermit
of the Drummonds Lake district of
Dismal Swamps, did not touch on to the
colorful side of this strange drama that
depicted, strange to say, the character
of a snake.
And the man, Jud Baker? He prob
ably never knew at the time, nor cared
in the least, what had seeped into the
papers of an outside world. This little
episode in his life of solitude deep in
the fastness of Dismal Swamps; what
did it matter to him whether the world
knew or not?
I visited him at his caoin on the
western edge of Drummonds Lake. 1
carried with me the newspaper clipping
mentioned at the opening of this narra
tive. I found him not at all interested
in what the papers had said.
Meet •‘Of Jake”
rWAS more than a year ago when
Jud Baker first saw the six-foot pine
auake he later named “Ol’ Jake.”
Jud had just paddled his bateau from
across the lake to the landing a few
yards down from his cabin. As he
stepped on to the bank a darting form
whirred upward on glistening wings
from the bushes that bordered the
opening
Jud turned and lookea. It was the
slut eg form of an enormous snake
hawK It came back down again into
the bushes with a crash, seemed to
struggle there a moment, then strove to
take the air again.
Puzzled, Jud went to the edge of the
bushes to investigate. He found the
big bird of prey hovering a few feet
from the ground, wings beating the air
powerfully, and in its sharp talons was
the beautiful, white-patterned form of
• pine snake.
The reptile’s torso writhed about the
roots of a tree, the snake hawk doing
its utmost to tear the hold away and
lift it into the air.
Now. the pine snake is a powerful
constrictor, and one snap from its
mighty jaws can almost sever a man's
wrist No reptile in all the wilds can
conquer it in combat, and the steel
like muscles of its glistening body can
crush the bones of a wildcat or a dog.
But the snake hawk is its equal in
swiftness and in strength, and In all
outdoors the only living thing that it
fears
True, the snake hawk does not im
mediately kill the snake with claws or
beak. Instead, it flies to an enormous
height, releases the prey and lets It
crash to its death far below, where it
eats it at leisure.
Jud Baker knew this, and with a stick
he drove the hawk away and captured
the snake and took it with him to his
cabin. The rippling skin of the snake
was torn in a dozen places. Blood oozed
from deep lacerations where the snake
hawk’s talons had torn in.
For day.] afterward Jud Baker t hough The long, sliming length of Mimoua
his snake would die. The live mice and black and torso glided like a
frogs he placed inside the improvised shadow across the floor. Slow. Rip-
cage were left untouched; the snake
lay prone and motionless.
But with passing days came improve
ment, and after two weeks the big
reptile crawled about in his cage
One night he escaped through a crack
in the door. He disappeared, and
Jud saw nothing of him for a month.
But then he came back again—and
stayed.
From then on he made his home there
with the old recluse. He became a pet.
He would crawl on to Jud Baker's dining
table while the man ate his meals; he
would coil on his bunk and sleep
through the long, hot days of Summer.
During last Winter he coiled for hours
on the hearth before the fire during
the night, and during the short days he
would lie outside in the comer of the
rock chimney and bask in the sun.
It was during the month of March
that he disappeared. Days passed, and
finally Jud decided he had either
strayed off and found a mate and had
forgotten or a snake hawk had at last
captured him. Jud searched for his
strange pet. but never found him, so he
finally gave up.
It was two months after Ol’ Jake
had disappeared, when the first warm
days of Summer came to Drummonds
Lake, that Jud Baker opened his eyes
one morning to a strange sound at the
little window just above his bunk.
For a long time he lay there blinking
his eyes What made that strange
sound? It had seemed oddly familiar,
and yet he couldn't quite place it.
Then suddenly it came again. And
Jud Baker’s form stiffened, the hair on
his scalp prickling. It was the angry
whir of a rattlesnake’s rattles, and it
came from just a bare yard from his
face on the low sill of the open window.
The old man turned his head, and the
movement brought the sound again.
But he could see now. plain enough, the
scaly form of a coiled rattler on the
edge of the sill.
Two wicked, beady eyes stared at him
from a small, flat head. A tiny, forked
tongue flicked in and out the slitted
mouth. Jud Baker stared into those
eyes and his blood seemed to freeze in
his veins.
After several long moments he moved
his head slightly. Instantly the tail that
Or Jake, the pine snake, came
through a crack in the floor
and immediately gave battle to
the rattlesnake, while, Jud
looked on with horror
lay in the center of the coiled reptile
jerked up and wriggled spasmodically.
There came the whir of rattles Jud
Baker lay motionless, lest the deadly
fellow suddenly decide to strike down
ward in his straining, sweating face.
An age seemed to pass before those
rattlers quieted down and another eon
to go by before the old man ventured
to move again.
**Rattlers” All Around Him
HE HELD his breath and slowly moved
one loot toward the edge of the bunk.
If he could only slide noiselessly to the
floor beyond reach of those deadly
fangs things would be well. But he
never quite managed it, for as his foot
slid slowly to the very edge of the bed
there came a new sound to his roaring
ears, the sound of another set of
rattlers from the floor just beneath the
edge of the bed
Jud Baker stiffened He groaned in
abject terror. Cold sweat beaded bis
leathery face. He strained his eyes to
glance at the floor toward that new
menace, and what he saw brought a
gasp to his drawn lips Beside the bed,
on the floor. lay four diamond-backed
rattlers. Each was coiled. Each
snake's tongue flicked in and out, while
the rattles gave angry warnings.
Ol’ Jake to the Rescue
THE sun went on down behind the
timoer line to the west. Shadows
lengthened Suddenly the five rattle
snakes began their song of warning.
The din kept up in a steady drone, and
the man on the bunk roused himself
from a half stupor.
Had he unconsciously made a move
ment that had aroused their anger?
He lay there listening, expecting every
moment to feel the fangs of the snake
his head.
Then through the corners of his eyes
he saw it. That glistening, rippling
shadow that came through the crack
beneath the door of the cabin.
pling. And ominous. And deadly in its
purpose.
The four rattlers on the floor kept up
their hellish din. and the lone reptile
on the window sill tensed in its coil and
prepared to strike And the big pine
snake lay in an "S” form on the toot
of the bunk, with its tail braced against
the wall in an attitude of certain de
fense at the first hostile move.
And it came. From the snake on the
window sill. Like lightning it shot down
toward Ol' Jake like a coiled spring
and, as quick as it was, Ol’ Jake wae
quicker.
The rattlesnake’s mouth gaped open
and two needle-like fangs glistened in
the evening light. And the big pine
snake’s mighty open jaws met those
open jaws in midair with a sickening
crunch.
Instantly both snakes became a
writhing mass and tumbled from the
bed to the floor amid the other waiting
rattlers.
Battle U» Death
A ND then bedlam tore loose Jud Baker
leaned from his bed and watched
that fight. He saw the four remaining
rattlesnakes attack the big. twisting
form of Ol' Jake with gleaming fangs.
He saw those fangs sink again and
again into that rippling hide, and he
saw the big pine snake writhe and us
its muscular length Into a dozen con
tortions about the floundering rattlers.
The battle couldn't have lasted more
than three or four minutes. Jud Biker
lay there above it. rigid in fascination.
And suddenly the forms grew still only
the knotted length of the big pine snake
slbwly releasing its crushing holds from
the dead forms of its enemies
True, enough venom must have been
injected into Ol’ Jake's length to kill
a dozen men. But a pine snake Is im
mune to a rattler's venom and presently
the big fellow crawled loose and made
his way slowly across the floor and out
the door crack into the evenir.: sun
light. Jud Baker was free. He lay on
his bunk and watched hia friend glide
majestically from sight benea'h the
door.
Ol' Jake had come home. And na4
paid a debt he owed.