The Prairie Detective: Secret Service Series No. 24 — page 100: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

98 THE PRAIRIE DETECTIVE. leaving them cold and clammy, as if touched by the damp hand of death. - The coils of the mottled serpent aneegunes more and more, and he drew a trifle nearer, until she al- most felt his breath upon her cheek. His tailbegan * to oscillate to and fro with a smooth, wavy motion. The sharp click of his rattle fell upon her ear. It was like a knell of approaching doom. She knew that the rattlesnake never struck until after he had sounded*his warning, and she knew that the rattle was a sure precursor of the fatal blow. By a mighty effort she forced her eyes together, and in that condition, with her brain whirling in an indescribable eddy of despair, she awaited her death. The poisonous stroke did not fall. Why was the delay? In her hopeless agony she asked herself the question half petulanty. Then she opened her eyes. The snake was still there, but his orbs were no longer fixed on hers. His head was turned to one side, and his eyes glared with redoubled brilliancy. A greenish froth had gathered about his mouth, and he was lashing the air with his tail, clicking his rat- ~ tles in the wildest rage. Esther’s strength began to come back as soon as the eyes of the serpent were’recalled from her. He was moving away, and his slimy form slipped slowly off from her body. Then new sounds fell upon Es- ther’s hearing. They were sharp, cat-like snarls. Her eyes wandered slowly in the direction of the ~ 9 noises, and she saw that. a new actor had appeared j upon the scene. It was Vixen. Dancing about, just out of the reach of the huge snake, showing her formidable teeth and “spitting” with apparent rage, as all cats do, the noble animal comicbooks.com