They  should  have  been  hatched  in  May,  and  would  not  be


152


CREATURES  OF  MYSTERY


weaned  until  late  summer.  As  likely  as  not  he  might  bag  the
whole  family — the  male,  he  knew,  would  not  be  there — he
would  be  off  some  place  hunting — doubtless  not  returning  for
a  full  month  at  the  time.  No  gentlman  rattler  feels  it  manda¬
tory  upon  himself  to  conform  to  man’s  code  of  social  and  moral
ethics,  neither  to  observe  any  of  the  Ten  Commandments.  Let
him  take  who  has  the  power,  and  let  him  hold  who  can,  is  the
only  law  known  to  the  jungle.  No  sense  in  him  lying  about  the
house  making  love  to  her  all  summer  to  the  neglect  of  his  rabbit
hunting.  From  of  old  he  has  known  of  her  weakness  for
strong  men.  He  would  be  serving  his  own  best  interests  should
he  leave  her  to  the  mercy  of  the  world  during  the  whole  sum¬
mer — leave  her  to  hunt  her  own  rabbits  and  attend  the  brats
to  boot.  Yes,  he  would  give,  hunting  his  undivided  attention
that  he  might  grow  fat,  sleek  and  strong  during  the  summer
months,  the  better  to  defend  that  which  was  his  with  the  return
of  mating  season  in  early  fall.  He  had  no  assurance  but  that
some  robust  home-wrecking  sheik  might  appear  at  his  very
threshold  with  the  coming  of  early  fall  and  challenge  him  to
defend  all  rights  and  title  to  his  wife  of  yesteryear.  Any  gen¬
tleman  rattler  who  during  the  summer  months  suffers  the  mis¬
fortune  of  losing  his  mate  leads  a  rather  lonely  existence  for
a  time,  but  welcomes  the  thought  that  early  fall  will  usher  in
another  mating  season  which  often  resolves  itself  into  a  regu¬
lar  love  tournament.  No,  he  has  no  aversion  whatever  to  an¬
other  romance — at  the  proper  time  he  plans  going  courting,
and  it  makes  little  difference  to  him  whose  wife  he  wins,  just
so  he  wins  one.
