terror to the inhabitants. To be bitten by one of these poisonous reptiles
was certain and almost instant death; hence, the greatest caution and
constant vigilance was necessary to avoid them while at work. I had been
sent with the oxen to draw a log to the pile, and when I came up to it, I
observed that it appeared to be hollow; but stepping forward, with the
chain in my hand, ready to attach it to the log, when, oh, horror! the
warning rattle of a snake sounded like a death knell in my ears,
proceeding from the log I was about to lay hold of. I was so much
frightened by the sound, that I dropped the chain as though it were red
hot, left my team, and ran with all the speed in my power, screaming
"murder, murder!" as loud as I could.

This proceeding, which was the fearful impulse of the moment, offended
Robinson, and gave him another opportunity to beat me most cruelly. He was
himself as much afraid of rattle-snakes as I; but he was the master and I
the "slave boy," which made a vast difference. He caught hold of me, and,
with horrid oaths, beat me with his fist again and again; threatening me
with awful punishment if I did not instantly return and bring the log to
the desired spot. I never can forget the mortal agony I was in, while
compelled by his kicks and blows to return and fasten the chain around the
log containing the deadly serpent. I, however, succeeded with trembling
hands, and drove the oxen, but keeping myself at the fartherest possible
distance from them and the log. When I finally arrived at the pile, Mr.
Robinson and some other men, cut a hole with an ax in the log, and killed
the large, venomous rattle-snake that had occasioned me so much alarm and
such a cruel beating. Nor was the uncontrollable and brutal passion of
Robinson his only deficiency; he was mean as he was brutal.

He had, at one time, borrowed a wagon of a neighbor living two miles
distant, through a dense forest. On the day of the total eclipse of the