The gladiators of ancient Rome, says the author, are all dead; but their spirit still survives out there in the deserts of
America... where the
rattlesnake has made its home. Hunger was the prime motivation for the rattlesnake; instinct told him what to eat. The rattlesnake grew rapidly during the first two years of its existence. Once the rattlesnake had attained the age of two years, its death became more and more unlikely, because there was nothing (in the desert) that was powerful enough to kill him.
In a cave where no white man had ever set foot, the rattlesnake lived along with other members of its tribe. Though they lived together, and derived safety from their numbers, the rattlesnakes hunted singly and never shared a meal. In fact, if an enemy attacked any one of them, the other reptiles did not bother. Nobody even cared whether it lived or it died.
Though its vision is limited, the rattlesnake has an excellent sense of smell. In common with other snakes, the rattlesnake is stone deaf. In place of ears, it has a pit between its eyes and its nostril, an organ that is sensitive to heat. Even in pitch darkness, the rattlesnake can tell the size - and distance - of nearby animals. The rattlesnake is also possessed of a forked tongue, that darts in and out as it moves.
Its venom was the only weapon for the rattlesnake, for it has no power of constriction (squeezing with its coils). Though it was odourless and tasteless, the venom was highly toxic. The more poison that was injected, the more dangerous the wound. Though the snakebite was bad enough, it was the shock that was worse. Injected directly into a large blood vessel, the poison brought death to its victim when it touched upon the heart. Without this poison, the rattlesnake would have been among the most helpless creatures upon this earth!
Men were settling that part of the desert where the rattlesnakes lived. The homesteader was alarmed at the death of the german shepherd dog; because if the snake was large enough to kill the dog, it was also large enough to kill a child.
The author says that much of the information provided in this story could also be found in an encyclopedia. But the story provides more than an encyclopedia ever could - it provides dramatic interest to keep the reader interested, and it furnishes the reader with a perspective with which to analyze the information. The author writes from first-hand experience, having kept a rattlesnake as an (unlikely) pet.