All the world was one gigantic
blinding glare, silent, motionless. "If it gets much hotter," murmured
the dentist again, moving his head from side to side, "if it gets much
hotter, I don' know what I'll do."
Steadily the heat increased. At three o'clock it was even more terrible
than it had been at noon.
"Ain't it EVER going to let up?" groaned the dentist, rolling his eyes
at the sky of hot blue brass. Then, as he spoke, the stillness was
abruptly stabbed through and through by a shrill sound that seemed to
come from all sides at once. It ceased; then, as McTeague took another
forward step, began again with the suddenness of a blow, shriller,
nearer at hand, a hideous, prolonged note that brought both man and mule
to an instant halt.
"I know what THAT is," exclaimed the dentist. His eyes searched the
ground swiftly until he saw what he expected he should see--the round
thick coil, the slowly waving clover-shaped head and erect whirring tail
with its vibrant rattles.
For fully thirty seconds the man and snake remained looking into each
other's eyes. Then the snake uncoiled and swiftly wound from sight
amidst the sagebrush. McTeague drew breath again, and his eyes once more
beheld the illimitable leagues of quivering sand and alkali.
Pages:
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499