. . made his appear- ance in the camps of the Fourth corps. We did notknow what to make of himat first, but the matter soonbecame serious. Onemorning a soldier of theFortieth Indiana was bittenin the foot by a tarantula,which during the night hadcrept into one of his sin •The poisonous naturethe reptile was not realizeduntil it was too late, andthe man died in a fewhours. It is well known thatcopious draughts of whiskey are considered an effec-tive antidote for the bitea venomous reptile of anykind. The tarantula gavethe boys a chanc
. . made his appear- ance in the camps of the Fourth corps. We did notknow what to make of himat first, but the matter soonbecame serious. Onemorning a soldier of theFortieth Indiana was bittenin the foot by a tarantula,which during the night hadcrept into one of his sin •The poisonous naturethe reptile was not realizeduntil it was too late, andthe man died in a fewhours. It is well known thatcopious draughts of whiskey are considered an effec-tive antidote for the bitea venomous reptile of anykind. The tarantula gavethe boys a chance, and for afew days they worked theracket for all it was worth. One of them when thirsty wouldprick his foot or hand with a knife, just enough to bring theblood, and then he would start on a wild run for the doctors tent,shouting that he had been bitten by a tarantler. The doctorwould pour whiskey down his throat until he had filled him up,and he would go away happy. This ingenious scheme workedvery nicely for a time, but it soon wore out. When the doctors. ANDREW !. K1 :ia\y F. SIXTY-FIFTH. m5.] THE XIMBLE CKNTIPED. 753 discovered the trick, they began to put castor oil, asafetida, and other nauseating drugs into the whiskey, and that settled soldier who tried the dodge had to carry a heavy stick on hisshoulder in front of headquarters for a couple of hours, and thatwas as much of the tarantula game as he wanted. The custom was established of thoroughly policing thecamps daily, as far out as the guard line, and thereafter the taran-tula did not often find his way across the border. If he did hislife was certain to be for-feited. It was a commonthing to meet tarantulaswhen walking over theprairie, but they could al-ways be killed without diffi-culty or danger, as theirmovements were not the southern part ofMexico and other tropicalcountries, the tarantula at-tains greater size and isvery dangerous. Centiped, signify-ing a hundred feet/ is ageneric term applie
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