Helen woke up early the next morning and went to where her mother was sleeping in the rocking chair. "Mama…" She whispered, running her fingers over her mother's bare arm. "Mama."

"W-what?" Frances stammered, her eyes slowly opening. "I was dreaming about your brother…." She whispered running her hands over her face.

"Bad dream or a good dream?" Helen asked.

"I'd rather not say…." Frances whispered and dabbed at her eyes. "Why are you up, sweetie?" She asked, wrapping her arms around her daughter. "Hm?" She said, and pressed the side of her face to her daughter's and then gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"I think Snooky's waking up…."

Frances chuckled. "I hear her now…..She's probably hungry." She said getting up and went into the kitchen and warmed up a little bottle the girls' mother sent with them. "Is Fran up yet?"

"No, she's still sleepin'."

"Alright, we'll get her up in an hour or so…" Frances said and went into Helen's room where the girls were and picked up the now crying two month old out of the little cradle and went back into the next room and sat down with her in the rocking chair. "Could you get her bottle for me, Helen? I think it's about ready."

"Okay Mama!" She said, walking off into the kitchen.

"Be careful now…." Frances told her and soon Helen came into the sitting room with the feeding bottle. "Test it on your wrist….Make sure it's not too hot."

"It isn't." Helen answered. "Can I feed her?"

"You can." Frances smiled. "But let me hold her, alright?"

"Okay…."

"Here…hold the bottle up just a smidge." Frances said, adjusting it a little.

"A smidge?" Helen giggled.

"Yes, a smidge." Frances laughed.

"You can feed her now, Mama." Helen said quickly, handing it to her.

"I can now, can I?" Frances chuckled.

"Uh huh…." Helen said.

"Well, okay…."

"You're better at it." The nine year old said softly.

Frances chuckled slightly. "I don't know how much better! I haven't fed a little one like this in years!"

"You fed me and Freddy in a different way….I remember you telling me." Helen turned a little reddish. "I kept asking about it." She chuckled.

"Yes…And after explaining it, I told you that someday you will too, when you have a little one of your own."

Helen nodded slightly. "Why doesn't Aunt Nona?"

"Well, some women can't breastfeed….or they choose not to, sweetie."

"Okay." She said quietly.

"My goodness, look at her go!" Frances chuckled. "She's nearly finished."

"Can you have a baby, Mama?" Helen asked.

"Excuse me?" Frances said, caught a little off guard.

"Can you have another baby?"

"Have you been spending too much time with your father, lately?" She chuckled, wondering if he had set their daughter up to this.

"I want a little brother or sister."

"We'll see…." Frances chuckled.

"I'd be a good big sister! I'd help you with it all the time, and play with it…and…"

"Helen!" She said her daughter's name, warningly.

"Yes Mama…." The nine year old said quietly and stopped talking.

"Well, I'm going to put Snooky back in the cradle…..and guess who gets to help me start on breakfast?" Frances smiled.

"Me!" Helen said excitedly. Her mother went into her room and set her baby cousin down in the little cradle, and then they both went into the kitchen to make breakfast. They made bacon, eggs and fried potatoes. Helen got little Fran up and they sat down to eat breakfast.

"Good morning." Fred grinned, coming up behind his wife. "Missed you last night…" He whispered, and kissed her cheek.

"I missed you too….but could you blame me for worrying?"

"Naw….I couldn't." He said. "I'll look up in the woods for him before I eat."

"Sounds like a plan…" Frances sighed, placing her face against his chest.

"He'll be fine…" Fred whispered, holding her closer.

"I'm just afraid something's happened to him!" She said, feeling tears well up in her brown eyes. "Like he could be seriously hurt….I had a dream about him this morning like that." She felt the tears fall. "My boy!"

Fred held her and tried soothing her as she cried in his arms. "I'm sorry…..I'm just scared!" Frances managed to choke out.

"I understand….but he'll be fine." Fred smiled. "You don't need to worry."

"I know….but it's hard not to." She whispered.

"I know." Fred said, brushing away tears from her cheeks with his thumb.

"Mama…"

"Yes Helen…." Frances said, turning around.

"Uncle Joe and Aunt Nona are here." She said looking out the window.

"I'll go get Snooky….and get Fran ready to go for me, please."

"Yes Mama…..C'mon Fran, let's go into the front room and get your toys." Helen said, guiding her little cousin. Fran and Snooky left with their parents and Helen went back to the kitchen table. Fred was getting his coat on so he could search for Freddy.

"At least sit down and eat a little something first, honey…."

"Guess it won't hurt…" Fred said, sitting down to some fried potatoes and a cup of coffee.

"Papa. You don't need to!" Helen said excitedly.

"What?"

"I think I see Freddy up in the woods!"

"He is!" Frances said and beat them both out the door and up the slope to the woods behind the little house. "Freddy!" She called to him, almost losing herself in tears.

"I got a buck, Mama! A huge one!" He grinned, dragging the large buck along with him.

"Great!….I knew you'd get one!" Suddenly, her bright smile turned to an awful look on her face as her son had screamed and a hand went to his leg.

"Freddy!" She screamed and ran through the woods to where he was, Fred and Helen followed her.

"Oh my God, he's been bit by a rattlesnake!" Fred said.

"Get it off!" Freddy screamed as the rattler kept biting and attacking the eleven year old's leg. "Get it off me!"

"Fred, go get the buggy whip!" Frances hollered. "I killed snakes when I was younger, I know what to do!...Fred…Go! Why are you just standing here?" She yelled, in tears. With that, Fred managed to run down the slope to where the buckboard was parked, and returned with the buggy whip. If he thought that the thought of it was too much for him, what he witnessed next was more than he could take! He couldn't stand the sound of that whip as he saw his wife attack the rattlesnake that was now on the ground and off of Freddy's leg. She had successfully killed the snake and went to her son who was laying on the ground, writhing in pain from his attacker. She ripped open his trouser leg and inspected the bitten left leg. Frances could see it was beginning to swell up and bruise. Through all the blood, she recognized the two small puncture holes from the snake's fangs.

"I think the snake was poisonous!" Frances exclaimed, starting to sob.

"C'mon! We'll get him to Doc Clark's!" Fred said, scooping his son up and ran to the back of the buckboard.

"Helen! Go over to your Grandparents' place!" Frances hollered. "They'll take you to church!"

"What about you?" The nine year old called back. She was still in shock and tears from all of this.

"I'm sure we'll get there eventually!" Fred called. "Now go!" And so they parted ways, Helen ran up the road to her Grandma and Grandpa's place….and Fred drove off, Frances sitting with Freddy in the back of the buckboard.

"Think he hasn't left for church yet?" Frances asked quickly.

"I don't know. But don't worry, either way, I'll make sure we catch them…."

"Mama…." The boy said weakly, laying there in his mother's arms.

"You'll be just fine Freddy!…We're taking you to Doc Clark's. You'll be just fine, sweetie!" She said, starting to cry and held him close to her. "You'll be just fine…." She kept saying, tears sliding down her cheeks as she saw him drifting in and out of consciousness.

"Guess…guess I shouldn't have…."

"Shouldn't have what?"

"Shouldn't have nagged you so much to go hunting….I'm sorry."

"Freddy, don't worry about that!" She said and held him and started crying again. "We're just focusing on making sure you get help! We'll get you to Doc Clark's and you'll be just fine!"

They made it all the way up Walker Street and saw Dr. and Mrs. Clark about to leave for church, Fred slowed them down and Dr. Clark of course, agreed to treat the boy.

Dr. Clark gave the eleven year old as much whiskey as he could take before becoming intoxicated, put gunpowder on the bite to burn the venom out and then he washed the wound and grabbed a bottle of ammonia and applied it to the snake bite wound. And then he tightly bandaged the wound with every few seconds, loosening it and reapplying the bandage.

Fred stood there watching the doctor as he worked on his young patient. Frances stood there, her face against his chest. She couldn't stand to see her child in such pain and the fact that this was such an emergency situation! She felt like she was going to break down and start crying again, but she felt her husband's arms wrapped around her which kept her strong.

"He'll be alright….won't he Doc Clark?" Fred asked.

"I believe so…..Nothing some encouragement and some good food won't fix."

"Good!" Frances smiled, dabbing at her eyes with her handkerchief. "Is it alright if we go to him now?"

"I don't see why not…" The doctor smiled. "Go right ahead."

Frances walked over to the little cot Freddy was laying on and sat down beside him. Freddy tried lifting himself, but she told him to stay lying down and to rest.

"Guess this was quite a hunting experience for ya…" Fred said.

"Yeah…" Freddy cracked a smile. "Sorry I kept nagging…."

"I told you not to worry about that…." Frances said, running her fingers through his reddish-brown hair. "I'm just glad you're going to be alright….My boy." She smiled, though tears were slipping down her cheeks. "How are you feeling right now?"

"Not too bad…." Freddy said. "And ya know what, Mama?" He grinned a little.

"What?" She smiled.

"I don't need to nag ya for whiskey no more neither!" He laughed a little. "Cause I tried it!" Freddy had a silly grin on his face.

"Oh hush up, you!" Frances laughed and leaned down and kissed his forehead.

"Did ya like the whiskey, son?" Fred chuckled.

"Naw, Papa…" Freddy shook his head…."Well,….maybe a little."

"Enough about whiskey!" Frances laughed. "You rest now."

"We gonna go to church later?"

"I think we better just take you home so you can recover. I'm sure everybody will understand the circumstance." Fred told him.

"Okay…."

A/N: There were several treatments for a snakebite wound back then. I'm sure a lot of you are thinking the "suck and spit" method, where you make a cut in the puncture wound, and then suck and spit out the poison. I didn't want to use that method and I've heard it doesn't work too well anyway...so I used other methods I researched. Frontiersmen believed to put gun powder on the bite and set it alight it would burn the venom right on out...Ammonia was a common rememdy in the 1700 and 1800's...A very painful method was to take a knife and cut out as much of the wound and hopefully as much poison with it as possible...A poultice was sometimes applied, such as bark and gun powder...There was also the belief that drinking a large quantity of whiskey would counteract the snake poison.