Chapter Twelve.Chris has a Fit.Every one made a dash to avert the disaster on hearing their leader’s words, but the stampede had already begun. Disaster of a serious kind was about to fall upon the little expedition, and but for the energy of Griggs and Chris matters would have been worse than they were.For panic had seized upon two or three of the mules, which took alarm from the startled mustangs, and directly after they would all have been in headlong flight, kicking wildly as they tore away, when the same thought came to two of the party who had the energy and nerve to put it into action.The idea was that even then, frightened as they were, the mules would obey their old habit, so driving their heels into their snorting mustangs’ sides, Griggs and Chris raced after Skeeter as he was tearing along at full speed, shaking his load loose, and making his bell jangle loudly as he squealed and galloped.Almost at the same moment the two pursuers grasped the mule’s rein on either side and drew their own, with the result that with the bell ringing still loudly, three animals were going along swiftly close abreast, but moment by moment becoming more and more under control, Skeeter the calmest of all, for he acted as if he felt comparatively safe with a stout cob pressing against each side.The rest of the mules were still galloping, but Skeeter led, and his behaviour began to influence his companions to such an extent that as they grew farther from the object of their alarm the kicking and plunging gradually subsided. The effort of going full speed under loads generally carried at a walk began to tell, and at the end of half-a-mile all were under control and following their bell-bearing leader, till Skeeter was checked, no serpents were in view, and the controllers of the wild race sat panting upon their mustangs, ready to round up any mule which made a fresh start, and every living thing panting from their late exertions, the bipeds eagerly calculating the damage that had been done.“Sit fast,” cried the doctor, “and be ready in case they make a fresh dash. Griggs! Chris! splendid; but keep fast hold of that bell-mule’s rein.”“Got him tight, father,” cried Chris.“Same here, doctor,” panted Griggs. “He’ll have to leave his head behind this time if he tries to make a start. Say, Squire Ned,” he continued to the boy, who now joined him, “you were grumbling about having no adventures. What do you say to this for a regular red-hot one, quite noo out of nature’s oven?”“Oh, I don’t know,” cried Ned excitedly. “Do you think the rattlesnakes will pursue us?”“No that I don’t, my lad; but I say, doctor, just look.”The leader was already gazing back over the ground they had covered, to see that it was dotted with packs and various odds and ends sent flying from the mules’ loads, from a tin cross-handled kettle to bags of meal and a great elongated roll which represented the tent.The doctor groaned, for there lay the scattered objects in sight, while how many lay beyond his ken he was afraid to think.Of course he felt that they could be collected again, and that they were not of a nature to have suffered much damage, but it would probably be the beginning of another stampede to force any of the animals back along a track infested by serpents, and a task that would try the nerves of the stoutest of them seeing how horribly insidious was the danger, when the lifting of a bale might mean the incurring of a deadly stroke from a hidden foe.In all probability no reader of this ever encountered a mule team represented by so many sets of four legs, a head, and tail, and a body hidden by the load secured upon the backs of the owners of the legs by means of cords tied with what a mule-driver calls the diamond-hitch. The reader has also probably never seen a mule dissatisfied with the load it has been called upon to bear, and doing its best to shed the same load. Every one is aware of the brute’s kicking powers, but in this respect it is at its best when, plunging and flinging out its legs, it squeezes itself up tightly within its skin and tries its best—worst would be the proper term—to shoot itself out through the diamonds of rope which form the hitch.Griggs had secured most of the loads that day, and he had done well; but all did not stand the strain, and the appearance of the mules standing, hanging of head, stamping, twitching their ears and whisking their tails to get rid of the flies, was painfully ludicrous.Skeeter, as became him, being leader, and, thanks to the way in which he had been checked, was the most reputable-looking of the team, for others were horrible. Here stood one mule with his load resting upon the sand, the animal striding across it, head and fore-legs in front, hind-legs and tail behind, and nothing upon its back but tightened ropes.A little farther on was one which had shed its load and stood with drooping head, looking as if it had been ornamented with a tangle of rope.Again, not many yards away was another snuffling and nuzzling at the sand, which it blew aside now and then with a snort which raised a little cloud—doing all this under difficulties, being nearly overbalanced by its load, which had slipped over till it bulged straight out from its side. Another sat up like a cat, being held in position by its pack, which had slipped over its tail, while again another had kicked till it went down upon its nose, kneeling, so to speak, with its hind-quarters high up, and its load like a pair of panniers resting upon its neck.“What a horrible confusion!” cried the doctor, and he was going to say something more, but his words were drowned by Skeeter, who had evidently been surveying the wreck of the train and the dismal condition of his companions, especially that of the one farthest off, which had tried to roll its load off till it had been brought up short by getting its legs perpendicular to paw the air—being unable to get over to right or left, consequent upon the two packs thoroughly wedging it up, so that its razor back resembled the hull of a boat whose keel was fitted in the chocks, the pawing legs looking like so many motive masts.All this seemed to be too much for Skeeter, who stretched out his neck till his muzzle was in a line therewith, literally shed tears, opened his mouth, distended his nostrils, and with ears quivering, emitted the most startling sound ever heard. It was not a neigh like his mother would have given, nor a bray such as his father would have uttered, but a hoarse yell made up of the most discordant elements of both, and it was no wonder that the doctor’s voice was drowned.“Be quiet, you brute!” he cried angrily, making a pretence of kicking it in the pack; and then he stared in wonder, for it seemed as if a fresh misfortune had affected one member of the expedition in a peculiar way. That member was Chris, who suddenly dropped his hold of Skeeter’s rein, and with his face horribly distorted, began to roll about in his saddle.“Oh, Griggs!” he gasped. “Ned! Somebody! Hold me on.”“What is it, boy?” cried the doctor—“Bitten?”“N–n–n–n–no, father,” he panted. And then, “Oh dear! Oh dear! I—I—I—I—I can’t help it. I—”There were other words, but they were confused and strange; but though they did not convey in words the meaning of the seizure, they pointed out what was the matter. For it became evident that Chris was laughing wildly—madly—hysterically, and to such an extent that he had lost all control of himself, and had hard work to keep in the saddle.To make matters worse, the mirth proved contagious to such an extent that Griggs sat looking at him, then at the mules, and back again, with his mouth expanding into a broad grin, while Ned slid off his mustang quietly, held on to the rein, and then lay down in the sand, to laugh in the same uncontrolled fashion.“Well,” cried Bourne angrily, “this is a nice way to treat our misfortunes!”“I—I—I can’t help it, father,” panted Ned, and he laughed more than ever, while Wilton’s lips as he sat looking on began to quiver and then widen out.“Here, stop it, you two,” he growled at last. “Come and help collect the things.”“I—I can’t yet,” panted Ned, who laughed more than ever, till Wilton gave the doctor and Bourne a sharp look, and then said aloud—“Oh, let them laugh it out; but I say, are those some of the rattlesnakes coming after us?”“Eh?” cried Ned, who was sobered in an instant, and sat up to exclaim, “Which way? Whereabouts?”“I—I—I can’t help it if they do come,” gurgled out Chris. “Oh, father, plea–please stop me; it hurts. Gi–give me something—a drop of water.”“Yes, the boy’s quite hysterical,” said the doctor. “Water. Ah! Where are the kegs?”All looked round, but no kegs were visible. There was the mule that should have borne them, though, with the rough pack-saddle upon which they had been lashed one on each side, twisting its head round and striving to reach a fly that was busy at work depositing its eggs in the animal’s coat, the teeth being not long enough to scrape it out.“Why, the water-kegs have gone!” cried the doctor wildly.“Here, catch hold of the mule, somebody,” cried Griggs, and Chris was sobered in an instant, for the water represented life to all, and it was no time for laughing then.
Every one made a dash to avert the disaster on hearing their leader’s words, but the stampede had already begun. Disaster of a serious kind was about to fall upon the little expedition, and but for the energy of Griggs and Chris matters would have been worse than they were.
For panic had seized upon two or three of the mules, which took alarm from the startled mustangs, and directly after they would all have been in headlong flight, kicking wildly as they tore away, when the same thought came to two of the party who had the energy and nerve to put it into action.
The idea was that even then, frightened as they were, the mules would obey their old habit, so driving their heels into their snorting mustangs’ sides, Griggs and Chris raced after Skeeter as he was tearing along at full speed, shaking his load loose, and making his bell jangle loudly as he squealed and galloped.
Almost at the same moment the two pursuers grasped the mule’s rein on either side and drew their own, with the result that with the bell ringing still loudly, three animals were going along swiftly close abreast, but moment by moment becoming more and more under control, Skeeter the calmest of all, for he acted as if he felt comparatively safe with a stout cob pressing against each side.
The rest of the mules were still galloping, but Skeeter led, and his behaviour began to influence his companions to such an extent that as they grew farther from the object of their alarm the kicking and plunging gradually subsided. The effort of going full speed under loads generally carried at a walk began to tell, and at the end of half-a-mile all were under control and following their bell-bearing leader, till Skeeter was checked, no serpents were in view, and the controllers of the wild race sat panting upon their mustangs, ready to round up any mule which made a fresh start, and every living thing panting from their late exertions, the bipeds eagerly calculating the damage that had been done.
“Sit fast,” cried the doctor, “and be ready in case they make a fresh dash. Griggs! Chris! splendid; but keep fast hold of that bell-mule’s rein.”
“Got him tight, father,” cried Chris.
“Same here, doctor,” panted Griggs. “He’ll have to leave his head behind this time if he tries to make a start. Say, Squire Ned,” he continued to the boy, who now joined him, “you were grumbling about having no adventures. What do you say to this for a regular red-hot one, quite noo out of nature’s oven?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” cried Ned excitedly. “Do you think the rattlesnakes will pursue us?”
“No that I don’t, my lad; but I say, doctor, just look.”
The leader was already gazing back over the ground they had covered, to see that it was dotted with packs and various odds and ends sent flying from the mules’ loads, from a tin cross-handled kettle to bags of meal and a great elongated roll which represented the tent.
The doctor groaned, for there lay the scattered objects in sight, while how many lay beyond his ken he was afraid to think.
Of course he felt that they could be collected again, and that they were not of a nature to have suffered much damage, but it would probably be the beginning of another stampede to force any of the animals back along a track infested by serpents, and a task that would try the nerves of the stoutest of them seeing how horribly insidious was the danger, when the lifting of a bale might mean the incurring of a deadly stroke from a hidden foe.
In all probability no reader of this ever encountered a mule team represented by so many sets of four legs, a head, and tail, and a body hidden by the load secured upon the backs of the owners of the legs by means of cords tied with what a mule-driver calls the diamond-hitch. The reader has also probably never seen a mule dissatisfied with the load it has been called upon to bear, and doing its best to shed the same load. Every one is aware of the brute’s kicking powers, but in this respect it is at its best when, plunging and flinging out its legs, it squeezes itself up tightly within its skin and tries its best—worst would be the proper term—to shoot itself out through the diamonds of rope which form the hitch.
Griggs had secured most of the loads that day, and he had done well; but all did not stand the strain, and the appearance of the mules standing, hanging of head, stamping, twitching their ears and whisking their tails to get rid of the flies, was painfully ludicrous.
Skeeter, as became him, being leader, and, thanks to the way in which he had been checked, was the most reputable-looking of the team, for others were horrible. Here stood one mule with his load resting upon the sand, the animal striding across it, head and fore-legs in front, hind-legs and tail behind, and nothing upon its back but tightened ropes.
A little farther on was one which had shed its load and stood with drooping head, looking as if it had been ornamented with a tangle of rope.
Again, not many yards away was another snuffling and nuzzling at the sand, which it blew aside now and then with a snort which raised a little cloud—doing all this under difficulties, being nearly overbalanced by its load, which had slipped over till it bulged straight out from its side. Another sat up like a cat, being held in position by its pack, which had slipped over its tail, while again another had kicked till it went down upon its nose, kneeling, so to speak, with its hind-quarters high up, and its load like a pair of panniers resting upon its neck.
“What a horrible confusion!” cried the doctor, and he was going to say something more, but his words were drowned by Skeeter, who had evidently been surveying the wreck of the train and the dismal condition of his companions, especially that of the one farthest off, which had tried to roll its load off till it had been brought up short by getting its legs perpendicular to paw the air—being unable to get over to right or left, consequent upon the two packs thoroughly wedging it up, so that its razor back resembled the hull of a boat whose keel was fitted in the chocks, the pawing legs looking like so many motive masts.
All this seemed to be too much for Skeeter, who stretched out his neck till his muzzle was in a line therewith, literally shed tears, opened his mouth, distended his nostrils, and with ears quivering, emitted the most startling sound ever heard. It was not a neigh like his mother would have given, nor a bray such as his father would have uttered, but a hoarse yell made up of the most discordant elements of both, and it was no wonder that the doctor’s voice was drowned.
“Be quiet, you brute!” he cried angrily, making a pretence of kicking it in the pack; and then he stared in wonder, for it seemed as if a fresh misfortune had affected one member of the expedition in a peculiar way. That member was Chris, who suddenly dropped his hold of Skeeter’s rein, and with his face horribly distorted, began to roll about in his saddle.
“Oh, Griggs!” he gasped. “Ned! Somebody! Hold me on.”
“What is it, boy?” cried the doctor—“Bitten?”
“N–n–n–n–no, father,” he panted. And then, “Oh dear! Oh dear! I—I—I—I—I can’t help it. I—”
There were other words, but they were confused and strange; but though they did not convey in words the meaning of the seizure, they pointed out what was the matter. For it became evident that Chris was laughing wildly—madly—hysterically, and to such an extent that he had lost all control of himself, and had hard work to keep in the saddle.
To make matters worse, the mirth proved contagious to such an extent that Griggs sat looking at him, then at the mules, and back again, with his mouth expanding into a broad grin, while Ned slid off his mustang quietly, held on to the rein, and then lay down in the sand, to laugh in the same uncontrolled fashion.
“Well,” cried Bourne angrily, “this is a nice way to treat our misfortunes!”
“I—I—I can’t help it, father,” panted Ned, and he laughed more than ever, while Wilton’s lips as he sat looking on began to quiver and then widen out.
“Here, stop it, you two,” he growled at last. “Come and help collect the things.”
“I—I can’t yet,” panted Ned, who laughed more than ever, till Wilton gave the doctor and Bourne a sharp look, and then said aloud—
“Oh, let them laugh it out; but I say, are those some of the rattlesnakes coming after us?”
“Eh?” cried Ned, who was sobered in an instant, and sat up to exclaim, “Which way? Whereabouts?”
“I—I—I can’t help it if they do come,” gurgled out Chris. “Oh, father, plea–please stop me; it hurts. Gi–give me something—a drop of water.”
“Yes, the boy’s quite hysterical,” said the doctor. “Water. Ah! Where are the kegs?”
All looked round, but no kegs were visible. There was the mule that should have borne them, though, with the rough pack-saddle upon which they had been lashed one on each side, twisting its head round and striving to reach a fly that was busy at work depositing its eggs in the animal’s coat, the teeth being not long enough to scrape it out.
“Why, the water-kegs have gone!” cried the doctor wildly.
“Here, catch hold of the mule, somebody,” cried Griggs, and Chris was sobered in an instant, for the water represented life to all, and it was no time for laughing then.
Chapter Thirteen.In a Strange Nest.Chris’s mirth had passed away as quickly as it came, and he sat erect in his saddle.“Going back to look for the kegs, Griggs?” he said faintly.“Yes, of course, unless you like the job,” was the gruff reply.“I’ll go with you,” said Chris briskly.“Then you’ll have to nip your pony’s ribs pretty tightly,” cried Griggs, “for the moment he sees a snake he’ll spin round and bolt.”“I’ll mind,” said Chris, setting his teeth.“Come on, then.”The pair rode off back along the track littered with their impedimenta, while the doctor and the others began to try and reduce the loads of the mules in difficulty to something like order.“Oh dear, what a muddle!” cried Chris, as they went back at an amble. “Why, half the things are lying about.”“Not a quarter,” said Griggs gruffly, as his eyes scanned not only the scattered necessities, but every stone and scrap of dry, parched-up growth.“Think any of the rattlers will be about?” said Chris.“I dunno. I want to set eyes on those two tubs.”But the tubs were not visible, and the pair rode on till they felt that at any moment they ought to be in sight of the enemies that put horse and mule to flight.Still nothing was visible. The last-kicked-off pack had been passed, but there were no tubs, and the part of the desert where the tangled mass of serpents had been seen was so close that the next minute they felt that they were bound to see the writhing creatures somewhere among the stones in front.But strange to state, their ponies displayed no uneasiness, the tight hands kept upon their reins were not needed, and the docile little animals stepped steadily onward towards the stone-dotted slope and basin.“Why, where are they?” said Chris, in a whisper, as he gazed wild-eyed and excitedly over his mount’s ears and from side to side.“I dunno, my lad,” replied Griggs. “It caps me. Why, there were hundreds and thousands all about yonder when the stampede began.”“Of course there were,” said Chris, “and now I can’t see one.”“Not so much as a rattler. They must all have holes somewhere here among the stones. Mind! Take care!”“What for? Why?”“They may come darting out and attack us.”“I say,” continued Griggs, after a careful look round, “weren’t dazed with the hot sun and dreamed all that, did we?”“Did the mules and horses dream it too?” cried Chris scornfully.“No, of course not. But it’s a puzzle, my lad. I wouldn’t have believed such a sight possible; but there it was. And now I wouldn’t have believed this could have happened; but it has, for I can’t see a snake.”“Never mind the snakes as they’re not here,” said Chris, setting the example of reining up, for the two mustangs to stand calmly enough; “I want to find those two water-barrels.”“Ah, to be sure; we’ve come for them,” said Griggs, looking curiously about. “I say, was that the mule that carried the kegs?”“Oh yes; didn’t you see the pack-saddle?”“To be sure. If it hadn’t been for that I should have been ready to say that the one with the water had gone right off somewhere.”“Oh, that was the one,” persisted Chris. “I know him well enough by his white muzzle.”“To be sure. That’s right. Then where are the kegs? Snakes ain’t thirsty things. They couldn’t have rolled them away, could they?”“What nonsense!” cried Chris. “But it is really strange. If we were on a slope I should have thought that they had gone rolling right away out of sight.”“We are on a steep slope, lad, but the barrels would have to roll up it to get out of sight like this, and I never knew barrels carry on games like that out of a book of fairy tales.”“Griggs,” cried Chris, after a moment or two of thought, “are we in the right place? These stones are very confusing.”“Right place? Yes, look there; you can see our trail.”“Yes,” replied Chris thoughtfully, as he bent down over his saddle-bow, “and—Ugh! Look there!”“Eh? See snakes?” cried Griggs excitedly.“No, but look there; surely all those windings in the sand were made by them.”“To be sure. Oh yes, we’re in the right spot, without a doubt. Then I tell you what. We can’t see very far away any way amongst these dotted-about stones; there must be a sharp slope somewhere near, perhaps the edge of a precipice, or great hole in the ground.”“Crater of a volcano, perhaps,” cried Chris.“That’s it, lad; the one that played at pitch-and-toss with all these blocks of stone, and threw them all over the place.”“Then where is the hole?” said Chris.“I dunno; somewhere about,” said Griggs thoughtfully, as he looked about, peering in among the rocks.“I shouldn’t wonder,” said Chris, as thoughtfully, “if it is quite close here, and when the mule kicked off the tubs they went rolling down into it and were lost.”“Oh, don’t say that, boy!” cried Griggs excitedly. “You don’t think of what value that drop of water may be to us now.”“Oh yes, I do. I’m so thirsty; but I say, Griggs, suppose the hole into which they have rolled is the one that the snakes live in.”“Not it; they live in little holes and cracks just big enough for them to creep into. Well, I don’t know where the things have gone. Look sharp and find ’em; your eyes are younger than mine. We shall have the doctor after us directly to physic us both for not finding them.”“Hurrah!” cried Chris. “There they are!”“Where? I can’t see from here.”“Come nearer this way,” said Chris, easing his horse off to the right. “There, just at the foot of that great block.”“And hurrah the second!” cried Griggs, as soon as he had pressed his horse into the right position. “I couldn’t have seen them from where I was even if we had been closer. My word! They rolled a good way, didn’t they?”“No; they couldn’t, because they are chained together so that they hung across the pack-saddle. The mule must have galloped round that way when he kicked them off.”“Yes, I suppose you’re right. Come along; I’ll sling ’em across my tit and walk back.”Griggs sprang off his mustang, and was in the act of passing the reins over the animal’s head, when Chris made a snatch at his collar and held on.“What did you do that for?” cried Griggs.“Hist! Don’t make a sound. Look,” whispered Chris.“Why, what’s the matter?” said Griggs, lowering his voice, for the boy’s manner impressed him, he looked so blank and strange.“Look! Can’t you see?”“No, not from where I am,” was the reply.“Oh, it’s horrid,” whispered Chris; “dreadful! The kegs are lying on a nest of snakes, and they’re rising and falling and playing about them like flames round logs of wood.”
Chris’s mirth had passed away as quickly as it came, and he sat erect in his saddle.
“Going back to look for the kegs, Griggs?” he said faintly.
“Yes, of course, unless you like the job,” was the gruff reply.
“I’ll go with you,” said Chris briskly.
“Then you’ll have to nip your pony’s ribs pretty tightly,” cried Griggs, “for the moment he sees a snake he’ll spin round and bolt.”
“I’ll mind,” said Chris, setting his teeth.
“Come on, then.”
The pair rode off back along the track littered with their impedimenta, while the doctor and the others began to try and reduce the loads of the mules in difficulty to something like order.
“Oh dear, what a muddle!” cried Chris, as they went back at an amble. “Why, half the things are lying about.”
“Not a quarter,” said Griggs gruffly, as his eyes scanned not only the scattered necessities, but every stone and scrap of dry, parched-up growth.
“Think any of the rattlers will be about?” said Chris.
“I dunno. I want to set eyes on those two tubs.”
But the tubs were not visible, and the pair rode on till they felt that at any moment they ought to be in sight of the enemies that put horse and mule to flight.
Still nothing was visible. The last-kicked-off pack had been passed, but there were no tubs, and the part of the desert where the tangled mass of serpents had been seen was so close that the next minute they felt that they were bound to see the writhing creatures somewhere among the stones in front.
But strange to state, their ponies displayed no uneasiness, the tight hands kept upon their reins were not needed, and the docile little animals stepped steadily onward towards the stone-dotted slope and basin.
“Why, where are they?” said Chris, in a whisper, as he gazed wild-eyed and excitedly over his mount’s ears and from side to side.
“I dunno, my lad,” replied Griggs. “It caps me. Why, there were hundreds and thousands all about yonder when the stampede began.”
“Of course there were,” said Chris, “and now I can’t see one.”
“Not so much as a rattler. They must all have holes somewhere here among the stones. Mind! Take care!”
“What for? Why?”
“They may come darting out and attack us.”
“I say,” continued Griggs, after a careful look round, “weren’t dazed with the hot sun and dreamed all that, did we?”
“Did the mules and horses dream it too?” cried Chris scornfully.
“No, of course not. But it’s a puzzle, my lad. I wouldn’t have believed such a sight possible; but there it was. And now I wouldn’t have believed this could have happened; but it has, for I can’t see a snake.”
“Never mind the snakes as they’re not here,” said Chris, setting the example of reining up, for the two mustangs to stand calmly enough; “I want to find those two water-barrels.”
“Ah, to be sure; we’ve come for them,” said Griggs, looking curiously about. “I say, was that the mule that carried the kegs?”
“Oh yes; didn’t you see the pack-saddle?”
“To be sure. If it hadn’t been for that I should have been ready to say that the one with the water had gone right off somewhere.”
“Oh, that was the one,” persisted Chris. “I know him well enough by his white muzzle.”
“To be sure. That’s right. Then where are the kegs? Snakes ain’t thirsty things. They couldn’t have rolled them away, could they?”
“What nonsense!” cried Chris. “But it is really strange. If we were on a slope I should have thought that they had gone rolling right away out of sight.”
“We are on a steep slope, lad, but the barrels would have to roll up it to get out of sight like this, and I never knew barrels carry on games like that out of a book of fairy tales.”
“Griggs,” cried Chris, after a moment or two of thought, “are we in the right place? These stones are very confusing.”
“Right place? Yes, look there; you can see our trail.”
“Yes,” replied Chris thoughtfully, as he bent down over his saddle-bow, “and—Ugh! Look there!”
“Eh? See snakes?” cried Griggs excitedly.
“No, but look there; surely all those windings in the sand were made by them.”
“To be sure. Oh yes, we’re in the right spot, without a doubt. Then I tell you what. We can’t see very far away any way amongst these dotted-about stones; there must be a sharp slope somewhere near, perhaps the edge of a precipice, or great hole in the ground.”
“Crater of a volcano, perhaps,” cried Chris.
“That’s it, lad; the one that played at pitch-and-toss with all these blocks of stone, and threw them all over the place.”
“Then where is the hole?” said Chris.
“I dunno; somewhere about,” said Griggs thoughtfully, as he looked about, peering in among the rocks.
“I shouldn’t wonder,” said Chris, as thoughtfully, “if it is quite close here, and when the mule kicked off the tubs they went rolling down into it and were lost.”
“Oh, don’t say that, boy!” cried Griggs excitedly. “You don’t think of what value that drop of water may be to us now.”
“Oh yes, I do. I’m so thirsty; but I say, Griggs, suppose the hole into which they have rolled is the one that the snakes live in.”
“Not it; they live in little holes and cracks just big enough for them to creep into. Well, I don’t know where the things have gone. Look sharp and find ’em; your eyes are younger than mine. We shall have the doctor after us directly to physic us both for not finding them.”
“Hurrah!” cried Chris. “There they are!”
“Where? I can’t see from here.”
“Come nearer this way,” said Chris, easing his horse off to the right. “There, just at the foot of that great block.”
“And hurrah the second!” cried Griggs, as soon as he had pressed his horse into the right position. “I couldn’t have seen them from where I was even if we had been closer. My word! They rolled a good way, didn’t they?”
“No; they couldn’t, because they are chained together so that they hung across the pack-saddle. The mule must have galloped round that way when he kicked them off.”
“Yes, I suppose you’re right. Come along; I’ll sling ’em across my tit and walk back.”
Griggs sprang off his mustang, and was in the act of passing the reins over the animal’s head, when Chris made a snatch at his collar and held on.
“What did you do that for?” cried Griggs.
“Hist! Don’t make a sound. Look,” whispered Chris.
“Why, what’s the matter?” said Griggs, lowering his voice, for the boy’s manner impressed him, he looked so blank and strange.
“Look! Can’t you see?”
“No, not from where I am,” was the reply.
“Oh, it’s horrid,” whispered Chris; “dreadful! The kegs are lying on a nest of snakes, and they’re rising and falling and playing about them like flames round logs of wood.”
Chapter Fourteen.A Fight with the Enemy.Griggs uttered one low whistle as he slipped his arm through the rein so as to leave his hands at liberty, one to press back his cowboy’s hat, the other to sweep the gathering drops of perspiration from his brow. “I never could abear snakes,” he said huskily. Then after a pause he drew a long, deep breath, to say with an attempt—a very sorry attempt—at cheerfulness—“Well, we’ve found the kegs, anyhow.”“Yes,” said Chris bitterly, “and where the snakes are.”“Bless ’em, yes!” said Griggs, looking in the direction of the horrible reptiles. “Well, we don’t want them.”“But we want the water.”“Of course.”“What’s to be done, Griggs?”“I can’t think o’ nothing but saySh! to ’em to frighten them away.”“Oh, don’t do that,” cried Chris, in alarm. “It might make them attack us.”“It might,” said Griggs thoughtfully. “Well, I’m about beat. I’ve got a tidy bit of pluck in me when I’m stirred up—as much as most men have—but I can’t stand rattlers. The idea of getting bitten sends a cold chill all down my back. I’d a deal sooner be hugged by a grizzly. Poison snakes and mad dogs make a regular coward of me.”“They would of anybody,” said Chris. “But I say, what is to be done?”“Sit down and wait, my lad. I s’pose snakes have some sense in ’em, same as other critters. They’re bound to find out before long that they can’t break the iron hoops nor bore through the staves to get at the water; and when they’re tired perhaps they’ll give up and go home.”“But we can’t wait. Father will be coming soon to see why we’re so long.”“Well, he’ll be able to see without our telling him.”“But can’t we do something to drive them away?”“I know what I should do if we were in some places,” said Griggs.“Yes! What?”“Light a big fire of brushwood and green-stuff that would make a stifling smoke just to wind’ard of them. That would soon scare them off.”“But there’s not a handful of stuff that would burn,” cried Chris, in despair.“Nary scrap, my lad.”“Look here; suppose we creep as near as we dare, and then fire off all four barrels of our rifles as closely together as we could, right at them. That would startle them into moving off.”“P’r’aps,” said Griggs; “but the thing would be, which way would they go?”“Which way? Why, from where the smoke and fire came.”“Maybe, but I shouldn’t like to risk it. I’m afraid we shall have to wait, my lad—wait till it’s dark. Snakes always go back to their holes when the sun sets.”“But that will take so long, and I’m choking with thirst,” cried Chris peevishly. “I say, how would it do to keep on pitching great pieces of stone in amongst them, or handfuls of small bits that would scatter and make a noise?”“Only make ’em savage, I’m afraid. I should have most faith in putting a pound of powder and laying a train ready, so that one could light a bit of touch-tinder and get away to a safe distance. When that went off with a good explosion, I should think the rattlers would scuttle away.”“Oh, nonsense, nonsense, Griggs!” cried Chris. “Who’s to go and lay the train and place the powder ready?”“Ah, that would be awkward,” said the American thoughtfully.“Besides, if you had such an explosion you’d burst the barrels.”“Hah! So we should. I say, couldn’t lasso the barrels, could we? I can throw a noose pretty well.”“You’d catch serpent as well as the barrels.”“Yes, and that would be nice, to have a savage rattler thrashing and striking about, trying to get his fangs into you somewhere. Say, Chris Lee, lad, we’ve got in a tangle. Hallo! I thought as much; here’s the doctor.”The gentleman in question rode slowly up.“Well,” he said, “have you found the barrels?”Chris answered him mutely by pointing to the objects of their search.“Very well,” said the doctor. “Why don’t you—Oh, I see, you’ve just dismounted to sling them across your saddle. We were beginning to think you very long. But I don’t see any snakes. Where are they, Chris?”“Yonder, twining all about the water-kegs, father. It’s alive with them.”The doctor shaded his eyes with his hand and looked across at the barrels, his face contracting with horror at the sight which met his eyes.“No wonder you were so long,” he said bitterly. “What do you propose to do?”“Nothing, father. We can’t think of a way,” said Chris sadly. “Can you tell us?”“There seems to be no way save one.”“Wait till the snakes have gone back to their holes, father?”“Yes, after dark; and then it will not be a pleasant task to get the kegs away. Worse and worse.”“Oh, there can’t be anything worse, sir,” cried Griggs.“I think there can, sir,” replied the doctor. “This forces us to bivouac, as the soldiers call it, in the serpent-inhabited desert. But we must do it, I suppose. The snakes will not be stirring during the darkness. But we must hope that when we find the gold region, it will not be such a serpent-haunted spot as this; the gold could not have better guardians to keep it safe.”No one spoke for a few minutes, during which the doctor sat upon his horse watching the movements of the serpents.“That seems to be the only way,” he said at last.“To wait, father?”“Yes. We had better build up a cairn with some of these stones to guide us to the spot when we come to hunt for it in the dark.”“No need to build a cairn, sir, if I plant three or four stones on the top of that big rock there.”“No; but what about finding it in the dark?”“Lanthorn will set that right, sir.”“Very well. Up with them, then. Help him, Chris; I’ll hold the horses.”The reins were handed to the speaker, and Griggs pointed to a large light-grey piece of lava.“If you can lift one end of that, squire, to help me, that bit would stand upright on the top of this block. This would do, for it’s light-coloured. Can you do it?”“Oh yes; it’s the same sort of stone as this,” said Chris, pushing a piece with his foot, “all full of holes, like sponge and cinder.”“Come on, then.”They stooped down one at either end of the fragment, some three feet long and one wide, looking squared like a crystal, and as if Nature had taken the first steps towards providing the builder of a house with a piece to form part of a door-post.“Yes, it’s light enough,” said Chris, lifting one end, and then uttering a cry as he dropped it again, to start back, for there was a sharp hiss, a dull rattling sound—not sharp enough for a rattle—and a large snake glided from beneath, to curl up menacingly, while from the other side a second had appeared, to begin writhing and darting about, striking at random into the air as far as it could reach, while the doctor had hard work to restrain the prancing horses.Needless to say, Chris and his companion had lost no time in getting beyond reach of the poisonous reptiles, and helping the doctor by each seizing his horse’s rein.“A pretty narrow escape,” cried the latter. “Why, the place is alive with the reptiles.”“Looks like it, sir,” said Griggs. “Dessay we’re standing on some of their holes now.”“But don’t you see?” cried Chris excitedly; “that second one’s pinned by the tail. When I let my end fall it must have caught it fast.”“Rather a pity,” said Griggs cynically. “It must have spoiled the rattle. S’pose it hurts too. Look at him!—That’s no good, my beauty. Stone can’t feel. Ah, you idiot, you don’t belong to the wise serpents we read about. Look at him biting at the stone.”“In impotent malice,” said the doctor, watching the frantic efforts of the reptile.“That chap’s safe enough now, Squire Chris.”“Safe! I shouldn’t like to risk going near him.”“But you might; he’s held fast by that tail of his, and all he could do would be to thrash you with his long body.”“And bite,” said Chris.“Nay; his biting would go for nothing now.”“What about his fangs?”“Snapped off like points of glass. They were sharp enough and poisonous enough, but bound to say the poison’s all out on the stone, along with the teeth. Razors are very sharp and would make horrible cuts, but not after you’d been chopping a piece of stone with them like that, eh, doctor?”“I think you are right, Griggs,” said the doctor, who seemed fascinated by the reptile’s impotent struggles.“Well, you are a sneak,” cried Griggs. “Gahn with you! I’d put my tail between my legs if I were you, only you haven’t got none. That’s right; rattle away. I say, I hope he hasn’t gone to fetch a lot of his mates to pitch into us.”“That’s not likely,” said the doctor, as he watched the bigger and free snake gliding swiftly away, heedless of the struggles of its companion, which was evidently growing exhausted by its furious efforts to release the lower portion of its body.“What are you going to do?” said the doctor quickly, as Griggs handed him his horse’s rein again.“I’m going to put that chap out of his misery, sir,” replied the American.“No, no; don’t fire. It’s waste of a charge.”“Not a-going to, sir. There’s more ways of killing a cat, you know, than hanging it. Eh, Squire Chris?”As he spoke Griggs put his hand to his belt, in which a stout keen hunting or bowie-knife was stuck, and drew out the glittering blade.“Going to cut his head off?” said Chris eagerly.“Yes, unless you like to, squire.”“I will,” cried Chris.“I don’t want you to run any risks, my boy,” said the doctor. “Do you think you can do it without danger?”“Oh yes, father,” said the lad, drawing his own perfectly new knife. “See how slowly the thing keeps on lifting up its head, to hold it quivering in the air before letting it fall down again on the rock.”“But if it saw you go near it might strike at you.”“I don’t think so, father. Look, it must be blind. It has battered its head horribly against the stone. I think it’s quite blind.”“So it is, sir,” said Griggs. “There’s no more danger there, sir. Let him do it. We want him to be cool and ready for anything now.”“May I do it, father?”“Well, yes; but stand well at arm’s length, and give a good, careful, sweeping draw-cut with your knife.”Chris eagerly handed his rein to his father, and then went cautiously towards the quivering reptile, which kept on rising up and falling down inert with a regular action, save that it grew more slow.Chris drew near till he was almost within striking distance, and waited till the snake had risen to its greatest height, that is to say, about two feet above the stone and three feet in all from the sand on which the boy stood.“Take care,” said the doctor.Chris made an offer, as boys call it, cutting horizontally from his left shoulder, the knife flashing in the sunshine as itwhishedthrough the air, passing inches from the snake’s neck; but the motion of the air affected the reptile, which winced, dropped flat to the stone, and began to writhe frantically.“Be careful, Chris; there’s a great deal of life in it yet.”“That was only a try, father,” replied the boy; “I didn’t try to cut it. I will, though, now,” he continued, as the writhing ceased; but the battered head began to rise again slowly and steadily in the air till it was at its greatest elevation, and seemed to be kept up by a stiffening of the whole body.Meanwhile, watching it carefully, the boy had advanced his foot a few inches till he felt that he was in exact striking distance, when there was another bright flash of rays reflected from the glistening blade, as the cut was made and the snake dropped down again upon the stone, for the writhings to recommence.“Missed him?” cried Griggs excitedly.“No; I just touched him with the point,” said Chris coolly. “I wasn’t quite near enough.”Proof of the correctness of his words was given by a red mark or two on the surface of the stone as the writhings ceased and the reptile began once more to raise itself, quivering slowly till it was rigid, and at its full height, when without a moment’s pause the knife flashed again, there was a vigorous draw-cut, and the dangerous head dropped with a loud pat on the stone, leaving the erect neck and body stiffly poised for a few moments, slowly waving to and fro, before falling like a piece of stick, and seeming to break as part fell out of sight.“Bravo!” cried Griggs.“Ah, my boy! Mind!” cried the doctor.But before his warning cry was half uttered there had been another flash as of something glistening in the air, and Chris started back again, receiving what felt to be a sharp blow in the chest, while a larger rattlesnake than either of the others dropped back behind the stone and glided rapidly away.The doctor had Chris by the arms the next moment.“Where—where did it strike you?” he cried.“Here, father—such a thump,” said the boy coolly, touching the fold of his Norfolk jacket with his left hand. “Ugh! Something wet.”He snatched back his hand, to hold it out, for a tiny smear of moisture to be seen glistening in the sun upon the palm of his hand.The doctor seized him by the wrist, and then examined the fold of the jacket.“Do you feel anything—a prick in the chest?” he said hoarsely.“No, father. It was a sharp thump, as if some one had thrown a stone.”“Here is the venom on the thick frieze,” said the doctor, tearing open the jacket and examining the thin flannel shirt beneath. “No! Thank Heaven!” he cried, with a sigh of relief. “The fangs did not go through. Chris, boy, you have escaped. If the reptile had driven its fangs deeper, I fear that I couldn’t have saved your life.”“That doesn’t sound very nice, father,” said the boy coolly; but Griggs noted that he changed colour, and then laid his hands upon his father’s shoulders, after dropping his knife on the ground.“It was a miss, doctor,” said Griggs, breaking the silence, as he scooped up some of the dried sand and rubbed Chris’s hand, and with another handful dried the fold of the jacket.This he repeated two or three times, and also paused to look well inside the fold next the boy’s chest.“Didn’t go through, sir; that’s for certain,” he said. “There’ll be no danger in the poison as soon as it’s dried in the sun.”“None whatever, I should say,” replied the doctor. “There, let’s get away from this horrible place. I don’t know how we’re going to get those kegs again. The danger seems too great.”“Not after dark, sir,” said Griggs coolly. “We must have ’em though, and I’m going to do it somehow, cost what it may.”The next minute they had mounted and were riding slowly back to where the others were about to come in search of them, in alarm at their prolonged absence.
Griggs uttered one low whistle as he slipped his arm through the rein so as to leave his hands at liberty, one to press back his cowboy’s hat, the other to sweep the gathering drops of perspiration from his brow. “I never could abear snakes,” he said huskily. Then after a pause he drew a long, deep breath, to say with an attempt—a very sorry attempt—at cheerfulness—“Well, we’ve found the kegs, anyhow.”
“Yes,” said Chris bitterly, “and where the snakes are.”
“Bless ’em, yes!” said Griggs, looking in the direction of the horrible reptiles. “Well, we don’t want them.”
“But we want the water.”
“Of course.”
“What’s to be done, Griggs?”
“I can’t think o’ nothing but saySh! to ’em to frighten them away.”
“Oh, don’t do that,” cried Chris, in alarm. “It might make them attack us.”
“It might,” said Griggs thoughtfully. “Well, I’m about beat. I’ve got a tidy bit of pluck in me when I’m stirred up—as much as most men have—but I can’t stand rattlers. The idea of getting bitten sends a cold chill all down my back. I’d a deal sooner be hugged by a grizzly. Poison snakes and mad dogs make a regular coward of me.”
“They would of anybody,” said Chris. “But I say, what is to be done?”
“Sit down and wait, my lad. I s’pose snakes have some sense in ’em, same as other critters. They’re bound to find out before long that they can’t break the iron hoops nor bore through the staves to get at the water; and when they’re tired perhaps they’ll give up and go home.”
“But we can’t wait. Father will be coming soon to see why we’re so long.”
“Well, he’ll be able to see without our telling him.”
“But can’t we do something to drive them away?”
“I know what I should do if we were in some places,” said Griggs.
“Yes! What?”
“Light a big fire of brushwood and green-stuff that would make a stifling smoke just to wind’ard of them. That would soon scare them off.”
“But there’s not a handful of stuff that would burn,” cried Chris, in despair.
“Nary scrap, my lad.”
“Look here; suppose we creep as near as we dare, and then fire off all four barrels of our rifles as closely together as we could, right at them. That would startle them into moving off.”
“P’r’aps,” said Griggs; “but the thing would be, which way would they go?”
“Which way? Why, from where the smoke and fire came.”
“Maybe, but I shouldn’t like to risk it. I’m afraid we shall have to wait, my lad—wait till it’s dark. Snakes always go back to their holes when the sun sets.”
“But that will take so long, and I’m choking with thirst,” cried Chris peevishly. “I say, how would it do to keep on pitching great pieces of stone in amongst them, or handfuls of small bits that would scatter and make a noise?”
“Only make ’em savage, I’m afraid. I should have most faith in putting a pound of powder and laying a train ready, so that one could light a bit of touch-tinder and get away to a safe distance. When that went off with a good explosion, I should think the rattlers would scuttle away.”
“Oh, nonsense, nonsense, Griggs!” cried Chris. “Who’s to go and lay the train and place the powder ready?”
“Ah, that would be awkward,” said the American thoughtfully.
“Besides, if you had such an explosion you’d burst the barrels.”
“Hah! So we should. I say, couldn’t lasso the barrels, could we? I can throw a noose pretty well.”
“You’d catch serpent as well as the barrels.”
“Yes, and that would be nice, to have a savage rattler thrashing and striking about, trying to get his fangs into you somewhere. Say, Chris Lee, lad, we’ve got in a tangle. Hallo! I thought as much; here’s the doctor.”
The gentleman in question rode slowly up.
“Well,” he said, “have you found the barrels?”
Chris answered him mutely by pointing to the objects of their search.
“Very well,” said the doctor. “Why don’t you—Oh, I see, you’ve just dismounted to sling them across your saddle. We were beginning to think you very long. But I don’t see any snakes. Where are they, Chris?”
“Yonder, twining all about the water-kegs, father. It’s alive with them.”
The doctor shaded his eyes with his hand and looked across at the barrels, his face contracting with horror at the sight which met his eyes.
“No wonder you were so long,” he said bitterly. “What do you propose to do?”
“Nothing, father. We can’t think of a way,” said Chris sadly. “Can you tell us?”
“There seems to be no way save one.”
“Wait till the snakes have gone back to their holes, father?”
“Yes, after dark; and then it will not be a pleasant task to get the kegs away. Worse and worse.”
“Oh, there can’t be anything worse, sir,” cried Griggs.
“I think there can, sir,” replied the doctor. “This forces us to bivouac, as the soldiers call it, in the serpent-inhabited desert. But we must do it, I suppose. The snakes will not be stirring during the darkness. But we must hope that when we find the gold region, it will not be such a serpent-haunted spot as this; the gold could not have better guardians to keep it safe.”
No one spoke for a few minutes, during which the doctor sat upon his horse watching the movements of the serpents.
“That seems to be the only way,” he said at last.
“To wait, father?”
“Yes. We had better build up a cairn with some of these stones to guide us to the spot when we come to hunt for it in the dark.”
“No need to build a cairn, sir, if I plant three or four stones on the top of that big rock there.”
“No; but what about finding it in the dark?”
“Lanthorn will set that right, sir.”
“Very well. Up with them, then. Help him, Chris; I’ll hold the horses.”
The reins were handed to the speaker, and Griggs pointed to a large light-grey piece of lava.
“If you can lift one end of that, squire, to help me, that bit would stand upright on the top of this block. This would do, for it’s light-coloured. Can you do it?”
“Oh yes; it’s the same sort of stone as this,” said Chris, pushing a piece with his foot, “all full of holes, like sponge and cinder.”
“Come on, then.”
They stooped down one at either end of the fragment, some three feet long and one wide, looking squared like a crystal, and as if Nature had taken the first steps towards providing the builder of a house with a piece to form part of a door-post.
“Yes, it’s light enough,” said Chris, lifting one end, and then uttering a cry as he dropped it again, to start back, for there was a sharp hiss, a dull rattling sound—not sharp enough for a rattle—and a large snake glided from beneath, to curl up menacingly, while from the other side a second had appeared, to begin writhing and darting about, striking at random into the air as far as it could reach, while the doctor had hard work to restrain the prancing horses.
Needless to say, Chris and his companion had lost no time in getting beyond reach of the poisonous reptiles, and helping the doctor by each seizing his horse’s rein.
“A pretty narrow escape,” cried the latter. “Why, the place is alive with the reptiles.”
“Looks like it, sir,” said Griggs. “Dessay we’re standing on some of their holes now.”
“But don’t you see?” cried Chris excitedly; “that second one’s pinned by the tail. When I let my end fall it must have caught it fast.”
“Rather a pity,” said Griggs cynically. “It must have spoiled the rattle. S’pose it hurts too. Look at him!—That’s no good, my beauty. Stone can’t feel. Ah, you idiot, you don’t belong to the wise serpents we read about. Look at him biting at the stone.”
“In impotent malice,” said the doctor, watching the frantic efforts of the reptile.
“That chap’s safe enough now, Squire Chris.”
“Safe! I shouldn’t like to risk going near him.”
“But you might; he’s held fast by that tail of his, and all he could do would be to thrash you with his long body.”
“And bite,” said Chris.
“Nay; his biting would go for nothing now.”
“What about his fangs?”
“Snapped off like points of glass. They were sharp enough and poisonous enough, but bound to say the poison’s all out on the stone, along with the teeth. Razors are very sharp and would make horrible cuts, but not after you’d been chopping a piece of stone with them like that, eh, doctor?”
“I think you are right, Griggs,” said the doctor, who seemed fascinated by the reptile’s impotent struggles.
“Well, you are a sneak,” cried Griggs. “Gahn with you! I’d put my tail between my legs if I were you, only you haven’t got none. That’s right; rattle away. I say, I hope he hasn’t gone to fetch a lot of his mates to pitch into us.”
“That’s not likely,” said the doctor, as he watched the bigger and free snake gliding swiftly away, heedless of the struggles of its companion, which was evidently growing exhausted by its furious efforts to release the lower portion of its body.
“What are you going to do?” said the doctor quickly, as Griggs handed him his horse’s rein again.
“I’m going to put that chap out of his misery, sir,” replied the American.
“No, no; don’t fire. It’s waste of a charge.”
“Not a-going to, sir. There’s more ways of killing a cat, you know, than hanging it. Eh, Squire Chris?”
As he spoke Griggs put his hand to his belt, in which a stout keen hunting or bowie-knife was stuck, and drew out the glittering blade.
“Going to cut his head off?” said Chris eagerly.
“Yes, unless you like to, squire.”
“I will,” cried Chris.
“I don’t want you to run any risks, my boy,” said the doctor. “Do you think you can do it without danger?”
“Oh yes, father,” said the lad, drawing his own perfectly new knife. “See how slowly the thing keeps on lifting up its head, to hold it quivering in the air before letting it fall down again on the rock.”
“But if it saw you go near it might strike at you.”
“I don’t think so, father. Look, it must be blind. It has battered its head horribly against the stone. I think it’s quite blind.”
“So it is, sir,” said Griggs. “There’s no more danger there, sir. Let him do it. We want him to be cool and ready for anything now.”
“May I do it, father?”
“Well, yes; but stand well at arm’s length, and give a good, careful, sweeping draw-cut with your knife.”
Chris eagerly handed his rein to his father, and then went cautiously towards the quivering reptile, which kept on rising up and falling down inert with a regular action, save that it grew more slow.
Chris drew near till he was almost within striking distance, and waited till the snake had risen to its greatest height, that is to say, about two feet above the stone and three feet in all from the sand on which the boy stood.
“Take care,” said the doctor.
Chris made an offer, as boys call it, cutting horizontally from his left shoulder, the knife flashing in the sunshine as itwhishedthrough the air, passing inches from the snake’s neck; but the motion of the air affected the reptile, which winced, dropped flat to the stone, and began to writhe frantically.
“Be careful, Chris; there’s a great deal of life in it yet.”
“That was only a try, father,” replied the boy; “I didn’t try to cut it. I will, though, now,” he continued, as the writhing ceased; but the battered head began to rise again slowly and steadily in the air till it was at its greatest elevation, and seemed to be kept up by a stiffening of the whole body.
Meanwhile, watching it carefully, the boy had advanced his foot a few inches till he felt that he was in exact striking distance, when there was another bright flash of rays reflected from the glistening blade, as the cut was made and the snake dropped down again upon the stone, for the writhings to recommence.
“Missed him?” cried Griggs excitedly.
“No; I just touched him with the point,” said Chris coolly. “I wasn’t quite near enough.”
Proof of the correctness of his words was given by a red mark or two on the surface of the stone as the writhings ceased and the reptile began once more to raise itself, quivering slowly till it was rigid, and at its full height, when without a moment’s pause the knife flashed again, there was a vigorous draw-cut, and the dangerous head dropped with a loud pat on the stone, leaving the erect neck and body stiffly poised for a few moments, slowly waving to and fro, before falling like a piece of stick, and seeming to break as part fell out of sight.
“Bravo!” cried Griggs.
“Ah, my boy! Mind!” cried the doctor.
But before his warning cry was half uttered there had been another flash as of something glistening in the air, and Chris started back again, receiving what felt to be a sharp blow in the chest, while a larger rattlesnake than either of the others dropped back behind the stone and glided rapidly away.
The doctor had Chris by the arms the next moment.
“Where—where did it strike you?” he cried.
“Here, father—such a thump,” said the boy coolly, touching the fold of his Norfolk jacket with his left hand. “Ugh! Something wet.”
He snatched back his hand, to hold it out, for a tiny smear of moisture to be seen glistening in the sun upon the palm of his hand.
The doctor seized him by the wrist, and then examined the fold of the jacket.
“Do you feel anything—a prick in the chest?” he said hoarsely.
“No, father. It was a sharp thump, as if some one had thrown a stone.”
“Here is the venom on the thick frieze,” said the doctor, tearing open the jacket and examining the thin flannel shirt beneath. “No! Thank Heaven!” he cried, with a sigh of relief. “The fangs did not go through. Chris, boy, you have escaped. If the reptile had driven its fangs deeper, I fear that I couldn’t have saved your life.”
“That doesn’t sound very nice, father,” said the boy coolly; but Griggs noted that he changed colour, and then laid his hands upon his father’s shoulders, after dropping his knife on the ground.
“It was a miss, doctor,” said Griggs, breaking the silence, as he scooped up some of the dried sand and rubbed Chris’s hand, and with another handful dried the fold of the jacket.
This he repeated two or three times, and also paused to look well inside the fold next the boy’s chest.
“Didn’t go through, sir; that’s for certain,” he said. “There’ll be no danger in the poison as soon as it’s dried in the sun.”
“None whatever, I should say,” replied the doctor. “There, let’s get away from this horrible place. I don’t know how we’re going to get those kegs again. The danger seems too great.”
“Not after dark, sir,” said Griggs coolly. “We must have ’em though, and I’m going to do it somehow, cost what it may.”
The next minute they had mounted and were riding slowly back to where the others were about to come in search of them, in alarm at their prolonged absence.
Chapter Fifteen.Dry Fishing.There was a short, sharp council of ways and means held in the soft evening light which bathed the sterile rocky plain and the distant mountainous land with a weird beauty, that made those who gazed around feel a sensation of wonder, that nature could spread such a mask over a scene whose aspect to the adventurers was full of the horrors of thirst, and death by the stroke of the venomous reptiles.Close at hand, and showing no disposition to stray, were the horses and the mules, with their coats bristling with dried sweat, and the dust through which they had travelled.Their packs remained untouched, for every one felt that it was impossible to stay where they were, while before starting afresh water was an absolute necessity—a draught each to allay the feverish thirst, and the contents of one keg carefully divided so that about a pint each could be given to the wearied beasts.“But there must be water somewhere near on that higher ground,” said Wilton excitedly, and the doctor noted that his eyes looked bloodshot and wild. “Here, I tell you what; I’ll take our bearings and ride off to see what I can find, and then come back.”“No,” said the doctor, “it is impossible. Look at your horse: he cannot carry you right up yonder for miles upon miles in the state he is in.”“Then I must walk,” cried Wilton impetuously.“You would break down before you had been gone an hour,” said the doctor, “and we should have to search for you and bring you back.”“Oh! give me credit for a little more strength and determination, sir,” said Wilton petulantly. “We must have water, and it is to be found up yonder in the hills. What do you say, Bourne?”“I agree with you that water may be found yonder, but we must keep together. Our party is small enough as it is; we must not make it less by letting one of our most active members break away.”“Then what are we to do?” cried Wilton, and the boys’ lips moved as if they echoed his words.“We must wait till dark, and then get the kegs. After the whole party is refreshed, we must strike up into the hills at once and search the valleys till we find a fall or spring, but on no account must we separate.”So spoke the doctor, but Wilton was in no humour for obeying orders.“I think you are wrong,” he cried.“Well,” replied the doctor stiffly, “you have a right to think so, but you might as well bear in mind that you have sworn to obey orders, that I was elected to be chief of this expedition, and that it is your duty to obey—in reason.”“Do you want to quarrel?” cried Wilton, clapping his hand to his revolver-holster.“Certainly not with a man half mad with thirst,” said the doctor quietly. “Come, Wilton, be reasonable.”“Reasonable! Are we not all half dead with thirst?”“Suffering, not half dead,” replied the doctor, who noted that Bourne and Griggs had moved a little nearer to their angry companion. “Now, look here, we want your cool consideration of our position. We have water a few hundred yards away.”“What! Where?”“In the kegs, which lie where I told you.”“Oh, there!” cried Wilton contemptuously. “We don’t want that, but some big clear flowing spring such as I offer to risk my life to find.”“Risk your life in another way,” said the doctor firmly.“How?”“Go and fetch in the kegs from where they are lying.”“Bah! If I am to die, it shall be a decent death—not stung by some horrible reptile. I’ll risk losing my way going in search of water.”“I have already told you,” said the doctor, “that the state of the horses will not allow of such a search being made till they have had such water as we have near. The only thing to be done is to contrive some way of getting the kegs here without risk.”“Exactly,” said Bourne laconically; “but can you propose any way? For I must own that I cannot without horrible risk.”“At present no way,” said the doctor sadly. “My only hope is in the horrible pests returning deeply underground at night; but I am sorry to say I know very little about the habits of these creatures. Do you, Wilton?”“No,” replied their companion bitterly. “Latin, Greek, and mathematics were taught me, rattlesnakes left out.”“But you,” said the doctor, wincing at his companion’s contemptuous manner, “you, Griggs, have seen a good deal of these reptiles in your time?”“Tidy bit, sir. I saw one poor fellow die four hours after being bitten, and I’ve killed a few of the varmint; but I’ve seen more of ’em to-day than in all my life before.”“Then you cannot say whether it would be safe to risk an attempt to get the kegs away?”“Well, I don’t know about that,” said Griggs, who noted that Chris was watching him intently. “You see, sir, I’ve been thinking pretty closely about that matter. We must have those kegs somehow, even if the one who gets ’em is bitten for his pains.”“Oh, but no such risk must be run,” cried the doctor excitedly.“It seems to me, sir, that it must. There’s half-a-dozen of us, and one has to take his chance so that the other five may live.”“Our position is not so bad as that, Griggs,” said the doctor warmly.“I don’t want to contradict, sir, but I about think it is. It’s the sort of time like you read about at sea when they cast lots and one has to swim ashore with a rope so as to get help. We must have that water, and Mr Wilton here says he won’t risk the job of fetching the kegs, so it rests with five of us instead of six. Then you go a bit further and one says, here’s three men and two boys, and we who are men can’t hold back and let a boy go.”“Certainly not,” said the doctor and Bourne, as if in one voice.“Then we come down to three,” continued Griggs, “and one of them is the boss of the expedition—the captain. He can’t go, of course. So you see, Mr Bourne, it lies between us two.”“No, no,” cried the doctor, “between us three.”“Ustwo, Mr Bourne,” said the American, almost fiercely. “The doctor’s out of it. Now, sir, you’re a deal better man than I am in learning and proper living, and several other things that I’ve noticed since we’ve been neighbours, all through your having been a minister, I suppose?”“I am but a man, Griggs, with the weaknesses of my nature.”“Exactly, sir,” cried the American, totally misconstruing the speaker’s meaning. “That’s what I was aiming at—weaknesses of your nature. Consequently I’m a much better man than you are for this job. So we want no casting lots, for I’m going to get those kegs out of that serpent’s nest, if I die for it.”“No, no,” cried the doctor fiercely. “I will not consent to your going. We must try some other plan.”“There aren’t no other plan, doctor.”“I think there is,” cried Chris excitedly.“Be silent, boy!” said the doctor.“Yes, you’re out, squire,” said Griggs good-humouredly. “You’ve had your innings, and nearly got bitten. That’s taste enough for you. Let me have a bit of the fun. But look here, doctor; when a man is bitten you get out a bottle and a little squirt thing, make a hole in one of the veins, and send in a lot of stuff, don’t you?”“Inject ammonia?” replied the doctor. “Yes; as a resource after lancing the wound and drawing out the poison, I should try that.”“Ammonia,” said Griggs thoughtfully. “Yes, that’s it—counteracts the poison, doesn’t it?”“Yes, and in some cases successfully, if it has been injected soon enough.”“Hah!” cried the American. “That’s what I wanted to get at—soon enough. Now how would it be if to get quite soon enough you got out your bottle and gave me a dose of that stuff before I started?”“What, injected into one of your veins?”“Yes, sir. What do you say to that?”“Impossible! I would not venture upon such an experiment except with a bitten subject.”“Sorry to hear that, sir,” said Griggs thoughtfully. “Well, how would it be if I swallowed some?”“I fear that it would be useless.”“Very well, sir; you know best, and I must do without it. My boots will pull up a bit higher, and I’ll slip on another pair of trousers and my thick jersey over my jacket; then if one of the beauties bites, his teeth may not go through. There’ll only be my hands and face.”“But what do you propose doing—running in, seizing the kegs, and trying to carry them out?”“Nay, that makes the job too risky, sir. It would be just stirring the creatures up like bees in a hive, and they’d come raging out to fight. I’ve got a better plan than that.”“Yes; what is it?” said the doctor, and Chris took a step nearer.“Just this, sir. I’ll take a couple of the hide-ropes, knot them together, and coil them up lasso fashion. After that I’m going to make a fire and heat one of these iron tent-pegs red-hot—one of those with the eye to them. Soon as it’s well hot I’m going to bend it round into a hook, slip one end of the rope through the eye and make fast, and then I’m going to fish with that hook—throwing it in till it catches the keg chain that couples them together, and as soon as I’ve got a bite run out the line ready for a couple of us to haul the water right away clean from the snake’s nest. What do you say to that?”“I say it isn’t fair,” cried Chris excitedly. “You, Ned, you are a sneak to go and tell him.”“I didn’t tell him,” cried Ned indignantly.“How did he know, then?” said Chris, growing angry. “I never said a word to any one else.”“What do you mean, Chris?” said the doctor sternly.“Why, I invented that plan, father,” cried Chris, “exactly as Griggs says; and I was going to propose it, only Griggs spoke first.”“I never knew you thought the same way, squire,” said Griggs quietly.“It was my invention,” said Chris warmly.“Very well, lad, you may have it,” said Griggs. “It’s yours, then.”“Yes,” cried Chris, “and I’ll go and throw the hook till I catch the chain.”“Nay! That’s where I come in, my lad,” cried Griggs. “You shall have all the credit, but I’ll do the work.”“No, no,” said Chris angrily. “It’s my invention, and I shall do it.”“No,” said the doctor firmly; “you both had the same idea, my boy, but Mr Griggs is your senior, he is better adapted for the dangerous task, and you must give way.”“Must I, father?” said the boy, in a disappointed tone.“Yes. You have run risks enough for one day.”“Ha, ha!” cried Ned, laughing, to the astonishment of all, and his satisfaction rang out in his tones. “You can’t do it, after all, Griggs,” and though he said no more his eyes looked a finish to the sentence—serve you right for getting the better of Chris!“Why can’t I do it?” said Griggs quietly.“Because there’s no fire to heat the iron.”“But I can soon make one.”“What of? Stones?”Griggs brought his right fist down into his left hand with a loudspang, uttering a low hiss the while, for there was not a scrap of wood in sight.Then his face lit up and he went to the mule laden with the tent, cast loose a rope, and ran an iron ringed peg about two feet long off from where it had been placed for safety, and walked off amongst the rocks till he found a crevice suited to his purpose. There he thrust the thin end of the peg in between the sides some six inches, and exerting his strength a little, bent the iron round till the lower part stood off at right angles to the upper. This done, he raised the iron, placed the point upon the surface of a level block, and pressed heavily down, the point yielding slowly, and, the iron being fairly soft, he very shortly produced a roughly-made hook.“’Taint so neat as I could wish,” he said quietly; “but it is a hook, and you can’t call it anything else.”“Yes,” said Chris frankly, “and it’s a better one than I expected; but wouldn’t it be better to try if you can catch the chain with it before it gets dark?”“He would have to keep on throwing several times perhaps,” said Bourne, “and bring the snakes swarming out.”“Well I don’t know that it would matter much,” said Griggs thoughtfully. “I should be standing perhaps a dozen yards from where the hook kept on falling, and they’d strike at it and not at me. I shall try it at once, doctor, for it’ll be far better than doing it by lanthorn light.”“Yes,” said the doctor thoughtfully; “and at the worst, if the reptiles swarmed out, we would hurry away till they settled down again.”“Yes,” said Griggs, with a quick nod of the head, and a few minutes later he had his tackle ready, the hook securely tied on, the rope hanging in coils from his hand, and all ready for the advance.“I’ll go alone, please, and at once,” he said sharply. “In ten minutes it will be getting dusk. Did any one notice whether the chain lay at the top?”“Yes,” cried Chris sharply; “I did. So that it would be quite easy to catch.”“Good,” cried Griggs, in a satisfied tone. “Then here goes.”“Promise me you’ll be careful, Griggs,” said the doctor.“Yes, sir,” said the American, smiling, “if you’ll strike a bargain.”“What do you mean?”“Promise me you’ll have that stuff ready to give me a strong dose if I’m bitten.”“Trust me,” said the doctor.“And trust me, sir,” cried Griggs.The next minute he was striding along over the sand in and out amongst the scattered blocks of stone, and followed by his friends, cautiously on the alert for any reptiles that might be coiled up asleep.But it was past their time; the sun had gone down, and the dusk of evening was rapidly growing into darkness, showing the party that if they had waited until a lanthorn was necessary there would have been great difficulty in putting into practice that which in theory sounded as easy as drawing on a glove.Not a snake was to be seen when the party halted, following Griggs’s example, and standing about thirty feet behind him, the many blocks of rugged stone in front completely hiding the place where the barrels lay.“Can you see any of the enemy?” said the doctor, just loudly enough for his voice to reach the American’s ears.Griggs turned quickly, shook his head to indicate that the coast was clear, and then turned back to face his task.The next minute they saw the deftly-thrown hook flying through the air, describing a curve, and the rings of the rope opening out as they followed the iron.There was a loud jangling sound, and Chris held his breath as he saw the operator begin to draw upon the rope hand over hand, fully expecting to see a check, and that the hook had caught.The boy was not disappointed—it had, and Chris uttered a low cheer.“Got it!” he whispered.—“Why is he doing that?”Thatwas the jerking of the rope to set it at liberty to be drawn in again, for the simple reason that the catch was only the corner of a rock.But Griggs was soon ready again, and he mounted on to the top of a stone before taking careful aim, as he swung the hook to and fro, and then once more launched it through the air, to fall this time with a dull sound as if it had struck upon wood.“He’ll do it this time,” whispered Ned excitedly. “Yes: he has got it.”For as Griggs hauled there was again a check, evidently, from the sound of the iron, against wood.“Oh!” groaned Chris, as they saw the rope hauled in again quickly for another throw. “What a while he is! He won’t be able to see.”“All right, Chris,” cried Ned cheerily; “third time never fails.”“We shall have to do it, Ned,” replied Chris merrily. “Now then, once to be ready, twice to be steady, three times to be off: there it goes.”Away went the hook, and after it the dimly-seen coils of rope, followed by a sharp clang again of iron upon stone.“Now he’s hauling,” whispered Ned, and all held their breath, for the change from daylight into darkness was rapidly going on, and Griggs’s figure standing erect upon the grey rock began to look as if some thin, filmy, smoke-tinted veil was being drawn over it.Tchingle! came—clearly heard!“Hurrah!” cried Chris. “He has caught the chain this time. He’ll want us to help haul.”The boy strained forward as if ready to start at the first call; but he did not, for no call came, but Griggs himself began to move sharply after a tug at the rope, and then leaping down from the stone upon which he had stood, he came running towards them swiftly, dodging in and out amongst the stones standing in his way.“Off with you,” he shouted; “the varmint are coming along the rope!”All turned at the order, retreating steadily to allow Griggs to overtake them, which he did directly.“I don’t think we need go far,” he said. “I don’t suppose they’ll come further than the end of the rope. I could see dozens of them striking at the barrel and the hook at that last throw. We shall have to let them settle down before we try to get the water, but I’ve hooked the chain fast.”“Then we can do the rest after dark,” said the doctor.“Well, not quite, sir. We shall have to bring a light to find the end of the rope and see that there are none of the reptiles hanging on to it.”“Yes, exactly.”“Why not bring one of the mules next time?” cried Chris eagerly.“What for?” said Griggs sharply.“To make fast the line to his saddle or pack, and let him drag the barrels over the sand.”“Good!” cried Griggs.“Excellent!” said the doctor.“I wonder whether the snakes will follow when the kegs are being dragged over the sand?” said Bourne.“I don’t think they will, sir,” said the American. “They might perhaps if there are any about after dark, but there are lots of small stones about where they lie, and the critters will have an ugly time of it ground under those two heavy tubs.”“I’m in hopes that we shall have no further trouble,” said the doctor thoughtfully. “The only thing to decide now is, how long had we better wait?”“An hour,” said Wilton decisively; and that hour was passed in luxury, for a soft cool air came whispering among the reeking stones which had been bathing all day long in the sunshine, and there was a crispness and revivifying sensation in that gentle evening breeze which seemed to affect even the animals, the mules crouching down in the sand and the horses standing facing the quarter from which the wind blew, as if satisfied to wait for the water that they instinctively expected would come.The hour seemed long, and then with a dull star-like lanthorn Griggs began to pick his way through the transparent darkness, holding the light low in his lookout for enemies, till the end of the rope was found, though not without difficulty, the boys, who led one of the mules between them, having to stop at last and wait till the search came to an end.“No snakes about here,” said Griggs, in a low voice; “bring the mule on, lads. That’s right. Now then, turn. Back him a little more.”This was done, the rope made fast to the pack-saddle, and all was ready.“Now,” said the doctor, “will the enemy follow the two kegs or no? Forward!”
There was a short, sharp council of ways and means held in the soft evening light which bathed the sterile rocky plain and the distant mountainous land with a weird beauty, that made those who gazed around feel a sensation of wonder, that nature could spread such a mask over a scene whose aspect to the adventurers was full of the horrors of thirst, and death by the stroke of the venomous reptiles.
Close at hand, and showing no disposition to stray, were the horses and the mules, with their coats bristling with dried sweat, and the dust through which they had travelled.
Their packs remained untouched, for every one felt that it was impossible to stay where they were, while before starting afresh water was an absolute necessity—a draught each to allay the feverish thirst, and the contents of one keg carefully divided so that about a pint each could be given to the wearied beasts.
“But there must be water somewhere near on that higher ground,” said Wilton excitedly, and the doctor noted that his eyes looked bloodshot and wild. “Here, I tell you what; I’ll take our bearings and ride off to see what I can find, and then come back.”
“No,” said the doctor, “it is impossible. Look at your horse: he cannot carry you right up yonder for miles upon miles in the state he is in.”
“Then I must walk,” cried Wilton impetuously.
“You would break down before you had been gone an hour,” said the doctor, “and we should have to search for you and bring you back.”
“Oh! give me credit for a little more strength and determination, sir,” said Wilton petulantly. “We must have water, and it is to be found up yonder in the hills. What do you say, Bourne?”
“I agree with you that water may be found yonder, but we must keep together. Our party is small enough as it is; we must not make it less by letting one of our most active members break away.”
“Then what are we to do?” cried Wilton, and the boys’ lips moved as if they echoed his words.
“We must wait till dark, and then get the kegs. After the whole party is refreshed, we must strike up into the hills at once and search the valleys till we find a fall or spring, but on no account must we separate.”
So spoke the doctor, but Wilton was in no humour for obeying orders.
“I think you are wrong,” he cried.
“Well,” replied the doctor stiffly, “you have a right to think so, but you might as well bear in mind that you have sworn to obey orders, that I was elected to be chief of this expedition, and that it is your duty to obey—in reason.”
“Do you want to quarrel?” cried Wilton, clapping his hand to his revolver-holster.
“Certainly not with a man half mad with thirst,” said the doctor quietly. “Come, Wilton, be reasonable.”
“Reasonable! Are we not all half dead with thirst?”
“Suffering, not half dead,” replied the doctor, who noted that Bourne and Griggs had moved a little nearer to their angry companion. “Now, look here, we want your cool consideration of our position. We have water a few hundred yards away.”
“What! Where?”
“In the kegs, which lie where I told you.”
“Oh, there!” cried Wilton contemptuously. “We don’t want that, but some big clear flowing spring such as I offer to risk my life to find.”
“Risk your life in another way,” said the doctor firmly.
“How?”
“Go and fetch in the kegs from where they are lying.”
“Bah! If I am to die, it shall be a decent death—not stung by some horrible reptile. I’ll risk losing my way going in search of water.”
“I have already told you,” said the doctor, “that the state of the horses will not allow of such a search being made till they have had such water as we have near. The only thing to be done is to contrive some way of getting the kegs here without risk.”
“Exactly,” said Bourne laconically; “but can you propose any way? For I must own that I cannot without horrible risk.”
“At present no way,” said the doctor sadly. “My only hope is in the horrible pests returning deeply underground at night; but I am sorry to say I know very little about the habits of these creatures. Do you, Wilton?”
“No,” replied their companion bitterly. “Latin, Greek, and mathematics were taught me, rattlesnakes left out.”
“But you,” said the doctor, wincing at his companion’s contemptuous manner, “you, Griggs, have seen a good deal of these reptiles in your time?”
“Tidy bit, sir. I saw one poor fellow die four hours after being bitten, and I’ve killed a few of the varmint; but I’ve seen more of ’em to-day than in all my life before.”
“Then you cannot say whether it would be safe to risk an attempt to get the kegs away?”
“Well, I don’t know about that,” said Griggs, who noted that Chris was watching him intently. “You see, sir, I’ve been thinking pretty closely about that matter. We must have those kegs somehow, even if the one who gets ’em is bitten for his pains.”
“Oh, but no such risk must be run,” cried the doctor excitedly.
“It seems to me, sir, that it must. There’s half-a-dozen of us, and one has to take his chance so that the other five may live.”
“Our position is not so bad as that, Griggs,” said the doctor warmly.
“I don’t want to contradict, sir, but I about think it is. It’s the sort of time like you read about at sea when they cast lots and one has to swim ashore with a rope so as to get help. We must have that water, and Mr Wilton here says he won’t risk the job of fetching the kegs, so it rests with five of us instead of six. Then you go a bit further and one says, here’s three men and two boys, and we who are men can’t hold back and let a boy go.”
“Certainly not,” said the doctor and Bourne, as if in one voice.
“Then we come down to three,” continued Griggs, “and one of them is the boss of the expedition—the captain. He can’t go, of course. So you see, Mr Bourne, it lies between us two.”
“No, no,” cried the doctor, “between us three.”
“Ustwo, Mr Bourne,” said the American, almost fiercely. “The doctor’s out of it. Now, sir, you’re a deal better man than I am in learning and proper living, and several other things that I’ve noticed since we’ve been neighbours, all through your having been a minister, I suppose?”
“I am but a man, Griggs, with the weaknesses of my nature.”
“Exactly, sir,” cried the American, totally misconstruing the speaker’s meaning. “That’s what I was aiming at—weaknesses of your nature. Consequently I’m a much better man than you are for this job. So we want no casting lots, for I’m going to get those kegs out of that serpent’s nest, if I die for it.”
“No, no,” cried the doctor fiercely. “I will not consent to your going. We must try some other plan.”
“There aren’t no other plan, doctor.”
“I think there is,” cried Chris excitedly.
“Be silent, boy!” said the doctor.
“Yes, you’re out, squire,” said Griggs good-humouredly. “You’ve had your innings, and nearly got bitten. That’s taste enough for you. Let me have a bit of the fun. But look here, doctor; when a man is bitten you get out a bottle and a little squirt thing, make a hole in one of the veins, and send in a lot of stuff, don’t you?”
“Inject ammonia?” replied the doctor. “Yes; as a resource after lancing the wound and drawing out the poison, I should try that.”
“Ammonia,” said Griggs thoughtfully. “Yes, that’s it—counteracts the poison, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, and in some cases successfully, if it has been injected soon enough.”
“Hah!” cried the American. “That’s what I wanted to get at—soon enough. Now how would it be if to get quite soon enough you got out your bottle and gave me a dose of that stuff before I started?”
“What, injected into one of your veins?”
“Yes, sir. What do you say to that?”
“Impossible! I would not venture upon such an experiment except with a bitten subject.”
“Sorry to hear that, sir,” said Griggs thoughtfully. “Well, how would it be if I swallowed some?”
“I fear that it would be useless.”
“Very well, sir; you know best, and I must do without it. My boots will pull up a bit higher, and I’ll slip on another pair of trousers and my thick jersey over my jacket; then if one of the beauties bites, his teeth may not go through. There’ll only be my hands and face.”
“But what do you propose doing—running in, seizing the kegs, and trying to carry them out?”
“Nay, that makes the job too risky, sir. It would be just stirring the creatures up like bees in a hive, and they’d come raging out to fight. I’ve got a better plan than that.”
“Yes; what is it?” said the doctor, and Chris took a step nearer.
“Just this, sir. I’ll take a couple of the hide-ropes, knot them together, and coil them up lasso fashion. After that I’m going to make a fire and heat one of these iron tent-pegs red-hot—one of those with the eye to them. Soon as it’s well hot I’m going to bend it round into a hook, slip one end of the rope through the eye and make fast, and then I’m going to fish with that hook—throwing it in till it catches the keg chain that couples them together, and as soon as I’ve got a bite run out the line ready for a couple of us to haul the water right away clean from the snake’s nest. What do you say to that?”
“I say it isn’t fair,” cried Chris excitedly. “You, Ned, you are a sneak to go and tell him.”
“I didn’t tell him,” cried Ned indignantly.
“How did he know, then?” said Chris, growing angry. “I never said a word to any one else.”
“What do you mean, Chris?” said the doctor sternly.
“Why, I invented that plan, father,” cried Chris, “exactly as Griggs says; and I was going to propose it, only Griggs spoke first.”
“I never knew you thought the same way, squire,” said Griggs quietly.
“It was my invention,” said Chris warmly.
“Very well, lad, you may have it,” said Griggs. “It’s yours, then.”
“Yes,” cried Chris, “and I’ll go and throw the hook till I catch the chain.”
“Nay! That’s where I come in, my lad,” cried Griggs. “You shall have all the credit, but I’ll do the work.”
“No, no,” said Chris angrily. “It’s my invention, and I shall do it.”
“No,” said the doctor firmly; “you both had the same idea, my boy, but Mr Griggs is your senior, he is better adapted for the dangerous task, and you must give way.”
“Must I, father?” said the boy, in a disappointed tone.
“Yes. You have run risks enough for one day.”
“Ha, ha!” cried Ned, laughing, to the astonishment of all, and his satisfaction rang out in his tones. “You can’t do it, after all, Griggs,” and though he said no more his eyes looked a finish to the sentence—serve you right for getting the better of Chris!
“Why can’t I do it?” said Griggs quietly.
“Because there’s no fire to heat the iron.”
“But I can soon make one.”
“What of? Stones?”
Griggs brought his right fist down into his left hand with a loudspang, uttering a low hiss the while, for there was not a scrap of wood in sight.
Then his face lit up and he went to the mule laden with the tent, cast loose a rope, and ran an iron ringed peg about two feet long off from where it had been placed for safety, and walked off amongst the rocks till he found a crevice suited to his purpose. There he thrust the thin end of the peg in between the sides some six inches, and exerting his strength a little, bent the iron round till the lower part stood off at right angles to the upper. This done, he raised the iron, placed the point upon the surface of a level block, and pressed heavily down, the point yielding slowly, and, the iron being fairly soft, he very shortly produced a roughly-made hook.
“’Taint so neat as I could wish,” he said quietly; “but it is a hook, and you can’t call it anything else.”
“Yes,” said Chris frankly, “and it’s a better one than I expected; but wouldn’t it be better to try if you can catch the chain with it before it gets dark?”
“He would have to keep on throwing several times perhaps,” said Bourne, “and bring the snakes swarming out.”
“Well I don’t know that it would matter much,” said Griggs thoughtfully. “I should be standing perhaps a dozen yards from where the hook kept on falling, and they’d strike at it and not at me. I shall try it at once, doctor, for it’ll be far better than doing it by lanthorn light.”
“Yes,” said the doctor thoughtfully; “and at the worst, if the reptiles swarmed out, we would hurry away till they settled down again.”
“Yes,” said Griggs, with a quick nod of the head, and a few minutes later he had his tackle ready, the hook securely tied on, the rope hanging in coils from his hand, and all ready for the advance.
“I’ll go alone, please, and at once,” he said sharply. “In ten minutes it will be getting dusk. Did any one notice whether the chain lay at the top?”
“Yes,” cried Chris sharply; “I did. So that it would be quite easy to catch.”
“Good,” cried Griggs, in a satisfied tone. “Then here goes.”
“Promise me you’ll be careful, Griggs,” said the doctor.
“Yes, sir,” said the American, smiling, “if you’ll strike a bargain.”
“What do you mean?”
“Promise me you’ll have that stuff ready to give me a strong dose if I’m bitten.”
“Trust me,” said the doctor.
“And trust me, sir,” cried Griggs.
The next minute he was striding along over the sand in and out amongst the scattered blocks of stone, and followed by his friends, cautiously on the alert for any reptiles that might be coiled up asleep.
But it was past their time; the sun had gone down, and the dusk of evening was rapidly growing into darkness, showing the party that if they had waited until a lanthorn was necessary there would have been great difficulty in putting into practice that which in theory sounded as easy as drawing on a glove.
Not a snake was to be seen when the party halted, following Griggs’s example, and standing about thirty feet behind him, the many blocks of rugged stone in front completely hiding the place where the barrels lay.
“Can you see any of the enemy?” said the doctor, just loudly enough for his voice to reach the American’s ears.
Griggs turned quickly, shook his head to indicate that the coast was clear, and then turned back to face his task.
The next minute they saw the deftly-thrown hook flying through the air, describing a curve, and the rings of the rope opening out as they followed the iron.
There was a loud jangling sound, and Chris held his breath as he saw the operator begin to draw upon the rope hand over hand, fully expecting to see a check, and that the hook had caught.
The boy was not disappointed—it had, and Chris uttered a low cheer.
“Got it!” he whispered.—“Why is he doing that?”
Thatwas the jerking of the rope to set it at liberty to be drawn in again, for the simple reason that the catch was only the corner of a rock.
But Griggs was soon ready again, and he mounted on to the top of a stone before taking careful aim, as he swung the hook to and fro, and then once more launched it through the air, to fall this time with a dull sound as if it had struck upon wood.
“He’ll do it this time,” whispered Ned excitedly. “Yes: he has got it.”
For as Griggs hauled there was again a check, evidently, from the sound of the iron, against wood.
“Oh!” groaned Chris, as they saw the rope hauled in again quickly for another throw. “What a while he is! He won’t be able to see.”
“All right, Chris,” cried Ned cheerily; “third time never fails.”
“We shall have to do it, Ned,” replied Chris merrily. “Now then, once to be ready, twice to be steady, three times to be off: there it goes.”
Away went the hook, and after it the dimly-seen coils of rope, followed by a sharp clang again of iron upon stone.
“Now he’s hauling,” whispered Ned, and all held their breath, for the change from daylight into darkness was rapidly going on, and Griggs’s figure standing erect upon the grey rock began to look as if some thin, filmy, smoke-tinted veil was being drawn over it.
Tchingle! came—clearly heard!
“Hurrah!” cried Chris. “He has caught the chain this time. He’ll want us to help haul.”
The boy strained forward as if ready to start at the first call; but he did not, for no call came, but Griggs himself began to move sharply after a tug at the rope, and then leaping down from the stone upon which he had stood, he came running towards them swiftly, dodging in and out amongst the stones standing in his way.
“Off with you,” he shouted; “the varmint are coming along the rope!”
All turned at the order, retreating steadily to allow Griggs to overtake them, which he did directly.
“I don’t think we need go far,” he said. “I don’t suppose they’ll come further than the end of the rope. I could see dozens of them striking at the barrel and the hook at that last throw. We shall have to let them settle down before we try to get the water, but I’ve hooked the chain fast.”
“Then we can do the rest after dark,” said the doctor.
“Well, not quite, sir. We shall have to bring a light to find the end of the rope and see that there are none of the reptiles hanging on to it.”
“Yes, exactly.”
“Why not bring one of the mules next time?” cried Chris eagerly.
“What for?” said Griggs sharply.
“To make fast the line to his saddle or pack, and let him drag the barrels over the sand.”
“Good!” cried Griggs.
“Excellent!” said the doctor.
“I wonder whether the snakes will follow when the kegs are being dragged over the sand?” said Bourne.
“I don’t think they will, sir,” said the American. “They might perhaps if there are any about after dark, but there are lots of small stones about where they lie, and the critters will have an ugly time of it ground under those two heavy tubs.”
“I’m in hopes that we shall have no further trouble,” said the doctor thoughtfully. “The only thing to decide now is, how long had we better wait?”
“An hour,” said Wilton decisively; and that hour was passed in luxury, for a soft cool air came whispering among the reeking stones which had been bathing all day long in the sunshine, and there was a crispness and revivifying sensation in that gentle evening breeze which seemed to affect even the animals, the mules crouching down in the sand and the horses standing facing the quarter from which the wind blew, as if satisfied to wait for the water that they instinctively expected would come.
The hour seemed long, and then with a dull star-like lanthorn Griggs began to pick his way through the transparent darkness, holding the light low in his lookout for enemies, till the end of the rope was found, though not without difficulty, the boys, who led one of the mules between them, having to stop at last and wait till the search came to an end.
“No snakes about here,” said Griggs, in a low voice; “bring the mule on, lads. That’s right. Now then, turn. Back him a little more.”
This was done, the rope made fast to the pack-saddle, and all was ready.
“Now,” said the doctor, “will the enemy follow the two kegs or no? Forward!”