“I can’t see anyone there!” he cried. “But say—Oh, look! look!” and he almost screamed. “The snakes! The snakes! There’s a regular den of them, right in front of the hut! A nest of serpents! Look!”
With trembling hands he passed the glass to Jerry. As the tall lad looked through the binoculars his face paled.
“No wonder they call this Snake Island!” he murmured. “There must be thousands of them! I’m glad we didn’t stay on the island last night. Oh, look at those big snakes!”
[CHAPTER XXVI]
LIVE WIRES
“Where do you think they came from?” asked Ned, when all, including the professor, had viewed the snakes through the glass. Literally there were hundreds, if not thousands, of reptiles.
They were wiggling and squirming, in and out among the rocks and brushwood, just above the mass of drift débris brought down by the flood. All about, in front of the hut the snakes writhed, seeming to be out of their usual haunts.
“The water must have brought them out from their nests, or dens, or whatever it is that snakes live in,” decided Bob.
“Do you think so?” asked Jerry, of Professor Snodgrass. “Why would water bring out snakes. I thought they liked heat.”