“They do,” answered the scientist, who was eagerly looking at the snakes through the glass. “But in this case I think the water brought them down, instead of bringing them out.”
“How do you mean?” asked Ned.
“Why, I think the rising river inundated some place along the canyon walls, where these snakes lived. They were washed out, carried down stream by the flood, and deposited here—stranded, so to speak. I think it has been done often before, in years past, and that is why they call this Snake Island.”
“I believe you’re right,” agreed Jerry. “And I don’t think the big stone pile in the middle had anything to do with the name, though it may look like a snake at times. Probably the Indians, in years past, saw snakes brought down in the flood, and they named the island after the serpents.”
“Well, I’m glad they’re not at the other end of the island,” spoke Ned, who disliked snakes. “We’d better go back there and start over again on our search for the radium. The river is going down fast.”
“There may be snakes where we were before,” suggested Jerry. “We didn’t look very closely.”
“Don’t mention it!” cried Ned with a shudder. “Let’s get away from here, anyhow. I can’t bear to look at ’em.”
“Um,” spoke the professor musingly. “I think I should like to go down there.”
“What! Among those snakes?” cried Ned.