“Too bad I missed him,” remarked the professor as he got up and brushed the dirt from his clothes. “It would have been a valuable specimen.”
“Lucky it didn’t crush you to death,” said Jerry. “It was a monster.”
“I’ve seen larger ones,” observed Mr. Snodgrass. “I must make a note of this. I will write a scientific paper about it.”
Fortunately the travelers had returned to camp before the snake had time to do much damage. Some fresh fish, which the boys depended on for their meal, were eaten, and the place was in confusion from the investigations of the reptile.
“I am glad he didn’t take it into his head to come in the night,” remarked Bob. “He’d have scared us all to death.”
Matters were soon straightened out, the professor proceeding to note down facts about the reptile as calmly as though he had not been in danger of serious injury, if not death, from the encounter.
“If I could only have gotten hold of him around the neck,” he said, “I’d have him a captive now.”
“It’s just as well,” remarked Ned. “He would have been unhandy to cart around, and, if you got your prize butterfly the snake might have eaten him up.”
“That’s so,” admitted the scientist, finding some consolation in this thought.
It was on the afternoon of the next day when, as they were in the boat, making their way along the eastern shore of the lake, that they approached a small settlement.