“I wish you’d wait until morning,” requested the tall lad. “We don’t know anything of this valley, and, if you go prospecting around it in the dark, something may happen. Besides, there may be wild beasts here.”
“All the better!” exclaimed the professor. “I can get more specimens!”
Jerry was unable to persuade Uriah Snodgrass to stay in, but, as a compromise, the scientist consented to take Harvey Brill and Ned with him, while the others made everything snug for the night.
But Mr. Snodgrass was doomed to disappointment, for though he and the others searched all around, within a radius of half a mile of the aircraft, no luminous snakes were discovered.
“Do you think they can all have vanished?” asked Mr. Snodgrass of the miner.
“Oh, no, for there were lots of them that I saw. But I can’t just say it was here that I noticed them. It may have been farther up or down the valley. Besides, I wasn’t paying much attention to such critters. I wanted to fool the grub-stakers who were on my trail, and hide my gold.”
“Oh, what was gold compared to the luminous snakes?” demanded the scientist. “If I had had your chance I would never have let it slip. Think of being able to present a luminous snake to a museum!”
“I’d rather get my sixty nuggets,” murmured the miner as, with the disappointed professor, he returned to the aircraft.