“Well, if you will, you will, I suppose,” laughed Jerry. “But we’ve got to find the gold.”
“Did you get any trace of it?” asked the scientist.
“No, I’m sort of off my bearings,” replied Mr. Brill. “But I’ll soon pick up the trail again. We’re going to start at the other end of the valley.”
“But we might as well wait until to-morrow, for that,” suggested Jerry. “It is late afternoon now, and will be dark soon. Then, too, we can stay here with the professor, and let him study the habits of the snakes. To-morrow will do to start off for the gold again.”
They agreed with him, and the professor, after putting his two latest specimens safely in the airship, began making notes about them, ignoring his slight lameness.
“We must get some more specimens,” he declared. “They are around here.”
“But they don’t seem to be luminous snakes,” objected Bob. “They don’t give off any light, and they look just like some of the snakes back in the East, except that they’re of a different color.”
“They don’t give off any light until night,” explained Mr. Snodgrass; “but I’m sure they are the right kind. Will you help me to get some more?”
Everyone was eager to oblige the scientist, and, after the airship was anchored, they began to search among the rocks for the luminous snakes. They were not easy to locate, however, and several times the boys, in their enthusiasm, made grabs for snakes which the professor laughingly declared were worthless, as far as saving them for museum specimens was concerned.