“Quick! Quick!” yelled the professor, and, as they reached him, breathless, Jerry asked:
“What is it; are you hurt?”
“Hurt? No!” exclaimed the little scientist, and there was triumph in his tones. “Look!”
He pointed to a small box on his table, and from it came a subdued glow, as though a whole box of the old-fashioned sulphur matches had been dampened.
“The luminous snakes!” exclaimed Professor Snodgrass. “See them shine with light! They are the true illustris serpensus! I am a most fortunate man! My name will be engraven on the roll of fame! For years I have sought these snakes, and now I have some! Oh, my college will be proud of me!”
“By Jove!” exclaimed Ned. “They do shine!”
There was no doubt of it. The professor had only one light dimly going in his cabin, and now he switched this off. The glow from the box of snakes increased, until it made the room light enough to distinguish faces.
“What makes it?” asked Jerry.
“The same sort of matter that causes the lightning bugs to glow,” explained the professor. “Under the skin of the snake is a certain material, mixed in with the color pigments, and that becomes excited by the nerve cells acting on the circulatory system. In fact——”