“It’s some sort of a toad. Wait, I’ll get it for you before it can hop away,” and Ned was about to plunge his bare hand down in a crevice among the stones, when the little scientist sprang forward and drew him back so forcibly that the lad sprawled on the ground.
“What—what’s the matter?” gasped Ned.
“That toad!” cried the scientist. “It’s deadly poisonous. It’s a spined toad—not a horned one, though it looks like that species. It’s worse than a rattlesnake. If you had touched it and it had poisoned you, why, you might have died, though some persons have been known to recover. Never touch one.”
“I—I thought you’d like it for a specimen,” murmured Ned, frightened by his narrow escape.
“So I would, but it must be handled with a net. I’ll show you. I didn’t mean to pull you back so quickly, but I once had a friend who nearly lost his life because of a sting from one of those creatures, and I thought you would touch it before I could stop you. Ah, now I have it!” and, with a quick motion of his insect net, the scientist captured the ugly-looking creature, which was soon painlessly killed by the cyanide-bottle process.
Then they resumed their search for the nuggets, but by breakfast time they had found none.
However, after the meal, which Bob looked at as though it might be their last, they resumed their quest. Eagerly they searched, and before noon they were rewarded by locating a few of the precious nuggets. Then they became more eager, dividing up the territory so as not to cover the same ground twice.
So busily were they engaged—even Professor Snodgrass doing his full share—that none of them thought to take an occasional observation of the distant cliffs. Had they done so, they might have seen several figures looking down at them, though for the most part, the figures kept well concealed.
And, had they heard the talk that went on among the spies they would have felt they had good cause for alarm, for one of them was Jake Paxton, the man who had been lowered over the cliff.
“I guess there’s no fake about it this time,” said Paxton. “They’re not after snakes now.”