The three boys waited for fully two minutes, not daring to make a move. The vines lay where they had been cast, and between them lay Giant's gun, which he had dropped when trying to leap to safety.
"I guess we had better get out of this locality," said Snap at length. "I have no desire to be bitten by a rattlesnake!"
"Indeed not!" answered Giant. "But my gun—-I don't want to leave that behind."
"Do you want to go down for it?"
"Not for a thousand dollars!" answered the small youth vehemently.
"Why, a rattlesnake bite is deadly poisonous!"
"I know that as well as you do, Giant."
"You might make a cast with your fishing-line," suggested the doctor's son.
"I will."
Giant always carried several lines, and selecting one of these, he made a loop and to it fastened a small sinker for a weight. Then he made a cast for the gun and secured it.
Slowly and cautiously, and keeping on the highest rocks they could find, the three young hunters commenced to retreat. They moved back at least fifty yards, and then made a wide detour along the hill skirting the watercourse. All this took time, and when they thought themselves safe it was growing dark.