“That’s too much,” he observed, and was on the point of kicking the fire out with his foot, when of a sudden he uttered a wild yell that startled everybody near him. “A snake! a snake! Oh, what a long creature!”
For from under the rock a huge reptile had glided, roused up by the heat. It was a snake peculiar to those mountains, and all of ten feet long and as thick as a man’s arm. It struck the guard in the knee, and then whipped around in increased anger, for its tail had come in contact with the fire.
“A snake!” echoed the second guard, and fired his Mauser at the reptile. But he was too excited to shoot straight, and the bullet glanced along the rock and struck the first guard in the cheek, inflicting a fairly serious wound.
The cries of the two guards’ were taken up on all sides of the camp, and especially in the vicinity of the rock from under which the reptile had appeared. All the soldiers recognized the snake as a dangerous enemy; and as the reptile moved about, first one and then another ran to get out of its way, several in the meantime taking hasty shots at it, but failing to do any serious damage. 299 For several minutes the prisoner was entirely forgotten.
It was Ben who saw the opportunity,—Ben and the ever-faithful Luke,—and rushing up, they cut Larry’s bonds and fairly hustled him into the depth of the jungle behind the encampment. The young sailor could hardly understand what was taking place, but when he recognized his brother and his old messmate, he gave a shout of joy.
“You, Ben! and Luke! Oh, I must be dreaming!”
“No, you are not dreaming, Larry. We’ve been watching you for a long while, trying to do something. Can you run?”
“No; I sprained my ankle, and it is still sore.”
“I’ll carry him,” said Luke. “You lead the way, cap’n. And Boxer had better bring up the rear guard.”