"Run! Run, everybody, before the snake bites you!"
Such were some of the cries that rent the air as all of the young people fell back.
A black snake at least three feet long had suddenly appeared from a hollow under the last rock to be dislodged, and this was quickly followed by a second snake equally large.
"Hit 'em, boys! Hit 'em!" exclaimed Jack, as soon as he had recovered from his surprise, and as he spoke he caught up a stone and flung it at the nearest snake.
The action of the oldest Rover boy was quickly seconded by the other cadets, and a dozen or more stones were hurled at the two snakes. One of the reptiles was quickly killed, but the second received only a bruise on its tail, and it switched around angrily and then made a dash toward the fleeing and screaming girls.
"Gee! if we only had a pistol or a gun!" exclaimed Randy.
The snake still left alive was but a few feet from Martha and Ruth when Jack and Spouter hurled two more stones. Each of these reached its mark, and with its back crushed the reptile whipped around on the rocks for a moment more and then lay still.
"Oh, dear! is it dead?" questioned Martha, and her voice trembled a little as she spoke.
"Dead as a doormat," announced her brother, after a hasty examination. Then he took a stick and, placing it under the reptile, threw the remains from the rocks into the lake. Fred and Andy speedily disposed of the other reptile in the same way.
"Maybe there are more snakes around here!" cried Alice Strobell nervously.