“I suppose those live rabbits must be for the snakes,” said Jack. “You know, such reptiles won’t eat anything dead.”
“Well, I don’t know that I want to feed any snakes rabbits,” said Randy, making a wry face.
They had soon fed the birds and the monkeys. Then, as there seemed no help for it, they slaughtered one of the sheep and threw portions of the carcass to the various wild animals.
“I hate the job,” was the way Jack expressed himself. “But I can’t leave those beasts to starve to death. They probably suffer as much from hunger as we did.”
The boys had opened several of the portholes of the lower deck, so that the breeze, coming in, made the air below much sweeter. Yet it was not a pleasant place to be in, and they were glad when the last of the animals and the birds had been taken care of.
“Now we’d better get down in the lower hold and see what condition the ship is in,” declared Jack. “According to Small, we should have done that in the first place.”
“Maybe,” answered Randy. “Just the same, I’m glad we took care of those animals and birds. That awful growling and moaning and chattering got on my nerves.”
Looking around once more to see that all of the things which were alive below decks had been properly cared for, the three lads advanced to the runway down which they had come from the deck above. They were just about to start up the runway when Randy uttered a scream of horror.
“Look out, there!” he called. “Look out, or he’ll be after you!”
“What is it?” came simultaneously from the other Rover boys.