"That is hardly likely, Meinik. You see, the face of the rock has been chiselled flat, and I don't think any snake could climb up to that entrance."
"Perhaps not, master, but it is best to be ready for them."
They lighted two torches, and passed through the doorway. There was an angry hiss, some distance away.
"That is a snake, sure enough, Meinik. I wonder how it got here."
Holding their torches above their heads, they saw that the chamber was some fourteen feet wide and twenty long. In the corner to the left something was lying and, above it, a dark object was moving backwards and forwards.
"It is a big boa," Meinik said. "Now, master, do you take the two torches in one hand, and have your knife ready in the other. If it coils round you, cut through it at once. This is a good place for fighting it, for there is nothing here for it to get its tail round; and a boa cannot squeeze very hard, unless he does that."
Stanley, feeling that in a combat of this sort the Burman would be perfectly at home, while he himself knew nothing about it, did as he was told; determining to rush in, should it attack his follower.
"You can advance straight towards him, master. I will steal round. He will be watching you, and I may get a cut at him, before he notices me."
