Oliver Lane lay motionless again, gathering force for his great effort. His mind was now wonderfully active, and the serpent had grown to fully a hundred feet long. Feeling that it was sheer cowardice to be passive, he was about to make a desperate effort to throw off his incubus, when there was a shout on deck, answered by Mr Rimmer’s voice, evidently in a great state of excitement, but what was said could not be made out in the cabin. In fact, Oliver had his own business to mind, for at the first sound from the deck the serpent raised its head, and he could see its tongue quivering and gleaming in the light, and the neck wavering, while the whole of its great length began to glide over him in different directions, as if every fold was in motion.
The noise on deck increased; there was the sound of yells and shouts; then came a crack, as if someone had struck the bulwark a heavy blow, which was followed by the quick trampling of feet and the mate’s voice giving directions.
By this time the serpent’s head had been lowered, and as the movement of its body increased, Oliver knew that the reptile was gliding down from the berth on to the cabin floor and to endorse this came the feeling of the weight passing off from his chest.
“What is it? What’s the matter?” cried Panton, waking up, and, directly after, Drew asked what was “up.”
“Don’t know,” cried Panton. “Where’s Lane? Hi! Lane, old chap, wake up! There’s something wrong on deck.”
He made a movement to swing his legs out on to the floor and Oliver tried hard to utter a word of warning, but he could not. His tongue was tied—the power to speak utterly gone; and he could only lie there, feeling the last folds of the serpent glide out of his berth as his friend lowered his bare feet, and then uttered a yell of horror, and dragged them back again, just as, consequent upon his action, a quick rustling sound was heard.
“What is it?” cried Drew, excitedly.
“Snake—serpent!” groaned Panton. “I put my feet right upon its back.”
“Ugh!” grunted Drew, drawing back his own feet as the quick rustling sound went on. “Look! There it goes out of the door. A monster. Where’s Lane?”
“Here!” sighed the young man in a voice which he did not know for his own.