“Yonder, twining all about the water-kegs, father. It’s alive with them.”
The doctor shaded his eyes with his hand and looked across at the barrels, his face contracting with horror at the sight which met his eyes.
“No wonder you were so long,” he said bitterly. “What do you propose to do?”
“Nothing, father. We can’t think of a way,” said Chris sadly. “Can you tell us?”
“There seems to be no way save one.”
“Wait till the snakes have gone back to their holes, father?”
“Yes, after dark; and then it will not be a pleasant task to get the kegs away. Worse and worse.”
“Oh, there can’t be anything worse, sir,” cried Griggs.
“I think there can, sir,” replied the doctor. “This forces us to bivouac, as the soldiers call it, in the serpent-inhabited desert. But we must do it, I suppose. The snakes will not be stirring during the darkness. But we must hope that when we find the gold region, it will not be such a serpent-haunted spot as this; the gold could not have better guardians to keep it safe.”
No one spoke for a few minutes, during which the doctor sat upon his horse watching the movements of the serpents.