“That’s fine!” Alex exclaimed. “Lost in the woods and the rain coming down. Now what, fellows?”
“Who has a searchlight?” asked Clay.
“I have!” answered Jule. “I’ve got one tucked up under this sweater. Never go away from the boat without it.”
“Why didn’t you turn it on the serpent?” asked Alex, with a most provoking laugh.
“I hope you’ll get a snake on your shoulder some day!” Jule retorted. “Then you’ll see what you are capable of doing. Turn it on the serpent!” he repeated. “Why, I couldn’t have turned it over in my hand.”
“What do you want of the light?” asked Frank. “It will soon be dark,” Clay responded, “and then we shall have hard work finding our way back to the boat.”
“Unless a miracle takes place,” Frank predicted, “we’ll remain in the forest to-night. We might as well try to bore through a mountain with a gimlet as to pick our way through this jungle in the night.”
“But it rains, and there are snakes and jaguars abroad!” protested Jule, who was not in favor of giving the serpents of the forest another chance at him.”
“A fire will keep them both away.”
With this comforting remark the boy set to work gathering up the long, red slabs of the mulatto tree. The boys assisted him in bending and tying down a small tree and the slabs were put over the horizontal trunk, slanting to the ground. They were piled against each other so as to more effectually keep out the rain, which was now falling in great drops.