CHAPTER XXII
The Deadly Snake
OVER their shoulders the youths glanced up the mountainside and to their horror saw that the old man was right.
Far up the slope was a great mass of stones and earth, rolling down in a heavy cloud of dust. Every second saw the accumulation nearer and larger. In but a brief time it would be upon the little group below.
“We must do something—without delay!” Dr. Rander’s voice was cool and resolute. “The mules—they must be pushed out of the way!”
Acting on the instant, Bob and Joe and the old man worked like madmen to drive the pack animals over to a flat shelf that was but a few hundred feet away. Even this did not offer absolute safety, for the mass of rocks and earth might change its course and plunge down on the shelf.
“We’ll have to take a chance,” Bob panted. “Most likely over here we’ll be out of the danger zone.”
The flat stretch offered the only place of refuge. If the avalanche should change its course, the adventurers and their pack animals would surely be crushed.
There was a moment of fearful waiting, a brief period when the hearts of all stood still, and the huge mass of rocks roared past and on down the mountain slope.
“Thank goodness!” breathed Dr. Rander. “A narrow escape if there ever was one.”
Their eyes followed the plunging stone heap until, with a dull thud, it struck the bottom of the abyss, far below.