“It doesn’t look so,” was Tubby’s comment.
But a more thrilling encounter lay just ahead of them. Hanging from a tree, and slowly swaying to and fro, was what looked like a beautifully marked liana or hanging creeper.
“Oh, what a beauty,” exclaimed Fred, stepping forward, but the next instant he recoiled with a yell of alarm.
The creeper had emitted a loud, angry hiss and then they saw that it was no creeper at all, but a brilliantly colored snake, at least fifteen feet long, that was swinging from a limb around which its tail was coiled. Tubby echoed Fred’s yell of alarm and the next instant both boys took to their heels in mad flight. The serpent had swiftly and silently begun writhing its way to the ground.
“Run for your life!” cried Tubby wildly. “He’s after us.”
Stumbling over creepers, falling headlong, and then struggling to their feet again, and keeping on with their mad rush, the two terrified boys ran for their lives. Behind them came a thrashing sound as the big snake made its way after them.
In their alarm they lost all sense of direction or distance. All they knew was that the big reptile was pursuing them, and they raced along without considering anything but escaping from it. It never even occurred to them to open fire on it with their rifles.
How far they ran they had no idea. All they knew was that at last, when, from sheer exhaustion they paused, there was no sound of pursuit. The vast woods were silent. All at once they had a fresh fright. This time from overhead. There was a mighty commotion in the tree-tops accompanied by shrill barks and cries.
“Gracious, what’s coming now?” gasped Tubby. “I wish we were back on the launch!”
But it was only a troop of white-faced, long-tailed monkeys swinging by, traveling along the tree-top high road at almost incredible speed. They paused as they saw the boys standing there below them. Gathering together they began to chatter and make a terrible noise.