“What the mischief is the matter with you?” demanded Tompkins, rubbing his head where it had come into violent contact with the floor.
“A snake!” palpitated Vedder, from the entrance of the tent, to which he had fled. “There’s a snake in my bed!”
“You’re crazy with the heat, Puffy!” exclaimed Ranny Phelps, forcibly. “How could a snake get into your bunk?”
“It’s there, just the same,” panted Vedder, his eyes bulging. “When I put my feet down they hit against something cold and–and slimy that squirmed about. Ugh! If I hadn’t got out so quick, it would have bit me sure as anything. You look and see, if you don’t believe me.”
By this time the camp was astir. As Ranny took the lantern and went over to Vedder’s bunk, several boys from neighboring tents crowded in to see what was up. When they learned the nature of the rumpus they were vastly more excited than the other occupants of Tent Three, who seemed strangely unaffected by the situation.
“Hanged if there isn’t something here!” said Ranny, in a puzzled tone, looking down on the blankets. “Get a couple of sticks, fellows, and some of you hold down the edges of the blankets so it can’t get out.”
Court Parker turned his back suddenly and choked oddly; Tompkins’s face was flushed and twitching. But the new-comers obeyed the order with enthusiasm, and two of them, darting out, returned in a few moments with a couple of crab-nets and the heavy butt of a fishing-rod. Meanwhile, Ranny and several others had drawn the blankets taut across the bunk, revealing an irregular bulge down near the foot that certainly moved slightly.
“Everybody hit together when I give the word,” said Ranny. “One, two–three!”
The sticks descended with vigor, and there was a violent wriggling and thrashing about beneath the blankets. But the blows came thick and fast, and in a moment or two all movement ceased.
“I guess it’s dead, whatever it is,” said Ranny, just as Mr. Reed and Mr. Curtis appeared behind Vedder, still standing prudently in the background. “Let’s open it up and have a look.”