Then with wild shrieks they jumped to their feet and fled in every direction, Edward with them. There curled up under the house, his head raised, ready to strike, was a long gray and green snake.
“Oh, dear, oh dear!” cried Elinor, while Edward shivered with disgust, and the other girls pressed together with feelings of terror. How were they not to know that hideous reptiles and beasts were not around them everywhere in this wild place?
But the snake, evidently much relieved that matters were no worse, glided off in the bushes.
“I hope his wife isn’t around,” groaned Nancy. “They always have a wife about somewhere.”
“I don’t see her,” said Edward, coming resolutely forth and seizing the hatchet. “Shall we get this next board off and finish the thing as soon as possible? This is a deucedly wild place to be in without any weapon but a rusty hatchet.”
With feelings of more or less repugnance they finally loosened the second board. Placing one on top of the other, so that all five of the party could lend a hand in carrying them back to the motor, they started down the path.
“What’s that?” exclaimed Mary, looking back.
“What’s what?” they demanded in a chorus, almost dropping the boards in their nervousness.
“Under the house.”
“Not another snake?” shrieked Elinor.