“Run, Tom! Run!” screamed Jack, aroused to life at last.
But Tom appeared to be incapable of motion. He paused on his hands and knees as he struggled to his feet and remained in this posture. The horror of his situation appeared to deprive him of the power of locomotion.
Determined to make an effort to save Tom even though he risked his comrade’s life in so doing, Jack raised his rifle and fired. But his hands shook so that his aim was faulty and the bullet flew wide.
But the bullet had one effect, and that the one that Jack least desired. It appeared to arouse the great snake from its deliberate movements.
With a swift, almost imperceptible motion, its head swept forward, and several feet of its coils loosened simultaneously from above. In another instant Jack, almost fainting from terror, saw Tom in the folds of the gigantic reptile. His comrade’s screams of deadly fear rang in Jack’s ears as he gazed on the dreadful drama being enacted before his eyes.
But this inertness only lasted for an instant. Suddenly his mind seemed to clear and he saw with startling distinctness what he must do. Rushing forward he held the rifle as close to the serpent as he dared, and fired.
The bullet took effect in the creature’s body just behind the head and caused it to loosen its folds for an instant with a furious hiss. Its hideous head lunged forward at this new enemy.
Hardly knowing what he did, Jack fired again and again. The automatic spat bullets in a continuous stream. After the magazine was exhausted, the frenzied boy still pressed the trigger. But there was no need for further shooting. The bullets had wiped out all semblance to a head, and the decapitated monster was lashing and writhing its entire length on the ground, for with Jack’s first bullet it had relinquished its grip on the boughs above.
Tom retained his senses long enough to scramble out of the deadly folds of the reptile, and then, staggering a few paces, he toppled over. As for Jack, shouting excitedly, he set upon the body of the great snake and in a frenzy beat it with all his might with the butt of his rifle.
He was conscious of a fierce desire to wipe the creature’s carcass from the face of the earth. It was at this juncture that Captain Sprowl, the professor and Mr. Chadwick came running up, much alarmed over the furious shooting they had heard.