It had missed the body that it sought to enfold and, instead, had encircled the arm. And in the struggle it had lost the grip of its tail upon the bough above and had come floundering to the earth.
Now the great body was lashing wildly about, the tail seeking a stump or a tree trunk on which it could get a grip. With this for purchase, it could crush its victim instantly, draw the body into its coils, squeeze it into a shapeless mass, and then devour it at leisure.
Bomba sensed the situation in an instant. There was not a second to lose. Already the snake’s tail was brushing the trunk of a tree and, feeling the contact, it was pulling its victim in the required direction.
Bomba’s first thought was of his machete. With that he might sever the reptile’s spine and render it helpless. But he dismissed this at once. He could not get near enough.
Like a flash he raised his bow to his shoulder. He shouted, and the reptile reared its head and hissed at him viciously. That moment was enough to give Bomba the target he needed.
The bow twanged and the arrow transfixed that hideous head.
There was a fearful hissing and thrashing, the coils fell apart, and the body of the reptile dropped to the ground. There it floundered about for a minute or two and then lay motionless.
The man who had so narrowly escaped a horrible death had fallen to the earth and lay there in a crumpled heap.
Bomba jumped to his side, lifted the man’s head and supported it on his knees.
At the same instant the man’s companion sprang to offer a similar service, and he and Bomba came face to face.