A WET ROAD.
Macintosh coats were useful, but even these garments could not keep out the moisture, which penetrated every little crevice where there was the least chance of an entrance. Luckily the rain was a warm one, and nobody suffered any inconvenience from the temperature. As long as a reasonably high temperature can be maintained there is no great suffering, beyond the liability to contract fevers and other diseases, but when the traveller has cold and wet combined his condition is pitiable. The boys maintained their spirits by laughing as they picked their way among the mud-holes, and a stranger would have thought they were enjoying the weary tramp. It was not at all pleasing; but the youths argued that "what can't be cured must be endured," and the best way of enduring the discomfort was to keep up the pretence of enjoying it.
The rain had the effect of driving the mosquitoes to shelter, so that, while drenched with the downpour, the boys were temporarily relieved from the necessity of fighting those tiny destroyers of the traveller's peace; but it brought out many leeches, especially in the marshy ground, and the porters occasionally halted to free their limbs from these annoyances. Frank asked if it would bring them a visitation of snakes, and was glad to learn from Abdul that most of the African snakes are not fond of rain, and would probably stay at home, unless called out on urgent business.
The tents were pitched on the dryest spot that could be found, and the travellers sought their shelter before all the pegs had been driven into the ground. The earth had been levelled a little, partly to form a floor, and partly to remove the moist earth of the surface, and nobody had given any attention to a hole near the roots of a bush which had been cut away in the levelling process.
Frank was busy with his toilet-bag, when he thought he felt a movement of the earth under his feet. He stepped a little to one side to see what it meant, and very soon found out.
The head of a snake appeared from beneath the ground, and a pair of eyes contemplated the youth with an expression anything but friendly. Frank then remembered the hole in the ground to which we have alluded, and was not long in concluding that they had camped over the residence of a serpent. Fortunately, he was close to the entrance of the tent, and instantly converted it into an exit.
He shouted for Abdul, and as that individual appeared the story of the intrusion was quickly narrated. The servants were called, and soon despatched the snake. Fred observed that it was not much of a snake, as it was only seven feet long, which was a tiny affair for Africa. Frank retorted that when snakes were under consideration the measurement was of little consequence, as he had an antipathy to the whole family, big and little. They unanimously decided that the location of the tent was undesirable, as the contents of the hole were unknown. "We don't want to be seeing snakes all night," said Frank, "and we shall be pretty likely to do so unless we change our base."
