“Looks like a skull of some kind,” ventured Jim.
“Not a bad guess,” replied the professor. “It is part of the skull of an ophidian.”
“An o’ what?” ejaculated Tom.
“Not an owat,” corrected the professor, “but a giant ophidian of palazoic times.”
“Gracious!” cried Tom. “I thought it was something awful, but I didn’t suppose it was as bad as that.”
“I suppose there is a story connected with it,” said Berwick.
“Yes,” replied the professor, “rather a tragic, though a common enough one in that region.”
“We would like to hear it,” suggested Jo.
“Well,” began the professor slowly, “imagine if you can the depth of a tropical jungle with a wilderness of tangled vegetation, of arching palms and giant forms whose fronds sway in the air high above a man’s head. Through this tangle there creeps a naked savage intent on the hunt for some animal upon which he can feed. In front of him, pendulous from an over hanging branch there falls a rounded body like a mighty cable, whose green and yellow colorings mix in with those of bush and tree. As the savage creeps beneath, there is a sudden motion in the cable. It comes to life and coils about the man.
“With a shrill cry of fear, the man tries to unloosen the deadly folds, grasping the slimy serpent about the throat in a desperate clutch. But all in vain. They writhe and struggle, but neither relax their hold, and they fall to the ground beneath the arching palms.