point where several big rocks hung over the water's edge.
"It's dark down there, and that's what some fish like."

He prepared his bait with care, and then dropped his line into the hole.
Almost immediately he felt a nibble, and, giving a jerk, found he had
caught something that was both large and powerful.

"Gracious, it must be a whopper!" he muttered, as the fish darted hither
and thither. Then he braced back on the rock, to play the game, for
bringing in the catch at once seemed out of the question. The pole bent
greatly, and he was afraid it would snap on him.

He could not stand on the slippery rock very well, and so stepped behind
it, on a number of loose stones. Hardly had he done so when he heard a
strange hissing. Looking down, he saw a snake glide from under the rock.
In a moment more the angry reptile faced him.

CHAPTER XIV.

OVER THE MOUNTAIN TOP.

Darry was much alarmed, and with good reason. Never before had he faced
such a snake, and the reptile looked ready to spring upon him at any
instant.

What to do the boy did not know, yet instinctively he leaped back to the
top of the rock. Then the fish gave a jerk which almost took him from
his feet.

"Joe! Will!" he shouted. "Come this way! I'm in a pickle!"

"What's the matter?" shouted Captain Moore, and soon he and his brother
were coming forward as quickly as they could.

In the meantime Darry was having his hands full, for the big fish was
bound to get away. At the bottom of the rock lay the snake, with head
raised and mouth wide open. Its eyes shone like diamonds.

"A snake! Kill it!" shrieked Darry.

"A snake?" echoed Joe. "Where?"

"At the bottom of this big rock. Oh, my, he's going to come up!"

"I see him," put in Captain Moore.

As he spoke the snake made a leap for the top of the rock. As the
reptile went up, Darry went down, and ran along the brook's edge, still
with his fishing-pole in his hand.

Catching up a sharp stone, Captain Moore flung it at the snake, hitting
the reptile in the tail. At once the thing whirled around, and now
forgetting Darry it turned on its assailant.

"He's coming for you!" ejaculated Joe. "Run, Will, or you'll be bitten
sure!"

"I'm not running from a snake," answered the young officer, and in a
trice he whipped out his pistol. As the snake came on he let drive. His
aim was true, and the snake dropped with its head half severed from its
body.

"Good for you!" said Joe, and now he pick