after which
he proceeded to revive his patient by moistening his lips with raw
whiskey, with which he finally drenched the man internally as soon as
the unfortunate fellow was able to swallow.

But, of course, there was no more marching for the party that day, and
preparations were at once made for pitching the camp. The first task
was to beat the long, dry grass thoroughly, in order to drive away the
snake which had bitten the man, or any other snakes which might be
lurking therein. But this procedure, while it may possibly have had the
desired effect, had also another, by no means desirable; for it was soon
discovered that the threshing had aroused the anger of a legion of
enormous black ants--fierce, venomous creatures nearly an inch long--
which came swarming by thousands up out of holes in the ground, and
attacked the intruders with indescribable ferocity. The unfortunate
semi-naked Indians instantly scattered in ignominious flight, leaving
the two white men to deal with the situation as best they could. And
although Earle and Dick were, of course, fully clothed, and their bodies
were therefore reasonably well protected, they were both severely bitten
before, by setting fire to the grass and allowing it to blaze for a few
seconds before beating it out, they were able to put the foe to flight.
The burning of the grass, however, revealed the fact that the soil was
everywhere honeycombed with holes, into which the creatures had
doubtless retreated, ready to sally forth again upon the smallest
provocation; therefore, in order to protect themselves from further
attack, they cut an immense quantity of grass, strewed it over the
central portion of the already burnt area, and burned it over again;
after which, the ashes being first swept away with branches, they
ventured to go into camp, the Indians slinking back by twos and threes
as soon as they perceived that the risk of renewed hostilities was over.
As for the two white men, although they bathed their hurts with dilute
ammonia as quickly as they could, they both suffered acutely, to such an
extent, indeed, that they were both in a high state of fever, bordering
on delirium, before midnight. Earle, however, foreseeing what was
impending, mixed for himself and Dick a strong draught, which no doubt
helped to avert even worse consequences, and by dawn of the following
morning the fever was conquered and the sufferers sank into a somewhat
troubled sleep, from which the