e, so
small that he could scarcely enter. The darkness was profound; in the
distance only, one could distinguish a faint light. The colonel
followed, dragging himself over a damp and dirty soil.

For some time the two Englishmen advanced in this manner, crawling on
their knees, on their hands, and on their stomachs, in total darkness.
All at once John paused suddenly and cried in a frightened voice,
"Colonel!"

"What is it?"

"Do you not notice a strong odor?"

"Yes, a fetid odor."

"Do not move; it is the serpent--'Fer de lance'--we are lost."

"A serpent!" exclaimed the colonel, with horror.

"We are dead. I dare not advance; the odor is growing stronger and
stronger," murmured John.

"Be quiet--listen."

In mortal terror the two men held their breath. All at once at some
little distance they heard a continuous, rapid sound, as if something
was beating the earth with a flail. The nauseating and penetrating odor
which exhales from these large serpents became stronger and stronger.
"The serpent is furious; it is his tail which is beating the earth
thus," said John in a feeble voice. "Colonel, let us commend our souls
to God!"

"Let us cry out and terrify the serpent," said Rutler.

"No, no, it would but precipitate itself at once upon us," replied John.

The two men remained for some moments a prey to the most horrible
suspense. They could neither retreat nor change their position. Their
chests rested upon the earth; their backs touched the rocks. They dared
not make a movement of recoil for fear of drawing the reptile in pursuit
of them. The air, more and more impregnated by the infectious odor of
the serpent, became suffocating.

"Can you not find a stone at hand in order to throw at it," said the
colonel in a low tone.

Hardly had he said these words when John uttered the most piercing cries
and struggled violently, exclaiming, "Help! help! I die!"

Paralyzed with terror, Rutler strove to turn about, but he struck
himself violently on the head against the side of the passage. Then,
retreating as rapidly as he could with the assistance of his knees and
hands, he sought flight by backing out, while John, in extremity with
the serpent, made the most terrible and pitiful cries of terror and
suffering. All at once these cries became fainter and inarticulate, as
if the sailor was strangling. In fact, the enraged serpent, after
having, in the obscurity, stung John in the hand, the throat and face,
attem