dle of his
chest. The snake's head was resting upon the top flake of his coils,
with his cold, cruel eyes gazing straight at us, and his long, black,
forked tongue flickering in and out of his mouth in a most suggestively
threatening manner.

"`What's the best thing to do?' murmured Dirk in low tones. `We must do
something quickly, for if Pete awakes and stirs as much as an eyelid the
beggar will bite him, and then it will be all up with poor Pete.'

"There was a small branch, with a few twigs and a bunch of leaves on the
end of it, lying on the ground within reach of my right hand. I
contrived to get hold of this without disturbing the snake; then,
sitting up suddenly, I thrust the bunch of leaves on the end of the
branch straight and hard at the reptile, and--it vanished! That is the
only way in which I can convey any idea of the rapidity with which it
retreated. The next instant Pete was sitting up, rubbing the sleep out
of his eyes, and demanding with many choice forecastle embellishments
what I meant by my fool tricks. When we explained to him the danger
that he had so narrowly escaped, he had the grace to thank me for my
intervention; but we all agreed that the spot had no longer any charm
for us, and that it was high time for us to resume our search for a
place where we might pass the night in safety.

"Such a place was by no means easy to find, but ultimately, within a few
minutes of sunset, we came upon a sort of shelter among some rocks, of
which we at once took possession--for our need was by this time urgent,
total darkness being due in about ten minutes. Pete was strongly of
opinion that, wherever our shelter might be, we ought to light a fire in
front of it to scare away wild beasts, and, possessing a burning-glass,
he took the precaution to make fire with it before the sun sank too low,
and to kindle a torch with it for the purpose of lighting our fire. So,
having at length found our shelter, we forthwith proceeded to gather
materials, light our protective fire, and dispose of ourselves for the
night.

"Having found a refuge of sorts, we anticipated a good night's rest; but
no sooner had darkness closed down upon us than from all quarters there
arose a chorus of the most terrifying sounds--roars, barks, bellowings,
savage growls, grunts, shrieks--never in my life before had I heard
anything like the pandemonium that raged around us! We heard the
branches of trees being broken; great stones ca