Dick, who
looked mightily relieved when, the head having been skinned, it was
cut off and thrown into the bay. After that he became interested
and helped Johnny with his work until he held in his hand the
beautiful skin of a diamondback rattlesnake, over six feet long.

In the afternoon the boys entered a big bay that seemed to have no
other outlet. They followed its shore for an hour, exploring every
little bay that looked big enough to hide the smallest creek. They
sounded the depth of the water with their paddles and traced a
little channel to a clump of bushes that overhung the water from the
shore. Johnny pulled the bow of the canoe under the overhanging
branches and found a little creek through which the water was
flowing. They dragged the canoe into the stream and found water deep
enough to float it, but branches and vines obstructed them above,
while logs and snags troubled them below. They used their knives and
the axe more than they did their paddles. At times they lay down in
the canoe and dragged it under branches and at others got overboard,
and standing in water and mud, lifted it over logs. They were in the
deep gloom of a jungle from which the thick growth above shut out
nearly all the light. As they pushed the canoe forward, unseen vines
seized their throats in a garroting clutch, while solid masses of
spider-webs stuck to their faces and spiders the size of a saucer
ran over them. As Johnny sat in the bow, he collected the most
spiders, since Dick only got those which his companion managed to
dodge, but then Johnny was used to the critters and didn't mind
them, while Dick wasn't, and did.

"What kind of snakes are these swimming round my legs?" asked Dick,
as he stood nearly waist-deep in mud and water and helped lift the
canoe over the biggest log they had struck.

"Speckle-belly moccasins. Mustn't get scared o' them, if you're
goin' to hunt in this country. They ain't likely to bite if yer
don't step on 'em and they won't kill yer, nohow," said Johnny.

The stream was so crooked that the boys had to travel three miles to
gain one and as the troubles in their path seemed to increase they
talked of turning back. But as it was already too late to get out of
the creek before dark, they decided to keep on. As it was, darkness
overtook them while they were yet in the creek. Among their stores
was a lantern, by the light of which they progressed for a little
while, when Johnny proposed making camp.