vines.
Some of these gave way, and the three boys fell back. Then from
under the rocks came a strange, hissing sound, followed by a curious
rattle.

"What's that?" cried Snap.

"Snakes!" roared the doctor's son. "Back for your lives, fellows!
We have struck a den of rattlesnakes!"

CHAPTER XXVI

MORE OF A MYSTERY

There was a wild scrambling on the part of all the young hunters
to get out of the zone of danger. They leaped for the rocks behind
them, and Shep and Snap succeeded in mounting to spots of comparative
safety. But Giant was not so successful, and, slipping and sliding,
He rolled over and over, coming to a stop when flat on his back.

"Get up! get up!" screamed the doctor's son. "Hurry up, Giant!"

Shep and Snap had caught sight of three rattlesnakes, that had
glided from between the shelving rocks ahead. They were all of
good size. One had been caught in the torn-away vines and was
hissing viciously, and the other two were sounding their rattles,
preparatory to striking at the smaller youth.

Giant did not remain upon his back long. The instant he landed
he started to turn over. He saw one of the snakes draw near and
make a strike at his sockless ankle. Giant let out a yell like
an Indian on the warpath, and, on all fours, made a leap like a
frog a distance of several feet. Then he stood upright and made
another leap for the rocks. As he came close, Snap caught him
by the arm and pulled him still higher.

The doctor's son was the only person capable, just then, of using
a gun, and having no weapon of his own he grabbed Snap's and blazed
away. Whether he hit a snake or not he could not tell. There was
a hissing and rustling among the torn away vines, and when the smoke
of the discharge cleared away the snakes were no longer to be seen.

"Ugh! what---a---a thing t---to happen!" said Giant with a shiver.
His emotion was so deep he could scarcely speak.

"Where are the snakes now?" asked Snap, and drew himself up on the
highest rock he could find.

"I don't know---hiding, I suppose," answered the doctor's son as he
peered around sharply for a sight of the reptiles.

The three boys waited for fully two minutes, not daring to make a
move. The vines lay where they had been cast, and between them lay
Giant's gun, which he had dropped when trying to leap to safety.

"I guess we had better get out of this locality," said Snap at
length. "I have no desire to be bitten by a ratt