CHAPTER XIV.

A FIGHT WITH REPTILES.

“Snakes!” yelled Pickles. “Fo’ de land sakes, let dis chile git out!”

“Snakes!” echoed each of the others. “We can’t stay in here!”

And in less than half a minute every one was outside and several yards away from the entrance to the temporary camp.

“Whoever dreamed of the reptiles being there!” burst out Boxy.

“We might have known it,” put in Harry. “Snakes always live around rocks.”

“But why didn’t we see them first?” questioned Andy.

“They were out of sight and half-frozen,” responded Jack. “I suppose our moving around and the heat from the campfire roused them up.”

“Wot we gwine to do?” asked Pickles, dolefully. “I wouldn’t go back dar fo’ a billion dollars in cash, by golly, I wouldn’t!”

“The blankets and the sled are in there,” put in Andy. “We must get them.”

“Yes, we can’t even locate another camp until we have them,” said Harry. “We’d freeze to death without covers.”

“I move we fight the snakes and kill them,” remarked Jack. “I don’t believe they are very harmful.”

“They may be rattlers!” said Boxy, with a shiver. “And I don’t want to ‘climb the golden stair’ just yet.”

“I doubt if they are rattlers,” returned Jack. “And even so, they are not yet warm enough to show much fight. The likelihood is that we can kill them off without much trouble.”

The boys talked the matter over, and at length decided to make an attack on the snakes, and thus at least gain possession of their traps. Then if the cave-hut still looked “snaky” they would hunt up a new spot in which to spend the night.

Each of the boys provided himself with a torch and a club, and then the opening to the place was enlarged to twice its size.

Jack was the first to enter, and the others came closely behind him.

The leader quickly killed the first snake to raise its head, and Harry followed with the death of the largest of all of the reptiles. Then torches were stuck up in convenient places and the battle began.

At first the snakes were easy victims, but soon the noise and the deaths of their fellows roused up those that remained, and a loud hissing and a lively squirming told that they were angry.

They darted to one side and another, and more than one attempted to strike the boys with its fangs.

Harry had the most startling experience of all. A snake dropped from a crevice overhead and landed directly on his neck. The sensation shocked the boy, but he was quick to act. He caught the snake by the tail, swung it around, and dashed its head with all his force against the solid walls of the hut-cave. The reptile was instantly killed.

Andy also had a thrilling experience, a snake winding itself around his ankle, and refusing to loosen itself even when caught back of the neck by the courageous boy.

“Hop out and hold him over the fire a second,” cried Jack.

Out on one foot went Andy, still holding tight to the reptile. When close to the fire, he let go, and thrust the foot over the flames. On the instant the snake straightened out and fell into the fire, before either the boy’s boot or his trousers were very much injured.

At last the snakes were all either killed or driven off, and the boys took a breathing spell. They counted up the slain, and with the one consumed by fire, found they numbered fourteen.

“That’s a pretty good many in one dose,” remarked Jack; “especially when some of them are pretty nearly three feet long.”

“I never want to run across such a nest again!” shuddered Harry; and all agreed with him.

“There were at least half a dozen that got away,” remarked Boxy. “I saw three crawl in between the rocks.”

“So did I,” returned Andy. “We don’t want to put in any night in this place.”

“By golly, no!” cried Pickles. “I dun radder tie myself up on de limb ob a tree and risk gittin’ freezed to deaf!”

The sled and the blankets were hauled out of the hut-cave, and examined to see that no live snake was anywhere in hiding among them. Then they gathered around the fire to talk matters over.

Jack mentioned the spot he had found among the tall maple trees just before he had fallen into the hole, and they decided that they would locate there for the night. Once more the traps, and a large portion of the burning brush, were removed, and they set to work with all speed to furnish themselves a resting-place.

“Now, if this doesn’t turn out all right, we’ll bunk around the fire in the open,” said Jack, and the others said so, too.

The extra blankets were tied up around the trees, and against these were heaped brush and leaves. Then the interior was cleaned up, and the rubber blankets put down once more.

The work took less than half an hour, and when it was completed the boys had a camp that if not quite as warm as the other might have been, was still dry and sheltered.

“We’ll build an extra large fire, and that will keep us warm,” said Andy.

“Yes, but we don’t want to wake up an’ find ourselves burnt to deaf,” cautioned Pickles.

“That’s so,” put in Jack. “Be careful that the leaves are cleaned away around the brush before you build the fire too high.”

Once again brush was gathered, and the fire fixed to everybody’s satisfaction, and then all hands retired into the new camping hut, and sought their various places of rest.

It was a strange experience to all of them, and it is doubtful if any of them slept, saving by fits and starts, until toward morning. The fight with the snakes was still in their minds, and, as Boxy aptly put it, “they could see snakes just as plainly as if they had been off on a spree.”

Pickles was the first to stir himself in the morning, while it was yet dark. The colored boy sat up, and, seeing his companions still slumbering, decided to go out, start up the fire and begin preparing breakfast without disturbing them.

He arose to his feet, and, throwing down his blanket, stepped over to the entrance to the hut. Then a low cry of surprise escaped him, a cry that made all of the others open their eyes.

“What’s the matter?” cried Harry.

“It’s dun gone an’ snowed de fiah cl’ar out ob sight!” returned Pickles.

“Snowed the fire out of sight is good,” laughed Boxy. “Well, let’s hustle and shovel it in sight again, for it’s as cold as the North Pole in here!”

“And it’s colder yet outside,” replied Jack, looking out of the doorway Pickles had opened. “The snow is coming down lively, boys, and we must lose no time if we want to get across the lake and settle down.”

Every one was soon outside, Boxy and Andy with their blankets still drawn around them. Both were used to sleeping in heated bedrooms, and the cold seemed to pierce them to the very marrow of their bones.

“Hustle around to start up the fire, and that will warm you up,” suggested Harry. “Come, everybody pitch in, for it’s half-past seven, and we want to be on our way by eight o’clock, or a little after.”

They did pitch in with a will. While Pickles, Boxy, and Andy started up a big, lively blaze, and got together something to eat, Jack and Harry took down the blankets and packed the things on the sled.

Presently Pickles slipped off down to the lake, taking the ax and a spear with him.

“He’s gone to spear a pickerel or some other fish,” said Boxy, and he was right, for it was not long before the colored boy returned with a beauty, weighing all of a pound and a half, which was soon broiling over the flames.

It was still snowing, and the boys had to fairly brush the flakes from what they were eating during the meal. Jack calculated that already three inches had fallen on the level.

“And before night we’ll have a foot or two of it unless it clears off,” he added. “So be lively, fellows!”

“Can we skate over the lake?” questioned Andy.

“That would be much easier than walking.”

“Yo’ can skate ober all right,” replied Pickles. “De wind has dun kept mos’ ob it cl’ar, ’ceptin’ in spots.”

“Oh, but this is fine fish!” cried Boxy. “Pickles, you mustn’t forget that you promised to show me how to spear them.”

“So I will, when we gits ober to de reg’lar camp,” replied the colored youth, smiling broadly at the praise bestowed.

By quarter-past eight they put out the fire, placed the last of the things on the sled, and set out. Down on the surface of the lake they found a cold wind blowing from the northwest, and the snowflakes appeared to be thicker than ever.