CHAPTER II
A NEST OF SERPENTS
"What is it; a rattlesnake?" asked Bob, in a hoarse whisper.
"Or a Gila monster?" inquired Ned.
"Quiet! No noise!" cautioned the professor. "I see a specimen worth tendollars at the lowest calculation. I'll have him in a minute."
"Is it a bug?" asked Chunky.
"There! I have him!" yelled the scientist, making a sudden dive forward,sliding on his face, and clutching his hand deep into the grass.
As it happened there was a little puddle of water at that point, and theprofessor, in the excess of his zeal, pitched right into it.
"Oh! Oh my! Oh dear! Phew! Wow! Help! Save me!" he exclaimed a momentlater, as he tried to get out of the slough.
The boys hurried to his aid, but the mud was soft and the professor hadgone head first into the ooze, which held fast to him as though it wasquicksand.
"Get him by the heels and yank him out or he'll smother!" cried Jerry.
The other boys followed his advice, and, in a little while thebug-collector was pulled from his uncomfortable and dangerous position.As he rolled about in the grass to get rid of some of the mud, he kepthis right hand tightly closed.
"What's the matter, are your fingers hurt?" asked Bob.
"No sir, my fingers are not hurt!" snapped the professor, with thefaintest tinge of impatience, which might be excused on the part of aman who has just dived into a mud hole. "My fingers are not hurt in theleast. What I have here is one of the rarest specimens of the Mexicanmosquito I have ever seen. I would go ten miles to get one."
"I guess you're welcome to 'em," commented Jerry. "We don't want any."
"That's because you don't understand the value of this specimen,"replied the professor. "This mosquito will add to my fame, and I shalldevote one whole chapter of my four books to it. This indeed has been alucky day for me."
"And unlucky for the rest of us," said Bob, as he thought of the spill.
It was found that a few minor repairs had to be made to the auto, andwhen these were completed it was nearly noon.
"I vote we have dinner before we start again," spoke Bob.
"There goes Chunky!" exclaimed Ned. "Never saw him when he wasn'tthinking of something to eat!"
"Well, I guess if the truth was known you are just as hungry as I am,"expostulated Chunky. "This Mexican air gives me a good appetite."
Bob's plan was voted a good one, so, with supplies and materials carriedin the auto for camping purposes, a fire was soon built, and hotchocolate was being made.
"I'm sick of canned stuff and those endless eggs, frijoles andtortillas," complained Bob. "I'd like a good beefsteak and some fish andbread and butter."
"I don't know about the other things, but I think we could get some fishover in that little brook," said the professor, pointing to a streamthat wound about the base of a near-by hill.
A minute later the boys had their hooks and lines out. Poles were cutfrom trees, and, with some pieces of canned meat for bait they wentfishing. They caught several large white fish, which the professornamed in long Latin terms, and which, he said, were good to eat.
In a little while a savory smell filled the air, for Ned, who volunteeredto act as cook, had put the fish on to broil with some strips of bacon,and soon there was a dinner fit for any king that ever wielded a scepter.
Sipping their chocolate, the boys and the professor watched the sunslowly cross the zenith as they reclined in the shade of the big treeson either side of the road. Then each one half fell asleep in the lazyatmosphere.
Jerry was the first to rouse up. He looked and saw it would soon bedusk, and then he awakened the others.
"We'll have to travel, unless we want to sleep out in the open," he said.
Thereupon they made preparations to leave, the professor gathering uphis specimens, including the Mexican mosquito that had caused him suchlabor.
"I think we'll head straight for the Rio Grande," said Jerry. "Once weget into Texas I expect we'll have some news from Nestor, as I wrote himto let us know how the mine was getting on, and, also, to inform us ifhe needed any help."
"I'll be glad to see old Jim again," said Bob.
"So will I," chimed in Ned.
The auto was soon chug-chugging over the road, headed toward the States,and the occupants were engaged with their thoughts. It was rapidlygrowing dusk, and the chief anxiety was to reach some town or villagewhere they could spend the night. For, though they were used to stayingin the open, they did not care to, now that the rainy season was comingon, when fevers were prevalent.
The sun sank slowly to rest behind the big wooded hills as the autoglided along, and, almost before the boys realized it, darkness was uponthem.
"Better light the lamps," suggested Ned. "No telling what we'll run intoon this road. No use colliding with more ox carts, if we can help it."
"I'll light up," volunteered Bob. "It will give me a chance to stretchmy legs. I'm all cramped up from sitting still so long."
Jerry brought the big machine to a stop while Bob alighted and proceededto illuminate the big search lamp and the smaller ones that burned oil.He had just started the acetylene gas aglow when, glancing forward hegave a cry of alarm.
"What is it?" cried Jerry, seeing that something was wrong. "Is it amountain lion?"
"It's worse!" cried Bob in a frightened voice.
"What?"
"A regular den of snakes! The horrible things are stretched right acrossthe road, and we can't get past. Ugh! There are some whoppers!"
Bob, who hated, above all creatures a snake, made a jump into the auto.
"There's about a thousand of 'em!" he cried with a shudder.
"Great!" exclaimed the professor. "I will have a chance to select somefine specimens. This is a rare fortune!"
"Don't go out there!" gasped Bob. "You'll be bitten to death!"
Just then there sounded on the stillness of the night a strange,whirring buzz. At the sound of it the professor started.
"Rattlers!" he whispered. "I guess none of us will get out. Probablymoccasins, cotton-mouths and vipers! There must be thousands of them!"
As he spoke he looked over the side of the car, and the exclamation hegave caused the boys to glance toward the ground. There they beheld asight that filled them with terror.
As the professor had said, the ground was literally covered with thesnakes. The reptiles seemed to be moving in a vast body to some newlocation. There were big snakes and little ones, round fat ones, andlong thin ones, and of many hues.
"Let's get out of this!" exclaimed Ned. "Start the machine, Jerry!"
"No! Don't!" called the professor. "You may kill a few, but therevolving wheels of the auto will fling some live ones up among us, andI have no desire to be bitten by any of these reptiles. They are toodeadly. So keep the car still until they have passed. They are probablygetting ready to go into winter quarters, or whatever corresponds tothat in Mexico."
"It will be lucky if they don't take a notion to climb up and investigatethe machine and us," put in Jerry. "I have--"
He gave a sudden start, for, at that instant one of the ugly reptiles,which had twined itself around the wheel spokes, reared its ugly headup, over the side of the front seat, and hissed, right in Jerry's face.
"Here's one now!" the boy exclaimed as he made a motion to brush thesnake aside.
"Don't touch it as you value your life!" yelled the professor. "It's adiamond-backed rattler, and one of the most deadly!"
"Here is another coming up on my side," called Bob.
"Yes, and there are some coming up here!" shouted Ned. "They'lloverwhelm us if we don't look out!"
For a time it seemed a serious matter. The snakes began twining up thesides of the car, and, though most of them dropped back to the groundagain, a few maintained their position, and seemed to exhibit anger atthe sight of the boys and the professor.
"What shall we do?" asked Bob. "We can't run ahead, or go backward, and,if we stay h
ere we're likely to be killed by the snakes."
Jerry, who was feeling around in the bottom of the car for his rifle,gave a cry as his hand came in contact with something.
"Get bitten?" asked the professor in alarm.
"No, but I found this lariat," said Jerry in excited tones.
"Are you going to lasso the snakes?" asked Ned, wondering if Jerry hadgone crazy.
"No, but you see this lariat is made of horse hair, and I think I cankeep the snakes away with it."
"How; by shaking it at 'em?"
"No. I read in some book that snakes hated horse hair, and would nevercross even a small ring of it."
"Well?"
"Well, if I run this lariat all around the auto the snakes will notcross it to come to us. Then we can stay here until they all disappear."
"Good!" exclaimed Ned. "That's the ticket!"
The reptiles that had climbed up the wheels had gone from sight. Withthe help of Ned and Bob, Jerry began to spread the horse-hair lariat ina circle about the car.