THE DEN OF VIPERS
"This way, fellows!" came a voice.
"There he is, over yonder," said Bluff, pointing.
"He seems to be interested in something down in a hole. Wonder if it
could be another bear's den?" laughed Frank.
"What ails you, Will?" demanded Bluff, as he and his comrade drew near.
"I'm in a peck of trouble again, that's what," replied the other.
"No quicksand this time, eh? And I see no sign of a bear. What's
happened? Where is your camera?" asked Frank, quickly noting the fact
that Will failed to have the little black box, as usual, in his hand.
"That's just what's the matter with me. The blessed things have taken
possession, and I don't dare go near. Ugh! I always hated 'em like
poison!"
Frank stepped closer to where he could look down into the gully which
seemed to be holding the attention of his chum.
"Snakes!" he exclaimed.
"Wow! Look at the bunch, will you? They seem to think there's something
mighty good in that same black box of yours, Will. See how they keep
twisting around it, going and coming. Say, there are more of the vipers!
Bless my soul, if they ain't peeking out of every crack in the place,
dozens and dozens of 'em!" cried Bluff, aghast.
"Do you mean to say you were down there?" demanded Frank.
"Why, yes, and there wasn't one in sight then. I meant to cross over so
as to get a view of the glen with the sun at my back. I laid down the
camera to fasten my belt, where it had slipped. Just then I saw several
of the nasty things creeping up close by me," and Will shivered.
"I bet you cut and run, forgetting all about your camera," declared
Bluff.
"Well, now, Mr. Smarty, I did just that same thing. Who wouldn't? You
know that I'd sooner face seven wildcats than one snake. They always
give me the creeps. But I want my camera, snakes or no snakes," said
Will.
"How are you intending to get it?" observed the unsympathetic Bluff.
"If I'd known that, do you suppose I'd have called you up to help? I
want advice, that's what," snapped Will.
"Well," remarked Frank soberly, "it looks to me as if you'd had another
narrow escape, Will. Some of those snakes may be of a poisonous variety.
Seems to me I can see rattlers among them, or copperheads, at least.
What if one of them had struck you in the hand?"
"Ugh! Please don't mention it, Frank! I'll have the cold shivers now,
for sure. If I wake the camp to-night with a wild whoop, don't blame me.
What with quicksands and poisonous snakes I ought to be excused for any
racket," he declared.
"Why, hang it, if the place ain't fairly alive with the crawling
critters! Frank, you wouldn't think of going down there to get that box,
I hope?" demanded Bluff, as the other commenced to make a move.
"It would have to be something ten times as valuable as that to tempt
me," was the reply, "but all the same, we must find a way to rescue
Will's camera. Without it how can he take any more pictures of our
wonderful deeds? Let's see, once to-day I've used the limb of a tree to
good advantage. Perhaps it can be made to play a part again."
He happened to be holding his little, keen-edged camp hatchet in his
hand, having been using it at the moment he heard Will calling. With
this he walked about until he found just the little sapling he wanted. A
few blows sufficed to lay it low.
The others watched for a moment in silence.
"I catch on to the game," said Bluff presently.
"And so do I," added Will. "That hook at the end gives it away. You
intend to fish for the camera, eh, Frank?"
"Well, luckily, the box has a strap which I can easily catch, if only
this pole happens to be long enough. Now, when I get out to a point just
over the spot, one of you hand me the stick, will you?"
"Sure," replied Bluff, anxious to have a hand in the game.
"Oh, Frank! Be careful, please! Not for a dozen cameras would I see you
fall down into that horrible snake den!" ejaculated Will.
"And notice that the limb isn't overly stout, pard," warned Bluff.
"But it happens to be a hickory tree, and there's no danger of it
snapping off. I examined into all that before starting out, thank you.
Now the stick, please."
When this was poked out to him, as he clung to the down-hanging limb,
Frank immediately placed himself in a position to angle for the black
box.
"Is it long enough?" asked Will.
"Just, with nothing to spare," replied the other, as he sought to get
the crotch of the stick under the strap of the camera.
"Look at 'em striking at it! My! ain't they mad, though? Just as if they
had made up their minds to take to the business of picture snapping, and
hated to be knocked out of the deal. Did you ever see such a writhing
mass of snakes in your life?"
"I never did, Bluff. There! I had it fast, and that big rascal
deliberately upset all my calculations by twisting over the strap. Seems
as if they really knew what I was after, and meant to block me all they
could."
Half a minute later and Will gave a cry of satisfaction, for the camera
was coming slowly up from the depths, fastened to the end of Frank's
stick.
"Say! look at 'em, will you? Ain't they mad, though? Frank, do you think
it's safe for us to have the camp near such a snake den as this?" asked
Bluff.
"Oh, yes; safe enough. It isn't as near as you seem to think. Besides,
there happens to be a brook between. I don't believe one of these
snakes will ever cross that water. Still, I admit I'd feel better if the
whole thing were wiped out."
"All right. I'm going to think up some way of doing it. Perhaps we could
throw heaps of dead brush down there, and set it on fire. Another way
would be to blow it up with a dynamite cartridge."
"Only we haven't got one," added Will quickly, as he rubbed his precious
camera off with an old handkerchief, which he then threw away.
"Let's get away from here," said Frank, "and perhaps you'd better
postpone all snapshotting in this neighborhood until after we have found
some way to dispose of those ugly customers. They might make you
trouble, Will."
Arriving back in camp, Frank went on with his preparations for supper.
Adolphus must be tired after his long day of it on the way from town
with that unwieldy load, and Frank thought it well to let the ancient
darky rest up a bit before putting him at cooking for the hungry crowd.
Frank was always thinking of every one's comfort but his own, and this
sort of thing made him an ideal comrade for a camping trip in the
wilderness.
The supper was pronounced a success by all. Even Bluff's stew of bear
meat was tasty, and "filled a long-felt vacuum," as Jerry expressed it,
when he passed up his pannikin for a third helping.
Despite their adventures of the day, which had been of an alarming
character, the boys made merry, as youngsters always will, for trouble
sets lightly on their shoulders, as a rule.
They sang and joked as they sat about the fire. Indeed, one would not
think that any of them had the slightest cause for anxiety as the
evening waned, and they made preparations for the first night on Lake
Surprise, far up in the Sunset Mountains.
Frank and Will took a turn at blowing up the rubber mattresses, though
Bluff could hardly be restrained from challenging Jerry to a trial.
Long after the others had crawled under the tents Frank sat there,
thinking over the long list of queer things that had come to them in the
short campaign since they left home a few days before.
Most of all, his thoughts seemed to run in line with Andy Lasher, and
his mysterious mission into the hills. Could it be in connection with
that escaped convict? And did the one-time actor, Thaddeus Lasher, have
anything to do with this humbug of a ghost, seen so often along Oak
Ridge by various people?
Then, as he sat there, Frank took out the little gold locket which poor
Jed had trusted to his keeping. Here was another mystery awaiting
explanation. He looked at it very hard, as though wondering how he could
penetrate to the secret attaching to that same small ornament, and learn
just why the covetous old farmer, Cal Dobson, wanted to get possession
of it so badly.
His boy chums were soundly sleeping long before this, but Frank had
decided to keep watch as long as possible, when he would arouse Jerry.
And as he sat there, once in a while he would look around. The grim
steeps of the mountains arose beyond, for the lake was far from being on
the summit of the cluster known as Sunset Range.
He could hear Adolphus snoring back where he had his bed under a canvas
fly. Once the old man awoke with startled exclamations about the ghost,
but he had only been dreaming, and soon passed into slumberland again.
As Frank happened to look up to the side of the mountain he caught sight
of a flare that came and went several times, as though it might be a
signal, after which he saw it no more.
"That was strange," he muttered uneasily, "and the more I see of things
the stronger I feel that something mighty queer must be going on up in
this region. What with a ghost roaming about, and a posse of officers
searching for an escaped convict, anything is liable to happen at any
time. H'm! That is a pleasant thought, now, but it's true,
nevertheless."