ointed out, and each one sprang up as
if he had received an electric shock, while Wags began to bark
furiously. And small wonder, for directly in front of the shelter
was a collection of snakes numbering at least thirty or forty. They
were black, brown and green in color and from two to four feet in
length. Some were lying flat, while others were curled up in various
attitudes.

"Snakes!" faltered Fred. "And what a lot of them!"

"Dere ain't no choke apout dis!" gasped Hans, his eyes almost as big
as saucers. "Vot shall ve do?"

"Get your pistols, boys!" came from Songbird, and he drew his weapon.

"Don't shoot!" and Tom caught the other by the arm. "If you kill one
snake, the others will go for us sure. What an awful lot of them!
This locality must be a regular snakes' den."

"If they come in here, we'll all be bitten, and if they are poisonous--"
Fred tried to go on, but could not.

"There is no telling if they are poisonous or not," returned Tom.
"One thing is sure, I don't want them to sample me," and the others
said about the same.

What to do was at first a question. The snakes lay about ten feet
from the front of the shelter and in a semicircle, so that the boys
could not get out, excepting by stepping on the reptiles or leaping
over them.

"They are coming closer!" exclaimed Fred a moment later. "It looks
as if they were going to tackle us, sure!"

"I have a plan," cried Tom. "Come here, Hans, and let me boost you up."

The others understood, and while the fun-loving Rover gave the German
boy a boost, Songbird did the same for Fred.

The edge of the cliff of rocks was rough, and, when hoisted up, Hans
and Fred were enabled to grasp at several cracks and projections.
They laid hold vigorously and soon pulled themselves out of harm's way.

By this time, the snakes had wiggled several feet closer to the
shelter. Evidently, it was their den and, while they wished to get
in, they did not know exactly what to do about the intruders.

"Can you get a hold?" questioned Songbird as he stood on a flat rock
and raised himself into the air a distance of two feet.

Tom was already trying to do so, and soon he was crawling up the edge
of the cliff. As the rocks were slippery from the rain, it was by no
means an easy or sure task. But he advanced with care, and soon joined
Fred and Hans at the top.

"I am glad we are out of that!" exclaimed Fred. "Ugh! how I do hate
snakes!"

"I think everybody does," retur