to be no way save one."

"Wait till the snakes have gone back to their holes, father?"

"Yes, after dark; and then it will not be a pleasant task to get the
kegs away. Worse and worse."

"Oh, there can't be anything worse, sir," cried Griggs.

"I think there can, sir," replied the doctor. "This forces us to
bivouac, as the soldiers call it, in the serpent-inhabited desert. But
we must do it, I suppose. The snakes will not be stirring during the
darkness. But we must hope that when we find the gold region, it will
not be such a serpent-haunted spot as this; the gold could not have
better guardians to keep it safe."

No one spoke for a few minutes, during which the doctor sat upon his
horse watching the movements of the serpents.

"That seems to be the only way," he said at last.

"To wait, father?"

"Yes. We had better build up a cairn with some of these stones to guide
us to the spot when we come to hunt for it in the dark."

"No need to build a cairn, sir, if I plant three or four stones on the
top of that big rock there."

"No; but what about finding it in the dark?"

"Lanthorn will set that right, sir."

"Very well. Up with them, then. Help him, Chris; I'll hold the
horses."

The reins were handed to the speaker, and Griggs pointed to a large
light-grey piece of lava.

"If you can lift one end of that, squire, to help me, that bit would
stand upright on the top of this block. This would do, for it's
light-coloured. Can you do it?"

"Oh yes; it's the same sort of stone as this," said Chris, pushing a
piece with his foot, "all full of holes, like sponge and cinder."

"Come on, then."

They stooped down one at either end of the fragment, some three feet
long and one wide, looking squared like a crystal, and as if Nature had
taken the first steps towards providing the builder of a house with a
piece to form part of a door-post.

"Yes, it's light enough," said Chris, lifting one end, and then uttering
a cry as he dropped it again, to start back, for there was a sharp hiss,
a dull rattling sound--not sharp enough for a rattle--and a large snake
glided from beneath, to curl up menacingly, while from the other side a
second had appeared, to begin writhing and darting about, striking at
random into the air as far as it could reach, while the doctor had hard
work to restrain the prancing horses.

Needless to say, Chris and his companion had lost no time in getting
beyond reach of the poisonou