We will take the sting out of the snake, in case it tries to attack us again." In a minute or two a score of bows, spears, and others weapons were thrown on the fire; and the boys then, leaving the place which had so nearly proved fatal to them, took their way up the mountain side.

It was a long pull, the more so that they had the food, water, and large skins for protection from the night air to carry.
Steadily as they kept on, with only an occasional halt for breath, it was late before they emerged from the forest and stood upon a plateau between two lofty hills.

This was bare and treeless, and the keen wind made them shiver, as they met it.
"We will creep among the trees, Tom; and be off at daybreak, tomorrow.

However long the journey, we must get across the pass before we sleep, for the cold there would be terrible." A little way down the crest it was so warm that they needed no fire, while a hundred feet higher, exposed to the wind from the snow-covered peaks, the cold was intense.

They kept careful watch, but the night passed quietly.