about a mile and a half long and half as wide. At some points the path was choked with weeds and trailing vines, and they progressed with difficulty.
It must be admitted that Tom and Sam were very uneasy. They had felt that the authorities might follow the Peacock, but how would anybody ever discover them in such a lonely place as this? But there was no help for it, and on they went until Captain Langless called a sudden halt.
They had gained a cliff running out from one end of the hill. The rocks arose in a sheer wall, thirty or more feet in height. At the base were a spring and a small pool of water. To the left of the spring was a cave-like opening, partly choked with brushwood.
"Here we are," said the captain. "Watch them."
He moved toward the opening and soon had a portion of the brushwood torn aside. Then he lit a lantern he had brought along and disappeared into the opening.
He had scarcely passed from view when he let out a yell of fright.
"A snake! Look out for him!"
The words just reached the ears of Sam and Tom when the reptile appeared. He was all of five feet long and as thick as a man's wrist.
"A snake!" screamed Dan Baxter, and took to
