Their fire had
certainly brought out a combination in nature which would have been
decidedly interesting if it hadn't been so threatening.
"Me for the boat!" Jack said, with a shiver, as the serpent launched
his head and a third of his body from the tree and swept about in
widening circles. "I never could endure snakes!"
"I'm going to take a shot at it," Frank said. "I'd like to see him
take a tumble into the fire."
"Better let him alone," Harry advised.
Frank was about to fire when Jack caught his arm and held up his
hand in a listening attitude.
"What is it?" Frank asked.
"Human voices!" was the quick reply.
"Inhuman voices, I should say," Harry observed, after a second of
silence.
A chant unlike anything the boys had ever heard before undulated
through the forest. It rose and fell with the gusts of wind, and
always nearer to the fire.
"This is a new one on me!" Jack cried. "It is also another reason
for getting to the boat! Come on, fellows!"
"I'm not going to run until I find out what that is," insisted
Frank. "I'm going to write a newspaper story about this menagerie!"
"If you want your story published in this world," Jack cried, "you'd
better get under cover, for that's the chant of the head hunters!"
"Wow!" cried Frank, and he beat both his chums to the boat.
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