"We can manage," spoke the young inventor.
Then he and Ned crept on with ready rifles. The snake raised its
ugly head and hissed, ceasing for a moment to constrict its coils
about the unfortunate man.
"Now's our chance--fire!" hoarsely whispered Ned.
It seemed as if the big snake heard, for, raising its head still
higher, it fairly glared at Ned and Tom. It was the very chance they
wanted, for they could now fire without the danger of hitting Mr.
Damon.
"Ready?" asked Tom of his chum in a low voice.
"Ready!" was the equally low answer.
It was necessary to kill the serpent at one shot, as to merely wound
it might mean that in its agony it would thresh about, and seriously
injure, if not kill, Mr. Damon.
"Fire!" called Tom in a whisper, and he and Ned pressed the triggers
of the electric rifles on the same instant.
There was a streak of bluish flame that cut like a sliver through
the gathering darkness, and then, as though a blight had fallen upon
it, the folds of the great snake relaxed, and Mr. Damon slipped to
the ground unconscious. The electric charges had gone fairly through
the head of the serpent and it had died instantly.
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