Page:Ballinger Price--Fortune of the Indies.djvu/212



ELL, all seems to be serene outside," Mark whispered. "Beasts and snakes in the corners or not, it's time we found out what this place is like."

They each moved cautiously to a wall and began feeling the slimy stone. They came quietly toward one another, working carefully all over the wall-surface. Mark's hand passed unexpectedly over a moist little lizard, and he jumped back. The creature clicked and hissed, and scurried off up a crack.

"That's your cobra," Mark said to Alan. "Glory, he did give me a turn, though!"

The tour of the room was completed, and the boys stood together in the middle of it.

"There's absolutely nothing but the door, and that's bolted," Alan said.

"And if we try anything on it, we'll wake 190