Page:Rover Boys on the Farm.djvu/150

134 the lights when they heard a curious rustling sound on the floor near the door.

"What is that?" asked Pell, who was inclined to be nervous.

"I don't know, I'm sure," answered Sobber.

The rustling continued, and something seemed to move across the floor. Wondering what it could be, the bully got up and lit a light. Then he gave a yell and leaped back.

"The snake!"

"Where is it?" screamed Pell, sitting bold upright and his hair raising on ends.

"There it is, over in the corner."

"The snake! The snake!" called out the other boys in the room, and some were so scared that they dove under the bed clothing.

The light was not strong enough to see clearly, and nobody had the courage to make more of an illumination. Sobber stood in the center of the room and as he did this the snake suddenly seemed to fly through the air right at him.

"Oh!" he screamed. "Go away!" and he flopped on his bed and threw a blanket over him. He felt the reptile cross the bed and lay there quaking in mortal terror. Then he heard something moving across the floor.

"That snake is bound to bite me!" he muttered to himself. "Oh, why did I bring it to the school!"