"No, not a bit of it."

"But we are; just slowly rising, and by night we shall find that we are in quite a different place, hundreds of feet higher than where we had breakfast this morning."

"Well, I hope you're right," said Chris.

No more was said then, the two boys sometimes riding, sometimes walking, till after some hours Griggs pulled up, to point to the fact that they had reached what seemed to be the summit of an enormous land-wave heaved up and rising for miles either way across the desert, but right in front descending slowly into a vast hollow plain which glistened in its desolation as if frosted with silver.

"Why, it must be silver," cried Ned enthusiastically.

"Nay, nay, only salt, my lad. Looks like a dried-up lake."

"Yes; where's your herd of buffaloes?" cried Chris. "Oh, shouldn't I like for us to shoot one and have some beef!"

"Yes; buffalo hump isn't bad," said Griggs. "It's rich and tender and gravyish."

"But where is it?" said Ned.

"Higher up, I suppose, where there's prairie-land and gra.s.s. You don't expect to see buffler where there's nothing to graze on, do you? Look at the stones, though. Regular rocky ridges rising up one above the other on the other side of that frosty lake part. Shouldn't wonder if we found something fresh there."

He pointed to his left, where there was a manifest change in the scenery as seen through the shimmering haze which hindered the view.

"Yes," he cried eagerly, "if you look hard you can just get a glimpse of a great ridge, and just beyond--_ragh_! There are the mountains at last!"

"I can't see them," said Chris thoughtfully. "Are they near?"

"No; but near enough for us to reach to-morrow night."

"But what about to-night? I say, that isn't salt. I can see it glittering quite plainly; it's water."

"No, my lad; no water there. I wish there was," added Griggs to himself.

"Then what are we to do for water to-night?"

"There'll be enough to make our tea."

"But the horses and mules?" said Chris.

"We must try and find a hollow with some shrubby stuff that they can chew, poor beasts, for they'll get nothing else. What are you pointing at, squire?"

Ned made no answer, but sat fast where he had checked his pony, pointing to where hundreds, perhaps thousands, of heavy grey stones lay scattered widely about over the sandy slope.

"Well, I can see them; stones, looking as if a mountain had crumbled all away in an earthquake, or in some volcanic explosion which had shattered it all to pieces."

"No, no," said Ned huskily; "not there. More to the left. It is that tree I mean."

"Tree? There's no tree there."

"Yes, that great one that was turned over in the earthquake, and all of the trunk and top buried in the stones."

"I say, my lad," said Griggs anxiously, "has the heat been too much for you?"

"Yes, it made my head ache."

"That's it, then. Made you fancy you can see a tree upside down."

"'Tisn't fancy," said Ned huskily. "I can see plain enough, but it isn't natural. It's all alive, and the roots are twisting and twining about as if the tree was alive and in pain."

"Here, don't stare at it. Shut your eyes for a bit, my lad. I'll take your mustang's rein."

"But I must look at it," cried Ned excitedly. "I can't help it.

Horrid! Here, you two are not looking the right way."

"I'm looking at you, my lad," said Griggs kindly.

"And so are you, Chris. Don't--please don't. Look there; I want you to see what it means."

"Ugh!" gasped Chris, as he turned his eyes in the direction pointed out by his companion, and that which he saw then was evidently seen now by his nag, which started violently, and but for the tight hand the lad had upon the rein it would have dashed off.

"Here, have you got it too?" cried Griggs. "There, sit still till the water-kegs come up, and you must have a drink apiece. The sun has been too much for you, and--"

He said no more, but sat staring in one direction with his mouth wide open and his eyes seeming ready to start out of his head.

"Hallo, here! hallo!" cried the doctor, cantering up, closely followed by Wilton and Bourne, leaving their position in the rear unguarded.

"What's the matter--the boys taken ill?"

"Snakes," cried Griggs hoa.r.s.ely. "Look yonder."

Griggs' words were unnecessary, for the doctor's eyes had lighted upon the extraordinary sight that had startled Ned into his wild announcement.

The next moment his companions had grasped the phenomenon, and had hard work to keep their mounts from dashing frantically away.

For about a hundred yards from them, half-hidden among the stones, was something which pretty well warranted Ned's comparison to a tree turned wrong way up, so that only its roots were visible above the ground, the object being, in fact, a monstrous knot of hundreds of snakes twined together as if they were all engaged in the attempt to get their heads into the centre of the tangled ma.s.s which, all in motion, heaved and sank and rolled from side to side, the lower portions of the serpents'

bodies and their tails being free to lash and writhe about in the air, while at a second glance the spectators began to realise the fact that all around, gliding in and out amongst the stones, were hundreds upon hundreds more of the reptiles, apparently urged on by some savage instinct to form other knots, till the whole of the hollow in front seemed to be alive with the loathsome creatures.

"Did you ever see anything like this before, Griggs?" said the doctor, who was the first to speak.

"Never, sir; but an old gold prospector once told me that he had seen just such a sight, only I put it down to being a yarn told to cram me."

"But they're not poisonous--not rattlesnakes, surely?" said Bourne.

"They surely are," cried Wilton. "Hark! Can't you hear? It's like a dull thrilling sound. Here, I don't want to be the first to run, but I can't stand this; I'm off."

"We'd better all be off," cried the doctor. "Here, Griggs, head round your bell-mule and let's get away. You seem to have led us right into the empire of snakes. Quick, look alive, or the poor brutes will be right amongst the reptiles."

"Not they, sir; they smell 'em now. Come and help, or we shall have a stampede."