"
"Well, I was pretty badly squeezed as it was,"
remarked the professor. "I hardly had breath
enough left to call to you. I tried to fight off the
serpent, but it was of no use."
"I should say not!" cried Mr. Damon. "Bless my
circus ring! one might as well try to combat
an elephant! But, my dear professor, are you all
right now?"
"I think so--yes. Though I shall be lame and
stiff for a few days, I fear. I can hardly walk."
Professor Bumper was indeed unable to go
about much for a few days after his encounter
with the great serpent. He stretched out in a
hammock under trees in the camp clearing, and
with his friends waited for the possible return
of Tolpec and the porters.
Ned and Tom made one or two short hunting
trips, and on these occasions they kept a lookout
in the direction the Indian had taken when he
went away.
"For he's sure to come back that way--if he
comes at all," declared Ned; "which I am beginning
to doubt."
"Well, he may not come," agreed Tom, who
was beginning to lose some of his first hope.
"But he won't necessarily come from the same
direction he took. He may have had to go in an
entirely different way to get help. We'll hope
for the best."
A week passed. Professor Bumper was able
to be about, and Tom and Ned noticed that
there was an anxious look on his face. Was he,
too, beginning to despair?
"Well, this isn't hunting for golden idols very
fast," said Mr. Damon, the morning of the eighth
day after their desertion by the faithless Jacinto.
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