Its folds relaxed, and the coils of the great body fell in a heap at the roots of the two trees, between which the scientist had been standing.
Professor Bumper seemed to fall backward as the grip of the serpent relaxed, but Tom, dropping his rifle, and calling to Ned to keep an eye on the snake, leaped forward and caught his friend.
“Are you hurt?” asked Tom, carrying the limp form over to a grassy place. There was no answer, the savant’s eyes were closed and he breathed but faintly.
Ned Newton fired two more electric bullets into the still writhing body of the boa.
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“I guess he’s all in,” he called to Tom.
“Bless my horseradish! And so our friend seems to be,” commented Mr. Damon. “Have you anything with which to revive him, Tom?”
“Yes. Some ammonia. See if you can find a little water.”
“I have some in my flask.”
Tom mixed a dose of the spirits which he carried with him, and this, forced between the pallid lips of the scientist, revived him.
“What happened?” he asked faintly as he opened his eyes. “Oh, yes, I remember,” he added slowly. “The boa — — ”
“Don’t try to talk,” urged Tom. “You’re all right. The snake is dead, or dying. Are you much hurt?”
Professor Bumper appeared to be considering. He moved first one limb, then another. He seemed to have the power over all his muscles.
“I see how it happened,” he said, as he sat up, after taking a little more of the ammonia. “I was following the iguana, and when the big lizard came to a stop, in a little hollow place in the ground, at the foot of those two trees, I leaned over to slip a noose of rope about its neck. Then I felt myself caught, as if in the hands of a giant, and bound fast between the two trees.”