“Timmy ought to be used to this sort of thing by now,” said Julian. “He’s had plenty of it in the adventures he’s shared with us. Hey there, Tim! Slowly does it! Good dog, then! I guess you’re glad to be standing on firm ground again!”

Timmy certainly was. He allowed himself to be untied from his rug by George, and then tried a few steps to see if the ground was really firm beneath his feet. He leapt up at George joyfully, very glad to be out in the open air again.

“Here comes Dick,” said Julian. The peg-rope swayed a little, and Alfredo went to hold it steady. He and the rubber-man and Mr. Slither were now extremely concerned about something, so concerned that they had hardly a word to say to Julian and George and Anne.

They had suddenly missed Jo and the snake! The snake-man didn’t care tuppence about Jo — but he did care about his precious, beloved, magnificent python! He had already hunted all round the courtyard for it.

“If Jo’s taken it back to camp with her, I’ll pull her hair off!” muttered the snake-man, unhappily, and Julian looked at him in astonishment. What was he muttering about?

Terry-Kane came next, and last of all Bufflo, who seemed to slide down in a most remarkable way, not using the pegs at all. He leapt down beside them, grinning.

“There’s a tremendous upset up aloft!” he said. “Yelling and shouting and scampering about. What do you suppose is the matter with those fellows? We’ll be able to get them nicely, if we go to the hole in the wall. They’ll be out there soon, I reckon. Come on!”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Beauty and jo enjoy themselves

Something certainly had happened to upset Pottersham and his three friends. After the door of the tower-room had been slammed and bolted, the men had gone clattering down the stone steps. They had come to the door that led into the gallery, and had opened it and gone out on to the gallery itself.

But before they could find the spiral staircase a little way along, Pottersham had tripped over something — something that hissed like an engine letting off steam, and had wound itself round his legs.

He yelled, and struck out at whatever it was. At first he had thought it was a man lying in wait for him, who had pounced at his legs — but he knew it wasn’t a man now. No man could hiss like that!

One of the men shone a torch down to see what was the matter with Pottersham. What he saw made him yell and almost drop the torch.

“A snake! A snake bigger than any I’ve ever seen! It’s got you, Pottersham!”

“Help me, man, help me!” shouted Pottersham, hitting down at the snake as hard as he could. “It’s squeezing my legs together in its coils.”

The other men ran to help him. As soon as they began to tug, Beauty uncoiled and glided off into the shadows.