‘Perhaps we could annoy it enough for it to grab the end of the vine.’ Kel suggested, ‘I don’t think they move very fast, at least the ones I know about don’t.’
‘That’s worth a try,’ Moss responded, ‘let’s do that.’
They threw the end of the vine towards the Snapper, hitting it across the snout, but all they got for their trouble was a blink from one eye, the Snapper making no attempt to grab the vine as they had hoped.
They both walked back some way from the seemingly lifeless barrier to their progress, and sat down.
‘We shall have to find something large and bulky to attach on to the vine and then one of us will have to jab the little beast on the nose with a bladed stave enough to hurt, and when it makes a grab for it, the other will have to try and drop the loaded vine into it’s mouth. Having taken the bait, we should be able to move it, as I doubt if it can bring it up again once having swallowed it.’
The hunt for something to add to the vine only turned up some gourds, so they had to settle for them, attaching the ball-like pods in a small bunch as firmly as possible.
Moss looped the baited vine over the end of his stave and Kel advanced with the other stave held at the ready to jab the obstruction on the nose.
Several jabs later and no sign of the creature making a move to take the bait, they were ready to give up the attack, when Moss had another of his good ideas.
‘We’ll have to make the bait a little more interesting for it, so let’s rub the gourds on our bodies so some of our scent sticks to them, and he might think it’s a meal after all.’ The gourds were rubbed over their sweat glands until their skin felt sore, and were then reattached to the vine.
Once more the pair advanced on the log like creature, but before they began to attack it Kel stopped short and said,
‘If we loop the vine over that side branch and then pull it, the Snapper will be dragged over to one side of the branch, and maybe over the edge.’
‘I like that idea.’ Moss said as he threw the end of the vine high up into the air, and watched in satisfaction as it snaked over the branch above their heads and then end fell back almost into his grasp.
‘Right, here we go again.’ he added, and with that they both advanced once more towards the creature.
Two sharp jabs on its snout did the trick, the cavernous jaws flew open, Moss swung the baited vine across the toothless maw and the hard edged lips smacked shut, the bait safely inside.
Kel dropped his stave and ran over to the free end of the vine, taking up the strain until he could be joined by Moss, who had tripped over himself in his eagerness to jump back from the monster.
Together they heaved with their combined weights, doing little more than causing a slight movement of the creature’s head from side to side.
‘We’ll have to climb up onto that small branch overhead, and then jump off holding the vine, that should jerk him over to one side of the branch.’ said Moss.
Getting up to the required branch proved a little more difficult than they had anticipated, but they made it in the end, and prepared to do their death-defying leap to the main branch below.
‘Don’t forget, if we miss the branch, don’t let go as we should swing back after a while.’ and with this cheerful offering from Moss they both leapt out into space, the vine suddenly snapping taut, and the snapper being jerked almost to the curved edge of the main branch.
‘One more go should do it.’ said Moss, but before he could begin climbing up again, Kel stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this, I think we should cut and attach another vine to ourselves, so that if the other vine breaks, we won’t join our friend over there hopefully doing his flying exercise.’
‘That’s a good idea.’ said Moss, and went to cut another vine, one end of which was tied off tightly to a side branch and the other around their waists.
‘Now comes the tricky part,’ said Moss, ‘we’ll jump once more, but this time we’ll have to let go of the vine, because if he goes over the edge, we’ll be shot up into the air and could land anywhere.’
They climbed up once more, took a deep breath and dropped. This time the front end of the snapper was lifted right off the branch and as it tried to regain its balance by swinging its rear end round, it rolled over the curved edge of the branch and began its long journey down to the depths below.
As the snapper plummeted down, the vine fairly sang as it raced over the branch above, lifting the two on the other end off their feet before they had a chance to let go. As they sped upwards and were about to hit the branch above, the vine snapped under the strain, and they too were on their way down. The safety vine to which they had attached themselves brought them to a sudden jerking halt, squeezing the breath out of them as they dangled freely in space, slowly swinging to and fro.
‘If we build up enough swing, we should be able to get back onto the main branch.’ Moss finally managed to gasp.
Like a pair of youngsters at play, they gradually built up enough momentum to swing themselves over to the main branch and a safe landing.
To prevent themselves swinging back out again, they grabbed a handful of Prickly Sticks, as these were the only things within their reach.
Having regained some degree of dignity after dumping their adversary overboard, the next task
