Dimitri made three more attempts at ascending the ridges. Each time he got about halfway up, he fell ten or twenty times but was nearly unhurt. It couldn't be a chance or bad luck. There was something very bizarre going on. He felt the snake pieces he had put on the rock. They were dry and very hard. It didn't savor very well either, and it took a lengthy, long time to chew. But it was nutrition. As he completed the last of the chewy parch meat, he saw another snake grab a mouse by the rock pile. He was in a tough situation, but now he was optimistic that he could withstand it for a while. "Tomorrow, I'll focus on finding a way out." He thought.