The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1903-12-23

Barry says that the hackneyej
phrase of exaggeration. made his
bloodr run cold" Is none too strong foI
the sight they saw.
The monster slowly moved his
great jaws" declared the hunter. in
speaking of his experience, until il
seemed as If he could have swallowed
n large horse at one mouthful. He
gave snort that might have been
heard a mile, and then slowly spread
his huge wings. We now saw that tho
huge body was coated with salt, ap
parently nearly n foot in thickness
This explained why the salt Jumps
dropped at our feet when the bullet
struck the monster. BY this we knew
that the creature must spend much
of its time in the waters of the lake.
The great beast made Il short run
before taking fight, taking long Jumps
upon its hind legs and tail. The fore
legs were comparatively short, and ap.
peared TO be used only when it crawled
fat upon the ground.
The frightful head was not mora
than ten feet from us when IL rose in
the air. but so well were we screened
by our shelter of rocks that we were
unobserved. The large, tiercely
cleaning eyes, the sharp, serrated
teeth. the wide expanse of wings that
began TO move rapidly as the horrible
beast rose from the ground and passed
directly over our heads. combined to
make n terrible sight-one that | shall
never forget.
I've watched it disappear in the
gathering gloom of night, but were for
Il long time paralyzed with fear, not
knowing when it might return. II
was probably an hour later when it
did come back.
I'VE heard the swish of the mighty
wings before it could be seen. but as
1t drew nearer. by the light of the
young moon in the west we saw that
carried in its great jaws was large
horse, which suppose it had swooped
down upon while feeding. The horse
was badly crushed and mangled.
FEASTED ON THE HORSE.
'The monster carried its burden into
the cave and we could hear the crunch
ing of its jaws and the cracking of tho
horses bones as the beast devoured
its victim. After an hour or so all
was still and we then slipped quietly
away in the darkness and returned to
ouc camp on the eastern shore of the
island.
Had 1t not been for bad break in
our boat we would have fed the island
| that night. As it was we worked all
night to repair the craft. although the
task might have been accomplished in
two hours except that we feared to
| build fire to afford light.
at was just dawn and we were pre-.
naring TO launch. when Gilbert said:
There it comes again. In an instant
we turned the boat bottom up and
| crawled under ii. One end was lifted
about foot above the end by rock,
and we were able % watch the mon.
ster's actions.
1t settled down on the beach less
than fifty yards TO the north and Gived
quickly into the lake. From its ac.
tons while nearly buried under the
waves judged that the creature was
gathering and feeding upon the salt
water shrimps which abound along the
coast there. When the monster came
up it was very close to us. and we were
particularly impressed by the fact
that the strong brine had no effect
upon its eyes, which appeared lidless.
Evidently the animals food in the wa.
ter was found by the sense of sight.
Although of such gigantic size.
there was nothing sluggish in the
movements of the monster. 1t swan
and dived as rapidly as any large fish.
I'VE watched 1t for perhaps half an
hour as it gradually worked its way
northward and finally disappeared.
Philadelphia Record