The Washington times., 1911-08-08


the sight, and we would have
hurried away put for curiosity
There was nothing whatever to
Indicate the cause of the phenomenon.
Naturally We suspected poison, but the
grass was like all we had seen, ana
there were no more weeds here thah
elsewhere.
But even poison could not have made
the beasts stand up dead-their post
mortem condition was something not to
be guessed at
Gwynne leaned against one of the
yaks and pushed as hard as he could,
but II was immovable. Then we OBJ
served that there was an unnatural
spread of the legs and peculiar bulgl-
ness about the knee and hook joints.
Passing our hands over these, we dis
covered that the hide was broken, ana
that there was something hard and un-
usual under II.
Iaking out his knife. Gwynne cut the
skin from the joint, and found that 1t
was incased in an iron band. g..
from one to the other, we found that
all had been treated alike. 1t accounted
for their upright position, but not Tor
the mystery. We puzzled over this an
hour, regardless of time and our mis-
sion. 1t was not until some time later
that we hit upon the truth.
1t was noon before we re-embarked.
Again came the ecstasy of rising into
the air-the knowledge that we were its
masters, and that the vessel was still
intact l think our short visit to the
earth had really enhanced our ability TO
reveI in this Joy of flight. Each time
we mounted into the upper atmosphere
1t came to US as new sensational was
a thrill that never stalled with usage.
We swept on down the valley of the
dead cattle, as we called 1t, close to the
ground, as there were no DISTINCTIONS,
and its direction being nearly upon the
line we wished to travel The tempera-
ture was perfect, and we speeded upon
our course as a homing pigeon to its
goal.
Suddenly we heard the widest shrieks,
and an instant later saw an eXtraordi-
nary sight. From a Granny in a rock
there rushed creature OF human shape
and size, but of demoniacal aspect. AT
a rough guess ! should have said it was
a man of ordinary height. From his
head hung a banner of milk-whlte hair,
reaching nearly to his waist. ProtrudlnT
through this mat were ears OF abnormal
size, pointed and reaching upward. The
mouth was of frghtful dimensions,
showing huge curly teeth like the tusks
OF a bear. while the yellow cheeks were
SCARED in great repulslVe-looKlhs sdshes
of blue and vermilion.
This alarming object came rushing to-
ward us, gesticulating and shoutlnS
When we were nearly over 1t, the thlns
threw itself upon the ground as II DEAD
was filled with amazement and sought
an explanation from Roedler.
''Tibetan devilI They're not expen'
eiyew was all he answered, ana We
swept on, leaving the monster pros
trated behind us. Gwynne was pus!
with his cords and levers, so l did not
press him to explain, feellng sure II
would come later. Another minute ano
this strange creature was out OF sight
and I wasn't sorry.
We were following a ribbon OF green
a mile wide, and hemmed IN by the eter-
nal barriers of rock, peak, ana glacler
The trend was upward, the herbage eX-
cellent, and I was still wondering why
suddenly there came into view nero OF
yaks in splendid condition and In the
unmistakable act of srazing.
Almost at the same instant tnere
snranR from the shelter of rock a
dozen or more of these fierce Tibetan
devils, shouting and running toward us
as before. But, as before, Gwynne PAID
no attention, merely slowing down and
giving the ship a dip earthward to en-
sble us TO get better view. When we
had passed over these monstrosities,
leaving them fiat upon the ground,
Gwynne turned and said:
Very, very ineXpenstve!
But he was busy with the tackle.
do not think we had gone more than
a mile-possibly two-beyond this eX-
traordinary sight, when we came upon
another bunch of dead yaks. standing
exactly as the others had been. AS be-
fore, we landed to examine them.
This time there were only six, but
they were dead. They had the same
iron rings about the joints. and were
solid, as If hewn from a block or stone.
II was impossible to move them. as II
was also impossible to guess how long
they had been standing there.
We didn't waste as much time over