Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-05-26
Continued from page 9

plenty of good lush green stuff to keep them
beasts died. Here it seems that the con-
ditions have not changed, and the beasts
have lived"
"If ever we get out of this alive, | must
have head with me" said Lord Roxton.
lord! how some of that Somaliland Uganda
crowd would turn beautiful pea-green if
they saw it! l don't know what you chaps |
think, but it strikes me that we are on mighty
thin ice all this time"
T HAD the same feeling of mystery and dam
ger around us. In the gloom of the trees
there seemed a constant menace, and as we
looked into their shadowy foliage vague ter
rors crept into ones heart. 1t is true that
these monstrous creatures which we had seen
were numbering, inoffensive brutes which
were unlikely to hurt anyone; but in this
world of wonders what other Surv1valS might
there not be, what fierce active horrors ready
to pounce upon us from their lair among the
rocks or brushwood? l knew little of pre-
historic life; but had clear remembrance
of one book which | had read in which it
spoke of creatures who would live upon our
lions and tigers as cat lives upon mice.
What if these also were to be found in the
woods of Maple White Land?
1t was destined that on this very morn
ing, our first in the new country, we were to
find out what strange hazards lay around US.
1t was a loathsome adventure, and one of
which | hate to think. If, as Lord Roxton
said, the glade of the iguanodons will remain
with us as a dream, then surely the swamp
of the pterodactyls will forever be our night
mare. Let me set down exactly what oc-
CURED.
We passed very slowly through the woods,
partly because Lord Roxton acted as scout
before he would let us advance, and partly
because at every second step one or the
other of the professors would fall, with cry
of wonder, before some flower or insect which
presented him with a new type.
We may have travelled two or three miles
in all, keeping to the right of the line of the
stream, when we came upon a considerable
opening in the trees. A belt of brushwood
led up to tangle of rocks,-the whole pla-
teau was strewn with boulders. We were
walking slowly toward these rocks, among
bushes which reached over our waist, when
we became aware of a strange, low Cabling
and whistling sound which filled the air with
constant clamor, and appeared to come from
some spot Immediately before us. Lord
Roxton held up his hand as signal for us to
stop, and he made his way swiftly, STOPPING
and running, to the line of rocks. We saw
him peep over them, and give gesture of
amazement. Then he stood staring as If for
getting us; so utterly entranced was he fy
what he saw. Finally he waved us to come
on, holding up his hand as signal for
caution. His whole bearing made me feel
that something wonderful but dangerous lay
before us.
CREEPING to his side, we looked over
- the rocks. The place into which we
gazed was a pit, and may in the early days
have been one of the smaller volcanic blow
holes of the plateau. 1t was bowl-shaped.
and at the bottom, some hundreds of yards
from where we lay, were pools of green
scummed, stagnant water, fringed with bull
rushes. 1t was weird place in itself; but
its occupants made it seem like a scene from
the Seven Circles of Dante.
The place was rookery of pterodactyls.
There were hundreds of them congregated
within view. All the bottom area round the
water edge was alive with their young ones
and with hideous mothers brooding upon
their leathery, yellowish eggs. From this
crawling, Tapping mass of obscene reptilian
life came the shocking clamor which filled
the air and the mephitic, musty odor which
turned us sick But above, perched each
upon its own stone, tall, gray, and withered,
more like dead and dried specimens than
actual living creatures, sat the horrible males