Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1916-06-17

iellan my ldu. lntfe LndlE Iudu
who never tells his adventures, for he
can't hope to be believed Who's to
blame them? For this win seem a bit
OF dream to ourselves In a month or
two. What did you say they were"
"IguanOdons," said Summerlee. "You
will find their footmarks all over the
Hastings sands in Kent and In Sussex.
The south Of England was alive with
them when there was plenty of good
lush green stun to keep them going.
Conditions have changed, and the
beasts died. Here 1t seems that the
conditions have not changed, and the
beasts have lived"
"If ever we get out of this alive
must have a head with me" said Lord
John "LOrd, how some Of that Soma
liland-Uganda crowd would turn a
beautiful pea green If they saw 1t!
don't know what you chaps think, but
1t strikes me that we are on mighty
thin ice all this time"
1t was destined that on this very
morning-Our first in the new country
we were to find out what strange
hazards lay around us. 1t was a lOath.
some adventure and one Of which
hate to think. II, as Lord John said,
the glade of the iguanOdons will re.
main with US as a dream, then surely
the swamp Of the pterodactyls will for
ever be our nightmare. Let me- set
down exactly what occurred.
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 other Of our profes.
sors would fall with cry Of wonder,
before some flower or insect which pre-.
sented 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 cOnsld.
erable opening IN the trees A belt Of
brushwOOd led up to tangle Of rocks.
The whole plateau was strewn with
powders, We were walking slowly to-
ward these rocks, among bushes which
reached over our waists, when we be.
came aware of strange, low gabbllng
and whlstllng sound, which filled the
air with a constant clamor and ap.
peared to come from some spot imme-
diately before us. Lord John held up
his hand as a 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 a gesture
Of amaZement Then he stood staring
as if forgetting us. so utterly entranced
was he by what he saw. Finally he
waved us to come on, holding up his
hand as a signal for caution. His whole
bearing made me feel that something
very wonderful, but dangerous, lay be.
fore us.
Creeping to his side, we looked over
the rocks. The place into which we
gazed was pit ana may IN the early
days have been one Of the smaller vol
canic blowholes 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 bulrushes. 1t
was a weird place in itself, but its Oc-
cupants made it seem like a scene
from the "Seyen Circles of Dante.
The place was a rookery Of pterOdac.
tyls There were hundreds of them
congregated within view. All the bot
tom area around the water edge was
alive with their young ones and with
hldeOus mothers broodlng upon their
leathery, yellowish eggs. From this
crawling, tapping mass Of unclean rep
lillian life came the shocking clamOr
which filled the air and the mephitic,
horrible, 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, absolutely mOtoness
save for the rolling of their red eyes or
an occasional snap Of the rattrap
beaks as a dragon fly went past them,
Their huge membranous wings were
closed by folding their forearms, so
that they sat like gigantic old women,
wrapped in hldeous web cOlOred
shawls, and with their ferocious heads
protrudlng above them. Large and
small, not less than thousand Of
these filthy creatures lay IN the hollow
before US.