Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-03-07
CHAPTER TX.
ruE FACE OF DEATH.

.,r,s all was silence within the
/ f.smpie. - 49,
.r.s were motionless In terror.
Ins InIsare watched the surface of the
~ ~. tbe temperance of their queen,
F'!'srL.ssntly F'!'r IO at one end Of the tank her
,na ,..s rose rose slowly into view.
,s hacking toward the surface, her
sne sne.d before her as they had been
w shs dragged the helpless girl to her
loom a., ,,,, utter emazement. I
AM sorehead and eyes of the maiden
~ u s,or,lv out of the depths, following
cong ~ the reptile, just as when she
ihs estssnneared beneath the surface.
.nd on came the girl, until she
VI - r,oter that reached barely to her
hovs and though she had been beneath
lnee7 ,sfoce sufficient time to have
he ~ nor thrice over, there was no
dlornyo dl.,sa,Iop other than her dripping hair
s silstening body, that she had been
rlbrnerged at all.
,,oin and again the queen led the girl
ssa denths and out again, until the
nnv nv weirdness of the thing got on
un's" .a,,,es 40 that could have leaped to
y, chlId's rescue had ] not taken n hrm
me Cnllu
Ma OF myself.
noiS me- thew we're below much longer than
" and when they came to the sur
~ 7 was Mortified to see that one of
s r,rls arms was gone-gnawed COM
.ps,,i, w off at the shoulder, but the poor
ia,ss oave no indication of realizing pain,
~ ,Se horror in her set eyes seemed in
lsnslhed.
Tbs psxt time they appeared-I cannot
70 on. A. ,z,,
The poor creatures on the islands
...ttlnr their fate tried to cover their
.v.s with their hands to hide the fear
NJ sight, but now 1 saw that they, too,
,ss,s under the hypnotic spell of the
,.ntiles. 80 that they could only crouch
~ terror. with their eyes fixed upon the
,srrible thing that was transpirlng be-
fore them.
finally, the queen was under much
,,roor than ever before, and when she
,oso she came alone and swan sleepily
.oward her boulder. The moment she
mounted II seemed to be the signal for
ihe other Mahars to enter the tank, and
then commenced, upon larger scale, a
repetlton Of the grisly orgy through which
The queen had led her victim.
Only the women and children fell prey
10 the Mahars-they being the weakest
and most tender-and when they had sat
saed their appetite for human flesh, some
of them deyouring two and three of the
slaves, there were only a score of full
grown men left
= | thought that for some reason these
we're to be spared, but such was far from
the case for as the last Mahar crawled to
her rock the queens thlpdars darted into
the air, clrcled the temple once, and then,
Kissing like steam engines, swooped down
npon the remaining slaves.
There was no hypnotlsm here-just the
plain. brutal ferocity of the beast of prey,
tearing rending and gulping; but at that
II was less horrible than the ghastly
method Of the -Mahars.
BY the time the thipdars had disposed
Of the last of the slaves the Mahars were
all asleep upon their rocks, and a moment
later the great pterodactyles swung back
to their posts beside the queen and them
selves dropped into slumber.
Il thought the Mahars seldom, IL ever,
slept" said to ia.
They do many things In this temple |
which they do not do elsewhere" he re-