, 1916-09-07

WIFI EEcdl COIHNChCN CAaN6s
they will say in England" said Chal-
lenger. They will say that you are
an Internal liar and a scientific charla-
tan, exactly as you and others said of
me-"
"In the face of Photographic
Faxed, Summerlee! CIumsily fax
ed"
"In the face OF specimensT'
"Ah, there we may have them! Ma
lone and his filthy Fleet street crew
may be all yelping our praises yet.
August the 2Sth-the day We saw five
live i%guanodons In a glade of Maple
White Land. Put 1t down In your
diary, m young friend, and send It to
your rag"
and be ready to get the toe n of
the editorial boot in return" said Lord
John. "Things look a bit different
from the latitude of London. young
fellah my lad. There's many a man
who never tells his adventures, for he
can't hope to be believed. Who's to
blame them? For this will seem a bit
of a dream to ourselves In a month or
two. What did you say they were?"
.IguanOdOns.' said Summarize. "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 stuff to keep them going.
Conditions have changed, and the
beasts died. Here it seems that the
conditions have not changed. and the
beasts have lived"
"If ever we get out of this alive I
must have II head with me-" said Lord
John. Lord, how some of that Soma
liland- Uganda crowd would turn a
beautiful pea green If they saw It! l
don't know what you chaps think, hut
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 l
hate to think. If. ms Lord John said,
the glade of the i~guanodons 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 profess
sors would fall. with a cry of wonder,
before some flower or insect which pre-
scented him with a new type. We may
ave travelled two or three miles in all,
keeping to the right of the line of the
stream. when we came Upon a consid-
cradle opening in the trees. A belt of
brushwoud led up to a 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
rame aware of II strange. low Cabling
IL whistlinG sound. which filed the
air with a constant clamor and ap
peared TO come from some spot imme,
dintely before us. ord 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 Il gesture
Of Amusement. Then he stood staring
us If forgetting us. so utterly entranced
was he by what he saw. Finally he
waved us to come on. holding up his
hand us II 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
Ia2ed was a pit and may In the early
days have been IL 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,
We're pools Of green scummed, stagnant
water, frineed with bullrushes. 1t
was a weird place in itself, but it's oc.
cupants made it seem like a scene
from the Seven Circles of Dante"
The place was a rookery of pterodac-
tyls. There were hundreds of them
congregated within view. All the bot
tom area o the water edge was
alive with their young ones and with
hideous mothers brooding upon their
l~eathery. yellowish eggs. From this
crawling, tapping mass of unclean rep
lillian life anne the shocking clamoT
which filed the air and the mephitic,
horrible, musty odor which turned us
sick. But above, perched each upon
Its own stone. tall, gray II withered,
more like deaf and dried specimens
than actual living creatures. sat the
horrible males, absolutely motionless
ave for the rolling of their red eyes or
an occasional snap OF the rattrap
beaks as n dragon fly went past them.
Their huge m~embranous wings were
closed by folding their forearms, so