The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1925-04-07

modern weapons. The most that we
could do was to check their prog
ress by distracting their attention
with the. flash and roar Of our guns,
and so to give both the natives and
ourselves time to reach the steps
which led to safety. But where
the conical explosive bullets Of the
twentieth century were Of no avail,
the poisoned arrows of the natives,
dipped in the juice OF strophanthus
and stepped afterwards in decayed
carrion. could succeed. Such ar
rows were Of little avail to the hun ter
who attacked the beast, because
their action in that torpid circula-
ton was slow, and before it's powers
failed 1t could certainly overtake
and slay it's assaihnt. But now, as
the two monsters bounded us to the
very foot of the stairs, a drift Of
darts came whistling from every
chink in the cliff above them. In
a minute they we're feathered with
them, and yet with no sign of pain
they clawed and slobbered with i'm
potent rage at the steps which
would lead them to their victims,
mounting clumsily up for a Few
yards and then sliding down again
to the ground. But at last the
poison worked. One Of them gave
a deep rumbling groan and dropped
his huge squat head on to the earth.
The other bounded round in an &C.
centric circle with shrill, wailing
cries. and then lying down writhed
in agony for some minutes before
it also stiffened and lay still. With
yells triumph the Indians came
flocki. down from their caves and
danced a frenzied dance of victory
round dead bodies, in mad joy
that twu more Of the most danger
Gus of all their enemies had been
slain.
When the time comes will de-
scribe that wondrous moonlight
night upon the great lake when
young ichthyosaurus-a strange
creature, half seal, half fish, to look
at, with bone-covered eyes on each
side of his snout, and 4 third eye
fixed upon the top of his head
was entangled in an Indian net, and
nearly upset. our canoe before we
towed it ashore; the same night that
green watersnake shot out from
the rushes and carried off in it's coils
the steersman Of Challenger's canoe.
II will tell you, too, of the great noe
turnal white >thing-to this day we
do not know whether it was beast or
reptile-which lived in vile swamp
to the east Of the lake, and fitted
about with a faint phospherescent
glimmer in the darkness.
will tell also Of the huge bird
which chased Challenger to the shell
ter of the rocks one day-a great
running bird, far taller than an
ostrich, with a vulture-like neck and
cruel head which made it a walking
death. AS Challenger climbed to
safety one dart of that savage curv-
ing beak shore off the heel of his
boot as if it had been cut with a
chisel. This time at least modern
weapons prevailed and the great
creature, twelve feet from head to
foot-phororachus its name, accord
ing to our painting but exultant pro-
fessor-went down before Lord Rox-
tons rifle in a furry Of waving
feathers and kicking limbs, with two
remorseless yellow eyes glazing up
from the midst Of it. May I live
to SEQ that f1attened vicious skull
in it's own niche amid the trophies
of the Albany. Finally, will as
suredly give some account Of the
toxodon, the giant ten-foot guinea
pig.
All this I shall some day write at
fuller length, and amidst these more
stirring days I would tenderly sketch
in these lovely summer evenings,
when with the deep blue sky above
us we lay in good comradeship
among the long grasses by the wood
and marveled at the strange fowl
that swept over us and the quaint
new creatures which crept from
their burrows to watch us, while
above us the boughs Of the bushes
were heavy with luscious fruit, and
below us strange and lovely flowers
peeped at us from among the herb
age or those long, moonlit nights
when we lay out upon the simmer
ing surface Of the great lake and
watched with wonder and awe the
huge circles ripping out from the
sudden splash Of some fantastic mon
ster.
One fact we had very speedily
discovered. The Indians would do
nothing to help us. In every other
way they were our friends-one
might almost say our devoted slaves
but when 1t was suggested that
they should help us to make and
carry a plank which would bridge
the chasm, or when we wished to get
from them thongs Of leather or
Llama to weave rapes which might
help us, we were met by a good
humored, but an invincible, refusal.