"It is strange,"said Ayrault,"that,with the exception of the mastodon and this tortoise,we have seen none of the monsters that seem to appear at the close of Carboniferous periods,although the ground is covered with their tracks.""Probably we did not reach the grounds at the right time of day,"replied Bearwarden."The large game doubtless stays in the woods and jungles till night.""I fancy,"said Cortlandt,"we shall find representatives of all the species that once lived upon the earth.In the case of the singing flowers and the Jack-o'-lantern jelly-fish,we have,in addition,seen developments the existence of which no scientist has ever before even suspected."Occasionally the tortoise stopped,whereupon they poked it from behind with their knives.It was a vicious-looking brute,and had a huge horny beak,with which it bit off young trees that stood in its way as though they had been blades of grass.They were passing through a valley about half a mile wide,bordered on each side by woods,when Bearwarden suddenly exclaimed,"Here we have it!"and,looking forward,they unexpectedly saw a head rise and remain poised about fifteen feet from the ground.It was a dinosaur,and belonged to the scaled or armoured species.In a few moments another head appeared,and towered several feet above the first.The head was obviously reptilian,but had a beak similar to that of their tortoise.The hind legs were developed like those of a kangaroo,while the small rudimentary forepaws,which could be used as hands or for going quadruped-fashion,now hung down.The strong thick tail was evidently of great use to them when standing erect,by forming a sort of tripod.
"How I wish we could take a pair of those creatures with us when we return to the earth!"said Cortlandt.
"They would be trump cards,"replied Bearwarden,"in a zoological garden or a dime museum,and would take the wind out of the sails of all the other freaks."As they lay flat on the turtle's back,the monsters gazed at them unconcernedly,munching the palm-tree fruit so loudly that they could be heard a long distance.
"Having nothing to fear from a tortoise,"resumed Cortlandt,"they may allow us to stalk them.We are in their eyes like hippocentaurs,except that we are part of a tortoise instead of part of a horse,or else they take us for a parasite or fibrous growth on the shell.""They would not have much to fear from us as we really are,"replied Bearwarden,"were it not for our explosive bullets.""I am surprised,"said Ayrault,"that graminivorous animals should be so heavily armed as these,since there can be no great struggle in obtaining their food.""From the looks of their jaws,"replied Cortlandt,"I should say they are omnivorous,and would doubtless prefer meat to what they are eating now.Something seems to have gone wrong with the animal creation hereabouts to-day."Their war-horse clanked along like a badly rusted machine,approaching the dinosaurs obliquely.When only about fifty yards intervened,as the hunters were preparing to aim,their attention was diverted by a tremendous commotion in the woods on their left and somewhat ahead.With the crunching of dead branches and swaying of the trees,a drove of monsters made a hasty exit and sped across the open valley.Some showed only the tops of their backs above the long grass,while others shambled and leaped with their heads nearly thirty feet above the ground.The dinosaurs instantly dropped on all-fours and joined in the flight,though at about half-minute intervals they rose on their hind legs and for a few seconds ran erect.The drove passed about half a mile before the travellers,and made straight for the woods opposite;but hardly had the monsters been out of sight two minutes when they reappeared,even more precipitately than before,and fled up the valley in the same direction as the tortoise.
"The animals here,"said Bearwarden,"behave as though they were going to catch a train;only our friend beneath us seems superior to haste.""I would give a good deal to know,"said Cortlandt,"what is pursuing those giants,and whether it is identical or similar to the mutilator of the mastodon.Nothing but abject terror could make them run like that.""I have a well-formed idea,"said Bearwarden,"that a hunt is going on,with no doubt two parties,one in the woods on either side,and that the hunters may be on a scale commensurate with that of their victims.""If the excitement is caused by men,"replied Cortlandt,"our exploration may turn out to be a far more difficult undertaking than we anticipated.But why,if there are men in those woods,do they not show themselves?--for they could certainly keep pace with the game more easily in the open than among the trees.""Because,"replied Bearwarden,"the men in the woods are doubtless the beaters,whose duty it is to drive the game into and up the valley,at the end of which the killing will be done.""We may have a chance to see it,"said Ayrault,"or to take a hand,for we are travelling straight in that direction,and shall be able to give a good account ourselves if our rights are challenged.""Why,"asked Cortlandt,"if the hunting parties that have been in our vicinity were only beaters,should they have mutilated the mastodon in such it way that he could not walk?And how were they able to take themselves off so quickly--for man in his natural state has never been a fast mover?I repeat,it will upset my theories if we find men."It was obvious to them that tortoises were not much troubled by the apparently general foe,for the specimen in which they were just then interested continued his course entirely unconcerned.
Soon,however,he seemed to feel fatigue,for he drew his feet and head within his shell,which he tightly closed,and after that no poking or prodding had the desired effect.
"I suspect we must depend on shank's mares for a time,"said Bearwarden,cheerfully,as they scrambled down.
