CHAPTER EIGHT.
A NIGHT ADVENTURE IN THE GREAT SWAMP.
With the setting of the sun, the gentle zephyr of a breeze that had beenblowing all day dropped, and the night fell, close and suffocatinglyhot. A young moon hung low over the western horizon, but the bank ofthunder cloud was rising fast, and by the time that the two friends hadfinished their evening meal, the silver sickle of the moon had becomeeffaced, as had the stars, by the thickening of the veil of haze whichhad been gradually over-spreading the heavens.
So close and breathless was the atmosphere that the two friends declaredthe interior of the tent to be insupportable, they therefore walked downto near the inner margin of the beach and flung themselves down upon thecurious moss-like turf, to indulge in their usual after-dinner chat andwatch the gathering of the storm that now seemed inevitable, while Earlesmoked. For a wonder, there were neither flies, mosquitoes, nor midgeson this little peninsula; there was therefore nothing but the excessiveheat and the closeness of the atmosphere to interfere with theircomfort. The Indians were camped on the summit of the mound, grouped asusual round a small fire, the materials for which they had collectedduring the day's march, and were conversing in low tones, while they,too, smoked. King Cole, who had dined luxuriously and to repletion upona big bustard-like bird which Earle had shot an hour or two earlier,crouched at the feet of his two masters, purring contentedly.
The conversation between the two friends, which was of a desultory anddiscursive character, ebbed and flowed in unison with the interest ofthe speakers, and was punctuated with many spells of silence while thetwo gazed dreamily out across the glass-like surface of the lagoon,indistinguishable now in the velvet blackness, save when a faint flickerof sheet lightning momentarily illuminated it. At the beginning thenight was intensely still and silent; there was not even the customaryhum of insects or rolling clatter of frogs to accentuate the silence,under the influence of which the white men first, and finally theIndians, fell silent. Then the fatigue consequent upon the day's toilbegan to make itself felt, and after a somewhat longer spell of silencethan usual, Earle allowed his body to settle back luxuriously upon thesoft sward and soon gave audible evidence that he was fast asleep,whereupon Dick promptly followed his companion's example.
Their sleep was, however, destined to be of brief duration. They wereboth by this time so thoroughly accustomed to the ordinary nocturnalsounds of the wild that, although so fully aware of them as to be ableinstantly to detect anything unusual in their character, and to start upawake in a moment if the unusual note seemed to portend danger, theycould still sleep soundly and refreshingly through them all. But thenocturnal sounds of this particular night were of so startling acharacter that sleep soon became an impossibility.
They began with a low, melancholy, distant howl which, while itpenetrated the consciousness of the sleepers, failed to disturb them,because its remoteness was a guarantee against imminent danger, andnothing less than imminent danger now had the power to chase sleep fromthose seasoned wanderers. Nor were the howls any more effective asdisturbers of the party's rest after several repetitions in varyingkeys. But when a weird, unearthly, blood-curdling scream rang out uponthe startled air it awoke the entire party upon the instant, though thesound seemed to emanate from a considerable distance.
"What the dickens was that?" demanded Dick, sitting up and instinctivelygroping for his rifle.
"Give it up," returned Earle. "No, I don't though," he quickly added."I guess it's that thing I shot at and wounded during the mid-day halt,or another of the same species."
"Y-e-s, very possibly," agreed Dick. "Look at King Cole. What is thematter with him now, I wonder?"
By the declining light of the fire on the summit of the hillock thepanther could be seen, in a half-standing, half-crouching attitude, afew paces away, staring intently out across the black water, his blackfur all a-bristle, and his body visibly quivering with either excitementor fear.
"King--King Cole, come here, sir! What's the matter with you, anyway?"called Earle. And the animal at once turned and crept cowering to thefeet of the pair, his eyes glowing like a pair of green lamps, and hislips drawn into a silent snarl.
That the weird cry was not repeated in no wise detracted from itsstartling character; but although profound silence followed, it did notremain long unbroken, for a few minutes later there came the sound as ofgreat wings sweeping hither and thither. And scarcely had this sounddied away when it was succeeded by others--low moans, sighs, whistlings,grunts, bellowings, rustlings, splashings--some from a considerabledistance, others apparently close at hand; some obviously from the landto the rear of the party, and others quite as obviously from the waterin their front. And, most disturbing consideration of all, every one ofthem was absolutely unfamiliar, therefore in some vague, undefinablefashion, the more alarming. This effect was quickly made manifest bythe agitated murmurings of the Indians, and the haste with which theyreplenished the dying fire, heaping on fuel with such a lavish handthat, for the space of a few yards all round the blaze, the light wasalmost as brilliant as that of day.
"Gee!" exclaimed Earle, as the weird sounds multiplied on all sides,"what would I not give for a full moon and a clear sky, just now. Betyour life, Dick, there are some very queer scenes being enacted allround us at this moment, had we but light to reveal them. I have cometo the conclusion that this swamp is unique in many respects. By somefreak of nature, things here are entirely different from what they areelsewhere. Even the vegetation is new and strange to me; and I amconvinced that it is also the home of many forms of animal life unknownelsewhere. The exasperating part of the whole thing is that most of thecreatures inhabiting it seem to be of nocturnal habit, hiding themselvesduring the day, and only emerging into the open at night. Just listennow to the hubbub of sound all about us. Why, the place must be fairlyteeming with life! And, by a perverse combination of circumstances, wecan see nothing of it--Ah! thank goodness, the lightning is becomingmore vivid. I would give a good round sum for a real first-classthunderstorm; and, by ginks! I believe we are going to have it."
It seemed quite probable, for as though in response to Earle's ardentlyexpressed desire, a brilliant flash of sheet lightning flickered out ofthe now rapidly rising bank of cloud over the distant hills, illuminingthe landscape for the fraction of a second, during which a momentaryglimpse was afforded of certain strange forms dotting the waters of thelagoon; but the illumination was too brief to leave anything more thanthe most vague impression of those forms upon the retina of theobservers. The glimpse, however, transient as it was, revealed enoughto stimulate their interest and curiosity to the highest pitch, and thetwo friends, with their rifles grasped ready for instant action, sprangto their feet and stood eagerly awaiting further revelation with thenext flash of lightning, while the Indians, cowering round the roaringfire on the summit of the knoll, were visibly suffering the extremity ofterror.
Then, while the two friends stood together awaiting the coming ofanother lightning flash, with King Cole quivering and shivering at theirfeet, a huge shape, elusively revealed in the flickering firelight,slowly emerged from the intense darkness overshadowing the lagoon,ponderously splashing through the shallows toward the beach--and towardthe two white men, a pair of enormous eyes, glistening in the uncertainlight of the flames, being all that could be distinctly seen. Thething--whatever it may have been--was not more than ten yards distantwhen first seen, and there was a gleam of such deadly malignancy inthose two glistening eyes, and a suggestion of such implacable purposein the ponderous movement of the imperfectly seen bulk, that Earle andDick, taken completely unawares by its sudden appearance, incontinentlyflung up their rifles and fired, at the precise moment that King Cole,utterly demoralised by the weird apparition, sprang to his feet andfled, snarling, to the rear. The two rifles spoke as one, and instantlyfollowing the whip-like reports, the double clap of the bullets washeard--not a dull sound like that of a bullet striking yielding flesh,but a sharp
crack, suggesting the impingement of lead upon unyieldingbone; there was a frightful bellowing roar, a terrific splash, the sprayof which flew over and far beyond the two white men, and the thing wasgone.
"Well, `shiver my timbers!' as you sailors are supposed to remark,"exclaimed Earle in tones of ineffable disgust. "If that doesn't beatthe band! Oh, Dick Cavendish--and Wilfrid Earle, you--you twenty-volumeunabridged fools, why on earth couldn't you have waited another two orthree seconds before shootin' and so have made sure of getting thebrute? Kick me, Dick, and I'll kick you, for we both deserve it! Itwas the chance of a lifetime, and we flung it away by being over-eager.I'm ashamed of you, Dick--and a blamed sight more ashamed of myself; forI am an old hand at this sort of thing, while you are comparativelyfresh at it, and therefore there is some sort of excuse for you, whilethere is none for me."
"But we hit him," remonstrated Dick. "What more do you want?"
"Hit him!" retorted Earle, disgustedly. "Of course we hit him; wecouldn't help hitting him. He was as big as a house! But, my gentleboy, that wasn't enough. We wanted to kill him, so that we might have achance to see what he looked like. Hit him! Yes; we hit him on hisskull, and the blows sounded as though his head was encased in five-inchHarveyized armour plate! If we had waited five seconds longer, weshould have had a good view of him and been able to shoot him throughthe heart--if he happens to possess such an organ."
"That's all very fine," retorted Dick. "But I'll bet that if we hadwaited the extra five seconds, you would still have aimed to hit himfair between the eyes--as I did."
"Well--yes, I guess I should," returned Earle, his vexation suddenlyevaporating. "As a matter of fact, that is the precise spot I aimed at.And as you say that you did also, we will hope that one at least of ourbullets got home, and that to-morrow morning, we shall find him floatingdead out there in the offing waiting to be inspected. Anyway, there isno sense in crying over spilt milk; and who knows what chances may stillbe in store for us. And now, Dick, while your memory is still fresh,have the goodness to describe to me exactly the impression left uponyour mind by what you saw. Gee! what a time the inhabitants of thisswamp seem to be having. The row is growing worse than ever."
Dick dutifully responded to his friend's request, but alas! hisdescription amounted to very little more than the bald statement thatthe thing struck him as possessing a body about as bulky as an elephant,standing upon disproportionately short legs; that the eyes were as biground as dinner-plates; that they glared with a most unholy malevolence;and that they were spaced about thirty inches apart. These details,such as they were, corresponded with the impression produced upon Earle,who forthwith proceeded to jot down the meagre facts in his notebook bythe light of the fire.
Meanwhile the "row," as Earle had observed, seemed to be growing worsethan ever, and it was presently added to by the low mutterings ofdistant thunder, the precursor of what threatened to be a thunderstormof unusual violence. The flickering of sheet lightning became morefrequent, while occasional flashes of forked lightning emanating from apoint low down upon the south-western horizon, began to light up thesurroundings for a fraction of a second with their transient glare.Soon low moaning sounds became fitfully audible far aloft, and littlescurrying gusts of hot wind came sweeping across the lagoon, causing thefire on the knoll to roar and blaze with sudden intensity, while thesparks flew far inland.
"Stand by the topsail halliards!" remarked Dick, with a grin. "We aregoing to have it hot and heavy in a minute or two, or I'm a Dutchman!"And the words were hardly out of his mouth when, with a shrieking roar,the tempest swooped down upon them, and they abruptly sat down, to avoidbeing swept off their feet, while the blazing embers of the fire,snatched up by the wind, went whirling far and wide. At the sameinstant a flash of blindingly vivid lightning leapt from the zenith andseemed to strike the waters of the lagoon only a few yards away, whilesimultaneously there came a crash of thunder that caused their ears toring and tingle, and effectually deafened them for several minutes.This was the outburst of the storm, which thereafter raged withindescribable fury for a full hour, the lightning incessantly flashingall round the little knoll with such dazzling brilliancy that the entirelandscape, almost to its uttermost confines, was nearly as fullyrevealed as at noonday, while the thunder crashed and rattled and boomedwith a nerve-shattering violence that effectually drowned all othersounds. And, to add still further to the weird impressiveness of thescene, the storm had scarcely been raging ten minutes when the swamp wasseen to be on fire in several places immediately to leeward of theknoll, the dry herbage having been undoubtedly kindled by the flyingembers and sparks of the fire, which had been completely swept away bythe wind. For the first half-hour of its duration the storm was a dryone, that is to say, it was unaccompanied by rain; and while the tempestraged about them Dick and Earle lay prone, side by side, watching themarvellous scene revealed by the incessant lightning flashes. And Earleafterwards confided to Dick--and, still later, to many others--that whathe then beheld more than repaid him for all that the entire journey costhim, not only in money, but also in toil and privation. For althoughthe flickering of the lightning and its almost blinding vividness wereby no means conducive to accuracy of observation, he saw enough to fullyconfirm his previous conviction that the swamp was the habitat ofseveral forms of life hitherto unknown and unsuspected by naturalists.True, most of the creatures seen were apparently amphibious, their formsonly partially revealed as they sported or fought in the waters of thelagoon; but transient glimpses were occasionally caught of othersroaming about the patches of dry ground; while all were too distant forthe watchers to obtain any very clear impression of their shapes andproportions. Then the wind and the lightning suddenly ceased, pitchydarkness fell upon the scene, and the rain descended in such a deluge asis known only to those who have dwelt in the tropics, lasting untilwithin half-an-hour of sunrise.
The appearance of the sun was hailed with feelings of unqualifieddelight by the entire party, for not only did the remaining cloudsvanish with his uprising, but he brought what was, for once, welcomewarmth with him, to the relief of the drenched and thoroughly chilledoccupants of the camp, who had lain exposed for hours to the pitilesspelting of the rain--Dick and Earle suffering equally with the rest, thewind having temporarily wrecked their tent. They felt that a hotbreakfast would have been indescribably welcome that morning; but such ameal was impossible, for the rain had saturated everything and rendereda fire out of the question; they were consequently obliged to contentthemselves with cold viands, which they consumed in haste, for they hadthe prospect of a busy day before them.
The problem which confronted them was, how were they to transportthemselves and their belongings across the lagoon? For it was on theopposite side of it that their road lay, and if they would proceed, onlytwo alternatives seemed open to them; one to find some means by whichthey could ferry themselves across, while the other was to pass roundone or the other of the extremities of the lagoon. And this last meantthe retracing of their steps for a considerable distance, with theprospect of a long march to follow, the lagoon extending to right andleft as far as the eye could see.
It was at this crisis that Huanami, one of the bearers, a Peruvianhalf-breed, came to the rescue with a suggestion. During the march ofthe previous day, this man, it appeared, had taken note of vastquantities of a particular kind of reed growing some three or four milesback, upon the opposite side of a canal-like watercourse, along themargin of which the party had been travelling, and he was of opinionthat those reeds could be used in the construction of excellent_balsas_, if they could only be got at. And he believed that it wouldbe possible to get at them if the white lords would permit him and twoor three of his comrades to go still further back to a point where, onthe near side of the canal, he had noted a sufficient growth of reeds toconstruct a single _balsa_ of a capacity which would enable him to floathimself across the canal to the opposite side, where the reeds weregrowing in profusion. The suggestion found
immediate favour with the"white lords," for it appeared to indicate the shortest way out of thedifficulty; and orders were at once given to carry it into effect.
But Earle made one important modification in Huanami's proposal. Afterthe experiences of the previous day--and, still more, of the pastnight--he was not at all disposed to permit two or three unarmed men toretrace their steps, unaccompanied, with the possibility that they mightbe set upon and destroyed by some unknown monster inhabitant of theswamp; he therefore gave orders for the entire party to countermarch,and five minutes later they were under way.
Somewhere about an hour later they reached the spot where the rushesgrew on the opposite side of the canal; and it was at once apparent thatthere was a sufficiency to meet the requirements of the party; while ata further distance of about a mile they came to a bed containing enoughrashes to construct a _balsa_ capable of supporting a single man, orpossibly two men. Huanami cut one of the rushes for Earle's inspection,and dividing it up into short lengths, showed that it was a bamboo-likegrowth, hollow in structure and divided into a series of watertightcompartments by partitions occurring at every notch, rendering itexceedingly light and buoyant. The average length of the rushes wasabout twelve feet, but by a kind of interlacing system a raft, or_balsa_, of almost any required dimensions could be constructed.
No time was lost by the party in getting to work upon the first _balsa_,Huanami cutting great quantities of long, tough bents and plaiting themup into a kind of rope, while the rest of the Indians cut the reeds. Itwas necessary for them to get into the water to do this; but luckily,the reeds first attacked grew in shallow water, only up to the men'sknees, and while they all worked together, shouting and splashingvigorously the while, Dick and Earle, armed with repeating rifles,mounted guard on the bank, holding themselves ready to open fire uponany marauding alligator or other creature that might threaten tointerrupt the work. No interruption occurred, however, and in less thanan hour the reeds were all cut and the construction of the first _balsa_was begun. Huanami proved himself an adept in the art of _balsa_construction, and when noon arrived, and with it the hour for themid-day meal, the first _balsa_ was complete and ready for service,including a pair of paddles, also ingeniously made of reeds.
When at the conclusion of the meal the _balsa_ came to be tried, it wasfound to possess buoyancy enough to carry two men safely andcomfortably; the return march along the bank to the spot where theremainder of the fleet was to be built was therefore immediatelycommenced, the builder and his load of impedimenta proceeding by waterat the same time. The _balsa_, it may here be explained, was a verysimple affair indeed, consisting merely of a flat bundle of reeds,firmly bound together in such a way as to form a sort of raft. The onealready built was about ten feet long and about five feet broad, byabout a foot in depth; but while strong enough for its purpose, it was,after all, very light, and quite capable of being capsized should anenterprising alligator take it into his head to attack it; during theshort march to the big reed bed, therefore, Dick and Earle decided thatthe next _balsa_ should be constructed of a capacity to accommodate theentire party, and therefore be heavy and bulky enough to resist anythingshort of a concerted attack by a herd of alligators. The constructionof such a craft was of course a somewhat formidable undertaking, thoughthe other Indians showed themselves apt pupils of Huanami, and the taskwas only completed when the sun had already disappeared and darkness wasclosing down upon the scene.
On the following morning the voyage across the lagoon was begunimmediately after breakfast, and accomplished not only without mishapbut without adventure of any kind; for, strangely enough, not one of thecreatures which had been observed disporting themselves in the waterduring the preceding night was now visible; indeed, so far asappearances went, there might not even have been so much as a fish inthe lagoon. A sharp look-out was maintained for the beast that had beenshot at during the night, but neither alive or dead was anything seen ofhim. One fact, however, was established during the passage across, andthat was, that the depth of water in the lagoon was far greater than hadhitherto been suspected, a depth of no less than thirty fathoms beingfound nearly all the way across except quite close to the margin.
The journey across consumed close upon two hours, for the _balsa_, whilebuoyant enough to support the whole party and their belongings, was,from the very character of her construction, unwieldy and difficult topropel; but she arrived safely at last on the south-western shore of thelagoon. Then a number of canal-like channels being found penetratingthe firm ground, as on the side already traversed, the question arosewhether the journey should be resumed on foot, or an attempt should bemade to continue it on the _balsa_, through the medium of the waterchannels. Dick was of opinion that the latter would be the moreexpeditious way, it being far easier for the Indians to tow the _balsa_loaded with all the belongings of the party, than it would be for themto carry their loads as heretofore; and this plan was accordinglyadopted.
Unfortunately, perhaps, they were obliged to abandon the _balsa_ aboutmid-afternoon, the water channel abruptly coming to an end, and thusnecessitating a return to their original mode of travel.
Earle was profoundly disappointed that during practically the entireday's journey none of the denizens of the swamp had chosen to revealthemselves, for he had all the naturalist's enthusiasm for the discoveryof new and strange creatures, and was especially anxious to secure aspecimen of the "cross between a frog and a kangaroo" seen and shot byDick, and, later, shot at by himself; but, so far as appearances went,the part of the swamp which they were now traversing might betenantless. At length, however, just as the day's journey was drawingto a close, a bit of luck came his way. For while he and Dick wereglancing about them in search of a suitable spot upon which to camp forthe night, an animal suddenly made its appearance in the open, not morethan fifty yards away, and Earle instantly flung up his rifle and shotit. It was as big as a donkey and resembled a hare in every respect,except that it had ears shaped like those of a mouse, while its coat wasof short hair instead of fur. It was entirely new to Earle, and he wasmuch gratified at securing it, as were the others of the party, for itsflesh proved to be very juicy and palatable.
Their next adventure occurred during the afternoon of the following day.They had just passed beyond the confines of the swamp, and weretravelling over somewhat rising ground toward a line of foreststretching right athwart their path, when, during a temporary halt,which Dick was utilising to scan the surrounding country through hisfield-glasses, he caught a momentary glimpse of what he imagined to beIndians, moving stealthily about among the boles of the trees,apparently reconnoitring the party. He directed Earle's attention tothem, and after an eager search with his glasses, the American alsocaught sight of them, and agreed with Dick that their movements weresuspicious, and that it would be wise to be prepared for a suddenattack. They loaded their repeating rifles, each stuck a pair ofautomatic pistols in his belt, and when the march was resumed, went onahead, accompanied by Inaguy, with the object of establishing a parleywith the strangers.
But when, some ten minutes later, they arrived at the outskirts of theforest, there was no sign of them, and no response to Inaguy's repeatedcalls in several different Indian dialects. It was not only a puzzlingbut also a disconcerting circumstance; for the failure of the strangersto reply seemed to indicate a hostile disposition; and for the party toplunge into the depths of the forest with a band of hostile Indiansdogging their footsteps, or perhaps preparing to ambush them, seemed toEarle the opposite of good generalship; after considering the matter,therefore, it was decided to camp for the remainder of the day, at asufficient distance from the forest to render a surprise attackimpossible, and there await developments.
This was done, and for about an hour after the camp was pitched,sentinels being posted about halfway between it and the border of theforest to give timely notice of a threatened attack, nothing happened.
Then one of the sentinels shouted that there were people moving amo
ngthe trees, upon which Dick and Earle, fully armed, moved out toreconnoitre, with King Cole as usual at their heels.
The sentinel was right, as the pair ascertained immediately that theybrought their field-glasses to bear upon the part of the forestindicated by the Indian. The undergrowth, consisting mostly of bushesand shrubs, was fairly dense, rendering it impossible to see beyond ayard or two into the forest, but by diligent and patient search the twoleaders were able to discern certain dark objects, which they identifiedas heads, moving hither and thither, and pausing from time to time topeer out at them through parted boughs. Then suddenly a frightful roarwas heard, immediately taken up and answered by many others, the bushesswayed as heavy bodies irresistibly forced a way through them, and sometwenty monstrous figures bounded into the open and came charging downupon the little group, emitting loud, savage roars as they came, withthe foam flying from their champing jaws.
"G-r-r-eat Caesar's ghost!" exclaimed Earle in amazement, as thecreatures broke cover; "what have we here, anyway? Whatever they maybe, they are certainly not human. And savage--they're as full of gallas a wagon-load of catamounts! This is where we have to shoot to kill,Dick, and don't you forget it. We can't begin too soon either, so getbusy, my lad. Darn that Indian! he's scooted. Well, I guess he'sbetter out of the way after all."
Earle might well be excused for the astonishment he betrayed at thesight of the enemy. As he had said, they were certainly not human; theywere, in fact, gigantic apes, somewhat resembling gorillas in theirgeneral appearance, though considerably bigger, their stature being, onEarle's first hasty estimate, quite six feet. They were covered withrather long, coarse, shaggy hair, of so dark a brown as to appear almostblack, the hair of the head and face being much longer than on the restof the body. Their arms were immensely long in proportion to theirlower limbs; from their build they appeared to be endowed with amazingstrength, a suggestion which was fully confirmed by the consummate easewith which they flourished boughs of trees of formidable size with whichthey had armed themselves.
They came charging down upon the two white men and the now madly ragingKing Cole in a series of long bounds, springing from the ground andlanding upon it with both feet together, each leap being accompanied bya deep, bellowing roar, the volume of which testified to immense powerof lung, while their small, deeply set eyes blazed with fury.
"Shoot from the wings, inward," ordered Earle, "then we shall not wastetwo bullets upon the same beast. You begin with the one on your extremeleft."
As Earle spoke he threw up his rifle, and pressing the trigger, neatlydropped the beast on the extreme right of the advancing line, while Dickbrought down his mark with a broken leg. But these casualties had notthe slightest effect upon the others, who continued their charge withoutthe smallest sign of a check.
"Keep cool and shoot straight," admonished Earle, as his rifle spoke asecond time and another foe crashed to earth with a .35 soft-nosedbullet through his brain. Dick, on the other hand, very much lesshardened than Earle for such a nerve-trying experience as this, grew alittle flurried, and caught his next mark in the shoulder, shatteringthe bone and goading the beast to a condition of absolutely maniacalfury, but failing to stop him until he had sent a bullet through thebrute's lungs, when he halted, coughing up a torrent of blood. And somatters proceeded until the two men had emptied their Remingtons, theten shots accounting for seven dead and two put _hors de combat_.
There was no time to reload, for the monsters still continued thecharge, apparently quite unconscious of, or supremely indifferent to,what had happened to their companions; the two men therefore droppedtheir empty rifles, and each whipped a seven-shot Colt automatic fromhis belt, and continued his fusillade. Those Colt pistols wereformidable weapons, of .45 calibre, at close quarters quite as effectiveas the rifles; and before the beasts succeeded in closing, all but fourwere down.
Of those four, King Cole tackled one, launching himself like an arrow atthe creature's throat, with a low snarl of concentrated rage, andsinking his fangs deeply in the muscular, hairy neck, the claws of histwo fore feet firmly gripping the huge shoulders of the beast while thestrong claws of his powerful hind feet tore open the abdomen andpractically disembowelled his adversary. And as the pair went down,roaring, snarling, and fighting desperately, Earle thrust the muzzle ofhis Colt into the yawning jaws of another and sent the heavy bulletcrashing upward through the brute's skull at the precise instant thatthe powerful jaws snapped like a trap upon the barrel of the weapon.
Meanwhile, the remaining two hurled themselves upon Dick. One of themhe shot clean through the heart as the brute sprang upon him, andalthough there can be no doubt that the creature instantly died, themomentum of his spring was sufficient to dash the lad to the ground andsend his pistol flying. And before he could regain his feet or draw hisremaining pistol, the last survivor was upon him, with a ponderous clubupraised to dash out the youngster's brains. Like lightning the blowfell; but instinctively and without premeditation Dick just managed tododge it; and such was the force of the blow that the club snapped shortoff in the brute's great hairy hand. And now the knowledge of boxingthat the young sailor had aforetime somewhat painfully acquired, came tohis aid, for as his ferocious antagonist crouched over him, his greattusks bared and dripping foam, while the little eyes burnt red withdeadly hate, Dick threw his whole strength into a right-hander, whichcaught the beast fair and square on the point of the chin with a crashthat sent the head violently back and caused the vertebrae of the neckto crack, following up the blow with a punch in the wind that fairlyknocked the beast out of time for the moment. That moment provedsufficient to save Cavendish's life, for it afforded him time to whipthe remaining pistol from his belt and discharge it full in the brute'sface as it gathered itself together for what would in all probabilityhave proved a fatal leap, so far as Dick was concerned.