ered rocks. He pointed toward
the open ground where they had been a few moments before. The
tree-eater was out in full view. Its flabby, barrel-like body was
squatted like that of some unearthly, giant toad, on massive hind
legs. It sat erect, its forelegs hung in air, as a hoarse, snarling
cry came from the cave. The great head, perched on the long leathery
neck, waved from side to side.

* * * * *

The noise from the cave ceased. The rift in the earth was in plain
sight from where they cowered, and the eyes of the men were upon it.
One instant it was empty; the next, in uncanny silence, it was filled
with huge hideousness--an enormous, crouching beast.

It was black, a dull leathery black. Its thick, hairless hide hung in
creases and folds on a gaunt frame. Shorter than the tree-eater, it
was still a thing of mammoth ugliness. Its hind legs were powerful and
armed with claws that curved deep into the earth; its front legs
displayed the same fearful weapons. A thick, heavy tail slashed
forward and back over the ground. And from this to the grinning,
heavy-toothed jaws and beady eyes where the long neck ended in a warty
head, it was an incarnation of pitiless ferocity.

Was the scent of the hidden, shuddering men in its red nostrils? It
forgot them at the sight of the beast in the clearing. The snarling
cry echoed hideously in the thin air as the frightful body came erect
with neck extended, jaws open and dripping. It hurled itself through
the air in one terrific leap.

Had there been any lingering hope in the minds of the men that they
had no carnivores to deal with, the ensuing struggle ended it. The
attacker tore great masses of living flesh from the struggling,
screaming body. The first cumbersome brute was helpless before its
destroyer.

* * * * *

Jerry was trembling and sick at the sight, but he grasped his
companion's arm and drew him after as he slipped quietly away.

"To the high ground," he whispered. "It's our only hope. Perhaps we
can fight them off there--find some steep rock we can climb." They
worked their way desperately through the rubbery, obstructing growth.

At the foot of the hill there was better going; the bare rock gave
winding and twisting passage to the heights. They could have leaped
over the stunted growths here, could have raced frantically for the
high ground, but they dared not. To leap up into view of those fierce,