fur garments now wet with
melted-snow and ice particles, searching for the catch to open that
pocket in which lay a small but powerful electric flashlight, an
instrument without which no far-flying aviator finds himself. After a
moment's fumbling, his yet stiffened fingers encountered the
cylindrical flash and, with a low cry of satisfaction, he drew it
forth to press the button.

"Mighty useful. I--" The words stopped, frozen on his lips. Before the
parka edge his close cropped hair seemed to rise, and his breath
stopped midway in his lungs. Sharp electric shocks shook him, for
there, half revealed in the feeble flashlight's glare, was a sight
which shook his sanity to the snapping point. Not fifty feet away two
eyes, large as dinner plates, with narrow vertical red irises, were
trained on him. Rooted to the ground by the paralysis of utter horror,
Nelson saw that their color was a weird, unhealthy, greenish white,
rather like the color of a radio-light watch dial.

Strangely intense, these huge orbs wavered not at all, filling him
with an unnameable dread, while the strong odor of musk assailed his
nostrils. The flashlight slipped from between Nelson's fingers and, no
longer having his thumb on the button, flickered out.

Helpless, Nelson stood transfixed against a boulder, aware that the
strange, musky scent was becoming stronger. Then to his ears came a
dry scrabbling as of some large body stealthily advancing. Those
horrible, unearthly eyes were coming nearer! Fierce, terrible shocks
of fear gripped the exhausted aviator. Then the impulse of
self-preservation, that most elementary of all instincts, forced him
to snatch up the rifle, to sight hastily, blindly, between those two,
great greenish eyes. Choking out a strangled sob of desperation,
Nelson made his trembling finger close over the cold strip of steel
that must be the trigger.

* * * * *

Like a stage trick, the cavern was momentarily lit by a strong, orange
yellow glare. Then the Winchester's report thundered and roared
deafeningly; coincidentally arose a nerve-shattering scream. An
exhalation, foul as a corpse long unburied, fanned his face.
Terrified, he flattened to the rock wall as a huge, though dangerously
agile body hurtled by with the speed of a runaway horse. Presently
followed the sound of a ponderous fall, then a series of shrill,
ear-piercing gibberings and squeakings, like those of a titanic
rat--squeaks th