r-eager.
I'm ashamed of you, Dick--and a blamed sight more ashamed of myself; for
I am an old hand at this sort of thing, while you are comparatively
fresh at it, and therefore there is some sort of excuse for you, while
there 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; we
couldn't help hitting him. He was as big as a house! But, my gentle
boy, that wasn't enough. We wanted to kill him, so that we might have a
chance to see what he looked like. Hit him! Yes; we hit him on his
skull, and the blows sounded as though his head was encased in five-inch
Harveyized armour plate! If we had waited five seconds longer, we
should have had a good view of him and been able to shoot him through
the heart--if he happens to possess such an organ."

"That's all very fine," retorted Dick. "But I'll bet that if we had
waited the extra five seconds, you would still have aimed to hit him
fair between the eyes--as I did."

"Well--yes, I guess I should," returned Earle, his vexation suddenly
evaporating. "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 our
bullets got home, and that to-morrow morning, we shall find him floating
dead out there in the offing waiting to be inspected. Anyway, there is
no sense in crying over spilt milk; and who knows what chances may still
be in store for us. And now, Dick, while your memory is still fresh,
have the goodness to describe to me exactly the impression left upon
your mind by what you saw. Gee! what a time the inhabitants of this
swamp seem to be having. The row is growing worse than ever."

Dick dutifully responded to his friend's request, but alas! his
description amounted to very little more than the bald statement that
the thing struck him as possessing a body about as bulky as an elephant,
standing upon disproportionately short legs; that the eyes were as big
round 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 by
the light of the fire.

Meanwhile the "row," as Earle had observed, seemed to be growing worse
than ever, and it was presently added to by the low mutterings of
di