y as large as the largest elephant and with great forepaws armed
with huge claws. Its nose, or snout, depended nearly a foot below its
lower jaw, much after the manner of a rudimentary trunk. The giant
body was covered by a coat of thick, shaggy hair.

Roaring horribly it came toward us at a ponderous, shuffling trot. I
turned to Perry to suggest that it might be wise to seek other
surroundings--the idea had evidently occurred to Perry previously, for
he was already a hundred paces away, and with each second his
prodigious bounds increased the distance. I had never guessed what
latent speed possibilities the old gentleman possessed.

I saw that he was headed toward a little point of the forest which ran
out toward the sea not far from where we had been standing, and as the
mighty creature, the sight of which had galvanized him into such
remarkable action, was forging steadily toward me. I set off after
Perry, though at a somewhat more decorous pace. It was evident that
the massive beast pursuing us was not built for speed, so all that I
considered necessary was to gain the trees sufficiently ahead of it to
enable me to climb to the safety of some great branch before it came up.

Notwithstanding our danger I could not help but laugh at Perry's
frantic capers as he essayed to gain the safety of the lower branches
of the trees he now had reached. The stems were bare for a distance of
some fifteen feet--at least on those trees which Perry attempted to
ascend, for the suggestion of safety carried by the larger of the
forest giants had evidently attracted him to them. A dozen times he
scrambled up the trunks like a huge cat only to fall back to the ground
once more, and with each failure he cast a horrified glance over his
shoulder at the oncoming brute, simultaneously emitting terror-stricken
shrieks that awoke the echoes of the grim forest.

At length he spied a dangling creeper about the bigness of one's wrist,
and when I reached the trees he was racing madly up it, hand over hand.
He had almost reached the lowest branch of the tree from which the
creeper depended when the thing parted beneath his weight and he fell
sprawling at my feet.

The misfortune now was no longer amusing, for the beast was already too
close to us for comfort. Seizing Perry by the shoulder I dragged him
to his feet, and rushing to a smaller tree--one that he could easily
encircle with his arms and legs--I boosted him as far up as I coul