h stood between them and the
water to which their last hope clung, was maddening. How they longed to
battle the hideous monster! But the hours dragged on with nothing to
disturb the dead, heart-breaking silence. At last the Great Dipper had
swung so far around that dawn appeared. Yet there had been not a ripple
on the lake. Omega concluded that his guess was wrong--the beast did not
leave the water at night to search for food. Perhaps it had learned the
futility of such a search in a dead, dust-covered world.

* * * * *

Wearied by their long and fruitless vigil they must have dozed, for
suddenly Omega, who sat but a yard or two from Thalma, was aroused by a
padded footfall and the exhalations of a noisome breath. Looking up he
was horrified to see the monster towering above him, its head swaying
gently to and fro, as its great, awkward feet sent it lunging forward
and backward for many feet, its spotted, scale-covered body trailed over
the rocks. By suddenly rounding the shoulder of the rock, sheltering
Omega and Thalma, its head held high, it seemed not to have seen the two
humans, for its terrible unblinking eyes were fixed ahead on the water.
However, Omega, paralyzed with fear and astonishment, and being directly
in the beast's path, believed that his hour had come. This was to be the
end of all his plans--to be crushed by the enormous weight of the
monster which challenged his right to live. But in that tense moment
when he thought that it was all over, the lithe form of Thalma reached
his side and in a frenzy of terror pulled him away. But even then the
sloping belly of the onrushing beast tore him from her frail hands and
dashed him against the rock.

While he lay there stunned and unable to move, Thalma discharged her
weapon at the monster. Three times she fired in quick succession but the
shots went wild, and in another moment the great brute struck the water
with a resounding splash and disappeared from view. For a few minutes a
trail of surface bubbles marked its rapid course toward the lake's
center, then all was motionless and still as before.

"Are you hurt, Omega?" Thalma cried anxiously, kneeling by his side.

"Just shaken up a bit," he returned, sitting up with an effort. "Great
hunters are we," he went on with a laugh. "We almost allowed the game to
catch the hunters! Well, let's go back to the ship. We'll get him next
time."

But their narrow escape had shaken the