ime the jungle was
still he was sitting up mumbling apologies.

"Never mind," said his master. "Shin down there and cut us off a good
helping of roast tongue, if it has a tongue, before something else
comes along and beats us out of a feast."

"Him poison, maybe," Gunga demurred. They had killed a specimen new to
zoologists.

"Might as well die of poison as starvation," Forepaugh countered.

Without more ado the Martian descended, cut out some large, juicy
chunks as his fancy dictated, and brought his loot back up the tree.
The meat was delicious and apparently wholesome. They gorged
themselves and threw away what they could not eat, for food spoils
very quickly in the Inranian jungles and uneaten meat would only serve
to attract hordes of the gauzy-winged, glutinous Inranian swamp flies.
As they sank into slumber they could hear the beginning of a bedlam of
snarling and fighting as the lesser Carnivora fed on the body of the
fallen giant.

When they awoke the chronometer recorded the passing of twelve hours,
and they had to tear a network of strong fibers with which the tree
had invested them preparatory to absorbing their bodies as food. For
so keen is the competition for life on Inra that practically all
vegetation is capable of absorbing animal food directly. Many an
Inranian explorer can tell tales of narrow escapes from some of the
more specialized flesh-eating plants; but they are now so well known
that they are easily avoided.

* * * * *

A clean-picked framework of crushed and broken giant bones was all
that was left of the late bellowing monster. Six-legged water dogs
were polishing them hopefully, or delving into them with their long,
sinuous snouts for the marrow. The Earth man fired a few shots with
his six-shooter, and they scattered, dragging the bodies of their
fallen companions to a safe distance to be eaten.

Only one of the flash pistols was in working order. The other had been
trampled by heavy hoofs and was useless. A heavy handicap under which
to traverse fifty miles of abysmal jungle. They started with nothing
for breakfast except water, of which they had plenty.

Fortunately the outcroppings of rocks and gravel washes were becoming
more and more frequent, and they were able to travel at much better
speed. As they left the low-lying jungle land they entered a zone
which was faintly reminiscent of a terrestial jungle. It was still
hot, soggy, and fetid, bu