paws gently, almost
lovingly, on a man's shoulders, and then disembowels him by the rapid
movement of a hind leg. But we shall get used to their method, and can
do better next time."

They then reloaded their weapons and, while Cortlandt examined their
victim from a naturalist's point of view, Bearwarden and Ayrault
secured the heart, which they thought would be the most edible part,
the operation being rendered possible by the amount of armour the
explosive balls had stripped off.

"To-morrow," said Bearwarden, "we must make it a point to get some
well-fed birds; for I can roast, broil, or fricassee them to a turn.
Life is too short to live on this meat in such a sportsman's paradise.
In any case there can be no end of mastodons, mammoths, woolly
rhinoceroses, moa birds, and all such shooting."

As the sun was already near the horizon, they chose a dry, sandy place,
to secure as much immunity as possible from nocturnal visits, and,
after procuring a supply of water from a pool, proceeded to arrange
their camp for the night. They first laid out the protection-wires,
setting them while the sun still shone. Next they built a fire and
prepared their evening meal. While they ate it, twilight became night,
and the fire-flies, twinkling in legions in the neighbouring valley,
seemed like the lamps of a great city.

"Their lights," said Bearwarden, pointing to them, "are not as fine as
the jelly-fish Will-o'-the wisps were last night, but they are not so
dangerous. No gymnotus or electric eel that I have ever seen compared
with them, and I am convinced that any one of us they might have
touched would have been in kingdom come."

The balmy air soothed the travellers' brows as they reclined against
mounds of sand, while the flowers in the valley sent up their dying
notes. One by one the moons arose, till four--among them the
Lilliputian, discovered by Prof. Barnard in 1893--were in the sky,
flooding the landscape with their silvery light, and something in the
surroundings touched a sympathetic cord in the men.

"Oh that I were young again," said Cortlandt, "and had life before me!
I should like to remain here and grow up with this planet, in which we
already perceive the next New World. The beauties of earth are barren
compared with the scenes we have here."

"You remember," replied Bearwarden, "how Cicero defends old age in his
De Senectute, and shows that while it has almost everything that youth
has, it has als