ed another. Their supply of prepared cartridges was then
exhausted, and they fell back on their revolvers and ineffective
spreading shot. Resolved to sell their lives dearly, they retreated,
keeping their backs to the wind, with the poisonous dragons in front.
But the breeze was very slight, and they were being rapidly blinded and
asphyxiated by the loathsome fumes, and deafened by the hideous roaring
and snapping of the dragons' jaws. Realizing that they could not much
longer reply to the diabolical host with lead, they believed their last
hour had come, when the ground on which they were making their last
stand shook, there was a rending of rocks and a rush of imprisoned
steam that drowned even the dragons' roar, and they were separated from
them by a long fissure and a wall of smoke and vapour. Struggling back
from the edge of the chasm, they fell upon the ground, and then for the
first time fully realized that the earthquake had saved them, for the
dragons could not come across the opening, and would not venture to fly
through the smoke and steam. When they recovered somewhat from the
shock, they cut a number of cartridges in the same way that they had
prepared those that had done them such good service, and kept one
barrel of each gun loaded with that kind.

[Illustration: The combat with the dragons.]

"We may thank Providence," said Bearwarden, "for that escape. I hope
we shall have no more such close calls."

With a parting glance at the chasm that had saved their lives, and from
which a cloud still arose, they turned slightly to the right of their
former course and climbed the gently rising bank. When near the top,
being tired of their exciting experiences, they sat down to rest. The
ground all about them was covered with mushrooms, white on top and pink
underneath.

"This is a wonderful place for fungi," said Ayrault. "Here, doubtless,
we shall be safe from the dragons, for they seemed to prefer the
toadstools." As he lay on the ground he watched one particular
mushroom that seemed to grow before his eyes. Suddenly, as he looked,
it vanished. Dumfounded at this unmistakable manifestation of the
phenomenon they thought they had seen on landing, he called his
companions, and, choosing another mushroom, the three watched it
closely. Presently, without the least noise or commotion, that also
disappeared, leaving no trace, and the same fate befell a number of
others. At a certain point of their de