more directed toward the river,
for around us there had sprung up a perfect bedlam of screams and
hisses and a seething caldron of hideous reptiles, devoid of fear and
filled only with hunger and with rage. They clambered, squirmed and
wriggled to the deck, forcing us steadily backward, though we emptied
our pistols into them. There were all sorts and conditions of horrible
things--huge, hideous, grotesque, monstrous--a veritable Mesozoic
nightmare. I saw that the girl was gotten below as quickly as possible,
and she took Nobs with her--poor Nobs had nearly barked his head off;
and I think, too, that for the first time since his littlest puppyhood
he had known fear; nor can I blame him. After the girl I sent Bradley
and most of the Allies and then the Germans who were on deck--von
Schoenvorts being still in irons below.

The creatures were approaching perilously close before I dropped
through the hatchway and slammed down the cover. Then I went into the
tower and ordered full speed ahead, hoping to distance the fearsome
things; but it was useless. Not only could any of them easily
outdistance the U-33, but the further upstream we progressed the
greater the number of our besiegers, until fearful of navigating a
strange river at high speed, I gave orders to reduce and moved slowly
and majestically through the plunging, hissing mass. I was mighty glad
that our entrance into the interior of Caprona had been inside a
submarine rather than in any other form of vessel. I could readily
understand how it might have been that Caprona had been invaded in the
past by venturesome navigators without word of it ever reaching the
outside world, for I can assure you that only by submarine could man
pass up that great sluggish river, alive.

We proceeded up the river for some forty miles before darkness overtook
us. I was afraid to submerge and lie on the bottom overnight for fear
that the mud might be deep enough to hold us, and as we could not hold
with the anchor, I ran in close to shore, and in a brief interim of
attack from the reptiles we made fast to a large tree. We also dipped
up some of the river water and found it, though quite warm, a little
sweeter than before. We had food enough, and with the water we were all
quite refreshed; but we missed fresh meat. It had been weeks, now,
since we had tasted it, and the sight of the reptiles gave me an
idea--that a steak or two from one of them might not be bad eating. So
I