FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78  
79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   >>  
little one reposing in the seclusion of the cavity. Warruk evaded the charge in a nimble spring to one side and, surprised and bewildered by the reception accorded him, dashed away--not in the direction whence he had come but straight over the top of the windfall. Ignorant of the pitfalls concealed by the mantel of creepers he hurried on his course, only to break through the thin veneer and plunge headlong into a black abyss; then he realized the treacherous nature of his footing. Catlike, he landed on his feet five yards below in the center of a great, hollow stub; and, cat-like, he almost immediately began to climb the circular wall that surrounded the damp, evil-smelling hole into which he had fallen. But the wood was decayed; it was so soft and spongy it would not support his weight. As fast as his claws dug into the sides of the stub flakes broke off so that he could not draw his body off the ground. He tried again and again; but always the result was the same. Warruk was a prisoner in a gloomy cavity and while his prison walls were decayed and crumbling they prevented him from climbing to safety as effectively as if they had been made of the hardest of steel. After numerous futile attempts the cub lay down panting, to rest. Suddenly he became aware of the fact that he was not the only occupant of the trap-like enclosure. A pair of beady eyes were silently regarding him from a crevice between two great roots. The eyes were sinister eyes, set too closely together to belong to an animal of any size unless----. With a shudder of terror the cub leapt to the farthest side of the prison, for the eyes were stealthily advancing, followed by a thick, sinuous body that seemed to flow from its hiding place. The newcomer was a great serpent. Warruk felt an instinctive dread of the terrible creature that was so silently approaching. The unblinking eyes transfixed him--held him spell-bound. He had experienced nothing like it during the short year of his life. Trembling, he drew himself back against the wall of rotten wood as far as possible. The snake stopped and from its mouth came a hiss that sounded like a jet of escaping steam and lasted fully half a minute. Still the eyes came no nearer but motion was discernible in the darkened corner from which the reptile had appeared. The boa constrictor, for such it was, was noiselessly drawing foot after foot of its thick body into the chamber in preparation for a quick lunge
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78  
79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   >>  



Top keywords:

Warruk

 

decayed

 

prison

 
cavity
 
silently
 

advancing

 
sinuous
 

hiding

 

occupant

 

enclosure


stealthily
 

animal

 

sinister

 

belong

 

closely

 
crevice
 

farthest

 

terror

 

shudder

 
minute

motion

 
nearer
 

lasted

 

sounded

 

escaping

 

discernible

 

darkened

 
drawing
 

chamber

 

preparation


noiselessly

 

reptile

 

corner

 

appeared

 

constrictor

 

stopped

 

transfixed

 

unblinking

 

experienced

 

approaching


creature

 

serpent

 

instinctive

 

terrible

 

rotten

 

Trembling

 
newcomer
 

crumbling

 

headlong

 

realized