FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116  
117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   >>   >|  
legs and thick, stubbed tail were threshing feebly in the mud as though it were in distress; and its eyes, so small as to be invisible in its repulsive head, were glazed and dull. "Was that what we heard back a ways?" wondered Joyce. "Probably," said Wichter. His eyes shone as he gazed at the nightmare shape. Impulsively he took a step toward the stirring mud. "Don't be entirely insane," snapped Joyce, catching his arm. "I must see it closer," said Wichter, tugging to be free. "Then we'll climb a tree and look down on it. We'll probably be safer up off the ground anyway." * * * * * They ascended the nearest jungle giant--whose rubbery bark was so ringed and scored as to be as easy to climb as a staircase--to the first great bough, about fifty feet from the ground, and edged out till they hung over the rim of the quagmire. From there, with the aid of their binoculars, they expected to see the dying monster in every detail. But when they looked toward the pool it was not in sight! "Were we seeing things?" exclaimed Wichter, rubbing his glasses. "I'd have sworn it was lying there!" "It was," said Joyce grimly. "Look at the pool. That'll tell you where it went." The black, secretive surface was bubbling and waving as though, down in its depths, a terrific fight were taking place. "Something came up and dragged our ten-legged lizard down to its den. Then that something's brothers got onto the fact that a feast was being held, and rushed in. That pool would be no place for a before-breakfast dip!" * * * * * Wichter started to say something in reply, then gazed, hypnotized, at the opposite wall of the jungle. From the dense screen of lavender foliage stretched a glistening, scale-armored neck, as thick as a man's body at its thinnest point, which was just behind a tremendous-jawed crocodilian head. It tapered back for a distance of at least thirty feet, to merge into a body as big as that of a terrestial whale, that was supported by four squat, ponderous legs. Moving with surprising rapidity, the enormous thing slid into the mud and began ploughing a way, belly deep, toward the pool. Shapeless, slow-writhing forms were cast up in its wake, to quiver for a moment in the sunlight and then melt below the mud again. One of the bloated, formless mud-crawlers was snapped up in the huge jaws with an abrupt plunge of the long neck, and t
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116  
117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Wichter

 

snapped

 

ground

 

jungle

 

hypnotized

 
screen
 

glistening

 

lavender

 

opposite

 
armored

stretched

 
foliage
 

legged

 

lizard

 

brothers

 

dragged

 

taking

 

Something

 

breakfast

 

started


rushed

 

supported

 

quiver

 

moment

 

writhing

 

ploughing

 

Shapeless

 

sunlight

 

abrupt

 

plunge


crawlers

 
bloated
 

formless

 

distance

 

tapered

 
thirty
 

crocodilian

 

tremendous

 

terrestial

 

surprising


Moving

 

rapidity

 

enormous

 

ponderous

 

terrific

 

thinnest

 
tugging
 

closer

 

insane

 

catching