"Though we have seen none of the huge creatures here,"said Cortlandt,"that were so plentiful on Jupiter,these burrowers belong to a distinctly higher scale than those we found there,from which I take it we may infer that the evolution of the animal kingdom has advanced further on this planet than on Jupiter,which is just what we have a right to expect;for Saturn,in addition to being the smaller and therefore more matured of the two,has doubtless had a longer individual existence,being the farther from the sun."Notwithstanding the cold of the night,the flowers,especially the lilies,were as beautiful as ever,which surprised them not a little,until,on examining them closely,they found that the stems and veins in the leaves were fluted,and therefore elastic,so that,should the sap freeze,it could expand without bursting the cells,thereby enabling the flowers to withstand a short frost.They noticed that many of the curiously shaped birds they saw at a distance from time to time were able to move with great rapidity along the ground,and had about concluded that they must have four legs,being similar to winged squirrels,when a long,low quadruped,about twenty-five feet from nostrils to tail,which they were endeavouring to stalk,suddenly spread two pairs of wings,flapping the four at once,and then soared off at great speed.
"I hope we can get one of those,or at least his photograph,"said Cortlandt.
"If they go in pairs,"said Bearwarden,"we may find the companion near."At that moment another great winged lizard,considerably larger than the first,rose with a snort,not twenty yards on their left.Cortlandt,who was a good shot with a gun at short range,immediately raised his twelve-bore and fired both barrels at the monster;but the double-B shots had no more disabling effect than if they had been number eights.They,however,excited the creature's ire;for,sweeping around quickly,it made straight for Cortlandt,breathing at him when near,and almost overpowering the three men with the malodorous,poisonous cloud it exhaled.Instantly Bearwarden fired several revolver bullets down its throat,while Ayrault pulled both barrels almost simultaneously,with the muzzles but a few inches from its side.
In this case the initial velocity of the heavy buckshot was so great,and they were still so close together,that they penetrated the leathery hide,tearing a large hole.With a roar the wounded monster beat a retreat,first almost prostrating them with another blast of its awful breath.
"It would take a stronger light than we get here,"said Bearwarden,"to impress a negative through that haze.I think,"he continued,"I know a trick that will do the business,if we see any more of these dragons."Saying which,he withdrew the cartridges from his gun,and with his hunting-knife cut the tough paper shell nearly through between the wads separating the powder from the shot,drawing his knife entirely around.
"Now,"said he,"when I fire those,the entire forward end of the cartridge will go out,keeping the fifteen buckshot together like a slug,and with such penetration that it will go through a two-inch plank.It is a trick I learned from hunters,and,unless your guns are choke-bore,in which case it might burst the barrel,I advise you to follow suit."Finding they had brought straight-bored guns,they arranged their cartridges similarly,and set out in the direction in which the winged lizards or dragons had gone.
CHAPTER IV.
A PROVIDENTIAL INTERVENTION.
The valley narrowed as they advanced,the banks rising gently on both sides.Both dragons had flown straight to a grove of tall,spreading trees.On coming near to this,they noticed a faint smell like that of the dragon,and also like the trace they found in the air on leaving the Callisto the day before,after they had sought safety within it.Soon it almost knocked them down.
"We must get to windward,"said Cortlandt."I already feel faint,and believe those dragons could kill a man by breathing on him."Accordingly,they skirted around the grove,and having made a quarter circle--for they did not wish the dragons to wind them--again drew nearer.Tree after tree was passed,and finally they saw an open space twelve or fifteen acres in area at the centre of the grove,when they were arrested by a curious sound of munching.Peering among the trunks of the huge trees,they advanced cautiously,but stopped aghast.In the opening were at least a hundred dragons devouring the toadstools with which the ground was covered.Many of them were thirty to forty feet long,with huge and terribly long,sharp claws,and jaws armed with gleaming batteries of teeth.Though they had evidently lungs,and the claws and mouth of an animal,they reminded the observers in many respects of insects enormously exaggerated,for their wings,composed of a sort of transparent scale,were small,and moved,as they had already seen,at far greater speed than those of a bird.
Their projecting eyes were also set rigidly in their heads instead of turning,and consisted of a number of flat surfaces or facets,like a fly's eye,so that they could see backward and all around,each facet seeing anything the rays from which came at right angles to its surface.This beautiful grove was doubtless their feeding-ground,and,as such,was likely to be visited by many more.Concluding it would be wise to let their wounded game escape,the three men were about to retreat,having found it difficult to breathe the air even at that distance from the monsters,when the wounded dragon that they had observed moving about in a very restless manner,and evidently suffering a good deal from the effect of its wounds,espied them,and,with a roar that made the echoes ring,started towards them slowly along the ground,followed by the entire herd,the nearer of which now also saw them.
