y, 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. Seeing that their lives were in danger, the hunters
quickly regained the open, and then stretched their legs against the
wind. The dragons came through the trees on the ground, and then,
raising themselves by their wings, the whole swarm, snorting, and
darkening the air with their deadly breath, made straight for the men,
who by comparison looked like Lilliputians. With the slug from his
right barrel Bearwarden ended the wounded dragon's career by shooting
him through the head, and with his left laid low the one following.
Ayrault also killed two huge monsters, and Cortlandt killed one and
wound