"What is it all?" I asked, when I had got my breath. "Where are the
professors? And who is it that is after us?"

"The ape-men," he cried. "My God, what brutes! Don't raise your
voice, for they have long ears--sharp eyes, too, but no power of scent,
so far as I could judge, so I don't think they can sniff us out. Where
have you been, young fellah? You were well out of it."

In a few sentences I whispered what I had done.

"Pretty bad," said he, when he had heard of the dinosaur and the pit.
"It isn't quite the place for a rest cure. What? But I had no idea
what its possibilities were until those devils got hold of us. The
man-eatin' Papuans had me once, but they are Chesterfields compared to
this crowd."

"How did it happen?" I asked.

"It was in the early mornin'. Our learned friends were just stirrin'.
Hadn't even begun to argue yet. Suddenly it rained apes. They came
down as thick as apples out of a tree. They had been assemblin' in the
dark, I suppose, until that great tree over our heads was heavy with
them. I shot one of them through the belly, but before we knew where
we were they had us spread-eagled on our backs. I call them apes, but
they carried sticks and stones in their hands and jabbered talk to each
other, and ended up by tyin' our hands with creepers, so they are ahead
of any beast that I have seen in my wanderin's. Ape-men--that's what
they are--Missin' Links, and I wish they had stayed missin'. They
carried off their wounded comrade--he was bleedin' like a pig--and then
they sat around us, and if ever I saw frozen murder it was in their
faces. They were big fellows, as big as a man and a deal stronger.
Curious glassy gray eyes they have, under red tufts, and they just sat
and gloated and gloated. Challenger is no chicken, but even he was
cowed. He managed to struggle to his feet, and yelled out at them to
have done with it and get it over. I think he had gone a bit off his
head at the suddenness of it, for he raged and cursed at them like a
lunatic. If they had been a row of his favorite Pressmen he could not
have slanged them worse."

"Well, what did they do?" I was enthralled by the strange story which
my companion was whispering into my ear, while all the time his keen
eyes were shooting in every direction and his hand grasping his cocked
rifle.

"I thought it was the end of us, but instead of that it started them on
a new line. They all jabbered and chattered toge