ed. His hands were furred to the
second joint of the fingers, but they were the hands of a man, not
those of an ape, for the huge thumb was opposed to the fingers instead
of being set parallel with them like another finger. His head was low
in the arch of the skull, low and narrow in the forehead, with a small
facial angle and hardly any bridge to the broad, flat, wide-nostriled
nose; and the jaws were heavy and thrust forward brutishly. But the
eyes, under the roof of the heavy, bony brows, held an expression
profoundly unlike the cold, mechanical stare of the giant Dinosaur or
the twinkling, vindictive glare of the black stranger. They gazed down
at the battle with a sort of superiority, considerate, a little
scornful, in spite of the obvious fact that either of the two, as far
as mere physical bulk and prowess were concerned, could have
obliterated him by simply setting foot upon him. In his free hand he
grasped a branch of acacia set with immense thorns, the needle-like
points of which he touched contemplatively from time to time, as if
pondering what use he could put them to. He had no marked prejudice,
for the moment, in favor of either side in the battle below him. Both
monsters were his foes, and the ideal result, in his eyes, would have
been for the two to destroy each other. But if he had any preference,
it was for the black mammalian beast, the lizard monster appearing to
him the more alien, the more incomprehensible and the more impregnable
to any strategy that he might devise.

For perhaps a couple of minutes, now, the King kept his place,
wheeling ponderously to face his agile opponent, who circled about him
at a distance of ten to twelve yards, seeking an opportunity to get in
a rush upon his open flank. This wheeling and circling made the cool
watcher in the tree impatient. Wrenching off a heavy branch, he hurled
it down with all his force upon the King's face. To the King this
seemed but another insult from his black antagonist, and his rage
exploded once more. With a roar he wallowed forward, thinking to pin
the elusive foe to earth and tread the life out of him.

This gave the black beast his opportunity. Doubling nimbly like a wild
boar, he dashed in and caught his colossal opponent fairly on the
side, midway between the shoulder and the haunch. The impact shocked
the breath from the monster's lungs, with a huge, explosive cough, and
brought him to a bewildered standstill, though it could not throw