as gathering
plantains not far from the waterside, while the man chanced to be away
exploring the limits of his new domain. The woman looked up suddenly;
and there, almost upon her, was the giant horror of the Dinosaur, his
cold, expressionless eyes gaping at her immovably from their goggling
sockets. She turned to flee; and there was the monster's mate, not
quite so huge, but equally appalling. Behind her was an impenetrable
wall of thorn-acacia. There was only one refuge--a tree, all too
small, but lofty enough to take her beyond the reach of those
horrifying horned and immobile masks. Up the little tree she went,
nimbly as a monkey, and crouched shivering in a crotch. The slender
trunk swayed beneath her weight. She clutched the brown baby to her
heart, and sent shriek after shriek through the glades.

A mile away the man heard it. He gave one deep-chested shout in
answer, and then came running in silence, saving his breath.

But it was a mile he had to come. The female Dinosaur, the more
instantly malignant of the two, hurled herself upon the trunk of the
tree. It swayed horribly, but did not yield at once. Thereupon the two
began to root beneath it with their horns, having often used this
method to obtain fruits which were above their reach. The tree leaned
far over. The giant straddled it as a moose straddles a poplar
sapling, and bore it down irresistibly. Its top touched earth.

The brown mother sprang forth with a tremendous leap, clearing the
horns with a twist which nearly broke her back. She thought herself
free. And then a gigantic tail struck her and felled her senseless. A
second more, and the female Dinosaur's great foot crushed her and the
wailing babe out of existence together.

The swift end of the tragedy the man had seen as he came racing down a
stretch of open glade. He did not need to look at the awful thing
beneath the monster's foot to know that all was over. Beyond one
hoarse groan he uttered not a sound. But blindly--for he had never yet
practised such an art--he hurled his ragged club at the nearest
monster. It rebounded like a baby's rattle from the vast horn-armored
head. But a lucky chance had guided it. One of its sharp, splintered
knots struck fairly in the Dinosaur's eye, and smashed it in the
socket. She roared with agony; and the two, side by side, came lunging
towards him.

The man ran back slowly. His despairing grief had changed suddenly
into a cold hate and a resolve for ven