It was at once evident that the ferocious dinosaurs preferred to prowl at night. For with dawn, the hideous bloodshed within the crater subsided to a marked degree.
Doc at once led his friends with the exception of the whimpering Oliver Wording Bittman, who would not desert his perch in the fern tree to see what had happened to Renny.
They found Rennys collapsed parachute at last. The spot where it lay was some hundreds of yards from the nearest giant fern which would offer safety to a man.
Monk had been making himself a cigarette. But at sight of what lay near Rennys parachute, his big and hairy hands froze, can of tobacco in one, papers in the other.
For all about Rennys chute was torn and ripped turf. And blood! Amid the gore lay Rennys hat.
It looked like a dinosaur had devoured Renny!
"Maybe he got away?" Long Tom mumbled hopefully. But Doc, after a quick circle of the spot, replied: "There is no human trail away from this place! Im sure of that! The soft earth would take the prints. Renny never walked away from here!"
Monk slowly stuffed the tobacco can in a pocket. He had no appetite for a smoke now.
A reverent, sorrowful silence prevailed, dedicated to the memory of Renny.
This was broken in a frightful fashion.
"Over there!" Hams voice cracked. "What "
They looked, as one man, at first hoping Ham had sighted Renny. But it was not that.
OUT of the unhealthy rank jungle growth had come an amazing animal. In appearance, the thing was a conglomerate of weasel, cat, dog and bear. It was remarkable because it seemed a combination of most animals known to the twentieth century world.
But it was approximately the size of a very large elephant!
Monk gulped, "What the "
"A creodont!" breathed Johnny, awed. "The ancestor of a great many of our modern animals!"
"Yeah?" muttered Monk. "Well, from right now on, you dont catch me out of jumping distance of a tree!"
These words brought home to the others the shocking fact that they were helpless before the nondescript but fierce creodont. This animal could not be dodged as they had evaded the tyrannosaurus. It could turn too quickly! And its jaws were full of great teeth; its claws long and sharp. And no safety lay within reach!
The creodont abruptly charged!
Their guns cracked. But the gigantic animal came on as fast as ever. The thing had its head low they could not locate its small eyes for an effective target.
The men spread apart. But that could help but little. The monstrous creodont would lay about among them, crushing and mangling. They could not hope to outrun it!
Only a few yards distant, the creodont reared and separated its great, frothing jaws. It sprang with a hideous snarl.
It looked like the end for Doc and his men an end as terrible as they supposed Renny had suffered.
Chapter 17. RENNY, THE HUNTED
WHILE Doc and his friends faced the dangers of this weird place the first night, Renny, lost from the others, had difficulties of his own.
When Rennys parachute lowered him to the spongy floor of the vast crater, he landed in the midst of such a scene as his wildest nightmares had never produced.
He dropped squarely into the fight which was heard from the air. This was a ferocious battle between the same tyrannosaurus which had pursued Doc and the others, and a three-horned rhinoceros of a monster.
Rennys parachute spilled over the revolting face of the terrible tyrannosaurus. Renny instantly squirmed out of the chute harness and dropped to the cushionlike earth.
The tyrannosaurus, pitching about like a tall house caught in a tornado, soon got the silken folds out of its face.
But Renny had no time to witness that. The other beast came thundering straight for Renny.
The iron-fisted engineer had inspected the pictures of a few of the genus triceratops in textbooks, and had gazed without particular interest at a skeleton of one as displayed in a great museum. Beyond that, his knowledge did not extend.
He recognized the thing as a triceratops, for Renny had an excellent memory. But he didnt know it was a herb eater. He wouldnt have believed that at the moment, anyway. The thing looked like it was bent on making a meal out of Renny.
The monster dinosaur came at him with all the noise and impressive size of a snorting locomotive. Renny didnt have time to clutch for his gun. It was just as well. He could not have stopped the triceratops.
The huge reptile possessed three rhinoceroslike horns. Two jutted straight forward, one above each eye. These were fully as long as Rennys by-no-means-short body. The third horn was much smaller, and set down on the nose, as though for rooting purposes.
The striking thing about the triceratops was the great bony hood extending back from the head. This natural armor protected the neck and fore part of the body.
The armor was marked with great, fresh gouges. The fearful tyrannosaurus had been engaged in slaying this armored, three-horned vegetation eater for supper. Only the armor had saved the triceratops.
The three-horned dinosaur was now fleeing madly for its life! But Renny had no way of knowing that. He happened to be directly in the path of the thing. There was no time for a leap sidewise.
"Only one chance!" Renny gritted and sprang high into the air, flinging his two-hundred-and-fifty-pound frame directly between the two massive horns set over the dinosaurs eyes.
Rennys hands, each one a gallon of knuckles, clasped the horns. They clung tightly.
When the hulking beast ran straight forward, not even shaking its vast head, Renny merely hung on. The space between the horns was ample to accommodate him. The smaller lower horn furnished a footrest.
"If I get off, the thing will turn on me!" Renny reasoned wrongly.
This particular dinosaur was a peace lover, despite its formidable looks. Its only idea now was to get away from the terrible tyrannosaurus. Such a small object as Renny clinging to its head bothered it not at all for the time being.
The steam was dissipating now, and Renny could take in his surroundings. His amazing steed had a bald skin. It reminded Renny of an elephants hide, although rougher and thicker. It was hard as sole leather to his touch.
"A bullet wouldnt faze the thing!" he decided.
RENNY"S scant knowledge was sufficient to inform him the major portion of this creatures brain probably lay in its spine. It was even likely the spinal cord served as a brain, a function not uncommon in the prehistoric members of the dinosaur tribe.
The stampeding beast wallowed through a small body of water without slackening pace. Renny was drenched. He noted the water was very warm, like piping hot coffee. It did not scald, though.
The breathing of Rennys conveyance was becoming labored. The thing was short of wind. Renny began to have an unpleasant feeling it would soon stop. He wondered how he would dismount without meeting disaster.
The problem solved itself.
Blindly, as unvarying in its wild course as a bullet, the triceratops hit a great tangle of lianas and ferns and small coniferous trees. It gauged through by main strength.
Renny was left behind, hanging over a vine!
To this vine Renny clung for a time. He listened. The ground was about seven feet below. Renny didnt know but what other predatory monsters might be about. He glanced up nervously, fearing sight of the gruesome, batlike flying reptiles.
Exploring, Renny found he still had his pistol-like machine gun.
"Wish I had a pocketful of hand grenades too!" he muttered. He dropped down from the liana and set out on the triceratopss back trail. He found traveling difficult. Clinging creepers and packed ferns interfered.
Renny had penetrated the thick jungles of the upper Amazon. He had explored in rankest Africa. But he had never seen a jungle which approached this for denseness. Without the path the dinosaur had opened, Renny would have been baffled.