As it was, he had to be alert steadily, lest he stumble into the waist-deep tracks of the monster.
He soon noted the unusual character of the growth. Many of the trees were of a type he had never seen before. But others had a familiar look.
"The ones I dont recognize became extinct ages ago," he concluded. "The others, more fitted to changing conditions in the outside world, survived."
Renny chuckled. He felt exhilarated, now that he had escaped with his life.
"What I mean, this is a sure-enough example of how evolution has worked on the rest of the world!"
Suddenly came the dismaying knowledge that night had almost arrived.
Renny was conservative. He knew the safe thing to do.
"Ill hunt a tree for the night!" he concluded.
But he was not fortunate enough to be in a region of tall growth. He saw that climbing any of the small ferns or evergreen trees about him would not give him safety from the hulking dinosaurs.
He began to run, hoping to reach Doc before darkness. But, as though the very moist, depressively hot air were turning a jet-black ink, night started closing in.
Sprinting, Renny reached the body of water through which his huge steed had plowed. About to plunge in, he hesitated. A great gurgling arose beyond the enormous rushes that edged the shore. The sound was like huge tanks of water emptying in succession. Then a vast body, which was apparently dunking up and down and making the noises, must have rolled over.
A miniature tidal wave came boiling inshore. It reached above Rennys knees! What a monster this prehistoric beast must be!
Over the rushes suddenly projected what Renny at first took to be the head and neck of a snake. A work-a-day-world serpent magnified a thousandfold! A large barrel could not have held the head!
For all its snaky look and fantastic size, the head had a peaceful look, though. A repetition of the loud water noises showed that the long, lithe neck was attached to a monster body.
Slowly, the weird beast came dragging out of the water.
RENNY felt a ticklish sensation in his scalp, which might have been his hair standing on end.
The thing was longer than a freight car!
"Good " Renny spun and fled.
He knew he had just looked at a member of the family of largest creatures ever to tread the earth. Even the ferocious, meat-eating killer, the tyrannosaurus, was eclipsed by the bulk of this colossus.
The great reptile he had just seen was a "thunder lizard," or brontosaurus.
Renny recalled they were popularly supposed to be peaceful giants, haunting the water and feeding on lake plants and shore growth. The theory held by scientists is that they were not meat devourers.
Renny had no desire to test the accuracy of that theory. Compared to the thunder lizard in size, he was like a mouse beside a fat hog. He didnt know but what the beast might decide to try a man for a change of diet.
So Renny ran for all he was worth. The thunder lizard, apparently curious or playful, lumbered after him. The earth shook in a pronounced manner under its incalculable weight.
Quitting the trail opened by the armor-plated monster which had brought him here, Renny dived into the tangled vegetation. He lost his hundreds of tons of gamboling pursuer.
"Whew!" He mopped his forehead with both sleeves. "Whew!"
He felt his way onward, machine gun ready in one hand. So dark had become the night that he could not even see the weapon he held. He halted often to listen to the awful uproar of the night.
Once a nocturnal fray broke out near by, and the course of the battle brought it directly for Renny! He fled madly. Strong in his nostrils was the fetid, near-suffocating odor of a great carnivore. He knew here was genuine danger! It was another of the monster killers of prehistoric ages, a tyrannosaurus. His parachute had fallen upon one of those!
Renny crept away, marveling at the variety of ear-splitting sounds emitted by the weird beasts of the crater. He reasoned the things could see somewhat in the darkness. He had noticed the eyes of the reptiles were particularly fitted for vision in restricted light. But in darkness such as this, it was impossible for them to see much. They must hunt largely by the sense of hearing, perhaps some of them with the organ of smell.
"What a place to have to live in!" he muttered.
It was only a moment later that fresh disaster overtook him.
Came a great fluttering sound from above his head! It was as if some one were shaking a large carpet up there.
"What the " Then Renny knew what it was. One of the flying reptiles! A pterodactyl one of the horrors which had disabled their plane!
Wildly, Renny flung up his gun.
But before he could pull the trigger, the gruesome marauder was upon him!
RENNY now got one of the few pleasant surprises of the night. He realized this aлrial, batlike thing was much smaller than the one which had assailed the plane. Probably it was a chick of the species!
Evading the snapping, toothed beak, Renny clutched with his powerful hands. He got fistfuls of the revolting, membranous wings. The stuff felt like rubber. It was clammy. And a noisome stench accompanied the reptile.
The beak crunched. It took off the entire back of Rennys coat!
Grasping again, Renny secured a hold on the fearsome head. The body of this pterodactyl was about the size of an ostrichs. Renny put forth a superhuman effort, tossing himself about violently. He succeeded at last in what he was trying to do. He wrung the neck of the flying reptile!
But the thing did not die immediately! It whipped about, as tenacious of life as the tail of a snake. But Renny had at least stopped its attack. The slow death meant the creature scarcely had a definite brain center. Possibly it depended on its brain so little that it could even go on living for a time with that organ entirely removed!
"What a place this is!" Renny muttered.
He lifted the expiring pterodactyl. Its lightness was astounding.
"Bones hollow and filled with air!" decided Renny, drawing on his scant knowledge of prehistoric life forms.
He tossed the flying reptile away, took a step sidewise and froze in horror!
Another specimen of monster dinosaur was approaching. The struggles of the dying air monster were attracting it!
Renny retreated hastily. He tried to be silent. But this was impossible in the abyss of darkness.
He heard the heavy steps of the approaching giant. They sank noisily into the spongy earth, so vast was the weight upon them. At the dying pterodactyl, the steps stopped.
A ghastly crunching of flesh and popping of chewed bones indicated the flying reptile was being devoured.
Renny quickened his pace, thinking to escape while the beast was occupied. But he had the misfortune to stumble. His shoulder brushed a bush. There was considerable noise.
The beast charged!
The rapidity with which it came showed Renny he could not hope to outrun it. He tried a desperate experiment. Halting, he quickly wrenched off what of his coat had remained after the bite delivered by the gargantuan aлrial reptile.
Renny carried a waterproof cigarette lighter, although he did not smoke. It was handier than matches. He plucked it out of a pocket. Its tiny flame sprang up. He set fire to his fragment of coat.
Whirling the coat around his head speeded the fire. In an instant it was a sizable brand.
He flung it in the face of the charging monster!
AS the flaming cloth gyrated through the air, Renny got a fleeting view of the repellent dinosaur stalking him.
It had a lizardlike body, armored with great bony plates. It traveled on all fours. Its head was uncouth as that of a mud turtle, but more than a yard in length. The low-slung carcass of the creature, although thin from side to side, was very high.