Chapter 5

The Ogrum

“Exploring parties ashore,” Captain Higgins ordered.

“With your permission,” Craig said, “I should like to be a member of one of those parties.”

“Certainly,” the captain said. “I’ll do even better than that--I’ll put you in charge of one of them.”

“Thank you, sir,” Craig said. In accordance with the best naval tradition, he kept his voice emotionless, but his heart leaped at the thought. He was going to lead a squad of blue-jackets ashore!

He was assembling his group when Michaelson, wildly excited, came dashing up. “I understand you are taking a squad ashore!” the scientist excitedly panted.

“That’s right,” Craig answered.

“I want to go along.”

“You want to go along?” Craig glanced toward the nearby shore. Above the swamps bordering the river one of the lizard-birds was flapping. It was carrying in its taloned claws something that looked like a small monkey. Now and then coughing grunts came from the swamp, evidence of the beasts lurking there. “You want to go into that?” Craig questioned.

“Certainly,” the scientist vigorously answered. “This is the opportunity of a life-time. We shall have a perfect chance to observe the flora and fauna of this time. We shall see them alive. No other scientist ever had a chance like this.”

“You mean you will have a fine chance to be gobbled up,” Craig said grimly, nodding toward the shore. “That’s jungle country.”

“You are taking these men into it,” Michaelson protested.

“They volunteered,” Craig answered.

“So do I volunteer,” Michaelson said.

“All right,” Craig said, grinning in spite of himself at the impetuous way this scientist flung himself into what at best could only be a nasty situation. “Get yourself a gun and come along--” He broke off to stare at the second person who was approaching him.

It was Margy Sharp. She went directly to the point. “How about me volunteering too?” she asked.

“Well, I’m damned,” Craig said.

“Does that mean I can go?”

“It does not!” Craig said emphatically. “It means I’m astonished that you should have taken such sudden leave of your senses.”

“Why can’t I go?” she challenged.

“Because you’re a girl,” he answered. “And because you would be in the way. No sale, Margy. Not today and not any other day if I have anything to say about it. You stay here where you belong.”

“You damned men have all the fun,” the girl said bitterly, turning on her heel. Craig watched her walk directly to Captain Higgins and make the same request and he observed the astonishment of that naval officer. But in spite of his astonishment, the captain was quite able to say “No.”

The last he saw of her, she was leaning over the rail watching the small boat put out for shore. He waved at her. She thumbed her nose in reply.

Looking back as they neared the shore, Craig saw she was still standing at the rail. He also heard the boom of the ship’s catapult and saw a plane launched into the air. Captain Higgins was sending out a plane to scout the surrounding area. Craig knew what the captain was worried about--the place from which those cursed silent airplanes came.

High in the sky, he could see one of the silent floaters keeping its vigil over the Idaho.

“We’ll cross the swamp and reach the hills,” Craig directed.

Shots roared in the distance as they forced the boat through the pools of stagnant water. Apparently the shots came from the other exploring parties shooting flying lizards or other creatures. Once a flying lizard swooped over their boat but it changed its mind and went on to attack something else. And, as they forced the boat through a clump of reeds and into a clear channel, something monstrous snorted near them. Loud crashes sounded in the swamp tangle.

“It looks as big as an elephant,” Craig shouted. “Get your guns ready.”

He could see the movement of the reeds as the beast crashed toward them. Small trees were shaking, marking its passage, then it thrust its head out of the tangle not fifty feet from them.

“It’s a dinosaur!” Michaelson shouted. The scientist was wildly excited. “It’s a live dinosaur.”

“It’s going to be a dead one if it comes any closer,” Craig said grimly.

“No, don’t shoot,” the scientist said. “It’s one of the herbivorous dinosaurs, a vegetation eater. It won’t harm us.”

The sailors in the boat were nervously fingering their tommy-guns and staring at the mountain of flesh that was half-hidden by the jungle growth. It, in turn, stared at them. It was bigger than any elephant that ever walked the earth, and Craig, as he estimated the size of the beast, was wondering whether the tommy-guns would stop it if it chose to attack.

“If we have to shoot, aim at the head,” he whispered.

In comparison to the rest of the body, the head was small. It would present a difficult target but a hit in the head might stop the beast whereas a hit in the huge body would pass unnoticed. The dinosaur stared at them. Seconds ticked into minutes. It moved its head in a circle, sniffing the air. Michaelson wanted to get out of the boat and swim to shore so he could examine it closely.

“You stay in this boat,” Craig said vigorously. “You will probably get a chance to examine all the dinosaurs you want.”

Muttering to himself, the scientist subsided.

Slowly, as though it had seen all it wanted to, the dinosaur turned and went back into the swamp. The shaking of the shrubs marked the direction it had taken. Craig breathed a sigh of relief.

“I told you it wasn’t dangerous,” Michaelson said bitterly. “You should have let me examine it.”

“Never mind,” Craig said soothingly. “After we get ourselves settled here, you can have a dinosaur for a pet. Push on, men,” he said to the crew. “I want to climb one of those hills and take a look around.”

Reaching the spot where the boat could pass no farther, they left two men to guard it and pushed ahead on foot. The swamp gave way to rising, rocky ground covered with a thin growth of huge trees. There was a whistle in the air. Looking quickly up, Craig saw a flying lizard swoop through an opening in the trees and dive head-long at something hidden in the rocks ahead.

A scream sounded as the dragon bird dived to the attack.

There was a human element in the scream.

“That bird is after somebody!” Craig shouted. “Come on.”

If he had not known it was impossible, he would have been certain that the scream he had heard had come from the throat of a woman. But there were no women here in this mad world. Dashing forward he climbed to the top of a huge rock--and looked down at an incredible scene.

He was on the lip of a rocky ravine. Across on the other side of the ravine was a hole in the rock, a shallow cave. Crouching in the back of the shallow depression was a woman. She was shielding something with her body.

In front of the shallow cave was--a man. He was not the type of man to grace the pages of a fashion magazine, but in spite of bulging muscles and heavy, uncombed hair, there was a lithe alertness about him that was appealing.

There was something else that was more appealing.

The way he was facing the dragon.

The lizard bird, all claws and fanged mouth and hooked wings, was trying to knock the man down. He was fighting it desperately. His only weapon was a heavy club. He struck heavily with the club, leaped back out of danger. The bird lunged at him. He hit it across the head and knocked it backward. The bird was on the ground. It lunged again, screaming shrilly. The man struck at it, dodged to one side, hit it again. The bird came back to the attack.

No matter how valiant the defense, there could be only one ending. The dragon was too big, too fierce, too impervious to pain, too hard to kill, to be stopped by a man with a club. It lunged again. The man struck at it, slipped, fell. Hissing with triumph, leathery wings flapping, the lizard bird leaped at him.

[Illustration: The dragon was too big, too hard, to be killed by a man with a club ... there could be but one ending]

Rat-tat-tat-tat--Craig let go with his tommy-gun.

Rat-tat-tat-tat--The other men joined in, pouring a murderous fury of cross-fire down into the ravine. The bird was almost as big as a horse. It was a fierce fighter. It would relinquish a meal when it was dead and not before. One slug would not stop it. Dozens of slugs poured into it, smashed it to a bloody pulp. Even as it died it still tried to reach the man it had attacked.

As suddenly as it had started, the shooting stopped. Craig took the smoking gun from his shoulder. The dragon gave one last convulsive heave and lay still.

The man had scrambled to his feet. The sudden, blasting fury of the gun-fire must have shocked him out of his wits. He had been facing death, bravely; and suddenly death had struck down the creature that was attacking him. He stood without moving. In the cave behind him the woman left off her whimpering.

The man was darting glances out of the corners of his eyes, seeking the source from which his sudden deliverance had come. Slowly he turned his head. He saw the sailors on the lip of the ravine across from him.

A look of almost stupefying fear crossed his face. He had faced the dragon with no show of cowardice. Now, seeing his benefactors for the first time, he looked terrified. In the cave behind him the woman had also located the humans. Without moving a muscle, she crouched against the rock wall. Craig had seen wild animals, frightened by the sudden appearance of a beast of prey, act like this. A rabbit, aware of the swoop of a hawk, would be too terrified to move. A lamb, knowing the wolf was near, would crouch trembling waiting for the final snarling leap.

“He’s scared of us,” Craig whispered. “Don’t make any sudden moves.”

The man looked up at them.

“Ogrum!” he whispered. “Ogrum--”

Very slowly he laid the club on the ground beside him. Then he stretched himself face downward beside it in a gesture of obeisance older than human history. Subject races welcomed their conqueror in a manner such as this, slaves knelt before their master in this manner--in the days before men ceased being slaves.