"'We have come too far,' I said; but she only answered: "'Faster, faster! I am afraid!' The water was almost hot now; its aromatic odor filled our lungs. "'The Gulf loop!' I muttered. 'Daisy, shall I help you?' "'No. Swim--close by me! Oh-h! Dick--' "Her startled cry was echoed by another--a shrill scream, unutterably horrible--and a great bird flapped from the beach, splashing and beating its pinions across the water with a thundering noise. "Out across the waves it blundered, rising little by little from the water, and now, to my horror, I saw another monstrous bird swinging in the air above it, squealing as it turned on its vast wings. Before I could speak we touched the beach, and I half lifted her to the shore. "'Quick!' I repeated. 'We must not wait.' "Her eyes were dark with fear, but she rested a hand on my shoulder, and we crept up among the dune-grasses and sank down by the point of sand where the rough shelter stood, surrounded by the iron-ringed piles. "She lay there, breathing fast and deep, dripping with spray. I had no power of speech left, but when I rose wearily to my knees and looked out upon the water my blood ran cold. Above the ocean, on the breast of the roaring wind, three enormous birds sailed, turning and wheeling among one another; and below, drifting with the gray stream of the Gulf loop, a colossal bulk lay half submerged--a gigantic lizard, floating belly upward. "Then Daisy crept kneeling to my side and touched me, trembling from head to foot. "'I know,' I muttered. 'I must run back for the rifle.' "'And--and leave me?' "I took her by the hand, and we dragged ourselves through the wire-grass to the open end of a boiler lying in the sand. "She crept in on her hands and knees, and called to me to follow. "'You are safe now,' I cried. 'I must go back for the rifle.' "'The birds may--may attack you.' "'If they do I can get into one of the other boilers,' I said. 'Daisy, you must not venture out until I come back. You won't, will you?' "'No-o,' she whispered, doubtfully. "'Then--good-bye.' "'Good-bye,' she answered, but her voice was very small and still. "'Good-bye,' I said again. I was kneeling at the mouth of the big iron tunnel; it was dark inside and I could not see her, but, before I was conscious of it, her arms were around my neck and we had kissed each other. "I don't remember how I went away. When I came to my proper senses I was swimming along the coast at full speed, and over my head wheeled one of the birds, screaming at every turn.