Perry looked at the sky and knew that it was evening. Carefully he
had watched his landmarks as he rode, but too many people had told
him of the dangers of being lost in the Bad Lands for him to dare to
try to make his way home. Still, he might make a start.
Back to his pony went the boy, and, before mounting, he looked round
once again to see the great mushroom-capped butte that was his
homeward guide. He could see it nowhere! And, while he watched, he
saw shapes that had been quite familiar in the daylight change under
the quickly fading dusk. There was no help for it, he must stay the
night through and wait until the morning to find his way back to camp.
But the giant skeleton lured him again, and, a few moments later, he
was on his knees again beside that ancient saurian, and the strokes
of the hammer fell throbbing across the silence of a night in the Bad
Lands.
Chip! Chip! Chip!
Far away in the distance, where perhaps some slight vegetation came
down from the hills, for he was on the very edge of the desert
country, came the long-drawn howl of a coyote. For a second the
hammer hung poised, then fell again, beating, beating through the
night.
He knew that to expose such a skeleton would mean the work of a month
or two for several men, probably with the aid of dynamite, but he
was determined at least to bring an inch or two, clear. The chill
star-shine gave him light enough, but though the day had been so
hot, the night was cold. He piled a heap of sage-brush and mesquite
and lit a fire. Then, unable to leave his find, back he went to the
skeleton again.
Chip! Chip! Chip!
[Illustration:
_Courtesy of J. B. Lippincott & Co._
A BRACHIOSAUR, LARGEST OF ALL LAND CREATURES.
Restoration of Gigantosaurus, from East Africa, closely related to
the American genus Brachiosaurus (restoration based on incomplete
knowledge and is much exaggerated, since, though bulkier, it probably
was not longer than the Diplodocus, correct scientific restoration
awaits setting-up of skeleton now in Berlin): a Diplodocus, which
previously held the record for size, shown to the left; also, for
comparison, the figure of a man is drawn in, though, of course,
Gigantosaurus lived at least eight million years before the first
man. From Gregory, in “Geology of To-day.”]
Little by little the form of the huge creature began to appear to
him. This tiny fragment of rock grew huge to his tired eyes. Longer
than a Diplodocus, bigger than a Brontosaur, the hundred feet and
more of the mighty monarch of the past stretched out upon the plain,
stretched as it had fallen for the last sleep on the borders of that
lake ten million years ago.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account