A vivid sheet of flame leapt from the fungus, followed by a terrible explosion, the shock of which hurled Silas and the baronet violently to the ground. CHAPTER IX. THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE _SEAL._ SOME moments later, when the shock had somewhat passed, the two friends rose, not a little dazed and bewildered. But their astonishment knew no bounds when they saw that the dead elk and its late hunters had vanished, blown to fragments by the bursting of the explosive fungus. Even the boulder, in the shadow of which the bull had met his doom, had been partly destroyed. By what marvellous chance the two comrades had escaped the flying fragments they themselves could not imagine, and they moved on their way, feeling deeply thankful that they had escaped the fury of the elk-hunters, and had also come safely through the explosion. “I guess we’ll have, to be careful what we’re shootin’ at,” remarked Haverly. “This pesky mushroom stuff seems to be made of gunpowder!” “It got us out of a tight corner, anyway,” returned Seymour; “we should scarcely have come off scatheless but for that explosion. What do you think of the natives of the underworld?” “I guess they don’t improve on acquaintance,” was the answer. “For sheer devilry they romp in an easy first. Heaven help Garth and Mervyn if they’re in the power of them critters!” “I reckon ‘wolf-men’ would be a suitable handle for the brutes,” Silas went on, “with a fair marjority of the ‘wolf.’ They’re real stunners! Say, I guess old Darwin could ha’ had a hull heap of missing links if he’d only ha’ burrowed his way down here.” “I wish the brutes were missing literally,” Seymour retorted. “We’ll do our best to give ’em that same distinction,” replied the Yankee. “I guess this old planet ’ud wobble along quite as well without these lantern-jawed freaks trottin’ around in her innards. Anyway, the population of this yer desirable location is going to find itself considerable reduced at an early date if our two pards ain’t handed over safe and sound. My barker’s kinder impatient occasionally.” Another hour went by, and still the dual tracks of Garth’s captors and the great Triceratops stretched before them. The plain grew more and more gloomy as they advanced, the fungi failing entirely, so that the two had to grope their way as best they could through the dim twilight of this subterranean world; and, though haste was so necessary, Haverly dared not use his lantern, save occasionally, when the trail grew indistinct, lest the light would attract some of the hideous creatures whom he had well named “Wolf-men.” Suddenly the baronet stumbled over some bulky object lying beside the track. Recovering himself, he stooped and picked it up. _It was the scientist’s specimen case._