I
set off after Perry, though at a somewhat more decorous pace. It
was evident that the massive beast pursuing us was not built for
speed, so all that I considered necessary was to gain the trees
sufficiently ahead of it to enable me to climb to the safety of
some great branch before it came up.
Notwithstanding our danger I could not help but laugh at Perry's
frantic capers as he essayed to gain the safety of the lower branches
of the trees he now had reached. The stems were bare for a distance
of some fifteen feet--at least on those trees which Perry attempted
to ascend, for the suggestion of safety carried by the larger of
the forest giants had evidently attracted him to them. A dozen
times he scrambled up the trunks like a huge cat only to fall back
to the ground once more, and with each failure he cast a horrified
glance over his shoulder at the oncoming brute, simultaneously
emitting terror-stricken shrieks that awoke the echoes of the grim
forest.
At length he spied a dangling creeper about the bigness of one's
wrist, and when I reached the trees he was racing madly up it, hand
over hand. He had almost reached the lowest branch of the tree
from which the creeper depended when the thing parted beneath his
weight and he fell sprawling at my feet.
The misfortune now was no longer amusing, for the beast was already
too close to us for comfort. Seizing Perry by the shoulder I dragged
him to his feet, and rushing to a smaller tree--one that he could
easily encircle with his arms and legs--I boosted him as far up
as I could, and then left him to his fate, for a glance over my
shoulder revealed the awful beast almost upon me.
Pages:
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41