The steaks we had that night, and they were fine; and thefollowing morning we tasted the broth. It seemed odd to beeating a creature that should, by all the laws of paleontology,have been extinct for several million years. It gave one afeeling of newness that was almost embarrassing, although itdidn't seem to embarrass our appetites. Olson ate until Ithought he would burst.

The girl ate with us that night at the little officers' mess justback of the torpedo compartment. The narrow table was unfolded;the four stools were set out; and for the first time in days wesat down to eat, and for the first time in weeks we had somethingto eat other than the monotony of the short rations of animpoverished U-boat. Nobs sat between the girl and me and wasfed with morsels of the Plesiosaurus steak, at the risk offorever contaminating his manners. He looked at me sheepishlyall the time, for he knew that no well-bred dog should eat attable; but the poor fellow was so wasted from improper food thatI couldn't enjoy my own meal had he been denied an immediate sharein it; and anyway Lys wanted to feed him. So there you are.

Lys was coldly polite to me and sweetly gracious to Bradleyand Olson. She wasn't of the gushing type, I knew; so I didn'texpect much from her and was duly grateful for the few morsels ofattention she threw upon the floor to me. We had a pleasantmeal, with only one unfortunate occurrence--when Olson suggestedthat possibly the creature we were eating was the same one thatate the German. It was some time before we could persuade thegirl to continue her meal, but at last Bradley prevailed uponher, pointing out that we had come upstream nearly forty milessince the boche had been seized, and that during that time wehad seen literally thousands of these denizens of the river,indicating that the chances were very remote that this was thesame Plesiosaur. "And anyway," he concluded, "it was only ascheme of Mr. Olson's to get all the steaks for himself."

We discussed the future and ventured opinions as to what laybefore us; but we could only theorize at best, for none ofus knew. If the whole land was infested by these and similarhorrid monsters, life would be impossible upon it, and we decidedthat we would only search long enough to find and take aboard freshwater and such meat and fruits as might be safely procurable andthen retrace our way beneath the cliffs to the open sea.

And so at last we turned into our narrow bunks, hopeful, happyand at peace with ourselves, our lives and our God, to awaken thefollowing morning refreshed and still optimistic. We had an easytime getting away--as we learned later, because the saurians donot commence to feed until late in the morning. From noon tomidnight their curve of activity is at its height, while fromdawn to about nine o'clock it is lowest. As a matter of fact, wedidn't see one of them all the time we were getting under way,though I had the cannon raised to the deck and manned againstan assault. I hoped, but I was none too sure, that shells mightdiscourage them. The trees were full of monkeys of all sizes andshades, and once we thought we saw a manlike creature watching usfrom the depth of the forest.

Shortly after we resumed our course upstream, we saw the mouth ofanother and smaller river emptying into the main channel from thesouth--that is, upon our right; and almost immediately after wecame upon a large island five or six miles in length; and atfifty miles there was a still larger river than the last comingin from the northwest, the course of the main stream having nowchanged to northeast by southwest. The water was quite free fromreptiles, and the vegetation upon the banks of the river hadaltered to more open and parklike forest, with eucalyptus andacacia mingled with a scattering of tree ferns, as though twodistinct periods of geologic time had overlapped and merged.The grass, too, was less flowering, though there were stillgorgeous patches mottling the greensward; and lastly, the faunawas less multitudinous.

Six or seven miles farther, and the river widened considerably;before us opened an expanse of water to the farther horizon, andthen we sailed out upon an inland sea so large that only a shore-line upon our side was visible to us. The waters all about uswere alive with life. There were still a few reptiles; but therewere fish by the thousands, by the millions.

The water of the inland sea was very warm, almost hot, and theatmosphere was hot and heavy above it. It seemed strange thatbeyond the buttressed walls of Caprona icebergs floated and thesouth wind was biting, for only a gentle breeze moved acrossthe face of these living waters, and that was damp and warm.Gradually, we commenced to divest ourselves of our clothing,retaining only sufficient for modesty; but the sun was not hot.It was more the heat of a steam-room than of an oven.

We coasted up the shore of the lake in a north-westerly direction,sounding all the time. We found the lake deep and the bottomrocky and steeply shelving toward the center, and once when Imoved straight out from shore to take other soundings we couldfind no bottom whatsoever. In open spaces along the shore wecaught occasional glimpses of the distant cliffs, and herethey appeared only a trifle less precipitous than those whichbound Caprona on the seaward side. My theory is that in a fardistant era Caprona was a mighty mountain--perhaps the world'smightiest volcanic action blew off the entire crest, blewthousands of feet of the mountain upward and outward and onto thesurrounding continent, leaving a great crater; and then,possibly, the continent sank as ancient continents have beenknown to do, leaving only the summit of Caprona above the sea.The encircling walls, the central lake, the hot springs whichfeed the lake, all point to a conclusion, and the fauna and theflora bear indisputable evidence that Caprona was once part ofsome great land-mass.

As we cruised up along the coast, the landscape continued a moreor less open forest, with here and there a small plain where wesaw animals grazing. With my glass I could make out a species oflarge red deer, some antelope and what appeared to be a speciesof horse; and once I saw the shaggy form of what might have beena monstrous bison. Here was game a plenty! There seemed littledanger of starving upon Caprona. The game, however, seemed wary;for the instant the animals discovered us, they threw up theirheads and tails and went cavorting off, those farther inlandfollowing the example of the others until all were lost in themazes of the distant forest. Only the great, shaggy ox stoodhis ground. With lowered head he watched us until we had passed,and then continued feeding.

About twenty miles up the coast from the mouth of the river weencountered low cliffs of sandstone, broken and tortured evidenceof the great upheaval which had torn Caprona asunder in the past,intermingling upon a common level the rock formations of widelyseparated eras, fusing some and leaving others untouched.

We ran along beside them for a matter of ten miles, arriving offa broad cleft which led into what appeared to be another lake.As we were in search of pure water, we did not wish to overlookany portion of the coast, and so after sounding and finding thatwe had ample depth, I ran the U-33 between head-lands into aspretty a landlocked harbor as sailormen could care to see, withgood water right up to within a few yards of the shore. As wecruised slowly along, two of the boches again saw what theybelieved to be a man, or manlike creature, watching us from afringe of trees a hundred yards inland, and shortly after wediscovered the mouth of a small stream emptying into the bay:It was the first stream we had found since leaving the river, andI at once made preparations to test its water. To land, it wouldbe necessary to run the U-33 close in to the shore, at least asclose as we could, for even these waters were infested, though,not so thickly, by savage reptiles. I ordered sufficient waterlet into the diving-tanks to lower us about a foot, and then Iran the bow slowly toward the shore, confident that should we runaground, we still had sufficient lifting force to free us whenthe water should be pumped out of the tanks; but the bow nosedits way gently into the reeds and touched the shore with the keelstill clear.

My men were all armed now with both rifles and pistols, eachhaving plenty of ammunition. I ordered one of the Germans ashorewith a line, and sent two of my own men to guard him, for fromwhat little we had seen of Caprona, or Caspak as we learned laterto call the interior, we realized that any instant some new andterrible danger might confront us. The line was made fast to asmall tree, and at the same time I had the stern anchor dropped.

As soon as the boche and his guard were aboard again, I calledall hands on deck, including von Schoenvorts, and there Iexplained to them that the time had come for us to enter intosome sort of an agreement among ourselves that would relieveus of the annoyance and embarrassment of being divided into twoantagonistic parts--prisoners and captors. I told them that itwas obvious our very existence depended upon our unity of action,that we were to all intent and purpose entering a new world asfar from the seat and causes of our own world-war as if millionsof miles of space and eons of time separated us from our pastlives and habitations.

"There is no reason why we should carry our racial and politicalhatreds into Caprona," I insisted. "The Germans among us mightkill all the English, or the English might kill the last German,without affecting in the slightest degree either the outcome ofeven the smallest skirmish upon the western front or the opinionof a single individual in any belligerent or neutral country.I therefore put the issue squarely to you all; shall we bury ouranimosities and work together with and for one another while weremain upon Caprona, or must we continue thus divided and but halfarmed, possibly until death has claimed the last of us? And letme tell you, if you have not already realized it, the chances area thousand to one that not one of us ever will see the outsideworld again. We are safe now in the matter of food and water; wecould provision the U-33 for a long cruise; but we are practicallyout of fuel, and without fuel we cannot hope to reach the ocean,as only a submarine can pass through the barrier cliffs. What isyour answer?" I turned toward von Schoenvorts.

He eyed me in that disagreeable way of his and demanded to know,in case they accepted my suggestion, what their status would bein event of our finding a way to escape with the U-33. I repliedthat I felt that if we had all worked loyally together we shouldleave Caprona upon a common footing, and to that end I suggestedthat should the remote possibility of our escape in the submarinedevelop into reality, we should then immediately make for thenearest neutral port and give ourselves into the hands of theauthorities, when we should all probably be interned for theduration of the war. To my surprise he agreed that this was fairand told me that they would accept my conditions and that I coulddepend upon their loyalty to the common cause.

I thanked him and then addressed each one of his men individually,and each gave me his word that he would abide by all that Ihad outlined. It was further understood that we were to act asa military organization under military rules and discipline--Ias commander, with Bradley as my first lieutenant and Olson asmy second, in command of the Englishmen; while von Schoenvortswas to act as an additional second lieutenant and have charge ofhis own men. The four of us were to constitute a military courtunder which men might be tried and sentenced to punishment forinfraction of military rules and discipline, even to the passingof the death-sentence.

I then had arms and ammunition issued to the Germans, and leavingBradley and five men to guard the U-33, the balance of us went ashore.The first thing we did was to taste the water of the little stream--which, to our delight, we found sweet, pure and cold. This streamwas entirely free from dangerous reptiles, because, as I laterdiscovered, they became immediately dormant when subjected to a muchlower temperature than 70 degrees Fahrenheit. They dislike cold waterand keep as far away from it as possible. There were countlessbrook-trout here, and deep holes that invited us to bathe, and alongthe bank of the stream were trees bearing a close resemblance toash and beech and oak, their characteristics evidently induced bythe lower temperature of the air above the cold water and by thefact that their roots were watered by the water from the streamrather than from the warm springs which we afterward found in suchabundance elsewhere.

Our first concern was to fill the water tanks of the U-33 withfresh water, and that having been accomplished, we set out tohunt for game and explore inland for a short distance. Olson, vonSchoenvorts, two Englishmen and two Germans accompanied me,leaving ten to guard the ship and the girl. I had intendedleaving Nobs behind, but he got away and joined me and was sohappy over it that I hadn't the heart to send him back. We followedthe stream upward through a beautiful country for about five miles,and then came upon its source in a little boulder-strewn clearing.From among the rocks bubbled fully twenty ice-cold springs.North of the clearing rose sandstone cliffs to a height of somefifty to seventy-five feet, with tall trees growing at their baseand almost concealing them from our view. To the west the countrywas flat and sparsely wooded, and here it was that we saw our firstgame--a large red deer. It was grazing away from us and had notseen us when one of my men called my attention to it. Motioning forsilence and having the rest of the party lie down, I crept towardthe quarry, accompanied only by Whitely. We got within a hundredyards of the deer when he suddenly raised his antlered head andpricked up his great ears. We both fired at once and had thesatisfaction of seeing the buck drop; then we ran forward to finishhim with our knives. The deer lay in a small open space close toa clump of acacias, and we had advanced to within several yardsof our kill when we both halted suddenly and simultaneously.Whitely looked at me, and I looked at Whitely, and then we bothlooked back in the direction of the deer."Blime!' he said. "Wot is hit, sir?"

"It looks to me, Whitely, like an error," I said; "some assistantgod who had been creating elephants must have been temporarilytransferred to the lizard-department."

"Hi wouldn't s'y that, sir," said Whitely; "it sounds blasphemous."

"It is more blasphemous than that thing which is swiping ourmeat," I replied, for whatever the thing was, it had leaped uponour deer and was devouring it in great mouthfuls which itswallowed without mastication. The creature appeared to be agreat lizard at least ten feet high, with a huge, powerful tailas long as its torso, mighty hind legs and short forelegs. When ithad advanced from the wood, it hopped much after the fashion of akangaroo, using its hind feet and tail to propel it, and when itstood erect, it sat upon its tail. Its head was long and thick,with a blunt muzzle, and the opening of the jaws ran back to apoint behind the eyes, and the jaws were armed with long sharp teeth.The scaly body was covered with black and yellow spots about a footin diameter and irregular in contour. These spots were outlined inred with edgings about an inch wide. The underside of the chest,body and tail were a greenish white.

"Wot s'y we pot the bloomin' bird, sir?" suggested Whitely.

I told him to wait until I gave the word; then we would firesimultaneously, he at the heart and I at the spine.

"Hat the 'eart, sir--yes, sir," he replied, and raised his pieceto his shoulder.

Our shots rang out together. The thing raised its head andlooked about until its eyes rested upon us; then it gave vent toa most appalling hiss that rose to the crescendo of a terrificshriek and came for us.

"Beat it, Whitely!" I cried as I turned to run.

We were about a quarter of a mile from the rest of our party, andin full sight of them as they lay in the tall grass watching us.That they saw all that had happened was evidenced by the fact thatthey now rose and ran toward us, and at their head leaped Nobs.The creature in our rear was gaining on us rapidly when Nobs flewpast me like a meteor and rushed straight for the frightful reptile.I tried to recall him, but he would pay no attention to me, and asI couldn't see him sacrificed, I, too, stopped and faced the monster.The creature appeared to be more impressed with Nobs than by us andour firearms, for it stopped as the Airedale dashed at it growling,and struck at him viciously with its powerful jaws.

Nobs, though, was lightning by comparison with the slow thinkingbeast and dodged his opponent's thrust with ease. Then he racedto the rear of the tremendous thing and seized it by the tail.There Nobs made the error of his life. Within that mottled organwere the muscles of a Titan, the force of a dozen mightycatapults, and the owner of the tail was fully aware of thepossibilities which it contained. With a single flip of the tipit sent poor Nobs sailing through the air a hundred feet abovethe ground, straight back into the clump of acacias from whichthe beast had leaped upon our kill--and then the grotesque thingsank lifeless to the ground.

Olson and von Schoenvorts came up a minute later with their men;then we all cautiously approached the still form upon the ground.The creature was quite dead, and an examination resulted indisclosing the fact that Whitely's bullet had pierced its heart,and mine had severed the spinal cord.

"But why didn't it die instantly?" I exclaimed.

"Because," said von Schoenvorts in his disagreeable way, "thebeast is so large, and its nervous organization of so low acaliber, that it took all this time for the intelligence of deathto reach and be impressed upon the minute brain. The thing wasdead when your bullets struck it; but it did not know it forseveral seconds--possibly a minute. If I am not mistaken, it isan Allosaurus of the Upper Jurassic, remains of which have beenfound in Central Wyoming, in the suburbs of New York."

An Irishman by the name of Brady grinned. I afterward learnedthat he had served three years on the traffic-squad of theChicago police force.

I had been calling Nobs in the meantime and was about to set outin search of him, fearing, to tell the truth, to do so lest Ifind him mangled and dead among the trees of the acacia grove,when he suddenly emerged from among the boles, his ears flattened,his tail between his legs and his body screwed into a suppliant S.He was unharmed except for minor bruises; but he was the mostchastened dog I have ever seen.

We gathered up what was left of the red deer after skinning andcleaning it, and set out upon our return journey toward the U-boat.On the way Olson, von Schoenvorts and I discussed the needs of ourimmediate future, and we were unanimous in placing foremost thenecessity of a permanent camp on shore. The interior of a U-boatis about as impossible and uncomfortable an abiding-place as onecan well imagine, and in this warm climate, and in warm water, itwas almost unendurable. So we decided to construct a palisaded camp.