A Journey in Other Worlds [59]
in every Jovian year. The reason we have seen
none before is, because we are not exactly on the equator."
They had a glimpse of the coronal streamers as the last portion
of the sun was covered, and all the other phenomena that attend
an eclipse on earth. For a few minutes there was a total return
to night. The twinkling stars and other moons shone tranquilly
in the sky, and even the noise of the insects ceased. Presently
the edge of the sun that had been first obscured reappeared, and
then Nature went through the phenomenon of an accelerated dawn.
Without awaiting a full return of light, the travellers proceeded
on their way, and had gone something over a hundred yards when
Ayrault, who was marching second, suddenly grasped Bearwarden,
who was in front, and pointed to a jet-black mass straight ahead,
and about thirty yards from a pool of warm water, from which a
cloud of vapour arose. The top of the head was about seven feet
high, and the length of the body exceeded thirty feet. The six
legs looked as strong as steel cables, and were about a foot
through, while a huge, bony proboscis nine feet in length
preceded the body. This was carried horizontally between two and
three feet from the ground. Presently a large ground sloth came
to the pool to drink, lapping up the water at the sides that had
partly cooled. In an instant the black armored monster rushed
down the slope with the speed of a nineteenth-century locomotive,
and seemed about as formidable. The sloth turned in the
direction of the sound, and for a moment seemed paralyzed with
fear; it then started to run, but it was too late, for the next
second the enormously exaggerated ant--for such it was--overtook
it. The huge mandible shears that when closed had formed the
proboscis, snapped viciously, taking off the sloth's legs and
then cutting its body to slivers. The execution was finished in
a few seconds, and the ponderous insect carried back about half
the sloth to its hiding-place, where it leisurely devoured it.
"This reminds me," said Bearwarden, "of the old lady who never
completed her preparations for turning in without searching for
burglars under the bed. Finally she found one, and exclaimed in
delight, 'I've been looking for you fifty years, and at last you
are here!' The question is, now that we have found our burglar,
what shall we do with him?"
"I constantly regret not having a rifle," replied Cortlandt,
"though it is doubtful if even that would help us here."
"Let us sit down and wait," said Ayrault; "there may be an
opening soon."
Anon a woolly rhinoceros, resembling the Rhinoceros tichorhinus
that existed contemporaneously on earth with the mammoth, came to
drink the water that had partly cooled. It was itself a
formidable-looking beast, but in an instant the monster again
rushed from concealment with the same tremendous speed. The
rhinoceros turned in the direction of the sound, and, lowering
its head, faced the foe. The ant's shears, however, passed
beneath the horn, and, fastening upon the left foreleg, cut it
off with a loud snap.
"Now is our chance," exclaimed Cortlandt; "we may kill the brute
before he is through with the rhinoceros."
"Stop a bit, doctor," said Bearwarden. "We have a good record so
far; let us keep up our reputation for being sports. Wait till
he can attend to us."
The encounter was over in less than a minute, three of the
rhinoceros's legs being taken off, and the head almost severed
from the body. Taking up the legs in its mandibles, the
murderous creature was returning to its lair, when, with the cry
of "Now for the fray!" Bearwarden aimed beneath the body and
blew off one of the farther armoured legs, from the inside.
"Shoot off the legs on the same side," he counselled Ayrault,
while he himself kept up a rapid fire. Cortlandt tried to
disconcert the enemy by raining duck-shot on its scale- protected
eyes, while the two rifles tore off great masses of the horn that
covered the enormously powerful
none before is, because we are not exactly on the equator."
They had a glimpse of the coronal streamers as the last portion
of the sun was covered, and all the other phenomena that attend
an eclipse on earth. For a few minutes there was a total return
to night. The twinkling stars and other moons shone tranquilly
in the sky, and even the noise of the insects ceased. Presently
the edge of the sun that had been first obscured reappeared, and
then Nature went through the phenomenon of an accelerated dawn.
Without awaiting a full return of light, the travellers proceeded
on their way, and had gone something over a hundred yards when
Ayrault, who was marching second, suddenly grasped Bearwarden,
who was in front, and pointed to a jet-black mass straight ahead,
and about thirty yards from a pool of warm water, from which a
cloud of vapour arose. The top of the head was about seven feet
high, and the length of the body exceeded thirty feet. The six
legs looked as strong as steel cables, and were about a foot
through, while a huge, bony proboscis nine feet in length
preceded the body. This was carried horizontally between two and
three feet from the ground. Presently a large ground sloth came
to the pool to drink, lapping up the water at the sides that had
partly cooled. In an instant the black armored monster rushed
down the slope with the speed of a nineteenth-century locomotive,
and seemed about as formidable. The sloth turned in the
direction of the sound, and for a moment seemed paralyzed with
fear; it then started to run, but it was too late, for the next
second the enormously exaggerated ant--for such it was--overtook
it. The huge mandible shears that when closed had formed the
proboscis, snapped viciously, taking off the sloth's legs and
then cutting its body to slivers. The execution was finished in
a few seconds, and the ponderous insect carried back about half
the sloth to its hiding-place, where it leisurely devoured it.
"This reminds me," said Bearwarden, "of the old lady who never
completed her preparations for turning in without searching for
burglars under the bed. Finally she found one, and exclaimed in
delight, 'I've been looking for you fifty years, and at last you
are here!' The question is, now that we have found our burglar,
what shall we do with him?"
"I constantly regret not having a rifle," replied Cortlandt,
"though it is doubtful if even that would help us here."
"Let us sit down and wait," said Ayrault; "there may be an
opening soon."
Anon a woolly rhinoceros, resembling the Rhinoceros tichorhinus
that existed contemporaneously on earth with the mammoth, came to
drink the water that had partly cooled. It was itself a
formidable-looking beast, but in an instant the monster again
rushed from concealment with the same tremendous speed. The
rhinoceros turned in the direction of the sound, and, lowering
its head, faced the foe. The ant's shears, however, passed
beneath the horn, and, fastening upon the left foreleg, cut it
off with a loud snap.
"Now is our chance," exclaimed Cortlandt; "we may kill the brute
before he is through with the rhinoceros."
"Stop a bit, doctor," said Bearwarden. "We have a good record so
far; let us keep up our reputation for being sports. Wait till
he can attend to us."
The encounter was over in less than a minute, three of the
rhinoceros's legs being taken off, and the head almost severed
from the body. Taking up the legs in its mandibles, the
murderous creature was returning to its lair, when, with the cry
of "Now for the fray!" Bearwarden aimed beneath the body and
blew off one of the farther armoured legs, from the inside.
"Shoot off the legs on the same side," he counselled Ayrault,
while he himself kept up a rapid fire. Cortlandt tried to
disconcert the enemy by raining duck-shot on its scale- protected
eyes, while the two rifles tore off great masses of the horn that
covered the enormously powerful