For a moment or two he gasped for
breath, and then he said rather faintly:
"It's no good, it's too cold. It would freeze the blood of a salamander.
I think we'd better go back and explore this place under cover. We can't
do anything in the dark, and we can see just as well from the upper deck
with the searchlights. Besides, as there's air and water here, there's
no telling but there may be inhabitants of sorts such as we shouldn't
care to meet."
He took her hand, and to Murgatroyd's great relief they went back to the
vessel.
Redgrave then raised the _Astronef_ a couple of hundred feet and, by
directing the repulsive force against the mountain walls, developed just
sufficient energy to keep them moving at about twelve miles an hour.
They began to cross the plain with their searchlights flashing out in
all directions. They had scarcely gone a mile before the head-light fell
upon a moving form half walking, half crawling among some stunted
brown-leaved bushes by the side of a broad, stagnant stream.
"Look!" said Zaidie, clasping his arm, "is that a gorilla, or--no, it
_can't_ be a man."
The light was turned full upon the object. If it had been covered with
hair it might have passed for some strange type of the ape tribe, but
its skin was smooth and of a livid grey. Its lower limbs were evidently
more powerful than its upper; its chest was enormously developed, but
the stomach was small.
Pages:
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102