In the Morning of Time

OF THE TR

w held sway over the fresh, green round of the young earth, so exuberant in her youthful vigor that she could not refrain fro

savannahs which most closely repeated the conditions of an earlier age. But Nature, pleased with her experiments in the more promising mammalian type, had

agoon wherein he had been wallowing, and came ponderously ploughing his way ashore. As he emerged upon dry ground, he halted––with the

orn, and hooked like the beak of a parrot––he lifted high, sniffing the heavy air. Then, as if to end his doubts by either drawing or daunting off the unknown enemy, he opened his grotesqu

mmense black beast stepped from behind a thicket of pea-green bam

t efficient of the titanic but vanishing race of the Dinosaurs, face to face with on

hed with rich cane-brake and flowering grasses that towered fifteen or twenty feet into the air. But the hither shore was of a hard soil mixed with sand, carpeted with a short, golde

, the three-horned King of all the Lizard kind. His armament, too, whether for offense or for defense, was distinctly the more formidable. Fully twenty fee

shy tail, some seven feet long and nearly two feet thick at the base, tapered very gradually to a thick tip, and dragged o

ns, one on the snout and two standing out straight forward from the forehead just above the eyes, were immensely thick at the base and fined down

lacable lizard-eyes. Behind the horns, outspreading like a vast ruff from three to four feet wide upwards and laterally, slanted a smoo

rhaps, seven feet high, very sturdy in build, but not mountainous like his terrible challenger. His legs and feet were something like those of an elephant, and he looked capable of a deadly alertness in action. But, as in the case of the King Dinosaur, it w

their owner for rooting in the turf after the fashion of a tuber-hunting pig. The second pair, set about the middle of the long

e of an antelope. The eyes, as has been already stated, were small, deep-set and vindictive. The sullen bla

r was a trespasser on his domain, where no other creatures, unless of his own kind, had ever before had the presumption to confront him. The suddenness of the black apparition,

fortable herd of his fellows, and burning to find vent for his bottled spleen. The herd, in one of its migrations, had just arrived

alculate odds. For all his blind rage, however, he was 25 a crafty fighter, always. Seeing that the challenger made no move, he gave voice to a

lumbering forward, at a slow, rolling run which seemed to jar the earth. Grunting again, and m

beast's horns and unprotected front were no match for the impenetrable armor and leveled lances of the King's colossal head. But they did not meet fairly. The black stranger was much too crafty for that. At the la

formed its legs, merely staggered an instant, coughed from the jarring of the blow, and swung about to present his terrific 26 horns against another such attack. The black stranger, meanwhi

ebrated, with a pair of flat feathers standing out opposite each other at right angles from each joint, for all the world like an immense acacia-frond done in red. At the tips of its wing-elbows it carried clutching, hand-like cl

large, ape-like man––one would have said, rather, a m

another finger. His head was low in the arch of the skull, low and narrow in the forehead, with a small facial angle and hardly any bridge to the broad, flat, wide-nostriled nose; and the jaws were heavy and thrust forward brutishly. But the eyes, under the roof of the heavy, bony brows, held an expression profoundly unlike the cold, mechanical stare of the giant Dinosaur or the twinkling, vindictive glare of the black stranger. They gazed down at the battle with a sort of superiority, considerate, a little scornful, in spite of the obvious fact that either of the two, as far as mere physical bulk and prowess were concerned, could have oblitera

get in a rush upon his open flank. This wheeling and circling made the cool watcher in the tree impatient. Wrenching off a heavy branch, he hurled it down with all his force upon the King's face. To th

ge, explosive cough, and brought him to a bewildered standstill, though it could not throw him from his feet. But the armored hide proved too tough for the black beast's horns to penetrate. Perceiving this on the instant, the latter reared, and brought

moment were out of reach. But he had forgotten the massive and tremendous tail. 29 Suddenly it lashed out, nearly half a to

oat and chest. His life went out in one ear-splitting squeal of rage and anguish. The red blood streaming from horn

contemptuously, and prodded it with his nose-horn, and tore it with his extravagant parrot-beak. But, being a feeder on herbage only, he had not thought of tasting

to note the opportunity. He was displeased at the monster's triumph. He was also interested to see if he had any power to hurt so colossal and well protected a foe. Swinging down by his

s to dislodge the galling thing beneath the carapace, but thought better of it at the first added pressure. His contortions were so vehement that the man discreetly drew himself up to a higher branch, a slow grin widening his heavy mouth, as he marke

the surface and swam rapidly towards the jungle on the opposite shore, probably intending to find some projecting stump of a dead limb on which he could scratch the torment from under his ruff. At the

dea of an artificial weapon. He seemed to be groping his way towards some use of it, either as a club or as a stabbing instrument. During the fight, while

od at a pinch. But just now fruit was abundant; and fruit, with eggs and honey, formed the diet he preferred. As he stood pondering the lifeless mass before him, a shrill call came to his ears, and, turning sharply, he saw his mate, with her baby in the crook of her hairy arm, standing at the foot of a tree, and signaling him to come to her. As soon as she saw that he understood, and was coming, she swung herself lightly up into the branches. He ran to the tree, climbed after her, and followed her to the very top, where she awaited him. The tree was t

. Along the banks of the lagoon were innumerable little groves of plantain, the rich sustaining fruit of which was of all foods his favorite. And h

ht wonder at, and hate, but he thought he had little cause to fe

rpeted it to something like softness with smaller branches and twigs. A similar but lighter platform overhead made him a roof that was anything but waterproof, 33 and a few bushy branches served for walls. Such as it

ungle, with the nursing of his wrath and his hurts. The herds of the Dinoceras, meanwhile, kept to their meadows,

essionless eyes gaping at her immovably from their goggling sockets. She turned to flee; and there was the monster's mate, not quite so huge, but equally appalling. Behind her was an impenetrable wall of thorn-acacia. There was only one refuge––a tree, all too small, but lofty enough to tak

deep-chested shout in answer, and then c

ly, but did not yield at once. Thereupon the two began to root beneath it with their horns, having often used this method to obtain fruits which were above

her back. She thought herself free. And then a gigantic tail struck her and felled her senseless. A sec

groan he uttered not a sound. But blindly––for he had never yet practised such an art––he hurled his ragged club at the nearest monster. It rebounded like a baby's rattle from the vast horn-armored head. But a

his heels. He stumbled carefully at every other step. He let them feel that at the next stride they would transfix him. He led them on, the earth shaking beneath their tread, till another fifty feet would have brought them out u

vel, whirled about, and drove them with all his strength into the King's cold eyes. It worked. Smarting and

agined they were going to catch him. That he would go dodging around thickets which they crashed over blindly, and would 36 then return to present himself again deliberately before them, did not

crashing of branches came out upon the open, short-grass meadow. Still the man-creatu

topped feeding all at once, and ra

ws, at this season, all had young. After one long, comprehending stare at the two gigantic mottled shapes bearin

rusting themselves to the front––a terrific array which might have struck panic to the hearts of even the colossal Dinosaurs had they not been too stupid with rage for any new impression to pierce their brains. Th

e heed. Behind their ranks, hidden now from the sight of his pursuers, he swerved, avoiding the line of cows, ran sharply to the right, and came back around

f black beasts charging upon them. This, in their mad mood, afforded a new object to their rage. They plunged wallowing forwa

e nearest Dinoceras, disturbed by it, edged away and crowded

houlder to rump, treading them down like corn, and 38 trampling them under foot as they rolled on. The bulls on either side charged on their flanks, rearing, grunting, squealing insanely and ripping with the massive daggers of their tusks. But as this terrific assault came from both sides at once,

topped. The calves w

fell apart, and let in the glare of the sunlight upon what had been the two colossal monarchs of the early world. The dreadful, unrecognizable things still moved, still heaved and twisted ponderously among the bodies of their slain, but it was mere aimless paroxysm, the blind life struggling to resist its final expulsion and dissipation. The wounded Dinoceras drew away, to 39 die or recover as curious Nature might decree. The surviving cows returned to assure themselves that their young had come to no hurt.

dly noticed him, so small that in bulk he was no greater than the least of their calves, he nevertheless despised the gigantic beasts and felt himself their lord. He had played with the two monarchs of all the early world, led them into his trap,

d scattered members of his kindred. He would find another mate; and in a dim, groping way he harbored a desire for new offspring, for sons, in particular, who should be inquiring and full of resource, like himself. At the edge of the wood he turned, and gave one more long, musing look at the invincible black herds whom he had used. The idea of sons