Yet no sign did Garth show of his growing uneasiness, save that his hand tightened on the butt of the revolver in his pocket.
Seymour alone—his sporting instincts fully aroused—was in his element; indeed, it is not too much to say that he was longing for an encounter with some beast; his finger itched to press the trigger; yet, although he looked around keenly, he could discover nothing on which to test his aim.
Mervyn moved a few paces in advance, for the discovery of a fresh fungus of rather peculiar growth had rekindled his scientific zeal, and, despite Seymour’s repeated warnings as to the danger of such a course, he plunged fearlessly in among the fungi in search of fresh treasures, often being lost to the sight of his friends for some moments, then reappearing with a choice specimen for their inspection.
Suddenly an excited cry burst from his lips, and his friends, fearing that some accident had befallen him, hurried in the direction of the sound.
They found him standing upon the crest of a rocky ridge, which broke away sharply upon the other side, descending precipitously into a small valley, the sides of which were fairly ablaze with a mass of trailing fungi, somewhat after the habit of ivy in growth.
“What is it?” they asked as they joined him.
“Sh!” was the whispered warning. “Look there!”
Then they saw. In the midst of the fairy-like glade, with its mighty sides rising and falling by its heavy breathing as it slept, lay a monstrous animal.
The glowing light of the fungi revealed with startling distinctness the huge bulk of its body and the great, rhinoceros-like head, which, armed with three fearful horns, was further protected by a ridge of bony plates about the base of the skull.
It needed nought else to enable the explorers to identify the creature.