The two raised their glasses to their eyes and proceeded to watch the animal, which seemed to have a desire to drink, but was debating within itself the question of how far it would be prudent to enter the water even as far as would be necessary to enable it to do so. It was standing quite still, staring down into the water, and thus afforded an excellent opportunity for careful inspection.
“N–o,” answered Earle slowly, after he had studied the appearance of the creature for nearly a minute—“it certainly is not a boar, though it is not altogether unlike one. But it is too big for a boar. Looks to me more like a hyaena—though of course I know there are no such creatures in this country. Also it is far too big to be a hyaena—unless it is an entirely new species. And the thing has tusks, just like a wild boar. Now, what the mischief can it be? It is rather too far off for a dead shot, or I would have a try at it; but it would be a pity to merely wound it and scare it away. Say! is there any way of getting across to the other side, short of swimming?”
“I’m afraid not,” answered Dick. “And after what I saw yesterday I wouldn’t give a farthing for the chance of anybody who should attempt to swim in these waters.”
Dick still had his glasses to his eyes as he spoke; and even as the last words left his lips he had an impression of something stealthily moving in the long herbage some distance to the rear of the strange animal which they were watching. He was about to direct Earle’s attention to the circumstance when, from the spot where he had observed the stealthy movement, a great body rose into the air with a tremendous leap and hurtling through the intervening space, descended fair and square upon the body of the creature standing by the water’s edge.
“Gee-rusalem!” shouted Earle, as the harsh scream of the stricken animal pealed out on the stagnant air. “See that, Cavendish?”
“Sure!” responded Dick. “Take particular notice of that last brute, Earle; for as sure as my name is Cavendish, it is another of the same kind that I killed yesterday.”
“My revered ancestors! You don’t say so!” gasped Earle. “Sure?”
“Absolutely certain,” averred Dick.
“But—but—man alive—” stammered Earle in his excitement, “you told me that the thing you shot yesterday was a sort of cross between a frog and a kangaroo, and that beast doesn’t suggest at all that sort of idea to me. What a ferocious beast it is! He is literally tearing the other poor brute to pieces.”
“Yes,” agreed Dick. “And I am just now beginning to understand what a narrow squeak I had yesterday. For that fellow is exactly like the thing I killed yesterday, though, now that I see him broadside-on, the resemblance, whether to a frog or a kangaroo, is not so strong as it was when I was facing him. But there are the same long, powerful hind legs, the same almost invisible front ones, the same gaping mouth filled with strong, dagger-like teeth, the same long, thick, pointed tail—in short, the same creature from stem to stern.”