"
Finding they had brought straight-bored guns, they arranged their
cartridges similarly, and set out in the direction in which the
winged lizards or dragons had gone.
CHAPTER IV.
A PROVIDENTIAL INTERVENTION.
The valley narrowed as they advanced, the banks rising gently on
both sides. Both dragons had flown straight to a grove of tall,
spreading trees. On coming near to this, they noticed a faint
smell like that of the dragon, and also like the trace they found
in the air on leaving the Callisto the day before, after they had
sought safety within it. Soon it almost knocked them down.
"We must get to windward," said Cortlandt. "I already feel
faint, and believe those dragons could kill a man by breathing on
him."
Accordingly, they skirted around the grove, and having made a
quarter circle--for they did not wish the dragons to wind
them--again drew nearer. Tree after tree was passed, and finally
they saw an open space twelve or fifteen acres in area at the
centre of the grove, when they were arrested by a curious sound
of munching. Peering among the trunks of the huge trees, they
advanced cautiously, but stopped aghast.
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