SURE-DART
[Illustration: Sure-dart Witnesses the Battle of the Sea Monsters
[_Page 312_]
]
SURE-DART
_A Story of Strange Hunters
and Stranger Game in the
Days of Monsters_
BY
FREDERICK H. COSTELLO
AUTHOR OF “THE TWO ON GALLEY ISLAND,” ETC.
_With Five Illustrations by Walter J. Enright_
[Illustration]
CHICAGO
A. C. McCLURG & CO.
1909
COPYRIGHT,
A. C. MCCLURG & CO.
1909
Published September 25, 1909
THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A.
PREFACE
In this story I have taken a few liberties with what are generally
accepted in the scientific world as facts, and so I suppose some
explanations are desirable. The greatest liberty I have taken is with
regard to the introduction of human beings into the story when the
period is so very remote. The period is that called by geologists the
Secondary, and the particular part of it is toward the close of what
is termed the Cretaceous. As far as our knowledge goes at the present
time, this is a date several hundred thousand years earlier than the
coming of man. But I desired to introduce human beings to make the
story more interesting, and I felt a greater right to do so because
there was nothing in the condition of the earth at that time which
would have made it impossible for human beings to live and flourish. In
fact, the conditions were more favorable than in some of the inhabited
parts of the earth now.
Another bit of license is that relating to the animals and birds. I
have introduced a few rather earlier than some authorities would allow,
and have detained others on the stage, so to speak, a little longer
than perhaps there is scientific authority for. But I believe that this
matter is of slight importance, and the more so because specialists
are by no means agreed as to the dates, and because all our absolute
knowledge is comparatively limited.
Beyond this, I think the story follows the lines of accepted fact and
conclusions. Thus Colorado, with its great fresh-water sea; with its
strange forests of mingled palms, oaks, beeches, yew-like conifers,
and cycads (which were like palms crossed with gigantic ferns) with
its hot, steamy days, and its tropic nights, when a moon bigger and
brighter than we have ever seen looked down on a world that would
have made us gasp by its strangeness--these are brought on our stage
faithfully and without exaggeration.
And neither are those seeming nightmares, the monsters of the story,
exaggerated. I have spoken “by the card” when I have asked to step
out before us the lizard as big as a small house, and that could have
pulled a man out of the upper branches of a moderately tall tree;
that other lizard creature bigger than any elephant, but that looked
somewhat like a hideous caricature of a rhinoceros; and yet again,
the creature nearly as big as the last, that had a part of its brain
substance in its rump, and a spiked tail that could have switched once
and dashed a man into a bloody pulp.
Then there are faithful pictures of the smaller creatures--the toothed
birds, the bat-like lizards which stretched nearly twenty feet across
the spread wings, and the turtles as big over as an old-fashioned
tavern table.
But I am raising too much of the curtain. I will make one more
explanation and then let it fall. In giving names to the monsters and
other wild creatures, I have invented in behalf of the human characters
such as are simple and would naturally be suggested by the looks or
ways of the creatures themselves. It would hardly do to proceed on the
line of reasoning of the old lady who said that she did not marvel so
much that the remains of ancient creatures had been discovered as that
science had found out also their names. However, to be more informing,
I have inserted a list of the modern names of the principal creatures.
FREDERICK H. COSTELLO.
BANGOR, MAINE, _July 1, 1909_.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. HUNTING TERRIBLE GAME 15
II. MORE THAN ONE KIND OF SURPRISE 28
III. THE FLIGHT TO THE HILLS 39
IV. HARD PRESSED 50
V. THE STAND OF DESPERATE MEN 57
VI. THE END OF THE FIGHT 70
VII. BETWEEN TWO FIRES 84
VIII. PLUCK AND GOOD LUCK 95
IX. THE GREAT DOUBLE DUEL, AND THINGS LATER 106
X. THE TRAPPER TRAPPED 119
XI. BAD NEWS AND SERIOUS ANTICIPATIONS 131
XII. THE HUNTERS’ STORY 144
XIII. A DUBIOUS PROSPECT 157
XIV. THE FIGHT AT THE BARRICADE 168
XV. THE SECOND ASSAULT 178
XVI. SOME SHREWD AND PLUCKY WORK 195
XVII. NATURE COMES INTO THE FIGHT 202
XVIII. NATURE RELENTS AND QUITS THE FIELD 215
XIX. TO BE MADE INTO FRESH MEAT 227
XX. THE LAST CHANCE 239
XXI. SURE-DART’S LUCKY MISS 247
XXII. PEACE BY CONQUEST 259
XXIII. THE TEST OF THE “DART-SENDER” 275
XXIV. THE CRISIS 289
XXV. SURE-DART FINDS NEW ENEMIES 298
XXVI. PEACE ON LAND AND LAKE 311
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Sure-dart witnesses the battle of the sea monsters _Frontispiece_
“Three-horns’ great weight, in spite of the spread of
his feet, and of his vast strength, told tremendously
against him” 90
“‘Hold him!’ shouted Hop-foot, skipping to Sure-dart’s
side” 134
“It was now that Big-axe did that which sent his name
down the years in the legends of his people” 174
“Sure-dart crept out of his nest, taking his spear with
him” 210
MODERN NAMES OF CREATURES OF THE STORY
DEATH-BEAST Ceteosaurus, or “monster lizard.” One
American variety is also called tyrannosaurus
rex, or “tyrant king lizard.” It is
likewise known as “terrible lizard.” It
was a large, flesh-eating dinosaur.
THUNDER-BEAST Atlantosaurus, or “gigantic lizard.” A
dinosaur of the brontosaurus or “thunder
lizard” family, and the largest land animal
known.
GREAT STALKER An American species of the iguanodon,
called thespesius or “marvellous.” It is
also called claosaurus. It was a vegetable
eating dinosaur.
LITTLE STALKER A smaller variety of the thespesius family.
MARSH-HOPPER The smallest known dinosaur. It was a
thespesius on a diminutive scale.
THREE-HORNS Triceratops. A dinosaur somewhat like
a rhinoceros. It was not carnivorous.
THORN-TAIL Stegosaurus, or “backlered lizard.” One
of the strangest-looking of the dinosaurs.
FISH-SNAKE Plesiosaurus or elasmosaurus. A marine
monster with a long, snake-like neck.
GREAT KILLER Mosasaur, or “Meuse River lizard,” a
kind of lizard-crocodile.
GREAT FLIPPER Archæochelon, or “primitive turtle.” An
enormous turtle.
SPEAR-TOOTH A moderately large, very voracious fish,
with a huge head and teeth like sharp
spikes.
WORM-TAIL Archæopteryx, or “primitive bird.” A
strange bird of the Jurassic period, but
possibly surviving to the Cretaceous, the
period of the story.
TERROR BIRD Brontornis, or “thunder bird.”
BIG BEAST-BIRD Pterodactyl, the “finger-winged.” A kind
of flying lizard, with enormous wings.
SCAMPERER Hyracotherium. The ancestor of the
horse. He does not properly belong to
the period of the story, but to a time later.
_Sure-Dart_
CHAPTER I
HUNTING TERRIBLE GAME
The boys did not talk much as they went along. It would have been
dangerous, for the enemy just beyond had good ears; and then, it was
not the way of the people of that day to talk for the mere sake of
talking.
They stopped just short of the last ridge and looked back. It was a
matter of prudence--a prudence taught them by grim experience. One
of the two was only fifteen, and the other two years younger, yet
both were old in the dreadful kind of knowledge that a hazard like
this called for. It was such a hazard as would have excused doubt and
hesitation in the bravest man, to say nothing of a boy.
But that will have to be explained later. Just now they were making
sure that they were safe thus far, and that there was no danger of a
surprise. The enemy beyond the ridge had come up from a valley to the
left, and who could say that others of his kind might not come trailing
along after, but keep on around the hill, instead of turning off into
the little valley? In that case they would be caught in a trap, with
one enemy before, and one or more in the rear.
But as they looked they saw nothing of any new danger. The countryside
seemed quiet, and only what they had already observed and accounted
for came within their range. There were other ridges right and left,
both climbing higher till they cut out the full bigness of foot-hills,
and just above the surface of the lake were the bald, yellow spots of
low chalk cliffs. In other directions these fell away till they ran
themselves out in the marsh levels, or straggled in little grave-mound
shapes back to the two great horns of the far-reaching woods.
The boys turned back again after this one look; the older said a single
low word to the other, and began to crawl on hands and knees toward
the low crest of the ridge. It was not far, but at the rate he went it
must take some minutes to reach it; meanwhile the other boy lay down
almost flat, and with Indian-like patience waited. He laid three long,
flint-headed darts close by his hand, and made sure that a small stone
axe was safe in his leather girdle. He was stripped either for fight
or flight, for his only clothing--unless one reckons the belt--was a
leather breech-clout. The leather both of this and the belt was of
a peculiar sort, and looked more like alligator skin than ordinary
leather. He was a savage, then, but yet not an Indian. What he was and
what the other boy was (they were dressed and armed alike) will very
soon appear.
While the first boy was worming along toward the top of the ridge the
other looked back again and along the sides of the slope. He still
saw nothing that troubled him, and nothing even that was out of the
commonplace--the commonplace to him. It will be worth while to stop a
moment and see whether it will seem wholly commonplace to us. To begin
with, let us see what region this is. Now we start with something
to think of, for this is the eastern part of the present State of
Colorado. Yet the lake below, after escaping from the arms of the two
little headlands, widens and reaches out till it is lost everywhere on
the sky-line! Nor could an eagle, if he should rise to the region of
thin air, raise the land boundary!
But there are other things to see, and no farther away than the
shores of this unaccountable lake. There are the trees and other
vegetation. It certainly seems as if there must be some mistake here.
For down there, rising from the midst of strange, rank ferns and huge,
unfamiliar canes are what can be none other than palm trees. They are
not tall, but robust in trunk, and they seem at home, so to speak, in
the company of the rank, tropical growth about them. To be sure, the
trees that we should naturally look for are not wholly wanting, for
there are what resemble modern yews, and some fine-leaved trees that at
least look like willows, and on the slopes of the ridges, higher up,
are low oaks and beeches. Yet mingled with these again are alien forms
of cedars, and some strange cycads that seem to be in part palms, and
in part a kind of gigantic fern.
But still again, to look along the banks of the lake. It is only late
spring, and early in the morning, and yet the half-clouded sun has a
hot sting, and a little, steamy mist rises from the dank borders of the
lake. The faint puff of a variant breeze, too, from that direction,
brings with it a mingling of tropic scents, spicy and yet rank, and a
whiff from the overcrowded and dying vegetable growths. In a moment
some of the tall reeds by the northern shore wave, and then bend
sharply down, and out of the heart of them walks a living creature. It
walks, and somewhat like a man, for it comes along on two legs, and
with a kind of waddling duck-gait. Its great hind legs slap along,
and its little fore ones hang down limp. It stands ten feet high to
the top of its coffin-shaped, earless head, and its thick, tapering
tail drags after it ten feet more. It certainly looks somewhat like a
kangaroo, and yet repulsively unlike one. For another thing, it has a
comparatively smooth skin, though broken into lizard-like scales, and
it is gray on the upper part of its body and white the length of its
belly.
After a struggle with the absurdity of saying so, one would call it a
monstrous lizard, but with the perversion of an upright carriage, and
with legs like a kangaroo’s.
And this seeming flight of the imagination would go not a whit beyond
the truth, for this strange and puzzling monster, amid strange and
puzzling surroundings, _is_ a lizard.
But as the waiting boy is neither disturbed nor amazed at such a sight
as this it is evident that it is not strange to him. Are there still
other sights that he is looking dull-eyed at, but that, as we make
them out, set us to staring, and almost to gasping? What is the monster
lizard himself at this moment looking at?
The cove, toward which the monster is heading, is shoal at this point
(the great lake itself is not relatively deep), but there is a drop, or
hole, near the immediate shore, and the water is deeper there, and it
is toward this spot that the creature is looking.
No wonder! The almost smooth surface of the water ripples, and then
breaks, and up into sight flashes a dusky, longish object that in an
instant takes shape as a huge snake. Its head is rather large for what
so far appears to be its body, though thin at the jaws. Up it still
rises, straight into the air, until--how long, in horror’s name, can
the creature be? The head is more than twenty feet clear of the water
now, and unless the monster is standing on its tail, which would be out
of the question--but what is this? The length of body has run itself
out, indeed, but in the name of all that is strange, how? It has ended
in another body that is as thick as a small whale’s, but with two
seal-like flippers that at this moment show a little out of the water,
and gently beat up and down.
Perhaps ten seconds of this suspense, the lizard watching the--call it
the fish-snake,--and the newcomer seemingly looking that way, as if
questioning him, and then something new happens. The long, upraised
neck curves gracefully down, the jaws fly open, and the head dives
under the water. It comes up instantly, and in the jaws is a shining
and flapping fish. With a little beating of flippers, the great body
turns and heads lakewards, and the neck droops till it is almost level
with the water. More paddling, and the creature heads down the channel,
and goes steadily out to the broad water. There it slowly sinks and
vanishes.
The giant lizard at this starts along again and keeps on till he
splashes down into the water. His business is commonplace, after all,
for when he is a little way out he stoops and drinks. This done, he
turns and waddles off among his reeds and ferns.
There are other strange sights down there, only it would take a nearer
view to bring them out; meanwhile, the creeping boy on the hill-slope
is on the point of uncovering a sight more amazing still. It will be
better worth while to follow him.
He shuffled along relatively fast, though he did not rise from hands
and knees, and was not long in reaching the final little crest of earth
that crowned the ridge. Then, ever so cautiously, he raised his head
and peered over.
There was a sharp slope down to a little ravine, and beyond that a
rise to another ridge. In fact, the surface of the land just here was
like the monstrous furrows of some giant’s ploughed field. Across the
ravine, on the opposite rise, was the thing that the boy was looking at.
It may well be called a thing, for it was like nothing that any living
human being of our day ever saw, and more like some hobgoblin of a
dream. It stretched out longer than an ordinary dwelling house, and
rose, at its curving rump, to the height of a New England farm-shed.
Its bulk in the middle was greater than any elephant’s, and its huge
tail at its beginning was bigger than a sugar barrel.
The head was no longer than a horse’s, but the mouth was split up much
farther, and as it opened it showed great, tiger-like teeth. The upper
lip--if it may be called a lip--bent down and ended in a kind of bill.
There was a horn a foot long on the snout. The long, snake-like neck
ended in a little rising hill at the fore shoulders, and from there the
back rose still higher to the hind-quarters; then the monstrous tail
ran down another slope to its pointed end. All along this curving back,
and to the very end of the tail, was a little saw-tooth ridge. Hair
does not belong to reptiles, and this one had none. Instead, the whole
body was covered with close scales, greenish on the upper part, and
almost white below. The relatively short fore legs ended in frog-like
hands, with short claws on the fingers, and a claw a foot long on the
thumb. The huge and long hind legs tapered down, and finished in great
bird-like feet. Each toe of the foot ended in a claw as long as a
sickle. These claws cleared the ground a little, as the monster stood
on all fours, and so preserved the sharpness of the terrible points.
This, then, was the strange something that the two plucky boys were
spying on, and yet held in such dread. It is easier to understand the
dread now.
The creature was just at this moment turned a little away from the boy.
Its head was down, and it stood lumpishly, and with its low-set eyes
half shut.
Backward crawled the boy and did not stop till he was well below the
crest of the ridge. Then he stood up and ran swiftly down the slope.
The other boy saw him coming, and rose. Like the cool little hunter
that he was he said nothing, but merely looked his question.
“He’s going,” with a grin, was the answer. “He has eaten every bit of
the carcass.”
This brought a responsive grin.
“He isn’t down yet?”
“No, but drooping. I didn’t see anything of the others.”
The questioner picked up his darts. In bending down to get them he
seemed a trifle awkward. It was because one foot was a little deformed,
and the leg a bit shorter than the other.
“It is a first-rate beginning, Hop-foot,” went on the older boy. “Even
if the others don’t get the poisoned stuff now they probably will
another time. It is good news to carry home.”
“Yes, it’s good news,” assented Hop-foot.
They started down the hill, and Hop-foot went on:
“It is ten moons now since the last death-beasts came up from the
farther lake shore. It looks as if they were dying out. Don’t you think
they are, Sure-dart?”
“Yes, they must be,” answered Sure-dart, “and in fact, the old hunters
are beginning to say so. It will be fine when they and all the others
of the kind die out. There will be things enough left then to worry us.”
“But they are mainly water creatures. For instance, fish-snake, and
spike-tooth, and the destroyers. Fish-snake, too, doesn’t bother us
very much.”
“There are some others, and you forget the birds. What about the
terror-bird? I had rather fight some of the beasts than him. Then there
is the big beast-bird. If he comes along in the night, and you are out
by yourself--I’ve got one scar that matches his teeth.”
“Yes, he’s bad,” assented Hop-foot. “So, too, are some of the others.
But what I meant was, we don’t have so much trouble from these
creatures as our tribe used to. Look at the safety-holes all around the
lake, and up here in the hills. My father says that when he was a boy
people were using them all of the time.”
“Oh, that is so, and your main idea is right. But, Hop-foot, there
are things worse than the beasts and birds. Those don’t know much.
Human creatures are worse. Look at the way things are just now. If the
Fishers are really coming, and if our people don’t beat them, then
maybe we shall wish we were fighting the beasts. We shall all stand a
good chance to be roasted and eaten.”
Hop-foot soberly nodded.
“Yes, that is so. But perhaps the story of the war-party is not true;
if it is--” his black eyes lighted--“my father will know what to do.”
Sure-dart nodded in turn.
“Big-axe is a great fighter,” he said respectfully, “and my father
put him higher in that than any other headman we ever had. Besides,
he is cunning, and a good trap-layer. But you know,” he went on more
soberly, “the Fishers fight well, too, and they far outnumber us.”
“Well, Sure-dart,” said Hop-foot, undisturbedly, “I am not going to
worry. I think we shall have good news from our party, let what will be
the matter. When Big-axe led the Rock-people against the Cane-dwellers,
you know what happened. We did not have to hide in the safety-holes, as
if the death-beasts were coming.”
He smiled proudly, showing a splendid set of teeth. The jaws that held
them were long and strong, and went well with his muscular if rather
thin arms, and the play of other muscles over his broad back and thick
shoulders. He was hardly so tall as the average American boy of the
present day, and he was a bit full at the waist for our idea of power
and beauty, but nevertheless, he was a wonderful boy. His strength was
great for his age, and his wind and general endurance were far beyond
what we expect to find even in our most robust boys. His face was by no
means stupid, either, for all that the forehead was low, and the skull
retreating. His eyes were bright, and his general expression alert, and
there was a kind of manly composure in his look. His hair was jet-black
and coarse, and flowed down over his shoulders; and his skin, except
for a deep coat of tan, was yellowish white. More than any other people
that we know of he resembled a Laplander. He looked brighter and more
energetic, however. One other thing in his appearance deserves mention.
His body was wonderfully hairy. The black hair grew like a bed of moss
on his chest, and ran in ridges down his arms and legs, and out upon
his hands and feet.
Sure-dart in most ways resembled him. He had the same kind of
complexion, and the same sort of powerful, hairy body, with relatively
thin arms and a bit of portliness, and with a deep chest. He was a
little less stocky, but a bit taller, and was rather quicker and
more supple in his movements. His face, too, was a little more
comely,--judged by our standards,--and seemed to show a somewhat keener
intelligence.
His weapons were the same as Hop-foot’s--a small, stone-headed axe, and
three flint-headed darts. The darts were about two feet long each, and
were adjusted for flight by some bits of split reeds placed vertically
at what we should call the feather-end. The points of these darts
showed some discoloration, and it was to be noticed that both of the
boys handled the little missiles carefully. In fact, they had kept
them, till within a few minutes, in a kind of case, or quiver, this
made of the lizard skin (looking like alligator skin) already mentioned.
“No,” said Sure-dart, in response to Hop-foot’s remark, “it is certain
that we didn’t have to go into safety-holes when the Cane-dwellers made
their raid. We beat them, and those that we didn’t kill we made slaves
of. It ended the Cane-dwellers. I only hope----”
He stopped, and his look changed. He happened to be walking on a little
crest of ledge, and from there could see over a small spur of rocks,
and down into a winding valley. This valley led back to the furrowed
ridges whence the dying horned monster had come.
“Run!” he shouted, jumping off the ledge and whipping his darts into
their sheath; “the other death-beasts are coming!” He wheeled to the
left, and started at a run along the hill-slope.
Hop-foot lost a little color, but he, too, stopped long enough to slip
the poisoned darts into their sheath. No wise man or boy would plunge
along such footing with these death-dealers exposed; and on the other
hand, this experienced hunter knew better than to throw them away. He
understood what it would mean to be shut up in a little hole in the
ground with no help nigh, and these raging beasts outside. They would
quiet down after a while, but would not leave, and unless some weapon
availed there would be left but a choice of deaths.
One might have thought that a family of monstrous kangaroos, with the
weight of elephants, was coming! The huge legs lifted the massive
bodies in great jumps, so that the dreadful heads were twenty feet in
the air. Stones as big as a man were knocked out of the way, and bushes
were crushed like grass. As if they had caught the scent or the sight
of their prey, the creatures put out their vast strength, and by the
sheer force of it hurled their great bulk along, and over the side-hill
level to the very shadow of the outcropping rock that the boys were
passing.
Sure-dart was ahead, but in spite of the danger he was not running his
best, for he lagged a little for Hop-foot. The lame boy was simply
doing marvels in the way of speed. He hopped, skipped, and jumped
along, and gave Sure-dart little margin for waiting.
Now, one of the three monsters--the largest--was within the length of
its body from Hop-foot. Sure-dart looked once more backward, groaned,
and made one swift dart into the shadowed mouth of a safety-hole.
The crashing monster seemed to jet its hot breath after him, and with
its thunder fairly made the ground shake.
Hop-foot must be among the things that were.