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He listened to the anis of the underwood as the creatures broke cover and in vain sought safety

Mingled with these sounds were others--yells, shrieks, and gibberings--the tuht and left, even as it ate northward from the river

The mass of Anthropoids inevitably found theures could here or there be seen in soust of flalare

The rifle such of the little de up or down the cliffside opposite Surely, relentlessly, they shot the invaders down And, even as Stern watched, the ene

"What may this not result in?" he wondered as he observed the swift and angry leap of the forest-fire to northward "It e thousands of square miles before rain puts an end to it It e in the windall before it This may mean ruin!"

He paused a moment, then said aloud: "Ruin, perhaps Yes; but the alternative was death! There was no other way!"

Now none of the attackers reht on some protuberance of rock Here, there, one of these fell, and like the rest was borne away down streae roar as the forest-fire leaped up the opposite hillside in one clear lick of incandescence This roar hu reaches of the river

The fire ju as clear as any furnace, with a swift onward, upward slant as the wind fanned it forward through the dry brush and a the crowded palms

Now and then, with a muffled explosion, a sap-filled palhter flare shohere the fire had run at one clear leap right to the fronded top of a fern-tree

Fire-brands and dry-kye, caught up by the swirl, spiralled through the thick air and fell far in advance of theinto swift destruction

Already the nearer portion of the opposite cliff-edge was barren and sht sweep an ant-hill Tourbillons of dense smoke obscured the sky

The air flew thick with brands, live coals and flaring bits of bark, all whirling aloft on the breath of the fire-de jeere sown broadcast by the resistless wind