I credited those rampaging creatures with some dim intelligence, in that they had surely taken their victims alive for some purpose. What that purpose might be was too horrible to contemplate, but it gave me all the more reason to proceed without delay. I loaded the buffalo gun and gathered my remaining ammunition, after which I devised a way to hang it around my shoulders in a makeshift bandolier.

My enemies would be formidable, but thus armed I was confident that we might be evenly matched. My greatest danger was that they might come at me all at once, for the buffalo gun carried but a single round and required a reloading after every discharge. I was, however, banking on the prospect that the devastating effect of a large-bore hit upon one of the creatures would be enough to cause its fellows to turn and flee.

The others pleaded with me and expressed fear for my life, but I grew stern with them as if they were so many children, and reminded them of my authority as their leader.

“Enough,” I said. “Bury our dead and fortify our camp against further attack, and I will return by nightfall, either with our missing comrades or with news of their ends.”

With that they were resigned. Each man insisted on shaking my hand and wishing me well, and I saw tears in the eyes of more than one. As the effort of cutting wood to build a stronger stockade began, I took a half-day’s ration of food from our meager supplies and set off to follow the trail left by the attacking herd.

Tracking them was no difficult job. No Roman army ever blazed a road so straight, nor so clearly defined, as those great primitive monsters in their advance through the jungle.

As I made progress, and as the sounds of the camp fell behind me, I began to realize that from tragedy there might yet arise some benefit to those who had survived. For this early part of the trail at least, it seemed that the herd had followed the line of the river and done much to break the way for us. Normally we had to move at a slow pace behind the Indians and camaradas, as they cut a path through the jungle with axes and machetes. But where the creatures had rampaged, they had left us a broad avenue along which we might pass with ease.

Within the hour, I had covered the kind of distance that otherwise would have taken us a day, and though I lost sight of the river for long stretches at a time, I was never beyond the sound of it. This was most important. Though we had lost our boats, the river was our God-given guide out of the wilderness. Without it we might circle forever, with the trees blocking out the sun and a steady madness descending for want of us having any purpose or direction.

Shortly after that, I saw my first signs that the creatures were near. I shall not go into detail. Suffice it to say that waste, flies, and steam played a part in my deductions. I moved onward with great caution, hoping not to betray my presence.

I had reasoned that, since the creatures had attacked us at night, then surely they must sleep by day. The night-adapted eye fares less well in the noonday sun, and the energies expended in night hunting must be recouped at some point.

My hope was that if our fellows had been taken as prey for future consumption, then there had been some purpose in taking them alive, and that keeping them alive was a part of the creatures’ plan. If the creatures slept and I approached with sufficient stealth, I might yet be able to free my party and lead them back to our new camp, where a second attack would find us more prepared.

It was with these thoughts in mind that I crept forward and met a sight for which nothing could have prepared me. Had I realized how close I was, and how the creatures had moved to conceal themselves from sight, I would have been even more conscious of the need for silence in my progress. Fortunately the spot they had chosen for their day-nest was close to the river, where an unusually raucous set of fast-moving rapids made a noise that easily masked my movements.

The creatures had smashed down vegetation covering an area about the size of a tennis court, in order to make a type of bower. Within this jungle hollow all lay curled and sleeping, a dozen or more of them, their limbs and tails intertwining. A hasty count was impossible. I wish that I could have taken the time to make detailed observations and sketches. The ones that I reproduce in this volume are made from memory and not from life. Alas, all thoughts of science had deserted me in that moment, for it was now that I saw the fates of our comrades.

The creatures had, indeed, taken four men with the intent of preserving them alive. However, their method for this had evolved for use with prey more robust than man. Each member of my expedition lay pinned to the ground by an outstretched limb or tail, in a move calculated to prevent any from escaping while the creatures slept. But the crushing weight of those monstrous limbs had caused them to bear down with devastating effect. Our men had survived their kidnap only to be suffocated under the enormous weight of the creatures’ extremities. In the case of one man (I shall not name him for fear of further distressing his widow), he had been pressed down onto broken vegetation so forcefully that the sharpened ends had passed through him like so many spears.

Fearsome though the scene was, I could not leave it without satisfying myself that no spark of life remained in any of my former companions. I crept as close as I dared, and then gathered my courage and crept closer still, until I was so close to those great beasts that I might have reached out and laid a hand upon their thick hides, had I been so inclined. Alas, it seemed that my daring was in vain. C————, our instrument-maker, was cold to the touch. The injuries sustained by R———— the cartographer and Dr B———— were only too obviously mortal. As I moved from one to the other, one of the creatures stirred in its sleep and gave a huge sigh. The beast’s hot breath washed over me, as when a wind changes direction over a bonfire and one is bathed in the heat that it carries. But what a fire! One that stank of putrid swamp, and rotting meat. Being now on the riverward side of the nest, and in danger of being cut off from the jungle, I was almost persuaded to withdraw without further investigation, when I noticed a wasp landing on the nose of the sole non-European among the abducted, our mule-driving camarada. It lit there for only a moment, but was met with a definite twitch of the nostrils.

I never knew his name—for the purpose of this narrative I shall call him Pablo—but he opened his eyes and, upon seeing me, stretched out a hand in entreaty and began to call to me. I quickly motioned him to silence, and such was the discipline that I had imposed upon our party that he immediately obeyed.

I took a moment to assess our situation. I could not leave him to his fate, there was no question of that. No loyalty had been fiercer than that of these bare-footed, uneducated bearers, many of whom had already laid down their lives in the service of white men whom they did not know, for an expedition whose purpose their simple minds could never hope to understand. To abandon him now would be a poor reward for such devoted support.

Pablo lay with the tail of one of the creatures pinning him to the ground, as a fallen tree might trap an incautious logger. By signs I managed to get him to move his legs, thus proving that his back was not broken and that, once freed, he would have a reasonable chance of continuing his escape.

I considered, and quickly dismissed, any idea of provoking the creature in the hope that it might raise its appendage without being fully roused from its slumbers. To risk waking one was to risk waking all, so closely were they intertwined. Instead I noted that the part of the riverbank on which Pablo lay was of soft red sand, and might be dug away with some care. To this end I retreated into the jungle, and searched around for anything that could be used as a makeshift spade. As I was unable to explain my purpose to him, the despair on Pablo’s face as he saw me withdraw was a pity to behold, and I spent no longer than was necessary in securing a broken gourd that would suffice for the task. I returned with it and, once more signalling him to silence, began to scoop out the river dirt from around and under his body.