we knew well enough now that she was ours.

And so Olson's remark helped to clear the atmosphere for the

Allies at least, and then our attention was once more directed

toward the river, for around us there had sprung up a perfect

bedlam of screams and hisses and a seething caldron of hideous

reptiles, devoid of fear and filled only with hunger and with rage.

They clambered, squirmed and wriggled to the deck, forcing

us steadily backward, though we emptied our pistols into them.

There were all sorts and conditions of horrible things--huge,

hideous, grotesque, monstrous--a veritable Mesozoic nightmare.

I saw that the girl was gotten below as quickly as possible, and

she took Nobs with her--poor Nobs had nearly barked his head off;

and I think, too, that for the first time since his littlest

puppyhood he had known fear; nor can I blame him. After the girl

I sent Bradley and most of the Allies and then the Germans who

were on deck--von Schoenvorts being still in irons below.

The creatures were approaching perilously close before I dropped

through the hatchway and slammed down the cover. Then I went

into the tower and ordered full speed ahead, hoping to distance

the fearsome things; but it was useless. Not only could any of

them easily outdistance the U-33, but the further upstream we

progressed the greater the number of our besiegers, until fearful

of navigating a strange river at high speed, I gave orders to

reduce and moved slowly and majestically through the plunging,

hissing mass. I was mighty glad that our entrance into the

interior of Caprona had been inside a submarine rather than in

any other form of vessel. I could readily understand how it

might have been that Caprona had been invaded in the past by

venturesome navigators without word of it ever reaching the

outside world, for I can assure you that only by submarine could

man pass up that great sluggish river, alive.

We proceeded up the river for some forty miles before darkness

overtook us. I was afraid to submerge and lie on the bottom

overnight for fear that the mud might be deep enough to hold us,

and as we could not hold with the anchor, I ran in close to

shore, and in a brief interim of attack from the reptiles we made

fast to a large tree. We also dipped up some of the river water

and found it, though quite warm, a little sweeter than before.

We had food enough, and with the water we were all quite

refreshed; but we missed fresh meat. It had been weeks, now,

since we had tasted it, and the sight of the reptiles gave me