FEASTED ON THE HORSE
“The monster carried its burden into the cave and we could hear the crunching of its jaws and the cracking of the horse’s bones as the beast devoured its victim. After an hour or so all was still and we then slipped quietly away in the darkness and returned to our camp on the eastern shore of the island.
“Had it not been for a bad break in our boat we would have fled the Island that night. As it was we worked all night to repair the craft, although the task might have been accomplished in two hours except that we feared to build a fire to afford light.
“It was just dawn and we were preparing to launch, when Gilbert said: “There it comes again!’ In an instant we turned the boat bottom up and crawled under it. One end was lifted about a foot above the end by a rock, and we were able to watch the monster’s actions.
“It settled down on the beach less than fifty yards to the north and dived quickly into the lake. From its actions while nearly buried under the waves I judged that the creature was gathering and feeding upon the salt water shrimps which abound along the coast there. When the monster came up it was very close to us, and we were particularly impressed by the fact that the strong brine had no effect upon its eyes, which appeared lidless. Evidently the animal’s food in the water was found by the sense of sight.
