"Burroughs, Edgar Rice - People That Time Forgot" - читать интересную книгу автора (Burroughs Edgar Rice)

many shots into the creature as I could before it was upon me.
Already it had torn away a second rock and was in the very act
of forcing its huge bulk through the opening it had now made.

So now I took careful aim between its eyes; my right fingers
closed firmly and evenly upon the small of the stock, drawing
back my trigger-finger by the muscular action of the hand.
The bullet could not fail to hit its mark! I held my breath lest
I swerve the muzzle a hair by my breathing. I was as steady and
cool as I ever had been upon a target-range, and I had the full
consciousness of a perfect hit in anticipation; I knew that I
could not miss. And then, as the bear surged forward toward
me, the hammer fell--futilely, upon an imperfect cartridge.

Almost simultaneously I heard from without a perfectly hellish
roar; the bear gave voice to a series of growls far
transcending in volume and ferocity anything that he had yet
essayed and at the same time backed quickly from the cave.
For an instant I couldn't understand what had happened to
cause this sudden retreat when his prey was practically within
his clutches. The idea that the harmless clicking of the
hammer had frightened him was too ridiculous to entertain.
However, we had not long to wait before we could at least guess
at the cause of the diversion, for from without came mingled
growls and roars and the sound of great bodies thrashing about
until the earth shook. The bear had been attacked in the rear
by some other mighty beast, and the two were now locked in a
titanic struggle for supremacy. With brief respites, during
which we could hear the labored breathing of the contestants,
the battle continued for the better part of an hour until the
sounds of combat grew gradually less and finally ceased entirely.

At Ajor's suggestion, made by signs and a few of the words we
knew in common, I moved the fire directly to the entrance to
the cave so that a beast would have to pass directly through
the flames to reach us, and then we sat and waited for the
victor of the battle to come and claim his reward; but though
we sat for a long time with our eyes glued to the opening, we
saw no sign of any beast.

At last I signed to Ajor to lie down, for I knew that she must
have sleep, and I sat on guard until nearly morning, when the
girl awoke and insisted that I take some rest; nor would she be
denied, but dragged me down as she laughingly menaced me with
her knife.



Chapter 3