THE MONSTERS by J.R.A

Author:J.R.A. [J.R.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2011-04-26T23:21:01+00:00

Chapter 15. NIGHT TERROR

THUNDER WAS chuckling softly in the distance when Monk awakened, Doc's hand upon his shoulder. There was no lightning. Monk squirmed, peered into the inky void, and gulped. "Hey, what the -- "

"Quiet!" Doc cautioned. "I think something's going to happen.',

Monk bounced out of his bag, much to the disgust of Habeas, who had been asleep on the foot.

The pig grunted a few times in discontent, then with strange abruptness it became silent.

Monk fished out a match and thumbed it alight. He hid the tiny flame in his cupped palm, so that only a spear of light escaped and fell upon the pig.

Habeas was sniffing like a pointer. Coarse bristles along his back were on end. Monk listened, and could hear nothing. But the pig had detected the presence of something.

"Habeas has remarkably keen senses," Doc said softly. "The nearest of the things must be at least a mile away from us."

"What things?"

"Just a minute," Doc said, "I'll let you listen." The bronze giant went to the other men and awakened them. All moved to one side, a few yards clear of the camp.

A strange-looking bit of apparatus stood here. Doc had evidently erected this after the others had gone to sleep. Long Tom, the electrical wizard, recognized it instantly.

"A supersensitive listening device!" he said.

The electrical expert did not trouble to explain further that the thing utilized sensitive parabolic pickup microphones and 'amplifiers of great power, similar to those employed in radio sets. He presumed that the others knew this.

Doc Savage flicked a switch which connected the loudspeaker to the amplifier output. The sensitivity of the listening device was at once apparent. An owl hooted in the distance, and the sound poured out of the loudspeaker in a great bawl. Habeas Corpus grunted. That, too, was magnified a thousand fold.

Suddenly there came from the loudspeaker noises foreign to the other night sounds. These were watery notes, a great splashing and gurgling. Then came tremendous hissing noises, as of a monster breath expelled.

Doc switched off the listener.

"Huh?" Monk gulped. "That sounds like something wading along the edge of the lake."

"There's another of the things in the opposite direction," Doc advised. "As far as I can tell, there are only the two of them. They're approaching slowly."

After a brief interval, the bronze man switched on the listening device again. This time, the splashing sounds were louder, and it was evident that they came from both up and down the lake shore.

"Do you reckon they're huntin' us?" Monk asked uneasily. "We'll wait," Doc said. "We won't use this listening device any more, either. The things may hear the amplified sounds."

The men waited, listening so hard that they could almost hear the gurgle of blood in their own veins.

NO LISTENING device was needed now. The noisy wading was becoming louder as the fantastic waders of the night approached.

"I hope they meet each other and fight it out," Long Tom said uneasily. "They sound as big as elephants."

This proved a futile hope. The gigantic things prowling along the lake shore apparently met.

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