www.freeclassicebooks.com

natural clearing in the jungle the fleeing bull glanced back to see his pursuer

almost upon him, and with an angry roar turned to meet the charge.

In another instant Bulan and the three bulls were rolling and tumbling about the

ground, a mass of flying fur and blood from which rose fierce and angry roars and

growls, while Virginia Maxon lay quietly upon the sward where her captor had

dropped her.

Sing was about to rush forward and pick her up, when he saw von Horn and his

Dyaks leap into the clearing, to which they had been guided by the sounds of the

chase and the encounter. The doctor halted at the sight that met his eyes--the

prostrate form of the girl and the man battling with three huge bulls.

Then he gathered up Virginia Maxon, and with a sign to his Dyaks, who were

thoroughly frightened at the mere sight of the white giant of whom they had

heard such terrible stories, turned and hastened back in the direction from which

they had come, leaving the man to what seemed must be a speedy and horrible

death.

Sing Lee was astounded at the perfidy of the act. To Bulan alone was due the

entire credit of having rescued Professor Maxon's daughter, and yet in the very

presence of his self-sacrificing loyalty and devotion von Horn had deserted him

without making the least attempt to aid him. But the wrinkled old Chinaman was

made of different metal, and had started forward to assist Bulan when a heavy

hand suddenly fell upon his shoulder. Looking around he saw the hideous face

of Number Ten snarling into his. The bloodshot eyes of the monster were flaming

with rage. He had been torn and chewed by the bull with which he had fought,

and though he had finally overcome and killed the beast, a female which he had

pursued had eluded him. In a frenzy of passion and blood lust aroused by his

wounds, disappointment and the taste of warm blood which still smeared his lips

and face, he had been seeking the female when he suddenly stumbled upon the

hapless Sing.

With a roar he grasped the Chinaman as though to break him in two, but Sing

was not at all inclined to give up his life without a struggle, and Number Ten was

quick to learn that no mean muscles moved beneath that wrinkled, yellow hide.

There could, however, have been but one outcome to the unequal struggle had

Sing not been armed with a revolver, though it was several seconds before he

could bring it into play upon the great thing that shook and tossed him about as

though he had been a rat in the mouth of a terrier. But suddenly there was the

sharp report of a firearm, and another of Professor Maxon's unhappy experiments

sank back into the nothingness from which he had conjured it.

100

The Monster Men