"It was very brave
and unselfish of you. I am chagrined that I should have been thus
surprised. The creature was up wind from me and yet I did not sense
its near presence until it charged. I cannot understand it."
"It is not strange," said Pan-at-lee. "That is one of the peculiarities
of the gryf--it is said that man never knows of its presence until
it is upon him--so silently does it move despite its great size."
"But I should have smelled it," cried Tarzan, disgustedly.
"Smelled it!" ejaculated Pan-at-lee. "Smelled it?"
"Certainly. How do you suppose I found this deer so quickly? And I
sensed the gryf, too, but faintly as at a great distance." Tarzan
suddenly ceased speaking and looked down at the bellowing creature
below them--his nostrils quivered as though searching for a scent.
"Ah!" he exclaimed. "I have it!"
"What?" asked Pan-at-lee.
"I was deceived because the creature gives off practically no
odor," explained the ape-man. "What I smelled was the faint aroma
that doubtless permeates the entire jungle because of the long
presence of many of the creatures--it is the sort of odor that
would remain for a long time, faint as it is.
"Pan-at-lee, did you ever hear of a triceratops? No? Well this thing
that you call a gryf is a triceratops and it has been extinct for
hundreds of thousands of years.
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