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289
Astounding Stories of Super-Science, August 1930
·
Various
14
The
Earth
man
was
in
the
lead
when
it
happened.
Seeking
an
uncertain
footing
through
a
tangle
of
low-growing,
thick,
ghastly
white
vegetation,
he
placed
a
foot
on
what
seemed
to
be
a
broad,
flat
rock
projecting
slightly
above
the
ooze.
Instantly
there
was
a
violent
upheaval
of
mud;
the
seeming
rock
flew
up
like
a
trap-door,
disclosing
a
cavernous
mouth
some
seven
feet
across,
and
a
thick,
triangular
tentacle
flew
up
from
its
concealment
in
the
mud
in
a
vicious
arc.
Forepaugh
leaped
back
barely
in
time
to
escape
being
swept
in
and
engulfed.
The
end
of
the
tentacle
struck
him
a
heavy
blow
on
the
chest,
throwing
him
back
with
such
force
as
to
bowl
Gunga
over,
and
whirling
the
pistols
out
of
his
hands
into
a
slimy,
bulbous
growth
nearby,
where
they
stuck
in
the
phosphorescent
cavities
the
force
of
their
impact
had
made.
There
was
no
time
to
recover
the
weapons.
With
a
bellow
of
rage
the
beast
was
out
of
its
bed
and
rushing
at
them.
Nothing
stayed
its
progress.
Tough,
heavily
scaled
trees
thicker
than
a
man's
body
shuddered
and
fell
as
its
bulk
brushed
by
them.
But
it
was
momentarily
confused,
and
its
first
rush
carried
it
past
its
dodging
quarry.
This
momentary
respite
saved
their
lives.
Rearing
its
plumed
head
to
awesome
heights,
its
knobby
bark
running
with
brown
rivulets
of
water,
a
giant
tree,
even
for
that
world
of
giants,
offered
refuge.
The
men
scrambled
up
the
rough
trunk
easily,
finding
plenty
of
hand
and
footholds.
They
came
to
rest
on
one
of
the
shelflike
circumvoluting
rings,
some
twenty-five
feet
above
the
ground.
Soon
the
blunt
brown
tentacles
slithered
in
search
of
them,
but
failed
to
reach
their
refuge
by
inches.
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