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Explorer
955 Posts |
 Posted - October 21 2007 : 12:47:51 AM
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"Figures, " Roxton grumbled. "Girls just want to have fun. I don't suppose that George and I get to watch you ladies swim? There's a nice way to pass an afternoon." He grinned, only half serious.
Finn looked at Marguerite and at Challenger. "George? I don't mind if you don't, but it's up to you and Marguerite. We girls have certainly seen everything that each of us has to show, and fate being what it has here, you guys have had an eyeful of us, too. When we dance in the Treehouse, we don't leave much to the imagination with those costumes."
Marguerite clasped a hand to her bosom, feigning shock and indignation. "That may be all right for you to say, Finn, you little urchin, but I am a fine, modest lady! How dare you suggest that I expose my lily white, almost virgin body to these prying male eyes!"
Finn grinned lewdly back. "I think the operative term there is 'almost' virgin body, Marguerite." She stuck out her tongue playfully at her friend.
Marguerite laughed now, and said, "John? I am rather modest, normally, but if you say so, we rather 'rum' lassies are willing to swim for your visual pleasure? George?"
Challenger and Roxton looked at one another, and some signal passed between them. Roxton answered for both men. "Ladies, as thrilled as we would be, I think that Challenger and I are rather more easily embarrassed than you girls. Perhaps it would be best if he and I just sit nearby while you enjoy your romp in the water, rifles ready in case of need. We'll try not to peek. We'll wait until your next dance at home to ogle you. It will give you girls something to look forward to."
Finn and Marguerite shrugged. "Have it your way, stuffedshirts," said Marguerite. "We'd hate to shock you jealous boys."
Challenger concentrated on laying out food and Finn grinned impishly as she caught his eye. She winked, and he smiled back, relieved that Roxton wouldn't after all see his reaction to Finn and Marguerite bathing nude. Some things, a man should keep to himself.
"Who wants chicken and who wants ham?", he asked.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Explorer
955 Posts |
Posted - October 21 2007 : 01:51:10 AM
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Following lunch, the Roxtons went off to the north, and the Challengers, the picnic things stowed, took buckets and began to pick berries. They moved to the right a bit at a time, working their way along the outer bushes, laying their rifles behind them as they advanced.
"Um, Finn, tell me the truth about something. I can't always tell for certain when you and Marguerite are joking. It is easier to determine that when you are clowning with Veronica, but you and Marguerite..."
"What, Lover?" Finn looked innocently at him, trying to stifle a grin. She knew what he was about to ask.
"Would you girls actually have undressed and let John and I stare openmouthed at you as you frolicked in the water?" He blushed.
She stepped over and hugged him with one arm and nuzzled his sleeve with her nose and chin. "George, I think we were teasing, just like Johnny was. I THINK he was. He is really about as reserved as you are, most of the time. You should have seen his face when I stripped to dive after Marguerite's missing necklace that time when I saw it in the river." (See, "A Ripped Garment" in Fiction, on this board.) "He tried not to look, and was really a gentleman about it, although I was probably a sight, soaking wet, in my bra and those ripped panties. To answer you, I think that Marguerite and I were playing off of each other. But if one of us had dared the other, yes, if you boys had asked, we'd have done it. Probably giggled ourselves silly, and had fun telling Veronica when we got home. But that leaves Ned's reaction. He can be even stuffier than you guys, sometimes. I was going to leave it up to you and Johnny whether you wanted to watch. He wouldn't see any of me that you wouldn't have seen of Marguerite, and she has a vain streak, too. I'm worse. I know now that I'm kind of an exhibitionist, up to a point."
"And I'm pregnant," she continued. "I may as well enjoy being ogled while I can. It won't be much longer before men won't want to gawk at me until I've had the baby and gotten myself back into shape. Look: do you want us to let you guys watch? Marguerite will go along. John is the stumbling block."
"I rather think that I may be a greater stumbling block than John would be. I believe that we men are both sufficiently territorial that we had rather that you ladies bathe while we sit out of sight. But how do you know that Marguerite would do that? Not that I don't feel confident in your estimate of her..."
Finn looked seriously at him. "Lover, Marguerite and I had different backgrounds, but the better I get to know her, the more sure I become that we girls are sisters under the skin. We have a lot in common. While Burton held us, I started to get close to her, and now that we've known each other for more than two years, I think much like she does. I can usually guess what she'll say, about most things. It depends on circumstances. About this, I think we were both fearing, but hoping, that you guys would tell us to let you watch. But I think we're okay if you don't watch, too. I know you as well as I do Marguerite, and you reacted like I thought you would. I was going to let you be my guide. Like I always will, in most things. I belong to you, Genius. And that has made me the happiest female human in the history of our species." She leaned up and kissed him. "Does that answer your question, Lover?" She smiled at him.
"Yes," he said. "It does. I am a little shocked, but dammit, Finn, I almost said that I longed to watch. You have brought me out of my shell, but in some areas, I suppose that I am still a trifle old-fashioned. If only we were here, I would indeed have watched as you swam. I never tire of watching you, Darling. Your body is a living sculpture, and I have become a lover of fine art."
She looked down, then back up at him. "George, Marguerite is a pretty fine sculpture, too. Hey, I know: would you like me to sit for Vee to paint me, wearing whatever you like, before I get heavier? Marguerite could pose for a painting for John. Vee would do a great job. She knows just what I look like. We could keep the painting in our room for you to remember what I normally look like, when my pregnancy gets further along. It will give you something to look forward to, when I can get back to my normal shape. Come to that, I want to see what I look like, too. It will help my self image as I get further along in the family way."
"Let me think about that, Darling. I will have to consider who all might eventually get to see it, especially if we take it with us when we leave this accursed Plateau."
"Well, let me know. I don't mind stripping for Vee to paint me. You could even watch her do it. Twenty years from now, I might want to see that portrait, myself!"
Challenger barked a short laugh. "Ha! I daresay that you will hold up better than I will. And you will always be lovely in my eyes. What do you suppose the Roxtons are doing now? We had better gather some more berries, then I want to brew tea and just sit and talk a bit before we meet them at the pool where John and I will NOT watch as you vixens cavort in the river!"
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Explorer
955 Posts |
Posted - October 21 2007 : 03:06:23 AM
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Roxton watched as Marguerite tried the compass again, for the sixteenth time. She was learning to sight on a distant object, then note the bearing on the compass and stay on course as she made her way toward the landmark.
"Marguerite, answer a question for me," he ventured. "Would you have truly swum in the altogether as Challenger and I watched?"
She gave him a cool, amused look. "Why, John, I was going to leave that up to you, " she teased. "I feel sure that Finn would have gone along with it, if you had asked. Provided that Challenger approved, of course. With you men along, she would have taken her cue from George. Why? Do you wish me to do that? I feel sure that I can talk Finn into it. She rather enjoys being looked at, provided that her lord and master approves."
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Explorer
955 Posts |
Posted - October 21 2007 : 03:15:39 AM
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Roxton knew that he was being toyed with. "Damn it, Margerite, you know what I mean. I'm not talking about Challenger. I know George and what he will say. And I know Finn. She loves to be admired. That's what got her and Veronica in trouble, for that little dance in the Zanga kraal. It is YOU that I am asking about. And you know it!"
"Well, if you ask nicely, I may consider it," she said sweetly, grinning at his frustration. "John, I didn't realize that you wanted me to do that. Shall I leave on anything at all?" Her eyes twinkled as his face grew redder.
"Never mind, on second thought," he mumbled. "I'm not certain that I really want to know. I DO want to know that you have learned enough today to find your way home the next time you become lost."
She sobered. "That is definitely important. John, I was terrified! I wanted desperately to find my way home. You have no idea how frightened I was, and how much I missed you."
"You cannot possibly have missed me any more than I missed you, " he admitted. "Marguerite, I love you. Have I told you that yet today?"
"Today? No, not today. Will you promise to tell me that daily, dearest John? You cannot imagine how much that would mean to me."
"In that case, Marguerite, I will tell you twice daily that I love you, and extra on Sunday. Provided, of course, that you promise to be a very naughty girl on Saturday night."
He pulled her to him and held her as he kissed her brow, then nibbled his way along her neck below her ear.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Explorer
955 Posts |
Posted - October 21 2007 : 03:51:30 AM
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Her knees grew weak, and she clung to him, aware of how vulnerable she had become through her love for Roxton. And he knew it! She KNEW that he knew it! Her soul laid bare, she responded as his tongue probed her lips. Fire raced through her veins, and she moaned helplessly.
"Do we have time to dally a bit in the bushes?," he asked. "I burn with lust for you, Darling. You mean the world to me spiritually, but you also arouse in me physical passions that surpass what any other woman has done. And some have done damned well by me in that regard. Before I met you, of course!" His hand played with her hair and she shivered as her whole being cried out silently, TAKE ME, NOW!
She heard herself say, against all reason, "John, please! Not just now! Save this for tonight. We shall be late and Finn will already be in the water before I arrive."
"Aha!", he said gleefully. "So, you DO want to swim with her, for me? I have my answer, at last!"
"John", she laughed, "You are impossible! Please let me go for now, and let me try one more compass exercise. Then we had better find the Challengers. They will think that a T-rex has dined on us!"
"Oh, very well, " he grumbled good naturedly. "But I want your promise to continue this in our room later tonight."
She reached for the bulge in his trousers. "Oh, I think that I had better keep that promise," she teased. "You do seem to have a large problem here that needs addressing. Never fear, we can work on that repeatedly, until dawn if that is what you want. For now, pick some landmark and I had better steer us toward it, then we need to get down to the river."
"Very well," he agreed. "See that tall pine that has been struck by lightning? To the right, about 600 yards out? Take a bearing on it, and we'll work our way over there. It's on the path to the pool that you want, anyway."
She aimed the compass and they followed, watching her bearing as she held course.
Some three hundred yards along, she looked up and asked, "What is that, John? That dark smudge behind those trees? Is that the entrance to a cave?"
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Explorer
955 Posts |
Posted - October 23 2007 : 6:54:59 PM
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The explorers wandered over to the cave, which, like so many on this Plateau, led into a dark interior many meters deep.
"We'd better save this for later, " said Roxton, checking his watch. We need to be getting along to meet George and Finn."
"Oh, lets' look for just a little," urged Marguerite. "It may be a way off of the Plateau. Or, there may be a treasure in gems to be excavated."
"If you insist," muttered Roxton. "I love you, but you aren't always wise in wandering into strange caves."
"Maybe we can be alone in this one and do what you had in mind awhile back," she teased, playing intimately with his body.
"Ah, well, if you think we have time, " he said, more agreeably.
They chopped a branch with his machete and lit it as a torch. This showed them that the cave went back for some forty feet, but it seemed to have no other entrance or exit, and the only items of interest were some heiroglyphics engraved into one wall. The lettering and symbols were precisely carved, by some skilled civilzation.
"What does this stuff say?," queried Roxton, knowing Marguerite's ability to translate most of what she saw.
She studied the inscriptions carefully, then turned to him and said, "It says, 'Bank at Barclay's'. That's the first one. The next urges the reader to drink Twining's tea." She looked impudently at him. "But that last one is the best."
She leaned close to him and whispered into his right ear, "It says, 'Fu-k me, Roxton. Right now. I can't wait to get back to the Treehouse."
"Well, they were a far-sighted people who carved that," he exclaimed. "To know that we would come along and read that, after all of these years." He chuckled. "I must say that I think they had a wonderful idea, though. Seriously, what does it really say?"
She took off her gunbelt and unbuttoned her skirt. "It just says something about Jark being a great ruler, whoever he was, and that this cave marks the entrance to his sorceror's devining chamber. I guess they used to cast spells in here. Like the spell that you've cast over me, John." She stood back, leering at him, a teasing look from her devastating eyes melting his resolve to get to the rendezvous on time.
He set aside his rifle and took off his pack. "Well, Marguerite, I do have a blanket in the pack. We can spread it on the floor and see just how much of a spell you have cast over ME, too. I want you, now, urgently. I could barely restrain myself when you played coy about this earlier. What changed your mind?
"I don't know, she admitted. "I just couldn't stop thinking about what you were doing to me. I was getting all moist inside, and it was all that I could do to withstand you. And we are now closer to where we need to meet the others. We're a little early. Lets' take advantage of that." She looked at him with THOSE EYES, doing what they could do to a man, and Roxton was hooked.
He took off his shirt and removed his boots. "I'll have that blanket spread on the floor here in just a moment."
"Never mind the blanket for a few moments," she breathed. "Just do to me what you were earlier, then bend me over that rock and take me from behind. We can spread the blanket in a little while. I just want you in me, now, that way, taking me and telling me what I mean to you. Tell me, John. I want to hear that. Please?" She passed him her panties and stood naked before him, loving the look on his face as he studied her in the light that came in from the afternoon sun.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Explorer
955 Posts |
Posted - October 23 2007 : 8:23:42 PM
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Forty minutes later, the couple stood, adjusting their clothing.
"How do I look?, " Marguerite asked. "Do you think the Challengers will know what we were doing? Will we be late for the rendezvous?"
Roxton shook his head. "We still have about 20 minutes. I think we'll make it. And you look fine. Just get out your mirror and refresh your lipstick. I'll slosh some water from my bottle onto my handkerchief, and you can clean off your face a little. You'll be beautiful and serene again." He beamed at her.
She blushed and accepted the wetted handkerchief. A few minutes later, they ventured out, Roxton shrugging on his pack.
Marguerite pulled at his sleeve to stop him as they emerged into the sunlight. "John? Thank you. That was wonderful. I'm glad that we did that."
"Are we still on for more later, at home? You're like eating tea crackers, Marguerite. One taste of you, and I always want more."
"More you shall have, Lord Roxton," she laughed "Come on, we had better hurry, or Finn will look at me and know what we've been doing. I don't want her teasing me, even if she waits until you and George can't hear."
He chuckled, lifted his rifle, and they started out for the river.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Explorer
955 Posts |
Posted - October 24 2007 : 09:04:46 AM
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They had gone barely a hundred yards when Marguerite heard something in the bushes to the right. She looked, and started to call Roxton's attention to it. But she saw that he had heard, too. And he had unslung his .416 Rigby and was rolling the safety catch to "Off".
"Hold up, Marguerite," he ordered, "I have a very bad feeling about this. Be ready to run."
He had hardly spoken before the head and shoulders of a Tyrannosaurus rex thrust up above the horizon as the animal climbed up from the slope below.
It saw them at once and uttered a low growl that struck terror into both humans who heard it. Roxton laid his rifle's foresight on a portion of the skull that might allow a brain shot and pulled the trigger.
At the sound of the shot, he saw dust flare and blood spurt from the bullet's strike. But in the millisecond that it took the 400 grain full-jacketed bullet to traverse the distance to the huge dinosaur, it had tilted its head slightly, and the bullet ricocheted off of its skull.
The wounded animal emitted a thunderous roar and charged the two humans. Marguerite fired her .303 at its windpipe and heard the awful smack of the bullet striking home. Roxton feverishly cycled the bolt to feed a new cartridge into the chamber of his .416 and fired a second shot. It hit at the base of the throat, inflicting a hideous wound, but the big carnosaur paused not a whit, It approached the Roxtons with great speed, total fury glaring from its eyes.
"Run, John," Marguerite screamed. "Get back into that cave!"
"I'm going! "You go first! I'll cover you!"
"Cover, Hell! Lets' both run for it! You'll not stop that thing now; get into the damned cave!"
And so they fled back into the shelter that had so recently offered a haven for their romantic tryst.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Explorer
955 Posts |
Posted - October 27 2007 : 7:03:14 PM
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In the shelter of the ancient limestone cave, they paused to catch their breath as the enraged beast stalked back and forth outside. It bent and tried to reach in for them, but its attenuated forelegs were not up to that task. Even the longer-limbed Allosaurus would not have been able to reach into this cave too deeply. Roxton commented that it was a good thing that theropods were built as they were.
"If a crocodile or a huge monitor lizard was after us, our collective goose would be well done by now. Not just cooked."
"You think of the most charming things, Darling John. However do you do it, especially at a time like this?!"
He chuckled. "It helps me to appreciate the positive side of the situation, Marguerite." He opened the action of his Rigby rifle and loaded two fresh cartridges into the Magnum Mauser action. Both were "solids", British parlance for full jacketed bullets, designed not to expand, but to penetrate deeply in very large animals.
"What shall we do next?," his woman wondered. "My water bottle is getting low, and we have to meet George and Finn. What if they come looking for us and stumble into this?"
Roxton shook his head sadly. "Let us hope that they do not. Both shoot well, but that thing is about fifty feet long, and they wouldn't have a good chance of nailing it before it got them. If it got either, the other would be devastated, and I wouldn't be far behind. Those are two of the dearest friends that I've ever had. It would be tragic to lose her, but George is our resident scientist. Without him, our chances for survival go downhill sharply, certainly our comfort level, too. Mrs. Challenger's little boy grew up to be quite the prodigy, even among brilliant scientists."
"I know. George tells us that constantly. But he is a little more modest than he used to be, and more caring, by half! Now, his girlfriend tells us how great he is, just in case he forgets to on some particuar afternoon!"
Roxton turned to look at Marguerite. He was amused. "Now, Darling, don't let's be catty. Finn is your friend, too. Remember, you girls are looking forward to a swim together. We'd better think of something, or it will become too dark for that."
"Well, think of something, then, Roxton! I didn't bring you my heart on a silver platter for nothing, did I?"
"As I recall, it came not on a silver platter, but only after much vexing effort on my part to convince you that I should get it at all. But I love you, anyway." He bent and kissed her between the eyes, her hat having fallen off outside.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Explorer
955 Posts |
Posted - October 27 2007 : 7:29:27 PM
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She softened and stood very close to him, their bodies touching as much as possible through their clothing. "John, my whole world turns around you now. However you managed to take my heart, it beats for you now. Whatever happens to us today, I want you to always remember that I love you, very deeply. You have given me hope of a finer future than I ever expected to have." She buried her head against his chest and tried not to cry.
He set aside his rifle and held her. "There, now, Marguerite. We will think of something. Don't I always take excellent care of my things? And are you not the my most priceless possession? "
"I think so," she half whispered. "But you spend more time rubbing oil on your guns than you do in rubbing me." She laughed, to show him that she was teasing.
"Well, I love my guns, too, and they take good care of us. But never fear, Marguerite. I will spend half of this night rubbing you, if we can figure a way to get home."
She looked boldly at him, "What if we DON'T get home tonight? You did a good job of handling me a few minutes ago, in here. I pity the women who used to date you. They must have been half wild with desire from the moment they realized what magic you work with your hands!" She stuck out her tongue at him and managed to grin widely. Maybe this banter would take her mind off of the horror that roared and stomped just outside the cave entrance.
"And I don't drive you half wild with desire, too? Am I losing my touch?"
"Oh, no, Darling John. You drive me WHOLLY wild with desire! Why do you think I pulled you in here as soon as I saw this cave? What you did to me just before that wouldn't go away, and I was a totally wanton slut in need of gratification. Which I got. Thank you again. You were wonderful. And the things that you said to me... How I have longed to hear them from just the right man, and know that I could believe them!"
"Oh, I'm sure that I have my faults, "Roxton admitted. "But I am honest, even with women. But with you, superlatives are the right words. You merit them. I suspect that you were a pretty hot number, even before that sultan had you trained to be a love machine." (See, "A Prisoner of the Sultan, Or, How Marguerite Learned to Dance" in Fiction on this board.)
"Thank you, John. As ever, your compliments are music to my ears. But what are we really going to do? We are late now in meeting the Challengers."
"There isn't a lot that we CAN do. If we fire rifles from in here, the noise will make us go deaf. And all we could do is to shoot enough holes in that thing, especially to finish rupturing its windpipe or hit its carotid artery, to let it suffocate or bleed to death. That will take time. Reptiles die hard and slowly. Even if we killed it, it might fall down and block the cave entrance."
"Blow out its windpipe...What about throwing out a grenade and seeing if it would snap it up? If it didn't, would the grenade have enough of a blast that it would kill that thing?"
He shrugged. "An academic question. We haven't GOT a grenade. But if it went off and the T-rex didn't get it in its mouth first, the fragments might come back in here and hit us."
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Explorer
955 Posts |
Posted - October 27 2007 : 8:05:33 PM
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Marguerite looked around inside the cave.
"Look at that flat stone altar or whatever it once was. The place where you spread the blanket before you took me after we got far enough along that I wanted to lie down and feel you in me from on top. That's almost four feet high. And it's long enough to shelter us. Could we duck behind there and avoid most of the fragments?'
He considered. "Probably. The odd bits of steel would still rattle around in here, but if we lie flat, most or all should miss us. If the T-rex didn't kick the grenade back in here, it might do some good. And you're right that they tend to snap up anything running near them. Unless it saw the grenade clearly enough to realize that it might be a rock instead of a rat or something, running past. But why debate this? I say again, we haven't GOT a grenade."
"Yes, we have," she announced triumphantly. "Let me turn around and you dig it out of my pack. It should be on the bottom, on the left side. I bummed one from Finn earlier."
"Really?" Roxton was intrigued. "Why did you do that? How could you have thought that we would need one?"
"Feminine intuition, I guess. Or, maybe I am the reincarnation of Morrighan, the sorceress. I had a nagging feeling that it would be a good idea to get that nasty little bomb, and Finnykins had three. I told her that it was dangerous for a blonde to have that many at once, and she laughed and told me to take one." She smiled at the memory. She missed her friend, and would be glad to see her again, if God in His infinite mercy allowed that.
Roxton was impressed. "Turn around, then, and I'll get it. Then get down behind that stone bench or altar or whatever it is, and I'll yell something to make the dinosaur mad. Then, I'll throw out the grenade and run to get on top of you. Maybe it will work. I'll toss the grenade off to the left, so that the main force of the blast won't come in here."
She snickered. "You're always scheming to find ways to get on top of me, aren't you?," she razzed. "Well, good luck with this. It's certainly all that we have any hope of doing to save ourselves."
He took out the segmented, nasty looking steel hand bomb and moved to the cave entrance.
"Hey, you! You great, filthy, dinosaur! Yes, you, T-rex! You stink! You vote Labour! Your mother works on street corners! Here, come and eat this; you'll get a bang out of it!" And he threw the grenade around hard, off to the left, as the huge beast roared and came stalking back to snap at the sound of his voice, almost as if it had understood his insults.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Explorer
955 Posts |
Posted - October 30 2007 : 12:38:32 AM
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Finn and Challenger were approaching the cave, having no knowledge that it was there. But they heard the Tyrannosaur "demonstrating", to use the British term then in vogue for seeing an angry tiger expressing its rage.
They were concerned lest this somehow involve their friends, and had a bad feeling about it.
"Still," said Challenger, "if a large carnosaur had gotten our companions, why would it be carrying on that way? It would simply be eating them."
"Gad, Genius! Don't even think like that!" Finn shuddered. She had come to love Marguerite, and Johnny Roxton was like a brother and best-ever male friend. Finn wanted this not to be possible, that they might be taken by a hungry dinosaur. She had been startled to find that Challenger was telling the truth about such things when he had rescued her from New Amazonia, where it had seemed a fantastic tale, told by a madman. But John and Marguerite were from this strange place, too, so she had half believed him. Whole belief had come only after actually seeing these beasts, like something from the nightmare of a drug addict! And now, one of these horrible creatures might be eating two of her best friends!
Challenger saw her face and pulled her to him and kissed her cheek. "Not to worry, Darling. The Roxtons are jolly smart; I doubt if this roaring has anything to do with them. Still, let us go and have a look through binoculars at a safe distance. We will feel better when we know that this has nothing to do with us."
They crept to the crest of a low knoll overlooking the cave and took out their identical Zeiss 8X30 binocuars. It was at once apparent that the dinosaur was strutting back-and-forth beyond the cave, giving vent to its rage.
It was at this moment that they heard John Roxton shouting insults at it. They saw his arm move out of the cave entrance, narrowly avoiding the snap of jaws that greeted his audacity, then something small and dark went rolling along the ground.
The T-rex saw it, and being in pain from the bullet wounds and enraged, thought only of lashing out and biting something. It snapped up the object just as its small brain registered that this had looked more like a rock than it had a rat or other small tidbit. It started to spit out the object, which was so hard that the quick snap that had ingested it broke a tooth.
The animal was about to reject the object and roar its frustration and disappointment when the Challengers heard a pronounced "CRUMP!" as the jaws muffled the explosion of the Mills bomb, as the British officially called a hand grenade.
A second later, the dinosaur's head blew open, chunks of meat and bone being hurled over fifty yards away!
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Explorer
955 Posts |
Posted - October 30 2007 : 12:58:04 AM
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The fearsome beast, standing so tall and measuring nearly fifty feet long, stood for a moment. Then it broke into a frantic run, no longer under intelligent control. This was simply muscle reaction, like the proverbial chicken with a wrung neck.
Before it had gone a hundred feet, it crashed into a tree, which broke under the impact of its multiton weight. But the flailing hind legs became entangled in the tree trunk, and the dead dinosaur fell, hitting the ground with a thud that chilled the marrow in the bones of the human watchers.
"Finn, we have just SEEN something!" uttered a subdued Challenger. No human could fail to be impressed with this awesome drama. He hoped that his fiancee would not have nightmares about it. He hoped that HE would not have nightmares about it...
"George, that has to be Johnny and Marguerite. She borrowed a grenade from me after we ate. No one else here probably has hand grenades, and that looked like one and did the work of one."
"Finn, I am apalled that you should have to know first hand what a grenade can do. I would have preferred to have you sheltered from such sights. Do you think the baby will be affected? Can it sense what you experience?"
"I hope not. Otherwise, its heart would be racing after some of the things that we do in bed!" She laughed. "Genius, unlax and smell the roses! I'm pretty tough, and our son will be too. He is, after all, the child of a big, strong guy and a girl who has seen some pretty wicked stuff before I ever came here."
Challenger managed a chuckle. "So, you are still convinced that the child will be a boy?"
"You bet, Lover! I just know it. We'd better get down there and be sure that Johnny and Marguerite are okay. " She put away her binocular and stood, slinging her rifle on her shoulder.
Challenger also rose, and they moved cautiously down the slope. At one point,they had to detour to avoid a rattlesnake that challenged their passage.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Explorer
955 Posts |
Posted - October 30 2007 : 01:20:48 AM
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In the cave, the Roxtons heard the noise of the explosion and realized that the grenade must have been in the T-rex's mouth, or the blast would have been louder.
They heard the galloping, dead monster crash off and stumble into the tree and slam into the earth.
After a moment, Roxton, sobered by what they had heard, helped Marguerite to stand. He had not quite reached the raised dais within the cave behind which she had sheltered after he threw out the grenade. The explosion had come before he had gotten to her. Now, he walked the final few feet and offered her his hand.
They ventured out cautiously, noting the bits of bloody flesh that lay in a place or two on the floor of the cave and around the entrance. They stared in silence, then looked at the thrashing body of the tyrannosaur some hundred feet away, and stole quietly past the terrifying sight.
As they resumed their course toward the river, Challenger called out, and the Roxtons looked up and to their right, seeing the other couple coming down the slope to meet them.
"We saw that, Johnny!", called Finn. "Wow! What a show! That was better than home video movies!" She was excited and showed it.
"If this is what you people in the next century watched on those video machines that you explained, I think I can do without them." Marguerite wondered why anyone would watch such a frightening thing. Well, men. They would watch a bullfight, and this was worse. Then she recalled having attended several bullfights herself and being caught up in the roar of the crowd as the matadors skillfully avoided being impaled on the bulls' horns until it came time to use their swords to slay the enraged animals. And other women had been as thrilled as she was, some openly whispering of how much they wanted the bullfighters' attentions, had that been possible. What a species we humans are, she reflected.
The couples excitedly told one another what each had experienced, and the girls decided to skip their swim. Big dinosaurs like this sometimes travelled near one another, and it was best not to tempt fate by lingering here.
Marguerite, under Roxton's eye, set a compass course for home, and they set off to tell the Malones what they had seen and done this day.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Explorer
955 Posts |
Posted - October 31 2007 : 8:12:19 PM
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They had gone fewer than 250 yards when they had to take cover when they heard a second T-rex running toward the cave. The fearsome beast trotted past, having either seen or smelled the first, and the blood.
It paused briefly as it passed the explorers, huddling under whatever brush they could find to conceal them. Then, it strode purposefully toward the cave. If it had scented them, it evidently had other things on its mind.
As soon as they dared, the explorers held a hasty, quiet conference. Roxton then left cover to hide behind a tree and use his binocular to see what was happening. He whispered to the others, and they, too, looked, as soon as they were satisfied that the second dinosaur's attention was focused on the first.
It tore savagely at the still twitching carcass of the headless animal, emitting grunts of satisfaction as it ripped at the flesh of its dead peer.
Everyone shivered and Roxton pulled Marguerite to him protectively and kissed her cheek. Finn saw, and stood next to Challenger, who caressed her shoulder. Then, they crept carefully down a gully, hoping that the huge animal's keen sense of hearing would not detect them.
If it did, it was too involved with its unexpected meal to bother to chase humans on this particular balmy afternoon.
A little over an hour later, they were home.
As they went up in the elevator, Finn said to Marguerite, "You know, I think we made the right decision about not swimming today."
Her brunette friend grinned back, "You think?!"
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Explorer
955 Posts |
Posted - November 03 2007 : 4:08:36 PM
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The girls went up first on the elevator, with Challenger and Roxton taking the next trip. As they got off in the Treehouse, Finn said, "I'm going to run up and tell Vee about those T-rexes. That was awesome!"
"Wait!," urged Marguerite. "If their door is closed, Veronica and Ned are probably rather busy with one another. Either she's dancing for him, or they are otherwise intimately occupied. How would YOU like it if SHE knocked on YOUR door while you and George were abed for purposes other than sleep?!"
"Uh, yeah, I forgot," Finn said sheepishly. "Vee might think it was funny later, but if I interrupt them, Ned would be grouchy for days."
"So would most other men! They like to have their fun when their ladies are in the mood...Come with me into the kitchen. We'll make coffee. I want some to settle my nerves after what John and I went through in that cave! And I want to see your knife. Not the little red Swiss pocketknife; the Bowie that John made. I want one similar, but with some changes, I think. Maybe he can engrave the pommel or do some scrollwork on the guard. Something to lend a touch of elegance, if I have to carry around a knife like I was in a cowboys and Indians movie."
"Vee can engrave the nickle silver pommel, or butt cap. Whichever you want to call it. I've seen her engrave other silver things. She's a heck of an artist! She engraved my initials on mine. I'll show you..."
And so, the Malones were left undisturbed for a while, for which Ned was forever thankful. He was indeed passionately involved with Veronica, who was so excited, herself, that she might have taken awhile to forgive Finn if she had come knocking on her door when they arrived home.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Explorer
955 Posts |
Posted - November 03 2007 : 6:38:23 PM
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After coffee, they cleaned up, and Roxton and Finn began cooking dinner. Challenger excused himself to check on an experiment in the lab, and Marguerite took a shower. She sang in the shower, to the others' amusement as they passed by.
"I just wish that she would find another song than that ditty about a bloody bird in a gilded cage," grumbled Roxton good naturedly.
"At least, the cage is gilded," observed Finn. "The damned bird has some glamour and luxury in its life. Is that song supposed to mean, like, some chick is a 'kept' woman, and feels a prisoner in her relationship, even if she has a lot of luxury?"
"That sums it up nicely, " Roxton agreed. "Here, put these vegetables on to cook." And he handed her bowls of potatoes and carrots. They already had venison roasting.
In time, the Malones came downstairs, Veronica looking shy and feminine and fulfilled. She was blushing, especially after Finn looked into her face and grinned openly. Ned looked inordinately pleased with himself. The cat who ate the canary look, mused Finn...Veronica was wearing the brief lavendar loincloth and bra top in which she had danced, and looked wonderful. She had a white flower in her hair.
"I can guess what you two have been doing," teased Roxton. "Let Finn and me tell you what we've been up to." And so, Ned and Veronica learned of the narrow escape that their friends had had.
Marguerite soon joined them, and Challenger was called from the lab, Finn going to fetch him when he failed to appear after calling up that he would. She knew how he tended to forget things when he was immersed in an experiment...
When the Challengers returned, Veronica had donned the sarong to her Zanga outfit, at Marguerite's pointed suggestion. The brunette member of the female trio had been slightly miffed that all the men would be looking at their hostess, if she dressed that way at dinner. What she actually said was, "Sweetie, why don't you go put on some clothes? I'd hate for you to get burned, helping in the kitchen."
Veronica looked embarrassed, but amused, and had gone for the sarong, which, goodness knew,was short enough that her legs would still be well displayed. She had come to relish male attention since becoming involved with Ned, more aware of her charms, and proud of them. Overall, she was less vain than either Marguerite or Finn, taking some of her admiring looks in stride, for granted. She had always drawn such looks from men, and had learned to accept that as a matter of course. She remained essentially modest, for a girl with her looks. But she was now more aware of herself as a desirable woman, and understood better the lengths to which other women went to get attention that she had come to accept as her due. Tonight, she was pleased to wear this and bask in male admiration, never mind what the other girls thought. In fact, she was a little pleased to upstage them. She was in that sort of mood after what Ned had told her during their romp upstairs.
The best part was knowing that Ned had really meant the adoring words that he had used. Now, Veronica wanted to see from their faces that the other men also liked looking at her. As her pal Finn might have said, this was such a total kick to a girl's ego...
In truth, Veronica, although hungry, was looking forward to dinner for more than one reason. Apart from being admired, she wanted to hear the others' adventures. And Finn was eager to share them, helped along the way at times by their friends.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Explorer
955 Posts |
Posted - November 04 2007 : 12:08:40 AM
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All agreed that the Roxtons had been fortunate to escape the teeth of the hungry Tyrannosaur. Finn even jokingly told Marguerite that she would forgive her the blonde joke she'd made in asking for the grenade. Veronica had to hear about this, and smiled, shaking her head at the running string of blonde jokes that Marguerite contrived to tease the other two girls.
Challenger commented on the excellent venison, from a brocket deer that Roxton had shot two days before. All agreed that the meat from this prime animal was good, and they were pleased with their vegetable garden. Blackberries made a fine dessert, with coffee for all but Veronica, who drank it only occsionally.
They talked awhile, and Marguerite studied Finn's and Veronica's knives with Roxton, deciding on the exact style that she wanted. He sketched it as they talked, and promised to make it in a week or so. Until it was ready, Marguerite could carry an American Marble's brand knife called the Ideal model. It would enable her to build an emergency shelter if needed, cut vines, and get some sticks for kindling, should she need to build a campfire.
"Good for dressing out and skinning fish and game, too," commented Roxton. "Or, in dire extreme, if you have an empty gun or need to kill silently, it will do what needs doing to a human enemy or a hungry puma. A big jaguar might be pushing matters, unless you stabbed him in the neck at once. A bite or two from one of those, and you'll likely have a broken shoulder or arm, and be helpless."
"Thanks so much for telling me." Marguerite shuddered. She took their cups to the kitchen for more coffee.
Finn joined her there. "Will you let me help you sew tomorrow, Marguerite? I want to make George a shirt. Vee wove the cloth, but I need help cutting out the pattern and sewing it."
They agreed to do that, and Finn and Marguerite alike felt wanted and loved, something that they prized. Until each had come to belong to this group, such feelings were foreign to them.
The men decided to fish, perhaps shooting another deer if they chanced across one. Roxton and Challenger told Ned Malone about a place on the nearby river where the peacock "bass" struck savagely and fought hard. They were good to eat, too.
"I need to write about this fish and that weird thing called a payara, with the teeth in the lower jaw that come out of its nostrils. If I ever get home, 'Sports Afield' or, 'Field & Stream' should buy the story."
Veronica looked uneasy and asked Ned if he still meant to leave the Plateau. "I accepted this ring from you with the understanding that we would live here," she noted.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Explorer
955 Posts |
Posted - November 04 2007 : 12:25:59 AM
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Ned protested that he should be allowed to leave, but that he was willing to return with her. "I'm not breaking up with you, Baby, even if it means living here. But we need more supplies, and I want to buy you some fashionable clothes and impress every man who sees you on my arm. And you won't believe what all I can show you in New York and London before we come back home." He thought with a shock that here had indeed become home.
"Other women won't make fun of me?" she asked anxiously.
"Marguerite may, but she does that here," Ned replied, winking at their brunette lady. "Seriously, Veronica, you'll impress even the women. Be prepared for some jealousy, though. Some of them will wish they looked like you do. Other than that, I'll guide you, and Finn or Marguerite will be there a lot of the time, to help you get accustomed to shopping in stores, ordering in restaurants, and that sort of thing. Girls? Will we be seeing you a lot in London, anyway?"
Finn said that she was sure that Challenger would be happy to let her accompany Marguerite and Veronica as Marguerite showed the Brazilian girls the joys and cautions of a major city.
Veronica, now reassured that Ned was committed to her, relaxed and asked many questions about what she would see and what manners she would need to remember in civilization. Ned held her hand and his eyes shone as he told her all that he wanted to show her. Veronica realized that he loved her with all his heart and she leaned over and kissed him.
Finally, the couples cleaned up and drifted off to bed.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Explorer
955 Posts |
Posted - November 04 2007 : 12:43:32 AM
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In their room, Veronica and Ned talked intensely about leaving the Plateau, how long they might stay away, and when to have their first child.Finally, Ned went to the bathroom down the hall.
When he returned, Veronica was swaying her hips languidly, her back to him. When she turned, she unfastened the knot holding her sarong and laid it aside. Still moving gracefully, she reached back with both hands to release the bra top in the way that Finn had shown her, which was likely to thrill a man watching. Now topless, she swayed her hips and arms to imaginary music, remembered from the phonograph that afternoon, when she had danced her penance for the performance in the Zanga village.
Ned stood enthralled. Finally, he walked over to her and took her in his arms and led her to bed. Her loincloth soon went the way of the sarong and the bra top, and from this point, we will draw the curtain on the Malones for the night. Suffice to say, they were quite tired when they finally lay close to one another, holding hands as Ned told Veronica again how wonderful she was, and how lucky he was to have her as his woman. Later, Veronica smiled broadly as she drifted off to sleep, snuggled next to her American reporter. I hope that Ned doesn't write about what we do together, she thought. I bet that stories like that would be illegal. She laughed to herself, squeezed Ned's hand and slept.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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On Her Own
