Doc Tobacco Creodont

MEANWHILE, Doc and his men stood before the charge of the giant creodont, not knowing what strange thing would happen next.

The thing sprang for Monk. It missed, thanks to Monk's great leap to one side. Monk's machine gun hosed a stream of bullets into the side of the animal. This gave them an instant respite. The huge creature turned to bite itself where the bullets had hit, as though it had been jabbed there by thorns.

The beast was a fierce, deadly killer, even though it did look like a combination of weasel, dog and bear, with possibly a little long-haired elephant for good measure.

"Beat it, the rest of you!" Monk rapped. "Maybe I can delay the thing long enough for you to reach safety!"

Monk made a move to step in the path of the charging animal. He was willing to sacrifice himself, if only it would help his friends. This looked like the only thing that would save them.

"Wait!" Doc's strong bronze hand stopped Monk.

"But Doc--" Monk started to object.

"Dry up--you homely ape!" Doc was actually chuckling in the face of the frightful danger! His tone was calm. His movements, although lightninglike, seemed unhurried.

"Let's have your tobacco, Monk!" Doc's hand suddenly possessed the can of smoking tobacco. So swiftly had it been taken that Monk hardly saw the gesture.

"Now--pick 'em up and lay 'em down!" Doc's powerful arm propelled Monk in the direction of the nearest tree large enough to furnish safety.

"Good--good luck, Doc!" Monk muttered. Then he sprinted away at full speed. Monk didn't see how even Doc's sovereign powers could prevail over this prehistoric monster.

Emitting a loud, fierce noise, a combined bark and squeal and snarl, the hybrid behemoth sprang.

Doc's sinewy fingers had tweaked open the tobacco tin. In a trice, he had the tobacco clutched, half in either palm. He sprang forward to oppose the giant beast. His arms moved nimbly.

An effective pinch of the tobacco was jammed into each of the thing's little eyes. The rest went into its nostrils.

A swipe of a huge paw laid open Doc's coat and shirt. But the metallic skin was hardly touched. Doc's speed was nearly unbelievable.

Springing away, Doc raced for safety.

The prehistoric beast, blinded by the tobacco, its organs of smell temporarily ineffective for the same reason, could only bound about and release its blood-curdling growls.

Doc joined his friends up a massive fern.

"Afraid you'll be without tobacco now," he told Monk.

Monk grinned admiringly. "I been thinkin' about quittin' smokin' anyway."

Through a lacelike design of vines and branches, they could see the antics of the monster they had just escaped, thanks to Doc's ingenuity and marvelous physique. The thing was alternately pawing at its smarting eyes and ramming its repulsive muzzle into the moist, soft earth.

"There it goes!" Long Tom emitted a sigh of relief as the beast decided to run. It volleyed away with a great uproar.

- The Land of Terror (1933) Chapter 18