At that, Ann, who'd been raising her glass of whiskey to her lips for another sip, put it down hard enough to make some of the scotch splash out onto the table. Heedless, her mouth dropped open as she half-cried in astonishment, "Dinosaurs, Benjamin Hayes!! You're saying that he claimed to have seen living dinosaurs, animals extinct for six million years, on that island? That's impossible!"

"Shhhh!!" the first mate hurriedly urged. "Remember Miss Darrow, most of the fellas on this ship are sleeping right now, so keep it down mam," he implored.

"I'm sorry Hayes," Ann said sheepishly, lowering the pitch of her voice as her ivory cheeks flushed rose with pure embarrassment. "Forgive me. It's just that Kermit couldn't have seriously meant such an unbelievable thing, that he saw live duckbill dinosaurs."

"We were pretty darn speechless and in disbelief ourselves Miss Darrow," Hayes acknowledged. "But again, he really seemed like he was being square with us, and had sworn up and down that it was true. And when Kermit told us then how he'd received the slashes to his back…that really got us to thinking."

"Anyhow, he described the dinosaurs as being tan and light brown in color, thirty feet long, with a sort of crest on their heads. They were pos-i-tive-ly dumbfounded, and just stood there for several minutes, watching the animals."

As he spoke, Hayes saw that now Ann's lips were turned up lightly in a smirk of obvious disbelief. She was humoring him though, by not voicing more of the deriding remarks she surely wanted to make, just like he and his fellow crewmen had patiently humored Kermit on the Sort Sel all those years ago.

"Then the dinosaurs became nervous all of a sudden, braying and honking as they began to bunch together. 'Before we could even think of leaving,' Kermit had said, 'the whole lot of them broke into a run and stampeded in our general direction. As they did, these two bloody huge monsters, like green-gray dragons or crocodiles the size of the biggest bull elephant, came thundering out of the trees on two legs, and attacked the duckbill dinosaurs.' They looked like a Tyrannosaurus rex, he claimed, but were even bigger and longer."

"Dragons indeed," Ann softly scoffed to herself, smiling. "A Tyrannosaurus rex, of all things. What horsefeathers. But go on."

"At that point, they ran for all they were worth, going for the thickest cover they could see. Most of the duckbill herd was rushing toward them at an angle, so Kermit and the others didn't have to deal with too many before they could get out of the way. One of the predator dinosaurs though, to their horror, saw them, and gave chase through the jungle, easily running them down. Being military men, they each had a pistol in a hip holster. When the beast caught up, even though they knew it would be hardly more than an ant sting to such an animal, they drew them and fired at it as they continued to run away."

"Although the shots made the dinosaur flinch in pain, it paid them no mind as it lunged at one of the men, who Kermit told us had been named Dick, killing and then eating him in one snap, 'like a titanic crocodile,' he put it. The dinosaur picked up where it'd left off, and chased after them again, even as they continued to shoot at it, managing to force through or get around any trees in its way. It would've gotten at least one more of them, if there hadn't suddenly been this hysterical, even more frantic honking and braying and thrashing from back in the clearing, which meant the beast's partner had just gotten a hold of one of the duckbills. Thankfully for the survivors, the dinosaur attacking them stopped at the rumpus, turned around, and went back, 'pounding away like a walking mountain' as he'd described it, to help in the kill and get its own share."

"If that's true, then that's really sad," Ann said, commiseration tinting her still-skeptical voice. "To be so utterly helpless like that…Poor Dick."

And poor us if Denham succeeds in finding what he's searching for, Hayes thought. "Yeah. That'd be rough to go through," he agreed. "They had no time to mourn though, partly because they needed to get outta there first, and partly because things became all the worse too soon."

"I'm thinking more savage beasts attacked them then, right Hayes?" Ann presumed.

"Right on the money Miss Darrow," he confirmed. "Kermit and the other fellas who'd made it continued to rush through the jungle, when they came across a pack of smaller dinosaurs that had been coming in the opposite direction. He described them as being twice as tall as a man, and as long as a trolley-half of that length being a thick, stiff tail-with a curious claw on each foot that seemed like an enormous hawk's talon, sticking up into the air and carried off the ground. They looked like the bigger meat-eater that'd gone after them minutes before, except that they were smaller and more streamlined, and Kermit felt at least, smarter too."

"He told us that he'd had the distinct impression that the smaller, sickle-clawed dinosaurs had heard the sounds of the panicked duckbills, and were charging in to try to gain something from all the confusion. But when the dinosaurs saw Kermit and his buddies, they decided to attack them instead."

"Was that how Kermit received those horrid wounds on his back?"

Hayes gravely nodded. "When the sickle-clawed dinosaurs went for them, they drew their pistols and started shooting. This time, although the animals were the size of prize bulls, they managed to kill some, or at least make other pack members break off. Still, it was a running battle, and the pack of smaller meat-eaters killed two more sailors, named Russell and Bernard. Kermit told us that instead of killing them with their teeth, the dinosaurs used the strange claws on their feet to slice them to ribbons."

"Oh my God!" Ann half groaned in horror, mouth gaping. Regaining her composure somewhat, she then asked, "But how did Kermit get away from those things?"

"Well, as he'd told us before, the island was very craggy and warped. Also, by this time a lot of the pack had either given up after being wounded, or were-uh, busy eating, including their own dead," he said, causing Ann's sleek rose lips to pull back in a grimace of abhorred disgust.

"Still," the first mate went on, "several of the reptiles were chasing him, and he was desperately looking for a cave in the rock where he could take shelter. Suddenly, he heard another sailor, Oliver, call out to him from nearby. Kermit looked in that direction, and saw Oliver gesturing to him from a cave too narrow for the sickle-clawed dinosaurs to get into."

"Kermit turned and ran for it, but just as he got close, he felt three claws, like huge razors, as he put it, hook into the flesh of his side and slash across the small of his back, almost to the bone. He felt that what saved him was that the animal that caught him was young, and didn't fully have the knack for killing yet. Anyhow, the pain made him immediately kick out backward as he was shoved to the ground, and by chance, his feet knocked the dinosaur's own out from under it, so that it fell over."

"Kermit got up first, grabbing a big rock as he did so. When the young dinosaur got over its surprise, rose, and came at him a second time, he smashed it in the face, hard as he could, shouting at it all the while. It evidently didn't like that one bit-as one may imagine-and backed off, shaking its head and blinking, buying him some time. One of the tools of Kermit's trade was a combat knife, a Sheffield blade Bowie that he carried in a sheath on his hip, and he felt that he stood a sporting chance of warding off his attacker with it this time."

"All the same, that didn't prevent Kermit from making a run for the cave. He and the dinosaur played an awful game where every time he turned his back on it and ran, it would warily go for him, and then he'd have to turn, yell, and stand his ground, slashing at it with his combat knife."

"The first time this happened, the dinosaur absolutely wasn't joking around. So Kermit drew his knife, and slashed deep into its muzzle as it went for his throat. After being taught such a nasty lesson, it gave that blade respect, and kept just out of its reach."

"For that poor fella's sake, thank Christ that the beast learned it," Ann said with a grim sigh. "If it's true," she amended.

Hayes nodded. "This happened a few times, until he got close enough to the cave to make one final dash. It was at this point, seeing this was its final chance to get him, that the dinosaur flicked out its arm and slashed him right down the back as he threw himself over a lip of stone, trying to haul him down. Kermit put his heel in the animal's face with all his might, and it let go as Oliver helped him get inside the cave."

"Sorry to interrupt Mr. Hayes," Ann cut in, "but I know that you've helped with capturing and transporting all sorts of wild animals before. Couldn't the wounds on his back have come from a tiger or some other animal instead? If he'd been delirious before, he could've forgotten which animal actually attacked him and just thought in his own addled mind that a dinosaur had done it," she cautioned.

"Well, first of all Miss Darrow, we usually simply transport the animals that other fellas capture on their own. Still, I've been on a few expeditions to 'bring em' back alive,'" he joked, "and I've seen plenty of people with claw wounds or scars they received when they got too close to some big carnivore-lions, bears, jaguars, tigers, leopards, pumas. The shape of Kermit's back wounds didn't fit with the claws of any bear or cat I've ever seen Miss Darrow. They looked somewhat like they'd come from an eagle-but that eagle would have to be at least as big as a pony and have sharp cutting edges to its talons, which is frankly impossible," he pointed out, Ann hesitantly nodding in agreement.

"As for replacing a tiger or leopard with a dinosaur in his delirious state, I don't think that's likely either," he thoughtfully said, looking down into his beer. "I've seen many people I've worked with be gripped by fever to the point of becoming delirious at one point or another you know. When or if they recovered, they were always able to honestly tell us events shortly before the fever made them all addled, even things that happened when they were in its early stages. So me, I take Kermit's explanation of a dinosaur wounding him at face value. I have no other option," the first mate pragmatically shrugged. Sure wish I did though.

"I suppose, hard as it is to believe, I'll take your word for it too then," Ann conceded, unknowingly mimicking his gesture with a shrug of her own, daintier shoulders. "After all, you saw the evidence and I didn't. But what happened next after the animal slashed him?"

"Even in his terrible pain, seriously bleeding, Kermit saw that Oliver too, had suffered wounds, having been slashed across the top of his left shoulder. Inside the cave, there were dead leaves that had been blown in, and they used them to apply pressure to their wounds as best they could, while a few of the sickle-clawed dinosaurs investigated and clawed at the entrance, still eager to get at them and excited by the scent of blood. They gave up after about ten minutes though, and went away."

"Now both of them faced an awful dilemma. As members of the British Armed Forces, they were no weaklings of course, and could go through a lot of pain. Their wounds were still badly bleeding though, and they had to tend to them as best and as fast as possible. But to do that, they'd have to leave the shelter of the cave, and go out into the jungle, where the sickle-clawed dinosaurs could be laying in wait."

"What about their pistols, Mr. Hayes?" Ann pointed out. "Surely that would've given them some protection, and been better than nothing."

"It would've," the first mate agreed, "if they hadn't used most of their bullets already. But they both screwed up their courage, and took their chances, staggering out. To their great relief, all the surviving dinosaurs were gone. Kermit and Oliver caked mud over their wounds, put more decaying leaves over that, and used bits of vine to secure the crude compresses. They got the bleeding under control, and then both headed back the short distance to the cave, where they slept for a time-Kermit told us he had no idea no long, but he felt it was at least a day."

"When he woke, it was raining hard outside the cave. As sore and stiff as he was from his wounds, Kermit was also very thirsty. He woke Oliver, and they collected rainwater in their hands as it streamed off the upper lip of the cave, drinking and drinking until they were refreshed. At that point, they talked about what they should do next. Both of them agreed that if, as the smoke suggested, people lived on this island, then they should do their utmost to reach it."

"Kermit though, told us that he'd been in favor of saying where they were for a few days, until they healed more, or at least waiting until the rain stopped gushing down. Oliver though, argued that their flesh wounds could get infected during that time, and that they had the strength to go just a couple more miles more. Plus, with the rain coming down so hard, the dangerous animals would be lying low or unable to smell or hear them, so now was the best time to try for it."

"Eventually, Oliver managed to persuade Kermit, and they both struck out into the driving rain together, plodding and climbing in what they hoped what was the right direction. With the way the rain was pouring, their compresses of mud and leaves got washed off of course, but they'd served their purpose by then."

"Luck was with them as they walked, and they more or less kept heading in the right direction, towards what they thought was safety. As they got ever closer, the rain came to a stop. Still, they didn't encounter any dangerous creatures, although Kermit attested that they'd seen a 'bloody huge centipede,' another flightless bird that looked like a cross between an emu and a hornbill, and a dinosaur that he described as being similar to a Brontosaurus, but had big spikes along its throat and its spine, with thick chunks of bone covering its back, hips, shoulders and upper tail that he said were like white cobblestones."

"Along the way, they came across a marsh in the jungle, which seemed to be an inlet from a lake or river and about three feet deep. Kermit said that there were especially huge amounts of the giant mosquitoes here, so many that they would drive you stark mad, backswimmers two inches long, and dragonflies as large as ducks. After crossing it, Kermit kneeled at the side of the water with Oliver, and they began to rinse off their wounds. He confessed that they should've known better."

"And that was the moment when the poor fellas got attacked by yet another vicious monster, if I'm guessing right." Ann volunteered.

"That's what Kermit told us," Hayes indirectly confirmed. "He only saw the eyes first. Then, what he described as being like a mammoth, tawny brown salamander, ten feet long and with a skull shaped like a cross between an arrowhead and a boomerang, lunged out of the water and clamped down on his arms with teeth like needles."

"He screamed, and managed to get to his feet, pulling backward as the gigantic salamander creature tried to pull him into the water. Like I told you before, Kermit had his trench knife on him, and he would've used it, but there was no way he could've wielded it in a situation like that. It seemed he was done for."

"But Oliver came then with his pistol, and shot Kermit's attacker in the head. The bone of its skull was so thick however, that the bullet actually ricocheted off of it, only damaging the flesh and knocking out a chip of bone."

"Oh my, now that sounds like a creature who's truly thick-skulled indeed!" Ann half-jokingly quipped in surprise.

"To say the least," Hayes agreed, appreciating the needed humor in the grim conversation. "On top of that, the water slowed down Oliver's bullet, further reducing the damage. But, combined with Kermit's own powerful struggling, it was enough to make the huge arrow-headed salamander decide that trying to kill him wasn't such a good idea after all. So it released his arms, and disappeared back into the water."

"Well, that explains the huge ringlike bruise on his arms then," Ann said. "But what about those other wounds you say he had on him?"

"I'm getting to that," Hayes answered, taking another swallow of beer. "Naturally, Kermit and Oliver fled from the marsh after the salamander beast had let go, running for the human settlement that they knew wasn't far away now. But there was one more awful encounter in the cards for them. As they ran down an animal trail, something burst out of a thicket at them, mouth open. Kermit told us that the animal had been a massive crocodile-but not like any mugger or saltwater crocodile that he'd ever seen in India. This crocodile was stockier, with legs that were packed with muscles and tucked completely under its body, like a buffalo or tiger's are, bigger eyes that faced forward, and jaws that were short and blunt and thick, almost like a bull terrier's."

"It charged them faster than they ever could've imagined a crocodile to run, and they were forced to use the last of their bullets on it."

"Did they manage to kill that nasty thing?" Ann inquired.

"Not according to him, but they made sure to aim for its throat and nose as they fired, and managed to turn it away with those well-placed shots."

"They climbed on top of a hill soon after, and saw they were close enough to this village now to actually see the general site of each fire. It at this point they also noticed that there was another section of enormous wall, separating what looked like a sort of coastal village from the jungle. From the hill, both men could see there were several areas near the wall where the trees in the jungle had been cleared, evidently to serve as gardens."

"They struck out down the hill and headed for the closest one. When they reached it, they saw that it was full of delicious fruit-bananas, sweet potatoes, lichees, mangos, starfruit, yams, jackfruit, and rambutans. There weren't any people that they could see in the garden, which Kermit said was fairly big, and although they knew it was stealing, they picked and ate some of the fruit as they searched through it."

"Not that there's any shame in doing that when you're terribly hungry though, as they certainly must've been-and as I can attest from experience," Ann knowingly added.

"Hey, I'm not judging either," Hayes gently protested. "Would've done the same thing myself in their shoes. Suddenly then, they encountered four native women walking down a trail into the garden, carrying tools to work the earth."

"Native women," Ann repeated thoughtfully. "What did he say they looked like?"

"Kermit described them as having gray-black skin, like that of an Australian Aborigine, with long, wavy, black hair. They wore simple garments around their hips made out of human hair, coconut fibers, and long, downy feathers, probably from the flightless birds he'd seen on the island. They had a look to them that he found quite unnerving, 'as if they were more she-wolf than woman, always on the defensive and yet so harried,' he told us."

"When the women came across them, they all just looked at each other in amazement and confusion for a few seconds. Oliver stepped forward at that point, cheerily greeting them in Malay with his hand extended. He must've overdone it, for all four women spooked, dropped their crude tools, and ran away, back towards their village. They followed them down the trail, trying to explain themselves and assure the women that they were friendly, meant them no harm. Moments later, they stumbled across an even larger garden, almost right up against the great crescent of the wall. Even more of the native women were here, picking fruit and placing it into woven fiber bags. But this garden didn't just contain women and girls."

"A few of the men were standing around too, I'll bet," Ann surmised.

"Um-hm. And a fair number at that," the first mate recounted. "Kermit had a lot of trouble managing to tell us this part, it affected him so much, but he got through it anyhow. First, he said that the native men, if anything, looked even more feral than their women, wiry and extremely muscular, with the same long, unkempt hair. Their ears, nostrils, nasal bridges, mouth corners, lips, and even eyebrows, depending on the individual, were grotesquely pierced with pieces of whittled bone. They really didn't even look like men any longer, but were far closer to demons or hobgoblins in appearance."

"Oh dear lord," Ann replied in soft horror.

"Yes Miss Darrow," Hayes agreed. "Kermit said himself that of all the horrors he'd endured during his ordeal on the island, this was the worst one of all. Do you truly want to hear the whole grisly thing Miss Darrow, or would you like me to be merciful and gloss it over?"

Even though she was quivering in a terrible anticipation, the actress pluckily said, "I've read and heard many awful accounts of the horrors of the Great War, even seen terrible pictures and film of what was done to the poor soldiers. Whatever these savages did to Kermit and his friend, I can make my way through it."

"But you didn't actually fight in the Great War Miss Darrow," Hayes gravely pointed out, "and experience such ghastly things up close and personal."

"Now, tell me this," he went on, voice a low, emotionless baritone. "Can you imagine, Miss Darrow, how vicious and cruel human beings can be?"

Deeply unnerved by the first mate's quietly forceful new demeanor, Ann sucked in a breath of air through her teeth, fidgeting as she did so. "Well…I've seen and heard of many terrible deeds being committed on the city streets-but compared to you Mr. Hayes, I probably can't."

"I can. Lumpy can. Englehorn can too. I even suspect that Carl can. We've all had to face some wicked people, or people who turned wicked because of a desperate situation. What I'm getting at here is that in a place full of monsters like Skull Island, the people there are going to become monsters themselves, and act as such. So brace yourself mam." He couldn't help but notice Ann's Adam's apple pulse in her slender pale throat before she took a breath and motioned for him to go on.

"Kermit told us that the native men had bone knives in hide holsters, and carried great clubs studded with shark's teeth or chunks of obsidian. A few carried crude wooden spears. The four native women they'd frightened in the first garden had reached this one before of course, and a general mood of panic was rapidly starting to develop among the tribe's women and girls."

"Perhaps the native men saw them as a threat for that reason, and decided they weren't in the mood to ask questions. But on the other hand, the sheer sight of strangers in their domain could've made them hot under the collar regardless. Whatever the reason, the men attacked both sailors viciously."

"Kermit wasn't a member of the British Army for nothing of course, and neither was Oliver. They put up a good battle against the savages at first, fists flying and Bowie knives flashing, and gave some 'a thing or two to remember,' as he put it. But they didn't have the numbers or the weapons, and the only real option they had was to fight their way out of the skirmish. As he tried to break away, Kermit was struck a powerful blow from one savage's club, so hard that it popped his shoulder out of its socket, the shark teeth imbedded in it gouging him deeply. The pain was absolutely ghastly, but he struggled on and got out of the worst of it."

"Oliver wasn't as lucky. One of the savages sliced him open like a fish with his bone knife, spilling his insides(and Ann's hands had now leaped up to cover her entire face at those words, as if the gruesome scene was occurring right in front of her and she couldn't bear it), while another crushed his head with a blow from a club. Thankfully, Kermit didn't think that he suffered long."

"As he escaped into the jungle, a few savages were still at his heels. One of them lunged at his back, knife drawn, and tried to get him by the back of his shirt, ready to plunge the blade home. Kermit had the sense to dodge at the last moment though, so that the savage grabbed the side of his shirt instead. He punched the savage right in the face with his good arm as he pulled away, which caused his attacker to stumble as he jabbed at Kermit, so that he only got a flesh wound."

"Then it was Kermit's turn. What he'd seen this man's kinsmen do to Oliver had made him pretty damn sore, and now that knife wound had only made him even angrier. He decided that he could give as he was dealt too, and avenge Oliver in some small way on top of that. While the savage struggled to regain his balance, Kermit proudly told us that he'd grabbed him by his filthy hair with one hand, and seized the man's wrist with the other, crushing it until he felt bones break and his enemy dropped his weapon. Kermit then yanked his attacker's head to the ground as he clutched his own knife in turn, and-well, did to the native what the native had tried to do to him, dealing out some additional 'too-brief neck problems for that bastard to suffer through, with only my bare hands,' as he slyly put it."

"What a brutal thing to do! How awful," Ann deplored, wincing in revulsion, her lips parting in a half-gape and blond ringlets tossing as she whirled her head aside. "And yet…" she said feebly, after a moment or two of consideration, "Well, Lord forgive me for saying this, but there's a part of me that doesn't blame Kermit for avenging his pal in such a fashion."

"You and me both Miss Darrow," the first mate grimly growled, mind traveling back to the trenches of France and Germany. "When I was fighting in Europe ya know, I saw good pals of mine get killed, and-well, they say that two wrongs don't make a right. But sometimes, a man can't help himself, and enjoys getting even in the worst way possible."

"So you took revenge too for some of your buddies who got killed by the Germans, I'm thinking?" Ann nervously squeaked.

A remorseful sigh escaped his thick lips as the sailor intently regarded the bubbles rising through the amber column of beer. "I'm not exactly proud of it. At all," he indirectly admitted.

While the somewhat dismayed actress chewed on that, he leapt back into the castaway's account once more.

"The vengeful deed done, he ran for his life, not even caring about the pain in his shoulder until he was certain that the savages had given up. It was only when he dared to come to a stop and get his breath that he realized how badly the blow had knocked it out of joint. So-well, I don't know how he found the courage and strength to go through it, but he grit his teeth and popped it back into its proper place again," Hayes said, shaking his head in a private combination of disbelief and admiration at the thought of such fortitude as Ann's graceful hands fell away from her brow and cheeks.

Well, she took that rather well, a sarcastic part of Benjamin Hayes silently chided. Nothing like hearing about a man being brained and eviscerated for a nice little bedtime story, huh buddy?

"Good Lord, I can only imagine how beastly that pain must've been," Ann gasped in astonishment. "To resocket your own shoulder-unbelievable."

"You bet Miss Darrow. Kermit himself told us that it hurt like one of the torments of hell, and made him scream to make the birds take flight. He dragged himself to a narrow cave nearby, and rested for quite a while, as you could probably imagine. While he recovered from the pain, the deaths of his companions weighed heavily on his mind, and it finally began to register with him how absolutely horrible and monstrous everything about this island was. Even as he mourned them, Kermit realized that he would rather take his chances adrift on the open sea rather than stay on the island. He had to make a raft and leave as soon as possible, or he probably wouldn't last two days before falling victim to some vicious beast or savage."

"Dusk came, and he chose to stay in the small cave for the night, soon falling asleep. It was the middle of the next morning when he woke up, and raining hard. Kermit staggered out of his cave into the jungle, where he drank his fill of rainwater off of leaves, and then removed his shirts and pants, allowing the rain to flush out and bathe his wounds, both old and new."

"After doing that, he went back to the cave and thought some more about his plans for escape. Even though he was badly wounded, stiff and hurting terribly, with a bum shoulder, Kermit felt that he was still in good enough condition to manage to get to the coast, which would be relatively safe. He'd lie back for a time, and build himself a decent raft. Then, when he was healthy enough, he would strike out to sea."

"Despite being slashed, stabbed, clubbed, and bitten on his arms and body, he could still walk and run okay, and had one good arm left to grip and keep his balance with. So he could manage one last trek through the jungle. First though, he had to get an idea of where the coast was and how close he was to it. He was also starving, and needed food."

"When the rain stopped about an hour later, Kermit left the shelter of the cave and searched for fruit, making sure he didn't lose track of where it was. Luckily, he didn't have to go far before coming across a jackfruit tree. He took a ripe one back to his shelter, cut the rind open, and ate as much of it as he could fit into him. Then, Kermit gathered up his courage, and slipped out into the jungle. It still had two more surprises to throw at him though, before he could reach the shore, including a creature that he called 'a monstrous demon-god made flesh."

Sorry everyone, but it looks like I inadvertantly broke my promise. The next chapter will be the actual conclusion. Until then, enjoy Part 2, then read and review!