noon
A more terrifying aggregation of fierce and blood-thirsty monsters it would be difficult to imagine . Singly and in pairs they commenced wandering off into the jungle shortly after sunrise , and when the last of them had departed Woola and I resumed our journey . Occasionally we caught glimpses of horrid beasts all during the day ; but , fortunately , we were never far from a sward island , and when they saw us their pursuit always ended at the verge of the solid sod . Toward noon we stumbled upon a well-constructed road running in the general direction we had been pursuing . Everything about this highway marked it as the work of skilled engineers , and I was confident , from the indications of antiquity which it bore , as well as from the very evident signs of its being still in everyday use , that it must lead to one of the principal cities of Kaol . Just as we entered it from one side a huge monster emerged from the jungle upon the other , and at sight of us charged madly in our direction . Imagine , if you can , a bald-faced hornet of your earthly experience grown to the size of a prize Hereford bull , and you will have some faint conception of the ferocious appearance and awesome formidability of the winged monster that bore down upon me .