midnight, September 14th
Benson , Tippet , James , and one of the Germans were known to be dead . It was assumed that Bradley , Tyler and the girl had already succumbed to some of the savage denizens of Caspak , while the fate of the Germans was equally unknown , though it might readily be believed that they had made good their escape . They had had ample time to provision the ship and the refining of the crude oil they had discovered north of the fort could have insured them an ample supply to carry them back to Germany . When Bradley went on guard at midnight , September 14th , his thoughts were largely occupied with rejoicing that the night was almost spent without serious mishap and that the morrow would doubtless see them all safely returned to Fort Dinosaur . The hopefulness of his mood was tinged with sorrow by recollection of the two members of his party who lay back there in the savage wilderness and for whom there would never again be a homecoming . No premonition of impending ill cast gloom over his anticipations for the coming day , for Bradley was a man who , while taking every precaution against possible danger , permitted no gloomy forebodings to weigh down his spirit . When danger threatened , he was prepared ; but he was not forever courting disaster , and so it was that when about one o'clock in the morning of the fifteenth , he heard the dismal flapping of giant wings overhead , he was neither surprised nor frightened but idly prepared for an attack he had known might reasonably be expected .