The report was like an earthquake. It shocked us into our senses
and almost out of them again. The weight of the air and the confinement
of the cavern magnified and concentrated the sound so that it was awful
beyond belief. The fellow in the center was hurled back as if shot from a
catapult, and the others fell at flat as he, and lay there groveling,
their big eyes filming and swaying, but no longer in unison.
The charm was broken, and as we saw our fearful enemies prostrate, our
courage returned at a bound.
"I thought as much," said Edmund coolly. "But I'm sorry now that I aimed
at that fellow; the sound alone would have sufficed. It was not necessary
to take life. However, we should probably have had to come to it
eventually, and now we have them thoroughly cowed. Our safety consists in
keeping them terrified."
Thus speaking, Edmund boldly approached the groveling row, and pushed
with his foot the furry body of the one he had shot. The bullet had gone
through his head. At Edmund's approach the creatures sank lower on the
rocky floor, and those nearest him turned up their moon eyes with an
expression of submission and supplication that was grotesque.
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