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together, chatting and playing.
    They invented some games, like hide-and-seek, where Nosy closed his eyes and counted to a hundred, while Banty went to the lake and submerged. Then, when time was up, Nosy would skim the surface of the water, searching for those two little nostrils that were all that would show of his friend.
    Another game was “Cry T. Rex!” Nosy would wait till Banty was peacefully grazing and then he’d suddenly fly hastily toward her, squeaking, “T. rex! T. rex! Run, Banty!” and she would run (or rather waddle) as quickly as she could for the safety of the lake, while Nosy watched happily.
    To pay him back for frightening her, Banty would sneak up behind a branch on which he was hanging, as quietly as she could, and then suddenly cry, “T. rex! T. rex! Scramble, Nosy!” She would grasp the branch in her mouth and shake it violently as the awful monster might have done, and then roar with laughter as Nosy flew off in a panic.

    The thought of T. rex was in everyone’s minds, but for a long time there was mercifully no sign of Hack the Ripper.
    He was hunting on the far side of the Great Plain, where many dinosaurs had laid their eggs some months ago. Now there were dozens of nice fat newly hatched babies that made easy and very tasty meals for Hack. A river ran by this side of the plain, so that there was no need for the tyrannosaurus to visit the lake for a drink.

    But gradually the slow brains of brachiosaurus or iguanodon or triceratops took in the fact that they were losing a lot of their babies, and that perhaps they had better migrate across the plain.
    The herds made for the lake, thinking they would escape from Hack the Ripper.
    But they were to be disappointed.
    He followed.

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    Both Nosy’s and Banty’s families noticed that there were a great many more dinosaurs around the place. Though there was as yet no sign of the T. rex, they became worried that Hack might come to hunt there again.
    The three pterodactyls took it upon themselves to do regular aerial surveys of that part of the Great Plain nearest to the lake. Flying up to a good height, they had a fine pterosaur’s-eye view
and would be able to give warning in time for the apatosaurus family to take cover underwater, save for their nostrils.
    Aviatrix then arranged a duty roster. Each morning she would fly out first, to be relieved later by Nosy, who in turn gave way to his father. (Clawed did not like early rising.)
    One midmorning, Nosy left the woods and flew off to take over from his mother. He saw no sign of her in the skies, but then caught sight of her as she skimmed low over the partly eaten body of a stegosaurus. Clouds of insects were busy about it, and she was busy about them. She flew up when she saw Nosy approaching.

    â€œWell,” she said, “what d’you think killed that, my son?”
    â€œT. rex?”
    â€œExactly. He’s back. I haven’t seen any sight of him yet; he’s probably busy digesting this breakfast of his. But you keep your eyes peeled. Daddy will be along later.”
    After his mother had gone, Nosy flew up high to scan the plain below. A number of herds of different dinosaurs were grazing below him, but then suddenly, they all began to move about nervously, and then, in a kind of mass panic, to hurry away, to the left or the right, as though some fearful enemy was coming.

    T. rex? thought Nosy.

    He flew lower over the hustling herds, and sure enough, there, marching forward toward the lake on his two great hind legs, his tiny forelegs held against his massive chest, his jaws agape to show those long, daggerlike teeth, was Hack the Ripper. He was growling, and soon his growls turned to roars.

    There’s nothing I can do to save any of these wretched beasts below me, thought Nosy, but I must alert Banty and her ma and pa so that they can get into the water , and he set off toward the lake. Halfway there he saw a solitary figure, its