"I have often seen the mias act thus when severely wounded.

He is making a nest to lie down and die in." "Zen ve must shoot again," said the professor, moving round the tree and looking out for a sign of the animal.

At last he seemed to have found what he wanted, for raising his rifle he took a steady aim and fired.
A considerable commotion of leaves and fall of broken branches followed.
Then the huge red body of the mias appeared falling through, but it was not dead, for it caught hold of branches as it fell and hung on as long as it could; then it came crashing down, and alighted on its face with an awful thud.
After firing the last shot Verkimier had not reloaded, being too intent on watching the dying struggles of the creature, and when it fell with such violence he concluded that it was dead.

For the same reason Nigel had neglected to reload after firing.

Thus it happened that when the enormous brute suddenly rose and made for a tree with the evident intention of climbing it, no one was prepared to stop it except the Dyak youth Gurulam.