Remo called down. "Chiun-any suggestions?"
Chiun's voice floated up. "Do not fear."
And the Master of Sinanju was suddenly a fluttery shape on the creature's great dappled back. He leaped onto the neck with the agility of a monkey seizing a coconut tree bole. And like a monkey, he climbed to a point just under the jaw hinge.
There, Chiun took hold of either side of the reptile's muscular throat and gave a hard twist. The crack of vetebra was audible.
"No!" Nancy screamed.
"Damn," said Remo.
The serpent's head came down, dropped its uneaten meal, and raced it to the floor.
Every rafter and roof shake shook off dust and grit when the monster slammed into the floor.
The Master of Sinanju leaped off the collapsed carcass to land on the floor. He paused, inserted his fingers into the sleeves of his kimono, and regarded the two pairs of horror-struck eyes-Remo's and Nancy's-with unconcern.
"It is done," he intoned. "The beast has been quelled. I await my deserved reward."
Chapter 25
"It is not dead," intoned the Master of Sinanju when they climbed down to join him at the Apatosaur's side.
Nancy's eyes, hot with tears of anger, went to the creature's head. She placed a hand in front of its nostrils. They grew instantly moist and warm.
Then she buried her head in its orange forehead and sobbed in immense relief.
"It was only a realigning of the spine, producing unconsciousness," Chiun announced.
Remo blinked. "Chiropractic?"
"Did I ever tell you, Remo, how a Master of Sinanju, penniless and stranded far from his village, divulged certain secrets of Sinanju to a foreigner in return for passage home, and centuries later, a new breed of charlatan became as numerous as cockroaches in Europe?"
"Never mind," said Remo. He examined the hauler. The back was ruined. It looked as if Godzilla had sat on it hard.
"I don't know about you, but I'm not up to moving this thing again," he said to no one in particular. "Never mind where we could put it."
Nancy came up, wiping at red eyes.
"I was taking Punkin to the Zoological Gardens in Philadelphia. I have a friend there. Burger Triumph would have to sue to get it back."
"Good plan. Too bad you didn't make it."
Nancy walked around the beast, which was limned by the hauler headlights. She stood near the back, the belly of the Apatosaur was clearly exposed.
"It's a bull!" she gasped.
The Master of Sinanju looked to his pupil. "The strain is obviously too much for this woman, Remo. She now believes this hideous dragon is a bull."
"I think she means it's a bull Bronto, as in a male."
Frowning, the Master of Sinanju floated over to where Nancy was kneeling to satisfy his curiosity. He returned almost at once, his wrinkled face crimson with embarassment.
"It is definitely male. And that woman is leering at its maleness in a disgusting way."
"Nancy's allowed. She's a cryptozoologist."
The side door opened and Remo and Chiun dropped into tense crouches, ready to attack or defend as the circumstance warranted. A rustic-looking man with an odd fringe of a beard and a quaint round-brimmed hat poked his head in, saw them, and said in a Germanic voice, "Who is in my barn at this hour making such noises?"
"This your barn?" asked Remo.
"Ja."
"We want to rent it for a few days," Remo said.
"Why should I rent you English my barn?"
"Or we can just leave this bull Brontosaurus for you to clean up?" Remo said, cocking a thumb over his shoulder.
The man looked past Remo for the first time, eyes going round as the brim of his hat.
"How many dollars per day vill you pay?" he asked.
"As many as you want if you leave us alone," Remo replied.
"I do this. Danke. " He clapped the door shut behind him.
"Who was that?" Nancy asked, coming around to see.
"Some Amish guy," said Remo.
"Amish?"
"We're in Pennsylvania Dutch country. Didn't you know?"
"No. My God! That poor man. What will he tell his family?"
"If he's smart, nothing." Remo was looking at Skip King's broken body lying in the hay. "I thought you said they ate only vegetables."
Nancy refused to look at the body. "They do. Old Jack wasn't trying to eat King, just to punish him. I guess he recognized King from Africa. He was probably the first human being he ever saw."
"Well, he's a used doggy chew-bone now," Remo said.
The Master of Sinanju strode up to Nancy and fixed her with his stern hazel eyes.
"I have twice rescued this ugly beast," he said, his wispy chin held high.