Eckels is completely overawed by the sudden appearance of the Tyrannosaurus Rex. It's quite unlike anything he's ever seen before. Towering thirty feet above the trees, this majestic—but savage—creature looks for all the world like it could just reach up and grab the moon. Before he set out on this safari, Eckels was rather gung-ho about the prospect of hunting dinosaurs. But not anymore. Now he's had the chance to see one up close and personal he's not so enthusiastic all of a sudden. Eckels has weighed up the options in his mind and concluded that the dinosaur can't be killed, especially not with that rifle he's holding, which now feels like a pop-gun. He regrets that he ever came on safari in the first place, and blames himself for underestimating the sheer size of the dinosaur.
While Eckels initially brushes off the idea that the Tyrannosaurus rex could panic him, when he sees it in all its huge immensity, he is badly frightened. It is so tall he thinks it could eat the moon. He believes it will be impossible to shoot and kill it. His rifle suddenly seems like a toy cap gun. He tells the others they were all fools to come. When the creature lunges at them at high speed with a terrible scream, Eckel goes numb with panic. He fears dying, so he does what he was strictly forbidden to do: unable to think clearly, he steps off the path and heads, "not knowing it," into the prehistoric jungle to get away from the dinosaur. This moment of benumbed fright has dire consequences for human history, as it changes the future.
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