"'The Land that Time Forgot\n\n\nBy\n\nEdgar Rice Burroughs\n\n\n\n\nChapter 1\n\nIt must have been a little after three o\'clock in the afternoon that it\nhappened--the afternoon of June 3rd, 1916. It seems incredible that\nall that I have passed through--all those weird and terrifying\nexperiences--should have been encompassed within so short a span as\nthree brief months. Rather might I have experienced a cosmic cycle,\nwith all its changes and evolutions for that which I have seen with my\nown eyes in this brief interval of time--things that no other mortal\neye had seen before, glimpses of a world past, a world dead, a world so\nlong dead that even in the lowest Cambrian stratum no trace of it\nremains. Fused with the melting inner crust, it has passed forever\nbeyond the ken of man other than in that lost pocket of the earth\nwhither fate has borne me and where my doom is sealed. I am here and\nhere must remain.\n\n\nAfter reading this far, my interest, which already had been stimulated\nby the finding of the manuscript, was approaching the boiling-point. I\nhad come to Greenland for the summer, on the advice of my physician,\nand was slowly being bored to extinction, as I had thoughtlessly\nneglected to bring sufficient reading-matter. Being an indifferent\nfisherman, my enthusiasm for this form of sport soon waned; yet in the\nabsence of other forms of recreation I was now risking my life in an\nentirely inadequate boat off Cape Farewell at the southernmost\nextremity of Greenland.\n\nGreenland! As a descriptive appellation, it is a sorry joke--but my\nstory has nothing to do with Greenland, nothing to do with me; so I\nshall get through with the one and the other as rapidly as possible.\n\nThe inadequate boat finally arrived at a precarious landing, the\nnatives, waist-deep in the surf, assisting. I was carried ashore, and\nwhile the evening meal was being prepared, I wandered to and fro along\nthe rocky, shattered shore. Bits of surf-harried beach clove the worn\ngranite, or whatever the rocks of Cape Farewell may be composed of, and\nas I followed the ebbing tide down one of these soft stretches, I saw\nthe thing. Were one to bump into a Bengal tiger in the ravine behind\nthe Bimini Baths, one could be no more surprised than was I to see a\nperfectly good quart thermos bottle turning and twisting in the surf of\nCape Farewell at the southern extremity of Greenland. I rescued it, but\nI was soaked above the knees doing it; and then I sat down in the sand\nand opened it, and in the long twilight read the manuscript, neatly\nwritten and tightly folded, which was its contents.\n\nYou have read the opening paragraph, and if you are an imaginative\nidiot like myself, you will want to read the rest of it; so I shall\ngive it to you here, omitting quotation marks--which are difficult of\nremembrance. In two minutes you will forget me.\n\n\nMy home is in Santa Monica. I am, or was, junior member of my father\'s\nfirm. We are ship-builders. Of recent years we have specialized on\nsubmarines, which we have built for Germany, England, France and the\nUnited States. I know a sub as a mother knows her baby\'s face, and\nhave commanded a score of them on their trial runs. Yet my\ninclinations were all toward aviation. I graduated under Curtiss, and\nafter a long siege with my father obtained his permission to try for\nthe Lafayette Escadrille. As a stepping-stone I obtained an\nappointment in the American ambulance service and was on my way to\nFrance when three shrill whistles altered, in as many seconds, my\nentire scheme of life.\n\nI was sitting on deck with some of the fellows who were going into the\nAmerican ambulance service with me, my Airedale, Crown Prince Nobbler,\nasleep at my feet, when the first blast of the whistle shattered the\npeace and security of the ship. Ever since entering the U-boat zone we\nhad been on the lookout for periscopes, and children that we were,\nbemoaning the unkind fate that was to see us safely into France on the\nmorrow without a glimpse of the dread marauders. We were young; we\ncraved thrills, and God knows we got them that day; yet by comparison\nwith that through which I have since passed they were as tame as a\nPunch-and-Judy show.\n\nI shall never forget the ashy faces of the passengers as they stampeded\nfor their life-belts, though there was no panic. Nobs rose with a low\ngrowl. I rose, also, and over the ship\'s side, I saw not two hundred\nyards distant the periscope of a submarine, while racing toward the\nliner the wake of a torpedo was distinctly visible. We were aboard an\nAmerican ship--which, of course, was not armed. We were entirely\ndefenseless; yet without warning, we were being torpedoed.\n\nI stood rigid, spellbound, watching the white wake of the torpedo. It\nstruck us on the starboard side almost amidships. The vessel rocked as\nthough the sea beneath it had been uptorn by a mighty volcano. We were\nthrown to the decks, bruised and stunned, and then above the ship,\ncarrying with it fragments of steel and wood and dismembered human\nbodies, rose a column of water hundreds of feet into the air.\n\nThe silence which followed the detonation of the exploding torpedo was\nalmost equally horrifying. It lasted for perhaps two seconds, to be\nfollowed by the screams and moans of the wounded, the cursing of the\nmen and the hoarse commands of the ship\'s officers. They were\nsplendid--they and their crew. Never before had I been so proud of my\nnationality as I was that moment. In all the chaos which followed the\ntorpedoing of the liner no officer or member of the crew lost his head\nor showed in the slightest any degree of panic or fear.\n\nWhile we were attempting to lower boats, the submarine emerged and\ntrained guns on us. The officer in command ordered us to lower our\nflag, but this the captain of the liner refused to do. The ship was\nlisting frightfully to starboard, rendering the port boats useless,\nwhile half the starboard boats had been demolished by the explosion.\nEven while the passengers were crowding the starboard rail and\nscrambling into the few boats left to us, the submarine commenced\nshelling the ship. I saw one shell burst in a group of women and\nchildren, and then I turned my head and covered my eyes.\n\nWhen I looked again to horror was added chagrin, for with the emerging\nof the U-boat I had recognized her as a product of our own shipyard. I\nknew her to a rivet. I had superintended her construction. I had sat\nin that very conning-tower and directed the efforts of the sweating\ncrew below when first her prow clove the sunny summer waters of the\nPacific; and now this creature of my brain and hand had turned\nFrankenstein, bent upon pursuing me to my death.\n\nA second shell exploded upon the deck. One of the lifeboats,\nfrightfully overcrowded, swung at a dangerous angle from its davits. A\nfragment of the shell shattered the bow tackle, and I saw the women and\nchildren and the men vomited into the sea beneath, while the boat\ndangled stern up for a moment from its single davit, and at last with\nincreasing momentum dived into the midst of the struggling victims\nscreaming upon the face of the waters.\n\nNow I saw men spring to the rail and leap into the ocean. The deck was\ntilting to an impossible angle. Nobs braced himself with all four feet\nto keep from slipping into the scuppers and looked up into my face with\na questioning whine. I stooped and stroked his head.\n\n\"Come on, boy!\" I cried, and running to the side of the ship, dived\nheadforemost over the rail. When I came up, the first thing I saw was\nNobs swimming about in a bewildered sort of way a few yards from me.\nAt sight of me his ears went flat, and his lips parted in a\ncharacteristic grin.\n\nThe submarine was withdrawing toward the north, but all the time it was\nshelling the open boats, three of them, loaded to the gunwales with\nsurvivors. Fortunately the small boats presented a rather poor target,\nwhich, combined with the bad marksmanship of the Germans preserved\ntheir occupants from harm; and after a few minutes a blotch of smoke\nappeared upon the eastern horizon and the U-boat submerged and\ndisappeared.\n\nAll the time the lifeboats had been pulling away from the danger of the\nsinking liner, and now, though I yelled at the top of my lungs, they\neither did not hear my appeals for help or else did not dare return to\nsuccor me. Nobs and I had gained some little distance from the ship\nwhen it rolled completely over and sank. We were caught in the suction\nonly enough to be drawn backward a few yards, neither of us being\ncarried beneath the surface. I glanced hurriedly about for something to\nwhich to cling. My eyes were directed toward the point at which the\nliner had disappeared when there came from the depths of the ocean the\nmuffled reverberation of an explosion, and almost simultaneously a\ngeyser of water in which were shattered lifeboats, human bodies, steam,\ncoal, oil, and the flotsam of a liner\'s deck leaped high above the\nsurface of the sea--a watery column momentarily marking the grave of\nanother ship in this greatest cemetery of the seas.\n\nWhen the turbulent waters had somewhat subsided and the sea had ceased\nto spew up wreckage, I ventured to swim back in search of something\nsubstantial enough to support my weight and that of Nobs as well. I\nhad gotten well over the area of the wreck when not a half-dozen yards\nahead of me a lifeboat shot bow foremost out of the ocean almost its\nentire length to flop down upon its keel with a mighty splash. It must\nhave been carried far below, held to its mother ship by a single rope\nwhich finally parted to the enormous strain put upon it. In no other\nway can I account for its having leaped so far out of the water--a\nbeneficent circumstance to which I doubtless owe my life, and that of\nanother far dearer to me than my own. I say beneficent circumstance\neven in the face of the fact that a fate far more hideous confronts us\nthan that which we escaped that day; for because of that circumstance I\nhave met her whom otherwise I never should have known; I have met and\nloved her. At least I have had that great happiness in life; nor can\nCaspak, with all her horrors, expunge that which has been.\n\nSo for the thousandth time I thank the strange fate which sent that\nlifeboat hurtling upward from the green pit of destruction to which it\nhad been dragged--sent it far up above the surface, emptying its water\nas it rose above the waves, and dropping it upon the surface of the\nsea, buoyant and safe.\n\nIt did not take me long to clamber over its side and drag Nobs in to\ncomparative safety, and then I glanced around upon the scene of death\nand desolation which surrounded us. The sea was littered with wreckage\namong which floated the pitiful forms of women and children, buoyed up\nby their useless lifebelts. Some were torn and mangled; others lay\nrolling quietly to the motion of the sea, their countenances composed\nand peaceful; others were set in hideous lines of agony or horror.\nClose to the boat\'s side floated the figure of a girl. Her face was\nturned upward, held above the surface by her life-belt, and was framed\nin a floating mass of dark and waving hair. She was very beautiful. I\nhad never looked upon such perfect features, such a divine molding\nwhich was at the same time human--intensely human. It was a face\nfilled with character and strength and femininity--the face of one who\nwas created to love and to be loved. The cheeks were flushed to the\nhue of life and health and vitality, and yet she lay there upon the\nbosom of the sea, dead. I felt something rise in my throat as I looked\ndown upon that radiant vision, and I swore that I should live to avenge\nher murder.\n\nAnd then I let my eyes drop once more to the face upon the water, and\nwhat I saw nearly tumbled me backward into the sea, for the eyes in the\ndead face had opened; the lips had parted; and one hand was raised\ntoward me in a mute appeal for succor. She lived! She was not dead! I\nleaned over the boat\'s side and drew her quickly in to the comparative\nsafety which God had given me. I removed her life-belt and my soggy\ncoat and made a pillow for her head. I chafed her hands and arms and\nfeet. I worked over her for an hour, and at last I was rewarded by a\ndeep sigh, and again those great eyes opened and looked into mine.\n\nAt that I was all embarrassment. I have never been a ladies\' man; at\nLeland-Stanford I was the butt of the class because of my hopeless\nimbecility in the presence of a pretty girl; but the men liked me,\nnevertheless. I was rubbing one of her hands when she opened her eyes,\nand I dropped it as though it were a red-hot rivet. Those eyes took me\nin slowly from head to foot; then they wandered slowly around the\nhorizon marked by the rising and falling gunwales of the lifeboat.\nThey looked at Nobs and softened, and then came back to me filled with\nquestioning.\n\n\"I--I--\" I stammered, moving away and stumbling over the next thwart.\nThe vision smiled wanly.\n\n\"Aye-aye, sir!\" she replied faintly, and again her lips drooped, and\nher long lashes swept the firm, fair texture of her skin.\n\n\"I hope that you are feeling better,\" I finally managed to say.\n\n\"Do you know,\" she said after a moment of silence, \"I have been awake\nfor a long time! But I did not dare open my eyes. I thought I must be\ndead, and I was afraid to look, for fear that I should see nothing but\nblackness about me. I am afraid to die! Tell me what happened after\nthe ship went down. I remember all that happened before--oh, but I wish\nthat I might forget it!\" A sob broke her voice. \"The beasts!\" she\nwent on after a moment. \"And to think that I was to have married one\nof them--a lieutenant in the German navy.\"\n\nPresently she resumed as though she had not ceased speaking. \"I went\ndown and down and down. I thought I should never cease to sink. I\nfelt no particular distress until I suddenly started upward at\never-increasing velocity; then my lungs seemed about to burst, and I\nmust have lost consciousness, for I remember nothing more until I\nopened my eyes after listening to a torrent of invective against\nGermany and Germans. Tell me, please, all that happened after the ship\nsank.\"\n\nI told her, then, as well as I could, all that I had seen--the\nsubmarine shelling the open boats and all the rest of it. She thought\nit marvelous that we should have been spared in so providential a\nmanner, and I had a pretty speech upon my tongue\'s end, but lacked the\nnerve to deliver it. Nobs had come over and nosed his muzzle into her\nlap, and she stroked his ugly face, and at last she leaned over and put\nher cheek against his forehead. I have always admired Nobs; but this\nwas the first time that it had ever occurred to me that I might wish to\nbe Nobs. I wondered how he would take it, for he is as unused to women\nas I. But he took to it as a duck takes to water. What I lack of\nbeing a ladies\' man, Nobs certainly makes up for as a ladies\' dog. The\nold scalawag just closed his eyes and put on one of the softest\n\"sugar-wouldn\'t-melt-in-my-mouth\" expressions you ever saw and stood\nthere taking it and asking for more. It made me jealous.\n\n\"You seem fond of dogs,\" I said.\n\n\"I am fond of this dog,\" she replied.\n\nWhether she meant anything personal in that reply I did not know; but I\ntook it as personal and it made me feel mighty good.\n\nAs we drifted about upon that vast expanse of loneliness it is not\nstrange that we should quickly become well acquainted. Constantly we\nscanned the horizon for signs of smoke, venturing guesses as to our\nchances of rescue; but darkness settled, and the black night enveloped\nus without ever the sight of a speck upon the waters.\n\nWe were thirsty, hungry, uncomfortable, and cold. Our wet garments had\ndried but little and I knew that the girl must be in grave danger from\nthe exposure to a night of cold and wet upon the water in an open boat,\nwithout sufficient clothing and no food. I had managed to bail all the\nwater out of the boat with cupped hands, ending by mopping the balance\nup with my handkerchief--a slow and back-breaking procedure; thus I had\nmade a comparatively dry place for the girl to lie down low in the\nbottom of the boat, where the sides would protect her from the night\nwind, and when at last she did so, almost overcome as she was by\nweakness and fatigue, I threw my wet coat over her further to thwart\nthe chill. But it was of no avail; as I sat watching her, the\nmoonlight marking out the graceful curves of her slender young body, I\nsaw her shiver.\n\n\"Isn\'t there something I can do?\" I asked. \"You can\'t lie there\nchilled through all night. Can\'t you suggest something?\"\n\nShe shook her head. \"We must grin and bear it,\" she replied after a\nmoment.\n\nNobbler came and lay down on the thwart beside me, his back against my\nleg, and I sat staring in dumb misery at the girl, knowing in my heart\nof hearts that she might die before morning came, for what with the\nshock and exposure, she had already gone through enough to kill almost\nany woman. And as I gazed down at her, so small and delicate and\nhelpless, there was born slowly within my breast a new emotion. It had\nnever been there before; now it will never cease to be there. It made\nme almost frantic in my desire to find some way to keep warm the\ncooling lifeblood in her veins. I was cold myself, though I had almost\nforgotten it until Nobbler moved and I felt a new sensation of cold\nalong my leg against which he had lain, and suddenly realized that in\nthat one spot I had been warm. Like a great light came the\nunderstanding of a means to warm the girl. Immediately I knelt beside\nher to put my scheme into practice when suddenly I was overwhelmed with\nembarrassment. Would she permit it, even if I could muster the courage\nto suggest it? Then I saw her frame convulse, shudderingly, her\nmuscles reacting to her rapidly lowering temperature, and casting\nprudery to the winds, I threw myself down beside her and took her in my\narms, pressing her body close to mine.\n\nShe drew away suddenly, voicing a little cry of fright, and tried to\npush me from her.\n\n\"Forgive me,\" I managed to stammer. \"It is the only way. You will die\nof exposure if you are not warmed, and Nobs and I are the only means we\ncan command for furnishing warmth.\" And I held her tightly while I\ncalled Nobs and bade him lie down at her back. The girl didn\'t\nstruggle any more when she learned my purpose; but she gave two or\nthree little gasps, and then began to cry softly, burying her face on\nmy arm, and thus she fell asleep.\n\n\n\nChapter 2\n\nToward morning, I must have dozed, though it seemed to me at the time\nthat I had lain awake for days, instead of hours. When I finally\nopened my eyes, it was daylight, and the girl\'s hair was in my face,\nand she was breathing normally. I thanked God for that. She had\nturned her head during the night so that as I opened my eyes I saw her\nface not an inch from mine, my lips almost touching hers.\n\nIt was Nobs who finally awoke her. He got up, stretched, turned around\na few times and lay down again, and the girl opened her eyes and looked\ninto mine. Hers went very wide at first, and then slowly comprehension\ncame to her, and she smiled.\n\n\"You have been very good to me,\" she said, as I helped her to rise,\nthough if the truth were known I was more in need of assistance than\nshe; the circulation all along my left side seeming to be paralyzed\nentirely. \"You have been very good to me.\" And that was the only\nmention she ever made of it; yet I know that she was thankful and that\nonly reserve prevented her from referring to what, to say the least,\nwas an embarrassing situation, however unavoidable.\n\nShortly after daylight we saw smoke apparently coming straight toward\nus, and after a time we made out the squat lines of a tug--one of those\nfearless exponents of England\'s supremacy of the sea that tows sailing\nships into French and English ports. I stood up on a thwart and waved\nmy soggy coat above my head. Nobs stood upon another and barked. The\ngirl sat at my feet straining her eyes toward the deck of the oncoming\nboat. \"They see us,\" she said at last. \"There is a man answering your\nsignal.\" She was right. A lump came into my throat--for her sake\nrather than for mine. She was saved, and none too soon. She could not\nhave lived through another night upon the Channel; she might not have\nlived through the coming day.\n\nThe tug came close beside us, and a man on deck threw us a rope.\nWilling hands dragged us to the deck, Nobs scrambling nimbly aboard\nwithout assistance. The rough men were gentle as mothers with the\ngirl. Plying us both with questions they hustled her to the captain\'s\ncabin and me to the boiler-room. They told the girl to take off her\nwet clothes and throw them outside the door that they might be dried,\nand then to slip into the captain\'s bunk and get warm. They didn\'t\nhave to tell me to strip after I once got into the warmth of the\nboiler-room. In a jiffy, my clothes hung about where they might dry\nmost quickly, and I myself was absorbing, through every pore, the\nwelcome heat of the stifling compartment. They brought us hot soup and\ncoffee, and then those who were not on duty sat around and helped me\ndamn the Kaiser and his brood.\n\nAs soon as our clothes were dry, they bade us don them, as the chances\nwere always more than fair in those waters that we should run into\ntrouble with the enemy, as I was only too well aware. What with the\nwarmth and the feeling of safety for the girl, and the knowledge that a\nlittle rest and food would quickly overcome the effects of her\nexperiences of the past dismal hours, I was feeling more content than I\nhad experienced since those three whistle-blasts had shattered the\npeace of my world the previous afternoon.\n\nBut peace upon the Channel has been but a transitory thing since\nAugust, 1914. It proved itself such that morning, for I had scarce\ngotten into my dry clothes and taken the girl\'s apparel to the\ncaptain\'s cabin when an order was shouted down into the engine-room for\nfull speed ahead, and an instant later I heard the dull boom of a gun.\nIn a moment I was up on deck to see an enemy submarine about two\nhundred yards off our port bow. She had signaled us to stop, and our\nskipper had ignored the order; but now she had her gun trained on us,\nand the second shot grazed the cabin, warning the belligerent\ntug-captain that it was time to obey. Once again an order went down to\nthe engine-room, and the tug reduced speed. The U-boat ceased firing\nand ordered the tug to come about and approach. Our momentum had\ncarried us a little beyond the enemy craft, but we were turning now on\nthe arc of a circle that would bring us alongside her. As I stood\nwatching the maneuver and wondering what was to become of us, I felt\nsomething touch my elbow and turned to see the girl standing at my\nside. She looked up into my face with a rueful expression. \"They seem\nbent on our destruction,\" she said, \"and it looks like the same boat\nthat sunk us yesterday.\"\n\n\"It is,\" I replied. \"I know her well. I helped design her and took\nher out on her first run.\"\n\nThe girl drew back from me with a little exclamation of surprise and\ndisappointment. \"I thought you were an American,\" she said. \"I had no\nidea you were a--a--\"\n\n\"Nor am I,\" I replied. \"Americans have been building submarines for\nall nations for many years. I wish, though, that we had gone bankrupt,\nmy father and I, before ever we turned out that Frankenstein of a\nthing.\"\n\nWe were approaching the U-boat at half speed now, and I could almost\ndistinguish the features of the men upon her deck. A sailor stepped to\nmy side and slipped something hard and cold into my hand. I did not\nhave to look at it to know that it was a heavy pistol. \"Tyke \'er an\'\nuse \'er,\" was all he said.\n\nOur bow was pointed straight toward the U-boat now as I heard word\npassed to the engine for full speed ahead. I instantly grasped the\nbrazen effrontery of the plucky English skipper--he was going to ram\nfive hundreds tons of U-boat in the face of her trained gun. I could\nscarce repress a cheer. At first the boches didn\'t seem to grasp his\nintention. Evidently they thought they were witnessing an exhibition\nof poor seamanship, and they yelled their warnings to the tug to reduce\nspeed and throw the helm hard to port.\n\nWe were within fifty feet of them when they awakened to the intentional\nmenace of our maneuver. Their gun crew was off its guard; but they\nsprang to their piece now and sent a futile shell above our heads.\nNobs leaped about and barked furiously. \"Let \'em have it!\" commanded\nthe tug-captain, and instantly revolvers and rifles poured bullets upon\nthe deck of the submersible. Two of the gun-crew went down; the other\ntrained their piece at the water-line of the oncoming tug. The balance\nof those on deck replied to our small-arms fire, directing their\nefforts toward the man at our wheel.\n\nI hastily pushed the girl down the companionway leading to the\nengine-room, and then I raised my pistol and fired my first shot at a\nboche. What happened in the next few seconds happened so quickly that\ndetails are rather blurred in my memory. I saw the helmsman lunge\nforward upon the wheel, pulling the helm around so that the tug sheered\noff quickly from her course, and I recall realizing that all our\nefforts were to be in vain, because of all the men aboard, Fate had\ndecreed that this one should fall first to an enemy bullet. I saw the\ndepleted gun-crew on the submarine fire their piece and I felt the\nshock of impact and heard the loud explosion as the shell struck and\nexploded in our bows.\n\nI saw and realized these things even as I was leaping into the\npilot-house and grasping the wheel, standing astride the dead body of\nthe helmsman. With all my strength I threw the helm to starboard; but\nit was too late to effect the purpose of our skipper. The best I did\nwas to scrape alongside the sub. I heard someone shriek an order into\nthe engine-room; the boat shuddered and trembled to the sudden\nreversing of the engines, and our speed quickly lessened. Then I saw\nwhat that madman of a skipper planned since his first scheme had gone\nwrong.\n\nWith a loud-yelled command, he leaped to the slippery deck of the\nsubmersible, and at his heels came his hardy crew. I sprang from the\npilot-house and followed, not to be left out in the cold when it came\nto strafing the boches. From the engine room companionway came the\nengineer and stockers, and together we leaped after the balance of the\ncrew and into the hand-to-hand fight that was covering the wet deck\nwith red blood. Beside me came Nobs, silent now, and grim. Germans\nwere emerging from the open hatch to take part in the battle on deck.\nAt first the pistols cracked amidst the cursing of the men and the loud\ncommands of the commander and his junior; but presently we were too\nindiscriminately mixed to make it safe to use our firearms, and the\nbattle resolved itself into a hand-to-hand struggle for possession of\nthe deck.\n\nThe sole aim of each of us was to hurl one of the opposing force into\nthe sea. I shall never forget the hideous expression upon the face of\nthe great Prussian with whom chance confronted me. He lowered his head\nand rushed at me, bellowing like a bull. With a quick side-step and\nducking low beneath his outstretched arms, I eluded him; and as he\nturned to come back at me, I landed a blow upon his chin which sent him\nspinning toward the edge of the deck. I saw his wild endeavors to\nregain his equilibrium; I saw him reel drunkenly for an instant upon\nthe brink of eternity and then, with a loud scream, slip into the sea.\nAt the same instant a pair of giant arms encircled me from behind and\nlifted me entirely off my feet. Kick and squirm as I would, I could\nneither turn toward my antagonist nor free myself from his maniacal\ngrasp. Relentlessly he was rushing me toward the side of the vessel\nand death. There was none to stay him, for each of my companions was\nmore than occupied by from one to three of the enemy. For an instant I\nwas fearful for myself, and then I saw that which filled me with a far\ngreater terror for another.\n\nMy boche was bearing me toward the side of the submarine against which\nthe tug was still pounding. That I should be ground to death between\nthe two was lost upon me as I saw the girl standing alone upon the\ntug\'s deck, as I saw the stern high in air and the bow rapidly settling\nfor the final dive, as I saw death from which I could not save her\nclutching at the skirts of the woman I now knew all too well that I\nloved.\n\nI had perhaps the fraction of a second longer to live when I heard an\nangry growl behind us mingle with a cry of pain and rage from the giant\nwho carried me. Instantly he went backward to the deck, and as he did\nso he threw his arms outwards to save himself, freeing me. I fell\nheavily upon him, but was upon my feet in the instant. As I arose, I\ncast a single glance at my opponent. Never again would he menace me or\nanother, for Nob\'s great jaws had closed upon his throat. Then I\nsprang toward the edge of the deck closest to the girl upon the sinking\ntug.\n\n\"Jump!\" I cried. \"Jump!\" And I held out my arms to her. Instantly as\nthough with implicit confidence in my ability to save her, she leaped\nover the side of the tug onto the sloping, slippery side of the U-boat.\nI reached far over to seize her hand. At the same instant the tug\npointed its stern straight toward the sky and plunged out of sight. My\nhand missed the girl\'s by a fraction of an inch, and I saw her slip\ninto the sea; but scarce had she touched the water when I was in after\nher.\n\nThe sinking tug drew us far below the surface; but I had seized her the\nmoment I struck the water, and so we went down together, and together\nwe came up--a few yards from the U-boat. The first thing I heard was\nNobs barking furiously; evidently he had missed me and was searching.\nA single glance at the vessel\'s deck assured me that the battle was\nover and that we had been victorious, for I saw our survivors holding a\nhandful of the enemy at pistol points while one by one the rest of the\ncrew was coming out of the craft\'s interior and lining up on deck with\nthe other prisoners.\n\nAs I swam toward the submarine with the girl, Nobs\' persistent barking\nattracted the attention of some of the tug\'s crew, so that as soon as\nwe reached the side there were hands to help us aboard. I asked the\ngirl if she was hurt, but she assured me that she was none the worse\nfor this second wetting; nor did she seem to suffer any from shock. I\nwas to learn for myself that this slender and seemingly delicate\ncreature possessed the heart and courage of a warrior.\n\nAs we joined our own party, I found the tug\'s mate checking up our\nsurvivors. There were ten of us left, not including the girl. Our\nbrave skipper was missing, as were eight others. There had been\nnineteen of us in the attacking party and we had accounted in one way\nand another during the battle for sixteen Germans and had taken nine\nprisoners, including the commander. His lieutenant had been killed.\n\n\"Not a bad day\'s work,\" said Bradley, the mate, when he had completed\nhis roll. \"Only losing the skipper,\" he added, \"was the worst. He was\na fine man, a fine man.\"\n\nOlson--who in spite of his name was Irish, and in spite of his not\nbeing Scotch had been the tug\'s engineer--was standing with Bradley and\nme. \"Yis,\" he agreed, \"it\'s a day\'s wor-rk we\'re after doin\', but what\nare we goin\' to be doin\' wid it now we got it?\"\n\n\"We\'ll run her into the nearest English port,\" said Bradley, \"and then\nwe\'ll all go ashore and get our V. C.\'s,\" he concluded, laughing.\n\n\"How you goin\' to run her?\" queried Olson. \"You can\'t trust these\nDutchmen.\"\n\nBradley scratched his head. \"I guess you\'re right,\" he admitted. \"And\nI don\'t know the first thing about a sub.\"\n\n\"I do,\" I assured him. \"I know more about this particular sub than the\nofficer who commanded her.\"\n\nBoth men looked at me in astonishment, and then I had to explain all\nover again as I had explained to the girl. Bradley and Olson were\ndelighted. Immediately I was put in command, and the first thing I did\nwas to go below with Olson and inspect the craft thoroughly for hidden\nboches and damaged machinery. There were no Germans below, and\neverything was intact and in ship-shape working order. I then ordered\nall hands below except one man who was to act as lookout. Questioning\nthe Germans, I found that all except the commander were willing to\nresume their posts and aid in bringing the vessel into an English port.\nI believe that they were relieved at the prospect of being detained at\na comfortable English prison-camp for the duration of the war after the\nperils and privations through which they had passed. The officer,\nhowever, assured me that he would never be a party to the capture of\nhis vessel.\n\nThere was, therefore, nothing to do but put the man in irons. As we\nwere preparing to put this decision into force, the girl descended from\nthe deck. It was the first time that she or the German officer had\nseen each other\'s faces since we had boarded the U-boat. I was\nassisting the girl down the ladder and still retained a hold upon her\narm--possibly after such support was no longer necessary--when she\nturned and looked squarely into the face of the German. Each voiced a\nsudden exclamation of surprise and dismay.\n\n\"Lys!\" he cried, and took a step toward her.\n\nThe girl\'s eyes went wide, and slowly filled with a great horror, as\nshe shrank back. Then her slender figure stiffened to the erectness of\na soldier, and with chin in air and without a word she turned her back\nupon the officer.\n\n\"Take him away,\" I directed the two men who guarded him, \"and put him\nin irons.\"\n\nWhen he had gone, the girl raised her eyes to mine. \"He is the German\nof whom I spoke,\" she said. \"He is Baron von Schoenvorts.\"\n\nI merely inclined my head. She had loved him! I wondered if in her\nheart of hearts she did not love him yet. Immediately I became\ninsanely jealous. I hated Baron Friedrich von Schoenvorts with such\nutter intensity that the emotion thrilled me with a species of\nexaltation.\n\nBut I didn\'t have much chance to enjoy my hatred then, for almost\nimmediately the lookout poked his face over the hatchway and bawled\ndown that there was smoke on the horizon, dead ahead. Immediately I\nwent on deck to investigate, and Bradley came with me.\n\n\"If she\'s friendly,\" he said, \"we\'ll speak her. If she\'s not, we\'ll\nsink her--eh, captain?\"\n\n\"Yes, lieutenant,\" I replied, and it was his turn to smile.\n\nWe hoisted the Union Jack and remained on deck, asking Bradley to go\nbelow and assign to each member of the crew his duty, placing one\nEnglishman with a pistol beside each German.\n\n\"Half speed ahead,\" I commanded.\n\nMore rapidly now we closed the distance between ourselves and the\nstranger, until I could plainly see the red ensign of the British\nmerchant marine. My heart swelled with pride at the thought that\npresently admiring British tars would be congratulating us upon our\nnotable capture; and just about then the merchant steamer must have\nsighted us, for she veered suddenly toward the north, and a moment\nlater dense volumes of smoke issued from her funnels. Then, steering a\nzigzag course, she fled from us as though we had been the bubonic\nplague. I altered the course of the submarine and set off in chase;\nbut the steamer was faster than we, and soon left us hopelessly astern.\n\nWith a rueful smile, I directed that our original course be resumed,\nand once again we set off toward merry England. That was three months\nago, and we haven\'t arrived yet; nor is there any likelihood that we\never shall.\n\nThe steamer we had just sighted must have wirelessed a warning, for it\nwasn\'t half an hour before we saw more smoke on the horizon, and this\ntime the vessel flew the white ensign of the Royal Navy and carried\nguns. She didn\'t veer to the north or anywhere else, but bore down on\nus rapidly. I was just preparing to signal her, when a flame flashed\nfrom her bows, and an instant later the water in front of us was thrown\nhigh by the explosion of a shell.\n\nBradley had come on deck and was standing beside me. \"About one more\nof those, and she\'ll have our range,\" he said. \"She doesn\'t seem to\ntake much stock in our Union Jack.\"\n\nA second shell passed over us, and then I gave the command to change\nour direction, at the same time directing Bradley to go below and give\nthe order to submerge. I passed Nobs down to him, and following, saw\nto the closing and fastening of the hatch.\n\nIt seemed to me that the diving-tanks never had filled so slowly. We\nheard a loud explosion apparently directly above us; the craft trembled\nto the shock which threw us all to the deck. I expected momentarily to\nfeel the deluge of inrushing water, but none came. Instead we continued\nto submerge until the manometer registered forty feet and then I knew\nthat we were safe. Safe! I almost smiled. I had relieved Olson, who\nhad remained in the tower at my direction, having been a member of one\nof the early British submarine crews, and therefore having some\nknowledge of the business. Bradley was at my side. He looked at me\nquizzically.\n\n\"What the devil are we to do?\" he asked. \"The merchantman will flee\nus; the war-vessel will destroy us; neither will believe our colors or\ngive us a chance to explain. We will meet even a worse reception if we\ngo nosing around a British port--mines, nets and all of it. We can\'t\ndo it.\"\n\n\"Let\'s try it again when this fellow has lost the scent,\" I urged.\n\"There must come a ship that will believe us.\"\n\nAnd try it again we did, only to be almost rammed by a huge freighter.\nLater we were fired upon by a destroyer, and two merchantmen turned and\nfled at our approach. For two days we cruised up and down the Channel\ntrying to tell some one, who would listen, that we were friends; but no\none would listen. After our encounter with the first warship I had\ngiven instructions that a wireless message be sent out explaining our\npredicament; but to my chagrin I discovered that both sending and\nreceiving instruments had disappeared.\n\n\"There is only one place you can go,\" von Schoenvorts sent word to me,\n\"and that is Kiel. You can\'t land anywhere else in these waters. If\nyou wish, I will take you there, and I can promise that you will be\ntreated well.\"\n\n\"There is another place we can go,\" I sent back my reply, \"and we will\nbefore we\'ll go to Germany. That place is hell.\"\n\n\n\nChapter 3\n\nThose were anxious days, during which I had but little opportunity to\nassociate with Lys. I had given her the commander\'s room, Bradley and\nI taking that of the deck-officer, while Olson and two of our best men\noccupied the room ordinarily allotted to petty officers. I made Nobs\'\nbed down in Lys\' room, for I knew she would feel less alone.\n\nNothing of much moment occurred for a while after we left British\nwaters behind us. We ran steadily along upon the surface, making good\ntime. The first two boats we sighted made off as fast as they could\ngo; and the third, a huge freighter, fired on us, forcing us to\nsubmerge. It was after this that our troubles commenced. One of the\nDiesel engines broke down in the morning, and while we were working on\nit, the forward port diving-tank commenced to fill. I was on deck at\nthe time and noted the gradual list. Guessing at once what was\nhappening, I leaped for the hatch and slamming it closed above my head,\ndropped to the centrale. By this time the craft was going down by the\nhead with a most unpleasant list to port, and I didn\'t wait to transmit\norders to some one else but ran as fast as I could for the valve that\nlet the sea into the forward port diving-tank. It was wide open. To\nclose it and to have the pump started that would empty it were the work\nof but a minute; but we had had a close call.\n\nI knew that the valve had never opened itself. Some one had opened\nit--some one who was willing to die himself if he might at the same\ntime encompass the death of all of us.\n\nAfter that I kept a guard pacing the length of the narrow craft. We\nworked upon the engine all that day and night and half the following\nday. Most of the time we drifted idly upon the surface, but toward\nnoon we sighted smoke due west, and having found that only enemies\ninhabited the world for us, I ordered that the other engine be started\nso that we could move out of the path of the oncoming steamer. The\nmoment the engine started to turn, however, there was a grinding sound\nof tortured steel, and when it had been stopped, we found that some one\nhad placed a cold-chisel in one of the gears.\n\nIt was another two days before we were ready to limp along, half\nrepaired. The night before the repairs were completed, the sentry came\nto my room and awoke me. He was rather an intelligent fellow of the\nEnglish middle class, in whom I had much confidence.\n\n\"Well, Wilson,\" I asked. \"What\'s the matter now?\"\n\nHe raised his finger to his lips and came closer to me. \"I think I\'ve\nfound out who\'s doin\' the mischief,\" he whispered, and nodded his head\ntoward the girl\'s room. \"I seen her sneakin\' from the crew\'s room just\nnow,\" he went on. \"She\'d been in gassin\' wit\' the boche commander.\nBenson seen her in there las\' night, too, but he never said nothin\'\ntill I goes on watch tonight. Benson\'s sorter slow in the head, an\' he\nnever puts two an\' two together till some one else has made four out of\nit.\"\n\nIf the man had come in and struck me suddenly in the face, I could have\nbeen no more surprised.\n\n\"Say nothing of this to anyone,\" I ordered. \"Keep your eyes and ears\nopen and report every suspicious thing you see or hear.\"\n\nThe man saluted and left me; but for an hour or more I tossed,\nrestless, upon my hard bunk in an agony of jealousy and fear. Finally I\nfell into a troubled sleep. It was daylight when I awoke. We were\nsteaming along slowly upon the surface, my orders having been to\nproceed at half speed until we could take an observation and determine\nour position. The sky had been overcast all the previous day and all\nnight; but as I stepped into the centrale that morning I was delighted\nto see that the sun was again shining. The spirits of the men seemed\nimproved; everything seemed propitious. I forgot at once the cruel\nmisgivings of the past night as I set to work to take my observations.\n\nWhat a blow awaited me! The sextant and chronometer had both been\nbroken beyond repair, and they had been broken just this very night.\nThey had been broken upon the night that Lys had been seen talking with\nvon Schoenvorts. I think that it was this last thought which hurt me\nthe worst. I could look the other disaster in the face with\nequanimity; but the bald fact that Lys might be a traitor appalled me.\n\nI called Bradley and Olson on deck and told them what had happened, but\nfor the life of me I couldn\'t bring myself to repeat what Wilson had\nreported to me the previous night. In fact, as I had given the matter\nthought, it seemed incredible that the girl could have passed through\nmy room, in which Bradley and I slept, and then carried on a\nconversation in the crew\'s room, in which Von Schoenvorts was kept,\nwithout having been seen by more than a single man.\n\nBradley shook his head. \"I can\'t make it out,\" he said. \"One of those\nboches must be pretty clever to come it over us all like this; but they\nhaven\'t harmed us as much as they think; there are still the extra\ninstruments.\"\n\nIt was my turn now to shake a doleful head. \"There are no extra\ninstruments,\" I told them. \"They too have disappeared as did the\nwireless apparatus.\"\n\nBoth men looked at me in amazement. \"We still have the compass and the\nsun,\" said Olson. \"They may be after getting the compass some night;\nbut they\'s too many of us around in the daytime fer \'em to get the sun.\"\n\nIt was then that one of the men stuck his head up through the hatchway\nand seeing me, asked permission to come on deck and get a breath of\nfresh air. I recognized him as Benson, the man who, Wilson had said,\nreported having seen Lys with von Schoenvorts two nights before. I\nmotioned him on deck and then called him to one side, asking if he had\nseen anything out of the way or unusual during his trick on watch the\nnight before. The fellow scratched his head a moment and said, \"No,\"\nand then as though it was an afterthought, he told me that he had seen\nthe girl in the crew\'s room about midnight talking with the German\ncommander, but as there hadn\'t seemed to him to be any harm in that, he\nhadn\'t said anything about it. Telling him never to fail to report to\nme anything in the slightest out of the ordinary routine of the ship, I\ndismissed him.\n\nSeveral of the other men now asked permission to come on deck, and soon\nall but those actually engaged in some necessary duty were standing\naround smoking and talking, all in the best of spirits. I took\nadvantage of the absence of the men upon the deck to go below for my\nbreakfast, which the cook was already preparing upon the electric\nstove. Lys, followed by Nobs, appeared as I entered the centrale. She\nmet me with a pleasant \"Good morning!\" which I am afraid I replied to\nin a tone that was rather constrained and surly.\n\n\"Will you breakfast with me?\" I suddenly asked the girl, determined to\ncommence a probe of my own along the lines which duty demanded.\n\nShe nodded a sweet acceptance of my invitation, and together we sat\ndown at the little table of the officers\' mess.\n\n\"You slept well last night?\" I asked.\n\n\"All night,\" she replied. \"I am a splendid sleeper.\"\n\nHer manner was so straightforward and honest that I could not bring\nmyself to believe in her duplicity; yet--Thinking to surprise her into\na betrayal of her guilt, I blurted out: \"The chronometer and sextant\nwere both destroyed last night; there is a traitor among us.\" But she\nnever turned a hair by way of evidencing guilty knowledge of the\ncatastrophe.\n\n\"Who could it have been?\" she cried. \"The Germans would be crazy to do\nit, for their lives are as much at stake as ours.\"\n\n\"Men are often glad to die for an ideal--an ideal of patriotism,\nperhaps,\" I replied; \"and a willingness to martyr themselves includes a\nwillingness to sacrifice others, even those who love them. Women are\nmuch the same, except that they will go even further than most\nmen--they will sacrifice everything, even honor, for love.\"\n\nI watched her face carefully as I spoke, and I thought that I detected\na very faint flush mounting her cheek. Seeing an opening and an\nadvantage, I sought to follow it up.\n\n\"Take von Schoenvorts, for instance,\" I continued: \"he would doubtless\nbe glad to die and take us all with him, could he prevent in no other\nway the falling of his vessel into enemy hands. He would sacrifice\nanyone, even you; and if you still love him, you might be his ready\ntool. Do you understand me?\"\n\nShe looked at me in wide-eyed consternation for a moment, and then she\nwent very white and rose from her seat. \"I do,\" she replied, and\nturning her back upon me, she walked quickly toward her room. I\nstarted to follow, for even believing what I did, I was sorry that I\nhad hurt her. I reached the door to the crew\'s room just behind her\nand in time to see von Schoenvorts lean forward and whisper something\nto her as she passed; but she must have guessed that she might be\nwatched, for she passed on.\n\nThat afternoon it clouded over; the wind mounted to a gale, and the sea\nrose until the craft was wallowing and rolling frightfully. Nearly\neveryone aboard was sick; the air became foul and oppressive. For\ntwenty-four hours I did not leave my post in the conning tower, as both\nOlson and Bradley were sick. Finally I found that I must get a little\nrest, and so I looked about for some one to relieve me. Benson\nvolunteered. He had not been sick, and assured me that he was a former\nR.N. man and had been detailed for submarine duty for over two years.\nI was glad that it was he, for I had considerable confidence in his\nloyalty, and so it was with a feeling of security that I went below and\nlay down.\n\nI slept twelve hours straight, and when I awoke and discovered what I\nhad done, I lost no time in getting to the conning tower. There sat\nBenson as wide awake as could be, and the compass showed that we were\nheading straight into the west. The storm was still raging; nor did it\nabate its fury until the fourth day. We were all pretty well done up\nand looked forward to the time when we could go on deck and fill our\nlungs with fresh air. During the whole four days I had not seen the\ngirl, as she evidently kept closely to her room; and during this time\nno untoward incident had occurred aboard the boat--a fact which seemed\nto strengthen the web of circumstantial evidence about her.\n\nFor six more days after the storm lessened we still had fairly rough\nweather; nor did the sun once show himself during all that time. For\nthe season--it was now the middle of June--the storm was unusual; but\nbeing from southern California, I was accustomed to unusual weather.\nIn fact, I have discovered that the world over, unusual weather\nprevails at all times of the year.\n\nWe kept steadily to our westward course, and as the U-33 was one of the\nfastest submersibles we had ever turned out, I knew that we must be\npretty close to the North American coast. What puzzled me most was the\nfact that for six days we had not sighted a single ship. It seemed\nremarkable that we could cross the Atlantic almost to the coast of the\nAmerican continent without glimpsing smoke or sail, and at last I came\nto the conclusion that we were way off our course, but whether to the\nnorth or to the south of it I could not determine.\n\nOn the seventh day the sea lay comparatively calm at early dawn. There\nwas a slight haze upon the ocean which had cut off our view of the\nstars; but conditions all pointed toward a clear morrow, and I was on\ndeck anxiously awaiting the rising of the sun. My eyes were glued upon\nthe impenetrable mist astern, for there in the east I should see the\nfirst glow of the rising sun that would assure me we were still upon\nthe right course. Gradually the heavens lightened; but astern I could\nsee no intenser glow that would indicate the rising sun behind the\nmist. Bradley was standing at my side. Presently he touched my arm.\n\n\"Look, captain,\" he said, and pointed south.\n\nI looked and gasped, for there directly to port I saw outlined through\nthe haze the red top of the rising sun. Hurrying to the tower, I\nlooked at the compass. It showed that we were holding steadily upon\nour westward course. Either the sun was rising in the south, or the\ncompass had been tampered with. The conclusion was obvious.\n\nI went back to Bradley and told him what I had discovered. \"And,\" I\nconcluded, \"we can\'t make another five hundred knots without oil; our\nprovisions are running low and so is our water. God only knows how far\nsouth we have run.\"\n\n\"There is nothing to do,\" he replied, \"other than to alter our course\nonce more toward the west; we must raise land soon or we shall all be\nlost.\"\n\nI told him to do so; and then I set to work improvising a crude sextant\nwith which we finally took our bearings in a rough and most\nunsatisfactory manner; for when the work was done, we did not know how\nfar from the truth the result might be. It showed us to be about 20ş\nnorth and 30ş west--nearly twenty-five hundred miles off our course.\nIn short, if our reading was anywhere near correct, we must have been\ntraveling due south for six days. Bradley now relieved Benson, for we\nhad arranged our shifts so that the latter and Olson now divided the\nnights, while Bradley and I alternated with one another during the days.\n\nI questioned both Olson and Benson closely in the matter of the\ncompass; but each stoutly maintained that no one had tampered with it\nduring his tour of duty. Benson gave me a knowing smile, as much as to\nsay: \"Well, you and I know who did this.\" Yet I could not believe\nthat it was the girl.\n\nWe kept to our westerly course for several hours when the lookout\'s cry\nannounced a sail. I ordered the U-33\'s course altered, and we bore\ndown upon the stranger, for I had come to a decision which was the\nresult of necessity. We could not lie there in the middle of the\nAtlantic and starve to death if there was any way out of it. The\nsailing ship saw us while we were still a long way off, as was\nevidenced by her efforts to escape. There was scarcely any wind,\nhowever, and her case was hopeless; so when we drew near and signaled\nher to stop, she came into the wind and lay there with her sails\nflapping idly. We moved in quite close to her. She was the Balmen of\nHalmstad, Sweden, with a general cargo from Brazil for Spain.\n\nI explained our circumstances to her skipper and asked for food, water\nand oil; but when he found that we were not German, he became very\nangry and abusive and started to draw away from us; but I was in no\nmood for any such business. Turning toward Bradley, who was in the\nconning-tower, I snapped out: \"Gun-service on deck! To the diving\nstations!\" We had no opportunity for drill; but every man had been\nposted as to his duties, and the German members of the crew understood\nthat it was obedience or death for them, as each was accompanied by a\nman with a pistol. Most of them, though, were only too glad to obey me.\n\nBradley passed the order down into the ship and a moment later the\ngun-crew clambered up the narrow ladder and at my direction trained\ntheir piece upon the slow-moving Swede. \"Fire a shot across her bow,\"\nI instructed the gun-captain.\n\nAccept it from me, it didn\'t take that Swede long to see the error of\nhis way and get the red and white pennant signifying \"I understand\" to\nthe masthead. Once again the sails flapped idly, and then I ordered\nhim to lower a boat and come after me. With Olson and a couple of the\nEnglishmen I boarded the ship, and from her cargo selected what we\nneeded--oil, provisions and water. I gave the master of the Balmen a\nreceipt for what we took, together with an affidavit signed by Bradley,\nOlson, and myself, stating briefly how we had come into possession of\nthe U-33 and the urgency of our need for what we took. We addressed\nboth to any British agent with the request that the owners of the\nBalmen be reimbursed; but whether or not they were, I do not know.[1]\n\nWith water, food, and oil aboard, we felt that we had obtained a new\nlease of life. Now, too, we knew definitely where we were, and I\ndetermined to make for Georgetown, British Guiana--but I was destined\nto again suffer bitter disappointment.\n\nSix of us of the loyal crew had come on deck either to serve the gun or\nboard the Swede during our set-to with her; and now, one by one, we\ndescended the ladder into the centrale. I was the last to come, and\nwhen I reached the bottom, I found myself looking into the muzzle of a\npistol in the hands of Baron Friedrich von Schoenvorts--I saw all my\nmen lined up at one side with the remaining eight Germans standing\nguard over them.\n\n\nI couldn\'t imagine how it had happened; but it had. Later I learned\nthat they had first overpowered Benson, who was asleep in his bunk, and\ntaken his pistol from him, and then had found it an easy matter to\ndisarm the cook and the remaining two Englishmen below. After that it\nhad been comparatively simple to stand at the foot of the ladder and\narrest each individual as he descended.\n\nThe first thing von Schoenvorts did was to send for me and announce\nthat as a pirate I was to be shot early the next morning. Then he\nexplained that the U-33 would cruise in these waters for a time,\nsinking neutral and enemy shipping indiscriminately, and looking for\none of the German raiders that was supposed to be in these parts.\n\nHe didn\'t shoot me the next morning as he had promised, and it has\nnever been clear to me why he postponed the execution of my sentence.\nInstead he kept me ironed just as he had been; then he kicked Bradley\nout of my room and took it all to himself.\n\nWe cruised for a long time, sinking many vessels, all but one by\ngunfire, but we did not come across a German raider. I was surprised\nto note that von Schoenvorts often permitted Benson to take command;\nbut I reconciled this by the fact that Benson appeared to know more of\nthe duties of a submarine commander than did any of the stupid Germans.\n\nOnce or twice Lys passed me; but for the most part she kept to her\nroom. The first time she hesitated as though she wished to speak to\nme; but I did not raise my head, and finally she passed on. Then one\nday came the word that we were about to round the Horn and that von\nSchoenvorts had taken it into his fool head to cruise up along the\nPacific coast of North America and prey upon all sorts and conditions\nof merchantmen.\n\n\"I\'ll put the fear of God and the Kaiser into them,\" he said.\n\nThe very first day we entered the South Pacific we had an adventure. It\nturned out to be quite the most exciting adventure I had ever\nencountered. It fell about this way. About eight bells of the\nforenoon watch I heard a hail from the deck, and presently the\nfootsteps of the entire ship\'s company, from the amount of noise I\nheard at the ladder. Some one yelled back to those who had not yet\nreached the level of the deck: \"It\'s the raider, the German raider\n_Geier_!\"\n\nI saw that we had reached the end of our rope. Below all was\nquiet--not a man remained. A door opened at the end of the narrow\nhull, and presently Nobs came trotting up to me. He licked my face and\nrolled over on his back, reaching for me with his big, awkward paws.\nThen other footsteps sounded, approaching me. I knew whose they were,\nand I looked straight down at the flooring. The girl was coming almost\nat a run--she was at my side immediately. \"Here!\" she cried. \"Quick!\"\nAnd she slipped something into my hand. It was a key--the key to my\nirons. At my side she also laid a pistol, and then she went on into\nthe centrale. As she passed me, I saw that she carried another pistol\nfor herself. It did not take me long to liberate myself, and then I\nwas at her side. \"How can I thank you?\" I started; but she shut me up\nwith a word.\n\n\"Do not thank me,\" she said coldly. \"I do not care to hear your thanks\nor any other expression from you. Do not stand there looking at me. I\nhave given you a chance to do something--now do it!\" The last was a\nperemptory command that made me jump.\n\nGlancing up, I saw that the tower was empty, and I lost no time in\nclambering up, looking about me. About a hundred yards off lay a\nsmall, swift cruiser-raider, and above her floated the German\nman-of-war\'s flag. A boat had just been lowered, and I could see it\nmoving toward us filled with officers and men. The cruiser lay dead\nahead. \"My,\" I thought, \"what a wonderful targ--\" I stopped even\nthinking, so surprised and shocked was I by the boldness of my imagery.\nThe girl was just below me. I looked down on her wistfully. Could I\ntrust her? Why had she released me at this moment? I must! I must!\nThere was no other way. I dropped back below. \"Ask Olson to step down\nhere, please,\" I requested; \"and don\'t let anyone see you ask him.\"\n\nShe looked at me with a puzzled expression on her face for the barest\nfraction of a second, and then she turned and went up the ladder. A\nmoment later Olson returned, and the girl followed him. \"Quick!\" I\nwhispered to the big Irishman, and made for the bow compartment where\nthe torpedo-tubes are built into the boat; here, too, were the\ntorpedoes. The girl accompanied us, and when she saw the thing I had\nin mind, she stepped forward and lent a hand to the swinging of the\ngreat cylinder of death and destruction into the mouth of its tube.\nWith oil and main strength we shoved the torpedo home and shut the\ntube; then I ran back to the conning-tower, praying in my heart of\nhearts that the U-33 had not swung her bow away from the prey. No,\nthank God!\n\nNever could aim have been truer. I signaled back to Olson: \"Let \'er\ngo!\" The U-33 trembled from stem to stern as the torpedo shot from its\ntube. I saw the white wake leap from her bow straight toward the enemy\ncruiser. A chorus of hoarse yells arose from the deck of our own\ncraft: I saw the officers stand suddenly erect in the boat that was\napproaching us, and I heard loud cries and curses from the raider.\nThen I turned my attention to my own business. Most of the men on the\nsubmarine\'s deck were standing in paralyzed fascination, staring at the\ntorpedo. Bradley happened to be looking toward the conning-tower and\nsaw me. I sprang on deck and ran toward him. \"Quick!\" I whispered.\n\"While they are stunned, we must overcome them.\"\n\nA German was standing near Bradley--just in front of him. The\nEnglishman struck the fellow a frantic blow upon the neck and at the\nsame time snatched his pistol from its holster. Von Schoenvorts had\nrecovered from his first surprise quickly and had turned toward the\nmain hatch to investigate. I covered him with my revolver, and at the\nsame instant the torpedo struck the raider, the terrific explosion\ndrowning the German\'s command to his men.\n\nBradley was now running from one to another of our men, and though some\nof the Germans saw and heard him, they seemed too stunned for action.\n\nOlson was below, so that there were only nine of us against eight\nGermans, for the man Bradley had struck still lay upon the deck. Only\ntwo of us were armed; but the heart seemed to have gone out of the\nboches, and they put up but half-hearted resistance. Von Schoenvorts\nwas the worst--he was fairly frenzied with rage and chagrin, and he\ncame charging for me like a mad bull, and as he came he discharged his\npistol. If he\'d stopped long enough to take aim, he might have gotten\nme; but his pace made him wild, so that not a shot touched me, and then\nwe clinched and went to the deck. This left two pistols, which two of\nmy own men were quick to appropriate. The Baron was no match for me in\na hand-to-hand encounter, and I soon had him pinned to the deck and the\nlife almost choked out of him.\n\nA half-hour later things had quieted down, and all was much the same as\nbefore the prisoners had revolted--only we kept a much closer watch on\nvon Schoenvorts. The _Geier_ had sunk while we were still battling upon\nour deck, and afterward we had drawn away toward the north, leaving the\nsurvivors to the attention of the single boat which had been making its\nway toward us when Olson launched the torpedo. I suppose the poor\ndevils never reached land, and if they did, they most probably perished\non that cold and unhospitable shore; but I couldn\'t permit them aboard\nthe U-33. We had all the Germans we could take care of.\n\nThat evening the girl asked permission to go on deck. She said that\nshe felt the effects of long confinement below, and I readily granted\nher request. I could not understand her, and I craved an opportunity\nto talk with her again in an effort to fathom her and her intentions,\nand so I made it a point to follow her up the ladder. It was a clear,\ncold, beautiful night. The sea was calm except for the white water at\nour bows and the two long radiating swells running far off into the\ndistance upon either hand astern, forming a great V which our\npropellers filled with choppy waves. Benson was in the tower, we were\nbound for San Diego and all looked well.\n\nLys stood with a heavy blanket wrapped around her slender figure, and\nas I approached her, she half turned toward me to see who it was. When\nshe recognized me, she immediately turned away.\n\n\"I want to thank you,\" I said, \"for your bravery and loyalty--you were\nmagnificent. I am sorry that you had reason before to think that I\ndoubted you.\"\n\n\"You did doubt me,\" she replied in a level voice. \"You practically\naccused me of aiding Baron von Schoenvorts. I can never forgive you.\"\n\nThere was a great deal of finality in both her words and tone.\n\n\"I could not believe it,\" I said; \"and yet two of my men reported\nhaving seen you in conversation with von Schoenvorts late at night upon\ntwo separate occasions--after each of which some great damage was found\ndone us in the morning. I didn\'t want to doubt you; but I carried all\nthe responsibility of the lives of these men, of the safety of the\nship, of your life and mine. I had to watch you, and I had to put you\non your guard against a repetition of your madness.\"\n\nShe was looking at me now with those great eyes of hers, very wide and\nround.\n\n\"Who told you that I spoke with Baron von Schoenvorts at night, or any\nother time?\" she asked.\n\n\"I cannot tell you, Lys,\" I replied, \"but it came to me from two\ndifferent sources.\"\n\n\"Then two men have lied,\" she asserted without heat. \"I have not\nspoken to Baron von Schoenvorts other than in your presence when first\nwe came aboard the U-33. And please, when you address me, remember\nthat to others than my intimates I am Miss La Rue.\"\n\nDid you ever get slapped in the face when you least expected it? No?\nWell, then you do not know how I felt at that moment. I could feel the\nhot, red flush surging up my neck, across my cheeks, over my ears,\nclear to my scalp. And it made me love her all the more; it made me\nswear inwardly a thousand solemn oaths that I would win her.\n\n\n[1] Late in July, 1916, an item in the shipping news mentioned a\nSwedish sailing vessel, Balmen, Rio de Janeiro to Barcelona, sunk by a\nGerman raider sometime in June. A single survivor in an open boat was\npicked up off the Cape Verde Islands, in a dying condition. He expired\nwithout giving any details.\n\n\n\nChapter 4\n\nFor several days things went along in about the same course. I took our\nposition every morning with my crude sextant; but the results were\nalways most unsatisfactory. They always showed a considerable westing\nwhen I knew that we had been sailing due north. I blamed my crude\ninstrument, and kept on. Then one afternoon the girl came to me.\n\n\"Pardon me,\" she said, \"but were I you, I should watch this man\nBenson--especially when he is in charge.\" I asked her what she meant,\nthinking I could see the influence of von Schoenvorts raising a\nsuspicion against one of my most trusted men.\n\n\"If you will note the boat\'s course a half-hour after Benson goes on\nduty,\" she said, \"you will know what I mean, and you will understand\nwhy he prefers a night watch. Possibly, too, you will understand some\nother things that have taken place aboard.\"\n\nThen she went back to her room, thus ending the conversation. I waited\nuntil half an hour after Benson had gone on duty, and then I went on\ndeck, passing through the conning-tower where Benson sat, and looking\nat the compass. It showed that our course was north by west--that is,\none point west of north, which was, for our assumed position, about\nright. I was greatly relieved to find that nothing was wrong, for the\ngirl\'s words had caused me considerable apprehension. I was about to\nreturn to my room when a thought occurred to me that again caused me to\nchange my mind--and, incidentally, came near proving my death-warrant.\n\nWhen I had left the conning-tower little more than a half-hour since,\nthe sea had been breaking over the port bow, and it seemed to me quite\nimprobable that in so short a time an equally heavy sea could be\ndeluging us from the opposite side of the ship--winds may change\nquickly, but not a long, heavy sea. There was only one other\nsolution--since I left the tower, our course had been altered some\neight points. Turning quickly, I climbed out upon the conning-tower.\nA single glance at the heavens confirmed my suspicions; the\nconstellations which should have been dead ahead were directly\nstarboard. We were sailing due west.\n\nJust for an instant longer I stood there to check up my calculations--I\nwanted to be quite sure before I accused Benson of perfidy, and about\nthe only thing I came near making quite sure of was death. I cannot\nsee even now how I escaped it. I was standing on the edge of the\nconning-tower, when a heavy palm suddenly struck me between the\nshoulders and hurled me forward into space. The drop to the triangular\ndeck forward of the conning-tower might easily have broken a leg for\nme, or I might have slipped off onto the deck and rolled overboard; but\nfate was upon my side, as I was only slightly bruised. As I came to my\nfeet, I heard the conning-tower cover slam. There is a ladder which\nleads from the deck to the top of the tower. Up this I scrambled, as\nfast as I could go; but Benson had the cover tight before I reached it.\n\nI stood there a moment in dumb consternation. What did the fellow\nintend? What was going on below? If Benson was a traitor, how could I\nknow that there were not other traitors among us? I cursed myself for\nmy folly in going out upon the deck, and then this thought suggested\nanother--a hideous one: who was it that had really been responsible for\nmy being here?\n\nThinking to attract attention from inside the craft, I again ran down\nthe ladder and onto the small deck only to find that the steel covers\nof the conning-tower windows were shut, and then I leaned with my back\nagainst the tower and cursed myself for a gullible idiot.\n\nI glanced at the bow. The sea seemed to be getting heavier, for every\nwave now washed completely over the lower deck. I watched them for a\nmoment, and then a sudden chill pervaded my entire being. It was not\nthe chill of wet clothing, or the dashing spray which drenched my face;\nno, it was the chill of the hand of death upon my heart. In an instant\nI had turned the last corner of life\'s highway and was looking God\nAlmighty in the face--the U-33 was being slowly submerged!\n\nIt would be difficult, even impossible, to set down in writing my\nsensations at that moment. All I can particularly recall is that I\nlaughed, though neither from a spirit of bravado nor from hysteria.\nAnd I wanted to smoke. Lord! how I did want to smoke; but that was out\nof the question.\n\nI watched the water rise until the little deck I stood on was awash,\nand then I clambered once more to the top of the conning-tower. From\nthe very slow submergence of the boat I knew that Benson was doing the\nentire trick alone--that he was merely permitting the diving-tanks to\nfill and that the diving-rudders were not in use. The throbbing of the\nengines ceased, and in its stead came the steady vibration of the\nelectric motors. The water was halfway up the conning-tower! I had\nperhaps five minutes longer on the deck. I tried to decide what I\nshould do after I was washed away. Should I swim until exhaustion\nclaimed me, or should I give up and end the agony at the first plunge?\n\nFrom below came two muffled reports. They sounded not unlike shots.\nWas Benson meeting with resistance? Personally it could mean little to\nme, for even though my men might overcome the enemy, none would know of\nmy predicament until long after it was too late to succor me. The top\nof the conning-tower was now awash. I clung to the wireless mast,\nwhile the great waves surged sometimes completely over me.\n\nI knew the end was near and, almost involuntarily, I did that which I\nhad not done since childhood--I prayed. After that I felt better.\n\nI clung and waited, but the water rose no higher.\n\nInstead it receded. Now the top of the conning-tower received only the\ncrests of the higher waves; now the little triangular deck below became\nvisible! What had occurred within? Did Benson believe me already\ngone, and was he emerging because of that belief, or had he and his\nforces been vanquished? The suspense was more wearing than that which\nI had endured while waiting for dissolution. Presently the main deck\ncame into view, and then the conning-tower opened behind me, and I\nturned to look into the anxious face of Bradley. An expression of\nrelief overspread his features.\n\n\"Thank God, man!\" was all he said as he reached forth and dragged me\ninto the tower. I was cold and numb and rather all in. Another few\nminutes would have done for me, I am sure, but the warmth of the\ninterior helped to revive me, aided and abetted by some brandy which\nBradley poured down my throat, from which it nearly removed the\nmembrane. That brandy would have revived a corpse.\n\nWhen I got down into the centrale, I saw the Germans lined up on one\nside with a couple of my men with pistols standing over them. Von\nSchoenvorts was among them. On the floor lay Benson, moaning, and\nbeyond him stood the girl, a revolver in one hand. I looked about,\nbewildered.\n\n\"What has happened down here?\" I asked. \"Tell me!\"\n\nBradley replied. \"You see the result, sir,\" he said. \"It might have\nbeen a very different result but for Miss La Rue. We were all asleep.\nBenson had relieved the guard early in the evening; there was no one to\nwatch him--no one but Miss La Rue. She felt the submergence of the\nboat and came out of her room to investigate. She was just in time to\nsee Benson at the diving rudders. When he saw her, he raised his\npistol and fired point-blank at her, but he missed and she fired--and\ndidn\'t miss. The two shots awakened everyone, and as our men were\narmed, the result was inevitable as you see it; but it would have been\nvery different had it not been for Miss La Rue. It was she who closed\nthe diving-tank sea-cocks and roused Olson and me, and had the pumps\nstarted to empty them.\"\n\nAnd there I had been thinking that through her machinations I had been\nlured to the deck and to my death! I could have gone on my knees to\nher and begged her forgiveness--or at least I could have, had I not\nbeen Anglo-Saxon. As it was, I could only remove my soggy cap and bow\nand mumble my appreciation. She made no reply--only turned and walked\nvery rapidly toward her room. Could I have heard aright? Was it really\na sob that came floating back to me through the narrow aisle of the\nU-33?\n\nBenson died that night. He remained defiant almost to the last; but\njust before he went out, he motioned to me, and I leaned over to catch\nthe faintly whispered words.\n\n\"I did it alone,\" he said. \"I did it because I hate you--I hate all\nyour kind. I was kicked out of your shipyard at Santa Monica. I was\nlocked out of California. I am an I. W. W. I became a German\nagent--not because I love them, for I hate them too--but because I\nwanted to injure Americans, whom I hated more. I threw the wireless\napparatus overboard. I destroyed the chronometer and the sextant. I\ndevised a scheme for varying the compass to suit my wishes. I told\nWilson that I had seen the girl talking with von Schoenvorts, and I\nmade the poor egg think he had seen her doing the same thing. I am\nsorry--sorry that my plans failed. I hate you.\"\n\nHe didn\'t die for a half-hour after that; nor did he speak\nagain--aloud; but just a few seconds before he went to meet his Maker,\nhis lips moved in a faint whisper; and as I leaned closer to catch his\nwords, what do you suppose I heard? \"Now--I--lay me--down--to--sleep\"\nThat was all; Benson was dead. We threw his body overboard.\n\nThe wind of that night brought on some pretty rough weather with a lot\nof black clouds which persisted for several days. We didn\'t know what\ncourse we had been holding, and there was no way of finding out, as we\ncould no longer trust the compass, not knowing what Benson had done to\nit. The long and the short of it was that we cruised about aimlessly\nuntil the sun came out again. I\'ll never forget that day or its\nsurprises. We reckoned, or rather guessed, that we were somewhere off\nthe coast of Peru. The wind, which had been blowing fitfully from the\neast, suddenly veered around into the south, and presently we felt a\nsudden chill.\n\n\"Peru!\" snorted Olson. \"When were yez after smellin\' iceber-rgs off\nPeru?\"\n\nIcebergs! \"Icebergs, nothin\'!\" exclaimed one of the Englishmen. \"Why,\nman, they don\'t come north of fourteen here in these waters.\"\n\n\"Then,\" replied Olson, \"ye\'re sout\' of fourteen, me b\'y.\"\n\nWe thought he was crazy; but he wasn\'t, for that afternoon we sighted a\ngreat berg south of us, and we\'d been running north, we thought, for\ndays. I can tell you we were a discouraged lot; but we got a faint\nthrill of hope early the next morning when the lookout bawled down the\nopen hatch: \"Land! Land northwest by west!\"\n\nI think we were all sick for the sight of land. I know that I was; but\nmy interest was quickly dissipated by the sudden illness of three of\nthe Germans. Almost simultaneously they commenced vomiting. They\ncouldn\'t suggest any explanation for it. I asked them what they had\neaten, and found they had eaten nothing other than the food cooked for\nall of us. \"Have you drunk anything?\" I asked, for I knew that there\nwas liquor aboard, and medicines in the same locker.\n\n\"Only water,\" moaned one of them. \"We all drank water together this\nmorning. We opened a new tank. Maybe it was the water.\"\n\nI started an investigation which revealed a terrifying condition--some\none, probably Benson, had poisoned all the running water on the ship.\nIt would have been worse, though, had land not been in sight. The\nsight of land filled us with renewed hope.\n\nOur course had been altered, and we were rapidly approaching what\nappeared to be a precipitous headland. Cliffs, seemingly rising\nperpendicularly out of the sea, faded away into the mist upon either\nhand as we approached. The land before us might have been a continent,\nso mighty appeared the shoreline; yet we knew that we must be thousands\nof miles from the nearest western land-mass--New Zealand or Australia.\n\nWe took our bearings with our crude and inaccurate instruments; we\nsearched the chart; we cudgeled our brains; and at last it was Bradley\nwho suggested a solution. He was in the tower and watching the\ncompass, to which he called my attention. The needle was pointing\nstraight toward the land. Bradley swung the helm hard to starboard. I\ncould feel the U-33 respond, and yet the arrow still clung straight and\nsure toward the distant cliffs.\n\n\"What do you make of it?\" I asked him.\n\n\"Did you ever hear of Caproni?\" he asked.\n\n\"An early Italian navigator?\" I returned.\n\n\"Yes; he followed Cook about 1721. He is scarcely mentioned even by\ncontemporaneous historians--probably because he got into political\ndifficulties on his return to Italy. It was the fashion to scoff at\nhis claims, but I recall reading one of his works--his only one, I\nbelieve--in which he described a new continent in the south seas, a\ncontinent made up of \'some strange metal\' which attracted the compass;\na rockbound, inhospitable coast, without beach or harbor, which\nextended for hundreds of miles. He could make no landing; nor in the\nseveral days he cruised about it did he see sign of life. He called it\nCaprona and sailed away. I believe, sir, that we are looking upon the\ncoast of Caprona, uncharted and forgotten for two hundred years.\"\n\n\"If you are right, it might account for much of the deviation of the\ncompass during the past two days,\" I suggested. \"Caprona has been\nluring us upon her deadly rocks. Well, we\'ll accept her challenge.\nWe\'ll land upon Caprona. Along that long front there must be a\nvulnerable spot. We will find it, Bradley, for we must find it. We\nmust find water on Caprona, or we must die.\"\n\nAnd so we approached the coast upon which no living eyes had ever\nrested. Straight from the ocean\'s depths rose towering cliffs, shot\nwith brown and blues and greens--withered moss and lichen and the\nverdigris of copper, and everywhere the rusty ocher of iron pyrites.\nThe cliff-tops, though ragged, were of such uniform height as to\nsuggest the boundaries of a great plateau, and now and again we caught\nglimpses of verdure topping the rocky escarpment, as though bush or\njungle-land had pushed outward from a lush vegetation farther inland to\nsignal to an unseeing world that Caprona lived and joyed in life beyond\nher austere and repellent coast.\n\nBut metaphor, however poetic, never slaked a dry throat. To enjoy\nCaprona\'s romantic suggestions we must have water, and so we came in\nclose, always sounding, and skirted the shore. As close in as we dared\ncruise, we found fathomless depths, and always the same undented\ncoastline of bald cliffs. As darkness threatened, we drew away and lay\nwell off the coast all night. We had not as yet really commenced to\nsuffer for lack of water; but I knew that it would not be long before\nwe did, and so at the first streak of dawn I moved in again and once\nmore took up the hopeless survey of the forbidding coast.\n\nToward noon we discovered a beach, the first we had seen. It was a\nnarrow strip of sand at the base of a part of the cliff that seemed\nlower than any we had before scanned. At its foot, half buried in the\nsand, lay great boulders, mute evidence that in a bygone age some\nmighty natural force had crumpled Caprona\'s barrier at this point. It\nwas Bradley who first called our attention to a strange object lying\namong the boulders above the surf.\n\n\"Looks like a man,\" he said, and passed his glasses to me.\n\nI looked long and carefully and could have sworn that the thing I saw\nwas the sprawled figure of a human being. Miss La Rue was on deck with\nus. I turned and asked her to go below. Without a word she did as I\nbade. Then I stripped, and as I did so, Nobs looked questioningly at\nme. He had been wont at home to enter the surf with me, and evidently\nhe had not forgotten it.\n\n\"What are you going to do, sir?\" asked Olson.\n\n\"I\'m going to see what that thing is on shore,\" I replied. \"If it\'s a\nman, it may mean that Caprona is inhabited, or it may merely mean that\nsome poor devils were shipwrecked here. I ought to be able to tell from\nthe clothing which is more near the truth.\n\n\"How about sharks?\" queried Olson. \"Sure, you ought to carry a knoife.\"\n\n\"Here you are, sir,\" cried one of the men.\n\nIt was a long slim blade he offered--one that I could carry between my\nteeth--and so I accepted it gladly.\n\n\"Keep close in,\" I directed Bradley, and then I dived over the side and\nstruck out for the narrow beach. There was another splash directly\nbehind me, and turning my head, I saw faithful old Nobs swimming\nvaliantly in my wake.\n\nThe surf was not heavy, and there was no undertow, so we made shore\neasily, effecting an equally easy landing. The beach was composed\nlargely of small stones worn smooth by the action of water. There was\nlittle sand, though from the deck of the U-33 the beach had appeared to\nbe all sand, and I saw no evidences of mollusca or crustacea such as\nare common to all beaches I have previously seen. I attribute this to\nthe fact of the smallness of the beach, the enormous depth of\nsurrounding water and the great distance at which Caprona lies from her\nnearest neighbor.\n\nAs Nobs and I approached the recumbent figure farther up the beach, I\nwas appraised by my nose that whether man or not, the thing had once been\norganic and alive, but that for some time it had been dead. Nobs\nhalted, sniffed and growled. A little later he sat down upon his\nhaunches, raised his muzzle to the heavens and bayed forth a most\ndismal howl. I shied a small stone at him and bade him shut up--his\nuncanny noise made me nervous. When I had come quite close to the\nthing, I still could not say whether it had been man or beast. The\ncarcass was badly swollen and partly decomposed. There was no sign of\nclothing upon or about it. A fine, brownish hair covered the chest and\nabdomen, and the face, the palms of the hands, the feet, the shoulders\nand back were practically hairless. The creature must have been about\nthe height of a fair sized man; its features were similar to those of a\nman; yet had it been a man?\n\nI could not say, for it resembled an ape no more than it did a man.\nIts large toes protruded laterally as do those of the semiarboreal\npeoples of Borneo, the Philippines and other remote regions where low\ntypes still persist. The countenance might have been that of a cross\nbetween Pithecanthropus, the Java ape-man, and a daughter of the\nPiltdown race of prehistoric Sussex. A wooden cudgel lay beside the\ncorpse.\n\nNow this fact set me thinking. There was no wood of any description in\nsight. There was nothing about the beach to suggest a wrecked mariner.\nThere was absolutely nothing about the body to suggest that it might\npossibly in life have known a maritime experience. It was the body of\na low type of man or a high type of beast. In neither instance would\nit have been of a seafaring race. Therefore I deduced that it was\nnative to Caprona--that it lived inland, and that it had fallen or been\nhurled from the cliffs above. Such being the case, Caprona was\ninhabitable, if not inhabited, by man; but how to reach the inhabitable\ninterior! That was the question. A closer view of the cliffs than had\nbeen afforded me from the deck of the U-33 only confirmed my conviction\nthat no mortal man could scale those perpendicular heights; there was\nnot a finger-hold, not a toe-hold, upon them. I turned away baffled.\n\nNobs and I met with no sharks upon our return journey to the submarine.\nMy report filled everyone with theories and speculations, and with\nrenewed hope and determination. They all reasoned along the same lines\nthat I had reasoned--the conclusions were obvious, but not the water.\nWe were now thirstier than ever.\n\nThe balance of that day we spent in continuing a minute and fruitless\nexploration of the monotonous coast. There was not another break in\nthe frowning cliffs--not even another minute patch of pebbly beach. As\nthe sun fell, so did our spirits. I had tried to make advances to the\ngirl again; but she would have none of me, and so I was not only\nthirsty but otherwise sad and downhearted. I was glad when the new day\nbroke the hideous spell of a sleepless night.\n\nThe morning\'s search brought us no shred of hope. Caprona was\nimpregnable--that was the decision of all; yet we kept on. It must\nhave been about two bells of the afternoon watch that Bradley called my\nattention to the branch of a tree, with leaves upon it, floating on the\nsea. \"It may have been carried down to the ocean by a river,\" he\nsuggested.\n\n\"Yes,\" I replied, \"it may have; it may have tumbled or been thrown off\nthe top of one of these cliffs.\"\n\nBradley\'s face fell. \"I thought of that, too,\" he replied, \"but I\nwanted to believe the other.\"\n\n\"Right you are!\" I cried. \"We must believe the other until we prove it\nfalse. We can\'t afford to give up heart now, when we need heart most.\nThe branch was carried down by a river, and we are going to find that\nriver.\" I smote my open palm with a clenched fist, to emphasize a\ndetermination unsupported by hope. \"There!\" I cried suddenly. \"See\nthat, Bradley?\" And I pointed at a spot closer to shore. \"See that,\nman!\" Some flowers and grasses and another leafy branch floated toward\nus. We both scanned the water and the coastline. Bradley evidently\ndiscovered something, or at least thought that he had. He called down\nfor a bucket and a rope, and when they were passed up to him, he\nlowered the former into the sea and drew it in filled with water. Of\nthis he took a taste, and straightening up, looked into my eyes with an\nexpression of elation--as much as to say \"I told you so!\"\n\n\"This water is warm,\" he announced, \"and fresh!\"\n\nI grabbed the bucket and tasted its contents. The water was very warm,\nand it was fresh, but there was a most unpleasant taste to it.\n\n\"Did you ever taste water from a stagnant pool full of tadpoles?\"\nBradley asked.\n\n\"That\'s it,\" I exclaimed, \"--that\'s just the taste exactly, though I\nhaven\'t experienced it since boyhood; but how can water from a flowing\nstream, taste thus, and what the dickens makes it so warm? It must be\nat least 70 or 80 Fahrenheit, possibly higher.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" agreed Bradley, \"I should say higher; but where does it come\nfrom?\"\n\n\"That is easily discovered now that we have found it,\" I answered. \"It\ncan\'t come from the ocean; so it must come from the land. All that we\nhave to do is follow it, and sooner or later we shall come upon its\nsource.\"\n\nWe were already rather close in; but I ordered the U-33\'s prow turned\ninshore and we crept slowly along, constantly dipping up the water and\ntasting it to assure ourselves that we didn\'t get outside the\nfresh-water current. There was a very light off-shore wind and\nscarcely any breakers, so that the approach to the shore was continued\nwithout finding bottom; yet though we were already quite close, we saw\nno indication of any indention in the coast from which even a tiny\nbrooklet might issue, and certainly no mouth of a large river such as\nthis must necessarily be to freshen the ocean even two hundred yards\nfrom shore. The tide was running out, and this, together with the\nstrong flow of the freshwater current, would have prevented our going\nagainst the cliffs even had we not been under power; as it was we had\nto buck the combined forces in order to hold our position at all. We\ncame up to within twenty-five feet of the sheer wall, which loomed high\nabove us. There was no break in its forbidding face. As we watched the\nface of the waters and searched the cliff\'s high face, Olson suggested\nthat the fresh water might come from a submarine geyser. This, he\nsaid, would account for its heat; but even as he spoke a bush, covered\nthickly with leaves and flowers, bubbled to the surface and floated off\nastern.\n\n\"Flowering shrubs don\'t thrive in the subterranean caverns from which\ngeysers spring,\" suggested Bradley.\n\nOlson shook his head. \"It beats me,\" he said.\n\n\"I\'ve got it!\" I exclaimed suddenly. \"Look there!\" And I pointed at\nthe base of the cliff ahead of us, which the receding tide was\ngradually exposing to our view. They all looked, and all saw what I\nhad seen--the top of a dark opening in the rock, through which water\nwas pouring out into the sea. \"It\'s the subterranean channel of an\ninland river,\" I cried. \"It flows through a land covered with\nvegetation--and therefore a land upon which the sun shines. No\nsubterranean caverns produce any order of plant life even remotely\nresembling what we have seen disgorged by this river. Beyond those\ncliffs lie fertile lands and fresh water--perhaps, game!\"\n\n\"Yis, sir,\" said Olson, \"behoind the cliffs! Ye spoke a true word,\nsir--behoind!\"\n\nBradley laughed--a rather sorry laugh, though. \"You might as well call\nour attention to the fact, sir,\" he said, \"that science has indicated\nthat there is fresh water and vegetation on Mars.\"\n\n\"Not at all,\" I rejoined. \"A U-boat isn\'t constructed to navigate\nspace, but it is designed to travel below the surface of the water.\"\n\n\"You\'d be after sailin\' into that blank pocket?\" asked Olson.\n\n\"I would, Olson,\" I replied. \"We haven\'t one chance for life in a\nhundred thousand if we don\'t find food and water upon Caprona. This\nwater coming out of the cliff is not salt; but neither is it fit to\ndrink, though each of us has drunk. It is fair to assume that inland\nthe river is fed by pure streams, that there are fruits and herbs and\ngame. Shall we lie out here and die of thirst and starvation with a\nland of plenty possibly only a few hundred yards away? We have the\nmeans for navigating a subterranean river. Are we too cowardly to\nutilize this means?\"\n\n\"Be afther goin\' to it,\" said Olson.\n\n\"I\'m willing to see it through,\" agreed Bradley.\n\n\"Then under the bottom, wi\' the best o\' luck an\' give \'em hell!\" cried\na young fellow who had been in the trenches.\n\n\"To the diving-stations!\" I commanded, and in less than a minute the\ndeck was deserted, the conning-tower covers had slammed to and the U-33\nwas submerging--possibly for the last time. I know that I had this\nfeeling, and I think that most of the others did.\n\nAs we went down, I sat in the tower with the searchlight projecting its\nseemingly feeble rays ahead. We submerged very slowly and without\nheadway more than sufficient to keep her nose in the right direction,\nand as we went down, I saw outlined ahead of us the black opening in\nthe great cliff. It was an opening that would have admitted a\nhalf-dozen U-boats at one and the same time, roughly cylindrical in\ncontour--and dark as the pit of perdition.\n\nAs I gave the command which sent the U-33 slowly ahead, I could not but\nfeel a certain uncanny presentiment of evil. Where were we going?\nWhat lay at the end of this great sewer? Had we bidden farewell\nforever to the sunlight and life, or were there before us dangers even\ngreater than those which we now faced? I tried to keep my mind from\nvain imagining by calling everything which I observed to the eager ears\nbelow. I was the eyes of the whole company, and I did my best not to\nfail them. We had advanced a hundred yards, perhaps, when our first\ndanger confronted us. Just ahead was a sharp right-angle turn in the\ntunnel. I could see the river\'s flotsam hurtling against the rocky\nwall upon the left as it was driven on by the mighty current, and I\nfeared for the safety of the U-33 in making so sharp a turn under such\nadverse conditions; but there was nothing for it but to try. I didn\'t\nwarn my fellows of the danger--it could have but caused them useless\napprehension, for if we were to be smashed against the rocky wall, no\npower on earth could avert the quick end that would come to us. I gave\nthe command full speed ahead and went charging toward the menace. I\nwas forced to approach the dangerous left-hand wall in order to make\nthe turn, and I depended upon the power of the motors to carry us\nthrough the surging waters in safety. Well, we made it; but it was a\nnarrow squeak. As we swung around, the full force of the current\ncaught us and drove the stern against the rocks; there was a thud which\nsent a tremor through the whole craft, and then a moment of nasty\ngrinding as the steel hull scraped the rock wall. I expected\nmomentarily the inrush of waters that would seal our doom; but\npresently from below came the welcome word that all was well.\n\nIn another fifty yards there was a second turn, this time toward the\nleft! but it was more of a gentle curve, and we took it without\ntrouble. After that it was plain sailing, though as far as I could\nknow, there might be most anything ahead of us, and my nerves strained\nto the snapping-point every instant. After the second turn the channel\nran comparatively straight for between one hundred and fifty and two\nhundred yards. The waters grew suddenly lighter, and my spirits rose\naccordingly. I shouted down to those below that I saw daylight ahead,\nand a great shout of thanksgiving reverberated through the ship. A\nmoment later we emerged into sunlit water, and immediately I raised the\nperiscope and looked about me upon the strangest landscape I had ever\nseen.\n\nWe were in the middle of a broad and now sluggish river the banks of\nwhich were lined by giant, arboraceous ferns, raising their mighty\nfronds fifty, one hundred, two hundred feet into the quiet air. Close\nby us something rose to the surface of the river and dashed at the\nperiscope. I had a vision of wide, distended jaws, and then all was\nblotted out. A shiver ran down into the tower as the thing closed upon\nthe periscope. A moment later it was gone, and I could see again.\nAbove the trees there soared into my vision a huge thing on batlike\nwings--a creature large as a large whale, but fashioned more after the\norder of a lizard. Then again something charged the periscope and\nblotted out the mirror. I will confess that I was almost gasping for\nbreath as I gave the commands to emerge. Into what sort of strange\nland had fate guided us?\n\nThe instant the deck was awash, I opened the conning-tower hatch and\nstepped out. In another minute the deck-hatch lifted, and those who\nwere not on duty below streamed up the ladder, Olson bringing Nobs\nunder one arm. For several minutes no one spoke; I think they must\neach have been as overcome by awe as was I. All about us was a flora\nand fauna as strange and wonderful to us as might have been those upon\na distant planet had we suddenly been miraculously transported through\nether to an unknown world. Even the grass upon the nearer bank was\nunearthly--lush and high it grew, and each blade bore upon its tip a\nbrilliant flower--violet or yellow or carmine or blue--making as\ngorgeous a sward as human imagination might conceive. But the life!\nIt teemed. The tall, fernlike trees were alive with monkeys, snakes,\nand lizards. Huge insects hummed and buzzed hither and thither. Mighty\nforms could be seen moving upon the ground in the thick forest, while\nthe bosom of the river wriggled with living things, and above flapped\nthe wings of gigantic creatures such as we are taught have been extinct\nthroughout countless ages.\n\n\"Look!\" cried Olson. \"Would you look at the giraffe comin\' up out o\'\nthe bottom of the say?\" We looked in the direction he pointed and saw\na long, glossy neck surmounted by a small head rising above the surface\nof the river. Presently the back of the creature was exposed, brown\nand glossy as the water dripped from it. It turned its eyes upon us,\nopened its lizard-like mouth, emitted a shrill hiss and came for us.\nThe thing must have been sixteen or eighteen feet in length and closely\nresembled pictures I had seen of restored plesiosaurs of the lower\nJurassic. It charged us as savagely as a mad bull, and one would have\nthought it intended to destroy and devour the mighty U-boat, as I\nverily believe it did intend.\n\nWe were moving slowly up the river as the creature bore down upon us\nwith distended jaws. The long neck was far outstretched, and the four\nflippers with which it swam were working with powerful strokes,\ncarrying it forward at a rapid pace. When it reached the craft\'s side,\nthe jaws closed upon one of the stanchions of the deck rail and tore it\nfrom its socket as though it had been a toothpick stuck in putty. At\nthis exhibition of titanic strength I think we all simultaneously\nstepped backward, and Bradley drew his revolver and fired. The bullet\nstruck the thing in the neck, just above its body; but instead of\ndisabling it, merely increased its rage. Its hissing rose to a shrill\nscream as it raised half its body out of water onto the sloping sides\nof the hull of the U-33 and endeavored to scramble upon the deck to\ndevour us. A dozen shots rang out as we who were armed drew our\npistols and fired at the thing; but though struck several times, it\nshowed no signs of succumbing and only floundered farther aboard the\nsubmarine.\n\nI had noticed that the girl had come on deck and was standing not far\nbehind me, and when I saw the danger to which we were all exposed, I\nturned and forced her toward the hatch. We had not spoken for some\ndays, and we did not speak now; but she gave me a disdainful look,\nwhich was quite as eloquent as words, and broke loose from my grasp. I\nsaw I could do nothing with her unless I exerted force, and so I turned\nwith my back toward her that I might be in a position to shield her\nfrom the strange reptile should it really succeed in reaching the deck;\nand as I did so I saw the thing raise one flipper over the rail, dart\nits head forward and with the quickness of lightning seize upon one of\nthe boches. I ran forward, discharging my pistol into the creature\'s\nbody in an effort to force it to relinquish its prey; but I might as\nprofitably have shot at the sun.\n\nShrieking and screaming, the German was dragged from the deck, and the\nmoment the reptile was clear of the boat, it dived beneath the surface\nof the water with its terrified prey. I think we were all more or less\nshaken by the frightfulness of the tragedy--until Olson remarked that\nthe balance of power now rested where it belonged. Following the death\nof Benson we had been nine and nine--nine Germans and nine \"Allies,\" as\nwe called ourselves, now there were but eight Germans. We never\ncounted the girl on either side, I suppose because she was a girl,\nthough we knew well enough now that she was ours.\n\nAnd so Olson\'s remark helped to clear the atmosphere for the Allies at\nleast, and then our attention was once more directed toward the river,\nfor around us there had sprung up a perfect bedlam of screams and\nhisses and a seething caldron of hideous reptiles, devoid of fear and\nfilled only with hunger and with rage. They clambered, squirmed and\nwriggled to the deck, forcing us steadily backward, though we emptied\nour pistols into them. There were all sorts and conditions of horrible\nthings--huge, hideous, grotesque, monstrous--a veritable Mesozoic\nnightmare. I saw that the girl was gotten below as quickly as possible,\nand she took Nobs with her--poor Nobs had nearly barked his head off;\nand I think, too, that for the first time since his littlest puppyhood\nhe had known fear; nor can I blame him. After the girl I sent Bradley\nand most of the Allies and then the Germans who were on deck--von\nSchoenvorts being still in irons below.\n\nThe creatures were approaching perilously close before I dropped\nthrough the hatchway and slammed down the cover. Then I went into the\ntower and ordered full speed ahead, hoping to distance the fearsome\nthings; but it was useless. Not only could any of them easily\noutdistance the U-33, but the further upstream we progressed the\ngreater the number of our besiegers, until fearful of navigating a\nstrange river at high speed, I gave orders to reduce and moved slowly\nand majestically through the plunging, hissing mass. I was mighty glad\nthat our entrance into the interior of Caprona had been inside a\nsubmarine rather than in any other form of vessel. I could readily\nunderstand how it might have been that Caprona had been invaded in the\npast by venturesome navigators without word of it ever reaching the\noutside world, for I can assure you that only by submarine could man\npass up that great sluggish river, alive.\n\nWe proceeded up the river for some forty miles before darkness overtook\nus. I was afraid to submerge and lie on the bottom overnight for fear\nthat the mud might be deep enough to hold us, and as we could not hold\nwith the anchor, I ran in close to shore, and in a brief interim of\nattack from the reptiles we made fast to a large tree. We also dipped\nup some of the river water and found it, though quite warm, a little\nsweeter than before. We had food enough, and with the water we were all\nquite refreshed; but we missed fresh meat. It had been weeks, now,\nsince we had tasted it, and the sight of the reptiles gave me an\nidea--that a steak or two from one of them might not be bad eating. So\nI went on deck with a rifle, twenty of which were aboard the U-33. At\nsight of me a huge thing charged and climbed to the deck. I retreated\nto the top of the conning-tower, and when it had raised its mighty bulk\nto the level of the little deck on which I stood, I let it have a\nbullet right between the eyes.\n\nThe thing stopped then and looked at me a moment as much as to say:\n\"Why this thing has a stinger! I must be careful.\" And then it reached\nout its long neck and opened its mighty jaws and grabbed for me; but I\nwasn\'t there. I had tumbled backward into the tower, and I mighty near\nkilled myself doing it. When I glanced up, that little head on the end\nof its long neck was coming straight down on top of me, and once more I\ntumbled into greater safety, sprawling upon the floor of the centrale.\n\nOlson was looking up, and seeing what was poking about in the tower,\nran for an ax; nor did he hesitate a moment when he returned with one,\nbut sprang up the ladder and commenced chopping away at that hideous\nface. The thing didn\'t have sufficient brainpan to entertain more than\na single idea at once. Though chopped and hacked, and with a bullethole\nbetween its eyes, it still persisted madly in its attempt to get inside\nthe tower and devour Olson, though its body was many times the diameter\nof the hatch; nor did it cease its efforts until after Olson had\nsucceeded in decapitating it. Then the two men went on deck through\nthe main hatch, and while one kept watch, the other cut a hind quarter\noff Plesiosaurus Olsoni, as Bradley dubbed the thing. Meantime Olson\ncut off the long neck, saying that it would make fine soup. By the\ntime we had cleared away the blood and refuse in the tower, the cook\nhad juicy steaks and a steaming broth upon the electric stove, and the\naroma arising from P. Olsoni filled us all with a hitherto unfelt\nadmiration for him and all his kind.\n\n\n\nChapter 5\n\nThe steaks we had that night, and they were fine; and the following\nmorning we tasted the broth. It seemed odd to be eating a creature\nthat should, by all the laws of paleontology, have been extinct for\nseveral million years. It gave one a feeling of newness that was\nalmost embarrassing, although it didn\'t seem to embarrass our\nappetites. Olson ate until I thought he would burst.\n\nThe girl ate with us that night at the little officers\' mess just back\nof the torpedo compartment. The narrow table was unfolded; the four\nstools were set out; and for the first time in days we sat down to eat,\nand for the first time in weeks we had something to eat other than the\nmonotony of the short rations of an impoverished U-boat. Nobs sat\nbetween the girl and me and was fed with morsels of the Plesiosaurus\nsteak, at the risk of forever contaminating his manners. He looked at\nme sheepishly all the time, for he knew that no well-bred dog should\neat at table; but the poor fellow was so wasted from improper food that\nI couldn\'t enjoy my own meal had he been denied an immediate share in\nit; and anyway Lys wanted to feed him. So there you are.\n\nLys was coldly polite to me and sweetly gracious to Bradley and Olson.\nShe wasn\'t of the gushing type, I knew; so I didn\'t expect much from\nher and was duly grateful for the few morsels of attention she threw\nupon the floor to me. We had a pleasant meal, with only one\nunfortunate occurrence--when Olson suggested that possibly the creature\nwe were eating was the same one that ate the German. It was some time\nbefore we could persuade the girl to continue her meal, but at last\nBradley prevailed upon her, pointing out that we had come upstream\nnearly forty miles since the boche had been seized, and that during\nthat time we had seen literally thousands of these denizens of the\nriver, indicating that the chances were very remote that this was the\nsame Plesiosaur. \"And anyway,\" he concluded, \"it was only a scheme of\nMr. Olson\'s to get all the steaks for himself.\"\n\nWe discussed the future and ventured opinions as to what lay before us;\nbut we could only theorize at best, for none of us knew. If the whole\nland was infested by these and similar horrid monsters, life would be\nimpossible upon it, and we decided that we would only search long\nenough to find and take aboard fresh water and such meat and fruits as\nmight be safely procurable and then retrace our way beneath the cliffs\nto the open sea.\n\nAnd so at last we turned into our narrow bunks, hopeful, happy and at\npeace with ourselves, our lives and our God, to awaken the following\nmorning refreshed and still optimistic. We had an easy time getting\naway--as we learned later, because the saurians do not commence to feed\nuntil late in the morning. From noon to midnight their curve of\nactivity is at its height, while from dawn to about nine o\'clock it is\nlowest. As a matter of fact, we didn\'t see one of them all the time we\nwere getting under way, though I had the cannon raised to the deck and\nmanned against an assault. I hoped, but I was none too sure, that\nshells might discourage them. The trees were full of monkeys of all\nsizes and shades, and once we thought we saw a manlike creature\nwatching us from the depth of the forest.\n\nShortly after we resumed our course upstream, we saw the mouth of\nanother and smaller river emptying into the main channel from the\nsouth--that is, upon our right; and almost immediately after we came\nupon a large island five or six miles in length; and at fifty miles\nthere was a still larger river than the last coming in from the\nnorthwest, the course of the main stream having now changed to\nnortheast by southwest. The water was quite free from reptiles, and\nthe vegetation upon the banks of the river had altered to more open and\nparklike forest, with eucalyptus and acacia mingled with a scattering\nof tree ferns, as though two distinct periods of geologic time had\noverlapped and merged. The grass, too, was less flowering, though there\nwere still gorgeous patches mottling the greensward; and lastly, the\nfauna was less multitudinous.\n\nSix or seven miles farther, and the river widened considerably; before\nus opened an expanse of water to the farther horizon, and then we\nsailed out upon an inland sea so large that only a shore-line upon our\nside was visible to us. The waters all about us were alive with life.\nThere were still a few reptiles; but there were fish by the thousands,\nby the millions.\n\nThe water of the inland sea was very warm, almost hot, and the\natmosphere was hot and heavy above it. It seemed strange that beyond\nthe buttressed walls of Caprona icebergs floated and the south wind was\nbiting, for only a gentle breeze moved across the face of these living\nwaters, and that was damp and warm. Gradually, we commenced to divest\nourselves of our clothing, retaining only sufficient for modesty; but\nthe sun was not hot. It was more the heat of a steam-room than of an\noven.\n\nWe coasted up the shore of the lake in a north-westerly direction,\nsounding all the time. We found the lake deep and the bottom rocky and\nsteeply shelving toward the center, and once when I moved straight out\nfrom shore to take other soundings we could find no bottom whatsoever.\nIn open spaces along the shore we caught occasional glimpses of the\ndistant cliffs, and here they appeared only a trifle less precipitous\nthan those which bound Caprona on the seaward side. My theory is that\nin a far distant era Caprona was a mighty mountain--perhaps the world\'s\nmightiest mountain--and that in some titanic eruption volcanic action\nblew off the entire crest, blew thousands of feet of the mountain upward\nand outward and onto the surrounding continent, leaving a great crater;\nand then, possibly, the continent sank as ancient continents have been\nknown to do, leaving only the summit of Caprona above the sea. The\nencircling walls, the central lake, the hot springs which feed the lake,\nall point to such a conclusion, and the fauna and the flora bear\nindisputable evidence that Caprona was once part of some great land-mass.\n\nAs we cruised up along the coast, the landscape continued a more or\nless open forest, with here and there a small plain where we saw\nanimals grazing. With my glass I could make out a species of large red\ndeer, some antelope and what appeared to be a species of horse; and\nonce I saw the shaggy form of what might have been a monstrous bison.\nHere was game a plenty! There seemed little danger of starving upon\nCaprona. The game, however, seemed wary; for the instant the animals\ndiscovered us, they threw up their heads and tails and went cavorting\noff, those farther inland following the example of the others until all\nwere lost in the mazes of the distant forest. Only the great, shaggy\nox stood his ground. With lowered head he watched us until we had\npassed, and then continued feeding.\n\nAbout twenty miles up the coast from the mouth of the river we\nencountered low cliffs of sandstone, broken and tortured evidence of\nthe great upheaval which had torn Caprona asunder in the past,\nintermingling upon a common level the rock formations of widely\nseparated eras, fusing some and leaving others untouched.\n\nWe ran along beside them for a matter of ten miles, arriving off a\nbroad cleft which led into what appeared to be another lake. As we were\nin search of pure water, we did not wish to overlook any portion of the\ncoast, and so after sounding and finding that we had ample depth, I ran\nthe U-33 between head-lands into as pretty a landlocked harbor as\nsailormen could care to see, with good water right up to within a few\nyards of the shore. As we cruised slowly along, two of the boches\nagain saw what they believed to be a man, or manlike creature, watching\nus from a fringe of trees a hundred yards inland, and shortly after we\ndiscovered the mouth of a small stream emptying into the bay. It was\nthe first stream we had found since leaving the river, and I at once\nmade preparations to test its water. To land, it would be necessary to\nrun the U-33 close in to the shore, at least as close as we could, for\neven these waters were infested, though, not so thickly, by savage\nreptiles. I ordered sufficient water let into the diving-tanks to\nlower us about a foot, and then I ran the bow slowly toward the shore,\nconfident that should we run aground, we still had sufficient lifting\nforce to free us when the water should be pumped out of the tanks; but\nthe bow nosed its way gently into the reeds and touched the shore with\nthe keel still clear.\n\nMy men were all armed now with both rifles and pistols, each having\nplenty of ammunition. I ordered one of the Germans ashore with a line,\nand sent two of my own men to guard him, for from what little we had\nseen of Caprona, or Caspak as we learned later to call the interior, we\nrealized that any instant some new and terrible danger might confront\nus. The line was made fast to a small tree, and at the same time I had\nthe stern anchor dropped.\n\nAs soon as the boche and his guard were aboard again, I called all\nhands on deck, including von Schoenvorts, and there I explained to them\nthat the time had come for us to enter into some sort of an agreement\namong ourselves that would relieve us of the annoyance and\nembarrassment of being divided into two antagonistic parts--prisoners\nand captors. I told them that it was obvious our very existence\ndepended upon our unity of action, that we were to all intent and\npurpose entering a new world as far from the seat and causes of our own\nworld-war as if millions of miles of space and eons of time separated\nus from our past lives and habitations.\n\n\"There is no reason why we should carry our racial and political\nhatreds into Caprona,\" I insisted. \"The Germans among us might kill\nall the English, or the English might kill the last German, without\naffecting in the slightest degree either the outcome of even the\nsmallest skirmish upon the western front or the opinion of a single\nindividual in any belligerent or neutral country. I therefore put the\nissue squarely to you all; shall we bury our animosities and work\ntogether with and for one another while we remain upon Caprona, or must\nwe continue thus divided and but half armed, possibly until death has\nclaimed the last of us? And let me tell you, if you have not already\nrealized it, the chances are a thousand to one that not one of us ever\nwill see the outside world again. We are safe now in the matter of\nfood and water; we could provision the U-33 for a long cruise; but we\nare practically out of fuel, and without fuel we cannot hope to reach\nthe ocean, as only a submarine can pass through the barrier cliffs.\nWhat is your answer?\" I turned toward von Schoenvorts.\n\nHe eyed me in that disagreeable way of his and demanded to know, in\ncase they accepted my suggestion, what their status would be in event\nof our finding a way to escape with the U-33. I replied that I felt\nthat if we had all worked loyally together we should leave Caprona upon\na common footing, and to that end I suggested that should the remote\npossibility of our escape in the submarine develop into reality, we\nshould then immediately make for the nearest neutral port and give\nourselves into the hands of the authorities, when we should all\nprobably be interned for the duration of the war. To my surprise he\nagreed that this was fair and told me that they would accept my\nconditions and that I could depend upon their loyalty to the common\ncause.\n\nI thanked him and then addressed each one of his men individually, and\neach gave me his word that he would abide by all that I had outlined.\nIt was further understood that we were to act as a military\norganization under military rules and discipline--I as commander, with\nBradley as my first lieutenant and Olson as my second, in command of\nthe Englishmen; while von Schoenvorts was to act as an additional\nsecond lieutenant and have charge of his own men. The four of us were\nto constitute a military court under which men might be tried and\nsentenced to punishment for infraction of military rules and\ndiscipline, even to the passing of the death-sentence.\n\nI then had arms and ammunition issued to the Germans, and leaving\nBradley and five men to guard the U-33, the balance of us went ashore.\nThe first thing we did was to taste the water of the little\nstream--which, to our delight, we found sweet, pure and cold. This\nstream was entirely free from dangerous reptiles, because, as I later\ndiscovered, they became immediately dormant when subjected to a much\nlower temperature than 70 degrees Fahrenheit. They dislike cold water\nand keep as far away from it as possible. There were countless\nbrook-trout here, and deep holes that invited us to bathe, and along\nthe bank of the stream were trees bearing a close resemblance to ash\nand beech and oak, their characteristics evidently induced by the lower\ntemperature of the air above the cold water and by the fact that their\nroots were watered by the water from the stream rather than from the\nwarm springs which we afterward found in such abundance elsewhere.\n\nOur first concern was to fill the water tanks of the U-33 with fresh\nwater, and that having been accomplished, we set out to hunt for game\nand explore inland for a short distance. Olson, von Schoenvorts, two\nEnglishmen and two Germans accompanied me, leaving ten to guard the\nship and the girl. I had intended leaving Nobs behind, but he got away\nand joined me and was so happy over it that I hadn\'t the heart to send\nhim back. We followed the stream upward through a beautiful country\nfor about five miles, and then came upon its source in a little\nboulder-strewn clearing. From among the rocks bubbled fully twenty\nice-cold springs. North of the clearing rose sandstone cliffs to a\nheight of some fifty to seventy-five feet, with tall trees growing at\ntheir base and almost concealing them from our view. To the west the\ncountry was flat and sparsely wooded, and here it was that we saw our\nfirst game--a large red deer. It was grazing away from us and had not\nseen us when one of my men called my attention to it. Motioning for\nsilence and having the rest of the party lie down, I crept toward the\nquarry, accompanied only by Whitely. We got within a hundred yards of\nthe deer when he suddenly raised his antlered head and pricked up his\ngreat ears. We both fired at once and had the satisfaction of seeing\nthe buck drop; then we ran forward to finish him with our knives. The\ndeer lay in a small open space close to a clump of acacias, and we had\nadvanced to within several yards of our kill when we both halted\nsuddenly and simultaneously. Whitely looked at me, and I looked at\nWhitely, and then we both looked back in the direction of the deer.\n\n\"Blime!\" he said. \"Wot is hit, sir?\"\n\n\"It looks to me, Whitely, like an error,\" I said; \"some assistant god\nwho had been creating elephants must have been temporarily transferred\nto the lizard-department.\"\n\n\"Hi wouldn\'t s\'y that, sir,\" said Whitely; \"it sounds blasphemous.\"\n\n\"It is no more blasphemous than that thing which is swiping our meat,\" I\nreplied, for whatever the thing was, it had leaped upon our deer and\nwas devouring it in great mouthfuls which it swallowed without\nmastication. The creature appeared to be a great lizard at least ten\nfeet high, with a huge, powerful tail as long as its torso, mighty hind\nlegs and short forelegs. When it had advanced from the wood, it hopped\nmuch after the fashion of a kangaroo, using its hind feet and tail to\npropel it, and when it stood erect, it sat upon its tail. Its head was\nlong and thick, with a blunt muzzle, and the opening of the jaws ran\nback to a point behind the eyes, and the jaws were armed with long\nsharp teeth. The scaly body was covered with black and yellow spots\nabout a foot in diameter and irregular in contour. These spots were\noutlined in red with edgings about an inch wide. The underside of the\nchest, body and tail were a greenish white.\n\n\"Wot s\'y we pot the bloomin\' bird, sir?\" suggested Whitely.\n\nI told him to wait until I gave the word; then we would fire\nsimultaneously, he at the heart and I at the spine.\n\n\"Hat the \'eart, sir--yes, sir,\" he replied, and raised his piece to his\nshoulder.\n\nOur shots rang out together. The thing raised its head and looked\nabout until its eyes rested upon us; then it gave vent to a most\nappalling hiss that rose to the crescendo of a terrific shriek and came\nfor us.\n\n\"Beat it, Whitely!\" I cried as I turned to run.\n\nWe were about a quarter of a mile from the rest of our party, and in\nfull sight of them as they lay in the tall grass watching us. That they\nsaw all that had happened was evidenced by the fact that they now rose\nand ran toward us, and at their head leaped Nobs. The creature in our\nrear was gaining on us rapidly when Nobs flew past me like a meteor and\nrushed straight for the frightful reptile. I tried to recall him, but\nhe would pay no attention to me, and as I couldn\'t see him sacrificed,\nI, too, stopped and faced the monster. The creature appeared to be more\nimpressed with Nobs than by us and our firearms, for it stopped as the\nAiredale dashed at it growling, and struck at him viciously with its\npowerful jaws.\n\nNobs, though, was lightning by comparison with the slow thinking beast\nand dodged his opponent\'s thrust with ease. Then he raced to the rear\nof the tremendous thing and seized it by the tail. There Nobs made the\nerror of his life. Within that mottled organ were the muscles of a\nTitan, the force of a dozen mighty catapults, and the owner of the tail\nwas fully aware of the possibilities which it contained. With a single\nflip of the tip it sent poor Nobs sailing through the air a hundred\nfeet above the ground, straight back into the clump of acacias from\nwhich the beast had leaped upon our kill--and then the grotesque thing\nsank lifeless to the ground.\n\nOlson and von Schoenvorts came up a minute later with their men; then\nwe all cautiously approached the still form upon the ground. The\ncreature was quite dead, and an examination resulted in disclosing the\nfact that Whitely\'s bullet had pierced its heart, and mine had severed\nthe spinal cord.\n\n\"But why didn\'t it die instantly?\" I exclaimed.\n\n\"Because,\" said von Schoenvorts in his disagreeable way, \"the beast is\nso large, and its nervous organization of so low a caliber, that it\ntook all this time for the intelligence of death to reach and be\nimpressed upon the minute brain. The thing was dead when your bullets\nstruck it; but it did not know it for several seconds--possibly a\nminute. If I am not mistaken, it is an Allosaurus of the Upper\nJurassic, remains of which have been found in Central Wyoming, in the\nsuburbs of New York.\"\n\nAn Irishman by the name of Brady grinned. I afterward learned that he\nhad served three years on the traffic-squad of the Chicago police force.\n\nI had been calling Nobs in the meantime and was about to set out in\nsearch of him, fearing, to tell the truth, to do so lest I find him\nmangled and dead among the trees of the acacia grove, when he suddenly\nemerged from among the boles, his ears flattened, his tail between his\nlegs and his body screwed into a suppliant S. He was unharmed except\nfor minor bruises; but he was the most chastened dog I have ever seen.\n\nWe gathered up what was left of the red deer after skinning and\ncleaning it, and set out upon our return journey toward the U-boat. On\nthe way Olson, von Schoenvorts and I discussed the needs of our\nimmediate future, and we were unanimous in placing foremost the\nnecessity of a permanent camp on shore. The interior of a U-boat is\nabout as impossible and uncomfortable an abiding-place as one can well\nimagine, and in this warm climate, and in warm water, it was almost\nunendurable. So we decided to construct a palisaded camp.\n\n\n\nChapter 6\n\nAs we strolled slowly back toward the boat, planning and discussing\nthis, we were suddenly startled by a loud and unmistakable detonation.\n\n\"A shell from the U-33!\" exclaimed von Schoenvorts.\n\n\"What can be after signifyin\'?\" queried Olson.\n\n\"They are in trouble,\" I answered for all, \"and it\'s up to us to get\nback to them. Drop that carcass,\" I directed the men carrying the\nmeat, \"and follow me!\" I set off at a rapid run in the direction of\nthe harbor.\n\nWe ran for the better part of a mile without hearing anything more from\nthe direction of the harbor, and then I reduced the speed to a walk,\nfor the exercise was telling on us who had been cooped up for so long\nin the confined interior of the U-33. Puffing and panting, we plodded\non until within about a mile of the harbor we came upon a sight that\nbrought us all up standing. We had been passing through a little\nheavier timber than was usual to this part of the country, when we\nsuddenly emerged into an open space in the center of which was such a\nband as might have caused the most courageous to pause. It consisted\nof upward of five hundred individuals representing several species\nclosely allied to man. There were anthropoid apes and gorillas--these\nI had no difficulty in recognizing; but there were other forms which I\nhad never before seen, and I was hard put to it to say whether they\nwere ape or man. Some of them resembled the corpse we had found upon\nthe narrow beach against Caprona\'s sea-wall, while others were of a\nstill lower type, more nearly resembling the apes, and yet others were\nuncannily manlike, standing there erect, being less hairy and\npossessing better shaped heads.\n\nThere was one among the lot, evidently the leader of them, who bore a\nclose resemblance to the so-called Neanderthal man of La\nChapelle-aux-Saints. There was the same short, stocky trunk upon which\nrested an enormous head habitually bent forward into the same curvature\nas the back, the arms shorter than the legs, and the lower leg\nconsiderably shorter than that of modern man, the knees bent forward\nand never straightened. This creature and one or two others who\nappeared to be of a lower order than he, yet higher than that of the\napes, carried heavy clubs; the others were armed only with giant\nmuscles and fighting fangs--nature\'s weapons. All were males, and all\nwere entirely naked; nor was there upon even the highest among them a\nsign of ornamentation.\n\nAt sight of us they turned with bared fangs and low growls to confront\nus. I did not wish to fire among them unless it became absolutely\nnecessary, and so I started to lead my party around them; but the\ninstant that the Neanderthal man guessed my intention, he evidently\nattributed it to cowardice upon our part, and with a wild cry he leaped\ntoward us, waving his cudgel above his head. The others followed him,\nand in a minute we should have been overwhelmed. I gave the order to\nfire, and at the first volley six of them went down, including the\nNeanderthal man. The others hesitated a moment and then broke for the\ntrees, some running nimbly among the branches, while others lost\nthemselves to us between the boles. Both von Schoenvorts and I noticed\nthat at least two of the higher, manlike types took to the trees quite\nas nimbly as the apes, while others that more nearly approached man in\ncarriage and appearance sought safety upon the ground with the gorillas.\n\nAn examination disclosed that five of our erstwhile opponents were dead\nand the sixth, the Neanderthal man, was but slightly wounded, a bullet\nhaving glanced from his thick skull, stunning him. We decided to take\nhim with us to camp, and by means of belts we managed to secure his\nhands behind his back and place a leash around his neck before he\nregained consciousness. We then retraced our steps for our meat being\nconvinced by our own experience that those aboard the U-33 had been\nable to frighten off this party with a single shell--but when we came\nto where we had left the deer it had disappeared.\n\nOn the return journey Whitely and I preceded the rest of the party by\nabout a hundred yards in the hope of getting another shot at something\nedible, for we were all greatly disgusted and disappointed by the loss\nof our venison. Whitely and I advanced very cautiously, and not having\nthe whole party with us, we fared better than on the journey out,\nbagging two large antelope not a half-mile from the harbor; so with our\ngame and our prisoner we made a cheerful return to the boat, where we\nfound that all were safe. On the shore a little north of where we lay\nthere were the corpses of twenty of the wild creatures who had attacked\nBradley and his party in our absence, and the rest of whom we had met\nand scattered a few minutes later.\n\nWe felt that we had taught these wild ape-men a lesson and that because\nof it we would be safer in the future--at least safer from them; but we\ndecided not to abate our carefulness one whit, feeling that this new\nworld was filled with terrors still unknown to us; nor were we wrong.\n\nThe following morning we commenced work upon our camp, Bradley, Olson,\nvon Schoenvorts, Miss La Rue, and I having sat up half the night\ndiscussing the matter and drawing plans. We set the men at work\nfelling trees, selecting for the purpose jarrah, a hard,\nweather-resisting timber which grew in profusion near by. Half the men\nlabored while the other half stood guard, alternating each hour with an\nhour off at noon. Olson directed this work. Bradley, von Schoenvorts\nand I, with Miss La Rue\'s help, staked out the various buildings and\nthe outer wall. When the day was done, we had quite an array of logs\nnicely notched and ready for our building operations on the morrow, and\nwe were all tired, for after the buildings had been staked out we all\nfell in and helped with the logging--all but von Schoenvorts. He,\nbeing a Prussian and a gentleman, couldn\'t stoop to such menial labor\nin the presence of his men, and I didn\'t see fit to ask it of him, as\nthe work was purely voluntary upon our part. He spent the afternoon\nshaping a swagger-stick from the branch of jarrah and talking with Miss\nLa Rue, who had sufficiently unbent toward him to notice his existence.\n\nWe saw nothing of the wild men of the previous day, and only once were\nwe menaced by any of the strange denizens of Caprona, when some\nfrightful nightmare of the sky swooped down upon us, only to be driven\noff by a fusillade of bullets. The thing appeared to be some variety\nof pterodactyl, and what with its enormous size and ferocious aspect\nwas most awe-inspiring. There was another incident, too, which to me\nat least was far more unpleasant than the sudden onslaught of the\nprehistoric reptile. Two of the men, both Germans, were stripping a\nfelled tree of its branches. Von Schoenvorts had completed his\nswagger-stick, and he and I were passing close to where the two worked.\n\nOne of them threw to his rear a small branch that he had just chopped\noff, and as misfortune would have it, it struck von Schoenvorts across\nthe face. It couldn\'t have hurt him, for it didn\'t leave a mark; but\nhe flew into a terrific rage, shouting: \"Attention!\" in a loud voice.\nThe sailor immediately straightened up, faced his officer, clicked his\nheels together and saluted. \"Pig!\" roared the Baron, and struck the\nfellow across the face, breaking his nose. I grabbed von Schoenvorts\'\narm and jerked him away before he could strike again, if such had been\nhis intention, and then he raised his little stick to strike me; but\nbefore it descended the muzzle of my pistol was against his belly and\nhe must have seen in my eyes that nothing would suit me better than an\nexcuse to pull the trigger. Like all his kind and all other bullies,\nvon Schoenvorts was a coward at heart, and so he dropped his hand to\nhis side and started to turn away; but I pulled him back, and there\nbefore his men I told him that such a thing must never again\noccur--that no man was to be struck or otherwise punished other than in\ndue process of the laws that we had made and the court that we had\nestablished. All the time the sailor stood rigidly at attention, nor\ncould I tell from his expression whether he most resented the blow his\nofficer had struck him or my interference in the gospel of the\nKaiser-breed. Nor did he move until I said to him: \"Plesser, you may\nreturn to your quarters and dress your wound.\" Then he saluted and\nmarched stiffly off toward the U-33.\n\nJust before dusk we moved out into the bay a hundred yards from shore\nand dropped anchor, for I felt that we should be safer there than\nelsewhere. I also detailed men to stand watch during the night and\nappointed Olson officer of the watch for the entire night, telling him\nto bring his blankets on deck and get what rest he could. At dinner we\ntasted our first roast Caprona antelope, and we had a mess of greens\nthat the cook had found growing along the stream. All during the meal\nvon Schoenvorts was silent and surly.\n\nAfter dinner we all went on deck and watched the unfamiliar scenes of a\nCapronian night--that is, all but von Schoenvorts. There was less to\nsee than to hear. From the great inland lake behind us came the\nhissing and the screaming of countless saurians. Above us we heard the\nflap of giant wings, while from the shore rose the multitudinous voices\nof a tropical jungle--of a warm, damp atmosphere such as must have\nenveloped the entire earth during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras. But\nhere were intermingled the voices of later eras--the scream of the\npanther, the roar of the lion, the baying of wolves and a thunderous\ngrowling which we could attribute to nothing earthly but which one day\nwe were to connect with the most fearsome of ancient creatures.\n\nOne by one the others went to their rooms, until the girl and I were\nleft alone together, for I had permitted the watch to go below for a\nfew minutes, knowing that I would be on deck. Miss La Rue was very\nquiet, though she replied graciously enough to whatever I had to say\nthat required reply. I asked her if she did not feel well.\n\n\"Yes,\" she said, \"but I am depressed by the awfulness of it all. I feel\nof so little consequence--so small and helpless in the face of all\nthese myriad manifestations of life stripped to the bone of its\nsavagery and brutality. I realize as never before how cheap and\nvalueless a thing is life. Life seems a joke, a cruel, grim joke. You\nare a laughable incident or a terrifying one as you happen to be less\npowerful or more powerful than some other form of life which crosses\nyour path; but as a rule you are of no moment whatsoever to anything\nbut yourself. You are a comic little figure, hopping from the cradle\nto the grave. Yes, that is our trouble--we take ourselves too\nseriously; but Caprona should be a sure cure for that.\" She paused and\nlaughed.\n\n\"You have evolved a beautiful philosophy,\" I said. \"It fills such a\nlonging in the human breast. It is full, it is satisfying, it is\nennobling. What wondrous strides toward perfection the human race\nmight have made if the first man had evolved it and it had persisted\nuntil now as the creed of humanity.\"\n\n\"I don\'t like irony,\" she said; \"it indicates a small soul.\"\n\n\"What other sort of soul, then, would you expect from `a comic little\nfigure hopping from the cradle to the grave\'?\" I inquired. \"And what\ndifference does it make, anyway, what you like and what you don\'t like?\nYou are here for but an instant, and you mustn\'t take yourself too\nseriously.\"\n\nShe looked up at me with a smile. \"I imagine that I am frightened and\nblue,\" she said, \"and I know that I am very, very homesick and lonely.\"\nThere was almost a sob in her voice as she concluded. It was the first\ntime that she had spoken thus to me. Involuntarily, I laid my hand\nupon hers where it rested on the rail.\n\n\"I know how difficult your position is,\" I said; \"but don\'t feel that\nyou are alone. There is--is one here who--who would do anything in the\nworld for you,\" I ended lamely. She did not withdraw her hand, and she\nlooked up into my face with tears on her cheeks and I read in her eyes\nthe thanks her lips could not voice. Then she looked away across the\nweird moonlit landscape and sighed. Evidently her new-found philosophy\nhad tumbled about her ears, for she was seemingly taking herself\nseriously. I wanted to take her in my arms and tell her how I loved\nher, and had taken her hand from the rail and started to draw her\ntoward me when Olson came blundering up on deck with his bedding.\n\nThe following morning we started building operations in earnest, and\nthings progressed finely. The Neanderthal man was something of a care,\nfor we had to keep him in irons all the time, and he was mighty savage\nwhen approached; but after a time he became more docile, and then we\ntried to discover if he had a language. Lys spent a great deal of time\ntalking to him and trying to draw him out; but for a long while she was\nunsuccessful. It took us three weeks to build all the houses, which we\nconstructed close by a cold spring some two miles from the harbor.\n\nWe changed our plans a trifle when it came to building the palisade,\nfor we found a rotted cliff near by where we could get all the flat\nbuilding-stone we needed, and so we constructed a stone wall entirely\naround the buildings. It was in the form of a square, with bastions\nand towers at each corner which would permit an enfilading fire along\nany side of the fort, and was about one hundred and thirty-five feet\nsquare on the outside, with walls three feet thick at the bottom and\nabout a foot and a half wide at the top, and fifteen feet high. It\ntook a long time to build that wall, and we all turned in and helped\nexcept von Schoenvorts, who, by the way, had not spoken to me except in\nthe line of official business since our encounter--a condition of armed\nneutrality which suited me to a T. We have just finished it, the last\ntouches being put on today. I quit about a week ago and commenced\nworking on this chronicle for our strange adventures, which will\naccount for any minor errors in chronology which may have crept in;\nthere was so much material that I may have made some mistakes, but I\nthink they are but minor and few.\n\nI see in reading over the last few pages that I neglected to state that\nLys finally discovered that the Neanderthal man possessed a language.\nShe has learned to speak it, and so have I, to some extent. It was\nhe--his name he says is Am, or Ahm--who told us that this country is\ncalled Caspak. When we asked him how far it extended, he waved both\narms about his head in an all-including gesture which took in,\napparently, the entire universe. He is more tractable now, and we are\ngoing to release him, for he has assured us that he will not permit his\nfellows to harm us. He calls us Galus and says that in a short time he\nwill be a Galu. It is not quite clear to us what he means. He says\nthat there are many Galus north of us, and that as soon as he becomes\none he will go and live with them.\n\nAhm went out to hunt with us yesterday and was much impressed by the\nease with which our rifles brought down antelopes and deer. We have\nbeen living upon the fat of the land, Ahm having shown us the edible\nfruits, tubers and herbs, and twice a week we go out after fresh meat.\nA certain proportion of this we dry and store away, for we do not know\nwhat may come. Our drying process is really smoking. We have also\ndried a large quantity of two varieties of cereal which grow wild a few\nmiles south of us. One of these is a giant Indian maize--a lofty\nperennial often fifty and sixty feet in height, with ears the size of\na man\'s body and kernels as large as your fist. We have had to\nconstruct a second store house for the great quantity of this that we\nhave gathered.\n\nSeptember 3, 1916: Three months ago today the torpedo from the U-33\nstarted me from the peaceful deck of the American liner upon the\nstrange voyage which has ended here in Caspak. We have settled down to\nan acceptance of our fate, for all are convinced that none of us will\never see the outer world again. Ahm\'s repeated assertions that there\nare human beings like ourselves in Caspak have roused the men to a keen\ndesire for exploration. I sent out one party last week under Bradley.\nAhm, who is now free to go and come as he wishes, accompanied them.\nThey marched about twenty-five miles due west, encountering many\nterrible beasts and reptiles and not a few manlike creatures whom Ahm\nsent away. Here is Bradley\'s report of the expedition:\n\nMarched fifteen miles the first day, camping on the bank of a large\nstream which runs southward. Game was plentiful and we saw several\nvarieties which we had not before encountered in Caspak. Just before\nmaking camp we were charged by an enormous woolly rhinoceros, which\nPlesser dropped with a perfect shot. We had rhinoceros-steaks for\nsupper. Ahm called the thing \"Atis.\" It was almost a continuous\nbattle from the time we left the fort until we arrived at camp. The\nmind of man can scarce conceive the plethora of carnivorous life in\nthis lost world; and their prey, of course, is even more abundant.\n\nThe second day we marched about ten miles to the foot of the cliffs.\nPassed through dense forests close to the base of the cliffs. Saw\nmanlike creatures and a low order of ape in one band, and some of the\nmen swore that there was a white man among them. They were inclined to\nattack us at first; but a volley from our rifles caused them to change\ntheir minds. We scaled the cliffs as far as we could; but near the top\nthey are absolutely perpendicular without any sufficient cleft or\nprotuberance to give hand or foot-hold. All were disappointed, for we\nhungered for a view of the ocean and the outside world. We even had a\nhope that we might see and attract the attention of a passing ship. Our\nexploration has determined one thing which will probably be of little\nvalue to us and never heard of beyond Caprona\'s walls--this crater was\nonce entirely filled with water. Indisputable evidence of this is on\nthe face of the cliffs.\n\nOur return journey occupied two days and was as filled with adventure\nas usual. We are all becoming accustomed to adventure. It is beginning\nto pall on us. We suffered no casualties and there was no illness.\n\n\nI had to smile as I read Bradley\'s report. In those four days he had\ndoubtless passed through more adventures than an African big-game\nhunter experiences in a lifetime, and yet he covered it all in a few\nlines. Yes, we are becoming accustomed to adventure. Not a day passes\nthat one or more of us does not face death at least once. Ahm taught\nus a few things that have proved profitable and saved us much\nammunition, which it is useless to expend except for food or in the\nlast recourse of self-preservation. Now when we are attacked by large\nflying reptiles we run beneath spreading trees; when land carnivora\nthreaten us, we climb into trees, and we have learned not to fire at\nany of the dinosaurs unless we can keep out of their reach for at least\ntwo minutes after hitting them in the brain or spine, or five minutes\nafter puncturing their hearts--it takes them so long to die. To hit\nthem elsewhere is worse than useless, for they do not seem to notice\nit, and we had discovered that such shots do not kill or even disable\nthem.\n\nSeptember 7, 1916: Much has happened since I last wrote. Bradley is\naway again on another exploration expedition to the cliffs. He expects\nto be gone several weeks and to follow along their base in search of a\npoint where they may be scaled. He took Sinclair, Brady, James, and\nTippet with him. Ahm has disappeared. He has been gone about three\ndays; but the most startling thing I have on record is that von\nSchoenvorts and Olson while out hunting the other day discovered oil\nabout fifteen miles north of us beyond the sandstone cliffs. Olson says\nthere is a geyser of oil there, and von Schoenvorts is making\npreparations to refine it. If he succeeds, we shall have the means for\nleaving Caspak and returning to our own world. I can scarce believe the\ntruth of it. We are all elated to the seventh heaven of bliss. Pray\nGod we shall not be disappointed.\n\nI have tried on several occasions to broach the subject of my love to\nLys; but she will not listen.\n\n\n\nChapter 7\n\nOctober 8, 1916: This is the last entry I shall make upon my\nmanuscript. When this is done, I shall be through. Though I may pray\nthat it reaches the haunts of civilized man, my better judgment tells\nme that it will never be perused by other eyes than mine, and that even\nthough it should, it would be too late to avail me. I am alone upon\nthe summit of the great cliff overlooking the broad Pacific. A chill\nsouth wind bites at my marrow, while far below me I can see the tropic\nfoliage of Caspak on the one hand and huge icebergs from the near\nAntarctic upon the other. Presently I shall stuff my folded manuscript\ninto the thermos bottle I have carried with me for the purpose since I\nleft the fort--Fort Dinosaur we named it--and hurl it far outward over\nthe cliff-top into the Pacific. What current washes the shore of\nCaprona I know not; whither my bottle will be borne I cannot even\nguess; but I have done all that mortal man may do to notify the world\nof my whereabouts and the dangers that threaten those of us who remain\nalive in Caspak--if there be any other than myself.\n\nAbout the 8th of September I accompanied Olson and von Schoenvorts to\nthe oil-geyser. Lys came with us, and we took a number of things which\nvon Schoenvorts wanted for the purpose of erecting a crude refinery.\nWe went up the coast some ten or twelve miles in the U-33, tying up to\nshore near the mouth of a small stream which emptied great volumes of\ncrude oil into the sea--I find it difficult to call this great lake by\nany other name. Then we disembarked and went inland about five miles,\nwhere we came upon a small lake entirely filled with oil, from the\ncenter of which a geyser of oil spouted.\n\nOn the edge of the lake we helped von Schoenvorts build his primitive\nrefinery. We worked with him for two days until he got things fairly\nwell started, and then we returned to Fort Dinosaur, as I feared that\nBradley might return and be worried by our absence. The U-33 merely\nlanded those of us that were to return to the fort and then retraced\nits course toward the oil-well. Olson, Whitely, Wilson, Miss La Rue,\nand myself disembarked, while von Schoenvorts and his German crew\nreturned to refine the oil. The next day Plesser and two other Germans\ncame down overland for ammunition. Plesser said they had been attacked\nby wild men and had exhausted a great deal of ammunition. He also\nasked permission to get some dried meat and maize, saying that they\nwere so busy with the work of refining that they had no time to hunt.\nI let him have everything he asked for, and never once did a suspicion\nof their intentions enter my mind. They returned to the oil-well the\nsame day, while we continued with the multitudinous duties of camp life.\n\nFor three days nothing of moment occurred. Bradley did not return; nor\ndid we have any word from von Schoenvorts. In the evening Lys and I\nwent up into one of the bastion towers and listened to the grim and\nterrible nightlife of the frightful ages of the past. Once a\nsaber-tooth screamed almost beneath us, and the girl shrank close\nagainst me. As I felt her body against mine, all the pent love of\nthese three long months shattered the bonds of timidity and conviction,\nand I swept her up into my arms and covered her face and lips with\nkisses. She did not struggle to free herself; but instead her dear\narms crept up about my neck and drew my own face even closer to hers.\n\n\"You love me, Lys?\" I cried.\n\nI felt her head nod an affirmative against my breast. \"Tell me, Lys,\"\nI begged, \"tell me in words how much you love me.\"\n\nLow and sweet and tender came the answer: \"I love you beyond all\nconception.\"\n\nMy heart filled with rapture then, and it fills now as it has each of\nthe countless times I have recalled those dear words, as it shall fill\nalways until death has claimed me. I may never see her again; she may\nnot know how I love her--she may question, she may doubt; but always\ntrue and steady, and warm with the fires of love my heart beats for the\ngirl who said that night: \"I love you beyond all conception.\"\n\nFor a long time we sat there upon the little bench constructed for the\nsentry that we had not as yet thought it necessary to post in more than\none of the four towers. We learned to know one another better in those\ntwo brief hours than we had in all the months that had intervened since\nwe had been thrown together. She told me that she had loved me from\nthe first, and that she never had loved von Schoenvorts, their\nengagement having been arranged by her aunt for social reasons.\n\nThat was the happiest evening of my life; nor ever do I expect to\nexperience its like; but at last, as is the way of happiness, it\nterminated. We descended to the compound, and I walked with Lys to the\ndoor of her quarters. There again she kissed me and bade me good\nnight, and then she went in and closed the door.\n\nI went to my own room, and there I sat by the light of one of the crude\ncandles we had made from the tallow of the beasts we had killed, and\nlived over the events of the evening. At last I turned in and fell\nasleep, dreaming happy dreams and planning for the future, for even in\nsavage Caspak I was bound to make my girl safe and happy. It was\ndaylight when I awoke. Wilson, who was acting as cook, was up and\nastir at his duties in the cook-house. The others slept; but I arose\nand followed by Nobs went down to the stream for a plunge. As was our\ncustom, I went armed with both rifle and revolver; but I stripped and\nhad my swim without further disturbance than the approach of a large\nhyena, a number of which occupied caves in the sand-stone cliffs north\nof the camp. These brutes are enormous and exceedingly ferocious. I\nimagine they correspond with the cave-hyena of prehistoric times. This\nfellow charged Nobs, whose Capronian experiences had taught him that\ndiscretion is the better part of valor--with the result that he dived\nhead foremost into the stream beside me after giving vent to a series\nof ferocious growls which had no more effect upon Hyaena spelaeus than\nmight a sweet smile upon an enraged tusker. Afterward I shot the beast,\nand Nobs had a feast while I dressed, for he had become quite a\nraw-meat eater during our numerous hunting expeditions, upon which we\nalways gave him a portion of the kill.\n\nWhitely and Olson were up and dressed when we returned, and we all sat\ndown to a good breakfast. I could not but wonder at Lys\' absence from\nthe table, for she had always been one of the earliest risers in camp;\nso about nine o\'clock, becoming apprehensive lest she might be\nindisposed, I went to the door of her room and knocked. I received no\nresponse, though I finally pounded with all my strength; then I turned\nthe knob and entered, only to find that she was not there. Her bed had\nbeen occupied, and her clothing lay where she had placed it the\nprevious night upon retiring; but Lys was gone. To say that I was\ndistracted with terror would be to put it mildly. Though I knew she\ncould not be in camp, I searched every square inch of the compound and\nall the buildings, yet without avail.\n\nIt was Whitely who discovered the first clue--a huge human-like\nfootprint in the soft earth beside the spring, and indications of a\nstruggle in the mud.\n\nThen I found a tiny handkerchief close to the outer wall. Lys had been\nstolen! It was all too plain. Some hideous member of the ape-man\ntribe had entered the fort and carried her off. While I stood stunned\nand horrified at the frightful evidence before me, there came from the\ndirection of the great lake an increasing sound that rose to the volume\nof a shriek. We all looked up as the noise approached apparently just\nabove us, and a moment later there followed a terrific explosion which\nhurled us to the ground. When we clambered to our feet, we saw a large\nsection of the west wall torn and shattered. It was Olson who first\nrecovered from his daze sufficiently to guess the explanation of the\nphenomenon.\n\n\"A shell!\" he cried. \"And there ain\'t no shells in Caspak besides\nwhat\'s on the U-33. The dirty boches are shellin\' the fort. Come on!\"\nAnd he grasped his rifle and started on a run toward the lake. It was\nover two miles, but we did not pause until the harbor was in view, and\nstill we could not see the lake because of the sandstone cliffs which\nintervened. We ran as fast as we could around the lower end of the\nharbor, scrambled up the cliffs and at last stood upon their summit in\nfull view of the lake. Far away down the coast, toward the river\nthrough which we had come to reach the lake, we saw upon the surface\nthe outline of the U-33, black smoke vomiting from her funnel.\n\nVon Schoenvorts had succeeded in refining the oil! The cur had broken\nhis every pledge and was leaving us there to our fates. He had even\nshelled the fort as a parting compliment; nor could anything have been\nmore truly Prussian than this leave-taking of the Baron Friedrich von\nSchoenvorts.\n\nOlson, Whitely, Wilson, and I stood for a moment looking at one\nanother. It seemed incredible that man could be so perfidious--that we\nhad really seen with our own eyes the thing that we had seen; but when\nwe returned to the fort, the shattered wall gave us ample evidence that\nthere was no mistake.\n\nThen we began to speculate as to whether it had been an ape-man or a\nPrussian that had abducted Lys. From what we knew of von Schoenvorts,\nwe would not have been surprised at anything from him; but the\nfootprints by the spring seemed indisputable evidence that one of\nCaprona\'s undeveloped men had borne off the girl I loved.\n\nAs soon as I had assured myself that such was the case, I made my\npreparations to follow and rescue her. Olson, Whitely, and Wilson each\nwished to accompany me; but I told them that they were needed here,\nsince with Bradley\'s party still absent and the Germans gone it was\nnecessary that we conserve our force as far as might be possible.\n\n\n\nChapter 8\n\nIt was a sad leave-taking as in silence I shook hands with each of the\nthree remaining men. Even poor Nobs appeared dejected as we quit the\ncompound and set out upon the well-marked spoor of the abductor. Not\nonce did I turn my eyes backward toward Fort Dinosaur. I have not\nlooked upon it since--nor in all likelihood shall I ever look upon it\nagain. The trail led northwest until it reached the western end of the\nsandstone cliffs to the north of the fort; there it ran into a\nwell-defined path which wound northward into a country we had not as\nyet explored. It was a beautiful, gently rolling country, broken by\noccasional outcroppings of sandstone and by patches of dense forest\nrelieved by open, park-like stretches and broad meadows whereon grazed\ncountless herbivorous animals--red deer, aurochs, and infinite variety\nof antelope and at least three distinct species of horse, the latter\nranging in size from a creature about as large as Nobs to a magnificent\nanimal fourteen to sixteen hands high. These creatures fed together in\nperfect amity; nor did they show any great indications of terror when\nNobs and I approached. They moved out of our way and kept their eyes\nupon us until we had passed; then they resumed their feeding.\n\nThe path led straight across the clearing into another forest, lying\nupon the verge of which I saw a bit of white. It appeared to stand out\nin marked contrast and incongruity to all its surroundings, and when I\nstopped to examine it, I found that it was a small strip of\nmuslin--part of the hem of a garment. At once I was all excitement, for\nI knew that it was a sign left by Lys that she had been carried this\nway; it was a tiny bit torn from the hem of the undergarment that she\nwore in lieu of the night-robes she had lost with the sinking of the\nliner. Crushing the bit of fabric to my lips, I pressed on even more\nrapidly than before, because I now knew that I was upon the right trail\nand that up to this point at least, Lys still had lived.\n\nI made over twenty miles that day, for I was now hardened to fatigue\nand accustomed to long hikes, having spent considerable time hunting\nand exploring in the immediate vicinity of camp. A dozen times that day\nwas my life threatened by fearsome creatures of the earth or sky,\nthough I could not but note that the farther north I traveled, the\nfewer were the great dinosaurs, though they still persisted in lesser\nnumbers. On the other hand the quantity of ruminants and the variety\nand frequency of carnivorous animals increased. Each square mile of\nCaspak harbored its terrors.\n\nAt intervals along the way I found bits of muslin, and often they\nreassured me when otherwise I should have been doubtful of the trail to\ntake where two crossed or where there were forks, as occurred at\nseveral points. And so, as night was drawing on, I came to the\nsouthern end of a line of cliffs loftier than any I had seen before,\nand as I approached them, there was wafted to my nostrils the pungent\naroma of woodsmoke. What could it mean? There could, to my mind, be\nbut a single solution: man abided close by, a higher order of man than\nwe had as yet seen, other than Ahm, the Neanderthal man. I wondered\nagain as I had so many times that day if it had not been Ahm who stole\nLys.\n\nCautiously I approached the flank of the cliffs, where they terminated\nin an abrupt escarpment as though some all powerful hand had broken off\na great section of rock and set it upon the surface of the earth. It\nwas now quite dark, and as I crept around the edge of the cliff, I saw\nat a little distance a great fire around which were many\nfigures--apparently human figures. Cautioning Nobs to silence, and he\nhad learned many lessons in the value of obedience since we had entered\nCaspak, I slunk forward, taking advantage of whatever cover I could\nfind, until from behind a bush I could distinctly see the creatures\nassembled by the fire. They were human and yet not human. I should\nsay that they were a little higher in the scale of evolution than Ahm,\npossibly occupying a place of evolution between that of the Neanderthal\nman and what is known as the Grimaldi race. Their features were\ndistinctly negroid, though their skins were white. A considerable\nportion of both torso and limbs were covered with short hair, and their\nphysical proportions were in many aspects apelike, though not so much\nso as were Ahm\'s. They carried themselves in a more erect position,\nalthough their arms were considerably longer than those of the\nNeanderthal man. As I watched them, I saw that they possessed a\nlanguage, that they had knowledge of fire and that they carried besides\nthe wooden club of Ahm, a thing which resembled a crude stone hatchet.\nEvidently they were very low in the scale of humanity, but they were a\nstep upward from those I had previously seen in Caspak.\n\nBut what interested me most was the slender figure of a dainty girl,\nclad only in a thin bit of muslin which scarce covered her knees--a bit\nof muslin torn and ragged about the lower hem. It was Lys, and she was\nalive and so far as I could see, unharmed. A huge brute with thick\nlips and prognathous jaw stood at her shoulder. He was talking loudly\nand gesticulating wildly. I was close enough to hear his words, which\nwere similar to the language of Ahm, though much fuller, for there were\nmany words I could not understand. However I caught the gist of what he\nwas saying--which in effect was that he had found and captured this\nGalu, that she was his and that he defied anyone to question his right\nof possession. It appeared to me, as I afterward learned was the fact,\nthat I was witnessing the most primitive of marriage ceremonies. The\nassembled members of the tribe looked on and listened in a sort of dull\nand perfunctory apathy, for the speaker was by far the mightiest of the\nclan.\n\nThere seemed no one to dispute his claims when he said, or rather\nshouted, in stentorian tones: \"I am Tsa. This is my she. Who wishes\nher more than Tsa?\"\n\n\"I do,\" I said in the language of Ahm, and I stepped out into the\nfirelight before them. Lys gave a little cry of joy and started toward\nme, but Tsa grasped her arm and dragged her back.\n\n\"Who are you?\" shrieked Tsa. \"I kill! I kill! I kill!\"\n\n\"The she is mine,\" I replied, \"and I have come to claim her. I kill if\nyou do not let her come to me.\" And I raised my pistol to a level with\nhis heart. Of course the creature had no conception of the purpose of\nthe strange little implement which I was poking toward him. With a\nsound that was half human and half the growl of a wild beast, he sprang\ntoward me. I aimed at his heart and fired, and as he sprawled headlong\nto the ground, the others of his tribe, overcome by fright at the\nreport of the pistol, scattered toward the cliffs--while Lys, with\noutstretched arms, ran toward me.\n\nAs I crushed her to me, there rose from the black night behind us and\nthen to our right and to our left a series of frightful screams and\nshrieks, bellowings, roars and growls. It was the night-life of this\njungle world coming into its own--the huge, carnivorous nocturnal\nbeasts which make the nights of Caspak hideous. A shuddering sob ran\nthrough Lys\' figure. \"O God,\" she cried, \"give me the strength to\nendure, for his sake!\" I saw that she was upon the verge of a\nbreakdown, after all that she must have passed through of fear and\nhorror that day, and I tried to quiet and reassure her as best I might;\nbut even to me the future looked most unpromising, for what chance of\nlife had we against the frightful hunters of the night who even now\nwere prowling closer to us?\n\nNow I turned to see what had become of the tribe, and in the fitful\nglare of the fire I perceived that the face of the cliff was pitted\nwith large holes into which the man-things were clambering. \"Come,\" I\nsaid to Lys, \"we must follow them. We cannot last a half-hour out here.\nWe must find a cave.\" Already we could see the blazing green eyes of\nthe hungry carnivora. I seized a brand from the fire and hurled it out\ninto the night, and there came back an answering chorus of savage and\nrageful protest; but the eyes vanished for a short time. Selecting a\nburning branch for each of us, we advanced toward the cliffs, where we\nwere met by angry threats.\n\n\"They will kill us,\" said Lys. \"We may as well keep on in search of\nanother refuge.\"\n\n\"They will not kill us so surely as will those others out there,\" I\nreplied. \"I am going to seek shelter in one of these caves; nor will\nthe man-things prevent.\" And I kept on in the direction of the cliff\'s\nbase. A huge creature stood upon a ledge and brandished his stone\nhatchet. \"Come and I will kill you and take the she,\" he boasted.\n\n\"You saw how Tsa fared when he would have kept my she,\" I replied in\nhis own tongue. \"Thus will you fare and all your fellows if you do not\npermit us to come in peace among you out of the dangers of the night.\"\n\n\"Go north,\" he screamed. \"Go north among the Galus, and we will not\nharm you. Some day will we be Galus; but now we are not. You do not\nbelong among us. Go away or we will kill you. The she may remain if\nshe is afraid, and we will keep her; but the he must depart.\"\n\n\"The he won\'t depart,\" I replied, and approached still nearer. Rough\nand narrow ledges formed by nature gave access to the upper caves. A\nman might scale them if unhampered and unhindered, but to clamber\nupward in the face of a belligerent tribe of half-men and with a girl\nto assist was beyond my capability.\n\n\"I do not fear you,\" screamed the creature. \"You were close to Tsa;\nbut I am far above you. You cannot harm me as you harmed Tsa. Go away!\"\n\nI placed a foot upon the lowest ledge and clambered upward, reaching\ndown and pulling Lys to my side. Already I felt safer. Soon we would\nbe out of danger of the beasts again closing in upon us. The man above\nus raised his stone hatchet above his head and leaped lightly down to\nmeet us. His position above me gave him a great advantage, or at least\nso he probably thought, for he came with every show of confidence. I\nhated to do it, but there seemed no other way, and so I shot him down\nas I had shot down Tsa.\n\n\"You see,\" I cried to his fellows, \"that I can kill you wherever you\nmay be. A long way off I can kill you as well as I can kill you near\nby. Let us come among you in peace. I will not harm you if you do not\nharm us. We will take a cave high up. Speak!\"\n\n\"Come, then,\" said one. \"If you will not harm us, you may come. Take\nTsa\'s hole, which lies above you.\"\n\nThe creature showed us the mouth of a black cave, but he kept at a\ndistance while he did it, and Lys followed me as I crawled in to\nexplore. I had matches with me, and in the light of one I found a\nsmall cavern with a flat roof and floor which followed the cleavage of\nthe strata. Pieces of the roof had fallen at some long-distant date,\nas was evidenced by the depth of the filth and rubble in which they\nwere embedded. Even a superficial examination revealed the fact that\nnothing had ever been attempted that might have improved the livability\nof the cavern; nor, should I judge, had it ever been cleaned out. With\nconsiderable difficulty I loosened some of the larger pieces of broken\nrock which littered the floor and placed them as a barrier before the\ndoorway. It was too dark to do more than this. I then gave Lys a piece\nof dried meat, and sitting inside the entrance, we dined as must have\nsome of our ancient forbears at the dawning of the age of man, while\nfar below the open diapason of the savage night rose weird and\nhorrifying to our ears. In the light of the great fire still burning\nwe could see huge, skulking forms, and in the blacker background\ncountless flaming eyes.\n\nLys shuddered, and I put my arm around her and drew her to me; and thus\nwe sat throughout the hot night. She told me of her abduction and of\nthe fright she had undergone, and together we thanked God that she had\ncome through unharmed, because the great brute had dared not pause\nalong the danger-infested way. She said that they had but just reached\nthe cliffs when I arrived, for on several occasions her captor had been\nforced to take to the trees with her to escape the clutches of some\nhungry cave-lion or saber-toothed tiger, and that twice they had been\nobliged to remain for considerable periods before the beasts had\nretired.\n\nNobs, by dint of much scrambling and one or two narrow escapes from\ndeath, had managed to follow us up the cliff and was now curled between\nme and the doorway, having devoured a piece of the dried meat, which he\nseemed to relish immensely. He was the first to fall asleep; but I\nimagine we must have followed suit soon, for we were both tired. I had\nlaid aside my ammunition-belt and rifle, though both were close beside\nme; but my pistol I kept in my lap beneath my hand. However, we were\nnot disturbed during the night, and when I awoke, the sun was shining\non the tree-tops in the distance. Lys\' head had drooped to my breast,\nand my arm was still about her.\n\nShortly afterward Lys awoke, and for a moment she could not seem to\ncomprehend her situation. She looked at me and then turned and glanced\nat my arm about her, and then she seemed quite suddenly to realize the\nscantiness of her apparel and drew away, covering her face with her\npalms and blushing furiously. I drew her back toward me and kissed\nher, and then she threw her arms about my neck and wept softly in mute\nsurrender to the inevitable.\n\nIt was an hour later before the tribe began to stir about. We watched\nthem from our \"apartment,\" as Lys called it. Neither men nor women wore\nany sort of clothing or ornaments, and they all seemed to be about of\nan age; nor were there any babies or children among them. This was, to\nus, the strangest and most inexplicable of facts, but it recalled to us\nthat though we had seen many of the lesser developed wild people of\nCaspak, we had never yet seen a child or an old man or woman.\n\nAfter a while they became less suspicious of us and then quite friendly\nin their brutish way. They picked at the fabric of our clothing, which\nseemed to interest them, and examined my rifle and pistol and the\nammunition in the belt around my waist. I showed them the\nthermos-bottle, and when I poured a little water from it, they were\ndelighted, thinking that it was a spring which I carried about with\nme--a never-failing source of water supply.\n\nOne thing we both noticed among their other characteristics: they never\nlaughed nor smiled; and then we remembered that Ahm had never done so,\neither. I asked them if they knew Ahm; but they said they did not.\n\nOne of them said: \"Back there we may have known him.\" And he jerked\nhis head to the south.\n\n\"You came from back there?\" I asked. He looked at me in surprise.\n\n\"We all come from there,\" he said. \"After a while we go there.\" And\nthis time he jerked his head toward the north. \"Be Galus,\" he\nconcluded.\n\nMany times now had we heard this reference to becoming Galus. Ahm had\nspoken of it many times. Lys and I decided that it was a sort of\noriginal religious conviction, as much a part of them as their instinct\nfor self-preservation--a primal acceptance of a hereafter and a holier\nstate. It was a brilliant theory, but it was all wrong. I know it\nnow, and how far we were from guessing the wonderful, the miraculous,\nthe gigantic truth which even yet I may only guess at--the thing that\nsets Caspak apart from all the rest of the world far more definitely\nthan her isolated geographical position or her impregnable barrier of\ngiant cliffs. If I could live to return to civilization, I should have\nmeat for the clergy and the layman to chew upon for years--and for the\nevolutionists, too.\n\nAfter breakfast the men set out to hunt, while the women went to a\nlarge pool of warm water covered with a green scum and filled with\nbillions of tadpoles. They waded in to where the water was about a\nfoot deep and lay down in the mud. They remained there from one to two\nhours and then returned to the cliff. While we were with them, we saw\nthis same thing repeated every morning; but though we asked them why\nthey did it we could get no reply which was intelligible to us. All\nthey vouchsafed in way of explanation was the single word Ata. They\ntried to get Lys to go in with them and could not understand why she\nrefused. After the first day I went hunting with the men, leaving my\npistol and Nobs with Lys, but she never had to use them, for no reptile\nor beast ever approached the pool while the women were there--nor, so\nfar as we know, at other times. There was no spoor of wild beast in\nthe soft mud along the banks, and the water certainly didn\'t look fit\nto drink.\n\nThis tribe lived largely upon the smaller animals which they bowled\nover with their stone hatchets after making a wide circle about their\nquarry and driving it so that it had to pass close to one of their\nnumber. The little horses and the smaller antelope they secured in\nsufficient numbers to support life, and they also ate numerous\nvarieties of fruits and vegetables. They never brought in more than\nsufficient food for their immediate needs; but why bother? The food\nproblem of Caspak is not one to cause worry to her inhabitants.\n\nThe fourth day Lys told me that she thought she felt equal to\nattempting the return journey on the morrow, and so I set out for the\nhunt in high spirits, for I was anxious to return to the fort and learn\nif Bradley and his party had returned and what had been the result of\nhis expedition. I also wanted to relieve their minds as to Lys and\nmyself, as I knew that they must have already given us up for dead. It\nwas a cloudy day, though warm, as it always is in Caspak. It seemed\nodd to realize that just a few miles away winter lay upon the\nstorm-tossed ocean, and that snow might be falling all about Caprona;\nbut no snow could ever penetrate the damp, hot atmosphere of the great\ncrater.\n\nWe had to go quite a bit farther than usual before we could surround a\nlittle bunch of antelope, and as I was helping drive them, I saw a fine\nred deer a couple of hundred yards behind me. He must have been asleep\nin the long grass, for I saw him rise and look about him in a\nbewildered way, and then I raised my gun and let him have it. He\ndropped, and I ran forward to finish him with the long thin knife,\nwhich one of the men had given me; but just as I reached him, he\nstaggered to his feet and ran on for another two hundred yards--when I\ndropped him again. Once more was this repeated before I was able to\nreach him and cut his throat; then I looked around for my companions,\nas I wanted them to come and carry the meat home; but I could see\nnothing of them. I called a few times and waited, but there was no\nresponse and no one came. At last I became disgusted, and cutting off\nall the meat that I could conveniently carry, I set off in the\ndirection of the cliffs. I must have gone about a mile before the\ntruth dawned upon me--I was lost, hopelessly lost.\n\nThe entire sky was still completely blotted out by dense clouds; nor\nwas there any landmark visible by which I might have taken my bearings.\nI went on in the direction I thought was south but which I now imagine\nmust have been about due north, without detecting a single familiar\nobject. In a dense wood I suddenly stumbled upon a thing which at\nfirst filled me with hope and later with the most utter despair and\ndejection. It was a little mound of new-turned earth sprinkled with\nflowers long since withered, and at one end was a flat slab of\nsandstone stuck in the ground. It was a grave, and it meant for me that\nI had at last stumbled into a country inhabited by human beings. I\nwould find them; they would direct me to the cliffs; perhaps they would\naccompany me and take us back with them to their abodes--to the abodes\nof men and women like ourselves. My hopes and my imagination ran riot\nin the few yards I had to cover to reach that lonely grave and stoop\nthat I might read the rude characters scratched upon the simple\nheadstone. This is what I read:\n\n HERE LIES JOHN TIPPET ENGLISHMAN KILLED BY TYRANNOSAURUS\n 10 SEPT., A.D. 1916\n R. I. P.\n\n\nTippet! It seemed incredible. Tippet lying here in this gloomy wood!\nTippet dead! He had been a good man, but the personal loss was not\nwhat affected me. It was the fact that this silent grave gave evidence\nthat Bradley had come this far upon his expedition and that he too\nprobably was lost, for it was not our intention that he should be long\ngone. If I had stumbled upon the grave of one of the party, was it not\nwithin reason to believe that the bones of the others lay scattered\nsomewhere near?\n\n\n\nChapter 9\n\nAs I stood looking down upon that sad and lonely mound, wrapped in the\nmost dismal of reflections and premonitions, I was suddenly seized from\nbehind and thrown to earth. As I fell, a warm body fell on top of me,\nand hands grasped my arms and legs. When I could look up, I saw a\nnumber of giant figures pinioning me down, while others stood about\nsurveying me. Here again was a new type of man--a higher type than the\nprimitive tribe I had just quitted. They were a taller people, too,\nwith better-shaped skulls and more intelligent faces. There were less\nof the ape characteristics about their features, and less of the\nnegroid, too. They carried weapons, stone-shod spears, stone knives,\nand hatchets--and they wore ornaments and breech-cloths--the former of\nfeathers worn in their hair and the latter made of a single snake-skin\ncured with the head on, the head depending to their knees.\n\nOf course I did not take in all these details upon the instant of my\ncapture, for I was busy with other matters. Three of the warriors were\nsitting upon me, trying to hold me down by main strength and\nawkwardness, and they were having their hands full in the doing, I can\ntell you. I don\'t like to appear conceited, but I may as well admit\nthat I am proud of my strength and the science that I have acquired and\ndeveloped in the directing of it--that and my horsemanship I always\nhave been proud of. And now, that day, all the long hours that I had\nput into careful study, practice and training brought me in two or\nthree minutes a full return upon my investment. Californians, as a\nrule, are familiar with ju-jutsu, and I especially had made a study of\nit for several years, both at school and in the gym of the Los Angeles\nAthletic Club, while recently I had had, in my employ, a Jap who was a\nwonder at the art.\n\nIt took me just about thirty seconds to break the elbow of one of my\nassailants, trip another and send him stumbling backward among his\nfellows, and throw the third completely over my head in such a way that\nwhen he fell his neck was broken. In the instant that the others of\nthe party stood in mute and inactive surprise, I unslung my\nrifle--which, carelessly, I had been carrying across my back; and when\nthey charged, as I felt they would, I put a bullet in the forehead of\none of them. This stopped them all temporarily--not the death of their\nfellow, but the report of the rifle, the first they had ever heard.\nBefore they were ready to attack me again, one of them spoke in a\ncommanding tone to his fellows, and in a language similar but still\nmore comprehensive than that of the tribe to the south, as theirs was\nmore complete than Ahm\'s. He commanded them to stand back and then he\nadvanced and addressed me.\n\nHe asked me who I was, from whence I came and what my intentions were.\nI replied that I was a stranger in Caspak, that I was lost and that my\nonly desire was to find my way back to my companions. He asked where\nthey were and I told him toward the south somewhere, using the\nCaspakian phrase which, literally translated, means \"toward the\nbeginning.\" His surprise showed upon his face before he voiced it in\nwords. \"There are no Galus there,\" he said.\n\n\"I tell you,\" I said angrily, \"that I am from another country, far from\nCaspak, far beyond the high cliffs. I do not know who the Galus may\nbe; I have never seen them. This is the farthest north I have been.\nLook at me--look at my clothing and my weapons. Have you ever seen a\nGalu or any other creature in Caspak who possessed such things?\"\n\nHe had to admit that he had not, and also that he was much interested\nin me, my rifle and the way I had handled his three warriors. Finally\nhe became half convinced that I was telling him the truth and offered\nto aid me if I would show him how I had thrown the man over my head and\nalso make him a present of the \"bang-spear,\" as he called it. I\nrefused to give him my rifle, but promised to show him the trick he\nwished to learn if he would guide me in the right direction. He told\nme that he would do so tomorrow, that it was too late today and that I\nmight come to their village and spend the night with them. I was loath\nto lose so much time; but the fellow was obdurate, and so I accompanied\nthem. The two dead men they left where they had fallen, nor gave them\na second glance--thus cheap is life upon Caspak.\n\nThese people also were cave-dwellers, but their caves showed the result\nof a higher intelligence that brought them a step nearer to civilized\nman than the tribe next \"toward the beginning.\" The interiors of their\ncaverns were cleared of rubbish, though still far from clean, and they\nhad pallets of dried grasses covered with the skins of leopard, lynx,\nand bear, while before the entrances were barriers of stone and small,\nrudely circular stone ovens. The walls of the cavern to which I was\nconducted were covered with drawings scratched upon the sandstone.\nThere were the outlines of the giant red-deer, of mammoths, of tigers\nand other beasts. Here, as in the last tribe, there were no children\nor any old people. The men of this tribe had two names, or rather\nnames of two syllables, and their language contained words of two\nsyllables; whereas in the tribe of Tsa the words were all of a single\nsyllable, with the exception of a very few like Atis and Galus. The\nchief\'s name was To-jo, and his household consisted of seven females\nand himself. These women were much more comely, or rather less hideous\nthan those of Tsa\'s people; one of them, even, was almost pretty, being\nless hairy and having a rather nice skin, with high coloring.\n\nThey were all much interested in me and examined my clothing and\nequipment carefully, handling and feeling and smelling of each article.\nI learned from them that their people were known as Band-lu, or\nspear-men; Tsa\'s race was called Sto-lu--hatchet-men. Below these in\nthe scale of evolution came the Bo-lu, or club-men, and then the Alus,\nwho had no weapons and no language. In that word I recognized what to\nme seemed the most remarkable discovery I had made upon Caprona, for\nunless it were mere coincidence, I had come upon a word that had been\nhanded down from the beginning of spoken language upon earth, been\nhanded down for millions of years, perhaps, with little change. It was\nthe sole remaining thread of the ancient woof of a dawning culture\nwhich had been woven when Caprona was a fiery mount upon a great\nland-mass teeming with life. It linked the unfathomable then to the\neternal now. And yet it may have been pure coincidence; my better\njudgment tells me that it is coincidence that in Caspak the term for\nspeechless man is Alus, and in the outer world of our own day it is\nAlalus.\n\nThe comely woman of whom I spoke was called So-ta, and she took such a\nlively interest in me that To-jo finally objected to her attentions,\nemphasizing his displeasure by knocking her down and kicking her into a\ncorner of the cavern. I leaped between them while he was still kicking\nher, and obtaining a quick hold upon him, dragged him screaming with\npain from the cave. Then I made him promise not to hurt the she again,\nupon pain of worse punishment. So-ta gave me a grateful look; but To-jo\nand the balance of his women were sullen and ominous.\n\nLater in the evening So-ta confided to me that she was soon to leave\nthe tribe.\n\n\"So-ta soon to be Kro-lu,\" she confided in a low whisper. I asked her\nwhat a Kro-lu might be, and she tried to explain, but I do not yet know\nif I understood her. From her gestures I deduced that the Kro-lus were\na people who were armed with bows and arrows, had vessels in which to\ncook their food and huts of some sort in which they lived, and were\naccompanied by animals. It was all very fragmentary and vague, but the\nidea seemed to be that the Kro-lus were a more advanced people than the\nBand-lus. I pondered a long time upon all that I had heard, before\nsleep came to me. I tried to find some connection between these\nvarious races that would explain the universal hope which each of them\nharbored that some day they would become Galus. So-ta had given me a\nsuggestion; but the resulting idea was so weird that I could scarce\neven entertain it; yet it coincided with Ahm\'s expressed hope, with the\nvarious steps in evolution I had noted in the several tribes I had\nencountered and with the range of type represented in each tribe. For\nexample, among the Band-lu were such types as So-ta, who seemed to me\nto be the highest in the scale of evolution, and To-jo, who was just a\nshade nearer the ape, while there were others who had flatter noses,\nmore prognathous faces and hairier bodies. The question puzzled me.\nPossibly in the outer world the answer to it is locked in the bosom of\nthe Sphinx. Who knows? I do not.\n\nThinking the thoughts of a lunatic or a dope-fiend, I fell asleep; and\nwhen I awoke, my hands and feet were securely tied and my weapons had\nbeen taken from me. How they did it without awakening me I cannot tell\nyou. It was humiliating, but it was true. To-jo stood above me. The\nearly light of morning was dimly filtering into the cave.\n\n\"Tell me,\" he demanded, \"how to throw a man over my head and break his\nneck, for I am going to kill you, and I wish to know this thing before\nyou die.\"\n\nOf all the ingenuous declarations I have ever heard, this one copped\nthe proverbial bun. It struck me as so funny that, even in the face of\ndeath, I laughed. Death, I may remark here, had, however, lost much of\nhis terror for me. I had become a disciple of Lys\' fleeting philosophy\nof the valuelessness of human life. I realized that she was quite\nright--that we were but comic figures hopping from the cradle to the\ngrave, of interest to practically no other created thing than ourselves\nand our few intimates.\n\nBehind To-jo stood So-ta. She raised one hand with the palm toward\nme--the Caspakian equivalent of a negative shake of the head.\n\n\"Let me think about it,\" I parried, and To-jo said that he would wait\nuntil night. He would give me a day to think it over; then he left,\nand the women left--the men for the hunt, and the women, as I later\nlearned from So-ta, for the warm pool where they immersed their bodies\nas did the shes of the Sto-lu. \"Ata,\" explained So-ta, when I\nquestioned her as to the purpose of this matutinal rite; but that was\nlater.\n\nI must have lain there bound and uncomfortable for two or three hours\nwhen at last So-ta entered the cave. She carried a sharp knife--mine,\nin fact, and with it she cut my bonds.\n\n\"Come!\" she said. \"So-ta will go with you back to the Galus. It is\ntime that So-ta left the Band-lu. Together we will go to the Kro-lu,\nand after that the Galus. To-jo will kill you tonight. He will kill\nSo-ta if he knows that So-ta aided you. We will go together.\"\n\n\"I will go with you to the Kro-lu,\" I replied, \"but then I must return\nto my own people `toward the beginning.\'\"\n\n\"You cannot go back,\" she said. \"It is forbidden. They would kill\nyou. Thus far have you come--there is no returning.\"\n\n\"But I must return,\" I insisted. \"My people are there. I must return\nand lead them in this direction.\"\n\nShe insisted, and I insisted; but at last we compromised. I was to\nescort her as far as the country of the Kro-lu and then I was to go\nback after my own people and lead them north into a land where the\ndangers were fewer and the people less murderous. She brought me all my\nbelongings that had been filched from me--rifle, ammunition, knife, and\nthermos bottle, and then hand in hand we descended the cliff and set\noff toward the north.\n\nFor three days we continued upon our way, until we arrived outside a\nvillage of thatched huts just at dusk. So-ta said that she would enter\nalone; I must not be seen if I did not intend to remain, as it was\nforbidden that one should return and live after having advanced this\nfar. So she left me. She was a dear girl and a stanch and true\ncomrade--more like a man than a woman. In her simple barbaric way she\nwas both refined and chaste. She had been the wife of To-jo. Among\nthe Kro-lu she would find another mate after the manner of the strange\nCaspakian world; but she told me very frankly that whenever I returned,\nshe would leave her mate and come to me, as she preferred me above all\nothers. I was becoming a ladies\' man after a lifetime of bashfulness!\n\nAt the outskirts of the village I left her without even seeing the sort\nof people who inhabited it, and set off through the growing darkness\ntoward the south. On the third day I made a detour westward to avoid\nthe country of the Band-lu, as I did not care to be detained by a\nmeeting with To-jo. On the sixth day I came to the cliffs of the\nSto-lu, and my heart beat fast as I approached them, for here was Lys.\nSoon I would hold her tight in my arms again; soon her warm lips would\nmerge with mine. I felt sure that she was still safe among the hatchet\npeople, and I was already picturing the joy and the love-light in her\neyes when she should see me once more as I emerged from the last clump\nof trees and almost ran toward the cliffs.\n\nIt was late in the morning. The women must have returned from the\npool; yet as I drew near, I saw no sign of life whatever. \"They have\nremained longer,\" I thought; but when I was quite close to the base of\nthe cliffs, I saw that which dashed my hopes and my happiness to earth.\nStrewn along the ground were a score of mute and horrible suggestions\nof what had taken place during my absence--bones picked clean of flesh,\nthe bones of manlike creatures, the bones of many of the tribe of\nSto-lu; nor in any cave was there sign of life.\n\nClosely I examined the ghastly remains fearful each instant that I\nshould find the dainty skull that would shatter my happiness for life;\nbut though I searched diligently, picking up every one of the\ntwenty-odd skulls, I found none that was the skull of a creature but\nslightly removed from the ape. Hope, then, still lived. For another\nthree days I searched north and south, east and west for the hatchetmen\nof Caspak; but never a trace of them did I find. It was raining most\nof the time now, and the weather was as near cold as it ever seems to\nget on Caprona.\n\nAt last I gave up the search and set off toward Fort Dinosaur. For a\nweek--a week filled with the terrors and dangers of a primeval world--I\npushed on in the direction I thought was south. The sun never shone;\nthe rain scarcely ever ceased falling. The beasts I met with were fewer\nin number but infinitely more terrible in temper; yet I lived on until\nthere came to me the realization that I was hopelessly lost, that a\nyear of sunshine would not again give me my bearings; and while I was\ncast down by this terrifying knowledge, the knowledge that I never\nagain could find Lys, I stumbled upon another grave--the grave of\nWilliam James, with its little crude headstone and its scrawled\ncharacters recording that he had died upon the 13th of\nSeptember--killed by a saber-tooth tiger.\n\nI think that I almost gave up then. Never in my life have I felt more\nhopeless or helpless or alone. I was lost. I could not find my\nfriends. I did not even know that they still lived; in fact, I could\nnot bring myself to believe that they did. I was sure that Lys was\ndead. I wanted myself to die, and yet I clung to life--useless and\nhopeless and harrowing a thing as it had become. I clung to life\nbecause some ancient, reptilian forbear had clung to life and\ntransmitted to me through the ages the most powerful motive that guided\nhis minute brain--the motive of self-preservation.\n\nAt last I came to the great barrier-cliffs; and after three days of mad\neffort--of maniacal effort--I scaled them. I built crude ladders; I\nwedged sticks in narrow fissures; I chopped toe-holds and finger-holds\nwith my long knife; but at last I scaled them. Near the summit I came\nupon a huge cavern. It is the abode of some mighty winged creature of\nthe Triassic--or rather it was. Now it is mine. I slew the thing and\ntook its abode. I reached the summit and looked out upon the broad\ngray terrible Pacific of the far-southern winter. It was cold up\nthere. It is cold here today; yet here I sit watching, watching,\nwatching for the thing I know will never come--for a sail.\n\n\n\nChapter 10\n\nOnce a day I descend to the base of the cliff and hunt, and fill my\nstomach with water from a clear cold spring. I have three gourds which\nI fill with water and take back to my cave against the long nights. I\nhave fashioned a spear and a bow and arrow, that I may conserve my\nammunition, which is running low. My clothes are worn to shreds.\nTomorrow I shall discard them for leopard-skins which I have tanned and\nsewn into a garment strong and warm. It is cold up here. I have a\nfire burning and I sit bent over it while I write; but I am safe here.\nNo other living creature ventures to the chill summit of the barrier\ncliffs. I am safe, and I am alone with my sorrows and my remembered\njoys--but without hope. It is said that hope springs eternal in the\nhuman breast; but there is none in mine.\n\nI am about done. Presently I shall fold these pages and push them into\nmy thermos bottle. I shall cork it and screw the cap tight, and then I\nshall hurl it as far out into the sea as my strength will permit. The\nwind is off-shore; the tide is running out; perhaps it will be carried\ninto one of those numerous ocean-currents which sweep perpetually from\npole to pole and from continent to continent, to be deposited at last\nupon some inhabited shore. If fate is kind and this does happen, then,\nfor God\'s sake, come and get me!\n\nIt was a week ago that I wrote the preceding paragraph, which I thought\nwould end the written record of my life upon Caprona. I had paused to\nput a new point on my quill and stir the crude ink (which I made by\ncrushing a black variety of berry and mixing it with water) before\nattaching my signature, when faintly from the valley far below came an\nunmistakable sound which brought me to my feet, trembling with\nexcitement, to peer eagerly downward from my dizzy ledge. How full of\nmeaning that sound was to me you may guess when I tell you that it was\nthe report of a firearm! For a moment my gaze traversed the landscape\nbeneath until it was caught and held by four figures near the base of\nthe cliff--a human figure held at bay by three hyaenodons, those\nferocious and blood-thirsty wild dogs of the Eocene. A fourth beast\nlay dead or dying near by.\n\nI couldn\'t be sure, looking down from above as I was; but yet I\ntrembled like a leaf in the intuitive belief that it was Lys, and my\njudgment served to confirm my wild desire, for whoever it was carried\nonly a pistol, and thus had Lys been armed. The first wave of sudden\njoy which surged through me was short-lived in the face of the\nswift-following conviction that the one who fought below was already\ndoomed. Luck and only luck it must have been which had permitted that\nfirst shot to lay low one of the savage creatures, for even such a\nheavy weapon as my pistol is entirely inadequate against even the\nlesser carnivora of Caspak. In a moment the three would charge! A\nfutile shot would but tend more greatly to enrage the one it chanced to\nhit; and then the three would drag down the little human figure and\ntear it to pieces.\n\nAnd maybe it was Lys! My heart stood still at the thought, but mind\nand muscle responded to the quick decision I was forced to make. There\nwas but a single hope--a single chance--and I took it. I raised my\nrifle to my shoulder and took careful aim. It was a long shot, a\ndangerous shot, for unless one is accustomed to it, shooting from a\nconsiderable altitude is most deceptive work. There is, though,\nsomething about marksmanship which is quite beyond all scientific laws.\n\nUpon no other theory can I explain my marksmanship of that moment.\nThree times my rifle spoke--three quick, short syllables of death. I\ndid not take conscious aim; and yet at each report a beast crumpled in\nits tracks!\n\nFrom my ledge to the base of the cliff is a matter of several thousand\nfeet of dangerous climbing; yet I venture to say that the first ape\nfrom whose loins my line has descended never could have equaled the\nspeed with which I literally dropped down the face of that rugged\nescarpment. The last two hundred feet is over a steep incline of loose\nrubble to the valley bottom, and I had just reached the top of this\nwhen there arose to my ears an agonized cry--\"Bowen! Bowen! Quick, my\nlove, quick!\"\n\nI had been too much occupied with the dangers of the descent to glance\ndown toward the valley; but that cry which told me that it was indeed\nLys, and that she was again in danger, brought my eyes quickly upon her\nin time to see a hairy, burly brute seize her and start off at a run\ntoward the near-by wood. From rock to rock, chamoislike, I leaped\ndownward toward the valley, in pursuit of Lys and her hideous abductor.\n\nHe was heavier than I by many pounds, and so weighted by the burden he\ncarried that I easily overtook him; and at last he turned, snarling, to\nface me. It was Kho of the tribe of Tsa, the hatchet-men. He\nrecognized me, and with a low growl he threw Lys aside and came for me.\n\"The she is mine,\" he cried. \"I kill! I kill!\"\n\nI had had to discard my rifle before I commenced the rapid descent of\nthe cliff, so that now I was armed only with a hunting knife, and this\nI whipped from its scabbard as Kho leaped toward me. He was a mighty\nbeast, mightily muscled, and the urge that has made males fight since\nthe dawn of life on earth filled him with the blood-lust and the thirst\nto slay; but not one whit less did it fill me with the same primal\npassions. Two abysmal beasts sprang at each other\'s throats that day\nbeneath the shadow of earth\'s oldest cliffs--the man of now and the\nman-thing of the earliest, forgotten then, imbued by the same deathless\npassion that has come down unchanged through all the epochs, periods\nand eras of time from the beginning, and which shall continue to the\nincalculable end--woman, the imperishable Alpha and Omega of life.\n\nKho closed and sought my jugular with his teeth. He seemed to forget\nthe hatchet dangling by its aurochs-hide thong at his hip, as I forgot,\nfor the moment, the dagger in my hand. And I doubt not but that Kho\nwould easily have bested me in an encounter of that sort had not Lys\'\nvoice awakened within my momentarily reverted brain the skill and\ncunning of reasoning man.\n\n\"Bowen!\" she cried. \"Your knife! Your knife!\"\n\nIt was enough. It recalled me from the forgotten eon to which my brain\nhad flown and left me once again a modern man battling with a clumsy,\nunskilled brute. No longer did my jaws snap at the hairy throat before\nme; but instead my knife sought and found a space between two ribs over\nthe savage heart. Kho voiced a single horrid scream, stiffened\nspasmodically and sank to the earth. And Lys threw herself into my\narms. All the fears and sorrows of the past were wiped away, and once\nagain I was the happiest of men.\n\nWith some misgivings I shortly afterward cast my eyes upward toward the\nprecarious ledge which ran before my cave, for it seemed to me quite\nbeyond all reason to expect a dainty modern belle to essay the perils\nof that frightful climb. I asked her if she thought she could brave\nthe ascent, and she laughed gayly in my face.\n\n\"Watch!\" she cried, and ran eagerly toward the base of the cliff. Like\na squirrel she clambered swiftly aloft, so that I was forced to exert\nmyself to keep pace with her. At first she frightened me; but\npresently I was aware that she was quite as safe here as was I. When we\nfinally came to my ledge and I again held her in my arms, she recalled\nto my mind that for several weeks she had been living the life of a\ncave-girl with the tribe of hatchet-men. They had been driven from\ntheir former caves by another tribe which had slain many and carried\noff quite half the females, and the new cliffs to which they had flown\nhad proven far higher and more precipitous, so that she had become,\nthrough necessity, a most practiced climber.\n\nShe told me of Kho\'s desire for her, since all his females had been\nstolen and of how her life had been a constant nightmare of terror as\nshe sought by night and by day to elude the great brute. For a time\nNobs had been all the protection she required; but one day he\ndisappeared--nor has she seen him since. She believes that he was\ndeliberately made away with; and so do I, for we both are sure that he\nnever would have deserted her. With her means of protection gone, Lys\nwas now at the mercy of the hatchet-man; nor was it many hours before\nhe had caught her at the base of the cliff and seized her; but as he\nbore her triumphantly aloft toward his cave, she had managed to break\nloose and escape him.\n\n\"For three days he has pursued me,\" she said, \"through this horrible\nworld. How I have passed through in safety I cannot guess, nor how I\nhave always managed to outdistance him; yet I have done it, until just\nas you discovered me. Fate was kind to us, Bowen.\"\n\nI nodded my head in assent and crushed her to me. And then we talked\nand planned as I cooked antelope-steaks over my fire, and we came to\nthe conclusion that there was no hope of rescue, that she and I were\ndoomed to live and die upon Caprona. Well, it might be worse! I would\nrather live here always with Lys than to live elsewhere without her;\nand she, dear girl, says the same of me; but I am afraid of this life\nfor her. It is a hard, fierce, dangerous life, and I shall pray always\nthat we shall be rescued from it--for her sake.\n\nThat night the clouds broke, and the moon shone down upon our little\nledge; and there, hand in hand, we turned our faces toward heaven and\nplighted our troth beneath the eyes of God. No human agency could have\nmarried us more sacredly than we are wed. We are man and wife, and we\nare content. If God wills it, we shall live out our lives here. If He\nwills otherwise, then this manuscript which I shall now consign to the\ninscrutable forces of the sea shall fall into friendly hands. However,\nwe are each without hope. And so we say good-bye in this, our last\nmessage to the world beyond the barrier cliffs.\n\n(Signed) Bowen J. Tyler, Jr. Lys La R. Tyler.'"