9 files changed, 14839 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/old/149.txt b/old/149.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3f1375b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/149.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,4656 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lost Continent, by Edgar Rice Burroughs
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
+
+
+Title: The Lost Continent
+
+Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs
+
+Release Date: June 19, 2008 [EBook #149]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOST CONTINENT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Judith Boss.  HTML version by Al Haines.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  The Lost Continent was originally published
+    under the title Beyond Thirty
+
+
+
+
+THE LOST CONTINENT
+
+
+by
+
+Edgar Rice Burroughs
+
+
+JTABLE 3 9 1
+
+
+
+1
+
+
+Since earliest childhood I have been strangely fascinated by the
+mystery surrounding the history of the last days of twentieth century
+Europe.  My interest is keenest, perhaps, not so much in relation to
+known facts as to speculation upon the unknowable of the two centuries
+that have rolled by since human intercourse between the Western and
+Eastern Hemispheres ceased--the mystery of Europe's state following the
+termination of the Great War--provided, of course, that the war had
+been terminated.
+
+From out of the meagerness of our censored histories we learned that
+for fifteen years after the cessation of diplomatic relations between
+the United States of North America and the belligerent nations of the
+Old World, news of more or less doubtful authenticity filtered, from
+time to time, into the Western Hemisphere from the Eastern.
+
+Then came the fruition of that historic propaganda which is best
+described by its own slogan: "The East for the East--the West for the
+West," and all further intercourse was stopped by statute.
+
+Even prior to this, transoceanic commerce had practically ceased, owing
+to the perils and hazards of the mine-strewn waters of both the
+Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.  Just when submarine activities ended we
+do not know but the last vessel of this type sighted by a Pan-American
+merchantman was the huge Q 138, which discharged twenty-nine torpedoes
+at a Brazilian tank steamer off the Bermudas in the fall of 1972.  A
+heavy sea and the excellent seamanship of the master of the Brazilian
+permitted the Pan-American to escape and report this last of a long
+series of outrages upon our commerce.  God alone knows how many
+hundreds of our ancient ships fell prey to the roving steel sharks of
+blood-frenzied Europe.  Countless were the vessels and men that passed
+over our eastern and western horizons never to return; but whether they
+met their fates before the belching tubes of submarines or among the
+aimlessly drifting mine fields, no man lived to tell.
+
+And then came the great Pan-American Federation which linked the
+Western Hemisphere from pole to pole under a single flag, which joined
+the navies of the New World into the mightiest fighting force that ever
+sailed the seven seas--the greatest argument for peace the world had
+ever known.
+
+Since that day peace had reigned from the western shores of the Azores
+to the western shores of the Hawaiian Islands, nor has any man of
+either hemisphere dared cross 30dW. or 175dW.  From 30d to 175d is
+ours--from 30d to 175d is peace, prosperity and happiness.
+
+Beyond was the great unknown.  Even the geographies of my boyhood
+showed nothing beyond.  We were taught of nothing beyond.  Speculation
+was discouraged.  For two hundred years the Eastern Hemisphere had been
+wiped from the maps and histories of Pan-America.  Its mention in
+fiction, even, was forbidden.
+
+Our ships of peace patrol thirty and one hundred seventy-five.  What
+ships from beyond they have warned only the secret archives of
+government show; but, a naval officer myself, I have gathered from the
+traditions of the service that it has been fully two hundred years
+since smoke or sail has been sighted east of 30d or west of 175d.  The
+fate of the relinquished provinces which lay beyond the dead lines we
+could only speculate upon.  That they were taken by the military power,
+which rose so suddenly in China after the fall of the republic, and
+which wrested Manchuria and Korea from Russia and Japan, and also
+absorbed the Philippines, is quite within the range of possibility.
+
+It was the commander of a Chinese man-of-war who received a copy of the
+edict of 1972 from the hand of my illustrious ancestor, Admiral Turck,
+on one hundred seventy-five, two hundred and six years ago, and from
+the yellowed pages of the admiral's diary I learned that the fate of
+the Philippines was even then presaged by these Chinese naval officers.
+
+Yes, for over two hundred years no man crossed 30d to 175d and lived to
+tell his story--not until chance drew me across and back again, and
+public opinion, revolting at last against the drastic regulations of
+our long-dead forbears, demanded that my story be given to the world,
+and that the narrow interdict which commanded peace, prosperity, and
+happiness to halt at 30d and 175d be removed forever.
+
+I am glad that it was given to me to be an instrument in the hands of
+Providence for the uplifting of benighted Europe, and the amelioration
+of the suffering, degradation, and abysmal ignorance in which I found
+her.
+
+I shall not live to see the complete regeneration of the savage hordes
+of the Eastern Hemisphere--that is a work which will require many
+generations, perhaps ages, so complete has been their reversion to
+savagery; but I know that the work has been started, and I am proud of
+the share in it which my generous countrymen have placed in my hands.
+
+The government already possesses a complete official report of my
+adventures beyond thirty.  In the narrative I purpose telling my story
+in a less formal, and I hope, a more entertaining, style; though, being
+only a naval officer and without claim to the slightest literary
+ability, I shall most certainly fall far short of the possibilities
+which are inherent in my subject.  That I have passed through the most
+wondrous adventures that have befallen a civilized man during the past
+two centuries encourages me in the belief that, however ill the
+telling, the facts themselves will command your interest to the final
+page.
+
+Beyond thirty!  Romance, adventure, strange peoples, fearsome
+beasts--all the excitement and scurry of the lives of the twentieth
+century ancients that have been denied us in these dull days of peace
+and prosaic prosperity--all, all lay beyond thirty, the invisible
+barrier between the stupid, commercial present and the carefree,
+barbarous past.
+
+What boy has not sighed for the good old days of wars, revolutions, and
+riots; how I used to pore over the chronicles of those old days, those
+dear old days, when workmen went armed to their labors; when they fell
+upon one another with gun and bomb and dagger, and the streets ran red
+with blood!  Ah, but those were the times when life was worth the
+living; when a man who went out by night knew not at which dark corner
+a "footpad" might leap upon and slay him; when wild beasts roamed the
+forest and the jungles, and there were savage men, and countries yet
+unexplored.
+
+Now, in all the Western Hemisphere dwells no man who may not find a
+school house within walking distance of his home, or at least within
+flying distance.
+
+The wildest beast that roams our waste places lairs in the frozen north
+or the frozen south within a government reserve, where the curious may
+view him and feed him bread crusts from the hand with perfect impunity.
+
+But beyond thirty!  And I have gone there, and come back; and now you
+may go there, for no longer is it high treason, punishable by disgrace
+or death, to cross 30d or 175d.
+
+My name is Jefferson Turck.  I am a lieutenant in the navy--in the
+great Pan-American navy, the only navy which now exists in all the
+world.
+
+I was born in Arizona, in the United States of North America, in the
+year of our Lord 2116.  Therefore, I am twenty-one years old.
+
+In early boyhood I tired of the teeming cities and overcrowded rural
+districts of Arizona.  Every generation of Turcks for over two
+centuries has been represented in the navy.  The navy called to me, as
+did the free, wide, unpeopled spaces of the mighty oceans.  And so I
+joined the navy, coming up from the ranks, as we all must, learning our
+craft as we advance.  My promotion was rapid, for my family seems to
+inherit naval lore.  We are born officers, and I reserve to myself no
+special credit for an early advancement in the service.
+
+At twenty I found myself a lieutenant in command of the aero-submarine
+Coldwater, of the SS-96 class.  The Coldwater was one of the first of
+the air and underwater craft which have been so greatly improved since
+its launching, and was possessed of innumerable weaknesses which,
+fortunately, have been eliminated in more recent vessels of similar
+type.
+
+Even when I took command, she was fit only for the junk pile; but the
+world-old parsimony of government retained her in active service, and
+sent two hundred men to sea in her, with myself, a mere boy, in command
+of her, to patrol thirty from Iceland to the Azores.
+
+Much of my service had been spent aboard the great merchantmen-of-war.
+These are the utility naval vessels that have transformed the navies of
+old, which burdened the peoples with taxes for their support, into the
+present day fleets of self-supporting ships that find ample time for
+target practice and gun drill while they bear freight and the mails
+from the continents to the far-scattered island of Pan-America.
+
+This change in service was most welcome to me, especially as it brought
+with it coveted responsibilities of sole command, and I was prone to
+overlook the deficiencies of the Coldwater in the natural pride I felt
+in my first ship.
+
+The Coldwater was fully equipped for two months' patrolling--the
+ordinary length of assignment to this service--and a month had already
+passed, its monotony entirely unrelieved by sight of another craft,
+when the first of our misfortunes befell.
+
+We had been riding out a storm at an altitude of about three thousand
+feet.  All night we had hovered above the tossing billows of the
+moonlight clouds.  The detonation of the thunder and the glare of
+lightning through an occasional rift in the vaporous wall proclaimed
+the continued fury of the tempest upon the surface of the sea; but we,
+far above it all, rode in comparative ease upon the upper gale.  With
+the coming of dawn the clouds beneath us became a glorious sea of gold
+and silver, soft and beautiful; but they could not deceive us as to the
+blackness and the terrors of the storm-lashed ocean which they hid.
+
+I was at breakfast when my chief engineer entered and saluted.  His
+face was grave, and I thought he was even a trifle paler than usual.
+
+"Well?" I asked.
+
+He drew the back of his forefinger nervously across his brow in a
+gesture that was habitual with him in moments of mental stress.
+
+"The gravitation-screen generators, sir," he said.  "Number one went to
+the bad about an hour and a half ago.  We have been working upon it
+steadily since; but I have to report, sir, that it is beyond repair."
+
+"Number two will keep us supplied," I answered.  "In the meantime we
+will send a wireless for relief."
+
+"But that is the trouble, sir," he went on.  "Number two has stopped.
+I knew it would come, sir.  I made a report on these generators three
+years ago.  I advised then that they both be scrapped.  Their principle
+is entirely wrong.  They're done for."  And, with a grim smile, "I
+shall at least have the satisfaction of knowing my report was accurate."
+
+"Have we sufficient reserve screen to permit us to make land, or, at
+least, meet our relief halfway?" I asked.
+
+"No, sir," he replied gravely; "we are sinking now."
+
+"Have you anything further to report?" I asked.
+
+"No, sir," he said.
+
+"Very good," I replied; and, as I dismissed him, I rang for my wireless
+operator.  When he appeared, I gave him a message to the secretary of
+the navy, to whom all vessels in service on thirty and one hundred
+seventy-five report direct.  I explained our predicament, and stated
+that with what screening force remained I should continue in the air,
+making as rapid headway toward St. Johns as possible, and that when we
+were forced to take to the water I should continue in the same
+direction.
+
+The accident occurred directly over 30d and about 52d N.  The surface
+wind was blowing a tempest from the west.  To attempt to ride out such
+a storm upon the surface seemed suicidal, for the Coldwater was not
+designed for surface navigation except under fair weather conditions.
+Submerged, or in the air, she was tractable enough in any sort of
+weather when under control; but without her screen generators she was
+almost helpless, since she could not fly, and, if submerged, could not
+rise to the surface.
+
+All these defects have been remedied in later models; but the knowledge
+did not help us any that day aboard the slowly settling Coldwater, with
+an angry sea roaring beneath, a tempest raging out of the west, and 30d
+only a few knots astern.
+
+To cross thirty or one hundred seventy-five has been, as you know, the
+direst calamity that could befall a naval commander.  Court-martial and
+degradation follow swiftly, unless as is often the case, the
+unfortunate man takes his own life before this unjust and heartless
+regulation can hold him up to public scorn.
+
+There has been in the past no excuse, no circumstance, that could
+palliate the offense.
+
+"He was in command, and he took his ship across thirty!" That was
+sufficient.  It might not have been in any way his fault, as, in the
+case of the Coldwater, it could not possibly have been justly charged
+to my account that the gravitation-screen generators were worthless;
+but well I knew that should chance have it that we were blown across
+thirty today--as we might easily be before the terrific west wind that
+we could hear howling below us, the responsibility would fall upon my
+shoulders.
+
+In a way, the regulation was a good one, for it certainly accomplished
+that for which it was intended.  We all fought shy of 30d on the east
+and 175d on the west, and, though we had to skirt them pretty close,
+nothing but an act of God ever drew one of us across.  You all are
+familiar with the naval tradition that a good officer could sense
+proximity to either line, and for my part, I am firmly convinced of the
+truth of this as I am that the compass finds the north without recourse
+to tedious processes of reasoning.
+
+Old Admiral Sanchez was wont to maintain that he could smell thirty,
+and the men of the first ship in which I sailed claimed that Coburn,
+the navigating officer, knew by name every wave along thirty from 60dN.
+to 60dS.  However, I'd hate to vouch for this.
+
+Well, to get back to my narrative; we kept on dropping slowly toward
+the surface the while we bucked the west wind, clawing away from thirty
+as fast as we could.  I was on the bridge, and as we dropped from the
+brilliant sunlight into the dense vapor of clouds and on down through
+them to the wild, dark storm strata beneath, it seemed that my spirits
+dropped with the falling ship, and the buoyancy of hope ran low in
+sympathy.
+
+The waves were running to tremendous heights, and the Coldwater was not
+designed to meet such waves head on.  Her elements were the blue ether,
+far above the raging storm, or the greater depths of ocean, which no
+storm could ruffle.
+
+As I stood speculating upon our chances once we settled into the
+frightful Maelstrom beneath us and at the same time mentally computing
+the hours which must elapse before aid could reach us, the wireless
+operator clambered up the ladder to the bridge, and, disheveled and
+breathless, stood before me at salute.  It needed but a glance at him
+to assure me that something was amiss.
+
+"What now?" I asked.
+
+"The wireless, sir!" he cried.  "My God, sir, I cannot send."
+
+"But the emergency outfit?" I asked.
+
+"I have tried everything, sir.  I have exhausted every resource.  We
+cannot send," and he drew himself up and saluted again.
+
+I dismissed him with a few kind words, for I knew that it was through
+no fault of his that the mechanism was antiquated and worthless, in
+common with the balance of the Coldwater's equipment.  There was no
+finer operator in Pan-America than he.
+
+The failure of the wireless did not appear as momentous to me as to
+him, which is not unnatural, since it is but human to feel that when
+our own little cog slips, the entire universe must necessarily be put
+out of gear.  I knew that if this storm were destined to blow us across
+thirty, or send us to the bottom of the ocean, no help could reach us
+in time to prevent it.  I had ordered the message sent solely because
+regulations required it, and not with any particular hope that we could
+benefit by it in our present extremity.
+
+I had little time to dwell upon the coincidence of the simultaneous
+failure of the wireless and the buoyancy generators, since very shortly
+after the Coldwater had dropped so low over the waters that all my
+attention was necessarily centered upon the delicate business of
+settling upon the waves without breaking my ship's back.  With our
+buoyancy generators in commission it would have been a simple thing to
+enter the water, since then it would have been but a trifling matter of
+a forty-five degree dive into the base of a huge wave.  We should have
+cut into the water like a hot knife through butter, and have been
+totally submerged with scarce a jar--I have done it a thousand
+times--but I did not dare submerge the Coldwater for fear that it would
+remain submerged to the end of time--a condition far from conducive to
+the longevity of commander or crew.
+
+Most of my officers were older men than I.  John Alvarez, my first
+officer, is twenty years my senior.  He stood at my side on the bridge
+as the ship glided closer and closer to those stupendous waves.  He
+watched my every move, but he was by far too fine an officer and
+gentleman to embarrass me by either comment or suggestion.
+
+When I saw that we soon would touch, I ordered the ship brought around
+broadside to the wind, and there we hovered a moment until a huge wave
+reached up and seized us upon its crest, and then I gave the order that
+suddenly reversed the screening force, and let us into the ocean.  Down
+into the trough we went, wallowing like the carcass of a dead whale,
+and then began the fight, with rudder and propellers, to force the
+Coldwater back into the teeth of the gale and drive her on and on,
+farther and farther from relentless thirty.
+
+I think that we should have succeeded, even though the ship was wracked
+from stem to stern by the terrific buffetings she received, and though
+she were half submerged the greater part of the time, had no further
+accident befallen us.
+
+We were making headway, though slowly, and it began to look as though
+we were going to pull through.  Alvarez never left my side, though I
+all but ordered him below for much-needed rest.  My second officer,
+Porfirio Johnson, was also often on the bridge.  He was a good officer,
+but a man for whom I had conceived a rather unreasoning aversion almost
+at the first moment of meeting him, an aversion which was not lessened
+by the knowledge which I subsequently gained that he looked upon my
+rapid promotion with jealousy.  He was ten years my senior both in
+years and service, and I rather think he could never forget the fact
+that he had been an officer when I was a green apprentice.
+
+As it became more and more apparent that the Coldwater, under my
+seamanship, was weathering the tempest and giving promise of pulling
+through safely, I could have sworn that I perceived a shade of
+annoyance and disappointment growing upon his dark countenance.  He
+left the bridge finally and went below.  I do not know that he is
+directly responsible for what followed so shortly after; but I have
+always had my suspicions, and Alvarez is even more prone to place the
+blame upon him than I.
+
+It was about six bells of the forenoon watch that Johnson returned to
+the bridge after an absence of some thirty minutes.  He seemed nervous
+and ill at ease--a fact which made little impression on me at the time,
+but which both Alvarez and I recalled subsequently.
+
+Not three minutes after his reappearance at my side the Coldwater
+suddenly commenced to lose headway.  I seized the telephone at my
+elbow, pressing upon the button which would call the chief engineer to
+the instrument in the bowels of the ship, only to find him already at
+the receiver attempting to reach me.
+
+"Numbers one, two, and five engines have broken down, sir," he called.
+"Shall we force the remaining three?"
+
+"We can do nothing else," I bellowed into the transmitter.
+
+"They won't stand the gaff, sir," he returned.
+
+"Can you suggest a better plan?" I asked.
+
+"No, sir," he replied.
+
+"Then give them the gaff, lieutenant," I shouted back, and hung up the
+receiver.
+
+For twenty minutes the Coldwater bucked the great seas with her three
+engines.  I doubt if she advanced a foot; but it was enough to keep her
+nose in the wind, and, at least, we were not drifting toward thirty.
+
+Johnson and Alvarez were at my side when, without warning, the bow
+swung swiftly around and the ship fell into the trough of the sea.
+
+"The other three have gone," I said, and I happened to be looking at
+Johnson as I spoke.  Was it the shadow of a satisfied smile that
+crossed his thin lips?  I do not know; but at least he did not weep.
+
+"You always have been curious, sir, about the great unknown beyond
+thirty," he said.  "You are in a good way to have your curiosity
+satisfied."  And then I could not mistake the slight sneer that curved
+his upper lip.  There must have been a trace of disrespect in his tone
+or manner which escaped me, for Alvarez turned upon him like a flash.
+
+"When Lieutenant Turck crosses thirty," he said, "we shall all cross
+with him, and God help the officer or the man who reproaches him!"
+
+"I shall not be a party to high treason," snapped Johnson.  "The
+regulations are explicit, and if the Coldwater crosses thirty it
+devolves upon you to place Lieutenant Turck under arrest and
+immediately exert every endeavor to bring the ship back into
+Pan-American waters."
+
+"I shall not know," replied Alvarez, "that the Coldwater passes thirty;
+nor shall any other man aboard know it," and, with his words, he drew a
+revolver from his pocket, and before either I or Johnson could prevent
+it had put a bullet into every instrument upon the bridge, ruining them
+beyond repair.
+
+And then he saluted me, and strode from the bridge, a martyr to loyalty
+and friendship, for, though no man might know that Lieutenant Jefferson
+Turck had taken his ship across thirty, every man aboard would know
+that the first officer had committed a crime that was punishable by
+both degradation and death.  Johnson turned and eyed me narrowly.
+
+"Shall I place him under arrest?" he asked.
+
+"You shall not," I replied.  "Nor shall anyone else."
+
+"You become a party to his crime!" he cried angrily.
+
+"You may go below, Mr. Johnson," I said, "and attend to the work of
+unpacking the extra instruments and having them properly set upon the
+bridge."
+
+He saluted, and left me, and for some time I stood, gazing out upon the
+angry waters, my mind filled with unhappy reflections upon the unjust
+fate that had overtaken me, and the sorrow and disgrace that I had
+unwittingly brought down upon my house.
+
+I rejoiced that I should leave neither wife nor child to bear the
+burden of my shame throughout their lives.
+
+As I thought upon my misfortune, I considered more clearly than ever
+before the unrighteousness of the regulation which was to prove my
+doom, and in the natural revolt against its injustice my anger rose,
+and there mounted within me a feeling which I imagine must have
+paralleled that spirit that once was prevalent among the ancients
+called anarchy.
+
+For the first time in my life I found my sentiments arraying themselves
+against custom, tradition, and even government.  The wave of rebellion
+swept over me in an instant, beginning with an heretical doubt as to
+the sanctity of the established order of things--that fetish which has
+ruled Pan-Americans for two centuries, and which is based upon a blind
+faith in the infallibility of the prescience of the long-dead framers
+of the articles of Pan-American federation--and ending in an adamantine
+determination to defend my honor and my life to the last ditch against
+the blind and senseless regulation which assumed the synonymity of
+misfortune and treason.
+
+I would replace the destroyed instruments upon the bridge; every
+officer and man should know when we crossed thirty.  But then I should
+assert the spirit which dominated me, I should resist arrest, and
+insist upon bringing my ship back across the dead line, remaining at my
+post until we had reached New York.  Then I should make a full report,
+and with it a demand upon public opinion that the dead lines be wiped
+forever from the seas.
+
+I knew that I was right.  I knew that no more loyal officer wore the
+uniform of the navy.  I knew that I was a good officer and sailor, and
+I didn't propose submitting to degradation and discharge because a lot
+of old, preglacial fossils had declared over two hundred years before
+that no man should cross thirty.
+
+Even while these thoughts were passing through my mind I was busy with
+the details of my duties.  I had seen to it that a sea anchor was
+rigged, and even now the men had completed their task, and the
+Coldwater was swinging around rapidly, her nose pointing once more into
+the wind, and the frightful rolling consequent upon her wallowing in
+the trough was happily diminishing.
+
+It was then that Johnson came hurrying to the bridge.  One of his eyes
+was swollen and already darkening, and his lip was cut and bleeding.
+Without even the formality of a salute, he burst upon me, white with
+fury.
+
+"Lieutenant Alvarez attacked me!" he cried.  "I demand that he be
+placed under arrest.  I found him in the act of destroying the reserve
+instruments, and when I would have interfered to protect them he fell
+upon me and beat me.  I demand that you arrest him!"
+
+"You forget yourself, Mr. Johnson," I said.  "You are not in command of
+the ship.  I deplore the action of Lieutenant Alvarez, but I cannot
+expunge from my mind the loyalty and self-sacrificing friendship which
+has prompted him to his acts.  Were I you, sir, I should profit by the
+example he has set.  Further, Mr. Johnson, I intend retaining command
+of the ship, even though she crosses thirty, and I shall demand
+implicit obedience from every officer and man aboard until I am
+properly relieved from duty by a superior officer in the port of New
+York."
+
+"You mean to say that you will cross thirty without submitting to
+arrest?" he almost shouted.
+
+"I do, sir," I replied.  "And now you may go below, and, when again you
+find it necessary to address me, you will please be so good as to bear
+in mind the fact that I am your commanding officer, and as such
+entitled to a salute."
+
+He flushed, hesitated a moment, and then, saluting, turned upon his
+heel and left the bridge.  Shortly after, Alvarez appeared.  He was
+pale, and seemed to have aged ten years in the few brief minutes since
+I last had seen him.  Saluting, he told me very simply what he had
+done, and asked that I place him under arrest.
+
+I put my hand on his shoulder, and I guess that my voice trembled a
+trifle as, while reproving him for his act, I made it plain to him that
+my gratitude was no less potent a force than his loyalty to me.  Then
+it was that I outlined to him my purpose to defy the regulation that
+had raised the dead lines, and to take my ship back to New York myself.
+
+I did not ask him to share the responsibility with me.  I merely stated
+that I should refuse to submit to arrest, and that I should demand of
+him and every other officer and man implicit obedience to my every
+command until we docked at home.
+
+His face brightened at my words, and he assured me that I would find
+him as ready to acknowledge my command upon the wrong side of thirty as
+upon the right, an assurance which I hastened to tell him I did not
+need.
+
+The storm continued to rage for three days, and as far as the wind
+scarce varied a point during all that time, I knew that we must be far
+beyond thirty, drifting rapidly east by south.  All this time it had
+been impossible to work upon the damaged engines or the gravity-screen
+generators; but we had a full set of instruments upon the bridge, for
+Alvarez, after discovering my intentions, had fetched the reserve
+instruments from his own cabin, where he had hidden them.  Those which
+Johnson had seen him destroy had been a third set which only Alvarez
+had known was aboard the Coldwater.
+
+We waited impatiently for the sun, that we might determine our exact
+location, and upon the fourth day our vigil was rewarded a few minutes
+before noon.
+
+Every officer and man aboard was tense with nervous excitement as we
+awaited the result of the reading.  The crew had known almost as soon
+as I that we were doomed to cross thirty, and I am inclined to believe
+that every man jack of them was tickled to death, for the spirits of
+adventure and romance still live in the hearts of men of the
+twenty-second century, even though there be little for them to feed
+upon between thirty and one hundred seventy-five.
+
+The men carried none of the burdens of responsibility.  They might
+cross thirty with impunity, and doubtless they would return to be
+heroes at home; but how different the home-coming of their commanding
+officer!
+
+The wind had dropped to a steady blow, still from west by north, and
+the sea had gone down correspondingly.  The crew, with the exception of
+those whose duties kept them below, were ranged on deck below the
+bridge.  When our position was definitely fixed I personally announced
+it to the eager, waiting men.
+
+"Men," I said, stepping forward to the handrail and looking down into
+their upturned, bronzed faces, "you are anxiously awaiting information
+as to the ship's position.  It has been determined at latitude fifty
+degrees seven minutes north, longitude twenty degrees sixteen minutes
+west."
+
+I paused and a buzz of animated comment ran through the massed men
+beneath me.  "Beyond thirty.  But there will be no change in commanding
+officers, in routine or in discipline, until after we have docked again
+in New York."
+
+As I ceased speaking and stepped back from the rail there was a roar of
+applause from the deck such as I never before had heard aboard a ship
+of peace.  It recalled to my mind tales that I had read of the good old
+days when naval vessels were built to fight, when ships of peace had
+been man-of-war, and guns had flashed in other than futile target
+practice, and decks had run red with blood.
+
+With the subsistence of the sea, we were able to go to work upon the
+damaged engines to some effect, and I also set men to examining the
+gravitation-screen generators with a view to putting them in working
+order should it prove not beyond our resources.
+
+For two weeks we labored at the engines, which indisputably showed
+evidence of having been tampered with.  I appointed a board to
+investigate and report upon the disaster.  But it accomplished nothing
+other than to convince me that there were several officers upon it who
+were in full sympathy with Johnson, for, though no charges had been
+preferred against him, the board went out of its way specifically to
+exonerate him in its findings.
+
+All this time we were drifting almost due east.  The work upon the
+engines had progressed to such an extent that within a few hours we
+might expect to be able to proceed under our own power westward in the
+direction of Pan-American waters.
+
+To relieve the monotony I had taken to fishing, and early that morning
+I had departed from the Coldwater in one of the boats on such an
+excursion.  A gentle west wind was blowing.  The sea shimmered in the
+sunlight.  A cloudless sky canopied the west for our sport, as I had
+made it a point never voluntarily to make an inch toward the east that
+I could avoid.  At least, they should not be able to charge me with a
+willful violation of the dead lines regulation.
+
+I had with me only the boat's ordinary complement of men--three in all,
+and more than enough to handle any small power boat.  I had not asked
+any of my officers to accompany me, as I wished to be alone, and very
+glad am I now that I had not.  My only regret is that, in view of what
+befell us, it had been necessary to bring the three brave fellows who
+manned the boat.
+
+Our fishing, which proved excellent, carried us so far to the west that
+we no longer could see the Coldwater.  The day wore on, until at last,
+about mid-afternoon, I gave the order to return to the ship.
+
+We had proceeded but a short distance toward the east when one of the
+men gave an exclamation of excitement, at the same time pointing
+eastward.  We all looked on in the direction he had indicated, and
+there, a short distance above the horizon, we saw the outlines of the
+Coldwater silhouetted against the sky.
+
+"They've repaired the engines and the generators both," exclaimed one
+of the men.
+
+It seemed impossible, but yet it had evidently been done.  Only that
+morning, Lieutenant Johnson had told me that he feared that it would be
+impossible to repair the generators.  I had put him in charge of this
+work, since he always had been accounted one of the best
+gravitation-screen men in the navy.  He had invented several of the
+improvements that are incorporated in the later models of these
+generators, and I am convinced that he knows more concerning both the
+theory and the practice of screening gravitation than any living
+Pan-American.
+
+At the sight of the Coldwater once more under control, the three men
+burst into a glad cheer.  But, for some reason which I could not then
+account, I was strangely overcome by a premonition of personal
+misfortune.  It was not that I now anticipated an early return to
+Pan-America and a board of inquiry, for I had rather looked forward to
+the fight that must follow my return.  No, there was something else,
+something indefinable and vague that cast a strange gloom upon me as I
+saw my ship rising farther above the water and making straight in our
+direction.
+
+I was not long in ascertaining a possible explanation of my depression,
+for, though we were plainly visible from the bridge of the
+aero-submarine and to the hundreds of men who swarmed her deck, the
+ship passed directly above us, not five hundred feet from the water,
+and sped directly westward.
+
+We all shouted, and I fired my pistol to attract their attention,
+though I knew full well that all who cared to had observed us, but the
+ship moved steadily away, growing smaller and smaller to our view until
+at last she passed completely out of sight.
+
+
+
+2
+
+
+What could it mean?  I had left Alvarez in command.  He was my most
+loyal subordinate.  It was absolutely beyond the pale of possibility
+that Alvarez should desert me.  No, there was some other explanation.
+Something occurred to place my second officer, Porfirio Johnson, in
+command.  I was sure of it but why speculate?  The futility of
+conjecture was only too palpable.  The Coldwater had abandoned us in
+midocean.  Doubtless none of us would survive to know why.
+
+The young man at the wheel of the power boat had turned her nose about
+as it became evident that the ship intended passing over us, and now he
+still held her in futile pursuit of the Coldwater.
+
+"Bring her about, Snider," I directed, "and hold her due east.  We
+can't catch the Coldwater, and we can't cross the Atlantic in this.
+Our only hope lies in making the nearest land, which, unless I am
+mistaken, is the Scilly Islands, off the southwest coast of England.
+Ever heard of England, Snider?"
+
+"There's a part of the United States of North America that used to be
+known to the ancients as New England," he replied.  "Is that where you
+mean, sir?"
+
+"No, Snider," I replied.  "The England I refer to was an island off the
+continent of Europe.  It was the seat of a very powerful kingdom that
+flourished over two hundred years ago.  A part of the United States of
+North America and all of the Federated States of Canada once belonged
+to this ancient England."
+
+"Europe," breathed one of the men, his voice tense with excitement.
+"My grandfather used to tell me stories of the world beyond thirty.  He
+had been a great student, and he had read much from forbidden books."
+
+"In which I resemble your grandfather," I said, "for I, too, have read
+more even than naval officers are supposed to read, and, as you men
+know, we are permitted a greater latitude in the study of geography and
+history than men of other professions.
+
+"Among the books and papers of Admiral Porter Turck, who lived two
+hundred years ago, and from whom I am descended, many volumes still
+exist, and are in my possession, which deal with the history and
+geography of ancient Europe.  Usually I bring several of these books
+with me upon a cruise, and this time, among others, I have maps of
+Europe and her surrounding waters.  I was studying them as we came away
+from the Coldwater this morning, and luckily I have them with me."
+
+"You are going to try to make Europe, sir?" asked Taylor, the young man
+who had last spoken.
+
+"It is the nearest land," I replied.  "I have always wanted to explore
+the forgotten lands of the Eastern Hemisphere.  Here's our chance.  To
+remain at sea is to perish.  None of us ever will see home again.  Let
+us make the best of it, and enjoy while we do live that which is
+forbidden the balance of our race--the adventure and the mystery which
+lie beyond thirty."
+
+Taylor and Delcarte seized the spirit of my mood but Snider, I think,
+was a trifle sceptical.
+
+"It is treason, sir," I replied, "but there is no law which compels us
+to visit punishment upon ourselves.  Could we return to Pan-America, I
+should be the first to insist that we face it.  But we know that's not
+possible.  Even if this craft would carry us so far, we haven't enough
+water or food for more than three days.
+
+"We are doomed, Snider, to die far from home and without ever again
+looking upon the face of another fellow countryman than those who sit
+here now in this boat.  Isn't that punishment sufficient for even the
+most exacting judge?"
+
+Even Snider had to admit that it was.
+
+"Very well, then, let us live while we live, and enjoy to the fullest
+whatever of adventure or pleasure each new day brings, since any day
+may be our last, and we shall be dead for a considerable while."
+
+I could see that Snider was still fearful, but Taylor and Delcarte
+responded with a hearty, "Aye, aye, sir!"
+
+They were of different mold.  Both were sons of naval officers.  They
+represented the aristocracy of birth, and they dared to think for
+themselves.
+
+Snider was in the minority, and so we continued toward the east.
+Beyond thirty, and separated from my ship, my authority ceased.  I held
+leadership, if I was to hold it at all, by virtue of personal
+qualifications only, but I did not doubt my ability to remain the
+director of our destinies in so far as they were amenable to human
+agencies.  I have always led.  While my brain and brawn remain
+unimpaired I shall continue always to lead.  Following is an art which
+Turcks do not easily learn.
+
+It was not until the third day that we raised land, dead ahead, which I
+took, from my map, to be the isles of Scilly.  But such a gale was
+blowing that I did not dare attempt to land, and so we passed to the
+north of them, skirted Land's End, and entered the English Channel.
+
+I think that up to that moment I had never experienced such a thrill as
+passed through me when I realized that I was navigating these historic
+waters.  The lifelong dreams that I never had dared hope to see
+fulfilled were at last a reality--but under what forlorn circumstances!
+
+Never could I return to my native land.  To the end of my days I must
+remain in exile.  Yet even these thoughts failed to dampen my ardor.
+
+My eyes scanned the waters.  To the north I could see the rockbound
+coast of Cornwall.  Mine were the first American eyes to rest upon it
+for more than two hundred years.  In vain, I searched for some sign of
+ancient commerce that, if history is to be believed, must have dotted
+the bosom of the Channel with white sails and blackened the heavens
+with the smoke of countless funnels, but as far as eye could reach the
+tossing waters of the Channel were empty and deserted.
+
+Toward midnight the wind and sea abated, so that shortly after dawn I
+determined to make inshore in an attempt to effect a landing, for we
+were sadly in need of fresh water and food.
+
+According to my observations, we were just off Ram Head, and it was my
+intention to enter Plymouth Bay and visit Plymouth.  From my map it
+appeared that this city lay back from the coast a short distance, and
+there was another city given as Devonport, which appeared to lie at the
+mouth of the river Tamar.
+
+However, I knew that it would make little difference which city we
+entered, as the English people were famed of old for their hospitality
+toward visiting mariners.  As we approached the mouth of the bay I
+looked for the fishing craft which I expected to see emerging thus
+early in the day for their labors.  But even after we rounded Ram Head
+and were well within the waters of the bay I saw no vessel.  Neither
+was there buoy nor light nor any other mark to show larger ships the
+channel, and I wondered much at this.
+
+The coast was densely overgrown, nor was any building or sign of man
+apparent from the water.  Up the bay and into the River Tamar we
+motored through a solitude as unbroken as that which rested upon the
+waters of the Channel.  For all we could see, there was no indication
+that man had ever set his foot upon this silent coast.
+
+I was nonplused, and then, for the first time, there crept over me an
+intuition of the truth.
+
+Here was no sign of war.  As far as this portion of the Devon coast was
+concerned, that seemed to have been over for many years, but neither
+were there any people.  Yet I could not find it within myself to
+believe that I should find no inhabitants in England.  Reasoning thus,
+I discovered that it was improbable that a state of war still existed,
+and that the people all had been drawn from this portion of England to
+some other, where they might better defend themselves against an
+invader.
+
+But what of their ancient coast defenses?  What was there here in
+Plymouth Bay to prevent an enemy landing in force and marching where
+they wished?  Nothing.  I could not believe that any enlightened
+military nation, such as the ancient English are reputed to have been,
+would have voluntarily so deserted an exposed coast and an excellent
+harbor to the mercies of an enemy.
+
+I found myself becoming more and more deeply involved in quandary.  The
+puzzle which confronted me I could not unravel.  We had landed, and I
+now stood upon the spot where, according to my map, a large city should
+rear its spires and chimneys.  There was nothing but rough, broken
+ground covered densely with weeds and brambles, and tall, rank, grass.
+
+Had a city ever stood there, no sign of it remained.  The roughness and
+unevenness of the ground suggested something of a great mass of debris
+hidden by the accumulation of centuries of undergrowth.
+
+I drew the short cutlass with which both officers and men of the navy
+are, as you know, armed out of courtesy to the traditions and memories
+of the past, and with its point dug into the loam about the roots of
+the vegetation growing at my feet.
+
+The blade entered the soil for a matter of seven inches, when it struck
+upon something stonelike.  Digging about the obstacle, I presently
+loosened it, and when I had withdrawn it from its sepulcher I found the
+thing to be an ancient brick of clay, baked in an oven.
+
+Delcarte we had left in charge of the boat; but Snider and Taylor were
+with me, and following my example, each engaged in the fascinating
+sport of prospecting for antiques.  Each of us uncovered a great number
+of these bricks, until we commenced to weary of the monotony of it,
+when Snider suddenly gave an exclamation of excitement, and, as I
+turned to look, he held up a human skull for my inspection.
+
+I took it from him and examined it.  Directly in the center of the
+forehead was a small round hole.  The gentleman had evidently come to
+his end defending his country from an invader.
+
+Snider again held aloft another trophy of the search--a metal spike and
+some tarnished and corroded metal ornaments.  They had lain close
+beside the skull.
+
+With the point of his cutlass Snider scraped the dirt and verdigris
+from the face of the larger ornament.
+
+"An inscription," he said, and handed the thing to me.
+
+They were the spike and ornaments of an ancient German helmet.  Before
+long we had uncovered many other indications that a great battle had
+been fought upon the ground where we stood.  But I was then, and still
+am, at loss to account for the presence of German soldiers upon the
+English coast so far from London, which history suggests would have
+been the natural goal of an invader.
+
+I can only account for it by assuming that either England was
+temporarily conquered by the Teutons, or that an invasion of so vast
+proportions was undertaken that German troops were hurled upon the
+England coast in huge numbers and that landings were necessarily
+effected at many places simultaneously.  Subsequent discoveries tend to
+strengthen this view.
+
+We dug about for a short time with our cutlasses until I became
+convinced that a city had stood upon the spot at some time in the past,
+and that beneath our feet, crumbled and dead, lay ancient Devonport.
+
+I could not repress a sigh at the thought of the havoc war had wrought
+in this part of England, at least.  Farther east, nearer London, we
+should find things very different.  There would be the civilization
+that two centuries must have wrought upon our English cousins as they
+had upon us.  There would be mighty cities, cultivated fields, happy
+people.  There we would be welcomed as long-lost brothers.  There would
+we find a great nation anxious to learn of the world beyond their side
+of thirty, as I had been anxious to learn of that which lay beyond our
+side of the dead line.
+
+I turned back toward the boat.
+
+"Come, men!" I said.  "We will go up the river and fill our casks with
+fresh water, search for food and fuel, and then tomorrow be in
+readiness to push on toward the east.  I am going to London."
+
+
+
+3
+
+
+The report of a gun blasted the silence of a dead Devonport with
+startling abruptness.
+
+It came from the direction of the launch, and in an instant we three
+were running for the boat as fast as our legs would carry us.  As we
+came in sight of it we saw Delcarte a hundred yards inland from the
+launch, leaning over something which lay upon the ground.  As we called
+to him he waved his cap, and stooping, lifted a small deer for our
+inspection.
+
+I was about to congratulate him on his trophy when we were startled by
+a horrid, half-human, half-bestial scream a little ahead and to the
+right of us.  It seemed to come from a clump of rank and tangled bush
+not far from where Delcarte stood.  It was a horrid, fearsome sound,
+the like of which never had fallen upon my ears before.
+
+We looked in the direction from which it came.  The smile had died from
+Delcarte's lips.  Even at the distance we were from him I saw his face
+go suddenly white, and he quickly threw his rifle to his shoulder.  At
+the same moment the thing that had given tongue to the cry moved from
+the concealing brushwood far enough for us, too, to see it.
+
+Both Taylor and Snider gave little gasps of astonishment and dismay.
+
+"What is it, sir?" asked the latter.
+
+The creature stood about the height of a tall man's waist, and was long
+and gaunt and sinuous, with a tawny coat striped with black, and with
+white throat and belly.  In conformation it was similar to a cat--a
+huge cat, exaggerated colossal cat, with fiendish eyes and the most
+devilish cast of countenance, as it wrinkled its bristling snout and
+bared its great yellow fangs.
+
+It was pacing, or rather, slinking, straight for Delcarte, who had now
+leveled his rifle upon it.
+
+"What is it, sir?" mumbled Snider again, and then a half-forgotten
+picture from an old natural history sprang to my mind, and I recognized
+in the frightful beast the Felis tigris of ancient Asia, specimens of
+which had, in former centuries, been exhibited in the Western
+Hemisphere.
+
+Snider and Taylor were armed with rifles and revolvers, while I carried
+only a revolver.  Seizing Snider's rifle from his trembling hands, I
+called to Taylor to follow me, and together we ran forward, shouting,
+to attract the beast's attention from Delcarte until we should all be
+quite close enough to attack with the greatest assurance of success.
+
+I cried to Delcarte not to fire until we reached his side, for I was
+fearful lest our small caliber, steel-jacketed bullets should, far from
+killing the beast, tend merely to enrage it still further.  But he
+misunderstood me, thinking that I had ordered him to fire.
+
+With the report of his rifle the tiger stopped short in apparent
+surprise, then turned and bit savagely at its shoulder for an instant,
+after which it wheeled again toward Delcarte, issuing the most terrific
+roars and screams, and launched itself, with incredible speed, toward
+the brave fellow, who now stood his ground pumping bullets from his
+automatic rifle as rapidly as the weapon would fire.
+
+Taylor and I also opened up on the creature, and as it was broadside to
+us it offered a splendid target, though for all the impression we
+appeared to make upon the great cat we might as well have been
+launching soap bubbles at it.
+
+Straight as a torpedo it rushed for Delcarte, and, as Taylor and I
+stumbled on through the tall grass toward our unfortunate comrade, we
+saw the tiger rear upon him and crush him to the earth.
+
+Not a backward step had the noble Delcarte taken.  Two hundred years of
+peace had not sapped the red blood from his courageous line.  He went
+down beneath that avalanche of bestial savagery still working his gun
+and with his face toward his antagonist.  Even in the instant that I
+thought him dead I could not help but feel a thrill of pride that he
+was one of my men, one of my class, a Pan-American gentleman of birth.
+And that he had demonstrated one of the principal contentions of the
+army-and-navy adherents--that military training was necessary for the
+salvation of personal courage in the Pan-American race which for
+generations had had to face no dangers more grave than those incident
+to ordinary life in a highly civilized community, safeguarded by every
+means at the disposal of a perfectly organized and all-powerful
+government utilizing the best that advanced science could suggest.
+
+As we ran toward Delcarte, both Taylor and I were struck by the fact
+that the beast upon him appeared not to be mauling him, but lay quiet
+and motionless upon its prey, and when we were quite close, and the
+muzzles of our guns were at the animal's head, I saw the explanation of
+this sudden cessation of hostilities--Felis tigris was dead.
+
+One of our bullets, or one of the last that Delcarte fired, had
+penetrated the heart, and the beast had died even as it sprawled
+forward crushing Delcarte to the ground.
+
+A moment later, with our assistance, the man had scrambled from beneath
+the carcass of his would-be slayer, without a scratch to indicate how
+close to death he had been.
+
+Delcarte's buoyance was entirely unruffled.  He came from under the
+tiger with a broad grin on his handsome face, nor could I perceive that
+a muscle trembled or that his voice showed the least indication of
+nervousness or excitement.
+
+With the termination of the adventure, we began to speculate upon the
+explanation of the presence of this savage brute at large so great a
+distance from its native habitat.  My readings had taught me that it
+was practically unknown outside of Asia, and that, so late as the
+twentieth century, at least, there had been no savage beasts outside
+captivity in England.
+
+As we talked, Snider joined us, and I returned his rifle to him.
+Taylor and Delcarte picked up the slain deer, and we all started down
+toward the launch, walking slowly.  Delcarte wanted to fetch the
+tiger's skin, but I had to deny him permission, since we had no means
+to properly cure it.
+
+Upon the beach, we skinned the deer and cut away as much meat as we
+thought we could dispose of, and as we were again embarking to continue
+up the river for fresh water and fuel, we were startled by a series of
+screams from the bushes a short distance away.
+
+"Another Felis tigris," said Taylor.
+
+"Or a dozen of them," supplemented Delcarte, and, even as he spoke,
+there leaped into sight, one after another, eight of the beasts, full
+grown--magnificent specimens.
+
+At the sight of us, they came charging down like infuriated demons.  I
+saw that three rifles would be no match for them, and so I gave the
+word to put out from shore, hoping that the "tiger," as the ancients
+called him, could not swim.
+
+Sure enough, they all halted at the beach, pacing back and forth,
+uttering fiendish cries, and glaring at us in the most malevolent
+manner.
+
+As we motored away, we presently heard the calls of similar animals far
+inland.  They seemed to be answering the cries of their fellows at the
+water's edge, and from the wide distribution and great volume of the
+sound we came to the conclusion that enormous numbers of these beasts
+must roam the adjacent country.
+
+"They have eaten up the inhabitants," murmured Snider, shuddering.
+
+"I imagine you are right," I agreed, "for their extreme boldness and
+fearlessness in the presence of man would suggest either that man is
+entirely unknown to them, or that they are extremely familiar with him
+as their natural and most easily procured prey."
+
+"But where did they come from?" asked Delcarte.  "Could they have
+traveled here from Asia?"
+
+I shook my head.  The thing was a puzzle to me.  I knew that it was
+practically beyond reason to imagine that tigers had crossed the
+mountain ranges and rivers and all the great continent of Europe to
+travel this far from their native lairs, and entirely impossible that
+they should have crossed the English Channel at all.  Yet here they
+were, and in great numbers.
+
+We continued up the Tamar several miles, filled our casks, and then
+landed to cook some of our deer steak, and have the first square meal
+that had fallen to our lot since the Coldwater deserted us.  But scarce
+had we built our fire and prepared the meat for cooking than Snider,
+whose eyes had been constantly roving about the landscape from the
+moment that we left the launch, touched me on the arm and pointed to a
+clump of bushes which grew a couple of hundred yards away.
+
+Half concealed behind their screening foliage I saw the yellow and
+black of a big tiger, and, as I looked, the beast stalked majestically
+toward us.  A moment later, he was followed by another and another, and
+it is needless to state that we beat a hasty retreat to the launch.
+
+The country was apparently infested by these huge Carnivora, for after
+three other attempts to land and cook our food we were forced to
+abandon the idea entirely, as each time we were driven off by hunting
+tigers.
+
+It was also equally impossible to obtain the necessary ingredients for
+our chemical fuel, and, as we had very little left aboard, we
+determined to step our folding mast and proceed under sail, hoarding
+our fuel supply for use in emergencies.
+
+I may say that it was with no regret that we bid adieu to Tigerland, as
+we rechristened the ancient Devon, and, beating out into the Channel,
+turned the launch's nose southeast, to round Bolt Head and continue up
+the coast toward the Strait of Dover and the North Sea.
+
+I was determined to reach London as soon as possible, that we might
+obtain fresh clothing, meet with cultured people, and learn from the
+lips of Englishmen the secrets of the two centuries since the East had
+been divorced from the West.
+
+Our first stopping place was the Isle of Wight.  We entered the Solent
+about ten o'clock one morning, and I must confess that my heart sank as
+we came close to shore.  No lighthouse was visible, though one was
+plainly indicated upon my map.  Upon neither shore was sign of human
+habitation.  We skirted the northern shore of the island in fruitless
+search for man, and then at last landed upon an eastern point, where
+Newport should have stood, but where only weeds and great trees and
+tangled wild wood rioted, and not a single manmade thing was visible to
+the eye.
+
+Before landing, I had the men substitute soft bullets for the
+steel-jacketed projectiles with which their belts and magazines were
+filled.  Thus equipped, we felt upon more even terms with the tigers,
+but there was no sign of the tigers, and I decided that they must be
+confined to the mainland.
+
+After eating, we set out in search of fuel, leaving Taylor to guard the
+launch.  For some reason I could not trust Snider alone.  I knew that
+he looked with disapproval upon my plan to visit England, and I did not
+know but what at his first opportunity, he might desert us, taking the
+launch with him, and attempt to return to Pan-America.
+
+That he would be fool enough to venture it, I did not doubt.
+
+We had gone inland for a mile or more, and were passing through a
+park-like wood, when we came suddenly upon the first human beings we
+had seen since we sighted the English coast.
+
+There were a score of men in the party.  Hairy, half-naked men they
+were, resting in the shade of a great tree.  At the first sight of us
+they sprang to their feet with wild yells, seizing long spears that had
+lain beside them as they rested.
+
+For a matter of fifty yards they ran from us as rapidly as they could,
+and then they turned and surveyed us for a moment.  Evidently
+emboldened by the scarcity of our numbers, they commenced to advance
+upon us, brandishing their spears and shouting horribly.
+
+They were short and muscular of build, with long hair and beards
+tangled and matted with filth.  Their heads, however, were shapely, and
+their eyes, though fierce and warlike, were intelligent.
+
+Appreciation of these physical attributes came later, of course, when I
+had better opportunity to study the men at close range and under
+circumstances less fraught with danger and excitement.  At the moment I
+saw, and with unmixed wonder, only a score of wild savages charging
+down upon us, where I had expected to find a community of civilized and
+enlightened people.
+
+Each of us was armed with rifle, revolver, and cutlass, but as we stood
+shoulder to shoulder facing the wild men I was loath to give the
+command to fire upon them, inflicting death or suffering upon strangers
+with whom we had no quarrel, and so I attempted to restrain them for
+the moment that we might parley with them.
+
+To this end I raised my left hand above my head with the palm toward
+them as the most natural gesture indicative of peaceful intentions
+which occurred to me.  At the same time I called aloud to them that we
+were friends, though, from their appearance, there was nothing to
+indicate that they might understand Pan-American, or ancient English,
+which are of course practically identical.
+
+At my gesture and words they ceased their shouting and came to a halt a
+few paces from us.  Then, in deep tones, one who was in advance of the
+others and whom I took to be the chief or leader of the party replied
+in a tongue which while intelligible to us, was so distorted from the
+English language from which it evidently had sprung, that it was with
+difficulty that we interpreted it.
+
+"Who are you," he asked, "and from what country?"
+
+I told him that we were from Pan-America, but he only shook his head
+and asked where that was.  He had never heard of it, or of the Atlantic
+Ocean which I told him separated his country from mine.
+
+"It has been two hundred years," I told him, "since a Pan-American
+visited England."
+
+"England?" he asked.  "What is England?"
+
+"Why this is a part of England!" I exclaimed.
+
+"This is Grubitten," he assured me.  "I know nothing about England, and
+I have lived here all my life."
+
+It was not until long after that the derivation of Grubitten occurred
+to me.  Unquestionably it is a corruption of Great Britain, a name
+formerly given to the large island comprising England, Scotland and
+Wales.  Subsequently we heard it pronounced Grabrittin and Grubritten.
+
+I then asked the fellow if he could direct us to Ryde or Newport; but
+again he shook his head, and said that he never had heard of such
+countries.  And when I asked him if there were any cities in this
+country he did not know what I meant, never having heard the word
+cities.
+
+I explained my meaning as best I could by stating that by city I
+referred to a place where many people lived together in houses.
+
+"Oh," he exclaimed, "you mean a camp!  Yes, there are two great camps
+here, East Camp and West Camp.  We are from East Camp."
+
+The use of the word camp to describe a collection of habitations
+naturally suggested war to me, and my next question was as to whether
+the war was over, and who had been victorious.
+
+"No," he replied to this question.  "The war is not yet over.  But it
+soon will be, and it will end, as it always does, with the Westenders
+running away.  We, the Eastenders, are always victorious."
+
+"No," I said, seeing that he referred to the petty tribal wars of his
+little island, "I mean the Great War, the war with Germany.  Is it
+ended--and who was victorious?"
+
+He shook his head impatiently.
+
+"I never heard," he said, "of any of these strange countries of which
+you speak."
+
+It seemed incredible, and yet it was true.  These people living at the
+very seat of the Great War knew nothing of it, though but two centuries
+had passed since, to our knowledge, it had been running in the height
+of its titanic frightfulness all about them, and to us upon the far
+side of the Atlantic still was a subject of keen interest.
+
+Here was a lifelong inhabitant of the Isle of Wight who never had heard
+of either Germany or England!  I turned to him quite suddenly with a
+new question.
+
+"What people live upon the mainland?" I asked, and pointed in the
+direction of the Hants coast.
+
+"No one lives there," he replied.
+
+"Long ago, it is said, my people dwelt across the waters upon that
+other land; but the wild beasts devoured them in such numbers that
+finally they were driven here, paddling across upon logs and driftwood,
+nor has any dared return since, because of the frightful creatures
+which dwell in that horrid country."
+
+"Do no other peoples ever come to your country in ships?" I asked.
+
+He never heard the word ship before, and did not know its meaning.  But
+he assured me that until we came he had thought that there were no
+other peoples in the world other than the Grubittens, who consist of
+the Eastenders and the Westenders of the ancient Isle of Wight.
+
+Assured that we were inclined to friendliness, our new acquaintances
+led us to their village, or, as they call it, camp.  There we found a
+thousand people, perhaps, dwelling in rude shelters, and living upon
+the fruits of the chase and such sea food as is obtainable close to
+shore, for they had no boats, nor any knowledge of such things.
+
+Their weapons were most primitive, consisting of rude spears tipped
+with pieces of metal pounded roughly into shape.  They had no
+literature, no religion, and recognized no law other than the law of
+might.  They produced fire by striking a bit of flint and steel
+together, but for the most part they ate their food raw.  Marriage is
+unknown among them, and while they have the word, mother, they did not
+know what I meant by "father."  The males fight for the favor of the
+females.  They practice infanticide, and kill the aged and physically
+unfit.
+
+The family consists of the mother and the children, the men dwelling
+sometimes in one hut and sometimes in another.  Owing to their bloody
+duels, they are always numerically inferior to the women, so there is
+shelter for them all.
+
+We spent several hours in the village, where we were objects of the
+greatest curiosity.  The inhabitants examined our clothing and all our
+belongings, and asked innumerable questions concerning the strange
+country from which we had come and the manner of our coming.
+
+I questioned many of them concerning past historical events, but they
+knew nothing beyond the narrow limits of their island and the savage,
+primitive life they led there.  London they had never heard of, and
+they assured me that I would find no human beings upon the mainland.
+
+Much saddened by what I had seen, I took my departure from them, and
+the three of us made our way back to the launch, accompanied by about
+five hundred men, women, girls, and boys.
+
+As we sailed away, after procuring the necessary ingredients of our
+chemical fuel, the Grubittens lined the shore in silent wonder at the
+strange sight of our dainty craft dancing over the sparkling waters,
+and watched us until we were lost to their sight.
+
+
+
+4
+
+
+It was during the morning of July 6, 2137, that we entered the mouth of
+the Thames--to the best of my knowledge the first Western keel to cut
+those historic waters for two hundred and twenty-one years!
+
+But where were the tugs and the lighters and the barges, the lightships
+and the buoys, and all those countless attributes which went to make up
+the myriad life of the ancient Thames?
+
+Gone!  All gone!  Only silence and desolation reigned where once the
+commerce of the world had centered.
+
+I could not help but compare this once great water-way with the waters
+about our New York, or Rio, or San Diego, or Valparaiso.  They had
+become what they are today during the two centuries of the profound
+peace which we of the navy have been prone to deplore.  And what,
+during this same period, had shorn the waters of the Thames of their
+pristine grandeur?
+
+Militarist that I am, I could find but a single word of
+explanation--war!
+
+I bowed my head and turned my eyes downward from the lonely and
+depressing sight, and in a silence which none of us seemed willing to
+break, we proceeded up the deserted river.
+
+We had reached a point which, from my map, I imagined must have been
+about the former site of Erith, when I discovered a small band of
+antelope a short distance inland.  As we were now entirely out of meat
+once more, and as I had given up all expectations of finding a city
+upon the site of ancient London, I determined to land and bag a couple
+of the animals.
+
+Assured that they would be timid and easily frightened, I decided to
+stalk them alone, telling the men to wait at the boat until I called to
+them to come and carry the carcasses back to the shore.
+
+Crawling carefully through the vegetation, making use of such trees and
+bushes as afforded shelter, I came at last almost within easy range of
+my quarry, when the antlered head of the buck went suddenly into the
+air, and then, as though in accordance with a prearranged signal, the
+whole band moved slowly off, farther inland.
+
+As their pace was leisurely, I determined to follow them until I came
+again within range, as I was sure that they would stop and feed in a
+short time.
+
+They must have led me a mile or more at least before they again halted
+and commenced to browse upon the rank, luxuriant grasses.  All the time
+that I had followed them I had kept both eyes and ears alert for sign
+or sound that would indicate the presence of Felis tigris; but so far
+not the slightest indication of the beast had been apparent.
+
+As I crept closer to the antelope, sure this time of a good shot at a
+large buck, I suddenly saw something that caused me to forget all about
+my prey in wonderment.
+
+It was the figure of an immense grey-black creature, rearing its
+colossal shoulders twelve or fourteen feet above the ground.  Never in
+my life had I seen such a beast, nor did I at first recognize it, so
+different in appearance is the live reality from the stuffed, unnatural
+specimens preserved to us in our museums.
+
+But presently I guessed the identity of the mighty creature as Elephas
+africanus, or, as the ancients commonly described it, African elephant.
+
+The antelope, although in plain view of the huge beast, paid not the
+slightest attention to it, and I was so wrapped up in watching the
+mighty pachyderm that I quite forgot to shoot at the buck and
+presently, and in quite a startling manner, it became impossible to do
+so.
+
+The elephant was browsing upon the young and tender shoots of some low
+bushes, waving his great ears and switching his short tail.  The
+antelope, scarce twenty paces from him, continued their feeding, when
+suddenly, from close beside the latter, there came a most terrifying
+roar, and I saw a great, tawny body shoot, from the concealing verdure
+beyond the antelope, full upon the back of a small buck.
+
+Instantly the scene changed from one of quiet and peace to
+indescribable chaos.  The startled and terrified buck uttered cries of
+agony.  His fellows broke and leaped off in all directions.  The
+elephant raised his trunk, and, trumpeting loudly, lumbered off through
+the wood, crushing down small trees and trampling bushes in his mad
+flight.
+
+Growling horribly, a huge lion stood across the body of his prey--such
+a creature as no Pan-American of the twenty-second century had ever
+beheld until my eyes rested upon this lordly specimen of "the king of
+beasts."  But what a different creature was this fierce-eyed demon,
+palpitating with life and vigor, glossy of coat, alert, growling,
+magnificent, from the dingy, moth-eaten replicas beneath their glass
+cases in the stuffy halls of our public museums.
+
+I had never hoped or expected to see a living lion, tiger, or
+elephant--using the common terms that were familiar to the ancients,
+since they seem to me less unwieldy than those now in general use among
+us--and so it was with sentiments not unmixed with awe that I stood
+gazing at this regal beast as, above the carcass of his kill, he roared
+out his challenge to the world.
+
+So enthralled was I by the spectacle that I quite forgot myself, and
+the better to view him, the great lion, I had risen to my feet and
+stood, not fifty paces from him, in full view.
+
+For a moment he did not see me, his attention being directed toward the
+retreating elephant, and I had ample time to feast my eyes upon his
+splendid proportions, his great head, and his thick black mane.
+
+Ah, what thoughts passed through my mind in those brief moments as I
+stood there in rapt fascination!  I had come to find a wondrous
+civilization, and instead I found a wild-beast monarch of the realm
+where English kings had ruled.  A lion reigned, undisturbed, within a
+few miles of the seat of one of the greatest governments the world has
+ever known, his domain a howling wilderness, where yesterday fell the
+shadows of the largest city in the world.
+
+It was appalling; but my reflections upon this depressing subject were
+doomed to sudden extinction.  The lion had discovered me.
+
+For an instant he stood silent and motionless as one of the mangy
+effigies at home, but only for an instant.  Then, with a most ferocious
+roar, and without the slightest hesitancy or warning, he charged upon
+me.
+
+He forsook the prey already dead beneath him for the pleasures of the
+delectable tidbit, man.  From the remorselessness with which the great
+Carnivora of modern England hunted man, I am constrained to believe
+that, whatever their appetites in times past, they have cultivated a
+gruesome taste for human flesh.
+
+As I threw my rifle to my shoulder, I thanked God, the ancient God of
+my ancestors, that I had replaced the hard-jacketed bullets in my
+weapon with soft-nosed projectiles, for though this was my first
+experience with Felis leo, I knew the moment that I faced that charge
+that even my wonderfully perfected firearm would be as futile as a
+peashooter unless I chanced to place my first bullet in a vital spot.
+
+Unless you had seen it you could not believe credible the speed of a
+charging lion.  Apparently the animal is not built for speed, nor can
+he maintain it for long.  But for a matter of forty or fifty yards
+there is, I believe, no animal on earth that can overtake him.
+
+Like a bolt he bore down upon me, but, fortunately for me, I did not
+lose my head.  I guessed that no bullet would kill him instantly.  I
+doubted that I could pierce his skull.  There was hope, though, in
+finding his heart through his exposed chest, or, better yet, of
+breaking his shoulder or foreleg, and bringing him up long enough to
+pump more bullets into him and finish him.
+
+I covered his left shoulder and pulled the trigger as he was almost
+upon me.  It stopped him.  With a terrific howl of pain and rage, the
+brute rolled over and over upon the ground almost to my feet.  As he
+came I pumped two more bullets into him, and as he struggled to rise,
+clawing viciously at me, I put a bullet in his spine.
+
+That finished him, and I am free to admit that I was mighty glad of it.
+There was a great tree close behind me, and, stepping within its shade,
+I leaned against it, wiping the perspiration from my face, for the day
+was hot, and the exertion and excitement left me exhausted.
+
+I stood there, resting, for a moment, preparatory to turning and
+retracing my steps to the launch, when, without warning, something
+whizzed through space straight toward me.  There was a dull thud of
+impact as it struck the tree, and as I dodged to one side and turned to
+look at the thing I saw a heavy spear imbedded in the wood not three
+inches from where my head had been.
+
+The thing had come from a little to one side of me, and, without
+waiting to investigate at the instant, I leaped behind the tree, and,
+circling it, peered around the other side to get a sight of my would-be
+murderer.
+
+This time I was pitted against men--the spear told me that all too
+plainly--but so long as they didn't take me unawares or from behind I
+had little fear of them.
+
+Cautiously I edged about the far side of the trees until I could obtain
+a view of the spot from which the spear must have come, and when I did
+I saw the head of a man just emerging from behind a bush.
+
+The fellow was quite similar in type to those I had seen upon the Isle
+of Wight.  He was hairy and unkempt, and as he finally stepped into
+view I saw that he was garbed in the same primitive fashion.
+
+He stood for a moment gazing about in search of me, and then he
+advanced.  As he did so a number of others, precisely like him, stepped
+from the concealing verdure of nearby bushes and followed in his wake.
+Keeping the trees between them and me, I ran back a short distance
+until I found a clump of underbrush that would effectually conceal me,
+for I wished to discover the strength of the party and its armament
+before attempting to parley with it.
+
+The useless destruction of any of these poor creatures was the farthest
+idea from my mind.  I should have liked to have spoken with them, but I
+did not care to risk having to use my high-powered rifle upon them
+other than in the last extremity.
+
+Once in my new place of concealment, I watched them as they approached
+the tree.  There were about thirty men in the party and one woman--a
+girl whose hands seemed to be bound behind her and who was being pulled
+along by two of the men.
+
+They came forward warily, peering cautiously into every bush and
+halting often.  At the body of the lion, they paused, and I could see
+from their gesticulations and the higher pitch of their voices that
+they were much excited over my kill.
+
+But presently they resumed their search for me, and as they advanced I
+became suddenly aware of the unnecessary brutality with which the
+girl's guards were treating her.  She stumbled once, not far from my
+place of concealment, and after the balance of the party had passed me.
+As she did so one of the men at her side jerked her roughly to her feet
+and struck her across the mouth with his fist.
+
+Instantly my blood boiled, and forgetting every consideration of
+caution, I leaped from my concealment, and, springing to the man's
+side, felled him with a blow.
+
+So unexpected had been my act that it found him and his fellow
+unprepared; but instantly the latter drew the knife that protruded from
+his belt and lunged viciously at me, at the same time giving voice to a
+wild cry of alarm.
+
+The girl shrank back at sight of me, her eyes wide in astonishment, and
+then my antagonist was upon me.  I parried his first blow with my
+forearm, at the same time delivering a powerful blow to his jaw that
+sent him reeling back; but he was at me again in an instant, though in
+the brief interim I had time to draw my revolver.
+
+I saw his companion crawling slowly to his feet, and the others of the
+party racing down upon me.  There was no time to argue now, other than
+with the weapons we wore, and so, as the fellow lunged at me again with
+the wicked-looking knife, I covered his heart and pulled the trigger.
+
+Without a sound, he slipped to the earth, and then I turned the weapon
+upon the other guard, who was now about to attack me.  He, too,
+collapsed, and I was alone with the astonished girl.
+
+The balance of the party was some twenty paces from us, but coming
+rapidly.  I seized her arm and drew her after me behind a nearby tree,
+for I had seen that with both their comrades down the others were
+preparing to launch their spears.
+
+With the girl safe behind the tree, I stepped out in sight of the
+advancing foe, shouting to them that I was no enemy, and that they
+should halt and listen to me.  But for answer they only yelled in
+derision and launched a couple of spears at me, both of which missed.
+
+I saw then that I must fight, yet still I hated to slay them, and it
+was only as a final resort that I dropped two of them with my rifle,
+bringing the others to a temporary halt.  Again, I appealed to them to
+desist.  But they only mistook my solicitude for them for fear, and,
+with shouts of rage and derision, leaped forward once again to
+overwhelm me.
+
+It was now quite evident that I must punish them severely,
+or--myself--die and relinquish the girl once more to her captors.
+Neither of these things had I the slightest notion of doing, and so I
+again stepped from behind the tree, and, with all the care and
+deliberation of target practice, I commenced picking off the foremost
+of my assailants.
+
+One by one the wild men dropped, yet on came the others, fierce and
+vengeful, until, only a few remaining, these seemed to realize the
+futility of combating my modern weapon with their primitive spears,
+and, still howling wrathfully, withdrew toward the west.
+
+Now, for the first time, I had an opportunity to turn my attention
+toward the girl, who had stood, silent and motionless, behind me as I
+pumped death into my enemies and hers from my automatic rifle.
+
+She was of medium height, well formed, and with fine, clear-cut
+features.  Her forehead was high, and her eyes both intelligent and
+beautiful.  Exposure to the sun had browned a smooth and velvety skin
+to a shade which seemed to enhance rather than mar an altogether lovely
+picture of youthful femininity.
+
+A trace of apprehension marked her expression--I cannot call it fear
+since I have learned to know her--and astonishment was still apparent
+in her eyes.  She stood quite erect, her hands still bound behind her,
+and met my gaze with level, proud return.
+
+"What language do you speak?" I asked.  "Do you understand mine?"
+
+"Yes," she replied.  "It is similar to my own.  I am Grabritin.  What
+are you?"
+
+"I am a Pan-American," I answered.  She shook her head.  "What is that?"
+
+I pointed toward the west.  "Far away, across the ocean."
+
+Her expression altered a trifle.  A slight frown contracted her brow.
+The expression of apprehension deepened.
+
+"Take off your cap," she said, and when, to humor her strange request,
+I did as she bid, she appeared relieved.  Then she edged to one side
+and leaned over seemingly to peer behind me.  I turned quickly to see
+what she discovered, but finding nothing, wheeled about to see that her
+expression was once more altered.
+
+"You are not from there?" and she pointed toward the east.  It was a
+half question.  "You are not from across the water there?"
+
+"No," I assured her.  "I am from Pan-America, far away to the west.
+Have you ever heard of Pan-America?"
+
+She shook her head in negation.  "I do not care where you are from,"
+she explained, "if you are not from there, and I am sure you are not,
+for the men from there have horns and tails."
+
+It was with difficulty that I restrained a smile.
+
+"Who are the men from there?" I asked.
+
+"They are bad men," she replied.  "Some of my people do not believe
+that there are such creatures.  But we have a legend--a very old, old
+legend, that once the men from there came across to Grabritin.  They
+came upon the water, and under the water, and even in the air.  They
+came in great numbers, so that they rolled across the land like a great
+gray fog.  They brought with them thunder and lightning and smoke that
+killed, and they fell upon us and slew our people by the thousands and
+the hundreds of thousands.  But at last we drove them back to the
+water's edge, back into the sea, where many were drowned.  Some
+escaped, and these our people followed--men, women, and even children,
+we followed them back.  That is all.  The legend says our people never
+returned.  Maybe they were all killed.  Maybe they are still there.
+But this, also, is in the legend, that as we drove the men back across
+the water they swore that they would return, and that when they left
+our shores they would leave no human being alive behind them.  I was
+afraid that you were from there."
+
+"By what name were these men called?" I asked.
+
+"We call them only the 'men from there,'" she replied, pointing toward
+the east.  "I have never heard that they had another name."
+
+In the light of what I knew of ancient history, it was not difficult
+for me to guess the nationality of those she described simply as "the
+men from over there."  But what utter and appalling devastation the
+Great War must have wrought to have erased not only every sign of
+civilization from the face of this great land, but even the name of the
+enemy from the knowledge and language of the people.
+
+I could only account for it on the hypothesis that the country had been
+entirely depopulated except for a few scattered and forgotten children,
+who, in some marvelous manner, had been preserved by Providence to
+re-populate the land.  These children had, doubtless, been too young to
+retain in their memories to transmit to their children any but the
+vaguest suggestion of the cataclysm which had overwhelmed their parents.
+
+Professor Cortoran, since my return to Pan-America, has suggested
+another theory which is not entirely without claim to serious
+consideration.  He points out that it is quite beyond the pale of human
+instinct to desert little children as my theory suggests the ancient
+English must have done.  He is more inclined to believe that the
+expulsion of the foe from England was synchronous with widespread
+victories by the allies upon the continent, and that the people of
+England merely emigrated from their ruined cities and their devastated,
+blood-drenched fields to the mainland, in the hope of finding, in the
+domain of the conquered enemy, cities and farms which would replace
+those they had lost.
+
+The learned professor assumes that while a long-continued war had
+strengthened rather than weakened the instinct of paternal devotion, it
+had also dulled other humanitarian instincts, and raised to the first
+magnitude the law of the survival of the fittest, with the result that
+when the exodus took place the strong, the intelligent, and the
+cunning, together with their offspring, crossed the waters of the
+Channel or the North Sea to the continent, leaving in unhappy England
+only the helpless inmates of asylums for the feebleminded and insane.
+
+My objections to this, that the present inhabitants of England are
+mentally fit, and could therefore not have descended from an ancestry
+of undiluted lunacy he brushes aside with the assertion that insanity
+is not necessarily hereditary; and that even though it was, in many
+cases a return to natural conditions from the state of high
+civilization, which is thought to have induced mental disease in the
+ancient world, would, after several generations, have thoroughly
+expunged every trace of the affliction from the brains and nerves of
+the descendants of the original maniacs.
+
+Personally, I do not place much stock in Professor Cortoran's theory,
+though I admit that I am prejudiced.  Naturally one does not care to
+believe that the object of his greatest affection is descended from a
+gibbering idiot and a raving maniac.
+
+But I am forgetting the continuity of my narrative--a continuity which
+I desire to maintain, though I fear that I shall often be led astray,
+so numerous and varied are the bypaths of speculation which lead from
+the present day story of the Grabritins into the mysterious past of
+their forbears.
+
+As I stood talking with the girl I presently recollected that she still
+was bound, and with a word of apology, I drew my knife and cut the
+rawhide thongs which confined her wrists at her back.
+
+She thanked me, and with such a sweet smile that I should have been
+amply repaid by it for a much more arduous service.
+
+"And now," I said, "let me accompany you to your home and see you
+safely again under the protection of your friends."
+
+"No," she said, with a hint of alarm in her voice; "you must not come
+with me--Buckingham will kill you."
+
+Buckingham.  The name was famous in ancient English history.  Its
+survival, with many other illustrious names, is one of the strongest
+arguments in refutal of Professor Cortoran's theory; yet it opens no
+new doors to the past, and, on the whole, rather adds to than
+dissipates the mystery.
+
+"And who is Buckingham," I asked, "and why should he wish to kill me?"
+
+"He would think that you had stolen me," she replied, "and as he wishes
+me for himself, he will kill any other whom he thinks desires me.  He
+killed Wettin a few days ago.  My mother told me once that Wettin was
+my father.  He was king.  Now Buckingham is king."
+
+Here, evidently, were a people slightly superior to those of the Isle
+of Wight.  These must have at least the rudiments of civilized
+government since they recognized one among them as ruler, with the
+title, king.  Also, they retained the word father.  The girl's
+pronunciation, while far from identical with ours, was much closer than
+the tortured dialect of the Eastenders of the Isle of Wight.  The
+longer I talked with her the more hopeful I became of finding here,
+among her people, some records, or traditions, which might assist in
+clearing up the historic enigma of the past two centuries.  I asked her
+if we were far from the city of London, but she did not know what I
+meant.  When I tried to explain, describing mighty buildings of stone
+and brick, broad avenues, parks, palaces, and countless people, she but
+shook her head sadly.
+
+"There is no such place near by," she said.  "Only the Camp of the
+Lions has places of stone where the beasts lair, but there are no
+people in the Camp of the Lions.  Who would dare go there!"  And she
+shuddered.
+
+"The Camp of the Lions," I repeated.  "And where is that, and what?"
+
+"It is there," she said, pointing up the river toward the west.  "I
+have seen it from a great distance, but I have never been there.  We
+are much afraid of the lions, for this is their country, and they are
+angry that man has come to live here.
+
+"Far away there," and she pointed toward the south-west, "is the land
+of tigers, which is even worse than this, the land of the lions, for
+the tigers are more numerous than the lions and hungrier for human
+flesh.  There were tigers here long ago, but both the lions and the men
+set upon them and drove them off."
+
+"Where did these savage beasts come from?" I asked.
+
+"Oh," she replied, "they have been here always.  It is their country."
+
+"Do they not kill and eat your people?" I asked.
+
+"Often, when we meet them by accident, and we are too few to slay them,
+or when one goes too close to their camp.  But seldom do they hunt us,
+for they find what food they need among the deer and wild cattle, and,
+too, we make them gifts, for are we not intruders in their country?
+Really we live upon good terms with them, though I should not care to
+meet one were there not many spears in my party."
+
+"I should like to visit this Camp of the Lions," I said.
+
+"Oh, no, you must not!" cried the girl.  "That would be terrible.  They
+would eat you."  For a moment, then, she seemed lost in thought, but
+presently she turned upon me with: "You must go now, for any minute
+Buckingham may come in search of me.  Long since should they have
+learned that I am gone from the camp--they watch over me very
+closely--and they will set out after me.  Go!  I shall wait here until
+they come in search of me."
+
+"No," I told her.  "I'll not leave you alone in a land infested by
+lions and other wild beasts.  If you won't let me go as far as your
+camp with you, then I'll wait here until they come in search of you."
+
+"Please go!" she begged.  "You have saved me, and I would save you, but
+nothing will save you if Buckingham gets his hands on you.  He is a bad
+man.  He wishes to have me for his woman so that he may be king.  He
+would kill anyone who befriended me, for fear that I might become
+another's."
+
+"Didn't you say that Buckingham is already the king?" I asked.
+
+"He is.  He took my mother for his woman after he had killed Wettin.
+But my mother will die soon--she is very old--and then the man to whom
+I belong will become king."
+
+Finally, after much questioning, I got the thing through my head.  It
+appears that the line of descent is through the women.  A man is merely
+head of his wife's family--that is all.  If she chances to be the
+oldest female member of the "royal" house, he is king.  Very naively
+the girl explained that there was seldom any doubt as to whom a child's
+mother was.
+
+This accounted for the girl's importance in the community and for
+Buckingham's anxiety to claim her, though she told me that she did not
+wish to become his woman, for he was a bad man and would make a bad
+king.  But he was powerful, and there was no other man who dared
+dispute his wishes.
+
+"Why not come with me," I suggested, "if you do not wish to become
+Buckingham's?"
+
+"Where would you take me?" she asked.
+
+Where, indeed!  I had not thought of that.  But before I could reply to
+her question she shook her head and said, "No, I cannot leave my
+people.  I must stay and do my best, even if Buckingham gets me, but
+you must go at once.  Do not wait until it is too late.  The lions have
+had no offering for a long time, and Buckingham would seize upon the
+first stranger as a gift to them."
+
+I did not perfectly understand what she meant, and was about to ask her
+when a heavy body leaped upon me from behind, and great arms encircled
+my neck.  I struggled to free myself and turn upon my antagonist, but
+in another instant I was overwhelmed by a half dozen powerful,
+half-naked men, while a score of others surrounded me, a couple of whom
+seized the girl.
+
+I fought as best I could for my liberty and for hers, but the weight of
+numbers was too great, though I had the satisfaction at least of giving
+them a good fight.
+
+When they had overpowered me, and I stood, my hands bound behind me, at
+the girl's side, she gazed commiseratingly at me.
+
+"It is too bad that you did not do as I bid you," she said, "for now it
+has happened just as I feared--Buckingham has you."
+
+"Which is Buckingham?" I asked.
+
+"I am Buckingham," growled a burly, unwashed brute, swaggering
+truculently before me.  "And who are you who would have stolen my
+woman?"
+
+The girl spoke up then and tried to explain that I had not stolen her;
+but on the contrary I had saved her from the men from the "Elephant
+Country" who were carrying her away.
+
+Buckingham only sneered at her explanation, and a moment later gave the
+command that started us all off toward the west.  We marched for a
+matter of an hour or so, coming at last to a collection of rude huts,
+fashioned from branches of trees covered with skins and grasses and
+sometimes plastered with mud.  All about the camp they had erected a
+wall of saplings pointed at the tops and fire hardened.
+
+This palisade was a protection against both man and beasts, and within
+it dwelt upward of two thousand persons, the shelters being built very
+close together, and sometimes partially underground, like deep
+trenches, with the poles and hides above merely as protection from the
+sun and rain.
+
+The older part of the camp consisted almost wholly of trenches, as
+though this had been the original form of dwellings which was slowly
+giving way to the drier and airier surface domiciles.  In these trench
+habitations I saw a survival of the military trenches which formed so
+famous a part of the operation of the warring nations during the
+twentieth century.
+
+The women wore a single light deerskin about their hips, for it was
+summer, and quite warm.  The men, too, were clothed in a single
+garment, usually the pelt of some beast of prey.  The hair of both men
+and women was confined by a rawhide thong passing about the forehead
+and tied behind.  In this leathern band were stuck feathers, flowers,
+or the tails of small mammals.  All wore necklaces of the teeth or
+claws of wild beasts, and there were numerous metal wristlets and
+anklets among them.
+
+They wore, in fact, every indication of a most primitive people--a race
+which had not yet risen to the heights of agriculture or even the
+possession of domestic animals.  They were hunters--the lowest plane in
+the evolution of the human race of which science takes cognizance.
+
+And yet as I looked at their well shaped heads, their handsome
+features, and their intelligent eyes, it was difficult to believe that
+I was not among my own.  It was only when I took into consideration
+their mode of living, their scant apparel, the lack of every least
+luxury among them, that I was forced to admit that they were, in truth,
+but ignorant savages.
+
+Buckingham had relieved me of my weapons, though he had not the
+slightest idea of their purpose or uses, and when we reached the camp
+he exhibited both me and my arms with every indication of pride in this
+great capture.
+
+The inhabitants flocked around me, examining my clothing, and
+exclaiming in wonderment at each new discovery of button, buckle,
+pocket, and flap.  It seemed incredible that such a thing could be,
+almost within a stone's throw of the spot where but a brief two
+centuries before had stood the greatest city of the world.
+
+They bound me to a small tree that grew in the middle of one of their
+crooked streets, but the girl they released as soon as we had entered
+the enclosure.  The people greeted her with every mark of respect as
+she hastened to a large hut near the center of the camp.
+
+Presently she returned with a fine looking, white-haired woman, who
+proved to be her mother.  The older woman carried herself with a regal
+dignity that seemed quite remarkable in a place of such primitive
+squalor.
+
+The people fell aside as she approached, making a wide way for her and
+her daughter.  When they had come near and stopped before me the older
+woman addressed me.
+
+"My daughter has told me," she said, "of the manner in which you
+rescued her from the men of the elephant country.  If Wettin lived you
+would be well treated, but Buckingham has taken me now, and is king.
+You can hope for nothing from such a beast as Buckingham."
+
+The fact that Buckingham stood within a pace of us and was an
+interested listener appeared not to temper her expressions in the
+slightest.
+
+"Buckingham is a pig," she continued.  "He is a coward.  He came upon
+Wettin from behind and ran his spear through him.  He will not be king
+for long.  Some one will make a face at him, and he will run away and
+jump into the river."
+
+The people began to titter and clap their hands.  Buckingham became red
+in the face.  It was evident that he was far from popular.
+
+"If he dared," went on the old lady, "he would kill me now, but he does
+not dare.  He is too great a coward.  If I could help you I should
+gladly do so.  But I am only queen--the vehicle that has helped carry
+down, unsullied, the royal blood from the days when Grabritin was a
+mighty country."
+
+The old queen's words had a noticeable effect upon the mob of curious
+savages which surrounded me.  The moment they discovered that the old
+queen was friendly to me and that I had rescued her daughter they
+commenced to accord me a more friendly interest, and I heard many words
+spoken in my behalf, and demands were made that I not be harmed.
+
+But now Buckingham interfered.  He had no intention of being robbed of
+his prey.  Blustering and storming, he ordered the people back to their
+huts, at the same time directing two of his warriors to confine me in a
+dugout in one of the trenches close to his own shelter.
+
+Here they threw me upon the ground, binding my ankles together and
+trussing them up to my wrists behind.  There they left me, lying upon
+my stomach--a most uncomfortable and strained position, to which was
+added the pain where the cords cut into my flesh.
+
+Just a few days ago my mind had been filled with the anticipation of
+the friendly welcome I should find among the cultured Englishmen of
+London.  Today I should be sitting in the place of honor at the banquet
+board of one of London's most exclusive clubs, feted and lionized.
+
+The actuality!  Here I lay, bound hand and foot, doubtless almost upon
+the very site of a part of ancient London, yet all about me was a
+primeval wilderness, and I was a captive of half-naked wild men.
+
+I wondered what had become of Delcarte and Taylor and Snider.  Would
+they search for me?  They could never find me, I feared, yet if they
+did, what could they accomplish against this horde of savage warriors?
+
+Would that I could warn them.  I thought of the girl--doubtless she
+could get word to them, but how was I to communicate with her?  Would
+she come to see me before I was killed?  It seemed incredible that she
+should not make some slight attempt to befriend me; yet, as I recalled,
+she had made no effort to speak with me after we had reached the
+village.  She had hastened to her mother the moment she had been
+liberated.  Though she had returned with the old queen, she had not
+spoken to me, even then.  I began to have my doubts.
+
+Finally, I came to the conclusion that I was absolutely friendless
+except for the old queen.  For some unaccountable reason my rage
+against the girl for her ingratitude rose to colossal proportions.
+
+For a long time I waited for some one to come to my prison whom I might
+ask to bear word to the queen, but I seemed to have been forgotten.
+The strained position in which I lay became unbearable.  I wriggled and
+twisted until I managed to turn myself partially upon my side, where I
+lay half facing the entrance to the dugout.
+
+Presently my attention was attracted by the shadow of something moving
+in the trench without, and a moment later the figure of a child
+appeared, creeping upon all fours, as, wide-eyed, and prompted by
+childish curiosity, a little girl crawled to the entrance of my hut and
+peered cautiously and fearfully in.
+
+I did not speak at first for fear of frightening the little one away.
+But when I was satisfied that her eyes had become sufficiently
+accustomed to the subdued light of the interior, I smiled.
+
+Instantly the expression of fear faded from her eyes to be replaced
+with an answering smile.
+
+"Who are you, little girl?" I asked.
+
+"My name is Mary," she replied.  "I am Victory's sister."
+
+"And who is Victory?"
+
+"You do not know who Victory is?" she asked, in astonishment.
+
+I shook my head in negation.
+
+"You saved her from the elephant country people, and yet you say you do
+not know her!" she exclaimed.
+
+"Oh, so she is Victory, and you are her sister!  I have not heard her
+name before.  That is why I did not know whom you meant," I explained.
+Here was just the messenger for me.  Fate was becoming more kind.
+
+"Will you do something for me, Mary?" I asked.
+
+"If I can."
+
+"Go to your mother, the queen, and ask her to come to me," I said.  "I
+have a favor to ask."
+
+She said that she would, and with a parting smile she left me.
+
+For what seemed many hours I awaited her return, chafing with
+impatience.  The afternoon wore on and night came, and yet no one came
+near me.  My captors brought me neither food nor water.  I was
+suffering considerable pain where the rawhide thongs cut into my
+swollen flesh.  I thought that they had either forgotten me, or that it
+was their intention to leave me here to die of starvation.
+
+Once I heard a great uproar in the village.  Men were shouting--women
+were screaming and moaning.  After a time this subsided, and again
+there was a long interval of silence.
+
+Half the night must have been spent when I heard a sound in the trench
+near the hut.  It resembled muffled sobs.  Presently a figure appeared,
+silhouetted against the lesser darkness beyond the doorway.  It crept
+inside the hut.
+
+"Are you here?" whispered a childlike voice.
+
+It was Mary!  She had returned.  The thongs no longer hurt me.  The
+pangs of hunger and thirst disappeared.  I realized that it had been
+loneliness from which I suffered most.
+
+"Mary!" I exclaimed.  "You are a good girl.  You have come back, after
+all.  I had commenced to think that you would not.  Did you give my
+message to the queen?  Will she come?  Where is she?"
+
+The child's sobs increased, and she flung herself upon the dirt floor
+of the hut, apparently overcome by grief.
+
+"What is it?" I asked.  "Why do you cry?"
+
+"The queen, my mother, will not come to you," she said, between sobs.
+"She is dead.  Buckingham has killed her.  Now he will take Victory,
+for Victory is queen.  He kept us fastened up in our shelter, for fear
+that Victory would escape him, but I dug a hole beneath the back wall
+and got out.  I came to you, because you saved Victory once before, and
+I thought that you might save her again, and me, also.  Tell me that
+you will."
+
+"I am bound and helpless, Mary," I replied.  "Otherwise I would do what
+I could to save you and your sister."
+
+"I will set you free!" cried the girl, creeping up to my side.  "I will
+set you free, and then you may come and slay Buckingham."
+
+"Gladly!" I assented.
+
+"We must hurry," she went on, as she fumbled with the hard knots in the
+stiffened rawhide, "for Buckingham will be after you soon.  He must
+make an offering to the lions at dawn before he can take Victory.  The
+taking of a queen requires a human offering!"
+
+"And I am to be the offering?" I asked.
+
+"Yes," she said, tugging at a knot.  "Buckingham has been wanting a
+sacrifice ever since he killed Wettin, that he might slay my mother and
+take Victory."
+
+The thought was horrible, not solely because of the hideous fate to
+which I was condemned, but from the contemplation it engendered of the
+sad decadence of a once enlightened race.  To these depths of
+ignorance, brutality, and superstition had the vaunted civilization of
+twentieth century England been plunged, and by what?  War!  I felt the
+structure of our time-honored militaristic arguments crumbling about me.
+
+Mary labored with the thongs that confined me.  They proved
+refractory--defying her tender, childish fingers.  She assured me,
+however, that she would release me, if "they" did not come too soon.
+
+But, alas, they came.  We heard them coming down the trench, and I bade
+Mary hide in a corner, lest she be discovered and punished.  There was
+naught else she could do, and so she crawled away into the Stygian
+blackness behind me.
+
+Presently two warriors entered.  The leader exhibited a unique method
+of discovering my whereabouts in the darkness.  He advanced slowly,
+kicking out viciously before him.  Finally he kicked me in the face.
+Then he knew where I was.
+
+A moment later I had been jerked roughly to my feet.  One of the
+fellows stopped and severed the bonds that held my ankles.  I could
+scarcely stand alone.  The two pulled and hauled me through the low
+doorway and along the trench.  A party of forty or fifty warriors were
+awaiting us at the brink of the excavation some hundred yards from the
+hut.
+
+Hands were lowered to us, and we were dragged to the surface.  Then
+commenced a long march.  We stumbled through the underbrush wet with
+dew, our way lighted by a score of torchbearers who surrounded us.  But
+the torches were not to light the way--that was but incidental.  They
+were carried to keep off the huge Carnivora that moaned and coughed and
+roared about us.
+
+The noises were hideous.  The whole country seemed alive with lions.
+Yellow-green eyes blazed wickedly at us from out the surrounding
+darkness.  My escort carried long, heavy spears.  These they kept ever
+pointed toward the beast of prey, and I learned from snatches of the
+conversation I overheard that occasionally there might be a lion who
+would brave even the terrors of fire to leap in upon human prey.  It
+was for such that the spears were always couched.
+
+But nothing of the sort occurred during this hideous death march, and
+with the first pale heralding of dawn we reached our goal--an open
+place in the midst of a tangled wildwood.  Here rose in crumbling
+grandeur the first evidences I had seen of the ancient civilization
+which once had graced fair Albion--a single, time-worn arch of masonry.
+
+"The entrance to the Camp of the Lions!" murmured one of the party in a
+voice husky with awe.
+
+Here the party knelt, while Buckingham recited a weird, prayer-like
+chant.  It was rather long, and I recall only a portion of it, which
+ran, if my memory serves me, somewhat as follows:
+
+        Lord of Grabritin, we
+        Fall on our knees to thee,
+        This gift to bring.
+        Greatest of kings are thou!
+        To thee we humbly bow!
+        Peace to our camp allow.
+        God save thee, king!
+
+
+Then the party rose, and dragging me to the crumbling arch, made me
+fast to a huge, corroded, copper ring which was dangling from an
+eyebolt imbedded in the masonry.
+
+None of them, not even Buckingham, seemed to feel any personal
+animosity toward me.  They were naturally rough and brutal, as
+primitive men are supposed to have been since the dawn of humanity, but
+they did not go out of their way to maltreat me.
+
+With the coming of dawn the number of lions about us seemed to have
+greatly diminished--at least they made less noise--and as Buckingham
+and his party disappeared into the woods, leaving me alone to my
+terrible fate, I could hear the grumblings and growlings of the beasts
+diminishing with the sound of the chant, which the party still
+continued.  It appeared that the lions had failed to note that I had
+been left for their breakfast, and had followed off after their
+worshippers instead.
+
+But I knew the reprieve would be but for a short time, and though I had
+no wish to die, I must confess that I rather wished the ordeal over and
+the peace of oblivion upon me.
+
+The voices of the men and the lions receded in the distance, until
+finally quiet reigned about me, broken only by the sweet voices of
+birds and the sighing of the summer wind in the trees.
+
+It seemed impossible to believe that in this peaceful woodland setting
+the frightful thing was to occur which must come with the passing of
+the next lion who chanced within sight or smell of the crumbling arch.
+
+I strove to tear myself loose from my bonds, but succeeded only in
+tightening them about my arms.  Then I remained passive for a long
+time, letting the scenes of my lifetime pass in review before my mind's
+eye.
+
+I tried to imagine the astonishment, incredulity, and horror with which
+my family and friends would be overwhelmed if, for an instant, space
+could be annihilated and they could see me at the gates of London.
+
+The gates of London!  Where was the multitude hurrying to the marts of
+trade after a night of pleasure or rest?  Where was the clang of
+tramcar gongs, the screech of motor horns, the vast murmur of a dense
+throng?
+
+Where were they?  And as I asked the question a lone, gaunt lion strode
+from the tangled jungle upon the far side of the clearing.
+Majestically and noiselessly upon his padded feet the king of beasts
+moved slowly toward the gates of London and toward me.
+
+Was I afraid?  I fear that I was almost afraid.  I know that I thought
+that fear was coming to me, and so I straightened up and squared my
+shoulders and looked the lion straight in the eyes--and waited.
+
+It is not a nice way to die--alone, with one's hands fast bound,
+beneath the fangs and talons of a beast of prey.  No, it is not a nice
+way to die, not a pretty way.
+
+The lion was halfway across the clearing when I heard a slight sound
+behind me.  The great cat stopped in his tracks.  He lashed his tail
+against his sides now, instead of simply twitching its tip, and his low
+moan became a thunderous roar.
+
+As I craned my neck to catch a glimpse of the thing that had aroused
+the fury of the beast before me, it sprang through the arched gateway
+and was at my side--with parted lips and heaving bosom and disheveled
+hair--a bronzed and lovely vision to eyes that had never harbored hope
+of rescue.
+
+It was Victory, and in her arms she clutched my rifle and revolver.  A
+long knife was in the doeskin belt that supported the doeskin skirt
+tightly about her lithe limbs.  She dropped my weapons at my feet, and,
+snatching the knife from its resting place, severed the bonds that held
+me.  I was free, and the lion was preparing to charge.
+
+"Run!" I cried to the girl, as I bent and seized my rifle.  But she
+only stood there at my side, her bared blade ready in her hand.
+
+The lion was bounding toward us now in prodigious leaps.  I raised the
+rifle and fired.  It was a lucky shot, for I had no time to aim
+carefully, and when the beast crumpled and rolled, lifeless, to the
+ground, I went upon my knees and gave thanks to the God of my ancestors.
+
+And, still upon my knees, I turned, and taking the girl's hand in mine,
+I kissed it.  She smiled at that, and laid her other hand upon my head.
+
+"You have strange customs in your country," she said.
+
+I could not but smile at that when I thought how strange it would seem
+to my countrymen could they but see me kneeling there on the site of
+London, kissing the hand of England's queen.
+
+"And now," I said, as I rose, "you must return to the safety of your
+camp.  I will go with you until you are near enough to continue alone
+in safety.  Then I shall try to return to my comrades."
+
+"I will not return to the camp," she replied.
+
+"But what shall you do?" I asked.
+
+"I do not know.  Only I shall never go back while Buckingham lives.  I
+should rather die than go back to him.  Mary came to me, after they had
+taken you from the camp, and told me.  I found your strange weapons and
+followed with them.  It took me a little longer, for often I had to
+hide in the trees that the lions might not get me, but I came in time,
+and now you are free to go back to your friends."
+
+"And leave you here?" I exclaimed.
+
+She nodded, but I could see through all her brave front that she was
+frightened at the thought.  I could not leave her, of course, but what
+in the world I was to do, cumbered with the care of a young woman, and
+a queen at that, I was at a loss to know.  I pointed out that phase of
+it to her, but she only shrugged her shapely shoulders and pointed to
+her knife.
+
+It was evident that she felt entirely competent to protect herself.
+
+As we stood there we heard the sound of voices.  They were coming from
+the forest through which we had passed when we had come from camp.
+
+"They are searching for me," said the girl.  "Where shall we hide?"
+
+I didn't relish hiding.  But when I thought of the innumerable dangers
+which surrounded us and the comparatively small amount of ammunition
+that I had with me, I hesitated to provoke a battle with Buckingham and
+his warriors when, by flight, I could avoid them and preserve my
+cartridges against emergencies which could not be escaped.
+
+"Would they follow us there?" I asked, pointing through the archway
+into the Camp of the Lions.
+
+"Never," she replied, "for, in the first place, they would know that we
+would not dare go there, and in the second they themselves would not
+dare."
+
+"Then we shall take refuge in the Camp of the Lions," I said.
+
+She shuddered and drew closer to me.
+
+"You dare?" she asked.
+
+"Why not?" I returned.  "We shall be safe from Buckingham, and you have
+seen, for the second time in two days, that lions are harmless before
+my weapons.  Then, too, I can find my friends easiest in this
+direction, for the River Thames runs through this place you call the
+Camp of the Lions, and it is farther down the Thames that my friends
+are awaiting me.  Do you not dare come with me?"
+
+"I dare follow wherever you lead," she answered simply.
+
+And so I turned and passed beneath the great arch into the city of
+London.
+
+
+
+5
+
+
+As we entered deeper into what had once been the city, the evidences of
+man's past occupancy became more frequent.  For a mile from the arch
+there was only a riot of weeds and undergrowth and trees covering small
+mounds and little hillocks that, I was sure, were formed of the ruins
+of stately buildings of the dead past.
+
+But presently we came upon a district where shattered walls still
+raised their crumbling tops in sad silence above the grass-grown
+sepulchers of their fallen fellows.  Softened and mellowed by ancient
+ivy stood these sentinels of sorrow, their scarred faces still
+revealing the rents and gashes of shrapnel and of bomb.
+
+Contrary to our expectations, we found little indication that lions in
+any great numbers laired in this part of ancient London.  Well-worn
+pathways, molded by padded paws, led through the cavernous windows or
+doorways of a few of the ruins we passed, and once we saw the savage
+face of a great, black-maned lion scowling down upon us from a
+shattered stone balcony.
+
+We followed down the bank of the Thames after we came upon it.  I was
+anxious to look with my own eyes upon the famous bridge, and I guessed,
+too, that the river would lead me into the part of London where stood
+Westminster Abbey and the Tower.
+
+Realizing that the section through which we had been passing was
+doubtless outlying, and therefore not so built up with large structures
+as the more centrally located part of the old town, I felt sure that
+farther down the river I should find the ruins larger.  The bridge
+would be there in part, at least, and so would remain the walls of many
+of the great edifices of the past.  There would be no such complete
+ruin of large structures as I had seen among the smaller buildings.
+
+But when I had come to that part of the city which I judged to have
+contained the relics I sought I found havoc that had been wrought there
+even greater than elsewhere.
+
+At one point upon the bosom of the Thames there rises a few feet above
+the water a single, disintegrating mound of masonry.  Opposite it, upon
+either bank of the river, are tumbled piles of ruins overgrown with
+vegetation.
+
+These, I am forced to believe, are all that remain of London Bridge,
+for nowhere else along the river is there any other slightest sign of
+pier or abutment.
+
+Rounding the base of a large pile of grass-covered debris, we came
+suddenly upon the best preserved ruin we had yet discovered.  The
+entire lower story and part of the second story of what must once have
+been a splendid public building rose from a great knoll of shrubbery
+and trees, while ivy, thick and luxuriant, clambered upward to the
+summit of the broken walls.
+
+In many places the gray stone was still exposed, its smoothly chiseled
+face pitted with the scars of battle.  The massive portal yawned,
+somber and sorrowful, before us, giving a glimpse of marble halls
+within.
+
+The temptation to enter was too great.  I wished to explore the
+interior of this one remaining monument of civilization now dead beyond
+recall.  Through this same portal, within these very marble halls, had
+Gray and Chamberlin and Kitchener and Shaw, perhaps, come and gone with
+the other great ones of the past.
+
+I took Victory's hand in mine.
+
+"Come!" I said.  "I do not know the name by which this great pile was
+known, nor the purposes it fulfilled.  It may have been the palace of
+your sires, Victory.  From some great throne within, your forebears may
+have directed the destinies of half the world.  Come!"
+
+I must confess to a feeling of awe as we entered the rotunda of the
+great building.  Pieces of massive furniture of another day still stood
+where man had placed them centuries ago.  They were littered with dust
+and broken stone and plaster, but, otherwise, so perfect was their
+preservation I could hardly believe that two centuries had rolled by
+since human eyes were last set upon them.
+
+Through one great room after another we wandered, hand in hand, while
+Victory asked many questions and for the first time I began to realize
+something of the magnificence and power of the race from whose loins
+she had sprung.
+
+Splendid tapestries, now mildewed and rotting, hung upon the walls.
+There were mural paintings, too, depicting great historic events of the
+past.  For the first time Victory saw the likeness of a horse, and she
+was much affected by a huge oil which depicted some ancient cavalry
+charge against a battery of field guns.
+
+In other pictures there were steamships, battleships, submarines, and
+quaint looking railway trains--all small and antiquated in appearance
+to me, but wonderful to Victory.  She told me that she would like to
+remain for the rest of her life where she could look at those pictures
+daily.
+
+From room to room we passed until presently we emerged into a mighty
+chamber, dark and gloomy, for its high and narrow windows were choked
+and clogged by ivy.  Along one paneled wall we groped, our eyes slowly
+becoming accustomed to the darkness.  A rank and pungent odor pervaded
+the atmosphere.
+
+We had made our way about half the distance across one end of the great
+apartment when a low growl from the far end brought us to a startled
+halt.
+
+Straining my eyes through the gloom, I made out a raised dais at the
+extreme opposite end of the hall.  Upon the dais stood two great
+chairs, highbacked and with great arms.
+
+The throne of England!  But what were those strange forms about it?
+
+Victory gave my hand a quick, excited little squeeze.
+
+"The lions!" she whispered.
+
+Yes, lions indeed!  Sprawled about the dais were a dozen huge forms,
+while upon the seat of one of the thrones a small cub lay curled in
+slumber.
+
+As we stood there for a moment, spellbound by the sight of those
+fearsome creatures occupying the very thrones of the sovereigns of
+England, the low growl was repeated, and a great male rose slowly to
+his feet.
+
+His devilish eyes bored straight through the semi-darkness toward us.
+He had discovered the interloper.  What right had man within this
+palace of the beasts? Again he opened his giant jaws, and this time
+there rumbled forth a warning roar.
+
+Instantly eight or ten of the other beasts leaped to their feet.
+Already the great fellow who had spied us was advancing slowly in our
+direction.  I held my rifle ready, but how futile it appeared in the
+face of this savage horde.
+
+The foremost beast broke into a slow trot, and at his heels came the
+others.  All were roaring now, and the din of their great voices
+reverberating through the halls and corridors of the palace formed the
+most frightful chorus of thunderous savagery imaginable to the mind of
+man.
+
+And then the leader charged, and upon the hideous pandemonium broke the
+sharp crack of my rifle, once, twice, thrice.  Three lions rolled,
+struggling and biting, to the floor.  Victory seized my arm, with a
+quick, "This way!  Here is a door," and a moment later we were in a
+tiny antechamber at the foot of a narrow stone staircase.
+
+Up this we backed, Victory just behind me, as the first of the
+remaining lions leaped from the throne room and sprang for the stairs.
+Again I fired, but others of the ferocious beasts leaped over their
+fallen fellows and pursued us.
+
+The stairs were very narrow--that was all that saved us--for as I
+backed slowly upward, but a single lion could attack me at a time, and
+the carcasses of those I slew impeded the rushes of the others.
+
+At last we reached the top.  There was a long corridor from which
+opened many doorways.  One, directly behind us, was tight closed.  If
+we could open it and pass into the chamber behind we might find a
+respite from attack.
+
+The remaining lions were roaring horribly.  I saw one sneaking very
+slowly up the stairs toward us.
+
+"Try that door," I called to Victory.  "See if it will open."
+
+She ran up to it and pushed.
+
+"Turn the knob!" I cried, seeing that she did not know how to open a
+door, but neither did she know what I meant by knob.
+
+I put a bullet in the spine of the approaching lion and leaped to
+Victory's side.  The door resisted my first efforts to swing it inward.
+Rusted hinges and swollen wood held it tightly closed.  But at last it
+gave, and just as another lion mounted to the top of the stairway it
+swung in, and I pushed Victory across the threshold.
+
+Then I turned to meet the renewed attack of the savage foe.  One lion
+fell in his tracks, another stumbled to my very feet, and then I leaped
+within and slammed the portal to.
+
+A quick glance showed me that this was the only door to the small
+apartment in which we had found sanctuary, and, with a sigh of relief,
+I leaned for a moment against the panels of the stout barrier that
+separated us from the ramping demons without.
+
+Across the room, between two windows, stood a flat-topped desk.  A
+little pile of white and brown lay upon it close to the opposite edge.
+After a moment of rest I crossed the room to investigate.  The white
+was the bleached human bones--the skull, collar bones, arms, and a few
+of the upper ribs of a man.  The brown was the dust of a decayed
+military cap and blouse.  In a chair before the desk were other bones,
+while more still strewed the floor beneath the desk and about the
+chair.  A man had died sitting there with his face buried in his
+arms--two hundred years ago.
+
+Beneath the desk were a pair of spurred military boots, green and
+rotten with decay.  In them were the leg bones of a man.  Among the
+tiny bones of the hands was an ancient fountain pen, as good,
+apparently, as the day it was made, and a metal covered memoranda book,
+closed over the bones of an index finger.
+
+It was a gruesome sight--a pitiful sight--this lone inhabitant of
+mighty London.
+
+I picked up the metal covered memoranda book.  Its pages were rotten
+and stuck together.  Only here and there was a sentence or a part of a
+sentence legible.  The first that I could read was near the middle of
+the little volume:
+
+"His majesty left for Tunbridge Wells today, he ... jesty was
+stricken ... terday.  God give she does not die ... am military
+governor of Lon ..."
+
+And farther on:
+
+"It is awful ... hundred deaths today ... worse than the bombardm ..."
+
+Nearer the end I picked out the following:
+
+"I promised his maj ... e will find me here when he ret ... alone."
+
+The most legible passage was on the next page:
+
+"Thank God we drove them out.  There is not a single ... man on
+British soil today; but at what awful cost.  I tried to persuade Sir
+Phillip to urge the people to remain.  But they are mad with fear of
+the Death, and rage at our enemies.  He tells me that the coast cities
+are packed ... waiting to be taken across.  What will become of
+England, with none left to rebuild her shattered cities!"
+
+And the last entry:
+
+"... alone.  Only the wild beasts ...  A lion is roaring now
+beneath the palace windows.  I think the people feared the beasts even
+more than they did the Death.  But they are gone, all gone, and to
+what?  How much better conditions will they find on the continent? All
+gone--only I remain.  I promised his majesty, and when he returns he
+will find that I was true to my trust, for I shall be awaiting him.
+God save the King!"
+
+That was all.  This brave and forever nameless officer died nobly at
+his post--true to his country and his king.  It was the Death, no
+doubt, that took him.
+
+Some of the entries had been dated.  From the few legible letters and
+figures which remained I judge the end came some time in August, 1937,
+but of that I am not at all certain.
+
+The diary has cleared up at least one mystery that had puzzled me not a
+little, and now I am surprised that I had not guessed its solution
+myself--the presence of African and Asiatic beasts in England.
+
+Acclimated by years of confinement in the zoological gardens, they were
+fitted to resume in England the wild existence for which nature had
+intended them, and once free, had evidently bred prolifically, in
+marked contrast to the captive exotics of twentieth century
+Pan-America, which had gradually become fewer until extinction occurred
+some time during the twenty-first century.
+
+The palace, if such it was, lay not far from the banks of the Thames.
+The room in which we were imprisoned overlooked the river, and I
+determined to attempt to escape in this direction.
+
+To descend through the palace was out of the question, but outside we
+could discover no lions.  The stems of the ivy which clambered upward
+past the window of the room were as large around as my arm.  I knew
+that they would support our weight, and as we could gain nothing by
+remaining longer in the palace, I decided to descend by way of the ivy
+and follow along down the river in the direction of the launch.
+
+Naturally I was much handicapped by the presence of the girl.  But I
+could not abandon her, though I had no idea what I should do with her
+after rejoining my companions.  That she would prove a burden and an
+embarrassment I was certain, but she had made it equally plain to me
+that she would never return to her people to mate with Buckingham.
+
+I owed my life to her, and, all other considerations aside, that was
+sufficient demand upon my gratitude and my honor to necessitate my
+suffering every inconvenience in her service.  Too, she was queen of
+England.  But, by far the most potent argument in her favor, she was a
+woman in distress--and a young and very beautiful one.
+
+And so, though I wished a thousand times that she was back in her camp,
+I never let her guess it, but did all that lay within my power to serve
+and protect her.  I thank God now that I did so.
+
+With the lions still padding back and forth beyond the closed door,
+Victory and I crossed the room to one of the windows.  I had outlined
+my plan to her, and she had assured me that she could descend the ivy
+without assistance.  In fact, she smiled a trifle at my question.
+
+Swinging myself outward, I began the descent, and had come to within a
+few feet of the ground, being just opposite a narrow window, when I was
+startled by a savage growl almost in my ear, and then a great taloned
+paw darted from the aperture to seize me, and I saw the snarling face
+of a lion within the embrasure.
+
+Releasing my hold upon the ivy, I dropped the remaining distance to the
+ground, saved from laceration only because the lion's paw struck the
+thick stem of ivy.
+
+The creature was making a frightful racket now, leaping back and forth
+from the floor at the broad window ledge, tearing at the masonry with
+his claws in vain attempts to reach me.  But the opening was too
+narrow, and the masonry too solid.
+
+Victory had commenced the descent, but I called to her to stop just
+above the window, and, as the lion reappeared, growling and snarling, I
+put a .33 bullet in his face, and at the same moment Victory slipped
+quickly past him, dropping into my upraised arms that were awaiting her.
+
+The roaring of the beasts that had discovered us, together with the
+report of my rifle, had set the balance of the fierce inmates of the
+palace into the most frightful uproar I have ever heard.
+
+I feared that it would not be long before intelligence or instinct
+would draw them from the interiors and set them upon our trail, the
+river.  Nor had we much more than reached it when a lion bounded around
+the corner of the edifice we had just quitted and stood looking about
+as though in search of us.
+
+Following, came others, while Victory and I crouched in hiding behind a
+clump of bushes close to the bank of the river.  The beasts sniffed
+about the ground for a while, but they did not chance to go near the
+spot where we had stood beneath the window that had given us escape.
+
+Presently a black-maned male raised his head, and, with cocked ears and
+glaring eyes, gazed straight at the bush behind which we lay.  I could
+have sworn that he had discovered us, and when he took a few short and
+stately steps in our direction I raised my rifle and covered him.  But,
+after a long, tense moment he looked away, and turned to glare in
+another direction.
+
+I breathed a sigh of relief, and so did Victory.  I could feel her body
+quiver as she lay pressed close to me, our cheeks almost touching as we
+both peered through the same small opening in the foliage.
+
+I turned to give her a reassuring smile as the lion indicated that he
+had not seen us, and as I did so she, too, turned her face toward mine,
+for the same purpose, doubtless.  Anyway, as our heads turned
+simultaneously, our lips brushed together.  A startled expression came
+into Victory's eyes as she drew back in evident confusion.
+
+As for me, the strangest sensation that I have ever experienced claimed
+me for an instant.  A peculiar, tingling thrill ran through my veins,
+and my head swam.  I could not account for it.
+
+Naturally, being a naval officer and consequently in the best society
+of the federation, I have seen much of women.  With others, I have
+laughed at the assertions of the savants that modern man is a cold and
+passionless creation in comparison with the males of former ages--in a
+word, that love, as the one grand passion, had ceased to exist.
+
+I do not know, now, but that they were more nearly right than we have
+guessed, at least in so far as modern civilized woman is concerned.  I
+have kissed many women--young and beautiful and middle aged and old,
+and many that I had no business kissing--but never before had I
+experienced that remarkable and altogether delightful thrill that
+followed the accidental brushing of my lips against the lips of Victory.
+
+The occurrence interested me, and I was tempted to experiment further.
+But when I would have essayed it another new and entirely unaccountable
+force restrained me.  For the first time in my life I felt
+embarrassment in the presence of a woman.
+
+What further might have developed I cannot say, for at that moment a
+perfect she-devil of a lioness, with keener eyes than her lord and
+master, discovered us.  She came trotting toward our place of
+concealment, growling and baring her yellow fangs.
+
+I waited for an instant, hoping that I might be mistaken, and that she
+would turn off in some other direction.  But no--she increased her trot
+to a gallop, and then I fired at her, but the bullet, though it struck
+her full in the breast, didn't stop her.
+
+Screaming with pain and rage, the creature fairly flew toward us.
+Behind her came other lions.  Our case looked hopeless.  We were upon
+the brink of the river.  There seemed no avenue of escape, and I knew
+that even my modern automatic rifle was inadequate in the face of so
+many of these fierce beasts.
+
+To remain where we were would have been suicidal.  We were both
+standing now, Victory keeping her place bravely at my side, when I
+reached the only decision open to me.
+
+Seizing the girl's hand, I turned, just as the lioness crashed into the
+opposite side of the bushes, and, dragging Victory after me, leaped
+over the edge of the bank into the river.
+
+I did not know that lions are not fond of water, nor did I know if
+Victory could swim, but death, immediate and terrible, stared us in the
+face if we remained, and so I took the chance.
+
+At this point the current ran close to the shore, so that we were
+immediately in deep water, and, to my intense satisfaction, Victory
+struck out with a strong, overhand stroke and set all my fears on her
+account at rest.
+
+But my relief was short-lived.  That lioness, as I have said before,
+was a veritable devil.  She stood for a moment glaring at us, then like
+a shot she sprang into the river and swam swiftly after us.
+
+Victory was a length ahead of me.
+
+"Swim for the other shore!" I called to her.
+
+I was much impeded by my rifle, having to swim with one hand while I
+clung to my precious weapon with the other.  The girl had seen the
+lioness take to the water, and she had also seen that I was swimming
+much more slowly than she, and what did she do?  She started to drop
+back to my side.
+
+"Go on!" I cried.  "Make for the other shore, and then follow down
+until you find my friends.  Tell them that I sent you, and with orders
+that they are to protect you.  Go on!  Go on!"
+
+But she only waited until we were again swimming side by side, and I
+saw that she had drawn her long knife, and was holding it between her
+teeth.
+
+"Do as I tell you!" I said to her sharply, but she shook her head.
+
+The lioness was overhauling us rapidly.  She was swimming silently, her
+chin just touching the water, but blood was streaming from between her
+lips.  It was evident that her lungs were pierced.
+
+She was almost upon me.  I saw that in a moment she would take me under
+her forepaws, or seize me in those great jaws.  I felt that my time had
+come, but I meant to die fighting.  And so I turned, and, treading
+water, raised my rifle above my head and awaited her.
+
+Victory, animated by a bravery no less ferocious than that of the dumb
+beast assailing us, swam straight for me.  It all happened so swiftly
+that I cannot recall the details of the kaleidoscopic action which
+ensued.  I knew that I rose high out of the water, and, with clubbed
+rifle, dealt the animal a terrific blow upon the skull, that I saw
+Victory, her long blade flashing in her hand, close, striking, upon the
+beast, that a great paw fell upon her shoulder, and that I was swept
+beneath the surface of the water like a straw before the prow of a
+freighter.
+
+Still clinging to my rifle, I rose again, to see the lioness struggling
+in her death throes but an arm's length from me.  Scarcely had I risen
+than the beast turned upon her side, struggled frantically for an
+instant, and then sank.
+
+
+
+6
+
+
+Victory was nowhere in sight.  Alone, I floated upon the bosom of the
+Thames.  In that brief instant I believe that I suffered more mental
+anguish than I have crowded into all the balance of my life before or
+since.  A few hours before, I had been wishing that I might be rid of
+her, and now that she was gone I would have given my life to have her
+back again.
+
+Wearily I turned to swim about the spot where she had disappeared,
+hoping that she might rise once at least, and I would be given the
+opportunity to save her, and, as I turned, the water boiled before my
+face and her head shot up before me.  I was on the point of striking
+out to seize her, when a happy smile illumined her features.
+
+"You are not dead!" she cried.  "I have been searching the bottom for
+you.  I was sure that the blow she gave you must have disabled you,"
+and she glanced about for the lioness.
+
+"She has gone?" she asked.
+
+"Dead," I replied.
+
+"The blow you struck her with the thing you call rifle stunned her,"
+she explained, "and then I swam in close enough to get my knife into
+her heart."
+
+Ah, such a girl!  I could not but wonder what one of our own
+Pan-American women would have done under like circumstances.  But then,
+of course, they have not been trained by stern necessity to cope with
+the emergencies and dangers of savage primeval life.
+
+Along the bank we had just quitted, a score of lions paced to and fro,
+growling menacingly.  We could not return, and we struck out for the
+opposite shore.  I am a strong swimmer, and had no doubt as to my
+ability to cross the river, but I was not so sure about Victory, so I
+swam close behind her, to be ready to give her assistance should she
+need it.
+
+She did not, however, reaching the opposite bank as fresh, apparently,
+as when she entered the water.  Victory is a wonder.  Each day that we
+were together brought new proofs of it.  Nor was it her courage or
+vitality only which amazed me.  She had a head on those shapely
+shoulders of hers, and dignity!  My, but she could be regal when she
+chose!
+
+She told me that the lions were fewer upon this side of the river, but
+that there were many wolves, running in great packs later in the year.
+Now they were north somewhere, and we should have little to fear from
+them, though we might meet with a few.
+
+My first concern was to take my weapons apart and dry them, which was
+rather difficult in the face of the fact that every rag about me was
+drenched.  But finally, thanks to the sun and much rubbing, I
+succeeded, though I had no oil to lubricate them.
+
+We ate some wild berries and roots that Victory found, and then we set
+off again down the river, keeping an eye open for game on one side and
+the launch on the other, for I thought that Delcarte, who would be the
+natural leader during my absence, might run up the Thames in search of
+me.
+
+The balance of that day we sought in vain for game or for the launch,
+and when night came we lay down, our stomachs empty, to sleep beneath
+the stars.  We were entirely unprotected from attack from wild beasts,
+and for this reason I remained awake most of the night, on guard.  But
+nothing approached us, though I could hear the lions roaring across the
+river, and once I thought I heard the howl of a beast north of us--it
+might have been a wolf.
+
+Altogether, it was a most unpleasant night, and I determined then that
+if we were forced to sleep out again that I should provide some sort of
+shelter which would protect us from attack while we slept.
+
+Toward morning I dozed, and the sun was well up when Victory aroused me
+by gently shaking my shoulder.
+
+"Antelope!" she whispered in my ear, and, as I raised my head, she
+pointed up-river.  Crawling to my knees, I looked in the direction she
+indicated, to see a buck standing upon a little knoll some two hundred
+yards from us.  There was good cover between the animal and me, and so,
+though I might have hit him at two hundred yards, I preferred to crawl
+closer to him and make sure of the meat we both so craved.
+
+I had covered about fifty yards of the distance, and the beast was
+still feeding peacefully, so I thought that I would make even surer of
+a hit by going ahead another fifty yards, when the animal suddenly
+raised his head and looked away, up-river.  His whole attitude
+proclaimed that he was startled by something beyond him that I could
+not see.
+
+Realizing that he might break and run and that I should then probably
+miss him entirely, I raised my rifle to my shoulder.  But even as I did
+so the animal leaped into the air, and simultaneously there was a sound
+of a shot from beyond the knoll.
+
+For an instant I was dumbfounded.  Had the report come from down-river,
+I should have instantly thought that one of my own men had fired.  But
+coming from up-river it puzzled me considerably.  Who could there be
+with firearms in primitive England other than we of the Coldwater?
+
+Victory was directly behind me, and I motioned for her to lie down, as
+I did, behind the bush from which I had been upon the point of firing
+at the antelope.  We could see that the buck was quite dead, and from
+our hiding place we waited to discover the identity of his slayer when
+the latter should approach and claim his kill.
+
+We had not long to wait, and when I saw the head and shoulders of a man
+appear above the crest of the knoll, I sprang to my feet, with a
+heartfelt cry of joy, for it was Delcarte.
+
+At the sound of my voice, Delcarte half raised his rifle in readiness
+for the attack of an enemy, but a moment later he recognized me, and
+was coming rapidly to meet us.  Behind him was Snider.  They both were
+astounded to see me upon the north bank of the river, and much more so
+at the sight of my companion.
+
+Then I introduced them to Victory, and told them that she was queen of
+England.  They thought, at first, that I was joking.  But when I had
+recounted my adventures and they realized that I was in earnest, they
+believed me.
+
+They told me that they had followed me inshore when I had not returned
+from the hunt, that they had met the men of the elephant country, and
+had had a short and one-sided battle with the fellows.  And that
+afterward they had returned to the launch with a prisoner, from whom
+they had learned that I had probably been captured by the men of the
+lion country.
+
+With the prisoner as a guide they had set off up-river in search of me,
+but had been much delayed by motor trouble, and had finally camped
+after dark a half mile above the spot where Victory and I had spent the
+night.  They must have passed us in the dark, and why I did not hear
+the sound of the propeller I do not know, unless it passed me at a time
+when the lions were making an unusually earsplitting din upon the
+opposite side.
+
+Taking the antelope with us, we all returned to the launch, where we
+found Taylor as delighted to see me alive again as Delcarte had been.
+I cannot say truthfully that Snider evinced much enthusiasm at my
+rescue.
+
+Taylor had found the ingredients for chemical fuel, and the distilling
+of them had, with the motor trouble, accounted for their delay in
+setting out after me.
+
+The prisoner that Delcarte and Snider had taken was a powerful young
+fellow from the elephant country.  Notwithstanding the fact that they
+had all assured him to the contrary, he still could not believe that we
+would not kill him.
+
+He assured us that his name was Thirty-six, and, as he could not count
+above ten, I am sure that he had no conception of the correct meaning
+of the word, and that it may have been handed down to him either from
+the military number of an ancestor who had served in the English ranks
+during the Great War, or that originally it was the number of some
+famous regiment with which a forbear fought.
+
+Now that we were reunited, we held a council to determine what course
+we should pursue in the immediate future.  Snider was still for setting
+out to sea and returning to Pan-America, but the better judgment of
+Delcarte and Taylor ridiculed the suggestion--we should not have lived
+a fortnight.
+
+To remain in England, constantly menaced by wild beasts and men equally
+as wild, seemed about as bad.  I suggested that we cross the Channel
+and ascertain if we could not discover a more enlightened and civilized
+people upon the continent.  I was sure that some trace of the ancient
+culture and greatness of Europe must remain.  Germany, probably, would
+be much as it was during the twentieth century, for, in common with
+most Pan-Americans, I was positive that Germany had been victorious in
+the Great War.
+
+Snider demurred at the suggestion.  He said that it was bad enough to
+have come this far.  He did not want to make it worse by going to the
+continent.  The outcome of it was that I finally lost my patience, and
+told him that from then on he would do what I thought best--that I
+proposed to assume command of the party, and that they might all
+consider themselves under my orders, as much so as though we were still
+aboard the Coldwater and in Pan-American waters.
+
+Delcarte and Taylor immediately assured me that they had not for an
+instant assumed anything different, and that they were as ready to
+follow and obey me here as they would be upon the other side of thirty.
+
+Snider said nothing, but he wore a sullen scowl.  And I wished then, as
+I had before, and as I did to a much greater extent later, that fate
+had not decreed that he should have chanced to be a member of the
+launch's party upon that memorable day when last we quitted the
+Coldwater.
+
+Victory, who was given a voice in our councils, was all for going to
+the continent, or anywhere else, in fact, where she might see new
+sights and experience new adventures.
+
+"Afterward we can come back to Grabritin," she said, "and if Buckingham
+is not dead and we can catch him away from his men and kill him, then I
+can return to my people, and we can all live in peace and happiness."
+
+She spoke of killing Buckingham with no greater concern than one might
+evince in the contemplated destruction of a sheep; yet she was neither
+cruel nor vindictive.  In fact, Victory is a very sweet and womanly
+woman.  But human life is of small account beyond thirty--a legacy from
+the bloody days when thousands of men perished in the trenches between
+the rising and the setting of a sun, when they laid them lengthwise in
+these same trenches and sprinkled dirt over them, when the Germans
+corded their corpses like wood and set fire to them, when women and
+children and old men were butchered, and great passenger ships were
+torpedoed without warning.
+
+Thirty-six, finally assured that we did not intend slaying him, was as
+keen to accompany us as was Victory.
+
+The crossing to the continent was uneventful, its monotony being
+relieved, however, by the childish delight of Victory and Thirty-six in
+the novel experience of riding safely upon the bosom of the water, and
+of being so far from land.
+
+With the possible exception of Snider, the little party appeared in the
+best of spirits, laughing and joking, or interestedly discussing the
+possibilities which the future held for us: what we should find upon
+the continent, and whether the inhabitants would be civilized or
+barbarian peoples.
+
+Victory asked me to explain the difference between the two, and when I
+had tried to do so as clearly as possible, she broke into a gay little
+laugh.
+
+"Oh," she cried, "then I am a barbarian!"
+
+I could not but laugh, too, as I admitted that she was, indeed, a
+barbarian.  She was not offended, taking the matter as a huge joke.
+But some time thereafter she sat in silence, apparently deep in
+thought.  Finally she looked up at me, her strong white teeth gleaming
+behind her smiling lips.
+
+"Should you take that thing you call 'razor,'" she said, "and cut the
+hair from the face of Thirty-six, and exchange garments with him, you
+would be the barbarian and Thirty-six the civilized man.  There is no
+other difference between you, except your weapons.  Clothe you in a
+wolfskin, give you a knife and a spear, and set you down in the woods
+of Grabritin--of what service would your civilization be to you?"
+
+Delcarte and Taylor smiled at her reply, but Thirty-six and Snider
+laughed uproariously.  I was not surprised at Thirty-six, but I thought
+that Snider laughed louder than the occasion warranted.  As a matter of
+fact, Snider, it seemed to me, was taking advantage of every
+opportunity, however slight, to show insubordination, and I determined
+then that at the first real breach of discipline I should take action
+that would remind Snider, ever after, that I was still his commanding
+officer.
+
+I could not help but notice that his eyes were much upon Victory, and I
+did not like it, for I knew the type of man he was.  But as it would
+not be necessary ever to leave the girl alone with him I felt no
+apprehension for her safety.
+
+After the incident of the discussion of barbarians I thought that
+Victory's manner toward me changed perceptibly.  She held aloof from
+me, and when Snider took his turn at the wheel, sat beside him, upon
+the pretext that she wished to learn how to steer the launch.  I
+wondered if she had guessed the man's antipathy for me, and was seeking
+his company solely for the purpose of piquing me.
+
+Snider was, too, taking full advantage of his opportunity.  Often he
+leaned toward the girl to whisper in her ear, and he laughed much,
+which was unusual with Snider.
+
+Of course, it was nothing at all to me; yet, for some unaccountable
+reason, the sight of the two of them sitting there so close to one
+another and seeming to be enjoying each other's society to such a
+degree irritated me tremendously, and put me in such a bad humor that I
+took no pleasure whatsoever in the last few hours of the crossing.
+
+We aimed to land near the site of ancient Ostend.  But when we neared
+the coast we discovered no indication of any human habitations
+whatever, let alone a city.  After we had landed, we found the same
+howling wilderness about us that we had discovered on the British Isle.
+There was no slightest indication that civilized man had ever set a
+foot upon that portion of the continent of Europe.
+
+Although I had feared as much, since our experience in England, I could
+not but own to a feeling of marked disappointment, and to the gravest
+fears of the future, which induced a mental depression that was in no
+way dissipated by the continued familiarity between Victory and Snider.
+
+I was angry with myself that I permitted that matter to affect me as it
+had.  I did not wish to admit to myself that I was angry with this
+uncultured little savage, that it made the slightest difference to me
+what she did or what she did not do, or that I could so lower myself as
+to feel personal enmity towards a common sailor.  And yet, to be
+honest, I was doing both.
+
+Finding nothing to detain us about the spot where Ostend once had
+stood, we set out up the coast in search of the mouth of the River
+Rhine, which I purposed ascending in search of civilized man.  It was
+my intention to explore the Rhine as far up as the launch would take
+us.  If we found no civilization there we would return to the North
+Sea, continue up the coast to the Elbe, and follow that river and the
+canals of Berlin.  Here, at least, I was sure that we should find what
+we sought--and, if not, then all Europe had reverted to barbarism.
+
+The weather remained fine, and we made excellent progress, but
+everywhere along the Rhine we met with the same disappointment--no sign
+of civilized man, in fact, no sign of man at all.
+
+I was not enjoying the exploration of modern Europe as I had
+anticipated--I was unhappy.  Victory seemed changed, too.  I had
+enjoyed her company at first, but since the trip across the Channel I
+had held aloof from her.
+
+Her chin was in the air most of the time, and yet I rather think that
+she regretted her friendliness with Snider, for I noticed that she
+avoided him entirely.  He, on the contrary, emboldened by her former
+friendliness, sought every opportunity to be near her.  I should have
+liked nothing better than a reasonably good excuse to punch his head;
+yet, paradoxically, I was ashamed of myself for harboring him any ill
+will.  I realized that there was something the matter with me, but I
+did not know what it was.
+
+Matters remained thus for several days, and we continued our journey up
+the Rhine.  At Cologne, I had hoped to find some reassuring
+indications, but there was no Cologne.  And as there had been no other
+cities along the river up to that point, the devastation was infinitely
+greater than time alone could have wrought.  Great guns, bombs, and
+mines must have leveled every building that man had raised, and then
+nature, unhindered, had covered the ghastly evidence of human depravity
+with her beauteous mantle of verdure.  Splendid trees reared their
+stately tops where splendid cathedrals once had reared their domes, and
+sweet wild flowers blossomed in simple serenity in soil that once was
+drenched with human blood.
+
+Nature had reclaimed what man had once stolen from her and defiled.  A
+herd of zebras grazed where once the German kaiser may have reviewed
+his troops.  An antelope rested peacefully in a bed of daisies where,
+perhaps, two hundred years ago a big gun belched its terror-laden
+messages of death, of hate, of destruction against the works of man and
+God alike.
+
+We were in need of fresh meat, yet I hesitated to shatter the quiet and
+peaceful serenity of the view with the crack of a rifle and the death
+of one of those beautiful creatures before us.  But it had to be
+done--we must eat.  I left the work to Delcarte, however, and in a
+moment we had two antelope and the landscape to ourselves.
+
+After eating, we boarded the launch and continued up the river.  For
+two days we passed through a primeval wilderness.  In the afternoon of
+the second day we landed upon the west bank of the river, and, leaving
+Snider and Thirty-six to guard Victory and the launch, Delcarte,
+Taylor, and I set out after game.
+
+We tramped away from the river for upwards of an hour before
+discovering anything, and then only a small red deer, which Taylor
+brought down with a neat shot of two hundred yards.  It was getting too
+late to proceed farther, so we rigged a sling, and the two men carried
+the deer back toward the launch while I walked a hundred yards ahead,
+in the hope of bagging something further for our larder.
+
+We had covered about half the distance to the river, when I suddenly
+came face to face with a man.  He was as primitive and uncouth in
+appearance as the Grabritins--a shaggy, unkempt savage, clothed in a
+shirt of skin cured with the head on, the latter surmounting his own
+head to form a bonnet, and giving to him a most fearful and ferocious
+aspect.
+
+The fellow was armed with a long spear and a club, the latter dangling
+down his back from a leathern thong about his neck.  His feet were
+incased in hide sandals.
+
+At sight of me, he halted for an instant, then turned and dove into the
+forest, and, though I called reassuringly to him in English he did not
+return nor did I again see him.
+
+The sight of the wild man raised my hopes once more that elsewhere we
+might find men in a higher state of civilization--it was the society of
+civilized man that I craved--and so, with a lighter heart, I continued
+on toward the river and the launch.
+
+I was still some distance ahead of Delcarte and Taylor, when I came in
+sight of the Rhine again.  But I came to the water's edge before I
+noticed that anything was amiss with the party we had left there a few
+hours before.
+
+My first intimation of disaster was the absence of the launch from its
+former moorings.  And then, a moment later--I discovered the body of a
+man lying upon the bank.  Running toward it, I saw that it was
+Thirty-six, and as I stopped and raised the Grabritin's head in my
+arms, I heard a faint moan break from his lips.  He was not dead, but
+that he was badly injured was all too evident.
+
+Delcarte and Taylor came up a moment later, and the three of us worked
+over the fellow, hoping to revive him that he might tell us what had
+happened, and what had become of the others.  My first thought was
+prompted by the sight I had recently had of the savage native.  The
+little party had evidently been surprised, and in the attack Thirty-six
+had been wounded and the others taken prisoners.  The thought was
+almost like a physical blow in the face--it stunned me.  Victory in the
+hands of these abysmal brutes!  It was frightful.  I almost shook poor
+Thirty-six in my efforts to revive him.
+
+I explained my theory to the others, and then Delcarte shattered it by
+a single movement of the hand.  He drew aside the lion's skin that
+covered half of the Grabritin's breast, revealing a neat, round hole in
+Thirty-six's chest--a hole that could have been made by no other weapon
+than a rifle.
+
+"Snider!" I exclaimed.  Delcarte nodded.  At about the same time the
+eyelids of the wounded man fluttered, and raised.  He looked up at us,
+and very slowly the light of consciousness returned to his eyes.
+
+"What happened, Thirty-six?" I asked him.
+
+He tried to reply, but the effort caused him to cough, bringing about a
+hemorrhage of the lungs and again he fell back exhausted.  For several
+long minutes he lay as one dead, then in an almost inaudible whisper he
+spoke.
+
+"Snider--"  He paused, tried to speak again, raised a hand, and pointed
+down-river.  "They--went--back," and then he shuddered convulsively and
+died.
+
+None of us voiced his belief.  But I think they were all alike: Victory
+and Snider had stolen the launch, and deserted us.
+
+
+
+7
+
+
+We stood there, grouped about the body of the dead Grabritin, looking
+futilely down the river to where it made an abrupt curve to the west, a
+quarter of a mile below us, and was lost to sight, as though we
+expected to see the truant returning to us with our precious
+launch--the thing that meant life or death to us in this unfriendly,
+savage world.
+
+I felt, rather than saw, Taylor turn his eyes slowly toward my profile,
+and, as mine swung to meet them, the expression upon his face recalled
+me to my duty and responsibility as an officer.
+
+The utter hopelessness that was reflected in his face must have been
+the counterpart of what I myself felt, but in that brief instant I
+determined to hide my own misgivings that I might bolster up the
+courage of the others.
+
+"We are lost!" was written as plainly upon Taylor's face as though his
+features were the printed words upon an open book.  He was thinking of
+the launch, and of the launch alone.  Was I?  I tried to think that I
+was.  But a greater grief than the loss of the launch could have
+engendered in me, filled my heart--a sullen, gnawing misery which I
+tried to deny--which I refused to admit--but which persisted in
+obsessing me until my heart rose and filled my throat, and I could not
+speak when I would have uttered words of reassurance to my companions.
+
+And then rage came to my relief--rage against the vile traitor who had
+deserted three of his fellow countrymen in so frightful a position.  I
+tried to feel an equal rage against the woman, but somehow I could not,
+and kept searching for excuses for her--her youth, her inexperience,
+her savagery.
+
+My rising anger swept away my temporary helplessness.  I smiled, and
+told Taylor not to look so glum.
+
+"We will follow them," I said, "and the chances are that we shall
+overtake them.  They will not travel as rapidly as Snider probably
+hopes.  He will be forced to halt for fuel and for food, and the launch
+must follow the windings of the river; we can take short cuts while
+they are traversing the detour.  I have my map--thank God! I always
+carry it upon my person--and with that and the compass we will have an
+advantage over them."
+
+My words seemed to cheer them both, and they were for starting off at
+once in pursuit.  There was no reason why we should delay, and we set
+forth down the river.  As we tramped along, we discussed a question
+that was uppermost in the mind of each--what we should do with Snider
+when we had captured him, for with the action of pursuit had come the
+optimistic conviction that we should succeed.  As a matter of fact, we
+had to succeed.  The very thought of remaining in this utter wilderness
+for the rest of our lives was impossible.
+
+We arrived at nothing very definite in the matter of Snider's
+punishment, since Taylor was for shooting him, Delcarte insisting that
+he should be hanged, while I, although fully conscious of the gravity
+of his offense, could not bring myself to give the death penalty.
+
+I fell to wondering what charm Victory had found in such a man as
+Snider, and why I insisted upon finding excuses for her and trying to
+defend her indefensible act.  She was nothing to me.  Aside from the
+natural gratitude I felt for her since she had saved my life, I owed
+her nothing.  She was a half-naked little savage--I, a gentleman, and
+an officer in the world's greatest navy.  There could be no close bonds
+of interest between us.
+
+This line of reflection I discovered to be as distressing as the
+former, but, though I tried to turn my mind to other things, it
+persisted in returning to the vision of an oval face, sun-tanned; of
+smiling lips, revealing white and even teeth; of brave eyes that
+harbored no shadow of guile; and of a tumbling mass of wavy hair that
+crowned the loveliest picture on which my eyes had ever rested.
+
+Every time this vision presented itself I felt myself turn cold with
+rage and hate against Snider.  I could forgive the launch, but if he
+had wronged her he should die--he should die at my own hands; in this I
+was determined.
+
+For two days we followed the river northward, cutting off where we
+could, but confined for the most part to the game trails that
+paralleled the stream.  One afternoon, we cut across a narrow neck of
+land that saved us many miles, where the river wound to the west and
+back again.
+
+Here we decided to halt, for we had had a hard day of it, and, if the
+truth were known, I think that we had all given up hope of overtaking
+the launch other than by the merest accident.
+
+We had shot a deer just before our halt, and, as Taylor and Delcarte
+were preparing it, I walked down to the water to fill our canteens.  I
+had just finished, and was straightening up, when something floating
+around a bend above me caught my eye.  For a moment I could not believe
+the testimony of my own senses.  It was a boat.
+
+I shouted to Delcarte and Taylor, who came running to my side.
+
+"The launch!" cried Delcarte; and, indeed, it was the launch, floating
+down-river from above us.  Where had it been?  How had we passed it?
+And how were we to reach it now, should Snider and the girl discover us?
+
+"It's drifting," said Taylor.  "I see no one in it."
+
+I was stripping off my clothes, and Delcarte soon followed my example.
+I told Taylor to remain on shore with the clothing and rifles.  He
+might also serve us better there, since it would give him an
+opportunity to take a shot at Snider should the man discover us and
+show himself.
+
+With powerful strokes we swam out in the path of the oncoming launch.
+Being a stronger swimmer than Delcarte, I soon was far in the lead,
+reaching the center of the channel just as the launch bore down upon
+me.  It was drifting broadside on.  I seized the gunwale and raised
+myself quickly, so that my chin topped the side.  I expected a blow the
+moment that I came within the view of the occupants, but no blow fell.
+
+Snider lay upon his back in the bottom of the boat alone.  Even before
+I had clambered in and stooped above him I knew that he was dead.
+Without examining him further, I ran forward to the control board and
+pressed the starting button.  To my relief, the mechanism
+responded--the launch was uninjured.  Coming about, I picked up
+Delcarte.  He was astounded at the sight that met his eyes, and
+immediately fell to examining Snider's body for signs of life or an
+explanation of the manner in which he met his death.
+
+The fellow had been dead for hours--he was cold and still.  But
+Delcarte's search was not without results, for above Snider's heart was
+a wound, a slit about an inch in length--such a slit as a sharp knife
+would make, and in the dead fingers of one hand was clutched a strand
+of long brown hair--Victory's hair was brown.
+
+They say that dead men tell no tales, but Snider told the story of his
+end as clearly as though the dead lips had parted and poured forth the
+truth.  The beast had attacked the girl, and she had defended her honor.
+
+We buried Snider beside the Rhine, and no stone marks his last resting
+place.  Beasts do not require headstones.
+
+Then we set out in the launch, turning her nose upstream.  When I had
+told Delcarte and Taylor that I intended searching for the girl,
+neither had demurred.
+
+"We had her wrong in our thoughts," said Delcarte, "and the least that
+we can do in expiation is to find and rescue her."
+
+We called her name aloud every few minutes as we motored up the river,
+but, though we returned all the way to our former camping place, we did
+not find her.  I then decided to retrace our journey, letting Taylor
+handle the launch, while Delcarte and I, upon opposite sides of the
+river, searched for some sign of the spot where Victory had landed.
+
+We found nothing until we had reached a point a few miles above the
+spot where I had first seen the launch drifting down toward us, and
+there I discovered the remnants of a recent camp fire.
+
+That Victory carried flint and steel I was aware, and that it was she
+who built the fire I was positive.  But which way had she gone since
+she stopped here?
+
+Would she go on down the river, that she might thus bring herself
+nearer her own Grabritin, or would she have sought to search for us
+upstream, where she had seen us last?
+
+I had hailed Taylor, and sent him across the river to take in Delcarte,
+that the two might join me and discuss my discovery and our future
+plans.
+
+While waiting for them, I stood looking out over the river, my back
+toward the woods that stretched away to the east behind me.  Delcarte
+was just stepping into the launch upon the opposite side of the stream,
+when, without the least warning, I was violently seized by both arms
+and about the waist--three or four men were upon me at once; my rifle
+was snatched from my hands and my revolver from my belt.
+
+I struggled for an instant, but finding my efforts of no avail, I
+ceased them, and turned my head to have a look at my assailants.  At
+the same time several others of them walked around in front of me, and,
+to my astonishment, I found myself looking upon uniformed soldiery,
+armed with rifles, revolvers, and sabers, but with faces as black as
+coal.
+
+
+
+8
+
+
+Delcarte and Taylor were now in mid-stream, coming toward us, and I
+called to them to keep aloof until I knew whether the intentions of my
+captors were friendly or otherwise.  My good men wanted to come on and
+annihilate the blacks.  But there were upward of a hundred of the
+latter, all well armed, and so I commanded Delcarte to keep out of
+harm's way, and stay where he was till I needed him.
+
+A young officer called and beckoned to them.  But they refused to come,
+and so he gave orders that resulted in my hands being secured at my
+back, after which the company marched away, straight toward the east.
+
+I noticed that the men wore spurs, which seemed strange to me.  But
+when, late in the afternoon, we arrived at their encampment, I
+discovered that my captors were cavalrymen.
+
+In the center of a plain stood a log fort, with a blockhouse at each of
+its four corners.  As we approached, I saw a herd of cavalry horses
+grazing under guard outside the walls of the post.  They were small,
+stocky horses, but the telltale saddle galls proclaimed their calling.
+The flag flying from a tall staff inside the palisade was one which I
+had never before seen nor heard of.
+
+We marched directly into the compound, where the company was dismissed,
+with the exception of a guard of four privates, who escorted me in the
+wake of the young officer.  The latter led us across a small parade
+ground, where a battery of light field guns was parked, and toward a
+log building, in front of which rose the flagstaff.
+
+I was escorted within the building into the presence of an old negro, a
+fine looking man, with a dignified and military bearing.  He was a
+colonel, I was to learn later, and to him I owe the very humane
+treatment that was accorded me while I remained his prisoner.
+
+He listened to the report of his junior, and then turned to question
+me, but with no better results than the former had accomplished.  Then
+he summoned an orderly, and gave some instructions.  The soldier
+saluted, and left the room, returning in about five minutes with a
+hairy old white man--just such a savage, primeval-looking fellow as I
+had discovered in the woods the day that Snider had disappeared with
+the launch.
+
+The colonel evidently expected to use the fellow as interpreter, but
+when the savage addressed me it was in a language as foreign to me as
+was that of the blacks.  At last the old officer gave it up, and,
+shaking his head, gave instructions for my removal.
+
+From his office I was led to a guardhouse, in which I found about fifty
+half-naked whites, clad in the skins of wild beasts.  I tried to
+converse with them, but not one of them could understand Pan-American,
+nor could I make head or tail of their jargon.
+
+For over a month I remained a prisoner there, working from morning
+until night at odd jobs about the headquarters building of the
+commanding officer.  The other prisoners worked harder than I did, and
+I owe my better treatment solely to the kindliness and discrimination
+of the old colonel.
+
+What had become of Victory, of Delcarte, of Taylor I could not know;
+nor did it seem likely that I should ever learn.  I was most depressed.
+But I whiled away my time in performing the duties given me to the best
+of my ability and attempting to learn the language of my captors.
+
+Who they were or where they came from was a mystery to me.  That they
+were the outpost of some powerful black nation seemed likely, yet where
+the seat of that nation lay I could not guess.
+
+They looked upon the whites as their inferiors, and treated us
+accordingly.  They had a literature of their own, and many of the men,
+even the common soldiers, were omnivorous readers.  Every two weeks a
+dust-covered trooper would trot his jaded mount into the post and
+deliver a bulging sack of mail at headquarters.  The next day he would
+be away again upon a fresh horse toward the south, carrying the
+soldiers' letters to friends in the far off land of mystery from whence
+they all had come.
+
+Troops, sometimes mounted and sometimes afoot, left the post daily for
+what I assumed to be patrol duty.  I judged the little force of a
+thousand men were detailed here to maintain the authority of a distant
+government in a conquered country.  Later, I learned that my surmise
+was correct, and this was but one of a great chain of similar posts
+that dotted the new frontier of the black nation into whose hands I had
+fallen.
+
+Slowly I learned their tongue, so that I could understand what was said
+before me, and make myself understood.  I had seen from the first that
+I was being treated as a slave--that all whites that fell into the
+hands of the blacks were thus treated.
+
+Almost daily new prisoners were brought in, and about three weeks after
+I was brought in to the post a troop of cavalry came from the south to
+relieve one of the troops stationed there.  There was great jubilation
+in the encampment after the arrival of the newcomers, old friendships
+were renewed and new ones made.  But the happiest men were those of the
+troop that was to be relieved.
+
+The next morning they started away, and as they were forced upon the
+parade ground we prisoners were marched from our quarters and lined up
+before them.  A couple of long chains were brought, with rings in the
+links every few feet.  At first I could not guess the purpose of these
+chains.  But I was soon to learn.
+
+A couple of soldiers snapped the first ring around the neck of a
+powerful white slave, and one by one the rest of us were herded to our
+places, and the work of shackling us neck to neck commenced.
+
+The colonel stood watching the procedure.  Presently his eyes fell upon
+me, and he spoke to a young officer at his side.  The latter stepped
+toward me and motioned me to follow him.  I did so, and was led back to
+the colonel.
+
+By this time I could understand a few words of their strange language,
+and when the colonel asked me if I would prefer to remain at the post
+as his body servant, I signified my willingness as emphatically as
+possible, for I had seen enough of the brutality of the common soldiers
+toward their white slaves to have no desire to start out upon a march
+of unknown length, chained by the neck, and driven on by the great
+whips that a score of the soldiers carried to accelerate the speed of
+their charges.
+
+About three hundred prisoners who had been housed in six prisons at the
+post marched out of the gates that morning, toward what fate and what
+future I could not guess.  Neither had the poor devils themselves more
+than the most vague conception of what lay in store for them, except
+that they were going elsewhere to continue in the slavery that they had
+known since their capture by their black conquerors--a slavery that was
+to continue until death released them.
+
+My position was altered at the post.  From working about the
+headquarters office, I was transferred to the colonel's living
+quarters.  I had greater freedom, and no longer slept in one of the
+prisons, but had a little room to myself off the kitchen of the
+colonel's log house.
+
+My master was always kind to me, and under him I rapidly learned the
+language of my captors, and much concerning them that had been a
+mystery to me before.  His name was Abu Belik.  He was a colonel in the
+cavalry of Abyssinia, a country of which I do not remember ever
+hearing, but which Colonel Belik assured me is the oldest civilized
+country in the world.
+
+Colonel Belik was born in Adis Abeba, the capital of the empire, and
+until recently had been in command of the emperor's palace guard.
+Jealousy and the ambition and intrigue of another officer had lost him
+the favor of his emperor, and he had been detailed to this frontier
+post as a mark of his sovereign's displeasure.
+
+Some fifty years before, the young emperor, Menelek XIV, was ambitious.
+He knew that a great world lay across the waters far to the north of
+his capital.  Once he had crossed the desert and looked out upon the
+blue sea that was the northern boundary of his dominions.
+
+There lay another world to conquer.  Menelek busied himself with the
+building of a great fleet, though his people were not a maritime race.
+His army crossed into Europe.  It met with little resistance, and for
+fifty years his soldiers had been pushing his boundaries farther and
+farther toward the north.
+
+"The yellow men from the east and north are contesting our rights here
+now," said the colonel, "but we shall win--we shall conquer the world,
+carrying Christianity to all the benighted heathen of Europe, and Asia
+as well."
+
+"You are a Christian people?" I asked.
+
+He looked at me in surprise, nodding his head affirmatively.
+
+"I am a Christian," I said.  "My people are the most powerful on earth."
+
+He smiled, and shook his head indulgently, as a father to a child who
+sets up his childish judgment against that of his elders.
+
+Then I set out to prove my point.  I told him of our cities, of our
+army, of our great navy.  He came right back at me asking for figures,
+and when he was done I had to admit that only in our navy were we
+numerically superior.
+
+Menelek XIV is the undisputed ruler of all the continent of Africa, of
+all of ancient Europe except the British Isles, Scandinavia, and
+eastern Russia, and has large possessions and prosperous colonies in
+what once were Arabia and Turkey in Asia.
+
+He has a standing army of ten million men, and his people possess
+slaves--white slaves--to the number of ten or fifteen million.
+
+Colonel Belik was much surprised, however, upon his part to learn of
+the great nation which lay across the ocean, and when he found that I
+was a naval officer, he was inclined to accord me even greater
+consideration than formerly.  It was difficult for him to believe my
+assertion that there were but few blacks in my country, and that these
+occupied a lower social plane than the whites.
+
+Just the reverse is true in Colonel Belik's land.  He considered whites
+inferior beings, creatures of a lower order, and assuring me that even
+the few white freemen of Abyssinia were never accorded anything
+approximating a position of social equality with the blacks.  They live
+in the poorer districts of the cities, in little white colonies, and a
+black who marries a white is socially ostracized.
+
+The arms and ammunition of the Abyssinians are greatly inferior to
+ours, yet they are tremendously effective against the ill-armed
+barbarians of Europe.  Their rifles are of a type similar to the
+magazine rifles of twentieth century Pan-America, but carrying only
+five cartridges in the magazine, in addition to the one in the chamber.
+They are of extraordinary length, even those of the cavalry, and are of
+extreme accuracy.
+
+The Abyssinians themselves are a fine looking race of black men--tall,
+muscular, with fine teeth, and regular features, which incline
+distinctly toward Semitic mold--I refer to the full-blooded natives of
+Abyssinia.  They are the patricians--the aristocracy.  The army is
+officered almost exclusively by them.  Among the soldiery a lower type
+of negro predominates, with thicker lips and broader, flatter noses.
+These men are recruited, so the colonel told me, from among the
+conquered tribes of Africa.  They are good soldiers--brave and loyal.
+They can read and write, and they are endowed with a self-confidence
+and pride which, from my readings of the words of ancient African
+explorers, must have been wanting in their earliest progenitors.  On
+the whole, it is apparent that the black race has thrived far better in
+the past two centuries under men of its own color than it had under the
+domination of whites during all previous history.
+
+I had been a prisoner at the little frontier post for over a month,
+when orders came to Colonel Belik to hasten to the eastern frontier
+with the major portion of his command, leaving only one troop to
+garrison the fort.  As his body servant, I accompanied him mounted upon
+a fiery little Abyssinian pony.
+
+We marched rapidly for ten days through the heart of the ancient German
+empire, halting when night found us in proximity to water.  Often we
+passed small posts similar to that at which the colonel's regiment had
+been quartered, finding in each instance that only a single company or
+troop remained for defence, the balance having been withdrawn toward
+the northeast, in the same direction in which we were moving.
+
+Naturally, the colonel had not confided to me the nature of his orders.
+But the rapidity of our march and the fact that all available troops
+were being hastened toward the northeast assured me that a matter of
+vital importance to the dominion of Menelek XIV in that part of Europe
+was threatening or had already broken.
+
+I could not believe that a simple rising of the savage tribes of whites
+would necessitate the mobilizing of such a force as we presently met
+with converging from the south into our trail.  There were large bodies
+of cavalry and infantry, endless streams of artillery wagons and guns,
+and countless horse-drawn covered vehicles laden with camp equipage,
+munitions, and provisions.
+
+Here, for the first time, I saw camels, great caravans of them, bearing
+all sorts of heavy burdens, and miles upon miles of elephants doing
+similar service.  It was a scene of wondrous and barbaric splendor, for
+the men and beasts from the south were gaily caparisoned in rich
+colors, in marked contrast to the gray uniformed forces of the
+frontier, with which I had been familiar.
+
+The rumor reached us that Menelek himself was coming, and the pitch of
+excitement to which this announcement raised the troops was little
+short of miraculous--at least, to one of my race and nationality whose
+rulers for centuries had been but ordinary men, holding office at the
+will of the people for a few brief years.
+
+As I witnessed it, I could not but speculate upon the moral effect upon
+his troops of a sovereign's presence in the midst of battle.  All else
+being equal in war between the troops of a republic and an empire,
+could not this exhilarated mental state, amounting almost to hysteria
+on the part of the imperial troops, weigh heavily against the soldiers
+of a president?  I wonder.
+
+But if the emperor chanced to be absent?  What then? Again I wonder.
+
+On the eleventh day we reached our destination--a walled frontier city
+of about twenty thousand.  We passed some lakes, and crossed some old
+canals before entering the gates.  Within, beside the frame buildings,
+were many built of ancient brick and well-cut stone.  These, I was
+told, were of material taken from the ruins of the ancient city which,
+once, had stood upon the site of the present town.
+
+The name of the town, translated from the Abyssinian, is New Gondar.
+It stands, I am convinced, upon the ruins of ancient Berlin, the one
+time capital of the old German empire, but except for the old building
+material used in the new town there is no sign of the former city.
+
+The day after we arrived, the town was gaily decorated with flags,
+streamers, gorgeous rugs, and banners, for the rumor had proved
+true--the emperor was coming.
+
+Colonel Belik had accorded me the greatest liberty, permitting me to go
+where I pleased, after my few duties had been performed.  As a result
+of his kindness, I spent much time wandering about New Gondar, talking
+with the inhabitants, and exploring the city of black men.
+
+As I had been given a semi-military uniform which bore insignia
+indicating that I was an officer's body servant, even the blacks
+treated me with a species of respect, though I could see by their
+manner that I was really as the dirt beneath their feet.  They answered
+my questions civilly enough, but they would not enter into conversation
+with me.  It was from other slaves that I learned the gossip of the
+city.
+
+Troops were pouring in from the west and south, and pouring out toward
+the east.  I asked an old slave who was sweeping the dirt into little
+piles in the gutters of the street where the soldiers were going.  He
+looked at me in surprise.
+
+"Why, to fight the yellow men, of course," he said.  "They have crossed
+the border, and are marching toward New Gondar."
+
+"Who will win?" I asked.
+
+He shrugged his shoulders.  "Who knows?" he said.  "I hope it will be
+the yellow men, but Menelek is powerful--it will take many yellow men
+to defeat him."
+
+Crowds were gathering along the sidewalks to view the emperor's entry
+into the city.  I took my place among them, although I hate crowds, and
+I am glad that I did, for I witnessed such a spectacle of barbaric
+splendor as no other Pan-American has ever looked upon.
+
+Down the broad main thoroughfare, which may once have been the historic
+Unter den Linden, came a brilliant cortege.  At the head rode a
+regiment of red-coated hussars--enormous men, black as night.  There
+were troops of riflemen mounted on camels.  The emperor rode in a
+golden howdah upon the back of a huge elephant so covered with rich
+hangings and embellished with scintillating gems that scarce more than
+the beast's eyes and feet were visible.
+
+Menelek was a rather gross-looking man, well past middle age, but he
+carried himself with an air of dignity befitting one descended in
+unbroken line from the Prophet--as was his claim.
+
+His eyes were bright but crafty, and his features denoted both
+sensuality and cruelness.  In his youth he may have been a rather fine
+looking black, but when I saw him his appearance was revolting--to me,
+at least.
+
+Following the emperor came regiment after regiment from the various
+branches of the service, among them batteries of field guns mounted on
+elephants.
+
+In the center of the troops following the imperial elephant marched a
+great caravan of slaves.  The old street sweeper at my elbow told me
+that these were the gifts brought in from the far outlying districts by
+the commanding officers of the frontier posts.  The majority of them
+were women, destined, I was told, for the harems of the emperor and his
+favorites.  It made my old companion clench his fists to see those poor
+white women marching past to their horrid fates, and, though I shared
+his sentiments, I was as powerless to alter their destinies as he.
+
+For a week the troops kept pouring in and out of New Gondar--in,
+always, from the south and west, but always toward the east.  Each new
+contingent brought its gifts to the emperor.  From the south they
+brought rugs and ornaments and jewels; from the west, slaves; for the
+commanding officers of the western frontier posts had naught else to
+bring.
+
+From the number of women they brought, I judged that they knew the
+weakness of their imperial master.
+
+And then soldiers commenced coming in from the east, but not with the
+gay assurance of those who came from the south and west--no, these
+others came in covered wagons, blood-soaked and suffering.  They came
+at first in little parties of eight or ten, and then they came in
+fifties, in hundreds, and one day a thousand maimed and dying men were
+carted into New Gondar.
+
+It was then that Menelek XIV became uneasy.  For fifty years his armies
+had conquered wherever they had marched.  At first he had led them in
+person, lately his presence within a hundred miles of the battle line
+had been sufficient for large engagements--for minor ones only the
+knowledge that they were fighting for the glory of their sovereign was
+necessary to win victories.
+
+One morning, New Gondar was awakened by the booming of cannon.  It was
+the first intimation that the townspeople had received that the enemy
+was forcing the imperial troops back upon the city.  Dust covered
+couriers galloped in from the front.  Fresh troops hastened from the
+city, and about noon Menelek rode out surrounded by his staff.
+
+For three days thereafter we could hear the cannonading and the
+spitting of the small arms, for the battle line was scarce two leagues
+from New Gondar.  The city was filled with wounded.  Just outside,
+soldiers were engaged in throwing up earthworks.  It was evident to the
+least enlightened that Menelek expected further reverses.
+
+And then the imperial troops fell back upon these new defenses, or,
+rather, they were forced back by the enemy.  Shells commenced to fall
+within the city.  Menelek returned and took up his headquarters in the
+stone building that was called the palace.  That night came a lull in
+the hostilities--a truce had been arranged.
+
+Colonel Belik summoned me about seven o'clock to dress him for a
+function at the palace.  In the midst of death and defeat the emperor
+was about to give a great banquet to his officers.  I was to accompany
+my master and wait upon him--I, Jefferson Turck, lieutenant in the
+Pan-American navy!
+
+In the privacy of the colonel's quarters I had become accustomed to my
+menial duties, lightened as they were by the natural kindliness of my
+master, but the thought of appearing in public as a common slave
+revolted every fine instinct within me.  Yet there was nothing for it
+but to obey.
+
+I cannot, even now, bring myself to a narration of the humiliation
+which I experienced that night as I stood behind my black master in
+silent servility, now pouring his wine, now cutting up his meats for
+him, now fanning him with a large, plumed fan of feathers.
+
+As fond as I had grown of him, I could have thrust a knife into him, so
+keenly did I feel the affront that had been put upon me.  But at last
+the long banquet was concluded.  The tables were removed.  The emperor
+ascended a dais at one end of the room and seated himself upon a
+throne, and the entertainment commenced.  It was only what ancient
+history might have led me to expect--musicians, dancing girls,
+jugglers, and the like.
+
+Near midnight, the master of ceremonies announced that the slave women
+who had been presented to the emperor since his arrival in New Gondar
+would be exhibited, that the royal host would select such as he wished,
+after which he would present the balance of them to his guests.  Ah,
+what royal generosity!
+
+A small door at one side of the room opened, and the poor creatures
+filed in and were ranged in a long line before the throne.  Their backs
+were toward me.  I saw only an occasional profile as now and then a
+bolder spirit among them turned to survey the apartment and the
+gorgeous assemblage of officers in their brilliant dress uniforms.
+They were profiles of young girls, and pretty, but horror was indelibly
+stamped upon them all.  I shuddered as I contemplated their sad fate,
+and turned my eyes away.
+
+I heard the master of ceremonies command them to prostrate themselves
+before the emperor, and the sounds as they went upon their knees before
+him, touching their foreheads to the floor.  Then came the official's
+voice again, in sharp and peremptory command.
+
+"Down, slave!" he cried.  "Make obeisance to your sovereign!"
+
+I looked up, attracted by the tone of the man's voice, to see a single,
+straight, slim figure standing erect in the center of the line of
+prostrate girls, her arms folded across her breast and little chin in
+the air.  Her back was toward me--I could not see her face, though I
+should like to see the countenance of this savage young lioness,
+standing there defiant among that herd of terrified sheep.
+
+"Down!  Down!" shouted the master of ceremonies, taking a step toward
+her and half drawing his sword.
+
+My blood boiled.  To stand there, inactive, while a negro struck down
+that brave girl of my own race!  Instinctively I took a forward step to
+place myself in the man's path.  But at the same instant Menelek raised
+his hand in a gesture that halted the officer.  The emperor seemed
+interested, but in no way angered at the girl's attitude.
+
+"Let us inquire," he said in a smooth, pleasant voice, "why this young
+woman refuses to do homage to her sovereign," and he put the question
+himself directly to her.
+
+She answered him in Abyssinian, but brokenly and with an accent that
+betrayed how recently she had acquired her slight knowledge of the
+tongue.
+
+"I go on my knees to no one," she said.  "I have no sovereign.  I
+myself am sovereign in my own country."
+
+Menelek, at her words, leaned back in his throne and laughed
+uproariously.  Following his example, which seemed always the correct
+procedure, the assembled guests vied with one another in an effort to
+laugh more noisily than the emperor.
+
+The girl but tilted her chin a bit higher in the air--even her back
+proclaimed her utter contempt for her captors.  Finally Menelek
+restored quiet by the simple expedient of a frown, whereupon each loyal
+guest exchanged his mirthful mien for an emulative scowl.
+
+"And who," asked Menelek, "are you, and by what name is your country
+called?"
+
+"I am Victory, Queen of Grabritin," replied the girl so quickly and so
+unexpectedly that I gasped in astonishment.
+
+
+
+9
+
+
+Victory!  She was here, a slave to these black conquerors.  Once more I
+started toward her, but better judgment held me back--I could do
+nothing to help her other than by stealth.  Could I even accomplish
+aught by this means?  I did not know.  It seemed beyond the pale of
+possibility, and yet I should try.
+
+"And you will not bend the knee to me?" continued Menelek, after she
+had spoken.  Victory shook her head in a most decided negation.
+
+"You shall be my first choice, then," said the emperor.  "I like your
+spirit, for the breaking of it will add to my pleasure in you, and
+never fear but that it shall be broken--this very night.  Take her to
+my apartments," and he motioned to an officer at his side.
+
+I was surprised to see Victory follow the man off in apparent quiet
+submission.  I tried to follow, that I might be near her against some
+opportunity to speak with her or assist in her escape.  But, after I
+had followed them from the throne room, through several other
+apartments, and down a long corridor, I found my further progress
+barred by a soldier who stood guard before a doorway through which the
+officer conducted Victory.
+
+Almost immediately the officer reappeared and started back in the
+direction of the throne room.  I had been hiding in a doorway after the
+guard had turned me back, having taken refuge there while his back was
+turned, and, as the officer approached me, I withdrew into the room
+beyond, which was in darkness.  There I remained for a long time,
+watching the sentry before the door of the room in which Victory was a
+prisoner, and awaiting some favorable circumstance which would give me
+entry to her.
+
+I have not attempted to fully describe my sensations at the moment I
+recognized Victory, because, I can assure you, they were entirely
+indescribable.  I should never have imagined that the sight of any
+human being could affect me as had this unexpected discovery of Victory
+in the same room in which I was, while I had thought of her for weeks
+either as dead, or at best hundreds of miles to the west, and as
+irretrievably lost to me as though she were, in truth, dead.
+
+I was filled with a strange, mad impulse to be near her.  It was not
+enough merely to assist her, or protect her--I desired to touch her--to
+take her in my arms.  I was astounded at myself.  Another thing puzzled
+me--it was my incomprehensible feeling of elation since I had again
+seen her.  With a fate worse than death staring her in the face, and
+with the knowledge that I should probably die defending her within the
+hour, I was still happier than I had been for weeks--and all because I
+had seen again for a few brief minutes the figure of a little heathen
+maiden.  I couldn't account for it, and it angered me; I had never
+before felt any such sensations in the presence of a woman, and I had
+made love to some very beautiful ones in my time.
+
+It seemed ages that I stood in the shadow of that doorway, in the
+ill-lit corridor of the palace of Menelek XIV.  A sickly gas jet cast a
+sad pallor upon the black face of the sentry.  The fellow seemed rooted
+to the spot.  Evidently he would never leave, or turn his back again.
+
+I had been in hiding but a short time when I heard the sound of distant
+cannon.  The truce had ended, and the battle had been resumed.  Very
+shortly thereafter the earth shook to the explosion of a shell within
+the city, and from time to time thereafter other shells burst at no
+great distance from the palace.  The yellow men were bombarding New
+Gondar again.
+
+Presently officers and slaves commenced to traverse the corridor on
+matters pertaining to their duties, and then came the emperor, scowling
+and wrathful.  He was followed by a few personal attendants, whom he
+dismissed at the doorway to his apartments--the same doorway through
+which Victory had been taken.  I chafed to follow him, but the corridor
+was filled with people.  At last they betook themselves to their own
+apartments, which lay upon either side of the corridor.
+
+An officer and a slave entered the very room in which I hid, forcing me
+to flatten myself to one side in the darkness until they had passed.
+Then the slave made a light, and I knew that I must find another hiding
+place.
+
+Stepping boldly into the corridor, I saw that it was now empty save for
+the single sentry before the emperor's door.  He glanced up as I
+emerged from the room, the occupants of which had not seen me.  I
+walked straight toward the soldier, my mind made up in an instant.  I
+tried to simulate an expression of cringing servility, and I must have
+succeeded, for I entirely threw the man off his guard, so that he
+permitted me to approach within reach of his rifle before stopping me.
+Then it was too late--for him.
+
+Without a word or a warning, I snatched the piece from his grasp, and,
+at the same time struck him a terrific blow between the eyes with my
+clenched fist.  He staggered back in surprise, too dumbfounded even to
+cry out, and then I clubbed his rifle and felled him with a single
+mighty blow.
+
+A moment later, I had burst into the room beyond.  It was empty!
+
+I gazed about, mad with disappointment.  Two doors opened from this to
+other rooms.  I ran to the nearer and listened.  Yes, voices were
+coming from beyond and one was a woman's, level and cold and filled
+with scorn.  There was no terror in it.  It was Victory's.
+
+I turned the knob and pushed the door inward just in time to see
+Menelek seize the girl and drag her toward the far end of the
+apartment.  At the same instant there was a deafening roar just outside
+the palace--a shell had struck much nearer than any of its
+predecessors.  The noise of it drowned my rapid rush across the room.
+
+But in her struggles, Victory turned Menelek about so that he saw me.
+She was striking him in the face with her clenched fist, and now he was
+choking her.
+
+At sight of me, he gave voice to a roar of anger.
+
+"What means this, slave?" he cried.  "Out of here! Out of here!  Quick,
+before I kill you!"
+
+But for answer I rushed upon him, striking him with the butt of the
+rifle.  He staggered back, dropping Victory to the floor, and then he
+cried aloud for the guard, and came at me.  Again and again I struck
+him; but his thick skull might have been armor plate, for all the
+damage I did it.
+
+He tried to close with me, seizing the rifle, but I was stronger than
+he, and, wrenching the weapon from his grasp, tossed it aside and made
+for his throat with my bare hands.  I had not dared fire the weapon for
+fear that its report would bring the larger guard stationed at the
+farther end of the corridor.
+
+We struggled about the room, striking one another, knocking over
+furniture, and rolling upon the floor.  Menelek was a powerful man, and
+he was fighting for his life.  Continually he kept calling for the
+guard, until I succeeded in getting a grip upon his throat; but it was
+too late.  His cries had been heard, and suddenly the door burst open,
+and a score of armed guardsmen rushed into the apartment.
+
+Victory seized the rifle from the floor and leaped between me and them.
+I had the black emperor upon his back, and both my hands were at his
+throat, choking the life from him.
+
+The rest happened in the fraction of a second.  There was a rending
+crash above us, then a deafening explosion within the chamber.  Smoke
+and powder fumes filled the room.  Half stunned, I rose from the
+lifeless body of my antagonist just in time to see Victory stagger to
+her feet and turn toward me.  Slowly the smoke cleared to reveal the
+shattered remnants of the guard.  A shell had fallen through the palace
+roof and exploded just in the rear of the detachment of guardsmen who
+were coming to the rescue of their emperor.  Why neither Victory nor I
+were struck is a miracle.  The room was a wreck.  A great, jagged hole
+was torn in the ceiling, and the wall toward the corridor had been
+blown entirely out.
+
+As I rose, Victory had risen, too, and started toward me.  But when she
+saw that I was uninjured she stopped, and stood there in the center of
+the demolished apartment looking at me.  Her expression was
+inscrutable--I could not guess whether she was glad to see me, or not.
+
+"Victory!" I cried.  "Thank God that you are safe!" And I approached
+her, a greater gladness in my heart than I had felt since the moment
+that I knew the Coldwater must be swept beyond thirty.
+
+There was no answering gladness in her eyes.  Instead, she stamped her
+little foot in anger.
+
+"Why did it have to be you who saved me!" she exclaimed.  "I hate you!"
+
+"Hate me?" I asked.  "Why should you hate me, Victory?  I do not hate
+you.  I--I--"  What was I about to say?  I was very close to her as a
+great light broke over me.  Why had I never realized it before?  The
+truth accounted for a great many hitherto inexplicable moods that had
+claimed me from time to time since first I had seen Victory.
+
+"Why should I hate you?" she repeated.  "Because Snider told me--he
+told me that you had promised me to him, but he did not get me.  I
+killed him, as I should like to kill you!"
+
+"Snider lied!" I cried.  And then I seized her and held her in my arms,
+and made her listen to me, though she struggled and fought like a young
+lioness.  "I love you, Victory.  You must know that I love you--that I
+have always loved you, and that I never could have made so base a
+promise."
+
+She ceased her struggles, just a trifle, but still tried to push me
+from her.  "You called me a barbarian!" she said.
+
+Ah, so that was it!  That still rankled.  I crushed her to me.
+
+"You could not love a barbarian," she went on, but she had ceased to
+struggle.
+
+"But I do love a barbarian, Victory!" I cried, "the dearest barbarian
+in the world."
+
+She raised her eyes to mine, and then her smooth, brown arms encircled
+my neck and drew my lips down to hers.
+
+"I love you--I have loved you always!" she said, and then she buried
+her face upon my shoulder and sobbed.  "I have been so unhappy," she
+said, "but I could not die while I thought that you might live."
+
+As we stood there, momentarily forgetful of all else than our new found
+happiness, the ferocity of the bombardment increased until scarce
+thirty seconds elapsed between the shells that rained about the palace.
+
+To remain long would be to invite certain death.  We could not escape
+the way that we had entered the apartment, for not only was the
+corridor now choked with debris, but beyond the corridor there were
+doubtless many members of the emperor's household who would stop us.
+
+Upon the opposite side of the room was another door, and toward this I
+led the way.  It opened into a third apartment with windows overlooking
+an inner court.  From one of these windows I surveyed the courtyard.
+Apparently it was empty, and the rooms upon the opposite side were
+unlighted.
+
+Assisting Victory to the open, I followed, and together we crossed the
+court, discovering upon the opposite side a number of wide, wooden
+doors set in the wall of the palace, with small windows between.  As we
+stood close behind one of the doors, listening, a horse within neighed.
+
+"The stables!" I whispered, and, a moment later, had pushed back a door
+and entered.  From the city about us we could hear the din of great
+commotion, and quite close the sounds of battle--the crack of thousands
+of rifles, the yells of the soldiers, the hoarse commands of officers,
+and the blare of bugles.
+
+The bombardment had ceased as suddenly as it had commenced.  I judged
+that the enemy was storming the city, for the sounds we heard were the
+sounds of hand-to-hand combat.
+
+Within the stables I groped about until I had found saddles and bridles
+for two horses.  But afterward, in the darkness, I could find but a
+single mount.  The doors of the opposite side, leading to the street,
+were open, and we could see great multitudes of men, women, and
+children fleeing toward the west.  Soldiers, afoot and mounted, were
+joining the mad exodus.  Now and then a camel or an elephant would pass
+bearing some officer or dignitary to safety.  It was evident that the
+city would fall at any moment--a fact which was amply proclaimed by the
+terror-stricken haste of the fear-mad mob.
+
+Horse, camel, and elephant trod helpless women and children beneath
+their feet.  A common soldier dragged a general from his mount, and,
+leaping to the animal's back, fled down the packed street toward the
+west.  A woman seized a gun and brained a court dignitary, whose horse
+had trampled her child to death.  Shrieks, curses, commands,
+supplications filled the air.  It was a frightful scene--one that will
+be burned upon my memory forever.
+
+I had saddled and bridled the single horse which had evidently been
+overlooked by the royal household in its flight, and, standing a little
+back in the shadow of the stable's interior, Victory and I watched the
+surging throng without.
+
+To have entered it would have been to have courted greater danger than
+we were already in.  We decided to wait until the stress of blacks
+thinned, and for more than an hour we stood there while the sounds of
+battle raged upon the eastern side of the city and the population flew
+toward the west.  More and more numerous became the uniformed soldiers
+among the fleeing throng, until, toward the last, the street was packed
+with them.  It was no orderly retreat, but a rout, complete and
+terrible.
+
+The fighting was steadily approaching us now, until the crack of rifles
+sounded in the very street upon which we were looking.  And then came a
+handful of brave men--a little rear guard backing slowly toward the
+west, working their smoking rifles in feverish haste as they fired
+volley after volley at the foe we could not see.
+
+But these were pressed back and back until the first line of the enemy
+came opposite our shelter.  They were men of medium height, with olive
+complexions and almond eyes.  In them I recognized the descendants of
+the ancient Chinese race.
+
+They were well uniformed and superbly armed, and they fought bravely
+and under perfect discipline.  So rapt was I in the exciting events
+transpiring in the street that I did not hear the approach of a body of
+men from behind.  It was a party of the conquerors who had entered the
+palace and were searching it.
+
+They came upon us so unexpectedly that we were prisoners before we
+realized what had happened.  That night we were held under a strong
+guard just outside the eastern wall of the city, and the next morning
+were started upon a long march toward the east.
+
+Our captors were not unkind to us, and treated the women prisoners with
+respect.  We marched for many days--so many that I lost count of
+them--and at last we came to another city--a Chinese city this
+time--which stands upon the site of ancient Moscow.
+
+It is only a small frontier city, but it is well built and well kept.
+Here a large military force is maintained, and here also, is a terminus
+of the railroad that crosses modern China to the Pacific.
+
+There was every evidence of a high civilization in all that we saw
+within the city, which, in connection with the humane treatment that
+had been accorded all prisoners upon the long and tiresome march,
+encouraged me to hope that I might appeal to some high officer here for
+the treatment which my rank and birth merited.
+
+We could converse with our captors only through the medium of
+interpreters who spoke both Chinese and Abyssinian.  But there were
+many of these, and shortly after we reached the city I persuaded one of
+them to carry a verbal message to the officer who had commanded the
+troops during the return from New Gondar, asking that I might be given
+a hearing by some high official.
+
+The reply to my request was a summons to appear before the officer to
+whom I had addressed my appeal.  A sergeant came for me along with the
+interpreter, and I managed to obtain his permission to let Victory
+accompany me--I had never left her alone with the prisoners since we
+had been captured.
+
+To my delight I found that the officer into whose presence we were
+conducted spoke Abyssinian fluently.  He was astounded when I told him
+that I was a Pan-American.  Unlike all others whom I had spoken with
+since my arrival in Europe, he was well acquainted with ancient
+history--was familiar with twentieth century conditions in Pan-America,
+and after putting a half dozen questions to me was satisfied that I
+spoke the truth.
+
+When I told him that Victory was Queen of England he showed little
+surprise, telling me that in their recent explorations in ancient
+Russia they had found many descendants of the old nobility and royalty.
+
+He immediately set aside a comfortable house for us, furnished us with
+servants and with money, and in other ways showed us every attention
+and kindness.
+
+He told me that he would telegraph his emperor at once, and the result
+was that we were presently commanded to repair to Peking and present
+ourselves before the ruler.
+
+We made the journey in a comfortable railway carriage, through a
+country which, as we traveled farther toward the east, showed
+increasing evidence of prosperity and wealth.
+
+At the imperial court we were received with great kindness, the emperor
+being most inquisitive about the state of modern Pan-America.  He told
+me that while he personally deplored the existence of the strict
+regulations which had raised a barrier between the east and the west,
+he had felt, as had his predecessors, that recognition of the wishes of
+the great Pan-American federation would be most conducive to the
+continued peace of the world.
+
+His empire includes all of Asia, and the islands of the Pacific as far
+east as 175dW.  The empire of Japan no longer exists, having been
+conquered and absorbed by China over a hundred years ago.  The
+Philippines are well administered, and constitute one of the most
+progressive colonies of the Chinese empire.
+
+The emperor told me that the building of this great empire and the
+spreading of enlightenment among its diversified and savage peoples had
+required all the best efforts of nearly two hundred years.  Upon his
+accession to the throne he had found the labor well nigh perfected and
+had turned his attention to the reclamation of Europe.
+
+His ambition is to wrest it from the hands of the blacks, and then to
+attempt the work of elevating its fallen peoples to the high estate
+from which the Great War precipitated them.
+
+I asked him who was victorious in that war, and he shook his head sadly
+as he replied:
+
+"Pan-America, perhaps, and China, with the blacks of Abyssinia," he
+said.  "Those who did not fight were the only ones to reap any of the
+rewards that are supposed to belong to victory.  The combatants reaped
+naught but annihilation.  You have seen--better than any man you must
+realize that there was no victory for any nation embroiled in that
+frightful war."
+
+"When did it end?" I asked him.
+
+Again he shook his head.  "It has not ended yet.  There has never been
+a formal peace declared in Europe.  After a while there were none left
+to make peace, and the rude tribes which sprang from the survivors
+continued to fight among themselves because they knew no better
+condition of society.  War razed the works of man--war and pestilence
+razed man.  God give that there shall never be such another war!"
+
+You all know how Porfirio Johnson returned to Pan-America with John
+Alvarez in chains; how Alvarez's trial raised a popular demonstration
+that the government could not ignore.  His eloquent appeal--not for
+himself, but for me--is historic, as are its results.  You know how a
+fleet was sent across the Atlantic to search for me, how the
+restrictions against crossing thirty to one hundred seventy-five were
+removed forever, and how the officers were brought to Peking, arriving
+upon the very day that Victory and I were married at the imperial court.
+
+My return to Pan-America was very different from anything I could
+possibly have imagined a year before.  Instead of being received as a
+traitor to my country, I was acclaimed a hero.  It was good to get back
+again, good to witness the kindly treatment that was accorded my dear
+Victory, and when I learned that Delcarte and Taylor had been found at
+the mouth of the Rhine and were already back in Pan-America my joy was
+unalloyed.
+
+And now we are going back, Victory and I, with the men and the
+munitions and power to reclaim England for her queen.  Again I shall
+cross thirty, but under what altered conditions!
+
+A new epoch for Europe is inaugurated, with enlightened China on the
+east and enlightened Pan-America on the west--the two great peace
+powers whom God has preserved to regenerate chastened and forgiven
+Europe.  I have been through much--I have suffered much, but I have won
+two great laurel wreaths beyond thirty.  One is the opportunity to
+rescue Europe from barbarism, the other is a little barbarian, and the
+greater of these is--Victory.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Lost Continent, by Edgar Rice Burroughs
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOST CONTINENT ***
+
+***** This file should be named 149.txt or 149.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/149/
+
+Produced by Judith Boss.  HTML version by Al Haines.
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.net/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.net
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/old/lcont10.txt b/old/lcont10.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c68fe64
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/lcont10.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5072 @@
+Project Gutenberg Etext, Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burroughs
+
+Please take a look at the important information in this header.
+We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an
+electronic path open for the next readers.  Do not remove this.
+
+
+**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
+
+**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
+
+*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations*
+
+Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and
+further information is included below.  We need your donations.
+
+
+The Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burroughs
+
+July, 1994  [Etext #149]
+
+Project Gutenberg Etext, The Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burroughs
+********This file should be named lcont10.txt or lcont10.zip*******
+
+Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, lcont11.txt.
+VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, lcont10a.txt.
+
+This etext was created by Judith Boss, Omaha, Nebraska.
+The equipment:  an IBM-compatible 486/50, a Hewlett-Packard
+ScanJet IIc flatbed scanner, and a copy of Calera Recognition
+Systems' M/600 Series Professional OCR software and RISC
+accelerator board donated by Calera.
+
+
+We are now trying to release all our books one month in advance
+of the official release dates, for time for better editing.  We
+have this as a goal to accomplish by the end of the year but we
+cannot guarantee to stay that far ahead every month after that.
+
+Please note:  neither this list nor its contents are final till
+midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement.
+The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at
+Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month.  A
+preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment
+and editing by those who wish to do so.  To be sure you have an
+up to date first edition [xxxxx10x.xxx] please check file sizes
+in the first week of the next month.  Since our ftp program has
+a bug in it that scrambles the date [tried to fix and failed] a
+look at the file size will have to do, but we will try to see a
+new copy has at least one byte more or less.
+
+
+Information about Project Gutenberg (one page)
+
+We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work.  The
+fifty hours is one conservative estimate for how long it we take
+to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright
+searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc.  This
+projected audience is one hundred million readers.  If our value
+per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $4
+million dollars per hour this year as we release some eight text
+files per month:  thus upping our productivity from $2 million.
+
+The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext
+Files by the December 31, 2001.  [10,000 x 100,000,000=Trillion]
+This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers,
+which is 10% of the expected number of computer users by the end
+of the year 2001.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+All donations should be made to "Project Gutenberg/IBC", and are
+tax deductible to the extent allowable by law ("IBC" is Illinois
+Benedictine College).  (Subscriptions to our paper newsletter go
+to IBC, too)
+
+For these and other matters, please mail to:
+
+Project Gutenberg
+P. O. Box  2782
+Champaign, IL 61825
+
+When all other email fails try our Michael S. Hart, Executive
+Director:
+hart@vmd.cso.uiuc.edu (internet)   hart@uiucvmd   (bitnet)
+
+We would prefer to send you this information by email
+(Internet, Bitnet, Compuserve, ATTMAIL or MCImail).
+
+******
+If you have an FTP program (or emulator), please
+FTP directly to the Project Gutenberg archives:
+[Mac users, do NOT point and click. . .type]
+
+ftp mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu
+login:  anonymous
+password:  your@login
+cd etext/etext91
+or cd etext92
+or cd etext93 [for new books]  [now also in cd etext/etext93]
+or cd etext/articles [get suggest gut for more information]
+dir [to see files]
+get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files]
+GET 0INDEX.GUT
+for a list of books
+and
+GET NEW GUT for general information
+and
+MGET GUT* for newsletters.
+
+**Information prepared by the Project Gutenberg legal advisor**
+(Three Pages)
+
+
+***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START***
+Why is this "Small Print!" statement here?  You know: lawyers.
+They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with
+your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from
+someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our
+fault.  So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement
+disclaims most of our liability to you.  It also tells you how
+you can distribute copies of this etext if you want to.
+
+*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT
+By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
+etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept
+this "Small Print!" statement.  If you do not, you can receive
+a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by
+sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person
+you got it from.  If you received this etext on a physical
+medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request.
+
+ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS
+This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-
+tm etexts, is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor
+Michael S. Hart through the Project Gutenberg Association at
+Illinois Benedictine College (the "Project").  Among other
+things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright
+on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and
+distribute it in the United States without permission and
+without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules, set forth
+below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext
+under the Project's "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark.
+
+To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable
+efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain
+works.  Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any
+medium they may be on may contain "Defects".  Among other
+things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged
+disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer
+codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.
+
+LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES
+But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below,
+[1] the Project (and any other party you may receive this
+etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including
+legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR
+UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT,
+INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE
+OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE
+POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
+
+If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of
+receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any)
+you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that
+time to the person you received it from.  If you received it
+on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and
+such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement
+copy.  If you received it electronically, such person may
+choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to
+receive it electronically.
+
+THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS".  NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS
+TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
+PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+
+Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or
+the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the
+above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you
+may have other legal rights.
+
+INDEMNITY
+You will indemnify and hold the Project, its directors,
+officers, members and agents harmless from all liability, cost
+and expense, including legal fees, that arise directly or
+indirectly from any of the following that you do or cause:
+[1] distribution of this etext, [2] alteration, modification,
+or addition to the etext, or [3] any Defect.
+
+DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm"
+You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by
+disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this
+"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg,
+or:
+
+[1]  Only give exact copies of it.  Among other things, this
+     requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the
+     etext or this "small print!" statement.  You may however,
+     if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable
+     binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form,
+     including any form resulting from conversion by word pro-
+     cessing or hypertext software, but only so long as
+     *EITHER*:
+
+     [*]  The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and
+          does *not* contain characters other than those
+          intended by the author of the work, although tilde
+          (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may
+          be used to convey punctuation intended by the
+          author, and additional characters may be used to
+          indicate hypertext links; OR
+
+     [*]  The etext may be readily converted by the reader at
+          no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent
+          form by the program that displays the etext (as is
+          the case, for instance, with most word processors);
+          OR
+
+     [*]  You provide, or agree to also provide on request at
+          no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the
+          etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC
+          or other equivalent proprietary form).
+
+[2]  Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this
+     "Small Print!" statement.
+
+[3]  Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the
+     net profits you derive calculated using the method you
+     already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  If you
+     don't derive profits, no royalty is due.  Royalties are
+     payable to "Project Gutenberg Association / Illinois
+     Benedictine College" within the 60 days following each
+     date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare)
+     your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return.
+
+WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO?
+The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time,
+scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty
+free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution
+you can think of.  Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg
+Association / Illinois Benedictine College".
+
+This "Small Print!" by Charles B. Kramer, Attorney
+Internet (72600.2026@compuserve.com); TEL: (212-254-5093)
+*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END*
+
+
+The Lost Continent was originally published under
+the title Beyond Thirty
+
+
+THE LOST CONTINENT
+
+Edgar Rice Burroughs
+
+
+
+1
+
+
+Since earliest childhood I have been strangely fascinated by
+the mystery surrounding the history of the last days of
+twentieth century Europe.  My interest is keenest, perhaps,
+not so much in relation to known facts as to speculation
+upon the unknowable of the two centuries that have rolled by
+since human intercourse between the Western and Eastern
+Hemispheres ceased--the mystery of Europe's state following
+the termination of the Great War--provided, of course, that
+the war had been terminated.
+
+From out of the meagerness of our censored histories we
+learned that for fifteen years after the cessation of
+diplomatic relations between the United States of North
+America and the belligerent nations of the Old World, news
+of more or less doubtful authenticity filtered, from time to
+time, into the Western Hemisphere from the Eastern.
+
+Then came the fruition of that historic propaganda which is
+best described by its own slogan: "The East for the East--
+the West for the West," and all further intercourse was
+stopped by statute.
+
+Even prior to this, transoceanic commerce had practically
+ceased, owing to the perils and hazards of the mine-strewn
+waters of both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.  Just when
+submarine activities ended we do not know but the last
+vessel of this type sighted by a Pan-American merchantman
+was the huge Q 138, which discharged twenty-nine torpedoes
+at a Brazilian tank steamer off the Bermudas in the fall of
+1972.  A heavy sea and the excellent seamanship of the
+master of the Brazilian permitted the Pan-American to escape
+and report this last of a long series of outrages upon our
+commerce.  God alone knows how many hundreds of our ancient
+ships fell prey to the roving steel sharks of blood-frenzied
+Europe.  Countless were the vessels and men that passed over
+our eastern and western horizons never to return; but
+whether they met their fates before the belching tubes of
+submarines or among the aimlessly drifting mine fields, no
+man lived to tell.
+
+And then came the great Pan-American Federation which linked
+the Western Hemisphere from pole to pole under a single
+flag, which joined the navies of the New World into the
+mightiest fighting force that ever sailed the seven seas--
+the greatest argument for peace the world had ever known.
+
+Since that day peace had reigned from the western shores of
+the Azores to the western shores of the Hawaiian Islands,
+nor has any man of either hemisphere dared cross 30dW. or
+175dW.  From 30d to 175d is ours--from 30d to 175d is
+peace, prosperity and happiness.
+
+Beyond was the great unknown.  Even the geographies of my
+boyhood showed nothing beyond.  We were taught of nothing
+beyond.  Speculation was discouraged.  For two hundred years
+the Eastern Hemisphere had been wiped from the maps and
+histories of Pan-America.  Its mention in fiction, even, was
+forbidden.
+
+Our ships of peace patrol thirty and one hundred seventy-
+five.  What ships from beyond they have warned only the
+secret archives of government show; but, a naval officer
+myself, I have gathered from the traditions of the service
+that it has been fully two hundred years since smoke or sail
+has been sighted east of 30d or west of 175d.  The fate of
+the relinquished provinces which lay beyond the dead lines
+we could only speculate upon.  That they were taken by the
+military power, which rose so suddenly in China after the
+fall of the republic, and which wrested Manchuria and Korea
+from Russia and Japan, and also absorbed the Philippines, is
+quite within the range of possibility.
+
+It was the commander of a Chinese man-of-war who received a
+copy of the edict of 1972 from the hand of my illustrious
+ancestor, Admiral Turck, on one hundred seventy-five, two
+hundred and six years ago, and from the yellowed pages of
+the admiral's diary I learned that the fate of the
+Philippines was even then presaged by these Chinese naval
+officers.
+
+Yes, for over two hundred years no man crossed 30d to 175d
+and lived to tell his story--not until chance drew me across
+and back again, and public opinion, revolting at last
+against the drastic regulations of our long-dead forbears,
+demanded that my story be given to the world, and that the
+narrow interdict which commanded peace, prosperity, and
+happiness to halt at 30d and 175d be removed forever.
+
+I am glad that it was given to me to be an instrument in the
+hands of Providence for the uplifting of benighted Europe,
+and the amelioration of the suffering, degradation, and
+abysmal ignorance in which I found her.
+
+I shall not live to see the complete regeneration of the
+savage hordes of the Eastern Hemisphere--that is a work
+which will require many generations, perhaps ages, so
+complete has been their reversion to savagery; but I know
+that the work has been started, and I am proud of the share
+in it which my generous countrymen have placed in my hands.
+
+The government already possesses a complete official report
+of my adventures beyond thirty.  In the narrative I purpose
+telling my story in a less formal, and I hope, a more
+entertaining, style; though, being only a naval officer and
+without claim to the slightest literary ability, I shall
+most certainly fall far short of the possibilities which are
+inherent in my subject.  That I have passed through the most
+wondrous adventures that have befallen a civilized man
+during the past two centuries encourages me in the belief
+that, however ill the telling, the facts themselves will
+command your interest to the final page.
+
+Beyond thirty!  Romance, adventure, strange peoples,
+fearsome beasts--all the excitement and scurry of the lives
+of the twentieth century ancients that have been denied us
+in these dull days of peace and prosaic prosperity--all, all
+lay beyond thirty, the invisible barrier between the stupid,
+commercial present and the carefree, barbarous past.
+
+What boy has not sighed for the good old days of wars,
+revolutions, and riots; how I used to pore over the
+chronicles of those old days, those dear old days, when
+workmen went armed to their labors; when they fell upon one
+another with gun and bomb and dagger, and the streets ran
+red with blood!  Ah, but those were the times when life was
+worth the living; when a man who went out by night knew not
+at which dark corner a "footpad" might leap upon and slay
+him; when wild beasts roamed the forest and the jungles, and
+there were savage men, and countries yet unexplored.
+
+Now, in all the Western Hemisphere dwells no man who may not
+find a school house within walking distance of his home, or
+at least within flying distance.
+
+The wildest beast that roams our waste places lairs in the
+frozen north or the frozen south within a government
+reserve, where the curious may view him and feed him bread
+crusts from the hand with perfect impunity.
+
+But beyond thirty!  And I have gone there, and come back;
+and now you may go there, for no longer is it high treason,
+punishable by disgrace or death, to cross 30d or 175d.
+
+My name is Jefferson Turck.  I am a lieutenant in the navy--
+in the great Pan-American navy, the only navy which now
+exists in all the world.
+
+I was born in Arizona, in the United States of North
+America, in the year of our Lord 2116.  Therefore, I am
+twenty-one years old.
+
+In early boyhood I tired of the teeming cities and
+overcrowded rural districts of Arizona.  Every generation of
+Turcks for over two centuries has been represented in the
+navy.  The navy called to me, as did the free, wide,
+unpeopled spaces of the mighty oceans.  And so I joined the
+navy, coming up from the ranks, as we all must, learning our
+craft as we advance.  My promotion was rapid, for my family
+seems to inherit naval lore.  We are born officers, and I
+reserve to myself no special credit for an early advancement
+in the service.
+
+At twenty I found myself a lieutenant in command of the
+aero-submarine Coldwater, of the SS-96 class.  The Coldwater
+was one of the first of the air and underwater craft which
+have been so greatly improved since its launching, and was
+possessed of innumerable weaknesses which, fortunately, have
+been eliminated in more recent vessels of similar type.
+
+Even when I took command, she was fit only for the junk
+pile; but the world-old parsimony of government retained her
+in active service, and sent two hundred men to sea in her,
+with myself, a mere boy, in command of her, to patrol thirty
+from Iceland to the Azores.
+
+Much of my service had been spent aboard the great
+merchantmen-of-war.  These are the utility naval vessels
+that have transformed the navies of old, which burdened the
+peoples with taxes for their support, into the present day
+fleets of self-supporting ships that find ample time for
+target practice and gun drill while they bear freight and
+the mails from the continents to the far-scattered island of
+Pan-America.
+
+This change in service was most welcome to me, especially as
+it brought with it coveted responsibilities of sole command,
+and I was prone to overlook the deficiencies of the
+Coldwater in the natural pride I felt in my first ship.
+
+The Coldwater was fully equipped for two months' patrolling--
+the ordinary length of assignment to this service--and a
+month had already passed, its monotony entirely unrelieved
+by sight of another craft, when the first of our misfortunes
+befell.
+
+We had been riding out a storm at an altitude of about three
+thousand feet.  All night we had hovered above the tossing
+billows of the moonlight clouds.  The detonation of the
+thunder and the glare of lightning through an occasional
+rift in the vaporous wall proclaimed the continued fury of
+the tempest upon the surface of the sea; but we, far above
+it all, rode in comparative ease upon the upper gale.  With
+the coming of dawn the clouds beneath us became a glorious
+sea of gold and silver, soft and beautiful; but they could
+not deceive us as to the blackness and the terrors of the
+storm-lashed ocean which they hid.
+
+I was at breakfast when my chief engineer entered and
+saluted.  His face was grave, and I thought he was even a
+trifle paler than usual.
+
+"Well?" I asked.
+
+He drew the back of his forefinger nervously across his brow
+in a gesture that was habitual with him in moments of mental
+stress.
+
+"The gravitation-screen generators, sir," he said.  "Number
+one went to the bad about an hour and a half ago.  We have
+been working upon it steadily since; but I have to report,
+sir, that it is beyond repair."
+
+"Number two will keep us supplied," I answered.  "In the
+meantime we will send a wireless for relief."
+
+"But that is the trouble, sir," he went on.  "Number two has
+stopped.  I knew it would come, sir.  I made a report on
+these generators three years ago.  I advised then that they
+both be scrapped.  Their principle is entirely wrong.
+They're done for."  And, with a grim smile, "I shall at
+least have the satisfaction of knowing my report was
+accurate."
+
+"Have we sufficient reserve screen to permit us to make
+land, or, at least, meet our relief halfway?" I asked.
+
+"No, sir," he replied gravely; "we are sinking now."
+
+"Have you anything further to report?" I asked.
+
+"No, sir," he said.
+
+"Very good," I replied; and, as I dismissed him, I rang for
+my wireless operator.  When he appeared, I gave him a
+message to the secretary of the navy, to whom all vessels in
+service on thirty and one hundred seventy-five report
+direct.  I explained our predicament, and stated that with
+what screening force remained I should continue in the air,
+making as rapid headway toward St. Johns as possible, and
+that when we were forced to take to the water I should
+continue in the same direction.
+
+The accident occurred directly over 30d and about 52d N.
+The surface wind was blowing a tempest from the west.  To
+attempt to ride out such a storm upon the surface seemed
+suicidal, for the Coldwater was not designed for surface
+navigation except under fair weather conditions.  Submerged,
+or in the air, she was tractable enough in any sort of
+weather when under control; but without her screen
+generators she was almost helpless, since she could not fly,
+and, if submerged, could not rise to the surface.
+
+All these defects have been remedied in later models; but
+the knowledge did not help us any that day aboard the slowly
+settling Coldwater, with an angry sea roaring beneath, a
+tempest raging out of the west, and 30d only a few knots
+astern.
+
+To cross thirty or one hundred seventy-five has been, as you
+know, the direst calamity that could befall a naval
+commander.  Court-martial and degradation follow swiftly,
+unless as is often the case, the unfortunate man takes his
+own life before this unjust and heartless regulation can
+hold him up to public scorn.
+
+There has been in the past no excuse, no circumstance, that
+could palliate the offense.
+
+"He was in command, and he took his ship across thirty!"
+That was sufficient.  It might not have been in any way his
+fault, as, in the case of the Coldwater, it could not
+possibly have been justly charged to my account that the
+gravitation-screen generators were worthless; but well I
+knew that should chance have it that we were blown across
+thirty today--as we might easily be before the terrific west
+wind that we could hear howling below us, the responsibility
+would fall upon my shoulders.
+
+In a way, the regulation was a good one, for it certainly
+accomplished that for which it was intended.  We all fought
+shy of 30d on the east and 175d on the west, and, though we
+had to skirt them pretty close, nothing but an act of God
+ever drew one of us across.  You all are familiar with the
+naval tradition that a good officer could sense proximity to
+either line, and for my part, I am firmly convinced of the
+truth of this as I am that the compass finds the north
+without recourse to tedious processes of reasoning.
+
+Old Admiral Sanchez was wont to maintain that he could smell
+thirty, and the men of the first ship in which I sailed
+claimed that Coburn, the navigating officer, knew by name
+every wave along thirty from 60dN. to 60dS.  However, I'd
+hate to vouch for this.
+
+Well, to get back to my narrative; we kept on dropping
+slowly toward the surface the while we bucked the west wind,
+clawing away from thirty as fast as we could.  I was on the
+bridge, and as we dropped from the brilliant sunlight into
+the dense vapor of clouds and on down through them to the
+wild, dark storm strata beneath, it seemed that my spirits
+dropped with the falling ship, and the buoyancy of hope ran
+low in sympathy.
+
+The waves were running to tremendous heights, and the
+Coldwater was not designed to meet such waves head on.  Her
+elements were the blue ether, far above the raging storm, or
+the greater depths of ocean, which no storm could ruffle.
+
+As I stood speculating upon our chances once we settled into
+the frightful Maelstrom beneath us and at the same time
+mentally computing the hours which must elapse before aid
+could reach us, the wireless operator clambered up the
+ladder to the bridge, and, disheveled and breathless, stood
+before me at salute.  It needed but a glance at him to
+assure me that something was amiss.
+
+"What now?" I asked.
+
+"The wireless, sir!" he cried.  "My God, sir, I cannot
+send."
+
+"But the emergency outfit?" I asked.
+
+"I have tried everything, sir.  I have exhausted every
+resource.  We cannot send," and he drew himself up and
+saluted again.
+
+I dismissed him with a few kind words, for I knew that it
+was through no fault of his that the mechanism was
+antiquated and worthless, in common with the balance of the
+Coldwater's equipment.  There was no finer operator in Pan-
+America than he.
+
+The failure of the wireless did not appear as momentous to
+me as to him, which is not unnatural, since it is but human
+to feel that when our own little cog slips, the entire
+universe must necessarily be put out of gear.  I knew that
+if this storm were destined to blow us across thirty, or
+send us to the bottom of the ocean, no help could reach us
+in time to prevent it.  I had ordered the message sent
+solely because regulations required it, and not with any
+particular hope that we could benefit by it in our present
+extremity.
+
+I had little time to dwell upon the coincidence of the
+simultaneous failure of the wireless and the buoyancy
+generators, since very shortly after the Coldwater had
+dropped so low over the waters that all my attention was
+necessarily centered upon the delicate business of settling
+upon the waves without breaking my ship's back.  With our
+buoyancy generators in commission it would have been a
+simple thing to enter the water, since then it would have
+been but a trifling matter of a forty-five degree dive into
+the base of a huge wave.  We should have cut into the water
+like a hot knife through butter, and have been totally
+submerged with scarce a jar--I have done it a thousand
+times--but I did not dare submerge the Coldwater for fear
+that it would remain submerged to the end of time--a
+condition far from conducive to the longevity of commander
+or crew.
+
+Most of my officers were older men than I.  John Alvarez, my
+first officer, is twenty years my senior.  He stood at my
+side on the bridge as the ship glided closer and closer to
+those stupendous waves.  He watched my every move, but he
+was by far too fine an officer and gentleman to embarrass me
+by either comment or suggestion.
+
+When I saw that we soon would touch, I ordered the ship
+brought around broadside to the wind, and there we hovered a
+moment until a huge wave reached up and seized us upon its
+crest, and then I gave the order that suddenly reversed the
+screening force, and let us into the ocean.  Down into the
+trough we went, wallowing like the carcass of a dead whale,
+and then began the fight, with rudder and propellers, to
+force the Coldwater back into the teeth of the gale and
+drive her on and on, farther and farther from relentless
+thirty.
+
+I think that we should have succeeded, even though the ship
+was wracked from stem to stern by the terrific buffetings
+she received, and though she were half submerged the greater
+part of the time, had no further accident befallen us.
+
+We were making headway, though slowly, and it began to look
+as though we were going to pull through.  Alvarez never left
+my side, though I all but ordered him below for much-needed
+rest.  My second officer, Porfirio Johnson, was also often
+on the bridge.  He was a good officer, but a man for whom I
+had conceived a rather unreasoning aversion almost at the
+first moment of meeting him, an aversion which was not
+lessened by the knowledge which I subsequently gained that
+he looked upon my rapid promotion with jealousy.  He was ten
+years my senior both in years and service, and I rather
+think he could never forget the fact that he had been an
+officer when I was a green apprentice.
+
+As it became more and more apparent that the Coldwater,
+under my seamanship, was weathering the tempest and giving
+promise of pulling through safely, I could have sworn that I
+perceived a shade of annoyance and disappointment growing
+upon his dark countenance.  He left the bridge finally and
+went below.  I do not know that he is directly responsible
+for what followed so shortly after; but I have always had my
+suspicions, and Alvarez is even more prone to place the
+blame upon him than I.
+
+It was about six bells of the forenoon watch that Johnson
+returned to the bridge after an absence of some thirty
+minutes.  He seemed nervous and ill at ease--a fact which
+made little impression on me at the time, but which both
+Alvarez and I recalled subsequently.
+
+Not three minutes after his reappearance at my side the
+Coldwater suddenly commenced to lose headway.  I seized the
+telephone at my elbow, pressing upon the button which would
+call the chief engineer to the instrument in the bowels of
+the ship, only to find him already at the receiver
+attempting to reach me.
+
+"Numbers one, two, and five engines have broken down, sir,"
+he called.  "Shall we force the remaining three?"
+
+"We can do nothing else," I bellowed into the transmitter.
+
+"They won't stand the gaff, sir," he returned.
+
+"Can you suggest a better plan?" I asked.
+
+"No, sir," he replied.
+
+"Then give them the gaff, lieutenant," I shouted back, and
+hung up the receiver.
+
+For twenty minutes the Coldwater bucked the great seas with
+her three engines.  I doubt if she advanced a foot; but it
+was enough to keep her nose in the wind, and, at least, we
+were not drifting toward thirty.
+
+Johnson and Alvarez were at my side when, without warning,
+the bow swung swiftly around and the ship fell into the
+trough of the sea.
+
+"The other three have gone," I said, and I happened to be
+looking at Johnson as I spoke.  Was it the shadow of a
+satisfied smile that crossed his thin lips?  I do not know;
+but at least he did not weep.
+
+"You always have been curious, sir, about the great unknown
+beyond thirty," he said.  "You are in a good way to have
+your curiosity satisfied."  And then I could not mistake the
+slight sneer that curved his upper lip.  There must have
+been a trace of disrespect in his tone or manner which
+escaped me, for Alvarez turned upon him like a flash.
+
+"When Lieutenant Turck crosses thirty," he said, "we shall
+all cross with him, and God help the officer or the man who
+reproaches him!"
+
+"I shall not be a party to high treason," snapped Johnson.
+"The regulations are explicit, and if the Coldwater crosses
+thirty it devolves upon you to place Lieutenant Turck under
+arrest and immediately exert every endeavor to bring the
+ship back into Pan-American waters."
+
+"I shall not know," replied Alvarez, "that the Coldwater
+passes thirty; nor shall any other man aboard know it," and,
+with his words, he drew a revolver from his pocket, and
+before either I or Johnson could prevent it had put a bullet
+into every instrument upon the bridge, ruining them beyond
+repair.
+
+And then he saluted me, and strode from the bridge, a martyr
+to loyalty and friendship, for, though no man might know
+that Lieutenant Jefferson Turck had taken his ship across
+thirty, every man aboard would know that the first officer
+had committed a crime that was punishable by both
+degradation and death.  Johnson turned and eyed me narrowly.
+
+"Shall I place him under arrest?" he asked.
+
+"You shall not," I replied.  "Nor shall anyone else."
+
+"You become a party to his crime!" he cried angrily.
+
+"You may go below, Mr. Johnson," I said, "and attend to the
+work of unpacking the extra instruments and having them
+properly set upon the bridge."
+
+He saluted, and left me, and for some time I stood, gazing
+out upon the angry waters, my mind filled with unhappy
+reflections upon the unjust fate that had overtaken me, and
+the sorrow and disgrace that I had unwittingly brought down
+upon my house.
+
+I rejoiced that I should leave neither wife nor child to
+bear the burden of my shame throughout their lives.
+
+As I thought upon my misfortune, I considered more clearly
+than ever before the unrighteousness of the regulation which
+was to prove my doom, and in the natural revolt against its
+injustice my anger rose, and there mounted within me a
+feeling which I imagine must have paralleled that spirit
+that once was prevalent among the ancients called anarchy.
+
+For the first time in my life I found my sentiments arraying
+themselves against custom, tradition, and even government.
+The wave of rebellion swept over me in an instant, beginning
+with an heretical doubt as to the sanctity of the
+established order of things--that fetish which has ruled
+Pan-Americans for two centuries, and which is based upon a
+blind faith in the infallibility of the prescience of the
+long-dead framers of the articles of Pan-American
+federation--and ending in an adamantine determination to
+defend my honor and my life to the last ditch against the
+blind and senseless regulation which assumed the synonymity
+of misfortune and treason.
+
+I would replace the destroyed instruments upon the bridge;
+every officer and man should know when we crossed thirty.
+But then I should assert the spirit which dominated me, I
+should resist arrest, and insist upon bringing my ship back
+across the dead line, remaining at my post until we had
+reached New York.  Then I should make a full report, and
+with it a demand upon public opinion that the dead lines be
+wiped forever from the seas.
+
+I knew that I was right.  I knew that no more loyal officer
+wore the uniform of the navy.  I knew that I was a good
+officer and sailor, and I didn't propose submitting to
+degradation and discharge because a lot of old, preglacial
+fossils had declared over two hundred years before that no
+man should cross thirty.
+
+Even while these thoughts were passing through my mind I was
+busy with the details of my duties.  I had seen to it that a
+sea anchor was rigged, and even now the men had completed
+their task, and the Coldwater was swinging around rapidly,
+her nose pointing once more into the wind, and the frightful
+rolling consequent upon her wallowing in the trough was
+happily diminishing.
+
+It was then that Johnson came hurrying to the bridge.  One
+of his eyes was swollen and already darkening, and his lip
+was cut and bleeding.  Without even the formality of a
+salute, he burst upon me, white with fury.
+
+"Lieutenant Alvarez attacked me!" he cried.  "I demand that
+he be placed under arrest.  I found him in the act of
+destroying the reserve instruments, and when I would have
+interfered to protect them he fell upon me and beat me.  I
+demand that you arrest him!"
+
+"You forget yourself, Mr. Johnson," I said.  "You are not in
+command of the ship.  I deplore the action of Lieutenant
+Alvarez, but I cannot expunge from my mind the loyalty and
+self-sacrificing friendship which has prompted him to his
+acts.  Were I you, sir, I should profit by the example he
+has set.  Further, Mr. Johnson, I intend retaining command
+of the ship, even though she crosses thirty, and I shall
+demand implicit obedience from every officer and man aboard
+until I am properly relieved from duty by a superior officer
+in the port of New York."
+
+"You mean to say that you will cross thirty without
+submitting to arrest?" he almost shouted.
+
+"I do, sir," I replied.  "And now you may go below, and,
+when again you find it necessary to address me, you will
+please be so good as to bear in mind the fact that I am your
+commanding officer, and as such entitled to a salute."
+
+He flushed, hesitated a moment, and then, saluting, turned
+upon his heel and left the bridge.  Shortly after, Alvarez
+appeared.  He was pale, and seemed to have aged ten years in
+the few brief minutes since I last had seen him.  Saluting,
+he told me very simply what he had done, and asked that I
+place him under arrest.
+
+I put my hand on his shoulder, and I guess that my voice
+trembled a trifle as, while reproving him for his act, I
+made it plain to him that my gratitude was no less potent a
+force than his loyalty to me.  Then it was that I outlined
+to him my purpose to defy the regulation that had raised the
+dead lines, and to take my ship back to New York myself.
+
+I did not ask him to share the responsibility with me.  I
+merely stated that I should refuse to submit to arrest, and
+that I should demand of him and every other officer and man
+implicit obedience to my every command until we docked at
+home.
+
+His face brightened at my words, and he assured me that I
+would find him as ready to acknowledge my command upon the
+wrong side of thirty as upon the right, an assurance which I
+hastened to tell him I did not need.
+
+The storm continued to rage for three days, and as far as
+the wind scarce varied a point during all that time, I knew
+that we must be far beyond thirty, drifting rapidly east by
+south.  All this time it had been impossible to work upon
+the damaged engines or the gravity-screen generators; but we
+had a full set of instruments upon the bridge, for Alvarez,
+after discovering my intentions, had fetched the reserve
+instruments from his own cabin, where he had hidden them.
+Those which Johnson had seen him destroy had been a third
+set which only Alvarez had known was aboard the Coldwater.
+
+We waited impatiently for the sun, that we might determine
+our exact location, and upon the fourth day our vigil was
+rewarded a few minutes before noon.
+
+Every officer and man aboard was tense with nervous
+excitement as we awaited the result of the reading.  The
+crew had known almost as soon as I that we were doomed to
+cross thirty, and I am inclined to believe that every man
+jack of them was tickled to death, for the spirits of
+adventure and romance still live in the hearts of men of the
+twenty-second century, even though there be little for them
+to feed upon between thirty and one hundred seventy-five.
+
+The men carried none of the burdens of responsibility.  They
+might cross thirty with impunity, and doubtless they would
+return to be heroes at home; but how different the home-
+coming of their commanding officer!
+
+The wind had dropped to a steady blow, still from west by
+north, and the sea had gone down correspondingly.  The crew,
+with the exception of those whose duties kept them below,
+were ranged on deck below the bridge.  When our position was
+definitely fixed I personally announced it to the eager,
+waiting men.
+
+"Men," I said, stepping forward to the handrail and looking
+down into their upturned, bronzed faces, "you are anxiously
+awaiting information as to the ship's position.  It has been
+determined at latitude fifty degrees seven minutes north,
+longitude twenty degrees sixteen minutes west."
+
+I paused and a buzz of animated comment ran through the
+massed men beneath me.  "Beyond thirty.  But there will be
+no change in commanding officers, in routine or in
+discipline, until after we have docked again in New York."
+
+As I ceased speaking and stepped back from the rail there
+was a roar of applause from the deck such as I never before
+had heard aboard a ship of peace.  It recalled to my mind
+tales that I had read of the good old days when naval
+vessels were built to fight, when ships of peace had been
+man-of-war, and guns had flashed in other than futile target
+practice, and decks had run red with blood.
+
+With the subsistence of the sea, we were able to go to work
+upon the damaged engines to some effect, and I also set men
+to examining the gravitation-screen generators with a view
+to putting them in working order should it prove not beyond
+our resources.
+
+For two weeks we labored at the engines, which indisputably
+showed evidence of having been tampered with.  I appointed a
+board to investigate and report upon the disaster.  But it
+accomplished nothing other than to convince me that there
+were several officers upon it who were in full sympathy with
+Johnson, for, though no charges had been preferred against
+him, the board went out of its way specifically to exonerate
+him in its findings.
+
+All this time we were drifting almost due east.  The work
+upon the engines had progressed to such an extent that
+within a few hours we might expect to be able to proceed
+under our own power westward in the direction of Pan-
+American waters.
+
+To relieve the monotony I had taken to fishing, and early
+that morning I had departed from the Coldwater in one of the
+boats on such an excursion.  A gentle west wind was blowing.
+The sea shimmered in the sunlight.  A cloudless sky canopied
+the west for our sport, as I had made it a point never
+voluntarily to make an inch toward the east that I could
+avoid.  At least, they should not be able to charge me with
+a willful violation of the dead lines regulation.
+
+I had with me only the boat's ordinary complement of men--
+three in all, and more than enough to handle any small power
+boat.  I had not asked any of my officers to accompany me,
+as I wished to be alone, and very glad am I now that I had
+not.  My only regret is that, in view of what befell us, it
+had been necessary to bring the three brave fellows who
+manned the boat.
+
+Our fishing, which proved excellent, carried us so far to
+the west that we no longer could see the Coldwater.  The day
+wore on, until at last, about mid-afternoon, I gave the
+order to return to the ship.
+
+We had proceeded but a short distance toward the east when
+one of the men gave an exclamation of excitement, at the
+same time pointing eastward.  We all looked on in the
+direction he had indicated, and there, a short distance
+above the horizon, we saw the outlines of the Coldwater
+silhouetted against the sky.
+
+"They've repaired the engines and the generators both,"
+exclaimed one of the men.
+
+It seemed impossible, but yet it had evidently been done.
+Only that morning, Lieutenant Johnson had told me that he
+feared that it would be impossible to repair the generators.
+I had put him in charge of this work, since he always had
+been accounted one of the best gravitation-screen men in
+the navy.  He had invented several of the improvements that
+are incorporated in the later models of these generators,
+and I am convinced that he knows more concerning both the
+theory and the practice of screening gravitation than any
+living Pan-American.
+
+At the sight of the Coldwater once more under control, the
+three men burst into a glad cheer.  But, for some reason
+which I could not then account, I was strangely overcome by
+a premonition of personal misfortune.  It was not that I now
+anticipated an early return to Pan-America and a board of
+inquiry, for I had rather looked forward to the fight that
+must follow my return.  No, there was something else,
+something indefinable and vague that cast a strange gloom
+upon me as I saw my ship rising farther above the water and
+making straight in our direction.
+
+I was not long in ascertaining a possible explanation of my
+depression, for, though we were plainly visible from the
+bridge of the aero-submarine and to the hundreds of men who
+swarmed her deck, the ship passed directly above us, not
+five hundred feet from the water, and sped directly
+westward.
+
+We all shouted, and I fired my pistol to attract their
+attention, though I knew full well that all who cared to had
+observed us, but the ship moved steadily away, growing
+smaller and smaller to our view until at last she passed
+completely out of sight.
+
+
+
+2
+
+
+What could it mean?  I had left Alvarez in command.  He was
+my most loyal subordinate.  It was absolutely beyond the
+pale of possibility that Alvarez should desert me.  No,
+there was some other explanation.  Something occurred to
+place my second officer, Porfirio Johnson, in command.  I
+was sure of it but why speculate?  The futility of
+conjecture was only too palpable.  The Coldwater had
+abandoned us in midocean.  Doubtless none of us would
+survive to know why.
+
+The young man at the wheel of the power boat had turned her
+nose about as it became evident that the ship intended
+passing over us, and now he still held her in futile pursuit
+of the Coldwater.
+
+"Bring her about, Snider," I directed, "and hold her due
+east.  We can't catch the Coldwater, and we can't cross the
+Atlantic in this.  Our only hope lies in making the nearest
+land, which, unless I am mistaken, is the Scilly Islands,
+off the southwest coast of England.  Ever heard of England,
+Snider?"
+
+"There's a part of the United States of North America that
+used to be known to the ancients as New England," he
+replied.  "Is that where you mean, sir?"
+
+"No, Snider," I replied.  "The England I refer to was an
+island off the continent of Europe.  It was the seat of a
+very powerful kingdom that flourished over two hundred years
+ago.  A part of the United States of North America and all
+of the Federated States of Canada once belonged to this
+ancient England."
+
+"Europe," breathed one of the men, his voice tense with
+excitement.  "My grandfather used to tell me stories of the
+world beyond thirty.  He had been a great student, and he
+had read much from forbidden books."
+
+"In which I resemble your grandfather," I said, "for I, too,
+have read more even than naval officers are supposed to
+read, and, as you men know, we are permitted a greater
+latitude in the study of geography and history than men of
+other professions.
+
+"Among the books and papers of Admiral Porter Turck, who
+lived two hundred years ago, and from whom I am descended,
+many volumes still exist, and are in my possession, which
+deal with the history and geography of ancient Europe.
+Usually I bring several of these books with me upon a
+cruise, and this time, among others, I have maps of Europe
+and her surrounding waters.  I was studying them as we came
+away from the Coldwater this morning, and luckily I have
+them with me."
+
+"You are going to try to make Europe, sir?" asked Taylor,
+the young man who had last spoken.
+
+"It is the nearest land," I replied.  "I have always wanted
+to explore the forgotten lands of the Eastern Hemisphere.
+Here's our chance.  To remain at sea is to perish.  None of
+us ever will see home again.  Let us make the best of it,
+and enjoy while we do live that which is forbidden the
+balance of our race--the adventure and the mystery which lie
+beyond thirty."
+
+Taylor and Delcarte seized the spirit of my mood but Snider,
+I think, was a trifle sceptical.
+
+"It is treason, sir," I replied, "but there is no law which
+compels us to visit punishment upon ourselves.  Could we
+return to Pan-America, I should be the first to insist that
+we face it.  But we know that's not possible.  Even if this
+craft would carry us so far, we haven't enough water or food
+for more than three days.
+
+"We are doomed, Snider, to die far from home and without
+ever again looking upon the face of another fellow
+countryman than those who sit here now in this boat.  Isn't
+that punishment sufficient for even the most exacting
+judge?"
+
+Even Snider had to admit that it was.
+
+"Very well, then, let us live while we live, and enjoy to
+the fullest whatever of adventure or pleasure each new day
+brings, since any day may be our last, and we shall be dead
+for a considerable while."
+
+I could see that Snider was still fearful, but Taylor and
+Delcarte responded with a hearty, "Aye, aye, sir!"
+
+They were of different mold.  Both were sons of naval
+officers.  They represented the aristocracy of birth, and
+they dared to think for themselves.
+
+Snider was in the minority, and so we continued toward the
+east.  Beyond thirty, and separated from my ship, my
+authority ceased.  I held leadership, if I was to hold it at
+all, by virtue of personal qualifications only, but I did
+not doubt my ability to remain the director of our destinies
+in so far as they were amenable to human agencies.  I have
+always led.  While my brain and brawn remain unimpaired I
+shall continue always to lead.  Following is an art which
+Turcks do not easily learn.
+
+It was not until the third day that we raised land, dead
+ahead, which I took, from my map, to be the isles of Scilly.
+But such a gale was blowing that I did not dare attempt to
+land, and so we passed to the north of them, skirted Land's
+End, and entered the English Channel.
+
+I think that up to that moment I had never experienced such
+a thrill as passed through me when I realized that I was
+navigating these historic waters.  The lifelong dreams that
+I never had dared hope to see fulfilled were at last a
+reality--but under what forlorn circumstances!
+
+Never could I return to my native land.  To the end of my
+days I must remain in exile.  Yet even these thoughts failed
+to dampen my ardor.
+
+My eyes scanned the waters.  To the north I could see the
+rockbound coast of Cornwall.  Mine were the first American
+eyes to rest upon it for more than two hundred years.  In
+vain, I searched for some sign of ancient commerce that, if
+history is to be believed, must have dotted the bosom of the
+Channel with white sails and blackened the heavens with the
+smoke of countless funnels, but as far as eye could reach
+the tossing waters of the Channel were empty and deserted.
+
+Toward midnight the wind and sea abated, so that shortly
+after dawn I determined to make inshore in an attempt to
+effect a landing, for we were sadly in need of fresh water
+and food.
+
+According to my observations, we were just off Ram Head, and
+it was my intention to enter Plymouth Bay and visit
+Plymouth.  From my map it appeared that this city lay back
+from the coast a short distance, and there was another city
+given as Devonport, which appeared to lie at the mouth of
+the river Tamar.
+
+However, I knew that it would make little difference which
+city we entered, as the English people were famed of old for
+their hospitality toward visiting mariners.  As we
+approached the mouth of the bay I looked for the fishing
+craft which I expected to see emerging thus early in the day
+for their labors.  But even after we rounded Ram Head and
+were well within the waters of the bay I saw no vessel.
+Neither was there buoy nor light nor any other mark to show
+larger ships the channel, and I wondered much at this.
+
+The coast was densely overgrown, nor was any building or
+sign of man apparent from the water.  Up the bay and into
+the River Tamar we motored through a solitude as unbroken as
+that which rested upon the waters of the Channel.  For all
+we could see, there was no indication that man had ever set
+his foot upon this silent coast.
+
+I was nonplused, and then, for the first time, there crept
+over me an intuition of the truth.
+
+Here was no sign of war.  As far as this portion of the
+Devon coast was concerned, that seemed to have been over for
+many years, but neither were there any people.  Yet I could
+not find it within myself to believe that I should find no
+inhabitants in England.  Reasoning thus, I discovered that
+it was improbable that a state of war still existed, and
+that the people all had been drawn from this portion of
+England to some other, where they might better defend
+themselves against an invader.
+
+But what of their ancient coast defenses?  What was there
+here in Plymouth Bay to prevent an enemy landing in force
+and marching where they wished?  Nothing.  I could not
+believe that any enlightened military nation, such as the
+ancient English are reputed to have been, would have
+voluntarily so deserted an exposed coast and an excellent
+harbor to the mercies of an enemy.
+
+I found myself becoming more and more deeply involved in
+quandary.  The puzzle which confronted me I could not
+unravel.  We had landed, and I now stood upon the spot
+where, according to my map, a large city should rear its
+spires and chimneys.  There was nothing but rough, broken
+ground covered densely with weeds and brambles, and tall,
+rank, grass.
+
+Had a city ever stood there, no sign of it remained.  The
+roughness and unevenness of the ground suggested something
+of a great mass of debris hidden by the accumulation of
+centuries of undergrowth.
+
+I drew the short cutlass with which both officers and men of
+the navy are, as you know, armed out of courtesy to the
+traditions and memories of the past, and with its point dug
+into the loam about the roots of the vegetation growing at
+my feet.
+
+The blade entered the soil for a matter of seven inches,
+when it struck upon something stonelike.  Digging about the
+obstacle, I presently loosened it, and when I had withdrawn
+it from its sepulcher I found the thing to be an ancient
+brick of clay, baked in an oven.
+
+Delcarte we had left in charge of the boat; but Snider and
+Taylor were with me, and following my example, each engaged
+in the fascinating sport of prospecting for antiques.  Each
+of us uncovered a great number of these bricks, until we
+commenced to weary of the monotony of it, when Snider
+suddenly gave an exclamation of excitement, and, as I turned
+to look, he held up a human skull for my inspection.
+
+I took it from him and examined it.  Directly in the center
+of the forehead was a small round hole.  The gentleman had
+evidently come to his end defending his country from an
+invader.
+
+Snider again held aloft another trophy of the search--a
+metal spike and some tarnished and corroded metal ornaments.
+They had lain close beside the skull.
+
+With the point of his cutlass Snider scraped the dirt and
+verdigris from the face of the larger ornament.
+
+"An inscription," he said, and handed the thing to me.
+
+They were the spike and ornaments of an ancient German
+helmet.  Before long we had uncovered many other indications
+that a great battle had been fought upon the ground where we
+stood.  But I was then, and still am, at loss to account for
+the presence of German soldiers upon the English coast so
+far from London, which history suggests would have been the
+natural goal of an invader.
+
+I can only account for it by assuming that either England
+was temporarily conquered by the Teutons, or that an
+invasion of so vast proportions was undertaken that German
+troops were hurled upon the England coast in huge numbers
+and that landings were necessarily effected at many places
+simultaneously.  Subsequent discoveries tend to strengthen
+this view.
+
+We dug about for a short time with our cutlasses until I
+became convinced that a city had stood upon the spot at some
+time in the past, and that beneath our feet, crumbled and
+dead, lay ancient Devonport.
+
+I could not repress a sigh at the thought of the havoc war
+had wrought in this part of England, at least.  Farther
+east, nearer London, we should find things very different.
+There would be the civilization that two centuries must have
+wrought upon our English cousins as they had upon us.  There
+would be mighty cities, cultivated fields, happy people.
+There we would be welcomed as long-lost brothers.  There
+would we find a great nation anxious to learn of the world
+beyond their side of thirty, as I had been anxious to learn
+of that which lay beyond our side of the dead line.
+
+I turned back toward the boat.
+
+"Come, men!" I said.  "We will go up the river and fill our
+casks with fresh water, search for food and fuel, and then
+tomorrow be in readiness to push on toward the east.  I am
+going to London."
+
+
+
+3
+
+
+The report of a gun blasted the silence of a dead Devonport
+with startling abruptness.
+
+It came from the direction of the launch, and in an instant
+we three were running for the boat as fast as our legs would
+carry us.  As we came in sight of it we saw Delcarte a
+hundred yards inland from the launch, leaning over something
+which lay upon the ground.  As we called to him he waved his
+cap, and stooping, lifted a small deer for our inspection.
+
+I was about to congratulate him on his trophy when we were
+startled by a horrid, half-human, half-bestial scream a
+little ahead and to the right of us.  It seemed to come from
+a clump of rank and tangled bush not far from where Delcarte
+stood.  It was a horrid, fearsome sound, the like of which
+never had fallen upon my ears before.
+
+We looked in the direction from which it came.  The smile
+had died from Delcarte's lips.  Even at the distance we were
+from him I saw his face go suddenly white, and he quickly
+threw his rifle to his shoulder.  At the same moment the
+thing that had given tongue to the cry moved from the
+concealing brushwood far enough for us, too, to see it.
+
+Both Taylor and Snider gave little gasps of astonishment and
+dismay.
+
+"What is it, sir?" asked the latter.
+
+The creature stood about the height of a tall man's waist,
+and was long and gaunt and sinuous, with a tawny coat
+striped with black, and with white throat and belly.  In
+conformation it was similar to a cat--a huge cat,
+exaggerated colossal cat, with fiendish eyes and the most
+devilish cast of countenance, as it wrinkled its bristling
+snout and bared its great yellow fangs.
+
+It was pacing, or rather, slinking, straight for Delcarte,
+who had now leveled his rifle upon it.
+
+"What is it, sir?" mumbled Snider again, and then a half-
+forgotten picture from an old natural history sprang to my
+mind, and I recognized in the frightful beast the Felis
+tigris of ancient Asia, specimens of which had, in former
+centuries, been exhibited in the Western Hemisphere.
+
+Snider and Taylor were armed with rifles and revolvers,
+while I carried only a revolver.  Seizing Snider's rifle
+from his trembling hands, I called to Taylor to follow me,
+and together we ran forward, shouting, to attract the
+beast's attention from Delcarte until we should all be quite
+close enough to attack with the greatest assurance of
+success.
+
+I cried to Delcarte not to fire until we reached his side,
+for I was fearful lest our small caliber, steel-jacketed
+bullets should, far from killing the beast, tend merely to
+enrage it still further.  But he misunderstood me, thinking
+that I had ordered him to fire.
+
+With the report of his rifle the tiger stopped short in
+apparent surprise, then turned and bit savagely at its
+shoulder for an instant, after which it wheeled again toward
+Delcarte, issuing the most terrific roars and screams, and
+launched itself, with incredible speed, toward the brave
+fellow, who now stood his ground pumping bullets from his
+automatic rifle as rapidly as the weapon would fire.
+
+Taylor and I also opened up on the creature, and as it was
+broadside to us it offered a splendid target, though for all
+the impression we appeared to make upon the great cat we
+might as well have been launching soap bubbles at it.
+
+Straight as a torpedo it rushed for Delcarte, and, as Taylor
+and I stumbled on through the tall grass toward our
+unfortunate comrade, we saw the tiger rear upon him and
+crush him to the earth.
+
+Not a backward step had the noble Delcarte taken.  Two
+hundred years of peace had not sapped the red blood from his
+courageous line.  He went down beneath that avalanche of
+bestial savagery still working his gun and with his face
+toward his antagonist.  Even in the instant that I thought
+him dead I could not help but feel a thrill of pride that he
+was one of my men, one of my class, a Pan-American gentleman
+of birth.  And that he had demonstrated one of the principal
+contentions of the army-and-navy adherents--that military
+training was necessary for the salvation of personal courage
+in the Pan-American race which for generations had had to
+face no dangers more grave than those incident to ordinary
+life in a highly civilized community, safeguarded by every
+means at the disposal of a perfectly organized and all-
+powerful government utilizing the best that advanced science
+could suggest.
+
+As we ran toward Delcarte, both Taylor and I were struck by
+the fact that the beast upon him appeared not to be mauling
+him, but lay quiet and motionless upon its prey, and when we
+were quite close, and the muzzles of our guns were at the
+animal's head, I saw the explanation of this sudden
+cessation of hostilities--Felis tigris was dead.
+
+One of our bullets, or one of the last that Delcarte fired,
+had penetrated the heart, and the beast had died even as it
+sprawled forward crushing Delcarte to the ground.
+
+A moment later, with our assistance, the man had scrambled
+from beneath the carcass of his would-be slayer, without a
+scratch to indicate how close to death he had been.
+
+Delcarte's buoyance was entirely unruffled.  He came from
+under the tiger with a broad grin on his handsome face, nor
+could I perceive that a muscle trembled or that his voice
+showed the least indication of nervousness or excitement.
+
+With the termination of the adventure, we began to speculate
+upon the explanation of the presence of this savage brute at
+large so great a distance from its native habitat.  My
+readings had taught me that it was practically unknown
+outside of Asia, and that, so late as the twentieth century,
+at least, there had been no savage beasts outside captivity
+in England.
+
+As we talked, Snider joined us, and I returned his rifle to
+him.  Taylor and Delcarte picked up the slain deer, and we
+all started down toward the launch, walking slowly.
+Delcarte wanted to fetch the tiger's skin, but I had to deny
+him permission, since we had no means to properly cure it.
+
+Upon the beach, we skinned the deer and cut away as much
+meat as we thought we could dispose of, and as we were again
+embarking to continue up the river for fresh water and fuel,
+we were startled by a series of screams from the bushes a
+short distance away.
+
+"Another Felis tigris," said Taylor.
+
+"Or a dozen of them," supplemented Delcarte, and, even as he
+spoke, there leaped into sight, one after another, eight of
+the beasts, full grown--magnificent specimens.
+
+At the sight of us, they came charging down like infuriated
+demons.  I saw that three rifles would be no match for them,
+and so I gave the word to put out from shore, hoping that
+the "tiger," as the ancients called him, could not swim.
+
+Sure enough, they all halted at the beach, pacing back and
+forth, uttering fiendish cries, and glaring at us in the
+most malevolent manner.
+
+As we motored away, we presently heard the calls of similar
+animals far inland.  They seemed to be answering the cries
+of their fellows at the water's edge, and from the wide
+distribution and great volume of the sound we came to the
+conclusion that enormous numbers of these beasts must roam
+the adjacent country.
+
+"They have eaten up the inhabitants," murmured Snider,
+shuddering.
+
+"I imagine you are right," I agreed, "for their extreme
+boldness and fearlessness in the presence of man would
+suggest either that man is entirely unknown to them, or that
+they are extremely familiar with him as their natural and
+most easily procured prey."
+
+"But where did they come from?" asked Delcarte.  "Could they
+have traveled here from Asia?"
+
+I shook my head.  The thing was a puzzle to me.  I knew that
+it was practically beyond reason to imagine that tigers had
+crossed the mountain ranges and rivers and all the great
+continent of Europe to travel this far from their native
+lairs, and entirely impossible that they should have crossed
+the English Channel at all.  Yet here they were, and in
+great numbers.
+
+We continued up the Tamar several miles, filled our casks,
+and then landed to cook some of our deer steak, and have the
+first square meal that had fallen to our lot since the
+Coldwater deserted us.  But scarce had we built our fire and
+prepared the meat for cooking than Snider, whose eyes had
+been constantly roving about the landscape from the moment
+that we left the launch, touched me on the arm and pointed
+to a clump of bushes which grew a couple of hundred yards
+away.
+
+Half concealed behind their screening foliage I saw the
+yellow and black of a big tiger, and, as I looked, the beast
+stalked majestically toward us.  A moment later, he was
+followed by another and another, and it is needless to state
+that we beat a hasty retreat to the launch.
+
+The country was apparently infested by these huge Carnivora,
+for after three other attempts to land and cook our food we
+were forced to abandon the idea entirely, as each time we
+were driven off by hunting tigers.
+
+It was also equally impossible to obtain the necessary
+ingredients for our chemical fuel, and, as we had very
+little left aboard, we determined to step our folding mast
+and proceed under sail, hoarding our fuel supply for use in
+emergencies.
+
+I may say that it was with no regret that we bid adieu to
+Tigerland, as we rechristened the ancient Devon, and,
+beating out into the Channel, turned the launch's nose
+southeast, to round Bolt Head and continue up the coast
+toward the Strait of Dover and the North Sea.
+
+I was determined to reach London as soon as possible, that
+we might obtain fresh clothing, meet with cultured people,
+and learn from the lips of Englishmen the secrets of the two
+centuries since the East had been divorced from the West.
+
+Our first stopping place was the Isle of Wight.  We entered
+the Solent about ten o'clock one morning, and I must confess
+that my heart sank as we came close to shore.  No lighthouse
+was visible, though one was plainly indicated upon my map.
+Upon neither shore was sign of human habitation.  We skirted
+the northern shore of the island in fruitless search for
+man, and then at last landed upon an eastern point, where
+Newport should have stood, but where only weeds and great
+trees and tangled wild wood rioted, and not a single manmade
+thing was visible to the eye.
+
+Before landing, I had the men substitute soft bullets for
+the steel-jacketed projectiles with which their belts and
+magazines were filled.  Thus equipped, we felt upon more
+even terms with the tigers, but there was no sign of the
+tigers, and I decided that they must be confined to the
+mainland.
+
+After eating, we set out in search of fuel, leaving Taylor
+to guard the launch.  For some reason I could not trust
+Snider alone.  I knew that he looked with disapproval upon
+my plan to visit England, and I did not know but what at his
+first opportunity, he might desert us, taking the launch
+with him, and attempt to return to Pan-America.
+
+That he would be fool enough to venture it, I did not doubt.
+
+We had gone inland for a mile or more, and were passing
+through a park-like wood, when we came suddenly upon the
+first human beings we had seen since we sighted the English
+coast.
+
+There were a score of men in the party.  Hairy, half-naked
+men they were, resting in the shade of a great tree.  At the
+first sight of us they sprang to their feet with wild yells,
+seizing long spears that had lain beside them as they
+rested.
+
+For a matter of fifty yards they ran from us as rapidly as
+they could, and then they turned and surveyed us for a
+moment.  Evidently emboldened by the scarcity of our
+numbers, they commenced to advance upon us, brandishing
+their spears and shouting horribly.
+
+They were short and muscular of build, with long hair and
+beards tangled and matted with filth.  Their heads, however,
+were shapely, and their eyes, though fierce and warlike,
+were intelligent.
+
+Appreciation of these physical attributes came later, of
+course, when I had better opportunity to study the men at
+close range and under circumstances less fraught with danger
+and excitement.  At the moment I saw, and with unmixed
+wonder, only a score of wild savages charging down upon us,
+where I had expected to find a community of civilized and
+enlightened people.
+
+Each of us was armed with rifle, revolver, and cutlass, but
+as we stood shoulder to shoulder facing the wild men I was
+loath to give the command to fire upon them, inflicting
+death or suffering upon strangers with whom we had no
+quarrel, and so I attempted to restrain them for the moment
+that we might parley with them.
+
+To this end I raised my left hand above my head with the
+palm toward them as the most natural gesture indicative of
+peaceful intentions which occurred to me.  At the same time
+I called aloud to them that we were friends, though, from
+their appearance, there was nothing to indicate that they
+might understand Pan-American, or ancient English, which are
+of course practically identical.
+
+At my gesture and words they ceased their shouting and came
+to a halt a few paces from us.  Then, in deep tones, one who
+was in advance of the others and whom I took to be the chief
+or leader of the party replied in a tongue which while
+intelligible to us, was so distorted from the English
+language from which it evidently had sprung, that it was
+with difficulty that we interpreted it.
+
+"Who are you," he asked, "and from what country?"
+
+I told him that we were from Pan-America, but he only shook
+his head and asked where that was.  He had never heard of
+it, or of the Atlantic Ocean which I told him separated his
+country from mine.
+
+"It has been two hundred years," I told him, "since a Pan-
+American visited England."
+
+"England?" he asked.  "What is England?"
+
+"Why this is a part of England!" I exclaimed.
+
+"This is Grubitten," he assured me.  "I know nothing about
+England, and I have lived here all my life."
+
+It was not until long after that the derivation of Grubitten
+occurred to me.  Unquestionably it is a corruption of Great
+Britain, a name formerly given to the large island
+comprising England, Scotland and Wales.  Subsequently we
+heard it pronounced Grabrittin and Grubritten.
+
+I then asked the fellow if he could direct us to Ryde or
+Newport; but again he shook his head, and said that he never
+had heard of such countries.  And when I asked him if there
+were any cities in this country he did not know what I
+meant, never having heard the word cities.
+
+I explained my meaning as best I could by stating that by
+city I referred to a place where many people lived together
+in houses.
+
+"Oh," he exclaimed, "you mean a camp!  Yes, there are two
+great camps here, East Camp and West Camp.  We are from East
+Camp."
+
+The use of the word camp to describe a collection of
+habitations naturally suggested war to me, and my next
+question was as to whether the war was over, and who had
+been victorious.
+
+"No," he replied to this question.  "The war is not yet
+over.  But it soon will be, and it will end, as it always
+does, with the Westenders running away.  We, the Eastenders,
+are always victorious."
+
+"No," I said, seeing that he referred to the petty tribal
+wars of his little island, "I mean the Great War, the war
+with Germany.  Is it ended--and who was victorious?"
+
+He shook his head impatiently.
+
+"I never heard," he said, "of any of these strange countries
+of which you speak."
+
+It seemed incredible, and yet it was true.  These people
+living at the very seat of the Great War knew nothing of it,
+though but two centuries had passed since, to our knowledge,
+it had been running in the height of its titanic
+frightfulness all about them, and to us upon the far side of
+the Atlantic still was a subject of keen interest.
+
+Here was a lifelong inhabitant of the Isle of Wight who
+never had heard of either Germany or England!  I turned to
+him quite suddenly with a new question.
+
+"What people live upon the mainland?" I asked, and pointed
+in the direction of the Hants coast.
+
+"No one lives there," he replied.
+
+"Long ago, it is said, my people dwelt across the waters
+upon that other land; but the wild beasts devoured them in
+such numbers that finally they were driven here, paddling
+across upon logs and driftwood, nor has any dared return
+since, because of the frightful creatures which dwell in
+that horrid country."
+
+"Do no other peoples ever come to your country in ships?" I
+asked.
+
+He never heard the word ship before, and did not know its
+meaning.  But he assured me that until we came he had
+thought that there were no other peoples in the world other
+than the Grubittens, who consist of the Eastenders and the
+Westenders of the ancient Isle of Wight.
+
+Assured that we were inclined to friendliness, our new
+acquaintances led us to their village, or, as they call it,
+camp.  There we found a thousand people, perhaps, dwelling
+in rude shelters, and living upon the fruits of the chase
+and such sea food as is obtainable close to shore, for they
+had no boats, nor any knowledge of such things.
+
+Their weapons were most primitive, consisting of rude spears
+tipped with pieces of metal pounded roughly into shape.
+They had no literature, no religion, and recognized no law
+other than the law of might.  They produced fire by striking
+a bit of flint and steel together, but for the most part
+they ate their food raw.  Marriage is unknown among them,
+and while they have the word, mother, they did not know what
+I meant by "father."  The males fight for the favor of the
+females.  They practice infanticide, and kill the aged and
+physically unfit.
+
+The family consists of the mother and the children, the men
+dwelling sometimes in one hut and sometimes in another.
+Owing to their bloody duels, they are always numerically
+inferior to the women, so there is shelter for them all.
+
+We spent several hours in the village, where we were objects
+of the greatest curiosity.  The inhabitants examined our
+clothing and all our belongings, and asked innumerable
+questions concerning the strange country from which we had
+come and the manner of our coming.
+
+I questioned many of them concerning past historical events,
+but they knew nothing beyond the narrow limits of their
+island and the savage, primitive life they led there.
+London they had never heard of, and they assured me that I
+would find no human beings upon the mainland.
+
+Much saddened by what I had seen, I took my departure from
+them, and the three of us made our way back to the launch,
+accompanied by about five hundred men, women, girls, and
+boys.
+
+As we sailed away, after procuring the necessary ingredients
+of our chemical fuel, the Grubittens lined the shore in
+silent wonder at the strange sight of our dainty craft
+dancing over the sparkling waters, and watched us until we
+were lost to their sight.
+
+
+
+4
+
+
+It was during the morning of July 6, 2137, that we entered
+the mouth of the Thames--to the best of my knowledge the
+first Western keel to cut those historic waters for two
+hundred and twenty-one years!
+
+But where were the tugs and the lighters and the barges, the
+lightships and the buoys, and all those countless attributes
+which went to make up the myriad life of the ancient Thames?
+
+Gone!  All gone!  Only silence and desolation reigned where
+once the commerce of the world had centered.
+
+I could not help but compare this once great water-way with
+the waters about our New York, or Rio, or San Diego, or
+Valparaiso.  They had become what they are today during the
+two centuries of the profound peace which we of the navy
+have been prone to deplore.  And what, during this same
+period, had shorn the waters of the Thames of their pristine
+grandeur?
+
+Militarist that I am, I could find but a single word of
+explanation--war!
+
+I bowed my head and turned my eyes downward from the lonely
+and depressing sight, and in a silence which none of us
+seemed willing to break, we proceeded up the deserted river.
+
+We had reached a point which, from my map, I imagined must
+have been about the former site of Erith, when I discovered
+a small band of antelope a short distance inland.  As we
+were now entirely out of meat once more, and as I had given
+up all expectations of finding a city upon the site of
+ancient London, I determined to land and bag a couple of the
+animals.
+
+Assured that they would be timid and easily frightened, I
+decided to stalk them alone, telling the men to wait at the
+boat until I called to them to come and carry the carcasses
+back to the shore.
+
+Crawling carefully through the vegetation, making use of
+such trees and bushes as afforded shelter, I came at last
+almost within easy range of my quarry, when the antlered
+head of the buck went suddenly into the air, and then, as
+though in accordance with a prearranged signal, the whole
+band moved slowly off, farther inland.
+
+As their pace was leisurely, I determined to follow them
+until I came again within range, as I was sure that they
+would stop and feed in a short time.
+
+They must have led me a mile or more at least before they
+again halted and commenced to browse upon the rank,
+luxuriant grasses.  All the time that I had followed them I
+had kept both eyes and ears alert for sign or sound that
+would indicate the presence of Felis tigris; but so far not
+the slightest indication of the beast had been apparent.
+
+As I crept closer to the antelope, sure this time of a good
+shot at a large buck, I suddenly saw something that caused
+me to forget all about my prey in wonderment.
+
+It was the figure of an immense grey-black creature, rearing
+its colossal shoulders twelve or fourteen feet above the
+ground.  Never in my life had I seen such a beast, nor did I
+at first recognize it, so different in appearance is the
+live reality from the stuffed, unnatural specimens preserved
+to us in our museums.
+
+But presently I guessed the identity of the mighty creature
+as Elephas africanus, or, as the ancients commonly described
+it, African elephant.
+
+The antelope, although in plain view of the huge beast, paid
+not the slightest attention to it, and I was so wrapped up
+in watching the mighty pachyderm that I quite forgot to
+shoot at the buck and presently, and in quite a startling
+manner, it became impossible to do so.
+
+The elephant was browsing upon the young and tender shoots
+of some low bushes, waving his great ears and switching his
+short tail.  The antelope, scarce twenty paces from him,
+continued their feeding, when suddenly, from close beside
+the latter, there came a most terrifying roar, and I saw a
+great, tawny body shoot, from the concealing verdure beyond
+the antelope, full upon the back of a small buck.
+
+Instantly the scene changed from one of quiet and peace to
+indescribable chaos.  The startled and terrified buck
+uttered cries of agony.  His fellows broke and leaped off in
+all directions.  The elephant raised his trunk, and,
+trumpeting loudly, lumbered off through the wood, crushing
+down small trees and trampling bushes in his mad flight.
+
+Growling horribly, a huge lion stood across the body of his
+prey--such a creature as no Pan-American of the twenty-
+second century had ever beheld until my eyes rested upon
+this lordly specimen of "the king of beasts."  But what a
+different creature was this fierce-eyed demon, palpitating
+with life and vigor, glossy of coat, alert, growling,
+magnificent, from the dingy, moth-eaten replicas beneath
+their glass cases in the stuffy halls of our public museums.
+
+I had never hoped or expected to see a living lion, tiger,
+or elephant--using the common terms that were familiar to
+the ancients, since they seem to me less unwieldy than those
+now in general use among us--and so it was with sentiments
+not unmixed with awe that I stood gazing at this regal beast
+as, above the carcass of his kill, he roared out his
+challenge to the world.
+
+So enthralled was I by the spectacle that I quite forgot
+myself, and the better to view him, the great lion, I had
+risen to my feet and stood, not fifty paces from him, in
+full view.
+
+For a moment he did not see me, his attention being directed
+toward the retreating elephant, and I had ample time to
+feast my eyes upon his splendid proportions, his great head,
+and his thick black mane.
+
+Ah, what thoughts passed through my mind in those brief
+moments as I stood there in rapt fascination!  I had come to
+find a wondrous civilization, and instead I found a wild-
+beast monarch of the realm where English kings had ruled.  A
+lion reigned, undisturbed, within a few miles of the seat of
+one of the greatest governments the world has ever known,
+his domain a howling wilderness, where yesterday fell the
+shadows of the largest city in the world.
+
+It was appalling; but my reflections upon this depressing
+subject were doomed to sudden extinction.  The lion had
+discovered me.
+
+For an instant he stood silent and motionless as one of the
+mangy effigies at home, but only for an instant.  Then, with
+a most ferocious roar, and without the slightest hesitancy
+or warning, he charged upon me.
+
+He forsook the prey already dead beneath him for the
+pleasures of the delectable tidbit, man.  From the
+remorselessness with which the great Carnivora of modern
+England hunted man, I am constrained to believe that,
+whatever their appetites in times past, they have cultivated
+a gruesome taste for human flesh.
+
+As I threw my rifle to my shoulder, I thanked God, the
+ancient God of my ancestors, that I had replaced the hard-
+jacketed bullets in my weapon with soft-nosed projectiles,
+for though this was my first experience with Felis leo, I
+knew the moment that I faced that charge that even my
+wonderfully perfected firearm would be as futile as a
+peashooter unless I chanced to place my first bullet in a
+vital spot.
+
+Unless you had seen it you could not believe credible the
+speed of a charging lion.  Apparently the animal is not
+built for speed, nor can he maintain it for long.  But for a
+matter of forty or fifty yards there is, I believe, no
+animal on earth that can overtake him.
+
+Like a bolt he bore down upon me, but, fortunately for me, I
+did not lose my head.  I guessed that no bullet would kill
+him instantly.  I doubted that I could pierce his skull.
+There was hope, though, in finding his heart through his
+exposed chest, or, better yet, of breaking his shoulder or
+foreleg, and bringing him up long enough to pump more
+bullets into him and finish him.
+
+I covered his left shoulder and pulled the trigger as he was
+almost upon me.  It stopped him.  With a terrific howl of
+pain and rage, the brute rolled over and over upon the
+ground almost to my feet.  As he came I pumped two more
+bullets into him, and as he struggled to rise, clawing
+viciously at me, I put a bullet in his spine.
+
+That finished him, and I am free to admit that I was mighty
+glad of it.  There was a great tree close behind me, and,
+stepping within its shade, I leaned against it, wiping the
+perspiration from my face, for the day was hot, and the
+exertion and excitement left me exhausted.
+
+I stood there, resting, for a moment, preparatory to turning
+and retracing my steps to the launch, when, without warning,
+something whizzed through space straight toward me.  There
+was a dull thud of impact as it struck the tree, and as I
+dodged to one side and turned to look at the thing I saw a
+heavy spear imbedded in the wood not three inches from where
+my head had been.
+
+The thing had come from a little to one side of me, and,
+without waiting to investigate at the instant, I leaped
+behind the tree, and, circling it, peered around the other
+side to get a sight of my would-be murderer.
+
+This time I was pitted against men--the spear told me that
+all too plainly--but so long as they didn't take me unawares
+or from behind I had little fear of them.
+
+Cautiously I edged about the far side of the trees until I
+could obtain a view of the spot from which the spear must
+have come, and when I did I saw the head of a man just
+emerging from behind a bush.
+
+The fellow was quite similar in type to those I had seen
+upon the Isle of Wight.  He was hairy and unkempt, and as he
+finally stepped into view I saw that he was garbed in the
+same primitive fashion.
+
+He stood for a moment gazing about in search of me, and then
+he advanced.  As he did so a number of others, precisely
+like him, stepped from the concealing verdure of nearby
+bushes and followed in his wake.  Keeping the trees between
+them and me, I ran back a short distance until I found a
+clump of underbrush that would effectually conceal me, for I
+wished to discover the strength of the party and its
+armament before attempting to parley with it.
+
+The useless destruction of any of these poor creatures was
+the farthest idea from my mind.  I should have liked to have
+spoken with them, but I did not care to risk having to use
+my high-powered rifle upon them other than in the last
+extremity.
+
+Once in my new place of concealment, I watched them as they
+approached the tree.  There were about thirty men in the
+party and one woman--a girl whose hands seemed to be bound
+behind her and who was being pulled along by two of the men.
+
+They came forward warily, peering cautiously into every bush
+and halting often.  At the body of the lion, they paused,
+and I could see from their gesticulations and the higher
+pitch of their voices that they were much excited over my
+kill.
+
+But presently they resumed their search for me, and as they
+advanced I became suddenly aware of the unnecessary
+brutality with which the girl's guards were treating her.
+She stumbled once, not far from my place of concealment, and
+after the balance of the party had passed me.  As she did so
+one of the men at her side jerked her roughly to her feet
+and struck her across the mouth with his fist.
+
+Instantly my blood boiled, and forgetting every
+consideration of caution, I leaped from my concealment, and,
+springing to the man's side, felled him with a blow.
+
+So unexpected had been my act that it found him and his
+fellow unprepared; but instantly the latter drew the knife
+that protruded from his belt and lunged viciously at me, at
+the same time giving voice to a wild cry of alarm.
+
+The girl shrank back at sight of me, her eyes wide in
+astonishment, and then my antagonist was upon me.  I parried
+his first blow with my forearm, at the same time delivering
+a powerful blow to his jaw that sent him reeling back; but
+he was at me again in an instant, though in the brief
+interim I had time to draw my revolver.
+
+I saw his companion crawling slowly to his feet, and the
+others of the party racing down upon me.  There was no time
+to argue now, other than with the weapons we wore, and so,
+as the fellow lunged at me again with the wicked-looking
+knife, I covered his heart and pulled the trigger.
+
+Without a sound, he slipped to the earth, and then I turned
+the weapon upon the other guard, who was now about to attack
+me.  He, too, collapsed, and I was alone with the astonished
+girl.
+
+The balance of the party was some twenty paces from us, but
+coming rapidly.  I seized her arm and drew her after me
+behind a nearby tree, for I had seen that with both their
+comrades down the others were preparing to launch their
+spears.
+
+With the girl safe behind the tree, I stepped out in sight
+of the advancing foe, shouting to them that I was no enemy,
+and that they should halt and listen to me.  But for answer
+they only yelled in derision and launched a couple of spears
+at me, both of which missed.
+
+I saw then that I must fight, yet still I hated to slay
+them, and it was only as a final resort that I dropped two
+of them with my rifle, bringing the others to a temporary
+halt.  Again, I appealed to them to desist.  But they only
+mistook my solicitude for them for fear, and, with shouts of
+rage and derision, leaped forward once again to overwhelm
+me.
+
+It was now quite evident that I must punish them severely,
+or--myself--die and relinquish the girl once more to her
+captors.  Neither of these things had I the slightest notion
+of doing, and so I again stepped from behind the tree, and,
+with all the care and deliberation of target practice, I
+commenced picking off the foremost of my assailants.
+
+One by one the wild men dropped, yet on came the others,
+fierce and vengeful, until, only a few remaining, these
+seemed to realize the futility of combating my modern weapon
+with their primitive spears, and, still howling wrathfully,
+withdrew toward the west.
+
+Now, for the first time, I had an opportunity to turn my
+attention toward the girl, who had stood, silent and
+motionless, behind me as I pumped death into my enemies and
+hers from my automatic rifle.
+
+She was of medium height, well formed, and with fine, clear-
+cut features.  Her forehead was high, and her eyes both
+intelligent and beautiful.  Exposure to the sun had browned
+a smooth and velvety skin to a shade which seemed to enhance
+rather than mar an altogether lovely picture of youthful
+femininity.
+
+A trace of apprehension marked her expression--I cannot call
+it fear since I have learned to know her--and astonishment
+was still apparent in her eyes.  She stood quite erect, her
+hands still bound behind her, and met my gaze with level,
+proud return.
+
+"What language do you speak?" I asked.  "Do you understand
+mine?"
+
+"Yes," she replied.  "It is similar to my own.  I am
+Grabritin.  What are you?"
+
+"I am a Pan-American," I answered.  She shook her head.
+"What is that?"
+
+I pointed toward the west.  "Far away, across the ocean."
+
+Her expression altered a trifle.  A slight frown contracted
+her brow.  The expression of apprehension deepened.
+
+"Take off your cap," she said, and when, to humor her
+strange request, I did as she bid, she appeared relieved.
+Then she edged to one side and leaned over seemingly to peer
+behind me.  I turned quickly to see what she discovered, but
+finding nothing, wheeled about to see that her expression
+was once more altered.
+
+"You are not from there?" and she pointed toward the east.
+It was a half question.  "You are not from across the water
+there?"
+
+"No," I assured her.  "I am from Pan-America, far away to
+the west.  Have you ever heard of Pan-America?"
+
+She shook her head in negation.  "I do not care where you
+are from," she explained, "if you are not from there, and I
+am sure you are not, for the men from there have horns and
+tails."
+
+It was with difficulty that I restrained a smile.
+
+"Who are the men from there?" I asked.
+
+"They are bad men," she replied.  "Some of my people do not
+believe that there are such creatures.  But we have a
+legend--a very old, old legend, that once the men from there
+came across to Grabritin.  They came upon the water, and
+under the water, and even in the air.  They came in great
+numbers, so that they rolled across the land like a great
+gray fog.  They brought with them thunder and lightning and
+smoke that killed, and they fell upon us and slew our people
+by the thousands and the hundreds of thousands.  But at last
+we drove them back to the water's edge, back into the sea,
+where many were drowned.  Some escaped, and these our people
+followed--men, women, and even children, we followed them
+back.  That is all.  The legend says our people never
+returned.  Maybe they were all killed.  Maybe they are still
+there.  But this, also, is in the legend, that as we drove
+the men back across the water they swore that they would
+return, and that when they left our shores they would leave
+no human being alive behind them.  I was afraid that you
+were from there."
+
+"By what name were these men called?" I asked.
+
+"We call them only the 'men from there,'" she replied,
+pointing toward the east.  "I have never heard that they had
+another name."
+
+In the light of what I knew of ancient history, it was not
+difficult for me to guess the nationality of those she
+described simply as "the men from over there."  But what
+utter and appalling devastation the Great War must have
+wrought to have erased not only every sign of civilization
+from the face of this great land, but even the name of the
+enemy from the knowledge and language of the people.
+
+I could only account for it on the hypothesis that the
+country had been entirely depopulated except for a few
+scattered and forgotten children, who, in some marvelous
+manner, had been preserved by Providence to re-populate the
+land.  These children had, doubtless, been too young to
+retain in their memories to transmit to their children any
+but the vaguest suggestion of the cataclysm which had
+overwhelmed their parents.
+
+Professor Cortoran, since my return to Pan-America, has
+suggested another theory which is not entirely without claim
+to serious consideration.  He points out that it is quite
+beyond the pale of human instinct to desert little children
+as my theory suggests the ancient English must have done.
+He is more inclined to believe that the expulsion of the foe
+from England was synchronous with widespread victories by
+the allies upon the continent, and that the people of
+England merely emigrated from their ruined cities and their
+devastated, blood-drenched fields to the mainland, in the
+hope of finding, in the domain of the conquered enemy,
+cities and farms which would replace those they had lost.
+
+The learned professor assumes that while a long-continued
+war had strengthened rather than weakened the instinct of
+paternal devotion, it had also dulled other humanitarian
+instincts, and raised to the first magnitude the law of the
+survival of the fittest, with the result that when the
+exodus took place the strong, the intelligent, and the
+cunning, together with their offspring, crossed the waters
+of the Channel or the North Sea to the continent, leaving in
+unhappy England only the helpless inmates of asylums for the
+feebleminded and insane.
+
+My objections to this, that the present inhabitants of
+England are mentally fit, and could therefore not have
+descended from an ancestry of undiluted lunacy he brushes
+aside with the assertion that insanity is not necessarily
+hereditary; and that even though it was, in many cases a
+return to natural conditions from the state of high
+civilization, which is thought to have induced mental
+disease in the ancient world, would, after several
+generations, have thoroughly expunged every trace of the
+affliction from the brains and nerves of the descendants of
+the original maniacs.
+
+Personally, I do not place much stock in Professor
+Cortoran's theory, though I admit that I am prejudiced.
+Naturally one does not care to believe that the object of
+his greatest affection is descended from a gibbering idiot
+and a raving maniac.
+
+But I am forgetting the continuity of my narrative--a
+continuity which I desire to maintain, though I fear that I
+shall often be led astray, so numerous and varied are the
+bypaths of speculation which lead from the present day story
+of the Grabritins into the mysterious past of their
+forbears.
+
+As I stood talking with the girl I presently recollected
+that she still was bound, and with a word of apology, I drew
+my knife and cut the rawhide thongs which confined her
+wrists at her back.
+
+She thanked me, and with such a sweet smile that I should
+have been amply repaid by it for a much more arduous
+service.
+
+"And now," I said, "let me accompany you to your home and
+see you safely again under the protection of your friends."
+
+"No," she said, with a hint of alarm in her voice; "you must
+not come with me--Buckingham will kill you."
+
+Buckingham.  The name was famous in ancient English history.
+Its survival, with many other illustrious names, is one of
+the strongest arguments in refutal of Professor Cortoran's
+theory; yet it opens no new doors to the past, and, on the
+whole, rather adds to than dissipates the mystery.
+
+"And who is Buckingham," I asked, "and why should he wish to
+kill me?"
+
+"He would think that you had stolen me," she replied, "and
+as he wishes me for himself, he will kill any other whom he
+thinks desires me.  He killed Wettin a few days ago.  My
+mother told me once that Wettin was my father.  He was king.
+Now Buckingham is king."
+
+Here, evidently, were a people slightly superior to those of
+the Isle of Wight.  These must have at least the rudiments
+of civilized government since they recognized one among them
+as ruler, with the title, king.  Also, they retained the
+word father.  The girl's pronunciation, while far from
+identical with ours, was much closer than the tortured
+dialect of the Eastenders of the Isle of Wight.  The longer
+I talked with her the more hopeful I became of finding here,
+among her people, some records, or traditions, which might
+assist in clearing up the historic enigma of the past two
+centuries.  I asked her if we were far from the city of
+London, but she did not know what I meant.  When I tried to
+explain, describing mighty buildings of stone and brick,
+broad avenues, parks, palaces, and countless people, she but
+shook her head sadly.
+
+"There is no such place near by," she said.  "Only the Camp
+of the Lions has places of stone where the beasts lair, but
+there are no people in the Camp of the Lions.  Who would
+dare go there!"  And she shuddered.
+
+"The Camp of the Lions," I repeated.  "And where is that,
+and what?"
+
+"It is there," she said, pointing up the river toward the
+west.  "I have seen it from a great distance, but I have
+never been there.  We are much afraid of the lions, for this
+is their country, and they are angry that man has come to
+live here.
+
+"Far away there," and she pointed toward the south-west, "is
+the land of tigers, which is even worse than this, the land
+of the lions, for the tigers are more numerous than the
+lions and hungrier for human flesh.  There were tigers here
+long ago, but both the lions and the men set upon them and
+drove them off."
+
+"Where did these savage beasts come from?" I asked.
+
+"Oh," she replied, "they have been here always.  It is their
+country."
+
+"Do they not kill and eat your people?" I asked.
+
+"Often, when we meet them by accident, and we are too few to
+slay them, or when one goes too close to their camp.  But
+seldom do they hunt us, for they find what food they need
+among the deer and wild cattle, and, too, we make them
+gifts, for are we not intruders in their country?  Really we
+live upon good terms with them, though I should not care to
+meet one were there not many spears in my party."
+
+"I should like to visit this Camp of the Lions," I said.
+
+"Oh, no, you must not!" cried the girl.  "That would be
+terrible.  They would eat you."  For a moment, then, she
+seemed lost in thought, but presently she turned upon me
+with: "You must go now, for any minute Buckingham may come
+in search of me.  Long since should they have learned that I
+am gone from the camp--they watch over me very closely--and
+they will set out after me.  Go!  I shall wait here until
+they come in search of me."
+
+"No," I told her.  "I'll not leave you alone in a land
+infested by lions and other wild beasts.  If you won't let
+me go as far as your camp with you, then I'll wait here
+until they come in search of you."
+
+"Please go!" she begged.  "You have saved me, and I would
+save you, but nothing will save you if Buckingham gets his
+hands on you.  He is a bad man.  He wishes to have me for
+his woman so that he may be king.  He would kill anyone who
+befriended me, for fear that I might become another's."
+
+"Didn't you say that Buckingham is already the king?" I
+asked.
+
+"He is.  He took my mother for his woman after he had killed
+Wettin.  But my mother will die soon--she is very old--and
+then the man to whom I belong will become king."
+
+Finally, after much questioning, I got the thing through my
+head.  It appears that the line of descent is through the
+women.  A man is merely head of his wife's family--that is
+all.  If she chances to be the oldest female member of the
+"royal" house, he is king.  Very naively the girl explained
+that there was seldom any doubt as to whom a child's mother
+was.
+
+This accounted for the girl's importance in the community
+and for Buckingham's anxiety to claim her, though she told
+me that she did not wish to become his woman, for he was a
+bad man and would make a bad king.  But he was powerful, and
+there was no other man who dared dispute his wishes.
+
+"Why not come with me," I suggested, "if you do not wish to
+become Buckingham's?"
+
+"Where would you take me?" she asked.
+
+Where, indeed!  I had not thought of that.  But before I
+could reply to her question she shook her head and said,
+"No, I cannot leave my people.  I must stay and do my best,
+even if Buckingham gets me, but you must go at once.  Do not
+wait until it is too late.  The lions have had no offering
+for a long time, and Buckingham would seize upon the first
+stranger as a gift to them."
+
+I did not perfectly understand what she meant, and was about
+to ask her when a heavy body leaped upon me from behind, and
+great arms encircled my neck.  I struggled to free myself
+and turn upon my antagonist, but in another instant I was
+overwhelmed by a half dozen powerful, half-naked men, while
+a score of others surrounded me, a couple of whom seized the
+girl.
+
+I fought as best I could for my liberty and for hers, but
+the weight of numbers was too great, though I had the
+satisfaction at least of giving them a good fight.
+
+When they had overpowered me, and I stood, my hands bound
+behind me, at the girl's side, she gazed commiseratingly at
+me.
+
+"It is too bad that you did not do as I bid you," she said,
+"for now it has happened just as I feared--Buckingham has
+you."
+
+"Which is Buckingham?" I asked.
+
+"I am Buckingham," growled a burly, unwashed brute,
+swaggering truculently before me.  "And who are you who
+would have stolen my woman?"
+
+The girl spoke up then and tried to explain that I had not
+stolen her; but on the contrary I had saved her from the men
+from the "Elephant Country" who were carrying her away.
+
+Buckingham only sneered at her explanation, and a moment
+later gave the command that started us all off toward the
+west.  We marched for a matter of an hour or so, coming at
+last to a collection of rude huts, fashioned from branches
+of trees covered with skins and grasses and sometimes
+plastered with mud.  All about the camp they had erected a
+wall of saplings pointed at the tops and fire hardened.
+
+This palisade was a protection against both man and beasts,
+and within it dwelt upward of two thousand persons, the
+shelters being built very close together, and sometimes
+partially underground, like deep trenches, with the poles
+and hides above merely as protection from the sun and rain.
+
+The older part of the camp consisted almost wholly of
+trenches, as though this had been the original form of
+dwellings which was slowly giving way to the drier and
+airier surface domiciles.  In these trench habitations I saw
+a survival of the military trenches which formed so famous a
+part of the operation of the warring nations during the
+twentieth century.
+
+The women wore a single light deerskin about their hips, for
+it was summer, and quite warm.  The men, too, were clothed
+in a single garment, usually the pelt of some beast of prey.
+The hair of both men and women was confined by a rawhide
+thong passing about the forehead and tied behind.  In this
+leathern band were stuck feathers, flowers, or the tails of
+small mammals.  All wore necklaces of the teeth or claws of
+wild beasts, and there were numerous metal wristlets and
+anklets among them.
+
+They wore, in fact, every indication of a most primitive
+people--a race which had not yet risen to the heights of
+agriculture or even the possession of domestic animals.
+They were hunters--the lowest plane in the evolution of the
+human race of which science takes cognizance.
+
+And yet as I looked at their well shaped heads, their
+handsome features, and their intelligent eyes, it was
+difficult to believe that I was not among my own.  It was
+only when I took into consideration their mode of living,
+their scant apparel, the lack of every least luxury among
+them, that I was forced to admit that they were, in truth,
+but ignorant savages.
+
+Buckingham had relieved me of my weapons, though he had not
+the slightest idea of their purpose or uses, and when we
+reached the camp he exhibited both me and my arms with every
+indication of pride in this great capture.
+
+The inhabitants flocked around me, examining my clothing,
+and exclaiming in wonderment at each new discovery of
+button, buckle, pocket, and flap.  It seemed incredible that
+such a thing could be, almost within a stone's throw of the
+spot where but a brief two centuries before had stood the
+greatest city of the world.
+
+They bound me to a small tree that grew in the middle of one
+of their crooked streets, but the girl they released as soon
+as we had entered the enclosure.  The people greeted her
+with every mark of respect as she hastened to a large hut
+near the center of the camp.
+
+Presently she returned with a fine looking, white-haired
+woman, who proved to be her mother.  The older woman carried
+herself with a regal dignity that seemed quite remarkable in
+a place of such primitive squalor.
+
+The people fell aside as she approached, making a wide way
+for her and her daughter.  When they had come near and
+stopped before me the older woman addressed me.
+
+"My daughter has told me," she said, "of the manner in which
+you rescued her from the men of the elephant country.  If
+Wettin lived you would be well treated, but Buckingham has
+taken me now, and is king.  You can hope for nothing from
+such a beast as Buckingham."
+
+The fact that Buckingham stood within a pace of us and was
+an interested listener appeared not to temper her
+expressions in the slightest.
+
+"Buckingham is a pig," she continued.  "He is a coward.  He
+came upon Wettin from behind and ran his spear through him.
+He will not be king for long.  Some one will make a face at
+him, and he will run away and jump into the river."
+
+The people began to titter and clap their hands.  Buckingham
+became red in the face.  It was evident that he was far from
+popular.
+
+"If he dared," went on the old lady, "he would kill me now,
+but he does not dare.  He is too great a coward.  If I could
+help you I should gladly do so.  But I am only queen--the
+vehicle that has helped carry down, unsullied, the royal
+blood from the days when Grabritin was a mighty country."
+
+The old queen's words had a noticeable effect upon the mob
+of curious savages which surrounded me.  The moment they
+discovered that the old queen was friendly to me and that I
+had rescued her daughter they commenced to accord me a more
+friendly interest, and I heard many words spoken in my
+behalf, and demands were made that I not be harmed.
+
+But now Buckingham interfered.  He had no intention of being
+robbed of his prey.  Blustering and storming, he ordered the
+people back to their huts, at the same time directing two of
+his warriors to confine me in a dugout in one of the
+trenches close to his own shelter.
+
+Here they threw me upon the ground, binding my ankles
+together and trussing them up to my wrists behind.  There
+they left me, lying upon my stomach--a most uncomfortable
+and strained position, to which was added the pain where the
+cords cut into my flesh.
+
+Just a few days ago my mind had been filled with the
+anticipation of the friendly welcome I should find among the
+cultured Englishmen of London.  Today I should be sitting in
+the place of honor at the banquet board of one of London's
+most exclusive clubs, feted and lionized.
+
+The actuality!  Here I lay, bound hand and foot, doubtless
+almost upon the very site of a part of ancient London, yet
+all about me was a primeval wilderness, and I was a captive
+of half-naked wild men.
+
+I wondered what had become of Delcarte and Taylor and
+Snider.  Would they search for me?  They could never find
+me, I feared, yet if they did, what could they accomplish
+against this horde of savage warriors?
+
+Would that I could warn them.  I thought of the girl--
+doubtless she could get word to them, but how was I to
+communicate with her?  Would she come to see me before I was
+killed?  It seemed incredible that she should not make some
+slight attempt to befriend me; yet, as I recalled, she had
+made no effort to speak with me after we had reached the
+village.  She had hastened to her mother the moment she had
+been liberated.  Though she had returned with the old queen,
+she had not spoken to me, even then.  I began to have my
+doubts.
+
+Finally, I came to the conclusion that I was absolutely
+friendless except for the old queen.  For some unaccountable
+reason my rage against the girl for her ingratitude rose to
+colossal proportions.
+
+For a long time I waited for some one to come to my prison
+whom I might ask to bear word to the queen, but I seemed to
+have been forgotten.  The strained position in which I lay
+became unbearable.  I wriggled and twisted until I managed
+to turn myself partially upon my side, where I lay half
+facing the entrance to the dugout.
+
+Presently my attention was attracted by the shadow of
+something moving in the trench without, and a moment later
+the figure of a child appeared, creeping upon all fours, as,
+wide-eyed, and prompted by childish curiosity, a little girl
+crawled to the entrance of my hut and peered cautiously and
+fearfully in.
+
+I did not speak at first for fear of frightening the little
+one away.  But when I was satisfied that her eyes had become
+sufficiently accustomed to the subdued light of the
+interior, I smiled.
+
+Instantly the expression of fear faded from her eyes to be
+replaced with an answering smile.
+
+"Who are you, little girl?" I asked.
+
+"My name is Mary," she replied.  "I am Victory's sister."
+
+"And who is Victory?"
+
+"You do not know who Victory is?" she asked, in
+astonishment.
+
+I shook my head in negation.
+
+"You saved her from the elephant country people, and yet you
+say you do not know her!" she exclaimed.
+
+"Oh, so she is Victory, and you are her sister!  I have not
+heard her name before.  That is why I did not know whom you
+meant," I explained.  Here was just the messenger for me.
+Fate was becoming more kind.
+
+"Will you do something for me, Mary?" I asked.
+
+"If I can."
+
+"Go to your mother, the queen, and ask her to come to me," I
+said.  "I have a favor to ask."
+
+She said that she would, and with a parting smile she left
+me.
+
+For what seemed many hours I awaited her return, chafing
+with impatience.  The afternoon wore on and night came, and
+yet no one came near me.  My captors brought me neither food
+nor water.  I was suffering considerable pain where the
+rawhide thongs cut into my swollen flesh.  I thought that
+they had either forgotten me, or that it was their intention
+to leave me here to die of starvation.
+
+Once I heard a great uproar in the village.  Men were
+shouting--women were screaming and moaning.  After a time
+this subsided, and again there was a long interval of
+silence.
+
+Half the night must have been spent when I heard a sound in
+the trench near the hut.  It resembled muffled sobs.
+Presently a figure appeared, silhouetted against the lesser
+darkness beyond the doorway.  It crept inside the hut.
+
+"Are you here?" whispered a childlike voice.
+
+It was Mary!  She had returned.  The thongs no longer hurt
+me.  The pangs of hunger and thirst disappeared.  I realized
+that it had been loneliness from which I suffered most.
+
+"Mary!" I exclaimed.  "You are a good girl.  You have come
+back, after all.  I had commenced to think that you would
+not.  Did you give my message to the queen?  Will she come?
+Where is she?"
+
+The child's sobs increased, and she flung herself upon the
+dirt floor of the hut, apparently overcome by grief.
+
+"What is it?" I asked.  "Why do you cry?"
+
+"The queen, my mother, will not come to you," she said,
+between sobs.  "She is dead.  Buckingham has killed her.
+Now he will take Victory, for Victory is queen.  He kept us
+fastened up in our shelter, for fear that Victory would
+escape him, but I dug a hole beneath the back wall and got
+out.  I came to you, because you saved Victory once before,
+and I thought that you might save her again, and me, also.
+Tell me that you will."
+
+"I am bound and helpless, Mary," I replied.  "Otherwise I
+would do what I could to save you and your sister."
+
+"I will set you free!" cried the girl, creeping up to my
+side.  "I will set you free, and then you may come and slay
+Buckingham."
+
+"Gladly!" I assented.
+
+"We must hurry," she went on, as she fumbled with the hard
+knots in the stiffened rawhide, "for Buckingham will be
+after you soon.  He must make an offering to the lions at
+dawn before he can take Victory.  The taking of a queen
+requires a human offering!"
+
+"And I am to be the offering?" I asked.
+
+"Yes," she said, tugging at a knot.  "Buckingham has been
+wanting a sacrifice ever since he killed Wettin, that he
+might slay my mother and take Victory."
+
+The thought was horrible, not solely because of the hideous
+fate to which I was condemned, but from the contemplation it
+engendered of the sad decadence of a once enlightened race.
+To these depths of ignorance, brutality, and superstition
+had the vaunted civilization of twentieth century England
+been plunged, and by what?  War!  I felt the structure of
+our time-honored militaristic arguments crumbling about me.
+
+Mary labored with the thongs that confined me.  They proved
+refractory--defying her tender, childish fingers.  She
+assured me, however, that she would release me, if "they"
+did not come too soon.
+
+But, alas, they came.  We heard them coming down the trench,
+and I bade Mary hide in a corner, lest she be discovered and
+punished.  There was naught else she could do, and so she
+crawled away into the Stygian blackness behind me.
+
+Presently two warriors entered.  The leader exhibited a
+unique method of discovering my whereabouts in the darkness.
+He advanced slowly, kicking out viciously before him.
+Finally he kicked me in the face.  Then he knew where I was.
+
+A moment later I had been jerked roughly to my feet.  One of
+the fellows stopped and severed the bonds that held my
+ankles.  I could scarcely stand alone.  The two pulled and
+hauled me through the low doorway and along the trench.  A
+party of forty or fifty warriors were awaiting us at the
+brink of the excavation some hundred yards from the hut.
+
+Hands were lowered to us, and we were dragged to the
+surface.  Then commenced a long march.  We stumbled through
+the underbrush wet with dew, our way lighted by a score of
+torchbearers who surrounded us.  But the torches were not to
+light the way--that was but incidental.  They were carried
+to keep off the huge Carnivora that moaned and coughed and
+roared about us.
+
+The noises were hideous.  The whole country seemed alive
+with lions.  Yellow-green eyes blazed wickedly at us from
+out the surrounding darkness.  My escort carried long, heavy
+spears.  These they kept ever pointed toward the beast of
+prey, and I learned from snatches of the conversation I
+overheard that occasionally there might be a lion who would
+brave even the terrors of fire to leap in upon human prey.
+It was for such that the spears were always couched.
+
+But nothing of the sort occurred during this hideous death
+march, and with the first pale heralding of dawn we reached
+our goal--an open place in the midst of a tangled wildwood.
+Here rose in crumbling grandeur the first evidences I had
+seen of the ancient civilization which once had graced fair
+Albion--a single, time-worn arch of masonry.
+
+"The entrance to the Camp of the Lions!" murmured one of the
+party in a voice husky with awe.
+
+Here the party knelt, while Buckingham recited a weird,
+prayer-like chant.  It was rather long, and I recall only a
+portion of it, which ran, if my memory serves me, somewhat
+as follows:
+
+
+        Lord of Grabritin, we         Fall on our knees to
+thee,         This gift to bring.          Greatest of kings
+are thou!         To thee we humbly bow!         Peace to
+our camp allow.          God save thee, king!
+
+
+Then the party rose, and dragging me to the crumbling arch,
+made me fast to a huge, corroded, copper ring which was
+dangling from an eyebolt imbedded in the masonry.
+
+None of them, not even Buckingham, seemed to feel any
+personal animosity toward me.  They were naturally rough and
+brutal, as primitive men are supposed to have been since the
+dawn of humanity, but they did not go out of their way to
+maltreat me.
+
+With the coming of dawn the number of lions about us seemed
+to have greatly diminished--at least they made less noise--
+and as Buckingham and his party disappeared into the woods,
+leaving me alone to my terrible fate, I could hear the
+grumblings and growlings of the beasts diminishing with the
+sound of the chant, which the party still continued.  It
+appeared that the lions had failed to note that I had been
+left for their breakfast, and had followed off after their
+worshippers instead.
+
+But I knew the reprieve would be but for a short time, and
+though I had no wish to die, I must confess that I rather
+wished the ordeal over and the peace of oblivion upon me.
+
+The voices of the men and the lions receded in the distance,
+until finally quiet reigned about me, broken only by the
+sweet voices of birds and the sighing of the summer wind in
+the trees.
+
+It seemed impossible to believe that in this peaceful
+woodland setting the frightful thing was to occur which must
+come with the passing of the next lion who chanced within
+sight or smell of the crumbling arch.
+
+I strove to tear myself loose from my bonds, but succeeded
+only in tightening them about my arms.  Then I remained
+passive for a long time, letting the scenes of my lifetime
+pass in review before my mind's eye.
+
+I tried to imagine the astonishment, incredulity, and horror
+with which my family and friends would be overwhelmed if,
+for an instant, space could be annihilated and they could
+see me at the gates of London.
+
+The gates of London!  Where was the multitude hurrying to
+the marts of trade after a night of pleasure or rest?  Where
+was the clang of tramcar gongs, the screech of motor horns,
+the vast murmur of a dense throng?
+
+Where were they?  And as I asked the question a lone, gaunt
+lion strode from the tangled jungle upon the far side of the
+clearing.  Majestically and noiselessly upon his padded feet
+the king of beasts moved slowly toward the gates of London
+and toward me.
+
+Was I afraid?  I fear that I was almost afraid.  I know that
+I thought that fear was coming to me, and so I straightened
+up and squared my shoulders and looked the lion straight in
+the eyes--and waited.
+
+It is not a nice way to die--alone, with one's hands fast
+bound, beneath the fangs and talons of a beast of prey.  No,
+it is not a nice way to die, not a pretty way.
+
+The lion was halfway across the clearing when I heard a
+slight sound behind me.  The great cat stopped in his
+tracks.  He lashed his tail against his sides now, instead
+of simply twitching its tip, and his low moan became a
+thunderous roar.
+
+As I craned my neck to catch a glimpse of the thing that had
+aroused the fury of the beast before me, it sprang through
+the arched gateway and was at my side--with parted lips and
+heaving bosom and disheveled hair--a bronzed and lovely
+vision to eyes that had never harbored hope of rescue.
+
+It was Victory, and in her arms she clutched my rifle and
+revolver.  A long knife was in the doeskin belt that
+supported the doeskin skirt tightly about her lithe limbs.
+She dropped my weapons at my feet, and, snatching the knife
+from its resting place, severed the bonds that held me.  I
+was free, and the lion was preparing to charge.
+
+"Run!" I cried to the girl, as I bent and seized my rifle.
+But she only stood there at my side, her bared blade ready
+in her hand.
+
+The lion was bounding toward us now in prodigious leaps.  I
+raised the rifle and fired.  It was a lucky shot, for I had
+no time to aim carefully, and when the beast crumpled and
+rolled, lifeless, to the ground, I went upon my knees and
+gave thanks to the God of my ancestors.
+
+And, still upon my knees, I turned, and taking the girl's
+hand in mine, I kissed it.  She smiled at that, and laid her
+other hand upon my head.
+
+"You have strange customs in your country," she said.
+
+I could not but smile at that when I thought how strange it
+would seem to my countrymen could they but see me kneeling
+there on the site of London, kissing the hand of England's
+queen.
+
+"And now," I said, as I rose, "you must return to the safety
+of your camp.  I will go with you until you are near enough
+to continue alone in safety.  Then I shall try to return to
+my comrades."
+
+"I will not return to the camp," she replied.
+
+"But what shall you do?" I asked.
+
+"I do not know.  Only I shall never go back while Buckingham
+lives.  I should rather die than go back to him.  Mary came
+to me, after they had taken you from the camp, and told me.
+I found your strange weapons and followed with them.  It
+took me a little longer, for often I had to hide in the
+trees that the lions might not get me, but I came in time,
+and now you are free to go back to your friends."
+
+"And leave you here?" I exclaimed.
+
+She nodded, but I could see through all her brave front that
+she was frightened at the thought.  I could not leave her,
+of course, but what in the world I was to do, cumbered with
+the care of a young woman, and a queen at that, I was at a
+loss to know.  I pointed out that phase of it to her, but
+she only shrugged her shapely shoulders and pointed to her
+knife.
+
+It was evident that she felt entirely competent to protect
+herself.
+
+As we stood there we heard the sound of voices.  They were
+coming from the forest through which we had passed when we
+had come from camp.
+
+"They are searching for me," said the girl.  "Where shall we
+hide?"
+
+I didn't relish hiding.  But when I thought of the
+innumerable dangers which surrounded us and the
+comparatively small amount of ammunition that I had with me,
+I hesitated to provoke a battle with Buckingham and his
+warriors when, by flight, I could avoid them and preserve my
+cartridges against emergencies which could not be escaped.
+
+"Would they follow us there?" I asked, pointing through the
+archway into the Camp of the Lions.
+
+"Never," she replied, "for, in the first place, they would
+know that we would not dare go there, and in the second they
+themselves would not dare."
+
+"Then we shall take refuge in the Camp of the Lions," I
+said.
+
+She shuddered and drew closer to me.
+
+"You dare?" she asked.
+
+"Why not?" I returned.  "We shall be safe from Buckingham,
+and you have seen, for the second time in two days, that
+lions are harmless before my weapons.  Then, too, I can find
+my friends easiest in this direction, for the River Thames
+runs through this place you call the Camp of the Lions, and
+it is farther down the Thames that my friends are awaiting
+me.  Do you not dare come with me?"
+
+"I dare follow wherever you lead," she answered simply.
+
+And so I turned and passed beneath the great arch into the
+city of London.
+
+
+
+5
+
+
+As we entered deeper into what had once been the city, the
+evidences of man's past occupancy became more frequent.  For
+a mile from the arch there was only a riot of weeds and
+undergrowth and trees covering small mounds and little
+hillocks that, I was sure, were formed of the ruins of
+stately buildings of the dead past.
+
+But presently we came upon a district where shattered walls
+still raised their crumbling tops in sad silence above the
+grass-grown sepulchers of their fallen fellows.  Softened
+and mellowed by ancient ivy stood these sentinels of sorrow,
+their scarred faces still revealing the rents and gashes of
+shrapnel and of bomb.
+
+Contrary to our expectations, we found little indication
+that lions in any great numbers laired in this part of
+ancient London.  Well-worn pathways, molded by padded paws,
+led through the cavernous windows or doorways of a few of
+the ruins we passed, and once we saw the savage face of a
+great, black-maned lion scowling down upon us from a
+shattered stone balcony.
+
+We followed down the bank of the Thames after we came upon
+it.  I was anxious to look with my own eyes upon the famous
+bridge, and I guessed, too, that the river would lead me
+into the part of London where stood Westminster Abbey and
+the Tower.
+
+Realizing that the section through which we had been passing
+was doubtless outlying, and therefore not so built up with
+large structures as the more centrally located part of the
+old town, I felt sure that farther down the river I should
+find the ruins larger.  The bridge would be there in part,
+at least, and so would remain the walls of many of the great
+edifices of the past.  There would be no such complete ruin
+of large structures as I had seen among the smaller
+buildings.
+
+But when I had come to that part of the city which I judged
+to have contained the relics I sought I found havoc that had
+been wrought there even greater than elsewhere.
+
+At one point upon the bosom of the Thames there rises a few
+feet above the water a single, disintegrating mound of
+masonry.  Opposite it, upon either bank of the river, are
+tumbled piles of ruins overgrown with vegetation.
+
+These, I am forced to believe, are all that remain of London
+Bridge, for nowhere else along the river is there any other
+slightest sign of pier or abutment.
+
+Rounding the base of a large pile of grass-covered debris,
+we came suddenly upon the best preserved ruin we had yet
+discovered.  The entire lower story and part of the second
+story of what must once have been a splendid public building
+rose from a great knoll of shrubbery and trees, while ivy,
+thick and luxuriant, clambered upward to the summit of the
+broken walls.
+
+In many places the gray stone was still exposed, its
+smoothly chiseled face pitted with the scars of battle.  The
+massive portal yawned, somber and sorrowful, before us,
+giving a glimpse of marble halls within.
+
+The temptation to enter was too great.  I wished to explore
+the interior of this one remaining monument of civilization
+now dead beyond recall.  Through this same portal, within
+these very marble halls, had Gray and Chamberlin and
+Kitchener and Shaw, perhaps, come and gone with the other
+great ones of the past.
+
+I took Victory's hand in mine.
+
+"Come!" I said.  "I do not know the name by which this great
+pile was known, nor the purposes it fulfilled.  It may have
+been the palace of your sires, Victory.  From some great
+throne within, your forebears may have directed the
+destinies of half the world.  Come!"
+
+I must confess to a feeling of awe as we entered the rotunda
+of the great building.  Pieces of massive furniture of
+another day still stood where man had placed them centuries
+ago.  They were littered with dust and broken stone and
+plaster, but, otherwise, so perfect was their preservation I
+could hardly believe that two centuries had rolled by since
+human eyes were last set upon them.
+
+Through one great room after another we wandered, hand in
+hand, while Victory asked many questions and for the first
+time I began to realize something of the magnificence and
+power of the race from whose loins she had sprung.
+
+Splendid tapestries, now mildewed and rotting, hung upon the
+walls.  There were mural paintings, too, depicting great
+historic events of the past.  For the first time Victory saw
+the likeness of a horse, and she was much affected by a huge
+oil which depicted some ancient cavalry charge against a
+battery of field guns.
+
+In other pictures there were steamships, battleships,
+submarines, and quaint looking railway trains--all small and
+antiquated in appearance to me, but wonderful to Victory.
+She told me that she would like to remain for the rest of
+her life where she could look at those pictures daily.
+
+From room to room we passed until presently we emerged into
+a mighty chamber, dark and gloomy, for its high and narrow
+windows were choked and clogged by ivy.  Along one paneled
+wall we groped, our eyes slowly becoming accustomed to the
+darkness.  A rank and pungent odor pervaded the atmosphere.
+
+We had made our way about half the distance across one end
+of the great apartment when a low growl from the far end
+brought us to a startled halt.
+
+Straining my eyes through the gloom, I made out a raised
+dais at the extreme opposite end of the hall.  Upon the dais
+stood two great chairs, highbacked and with great arms.
+
+The throne of England!  But what were those strange forms
+about it?
+
+Victory gave my hand a quick, excited little squeeze.
+
+"The lions!" she whispered.
+
+Yes, lions indeed!  Sprawled about the dais were a dozen
+huge forms, while upon the seat of one of the thrones a
+small cub lay curled in slumber.
+
+As we stood there for a moment, spellbound by the sight of
+those fearsome creatures occupying the very thrones of the
+sovereigns of England, the low growl was repeated, and a
+great male rose slowly to his feet.
+
+His devilish eyes bored straight through the semi-darkness
+toward us.  He had discovered the interloper.  What right
+had man within this palace of the beasts? Again he opened
+his giant jaws, and this time there rumbled forth a warning
+roar.
+
+Instantly eight or ten of the other beasts leaped to their
+feet.  Already the great fellow who had spied us was
+advancing slowly in our direction.  I held my rifle ready,
+but how futile it appeared in the face of this savage horde.
+
+The foremost beast broke into a slow trot, and at his heels
+came the others.  All were roaring now, and the din of their
+great voices reverberating through the halls and corridors
+of the palace formed the most frightful chorus of thunderous
+savagery imaginable to the mind of man.
+
+And then the leader charged, and upon the hideous
+pandemonium broke the sharp crack of my rifle, once, twice,
+thrice.  Three lions rolled, struggling and biting, to the
+floor.  Victory seized my arm, with a quick, "This way!
+Here is a door," and a moment later we were in a tiny
+antechamber at the foot of a narrow stone staircase.
+
+Up this we backed, Victory just behind me, as the first of
+the remaining lions leaped from the throne room and sprang
+for the stairs.  Again I fired, but others of the ferocious
+beasts leaped over their fallen fellows and pursued us.
+
+The stairs were very narrow--that was all that saved us--for
+as I backed slowly upward, but a single lion could attack me
+at a time, and the carcasses of those I slew impeded the
+rushes of the others.
+
+At last we reached the top.  There was a long corridor from
+which opened many doorways.  One, directly behind us, was
+tight closed.  If we could open it and pass into the chamber
+behind we might find a respite from attack.
+
+The remaining lions were roaring horribly.  I saw one
+sneaking very slowly up the stairs toward us.
+
+"Try that door," I called to Victory.  "See if it will
+open."
+
+She ran up to it and pushed.
+
+"Turn the knob!" I cried, seeing that she did not know how
+to open a door, but neither did she know what I meant by
+knob.
+
+I put a bullet in the spine of the approaching lion and
+leaped to Victory's side.  The door resisted my first
+efforts to swing it inward.  Rusted hinges and swollen wood
+held it tightly closed.  But at last it gave, and just as
+another lion mounted to the top of the stairway it swung in,
+and I pushed Victory across the threshold.
+
+Then I turned to meet the renewed attack of the savage foe.
+One lion fell in his tracks, another stumbled to my very
+feet, and then I leaped within and slammed the portal to.
+
+A quick glance showed me that this was the only door to the
+small apartment in which we had found sanctuary, and, with a
+sigh of relief, I leaned for a moment against the panels of
+the stout barrier that separated us from the ramping demons
+without.
+
+Across the room, between two windows, stood a flat-topped
+desk.  A little pile of white and brown lay upon it close to
+the opposite edge.  After a moment of rest I crossed the
+room to investigate.  The white was the bleached human
+bones--the skull, collar bones, arms, and a few of the upper
+ribs of a man.  The brown was the dust of a decayed military
+cap and blouse.  In a chair before the desk were other
+bones, while more still strewed the floor beneath the desk
+and about the chair.  A man had died sitting there with his
+face buried in his arms--two hundred years ago.
+
+Beneath the desk were a pair of spurred military boots,
+green and rotten with decay.  In them were the leg bones of
+a man.  Among the tiny bones of the hands was an ancient
+fountain pen, as good, apparently, as the day it was made,
+and a metal covered memoranda book, closed over the bones of
+an index finger.
+
+It was a gruesome sight--a pitiful sight--this lone
+inhabitant of mighty London.
+
+I picked up the metal covered memoranda book.  Its pages
+were rotten and stuck together.  Only here and there was a
+sentence or a part of a sentence legible.  The first that I
+could read was near the middle of the little volume:
+
+"His majesty left for Tunbridge Wells today, he . . .  jesty
+was stricken . . . terday.  God give she does not die . . .
+am military governor of Lon . . ."
+
+And farther on:
+
+"It is awful . . . hundred deaths today . . . worse than the
+bombardm . . ."
+
+Nearer the end I picked out the following:
+
+"I promised his maj . . . e will find me here when he ret .
+. . alone."
+
+The most legible passage was on the next page:
+
+"Thank God we drove them out.  There is not a single . . .
+man on British soil today; but at what awful cost.  I tried
+to persuade Sir Phillip to urge the people to remain.  But
+they are mad with fear of the Death, and rage at our
+enemies.  He tells me that the coast cities are packed . . .
+waiting to be taken across.  What will become of England,
+with none left to rebuild her shattered cities!"
+
+And the last entry:
+
+". . . alone.  Only the wild beasts . . .  A lion is roaring
+now beneath the palace windows.  I think the people feared
+the beasts even more than they did the Death.  But they are
+gone, all gone, and to what?  How much better conditions
+will they find on the continent? All gone--only I remain.  I
+promised his majesty, and when he returns he will find that
+I was true to my trust, for I shall be awaiting him.  God
+save the King!"
+
+That was all.  This brave and forever nameless officer died
+nobly at his post--true to his country and his king.  It was
+the Death, no doubt, that took him.
+
+Some of the entries had been dated.  From the few legible
+letters and figures which remained I judge the end came some
+time in August, 1937, but of that I am not at all certain.
+
+The diary has cleared up at least one mystery that had
+puzzled me not a little, and now I am surprised that I had
+not guessed its solution myself--the presence of African and
+Asiatic beasts in England.
+
+Acclimated by years of confinement in the zoological
+gardens, they were fitted to resume in England the wild
+existence for which nature had intended them, and once free,
+had evidently bred prolifically, in marked contrast to the
+captive exotics of twentieth century Pan-America, which had
+gradually become fewer until extinction occurred some time
+during the twenty-first century.
+
+The palace, if such it was, lay not far from the banks of
+the Thames.  The room in which we were imprisoned overlooked
+the river, and I determined to attempt to escape in this
+direction.
+
+To descend through the palace was out of the question, but
+outside we could discover no lions.  The stems of the ivy
+which clambered upward past the window of the room were as
+large around as my arm.  I knew that they would support our
+weight, and as we could gain nothing by remaining longer in
+the palace, I decided to descend by way of the ivy and
+follow along down the river in the direction of the launch.
+
+Naturally I was much handicapped by the presence of the
+girl.  But I could not abandon her, though I had no idea
+what I should do with her after rejoining my companions.
+That she would prove a burden and an embarrassment I was
+certain, but she had made it equally plain to me that she
+would never return to her people to mate with Buckingham.
+
+I owed my life to her, and, all other considerations aside,
+that was sufficient demand upon my gratitude and my honor to
+necessitate my suffering every inconvenience in her service.
+Too, she was queen of England.  But, by far the most potent
+argument in her favor, she was a woman in distress--and a
+young and very beautiful one.
+
+And so, though I wished a thousand times that she was back
+in her camp, I never let her guess it, but did all that lay
+within my power to serve and protect her.  I thank God now
+that I did so.
+
+With the lions still padding back and forth beyond the
+closed door, Victory and I crossed the room to one of the
+windows.  I had outlined my plan to her, and she had assured
+me that she could descend the ivy without assistance.  In
+fact, she smiled a trifle at my question.
+
+Swinging myself outward, I began the descent, and had come
+to within a few feet of the ground, being just opposite a
+narrow window, when I was startled by a savage growl almost
+in my ear, and then a great taloned paw darted from the
+aperture to seize me, and I saw the snarling face of a lion
+within the embrasure.
+
+Releasing my hold upon the ivy, I dropped the re-maining
+distance to the ground, saved from laceration only because
+the lion's paw struck the thick stem of ivy.
+
+The creature was making a frightful racket now, leaping back
+and forth from the floor at the broad window ledge, tearing
+at the masonry with his claws in vain attempts to reach me.
+But the opening was too narrow, and the masonry too solid.
+
+Victory had commenced the descent, but I called to her to
+stop just above the window, and, as the lion reappeared,
+growling and snarling, I put a .33 bullet in his face, and
+at the same moment Victory slipped quickly past him,
+dropping into my upraised arms that were awaiting her.
+
+The roaring of the beasts that had discovered us, together
+with the report of my rifle, had set the balance of the
+fierce inmates of the palace into the most frightful uproar
+I have ever heard.
+
+I feared that it would not be long before intelligence or
+instinct would draw them from the interiors and set them
+upon our trail, the river.  Nor had we much more than
+reached it when a lion bounded around the corner of the
+edifice we had just quitted and stood looking about as
+though in search of us.
+
+Following, came others, while Victory and I crouched in
+hiding behind a clump of bushes close to the bank of the
+river.  The beasts sniffed about the ground for a while, but
+they did not chance to go near the spot where we had stood
+beneath the window that had given us escape.
+
+Presently a black-maned male raised his head, and, with
+cocked ears and glaring eyes, gazed straight at the bush
+behind which we lay.  I could have sworn that he had
+discovered us, and when he took a few short and stately
+steps in our direction I raised my rifle and covered him.
+But, after a long, tense moment he looked away, and turned
+to glare in another direction.
+
+I breathed a sigh of relief, and so did Victory.  I could
+feel her body quiver as she lay pressed close to me, our
+cheeks almost touching as we both peered through the same
+small opening in the foliage.
+
+I turned to give her a reassuring smile as the lion
+indicated that he had not seen us, and as I did so she, too,
+turned her face toward mine, for the same purpose,
+doubtless.  Anyway, as our heads turned simultaneously, our
+lips brushed together.  A startled expression came into
+Victory's eyes as she drew back in evident confusion.
+
+As for me, the strangest sensation that I have ever
+experienced claimed me for an instant.  A peculiar, tingling
+thrill ran through my veins, and my head swam.  I could not
+account for it.
+
+Naturally, being a naval officer and consequently in the
+best society of the federation, I have seen much of women.
+With others, I have laughed at the assertions of the savants
+that modern man is a cold and passionless creation in
+comparison with the males of former ages--in a word, that
+love, as the one grand passion, had ceased to exist.
+
+I do not know, now, but that they were more nearly right
+than we have guessed, at least in so far as modern civilized
+woman is concerned.  I have kissed many women--young and
+beautiful and middle aged and old, and many that I had no
+business kissing--but never before had I experienced that
+remarkable and altogether delightful thrill that followed
+the accidental brushing of my lips against the lips of
+Victory.
+
+The occurrence interested me, and I was tempted to
+experiment further.  But when I would have essayed it
+another new and entirely unaccountable force restrained me.
+For the first time in my life I felt embarrassment in the
+presence of a woman.
+
+What further might have developed I cannot say, for at that
+moment a perfect she-devil of a lioness, with keener eyes
+than her lord and master, discovered us.  She came trotting
+toward our place of concealment, growling and baring her
+yellow fangs.
+
+I waited for an instant, hoping that I might be mistaken,
+and that she would turn off in some other direction.  But
+no--she increased her trot to a gallop, and then I fired at
+her, but the bullet, though it struck her full in the
+breast, didn't stop her.
+
+Screaming with pain and rage, the creature fairly flew
+toward us.  Behind her came other lions.  Our case looked
+hopeless.  We were upon the brink of the river.  There
+seemed no avenue of escape, and I knew that even my modern
+automatic rifle was inadequate in the face of so many of
+these fierce beasts.
+
+To remain where we were would have been suicidal.  We were
+both standing now, Victory keeping her place bravely at my
+side, when I reached the only decision open to me.
+
+Seizing the girl's hand, I turned, just as the lioness
+crashed into the opposite side of the bushes, and, dragging
+Victory after me, leaped over the edge of the bank into the
+river.
+
+I did not know that lions are not fond of water, nor did I
+know if Victory could swim, but death, immediate and
+terrible, stared us in the face if we remained, and so I
+took the chance.
+
+At this point the current ran close to the shore, so that we
+were immediately in deep water, and, to my intense
+satisfaction, Victory struck out with a strong, overhand
+stroke and set all my fears on her account at rest.
+
+But my relief was short-lived.  That lioness, as I have said
+before, was a veritable devil.  She stood for a moment
+glaring at us, then like a shot she sprang into the river
+and swam swiftly after us.
+
+Victory was a length ahead of me.
+
+"Swim for the other shore!" I called to her.
+
+I was much impeded by my rifle, having to swim with one hand
+while I clung to my precious weapon with the other.  The
+girl had seen the lioness take to the water, and she had
+also seen that I was swimming much more slowly than she, and
+what did she do?  She started to drop back to my side.
+
+"Go on!" I cried.  "Make for the other shore, and then
+follow down until you find my friends.  Tell them that I
+sent you, and with orders that they are to protect you.  Go
+on!  Go on!"
+
+But she only waited until we were again swimming side by
+side, and I saw that she had drawn her long knife, and was
+holding it between her teeth.
+
+"Do as I tell you!" I said to her sharply, but she shook her
+head.
+
+The lioness was overhauling us rapidly.  She was swimming
+silently, her chin just touching the water, but blood was
+streaming from between her lips.  It was evident that her
+lungs were pierced.
+
+She was almost upon me.  I saw that in a moment she would
+take me under her forepaws, or seize me in those great jaws.
+I felt that my time had come, but I meant to die fighting.
+And so I turned, and, treading water, raised my rifle above
+my head and awaited her.
+
+Victory, animated by a bravery no less ferocious than that
+of the dumb beast assailing us, swam straight for me.  It
+all happened so swiftly that I cannot recall the details of
+the kaleidoscopic action which ensued.  I knew that I rose
+high out of the water, and, with clubbed rifle, dealt the
+animal a terrific blow upon the skull, that I saw Victory,
+her long blade flashing in her hand, close, striking, upon
+the beast, that a great paw fell upon her shoulder, and that
+I was swept beneath the surface of the water like a straw
+before the prow of a freighter.
+
+Still clinging to my rifle, I rose again, to see the lioness
+struggling in her death throes but an arm's length from me.
+Scarcely had I risen than the beast turned upon her side,
+struggled frantically for an instant, and then sank.
+
+
+
+6
+
+
+Victory was nowhere in sight.  Alone, I floated upon the
+bosom of the Thames.  In that brief instant I believe that I
+suffered more mental anguish than I have crowded into all
+the balance of my life before or since.  A few hours before,
+I had been wishing that I might be rid of her, and now that
+she was gone I would have given my life to have her back
+again.
+
+Wearily I turned to swim about the spot where she had
+disappeared, hoping that she might rise once at least, and I
+would be given the opportunity to save her, and, as I
+turned, the water boiled before my face and her head shot up
+before me.  I was on the point of striking out to seize her,
+when a happy smile illumined her features.
+
+"You are not dead!" she cried.  "I have been searching the
+bottom for you.  I was sure that the blow she gave you must
+have disabled you," and she glanced about for the lioness.
+
+"She has gone?" she asked.
+
+"Dead," I replied.
+
+"The blow you struck her with the thing you call rifle
+stunned her," she explained, "and then I swam in close
+enough to get my knife into her heart."
+
+Ah, such a girl!  I could not but wonder what one of our own
+Pan-American women would have done under like circumstances.
+But then, of course, they have not been trained by stern
+necessity to cope with the emergencies and dangers of savage
+primeval life.
+
+Along the bank we had just quitted, a score of lions paced
+to and fro, growling menacingly.  We could not return, and
+we struck out for the opposite shore.  I am a strong
+swimmer, and had no doubt as to my ability to cross the
+river, but I was not so sure about Victory, so I swam close
+behind her, to be ready to give her assistance should she
+need it.
+
+She did not, however, reaching the opposite bank as fresh,
+apparently, as when she entered the water.  Victory is a
+wonder.  Each day that we were together brought new proofs
+of it.  Nor was it her courage or vitality only which amazed
+me.  She had a head on those shapely shoulders of hers, and
+dignity!  My, but she could be regal when she chose!
+
+She told me that the lions were fewer upon this side of the
+river, but that there were many wolves, running in great
+packs later in the year.  Now they were north somewhere, and
+we should have little to fear from them, though we might
+meet with a few.
+
+My first concern was to take my weapons apart and dry them,
+which was rather difficult in the face of the fact that
+every rag about me was drenched.  But finally, thanks to the
+sun and much rubbing, I succeeded, though I had no oil to
+lubricate them.
+
+We ate some wild berries and roots that Victory found, and
+then we set off again down the river, keeping an eye open
+for game on one side and the launch on the other, for I
+thought that Delcarte, who would be the natural leader
+during my absence, might run up the Thames in search of me.
+
+The balance of that day we sought in vain for game or for
+the launch, and when night came we lay down, our stomachs
+empty, to sleep beneath the stars.  We were entirely
+unprotected from attack from wild beasts, and for this
+reason I remained awake most of the night, on guard.  But
+nothing approached us, though I could hear the lions roaring
+across the river, and once I thought I heard the howl of a
+beast north of us--it might have been a wolf.
+
+Altogether, it was a most unpleasant night, and I determined
+then that if we were forced to sleep out again that I should
+provide some sort of shelter which would protect us from
+attack while we slept.
+
+Toward morning I dozed, and the sun was well up when Victory
+aroused me by gently shaking my shoulder.
+
+"Antelope!" she whispered in my ear, and, as I raised my
+head, she pointed up-river.  Crawling to my knees, I looked
+in the direction she indicated, to see a buck standing upon
+a little knoll some two hundred yards from us.  There was
+good cover between the animal and me, and so, though I might
+have hit him at two hundred yards, I preferred to crawl
+closer to him and make sure of the meat we both so craved.
+
+I had covered about fifty yards of the distance, and the
+beast was still feeding peacefully, so I thought that I
+would make even surer of a hit by going ahead another fifty
+yards, when the animal suddenly raised his head and looked
+away, up-river.  His whole attitude proclaimed that he was
+startled by something beyond him that I could not see.
+
+Realizing that he might break and run and that I should then
+probably miss him entirely, I raised my rifle to my
+shoulder.  But even as I did so the animal leaped into the
+air, and simultaneously there was a sound of a shot from
+beyond the knoll.
+
+For an instant I was dumbfounded.  Had the report come from
+down-river, I should have instantly thought that one of my
+own men had fired.  But coming from up-river it puzzled me
+considerably.  Who could there be with firearms in primitive
+England other than we of the Coldwater?
+
+Victory was directly behind me, and I motioned for her to
+lie down, as I did, behind the bush from which I had been
+upon the point of firing at the antelope.  We could see that
+the buck was quite dead, and from our hiding place we waited
+to discover the identity of his slayer when the latter
+should approach and claim his kill.
+
+We had not long to wait, and when I saw the head and
+shoulders of a man appear above the crest of the knoll, I
+sprang to my feet, with a heartfelt cry of joy, for it was
+Delcarte.
+
+At the sound of my voice, Delcarte half raised his rifle in
+readiness for the attack of an enemy, but a moment later he
+recognized me, and was coming rapidly to meet us.  Behind
+him was Snider.  They both were astounded to see me upon the
+north bank of the river, and much more so at the sight of my
+companion.
+
+Then I introduced them to Victory, and told them that she
+was queen of England.  They thought, at first, that I was
+joking.  But when I had recounted my adventures and they
+realized that I was in earnest, they believed me.
+
+They told me that they had followed me inshore when I had
+not returned from the hunt, that they had met the men of the
+elephant country, and had had a short and one-sided battle
+with the fellows.  And that afterward they had returned to
+the launch with a prisoner, from whom they had learned that
+I had probably been captured by the men of the lion country.
+
+With the prisoner as a guide they had set off up-river in
+search of me, but had been much delayed by motor trouble,
+and had finally camped after dark a half mile above the spot
+where Victory and I had spent the night.  They must have
+passed us in the dark, and why I did not hear the sound of
+the propeller I do not know, unless it passed me at a time
+when the lions were making an unusually earsplitting din
+upon the opposite side.
+
+Taking the antelope with us, we all returned to the launch,
+where we found Taylor as delighted to see me alive again as
+Delcarte had been.  I cannot say truthfully that Snider
+evinced much enthusiasm at my rescue.
+
+Taylor had found the ingredients for chemical fuel, and the
+distilling of them had, with the motor trouble, accounted
+for their delay in setting out after me.
+
+The prisoner that Delcarte and Snider had taken was a
+powerful young fellow from the elephant country.
+Notwithstanding the fact that they had all assured him to
+the contrary, he still could not believe that we would not
+kill him.
+
+He assured us that his name was Thirty-six, and, as he could
+not count above ten, I am sure that he had no conception of
+the correct meaning of the word, and that it may have been
+handed down to him either from the military number of an
+ancestor who had served in the English ranks during the
+Great War, or that originally it was the number of some
+famous regiment with which a forbear fought.
+
+Now that we were reunited, we held a council to determine
+what course we should pursue in the immediate future.
+Snider was still for setting out to sea and returning to
+Pan-America, but the better judgment of Delcarte and Taylor
+ridiculed the suggestion--we should not have lived a
+fortnight.
+
+To remain in England, constantly menaced by wild beasts and
+men equally as wild, seemed about as bad.  I suggested that
+we cross the Channel and ascertain if we could not discover
+a more enlightened and civilized people upon the continent.
+I was sure that some trace of the ancient culture and
+greatness of Europe must remain.  Germany, probably, would
+be much as it was during the twentieth century, for, in
+common with most Pan-Americans, I was positive that Germany
+had been victorious in the Great War.
+
+Snider demurred at the suggestion.  He said that it was bad
+enough to have come this far.  He did not want to make it
+worse by going to the continent.  The outcome of it was that
+I finally lost my patience, and told him that from then on
+he would do what I thought best--that I proposed to assume
+command of the party, and that they might all consider
+themselves under my orders, as much so as though we were
+still aboard the Coldwater and in Pan-American waters.
+
+Delcarte and Taylor immediately assured me that they had not
+for an instant assumed anything different, and that they
+were as ready to follow and obey me here as they would be
+upon the other side of thirty.
+
+Snider said nothing, but he wore a sullen scowl.  And I
+wished then, as I had before, and as I did to a much greater
+extent later, that fate had not decreed that he should have
+chanced to be a member of the launch's party upon that
+memorable day when last we quitted the Coldwater.
+
+Victory, who was given a voice in our councils, was all for
+going to the continent, or anywhere else, in fact, where she
+might see new sights and experience new adventures.
+
+"Afterward we can come back to Grabritin," she said, "and if
+Buckingham is not dead and we can catch him away from his
+men and kill him, then I can return to my people, and we can
+all live in peace and happiness."
+
+She spoke of killing Buckingham with no greater concern than
+one might evince in the contemplated destruction of a sheep;
+yet she was neither cruel nor vindictive.  In fact, Victory
+is a very sweet and womanly woman.  But human life is of
+small account beyond thirty--a legacy from the bloody days
+when thousands of men perished in the trenches between the
+rising and the setting of a sun, when they laid them
+lengthwise in these same trenches and sprinkled dirt over
+them, when the Germans corded their corpses like wood and
+set fire to them, when women and children and old men were
+butchered, and great passenger ships were torpedoed without
+warning.
+
+Thirty-six, finally assured that we did not intend slaying
+him, was as keen to accompany us as was Victory.
+
+The crossing to the continent was uneventful, its monotony
+being relieved, however, by the childish delight of Victory
+and Thirty-six in the novel experience of riding safely upon
+the bosom of the water, and of being so far from land.
+
+With the possible exception of Snider, the little party
+appeared in the best of spirits, laughing and joking, or
+interestedly discussing the possibilities which the future
+held for us: what we should find upon the continent, and
+whether the inhabitants would be civilized or barbarian
+peoples.
+
+Victory asked me to explain the difference between the two,
+and when I had tried to do so as clearly as possible, she
+broke into a gay little laugh.
+
+"Oh," she cried, "then I am a barbarian!"
+
+I could not but laugh, too, as I admitted that she was,
+indeed, a barbarian.  She was not offended, taking the
+matter as a huge joke.  But some time thereafter she sat in
+silence, apparently deep in thought.  Finally she looked up
+at me, her strong white teeth gleaming behind her smiling
+lips.
+
+"Should you take that thing you call 'razor,'" she said,
+"and cut the hair from the face of Thirty-six, and exchange
+garments with him, you would be the barbarian and Thirty-six
+the civilized man.  There is no other difference between
+you, except your weapons.  Clothe you in a wolfskin, give
+you a knife and a spear, and set you down in the woods of
+Grabritin--of what service would your civilization be to
+you?"
+
+Delcarte and Taylor smiled at her reply, but Thirty-six and
+Snider laughed uproariously.  I was not surprised at Thirty-
+six, but I thought that Snider laughed louder than the
+occasion warranted.  As a matter of fact, Snider, it seemed
+to me, was taking advantage of every opportunity, however
+slight, to show insubordination, and I determined then that
+at the first real breach of discipline I should take action
+that would remind Snider, ever after, that I was still his
+commanding officer.
+
+I could not help but notice that his eyes were much upon
+Victory, and I did not like it, for I knew the type of man
+he was.  But as it would not be necessary ever to leave the
+girl alone with him I felt no apprehension for her safety.
+
+After the incident of the discussion of barbarians I thought
+that Victory's manner toward me changed perceptibly.  She
+held aloof from me, and when Snider took his turn at the
+wheel, sat beside him, upon the pretext that she wished to
+learn how to steer the launch.  I wondered if she had
+guessed the man's antipathy for me, and was seeking his
+company solely for the purpose of piquing me.
+
+Snider was, too, taking full advantage of his opportunity.
+Often he leaned toward the girl to whisper in her ear, and
+he laughed much, which was unusual with Snider.
+
+Of course, it was nothing at all to me; yet, for some
+unaccountable reason, the sight of the two of them sitting
+there so close to one another and seeming to be enjoying
+each other's society to such a degree irritated me
+tremendously, and put me in such a bad humor that I took no
+pleasure whatsoever in the last few hours of the crossing.
+
+We aimed to land near the site of ancient Ostend.  But when
+we neared the coast we discovered no indication of any human
+habitations whatever, let alone a city.  After we had
+landed, we found the same howling wilderness about us that
+we had discovered on the British Isle.  There was no
+slightest indication that civilized man had ever set a foot
+upon that portion of the continent of Europe.
+
+Although I had feared as much, since our experience in
+England, I could not but own to a feeling of marked
+disappointment, and to the gravest fears of the future,
+which induced a mental depression that was in no way
+dissipated by the continued familiarity between Victory and
+Snider.
+
+I was angry with myself that I permitted that matter to
+affect me as it had.  I did not wish to admit to myself that
+I was angry with this uncultured little savage, that it made
+the slightest difference to me what she did or what she did
+not do, or that I could so lower myself as to feel personal
+enmity towards a common sailor.  And yet, to be honest, I
+was doing both.
+
+Finding nothing to detain us about the spot where Ostend
+once had stood, we set out up the coast in search of the
+mouth of the River Rhine, which I purposed ascending in
+search of civilized man.  It was my intention to explore the
+Rhine as far up as the launch would take us.  If we found no
+civilization there we would return to the North Sea,
+continue up the coast to the Elbe, and follow that river and
+the canals of Berlin.  Here, at least, I was sure that we
+should find what we sought--and, if not, then all Europe had
+reverted to barbarism.
+
+The weather remained fine, and we made excellent progress,
+but everywhere along the Rhine we met with the same
+disappointment--no sign of civilized man, in fact, no sign
+of man at all.
+
+I was not enjoying the exploration of modern Europe as I had
+anticipated--I was unhappy.  Victory seemed changed, too.  I
+had enjoyed her company at first, but since the trip across
+the Channel I had held aloof from her.
+
+Her chin was in the air most of the time, and yet I rather
+think that she regretted her friendliness with Snider, for I
+noticed that she avoided him entirely.  He, on the contrary,
+emboldened by her former friendliness, sought every
+opportunity to be near her.  I should have liked nothing
+better than a reasonably good excuse to punch his head; yet,
+paradoxically, I was ashamed of myself for harboring him any
+ill will.  I realized that there was something the matter
+with me, but I did not know what it was.
+
+Matters remained thus for several days, and we continued our
+journey up the Rhine.  At Cologne, I had hoped to find some
+reassuring indications, but there was no Cologne.  And as
+there had been no other cities along the river up to that
+point, the devastation was infinitely greater than time
+alone could have wrought.  Great guns, bombs, and mines must
+have leveled every building that man had raised, and then
+nature, unhindered, had covered the ghastly evidence of
+human depravity with her beauteous mantle of verdure.
+Splendid trees reared their stately tops where splendid
+cathedrals once had reared their domes, and sweet wild
+flowers blossomed in simple serenity in soil that once was
+drenched with human blood.
+
+Nature had reclaimed what man had once stolen from her and
+defiled.  A herd of zebras grazed where once the German
+kaiser may have reviewed his troops.  An antelope rested
+peacefully in a bed of daisies where, perhaps, two hundred
+years ago a big gun belched its terror-laden messages of
+death, of hate, of destruction against the works of man and
+God alike.
+
+We were in need of fresh meat, yet I hesitated to shatter
+the quiet and peaceful serenity of the view with the crack
+of a rifle and the death of one of those beautiful creatures
+before us.  But it had to be done--we must eat.  I left the
+work to Delcarte, however, and in a moment we had two
+antelope and the landscape to ourselves.
+
+After eating, we boarded the launch and continued up the
+river.  For two days we passed through a primeval
+wilderness.  In the afternoon of the second day we landed
+upon the west bank of the river, and, leaving Snider and
+Thirty-six to guard Victory and the launch, Delcarte,
+Taylor, and I set out after game.
+
+We tramped away from the river for upwards of an hour before
+discovering anything, and then only a small red deer, which
+Taylor brought down with a neat shot of two hundred yards.
+It was getting too late to proceed farther, so we rigged a
+sling, and the two men carried the deer back toward the
+launch while I walked a hundred yards ahead, in the hope of
+bagging something further for our larder.
+
+We had covered about half the distance to the river, when I
+suddenly came face to face with a man.  He was as primitive
+and uncouth in appearance as the Grabritins--a shaggy,
+unkempt savage, clothed in a shirt of skin cured with the
+head on, the latter surmounting his own head to form a
+bonnet, and giving to him a most fearful and ferocious
+aspect.
+
+The fellow was armed with a long spear and a club, the
+latter dangling down his back from a leathern thong about
+his neck.  His feet were incased in hide sandals.
+
+At sight of me, he halted for an instant, then turned and
+dove into the forest, and, though I called reassuringly to
+him in English he did not return nor did I again see him.
+
+The sight of the wild man raised my hopes once more that
+elsewhere we might find men in a higher state of
+civilization--it was the society of civilized man that I
+craved--and so, with a lighter heart, I continued on toward
+the river and the launch.
+
+I was still some distance ahead of Delcarte and Taylor, when
+I came in sight of the Rhine again.  But I came to the
+water's edge before I noticed that anything was amiss with
+the party we had left there a few hours before.
+
+My first intimation of disaster was the absence of the
+launch from its former moorings.  And then, a moment later--
+I discovered the body of a man lying upon the bank.  Running
+toward it, I saw that it was Thirty-six, and as I stopped
+and raised the Grabritin's head in my arms, I heard a faint
+moan break from his lips.  He was not dead, but that he was
+badly injured was all too evident.
+
+Delcarte and Taylor came up a moment later, and the three of
+us worked over the fellow, hoping to revive him that he
+might tell us what had happened, and what had become of the
+others.  My first thought was prompted by the sight I had
+recently had of the savage native.  The little party had
+evidently been surprised, and in the attack Thirty-six had
+been wounded and the others taken prisoners.  The thought
+was almost like a physical blow in the face--it stunned me.
+Victory in the hands of these abysmal brutes!  It was
+frightful.  I almost shook poor Thirty-six in my efforts to
+revive him.
+
+I explained my theory to the others, and then Delcarte
+shattered it by a single movement of the hand.  He drew
+aside the lion's skin that covered half of the Grabritin's
+breast, revealing a neat, round hole in Thirty-six's chest--
+a hole that could have been made by no other weapon than a
+rifle.
+
+"Snider!" I exclaimed.  Delcarte nodded.  At about the same
+time the eyelids of the wounded man fluttered, and raised.
+He looked up at us, and very slowly the light of
+consciousness returned to his eyes.
+
+"What happened, Thirty-six?" I asked him.
+
+He tried to reply, but the effort caused him to cough,
+bringing about a hemorrhage of the lungs and again he fell
+back exhausted.  For several long minutes he lay as one
+dead, then in an almost inaudible whisper he spoke.
+
+"Snider--"  He paused, tried to speak again, raised a hand,
+and pointed down-river.  "They--went--back," and then he
+shuddered convulsively and died.
+
+None of us voiced his belief.  But I think they were all
+alike: Victory and Snider had stolen the launch, and
+deserted us.
+
+
+
+7
+
+
+We stood there, grouped about the body of the dead
+Grabritin, looking futilely down the river to where it made
+an abrupt curve to the west, a quarter of a mile below us,
+and was lost to sight, as though we expected to see the
+truant returning to us with our precious launch--the thing
+that meant life or death to us in this unfriendly, savage
+world.
+
+I felt, rather than saw, Taylor turn his eyes slowly toward
+my profile, and, as mine swung to meet them, the expression
+upon his face recalled me to my duty and responsibility as
+an officer.
+
+The utter hopelessness that was reflected in his face must
+have been the counterpart of what I myself felt, but in that
+brief instant I determined to hide my own misgivings that I
+might bolster up the courage of the others.
+
+"We are lost!" was written as plainly upon Taylor's face as
+though his features were the printed words upon an open
+book.  He was thinking of the launch, and of the launch
+alone.  Was I?  I tried to think that I was.  But a greater
+grief than the loss of the launch could have engendered in
+me, filled my heart--a sullen, gnawing misery which I tried
+to deny--which I refused to admit--but which persisted in
+obsessing me until my heart rose and filled my throat, and I
+could not speak when I would have uttered words of
+reassurance to my companions.
+
+And then rage came to my relief--rage against the vile
+traitor who had deserted three of his fellow countrymen in
+so frightful a position.  I tried to feel an equal rage
+against the woman, but somehow I could not, and kept
+searching for excuses for her--her youth, her inexperience,
+her savagery.
+
+My rising anger swept away my temporary helplessness.  I
+smiled, and told Taylor not to look so glum.
+
+"We will follow them," I said, "and the chances are that we
+shall overtake them.  They will not travel as rapidly as
+Snider probably hopes.  He will be forced to halt for fuel
+and for food, and the launch must follow the windings of the
+river; we can take short cuts while they are traversing the
+detour.  I have my map--thank God! I always carry it upon my
+person--and with that and the compass we will have an
+advantage over them."
+
+My words seemed to cheer them both, and they were for
+starting off at once in pursuit.  There was no reason why we
+should delay, and we set forth down the river.  As we
+tramped along, we discussed a question that was uppermost in
+the mind of each--what we should do with Snider when we had
+captured him, for with the action of pursuit had come the
+optimistic conviction that we should succeed.  As a matter
+of fact, we had to succeed.  The very thought of remaining
+in this utter wilderness for the rest of our lives was
+impossible.
+
+We arrived at nothing very definite in the matter of
+Snider's punishment, since Taylor was for shooting him,
+Delcarte insisting that he should be hanged, while I,
+although fully conscious of the gravity of his offense,
+could not bring myself to give the death penalty.
+
+I fell to wondering what charm Victory had found in such a
+man as Snider, and why I insisted upon finding excuses for
+her and trying to defend her indefensible act.  She was
+nothing to me.  Aside from the natural gratitude I felt for
+her since she had saved my life, I owed her nothing.  She
+was a half-naked little savage--I, a gentleman, and an
+officer in the world's greatest navy.  There could be no
+close bonds of interest between us.
+
+This line of reflection I discovered to be as distressing as
+the former, but, though I tried to turn my mind to other
+things, it persisted in returning to the vision of an oval
+face, sun-tanned; of smiling lips, revealing white and even
+teeth; of brave eyes that harbored no shadow of guile; and
+of a tumbling mass of wavy hair that crowned the loveliest
+picture on which my eyes had ever rested.
+
+Every time this vision presented itself I felt myself turn
+cold with rage and hate against Snider.  I could forgive the
+launch, but if he had wronged her he should die--he should
+die at my own hands; in this I was determined.
+
+For two days we followed the river northward, cutting off
+where we could, but confined for the most part to the game
+trails that paralleled the stream.  One afternoon, we cut
+across a narrow neck of land that saved us many miles, where
+the river wound to the west and back again.
+
+Here we decided to halt, for we had had a hard day of it,
+and, if the truth were known, I think that we had all given
+up hope of overtaking the launch other than by the merest
+accident.
+
+We had shot a deer just before our halt, and, as Taylor and
+Delcarte were preparing it, I walked down to the water to
+fill our canteens.  I had just finished, and was
+straightening up, when something floating around a bend
+above me caught my eye.  For a moment I could not believe
+the testimony of my own senses.  It was a boat.
+
+I shouted to Delcarte and Taylor, who came running to my
+side.
+
+"The launch!" cried Delcarte; and, indeed, it was the
+launch, floating down-river from above us.  Where had it
+been?  How had we passed it?  And how were we to reach it
+now, should Snider and the girl discover us?
+
+"It's drifting," said Taylor.  "I see no one in it."
+
+I was stripping off my clothes, and Delcarte soon followed
+my example.  I told Taylor to remain on shore with the
+clothing and rifles.  He might also serve us better there,
+since it would give him an opportunity to take a shot at
+Snider should the man discover us and show himself.
+
+With powerful strokes we swam out in the path of the
+oncoming launch.  Being a stronger swimmer than Delcarte, I
+soon was far in the lead, reaching the center of the channel
+just as the launch bore down upon me.  It was drifting
+broadside on.  I seized the gunwale and raised myself
+quickly, so that my chin topped the side.  I expected a blow
+the moment that I came within the view of the occupants, but
+no blow fell.
+
+Snider lay upon his back in the bottom of the boat alone.
+Even before I had clambered in and stooped above him I knew
+that he was dead.  Without examining him further, I ran
+forward to the control board and pressed the starting
+button.  To my relief, the mechanism responded--the launch
+was uninjured.  Coming about, I picked up Delcarte.  He was
+astounded at the sight that met his eyes, and immediately
+fell to examining Snider's body for signs of life or an
+explanation of the manner in which he met his death.
+
+The fellow had been dead for hours--he was cold and still.
+But Delcarte's search was not without results, for above
+Snider's heart was a wound, a slit about an inch in length--
+such a slit as a sharp knife would make, and in the dead
+fingers of one hand was clutched a strand of long brown
+hair--Victory's hair was brown.
+
+They say that dead men tell no tales, but Snider told the
+story of his end as clearly as though the dead lips had
+parted and poured forth the truth.  The beast had attacked
+the girl, and she had defended her honor.
+
+We buried Snider beside the Rhine, and no stone marks his
+last resting place.  Beasts do not require headstones.
+
+Then we set out in the launch, turning her nose upstream.
+When I had told Delcarte and Taylor that I intended
+searching for the girl, neither had demurred.
+
+"We had her wrong in our thoughts," said Delcarte, "and the
+least that we can do in expiation is to find and rescue
+her."
+
+We called her name aloud every few minutes as we motored up
+the river, but, though we returned all the way to our former
+camping place, we did not find her.  I then decided to
+retrace our journey, letting Taylor handle the launch, while
+Delcarte and I, upon opposite sides of the river, searched
+for some sign of the spot where Victory had landed.
+
+We found nothing until we had reached a point a few miles
+above the spot where I had first seen the launch drifting
+down toward us, and there I discovered the remnants of a
+recent camp fire.
+
+That Victory carried flint and steel I was aware, and that
+it was she who built the fire I was positive.  But which way
+had she gone since she stopped here?
+
+Would she go on down the river, that she might thus bring
+herself nearer her own Grabritin, or would she have sought
+to search for us upstream, where she had seen us last?
+
+I had hailed Taylor, and sent him across the river to take
+in Delcarte, that the two might join me and discuss my
+discovery and our future plans.
+
+While waiting for them, I stood looking out over the river,
+my back toward the woods that stretched away to the east
+behind me.  Delcarte was just stepping into the launch upon
+the opposite side of the stream, when, without the least
+warning, I was violently seized by both arms and about the
+waist--three or four men were upon me at once; my rifle was
+snatched from my hands and my revolver from my belt.
+
+I struggled for an instant, but finding my efforts of no
+avail, I ceased them, and turned my head to have a look at
+my assailants.  At the same time several others of them
+walked around in front of me, and, to my astonishment, I
+found myself looking upon uniformed soldiery, armed with
+rifles, revolvers, and sabers, but with faces as black as
+coal.
+
+
+
+8
+
+
+Delcarte and Taylor were now in mid-stream, coming toward
+us, and I called to them to keep aloof until I knew whether
+the intentions of my captors were friendly or otherwise.  My
+good men wanted to come on and annihilate the blacks.  But
+there were upward of a hundred of the latter, all well
+armed, and so I commanded Delcarte to keep out of harm's
+way, and stay where he was till I needed him.
+
+A young officer called and beckoned to them.  But they
+refused to come, and so he gave orders that resulted in my
+hands being secured at my back, after which the company
+marched away, straight toward the east.
+
+I noticed that the men wore spurs, which seemed strange to
+me.  But when, late in the afternoon, we arrived at their
+encampment, I discovered that my captors were cavalrymen.
+
+In the center of a plain stood a log fort, with a block-
+house at each of its four corners.  As we approached, I saw
+a herd of cavalry horses grazing under guard outside the
+walls of the post.  They were small, stocky horses, but the
+telltale saddle galls proclaimed their calling.  The flag
+flying from a tall staff inside the palisade was one which I
+had never before seen nor heard of.
+
+We marched directly into the compound, where the company was
+dismissed, with the exception of a guard of four privates,
+who escorted me in the wake of the young officer.  The
+latter led us across a small parade ground, where a battery
+of light field guns was parked, and toward a log building,
+in front of which rose the flagstaff.
+
+I was escorted within the building into the presence of an
+old negro, a fine looking man, with a dignified and military
+bearing.  He was a colonel, I was to learn later, and to him
+I owe the very humane treatment that was accorded me while I
+remained his prisoner.
+
+He listened to the report of his junior, and then turned to
+question me, but with no better results than the former had
+accomplished.  Then he summoned an orderly, and gave some
+instructions.  The soldier saluted, and left the room,
+returning in about five minutes with a hairy old white man--
+just such a savage, primeval-looking fellow as I had
+discovered in the woods the day that Snider had disappeared
+with the launch.
+
+The colonel evidently expected to use the fellow as
+interpreter, but when the savage addressed me it was in a
+language as foreign to me as was that of the blacks.  At
+last the old officer gave it up, and, shaking his head, gave
+instructions for my removal.
+
+From his office I was led to a guardhouse, in which I found
+about fifty half-naked whites, clad in the skins of wild
+beasts.  I tried to converse with them, but not one of them
+could understand Pan-American, nor could I make head or tail
+of their jargon.
+
+For over a month I remained a prisoner there, working from
+morning until night at odd jobs about the headquarters
+building of the commanding officer.  The other prisoners
+worked harder than I did, and I owe my better treatment
+solely to the kindliness and discrimination of the old
+colonel.
+
+What had become of Victory, of Delcarte, of Taylor I could
+not know; nor did it seem likely that I should ever learn.
+I was most depressed.  But I whiled away my time in
+performing the duties given me to the best of my ability and
+attempting to learn the language of my captors.
+
+Who they were or where they came from was a mystery to me.
+That they were the outpost of some pow-erful black nation
+seemed likely, yet where the seat of that nation lay I could
+not guess.
+
+They looked upon the whites as their inferiors, and treated
+us accordingly.  They had a literature of their own, and
+many of the men, even the common soldiers, were omnivorous
+readers.  Every two weeks a dust-covered trooper would trot
+his jaded mount into the post and deliver a bulging sack of
+mail at headquarters.  The next day he would be away again
+upon a fresh horse toward the south, carrying the soldiers'
+letters to friends in the far off land of mystery from
+whence they all had come.
+
+Troops, sometimes mounted and sometimes afoot, left the post
+daily for what I assumed to be patrol duty.  I judged the
+little force of a thousand men were detailed here to
+maintain the authority of a distant government in a
+conquered country.  Later, I learned that my surmise was
+correct, and this was but one of a great chain of similar
+posts that dotted the new frontier of the black nation into
+whose hands I had fallen.
+
+Slowly I learned their tongue, so that I could understand
+what was said before me, and make myself understood.  I had
+seen from the first that I was being treated as a slave--
+that all whites that fell into the hands of the blacks were
+thus treated.
+
+Almost daily new prisoners were brought in, and about three
+weeks after I was brought in to the post a troop of cavalry
+came from the south to relieve one of the troops stationed
+there.  There was great jubilation in the encampment after
+the arrival of the newcomers, old friendships were renewed
+and new ones made.  But the happiest men were those of the
+troop that was to be relieved.
+
+The next morning they started away, and as they were forced
+upon the parade ground we prisoners were marched from our
+quarters and lined up before them.  A couple of long chains
+were brought, with rings in the links every few feet.  At
+first I could not guess the purpose of these chains.  But I
+was soon to learn.
+
+A couple of soldiers snapped the first ring around the neck
+of a powerful white slave, and one by one the rest of us
+were herded to our places, and the work of shackling us neck
+to neck commenced.
+
+The colonel stood watching the procedure.  Presently his
+eyes fell upon me, and he spoke to a young officer at his
+side.  The latter stepped toward me and motioned me to
+follow him.  I did so, and was led back to the colonel.
+
+By this time I could understand a few words of their strange
+language, and when the colonel asked me if I would prefer to
+remain at the post as his body servant, I signified my
+willingness as emphatically as possible, for I had seen
+enough of the brutality of the common soldiers toward their
+white slaves to have no desire to start out upon a march of
+unknown length, chained by the neck, and driven on by the
+great whips that a score of the soldiers carried to
+accelerate the speed of their charges.
+
+About three hundred prisoners who had been housed in six
+prisons at the post marched out of the gates that morning,
+toward what fate and what future I could not guess.  Neither
+had the poor devils themselves more than the most vague
+conception of what lay in store for them, except that they
+were going elsewhere to continue in the slavery that they
+had known since their capture by their black conquerors--a
+slavery that was to continue until death released them.
+
+My position was altered at the post.  From working about the
+headquarters office, I was transferred to the colonel's
+living quarters.  I had greater freedom, and no longer slept
+in one of the prisons, but had a little room to myself off
+the kitchen of the colonel's log house.
+
+My master was always kind to me, and under him I rapidly
+learned the language of my captors, and much concerning them
+that had been a mystery to me before.  His name was Abu
+Belik.  He was a colonel in the cavalry of Abyssinia, a
+country of which I do not remember ever hearing, but which
+Colonel Belik assured me is the oldest civilized country in
+the world.
+
+Colonel Belik was born in Adis Abeba, the capital of the
+empire, and until recently had been in command of the
+emperor's palace guard.  Jealousy and the ambition and
+intrigue of another officer had lost him the favor of his
+emperor, and he had been detailed to this frontier post as a
+mark of his sovereign's displeasure.
+
+Some fifty years before, the young emperor, Menelek XIV, was
+ambitious.  He knew that a great world lay across the waters
+far to the north of his capital.  Once he had crossed the
+desert and looked out upon the blue sea that was the
+northern boundary of his dominions.
+
+There lay another world to conquer.  Menelek busied himself
+with the building of a great fleet, though his people were
+not a maritime race.  His army crossed into Europe.  It met
+with little resistance, and for fifty years his soldiers had
+been pushing his boundaries farther and farther toward the
+north.
+
+"The yellow men from the east and north are contesting our
+rights here now," said the colonel, "but we shall win--we
+shall conquer the world, carrying Christianity to all the
+benighted heathen of Europe, and Asia as well."
+
+"You are a Christian people?" I asked.
+
+He looked at me in surprise, nodding his head affirmatively.
+
+"I am a Christian," I said.  "My people are the most
+powerful on earth."
+
+He smiled, and shook his head indulgently, as a father to a
+child who sets up his childish judgment against that of his
+elders.
+
+Then I set out to prove my point.  I told him of our cities,
+of our army, of our great navy.  He came right back at me
+asking for figures, and when he was done I had to admit that
+only in our navy were we numerically superior.
+
+Menelek XIV is the undisputed ruler of all the continent of
+Africa, of all of ancient Europe except the British Isles,
+Scandinavia, and eastern Russia, and has large possessions
+and prosperous colonies in what once were Arabia and Turkey
+in Asia.
+
+He has a standing army of ten million men, and his people
+possess slaves--white slaves--to the number of ten or
+fifteen million.
+
+Colonel Belik was much surprised, however, upon his part to
+learn of the great nation which lay across the ocean, and
+when he found that I was a naval officer, he was inclined to
+accord me even greater consideration than formerly.  It was
+difficult for him to believe my assertion that there were
+but few blacks in my country, and that these occupied a
+lower social plane than the whites.
+
+Just the reverse is true in Colonel Belik's land.  He
+considered whites inferior beings, creatures of a lower
+order, and assuring me that even the few white freemen of
+Abyssinia were never accorded anything approximating a
+position of social equality with the blacks.  They live in
+the poorer districts of the cities, in little white
+colonies, and a black who marries a white is socially
+ostracized.
+
+The arms and ammunition of the Abyssinians are greatly
+inferior to ours, yet they are tremendously effective
+against the ill-armed barbarians of Europe.  Their rifles
+are of a type similar to the magazine rifles of twentieth
+century Pan-America, but carrying only five cartridges in
+the magazine, in addition to the one in the chamber.  They
+are of extraordinary length, even those of the cavalry, and
+are of extreme accuracy.
+
+The Abyssinians themselves are a fine looking race of black
+men--tall, muscular, with fine teeth, and regular features,
+which incline distinctly toward Semitic mold--I refer to the
+full-blooded natives of Abyssinia.  They are the patricians--
+the aristocracy.  The army is officered almost exclusively
+by them.  Among the soldiery a lower type of negro
+predominates, with thicker lips and broader, flatter noses.
+These men are recruited, so the colonel told me, from among
+the conquered tribes of Africa.  They are good soldiers--
+brave and loyal.  They can read and write, and they are
+endowed with a self-confidence and pride which, from my
+readings of the words of ancient African explorers, must
+have been wanting in their earliest progenitors.  On the
+whole, it is apparent that the black race has thrived far
+better in the past two centuries under men of its own color
+than it had under the domination of whites during all
+previous history.
+
+I had been a prisoner at the little frontier post for over a
+month, when orders came to Colonel Belik to hasten to the
+eastern frontier with the major portion of his command,
+leaving only one troop to garrison the fort.  As his body
+servant, I accompanied him mounted upon a fiery little
+Abyssinian pony.
+
+We marched rapidly for ten days through the heart of the
+ancient German empire, halting when night found us in
+proximity to water.  Often we passed small posts similar to
+that at which the colonel's regiment had been quartered,
+finding in each instance that only a single company or troop
+remained for defence, the balance having been withdrawn
+toward the northeast, in the same direction in which we were
+moving.
+
+Naturally, the colonel had not confided to me the nature of
+his orders.  But the rapidity of our march and the fact that
+all available troops were being hastened toward the
+northeast assured me that a matter of vital importance to
+the dominion of Menelek XIV in that part of Europe was
+threatening or had already broken.
+
+I could not believe that a simple rising of the savage
+tribes of whites would necessitate the mobilizing of such a
+force as we presently met with converging from the south
+into our trail.  There were large bodies of cavalry and
+infantry, endless streams of artillery wagons and guns, and
+countless horse-drawn covered vehicles laden with camp
+equipage, munitions, and provisions.
+
+Here, for the first time, I saw camels, great caravans of
+them, bearing all sorts of heavy burdens, and miles upon
+miles of elephants doing similar service.  It was a scene of
+wondrous and barbaric splendor, for the men and beasts from
+the south were gaily caparisoned in rich colors, in marked
+contrast to the gray uniformed forces of the frontier, with
+which I had been familiar.
+
+The rumor reached us that Menelek himself was coming, and
+the pitch of excitement to which this announcement raised
+the troops was little short of miraculous--at least, to one
+of my race and nationality whose rulers for centuries had
+been but ordinary men, holding office at the will of the
+people for a few brief years.
+
+As I witnessed it, I could not but speculate upon the moral
+effect upon his troops of a sovereign's presence in the
+midst of battle.  All else being equal in war between the
+troops of a republic and an empire, could not this
+exhilarated mental state, amounting almost to hysteria on
+the part of the imperial troops, weigh heavily against the
+soldiers of a president?  I wonder.
+
+But if the emperor chanced to be absent?  What then? Again I
+wonder.
+
+On the eleventh day we reached our destination--a walled
+frontier city of about twenty thousand.  We passed some
+lakes, and crossed some old canals before entering the
+gates.  Within, beside the frame buildings, were many built
+of ancient brick and well-cut stone.  These, I was told,
+were of material taken from the ruins of the ancient city
+which, once, had stood upon the site of the present town.
+
+The name of the town, translated from the Abyssinian, is New
+Gondar.  It stands, I am convinced, upon the ruins of
+ancient Berlin, the one time capital of the old German
+empire, but except for the old building material used in the
+new town there is no sign of the former city.
+
+The day after we arrived, the town was gaily decorated with
+flags, streamers, gorgeous rugs, and banners, for the rumor
+had proved true--the emperor was coming.
+
+Colonel Belik had accorded me the greatest liberty,
+permitting me to go where I pleased, after my few duties had
+been performed.  As a result of his kindness, I spent much
+time wandering about New Gondar, talking with the
+inhabitants, and exploring the city of black men.
+
+As I had been given a semi-military uniform which bore
+insignia indicating that I was an officer's body servant,
+even the blacks treated me with a species of respect, though
+I could see by their manner that I was really as the dirt
+beneath their feet.  They answered my questions civilly
+enough, but they would not enter into conversation with me.
+It was from other slaves that I learned the gossip of the
+city.
+
+Troops were pouring in from the west and south, and pouring
+out toward the east.  I asked an old slave who was sweeping
+the dirt into little piles in the gutters of the street
+where the soldiers were going.  He looked at me in surprise.
+
+"Why, to fight the yellow men, of course," he said.  "They
+have crossed the border, and are marching toward New
+Gondar."
+
+"Who will win?" I asked.
+
+He shrugged his shoulders.  "Who knows?" he said.  "I hope
+it will be the yellow men, but Menelek is powerful--it will
+take many yellow men to defeat him."
+
+Crowds were gathering along the sidewalks to view the
+emperor's entry into the city.  I took my place among them,
+although I hate crowds, and I am glad that I did, for I
+witnessed such a spectacle of barbaric splendor as no other
+Pan-American has ever looked upon.
+
+Down the broad main thoroughfare, which may once have been
+the historic Unter den Linden, came a brilliant cortege.  At
+the head rode a regiment of red-coated hussars--enormous
+men, black as night.  There were troops of riflemen mounted
+on camels.  The emperor rode in a golden howdah upon the
+back of a huge elephant so covered with rich hangings and
+embellished with scintillating gems that scarce more than
+the beast's eyes and feet were visible.
+
+Menelek was a rather gross-looking man, well past middle
+age, but he carried himself with an air of dignity befitting
+one descended in unbroken line from the Prophet--as was his
+claim.
+
+His eyes were bright but crafty, and his features denoted
+both sensuality and cruelness.  In his youth he may have
+been a rather fine looking black, but when I saw him his
+appearance was revolting--to me, at least.
+
+Following the emperor came regiment after regiment from the
+various branches of the service, among them batteries of
+field guns mounted on elephants.
+
+In the center of the troops following the imperial elephant
+marched a great caravan of slaves.  The old street sweeper
+at my elbow told me that these were the gifts brought in
+from the far outlying districts by the commanding officers
+of the frontier posts.  The majority of them were women,
+destined, I was told, for the harems of the emperor and his
+favorites.  It made my old companion clench his fists to see
+those poor white women marching past to their horrid fates,
+and, though I shared his sentiments, I was as powerless to
+alter their destinies as he.
+
+For a week the troops kept pouring in and out of New Gondar--
+in, always, from the south and west, but always toward the
+east.  Each new contingent brought its gifts to the emperor.
+From the south they brought rugs and ornaments and jewels;
+from the west, slaves; for the commanding officers of the
+western frontier posts had naught else to bring.
+
+From the number of women they brought, I judged that they
+knew the weakness of their imperial master.
+
+And then soldiers commenced coming in from the east, but not
+with the gay assurance of those who came from the south and
+west--no, these others came in covered wagons, blood-soaked
+and suffering.  They came at first in little parties of
+eight or ten, and then they came in fifties, in hundreds,
+and one day a thousand maimed and dying men were carted into
+New Gondar.
+
+It was then that Menelek XIV became uneasy.  For fifty years
+his armies had conquered wherever they had marched.  At
+first he had led them in person, lately his presence within
+a hundred miles of the battle line had been sufficient for
+large engagements--for minor ones only the knowledge that
+they were fighting for the glory of their sovereign was
+necessary to win victories.
+
+One morning, New Gondar was awakened by the booming of
+cannon.  It was the first intimation that the townspeople
+had received that the enemy was forcing the imperial troops
+back upon the city.  Dust covered couriers galloped in from
+the front.  Fresh troops hastened from the city, and about
+noon Menelek rode out surrounded by his staff.
+
+For three days thereafter we could hear the cannonading and
+the spitting of the small arms, for the battle line was
+scarce two leagues from New Gondar.  The city was filled
+with wounded.  Just outside, soldiers were engaged in
+throwing up earthworks.  It was evident to the least
+enlightened that Menelek expected further reverses.
+
+And then the imperial troops fell back upon these new
+defenses, or, rather, they were forced back by the enemy.
+Shells commenced to fall within the city.  Menelek returned
+and took up his headquarters in the stone building that was
+called the palace.  That night came a lull in the
+hostilities--a truce had been arranged.
+
+Colonel Belik summoned me about seven o'clock to dress him
+for a function at the palace.  In the midst of death and
+defeat the emperor was about to give a great banquet to his
+officers.  I was to accompany my master and wait upon him--
+I, Jefferson Turck, lieutenant in the Pan-American navy!
+
+In the privacy of the colonel's quarters I had become
+accustomed to my menial duties, lightened as they were by
+the natural kindliness of my master, but the thought of
+appearing in public as a common slave revolted every fine
+instinct within me.  Yet there was nothing for it but to
+obey.
+
+I cannot, even now, bring myself to a narration of the
+humiliation which I experienced that night as I stood behind
+my black master in silent servility, now pouring his wine,
+now cutting up his meats for him, now fanning him with a
+large, plumed fan of feathers.
+
+As fond as I had grown of him, I could have thrust a knife
+into him, so keenly did I feel the affront that had been put
+upon me.  But at last the long banquet was concluded.  The
+tables were removed.  The emperor ascended a dais at one end
+of the room and seated himself upon a throne, and the
+entertainment commenced.  It was only what ancient history
+might have led me to expect--musicians, dancing girls,
+jugglers, and the like.
+
+Near midnight, the master of ceremonies announced that the
+slave women who had been presented to the emperor since his
+arrival in New Gondar would be exhibited, that the royal
+host would select such as he wished, after which he would
+present the balance of them to his guests.  Ah, what royal
+generosity!
+
+A small door at one side of the room opened, and the poor
+creatures filed in and were ranged in a long line before the
+throne.  Their backs were toward me.  I saw only an
+occasional profile as now and then a bolder spirit among
+them turned to survey the apartment and the gorgeous
+assemblage of officers in their brilliant dress uniforms.
+They were profiles of young girls, and pretty, but horror
+was indelibly stamped upon them all.  I shuddered as I
+contemplated their sad fate, and turned my eyes away.
+
+I heard the master of ceremonies command them to prostrate
+themselves before the emperor, and the sounds as they went
+upon their knees before him, touching their foreheads to the
+floor.  Then came the official's voice again, in sharp and
+peremptory command.
+
+"Down, slave!" he cried.  "Make obeisance to your
+sovereign!"
+
+I looked up, attracted by the tone of the man's voice, to
+see a single, straight, slim figure standing erect in the
+center of the line of prostrate girls, her arms folded
+across her breast and little chin in the air.  Her back was
+toward me--I could not see her face, though I should like to
+see the countenance of this savage young lioness, standing
+there defiant among that herd of terrified sheep.
+
+"Down!  Down!" shouted the master of ceremonies, taking a
+step toward her and half drawing his sword.
+
+My blood boiled.  To stand there, inactive, while a negro
+struck down that brave girl of my own race!  Instinctively I
+took a forward step to place myself in the man's path.  But
+at the same instant Menelek raised his hand in a gesture
+that halted the officer.  The emperor seemed interested, but
+in no way angered at the girl's attitude.
+
+"Let us inquire," he said in a smooth, pleasant voice, "why
+this young woman refuses to do homage to her sovereign," and
+he put the question himself directly to her.
+
+She answered him in Abyssinian, but brokenly and with an
+accent that betrayed how recently she had acquired her
+slight knowledge of the tongue.
+
+"I go on my knees to no one," she said.  "I have no
+sovereign.  I myself am sovereign in my own country."
+
+Menelek, at her words, leaned back in his throne and laughed
+uproariously.  Following his example, which seemed always
+the correct procedure, the assembled guests vied with one
+another in an effort to laugh more noisily than the emperor.
+
+The girl but tilted her chin a bit higher in the air--even
+her back proclaimed her utter contempt for her captors.
+Finally Menelek restored quiet by the simple expedient of a
+frown, whereupon each loyal guest exchanged his mirthful
+mien for an emulative scowl.
+
+"And who," asked Menelek, "are you, and by what name is your
+country called?"
+
+"I am Victory, Queen of Grabritin," replied the girl so
+quickly and so unexpectedly that I gasped in astonishment.
+
+
+
+9
+
+
+Victory!  She was here, a slave to these black conquerors.
+Once more I started toward her, but better judgment held me
+back--I could do nothing to help her other than by stealth.
+Could I even accomplish aught by this means?  I did not
+know.  It seemed beyond the pale of possibility, and yet I
+should try.
+
+"And you will not bend the knee to me?" continued Menelek,
+after she had spoken.  Victory shook her head in a most
+decided negation.
+
+"You shall be my first choice, then," said the emperor.  "I
+like your spirit, for the breaking of it will add to my
+pleasure in you, and never fear but that it shall be broken--
+this very night.  Take her to my apartments," and he
+motioned to an officer at his side
+
+I was surprised to see Victory follow the man off in
+apparent quiet submission.  I tried to follow, that I might
+be near her against some opportunity to speak with her or
+assist in her escape.  But, after I had followed them from
+the throne room, through several other apartments, and down
+a long corridor, I found my further progress barred by a
+soldier who stood guard before a doorway through which the
+officer conducted Victory.
+
+Almost immediately the officer reappeared and started back
+in the direction of the throne room.  I had been hiding in a
+doorway after the guard had turned me back, having taken
+refuge there while his back was turned, and, as the officer
+approached me, I withdrew into the room beyond, which was in
+darkness.  There I remained for a long time, watching the
+sentry before the door of the room in which Victory was a
+prisoner, and awaiting some favorable circumstance which
+would give me entry to her.
+
+I have not attempted to fully describe my sensations at the
+moment I recognized Victory, because, I can assure you, they
+were entirely indescribable.  I should never have imagined
+that the sight of any human being could affect me as had
+this unexpected discovery of Victory in the same room in
+which I was, while I had thought of her for weeks either as
+dead, or at best hundreds of miles to the west, and as
+irretrievably lost to me as though she were, in truth, dead.
+
+I was filled with a strange, mad impulse to be near her.  It
+was not enough merely to assist her, or protect her--I
+desired to touch her--to take her in my arms.  I was
+astounded at myself.  Another thing puzzled me--it was my
+incomprehensible feeling of elation since I had again seen
+her.  With a fate worse than death staring her in the face,
+and with the knowledge that I should probably die defending
+her within the hour, I was still happier than I had been for
+weeks--and all because I had seen again for a few brief
+minutes the figure of a little heathen maiden.  I couldn't
+account for it, and it angered me; I had never before felt
+any such sensations in the presence of a woman, and I had
+made love to some very beautiful ones in my time.
+
+It seemed ages that I stood in the shadow of that doorway,
+in the ill-lit corridor of the palace of Menelek XIV.  A
+sickly gas jet cast a sad pallor upon the black face of the
+sentry.  The fellow seemed rooted to the spot.  Evidently he
+would never leave, or turn his back again.
+
+I had been in hiding but a short time when I heard the sound
+of distant cannon.  The truce had ended, and the battle had
+been resumed.  Very shortly thereafter the earth shook to
+the explosion of a shell within the city, and from time to
+time thereafter other shells burst at no great distance from
+the palace.  The yellow men were bombarding New Gondar
+again.
+
+Presently officers and slaves commenced to traverse the
+corridor on matters pertaining to their duties, and then
+came the emperor, scowling and wrathful.  He was followed by
+a few personal attendants, whom he dismissed at the doorway
+to his apartments--the same doorway through which Victory
+had been taken.  I chafed to follow him, but the corridor
+was filled with people.  At last they betook themselves to
+their own apartments, which lay upon either side of the
+corridor.
+
+An officer and a slave entered the very room in which I hid,
+forcing me to flatten myself to one side in the darkness
+until they had passed.  Then the slave made a light, and I
+knew that I must find another hiding place.
+
+Stepping boldly into the corridor, I saw that it was now
+empty save for the single sentry before the emperor's door.
+He glanced up as I emerged from the room, the occupants of
+which had not seen me.  I walked straight toward the
+soldier, my mind made up in an instant.  I tried to simulate
+an expression of cringing servility, and I must have
+succeeded, for I entirely threw the man off his guard, so
+that he permitted me to approach within reach of his rifle
+before stopping me.  Then it was too late--for him.
+
+Without a word or a warning, I snatched the piece from his
+grasp, and, at the same time struck him a terrific blow
+between the eyes with my clenched fist.  He staggered back
+in surprise, too dumbfounded even to cry out, and then I
+clubbed his rifle and felled him with a single mighty blow.
+
+A moment later, I had burst into the room beyond.  It was
+empty!
+
+I gazed about, mad with disappointment.  Two doors opened
+from this to other rooms.  I ran to the nearer and listened.
+Yes, voices were coming from beyond and one was a woman's,
+level and cold and filled with scorn.  There was no terror
+in it.  It was Victory's.
+
+I turned the knob and pushed the door inward just in time to
+see Menelek seize the girl and drag her toward the far end
+of the apartment.  At the same instant there was a deafening
+roar just outside the palace--a shell had struck much nearer
+than any of its predecessors.  The noise of it drowned my
+rapid rush across the room.
+
+But in her struggles, Victory turned Menelek about so that
+he saw me.  She was striking him in the face with her
+clenched fist, and now he was choking her.
+
+At sight of me, he gave voice to a roar of anger.
+
+"What means this, slave?" he cried.  "Out of here! Out of
+here!  Quick, before I kill you!"
+
+But for answer I rushed upon him, striking him with the butt
+of the rifle.  He staggered back, dropping Victory to the
+floor, and then he cried aloud for the guard, and came at
+me.  Again and again I struck him; but his thick skull might
+have been armor plate, for all the damage I did it.
+
+He tried to close with me, seizing the rifle, but I was
+stronger than he, and, wrenching the weapon from his grasp,
+tossed it aside and made for his throat with my bare hands.
+I had not dared fire the weapon for fear that its report
+would bring the larger guard stationed at the farther end of
+the corridor.
+
+We struggled about the room, striking one another, knocking
+over furniture, and rolling upon the floor.  Menelek was a
+powerful man, and he was fighting for his life.  Continually
+he kept calling for the guard, until I succeeded in getting
+a grip upon his throat; but it was too late.  His cries had
+been heard, and suddenly the door burst open, and a score of
+armed guardsmen rushed into the apartment.
+
+Victory seized the rifle from the floor and leaped between
+me and them.  I had the black emperor upon his back, and
+both my hands were at his throat, choking the life from him.
+
+The rest happened in the fraction of a second.  There was a
+rending crash above us, then a deafening explosion within
+the chamber.  Smoke and powder fumes filled the room.  Half
+stunned, I rose from the lifeless body of my antagonist just
+in time to see Victory stagger to her feet and turn toward
+me.  Slowly the smoke cleared to reveal the shattered
+remnants of the guard.  A shell had fallen through the
+palace roof and exploded just in the rear of the detachment
+of guardsmen who were coming to the rescue of their emperor.
+Why neither Victory nor I were struck is a miracle.  The
+room was a wreck.  A great, jagged hole was torn in the
+ceiling, and the wall toward the corridor had been blown
+entirely out.
+
+As I rose, Victory had risen, too, and started toward me.
+But when she saw that I was uninjured she stopped, and stood
+there in the center of the demolished apartment looking at
+me.  Her expression was inscrutable--I could not guess
+whether she was glad to see me, or not.
+
+"Victory!" I cried.  "Thank God that you are safe!" And I
+approached her, a greater gladness in my heart than I had
+felt since the moment that I knew the Coldwater must be
+swept beyond thirty.
+
+There was no answering gladness in her eyes.  Instead, she
+stamped her little foot in anger.
+
+"Why did it have to be you who saved me!" she exclaimed.  "I
+hate you!"
+
+"Hate me?" I asked.  "Why should you hate me, Victory?  I do
+not hate you.  I--I--"  What was I about to say?  I was very
+close to her as a great light broke over me.  Why had I
+never realized it before?  The truth accounted for a great
+many hitherto inexplicable moods that had claimed me from
+time to time since first I had seen Victory.
+
+"Why should I hate you?" she repeated.  "Because Snider told
+me--he told me that you had promised me to him, but he did
+not get me.  I killed him, as I should like to kill you!"
+
+"Snider lied!" I cried.  And then I seized her and held her
+in my arms, and made her listen to me, though she struggled
+and fought like a young lioness.  "I love you, Victory.  You
+must know that I love you--that I have always loved you, and
+that I never could have made so base a promise."
+
+She ceased her struggles, just a trifle, but still tried to
+push me from her.  "You called me a barbarian!" she said.
+
+Ah, so that was it!  That still rankled.  I crushed her to
+me.
+
+"You could not love a barbarian," she went on, but she had
+ceased to struggle.
+
+"But I do love a barbarian, Victory!" I cried, "the dearest
+barbarian in the world."
+
+She raised her eyes to mine, and then her smooth, brown arms
+encircled my neck and drew my lips down to hers.
+
+"I love you--I have loved you always!" she said, and then
+she buried her face upon my shoulder and sobbed.  "I have
+been so unhappy," she said, "but I could not die while I
+thought that you might live."
+
+As we stood there, momentarily forgetful of all else than
+our new found happiness, the ferocity of the bombardment
+increased until scarce thirty seconds elapsed between the
+shells that rained about the palace.
+
+To remain long would be to invite certain death.  We could
+not escape the way that we had entered the apartment, for
+not only was the corridor now choked with debris, but beyond
+the corridor there were doubtless many members of the
+emperor's household who would stop us.
+
+Upon the opposite side of the room was another door, and
+toward this I led the way.  It opened into a third apartment
+with windows overlooking an inner court.  From one of these
+windows I surveyed the courtyard.  Apparently it was empty,
+and the rooms upon the opposite side were unlighted.
+
+Assisting Victory to the open, I followed, and together we
+crossed the court, discovering upon the opposite side a
+number of wide, wooden doors set in the wall of the palace,
+with small windows between.  As we stood close behind one of
+the doors, listening, a horse within neighed.
+
+"The stables!" I whispered, and, a moment later, had pushed
+back a door and entered.  From the city about us we could
+hear the din of great commotion, and quite close the sounds
+of battle--the crack of thousands of rifles, the yells of
+the soldiers, the hoarse commands of officers, and the blare
+of bugles.
+
+The bombardment had ceased as suddenly as it had commenced.
+I judged that the enemy was storming the city, for the
+sounds we heard were the sounds of hand-to-hand combat.
+
+Within the stables I groped about until I had found saddles
+and bridles for two horses.  But afterward, in the darkness,
+I could find but a single mount.  The doors of the opposite
+side, leading to the street, were open, and we could see
+great multitudes of men, women, and children fleeing toward
+the west.  Soldiers, afoot and mounted, were joining the mad
+exodus.  Now and then a camel or an elephant would pass
+bearing some officer or dignitary to safety.  It was evident
+that the city would fall at any moment--a fact which was
+amply proclaimed by the terror-stricken haste of the fear-
+mad mob.
+
+Horse, camel, and elephant trod helpless women and children
+beneath their feet.  A common soldier dragged a general from
+his mount, and, leaping to the animal's back, fled down the
+packed street toward the west.  A woman seized a gun and
+brained a court dignitary, whose horse had trampled her
+child to death.  Shrieks, curses, commands, supplications
+filled the air.  It was a frightful scene--one that will be
+burned upon my memory forever.
+
+I had saddled and bridled the single horse which had
+evidently been overlooked by the royal household in its
+flight, and, standing a little back in the shadow of the
+stable's interior, Victory and I watched the surging throng
+without.
+
+To have entered it would have been to have courted greater
+danger than we were already in.  We decided to wait until
+the stress of blacks thinned, and for more than an hour we
+stood there while the sounds of battle raged upon the
+eastern side of the city and the population flew toward the
+west.  More and more numerous became the uniformed soldiers
+among the fleeing throng, until, toward the last, the street
+was packed with them.  It was no orderly retreat, but a
+rout, complete and terrible.
+
+The fighting was steadily approaching us now, until the
+crack of rifles sounded in the very street upon which we
+were looking.  And then came a handful of brave men--a
+little rear guard backing slowly toward the west, working
+their smoking rifles in feverish haste as they fired volley
+after volley at the foe we could not see.
+
+But these were pressed back and back until the first line of
+the enemy came opposite our shelter.  They were men of
+medium height, with olive complexions and almond eyes.  In
+them I recognized the descendants of the ancient Chinese
+race.
+
+They were well uniformed and superbly armed, and they fought
+bravely and under perfect discipline.  So rapt was I in the
+exciting events transpiring in the street that I did not
+hear the approach of a body of men from behind.  It was a
+party of the conquerors who had entered the palace and were
+searching it.
+
+They came upon us so unexpectedly that we were prisoners
+before we realized what had happened.  That night we were
+held under a strong guard just outside the eastern wall of
+the city, and the next morning were started upon a long
+march toward the east.
+
+Our captors were not unkind to us, and treated the women
+prisoners with respect.  We marched for many days--so many
+that I lost count of them--and at last we came to another
+city--a Chinese city this time--which stands upon the site
+of ancient Moscow.
+
+It is only a small frontier city, but it is well built and
+well kept.  Here a large military force is maintained, and
+here also, is a terminus of the railroad that crosses modern
+China to the Pacific.
+
+There was every evidence of a high civilization in all that
+we saw within the city, which, in connection with the humane
+treatment that had been accorded all prisoners upon the long
+and tiresome march, encouraged me to hope that I might
+appeal to some high officer here for the treatment which my
+rank and birth merited.
+
+We could converse with our captors only through the medium
+of interpreters who spoke both Chinese and Abyssinian.  But
+there were many of these, and shortly after we reached the
+city I persuaded one of them to carry a verbal message to
+the officer who had commanded the troops during the return
+from New Gondar, asking that I might be given a hearing by
+some high official.
+
+The reply to my request was a summons to appear before the
+officer to whom I had addressed my appeal.  A sergeant came
+for me along with the interpreter, and I managed to obtain
+his permission to let Victory accompany me--I had never left
+her alone with the prisoners since we had been captured.
+
+To my delight I found that the officer into whose presence
+we were conducted spoke Abyssinian fluently.  He was
+astounded when I told him that I was a Pan-American.  Unlike
+all others whom I had spoken with since my arrival in
+Europe, he was well acquainted with ancient history--was
+familiar with twentieth century conditions in Pan-America,
+and after putting a half dozen questions to me was satisfied
+that I spoke the truth.
+
+When I told him that Victory was Queen of England he showed
+little surprise, telling me that in their recent
+explorations in ancient Russia they had found many
+descendants of the old nobility and royalty.
+
+He immediately set aside a comfortable house for us,
+furnished us with servants and with money, and in other ways
+showed us every attention and kindness.
+
+He told me that he would telegraph his emperor at once, and
+the result was that we were presently commanded to repair to
+Peking and present ourselves before the ruler.
+
+We made the journey in a comfortable railway carriage,
+through a country which, as we traveled farther toward the
+east, showed increasing evidence of prosperity and wealth.
+
+At the imperial court we were received with great kindness,
+the emperor being most inquisitive about the state of modern
+Pan-America.  He told me that while he personally deplored
+the existence of the strict regulations which had raised a
+barrier between the east and the west, he had felt, as had
+his predecessors, that recognition of the wishes of the
+great Pan-American federation would be most conducive to the
+continued peace of the world.
+
+His empire includes all of Asia, and the islands of the
+Pacific as far east as 175dW.  The empire of Japan no longer
+exists, having been conquered and absorbed by China over a
+hundred years ago.  The Philippines are well administered,
+and constitute one of the most progressive colonies of the
+Chinese empire.
+
+The emperor told me that the building of this great empire
+and the spreading of enlightenment among its diversified and
+savage peoples had required all the best efforts of nearly
+two hundred years.  Upon his accession to the throne he had
+found the labor well nigh perfected and had turned his
+attention to the reclamation of Europe.
+
+His ambition is to wrest it from the hands of the blacks,
+and then to attempt the work of elevating its fallen peoples
+to the high estate from which the Great War precipitated
+them.
+
+I asked him who was victorious in that war, and he shook his
+head sadly as he replied:
+
+"Pan-America, perhaps, and China, with the blacks of
+Abyssinia," he said.  "Those who did not fight were the only
+ones to reap any of the rewards that are supposed to belong
+to victory.  The combatants reaped naught but annihilation.
+You have seen--better than any man you must realize that
+there was no victory for any nation embroiled in that
+frightful war."
+
+"When did it end?" I asked him.
+
+Again he shook his head.  "It has not ended yet.  There has
+never been a formal peace declared in Europe.  After a while
+there were none left to make peace, and the rude tribes
+which sprang from the survivors continued to fight among
+themselves because they knew no better condition of society.
+War razed the works of man--war and pestilence razed man.
+God give that there shall never be such another war!"
+
+You all know how Porfirio Johnson returned to Pan-America
+with John Alvarez in chains; how Alvarez's trial raised a
+popular demonstration that the government could not ignore.
+His eloquent appeal--not for himself, but for me--is
+historic, as are its results.  You know how a fleet was sent
+across the Atlantic to search for me, how the restrictions
+against crossing thirty to one hundred seventy-five were
+removed forever, and how the officers were brought to
+Peking, arriving upon the very day that Victory and I were
+married at the imperial court.
+
+My return to Pan-America was very different from anything I
+could possibly have imagined a year before.  Instead of
+being received as a traitor to my country, I was acclaimed a
+hero.  It was good to get back again, good to witness the
+kindly treatment that was accorded my dear Victory, and when
+I learned that Delcarte and Taylor had been found at the
+mouth of the Rhine and were already back in Pan-America my
+joy was unalloyed.
+
+And now we are going back, Victory and I, with the men and
+the munitions and power to reclaim England for her queen.
+Again I shall cross thirty, but under what altered
+conditions!
+
+A new epoch for Europe is inaugurated, with enlightened
+China on the east and enlightened Pan-America on the west--
+the two great peace powers whom God has preserved to
+regenerate chastened and forgiven Europe.  I have been
+through much--I have suffered much, but I have won two great
+laurel wreaths beyond thirty.  One is the opportunity to
+rescue Europe from barbarism, the other is a little
+barbarian, and the greater of these is--Victory.
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg etext of The Lost Continent by
+Edgar Rice Burroughs
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/old/lcont10.zip b/old/lcont10.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..94e706a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/lcont10.zip
diff --git a/old/lcont10h.htm b/old/lcont10h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f1aa045
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/lcont10h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,5111 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+  <head>
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Lost Continent, by Edgar Burroughs.
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css">
+/*<![CDATA[  XML blockout */
+<!--
+    p {  margin-top: .75em;
+         text-align: justify;
+         margin-bottom: .75em;
+         text-indent: 1em;
+         }
+    p.center {text-indent: 0; text-align: center;}
+    h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {
+         text-align: center; /* all headings centered */
+         clear: both;
+         }
+    hr { width: 100%;
+	 margin-top: 2em;
+	 margin-bottom: 2em;
+         margin-left: auto;
+         margin-right: auto;
+         clear: both;
+       }
+
+    body{margin-left: 10%;
+         margin-right: 10%;
+        }
+    // -->
+    /* XML end  ]]>*/
+    </style>
+  </head>
+<body>
+
+<pre>
+Project Gutenberg Etext, Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burroughs
+
+Please take a look at the important information in this header.
+We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an
+electronic path open for the next readers.  Do not remove this.
+
+
+**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
+
+**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
+
+*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations*
+
+Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and
+further information is included below.  We need your donations.
+
+
+The Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burroughs
+
+July, 1994  [Etext #149]
+
+Project Gutenberg Etext, The Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burroughs
+********This file should be named lcont10.txt or lcont10.zip*******
+
+Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, lcont11.txt.
+VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, lcont10a.txt.
+
+This etext was created by Judith Boss, Omaha, Nebraska.
+The equipment:  an IBM-compatible 486/50, a Hewlett-Packard
+ScanJet IIc flatbed scanner, and a copy of Calera Recognition
+Systems' M/600 Series Professional OCR software and RISC
+accelerator board donated by Calera.
+
+
+We are now trying to release all our books one month in advance
+of the official release dates, for time for better editing.  We
+have this as a goal to accomplish by the end of the year but we
+cannot guarantee to stay that far ahead every month after that.
+
+Please note:  neither this list nor its contents are final till
+midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement.
+The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at
+Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month.  A
+preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment
+and editing by those who wish to do so.  To be sure you have an
+up to date first edition [xxxxx10x.xxx] please check file sizes
+in the first week of the next month.  Since our ftp program has
+a bug in it that scrambles the date [tried to fix and failed] a
+look at the file size will have to do, but we will try to see a
+new copy has at least one byte more or less.
+
+
+Information about Project Gutenberg (one page)
+
+We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work.  The
+fifty hours is one conservative estimate for how long it we take
+to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright
+searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc.  This
+projected audience is one hundred million readers.  If our value
+per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $4
+million dollars per hour this year as we release some eight text
+files per month:  thus upping our productivity from $2 million.
+
+The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext
+Files by the December 31, 2001.  [10,000 x 100,000,000=Trillion]
+This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers,
+which is 10% of the expected number of computer users by the end
+of the year 2001.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+All donations should be made to "Project Gutenberg/IBC", and are
+tax deductible to the extent allowable by law ("IBC" is Illinois
+Benedictine College).  (Subscriptions to our paper newsletter go
+to IBC, too)
+
+For these and other matters, please mail to:
+
+Project Gutenberg
+P. O. Box  2782
+Champaign, IL 61825
+
+When all other email fails try our Michael S. Hart, Executive
+Director:
+hart@vmd.cso.uiuc.edu (internet)   hart@uiucvmd   (bitnet)
+
+We would prefer to send you this information by email
+(Internet, Bitnet, Compuserve, ATTMAIL or MCImail).
+
+******
+If you have an FTP program (or emulator), please
+FTP directly to the Project Gutenberg archives:
+[Mac users, do NOT point and click. . .type]
+
+ftp mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu
+login:  anonymous
+password:  your@login
+cd etext/etext91
+or cd etext92
+or cd etext93 [for new books]  [now also in cd etext/etext93]
+or cd etext/articles [get suggest gut for more information]
+dir [to see files]
+get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files]
+GET 0INDEX.GUT
+for a list of books
+and
+GET NEW GUT for general information
+and
+MGET GUT* for newsletters.
+
+**Information prepared by the Project Gutenberg legal advisor**
+(Three Pages)
+
+
+***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START***
+Why is this "Small Print!" statement here?  You know: lawyers.
+They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with
+your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from
+someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our
+fault.  So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement
+disclaims most of our liability to you.  It also tells you how
+you can distribute copies of this etext if you want to.
+
+*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT
+By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
+etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept
+this "Small Print!" statement.  If you do not, you can receive
+a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by
+sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person
+you got it from.  If you received this etext on a physical
+medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request.
+
+ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS
+This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-
+tm etexts, is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor
+Michael S. Hart through the Project Gutenberg Association at
+Illinois Benedictine College (the "Project").  Among other
+things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright
+on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and
+distribute it in the United States without permission and
+without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules, set forth
+below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext
+under the Project's "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark.
+
+To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable
+efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain
+works.  Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any
+medium they may be on may contain "Defects".  Among other
+things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged
+disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer
+codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.
+
+LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES
+But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below,
+[1] the Project (and any other party you may receive this
+etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including
+legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR
+UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT,
+INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE
+OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE
+POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
+
+If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of
+receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any)
+you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that
+time to the person you received it from.  If you received it
+on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and
+such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement
+copy.  If you received it electronically, such person may
+choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to
+receive it electronically.
+
+THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS".  NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS
+TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
+PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+
+Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or
+the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the
+above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you
+may have other legal rights.
+
+INDEMNITY
+You will indemnify and hold the Project, its directors,
+officers, members and agents harmless from all liability, cost
+and expense, including legal fees, that arise directly or
+indirectly from any of the following that you do or cause:
+[1] distribution of this etext, [2] alteration, modification,
+or addition to the etext, or [3] any Defect.
+
+DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm"
+You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by
+disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this
+"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg,
+or:
+
+[1]  Only give exact copies of it.  Among other things, this
+     requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the
+     etext or this "small print!" statement.  You may however,
+     if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable
+     binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form,
+     including any form resulting from conversion by word pro-
+     cessing or hypertext software, but only so long as
+     *EITHER*:
+
+     [*]  The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and
+          does *not* contain characters other than those
+          intended by the author of the work, although tilde
+          (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may
+          be used to convey punctuation intended by the
+          author, and additional characters may be used to
+          indicate hypertext links; OR
+
+     [*]  The etext may be readily converted by the reader at
+          no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent
+          form by the program that displays the etext (as is
+          the case, for instance, with most word processors);
+          OR
+
+     [*]  You provide, or agree to also provide on request at
+          no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the
+          etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC
+          or other equivalent proprietary form).
+
+[2]  Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this
+     "Small Print!" statement.
+
+[3]  Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the
+     net profits you derive calculated using the method you
+     already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  If you
+     don't derive profits, no royalty is due.  Royalties are
+     payable to "Project Gutenberg Association / Illinois
+     Benedictine College" within the 60 days following each
+     date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare)
+     your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return.
+
+WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO?
+The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time,
+scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty
+free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution
+you can think of.  Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg
+Association / Illinois Benedictine College".
+
+This "Small Print!" by Charles B. Kramer, Attorney
+Internet (72600.2026@compuserve.com); TEL: (212-254-5093)
+*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END*
+</pre>
+
+<p>The Lost Continent was originally published under
+the title Beyond Thirty</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h1>THE LOST CONTINENT</h1>
+
+<h2>Edgar Rice Burroughs</h2>
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>1</h2>
+
+
+<p>Since earliest childhood I have been strangely fascinated by
+the mystery surrounding the history of the last days of
+twentieth century Europe.  My interest is keenest, perhaps,
+not so much in relation to known facts as to speculation
+upon the unknowable of the two centuries that have rolled by
+since human intercourse between the Western and Eastern
+Hemispheres ceased&mdash;the mystery of Europe's state following
+the termination of the Great War&mdash;provided, of course, that
+the war had been terminated.</p>
+
+<p>From out of the meagerness of our censored histories we
+learned that for fifteen years after the cessation of
+diplomatic relations between the United States of North
+America and the belligerent nations of the Old World, news
+of more or less doubtful authenticity filtered, from time to
+time, into the Western Hemisphere from the Eastern.</p>
+
+<p>Then came the fruition of that historic propaganda which is
+best described by its own slogan: &quot;The East for the East&mdash;the West for the West,&quot; and all further intercourse was
+stopped by statute.</p>
+
+<p>Even prior to this, transoceanic commerce had practically
+ceased, owing to the perils and hazards of the mine-strewn
+waters of both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.  Just when
+submarine activities ended we do not know but the last
+vessel of this type sighted by a Pan-American merchantman
+was the huge Q 138, which discharged twenty-nine torpedoes
+at a Brazilian tank steamer off the Bermudas in the fall of
+1972.  A heavy sea and the excellent seamanship of the
+master of the Brazilian permitted the Pan-American to escape
+and report this last of a long series of outrages upon our
+commerce.  God alone knows how many hundreds of our ancient
+ships fell prey to the roving steel sharks of blood-frenzied
+Europe.  Countless were the vessels and men that passed over
+our eastern and western horizons never to return; but
+whether they met their fates before the belching tubes of
+submarines or among the aimlessly drifting mine fields, no
+man lived to tell.</p>
+
+<p>And then came the great Pan-American Federation which linked
+the Western Hemisphere from pole to pole under a single
+flag, which joined the navies of the New World into the
+mightiest fighting force that ever sailed the seven seas&mdash;the greatest argument for peace the world had ever known.</p>
+
+<p>Since that day peace had reigned from the western shores of
+the Azores to the western shores of the Hawaiian Islands,
+nor has any man of either hemisphere dared cross 30dW. or
+175dW.  From 30d to 175d is ours&mdash;from 30d to 175d is
+peace, prosperity and happiness.</p>
+
+<p>Beyond was the great unknown.  Even the geographies of my
+boyhood showed nothing beyond.  We were taught of nothing
+beyond.  Speculation was discouraged.  For two hundred years
+the Eastern Hemisphere had been wiped from the maps and
+histories of Pan-America.  Its mention in fiction, even, was
+forbidden.</p>
+
+<p>Our ships of peace patrol thirty and one hundred seventy-
+five.  What ships from beyond they have warned only the
+secret archives of government show; but, a naval officer
+myself, I have gathered from the traditions of the service
+that it has been fully two hundred years since smoke or sail
+has been sighted east of 30d or west of 175d.  The fate of
+the relinquished provinces which lay beyond the dead lines
+we could only speculate upon.  That they were taken by the
+military power, which rose so suddenly in China after the
+fall of the republic, and which wrested Manchuria and Korea
+from Russia and Japan, and also absorbed the Philippines, is
+quite within the range of possibility.</p>
+
+<p>It was the commander of a Chinese man-of-war who received a
+copy of the edict of 1972 from the hand of my illustrious
+ancestor, Admiral Turck, on one hundred seventy-five, two
+hundred and six years ago, and from the yellowed pages of
+the admiral's diary I learned that the fate of the
+Philippines was even then presaged by these Chinese naval
+officers.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, for over two hundred years no man crossed 30d to 175d
+and lived to tell his story&mdash;not until chance drew me across
+and back again, and public opinion, revolting at last
+against the drastic regulations of our long-dead forbears,
+demanded that my story be given to the world, and that the
+narrow interdict which commanded peace, prosperity, and
+happiness to halt at 30d and 175d be removed forever.</p>
+
+<p>I am glad that it was given to me to be an instrument in the
+hands of Providence for the uplifting of benighted Europe,
+and the amelioration of the suffering, degradation, and
+abysmal ignorance in which I found her.</p>
+
+<p>I shall not live to see the complete regeneration of the
+savage hordes of the Eastern Hemisphere&mdash;that is a work
+which will require many generations, perhaps ages, so
+complete has been their reversion to savagery; but I know
+that the work has been started, and I am proud of the share
+in it which my generous countrymen have placed in my hands.</p>
+
+<p>The government already possesses a complete official report
+of my adventures beyond thirty.  In the narrative I purpose
+telling my story in a less formal, and I hope, a more
+entertaining, style; though, being only a naval officer and
+without claim to the slightest literary ability, I shall
+most certainly fall far short of the possibilities which are
+inherent in my subject.  That I have passed through the most
+wondrous adventures that have befallen a civilized man
+during the past two centuries encourages me in the belief
+that, however ill the telling, the facts themselves will
+command your interest to the final page.</p>
+
+<p>Beyond thirty!  Romance, adventure, strange peoples,
+fearsome beasts&mdash;all the excitement and scurry of the lives
+of the twentieth century ancients that have been denied us
+in these dull days of peace and prosaic prosperity&mdash;all, all
+lay beyond thirty, the invisible barrier between the stupid,
+commercial present and the carefree, barbarous past.</p>
+
+<p>What boy has not sighed for the good old days of wars,
+revolutions, and riots; how I used to pore over the
+chronicles of those old days, those dear old days, when
+workmen went armed to their labors; when they fell upon one
+another with gun and bomb and dagger, and the streets ran
+red with blood!  Ah, but those were the times when life was
+worth the living; when a man who went out by night knew not
+at which dark corner a &quot;footpad&quot; might leap upon and slay
+him; when wild beasts roamed the forest and the jungles, and
+there were savage men, and countries yet unexplored.</p>
+
+<p>Now, in all the Western Hemisphere dwells no man who may not
+find a school house within walking distance of his home, or
+at least within flying distance.</p>
+
+<p>The wildest beast that roams our waste places lairs in the
+frozen north or the frozen south within a government
+reserve, where the curious may view him and feed him bread
+crusts from the hand with perfect impunity.</p>
+
+<p>But beyond thirty!  And I have gone there, and come back;
+and now you may go there, for no longer is it high treason,
+punishable by disgrace or death, to cross 30d or 175d.</p>
+
+<p>My name is Jefferson Turck.  I am a lieutenant in the navy&mdash;in the great Pan-American navy, the only navy which now
+exists in all the world.</p>
+
+<p>I was born in Arizona, in the United States of North
+America, in the year of our Lord 2116.  Therefore, I am
+twenty-one years old.</p>
+
+<p>In early boyhood I tired of the teeming cities and
+overcrowded rural districts of Arizona.  Every generation of
+Turcks for over two centuries has been represented in the
+navy.  The navy called to me, as did the free, wide,
+unpeopled spaces of the mighty oceans.  And so I joined the
+navy, coming up from the ranks, as we all must, learning our
+craft as we advance.  My promotion was rapid, for my family
+seems to inherit naval lore.  We are born officers, and I
+reserve to myself no special credit for an early advancement
+in the service.</p>
+
+<p>At twenty I found myself a lieutenant in command of the
+aero-submarine Coldwater, of the SS-96 class.  The Coldwater
+was one of the first of the air and underwater craft which
+have been so greatly improved since its launching, and was
+possessed of innumerable weaknesses which, fortunately, have
+been eliminated in more recent vessels of similar type.</p>
+
+<p>Even when I took command, she was fit only for the junk
+pile; but the world-old parsimony of government retained her
+in active service, and sent two hundred men to sea in her,
+with myself, a mere boy, in command of her, to patrol thirty
+from Iceland to the Azores.</p>
+
+<p>Much of my service had been spent aboard the great
+merchantmen-of-war.  These are the utility naval vessels
+that have transformed the navies of old, which burdened the
+peoples with taxes for their support, into the present day
+fleets of self-supporting ships that find ample time for
+target practice and gun drill while they bear freight and
+the mails from the continents to the far-scattered island of
+Pan-America.</p>
+
+<p>This change in service was most welcome to me, especially as
+it brought with it coveted responsibilities of sole command,
+and I was prone to overlook the deficiencies of the
+Coldwater in the natural pride I felt in my first ship.</p>
+
+<p>The Coldwater was fully equipped for two months' patrolling&mdash;the ordinary length of assignment to this service&mdash;and a
+month had already passed, its monotony entirely unrelieved
+by sight of another craft, when the first of our misfortunes
+befell.</p>
+
+<p>We had been riding out a storm at an altitude of about three
+thousand feet.  All night we had hovered above the tossing
+billows of the moonlight clouds.  The detonation of the
+thunder and the glare of lightning through an occasional
+rift in the vaporous wall proclaimed the continued fury of
+the tempest upon the surface of the sea; but we, far above
+it all, rode in comparative ease upon the upper gale.  With
+the coming of dawn the clouds beneath us became a glorious
+sea of gold and silver, soft and beautiful; but they could
+not deceive us as to the blackness and the terrors of the
+storm-lashed ocean which they hid.</p>
+
+<p>I was at breakfast when my chief engineer entered and
+saluted.  His face was grave, and I thought he was even a
+trifle paler than usual.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well?&quot; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>He drew the back of his forefinger nervously across his brow
+in a gesture that was habitual with him in moments of mental
+stress.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The gravitation-screen generators, sir,&quot; he said.  &quot;Number
+one went to the bad about an hour and a half ago.  We have
+been working upon it steadily since; but I have to report,
+sir, that it is beyond repair.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Number two will keep us supplied,&quot; I answered.  &quot;In the
+meantime we will send a wireless for relief.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But that is the trouble, sir,&quot; he went on.  &quot;Number two has
+stopped.  I knew it would come, sir.  I made a report on
+these generators three years ago.  I advised then that they
+both be scrapped.  Their principle is entirely wrong.
+They're done for.&quot;  And, with a grim smile, &quot;I shall at
+least have the satisfaction of knowing my report was
+accurate.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have we sufficient reserve screen to permit us to make
+land, or, at least, meet our relief halfway?&quot; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, sir,&quot; he replied gravely; &quot;we are sinking now.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have you anything further to report?&quot; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, sir,&quot; he said.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Very good,&quot; I replied; and, as I dismissed him, I rang for
+my wireless operator.  When he appeared, I gave him a
+message to the secretary of the navy, to whom all vessels in
+service on thirty and one hundred seventy-five report
+direct.  I explained our predicament, and stated that with
+what screening force remained I should continue in the air,
+making as rapid headway toward St. Johns as possible, and
+that when we were forced to take to the water I should
+continue in the same direction.</p>
+
+<p>The accident occurred directly over 30d and about 52d N.
+The surface wind was blowing a tempest from the west.  To
+attempt to ride out such a storm upon the surface seemed
+suicidal, for the Coldwater was not designed for surface
+navigation except under fair weather conditions.  Submerged,
+or in the air, she was tractable enough in any sort of
+weather when under control; but without her screen
+generators she was almost helpless, since she could not fly,
+and, if submerged, could not rise to the surface.</p>
+
+<p>All these defects have been remedied in later models; but
+the knowledge did not help us any that day aboard the slowly
+settling Coldwater, with an angry sea roaring beneath, a
+tempest raging out of the west, and 30d only a few knots
+astern.</p>
+
+<p>To cross thirty or one hundred seventy-five has been, as you
+know, the direst calamity that could befall a naval
+commander.  Court-martial and degradation follow swiftly,
+unless as is often the case, the unfortunate man takes his
+own life before this unjust and heartless regulation can
+hold him up to public scorn.</p>
+
+<p>There has been in the past no excuse, no circumstance, that
+could palliate the offense.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He was in command, and he took his ship across thirty!&quot;
+That was sufficient.  It might not have been in any way his
+fault, as, in the case of the Coldwater, it could not
+possibly have been justly charged to my account that the
+gravitation-screen generators were worthless; but well I
+knew that should chance have it that we were blown across
+thirty today&mdash;as we might easily be before the terrific west
+wind that we could hear howling below us, the responsibility
+would fall upon my shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>In a way, the regulation was a good one, for it certainly
+accomplished that for which it was intended.  We all fought
+shy of 30d on the east and 175d on the west, and, though we
+had to skirt them pretty close, nothing but an act of God
+ever drew one of us across.  You all are familiar with the
+naval tradition that a good officer could sense proximity to
+either line, and for my part, I am firmly convinced of the
+truth of this as I am that the compass finds the north
+without recourse to tedious processes of reasoning.</p>
+
+<p>Old Admiral Sanchez was wont to maintain that he could smell
+thirty, and the men of the first ship in which I sailed
+claimed that Coburn, the navigating officer, knew by name
+every wave along thirty from 60dN. to 60dS.  However, I'd
+hate to vouch for this.</p>
+
+<p>Well, to get back to my narrative; we kept on dropping
+slowly toward the surface the while we bucked the west wind,
+clawing away from thirty as fast as we could.  I was on the
+bridge, and as we dropped from the brilliant sunlight into
+the dense vapor of clouds and on down through them to the
+wild, dark storm strata beneath, it seemed that my spirits
+dropped with the falling ship, and the buoyancy of hope ran
+low in sympathy.</p>
+
+<p>The waves were running to tremendous heights, and the
+Coldwater was not designed to meet such waves head on.  Her
+elements were the blue ether, far above the raging storm, or
+the greater depths of ocean, which no storm could ruffle.</p>
+
+<p>As I stood speculating upon our chances once we settled into
+the frightful Maelstrom beneath us and at the same time
+mentally computing the hours which must elapse before aid
+could reach us, the wireless operator clambered up the
+ladder to the bridge, and, disheveled and breathless, stood
+before me at salute.  It needed but a glance at him to
+assure me that something was amiss.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What now?&quot; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The wireless, sir!&quot; he cried.  &quot;My God, sir, I cannot
+send.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But the emergency outfit?&quot; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have tried everything, sir.  I have exhausted every
+resource.  We cannot send,&quot; and he drew himself up and
+saluted again.</p>
+
+<p>I dismissed him with a few kind words, for I knew that it
+was through no fault of his that the mechanism was
+antiquated and worthless, in common with the balance of the
+Coldwater's equipment.  There was no finer operator in Pan-
+America than he.</p>
+
+<p>The failure of the wireless did not appear as momentous to
+me as to him, which is not unnatural, since it is but human
+to feel that when our own little cog slips, the entire
+universe must necessarily be put out of gear.  I knew that
+if this storm were destined to blow us across thirty, or
+send us to the bottom of the ocean, no help could reach us
+in time to prevent it.  I had ordered the message sent
+solely because regulations required it, and not with any
+particular hope that we could benefit by it in our present
+extremity.</p>
+
+<p>I had little time to dwell upon the coincidence of the
+simultaneous failure of the wireless and the buoyancy
+generators, since very shortly after the Coldwater had
+dropped so low over the waters that all my attention was
+necessarily centered upon the delicate business of settling
+upon the waves without breaking my ship's back.  With our
+buoyancy generators in commission it would have been a
+simple thing to enter the water, since then it would have
+been but a trifling matter of a forty-five degree dive into
+the base of a huge wave.  We should have cut into the water
+like a hot knife through butter, and have been totally
+submerged with scarce a jar&mdash;I have done it a thousand
+times&mdash;but I did not dare submerge the Coldwater for fear
+that it would remain submerged to the end of time&mdash;a
+condition far from conducive to the longevity of commander
+or crew.</p>
+
+<p>Most of my officers were older men than I.  John Alvarez, my
+first officer, is twenty years my senior.  He stood at my
+side on the bridge as the ship glided closer and closer to
+those stupendous waves.  He watched my every move, but he
+was by far too fine an officer and gentleman to embarrass me
+by either comment or suggestion.</p>
+
+<p>When I saw that we soon would touch, I ordered the ship
+brought around broadside to the wind, and there we hovered a
+moment until a huge wave reached up and seized us upon its
+crest, and then I gave the order that suddenly reversed the
+screening force, and let us into the ocean.  Down into the
+trough we went, wallowing like the carcass of a dead whale,
+and then began the fight, with rudder and propellers, to
+force the Coldwater back into the teeth of the gale and
+drive her on and on, farther and farther from relentless
+thirty.</p>
+
+<p>I think that we should have succeeded, even though the ship
+was wracked from stem to stern by the terrific buffetings
+she received, and though she were half submerged the greater
+part of the time, had no further accident befallen us.</p>
+
+<p>We were making headway, though slowly, and it began to look
+as though we were going to pull through.  Alvarez never left
+my side, though I all but ordered him below for much-needed
+rest.  My second officer, Porfirio Johnson, was also often
+on the bridge.  He was a good officer, but a man for whom I
+had conceived a rather unreasoning aversion almost at the
+first moment of meeting him, an aversion which was not
+lessened by the knowledge which I subsequently gained that
+he looked upon my rapid promotion with jealousy.  He was ten
+years my senior both in years and service, and I rather
+think he could never forget the fact that he had been an
+officer when I was a green apprentice.</p>
+
+<p>As it became more and more apparent that the Coldwater,
+under my seamanship, was weathering the tempest and giving
+promise of pulling through safely, I could have sworn that I
+perceived a shade of annoyance and disappointment growing
+upon his dark countenance.  He left the bridge finally and
+went below.  I do not know that he is directly responsible
+for what followed so shortly after; but I have always had my
+suspicions, and Alvarez is even more prone to place the
+blame upon him than I.</p>
+
+<p>It was about six bells of the forenoon watch that Johnson
+returned to the bridge after an absence of some thirty
+minutes.  He seemed nervous and ill at ease&mdash;a fact which
+made little impression on me at the time, but which both
+Alvarez and I recalled subsequently.</p>
+
+<p>Not three minutes after his reappearance at my side the
+Coldwater suddenly commenced to lose headway.  I seized the
+telephone at my elbow, pressing upon the button which would
+call the chief engineer to the instrument in the bowels of
+the ship, only to find him already at the receiver
+attempting to reach me.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Numbers one, two, and five engines have broken down, sir,&quot;
+he called.  &quot;Shall we force the remaining three?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We can do nothing else,&quot; I bellowed into the transmitter.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;They won't stand the gaff, sir,&quot; he returned.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Can you suggest a better plan?&quot; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, sir,&quot; he replied.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then give them the gaff, lieutenant,&quot; I shouted back, and
+hung up the receiver.</p>
+
+<p>For twenty minutes the Coldwater bucked the great seas with
+her three engines.  I doubt if she advanced a foot; but it
+was enough to keep her nose in the wind, and, at least, we
+were not drifting toward thirty.</p>
+
+<p>Johnson and Alvarez were at my side when, without warning,
+the bow swung swiftly around and the ship fell into the
+trough of the sea.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The other three have gone,&quot; I said, and I happened to be
+looking at Johnson as I spoke.  Was it the shadow of a
+satisfied smile that crossed his thin lips?  I do not know;
+but at least he did not weep.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You always have been curious, sir, about the great unknown
+beyond thirty,&quot; he said.  &quot;You are in a good way to have
+your curiosity satisfied.&quot;  And then I could not mistake the
+slight sneer that curved his upper lip.  There must have
+been a trace of disrespect in his tone or manner which
+escaped me, for Alvarez turned upon him like a flash.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;When Lieutenant Turck crosses thirty,&quot; he said, &quot;we shall
+all cross with him, and God help the officer or the man who
+reproaches him!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I shall not be a party to high treason,&quot; snapped Johnson.
+&quot;The regulations are explicit, and if the Coldwater crosses
+thirty it devolves upon you to place Lieutenant Turck under
+arrest and immediately exert every endeavor to bring the
+ship back into Pan-American waters.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I shall not know,&quot; replied Alvarez, &quot;that the Coldwater
+passes thirty; nor shall any other man aboard know it,&quot; and,
+with his words, he drew a revolver from his pocket, and
+before either I or Johnson could prevent it had put a bullet
+into every instrument upon the bridge, ruining them beyond
+repair.</p>
+
+<p>And then he saluted me, and strode from the bridge, a martyr
+to loyalty and friendship, for, though no man might know
+that Lieutenant Jefferson Turck had taken his ship across
+thirty, every man aboard would know that the first officer
+had committed a crime that was punishable by both
+degradation and death.  Johnson turned and eyed me narrowly.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Shall I place him under arrest?&quot; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You shall not,&quot; I replied.  &quot;Nor shall anyone else.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You become a party to his crime!&quot; he cried angrily.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You may go below, Mr. Johnson,&quot; I said, &quot;and attend to the
+work of unpacking the extra instruments and having them
+properly set upon the bridge.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He saluted, and left me, and for some time I stood, gazing
+out upon the angry waters, my mind filled with unhappy
+reflections upon the unjust fate that had overtaken me, and
+the sorrow and disgrace that I had unwittingly brought down
+upon my house.</p>
+
+<p>I rejoiced that I should leave neither wife nor child to
+bear the burden of my shame throughout their lives.</p>
+
+<p>As I thought upon my misfortune, I considered more clearly
+than ever before the unrighteousness of the regulation which
+was to prove my doom, and in the natural revolt against its
+injustice my anger rose, and there mounted within me a
+feeling which I imagine must have paralleled that spirit
+that once was prevalent among the ancients called anarchy.</p>
+
+<p>For the first time in my life I found my sentiments arraying
+themselves against custom, tradition, and even government.
+The wave of rebellion swept over me in an instant, beginning
+with an heretical doubt as to the sanctity of the
+established order of things&mdash;that fetish which has ruled
+Pan-Americans for two centuries, and which is based upon a
+blind faith in the infallibility of the prescience of the
+long-dead framers of the articles of Pan-American
+federation&mdash;and ending in an adamantine determination to
+defend my honor and my life to the last ditch against the
+blind and senseless regulation which assumed the synonymity
+of misfortune and treason.</p>
+
+<p>I would replace the destroyed instruments upon the bridge;
+every officer and man should know when we crossed thirty.
+But then I should assert the spirit which dominated me, I
+should resist arrest, and insist upon bringing my ship back
+across the dead line, remaining at my post until we had
+reached New York.  Then I should make a full report, and
+with it a demand upon public opinion that the dead lines be
+wiped forever from the seas.</p>
+
+<p>I knew that I was right.  I knew that no more loyal officer
+wore the uniform of the navy.  I knew that I was a good
+officer and sailor, and I didn't propose submitting to
+degradation and discharge because a lot of old, preglacial
+fossils had declared over two hundred years before that no
+man should cross thirty.</p>
+
+<p>Even while these thoughts were passing through my mind I was
+busy with the details of my duties.  I had seen to it that a
+sea anchor was rigged, and even now the men had completed
+their task, and the Coldwater was swinging around rapidly,
+her nose pointing once more into the wind, and the frightful
+rolling consequent upon her wallowing in the trough was
+happily diminishing.</p>
+
+<p>It was then that Johnson came hurrying to the bridge.  One
+of his eyes was swollen and already darkening, and his lip
+was cut and bleeding.  Without even the formality of a
+salute, he burst upon me, white with fury.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Lieutenant Alvarez attacked me!&quot; he cried.  &quot;I demand that
+he be placed under arrest.  I found him in the act of
+destroying the reserve instruments, and when I would have
+interfered to protect them he fell upon me and beat me.  I
+demand that you arrest him!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You forget yourself, Mr. Johnson,&quot; I said.  &quot;You are not in
+command of the ship.  I deplore the action of Lieutenant
+Alvarez, but I cannot expunge from my mind the loyalty and
+self-sacrificing friendship which has prompted him to his
+acts.  Were I you, sir, I should profit by the example he
+has set.  Further, Mr. Johnson, I intend retaining command
+of the ship, even though she crosses thirty, and I shall
+demand implicit obedience from every officer and man aboard
+until I am properly relieved from duty by a superior officer
+in the port of New York.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You mean to say that you will cross thirty without
+submitting to arrest?&quot; he almost shouted.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I do, sir,&quot; I replied.  &quot;And now you may go below, and,
+when again you find it necessary to address me, you will
+please be so good as to bear in mind the fact that I am your
+commanding officer, and as such entitled to a salute.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He flushed, hesitated a moment, and then, saluting, turned
+upon his heel and left the bridge.  Shortly after, Alvarez
+appeared.  He was pale, and seemed to have aged ten years in
+the few brief minutes since I last had seen him.  Saluting,
+he told me very simply what he had done, and asked that I
+place him under arrest.</p>
+
+<p>I put my hand on his shoulder, and I guess that my voice
+trembled a trifle as, while reproving him for his act, I
+made it plain to him that my gratitude was no less potent a
+force than his loyalty to me.  Then it was that I outlined
+to him my purpose to defy the regulation that had raised the
+dead lines, and to take my ship back to New York myself.</p>
+
+<p>I did not ask him to share the responsibility with me.  I
+merely stated that I should refuse to submit to arrest, and
+that I should demand of him and every other officer and man
+implicit obedience to my every command until we docked at
+home.</p>
+
+<p>His face brightened at my words, and he assured me that I
+would find him as ready to acknowledge my command upon the
+wrong side of thirty as upon the right, an assurance which I
+hastened to tell him I did not need.</p>
+
+<p>The storm continued to rage for three days, and as far as
+the wind scarce varied a point during all that time, I knew
+that we must be far beyond thirty, drifting rapidly east by
+south.  All this time it had been impossible to work upon
+the damaged engines or the gravity-screen generators; but we
+had a full set of instruments upon the bridge, for Alvarez,
+after discovering my intentions, had fetched the reserve
+instruments from his own cabin, where he had hidden them.
+Those which Johnson had seen him destroy had been a third
+set which only Alvarez had known was aboard the Coldwater.</p>
+
+<p>We waited impatiently for the sun, that we might determine
+our exact location, and upon the fourth day our vigil was
+rewarded a few minutes before noon.</p>
+
+<p>Every officer and man aboard was tense with nervous
+excitement as we awaited the result of the reading.  The
+crew had known almost as soon as I that we were doomed to
+cross thirty, and I am inclined to believe that every man
+jack of them was tickled to death, for the spirits of
+adventure and romance still live in the hearts of men of the
+twenty-second century, even though there be little for them
+to feed upon between thirty and one hundred seventy-five.</p>
+
+<p>The men carried none of the burdens of responsibility.  They
+might cross thirty with impunity, and doubtless they would
+return to be heroes at home; but how different the home-
+coming of their commanding officer!</p>
+
+<p>The wind had dropped to a steady blow, still from west by
+north, and the sea had gone down correspondingly.  The crew,
+with the exception of those whose duties kept them below,
+were ranged on deck below the bridge.  When our position was
+definitely fixed I personally announced it to the eager,
+waiting men.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Men,&quot; I said, stepping forward to the handrail and looking
+down into their upturned, bronzed faces, &quot;you are anxiously
+awaiting information as to the ship's position.  It has been
+determined at latitude fifty degrees seven minutes north,
+longitude twenty degrees sixteen minutes west.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>I paused and a buzz of animated comment ran through the
+massed men beneath me.  &quot;Beyond thirty.  But there will be
+no change in commanding officers, in routine or in
+discipline, until after we have docked again in New York.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>As I ceased speaking and stepped back from the rail there
+was a roar of applause from the deck such as I never before
+had heard aboard a ship of peace.  It recalled to my mind
+tales that I had read of the good old days when naval
+vessels were built to fight, when ships of peace had been
+man-of-war, and guns had flashed in other than futile target
+practice, and decks had run red with blood.</p>
+
+<p>With the subsistence of the sea, we were able to go to work
+upon the damaged engines to some effect, and I also set men
+to examining the gravitation-screen generators with a view
+to putting them in working order should it prove not beyond
+our resources.</p>
+
+<p>For two weeks we labored at the engines, which indisputably
+showed evidence of having been tampered with.  I appointed a
+board to investigate and report upon the disaster.  But it
+accomplished nothing other than to convince me that there
+were several officers upon it who were in full sympathy with
+Johnson, for, though no charges had been preferred against
+him, the board went out of its way specifically to exonerate
+him in its findings.</p>
+
+<p>All this time we were drifting almost due east.  The work
+upon the engines had progressed to such an extent that
+within a few hours we might expect to be able to proceed
+under our own power westward in the direction of Pan-
+American waters.</p>
+
+<p>To relieve the monotony I had taken to fishing, and early
+that morning I had departed from the Coldwater in one of the
+boats on such an excursion.  A gentle west wind was blowing.
+The sea shimmered in the sunlight.  A cloudless sky canopied
+the west for our sport, as I had made it a point never
+voluntarily to make an inch toward the east that I could
+avoid.  At least, they should not be able to charge me with
+a willful violation of the dead lines regulation.</p>
+
+<p>I had with me only the boat's ordinary complement of men&mdash;three in all, and more than enough to handle any small power
+boat.  I had not asked any of my officers to accompany me,
+as I wished to be alone, and very glad am I now that I had
+not.  My only regret is that, in view of what befell us, it
+had been necessary to bring the three brave fellows who
+manned the boat.</p>
+
+<p>Our fishing, which proved excellent, carried us so far to
+the west that we no longer could see the Coldwater.  The day
+wore on, until at last, about mid-afternoon, I gave the
+order to return to the ship.</p>
+
+<p>We had proceeded but a short distance toward the east when
+one of the men gave an exclamation of excitement, at the
+same time pointing eastward.  We all looked on in the
+direction he had indicated, and there, a short distance
+above the horizon, we saw the outlines of the Coldwater
+silhouetted against the sky.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;They've repaired the engines and the generators both,&quot;
+exclaimed one of the men.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed impossible, but yet it had evidently been done.
+Only that morning, Lieutenant Johnson had told me that he
+feared that it would be impossible to repair the generators.
+I had put him in charge of this work, since he always had
+been accounted one of the best gravitation-screen men in
+the navy.  He had invented several of the improvements that
+are incorporated in the later models of these generators,
+and I am convinced that he knows more concerning both the
+theory and the practice of screening gravitation than any
+living Pan-American.</p>
+
+<p>At the sight of the Coldwater once more under control, the
+three men burst into a glad cheer.  But, for some reason
+which I could not then account, I was strangely overcome by
+a premonition of personal misfortune.  It was not that I now
+anticipated an early return to Pan-America and a board of
+inquiry, for I had rather looked forward to the fight that
+must follow my return.  No, there was something else,
+something indefinable and vague that cast a strange gloom
+upon me as I saw my ship rising farther above the water and
+making straight in our direction.</p>
+
+<p>I was not long in ascertaining a possible explanation of my
+depression, for, though we were plainly visible from the
+bridge of the aero-submarine and to the hundreds of men who
+swarmed her deck, the ship passed directly above us, not
+five hundred feet from the water, and sped directly
+westward.</p>
+
+<p>We all shouted, and I fired my pistol to attract their
+attention, though I knew full well that all who cared to had
+observed us, but the ship moved steadily away, growing
+smaller and smaller to our view until at last she passed
+completely out of sight.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>2</h2>
+
+
+<p>What could it mean?  I had left Alvarez in command.  He was
+my most loyal subordinate.  It was absolutely beyond the
+pale of possibility that Alvarez should desert me.  No,
+there was some other explanation.  Something occurred to
+place my second officer, Porfirio Johnson, in command.  I
+was sure of it but why speculate?  The futility of
+conjecture was only too palpable.  The Coldwater had
+abandoned us in midocean.  Doubtless none of us would
+survive to know why.</p>
+
+<p>The young man at the wheel of the power boat had turned her
+nose about as it became evident that the ship intended
+passing over us, and now he still held her in futile pursuit
+of the Coldwater.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Bring her about, Snider,&quot; I directed, &quot;and hold her due
+east.  We can't catch the Coldwater, and we can't cross the
+Atlantic in this.  Our only hope lies in making the nearest
+land, which, unless I am mistaken, is the Scilly Islands,
+off the southwest coast of England.  Ever heard of England,
+Snider?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There's a part of the United States of North America that
+used to be known to the ancients as New England,&quot; he
+replied.  &quot;Is that where you mean, sir?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, Snider,&quot; I replied.  &quot;The England I refer to was an
+island off the continent of Europe.  It was the seat of a
+very powerful kingdom that flourished over two hundred years
+ago.  A part of the United States of North America and all
+of the Federated States of Canada once belonged to this
+ancient England.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Europe,&quot; breathed one of the men, his voice tense with
+excitement.  &quot;My grandfather used to tell me stories of the
+world beyond thirty.  He had been a great student, and he
+had read much from forbidden books.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;In which I resemble your grandfather,&quot; I said, &quot;for I, too,
+have read more even than naval officers are supposed to
+read, and, as you men know, we are permitted a greater
+latitude in the study of geography and history than men of
+other professions.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Among the books and papers of Admiral Porter Turck, who
+lived two hundred years ago, and from whom I am descended,
+many volumes still exist, and are in my possession, which
+deal with the history and geography of ancient Europe.
+Usually I bring several of these books with me upon a
+cruise, and this time, among others, I have maps of Europe
+and her surrounding waters.  I was studying them as we came
+away from the Coldwater this morning, and luckily I have
+them with me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You are going to try to make Europe, sir?&quot; asked Taylor,
+the young man who had last spoken.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is the nearest land,&quot; I replied.  &quot;I have always wanted
+to explore the forgotten lands of the Eastern Hemisphere.
+Here's our chance.  To remain at sea is to perish.  None of
+us ever will see home again.  Let us make the best of it,
+and enjoy while we do live that which is forbidden the
+balance of our race&mdash;the adventure and the mystery which lie
+beyond thirty.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Taylor and Delcarte seized the spirit of my mood but Snider,
+I think, was a trifle sceptical.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is treason, sir,&quot; I replied, &quot;but there is no law which
+compels us to visit punishment upon ourselves.  Could we
+return to Pan-America, I should be the first to insist that
+we face it.  But we know that's not possible.  Even if this
+craft would carry us so far, we haven't enough water or food
+for more than three days.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We are doomed, Snider, to die far from home and without
+ever again looking upon the face of another fellow
+countryman than those who sit here now in this boat.  Isn't
+that punishment sufficient for even the most exacting
+judge?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Even Snider had to admit that it was.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Very well, then, let us live while we live, and enjoy to
+the fullest whatever of adventure or pleasure each new day
+brings, since any day may be our last, and we shall be dead
+for a considerable while.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>I could see that Snider was still fearful, but Taylor and
+Delcarte responded with a hearty, &quot;Aye, aye, sir!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>They were of different mold.  Both were sons of naval
+officers.  They represented the aristocracy of birth, and
+they dared to think for themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Snider was in the minority, and so we continued toward the
+east.  Beyond thirty, and separated from my ship, my
+authority ceased.  I held leadership, if I was to hold it at
+all, by virtue of personal qualifications only, but I did
+not doubt my ability to remain the director of our destinies
+in so far as they were amenable to human agencies.  I have
+always led.  While my brain and brawn remain unimpaired I
+shall continue always to lead.  Following is an art which
+Turcks do not easily learn.</p>
+
+<p>It was not until the third day that we raised land, dead
+ahead, which I took, from my map, to be the isles of Scilly.
+But such a gale was blowing that I did not dare attempt to
+land, and so we passed to the north of them, skirted Land's
+End, and entered the English Channel.</p>
+
+<p>I think that up to that moment I had never experienced such
+a thrill as passed through me when I realized that I was
+navigating these historic waters.  The lifelong dreams that
+I never had dared hope to see fulfilled were at last a
+reality&mdash;but under what forlorn circumstances!</p>
+
+<p>Never could I return to my native land.  To the end of my
+days I must remain in exile.  Yet even these thoughts failed
+to dampen my ardor.</p>
+
+<p>My eyes scanned the waters.  To the north I could see the
+rockbound coast of Cornwall.  Mine were the first American
+eyes to rest upon it for more than two hundred years.  In
+vain, I searched for some sign of ancient commerce that, if
+history is to be believed, must have dotted the bosom of the
+Channel with white sails and blackened the heavens with the
+smoke of countless funnels, but as far as eye could reach
+the tossing waters of the Channel were empty and deserted.</p>
+
+<p>Toward midnight the wind and sea abated, so that shortly
+after dawn I determined to make inshore in an attempt to
+effect a landing, for we were sadly in need of fresh water
+and food.</p>
+
+<p>According to my observations, we were just off Ram Head, and
+it was my intention to enter Plymouth Bay and visit
+Plymouth.  From my map it appeared that this city lay back
+from the coast a short distance, and there was another city
+given as Devonport, which appeared to lie at the mouth of
+the river Tamar.</p>
+
+<p>However, I knew that it would make little difference which
+city we entered, as the English people were famed of old for
+their hospitality toward visiting mariners.  As we
+approached the mouth of the bay I looked for the fishing
+craft which I expected to see emerging thus early in the day
+for their labors.  But even after we rounded Ram Head and
+were well within the waters of the bay I saw no vessel.
+Neither was there buoy nor light nor any other mark to show
+larger ships the channel, and I wondered much at this.</p>
+
+<p>The coast was densely overgrown, nor was any building or
+sign of man apparent from the water.  Up the bay and into
+the River Tamar we motored through a solitude as unbroken as
+that which rested upon the waters of the Channel.  For all
+we could see, there was no indication that man had ever set
+his foot upon this silent coast.</p>
+
+<p>I was nonplused, and then, for the first time, there crept
+over me an intuition of the truth.</p>
+
+<p>Here was no sign of war.  As far as this portion of the
+Devon coast was concerned, that seemed to have been over for
+many years, but neither were there any people.  Yet I could
+not find it within myself to believe that I should find no
+inhabitants in England.  Reasoning thus, I discovered that
+it was improbable that a state of war still existed, and
+that the people all had been drawn from this portion of
+England to some other, where they might better defend
+themselves against an invader.</p>
+
+<p>But what of their ancient coast defenses?  What was there
+here in Plymouth Bay to prevent an enemy landing in force
+and marching where they wished?  Nothing.  I could not
+believe that any enlightened military nation, such as the
+ancient English are reputed to have been, would have
+voluntarily so deserted an exposed coast and an excellent
+harbor to the mercies of an enemy.</p>
+
+<p>I found myself becoming more and more deeply involved in
+quandary.  The puzzle which confronted me I could not
+unravel.  We had landed, and I now stood upon the spot
+where, according to my map, a large city should rear its
+spires and chimneys.  There was nothing but rough, broken
+ground covered densely with weeds and brambles, and tall,
+rank, grass.</p>
+
+<p>Had a city ever stood there, no sign of it remained.  The
+roughness and unevenness of the ground suggested something
+of a great mass of debris hidden by the accumulation of
+centuries of undergrowth.</p>
+
+<p>I drew the short cutlass with which both officers and men of
+the navy are, as you know, armed out of courtesy to the
+traditions and memories of the past, and with its point dug
+into the loam about the roots of the vegetation growing at
+my feet.</p>
+
+<p>The blade entered the soil for a matter of seven inches,
+when it struck upon something stonelike.  Digging about the
+obstacle, I presently loosened it, and when I had withdrawn
+it from its sepulcher I found the thing to be an ancient
+brick of clay, baked in an oven.</p>
+
+<p>Delcarte we had left in charge of the boat; but Snider and
+Taylor were with me, and following my example, each engaged
+in the fascinating sport of prospecting for antiques.  Each
+of us uncovered a great number of these bricks, until we
+commenced to weary of the monotony of it, when Snider
+suddenly gave an exclamation of excitement, and, as I turned
+to look, he held up a human skull for my inspection.</p>
+
+<p>I took it from him and examined it.  Directly in the center
+of the forehead was a small round hole.  The gentleman had
+evidently come to his end defending his country from an
+invader.</p>
+
+<p>Snider again held aloft another trophy of the search&mdash;a
+metal spike and some tarnished and corroded metal ornaments.
+They had lain close beside the skull.</p>
+
+<p>With the point of his cutlass Snider scraped the dirt and
+verdigris from the face of the larger ornament.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;An inscription,&quot; he said, and handed the thing to me.</p>
+
+<p>They were the spike and ornaments of an ancient German
+helmet.  Before long we had uncovered many other indications
+that a great battle had been fought upon the ground where we
+stood.  But I was then, and still am, at loss to account for
+the presence of German soldiers upon the English coast so
+far from London, which history suggests would have been the
+natural goal of an invader.</p>
+
+<p>I can only account for it by assuming that either England
+was temporarily conquered by the Teutons, or that an
+invasion of so vast proportions was undertaken that German
+troops were hurled upon the England coast in huge numbers
+and that landings were necessarily effected at many places
+simultaneously.  Subsequent discoveries tend to strengthen
+this view.</p>
+
+<p>We dug about for a short time with our cutlasses until I
+became convinced that a city had stood upon the spot at some
+time in the past, and that beneath our feet, crumbled and
+dead, lay ancient Devonport.</p>
+
+<p>I could not repress a sigh at the thought of the havoc war
+had wrought in this part of England, at least.  Farther
+east, nearer London, we should find things very different.
+There would be the civilization that two centuries must have
+wrought upon our English cousins as they had upon us.  There
+would be mighty cities, cultivated fields, happy people.
+There we would be welcomed as long-lost brothers.  There
+would we find a great nation anxious to learn of the world
+beyond their side of thirty, as I had been anxious to learn
+of that which lay beyond our side of the dead line.</p>
+
+<p>I turned back toward the boat.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come, men!&quot; I said.  &quot;We will go up the river and fill our
+casks with fresh water, search for food and fuel, and then
+tomorrow be in readiness to push on toward the east.  I am
+going to London.&quot;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>3</h2>
+
+
+<p>The report of a gun blasted the silence of a dead Devonport
+with startling abruptness.</p>
+
+<p>It came from the direction of the launch, and in an instant
+we three were running for the boat as fast as our legs would
+carry us.  As we came in sight of it we saw Delcarte a
+hundred yards inland from the launch, leaning over something
+which lay upon the ground.  As we called to him he waved his
+cap, and stooping, lifted a small deer for our inspection.</p>
+
+<p>I was about to congratulate him on his trophy when we were
+startled by a horrid, half-human, half-bestial scream a
+little ahead and to the right of us.  It seemed to come from
+a clump of rank and tangled bush not far from where Delcarte
+stood.  It was a horrid, fearsome sound, the like of which
+never had fallen upon my ears before.</p>
+
+<p>We looked in the direction from which it came.  The smile
+had died from Delcarte's lips.  Even at the distance we were
+from him I saw his face go suddenly white, and he quickly
+threw his rifle to his shoulder.  At the same moment the
+thing that had given tongue to the cry moved from the
+concealing brushwood far enough for us, too, to see it.</p>
+
+<p>Both Taylor and Snider gave little gasps of astonishment and
+dismay.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is it, sir?&quot; asked the latter.</p>
+
+<p>The creature stood about the height of a tall man's waist,
+and was long and gaunt and sinuous, with a tawny coat
+striped with black, and with white throat and belly.  In
+conformation it was similar to a cat&mdash;a huge cat,
+exaggerated colossal cat, with fiendish eyes and the most
+devilish cast of countenance, as it wrinkled its bristling
+snout and bared its great yellow fangs.</p>
+
+<p>It was pacing, or rather, slinking, straight for Delcarte,
+who had now leveled his rifle upon it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is it, sir?&quot; mumbled Snider again, and then a half-
+forgotten picture from an old natural history sprang to my
+mind, and I recognized in the frightful beast the Felis
+tigris of ancient Asia, specimens of which had, in former
+centuries, been exhibited in the Western Hemisphere.</p>
+
+<p>Snider and Taylor were armed with rifles and revolvers,
+while I carried only a revolver.  Seizing Snider's rifle
+from his trembling hands, I called to Taylor to follow me,
+and together we ran forward, shouting, to attract the
+beast's attention from Delcarte until we should all be quite
+close enough to attack with the greatest assurance of
+success.</p>
+
+<p>I cried to Delcarte not to fire until we reached his side,
+for I was fearful lest our small caliber, steel-jacketed
+bullets should, far from killing the beast, tend merely to
+enrage it still further.  But he misunderstood me, thinking
+that I had ordered him to fire.</p>
+
+<p>With the report of his rifle the tiger stopped short in
+apparent surprise, then turned and bit savagely at its
+shoulder for an instant, after which it wheeled again toward
+Delcarte, issuing the most terrific roars and screams, and
+launched itself, with incredible speed, toward the brave
+fellow, who now stood his ground pumping bullets from his
+automatic rifle as rapidly as the weapon would fire.</p>
+
+<p>Taylor and I also opened up on the creature, and as it was
+broadside to us it offered a splendid target, though for all
+the impression we appeared to make upon the great cat we
+might as well have been launching soap bubbles at it.</p>
+
+<p>Straight as a torpedo it rushed for Delcarte, and, as Taylor
+and I stumbled on through the tall grass toward our
+unfortunate comrade, we saw the tiger rear upon him and
+crush him to the earth.</p>
+
+<p>Not a backward step had the noble Delcarte taken.  Two
+hundred years of peace had not sapped the red blood from his
+courageous line.  He went down beneath that avalanche of
+bestial savagery still working his gun and with his face
+toward his antagonist.  Even in the instant that I thought
+him dead I could not help but feel a thrill of pride that he
+was one of my men, one of my class, a Pan-American gentleman
+of birth.  And that he had demonstrated one of the principal
+contentions of the army-and-navy adherents&mdash;that military
+training was necessary for the salvation of personal courage
+in the Pan-American race which for generations had had to
+face no dangers more grave than those incident to ordinary
+life in a highly civilized community, safeguarded by every
+means at the disposal of a perfectly organized and all-
+powerful government utilizing the best that advanced science
+could suggest.</p>
+
+<p>As we ran toward Delcarte, both Taylor and I were struck by
+the fact that the beast upon him appeared not to be mauling
+him, but lay quiet and motionless upon its prey, and when we
+were quite close, and the muzzles of our guns were at the
+animal's head, I saw the explanation of this sudden
+cessation of hostilities&mdash;Felis tigris was dead.</p>
+
+<p>One of our bullets, or one of the last that Delcarte fired,
+had penetrated the heart, and the beast had died even as it
+sprawled forward crushing Delcarte to the ground.</p>
+
+<p>A moment later, with our assistance, the man had scrambled
+from beneath the carcass of his would-be slayer, without a
+scratch to indicate how close to death he had been.</p>
+
+<p>Delcarte's buoyance was entirely unruffled.  He came from
+under the tiger with a broad grin on his handsome face, nor
+could I perceive that a muscle trembled or that his voice
+showed the least indication of nervousness or excitement.</p>
+
+<p>With the termination of the adventure, we began to speculate
+upon the explanation of the presence of this savage brute at
+large so great a distance from its native habitat.  My
+readings had taught me that it was practically unknown
+outside of Asia, and that, so late as the twentieth century,
+at least, there had been no savage beasts outside captivity
+in England.</p>
+
+<p>As we talked, Snider joined us, and I returned his rifle to
+him.  Taylor and Delcarte picked up the slain deer, and we
+all started down toward the launch, walking slowly.
+Delcarte wanted to fetch the tiger's skin, but I had to deny
+him permission, since we had no means to properly cure it.</p>
+
+<p>Upon the beach, we skinned the deer and cut away as much
+meat as we thought we could dispose of, and as we were again
+embarking to continue up the river for fresh water and fuel,
+we were startled by a series of screams from the bushes a
+short distance away.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Another Felis tigris,&quot; said Taylor.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Or a dozen of them,&quot; supplemented Delcarte, and, even as he
+spoke, there leaped into sight, one after another, eight of
+the beasts, full grown&mdash;magnificent specimens.</p>
+
+<p>At the sight of us, they came charging down like infuriated
+demons.  I saw that three rifles would be no match for them,
+and so I gave the word to put out from shore, hoping that
+the &quot;tiger,&quot; as the ancients called him, could not swim.</p>
+
+<p>Sure enough, they all halted at the beach, pacing back and
+forth, uttering fiendish cries, and glaring at us in the
+most malevolent manner.</p>
+
+<p>As we motored away, we presently heard the calls of similar
+animals far inland.  They seemed to be answering the cries
+of their fellows at the water's edge, and from the wide
+distribution and great volume of the sound we came to the
+conclusion that enormous numbers of these beasts must roam
+the adjacent country.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;They have eaten up the inhabitants,&quot; murmured Snider,
+shuddering.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I imagine you are right,&quot; I agreed, &quot;for their extreme
+boldness and fearlessness in the presence of man would
+suggest either that man is entirely unknown to them, or that
+they are extremely familiar with him as their natural and
+most easily procured prey.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But where did they come from?&quot; asked Delcarte.  &quot;Could they
+have traveled here from Asia?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>I shook my head.  The thing was a puzzle to me.  I knew that
+it was practically beyond reason to imagine that tigers had
+crossed the mountain ranges and rivers and all the great
+continent of Europe to travel this far from their native
+lairs, and entirely impossible that they should have crossed
+the English Channel at all.  Yet here they were, and in
+great numbers.</p>
+
+<p>We continued up the Tamar several miles, filled our casks,
+and then landed to cook some of our deer steak, and have the
+first square meal that had fallen to our lot since the
+Coldwater deserted us.  But scarce had we built our fire and
+prepared the meat for cooking than Snider, whose eyes had
+been constantly roving about the landscape from the moment
+that we left the launch, touched me on the arm and pointed
+to a clump of bushes which grew a couple of hundred yards
+away.</p>
+
+<p>Half concealed behind their screening foliage I saw the
+yellow and black of a big tiger, and, as I looked, the beast
+stalked majestically toward us.  A moment later, he was
+followed by another and another, and it is needless to state
+that we beat a hasty retreat to the launch.</p>
+
+<p>The country was apparently infested by these huge Carnivora,
+for after three other attempts to land and cook our food we
+were forced to abandon the idea entirely, as each time we
+were driven off by hunting tigers.</p>
+
+<p>It was also equally impossible to obtain the necessary
+ingredients for our chemical fuel, and, as we had very
+little left aboard, we determined to step our folding mast
+and proceed under sail, hoarding our fuel supply for use in
+emergencies.</p>
+
+<p>I may say that it was with no regret that we bid adieu to
+Tigerland, as we rechristened the ancient Devon, and,
+beating out into the Channel, turned the launch's nose
+southeast, to round Bolt Head and continue up the coast
+toward the Strait of Dover and the North Sea.</p>
+
+<p>I was determined to reach London as soon as possible, that
+we might obtain fresh clothing, meet with cultured people,
+and learn from the lips of Englishmen the secrets of the two
+centuries since the East had been divorced from the West.</p>
+
+<p>Our first stopping place was the Isle of Wight.  We entered
+the Solent about ten o'clock one morning, and I must confess
+that my heart sank as we came close to shore.  No lighthouse
+was visible, though one was plainly indicated upon my map.
+Upon neither shore was sign of human habitation.  We skirted
+the northern shore of the island in fruitless search for
+man, and then at last landed upon an eastern point, where
+Newport should have stood, but where only weeds and great
+trees and tangled wild wood rioted, and not a single manmade
+thing was visible to the eye.</p>
+
+<p>Before landing, I had the men substitute soft bullets for
+the steel-jacketed projectiles with which their belts and
+magazines were filled.  Thus equipped, we felt upon more
+even terms with the tigers, but there was no sign of the
+tigers, and I decided that they must be confined to the
+mainland.</p>
+
+<p>After eating, we set out in search of fuel, leaving Taylor
+to guard the launch.  For some reason I could not trust
+Snider alone.  I knew that he looked with disapproval upon
+my plan to visit England, and I did not know but what at his
+first opportunity, he might desert us, taking the launch
+with him, and attempt to return to Pan-America.</p>
+
+<p>That he would be fool enough to venture it, I did not doubt.</p>
+
+<p>We had gone inland for a mile or more, and were passing
+through a park-like wood, when we came suddenly upon the
+first human beings we had seen since we sighted the English
+coast.</p>
+
+<p>There were a score of men in the party.  Hairy, half-naked
+men they were, resting in the shade of a great tree.  At the
+first sight of us they sprang to their feet with wild yells,
+seizing long spears that had lain beside them as they
+rested.</p>
+
+<p>For a matter of fifty yards they ran from us as rapidly as
+they could, and then they turned and surveyed us for a
+moment.  Evidently emboldened by the scarcity of our
+numbers, they commenced to advance upon us, brandishing
+their spears and shouting horribly.</p>
+
+<p>They were short and muscular of build, with long hair and
+beards tangled and matted with filth.  Their heads, however,
+were shapely, and their eyes, though fierce and warlike,
+were intelligent.</p>
+
+<p>Appreciation of these physical attributes came later, of
+course, when I had better opportunity to study the men at
+close range and under circumstances less fraught with danger
+and excitement.  At the moment I saw, and with unmixed
+wonder, only a score of wild savages charging down upon us,
+where I had expected to find a community of civilized and
+enlightened people.</p>
+
+<p>Each of us was armed with rifle, revolver, and cutlass, but
+as we stood shoulder to shoulder facing the wild men I was
+loath to give the command to fire upon them, inflicting
+death or suffering upon strangers with whom we had no
+quarrel, and so I attempted to restrain them for the moment
+that we might parley with them.</p>
+
+<p>To this end I raised my left hand above my head with the
+palm toward them as the most natural gesture indicative of
+peaceful intentions which occurred to me.  At the same time
+I called aloud to them that we were friends, though, from
+their appearance, there was nothing to indicate that they
+might understand Pan-American, or ancient English, which are
+of course practically identical.</p>
+
+<p>At my gesture and words they ceased their shouting and came
+to a halt a few paces from us.  Then, in deep tones, one who
+was in advance of the others and whom I took to be the chief
+or leader of the party replied in a tongue which while
+intelligible to us, was so distorted from the English
+language from which it evidently had sprung, that it was
+with difficulty that we interpreted it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who are you,&quot; he asked, &quot;and from what country?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>I told him that we were from Pan-America, but he only shook
+his head and asked where that was.  He had never heard of
+it, or of the Atlantic Ocean which I told him separated his
+country from mine.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It has been two hundred years,&quot; I told him, &quot;since a Pan-
+American visited England.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;England?&quot; he asked.  &quot;What is England?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why this is a part of England!&quot; I exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;This is Grubitten,&quot; he assured me.  &quot;I know nothing about
+England, and I have lived here all my life.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It was not until long after that the derivation of Grubitten
+occurred to me.  Unquestionably it is a corruption of Great
+Britain, a name formerly given to the large island
+comprising England, Scotland and Wales.  Subsequently we
+heard it pronounced Grabrittin and Grubritten.</p>
+
+<p>I then asked the fellow if he could direct us to Ryde or
+Newport; but again he shook his head, and said that he never
+had heard of such countries.  And when I asked him if there
+were any cities in this country he did not know what I
+meant, never having heard the word cities.</p>
+
+<p>I explained my meaning as best I could by stating that by
+city I referred to a place where many people lived together
+in houses.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh,&quot; he exclaimed, &quot;you mean a camp!  Yes, there are two
+great camps here, East Camp and West Camp.  We are from East
+Camp.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The use of the word camp to describe a collection of
+habitations naturally suggested war to me, and my next
+question was as to whether the war was over, and who had
+been victorious.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No,&quot; he replied to this question.  &quot;The war is not yet
+over.  But it soon will be, and it will end, as it always
+does, with the Westenders running away.  We, the Eastenders,
+are always victorious.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No,&quot; I said, seeing that he referred to the petty tribal
+wars of his little island, &quot;I mean the Great War, the war
+with Germany.  Is it ended&mdash;and who was victorious?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He shook his head impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I never heard,&quot; he said, &quot;of any of these strange countries
+of which you speak.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It seemed incredible, and yet it was true.  These people
+living at the very seat of the Great War knew nothing of it,
+though but two centuries had passed since, to our knowledge,
+it had been running in the height of its titanic
+frightfulness all about them, and to us upon the far side of
+the Atlantic still was a subject of keen interest.</p>
+
+<p>Here was a lifelong inhabitant of the Isle of Wight who
+never had heard of either Germany or England!  I turned to
+him quite suddenly with a new question.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What people live upon the mainland?&quot; I asked, and pointed
+in the direction of the Hants coast.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No one lives there,&quot; he replied.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Long ago, it is said, my people dwelt across the waters
+upon that other land; but the wild beasts devoured them in
+such numbers that finally they were driven here, paddling
+across upon logs and driftwood, nor has any dared return
+since, because of the frightful creatures which dwell in
+that horrid country.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do no other peoples ever come to your country in ships?&quot; I
+asked.</p>
+
+<p>He never heard the word ship before, and did not know its
+meaning.  But he assured me that until we came he had
+thought that there were no other peoples in the world other
+than the Grubittens, who consist of the Eastenders and the
+Westenders of the ancient Isle of Wight.</p>
+
+<p>Assured that we were inclined to friendliness, our new
+acquaintances led us to their village, or, as they call it,
+camp.  There we found a thousand people, perhaps, dwelling
+in rude shelters, and living upon the fruits of the chase
+and such sea food as is obtainable close to shore, for they
+had no boats, nor any knowledge of such things.</p>
+
+<p>Their weapons were most primitive, consisting of rude spears
+tipped with pieces of metal pounded roughly into shape.
+They had no literature, no religion, and recognized no law
+other than the law of might.  They produced fire by striking
+a bit of flint and steel together, but for the most part
+they ate their food raw.  Marriage is unknown among them,
+and while they have the word, mother, they did not know what
+I meant by &quot;father.&quot;  The males fight for the favor of the
+females.  They practice infanticide, and kill the aged and
+physically unfit.</p>
+
+<p>The family consists of the mother and the children, the men
+dwelling sometimes in one hut and sometimes in another.
+Owing to their bloody duels, they are always numerically
+inferior to the women, so there is shelter for them all.</p>
+
+<p>We spent several hours in the village, where we were objects
+of the greatest curiosity.  The inhabitants examined our
+clothing and all our belongings, and asked innumerable
+questions concerning the strange country from which we had
+come and the manner of our coming.</p>
+
+<p>I questioned many of them concerning past historical events,
+but they knew nothing beyond the narrow limits of their
+island and the savage, primitive life they led there.
+London they had never heard of, and they assured me that I
+would find no human beings upon the mainland.</p>
+
+<p>Much saddened by what I had seen, I took my departure from
+them, and the three of us made our way back to the launch,
+accompanied by about five hundred men, women, girls, and
+boys.</p>
+
+<p>As we sailed away, after procuring the necessary ingredients
+of our chemical fuel, the Grubittens lined the shore in
+silent wonder at the strange sight of our dainty craft
+dancing over the sparkling waters, and watched us until we
+were lost to their sight.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>4</h2>
+
+
+<p>It was during the morning of July 6, 2137, that we entered
+the mouth of the Thames&mdash;to the best of my knowledge the
+first Western keel to cut those historic waters for two
+hundred and twenty-one years!</p>
+
+<p>But where were the tugs and the lighters and the barges, the
+lightships and the buoys, and all those countless attributes
+which went to make up the myriad life of the ancient Thames?</p>
+
+<p>Gone!  All gone!  Only silence and desolation reigned where
+once the commerce of the world had centered.</p>
+
+<p>I could not help but compare this once great water-way with
+the waters about our New York, or Rio, or San Diego, or
+Valparaiso.  They had become what they are today during the
+two centuries of the profound peace which we of the navy
+have been prone to deplore.  And what, during this same
+period, had shorn the waters of the Thames of their pristine
+grandeur?</p>
+
+<p>Militarist that I am, I could find but a single word of
+explanation&mdash;war!</p>
+
+<p>I bowed my head and turned my eyes downward from the lonely
+and depressing sight, and in a silence which none of us
+seemed willing to break, we proceeded up the deserted river.</p>
+
+<p>We had reached a point which, from my map, I imagined must
+have been about the former site of Erith, when I discovered
+a small band of antelope a short distance inland.  As we
+were now entirely out of meat once more, and as I had given
+up all expectations of finding a city upon the site of
+ancient London, I determined to land and bag a couple of the
+animals.</p>
+
+<p>Assured that they would be timid and easily frightened, I
+decided to stalk them alone, telling the men to wait at the
+boat until I called to them to come and carry the carcasses
+back to the shore.</p>
+
+<p>Crawling carefully through the vegetation, making use of
+such trees and bushes as afforded shelter, I came at last
+almost within easy range of my quarry, when the antlered
+head of the buck went suddenly into the air, and then, as
+though in accordance with a prearranged signal, the whole
+band moved slowly off, farther inland.</p>
+
+<p>As their pace was leisurely, I determined to follow them
+until I came again within range, as I was sure that they
+would stop and feed in a short time.</p>
+
+<p>They must have led me a mile or more at least before they
+again halted and commenced to browse upon the rank,
+luxuriant grasses.  All the time that I had followed them I
+had kept both eyes and ears alert for sign or sound that
+would indicate the presence of Felis tigris; but so far not
+the slightest indication of the beast had been apparent.</p>
+
+<p>As I crept closer to the antelope, sure this time of a good
+shot at a large buck, I suddenly saw something that caused
+me to forget all about my prey in wonderment.</p>
+
+<p>It was the figure of an immense grey-black creature, rearing
+its colossal shoulders twelve or fourteen feet above the
+ground.  Never in my life had I seen such a beast, nor did I
+at first recognize it, so different in appearance is the
+live reality from the stuffed, unnatural specimens preserved
+to us in our museums.</p>
+
+<p>But presently I guessed the identity of the mighty creature
+as Elephas africanus, or, as the ancients commonly described
+it, African elephant.</p>
+
+<p>The antelope, although in plain view of the huge beast, paid
+not the slightest attention to it, and I was so wrapped up
+in watching the mighty pachyderm that I quite forgot to
+shoot at the buck and presently, and in quite a startling
+manner, it became impossible to do so.</p>
+
+<p>The elephant was browsing upon the young and tender shoots
+of some low bushes, waving his great ears and switching his
+short tail.  The antelope, scarce twenty paces from him,
+continued their feeding, when suddenly, from close beside
+the latter, there came a most terrifying roar, and I saw a
+great, tawny body shoot, from the concealing verdure beyond
+the antelope, full upon the back of a small buck.</p>
+
+<p>Instantly the scene changed from one of quiet and peace to
+indescribable chaos.  The startled and terrified buck
+uttered cries of agony.  His fellows broke and leaped off in
+all directions.  The elephant raised his trunk, and,
+trumpeting loudly, lumbered off through the wood, crushing
+down small trees and trampling bushes in his mad flight.</p>
+
+<p>Growling horribly, a huge lion stood across the body of his
+prey&mdash;such a creature as no Pan-American of the twenty-
+second century had ever beheld until my eyes rested upon
+this lordly specimen of &quot;the king of beasts.&quot;  But what a
+different creature was this fierce-eyed demon, palpitating
+with life and vigor, glossy of coat, alert, growling,
+magnificent, from the dingy, moth-eaten replicas beneath
+their glass cases in the stuffy halls of our public museums.</p>
+
+<p>I had never hoped or expected to see a living lion, tiger,
+or elephant&mdash;using the common terms that were familiar to
+the ancients, since they seem to me less unwieldy than those
+now in general use among us&mdash;and so it was with sentiments
+not unmixed with awe that I stood gazing at this regal beast
+as, above the carcass of his kill, he roared out his
+challenge to the world.</p>
+
+<p>So enthralled was I by the spectacle that I quite forgot
+myself, and the better to view him, the great lion, I had
+risen to my feet and stood, not fifty paces from him, in
+full view.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment he did not see me, his attention being directed
+toward the retreating elephant, and I had ample time to
+feast my eyes upon his splendid proportions, his great head,
+and his thick black mane.</p>
+
+<p>Ah, what thoughts passed through my mind in those brief
+moments as I stood there in rapt fascination!  I had come to
+find a wondrous civilization, and instead I found a wild-
+beast monarch of the realm where English kings had ruled.  A
+lion reigned, undisturbed, within a few miles of the seat of
+one of the greatest governments the world has ever known,
+his domain a howling wilderness, where yesterday fell the
+shadows of the largest city in the world.</p>
+
+<p>It was appalling; but my reflections upon this depressing
+subject were doomed to sudden extinction.  The lion had
+discovered me.</p>
+
+<p>For an instant he stood silent and motionless as one of the
+mangy effigies at home, but only for an instant.  Then, with
+a most ferocious roar, and without the slightest hesitancy
+or warning, he charged upon me.</p>
+
+<p>He forsook the prey already dead beneath him for the
+pleasures of the delectable tidbit, man.  From the
+remorselessness with which the great Carnivora of modern
+England hunted man, I am constrained to believe that,
+whatever their appetites in times past, they have cultivated
+a gruesome taste for human flesh.</p>
+
+<p>As I threw my rifle to my shoulder, I thanked God, the
+ancient God of my ancestors, that I had replaced the hard-
+jacketed bullets in my weapon with soft-nosed projectiles,
+for though this was my first experience with Felis leo, I
+knew the moment that I faced that charge that even my
+wonderfully perfected firearm would be as futile as a
+peashooter unless I chanced to place my first bullet in a
+vital spot.</p>
+
+<p>Unless you had seen it you could not believe credible the
+speed of a charging lion.  Apparently the animal is not
+built for speed, nor can he maintain it for long.  But for a
+matter of forty or fifty yards there is, I believe, no
+animal on earth that can overtake him.</p>
+
+<p>Like a bolt he bore down upon me, but, fortunately for me, I
+did not lose my head.  I guessed that no bullet would kill
+him instantly.  I doubted that I could pierce his skull.
+There was hope, though, in finding his heart through his
+exposed chest, or, better yet, of breaking his shoulder or
+foreleg, and bringing him up long enough to pump more
+bullets into him and finish him.</p>
+
+<p>I covered his left shoulder and pulled the trigger as he was
+almost upon me.  It stopped him.  With a terrific howl of
+pain and rage, the brute rolled over and over upon the
+ground almost to my feet.  As he came I pumped two more
+bullets into him, and as he struggled to rise, clawing
+viciously at me, I put a bullet in his spine.</p>
+
+<p>That finished him, and I am free to admit that I was mighty
+glad of it.  There was a great tree close behind me, and,
+stepping within its shade, I leaned against it, wiping the
+perspiration from my face, for the day was hot, and the
+exertion and excitement left me exhausted.</p>
+
+<p>I stood there, resting, for a moment, preparatory to turning
+and retracing my steps to the launch, when, without warning,
+something whizzed through space straight toward me.  There
+was a dull thud of impact as it struck the tree, and as I
+dodged to one side and turned to look at the thing I saw a
+heavy spear imbedded in the wood not three inches from where
+my head had been.</p>
+
+<p>The thing had come from a little to one side of me, and,
+without waiting to investigate at the instant, I leaped
+behind the tree, and, circling it, peered around the other
+side to get a sight of my would-be murderer.</p>
+
+<p>This time I was pitted against men&mdash;the spear told me that
+all too plainly&mdash;but so long as they didn't take me unawares
+or from behind I had little fear of them.</p>
+
+<p>Cautiously I edged about the far side of the trees until I
+could obtain a view of the spot from which the spear must
+have come, and when I did I saw the head of a man just
+emerging from behind a bush.</p>
+
+<p>The fellow was quite similar in type to those I had seen
+upon the Isle of Wight.  He was hairy and unkempt, and as he
+finally stepped into view I saw that he was garbed in the
+same primitive fashion.</p>
+
+<p>He stood for a moment gazing about in search of me, and then
+he advanced.  As he did so a number of others, precisely
+like him, stepped from the concealing verdure of nearby
+bushes and followed in his wake.  Keeping the trees between
+them and me, I ran back a short distance until I found a
+clump of underbrush that would effectually conceal me, for I
+wished to discover the strength of the party and its
+armament before attempting to parley with it.</p>
+
+<p>The useless destruction of any of these poor creatures was
+the farthest idea from my mind.  I should have liked to have
+spoken with them, but I did not care to risk having to use
+my high-powered rifle upon them other than in the last
+extremity.</p>
+
+<p>Once in my new place of concealment, I watched them as they
+approached the tree.  There were about thirty men in the
+party and one woman&mdash;a girl whose hands seemed to be bound
+behind her and who was being pulled along by two of the men.</p>
+
+<p>They came forward warily, peering cautiously into every bush
+and halting often.  At the body of the lion, they paused,
+and I could see from their gesticulations and the higher
+pitch of their voices that they were much excited over my
+kill.</p>
+
+<p>But presently they resumed their search for me, and as they
+advanced I became suddenly aware of the unnecessary
+brutality with which the girl's guards were treating her.
+She stumbled once, not far from my place of concealment, and
+after the balance of the party had passed me.  As she did so
+one of the men at her side jerked her roughly to her feet
+and struck her across the mouth with his fist.</p>
+
+<p>Instantly my blood boiled, and forgetting every
+consideration of caution, I leaped from my concealment, and,
+springing to the man's side, felled him with a blow.</p>
+
+<p>So unexpected had been my act that it found him and his
+fellow unprepared; but instantly the latter drew the knife
+that protruded from his belt and lunged viciously at me, at
+the same time giving voice to a wild cry of alarm.</p>
+
+<p>The girl shrank back at sight of me, her eyes wide in
+astonishment, and then my antagonist was upon me.  I parried
+his first blow with my forearm, at the same time delivering
+a powerful blow to his jaw that sent him reeling back; but
+he was at me again in an instant, though in the brief
+interim I had time to draw my revolver.</p>
+
+<p>I saw his companion crawling slowly to his feet, and the
+others of the party racing down upon me.  There was no time
+to argue now, other than with the weapons we wore, and so,
+as the fellow lunged at me again with the wicked-looking
+knife, I covered his heart and pulled the trigger.</p>
+
+<p>Without a sound, he slipped to the earth, and then I turned
+the weapon upon the other guard, who was now about to attack
+me.  He, too, collapsed, and I was alone with the astonished
+girl.</p>
+
+<p>The balance of the party was some twenty paces from us, but
+coming rapidly.  I seized her arm and drew her after me
+behind a nearby tree, for I had seen that with both their
+comrades down the others were preparing to launch their
+spears.</p>
+
+<p>With the girl safe behind the tree, I stepped out in sight
+of the advancing foe, shouting to them that I was no enemy,
+and that they should halt and listen to me.  But for answer
+they only yelled in derision and launched a couple of spears
+at me, both of which missed.</p>
+
+<p>I saw then that I must fight, yet still I hated to slay
+them, and it was only as a final resort that I dropped two
+of them with my rifle, bringing the others to a temporary
+halt.  Again, I appealed to them to desist.  But they only
+mistook my solicitude for them for fear, and, with shouts of
+rage and derision, leaped forward once again to overwhelm
+me.</p>
+
+<p>It was now quite evident that I must punish them severely,
+or&mdash;myself&mdash;die and relinquish the girl once more to her
+captors.  Neither of these things had I the slightest notion
+of doing, and so I again stepped from behind the tree, and,
+with all the care and deliberation of target practice, I
+commenced picking off the foremost of my assailants.</p>
+
+<p>One by one the wild men dropped, yet on came the others,
+fierce and vengeful, until, only a few remaining, these
+seemed to realize the futility of combating my modern weapon
+with their primitive spears, and, still howling wrathfully,
+withdrew toward the west.</p>
+
+<p>Now, for the first time, I had an opportunity to turn my
+attention toward the girl, who had stood, silent and
+motionless, behind me as I pumped death into my enemies and
+hers from my automatic rifle.</p>
+
+<p>She was of medium height, well formed, and with fine, clear-
+cut features.  Her forehead was high, and her eyes both
+intelligent and beautiful.  Exposure to the sun had browned
+a smooth and velvety skin to a shade which seemed to enhance
+rather than mar an altogether lovely picture of youthful
+femininity.</p>
+
+<p>A trace of apprehension marked her expression&mdash;I cannot call
+it fear since I have learned to know her&mdash;and astonishment
+was still apparent in her eyes.  She stood quite erect, her
+hands still bound behind her, and met my gaze with level,
+proud return.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What language do you speak?&quot; I asked.  &quot;Do you understand
+mine?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes,&quot; she replied.  &quot;It is similar to my own.  I am
+Grabritin.  What are you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am a Pan-American,&quot; I answered.  She shook her head.
+&quot;What is that?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>I pointed toward the west.  &quot;Far away, across the ocean.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Her expression altered a trifle.  A slight frown contracted
+her brow.  The expression of apprehension deepened.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Take off your cap,&quot; she said, and when, to humor her
+strange request, I did as she bid, she appeared relieved.
+Then she edged to one side and leaned over seemingly to peer
+behind me.  I turned quickly to see what she discovered, but
+finding nothing, wheeled about to see that her expression
+was once more altered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You are not from there?&quot; and she pointed toward the east.
+It was a half question.  &quot;You are not from across the water
+there?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No,&quot; I assured her.  &quot;I am from Pan-America, far away to
+the west.  Have you ever heard of Pan-America?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She shook her head in negation.  &quot;I do not care where you
+are from,&quot; she explained, &quot;if you are not from there, and I
+am sure you are not, for the men from there have horns and
+tails.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It was with difficulty that I restrained a smile.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who are the men from there?&quot; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;They are bad men,&quot; she replied.  &quot;Some of my people do not
+believe that there are such creatures.  But we have a
+legend&mdash;a very old, old legend, that once the men from there
+came across to Grabritin.  They came upon the water, and
+under the water, and even in the air.  They came in great
+numbers, so that they rolled across the land like a great
+gray fog.  They brought with them thunder and lightning and
+smoke that killed, and they fell upon us and slew our people
+by the thousands and the hundreds of thousands.  But at last
+we drove them back to the water's edge, back into the sea,
+where many were drowned.  Some escaped, and these our people
+followed&mdash;men, women, and even children, we followed them
+back.  That is all.  The legend says our people never
+returned.  Maybe they were all killed.  Maybe they are still
+there.  But this, also, is in the legend, that as we drove
+the men back across the water they swore that they would
+return, and that when they left our shores they would leave
+no human being alive behind them.  I was afraid that you
+were from there.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;By what name were these men called?&quot; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We call them only the 'men from there,'&quot; she replied,
+pointing toward the east.  &quot;I have never heard that they had
+another name.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In the light of what I knew of ancient history, it was not
+difficult for me to guess the nationality of those she
+described simply as &quot;the men from over there.&quot;  But what
+utter and appalling devastation the Great War must have
+wrought to have erased not only every sign of civilization
+from the face of this great land, but even the name of the
+enemy from the knowledge and language of the people.</p>
+
+<p>I could only account for it on the hypothesis that the
+country had been entirely depopulated except for a few
+scattered and forgotten children, who, in some marvelous
+manner, had been preserved by Providence to re-populate the
+land.  These children had, doubtless, been too young to
+retain in their memories to transmit to their children any
+but the vaguest suggestion of the cataclysm which had
+overwhelmed their parents.</p>
+
+<p>Professor Cortoran, since my return to Pan-America, has
+suggested another theory which is not entirely without claim
+to serious consideration.  He points out that it is quite
+beyond the pale of human instinct to desert little children
+as my theory suggests the ancient English must have done.
+He is more inclined to believe that the expulsion of the foe
+from England was synchronous with widespread victories by
+the allies upon the continent, and that the people of
+England merely emigrated from their ruined cities and their
+devastated, blood-drenched fields to the mainland, in the
+hope of finding, in the domain of the conquered enemy,
+cities and farms which would replace those they had lost.</p>
+
+<p>The learned professor assumes that while a long-continued
+war had strengthened rather than weakened the instinct of
+paternal devotion, it had also dulled other humanitarian
+instincts, and raised to the first magnitude the law of the
+survival of the fittest, with the result that when the
+exodus took place the strong, the intelligent, and the
+cunning, together with their offspring, crossed the waters
+of the Channel or the North Sea to the continent, leaving in
+unhappy England only the helpless inmates of asylums for the
+feebleminded and insane.</p>
+
+<p>My objections to this, that the present inhabitants of
+England are mentally fit, and could therefore not have
+descended from an ancestry of undiluted lunacy he brushes
+aside with the assertion that insanity is not necessarily
+hereditary; and that even though it was, in many cases a
+return to natural conditions from the state of high
+civilization, which is thought to have induced mental
+disease in the ancient world, would, after several
+generations, have thoroughly expunged every trace of the
+affliction from the brains and nerves of the descendants of
+the original maniacs.</p>
+
+<p>Personally, I do not place much stock in Professor
+Cortoran's theory, though I admit that I am prejudiced.
+Naturally one does not care to believe that the object of
+his greatest affection is descended from a gibbering idiot
+and a raving maniac.</p>
+
+<p>But I am forgetting the continuity of my narrative&mdash;a
+continuity which I desire to maintain, though I fear that I
+shall often be led astray, so numerous and varied are the
+bypaths of speculation which lead from the present day story
+of the Grabritins into the mysterious past of their
+forbears.</p>
+
+<p>As I stood talking with the girl I presently recollected
+that she still was bound, and with a word of apology, I drew
+my knife and cut the rawhide thongs which confined her
+wrists at her back.</p>
+
+<p>She thanked me, and with such a sweet smile that I should
+have been amply repaid by it for a much more arduous
+service.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And now,&quot; I said, &quot;let me accompany you to your home and
+see you safely again under the protection of your friends.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No,&quot; she said, with a hint of alarm in her voice; &quot;you must
+not come with me&mdash;Buckingham will kill you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Buckingham.  The name was famous in ancient English history.
+Its survival, with many other illustrious names, is one of
+the strongest arguments in refutal of Professor Cortoran's
+theory; yet it opens no new doors to the past, and, on the
+whole, rather adds to than dissipates the mystery.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And who is Buckingham,&quot; I asked, &quot;and why should he wish to
+kill me?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He would think that you had stolen me,&quot; she replied, &quot;and
+as he wishes me for himself, he will kill any other whom he
+thinks desires me.  He killed Wettin a few days ago.  My
+mother told me once that Wettin was my father.  He was king.
+Now Buckingham is king.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Here, evidently, were a people slightly superior to those of
+the Isle of Wight.  These must have at least the rudiments
+of civilized government since they recognized one among them
+as ruler, with the title, king.  Also, they retained the
+word father.  The girl's pronunciation, while far from
+identical with ours, was much closer than the tortured
+dialect of the Eastenders of the Isle of Wight.  The longer
+I talked with her the more hopeful I became of finding here,
+among her people, some records, or traditions, which might
+assist in clearing up the historic enigma of the past two
+centuries.  I asked her if we were far from the city of
+London, but she did not know what I meant.  When I tried to
+explain, describing mighty buildings of stone and brick,
+broad avenues, parks, palaces, and countless people, she but
+shook her head sadly.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There is no such place near by,&quot; she said.  &quot;Only the Camp
+of the Lions has places of stone where the beasts lair, but
+there are no people in the Camp of the Lions.  Who would
+dare go there!&quot;  And she shuddered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The Camp of the Lions,&quot; I repeated.  &quot;And where is that,
+and what?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is there,&quot; she said, pointing up the river toward the
+west.  &quot;I have seen it from a great distance, but I have
+never been there.  We are much afraid of the lions, for this
+is their country, and they are angry that man has come to
+live here.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Far away there,&quot; and she pointed toward the south-west, &quot;is
+the land of tigers, which is even worse than this, the land
+of the lions, for the tigers are more numerous than the
+lions and hungrier for human flesh.  There were tigers here
+long ago, but both the lions and the men set upon them and
+drove them off.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Where did these savage beasts come from?&quot; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh,&quot; she replied, &quot;they have been here always.  It is their
+country.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do they not kill and eat your people?&quot; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Often, when we meet them by accident, and we are too few to
+slay them, or when one goes too close to their camp.  But
+seldom do they hunt us, for they find what food they need
+among the deer and wild cattle, and, too, we make them
+gifts, for are we not intruders in their country?  Really we
+live upon good terms with them, though I should not care to
+meet one were there not many spears in my party.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I should like to visit this Camp of the Lions,&quot; I said.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, no, you must not!&quot; cried the girl.  &quot;That would be
+terrible.  They would eat you.&quot;  For a moment, then, she
+seemed lost in thought, but presently she turned upon me
+with: &quot;You must go now, for any minute Buckingham may come
+in search of me.  Long since should they have learned that I
+am gone from the camp&mdash;they watch over me very closely&mdash;and
+they will set out after me.  Go!  I shall wait here until
+they come in search of me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No,&quot; I told her.  &quot;I'll not leave you alone in a land
+infested by lions and other wild beasts.  If you won't let
+me go as far as your camp with you, then I'll wait here
+until they come in search of you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Please go!&quot; she begged.  &quot;You have saved me, and I would
+save you, but nothing will save you if Buckingham gets his
+hands on you.  He is a bad man.  He wishes to have me for
+his woman so that he may be king.  He would kill anyone who
+befriended me, for fear that I might become another's.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Didn't you say that Buckingham is already the king?&quot; I
+asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He is.  He took my mother for his woman after he had killed
+Wettin.  But my mother will die soon&mdash;she is very old&mdash;and
+then the man to whom I belong will become king.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Finally, after much questioning, I got the thing through my
+head.  It appears that the line of descent is through the
+women.  A man is merely head of his wife's family&mdash;that is
+all.  If she chances to be the oldest female member of the
+&quot;royal&quot; house, he is king.  Very naively the girl explained
+that there was seldom any doubt as to whom a child's mother
+was.</p>
+
+<p>This accounted for the girl's importance in the community
+and for Buckingham's anxiety to claim her, though she told
+me that she did not wish to become his woman, for he was a
+bad man and would make a bad king.  But he was powerful, and
+there was no other man who dared dispute his wishes.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why not come with me,&quot; I suggested, &quot;if you do not wish to
+become Buckingham's?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Where would you take me?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>Where, indeed!  I had not thought of that.  But before I
+could reply to her question she shook her head and said,
+&quot;No, I cannot leave my people.  I must stay and do my best,
+even if Buckingham gets me, but you must go at once.  Do not
+wait until it is too late.  The lions have had no offering
+for a long time, and Buckingham would seize upon the first
+stranger as a gift to them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>I did not perfectly understand what she meant, and was about
+to ask her when a heavy body leaped upon me from behind, and
+great arms encircled my neck.  I struggled to free myself
+and turn upon my antagonist, but in another instant I was
+overwhelmed by a half dozen powerful, half-naked men, while
+a score of others surrounded me, a couple of whom seized the
+girl.</p>
+
+<p>I fought as best I could for my liberty and for hers, but
+the weight of numbers was too great, though I had the
+satisfaction at least of giving them a good fight.</p>
+
+<p>When they had overpowered me, and I stood, my hands bound
+behind me, at the girl's side, she gazed commiseratingly at
+me.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is too bad that you did not do as I bid you,&quot; she said,
+&quot;for now it has happened just as I feared&mdash;Buckingham has
+you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Which is Buckingham?&quot; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am Buckingham,&quot; growled a burly, unwashed brute,
+swaggering truculently before me.  &quot;And who are you who
+would have stolen my woman?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The girl spoke up then and tried to explain that I had not
+stolen her; but on the contrary I had saved her from the men
+from the &quot;Elephant Country&quot; who were carrying her away.</p>
+
+<p>Buckingham only sneered at her explanation, and a moment
+later gave the command that started us all off toward the
+west.  We marched for a matter of an hour or so, coming at
+last to a collection of rude huts, fashioned from branches
+of trees covered with skins and grasses and sometimes
+plastered with mud.  All about the camp they had erected a
+wall of saplings pointed at the tops and fire hardened.</p>
+
+<p>This palisade was a protection against both man and beasts,
+and within it dwelt upward of two thousand persons, the
+shelters being built very close together, and sometimes
+partially underground, like deep trenches, with the poles
+and hides above merely as protection from the sun and rain.</p>
+
+<p>The older part of the camp consisted almost wholly of
+trenches, as though this had been the original form of
+dwellings which was slowly giving way to the drier and
+airier surface domiciles.  In these trench habitations I saw
+a survival of the military trenches which formed so famous a
+part of the operation of the warring nations during the
+twentieth century.</p>
+
+<p>The women wore a single light deerskin about their hips, for
+it was summer, and quite warm.  The men, too, were clothed
+in a single garment, usually the pelt of some beast of prey.
+The hair of both men and women was confined by a rawhide
+thong passing about the forehead and tied behind.  In this
+leathern band were stuck feathers, flowers, or the tails of
+small mammals.  All wore necklaces of the teeth or claws of
+wild beasts, and there were numerous metal wristlets and
+anklets among them.</p>
+
+<p>They wore, in fact, every indication of a most primitive
+people&mdash;a race which had not yet risen to the heights of
+agriculture or even the possession of domestic animals.
+They were hunters&mdash;the lowest plane in the evolution of the
+human race of which science takes cognizance.</p>
+
+<p>And yet as I looked at their well shaped heads, their
+handsome features, and their intelligent eyes, it was
+difficult to believe that I was not among my own.  It was
+only when I took into consideration their mode of living,
+their scant apparel, the lack of every least luxury among
+them, that I was forced to admit that they were, in truth,
+but ignorant savages.</p>
+
+<p>Buckingham had relieved me of my weapons, though he had not
+the slightest idea of their purpose or uses, and when we
+reached the camp he exhibited both me and my arms with every
+indication of pride in this great capture.</p>
+
+<p>The inhabitants flocked around me, examining my clothing,
+and exclaiming in wonderment at each new discovery of
+button, buckle, pocket, and flap.  It seemed incredible that
+such a thing could be, almost within a stone's throw of the
+spot where but a brief two centuries before had stood the
+greatest city of the world.</p>
+
+<p>They bound me to a small tree that grew in the middle of one
+of their crooked streets, but the girl they released as soon
+as we had entered the enclosure.  The people greeted her
+with every mark of respect as she hastened to a large hut
+near the center of the camp.</p>
+
+<p>Presently she returned with a fine looking, white-haired
+woman, who proved to be her mother.  The older woman carried
+herself with a regal dignity that seemed quite remarkable in
+a place of such primitive squalor.</p>
+
+<p>The people fell aside as she approached, making a wide way
+for her and her daughter.  When they had come near and
+stopped before me the older woman addressed me.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My daughter has told me,&quot; she said, &quot;of the manner in which
+you rescued her from the men of the elephant country.  If
+Wettin lived you would be well treated, but Buckingham has
+taken me now, and is king.  You can hope for nothing from
+such a beast as Buckingham.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The fact that Buckingham stood within a pace of us and was
+an interested listener appeared not to temper her
+expressions in the slightest.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Buckingham is a pig,&quot; she continued.  &quot;He is a coward.  He
+came upon Wettin from behind and ran his spear through him.
+He will not be king for long.  Some one will make a face at
+him, and he will run away and jump into the river.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The people began to titter and clap their hands.  Buckingham
+became red in the face.  It was evident that he was far from
+popular.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If he dared,&quot; went on the old lady, &quot;he would kill me now,
+but he does not dare.  He is too great a coward.  If I could
+help you I should gladly do so.  But I am only queen&mdash;the
+vehicle that has helped carry down, unsullied, the royal
+blood from the days when Grabritin was a mighty country.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The old queen's words had a noticeable effect upon the mob
+of curious savages which surrounded me.  The moment they
+discovered that the old queen was friendly to me and that I
+had rescued her daughter they commenced to accord me a more
+friendly interest, and I heard many words spoken in my
+behalf, and demands were made that I not be harmed.</p>
+
+<p>But now Buckingham interfered.  He had no intention of being
+robbed of his prey.  Blustering and storming, he ordered the
+people back to their huts, at the same time directing two of
+his warriors to confine me in a dugout in one of the
+trenches close to his own shelter.</p>
+
+<p>Here they threw me upon the ground, binding my ankles
+together and trussing them up to my wrists behind.  There
+they left me, lying upon my stomach&mdash;a most uncomfortable
+and strained position, to which was added the pain where the
+cords cut into my flesh.</p>
+
+<p>Just a few days ago my mind had been filled with the
+anticipation of the friendly welcome I should find among the
+cultured Englishmen of London.  Today I should be sitting in
+the place of honor at the banquet board of one of London's
+most exclusive clubs, feted and lionized.</p>
+
+<p>The actuality!  Here I lay, bound hand and foot, doubtless
+almost upon the very site of a part of ancient London, yet
+all about me was a primeval wilderness, and I was a captive
+of half-naked wild men.</p>
+
+<p>I wondered what had become of Delcarte and Taylor and
+Snider.  Would they search for me?  They could never find
+me, I feared, yet if they did, what could they accomplish
+against this horde of savage warriors?</p>
+
+<p>Would that I could warn them.  I thought of the girl&mdash;doubtless she could get word to them, but how was I to
+communicate with her?  Would she come to see me before I was
+killed?  It seemed incredible that she should not make some
+slight attempt to befriend me; yet, as I recalled, she had
+made no effort to speak with me after we had reached the
+village.  She had hastened to her mother the moment she had
+been liberated.  Though she had returned with the old queen,
+she had not spoken to me, even then.  I began to have my
+doubts.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, I came to the conclusion that I was absolutely
+friendless except for the old queen.  For some unaccountable
+reason my rage against the girl for her ingratitude rose to
+colossal proportions.</p>
+
+<p>For a long time I waited for some one to come to my prison
+whom I might ask to bear word to the queen, but I seemed to
+have been forgotten.  The strained position in which I lay
+became unbearable.  I wriggled and twisted until I managed
+to turn myself partially upon my side, where I lay half
+facing the entrance to the dugout.</p>
+
+<p>Presently my attention was attracted by the shadow of
+something moving in the trench without, and a moment later
+the figure of a child appeared, creeping upon all fours, as,
+wide-eyed, and prompted by childish curiosity, a little girl
+crawled to the entrance of my hut and peered cautiously and
+fearfully in.</p>
+
+<p>I did not speak at first for fear of frightening the little
+one away.  But when I was satisfied that her eyes had become
+sufficiently accustomed to the subdued light of the
+interior, I smiled.</p>
+
+<p>Instantly the expression of fear faded from her eyes to be
+replaced with an answering smile.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who are you, little girl?&quot; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My name is Mary,&quot; she replied.  &quot;I am Victory's sister.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And who is Victory?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You do not know who Victory is?&quot; she asked, in
+astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>I shook my head in negation.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You saved her from the elephant country people, and yet you
+say you do not know her!&quot; she exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, so she is Victory, and you are her sister!  I have not
+heard her name before.  That is why I did not know whom you
+meant,&quot; I explained.  Here was just the messenger for me.
+Fate was becoming more kind.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Will you do something for me, Mary?&quot; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If I can.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Go to your mother, the queen, and ask her to come to me,&quot; I
+said.  &quot;I have a favor to ask.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She said that she would, and with a parting smile she left
+me.</p>
+
+<p>For what seemed many hours I awaited her return, chafing
+with impatience.  The afternoon wore on and night came, and
+yet no one came near me.  My captors brought me neither food
+nor water.  I was suffering considerable pain where the
+rawhide thongs cut into my swollen flesh.  I thought that
+they had either forgotten me, or that it was their intention
+to leave me here to die of starvation.</p>
+
+<p>Once I heard a great uproar in the village.  Men were
+shouting&mdash;women were screaming and moaning.  After a time
+this subsided, and again there was a long interval of
+silence.</p>
+
+<p>Half the night must have been spent when I heard a sound in
+the trench near the hut.  It resembled muffled sobs.
+Presently a figure appeared, silhouetted against the lesser
+darkness beyond the doorway.  It crept inside the hut.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you here?&quot; whispered a childlike voice.</p>
+
+<p>It was Mary!  She had returned.  The thongs no longer hurt
+me.  The pangs of hunger and thirst disappeared.  I realized
+that it had been loneliness from which I suffered most.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mary!&quot; I exclaimed.  &quot;You are a good girl.  You have come
+back, after all.  I had commenced to think that you would
+not.  Did you give my message to the queen?  Will she come?
+Where is she?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The child's sobs increased, and she flung herself upon the
+dirt floor of the hut, apparently overcome by grief.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is it?&quot; I asked.  &quot;Why do you cry?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The queen, my mother, will not come to you,&quot; she said,
+between sobs.  &quot;She is dead.  Buckingham has killed her.
+Now he will take Victory, for Victory is queen.  He kept us
+fastened up in our shelter, for fear that Victory would
+escape him, but I dug a hole beneath the back wall and got
+out.  I came to you, because you saved Victory once before,
+and I thought that you might save her again, and me, also.
+Tell me that you will.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am bound and helpless, Mary,&quot; I replied.  &quot;Otherwise I
+would do what I could to save you and your sister.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will set you free!&quot; cried the girl, creeping up to my
+side.  &quot;I will set you free, and then you may come and slay
+Buckingham.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Gladly!&quot; I assented.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We must hurry,&quot; she went on, as she fumbled with the hard
+knots in the stiffened rawhide, &quot;for Buckingham will be
+after you soon.  He must make an offering to the lions at
+dawn before he can take Victory.  The taking of a queen
+requires a human offering!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And I am to be the offering?&quot; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes,&quot; she said, tugging at a knot.  &quot;Buckingham has been
+wanting a sacrifice ever since he killed Wettin, that he
+might slay my mother and take Victory.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The thought was horrible, not solely because of the hideous
+fate to which I was condemned, but from the contemplation it
+engendered of the sad decadence of a once enlightened race.
+To these depths of ignorance, brutality, and superstition
+had the vaunted civilization of twentieth century England
+been plunged, and by what?  War!  I felt the structure of
+our time-honored militaristic arguments crumbling about me.</p>
+
+<p>Mary labored with the thongs that confined me.  They proved
+refractory&mdash;defying her tender, childish fingers.  She
+assured me, however, that she would release me, if &quot;they&quot;
+did not come too soon.</p>
+
+<p>But, alas, they came.  We heard them coming down the trench,
+and I bade Mary hide in a corner, lest she be discovered and
+punished.  There was naught else she could do, and so she
+crawled away into the Stygian blackness behind me.</p>
+
+<p>Presently two warriors entered.  The leader exhibited a
+unique method of discovering my whereabouts in the darkness.
+He advanced slowly, kicking out viciously before him.
+Finally he kicked me in the face.  Then he knew where I was.</p>
+
+<p>A moment later I had been jerked roughly to my feet.  One of
+the fellows stopped and severed the bonds that held my
+ankles.  I could scarcely stand alone.  The two pulled and
+hauled me through the low doorway and along the trench.  A
+party of forty or fifty warriors were awaiting us at the
+brink of the excavation some hundred yards from the hut.</p>
+
+<p>Hands were lowered to us, and we were dragged to the
+surface.  Then commenced a long march.  We stumbled through
+the underbrush wet with dew, our way lighted by a score of
+torchbearers who surrounded us.  But the torches were not to
+light the way&mdash;that was but incidental.  They were carried
+to keep off the huge Carnivora that moaned and coughed and
+roared about us.</p>
+
+<p>The noises were hideous.  The whole country seemed alive
+with lions.  Yellow-green eyes blazed wickedly at us from
+out the surrounding darkness.  My escort carried long, heavy
+spears.  These they kept ever pointed toward the beast of
+prey, and I learned from snatches of the conversation I
+overheard that occasionally there might be a lion who would
+brave even the terrors of fire to leap in upon human prey.
+It was for such that the spears were always couched.</p>
+
+<p>But nothing of the sort occurred during this hideous death
+march, and with the first pale heralding of dawn we reached
+our goal&mdash;an open place in the midst of a tangled wildwood.
+Here rose in crumbling grandeur the first evidences I had
+seen of the ancient civilization which once had graced fair
+Albion&mdash;a single, time-worn arch of masonry.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The entrance to the Camp of the Lions!&quot; murmured one of the
+party in a voice husky with awe.</p>
+
+<p>Here the party knelt, while Buckingham recited a weird,
+prayer-like chant.  It was rather long, and I recall only a
+portion of it, which ran, if my memory serves me, somewhat
+as follows:</p>
+
+<p class="center">Lord of Grabritin, we<br />
+Fall on our knees to thee,<br />
+This gift to bring.<br />
+Greatest of kings are thou!<br />
+To thee we humbly bow!<br />
+Peace to our camp allow.<br />
+God save thee, king!</p>
+
+
+<p>Then the party rose, and dragging me to the crumbling arch,
+made me fast to a huge, corroded, copper ring which was
+dangling from an eyebolt imbedded in the masonry.</p>
+
+<p>None of them, not even Buckingham, seemed to feel any
+personal animosity toward me.  They were naturally rough and
+brutal, as primitive men are supposed to have been since the
+dawn of humanity, but they did not go out of their way to
+maltreat me.</p>
+
+<p>With the coming of dawn the number of lions about us seemed
+to have greatly diminished&mdash;at least they made less noise&mdash;and as Buckingham and his party disappeared into the woods,
+leaving me alone to my terrible fate, I could hear the
+grumblings and growlings of the beasts diminishing with the
+sound of the chant, which the party still continued.  It
+appeared that the lions had failed to note that I had been
+left for their breakfast, and had followed off after their
+worshippers instead.</p>
+
+<p>But I knew the reprieve would be but for a short time, and
+though I had no wish to die, I must confess that I rather
+wished the ordeal over and the peace of oblivion upon me.</p>
+
+<p>The voices of the men and the lions receded in the distance,
+until finally quiet reigned about me, broken only by the
+sweet voices of birds and the sighing of the summer wind in
+the trees.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed impossible to believe that in this peaceful
+woodland setting the frightful thing was to occur which must
+come with the passing of the next lion who chanced within
+sight or smell of the crumbling arch.</p>
+
+<p>I strove to tear myself loose from my bonds, but succeeded
+only in tightening them about my arms.  Then I remained
+passive for a long time, letting the scenes of my lifetime
+pass in review before my mind's eye.</p>
+
+<p>I tried to imagine the astonishment, incredulity, and horror
+with which my family and friends would be overwhelmed if,
+for an instant, space could be annihilated and they could
+see me at the gates of London.</p>
+
+<p>The gates of London!  Where was the multitude hurrying to
+the marts of trade after a night of pleasure or rest?  Where
+was the clang of tramcar gongs, the screech of motor horns,
+the vast murmur of a dense throng?</p>
+
+<p>Where were they?  And as I asked the question a lone, gaunt
+lion strode from the tangled jungle upon the far side of the
+clearing.  Majestically and noiselessly upon his padded feet
+the king of beasts moved slowly toward the gates of London
+and toward me.</p>
+
+<p>Was I afraid?  I fear that I was almost afraid.  I know that
+I thought that fear was coming to me, and so I straightened
+up and squared my shoulders and looked the lion straight in
+the eyes&mdash;and waited.</p>
+
+<p>It is not a nice way to die&mdash;alone, with one's hands fast
+bound, beneath the fangs and talons of a beast of prey.  No,
+it is not a nice way to die, not a pretty way.</p>
+
+<p>The lion was halfway across the clearing when I heard a
+slight sound behind me.  The great cat stopped in his
+tracks.  He lashed his tail against his sides now, instead
+of simply twitching its tip, and his low moan became a
+thunderous roar.</p>
+
+<p>As I craned my neck to catch a glimpse of the thing that had
+aroused the fury of the beast before me, it sprang through
+the arched gateway and was at my side&mdash;with parted lips and
+heaving bosom and disheveled hair&mdash;a bronzed and lovely
+vision to eyes that had never harbored hope of rescue.</p>
+
+<p>It was Victory, and in her arms she clutched my rifle and
+revolver.  A long knife was in the doeskin belt that
+supported the doeskin skirt tightly about her lithe limbs.
+She dropped my weapons at my feet, and, snatching the knife
+from its resting place, severed the bonds that held me.  I
+was free, and the lion was preparing to charge.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Run!&quot; I cried to the girl, as I bent and seized my rifle.
+But she only stood there at my side, her bared blade ready
+in her hand.</p>
+
+<p>The lion was bounding toward us now in prodigious leaps.  I
+raised the rifle and fired.  It was a lucky shot, for I had
+no time to aim carefully, and when the beast crumpled and
+rolled, lifeless, to the ground, I went upon my knees and
+gave thanks to the God of my ancestors.</p>
+
+<p>And, still upon my knees, I turned, and taking the girl's
+hand in mine, I kissed it.  She smiled at that, and laid her
+other hand upon my head.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You have strange customs in your country,&quot; she said.</p>
+
+<p>I could not but smile at that when I thought how strange it
+would seem to my countrymen could they but see me kneeling
+there on the site of London, kissing the hand of England's
+queen.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And now,&quot; I said, as I rose, &quot;you must return to the safety
+of your camp.  I will go with you until you are near enough
+to continue alone in safety.  Then I shall try to return to
+my comrades.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will not return to the camp,&quot; she replied.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But what shall you do?&quot; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I do not know.  Only I shall never go back while Buckingham
+lives.  I should rather die than go back to him.  Mary came
+to me, after they had taken you from the camp, and told me.
+I found your strange weapons and followed with them.  It
+took me a little longer, for often I had to hide in the
+trees that the lions might not get me, but I came in time,
+and now you are free to go back to your friends.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And leave you here?&quot; I exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>She nodded, but I could see through all her brave front that
+she was frightened at the thought.  I could not leave her,
+of course, but what in the world I was to do, cumbered with
+the care of a young woman, and a queen at that, I was at a
+loss to know.  I pointed out that phase of it to her, but
+she only shrugged her shapely shoulders and pointed to her
+knife.</p>
+
+<p>It was evident that she felt entirely competent to protect
+herself.</p>
+
+<p>As we stood there we heard the sound of voices.  They were
+coming from the forest through which we had passed when we
+had come from camp.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;They are searching for me,&quot; said the girl.  &quot;Where shall we
+hide?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>I didn't relish hiding.  But when I thought of the
+innumerable dangers which surrounded us and the
+comparatively small amount of ammunition that I had with me,
+I hesitated to provoke a battle with Buckingham and his
+warriors when, by flight, I could avoid them and preserve my
+cartridges against emergencies which could not be escaped.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Would they follow us there?&quot; I asked, pointing through the
+archway into the Camp of the Lions.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Never,&quot; she replied, &quot;for, in the first place, they would
+know that we would not dare go there, and in the second they
+themselves would not dare.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then we shall take refuge in the Camp of the Lions,&quot; I
+said.</p>
+
+<p>She shuddered and drew closer to me.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You dare?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why not?&quot; I returned.  &quot;We shall be safe from Buckingham,
+and you have seen, for the second time in two days, that
+lions are harmless before my weapons.  Then, too, I can find
+my friends easiest in this direction, for the River Thames
+runs through this place you call the Camp of the Lions, and
+it is farther down the Thames that my friends are awaiting
+me.  Do you not dare come with me?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I dare follow wherever you lead,&quot; she answered simply.</p>
+
+<p>And so I turned and passed beneath the great arch into the
+city of London.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>5</h2>
+
+
+<p>As we entered deeper into what had once been the city, the
+evidences of man's past occupancy became more frequent.  For
+a mile from the arch there was only a riot of weeds and
+undergrowth and trees covering small mounds and little
+hillocks that, I was sure, were formed of the ruins of
+stately buildings of the dead past.</p>
+
+<p>But presently we came upon a district where shattered walls
+still raised their crumbling tops in sad silence above the
+grass-grown sepulchers of their fallen fellows.  Softened
+and mellowed by ancient ivy stood these sentinels of sorrow,
+their scarred faces still revealing the rents and gashes of
+shrapnel and of bomb.</p>
+
+<p>Contrary to our expectations, we found little indication
+that lions in any great numbers laired in this part of
+ancient London.  Well-worn pathways, molded by padded paws,
+led through the cavernous windows or doorways of a few of
+the ruins we passed, and once we saw the savage face of a
+great, black-maned lion scowling down upon us from a
+shattered stone balcony.</p>
+
+<p>We followed down the bank of the Thames after we came upon
+it.  I was anxious to look with my own eyes upon the famous
+bridge, and I guessed, too, that the river would lead me
+into the part of London where stood Westminster Abbey and
+the Tower.</p>
+
+<p>Realizing that the section through which we had been passing
+was doubtless outlying, and therefore not so built up with
+large structures as the more centrally located part of the
+old town, I felt sure that farther down the river I should
+find the ruins larger.  The bridge would be there in part,
+at least, and so would remain the walls of many of the great
+edifices of the past.  There would be no such complete ruin
+of large structures as I had seen among the smaller
+buildings.</p>
+
+<p>But when I had come to that part of the city which I judged
+to have contained the relics I sought I found havoc that had
+been wrought there even greater than elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>At one point upon the bosom of the Thames there rises a few
+feet above the water a single, disintegrating mound of
+masonry.  Opposite it, upon either bank of the river, are
+tumbled piles of ruins overgrown with vegetation.</p>
+
+<p>These, I am forced to believe, are all that remain of London
+Bridge, for nowhere else along the river is there any other
+slightest sign of pier or abutment.</p>
+
+<p>Rounding the base of a large pile of grass-covered debris,
+we came suddenly upon the best preserved ruin we had yet
+discovered.  The entire lower story and part of the second
+story of what must once have been a splendid public building
+rose from a great knoll of shrubbery and trees, while ivy,
+thick and luxuriant, clambered upward to the summit of the
+broken walls.</p>
+
+<p>In many places the gray stone was still exposed, its
+smoothly chiseled face pitted with the scars of battle.  The
+massive portal yawned, somber and sorrowful, before us,
+giving a glimpse of marble halls within.</p>
+
+<p>The temptation to enter was too great.  I wished to explore
+the interior of this one remaining monument of civilization
+now dead beyond recall.  Through this same portal, within
+these very marble halls, had Gray and Chamberlin and
+Kitchener and Shaw, perhaps, come and gone with the other
+great ones of the past.</p>
+
+<p>I took Victory's hand in mine.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come!&quot; I said.  &quot;I do not know the name by which this great
+pile was known, nor the purposes it fulfilled.  It may have
+been the palace of your sires, Victory.  From some great
+throne within, your forebears may have directed the
+destinies of half the world.  Come!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>I must confess to a feeling of awe as we entered the rotunda
+of the great building.  Pieces of massive furniture of
+another day still stood where man had placed them centuries
+ago.  They were littered with dust and broken stone and
+plaster, but, otherwise, so perfect was their preservation I
+could hardly believe that two centuries had rolled by since
+human eyes were last set upon them.</p>
+
+<p>Through one great room after another we wandered, hand in
+hand, while Victory asked many questions and for the first
+time I began to realize something of the magnificence and
+power of the race from whose loins she had sprung.</p>
+
+<p>Splendid tapestries, now mildewed and rotting, hung upon the
+walls.  There were mural paintings, too, depicting great
+historic events of the past.  For the first time Victory saw
+the likeness of a horse, and she was much affected by a huge
+oil which depicted some ancient cavalry charge against a
+battery of field guns.</p>
+
+<p>In other pictures there were steamships, battleships,
+submarines, and quaint looking railway trains&mdash;all small and
+antiquated in appearance to me, but wonderful to Victory.
+She told me that she would like to remain for the rest of
+her life where she could look at those pictures daily.</p>
+
+<p>From room to room we passed until presently we emerged into
+a mighty chamber, dark and gloomy, for its high and narrow
+windows were choked and clogged by ivy.  Along one paneled
+wall we groped, our eyes slowly becoming accustomed to the
+darkness.  A rank and pungent odor pervaded the atmosphere.</p>
+
+<p>We had made our way about half the distance across one end
+of the great apartment when a low growl from the far end
+brought us to a startled halt.</p>
+
+<p>Straining my eyes through the gloom, I made out a raised
+dais at the extreme opposite end of the hall.  Upon the dais
+stood two great chairs, highbacked and with great arms.</p>
+
+<p>The throne of England!  But what were those strange forms
+about it?</p>
+
+<p>Victory gave my hand a quick, excited little squeeze.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The lions!&quot; she whispered.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, lions indeed!  Sprawled about the dais were a dozen
+huge forms, while upon the seat of one of the thrones a
+small cub lay curled in slumber.</p>
+
+<p>As we stood there for a moment, spellbound by the sight of
+those fearsome creatures occupying the very thrones of the
+sovereigns of England, the low growl was repeated, and a
+great male rose slowly to his feet.</p>
+
+<p>His devilish eyes bored straight through the semi-darkness
+toward us.  He had discovered the interloper.  What right
+had man within this palace of the beasts? Again he opened
+his giant jaws, and this time there rumbled forth a warning
+roar.</p>
+
+<p>Instantly eight or ten of the other beasts leaped to their
+feet.  Already the great fellow who had spied us was
+advancing slowly in our direction.  I held my rifle ready,
+but how futile it appeared in the face of this savage horde.</p>
+
+<p>The foremost beast broke into a slow trot, and at his heels
+came the others.  All were roaring now, and the din of their
+great voices reverberating through the halls and corridors
+of the palace formed the most frightful chorus of thunderous
+savagery imaginable to the mind of man.</p>
+
+<p>And then the leader charged, and upon the hideous
+pandemonium broke the sharp crack of my rifle, once, twice,
+thrice.  Three lions rolled, struggling and biting, to the
+floor.  Victory seized my arm, with a quick, &quot;This way!
+Here is a door,&quot; and a moment later we were in a tiny
+antechamber at the foot of a narrow stone staircase.</p>
+
+<p>Up this we backed, Victory just behind me, as the first of
+the remaining lions leaped from the throne room and sprang
+for the stairs.  Again I fired, but others of the ferocious
+beasts leaped over their fallen fellows and pursued us.</p>
+
+<p>The stairs were very narrow&mdash;that was all that saved us&mdash;for
+as I backed slowly upward, but a single lion could attack me
+at a time, and the carcasses of those I slew impeded the
+rushes of the others.</p>
+
+<p>At last we reached the top.  There was a long corridor from
+which opened many doorways.  One, directly behind us, was
+tight closed.  If we could open it and pass into the chamber
+behind we might find a respite from attack.</p>
+
+<p>The remaining lions were roaring horribly.  I saw one
+sneaking very slowly up the stairs toward us.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Try that door,&quot; I called to Victory.  &quot;See if it will
+open.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She ran up to it and pushed.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Turn the knob!&quot; I cried, seeing that she did not know how
+to open a door, but neither did she know what I meant by
+knob.</p>
+
+<p>I put a bullet in the spine of the approaching lion and
+leaped to Victory's side.  The door resisted my first
+efforts to swing it inward.  Rusted hinges and swollen wood
+held it tightly closed.  But at last it gave, and just as
+another lion mounted to the top of the stairway it swung in,
+and I pushed Victory across the threshold.</p>
+
+<p>Then I turned to meet the renewed attack of the savage foe.
+One lion fell in his tracks, another stumbled to my very
+feet, and then I leaped within and slammed the portal to.</p>
+
+<p>A quick glance showed me that this was the only door to the
+small apartment in which we had found sanctuary, and, with a
+sigh of relief, I leaned for a moment against the panels of
+the stout barrier that separated us from the ramping demons
+without.</p>
+
+<p>Across the room, between two windows, stood a flat-topped
+desk.  A little pile of white and brown lay upon it close to
+the opposite edge.  After a moment of rest I crossed the
+room to investigate.  The white was the bleached human
+bones&mdash;the skull, collar bones, arms, and a few of the upper
+ribs of a man.  The brown was the dust of a decayed military
+cap and blouse.  In a chair before the desk were other
+bones, while more still strewed the floor beneath the desk
+and about the chair.  A man had died sitting there with his
+face buried in his arms&mdash;two hundred years ago.</p>
+
+<p>Beneath the desk were a pair of spurred military boots,
+green and rotten with decay.  In them were the leg bones of
+a man.  Among the tiny bones of the hands was an ancient
+fountain pen, as good, apparently, as the day it was made,
+and a metal covered memoranda book, closed over the bones of
+an index finger.</p>
+
+<p>It was a gruesome sight&mdash;a pitiful sight&mdash;this lone
+inhabitant of mighty London.</p>
+
+<p>I picked up the metal covered memoranda book.  Its pages
+were rotten and stuck together.  Only here and there was a
+sentence or a part of a sentence legible.  The first that I
+could read was near the middle of the little volume:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;His majesty left for Tunbridge Wells today, he . . .  jesty
+was stricken . . . terday.  God give she does not die . . .
+am military governor of Lon . . .&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And farther on:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is awful . . . hundred deaths today . . . worse than the
+bombardm . . .&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Nearer the end I picked out the following:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I promised his maj . . . e will find me here when he ret .
+. . alone.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The most legible passage was on the next page:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thank God we drove them out.  There is not a single . . .
+man on British soil today; but at what awful cost.  I tried
+to persuade Sir Phillip to urge the people to remain.  But
+they are mad with fear of the Death, and rage at our
+enemies.  He tells me that the coast cities are packed . . .
+waiting to be taken across.  What will become of England,
+with none left to rebuild her shattered cities!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And the last entry:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;. . . alone.  Only the wild beasts . . .  A lion is roaring
+now beneath the palace windows.  I think the people feared
+the beasts even more than they did the Death.  But they are
+gone, all gone, and to what?  How much better conditions
+will they find on the continent? All gone&mdash;only I remain.  I
+promised his majesty, and when he returns he will find that
+I was true to my trust, for I shall be awaiting him.  God
+save the King!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>That was all.  This brave and forever nameless officer died
+nobly at his post&mdash;true to his country and his king.  It was
+the Death, no doubt, that took him.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the entries had been dated.  From the few legible
+letters and figures which remained I judge the end came some
+time in August, 1937, but of that I am not at all certain.</p>
+
+<p>The diary has cleared up at least one mystery that had
+puzzled me not a little, and now I am surprised that I had
+not guessed its solution myself&mdash;the presence of African and
+Asiatic beasts in England.</p>
+
+<p>Acclimated by years of confinement in the zoological
+gardens, they were fitted to resume in England the wild
+existence for which nature had intended them, and once free,
+had evidently bred prolifically, in marked contrast to the
+captive exotics of twentieth century Pan-America, which had
+gradually become fewer until extinction occurred some time
+during the twenty-first century.</p>
+
+<p>The palace, if such it was, lay not far from the banks of
+the Thames.  The room in which we were imprisoned overlooked
+the river, and I determined to attempt to escape in this
+direction.</p>
+
+<p>To descend through the palace was out of the question, but
+outside we could discover no lions.  The stems of the ivy
+which clambered upward past the window of the room were as
+large around as my arm.  I knew that they would support our
+weight, and as we could gain nothing by remaining longer in
+the palace, I decided to descend by way of the ivy and
+follow along down the river in the direction of the launch.</p>
+
+<p>Naturally I was much handicapped by the presence of the
+girl.  But I could not abandon her, though I had no idea
+what I should do with her after rejoining my companions.
+That she would prove a burden and an embarrassment I was
+certain, but she had made it equally plain to me that she
+would never return to her people to mate with Buckingham.</p>
+
+<p>I owed my life to her, and, all other considerations aside,
+that was sufficient demand upon my gratitude and my honor to
+necessitate my suffering every inconvenience in her service.
+Too, she was queen of England.  But, by far the most potent
+argument in her favor, she was a woman in distress&mdash;and a
+young and very beautiful one.</p>
+
+<p>And so, though I wished a thousand times that she was back
+in her camp, I never let her guess it, but did all that lay
+within my power to serve and protect her.  I thank God now
+that I did so.</p>
+
+<p>With the lions still padding back and forth beyond the
+closed door, Victory and I crossed the room to one of the
+windows.  I had outlined my plan to her, and she had assured
+me that she could descend the ivy without assistance.  In
+fact, she smiled a trifle at my question.</p>
+
+<p>Swinging myself outward, I began the descent, and had come
+to within a few feet of the ground, being just opposite a
+narrow window, when I was startled by a savage growl almost
+in my ear, and then a great taloned paw darted from the
+aperture to seize me, and I saw the snarling face of a lion
+within the embrasure.</p>
+
+<p>Releasing my hold upon the ivy, I dropped the re-maining
+distance to the ground, saved from laceration only because
+the lion's paw struck the thick stem of ivy.</p>
+
+<p>The creature was making a frightful racket now, leaping back
+and forth from the floor at the broad window ledge, tearing
+at the masonry with his claws in vain attempts to reach me.
+But the opening was too narrow, and the masonry too solid.</p>
+
+<p>Victory had commenced the descent, but I called to her to
+stop just above the window, and, as the lion reappeared,
+growling and snarling, I put a .33 bullet in his face, and
+at the same moment Victory slipped quickly past him,
+dropping into my upraised arms that were awaiting her.</p>
+
+<p>The roaring of the beasts that had discovered us, together
+with the report of my rifle, had set the balance of the
+fierce inmates of the palace into the most frightful uproar
+I have ever heard.</p>
+
+<p>I feared that it would not be long before intelligence or
+instinct would draw them from the interiors and set them
+upon our trail, the river.  Nor had we much more than
+reached it when a lion bounded around the corner of the
+edifice we had just quitted and stood looking about as
+though in search of us.</p>
+
+<p>Following, came others, while Victory and I crouched in
+hiding behind a clump of bushes close to the bank of the
+river.  The beasts sniffed about the ground for a while, but
+they did not chance to go near the spot where we had stood
+beneath the window that had given us escape.</p>
+
+<p>Presently a black-maned male raised his head, and, with
+cocked ears and glaring eyes, gazed straight at the bush
+behind which we lay.  I could have sworn that he had
+discovered us, and when he took a few short and stately
+steps in our direction I raised my rifle and covered him.
+But, after a long, tense moment he looked away, and turned
+to glare in another direction.</p>
+
+<p>I breathed a sigh of relief, and so did Victory.  I could
+feel her body quiver as she lay pressed close to me, our
+cheeks almost touching as we both peered through the same
+small opening in the foliage.</p>
+
+<p>I turned to give her a reassuring smile as the lion
+indicated that he had not seen us, and as I did so she, too,
+turned her face toward mine, for the same purpose,
+doubtless.  Anyway, as our heads turned simultaneously, our
+lips brushed together.  A startled expression came into
+Victory's eyes as she drew back in evident confusion.</p>
+
+<p>As for me, the strangest sensation that I have ever
+experienced claimed me for an instant.  A peculiar, tingling
+thrill ran through my veins, and my head swam.  I could not
+account for it.</p>
+
+<p>Naturally, being a naval officer and consequently in the
+best society of the federation, I have seen much of women.
+With others, I have laughed at the assertions of the savants
+that modern man is a cold and passionless creation in
+comparison with the males of former ages&mdash;in a word, that
+love, as the one grand passion, had ceased to exist.</p>
+
+<p>I do not know, now, but that they were more nearly right
+than we have guessed, at least in so far as modern civilized
+woman is concerned.  I have kissed many women&mdash;young and
+beautiful and middle aged and old, and many that I had no
+business kissing&mdash;but never before had I experienced that
+remarkable and altogether delightful thrill that followed
+the accidental brushing of my lips against the lips of
+Victory.</p>
+
+<p>The occurrence interested me, and I was tempted to
+experiment further.  But when I would have essayed it
+another new and entirely unaccountable force restrained me.
+For the first time in my life I felt embarrassment in the
+presence of a woman.</p>
+
+<p>What further might have developed I cannot say, for at that
+moment a perfect she-devil of a lioness, with keener eyes
+than her lord and master, discovered us.  She came trotting
+toward our place of concealment, growling and baring her
+yellow fangs.</p>
+
+<p>I waited for an instant, hoping that I might be mistaken,
+and that she would turn off in some other direction.  But
+no&mdash;she increased her trot to a gallop, and then I fired at
+her, but the bullet, though it struck her full in the
+breast, didn't stop her.</p>
+
+<p>Screaming with pain and rage, the creature fairly flew
+toward us.  Behind her came other lions.  Our case looked
+hopeless.  We were upon the brink of the river.  There
+seemed no avenue of escape, and I knew that even my modern
+automatic rifle was inadequate in the face of so many of
+these fierce beasts.</p>
+
+<p>To remain where we were would have been suicidal.  We were
+both standing now, Victory keeping her place bravely at my
+side, when I reached the only decision open to me.</p>
+
+<p>Seizing the girl's hand, I turned, just as the lioness
+crashed into the opposite side of the bushes, and, dragging
+Victory after me, leaped over the edge of the bank into the
+river.</p>
+
+<p>I did not know that lions are not fond of water, nor did I
+know if Victory could swim, but death, immediate and
+terrible, stared us in the face if we remained, and so I
+took the chance.</p>
+
+<p>At this point the current ran close to the shore, so that we
+were immediately in deep water, and, to my intense
+satisfaction, Victory struck out with a strong, overhand
+stroke and set all my fears on her account at rest.</p>
+
+<p>But my relief was short-lived.  That lioness, as I have said
+before, was a veritable devil.  She stood for a moment
+glaring at us, then like a shot she sprang into the river
+and swam swiftly after us.</p>
+
+<p>Victory was a length ahead of me.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Swim for the other shore!&quot; I called to her.</p>
+
+<p>I was much impeded by my rifle, having to swim with one hand
+while I clung to my precious weapon with the other.  The
+girl had seen the lioness take to the water, and she had
+also seen that I was swimming much more slowly than she, and
+what did she do?  She started to drop back to my side.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Go on!&quot; I cried.  &quot;Make for the other shore, and then
+follow down until you find my friends.  Tell them that I
+sent you, and with orders that they are to protect you.  Go
+on!  Go on!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>But she only waited until we were again swimming side by
+side, and I saw that she had drawn her long knife, and was
+holding it between her teeth.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do as I tell you!&quot; I said to her sharply, but she shook her
+head.</p>
+
+<p>The lioness was overhauling us rapidly.  She was swimming
+silently, her chin just touching the water, but blood was
+streaming from between her lips.  It was evident that her
+lungs were pierced.</p>
+
+<p>She was almost upon me.  I saw that in a moment she would
+take me under her forepaws, or seize me in those great jaws.
+I felt that my time had come, but I meant to die fighting.
+And so I turned, and, treading water, raised my rifle above
+my head and awaited her.</p>
+
+<p>Victory, animated by a bravery no less ferocious than that
+of the dumb beast assailing us, swam straight for me.  It
+all happened so swiftly that I cannot recall the details of
+the kaleidoscopic action which ensued.  I knew that I rose
+high out of the water, and, with clubbed rifle, dealt the
+animal a terrific blow upon the skull, that I saw Victory,
+her long blade flashing in her hand, close, striking, upon
+the beast, that a great paw fell upon her shoulder, and that
+I was swept beneath the surface of the water like a straw
+before the prow of a freighter.</p>
+
+<p>Still clinging to my rifle, I rose again, to see the lioness
+struggling in her death throes but an arm's length from me.
+Scarcely had I risen than the beast turned upon her side,
+struggled frantically for an instant, and then sank.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>6</h2>
+
+
+<p>Victory was nowhere in sight.  Alone, I floated upon the
+bosom of the Thames.  In that brief instant I believe that I
+suffered more mental anguish than I have crowded into all
+the balance of my life before or since.  A few hours before,
+I had been wishing that I might be rid of her, and now that
+she was gone I would have given my life to have her back
+again.</p>
+
+<p>Wearily I turned to swim about the spot where she had
+disappeared, hoping that she might rise once at least, and I
+would be given the opportunity to save her, and, as I
+turned, the water boiled before my face and her head shot up
+before me.  I was on the point of striking out to seize her,
+when a happy smile illumined her features.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You are not dead!&quot; she cried.  &quot;I have been searching the
+bottom for you.  I was sure that the blow she gave you must
+have disabled you,&quot; and she glanced about for the lioness.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;She has gone?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Dead,&quot; I replied.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The blow you struck her with the thing you call rifle
+stunned her,&quot; she explained, &quot;and then I swam in close
+enough to get my knife into her heart.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Ah, such a girl!  I could not but wonder what one of our own
+Pan-American women would have done under like circumstances.
+But then, of course, they have not been trained by stern
+necessity to cope with the emergencies and dangers of savage
+primeval life.</p>
+
+<p>Along the bank we had just quitted, a score of lions paced
+to and fro, growling menacingly.  We could not return, and
+we struck out for the opposite shore.  I am a strong
+swimmer, and had no doubt as to my ability to cross the
+river, but I was not so sure about Victory, so I swam close
+behind her, to be ready to give her assistance should she
+need it.</p>
+
+<p>She did not, however, reaching the opposite bank as fresh,
+apparently, as when she entered the water.  Victory is a
+wonder.  Each day that we were together brought new proofs
+of it.  Nor was it her courage or vitality only which amazed
+me.  She had a head on those shapely shoulders of hers, and
+dignity!  My, but she could be regal when she chose!</p>
+
+<p>She told me that the lions were fewer upon this side of the
+river, but that there were many wolves, running in great
+packs later in the year.  Now they were north somewhere, and
+we should have little to fear from them, though we might
+meet with a few.</p>
+
+<p>My first concern was to take my weapons apart and dry them,
+which was rather difficult in the face of the fact that
+every rag about me was drenched.  But finally, thanks to the
+sun and much rubbing, I succeeded, though I had no oil to
+lubricate them.</p>
+
+<p>We ate some wild berries and roots that Victory found, and
+then we set off again down the river, keeping an eye open
+for game on one side and the launch on the other, for I
+thought that Delcarte, who would be the natural leader
+during my absence, might run up the Thames in search of me.</p>
+
+<p>The balance of that day we sought in vain for game or for
+the launch, and when night came we lay down, our stomachs
+empty, to sleep beneath the stars.  We were entirely
+unprotected from attack from wild beasts, and for this
+reason I remained awake most of the night, on guard.  But
+nothing approached us, though I could hear the lions roaring
+across the river, and once I thought I heard the howl of a
+beast north of us&mdash;it might have been a wolf.</p>
+
+<p>Altogether, it was a most unpleasant night, and I determined
+then that if we were forced to sleep out again that I should
+provide some sort of shelter which would protect us from
+attack while we slept.</p>
+
+<p>Toward morning I dozed, and the sun was well up when Victory
+aroused me by gently shaking my shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Antelope!&quot; she whispered in my ear, and, as I raised my
+head, she pointed up-river.  Crawling to my knees, I looked
+in the direction she indicated, to see a buck standing upon
+a little knoll some two hundred yards from us.  There was
+good cover between the animal and me, and so, though I might
+have hit him at two hundred yards, I preferred to crawl
+closer to him and make sure of the meat we both so craved.</p>
+
+<p>I had covered about fifty yards of the distance, and the
+beast was still feeding peacefully, so I thought that I
+would make even surer of a hit by going ahead another fifty
+yards, when the animal suddenly raised his head and looked
+away, up-river.  His whole attitude proclaimed that he was
+startled by something beyond him that I could not see.</p>
+
+<p>Realizing that he might break and run and that I should then
+probably miss him entirely, I raised my rifle to my
+shoulder.  But even as I did so the animal leaped into the
+air, and simultaneously there was a sound of a shot from
+beyond the knoll.</p>
+
+<p>For an instant I was dumbfounded.  Had the report come from
+down-river, I should have instantly thought that one of my
+own men had fired.  But coming from up-river it puzzled me
+considerably.  Who could there be with firearms in primitive
+England other than we of the Coldwater?</p>
+
+<p>Victory was directly behind me, and I motioned for her to
+lie down, as I did, behind the bush from which I had been
+upon the point of firing at the antelope.  We could see that
+the buck was quite dead, and from our hiding place we waited
+to discover the identity of his slayer when the latter
+should approach and claim his kill.</p>
+
+<p>We had not long to wait, and when I saw the head and
+shoulders of a man appear above the crest of the knoll, I
+sprang to my feet, with a heartfelt cry of joy, for it was
+Delcarte.</p>
+
+<p>At the sound of my voice, Delcarte half raised his rifle in
+readiness for the attack of an enemy, but a moment later he
+recognized me, and was coming rapidly to meet us.  Behind
+him was Snider.  They both were astounded to see me upon the
+north bank of the river, and much more so at the sight of my
+companion.</p>
+
+<p>Then I introduced them to Victory, and told them that she
+was queen of England.  They thought, at first, that I was
+joking.  But when I had recounted my adventures and they
+realized that I was in earnest, they believed me.</p>
+
+<p>They told me that they had followed me inshore when I had
+not returned from the hunt, that they had met the men of the
+elephant country, and had had a short and one-sided battle
+with the fellows.  And that afterward they had returned to
+the launch with a prisoner, from whom they had learned that
+I had probably been captured by the men of the lion country.</p>
+
+<p>With the prisoner as a guide they had set off up-river in
+search of me, but had been much delayed by motor trouble,
+and had finally camped after dark a half mile above the spot
+where Victory and I had spent the night.  They must have
+passed us in the dark, and why I did not hear the sound of
+the propeller I do not know, unless it passed me at a time
+when the lions were making an unusually earsplitting din
+upon the opposite side.</p>
+
+<p>Taking the antelope with us, we all returned to the launch,
+where we found Taylor as delighted to see me alive again as
+Delcarte had been.  I cannot say truthfully that Snider
+evinced much enthusiasm at my rescue.</p>
+
+<p>Taylor had found the ingredients for chemical fuel, and the
+distilling of them had, with the motor trouble, accounted
+for their delay in setting out after me.</p>
+
+<p>The prisoner that Delcarte and Snider had taken was a
+powerful young fellow from the elephant country.
+Notwithstanding the fact that they had all assured him to
+the contrary, he still could not believe that we would not
+kill him.</p>
+
+<p>He assured us that his name was Thirty-six, and, as he could
+not count above ten, I am sure that he had no conception of
+the correct meaning of the word, and that it may have been
+handed down to him either from the military number of an
+ancestor who had served in the English ranks during the
+Great War, or that originally it was the number of some
+famous regiment with which a forbear fought.</p>
+
+<p>Now that we were reunited, we held a council to determine
+what course we should pursue in the immediate future.
+Snider was still for setting out to sea and returning to
+Pan-America, but the better judgment of Delcarte and Taylor
+ridiculed the suggestion&mdash;we should not have lived a
+fortnight.</p>
+
+<p>To remain in England, constantly menaced by wild beasts and
+men equally as wild, seemed about as bad.  I suggested that
+we cross the Channel and ascertain if we could not discover
+a more enlightened and civilized people upon the continent.
+I was sure that some trace of the ancient culture and
+greatness of Europe must remain.  Germany, probably, would
+be much as it was during the twentieth century, for, in
+common with most Pan-Americans, I was positive that Germany
+had been victorious in the Great War.</p>
+
+<p>Snider demurred at the suggestion.  He said that it was bad
+enough to have come this far.  He did not want to make it
+worse by going to the continent.  The outcome of it was that
+I finally lost my patience, and told him that from then on
+he would do what I thought best&mdash;that I proposed to assume
+command of the party, and that they might all consider
+themselves under my orders, as much so as though we were
+still aboard the Coldwater and in Pan-American waters.</p>
+
+<p>Delcarte and Taylor immediately assured me that they had not
+for an instant assumed anything different, and that they
+were as ready to follow and obey me here as they would be
+upon the other side of thirty.</p>
+
+<p>Snider said nothing, but he wore a sullen scowl.  And I
+wished then, as I had before, and as I did to a much greater
+extent later, that fate had not decreed that he should have
+chanced to be a member of the launch's party upon that
+memorable day when last we quitted the Coldwater.</p>
+
+<p>Victory, who was given a voice in our councils, was all for
+going to the continent, or anywhere else, in fact, where she
+might see new sights and experience new adventures.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Afterward we can come back to Grabritin,&quot; she said, &quot;and if
+Buckingham is not dead and we can catch him away from his
+men and kill him, then I can return to my people, and we can
+all live in peace and happiness.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She spoke of killing Buckingham with no greater concern than
+one might evince in the contemplated destruction of a sheep;
+yet she was neither cruel nor vindictive.  In fact, Victory
+is a very sweet and womanly woman.  But human life is of
+small account beyond thirty&mdash;a legacy from the bloody days
+when thousands of men perished in the trenches between the
+rising and the setting of a sun, when they laid them
+lengthwise in these same trenches and sprinkled dirt over
+them, when the Germans corded their corpses like wood and
+set fire to them, when women and children and old men were
+butchered, and great passenger ships were torpedoed without
+warning.</p>
+
+<p>Thirty-six, finally assured that we did not intend slaying
+him, was as keen to accompany us as was Victory.</p>
+
+<p>The crossing to the continent was uneventful, its monotony
+being relieved, however, by the childish delight of Victory
+and Thirty-six in the novel experience of riding safely upon
+the bosom of the water, and of being so far from land.</p>
+
+<p>With the possible exception of Snider, the little party
+appeared in the best of spirits, laughing and joking, or
+interestedly discussing the possibilities which the future
+held for us: what we should find upon the continent, and
+whether the inhabitants would be civilized or barbarian
+peoples.</p>
+
+<p>Victory asked me to explain the difference between the two,
+and when I had tried to do so as clearly as possible, she
+broke into a gay little laugh.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh,&quot; she cried, &quot;then I am a barbarian!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>I could not but laugh, too, as I admitted that she was,
+indeed, a barbarian.  She was not offended, taking the
+matter as a huge joke.  But some time thereafter she sat in
+silence, apparently deep in thought.  Finally she looked up
+at me, her strong white teeth gleaming behind her smiling
+lips.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Should you take that thing you call 'razor,'&quot; she said,
+&quot;and cut the hair from the face of Thirty-six, and exchange
+garments with him, you would be the barbarian and Thirty-six
+the civilized man.  There is no other difference between
+you, except your weapons.  Clothe you in a wolfskin, give
+you a knife and a spear, and set you down in the woods of
+Grabritin&mdash;of what service would your civilization be to
+you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Delcarte and Taylor smiled at her reply, but Thirty-six and
+Snider laughed uproariously.  I was not surprised at Thirty-
+six, but I thought that Snider laughed louder than the
+occasion warranted.  As a matter of fact, Snider, it seemed
+to me, was taking advantage of every opportunity, however
+slight, to show insubordination, and I determined then that
+at the first real breach of discipline I should take action
+that would remind Snider, ever after, that I was still his
+commanding officer.</p>
+
+<p>I could not help but notice that his eyes were much upon
+Victory, and I did not like it, for I knew the type of man
+he was.  But as it would not be necessary ever to leave the
+girl alone with him I felt no apprehension for her safety.</p>
+
+<p>After the incident of the discussion of barbarians I thought
+that Victory's manner toward me changed perceptibly.  She
+held aloof from me, and when Snider took his turn at the
+wheel, sat beside him, upon the pretext that she wished to
+learn how to steer the launch.  I wondered if she had
+guessed the man's antipathy for me, and was seeking his
+company solely for the purpose of piquing me.</p>
+
+<p>Snider was, too, taking full advantage of his opportunity.
+Often he leaned toward the girl to whisper in her ear, and
+he laughed much, which was unusual with Snider.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, it was nothing at all to me; yet, for some
+unaccountable reason, the sight of the two of them sitting
+there so close to one another and seeming to be enjoying
+each other's society to such a degree irritated me
+tremendously, and put me in such a bad humor that I took no
+pleasure whatsoever in the last few hours of the crossing.</p>
+
+<p>We aimed to land near the site of ancient Ostend.  But when
+we neared the coast we discovered no indication of any human
+habitations whatever, let alone a city.  After we had
+landed, we found the same howling wilderness about us that
+we had discovered on the British Isle.  There was no
+slightest indication that civilized man had ever set a foot
+upon that portion of the continent of Europe.</p>
+
+<p>Although I had feared as much, since our experience in
+England, I could not but own to a feeling of marked
+disappointment, and to the gravest fears of the future,
+which induced a mental depression that was in no way
+dissipated by the continued familiarity between Victory and
+Snider.</p>
+
+<p>I was angry with myself that I permitted that matter to
+affect me as it had.  I did not wish to admit to myself that
+I was angry with this uncultured little savage, that it made
+the slightest difference to me what she did or what she did
+not do, or that I could so lower myself as to feel personal
+enmity towards a common sailor.  And yet, to be honest, I
+was doing both.</p>
+
+<p>Finding nothing to detain us about the spot where Ostend
+once had stood, we set out up the coast in search of the
+mouth of the River Rhine, which I purposed ascending in
+search of civilized man.  It was my intention to explore the
+Rhine as far up as the launch would take us.  If we found no
+civilization there we would return to the North Sea,
+continue up the coast to the Elbe, and follow that river and
+the canals of Berlin.  Here, at least, I was sure that we
+should find what we sought&mdash;and, if not, then all Europe had
+reverted to barbarism.</p>
+
+<p>The weather remained fine, and we made excellent progress,
+but everywhere along the Rhine we met with the same
+disappointment&mdash;no sign of civilized man, in fact, no sign
+of man at all.</p>
+
+<p>I was not enjoying the exploration of modern Europe as I had
+anticipated&mdash;I was unhappy.  Victory seemed changed, too.  I
+had enjoyed her company at first, but since the trip across
+the Channel I had held aloof from her.</p>
+
+<p>Her chin was in the air most of the time, and yet I rather
+think that she regretted her friendliness with Snider, for I
+noticed that she avoided him entirely.  He, on the contrary,
+emboldened by her former friendliness, sought every
+opportunity to be near her.  I should have liked nothing
+better than a reasonably good excuse to punch his head; yet,
+paradoxically, I was ashamed of myself for harboring him any
+ill will.  I realized that there was something the matter
+with me, but I did not know what it was.</p>
+
+<p>Matters remained thus for several days, and we continued our
+journey up the Rhine.  At Cologne, I had hoped to find some
+reassuring indications, but there was no Cologne.  And as
+there had been no other cities along the river up to that
+point, the devastation was infinitely greater than time
+alone could have wrought.  Great guns, bombs, and mines must
+have leveled every building that man had raised, and then
+nature, unhindered, had covered the ghastly evidence of
+human depravity with her beauteous mantle of verdure.
+Splendid trees reared their stately tops where splendid
+cathedrals once had reared their domes, and sweet wild
+flowers blossomed in simple serenity in soil that once was
+drenched with human blood.</p>
+
+<p>Nature had reclaimed what man had once stolen from her and
+defiled.  A herd of zebras grazed where once the German
+kaiser may have reviewed his troops.  An antelope rested
+peacefully in a bed of daisies where, perhaps, two hundred
+years ago a big gun belched its terror-laden messages of
+death, of hate, of destruction against the works of man and
+God alike.</p>
+
+<p>We were in need of fresh meat, yet I hesitated to shatter
+the quiet and peaceful serenity of the view with the crack
+of a rifle and the death of one of those beautiful creatures
+before us.  But it had to be done&mdash;we must eat.  I left the
+work to Delcarte, however, and in a moment we had two
+antelope and the landscape to ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>After eating, we boarded the launch and continued up the
+river.  For two days we passed through a primeval
+wilderness.  In the afternoon of the second day we landed
+upon the west bank of the river, and, leaving Snider and
+Thirty-six to guard Victory and the launch, Delcarte,
+Taylor, and I set out after game.</p>
+
+<p>We tramped away from the river for upwards of an hour before
+discovering anything, and then only a small red deer, which
+Taylor brought down with a neat shot of two hundred yards.
+It was getting too late to proceed farther, so we rigged a
+sling, and the two men carried the deer back toward the
+launch while I walked a hundred yards ahead, in the hope of
+bagging something further for our larder.</p>
+
+<p>We had covered about half the distance to the river, when I
+suddenly came face to face with a man.  He was as primitive
+and uncouth in appearance as the Grabritins&mdash;a shaggy,
+unkempt savage, clothed in a shirt of skin cured with the
+head on, the latter surmounting his own head to form a
+bonnet, and giving to him a most fearful and ferocious
+aspect.</p>
+
+<p>The fellow was armed with a long spear and a club, the
+latter dangling down his back from a leathern thong about
+his neck.  His feet were incased in hide sandals.</p>
+
+<p>At sight of me, he halted for an instant, then turned and
+dove into the forest, and, though I called reassuringly to
+him in English he did not return nor did I again see him.</p>
+
+<p>The sight of the wild man raised my hopes once more that
+elsewhere we might find men in a higher state of
+civilization&mdash;it was the society of civilized man that I
+craved&mdash;and so, with a lighter heart, I continued on toward
+the river and the launch.</p>
+
+<p>I was still some distance ahead of Delcarte and Taylor, when
+I came in sight of the Rhine again.  But I came to the
+water's edge before I noticed that anything was amiss with
+the party we had left there a few hours before.</p>
+
+<p>My first intimation of disaster was the absence of the
+launch from its former moorings.  And then, a moment later&mdash;I discovered the body of a man lying upon the bank.  Running
+toward it, I saw that it was Thirty-six, and as I stopped
+and raised the Grabritin's head in my arms, I heard a faint
+moan break from his lips.  He was not dead, but that he was
+badly injured was all too evident.</p>
+
+<p>Delcarte and Taylor came up a moment later, and the three of
+us worked over the fellow, hoping to revive him that he
+might tell us what had happened, and what had become of the
+others.  My first thought was prompted by the sight I had
+recently had of the savage native.  The little party had
+evidently been surprised, and in the attack Thirty-six had
+been wounded and the others taken prisoners.  The thought
+was almost like a physical blow in the face&mdash;it stunned me.
+Victory in the hands of these abysmal brutes!  It was
+frightful.  I almost shook poor Thirty-six in my efforts to
+revive him.</p>
+
+<p>I explained my theory to the others, and then Delcarte
+shattered it by a single movement of the hand.  He drew
+aside the lion's skin that covered half of the Grabritin's
+breast, revealing a neat, round hole in Thirty-six's chest&mdash;a hole that could have been made by no other weapon than a
+rifle.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Snider!&quot; I exclaimed.  Delcarte nodded.  At about the same
+time the eyelids of the wounded man fluttered, and raised.
+He looked up at us, and very slowly the light of
+consciousness returned to his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What happened, Thirty-six?&quot; I asked him.</p>
+
+<p>He tried to reply, but the effort caused him to cough,
+bringing about a hemorrhage of the lungs and again he fell
+back exhausted.  For several long minutes he lay as one
+dead, then in an almost inaudible whisper he spoke.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Snider&mdash;&quot;  He paused, tried to speak again, raised a hand,
+and pointed down-river.  &quot;They&mdash;went&mdash;back,&quot; and then he
+shuddered convulsively and died.</p>
+
+<p>None of us voiced his belief.  But I think they were all
+alike: Victory and Snider had stolen the launch, and
+deserted us.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>7</h2>
+
+
+<p>We stood there, grouped about the body of the dead
+Grabritin, looking futilely down the river to where it made
+an abrupt curve to the west, a quarter of a mile below us,
+and was lost to sight, as though we expected to see the
+truant returning to us with our precious launch&mdash;the thing
+that meant life or death to us in this unfriendly, savage
+world.</p>
+
+<p>I felt, rather than saw, Taylor turn his eyes slowly toward
+my profile, and, as mine swung to meet them, the expression
+upon his face recalled me to my duty and responsibility as
+an officer.</p>
+
+<p>The utter hopelessness that was reflected in his face must
+have been the counterpart of what I myself felt, but in that
+brief instant I determined to hide my own misgivings that I
+might bolster up the courage of the others.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We are lost!&quot; was written as plainly upon Taylor's face as
+though his features were the printed words upon an open
+book.  He was thinking of the launch, and of the launch
+alone.  Was I?  I tried to think that I was.  But a greater
+grief than the loss of the launch could have engendered in
+me, filled my heart&mdash;a sullen, gnawing misery which I tried
+to deny&mdash;which I refused to admit&mdash;but which persisted in
+obsessing me until my heart rose and filled my throat, and I
+could not speak when I would have uttered words of
+reassurance to my companions.</p>
+
+<p>And then rage came to my relief&mdash;rage against the vile
+traitor who had deserted three of his fellow countrymen in
+so frightful a position.  I tried to feel an equal rage
+against the woman, but somehow I could not, and kept
+searching for excuses for her&mdash;her youth, her inexperience,
+her savagery.</p>
+
+<p>My rising anger swept away my temporary helplessness.  I
+smiled, and told Taylor not to look so glum.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We will follow them,&quot; I said, &quot;and the chances are that we
+shall overtake them.  They will not travel as rapidly as
+Snider probably hopes.  He will be forced to halt for fuel
+and for food, and the launch must follow the windings of the
+river; we can take short cuts while they are traversing the
+detour.  I have my map&mdash;thank God! I always carry it upon my
+person&mdash;and with that and the compass we will have an
+advantage over them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>My words seemed to cheer them both, and they were for
+starting off at once in pursuit.  There was no reason why we
+should delay, and we set forth down the river.  As we
+tramped along, we discussed a question that was uppermost in
+the mind of each&mdash;what we should do with Snider when we had
+captured him, for with the action of pursuit had come the
+optimistic conviction that we should succeed.  As a matter
+of fact, we had to succeed.  The very thought of remaining
+in this utter wilderness for the rest of our lives was
+impossible.</p>
+
+<p>We arrived at nothing very definite in the matter of
+Snider's punishment, since Taylor was for shooting him,
+Delcarte insisting that he should be hanged, while I,
+although fully conscious of the gravity of his offense,
+could not bring myself to give the death penalty.</p>
+
+<p>I fell to wondering what charm Victory had found in such a
+man as Snider, and why I insisted upon finding excuses for
+her and trying to defend her indefensible act.  She was
+nothing to me.  Aside from the natural gratitude I felt for
+her since she had saved my life, I owed her nothing.  She
+was a half-naked little savage&mdash;I, a gentleman, and an
+officer in the world's greatest navy.  There could be no
+close bonds of interest between us.</p>
+
+<p>This line of reflection I discovered to be as distressing as
+the former, but, though I tried to turn my mind to other
+things, it persisted in returning to the vision of an oval
+face, sun-tanned; of smiling lips, revealing white and even
+teeth; of brave eyes that harbored no shadow of guile; and
+of a tumbling mass of wavy hair that crowned the loveliest
+picture on which my eyes had ever rested.</p>
+
+<p>Every time this vision presented itself I felt myself turn
+cold with rage and hate against Snider.  I could forgive the
+launch, but if he had wronged her he should die&mdash;he should
+die at my own hands; in this I was determined.</p>
+
+<p>For two days we followed the river northward, cutting off
+where we could, but confined for the most part to the game
+trails that paralleled the stream.  One afternoon, we cut
+across a narrow neck of land that saved us many miles, where
+the river wound to the west and back again.</p>
+
+<p>Here we decided to halt, for we had had a hard day of it,
+and, if the truth were known, I think that we had all given
+up hope of overtaking the launch other than by the merest
+accident.</p>
+
+<p>We had shot a deer just before our halt, and, as Taylor and
+Delcarte were preparing it, I walked down to the water to
+fill our canteens.  I had just finished, and was
+straightening up, when something floating around a bend
+above me caught my eye.  For a moment I could not believe
+the testimony of my own senses.  It was a boat.</p>
+
+<p>I shouted to Delcarte and Taylor, who came running to my
+side.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The launch!&quot; cried Delcarte; and, indeed, it was the
+launch, floating down-river from above us.  Where had it
+been?  How had we passed it?  And how were we to reach it
+now, should Snider and the girl discover us?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It's drifting,&quot; said Taylor.  &quot;I see no one in it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>I was stripping off my clothes, and Delcarte soon followed
+my example.  I told Taylor to remain on shore with the
+clothing and rifles.  He might also serve us better there,
+since it would give him an opportunity to take a shot at
+Snider should the man discover us and show himself.</p>
+
+<p>With powerful strokes we swam out in the path of the
+oncoming launch.  Being a stronger swimmer than Delcarte, I
+soon was far in the lead, reaching the center of the channel
+just as the launch bore down upon me.  It was drifting
+broadside on.  I seized the gunwale and raised myself
+quickly, so that my chin topped the side.  I expected a blow
+the moment that I came within the view of the occupants, but
+no blow fell.</p>
+
+<p>Snider lay upon his back in the bottom of the boat alone.
+Even before I had clambered in and stooped above him I knew
+that he was dead.  Without examining him further, I ran
+forward to the control board and pressed the starting
+button.  To my relief, the mechanism responded&mdash;the launch
+was uninjured.  Coming about, I picked up Delcarte.  He was
+astounded at the sight that met his eyes, and immediately
+fell to examining Snider's body for signs of life or an
+explanation of the manner in which he met his death.</p>
+
+<p>The fellow had been dead for hours&mdash;he was cold and still.
+But Delcarte's search was not without results, for above
+Snider's heart was a wound, a slit about an inch in length&mdash;such a slit as a sharp knife would make, and in the dead
+fingers of one hand was clutched a strand of long brown
+hair&mdash;Victory's hair was brown.</p>
+
+<p>They say that dead men tell no tales, but Snider told the
+story of his end as clearly as though the dead lips had
+parted and poured forth the truth.  The beast had attacked
+the girl, and she had defended her honor.</p>
+
+<p>We buried Snider beside the Rhine, and no stone marks his
+last resting place.  Beasts do not require headstones.</p>
+
+<p>Then we set out in the launch, turning her nose upstream.
+When I had told Delcarte and Taylor that I intended
+searching for the girl, neither had demurred.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We had her wrong in our thoughts,&quot; said Delcarte, &quot;and the
+least that we can do in expiation is to find and rescue
+her.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>We called her name aloud every few minutes as we motored up
+the river, but, though we returned all the way to our former
+camping place, we did not find her.  I then decided to
+retrace our journey, letting Taylor handle the launch, while
+Delcarte and I, upon opposite sides of the river, searched
+for some sign of the spot where Victory had landed.</p>
+
+<p>We found nothing until we had reached a point a few miles
+above the spot where I had first seen the launch drifting
+down toward us, and there I discovered the remnants of a
+recent camp fire.</p>
+
+<p>That Victory carried flint and steel I was aware, and that
+it was she who built the fire I was positive.  But which way
+had she gone since she stopped here?</p>
+
+<p>Would she go on down the river, that she might thus bring
+herself nearer her own Grabritin, or would she have sought
+to search for us upstream, where she had seen us last?</p>
+
+<p>I had hailed Taylor, and sent him across the river to take
+in Delcarte, that the two might join me and discuss my
+discovery and our future plans.</p>
+
+<p>While waiting for them, I stood looking out over the river,
+my back toward the woods that stretched away to the east
+behind me.  Delcarte was just stepping into the launch upon
+the opposite side of the stream, when, without the least
+warning, I was violently seized by both arms and about the
+waist&mdash;three or four men were upon me at once; my rifle was
+snatched from my hands and my revolver from my belt.</p>
+
+<p>I struggled for an instant, but finding my efforts of no
+avail, I ceased them, and turned my head to have a look at
+my assailants.  At the same time several others of them
+walked around in front of me, and, to my astonishment, I
+found myself looking upon uniformed soldiery, armed with
+rifles, revolvers, and sabers, but with faces as black as
+coal.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>8</h2>
+
+
+<p>Delcarte and Taylor were now in mid-stream, coming toward
+us, and I called to them to keep aloof until I knew whether
+the intentions of my captors were friendly or otherwise.  My
+good men wanted to come on and annihilate the blacks.  But
+there were upward of a hundred of the latter, all well
+armed, and so I commanded Delcarte to keep out of harm's
+way, and stay where he was till I needed him.</p>
+
+<p>A young officer called and beckoned to them.  But they
+refused to come, and so he gave orders that resulted in my
+hands being secured at my back, after which the company
+marched away, straight toward the east.</p>
+
+<p>I noticed that the men wore spurs, which seemed strange to
+me.  But when, late in the afternoon, we arrived at their
+encampment, I discovered that my captors were cavalrymen.</p>
+
+<p>In the center of a plain stood a log fort, with a block-
+house at each of its four corners.  As we approached, I saw
+a herd of cavalry horses grazing under guard outside the
+walls of the post.  They were small, stocky horses, but the
+telltale saddle galls proclaimed their calling.  The flag
+flying from a tall staff inside the palisade was one which I
+had never before seen nor heard of.</p>
+
+<p>We marched directly into the compound, where the company was
+dismissed, with the exception of a guard of four privates,
+who escorted me in the wake of the young officer.  The
+latter led us across a small parade ground, where a battery
+of light field guns was parked, and toward a log building,
+in front of which rose the flagstaff.</p>
+
+<p>I was escorted within the building into the presence of an
+old negro, a fine looking man, with a dignified and military
+bearing.  He was a colonel, I was to learn later, and to him
+I owe the very humane treatment that was accorded me while I
+remained his prisoner.</p>
+
+<p>He listened to the report of his junior, and then turned to
+question me, but with no better results than the former had
+accomplished.  Then he summoned an orderly, and gave some
+instructions.  The soldier saluted, and left the room,
+returning in about five minutes with a hairy old white man&mdash;just such a savage, primeval-looking fellow as I had
+discovered in the woods the day that Snider had disappeared
+with the launch.</p>
+
+<p>The colonel evidently expected to use the fellow as
+interpreter, but when the savage addressed me it was in a
+language as foreign to me as was that of the blacks.  At
+last the old officer gave it up, and, shaking his head, gave
+instructions for my removal.</p>
+
+<p>From his office I was led to a guardhouse, in which I found
+about fifty half-naked whites, clad in the skins of wild
+beasts.  I tried to converse with them, but not one of them
+could understand Pan-American, nor could I make head or tail
+of their jargon.</p>
+
+<p>For over a month I remained a prisoner there, working from
+morning until night at odd jobs about the headquarters
+building of the commanding officer.  The other prisoners
+worked harder than I did, and I owe my better treatment
+solely to the kindliness and discrimination of the old
+colonel.</p>
+
+<p>What had become of Victory, of Delcarte, of Taylor I could
+not know; nor did it seem likely that I should ever learn.
+I was most depressed.  But I whiled away my time in
+performing the duties given me to the best of my ability and
+attempting to learn the language of my captors.</p>
+
+<p>Who they were or where they came from was a mystery to me.
+That they were the outpost of some pow-erful black nation
+seemed likely, yet where the seat of that nation lay I could
+not guess.</p>
+
+<p>They looked upon the whites as their inferiors, and treated
+us accordingly.  They had a literature of their own, and
+many of the men, even the common soldiers, were omnivorous
+readers.  Every two weeks a dust-covered trooper would trot
+his jaded mount into the post and deliver a bulging sack of
+mail at headquarters.  The next day he would be away again
+upon a fresh horse toward the south, carrying the soldiers'
+letters to friends in the far off land of mystery from
+whence they all had come.</p>
+
+<p>Troops, sometimes mounted and sometimes afoot, left the post
+daily for what I assumed to be patrol duty.  I judged the
+little force of a thousand men were detailed here to
+maintain the authority of a distant government in a
+conquered country.  Later, I learned that my surmise was
+correct, and this was but one of a great chain of similar
+posts that dotted the new frontier of the black nation into
+whose hands I had fallen.</p>
+
+<p>Slowly I learned their tongue, so that I could understand
+what was said before me, and make myself understood.  I had
+seen from the first that I was being treated as a slave&mdash;that all whites that fell into the hands of the blacks were
+thus treated.</p>
+
+<p>Almost daily new prisoners were brought in, and about three
+weeks after I was brought in to the post a troop of cavalry
+came from the south to relieve one of the troops stationed
+there.  There was great jubilation in the encampment after
+the arrival of the newcomers, old friendships were renewed
+and new ones made.  But the happiest men were those of the
+troop that was to be relieved.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning they started away, and as they were forced
+upon the parade ground we prisoners were marched from our
+quarters and lined up before them.  A couple of long chains
+were brought, with rings in the links every few feet.  At
+first I could not guess the purpose of these chains.  But I
+was soon to learn.</p>
+
+<p>A couple of soldiers snapped the first ring around the neck
+of a powerful white slave, and one by one the rest of us
+were herded to our places, and the work of shackling us neck
+to neck commenced.</p>
+
+<p>The colonel stood watching the procedure.  Presently his
+eyes fell upon me, and he spoke to a young officer at his
+side.  The latter stepped toward me and motioned me to
+follow him.  I did so, and was led back to the colonel.</p>
+
+<p>By this time I could understand a few words of their strange
+language, and when the colonel asked me if I would prefer to
+remain at the post as his body servant, I signified my
+willingness as emphatically as possible, for I had seen
+enough of the brutality of the common soldiers toward their
+white slaves to have no desire to start out upon a march of
+unknown length, chained by the neck, and driven on by the
+great whips that a score of the soldiers carried to
+accelerate the speed of their charges.</p>
+
+<p>About three hundred prisoners who had been housed in six
+prisons at the post marched out of the gates that morning,
+toward what fate and what future I could not guess.  Neither
+had the poor devils themselves more than the most vague
+conception of what lay in store for them, except that they
+were going elsewhere to continue in the slavery that they
+had known since their capture by their black conquerors&mdash;a
+slavery that was to continue until death released them.</p>
+
+<p>My position was altered at the post.  From working about the
+headquarters office, I was transferred to the colonel's
+living quarters.  I had greater freedom, and no longer slept
+in one of the prisons, but had a little room to myself off
+the kitchen of the colonel's log house.</p>
+
+<p>My master was always kind to me, and under him I rapidly
+learned the language of my captors, and much concerning them
+that had been a mystery to me before.  His name was Abu
+Belik.  He was a colonel in the cavalry of Abyssinia, a
+country of which I do not remember ever hearing, but which
+Colonel Belik assured me is the oldest civilized country in
+the world.</p>
+
+<p>Colonel Belik was born in Adis Abeba, the capital of the
+empire, and until recently had been in command of the
+emperor's palace guard.  Jealousy and the ambition and
+intrigue of another officer had lost him the favor of his
+emperor, and he had been detailed to this frontier post as a
+mark of his sovereign's displeasure.</p>
+
+<p>Some fifty years before, the young emperor, Menelek XIV, was
+ambitious.  He knew that a great world lay across the waters
+far to the north of his capital.  Once he had crossed the
+desert and looked out upon the blue sea that was the
+northern boundary of his dominions.</p>
+
+<p>There lay another world to conquer.  Menelek busied himself
+with the building of a great fleet, though his people were
+not a maritime race.  His army crossed into Europe.  It met
+with little resistance, and for fifty years his soldiers had
+been pushing his boundaries farther and farther toward the
+north.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The yellow men from the east and north are contesting our
+rights here now,&quot; said the colonel, &quot;but we shall win&mdash;we
+shall conquer the world, carrying Christianity to all the
+benighted heathen of Europe, and Asia as well.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You are a Christian people?&quot; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>He looked at me in surprise, nodding his head affirmatively.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am a Christian,&quot; I said.  &quot;My people are the most
+powerful on earth.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He smiled, and shook his head indulgently, as a father to a
+child who sets up his childish judgment against that of his
+elders.</p>
+
+<p>Then I set out to prove my point.  I told him of our cities,
+of our army, of our great navy.  He came right back at me
+asking for figures, and when he was done I had to admit that
+only in our navy were we numerically superior.</p>
+
+<p>Menelek XIV is the undisputed ruler of all the continent of
+Africa, of all of ancient Europe except the British Isles,
+Scandinavia, and eastern Russia, and has large possessions
+and prosperous colonies in what once were Arabia and Turkey
+in Asia.</p>
+
+<p>He has a standing army of ten million men, and his people
+possess slaves&mdash;white slaves&mdash;to the number of ten or
+fifteen million.</p>
+
+<p>Colonel Belik was much surprised, however, upon his part to
+learn of the great nation which lay across the ocean, and
+when he found that I was a naval officer, he was inclined to
+accord me even greater consideration than formerly.  It was
+difficult for him to believe my assertion that there were
+but few blacks in my country, and that these occupied a
+lower social plane than the whites.</p>
+
+<p>Just the reverse is true in Colonel Belik's land.  He
+considered whites inferior beings, creatures of a lower
+order, and assuring me that even the few white freemen of
+Abyssinia were never accorded anything approximating a
+position of social equality with the blacks.  They live in
+the poorer districts of the cities, in little white
+colonies, and a black who marries a white is socially
+ostracized.</p>
+
+<p>The arms and ammunition of the Abyssinians are greatly
+inferior to ours, yet they are tremendously effective
+against the ill-armed barbarians of Europe.  Their rifles
+are of a type similar to the magazine rifles of twentieth
+century Pan-America, but carrying only five cartridges in
+the magazine, in addition to the one in the chamber.  They
+are of extraordinary length, even those of the cavalry, and
+are of extreme accuracy.</p>
+
+<p>The Abyssinians themselves are a fine looking race of black
+men&mdash;tall, muscular, with fine teeth, and regular features,
+which incline distinctly toward Semitic mold&mdash;I refer to the
+full-blooded natives of Abyssinia.  They are the patricians&mdash;the aristocracy.  The army is officered almost exclusively
+by them.  Among the soldiery a lower type of negro
+predominates, with thicker lips and broader, flatter noses.
+These men are recruited, so the colonel told me, from among
+the conquered tribes of Africa.  They are good soldiers&mdash;brave and loyal.  They can read and write, and they are
+endowed with a self-confidence and pride which, from my
+readings of the words of ancient African explorers, must
+have been wanting in their earliest progenitors.  On the
+whole, it is apparent that the black race has thrived far
+better in the past two centuries under men of its own color
+than it had under the domination of whites during all
+previous history.</p>
+
+<p>I had been a prisoner at the little frontier post for over a
+month, when orders came to Colonel Belik to hasten to the
+eastern frontier with the major portion of his command,
+leaving only one troop to garrison the fort.  As his body
+servant, I accompanied him mounted upon a fiery little
+Abyssinian pony.</p>
+
+<p>We marched rapidly for ten days through the heart of the
+ancient German empire, halting when night found us in
+proximity to water.  Often we passed small posts similar to
+that at which the colonel's regiment had been quartered,
+finding in each instance that only a single company or troop
+remained for defence, the balance having been withdrawn
+toward the northeast, in the same direction in which we were
+moving.</p>
+
+<p>Naturally, the colonel had not confided to me the nature of
+his orders.  But the rapidity of our march and the fact that
+all available troops were being hastened toward the
+northeast assured me that a matter of vital importance to
+the dominion of Menelek XIV in that part of Europe was
+threatening or had already broken.</p>
+
+<p>I could not believe that a simple rising of the savage
+tribes of whites would necessitate the mobilizing of such a
+force as we presently met with converging from the south
+into our trail.  There were large bodies of cavalry and
+infantry, endless streams of artillery wagons and guns, and
+countless horse-drawn covered vehicles laden with camp
+equipage, munitions, and provisions.</p>
+
+<p>Here, for the first time, I saw camels, great caravans of
+them, bearing all sorts of heavy burdens, and miles upon
+miles of elephants doing similar service.  It was a scene of
+wondrous and barbaric splendor, for the men and beasts from
+the south were gaily caparisoned in rich colors, in marked
+contrast to the gray uniformed forces of the frontier, with
+which I had been familiar.</p>
+
+<p>The rumor reached us that Menelek himself was coming, and
+the pitch of excitement to which this announcement raised
+the troops was little short of miraculous&mdash;at least, to one
+of my race and nationality whose rulers for centuries had
+been but ordinary men, holding office at the will of the
+people for a few brief years.</p>
+
+<p>As I witnessed it, I could not but speculate upon the moral
+effect upon his troops of a sovereign's presence in the
+midst of battle.  All else being equal in war between the
+troops of a republic and an empire, could not this
+exhilarated mental state, amounting almost to hysteria on
+the part of the imperial troops, weigh heavily against the
+soldiers of a president?  I wonder.</p>
+
+<p>But if the emperor chanced to be absent?  What then? Again I
+wonder.</p>
+
+<p>On the eleventh day we reached our destination&mdash;a walled
+frontier city of about twenty thousand.  We passed some
+lakes, and crossed some old canals before entering the
+gates.  Within, beside the frame buildings, were many built
+of ancient brick and well-cut stone.  These, I was told,
+were of material taken from the ruins of the ancient city
+which, once, had stood upon the site of the present town.</p>
+
+<p>The name of the town, translated from the Abyssinian, is New
+Gondar.  It stands, I am convinced, upon the ruins of
+ancient Berlin, the one time capital of the old German
+empire, but except for the old building material used in the
+new town there is no sign of the former city.</p>
+
+<p>The day after we arrived, the town was gaily decorated with
+flags, streamers, gorgeous rugs, and banners, for the rumor
+had proved true&mdash;the emperor was coming.</p>
+
+<p>Colonel Belik had accorded me the greatest liberty,
+permitting me to go where I pleased, after my few duties had
+been performed.  As a result of his kindness, I spent much
+time wandering about New Gondar, talking with the
+inhabitants, and exploring the city of black men.</p>
+
+<p>As I had been given a semi-military uniform which bore
+insignia indicating that I was an officer's body servant,
+even the blacks treated me with a species of respect, though
+I could see by their manner that I was really as the dirt
+beneath their feet.  They answered my questions civilly
+enough, but they would not enter into conversation with me.
+It was from other slaves that I learned the gossip of the
+city.</p>
+
+<p>Troops were pouring in from the west and south, and pouring
+out toward the east.  I asked an old slave who was sweeping
+the dirt into little piles in the gutters of the street
+where the soldiers were going.  He looked at me in surprise.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why, to fight the yellow men, of course,&quot; he said.  &quot;They
+have crossed the border, and are marching toward New
+Gondar.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who will win?&quot; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>He shrugged his shoulders.  &quot;Who knows?&quot; he said.  &quot;I hope
+it will be the yellow men, but Menelek is powerful&mdash;it will
+take many yellow men to defeat him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Crowds were gathering along the sidewalks to view the
+emperor's entry into the city.  I took my place among them,
+although I hate crowds, and I am glad that I did, for I
+witnessed such a spectacle of barbaric splendor as no other
+Pan-American has ever looked upon.</p>
+
+<p>Down the broad main thoroughfare, which may once have been
+the historic Unter den Linden, came a brilliant cortege.  At
+the head rode a regiment of red-coated hussars&mdash;enormous
+men, black as night.  There were troops of riflemen mounted
+on camels.  The emperor rode in a golden howdah upon the
+back of a huge elephant so covered with rich hangings and
+embellished with scintillating gems that scarce more than
+the beast's eyes and feet were visible.</p>
+
+<p>Menelek was a rather gross-looking man, well past middle
+age, but he carried himself with an air of dignity befitting
+one descended in unbroken line from the Prophet&mdash;as was his
+claim.</p>
+
+<p>His eyes were bright but crafty, and his features denoted
+both sensuality and cruelness.  In his youth he may have
+been a rather fine looking black, but when I saw him his
+appearance was revolting&mdash;to me, at least.</p>
+
+<p>Following the emperor came regiment after regiment from the
+various branches of the service, among them batteries of
+field guns mounted on elephants.</p>
+
+<p>In the center of the troops following the imperial elephant
+marched a great caravan of slaves.  The old street sweeper
+at my elbow told me that these were the gifts brought in
+from the far outlying districts by the commanding officers
+of the frontier posts.  The majority of them were women,
+destined, I was told, for the harems of the emperor and his
+favorites.  It made my old companion clench his fists to see
+those poor white women marching past to their horrid fates,
+and, though I shared his sentiments, I was as powerless to
+alter their destinies as he.</p>
+
+<p>For a week the troops kept pouring in and out of New Gondar&mdash;in, always, from the south and west, but always toward the
+east.  Each new contingent brought its gifts to the emperor.
+From the south they brought rugs and ornaments and jewels;
+from the west, slaves; for the commanding officers of the
+western frontier posts had naught else to bring.</p>
+
+<p>From the number of women they brought, I judged that they
+knew the weakness of their imperial master.</p>
+
+<p>And then soldiers commenced coming in from the east, but not
+with the gay assurance of those who came from the south and
+west&mdash;no, these others came in covered wagons, blood-soaked
+and suffering.  They came at first in little parties of
+eight or ten, and then they came in fifties, in hundreds,
+and one day a thousand maimed and dying men were carted into
+New Gondar.</p>
+
+<p>It was then that Menelek XIV became uneasy.  For fifty years
+his armies had conquered wherever they had marched.  At
+first he had led them in person, lately his presence within
+a hundred miles of the battle line had been sufficient for
+large engagements&mdash;for minor ones only the knowledge that
+they were fighting for the glory of their sovereign was
+necessary to win victories.</p>
+
+<p>One morning, New Gondar was awakened by the booming of
+cannon.  It was the first intimation that the townspeople
+had received that the enemy was forcing the imperial troops
+back upon the city.  Dust covered couriers galloped in from
+the front.  Fresh troops hastened from the city, and about
+noon Menelek rode out surrounded by his staff.</p>
+
+<p>For three days thereafter we could hear the cannonading and
+the spitting of the small arms, for the battle line was
+scarce two leagues from New Gondar.  The city was filled
+with wounded.  Just outside, soldiers were engaged in
+throwing up earthworks.  It was evident to the least
+enlightened that Menelek expected further reverses.</p>
+
+<p>And then the imperial troops fell back upon these new
+defenses, or, rather, they were forced back by the enemy.
+Shells commenced to fall within the city.  Menelek returned
+and took up his headquarters in the stone building that was
+called the palace.  That night came a lull in the
+hostilities&mdash;a truce had been arranged.</p>
+
+<p>Colonel Belik summoned me about seven o'clock to dress him
+for a function at the palace.  In the midst of death and
+defeat the emperor was about to give a great banquet to his
+officers.  I was to accompany my master and wait upon him&mdash;I, Jefferson Turck, lieutenant in the Pan-American navy!</p>
+
+<p>In the privacy of the colonel's quarters I had become
+accustomed to my menial duties, lightened as they were by
+the natural kindliness of my master, but the thought of
+appearing in public as a common slave revolted every fine
+instinct within me.  Yet there was nothing for it but to
+obey.</p>
+
+<p>I cannot, even now, bring myself to a narration of the
+humiliation which I experienced that night as I stood behind
+my black master in silent servility, now pouring his wine,
+now cutting up his meats for him, now fanning him with a
+large, plumed fan of feathers.</p>
+
+<p>As fond as I had grown of him, I could have thrust a knife
+into him, so keenly did I feel the affront that had been put
+upon me.  But at last the long banquet was concluded.  The
+tables were removed.  The emperor ascended a dais at one end
+of the room and seated himself upon a throne, and the
+entertainment commenced.  It was only what ancient history
+might have led me to expect&mdash;musicians, dancing girls,
+jugglers, and the like.</p>
+
+<p>Near midnight, the master of ceremonies announced that the
+slave women who had been presented to the emperor since his
+arrival in New Gondar would be exhibited, that the royal
+host would select such as he wished, after which he would
+present the balance of them to his guests.  Ah, what royal
+generosity!</p>
+
+<p>A small door at one side of the room opened, and the poor
+creatures filed in and were ranged in a long line before the
+throne.  Their backs were toward me.  I saw only an
+occasional profile as now and then a bolder spirit among
+them turned to survey the apartment and the gorgeous
+assemblage of officers in their brilliant dress uniforms.
+They were profiles of young girls, and pretty, but horror
+was indelibly stamped upon them all.  I shuddered as I
+contemplated their sad fate, and turned my eyes away.</p>
+
+<p>I heard the master of ceremonies command them to prostrate
+themselves before the emperor, and the sounds as they went
+upon their knees before him, touching their foreheads to the
+floor.  Then came the official's voice again, in sharp and
+peremptory command.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Down, slave!&quot; he cried.  &quot;Make obeisance to your
+sovereign!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>I looked up, attracted by the tone of the man's voice, to
+see a single, straight, slim figure standing erect in the
+center of the line of prostrate girls, her arms folded
+across her breast and little chin in the air.  Her back was
+toward me&mdash;I could not see her face, though I should like to
+see the countenance of this savage young lioness, standing
+there defiant among that herd of terrified sheep.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Down!  Down!&quot; shouted the master of ceremonies, taking a
+step toward her and half drawing his sword.</p>
+
+<p>My blood boiled.  To stand there, inactive, while a negro
+struck down that brave girl of my own race!  Instinctively I
+took a forward step to place myself in the man's path.  But
+at the same instant Menelek raised his hand in a gesture
+that halted the officer.  The emperor seemed interested, but
+in no way angered at the girl's attitude.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Let us inquire,&quot; he said in a smooth, pleasant voice, &quot;why
+this young woman refuses to do homage to her sovereign,&quot; and
+he put the question himself directly to her.</p>
+
+<p>She answered him in Abyssinian, but brokenly and with an
+accent that betrayed how recently she had acquired her
+slight knowledge of the tongue.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I go on my knees to no one,&quot; she said.  &quot;I have no
+sovereign.  I myself am sovereign in my own country.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Menelek, at her words, leaned back in his throne and laughed
+uproariously.  Following his example, which seemed always
+the correct procedure, the assembled guests vied with one
+another in an effort to laugh more noisily than the emperor.</p>
+
+<p>The girl but tilted her chin a bit higher in the air&mdash;even
+her back proclaimed her utter contempt for her captors.
+Finally Menelek restored quiet by the simple expedient of a
+frown, whereupon each loyal guest exchanged his mirthful
+mien for an emulative scowl.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And who,&quot; asked Menelek, &quot;are you, and by what name is your
+country called?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am Victory, Queen of Grabritin,&quot; replied the girl so
+quickly and so unexpectedly that I gasped in astonishment.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>9</h2>
+
+
+<p>Victory!  She was here, a slave to these black conquerors.
+Once more I started toward her, but better judgment held me
+back&mdash;I could do nothing to help her other than by stealth.
+Could I even accomplish aught by this means?  I did not
+know.  It seemed beyond the pale of possibility, and yet I
+should try.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And you will not bend the knee to me?&quot; continued Menelek,
+after she had spoken.  Victory shook her head in a most
+decided negation.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You shall be my first choice, then,&quot; said the emperor.  &quot;I
+like your spirit, for the breaking of it will add to my
+pleasure in you, and never fear but that it shall be broken&mdash;this very night.  Take her to my apartments,&quot; and he
+motioned to an officer at his side</p>
+
+<p>I was surprised to see Victory follow the man off in
+apparent quiet submission.  I tried to follow, that I might
+be near her against some opportunity to speak with her or
+assist in her escape.  But, after I had followed them from
+the throne room, through several other apartments, and down
+a long corridor, I found my further progress barred by a
+soldier who stood guard before a doorway through which the
+officer conducted Victory.</p>
+
+<p>Almost immediately the officer reappeared and started back
+in the direction of the throne room.  I had been hiding in a
+doorway after the guard had turned me back, having taken
+refuge there while his back was turned, and, as the officer
+approached me, I withdrew into the room beyond, which was in
+darkness.  There I remained for a long time, watching the
+sentry before the door of the room in which Victory was a
+prisoner, and awaiting some favorable circumstance which
+would give me entry to her.</p>
+
+<p>I have not attempted to fully describe my sensations at the
+moment I recognized Victory, because, I can assure you, they
+were entirely indescribable.  I should never have imagined
+that the sight of any human being could affect me as had
+this unexpected discovery of Victory in the same room in
+which I was, while I had thought of her for weeks either as
+dead, or at best hundreds of miles to the west, and as
+irretrievably lost to me as though she were, in truth, dead.</p>
+
+<p>I was filled with a strange, mad impulse to be near her.  It
+was not enough merely to assist her, or protect her&mdash;I
+desired to touch her&mdash;to take her in my arms.  I was
+astounded at myself.  Another thing puzzled me&mdash;it was my
+incomprehensible feeling of elation since I had again seen
+her.  With a fate worse than death staring her in the face,
+and with the knowledge that I should probably die defending
+her within the hour, I was still happier than I had been for
+weeks&mdash;and all because I had seen again for a few brief
+minutes the figure of a little heathen maiden.  I couldn't
+account for it, and it angered me; I had never before felt
+any such sensations in the presence of a woman, and I had
+made love to some very beautiful ones in my time.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed ages that I stood in the shadow of that doorway,
+in the ill-lit corridor of the palace of Menelek XIV.  A
+sickly gas jet cast a sad pallor upon the black face of the
+sentry.  The fellow seemed rooted to the spot.  Evidently he
+would never leave, or turn his back again.</p>
+
+<p>I had been in hiding but a short time when I heard the sound
+of distant cannon.  The truce had ended, and the battle had
+been resumed.  Very shortly thereafter the earth shook to
+the explosion of a shell within the city, and from time to
+time thereafter other shells burst at no great distance from
+the palace.  The yellow men were bombarding New Gondar
+again.</p>
+
+<p>Presently officers and slaves commenced to traverse the
+corridor on matters pertaining to their duties, and then
+came the emperor, scowling and wrathful.  He was followed by
+a few personal attendants, whom he dismissed at the doorway
+to his apartments&mdash;the same doorway through which Victory
+had been taken.  I chafed to follow him, but the corridor
+was filled with people.  At last they betook themselves to
+their own apartments, which lay upon either side of the
+corridor.</p>
+
+<p>An officer and a slave entered the very room in which I hid,
+forcing me to flatten myself to one side in the darkness
+until they had passed.  Then the slave made a light, and I
+knew that I must find another hiding place.</p>
+
+<p>Stepping boldly into the corridor, I saw that it was now
+empty save for the single sentry before the emperor's door.
+He glanced up as I emerged from the room, the occupants of
+which had not seen me.  I walked straight toward the
+soldier, my mind made up in an instant.  I tried to simulate
+an expression of cringing servility, and I must have
+succeeded, for I entirely threw the man off his guard, so
+that he permitted me to approach within reach of his rifle
+before stopping me.  Then it was too late&mdash;for him.</p>
+
+<p>Without a word or a warning, I snatched the piece from his
+grasp, and, at the same time struck him a terrific blow
+between the eyes with my clenched fist.  He staggered back
+in surprise, too dumbfounded even to cry out, and then I
+clubbed his rifle and felled him with a single mighty blow.</p>
+
+<p>A moment later, I had burst into the room beyond.  It was
+empty!</p>
+
+<p>I gazed about, mad with disappointment.  Two doors opened
+from this to other rooms.  I ran to the nearer and listened.
+Yes, voices were coming from beyond and one was a woman's,
+level and cold and filled with scorn.  There was no terror
+in it.  It was Victory's.</p>
+
+<p>I turned the knob and pushed the door inward just in time to
+see Menelek seize the girl and drag her toward the far end
+of the apartment.  At the same instant there was a deafening
+roar just outside the palace&mdash;a shell had struck much nearer
+than any of its predecessors.  The noise of it drowned my
+rapid rush across the room.</p>
+
+<p>But in her struggles, Victory turned Menelek about so that
+he saw me.  She was striking him in the face with her
+clenched fist, and now he was choking her.</p>
+
+<p>At sight of me, he gave voice to a roar of anger.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What means this, slave?&quot; he cried.  &quot;Out of here! Out of
+here!  Quick, before I kill you!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>But for answer I rushed upon him, striking him with the butt
+of the rifle.  He staggered back, dropping Victory to the
+floor, and then he cried aloud for the guard, and came at
+me.  Again and again I struck him; but his thick skull might
+have been armor plate, for all the damage I did it.</p>
+
+<p>He tried to close with me, seizing the rifle, but I was
+stronger than he, and, wrenching the weapon from his grasp,
+tossed it aside and made for his throat with my bare hands.
+I had not dared fire the weapon for fear that its report
+would bring the larger guard stationed at the farther end of
+the corridor.</p>
+
+<p>We struggled about the room, striking one another, knocking
+over furniture, and rolling upon the floor.  Menelek was a
+powerful man, and he was fighting for his life.  Continually
+he kept calling for the guard, until I succeeded in getting
+a grip upon his throat; but it was too late.  His cries had
+been heard, and suddenly the door burst open, and a score of
+armed guardsmen rushed into the apartment.</p>
+
+<p>Victory seized the rifle from the floor and leaped between
+me and them.  I had the black emperor upon his back, and
+both my hands were at his throat, choking the life from him.</p>
+
+<p>The rest happened in the fraction of a second.  There was a
+rending crash above us, then a deafening explosion within
+the chamber.  Smoke and powder fumes filled the room.  Half
+stunned, I rose from the lifeless body of my antagonist just
+in time to see Victory stagger to her feet and turn toward
+me.  Slowly the smoke cleared to reveal the shattered
+remnants of the guard.  A shell had fallen through the
+palace roof and exploded just in the rear of the detachment
+of guardsmen who were coming to the rescue of their emperor.
+Why neither Victory nor I were struck is a miracle.  The
+room was a wreck.  A great, jagged hole was torn in the
+ceiling, and the wall toward the corridor had been blown
+entirely out.</p>
+
+<p>As I rose, Victory had risen, too, and started toward me.
+But when she saw that I was uninjured she stopped, and stood
+there in the center of the demolished apartment looking at
+me.  Her expression was inscrutable&mdash;I could not guess
+whether she was glad to see me, or not.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Victory!&quot; I cried.  &quot;Thank God that you are safe!&quot; And I
+approached her, a greater gladness in my heart than I had
+felt since the moment that I knew the Coldwater must be
+swept beyond thirty.</p>
+
+<p>There was no answering gladness in her eyes.  Instead, she
+stamped her little foot in anger.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why did it have to be you who saved me!&quot; she exclaimed.  &quot;I
+hate you!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hate me?&quot; I asked.  &quot;Why should you hate me, Victory?  I do
+not hate you.  I&mdash;I&mdash;&quot;  What was I about to say?  I was very
+close to her as a great light broke over me.  Why had I
+never realized it before?  The truth accounted for a great
+many hitherto inexplicable moods that had claimed me from
+time to time since first I had seen Victory.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why should I hate you?&quot; she repeated.  &quot;Because Snider told
+me&mdash;he told me that you had promised me to him, but he did
+not get me.  I killed him, as I should like to kill you!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Snider lied!&quot; I cried.  And then I seized her and held her
+in my arms, and made her listen to me, though she struggled
+and fought like a young lioness.  &quot;I love you, Victory.  You
+must know that I love you&mdash;that I have always loved you, and
+that I never could have made so base a promise.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She ceased her struggles, just a trifle, but still tried to
+push me from her.  &quot;You called me a barbarian!&quot; she said.</p>
+
+<p>Ah, so that was it!  That still rankled.  I crushed her to
+me.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You could not love a barbarian,&quot; she went on, but she had
+ceased to struggle.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But I do love a barbarian, Victory!&quot; I cried, &quot;the dearest
+barbarian in the world.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She raised her eyes to mine, and then her smooth, brown arms
+encircled my neck and drew my lips down to hers.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I love you&mdash;I have loved you always!&quot; she said, and then
+she buried her face upon my shoulder and sobbed.  &quot;I have
+been so unhappy,&quot; she said, &quot;but I could not die while I
+thought that you might live.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>As we stood there, momentarily forgetful of all else than
+our new found happiness, the ferocity of the bombardment
+increased until scarce thirty seconds elapsed between the
+shells that rained about the palace.</p>
+
+<p>To remain long would be to invite certain death.  We could
+not escape the way that we had entered the apartment, for
+not only was the corridor now choked with debris, but beyond
+the corridor there were doubtless many members of the
+emperor's household who would stop us.</p>
+
+<p>Upon the opposite side of the room was another door, and
+toward this I led the way.  It opened into a third apartment
+with windows overlooking an inner court.  From one of these
+windows I surveyed the courtyard.  Apparently it was empty,
+and the rooms upon the opposite side were unlighted.</p>
+
+<p>Assisting Victory to the open, I followed, and together we
+crossed the court, discovering upon the opposite side a
+number of wide, wooden doors set in the wall of the palace,
+with small windows between.  As we stood close behind one of
+the doors, listening, a horse within neighed.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The stables!&quot; I whispered, and, a moment later, had pushed
+back a door and entered.  From the city about us we could
+hear the din of great commotion, and quite close the sounds
+of battle&mdash;the crack of thousands of rifles, the yells of
+the soldiers, the hoarse commands of officers, and the blare
+of bugles.</p>
+
+<p>The bombardment had ceased as suddenly as it had commenced.
+I judged that the enemy was storming the city, for the
+sounds we heard were the sounds of hand-to-hand combat.</p>
+
+<p>Within the stables I groped about until I had found saddles
+and bridles for two horses.  But afterward, in the darkness,
+I could find but a single mount.  The doors of the opposite
+side, leading to the street, were open, and we could see
+great multitudes of men, women, and children fleeing toward
+the west.  Soldiers, afoot and mounted, were joining the mad
+exodus.  Now and then a camel or an elephant would pass
+bearing some officer or dignitary to safety.  It was evident
+that the city would fall at any moment&mdash;a fact which was
+amply proclaimed by the terror-stricken haste of the fear-
+mad mob.</p>
+
+<p>Horse, camel, and elephant trod helpless women and children
+beneath their feet.  A common soldier dragged a general from
+his mount, and, leaping to the animal's back, fled down the
+packed street toward the west.  A woman seized a gun and
+brained a court dignitary, whose horse had trampled her
+child to death.  Shrieks, curses, commands, supplications
+filled the air.  It was a frightful scene&mdash;one that will be
+burned upon my memory forever.</p>
+
+<p>I had saddled and bridled the single horse which had
+evidently been overlooked by the royal household in its
+flight, and, standing a little back in the shadow of the
+stable's interior, Victory and I watched the surging throng
+without.</p>
+
+<p>To have entered it would have been to have courted greater
+danger than we were already in.  We decided to wait until
+the stress of blacks thinned, and for more than an hour we
+stood there while the sounds of battle raged upon the
+eastern side of the city and the population flew toward the
+west.  More and more numerous became the uniformed soldiers
+among the fleeing throng, until, toward the last, the street
+was packed with them.  It was no orderly retreat, but a
+rout, complete and terrible.</p>
+
+<p>The fighting was steadily approaching us now, until the
+crack of rifles sounded in the very street upon which we
+were looking.  And then came a handful of brave men&mdash;a
+little rear guard backing slowly toward the west, working
+their smoking rifles in feverish haste as they fired volley
+after volley at the foe we could not see.</p>
+
+<p>But these were pressed back and back until the first line of
+the enemy came opposite our shelter.  They were men of
+medium height, with olive complexions and almond eyes.  In
+them I recognized the descendants of the ancient Chinese
+race.</p>
+
+<p>They were well uniformed and superbly armed, and they fought
+bravely and under perfect discipline.  So rapt was I in the
+exciting events transpiring in the street that I did not
+hear the approach of a body of men from behind.  It was a
+party of the conquerors who had entered the palace and were
+searching it.</p>
+
+<p>They came upon us so unexpectedly that we were prisoners
+before we realized what had happened.  That night we were
+held under a strong guard just outside the eastern wall of
+the city, and the next morning were started upon a long
+march toward the east.</p>
+
+<p>Our captors were not unkind to us, and treated the women
+prisoners with respect.  We marched for many days&mdash;so many
+that I lost count of them&mdash;and at last we came to another
+city&mdash;a Chinese city this time&mdash;which stands upon the site
+of ancient Moscow.</p>
+
+<p>It is only a small frontier city, but it is well built and
+well kept.  Here a large military force is maintained, and
+here also, is a terminus of the railroad that crosses modern
+China to the Pacific.</p>
+
+<p>There was every evidence of a high civilization in all that
+we saw within the city, which, in connection with the humane
+treatment that had been accorded all prisoners upon the long
+and tiresome march, encouraged me to hope that I might
+appeal to some high officer here for the treatment which my
+rank and birth merited.</p>
+
+<p>We could converse with our captors only through the medium
+of interpreters who spoke both Chinese and Abyssinian.  But
+there were many of these, and shortly after we reached the
+city I persuaded one of them to carry a verbal message to
+the officer who had commanded the troops during the return
+from New Gondar, asking that I might be given a hearing by
+some high official.</p>
+
+<p>The reply to my request was a summons to appear before the
+officer to whom I had addressed my appeal.  A sergeant came
+for me along with the interpreter, and I managed to obtain
+his permission to let Victory accompany me&mdash;I had never left
+her alone with the prisoners since we had been captured.</p>
+
+<p>To my delight I found that the officer into whose presence
+we were conducted spoke Abyssinian fluently.  He was
+astounded when I told him that I was a Pan-American.  Unlike
+all others whom I had spoken with since my arrival in
+Europe, he was well acquainted with ancient history&mdash;was
+familiar with twentieth century conditions in Pan-America,
+and after putting a half dozen questions to me was satisfied
+that I spoke the truth.</p>
+
+<p>When I told him that Victory was Queen of England he showed
+little surprise, telling me that in their recent
+explorations in ancient Russia they had found many
+descendants of the old nobility and royalty.</p>
+
+<p>He immediately set aside a comfortable house for us,
+furnished us with servants and with money, and in other ways
+showed us every attention and kindness.</p>
+
+<p>He told me that he would telegraph his emperor at once, and
+the result was that we were presently commanded to repair to
+Peking and present ourselves before the ruler.</p>
+
+<p>We made the journey in a comfortable railway carriage,
+through a country which, as we traveled farther toward the
+east, showed increasing evidence of prosperity and wealth.</p>
+
+<p>At the imperial court we were received with great kindness,
+the emperor being most inquisitive about the state of modern
+Pan-America.  He told me that while he personally deplored
+the existence of the strict regulations which had raised a
+barrier between the east and the west, he had felt, as had
+his predecessors, that recognition of the wishes of the
+great Pan-American federation would be most conducive to the
+continued peace of the world.</p>
+
+<p>His empire includes all of Asia, and the islands of the
+Pacific as far east as 175dW.  The empire of Japan no longer
+exists, having been conquered and absorbed by China over a
+hundred years ago.  The Philippines are well administered,
+and constitute one of the most progressive colonies of the
+Chinese empire.</p>
+
+<p>The emperor told me that the building of this great empire
+and the spreading of enlightenment among its diversified and
+savage peoples had required all the best efforts of nearly
+two hundred years.  Upon his accession to the throne he had
+found the labor well nigh perfected and had turned his
+attention to the reclamation of Europe.</p>
+
+<p>His ambition is to wrest it from the hands of the blacks,
+and then to attempt the work of elevating its fallen peoples
+to the high estate from which the Great War precipitated
+them.</p>
+
+<p>I asked him who was victorious in that war, and he shook his
+head sadly as he replied:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Pan-America, perhaps, and China, with the blacks of
+Abyssinia,&quot; he said.  &quot;Those who did not fight were the only
+ones to reap any of the rewards that are supposed to belong
+to victory.  The combatants reaped naught but annihilation.
+You have seen&mdash;better than any man you must realize that
+there was no victory for any nation embroiled in that
+frightful war.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;When did it end?&quot; I asked him.</p>
+
+<p>Again he shook his head.  &quot;It has not ended yet.  There has
+never been a formal peace declared in Europe.  After a while
+there were none left to make peace, and the rude tribes
+which sprang from the survivors continued to fight among
+themselves because they knew no better condition of society.
+War razed the works of man&mdash;war and pestilence razed man.
+God give that there shall never be such another war!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>You all know how Porfirio Johnson returned to Pan-America
+with John Alvarez in chains; how Alvarez's trial raised a
+popular demonstration that the government could not ignore.
+His eloquent appeal&mdash;not for himself, but for me&mdash;is
+historic, as are its results.  You know how a fleet was sent
+across the Atlantic to search for me, how the restrictions
+against crossing thirty to one hundred seventy-five were
+removed forever, and how the officers were brought to
+Peking, arriving upon the very day that Victory and I were
+married at the imperial court.</p>
+
+<p>My return to Pan-America was very different from anything I
+could possibly have imagined a year before.  Instead of
+being received as a traitor to my country, I was acclaimed a
+hero.  It was good to get back again, good to witness the
+kindly treatment that was accorded my dear Victory, and when
+I learned that Delcarte and Taylor had been found at the
+mouth of the Rhine and were already back in Pan-America my
+joy was unalloyed.</p>
+
+<p>And now we are going back, Victory and I, with the men and
+the munitions and power to reclaim England for her queen.
+Again I shall cross thirty, but under what altered
+conditions!</p>
+
+<p>A new epoch for Europe is inaugurated, with enlightened
+China on the east and enlightened Pan-America on the west&mdash;the two great peace powers whom God has preserved to
+regenerate chastened and forgiven Europe.  I have been
+through much&mdash;I have suffered much, but I have won two great
+laurel wreaths beyond thirty.  One is the opportunity to
+rescue Europe from barbarism, the other is a little
+barbarian, and the greater of these is&mdash;Victory.</p>
+
+
+<pre>
+End of Project Gutenberg etext of The Lost Continent by
+Edgar Rice Burroughs
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/old/lcont10h.zip b/old/lcont10h.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..86789b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/lcont10h.zip
diff --git a/old/lcont10l.lit b/old/lcont10l.lit
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4804586
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/lcont10l.lit
diff --git a/old/lcont10l.zip b/old/lcont10l.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1696325
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/lcont10l.zip
diff --git a/old/lcont10p.prc b/old/lcont10p.prc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fe0304e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/lcont10p.prc
diff --git a/old/lcont10p.zip b/old/lcont10p.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9e8f624
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/lcont10p.zip