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It seems +incredible that all that I have passed through--all those weird +and terrifying experiences--should have been encompassed within +so short a span as three brief months. Rather might I have +experienced a cosmic cycle, with all its changes and evolutions +for that which I have seen with my own eyes in this brief +interval of time--things that no other mortal eye had seen +before, glimpses of a world past, a world dead, a world so +long dead that even in the lowest Cambrian stratum no trace of +it remains. Fused with the melting inner crust, it has passed +forever beyond the ken of man other than in that lost pocket of +the earth whither fate has borne me and where my doom is sealed. +I am here and here must remain. + + +After reading this far, my interest, which already had been +stimulated by the finding of the manuscript, was approaching +the boiling-point. I had come to Greenland for the summer, on the +advice of my physician, and was slowly being bored to extinction, +as I had thoughtlessly neglected to bring sufficient reading-matter. +Being an indifferent fisherman, my enthusiasm for this form of +sport soon waned; yet in the absence of other forms of recreation +I was now risking my life in an entirely inadequate boat off Cape +Farewell at the southernmost extremity of Greenland. + +Greenland! As a descriptive appellation, it is a sorry joke--but my +story has nothing to do with Greenland, nothing to do with me; so I +shall get through with the one and the other as rapidly as possible. + +The inadequate boat finally arrived at a precarious landing, the +natives, waist-deep in the surf, assisting. I was carried ashore, +and while the evening meal was being prepared, I wandered to and +fro along the rocky, shattered shore. Bits of surf-harried +beach clove the worn granite, or whatever the rocks of Cape +Farewell may be composed of, and as I followed the ebbing tide +down one of these soft stretches, I saw the thing. Were one +to bump into a Bengal tiger in the ravine behind the Bimini +Baths, one could be no more surprised than was I to see a +perfectly good quart thermos bottle turning and twisting in the +surf of Cape Farewell at the southern extremity of Greenland. +I rescued it, but I was soaked above the knees doing it; and then +I sat down in the sand and opened it, and in the long twilight +read the manuscript, neatly written and tightly folded, which was +its contents. + +You have read the opening paragraph, and if you are an imaginative +idiot like myself, you will want to read the rest of it; so I shall +give it to you here, omitting quotation marks--which are difficult +of remembrance. In two minutes you will forget me. + + +My home is in Santa Monica. I am, or was, junior member of my +father's firm. We are ship-builders. Of recent years we have +specialized on submarines, which we have built for Germany, +England, France and the United States. I know a sub as a mother +knows her baby's face, and have commanded a score of them on +their trial runs. Yet my inclinations were all toward aviation. +I graduated under Curtiss, and after a long siege with my father +obtained his permission to try for the Lafayette Escadrille. As a +stepping-stone I obtained an appointment in the American ambulance +service and was on my way to France when three shrill whistles +altered, in as many seconds, my entire scheme of life. + +I was sitting on deck with some of the fellows who were going +into the American ambulance service with me, my Airedale, Crown +Prince Nobbler, asleep at my feet, when the first blast of the +whistle shattered the peace and security of the ship. Ever since +entering the U-boat zone we had been on the lookout for periscopes, +and children that we were, bemoaning the unkind fate that was to +see us safely into France on the morrow without a glimpse of the +dread marauders. We were young; we craved thrills, and God knows +we got them that day; yet by comparison with that through which I +have since passed they were as tame as a Punch-and-Judy show. + +I shall never forget the ashy faces of the passengers as they +stampeded for their life-belts, though there was no panic. +Nobs rose with a low growl. I rose, also, and over the ship's +side, I saw not two hundred yards distant the periscope of a +submarine, while racing toward the liner the wake of a torpedo +was distinctly visible. We were aboard an American ship--which, +of course, was not armed. We were entirely defenseless; yet +without warning, we were being torpedoed. + +I stood rigid, spellbound, watching the white wake of the torpedo. +It struck us on the starboard side almost amidships. The vessel +rocked as though the sea beneath it had been uptorn by a mighty volcano. +We were thrown to the decks, bruised and stunned, and then above +the ship, carrying with it fragments of steel and wood and +dismembered human bodies, rose a column of water hundreds of feet +into the air. + +The silence which followed the detonation of the exploding torpedo +was almost equally horrifying. It lasted for perhaps two seconds, +to be followed by the screams and moans of the wounded, the cursing +of the men and the hoarse commands of the ship's officers. They were +splendid--they and their crew. Never before had I been so proud of +my nationality as I was that moment. In all the chaos which followed +the torpedoing of the liner no officer or member of the crew lost his +head or showed in the slightest any degree of panic or fear. + +While we were attempting to lower boats, the submarine emerged +and trained guns on us. The officer in command ordered us to +lower our flag, but this the captain of the liner refused to do. +The ship was listing frightfully to starboard, rendering the port +boats useless, while half the starboard boats had been demolished +by the explosion. Even while the passengers were crowding the +starboard rail and scrambling into the few boats left to us, the +submarine commenced shelling the ship. I saw one shell burst in +a group of women and children, and then I turned my head and +covered my eyes. + +When I looked again to horror was added chagrin, for with the +emerging of the U-boat I had recognized her as a product of +our own shipyard. I knew her to a rivet. I had superintended +her construction. I had sat in that very conning-tower and +directed the efforts of the sweating crew below when first her +prow clove the sunny summer waters of the Pacific; and now this +creature of my brain and hand had turned Frankenstein, bent upon +pursuing me to my death. + +A second shell exploded upon the deck. One of the lifeboats, +frightfully overcrowded, swung at a dangerous angle from its davits. +A fragment of the shell shattered the bow tackle, and I saw the +women and children and the men vomited into the sea beneath, +while the boat dangled stern up for a moment from its single +davit, and at last with increasing momentum dived into the midst +of the struggling victims screaming upon the face of the waters. + +Now I saw men spring to the rail and leap into the ocean. The deck +was tilting to an impossible angle. Nobs braced himself with all +four feet to keep from slipping into the scuppers and looked up +into my face with a questioning whine. I stooped and stroked +his head. + +"Come on, boy!" I cried, and running to the side of the ship, +dived headforemost over the rail. When I came up, the first +thing I saw was Nobs swimming about in a bewildered sort of way +a few yards from me. At sight of me his ears went flat, and his +lips parted in a characteristic grin. + +The submarine was withdrawing toward the north, but all the time +it was shelling the open boats, three of them, loaded to the +gunwales with survivors. Fortunately the small boats presented +a rather poor target, which, combined with the bad marksmanship +of the Germans preserved their occupants from harm; and after a +few minutes a blotch of smoke appeared upon the eastern horizon +and the U-boat submerged and disappeared. + +All the time the lifeboats has been pulling away from the danger +of the sinking liner, and now, though I yelled at the top of my +lungs, they either did not hear my appeals for help or else did +not dare return to succor me. Nobs and I had gained some little +distance from the ship when it rolled completely over and sank. +We were caught in the suction only enough to be drawn backward +a few yards, neither of us being carried beneath the surface. +I glanced hurriedly about for something to which to cling. +My eyes were directed toward the point at which the liner had +disappeared when there came from the depths of the ocean the +muffled reverberation of an explosion, and almost simultaneously +a geyser of water in which were shattered lifeboats, human bodies, +steam, coal, oil, and the flotsam of a liner's deck leaped high +above the surface of the sea--a watery column momentarily marking +the grave of another ship in this greatest cemetery of the seas. + +When the turbulent waters had somewhat subsided and the sea had +ceased to spew up wreckage, I ventured to swim back in search of +something substantial enough to support my weight and that of +Nobs as well. I had gotten well over the area of the wreck when +not a half-dozen yards ahead of me a lifeboat shot bow foremost +out of the ocean almost its entire length to flop down upon its +keel with a mighty splash. It must have been carried far below, +held to its mother ship by a single rope which finally parted to +the enormous strain put upon it. In no other way can I account +for its having leaped so far out of the water--a beneficent +circumstance to which I doubtless owe my life, and that of +another far dearer to me than my own. I say beneficent +circumstance even in the face of the fact that a fate far more +hideous confronts us than that which we escaped that day; for +because of that circumstance I have met her whom otherwise I +never should have known; I have met and loved her. At least I +have had that great happiness in life; nor can Caspak, with all +her horrors, expunge that which has been. + +So for the thousandth time I thank the strange fate which sent +that lifeboat hurtling upward from the green pit of destruction +to which it had been dragged--sent it far up above the surface, +emptying its water as it rose above the waves, and dropping it +upon the surface of the sea, buoyant and safe. + +It did not take me long to clamber over its side and drag Nobs in +to comparative safety, and then I glanced around upon the scene +of death and desolation which surrounded us. The sea was +littered with wreckage among which floated the pitiful forms +of women and children, buoyed up by their useless lifebelts. +Some were torn and mangled; others lay rolling quietly to the +motion of the sea, their countenances composed and peaceful; +others were set in hideous lines of agony or horror. Close to +the boat's side floated the figure of a girl. Her face was +turned upward, held above the surface by her life-belt, and was +framed in a floating mass of dark and waving hair. She was +very beautiful. I had never looked upon such perfect features, +such a divine molding which was at the same time human-- +intensely human. It was a face filled with character and +strength and femininity--the face of one who was created to +love and to be loved. The cheeks were flushed to the hue of +life and health and vitality, and yet she lay there upon the +bosom of the sea, dead. I felt something rise in my throat as +I looked down upon that radiant vision, and I swore that I +should live to avenge her murder. + +And then I let my eyes drop once more to the face upon the water, +and what I saw nearly tumbled me backward into the sea, for the +eyes in the dead face had opened; the lips had parted; and one +hand was raised toward me in a mute appeal for succor. She lived! +She was not dead! I leaned over the boat's side and drew her quickly +in to the comparative safety which God had given me. I removed her +life-belt and my soggy coat and made a pillow for her head. I chafed +her hands and arms and feet. I worked over her for an hour, and +at last I was rewarded by a deep sigh, and again those great eyes +opened and looked into mine. + +At that I was all embarrassment. I have never been a ladies' man; +at Leland-Stanford I was the butt of the class because of my +hopeless imbecility in the presence of a pretty girl; but the men +liked me, nevertheless. I was rubbing one of her hands when she +opened her eyes, and I dropped it as though it were a red-hot rivet. +Those eyes took me in slowly from head to foot; then they wandered +slowly around the horizon marked by the rising and falling gunwales +of the lifeboat. They looked at Nobs and softened, and then came +back to me filled with questioning. + +"I--I--" I stammered, moving away and stumbling over the next thwart. +The vision smiled wanly. + +"Aye-aye, sir!" she replied faintly, and again her lips drooped, +and her long lashes swept the firm, fair texture of her skin. + +"I hope that you are feeling better," I finally managed to say. + +"Do you know," she said after a moment of silence, "I have +been awake for a long time! But I did not dare open my eyes. +I thought I must be dead, and I was afraid to look, for fear +that I should see nothing but blackness about me. I am afraid +to die! Tell me what happened after the ship went down. +I remember all that happened before--oh, but I wish that I +might forget it!" A sob broke her voice. "The beasts!" she +went on after a moment. "And to think that I was to have +married one of them--a lieutenant in the German navy." + +Presently she resumed as though she had not ceased speaking. +"I went down and down and down. I thought I should never cease +to sink. I felt no particular distress until I suddenly started +upward at ever-increasing velocity; then my lungs seemed about to +burst, and I must have lost consciousness, for I remember nothing +more until I opened my eyes after listening to a torrent of +invective against Germany and Germans. Tell me, please, all that +happened after the ship sank." + +I told her, then, as well as I could, all that I had seen--the +submarine shelling the open boats and all the rest of it. +She thought it marvelous that we should have been spared in so +providential a manner, and I had a pretty speech upon my tongue's +end, but lacked the nerve to deliver it. Nobs had come over and +nosed his muzzle into her lap, and she stroked his ugly face, and +at last she leaned over and put her cheek against his forehead. +I have always admired Nobs; but this was the first time that it +had ever occurred to me that I might wish to be Nobs. I wondered +how he would take it, for he is as unused to women as I. But he +took to it as a duck takes to water. What I lack of being a +ladies' man, Nobs certainly makes up for as a ladies' dog. +The old scalawag just closed his eyes and put on one of the +softest "sugar-wouldn't-melt-in-my-mouth" expressions you ever +saw and stood there taking it and asking for more. It made +me jealous. + +"You seem fond of dogs," I said. + +"I am fond of this dog," she replied. + +Whether she meant anything personal in that reply I did not know; +but I took it as personal and it made me feel mighty good. + +As we drifted about upon that vast expanse of loneliness it is +not strange that we should quickly become well acquainted. +Constantly we scanned the horizon for signs of smoke, venturing +guesses as to our chances of rescue; but darkness settled, and +the black night enveloped us without ever the sight of a speck +upon the waters. + +We were thirsty, hungry, uncomfortable, and cold. Our wet +garments had dried but little and I knew that the girl must be +in grave danger from the exposure to a night of cold and wet +upon the water in an open boat, without sufficient clothing and +no food. I had managed to bail all the water out of the boat +with cupped hands, ending by mopping the balance up with my +handkerchief--a slow and back-breaking procedure; thus I had +made a comparatively dry place for the girl to lie down low in +the bottom of the boat, where the sides would protect her from +the night wind, and when at last she did so, almost overcome as +she was by weakness and fatigue, I threw my wet coat over her +further to thwart the chill. But it was of no avail; as I sat +watching her, the moonlight marking out the graceful curves of +her slender young body, I saw her shiver. + +"Isn't there something I can do?" I asked. "You can't lie there +chilled through all night. Can't you suggest something?" + +She shook her head. "We must grin and bear it," she replied +after a moment. + +Nobbler came and lay down on the thwart beside me, his back +against my leg, and I sat staring in dumb misery at the girl, +knowing in my heart of hearts that she might die before morning +came, for what with the shock and exposure, she had already gone +through enough to kill almost any woman. And as I gazed down at +her, so small and delicate and helpless, there was born slowly +within my breast a new emotion. It had never been there before; +now it will never cease to be there. It made me almost frantic +in my desire to find some way to keep warm and cooling lifeblood +in her veins. I was cold myself, though I had almost forgotten +it until Nobbler moved and I felt a new sensation of cold along +my leg against which he had lain, and suddenly realized that in +that one spot I had been warm. Like a great light came the +understanding of a means to warm the girl. Immediately I knelt +beside her to put my scheme into practice when suddenly I was +overwhelmed with embarrassment. Would she permit it, even if I +could muster the courage to suggest it? Then I saw her frame +convulse, shudderingly, her muscles reacting to her rapidly +lowering temperature, and casting prudery to the winds, I +threw myself down beside her and took her in my arms, pressing +her body close to mine. + +She drew away suddenly, voicing a little cry of fright, and tried +to push me from her. + +"Forgive me," I managed to stammer. "It is the only way. +You will die of exposure if you are not warmed, and Nobs and +I are the only means we can command for furnishing warmth." +And I held her tightly while I called Nobs and bade him lie +down at her back. The girl didn't struggle any more when she +learned my purpose; but she gave two or three little gasps, +and then began to cry softly, burying her face on my arm, and +thus she fell asleep. + + + +Chapter 2 + + +Toward morning, I must have dozed, though it seemed to me at the +time that I had lain awake for days, instead of hours. When I +finally opened my eyes, it was daylight, and the girl's hair +was in my face, and she was breathing normally. I thanked God +for that. She had turned her head during the night so that as I +opened my eyes I saw her face not an inch from mine, my lips +almost touching hers. + +It was Nobs who finally awoke her. He got up, stretched, turned +around a few times and lay down again, and the girl opened her +eyes and looked into mine. Hers went very wide at first, and +then slowly comprehension came to her, and she smiled. + +"You have been very good to me," she said, as I helped her to +rise, though if the truth were known I was more in need of +assistance than she; the circulation all along my left side +seeming to be paralyzed entirely. "You have been very good +to me." And that was the only mention she ever made of it; yet +I know that she was thankful and that only reserve prevented her +from referring to what, to say the least, was an embarrassing +situation, however unavoidable. + +Shortly after daylight we saw smoke apparently coming straight +toward us, and after a time we made out the squat lines of a +tug--one of those fearless exponents of England's supremacy of +the sea that tows sailing ships into French and English ports. +I stood up on a thwart and waved my soggy coat above my head. +Nobs stood upon another and barked. The girl sat at my feet +straining her eyes toward the deck of the oncoming boat. +"They see us," she said at last. "There is a man answering +your signal." She was right. A lump came into my throat--for +her sake rather than for mine. She was saved, and none too soon. +She could not have lived through another night upon the Channel; +she might not have lived through the coming day. + +The tug came close beside us, and a man on deck threw us a rope. +Willing hands dragged us to the deck, Nobs scrambling nimbly +aboard without assistance. The rough men were gentle as mothers +with the girl. Plying us both with questions they hustled her to +the captain's cabin and me to the boiler-room. They told the +girl to take off her wet clothes and throw them outside the door +that they might be dried, and then to slip into the captain's +bunk and get warm. They didn't have to tell me to strip after I +once got into the warmth of the boiler-room. In a jiffy, my +clothes hung about where they might dry most quickly, and I +myself was absorbing, through every pore, the welcome heat of the +stifling compartment. They brought us hot soup and coffee, and +then those who were not on duty sat around and helped me damn the +Kaiser and his brood. + +As soon as our clothes were dry, they bade us don them, as the +chances were always more than fair in those waters that we should +run into trouble with the enemy, as I was only too well aware. +What with the warmth and the feeling of safety for the girl, and +the knowledge that a little rest and food would quickly overcome +the effects of her experiences of the past dismal hours, I was +feeling more content than I had experienced since those three +whistle-blasts had shattered the peace of my world the +previous afternoon. + +But peace upon the Channel has been but a transitory thing since +August, 1914. It proved itself such that morning, for I had +scarce gotten into my dry clothes and taken the girl's apparel +to the captain's cabin when an order was shouted down into the +engine-room for full speed ahead, and an instant later I heard +the dull boom of a gun. In a moment I was up on deck to see an +enemy submarine about two hundred yards off our port bow. She had +signaled us to stop, and our skipper had ignored the order; but +now she had her gun trained on us, and the second shot grazed +the cabin, warning the belligerent tug-captain that it was time +to obey. Once again an order went down to the engine-room, and +the tug reduced speed. The U-boat ceased firing and ordered the +tug to come about and approach. Our momentum had carried us a +little beyond the enemy craft, but we were turning now on the +arc of a circle that would bring us alongside her. As I stood +watching the maneuver and wondering what was to become of us, I +felt something touch my elbow and turned to see the girl standing +at my side. She looked up into my face with a rueful expression. +"They seem bent on our destruction," she said, "and it looks like +the same boat that sunk us yesterday." + +"It is," I replied. "I know her well. I helped design her and +took her out on her first run." + +The girl drew back from me with a little exclamation of surprise +and disappointment. "I thought you were an American," she said. +"I had no idea you were a--a--" + +"Nor am I," I replied. "Americans have been building submarines +for all nations for many years. I wish, though, that we had gone +bankrupt, my father and I, before ever we turned out that +Frankenstein of a thing." + +We were approaching the U-boat at half speed now, and I could +almost distinguish the features of the men upon her deck. +A sailor stepped to my side and slipped something hard and cold +into my hand. I did not have to look at it to know that it was +a heavy pistol. "Tyke 'er an' use 'er," was all he said. + +Our bow was pointed straight toward the U-boat now as I heard +word passed to the engine for full speed ahead. I instantly +grasped the brazen effrontery of the plucky English skipper--he +was going to ram five hundreds tons of U-boat in the face of her +trained gun. I could scarce repress a cheer. At first the +boches didn't seem to grasp his intention. Evidently they +thought they were witnessing an exhibition of poor seamanship, +and they yelled their warnings to the tug to reduce speed and +throw the helm hard to port. + +We were within fifty feet of them when they awakened to the +intentional menace of our maneuver. Their gun crew was off its +guard; but they sprang to their piece now and sent a futile shell +above our heads. Nobs leaped about and barked furiously. "Let 'em +have it!" commanded the tug-captain, and instantly revolvers and +rifles poured bullets upon the deck of the submersible. Two of +the gun-crew went down; the other trained their piece at the +water-line of the oncoming tug. The balance of those on deck +replied to our small-arms fire, directing their efforts toward +the man at our wheel. + +I hastily pushed the girl down the companionway leading to the +engine-room, and then I raised my pistol and fired my first shot +at a boche. What happened in the next few seconds happened so +quickly that details are rather blurred in my memory. I saw the +helmsman lunge forward upon the wheel, pulling the helm around so +that the tug sheered off quickly from her course, and I recall +realizing that all our efforts were to be in vain, because of all +the men aboard, Fate had decreed that this one should fall first +to an enemy bullet. I saw the depleted gun-crew on the submarine +fire their piece and I felt the shock of impact and heard the +loud explosion as the shell struck and exploded in our bows. + +I saw and realized these things even as I was leaping into the +pilot-house and grasping the wheel, standing astride the dead +body of the helmsman. With all my strength I threw the helm +to starboard; but it was too late to effect the purpose of +our skipper. The best I did was to scrape alongside the sub. +I heard someone shriek an order into the engine-room; the boat +shuddered and trembled to the sudden reversing of the engines, +and our speed quickly lessened. Then I saw what that madman of +a skipper planned since his first scheme had gone wrong. + +With a loud-yelled command, he leaped to the slippery deck of the +submersible, and at his heels came his hardy crew. I sprang from +the pilot-house and followed, not to be left out in the cold when +it came to strafing the boches. From the engine room companionway +came the engineer and stockers, and together we leaped after the +balance of the crew and into the hand-to-hand fight that was +covering the wet deck with red blood. Beside me came Nobs, silent +now, and grim. Germans were emerging from the open hatch to take +part in the battle on deck. At first the pistols cracked amidst +the cursing of the men and the loud commands of the commander and +his junior; but presently we were too indiscriminately mixed to +make it safe to use our firearms, and the battle resolved itself +into a hand-to-hand struggle for possession of the deck. + +The sole aim of each of us was to hurl one of the opposing force +into the sea. I shall never forget the hideous expression upon +the face of the great Prussian with whom chance confronted me. +He lowered his head and rushed at me, bellowing like a bull. +With a quick side-step and ducking low beneath his outstretched +arms, I eluded him; and as he turned to come back at me, I landed +a blow upon his chin which sent him spinning toward the edge of +the deck. I saw his wild endeavors to regain his equilibrium; +I saw him reel drunkenly for an instant upon the brink of eternity +and then, with a loud scream, slip into the sea. At the same +instant a pair of giant arms encircled me from behind and lifted +me entirely off my feet. Kick and squirm as I would, I could +neither turn toward my antagonist nor free myself from his +maniacal grasp. Relentlessly he was rushing me toward the side +of the vessel and death. There was none to stay him, for each +of my companions was more than occupied by from one to three of +the enemy. For an instant I was fearful for myself, and then I +saw that which filled me with a far greater terror for another. + +My boche was bearing me toward the side of the submarine against +which the tug was still pounding. That I should be ground to +death between the two was lost upon me as I saw the girl standing +alone upon the tug's deck, as I saw the stern high in air and the +bow rapidly settling for the final dive, as I saw death from +which I could not save her clutching at the skirts of the woman +I now knew all too well that I loved. + +I had perhaps the fraction of a second longer to live when I +heard an angry growl behind us mingle with a cry of pain and rage +from the giant who carried me. Instantly he went backward to the +deck, and as he did so he threw his arms outwards to save himself, +freeing me. I fell heavily upon him, but was upon my feet in +the instant. As I arose, I cast a single glance at my opponent. +Never again would he menace me or another, for Nob's great jaws +had closed upon his throat. Then I sprang toward the edge of the +deck closest to the girl upon the sinking tug. + +"Jump!" I cried. "Jump!" And I held out my arms to her. +Instantly as though with implicit confidence in my ability to +save her, she leaped over the side of the tug onto the sloping, +slippery side of the U-boat. I reached far over to seize +her hand. At the same instant the tug pointed its stern +straight toward the sky and plunged out of sight. My hand +missed the girl's by a fraction of an inch, and I saw her slip +into the sea; but scarce had she touched the water when I was +in after her. + +The sinking tug drew us far below the surface; but I had seized +her the moment I struck the water, and so we went down together, +and together we came up--a few yards from the U-boat. The first +thing I heard was Nobs barking furiously; evidently he had missed +me and was searching. A single glance at the vessel's deck +assured me that the battle was over and that we had been +victorious, for I saw our survivors holding a handful of the +enemy at pistol points while one by one the rest of the crew was +coming out of the craft's interior and lining up on deck with the +other prisoners. + +As I swam toward the submarine with the girl, Nobs' persistent +barking attracted the attention of some of the tug's crew, so +that as soon as we reached the side there were hands to help +us aboard. I asked the girl if she was hurt, but she assured +me that she was none the worse for this second wetting; nor did +she seem to suffer any from shock. I was to learn for myself +that this slender and seemingly delicate creature possessed +the heart and courage of a warrior. + +As we joined our own party, I found the tug's mate checking up +our survivors. There were ten of us left, not including the girl. +Our brave skipper was missing, as were eight others. There had +been nineteen of us in the attacking party and we had accounted +in one way and another during the battle for sixteen Germans and +had taken nine prisoners, including the commander. His lieutenant +had been killed. + +"Not a bad day's work," said Bradley, the mate, when he had +completed his roll. "Only losing the skipper," he added, "was +the worst. He was a fine man, a fine man." + +Olson--who in spite of his name was Irish, and in spite of his +not being Scotch had been the tug's engineer--was standing with +Bradley and me. "Yis," he agreed, "it's a day's wor-rk we're after +doin', but what are we goin' to be doin' wid it now we got it?" + +"We'll run her into the nearest English port," said Bradley, +"and then we'll all go ashore and get our V. C.'s," he +concluded, laughing. + +"How you goin' to run her?" queried Olson. "You can't trust +these Dutchmen." + +Bradley scratched his head. "I guess you're right," he admitted. +"And I don't know the first thing about a sub." + +"I do," I assured him. "I know more about this particular sub +than the officer who commanded her." + +Both men looked at me in astonishment, and then I had to explain +all over again as I had explained to the girl. Bradley and Olson +were delighted. Immediately I was put in command, and the first +thing I did was to go below with Olson and inspect the craft +thoroughly for hidden boches and damaged machinery. There were +no Germans below, and everything was intact and in ship-shape +working order. I then ordered all hands below except one man who +was to act as lookout. Questioning the Germans, I found that all +except the commander were willing to resume their posts and aid +in bringing the vessel into an English port. I believe that they +were relieved at the prospect of being detained at a comfortable +English prison-camp for the duration of the war after the perils +and privations through which they had passed. The officer, +however, assured me that he would never be a party to the capture +of his vessel. + +There was, therefore, nothing to do but put the man in irons. +As we were preparing to put this decision into force, the girl +descended from the deck. It was the first time that she or the +German officer had seen each other's faces since we had boarded +the U-boat. I was assisting the girl down the ladder and still +retained a hold upon her arm--possibly after such support was no +longer necessary--when she turned and looked squarely into the +face of the German. Each voiced a sudden exclamation of surprise +and dismay. + +"Lys!" he cried, and took a step toward her. + +The girl's eyes went wide, and slowly filled with a great horror, +as she shrank back. Then her slender figure stiffened to the +erectness of a soldier, and with chin in air and without a word +she turned her back upon the officer. + +"Take him away," I directed the two men who guarded him, "and put +him in irons." + +When he had gone, the girl raised her eyes to mine. "He is the +German of whom I spoke," she said. "He is Baron von Schoenvorts." + +I merely inclined my head. She had loved him! I wondered if in +her heart of hearts she did not love him yet. Immediately I +became insanely jealous. I hated Baron Friedrich von Schoenvorts +with such utter intensity that the emotion thrilled me with a +species of exaltation. + +But I didn't have much chance to enjoy my hatred then, for +almost immediately the lookout poked his face over the hatchway +and bawled down that there was smoke on the horizon, dead ahead. +Immediately I went on deck to investigate, and Bradley came with me. + +"If she's friendly," he said, "we'll speak her. If she's not, +we'll sink her--eh, captain?" + +"Yes, lieutenant," I replied, and it was his turn to smile. + +We hoisted the Union Jack and remained on deck, asking Bradley +to go below and assign to each member of the crew his duty, +placing one Englishman with a pistol beside each German. + +"Half speed ahead," I commanded. + +More rapidly now we closed the distance between ourselves and the +stranger, until I could plainly see the red ensign of the British +merchant marine. My heart swelled with pride at the thought that +presently admiring British tars would be congratulating us upon +our notable capture; and just about then the merchant steamer +must have sighted us, for she veered suddenly toward the north, +and a moment later dense volumes of smoke issued from her funnels. +Then, steering a zigzag course, she fled from us as though we had +been the bubonic plague. I altered the course of the submarine +and set off in chase; but the steamer was faster than we, and soon +left us hopelessly astern. + +With a rueful smile, I directed that our original course be +resumed, and once again we set off toward merry England. +That was three months ago, and we haven't arrived yet; nor +is there any likelihood that we ever shall. +The steamer we had just sighted must have wirelessed a warning, +for it wasn't half an hour before we saw more smoke on the +horizon, and this time the vessel flew the white ensign of the +Royal Navy and carried guns. She didn't veer to the north or +anywhere else, but bore down on us rapidly. I was just preparing +to signal her, when a flame flashed from her bows, and an instant +later the water in front of us was thrown high by the explosion +of a shell. + +Bradley had come on deck and was standing beside me. "About one +more of those, and she'll have our range," he said. "She doesn't +seem to take much stock in our Union Jack." + +A second shell passed over us, and then I gave the command to +change our direction, at the same time directing Bradley to go +below and give the order to submerge. I passed Nobs down to him, +and following, saw to the closing and fastening of the hatch. + +It seemed to me that the diving-tanks never had filled so slowly. +We heard a loud explosion apparently directly above us; the craft +trembled to the shock which threw us all to the deck. I expected +momentarily to feel the deluge of inrushing water, but none came. +Instead we continued to submerge until the manometer registered forty +feet and then I knew that we were safe. Safe! I almost smiled. +I had relieved Olson, who had remained in the tower at my direction, +having been a member of one of the early British submarine crews, +and therefore having some knowledge of the business. Bradley was +at my side. He looked at me quizzically. + +"What the devil are we to do?" he asked. "The merchantman will +flee us; the war-vessel will destroy us; neither will believe our +colors or give us a chance to explain. We will meet even a worse +reception if we go nosing around a British port--mines, nets and +all of it. We can't do it." + +"Let's try it again when this fellow has lost the scent," +I urged. "There must come a ship that will believe us." + +And try it again we did, only to be almost rammed by a huge freighter. +Later we were fired upon by a destroyer, and two merchantmen +turned and fled at our approach. For two days we cruised up +and down the Channel trying to tell some one, who would listen, +that we were friends; but no one would listen. After our +encounter with the first warship I had given instructions +that a wireless message be sent out explaining our predicament; +but to my chagrin I discovered that both sending and receiving +instruments had disappeared. + +"There is only one place you can go," von Schoenvorts sent word +to me, "and that is Kiel. You can't land anywhere else in +these waters. If you wish, I will take you there, and I can +promise that you will be treated well." + +"There is another place we can go," I sent back my reply, "and we +will before we'll go to Germany. That place is hell." + + + +Chapter 3 + + +Those were anxious days, during which I had but little opportunity +to associate with Lys. I had given her the commander's room, +Bradley and I taking that of the deck-officer, while Olson and +two of our best men occupied the room ordinarily allotted to +petty officers. I made Nobs' bed down in Lys' room, for I knew +she would feel less alone. + +Nothing of much moment occurred for a while after we left British +waters behind us. We ran steadily along upon the surface, making +good time. The first two boats we sighted made off as fast as they +could go; and the third, a huge freighter, fired on us, forcing us +to submerge. It was after this that our troubles commenced. +One of the Diesel engines broke down in the morning, and while +we were working on it, the forward port diving-tank commenced +to fill. I was on deck at the time and noted the gradual list. +Guessing at once what was happening, I leaped for the hatch and +slamming it closed above my head, dropped to the centrale. By this +time the craft was going down by the head with a most unpleasant +list to port, and I didn't wait to transmit orders to some one +else but ran as fast as I could for the valve that let the sea +into the forward port diving-tank. It was wide open. To close +it and to have the pump started that would empty it were the work +of but a minute; but we had had a close call. + +I knew that the valve had never opened itself. Some one had +opened it--some one who was willing to die himself if he might at +the same time encompass the death of all of us. + +After that I kept a guard pacing the length of the narrow craft. +We worked upon the engine all that day and night and half the +following day. Most of the time we drifted idly upon the +surface, but toward noon we sighted smoke due west, and having +found that only enemies inhabited the world for us, I ordered +that the other engine be started so that we could move out of the +path of the oncoming steamer. The moment the engine started to +turn, however, there was a grinding sound of tortured steel, and +when it had been stopped, we found that some one had placed a +cold-chisel in one of the gears. + +It was another two days before we were ready to limp along, +half repaired. The night before the repairs were completed, +the sentry came to my room and awoke me. He was rather an +intelligent fellow of the English middle class, in whom I had +much confidence. + +"Well, Wilson," I asked. "What's the matter now?" + +He raised his finger to his lips and came closer to me. "I think +I've found out who's doin' the mischief," he whispered, and +nodded his head toward the girl's room. "I seen her sneakin' +from the crew's room just now," he went on. "She'd been in +gassin' wit' the boche commander. Benson seen her in there las' +night, too, but he never said nothin' till I goes on watch tonight. +Benson's sorter slow in the head, an' he never puts two an' two +together till some one else has made four out of it." + +If the man had come in and struck me suddenly in the face, I +could have been no more surprised. + +"Say nothing of this to anyone," I ordered. "Keep your eyes and +ears open and report every suspicious thing you see or hear." + +The man saluted and left me; but for an hour or more I tossed, +restless, upon my hard bunk in an agony of jealousy and fear. +Finally I fell into a troubled sleep. It was daylight when I awoke. +We were steaming along slowly upon the surface, my orders having +been to proceed at half speed until we could take an observation +and determine our position. The sky had been overcast all the +previous day and all night; but as I stepped into the centrale +that morning I was delighted to see that the sun was again shining. +The spirits of the men seemed improved; everything seemed propitious. +I forgot at once the cruel misgivings of the past night as I set +to work to take my observations. + +What a blow awaited me! The sextant and chronometer had both +been broken beyond repair, and they had been broken just this +very night. They had been broken upon the night that Lys had been +seen talking with von Schoenvorts. I think that it was this last +thought which hurt me the worst. I could look the other disaster +in the face with equanimity; but the bald fact that Lys might be +a traitor appalled me. + +I called Bradley and Olson on deck and told them what had +happened, but for the life of me I couldn't bring myself to +repeat what Wilson had reported to me the previous night. +In fact, as I had given the matter thought, it seemed incredible +that the girl could have passed through my room, in which Bradley +and I slept, and then carried on a conversation in the crew's +room, in which Von Schoenvorts was kept, without having been seen +by more than a single man. + +Bradley shook his head. "I can't make it out," he said. "One of +those boches must be pretty clever to come it over us all like +this; but they haven't harmed us as much as they think; there are +still the extra instruments." + +It was my turn now to shake a doleful head. "There are no extra +instruments," I told them. "They too have disappeared as did the +wireless apparatus." + +Both men looked at me in amazement. "We still have the compass +and the sun," said Olson. "They may be after getting the compass +some night; but they's too many of us around in the daytime fer +'em to get the sun." + +It was then that one of the men stuck his head up through the +hatchway and seeing me, asked permission to come on deck and get +a breath of fresh air. I recognized him as Benson, the man who, +Wilson had said, reported having seen Lys with von Schoenvorts two +nights before. I motioned him on deck and then called him to one +side, asking if he had seen anything out of the way or unusual +during his trick on watch the night before. The fellow scratched +his head a moment and said, "No," and then as though it was an +afterthought, he told me that he had seen the girl in the crew's +room about midnight talking with the German commander, but as +there hadn't seemed to him to be any harm in that, he hadn't said +anything about it. Telling him never to fail to report to me +anything in the slightest out of the ordinary routine of the ship, +I dismissed him. + +Several of the other men now asked permission to come on deck, and +soon all but those actually engaged in some necessary duty were +standing around smoking and talking, all in the best of spirits. +I took advantage of the absence of the men upon the deck to go +below for my breakfast, which the cook was already preparing +upon the electric stove. Lys, followed by Nobs, appeared as I +entered the centrale. She met me with a pleasant "Good morning!" +which I am afraid I replied to in a tone that was rather constrained +and surly. + +"Will you breakfast with me?" I suddenly asked the girl, +determined to commence a probe of my own along the lines which +duty demanded. + +She nodded a sweet acceptance of my invitation, and together we +sat down at the little table of the officers' mess. +"You slept well last night?" I asked. + +"All night," she replied. "I am a splendid sleeper." + +Her manner was so straightforward and honest that I could not +bring myself to believe in her duplicity; yet--Thinking to +surprise her into a betrayal of her guilt, I blurted out: "The +chronometer and sextant were both destroyed last night; there is +a traitor among us." But she never turned a hair by way of +evidencing guilty knowledge of the catastrophe. + +"Who could it have been?" she cried. "The Germans would be crazy +to do it, for their lives are as much at stake as ours." + +"Men are often glad to die for an ideal--an ideal of patriotism, +perhaps," I replied; "and a willingness to martyr themselves +includes a willingness to sacrifice others, even those who +love them. Women are much the same, except that they will go +even further than most men--they will sacrifice everything, even +honor, for love." + +I watched her face carefully as I spoke, and I thought that I +detected a very faint flush mounting her cheek. Seeing an +opening and an advantage, I sought to follow it up. + +"Take von Schoenvorts, for instance," I continued: "he would +doubtless be glad to die and take us all with him, could he +prevent in no other way the falling of his vessel into enemy hands. +He would sacrifice anyone, even you; and if you still love him, +you might be his ready tool. Do you understand me?" + +She looked at me in wide-eyed consternation for a moment, and +then she went very white and rose from her seat. "I do," she +replied, and turning her back upon me, she walked quickly toward +her room. I started to follow, for even believing what I did, I +was sorry that I had hurt her. I reached the door to the crew's +room just behind her and in time to see von Schoenvorts lean +forward and whisper something to her as she passed; but she must +have guessed that she might be watched, for she passed on. + +That afternoon it clouded over; the wind mounted to a gale, and +the sea rose until the craft was wallowing and rolling frightfully. +Nearly everyone aboard was sick; the air became foul and oppressive. +For twenty-four hours I did not leave my post in the conning tower, +as both Olson and Bradley were sick. Finally I found that I must +get a little rest, and so I looked about for some one to relieve me. +Benson volunteered. He had not been sick, and assured me that he +was a former R.N. man and had been detailed for submarine duty +for over two years. I was glad that it was he, for I had +considerable confidence in his loyalty, and so it was with a +feeling of security that I went below and lay down. + +I slept twelve hours straight, and when I awoke and discovered +what I had done, I lost no time in getting to the conning tower. +There sat Benson as wide awake as could be, and the compass +showed that we were heading straight into the west. The storm +was still raging; nor did it abate its fury until the fourth day. +We were all pretty well done up and looked forward to the time +when we could go on deck and fill our lungs with fresh air. +During the whole four days I had not seen the girl, as she +evidently kept closely to her room; and during this time no +untoward incident had occurred aboard the boat--a fact which +seemed to strengthen the web of circumstantial evidence about her. + +For six more days after the storm lessened we still had fairly +rough weather; nor did the sun once show himself during all +that time. For the season--it was now the middle of June--the +storm was unusual; but being from southern California, I was +accustomed to unusual weather. In fact, I have discovered that +the world over, unusual weather prevails at all times of the year. + +We kept steadily to our westward course, and as the U-33 was one +of the fastest submersibles we had ever turned out, I knew that we +must be pretty close to the North American coast. What puzzled +me most was the fact that for six days we had not sighted a +single ship. It seemed remarkable that we could cross the +Atlantic almost to the coast of the American continent without +glimpsing smoke or sail, and at last I came to the conclusion +that we were way off our course, but whether to the north or to +the south of it I could not determine. + +On the seventh day the sea lay comparatively calm at early dawn. +There was a slight haze upon the ocean which had cut off our view +of the stars; but conditions all pointed toward a clear morrow, and +I was on deck anxiously awaiting the rising of the sun. My eyes +were glued upon the impenetrable mist astern, for there in the east +I should see the first glow of the rising sun that would assure me +we were still upon the right course. Gradually the heavens +lightened; but astern I could see no intenser glow that would +indicate the rising sun behind the mist. Bradley was standing +at my side. Presently he touched my arm. + +"Look, captain," he said, and pointed south. + +I looked and gasped, for there directly to port I saw outlined +through the haze the red top of the rising sun. Hurrying to the +tower, I looked at the compass. It showed that we were holding +steadily upon our westward course. Either the sun was rising in +the south, or the compass had been tampered with. The conclusion +was obvious. + +I went back to Bradley and told him what I had discovered. +"And," I concluded, "we can't make another five hundred knots +without oil; our provisions are running low and so is our water. +God only knows how far south we have run." + +"There is nothing to do," he replied, "other than to alter our +course once more toward the west; we must raise land soon or we +shall all be lost." + +I told him to do so; and then I set to work improvising a crude +sextant with which we finally took our bearings in a rough and +most unsatisfactory manner; for when the work was done, we did +not know how far from the truth the result might be. It showed +us to be about 20' north and 30' west--nearly twenty-five +hundred miles off our course. In short, if our reading was +anywhere near correct, we must have been traveling due south for +six days. Bradley now relieved Benson, for we had arranged our +shifts so that the latter and Olson now divided the nights, +while Bradley and I alternated with one another during the days. + +I questioned both Olson and Benson closely in the matter of the +compass; but each stoutly maintained that no one had tampered +with it during his tour of duty. Benson gave me a knowing smile, +as much as to say: "Well, you and I know who did this." Yet I +could not believe that it was the girl. + +We kept to our westerly course for several hours when the +lookout's cry announced a sail. I ordered the U-33's course +altered, and we bore down upon the stranger, for I had come to +a decision which was the result of necessity. We could not lie +there in the middle of the Atlantic and starve to death if there +was any way out of it. The sailing ship saw us while we were +still a long way off, as was evidenced by her efforts to escape. +There was scarcely any wind, however, and her case was hopeless; +so when we drew near and signaled her to stop, she came into the +wind and lay there with her sails flapping idly. We moved in +quite close to her. She was the Balmen of Halmstad, Sweden, with +a general cargo from Brazil for Spain. + +I explained our circumstances to her skipper and asked for food, +water and oil; but when he found that we were not German, he +became very angry and abusive and started to draw away from us; +but I was in no mood for any such business. Turning toward +Bradley, who was in the conning-tower, I snapped out: +"Gun-service on deck! To the diving stations!" We had no +opportunity for drill; but every man had been posted as to +his duties, and the German members of the crew understood that +it was obedience or death for them, as each was accompanied by +a man with a pistol. Most of them, though, were only too glad +to obey me. + +Bradley passed the order down into the ship and a moment later +the gun-crew clambered up the narrow ladder and at my direction +trained their piece upon the slow-moving Swede. "Fire a shot +across her bow," I instructed the gun-captain. + +Accept it from me, it didn't take that Swede long to see the +error of his way and get the red and white pennant signifying +"I understand" to the masthead. Once again the sails flapped +idly, and then I ordered him to lower a boat and come after me. +With Olson and a couple of the Englishmen I boarded the ship, +and from her cargo selected what we needed--oil, provisions +and water. I gave the master of the Balmen a receipt for what +we took, together with an affidavit signed by Bradley, Olson, and +myself, stating briefly how we had come into possession of the +U-33 and the urgency of our need for what we took. We addressed +both to any British agent with the request that the owners of the +Balmen be reimbursed; but whether or not they were, I do not know. [1] + + +[1] Late in July, 1916, an item in the shipping news mentioned a +Swedish sailing vessel, Balmen, Rio de Janiero to Barcelona, sunk +by a German raider sometime in June. A single survivor in an open +boat was picked up off the Cape Verde Islands, in a dying condition. +He expired without giving any details. + + +With water, food, and oil aboard, we felt that we had obtained +a new lease of life. Now, too, we knew definitely where we were, +and I determined to make for Georgetown, British Guiana--but I +was destined to again suffer bitter disappointment. + +Six of us of the loyal crew had come on deck either to serve the +gun or board the Swede during our set-to with her; and now, one +by one, we descended the ladder into the centrale. I was the +last to come, and when I reached the bottom, I found myself +looking into the muzzle of a pistol in the hands of Baron +Friedrich von Schoenvorts--I saw all my men lined up at one +side with the remaining eight Germans standing guard over them. + + +I couldn't imagine how it had happened; but it had. Later I +learned that they had first overpowered Benson, who was asleep +in his bunk, and taken his pistol from him, and then had found +it an easy matter to disarm the cook and the remaining two +Englishmen below. After that it had been comparatively simple +to stand at the foot of the ladder and arrest each individual as +he descended. + +The first thing von Schoenvorts did was to send for me and +announce that as a pirate I was to be shot early the next morning. +Then he explained that the U-33 would cruise in these waters for +a time, sinking neutral and enemy shipping indiscriminately, and +looking for one of the German raiders that was supposed to be in +these parts. + +He didn't shoot me the next morning as he had promised, and it +has never been clear to me why he postponed the execution of +my sentence. Instead he kept me ironed just as he had been; +then he kicked Bradley out of my room and took it all to himself. + +We cruised for a long time, sinking many vessels, all but one by +gunfire, but we did not come across a German raider. I was +surprised to note that von Schoenvorts often permitted Benson to +take command; but I reconciled this by the fact that Benson +appeared to know more of the duties of a submarine commander than +did any of the Stupid Germans. + +Once or twice Lys passed me; but for the most part she kept to +her room. The first time she hesitated as though she wished to +speak to me; but I did not raise my head, and finally she passed on. +Then one day came the word that we were about to round the Horn and +that von Schoenvorts had taken it into his fool head to cruise up +along the Pacific coast of North America and prey upon all sorts +and conditions of merchantmen. + +"I'll put the fear of God and the Kaiser into them," he said. + +The very first day we entered the South Pacific we had an adventure. +It turned out to be quite the most exciting adventure I had +ever encountered. It fell about this way. About eight bells of +the forenoon watch I heard a hail from the deck, and presently +the footsteps of the entire ship's company, from the amount of +noise I heard at the ladder. Some one yelled back to those who +had not yet reached the level of the deck: "It's the raider, +the German raider Geier!" + +I saw that we had reached the end of our rope. Below all was +quiet--not a man remained. A door opened at the end of the +narrow hull, and presently Nobs came trotting up to me. He licked +my face and rolled over on his back, reaching for me with his big, +awkward paws. Then other footsteps sounded, approaching me. +I knew whose they were, and I looked straight down at the flooring. +The girl was coming almost at a run--she was at my side immediately. +"Here!" she cried. "Quick!" And she slipped something into my hand. +It was a key--the key to my irons. At my side she also laid a +pistol, and then she went on into the centrale. As she passed me, +I saw that she carried another pistol for herself. It did not +take me long to liberate myself, and then I was at her side. +"How can I thank you?" I started; but she shut me up with a word. + +"Do not thank me," she said coldly. "I do not care to hear your +thanks or any other expression from you. Do not stand there +looking at me. I have given you a chance to do something--now +do it!" The last was a peremptory command that made me jump. + +Glancing up, I saw that the tower was empty, and I lost no time +in clambering up, looking about me. About a hundred yards off +lay a small, swift cruiser-raider, and above her floated the +German man-of-war's flag. A boat had just been lowered, and I +could see it moving toward us filled with officers and men. +The cruiser lay dead ahead. "My," I thought, "what a wonderful targ--" +I stopped even thinking, so surprised and shocked was I by the +boldness of my imagery. The girl was just below me. I looked +down on her wistfully. Could I trust her? Why had she released +me at this moment? I must! I must! There was no other way. +I dropped back below. "Ask Olson to step down here, please," +I requested; "and don't let anyone see you ask him." + +She looked at me with a puzzled expression on her face for the +barest fraction of a second, and then she turned and went up +the ladder. A moment later Olson returned, and the girl +followed him. "Quick!" I whispered to the big Irishman, and +made for the bow compartment where the torpedo-tubes are built +into the boat; here, too, were the torpedoes. The girl +accompanied us, and when she saw the thing I had in mind, +she stepped forward and lent a hand to the swinging of the +great cylinder of death and destruction into the mouth of +its tube. With oil and main strength we shoved the torpedo +home and shut the tube; then I ran back to the conning-tower, +praying in my heart of hearts that the U-33 had not swung her +bow away from the prey. No, thank God! + +Never could aim have been truer. I signaled back to Olson: +"Let 'er go!" The U-33 trembled from stem to stern as the torpedo +shot from its tube. I saw the white wake leap from her bow straight +toward the enemy cruiser. A chorus of hoarse yells arose from the +deck of our own craft: I saw the officers stand suddenly erect in +the boat that was approaching us, and I heard loud cries and +curses from the raider. Then I turned my attention to my +own business. Most of the men on the submarine's deck were +standing in paralyzed fascination, staring at the torpedo. +Bradley happened to be looking toward the conning-tower and +saw me. I sprang on deck and ran toward him. "Quick!" I whispered. +"While they are stunned, we must overcome them." + +A German was standing near Bradley--just in front of him. +The Englishman struck the fellow a frantic blow upon the neck +and at the same time snatched his pistol from its holster. +Von Schoenvorts had recovered from his first surprise quickly +and had turned toward the main hatch to investigate. I covered +him with my revolver, and at the same instant the torpedo struck +the raider, the terrific explosion drowning the German's command +to his men. + +Bradley was now running from one to another of our men, and +though some of the Germans saw and heard him, they seemed too +stunned for action. + +Olson was below, so that there were only nine of us against eight +Germans, for the man Bradley had struck still lay upon the deck. +Only two of us were armed; but the heart seemed to have gone out +of the boches, and they put up but half-hearted resistance. +Von Schoenvorts was the worst--he was fairly frenzied with rage +and chagrin, and he came charging for me like a mad bull, and as +he came he discharged his pistol. If he'd stopped long enough to +take aim, he might have gotten me; but his pace made him wild, +so that not a shot touched me, and then we clinched and went to +the deck. This left two pistols, which two of my own men were +quick to appropriate. The Baron was no match for me in a +hand-to-hand encounter, and I soon had him pinned to the deck +and the life almost choked out of him. + +A half-hour later things had quieted down, and all was much the +same as before the prisoners had revolted--only we kept a much +closer watch on von Schoenvorts. The Geier had sunk while we +were still battling upon our deck, and afterward we had drawn +away toward the north, leaving the survivors to the attention of +the single boat which had been making its way toward us when +Olson launched the torpedo. I suppose the poor devils never +reached land, and if they did, they most probably perished on +that cold and unhospitable shore; but I couldn't permit them +aboard the U-33. We had all the Germans we could take care of. + +That evening the girl asked permission to go on deck. She said +that she felt the effects of long confinement below, and I +readily granted her request. I could not understand her, and I +craved an opportunity to talk with her again in an effort to +fathom her and her intentions, and so I made it a point to +follow her up the ladder. It was a clear, cold, beautiful night. +The sea was calm except for the white water at our bows and the +two long radiating swells running far off into the distance upon +either hand astern, forming a great V which our propellers filled +with choppy waves. Benson was in the tower, we were bound for +San Diego and all looked well. + +Lys stood with a heavy blanket wrapped around her slender figure, +and as I approached her, she half turned toward me to see who it was. +When she recognized me, she immediately turned away. + +"I want to thank you," I said, "for your bravery and loyalty--you +were magnificent. I am sorry that you had reason before to think +that I doubted you." + +"You did doubt me," she replied in a level voice. "You practically +accused me of aiding Baron von Schoenvorts. I can never forgive you." + +There was a great deal of finality in both her words and tone. + +"I could not believe it," I said; "and yet two of my men reported +having seen you in conversation with von Schoenvorts late at +night upon two separate occasions--after each of which some great +damage was found done us in the morning. I didn't want to doubt +you; but I carried all the responsibility of the lives of these +men, of the safety of the ship, of your life and mine. I had to +watch you, and I had to put you on your guard against a repetition +of your madness." + +She was looking at me now with those great eyes of hers, very +wide and round. + +"Who told you that I spoke with Baron von Schoenvorts at night, +or any other time?" she asked. + +"I cannot tell you, Lys," I replied, "but it came to me from two +different sources." + +"Then two men have lied," she asserted without heat. "I have not +spoken to Baron von Schoenvorts other than in your presence when +first we came aboard the U-33. And please, when you address me, +remember that to others than my intimates I am Miss La Rue." + +Did you ever get slapped in the face when you least expected it? +No? Well, then you do not know how I felt at that moment. +I could feel the hot, red flush surging up my neck, across my +cheeks, over my ears, clear to my scalp. And it made me love her +all the more; it made me swear inwardly a thousand solemn oaths +that I would win her. + + + +Chapter 4 + +For several days things went along in about the same course. +I took our position every morning with my crude sextant; but the +results were always most unsatisfactory. They always showed a +considerable westing when I knew that we had been sailing due north. +I blamed my crude instrument, and kept on. Then one afternoon the +girl came to me. + +"Pardon me," she said, "but were I you, I should watch this man +Benson--especially when he is in charge." I asked her what she +meant, thinking I could see the influence of von Schoenvorts +raising a suspicion against one of my most trusted men. + +"If you will note the boat's course a half-hour after Benson goes +on duty," she said, "you will know what I mean, and you will +understand why he prefers a night watch. Possibly, too, you will +understand some other things that have taken place aboard." + +Then she went back to her room, thus ending the conversation. +I waited until half an hour after Benson had gone on duty, and then +I went on deck, passing through the conning-tower where Benson sat, +and looking at the compass. It showed that our course was +north by west--that is, one point west of north, which was, for +our assumed position, about right. I was greatly relieved to +find that nothing was wrong, for the girl's words had caused me +considerable apprehension. I was about to return to my room when +a thought occurred to me that again caused me to change my +mind--and, incidentally, came near proving my death-warrant. + +When I had left the conning-tower little more than a half-hour +since, the sea had been breaking over the port bow, and it seemed +to me quite improbable that in so short a time an equally heavy +sea could be deluging us from the opposite side of the ship--winds +may change quickly, but not a long, heavy sea. There was only +one other solution--since I left the tower, our course had been +altered some eight points. Turning quickly, I climbed out upon +the conning-tower. A single glance at the heavens confirmed my +suspicions; the constellations which should have been dead ahead +were directly starboard. We were sailing due west. + +Just for an instant longer I stood there to check up my +calculations--I wanted to be quite sure before I accused Benson +of perfidy, and about the only thing I came near making quite +sure of was death. I cannot see even now how I escaped it. +I was standing on the edge of the conning-tower, when a heavy +palm suddenly struck me between the shoulders and hurled me +forward into space. The drop to the triangular deck forward of +the conning-tower might easily have broken a leg for me, or I +might have slipped off onto the deck and rolled overboard; but +fate was upon my side, as I was only slightly bruised. As I +came to my feet, I heard the conning-tower cover slam. There is +a ladder which leads from the deck to the top of the tower. +Up this I scrambled, as fast as I could go; but Benson had +the cover tight before I reached it. + +I stood there a moment in dumb consternation. What did the +fellow intend? What was going on below? If Benson was a traitor, +how could I know that there were not other traitors among us? +I cursed myself for my folly in going out upon the deck, and then +this thought suggested another--a hideous one: who was it that +had really been responsible for my being here? + +Thinking to attract attention from inside the craft, I again ran +down the ladder and onto the small deck only to find that the +steel covers of the conning-tower windows were shut, and then I +leaned with my back against the tower and cursed myself for a +gullible idiot. + +I glanced at the bow. The sea seemed to be getting heavier, for +every wave now washed completely over the lower deck. I watched +them for a moment, and then a sudden chill pervaded my entire being. +It was not the chill of wet clothing, or the dashing spray which +drenched my face; no, it was the chill of the hand of death upon +my heart. In an instant I had turned the last corner of life's +highway and was looking God Almighty in the face--the U-33 was +being slowly submerged! + +It would be difficult, even impossible, to set down in writing +my sensations at that moment. All I can particularly recall +is that I laughed, though neither from a spirit of bravado nor +from hysteria. And I wanted to smoke. Lord! how I did want to +smoke; but that was out of the question. + +I watched the water rise until the little deck I stood on was awash, +and then I clambered once more to the top of the conning-tower. +From the very slow submergence of the boat I knew that Benson was +doing the entire trick alone--that he was merely permitting the +diving-tanks to fill and that the diving-rudders were not in use. +The throbbing of the engines ceased, and in its stead came the +steady vibration of the electric motors. The water was halfway +up the conning-tower! I had perhaps five minutes longer on the deck. +I tried to decide what I should do after I was washed away. Should I +swim until exhaustion claimed me, or should I give up and end the +agony at the first plunge? + +From below came two muffled reports. They sounded not unlike shots. +Was Benson meeting with resistance? Personally it could mean little +to me, for even though my men might overcome the enemy, none would +know of my predicament until long after it was too late to succor me. +The top of the conning-tower was now awash. I clung to the wireless +mast, while the great waves surged sometimes completely over me. + +I knew the end was near and, almost involuntarily, I did that +which I had not done since childhood--I prayed. After that I +felt better. + +I clung and waited, but the water rose no higher. + +Instead it receded. Now the top of the conning-tower received +only the crests of the higher waves; now the little triangular +deck below became visible! What had occurred within? Did Benson +believe me already gone, and was he emerging because of that +belief, or had he and his forces been vanquished? The suspense +was more wearing than that which I had endured while waiting +for dissolution. Presently the main deck came into view, and +then the conning-tower opened behind me, and I turned to look +into the anxious face of Bradley. An expression of relief +overspread his features. + +"Thank God, man!" was all he said as he reached forth and dragged +me into the tower. I was cold and numb and rather all in. +Another few minutes would have done for me, I am sure, but the +warmth of the interior helped to revive me, aided and abetted by +some brandy which Bradley poured down my throat, from which it +nearly removed the membrane. That brandy would have revived a corpse. + +When I got down into the centrale, I saw the Germans lined up on +one side with a couple of my men with pistols standing over them. +Von Schoenvorts was among them. On the floor lay Benson, +moaning, and beyond him stood the girl, a revolver in one hand. +I looked about, bewildered. + +"What has happened down here?" I asked. "Tell me!" + +Bradley replied. "You see the result, sir," he said. "It might +have been a very different result but for Miss La Rue. We were +all asleep. Benson had relieved the guard early in the evening; +there was no one to watch him--no one but Miss La Rue. She felt +the submergence of the boat and came out of her room to investigate. +She was just in time to see Benson at the diving rudders. When he +saw her, he raised his pistol and fired point-blank at her, but he +missed and she fired--and didn't miss. The two shots awakened +everyone, and as our men were armed, the result was inevitable as +you see it; but it would have been very different had it not been +for Miss La Rue. It was she who closed the diving-tank sea-cocks +and roused Olson and me, and had the pumps started to empty them." + +And there I had been thinking that through her machinations I had +been lured to the deck and to my death! I could have gone on my +knees to her and begged her forgiveness--or at least I could +have, had I not been Anglo-Saxon. As it was, I could only remove +my soggy cap and bow and mumble my appreciation. She made no +reply--only turned and walked very rapidly toward her room. +Could I have heard aright? Was it really a sob that came floating +back to me through the narrow aisle of the U-33? + +Benson died that night. He remained defiant almost to the last; +but just before he went out, he motioned to me, and I leaned over +to catch the faintly whispered words. + +"I did it alone," he said. "I did it because I hate you--I hate +all your kind. I was kicked out of your shipyard at Santa Monica. +I was locked out of California. I am an I. W. W. I became a German +agent--not because I love them, for I hate them too--but because +I wanted to injure Americans, whom I hated more. I threw the +wireless apparatus overboard. I destroyed the chronometer and +the sextant. I devised a scheme for varying the compass to suit +my wishes. I told Wilson that I had seen the girl talking with +von Schoenvorts, and I made the poor egg think he had seen her +doing the same thing. I am sorry--sorry that my plans failed. +I hate you." + +He didn't die for a half-hour after that; nor did he speak +again--aloud; but just a few seconds before he went to meet his +Maker, his lips moved in a faint whisper; and as I leaned closer +to catch his words, what do you suppose I heard? "Now--I--lay +me--down--to--sleep" That was all; Benson was dead. We threw his +body overboard. + +The wind of that night brought on some pretty rough weather with +a lot of black clouds which persisted for several days. We didn't +know what course we had been holding, and there was no way of +finding out, as we could no longer trust the compass, not knowing +what Benson had done to it. The long and the short of it was that +we cruised about aimlessly until the sun came out again. I'll never +forget that day or its surprises. We reckoned, or rather guessed, +that we were somewhere off the coast of Peru. The wind, which had +been blowing fitfully from the east, suddenly veered around into +the south, and presently we felt a sudden chill. + +"Peru!" snorted Olson. "When were yez after smellin' iceber-rgs +off Peru?" + +Icebergs! "Icebergs, nothin'!" exclaimed one of the Englishmen. +"Why, man, they don't come north of fourteen here in these waters." + +"Then," replied Olson, "ye're sout' of fourteen, me b'y." + +We thought he was crazy; but he wasn't, for that afternoon we +sighted a great berg south of us, and we'd been running north, we +thought, for days. I can tell you we were a discouraged lot; but we +got a faint thrill of hope early the next morning when the lookout +bawled down the open hatch: "Land! Land northwest by west!" + +I think we were all sick for the sight of land. I know that I was; +but my interest was quickly dissipated by the sudden illness of +three of the Germans. Almost simultaneously they commenced vomiting. +They couldn't suggest any explanation for it. I asked them what +they had eaten, and found they had eaten nothing other than the +food cooked for all of us. "Have you drunk anything?" I asked, +for I knew that there was liquor aboard, and medicines in the +same locker. + +"Only water," moaned one of them. "We all drank water together +this morning. We opened a new tank. Maybe it was the water." + +I started an investigation which revealed a terrifying condition-- +some one, probably Benson, had poisoned all the running water on +the ship. It would have been worse, though, had land not been +in sight. The sight of land filled us with renewed hope. + +Our course had been altered, and we were rapidly approaching what +appeared to be a precipitous headland. Cliffs, seemingly rising +perpendicularly out of the sea, faded away into the mist upon either +hand as we approached. The land before us might have been a continent, +so mighty appeared the shoreline; yet we knew that we must be +thousands of miles from the nearest western land-mass--New Zealand +or Australia. + +We took our bearings with our crude and inaccurate instruments; +we searched the chart; we cudgeled our brains; and at last it was +Bradley who suggested a solution. He was in the tower and +watching the compass, to which he called my attention. The needle +was pointing straight toward the land. Bradley swung the helm +hard to starboard. I could feel the U-33 respond, and yet the +arrow still clung straight and sure toward the distant cliffs. + +"What do you make of it?" I asked him. + +"Did you ever hear of Caproni?" he asked. + +"An early Italian navigator?" I returned. + +"Yes; he followed Cook about 1721. He is scarcely mentioned even +by contemporaneous historians--probably because he got into +political difficulties on his return to Italy. It was the +fashion to scoff at his claims, but I recall reading one of his +works--his only one, I believe--in which he described a new +continent in the south seas, a continent made up of `some strange +metal' which attracted the compass; a rockbound, inhospitable coast, +without beach or harbor, which extended for hundreds of miles. +He could make no landing; nor in the several days he cruised about +it did he see sign of life. He called it Caprona and sailed away. +I believe, sir, that we are looking upon the coast of Caprona, +uncharted and forgotten for two hundred years." + +"If you are right, it might account for much of the deviation of +the compass during the past two days," I suggested. "Caprona +has been luring us upon her deadly rocks. Well, we'll accept +her challenge. We'll land upon Caprona. Along that long front +there must be a vulnerable spot. We will find it, Bradley, for +we must find it. We must find water on Caprona, or we must die." + +And so we approached the coast upon which no living eyes had +ever rested. Straight from the ocean's depths rose towering +cliffs, shot with brown and blues and greens--withered moss +and lichen and the verdigris of copper, and everywhere the +rusty ocher of iron pyrites. The cliff-tops, though ragged, +were of such uniform height as to suggest the boundaries of +a great plateau, and now and again we caught glimpses of verdure +topping the rocky escarpment, as though bush or jungle-land had +pushed outward from a lush vegetation farther inland to signal +to an unseeing world that Caprona lived and joyed in life beyond +her austere and repellent coast. + +But metaphor, however poetic, never slaked a dry throat. +To enjoy Caprona's romantic suggestions we must have water, +and so we came in close, always sounding, and skirted the shore. +As close in as we dared cruise, we found fathomless depths, and +always the same undented coastline of bald cliffs. As darkness +threatened, we drew away and lay well off the coast all night. +We had not as yet really commenced to suffer for lack of water; +but I knew that it would not be long before we did, and so at the +first streak of dawn I moved in again and once more took up the +hopeless survey of the forbidding coast. + +Toward noon we discovered a beach, the first we had seen. It was +a narrow strip of sand at the base of a part of the cliff that +seemed lower than any we had before scanned. At its foot, half +buried in the sand, lay great boulders, mute evidence that in a +bygone age some mighty natural force had crumpled Caprona's +barrier at this point. It was Bradley who first called our +attention to a strange object lying among the boulders above +the surf. + +"Looks like a man," he said, and passed his glasses to me. + +I looked long and carefully and could have sworn that the thing +I saw was the sprawled figure of a human being. Miss La Rue was +on deck with us. I turned and asked her to go below. Without a +word she did as I bade. Then I stripped, and as I did so, Nobs +looked questioningly at me. He had been wont at home to enter +the surf with me, and evidently he had not forgotten it. + +"What are you going to do, sir?" asked Olson. + +"I'm going to see what that thing is on shore," I replied. +"If it's a man, it may mean that Caprona is inhabited, or it +may merely mean that some poor devils were shipwrecked here. +I ought to be able to tell from the clothing which is more +near the truth. + +"How about sharks?" queried Olson. "Sure, you ought to carry a knoife." + +"Here you are, sir," cried one of the men. + +It was a long slim blade he offered--one that I could carry +between my teeth--and so I accepted it gladly. + +"Keep close in," I directed Bradley, and then I dived over the +side and struck out for the narrow beach. There was another +splash directly behind me, and turning my head, I saw faithful +old Nobs swimming valiantly in my wake. + +The surf was not heavy, and there was no undertow, so we made +shore easily, effecting an equally easy landing. The beach +was composed largely of small stones worn smooth by the action +of water. There was little sand, though from the deck of the U-33 +the beach had appeared to be all sand, and I saw no evidences of +mollusca or crustacea such as are common to all beaches I have +previously seen. I attribute this to the fact of the smallness +of the beach, the enormous depth of surrounding water and the +great distance at which Caprona lies from her nearest neighbor. + +As Nobs and I approached the recumbent figure farther up the +beach, I was appraised by my nose that whether or not, the thing +had once been organic and alive, but that for some time it had +been dead. Nobs halted, sniffed and growled. A little later he +sat down upon his haunches, raised his muzzle to the heavens and +bayed forth a most dismal howl. I shied a small stone at him and +bade him shut up--his uncanny noise made me nervous. When I had +come quite close to the thing, I still could not say whether it +had been man or beast. The carcass was badly swollen and +partly decomposed. There was no sign of clothing upon or +about it. A fine, brownish hair covered the chest and abdomen, +and the face, the palms of the hands, the feet, the shoulders and +back were practically hairless. The creature must have been +about the height of a fair sized man; its features were similar +to those of a man; yet had it been a man? + +I could not say, for it resembled an ape no more than it did +a man. Its large toes protruded laterally as do those of the +semiarboreal peoples of Borneo, the Philippines and other remote +regions where low types still persist. The countenance might +have been that of a cross between Pithecanthropus, the Java +ape-man, and a daughter of the Piltdown race of prehistoric Sussex. +A wooden cudgel lay beside the corpse. + +Now this fact set me thinking. There was no wood of any +description in sight. There was nothing about the beach to +suggest a wrecked mariner. There was absolutely nothing about +the body to suggest that it might possibly in life have known a +maritime experience. It was the body of a low type of man or a +high type of beast. In neither instance would it have been of a +seafaring race. Therefore I deduced that it was native to +Caprona--that it lived inland, and that it had fallen or been +hurled from the cliffs above. Such being the case, Caprona was +inhabitable, if not inhabited, by man; but how to reach the +inhabitable interior! That was the question. A closer view +of the cliffs than had been afforded me from the deck of the +U-33 only confirmed my conviction that no mortal man could scale +those perpendicular heights; there was not a finger-hold, not a +toe-hold, upon them. I turned away baffled. + +Nobs and I met with no sharks upon our return journey to +the submarine. My report filled everyone with theories and +speculations, and with renewed hope and determination. They all +reasoned along the same lines that I had reasoned--the +conclusions were obvious, but not the water. We were now +thirstier than ever. + +The balance of that day we spent in continuing a minute and +fruitless exploration of the monotonous coast. There was not +another break in the frowning cliffs--not even another minute +patch of pebbly beach. As the sun fell, so did our spirits. +I had tried to make advances to the girl again; but she would +have none of me, and so I was not only thirsty but otherwise sad +and downhearted. I was glad when the new day broke the hideous +spell of a sleepless night. + +The morning's search brought us no shred of hope. Caprona was +impregnable--that was the decision of all; yet we kept on. It must +have been about two bells of the afternoon watch that Bradley called +my attention to the branch of a tree, with leaves upon it, floating +on the sea. "It may have been carried down to the ocean by a river," +he suggested. +"Yes, " I replied, "it may have; it may have tumbled or been thrown +off the top of one of these cliffs." + +Bradley's face fell. "I thought of that, too," he replied, "but +I wanted to believe the other." + +"Right you are!" I cried. "We must believe the other until we +prove it false. We can't afford to give up heart now, when we +need heart most. The branch was carried down by a river, and we +are going to find that river." I smote my open palm with a +clenched fist, to emphasize a determination unsupported by hope. +"There!" I cried suddenly. "See that, Bradley?" And I pointed at +a spot closer to shore. "See that, man!" Some flowers and +grasses and another leafy branch floated toward us. We both +scanned the water and the coastline. Bradley evidently +discovered something, or at least thought that he had. He called +down for a bucket and a rope, and when they were passed up to +him, he lowered the former into the sea and drew it in filled +with water. Of this he took a taste, and straightening up, +looked into my eyes with an expression of elation--as much as to +say "I told you so!" + +"This water is warm," he announced, "and fresh!" + +I grabbed the bucket and tasted its contents. The water was very +warm, and it was fresh, but there was a most unpleasant taste to it. + +"Did you ever taste water from a stagnant pool full of tadpoles?" +Bradley asked. + +"That's it," I exclaimed, "--that's just the taste exactly, +though I haven't experienced it since boyhood; but how can water +from a flowing stream, taste thus, and what the dickens makes it +so warm? It must be at least 70 or 80 Fahrenheit, possibly higher." + +"Yes," agreed Bradley, "I should say higher; but where does it +come from?" + +"That is easily discovered now that we have found it," I answered. +"It can't come from the ocean; so it must come from the land. +All that we have to do is follow it, and sooner or later we shall +come upon its source." + +We were already rather close in; but I ordered the U-33's prow +turned inshore and we crept slowly along, constantly dipping up +the water and tasting it to assure ourselves that we didn't get +outside the fresh-water current. There was a very light off-shore +wind and scarcely any breakers, so that the approach to the shore +was continued without finding bottom; yet though we were already +quite close, we saw no indication of any indention in the coast +from which even a tiny brooklet might issue, and certainly no +mouth of a large river such as this must necessarily be to freshen +the ocean even two hundred yards from shore. The tide was running +out, and this, together with the strong flow of the freshwater +current, would have prevented our going against the cliffs even +had we not been under power; as it was we had to buck the combined +forces in order to hold our position at all. We came up to within +twenty-five feet of the sheer wall, which loomed high above us. +There was no break in its forbidding face. As we watched the face +of the waters and searched the cliff's high face, Olson suggested +that the fresh water might come from a submarine geyser. This, he +said, would account for its heat; but even as he spoke a bush, +covered thickly with leaves and flowers, bubbled to the surface +and floated off astern. + +"Flowering shrubs don't thrive in the subterranean caverns from +which geysers spring," suggested Bradley. + +Olson shook his head. "It beats me," he said. + +"I've got it!" I exclaimed suddenly. "Look there!" And I pointed +at the base of the cliff ahead of us, which the receding tide was +gradually exposing to our view. They all looked, and all saw +what I had seen--the top of a dark opening in the rock, through +which water was pouring out into the sea. "It's the subterranean +channel of an inland river," I cried. "It flows through a land +covered with vegetation--and therefore a land upon which the +sun shines. No subterranean caverns produce any order of plant +life even remotely resembling what we have seen disgorged by +this river. Beyond those cliffs lie fertile lands and fresh +water--perhaps, game!" + +"Yis, sir," said Olson, "behoind the cliffs! Ye spoke a true +word, sir--behoind!" + +Bradley laughed--a rather sorry laugh, though. "You might as +well call our attention to the fact, sir," he said, "that science +has indicated that there is fresh water and vegetation on Mars." + +"Not at all," I rejoined. "A U-boat isn't constructed to navigate +space, but it is designed to travel below the surface of the water." + +"You'd be after sailin' into that blank pocket?" asked Olson. + +"I would, Olson," I replied. "We haven't one chance for life in +a hundred thousand if we don't find food and water upon Caprona. +This water coming out of the cliff is not salt; but neither is it +fit to drink, though each of us has drunk. It is fair to assume +that inland the river is fed by pure streams, that there are +fruits and herbs and game. Shall we lie out here and die of +thirst and starvation with a land of plenty possibly only a few +hundred yards away? We have the means for navigating a +subterranean river. Are we too cowardly to utilize this means?" + +"Be afther goin' to it," said Olson. + +"I'm willing to see it through," agreed Bradley. + +"Then under the bottom, wi' the best o' luck an' give 'em hell!" +cried a young fellow who had been in the trenches. + +"To the diving-stations!" I commanded, and in less than a minute +the deck was deserted, the conning-tower covers had slammed to +and the U-33 was submerging--possibly for the last time. I know +that I had this feeling, and I think that most of the others did. + +As we went down, I sat in the tower with the searchlight +projecting its seemingly feeble rays ahead. We submerged very +slowly and without headway more than sufficient to keep her nose +in the right direction, and as we went down, I saw outlined ahead +of us the black opening in the great cliff. It was an opening +that would have admitted a half-dozen U-boats at one and the same +time, roughly cylindrical in contour--and dark as the pit of perdition. + +As I gave the command which sent the U-33 slowly ahead, I could +not but feel a certain uncanny presentiment of evil. Where were +we going? What lay at the end of this great sewer? Had we bidden +farewell forever to the sunlight and life, or were there before +us dangers even greater than those which we now faced? I tried to +keep my mind from vain imagining by calling everything which I +observed to the eager ears below. I was the eyes of the whole +company, and I did my best not to fail them. We had advanced a +hundred yards, perhaps, when our first danger confronted us. +Just ahead was a sharp right-angle turn in the tunnel. I could +see the river's flotsam hurtling against the rocky wall upon the +left as it was driven on by the mighty current, and I feared for +the safety of the U-33 in making so sharp a turn under such +adverse conditions; but there was nothing for it but to try. +I didn't warn my fellows of the danger--it could have but caused +them useless apprehension, for if we were to be smashed against +the rocky wall, no power on earth could avert the quick end that +would come to us. I gave the command full speed ahead and went +charging toward the menace. I was forced to approach the +dangerous left-hand wall in order to make the turn, and I +depended upon the power of the motors to carry us through the +surging waters in safety. Well, we made it; but it was a +narrow squeak. As we swung around, the full force of the current +caught us and drove the stern against the rocks; there was a thud +which sent a tremor through the whole craft, and then a moment of +nasty grinding as the steel hull scraped the rock wall. I expected +momentarily the inrush of waters that would seal our doom; but +presently from below came the welcome word that all was well. + +In another fifty yards there was a second turn, this time toward +the left! but it was more of a gentle curve, and we took it +without trouble. After that it was plain sailing, though as far +as I could know, there might be most anything ahead of us, and my +nerves strained to the snapping-point every instant. After the +second turn the channel ran comparatively straight for between +one hundred and fifty and two hundred yards. The waters grew +suddenly lighter, and my spirits rose accordingly. I shouted +down to those below that I saw daylight ahead, and a great shout +of thanksgiving reverberated through the ship. A moment later we +emerged into sunlit water, and immediately I raised the periscope +and looked about me upon the strangest landscape I had ever seen. + +We were in the middle of a broad and now sluggish river the banks +of which were lined by giant, arboraceous ferns, raising their +mighty fronds fifty, one hundred, two hundred feet into the +quiet air. Close by us something rose to the surface of the river +and dashed at the periscope. I had a vision of wide, distended jaws, +and then all was blotted out. A shiver ran down into the tower as +the thing closed upon the periscope. A moment later it was gone, +and I could see again. Above the trees there soared into my vision +a huge thing on batlike wings--a creature large as a large whale, +but fashioned more after the order of a lizard. Then again +something charged the periscope and blotted out the mirror. I will +confess that I was almost gasping for breath as I gave the commands +to emerge. Into what sort of strange land had fate guided us? + +The instant the deck was awash, I opened the conning-tower hatch +and stepped out. In another minute the deck-hatch lifted, and +those who were not on duty below streamed up the ladder, Olson +bringing Nobs under one arm. For several minutes no one spoke; +I think they must each have been as overcome by awe as was I. +All about us was a flora and fauna as strange and wonderful to us +as might have been those upon a distant planet had we suddenly +been miraculously transported through ether to an unknown world. +Even the grass upon the nearer bank was unearthly--lush and high +it grew, and each blade bore upon its tip a brilliant flower-- +violet or yellow or carmine or blue--making as gorgeous a sward +as human imagination might conceive. But the life! It teemed. +The tall, fernlike trees were alive with monkeys, snakes, and lizards. +Huge insects hummed and buzzed hither and thither. Mighty forms +could be seen moving upon the ground in the thick forest, while +the bosom of the river wriggled with living things, and above +flapped the wings of gigantic creatures such as we are taught have +been extinct throughout countless ages. + +"Look!" cried Olson. "Would you look at the giraffe comin' up +out o' the bottom of the say?" We looked in the direction he +pointed and saw a long, glossy neck surmounted by a small head +rising above the surface of the river. Presently the back of the +creature was exposed, brown and glossy as the water dripped from it. +It turned its eyes upon us, opened its lizard-like mouth, emitted +a shrill hiss and came for us. The thing must have been sixteen +or eighteen feet in length and closely resembled pictures I had +seen of restored plesiosaurs of the lower Jurassic. It charged +us as savagely as a mad bull, and one would have thought it +intended to destroy and devour the mighty U-boat, as I verily +believe it did intend. + +We were moving slowly up the river as the creature bore down upon +us with distended jaws. The long neck was far outstretched, and +the four flippers with which it swam were working with powerful +strokes, carrying it forward at a rapid pace. When it reached +the craft's side, the jaws closed upon one of the stanchions of +the deck rail and tore it from its socket as though it had been +a toothpick stuck in putty. At this exhibition of titanic +strength I think we all simultaneously stepped backward, and +Bradley drew his revolver and fired. The bullet struck the thing +in the neck, just above its body; but instead of disabling it, +merely increased its rage. Its hissing rose to a shrill scream +as it raised half its body out of water onto the sloping sides of +the hull of the U-33 and endeavored to scramble upon the deck to +devour us. A dozen shots rang out as we who were armed drew our +pistols and fired at the thing; but though struck several times, +it showed no signs of succumbing and only floundered farther +aboard the submarine. + +I had noticed that the girl had come on deck and was standing not +far behind me, and when I saw the danger to which we were all +exposed, I turned and forced her toward the hatch. We had not +spoken for some days, and we did not speak now; but she gave me +a disdainful look, which was quite as eloquent as words, and +broke loose from my grasp. I saw I could do nothing with her +unless I exerted force, and so I turned with my back toward her +that I might be in a position to shield her from the strange +reptile should it really succeed in reaching the deck; and as I +did so I saw the thing raise one flipper over the rail, dart its +head forward and with the quickness of lightning seize upon one +of the boches. I ran forward, discharging my pistol into the +creature's body in an effort to force it to relinquish its prey; +but I might as profitably have shot at the sun. + +Shrieking and screaming, the German was dragged from the deck, +and the moment the reptile was clear of the boat, it dived +beneath the surface of the water with its terrified prey. +I think we were all more or less shaken by the frightfulness of +the tragedy--until Olson remarked that the balance of power now +rested where it belonged. Following the death of Benson we had +been nine and nine--nine Germans and nine "Allies," as we called +ourselves, now there were but eight Germans. We never counted +the girl on either side, I suppose because she was a girl, though +we knew well enough now that she was ours. + +And so Olson's remark helped to clear the atmosphere for the +Allies at least, and then our attention was once more directed +toward the river, for around us there had sprung up a perfect +bedlam of screams and hisses and a seething caldron of hideous +reptiles, devoid of fear and filled only with hunger and with rage. +They clambered, squirmed and wriggled to the deck, forcing +us steadily backward, though we emptied our pistols into them. +There were all sorts and conditions of horrible things--huge, +hideous, grotesque, monstrous--a veritable Mesozoic nightmare. +I saw that the girl was gotten below as quickly as possible, and +she took Nobs with her--poor Nobs had nearly barked his head off; +and I think, too, that for the first time since his littlest +puppyhood he had known fear; nor can I blame him. After the girl +I sent Bradley and most of the Allies and then the Germans who +were on deck--von Schoenvorts being still in irons below. + +The creatures were approaching perilously close before I dropped +through the hatchway and slammed down the cover. Then I went +into the tower and ordered full speed ahead, hoping to distance +the fearsome things; but it was useless. Not only could any of +them easily outdistance the U-33, but the further upstream we +progressed the greater the number of our besiegers, until fearful +of navigating a strange river at high speed, I gave orders to +reduce and moved slowly and majestically through the plunging, +hissing mass. I was mighty glad that our entrance into the +interior of Caprona had been inside a submarine rather than in +any other form of vessel. I could readily understand how it +might have been that Caprona had been invaded in the past by +venturesome navigators without word of it ever reaching the +outside world, for I can assure you that only by submarine could +man pass up that great sluggish river, alive. + +We proceeded up the river for some forty miles before darkness +overtook us. I was afraid to submerge and lie on the bottom +overnight for fear that the mud might be deep enough to hold us, +and as we could not hold with the anchor, I ran in close to +shore, and in a brief interim of attack from the reptiles we made +fast to a large tree. We also dipped up some of the river water +and found it, though quite warm, a little sweeter than before. +We had food enough, and with the water we were all quite +refreshed; but we missed fresh meat. It had been weeks, now, +since we had tasted it, and the sight of the reptiles gave me +an idea--that a steak or two from one of them might not be +bad eating. So I went on deck with a rifle, twenty of which were +aboard the U-33. At sight of me a huge thing charged and climbed +to the deck. I retreated to the top of the conning-tower, and +when it had raised its mighty bulk to the level of the little deck +on which I stood, I let it have a bullet right between the eyes. + +The thing stopped then and looked at me a moment as much as to +say: "Why this thing has a stinger! I must be careful." And then +it reached out its long neck and opened its mighty jaws and grabbed +for me; but I wasn't there. I had tumbled backward into the tower, +and I mighty near killed myself doing it. When I glanced up, that +little head on the end of its long neck was coming straight down on +top of me, and once more I tumbled into greater safety, sprawling +upon the floor of the centrale. + +Olson was looking up, and seeing what was poking about in the +tower, ran for an ax; nor did he hesitate a moment when he +returned with one, but sprang up the ladder and commenced +chopping away at that hideous face. The thing didn't have +sufficient brainpan to entertain more than a single idea at once. +Though chopped and hacked, and with a bullethole between its +eyes, it still persisted madly in its attempt to get inside the +tower and devour Olson, though its body was many times the +diameter of the hatch; nor did it cease its efforts until after +Olson had succeeded in decapitating it. Then the two men went on +deck through the main hatch, and while one kept watch, the other +cut a hind quarter off Plesiosaurus Olsoni, as Bradley dubbed +the thing. Meantime Olson cut off the long neck, saying that it +would make fine soup. By the time we had cleared away the blood +and refuse in the tower, the cook had juicy steaks and a steaming +broth upon the electric stove, and the aroma arising from P. Olsoni +filled us an with a hitherto unfelt admiration for him and all his kind. + + + +Chapter 5 + + +The steaks we had that night, and they were fine; and the +following morning we tasted the broth. It seemed odd to be +eating a creature that should, by all the laws of paleontology, +have been extinct for several million years. It gave one a +feeling of newness that was almost embarrassing, although it +didn't seem to embarrass our appetites. Olson ate until I +thought he would burst. + +The girl ate with us that night at the little officers' mess just +back of the torpedo compartment. The narrow table was unfolded; +the four stools were set out; and for the first time in days we +sat down to eat, and for the first time in weeks we had something +to eat other than the monotony of the short rations of an +impoverished U-boat. Nobs sat between the girl and me and was +fed with morsels of the Plesiosaurus steak, at the risk of +forever contaminating his manners. He looked at me sheepishly +all the time, for he knew that no well-bred dog should eat at +table; but the poor fellow was so wasted from improper food that +I couldn't enjoy my own meal had he been denied an immediate share +in it; and anyway Lys wanted to feed him. So there you are. + +Lys was coldly polite to me and sweetly gracious to Bradley +and Olson. She wasn't of the gushing type, I knew; so I didn't +expect much from her and was duly grateful for the few morsels of +attention she threw upon the floor to me. We had a pleasant +meal, with only one unfortunate occurrence--when Olson suggested +that possibly the creature we were eating was the same one that +ate the German. It was some time before we could persuade the +girl to continue her meal, but at last Bradley prevailed upon +her, pointing out that we had come upstream nearly forty miles +since the boche had been seized, and that during that time we +had seen literally thousands of these denizens of the river, +indicating that the chances were very remote that this was the +same Plesiosaur. "And anyway," he concluded, "it was only a +scheme of Mr. Olson's to get all the steaks for himself." + +We discussed the future and ventured opinions as to what lay +before us; but we could only theorize at best, for none of +us knew. If the whole land was infested by these and similar +horrid monsters, life would be impossible upon it, and we decided +that we would only search long enough to find and take aboard fresh +water and such meat and fruits as might be safely procurable and +then retrace our way beneath the cliffs to the open sea. + +And so at last we turned into our narrow bunks, hopeful, happy +and at peace with ourselves, our lives and our God, to awaken the +following morning refreshed and still optimistic. We had an easy +time getting away--as we learned later, because the saurians do +not commence to feed until late in the morning. From noon to +midnight their curve of activity is at its height, while from +dawn to about nine o'clock it is lowest. As a matter of fact, we +didn't see one of them all the time we were getting under way, +though I had the cannon raised to the deck and manned against +an assault. I hoped, but I was none too sure, that shells might +discourage them. The trees were full of monkeys of all sizes and +shades, and once we thought we saw a manlike creature watching us +from the depth of the forest. + +Shortly after we resumed our course upstream, we saw the mouth of +another and smaller river emptying into the main channel from the +south--that is, upon our right; and almost immediately after we +came upon a large island five or six miles in length; and at +fifty miles there was a still larger river than the last coming +in from the northwest, the course of the main stream having now +changed to northeast by southwest. The water was quite free from +reptiles, and the vegetation upon the banks of the river had +altered to more open and parklike forest, with eucalyptus and +acacia mingled with a scattering of tree ferns, as though two +distinct periods of geologic time had overlapped and merged. +The grass, too, was less flowering, though there were still +gorgeous patches mottling the greensward; and lastly, the fauna +was less multitudinous. + +Six or seven miles farther, and the river widened considerably; +before us opened an expanse of water to the farther horizon, and +then we sailed out upon an inland sea so large that only a shore- +line upon our side was visible to us. The waters all about us +were alive with life. There were still a few reptiles; but there +were fish by the thousands, by the millions. + +The water of the inland sea was very warm, almost hot, and the +atmosphere was hot and heavy above it. It seemed strange that +beyond the buttressed walls of Caprona icebergs floated and the +south wind was biting, for only a gentle breeze moved across +the face of these living waters, and that was damp and warm. +Gradually, we commenced to divest ourselves of our clothing, +retaining only sufficient for modesty; but the sun was not hot. +It was more the heat of a steam-room than of an oven. + +We coasted up the shore of the lake in a north-westerly direction, +sounding all the time. We found the lake deep and the bottom +rocky and steeply shelving toward the center, and once when I +moved straight out from shore to take other soundings we could +find no bottom whatsoever. In open spaces along the shore we +caught occasional glimpses of the distant cliffs, and here +they appeared only a trifle less precipitous than those which +bound Caprona on the seaward side. My theory is that in a far +distant era Caprona was a mighty mountain--perhaps the world's +mightiest volcanic action blew off the entire crest, blew +thousands of feet of the mountain upward and outward and onto the +surrounding continent, leaving a great crater; and then, +possibly, the continent sank as ancient continents have been +known to do, leaving only the summit of Caprona above the sea. +The encircling walls, the central lake, the hot springs which +feed the lake, all point to a conclusion, and the fauna and the +flora bear indisputable evidence that Caprona was once part of +some great land-mass. + +As we cruised up along the coast, the landscape continued a more +or less open forest, with here and there a small plain where we +saw animals grazing. With my glass I could make out a species of +large red deer, some antelope and what appeared to be a species +of horse; and once I saw the shaggy form of what might have been +a monstrous bison. Here was game a plenty! There seemed little +danger of starving upon Caprona. The game, however, seemed wary; +for the instant the animals discovered us, they threw up their +heads and tails and went cavorting off, those farther inland +following the example of the others until all were lost in the +mazes of the distant forest. Only the great, shaggy ox stood +his ground. With lowered head he watched us until we had passed, +and then continued feeding. + +About twenty miles up the coast from the mouth of the river we +encountered low cliffs of sandstone, broken and tortured evidence +of the great upheaval which had torn Caprona asunder in the past, +intermingling upon a common level the rock formations of widely +separated eras, fusing some and leaving others untouched. + +We ran along beside them for a matter of ten miles, arriving off +a broad cleft which led into what appeared to be another lake. +As we were in search of pure water, we did not wish to overlook +any portion of the coast, and so after sounding and finding that +we had ample depth, I ran the U-33 between head-lands into as +pretty a landlocked harbor as sailormen could care to see, with +good water right up to within a few yards of the shore. As we +cruised slowly along, two of the boches again saw what they +believed to be a man, or manlike creature, watching us from a +fringe of trees a hundred yards inland, and shortly after we +discovered the mouth of a small stream emptying into the bay: +It was the first stream we had found since leaving the river, and +I at once made preparations to test its water. To land, it would +be necessary to run the U-33 close in to the shore, at least as +close as we could, for even these waters were infested, though, +not so thickly, by savage reptiles. I ordered sufficient water +let into the diving-tanks to lower us about a foot, and then I +ran the bow slowly toward the shore, confident that should we run +aground, we still had sufficient lifting force to free us when +the water should be pumped out of the tanks; but the bow nosed +its way gently into the reeds and touched the shore with the keel +still clear. + +My men were all armed now with both rifles and pistols, each +having plenty of ammunition. I ordered one of the Germans ashore +with a line, and sent two of my own men to guard him, for from +what little we had seen of Caprona, or Caspak as we learned later +to call the interior, we realized that any instant some new and +terrible danger might confront us. The line was made fast to a +small tree, and at the same time I had the stern anchor dropped. + +As soon as the boche and his guard were aboard again, I called +all hands on deck, including von Schoenvorts, and there I +explained to them that the time had come for us to enter into +some sort of an agreement among ourselves that would relieve +us of the annoyance and embarrassment of being divided into two +antagonistic parts--prisoners and captors. I told them that it +was obvious our very existence depended upon our unity of action, +that we were to all intent and purpose entering a new world as +far from the seat and causes of our own world-war as if millions +of miles of space and eons of time separated us from our past +lives and habitations. + +"There is no reason why we should carry our racial and political +hatreds into Caprona," I insisted. "The Germans among us might +kill all the English, or the English might kill the last German, +without affecting in the slightest degree either the outcome of +even the smallest skirmish upon the western front or the opinion +of a single individual in any belligerent or neutral country. +I therefore put the issue squarely to you all; shall we bury our +animosities and work together with and for one another while we +remain upon Caprona, or must we continue thus divided and but half +armed, possibly until death has claimed the last of us? And let +me tell you, if you have not already realized it, the chances are +a thousand to one that not one of us ever will see the outside +world again. We are safe now in the matter of food and water; we +could provision the U-33 for a long cruise; but we are practically +out of fuel, and without fuel we cannot hope to reach the ocean, +as only a submarine can pass through the barrier cliffs. What is +your answer?" I turned toward von Schoenvorts. + +He eyed me in that disagreeable way of his and demanded to know, +in case they accepted my suggestion, what their status would be +in event of our finding a way to escape with the U-33. I replied +that I felt that if we had all worked loyally together we should +leave Caprona upon a common footing, and to that end I suggested +that should the remote possibility of our escape in the submarine +develop into reality, we should then immediately make for the +nearest neutral port and give ourselves into the hands of the +authorities, when we should all probably be interned for the +duration of the war. To my surprise he agreed that this was fair +and told me that they would accept my conditions and that I could +depend upon their loyalty to the common cause. + +I thanked him and then addressed each one of his men individually, +and each gave me his word that he would abide by all that I +had outlined. It was further understood that we were to act as +a military organization under military rules and discipline--I +as commander, with Bradley as my first lieutenant and Olson as +my second, in command of the Englishmen; while von Schoenvorts +was to act as an additional second lieutenant and have charge of +his own men. The four of us were to constitute a military court +under which men might be tried and sentenced to punishment for +infraction of military rules and discipline, even to the passing +of the death-sentence. + +I then had arms and ammunition issued to the Germans, and leaving +Bradley and five men to guard the U-33, the balance of us went ashore. +The first thing we did was to taste the water of the little stream-- +which, to our delight, we found sweet, pure and cold. This stream +was entirely free from dangerous reptiles, because, as I later +discovered, they became immediately dormant when subjected to a much +lower temperature than 70 degrees Fahrenheit. They dislike cold water +and keep as far away from it as possible. There were countless +brook-trout here, and deep holes that invited us to bathe, and along +the bank of the stream were trees bearing a close resemblance to +ash and beech and oak, their characteristics evidently induced by +the lower temperature of the air above the cold water and by the +fact that their roots were watered by the water from the stream +rather than from the warm springs which we afterward found in such +abundance elsewhere. + +Our first concern was to fill the water tanks of the U-33 with +fresh water, and that having been accomplished, we set out to +hunt for game and explore inland for a short distance. Olson, von +Schoenvorts, two Englishmen and two Germans accompanied me, +leaving ten to guard the ship and the girl. I had intended +leaving Nobs behind, but he got away and joined me and was so +happy over it that I hadn't the heart to send him back. We followed +the stream upward through a beautiful country for about five miles, +and then came upon its source in a little boulder-strewn clearing. +From among the rocks bubbled fully twenty ice-cold springs. +North of the clearing rose sandstone cliffs to a height of some +fifty to seventy-five feet, with tall trees growing at their base +and almost concealing them from our view. To the west the country +was flat and sparsely wooded, and here it was that we saw our first +game--a large red deer. It was grazing away from us and had not +seen us when one of my men called my attention to it. Motioning for +silence and having the rest of the party lie down, I crept toward +the quarry, accompanied only by Whitely. We got within a hundred +yards of the deer when he suddenly raised his antlered head and +pricked up his great ears. We both fired at once and had the +satisfaction of seeing the buck drop; then we ran forward to finish +him with our knives. The deer lay in a small open space close to +a clump of acacias, and we had advanced to within several yards +of our kill when we both halted suddenly and simultaneously. +Whitely looked at me, and I looked at Whitely, and then we both +looked back in the direction of the deer. +"Blime!' he said. "Wot is hit, sir?" + +"It looks to me, Whitely, like an error," I said; "some assistant +god who had been creating elephants must have been temporarily +transferred to the lizard-department." + +"Hi wouldn't s'y that, sir," said Whitely; "it sounds blasphemous." + +"It is more blasphemous than that thing which is swiping our +meat," I replied, for whatever the thing was, it had leaped upon +our deer and was devouring it in great mouthfuls which it +swallowed without mastication. The creature appeared to be a +great lizard at least ten feet high, with a huge, powerful tail +as long as its torso, mighty hind legs and short forelegs. When it +had advanced from the wood, it hopped much after the fashion of a +kangaroo, using its hind feet and tail to propel it, and when it +stood erect, it sat upon its tail. Its head was long and thick, +with a blunt muzzle, and the opening of the jaws ran back to a +point behind the eyes, and the jaws were armed with long sharp teeth. +The scaly body was covered with black and yellow spots about a foot +in diameter and irregular in contour. These spots were outlined in +red with edgings about an inch wide. The underside of the chest, +body and tail were a greenish white. + +"Wot s'y we pot the bloomin' bird, sir?" suggested Whitely. + +I told him to wait until I gave the word; then we would fire +simultaneously, he at the heart and I at the spine. + +"Hat the 'eart, sir--yes, sir," he replied, and raised his piece +to his shoulder. + +Our shots rang out together. The thing raised its head and +looked about until its eyes rested upon us; then it gave vent to +a most appalling hiss that rose to the crescendo of a terrific +shriek and came for us. + +"Beat it, Whitely!" I cried as I turned to run. + +We were about a quarter of a mile from the rest of our party, and +in full sight of them as they lay in the tall grass watching us. +That they saw all that had happened was evidenced by the fact that +they now rose and ran toward us, and at their head leaped Nobs. +The creature in our rear was gaining on us rapidly when Nobs flew +past me like a meteor and rushed straight for the frightful reptile. +I tried to recall him, but he would pay no attention to me, and as +I couldn't see him sacrificed, I, too, stopped and faced the monster. +The creature appeared to be more impressed with Nobs than by us and +our firearms, for it stopped as the Airedale dashed at it growling, +and struck at him viciously with its powerful jaws. + +Nobs, though, was lightning by comparison with the slow thinking +beast and dodged his opponent's thrust with ease. Then he raced +to the rear of the tremendous thing and seized it by the tail. +There Nobs made the error of his life. Within that mottled organ +were the muscles of a Titan, the force of a dozen mighty +catapults, and the owner of the tail was fully aware of the +possibilities which it contained. With a single flip of the tip +it sent poor Nobs sailing through the air a hundred feet above +the ground, straight back into the clump of acacias from which +the beast had leaped upon our kill--and then the grotesque thing +sank lifeless to the ground. + +Olson and von Schoenvorts came up a minute later with their men; +then we all cautiously approached the still form upon the ground. +The creature was quite dead, and an examination resulted in +disclosing the fact that Whitely's bullet had pierced its heart, +and mine had severed the spinal cord. + +"But why didn't it die instantly?" I exclaimed. + +"Because," said von Schoenvorts in his disagreeable way, "the +beast is so large, and its nervous organization of so low a +caliber, that it took all this time for the intelligence of death +to reach and be impressed upon the minute brain. The thing was +dead when your bullets struck it; but it did not know it for +several seconds--possibly a minute. If I am not mistaken, it is +an Allosaurus of the Upper Jurassic, remains of which have been +found in Central Wyoming, in the suburbs of New York." + +An Irishman by the name of Brady grinned. I afterward learned +that he had served three years on the traffic-squad of the +Chicago police force. + +I had been calling Nobs in the meantime and was about to set out +in search of him, fearing, to tell the truth, to do so lest I +find him mangled and dead among the trees of the acacia grove, +when he suddenly emerged from among the boles, his ears flattened, +his tail between his legs and his body screwed into a suppliant S. +He was unharmed except for minor bruises; but he was the most +chastened dog I have ever seen. + +We gathered up what was left of the red deer after skinning and +cleaning it, and set out upon our return journey toward the U-boat. +On the way Olson, von Schoenvorts and I discussed the needs of our +immediate future, and we were unanimous in placing foremost the +necessity of a permanent camp on shore. The interior of a U-boat +is about as impossible and uncomfortable an abiding-place as one +can well imagine, and in this warm climate, and in warm water, it +was almost unendurable. So we decided to construct a palisaded camp. + + + +Chapter 6 + + +As we strolled slowly back toward the boat, planning and discussing +this, we were suddenly startled by a loud and unmistakable detonation. + +"A shell from the U-33!" exclaimed von Schoenvorts. + +"What can be after signifyin'?" queried Olson. + +"They are in trouble," I answered for all, "and it's up to us +to get back to them. Drop that carcass," I directed the men +carrying the meat, "and follow me!" I set off at a rapid run +in the direction of the harbor. + +We ran for the better part of a mile without hearing anything +more from the direction of the harbor, and then I reduced the +speed to a walk, for the exercise was telling on us who had been +cooped up for so long in the confined interior of the U-33. +Puffing and panting, we plodded on until within about a mile of +the harbor we came upon a sight that brought us all up standing. +We had been passing through a little heavier timber than was +usual to this part of the country, when we suddenly emerged into +an open space in the center of which was such a band as might +have caused the most courageous to pause. It consisted of upward +of five hundred individuals representing several species closely +allied to man. There were anthropoid apes and gorillas--these +I had no difficulty in recognizing; but there were other forms +which I had never before seen, and I was hard put to it to say +whether they were ape or man. Some of them resembled the corpse +we had found upon the narrow beach against Caprona's sea-wall, +while others were of a still lower type, more nearly resembling +the apes, and yet others were uncannily manlike, standing there +erect, being less hairy and possessing better shaped heads. + +There was one among the lot, evidently the leader of them, who +bore a close resemblance to the so-called Neanderthal man of La +Chapelle-aux-Saints. There was the same short, stocky trunk upon +which rested an enormous head habitually bent forward into the +same curvature as the back, the arms shorter than the legs, and +the lower leg considerably shorter than that of modern man, the +knees bent forward and never straightened. This creature and one +or two others who appeared to be of a lower order than he, yet +higher than that of the apes, carried heavy clubs; the others were +armed only with giant muscles and fighting fangs--nature's weapons. +All were males, and all were entirely naked; nor was there upon +even the highest among them a sign of ornamentation. + +At sight of us they turned with bared fangs and low growls to +confront us. I did not wish to fire among them unless it became +absolutely necessary, and so I started to lead my party around +them; but the instant that the Neanderthal man guessed my +intention, he evidently attributed it to cowardice upon our part, +and with a wild cry he leaped toward us, waving his cudgel above +his head. The others followed him, and in a minute we should have +been overwhelmed. I gave the order to fire, and at the first +volley six of them went down, including the Neanderthal man. +The others hesitated a moment and then broke for the trees, some +running nimbly among the branches, while others lost themselves +to us between the boles. Both von Schoenvorts and I noticed that +at least two of the higher, manlike types took to the trees quite +as nimbly as the apes, while others that more nearly approached +man in carriage and appearance sought safety upon the ground with +the gorillas. + +An examination disclosed that five of our erstwhile opponents +were dead and the sixth, the Neanderthal man, was but slightly +wounded, a bullet having glanced from his thick skull, stunning him. +We decided to take him with us to camp, and by means of belts we +managed to secure his hands behind his back and place a leash +around his neck before he regained consciousness. We then +retraced our steps for our meat being convinced by our own +experience that those aboard the U-33 had been able to frighten +off this party with a single shell--but when we came to where we +had left the deer it had disappeared. + +On the return journey Whitely and I preceded the rest of the +party by about a hundred yards in the hope of getting another +shot at something edible, for we were all greatly disgusted +and disappointed by the loss of our venison. Whitely and I +advanced very cautiously, and not having the whole party with +us, we fared better than on the journey out, bagging two large +antelope not a half-mile from the harbor; so with our game and +our prisoner we made a cheerful return to the boat, where we +found that all were safe. On the shore a little north of where +we lay there were the corpses of twenty of the wild creatures who +had attacked Bradley and his party in our absence, and the rest +of whom we had met and scattered a few minutes later. + +We felt that we had taught these wild ape-men a lesson and that +because of it we would be safer in the future--at least safer +from them; but we decided not to abate our carefulness one whit; +feeling that this new world was filled with terrors still unknown +to us; nor were we wrong. +The following morning we commenced work upon our camp, Bradley, +Olson, von Schoenvorts, Miss La Rue, and I having sat up half the +night discussing the matter and drawing plans. We set the men at +work felling trees, selecting for the purpose jarrah, a hard, +weather-resisting timber which grew in profusion near by. Half the +men labored while the other half stood guard, alternating each hour +with an hour off at noon. Olson directed this work. Bradley, von +Schoenvorts and I, with Miss La Rue's help, staked out the various +buildings and the outer wall. When the day was done, we had quite +an array of logs nicely notched and ready for our building operations +on the morrow, and we were all tired, for after the buildings had +been staked out we all fell in and helped with the logging--all but +von Schoenvorts. He, being a Prussian and a gentleman, couldn't +stoop to such menial labor in the presence of his men, and I didn't +see fit to ask it of him, as the work was purely voluntary upon +our part. He spent the afternoon shaping a swagger-stick from the +branch of jarrah and talking with Miss La Rue, who had sufficiently +unbent toward him to notice his existence. + +We saw nothing of the wild men of the previous day, and only once +were we menaced by any of the strange denizens of Caprona, when +some frightful nightmare of the sky swooped down upon us, only to +be driven off by a fusillade of bullets. The thing appeared to +be some variety of pterodactyl, and what with its enormous size +and ferocious aspect was most awe-inspiring. There was another +incident, too, which to me at least was far more unpleasant than +the sudden onslaught of the prehistoric reptile. Two of the men, +both Germans, were stripping a felled tree of its branches. +Von Schoenvorts had completed his swagger-stick, and he and I +were passing close to where the two worked. + +One of them threw to his rear a small branch that he had just +chopped off, and as misfortune would have it, it struck von +Schoenvorts across the face. It couldn't have hurt him, for it +didn't leave a mark; but he flew into a terrific rage, shouting: +"Attention!" in a loud voice. The sailor immediately +straightened up, faced his officer, clicked his heels together +and saluted. "Pig!" roared the Baron, and struck the fellow +across the face, breaking his nose. I grabbed von Schoenvorts' +arm and jerked him away before he could strike again, if such had +been his intention, and then he raised his little stick to strike +me; but before it descended the muzzle of my pistol was against +his belly and he must have seen in my eyes that nothing would +suit me better than an excuse to pull the trigger. Like all his +kind and all other bullies, von Schoenvorts was a coward at +heart, and so he dropped his hand to his side and started to turn +away; but I pulled him back, and there before his men I told him +that such a thing must never again occur--that no man was to be +struck or otherwise punished other than in due process of the +laws that we had made and the court that we had established. +All the time the sailor stood rigidly at attention, nor could I +tell from his expression whether he most resented the blow his +officer had struck him or my interference in the gospel of the +Kaiser-breed. Nor did he move until I said to him: "Plesser, you +may return to your quarters and dress your wound." Then he +saluted and marched stiffly off toward the U-33. + +Just before dusk we moved out into the bay a hundred yards from +shore and dropped anchor, for I felt that we should be safer +there than elsewhere. I also detailed men to stand watch during +the night and appointed Olson officer of the watch for the entire +night, telling him to bring his blankets on deck and get what +rest he could. At dinner we tasted our first roast Caprona +antelope, and we had a mess of greens that the cook had found +growing along the stream. All during the meal von Schoenvorts +was silent and surly. + +After dinner we all went on deck and watched the unfamiliar +scenes of a Capronian night--that is, all but von Schoenvorts. +There was less to see than to hear. From the great inland lake +behind us came the hissing and the screaming of countless saurians. +Above us we heard the flap of giant wings, while from the shore +rose the multitudinous voices of a tropical jungle--of a warm, +damp atmosphere such as must have enveloped the entire earth +during the Palezoic and Mesozoic eras. But here were intermingled +the voices of later eras--the scream of the panther, the roar of +the lion, the baying of wolves and a thunderous growling which +we could attribute to nothing earthly but which one day we were +to connect with the most fearsome of ancient creatures. + +One by one the others went to their rooms, until the girl and +I were left alone together, for I had permitted the watch to +go below for a few minutes, knowing that I would be on deck. +Miss La Rue was very quiet, though she replied graciously +enough to whatever I had to say that required reply. I asked +her if she did not feel well. + +"Yes," she said, "but I am depressed by the awfulness of it all. +I feel of so little consequence--so small and helpless in the +face of all these myriad manifestations of life stripped to the +bone of its savagery and brutality. I realize as never before +how cheap and valueless a thing is life. Life seems a joke, a +cruel, grim joke. You are a laughable incident or a terrifying +one as you happen to be less powerful or more powerful than some +other form of life which crosses your path; but as a rule you are +of no moment whatsoever to anything but yourself. You are a comic +little figure, hopping from the cradle to the grave. Yes, that +is our trouble--we take ourselves too seriously; but Caprona +should be a sure cure for that." She paused and laughed. + +"You have evolved a beautiful philosophy," I said. "It fills +such a longing in the human breast. It is full, it is +satisfying, it is ennobling. What wonderous strides toward +perfection the human race might have made if the first man had +evolved it and it had persisted until now as the creed of humanity." + +"I don't like irony," she said; "it indicates a small soul." + +"What other sort of soul, then, would you expect from `a comic +little figure hopping from the cradle to the grave'?" I inquired. +"And what difference does it make, anyway, what you like and what +you don't like? You are here for but an instant, and you mustn't +take yourself too seriously." + +She looked up at me with a smile. "I imagine that I am frightened and +blue," she said, "and I know that I am very, very homesick and lonely." +There was almost a sob in her voice as she concluded. It was the +first time that she had spoken thus to me. Involuntarily, I laid +my hand upon hers where it rested on the rail. + +"I know how difficult your position is," I said; "but don't feel +that you are alone. There is--is one here who--who would do +anything in the world for you," I ended lamely. She did not +withdraw her hand, and she looked up into my face with tears on her +cheeks and I read in her eyes the thanks her lips could not voice. +Then she looked away across the weird moonlit landscape and sighed. +Evidently her new-found philosophy had tumbled about her ears, for +she was seemingly taking herself seriously. I wanted to take her +in my arms and tell her how I loved her, and had taken her hand +from the rail and started to draw her toward me when Olson came +blundering up on deck with his bedding. + +The following morning we started building operations in earnest, +and things progressed finely. The Neanderthal man was something +of a care, for we had to keep him in irons all the time, and he +was mighty savage when approached; but after a time he became +more docile, and then we tried to discover if he had a language. +Lys spent a great deal of time talking to him and trying to draw +him out; but for a long while she was unsuccessful. It took us +three weeks to build all the houses, which we constructed close +by a cold spring some two miles from the harbor. + +We changed our plans a trifle when it came to building the +palisade, for we found a rotted cliff near by where we could get +all the flat building-stone we needed, and so we constructed a +stone wall entirely around the buildings. It was in the form of +a square, with bastions and towers at each corner which would +permit an enfilading fire along any side of the fort, and was +about one hundred and thirty-five feet square on the outside, +with walls three feet thick at the bottom and about a foot and +a half wide at the top, and fifteen feet high. It took a long +time to build that wall, and we all turned in and helped except +von Schoenvorts, who, by the way, had not spoken to me except +in the line of official business since our encounter--a condition +of armed neutrality which suited me to a T. We have just finished +it, the last touches being put on today. I quit about a week ago +and commenced working on this chronicle for our strange adventures, +which will account for any minor errors in chronology which may +have crept in; there was so much material that I may have made +some mistakes, but I think they are but minor and few. + +I see in reading over the last few pages that I neglected to +state that Lys finally discovered that the Neanderthal man +possessed a language. She had learned to speak it, and so have +I, to some extent. It was he--his name he says is Am, or Ahm-- +who told us that this country is called Caspak. When we asked +him how far it extended, he waved both arms about his head in an +all-including gesture which took in, apparently, the entire universe. +He is more tractable now, and we are going to release him, for he +has assured us that he will not permit his fellows to harm us. +He calls us Galus and says that in a short time he will be a Galu. +It is not quite clear to us what he means. He says that there are +many Galus north of us, and that as soon as he becomes one he will +go and live with them. + +Ahm went out to hunt with us yesterday and was much impressed by +the ease with which our rifles brought down antelopes and deer. +We have been living upon the fat of the land, Ahm, having shown +us the edible fruits, tubers and herbs, and twice a week we go +out after fresh meat. A certain proportion of this we dry and +store away, for we do not know what may come. Our drying process +is really smoking. We have also dried a large quantity of two +varieties of cereal which grow wild a few miles south of us. +One of these is a giant Indian maize--a lofty perennial often fifty +and sixty feet in height, with ears the size off a man's body and +kernels as large as your fist. We have had to construct a second +store house for the great quantity of this that we have gathered. + +September 3, 1916: Three months ago today the torpedo from the +U-33 started me from the peaceful deck of the American liner upon +the strange voyage which has ended here in Caspak. We have settled +down to an acceptance of our fate, for all are convinced that none +of us will ever see the outer world again. Ahm's repeated assertions +that there are human beings like ourselves in Caspak have roused +the men to a keen desire for exploration. I sent out one party +last week under Bradley. Ahm, who is now free to go and come as +he wishes, accompanied them. They marched about twenty-five miles +due west, encountering many terrible beasts and reptiles and not +a few manlike creatures whom Ahm sent away. Here is Bradley's +report of the expedition: + +Marched fifteen miles the first day, camping on the bank of a +large stream which runs southward. Game was plentiful and we saw +several varieties which we had not before encountered in Caspak. +Just before making camp we were charged by an enormous woolly +rhinoceros, which Plesser dropped with a perfect shot. We had +rhinoceros-steaks for supper. Ahm called the thing "Atis." It was +almost a continuous battle from the time we left the fort until we +arrived at camp. The mind of man can scarce conceive the plethora +of carnivorous life in this lost world; and their prey, of course, +is even more abundant. + +The second day we marched about ten miles to the foot of the cliffs. +Passed through dense forests close to the base of the cliffs. +Saw manlike creatures and a low order of ape in one band, and +some of the men swore that there was a white man among them. +They were inclined to attack us at first; but a volley from our +rifles caused them to change their minds. We scaled the cliffs +as far as we could; but near the top they are absolutely +perpendicular without any sufficient cleft or protuberance to +give hand or foot-hold. All were disappointed, for we hungered +for a view of the ocean and the outside world. We even had a +hope that we might see and attract the attention of a passing ship. +Our exploration has determined one thing which will probably +be of little value to us and never heard of beyond Caprona's +walls--this crater was once entirely filled with water. +Indisputable evidence of this is on the face of the cliffs. + +Our return journey occupied two days and was as filled with +adventure as usual. We are all becoming accustomed to adventure. +It is beginning to pall on us. We suffered no casualties and +there was no illness. + + +I had to smile as I read Bradley's report. In those four days +he had doubtless passed through more adventures than an African +big-game hunter experiences in a lifetime, and yet he covered it +all in a few lines. Yes, we are becoming accustomed to adventure. +Not a day passes that one or more of us does not face death at +least once. Ahm taught us a few things that have proved +profitable and saved us much ammunition, which it is useless +to expend except for food or in the last recourse of self- +preservation. Now when we are attacked by large flying reptiles +we run beneath spreading trees; when land carnivora threaten us, +we climb into trees, and we have learned not to fire at any of +the dinosaurs unless we can keep out of their reach for at least +two minutes after hitting them in the brain or spine, or five +minutes after puncturing their hearts--it takes them so long to die. +To hit them elsewhere is worse than useless, for they do not seem +to notice it, and we had discovered that such shots do not kill +or even disable them. + +September 7, 1916: Much has happened since I last wrote. Bradley is +away again on another exploration expedition to the cliffs. He expects +to be gone several weeks and to follow along their base in search of +a point where they may be scaled. He took Sinclair, Brady, James, +and Tippet with him. Ahm has disappeared. He has been gone about +three days; but the most startling thing I have on record is that +von Schoenvorts and Olson while out hunting the other day discovered +oil about fifteen miles north of us beyond the sandstone cliffs. +Olson says there is a geyser of oil there, and von Schoenvorts is +making preparations to refine it. If he succeeds, we shall have +the means for leaving Caspak and returning to our own world. +I can scarce believe the truth of it. We are all elated to the +seventh heaven of bliss. Pray God we shall not be disappointed. + +I have tried on several occasions to broach the subject of my +love to Lys; but she will not listen. + + + +Chapter 7 + + +October 8, 1916: This is the last entry I shall make upon +my manuscript. When this is done, I shall be through. Though I +may pray that it reaches the haunts of civilized man, my better +judgment tells me that it will never be perused by other eyes +than mine, and that even though it should, it would be too late +to avail me. I am alone upon the summit of the great cliff +overlooking the broad Pacific. A chill south wind bites at my +marrow, while far below me I can see the tropic foliage of Caspak +on the one hand and huge icebergs from the near Antarctic upon +the other. Presently I shall stuff my folded manuscript into the +thermos bottle I have carried with me for the purpose since I +left the fort--Fort Dinosaur we named it--and hurl it far outward +over the cliff-top into the Pacific. What current washes the +shore of Caprona I know not; whither my bottle will be borne I +cannot even guess; but I have done all that mortal man may do to +notify the world of my whereabouts and the dangers that threaten +those of us who remain alive in Caspak--if there be any other +than myself. + +About the 8th of September I accompanied Olson and von +Schoenvorts to the oil-geyser. Lys came with us, and we took a +number of things which von Schoenvorts wanted for the purpose +of erecting a crude refinery. We went up the coast some ten or +twelve miles in the U-33, tying up to shore near the mouth of a +small stream which emptied great volumes of crude oil into the +sea--I find it difficult to call this great lake by any other name. +Then we disembarked and went inland about five miles, where we came +upon a small lake entirely filled with oil, from the center of +which a geyser of oil spouted. + +On the edge of the lake we helped von Schoenvorts build his +primitive refinery. We worked with him for two days until he got +things fairly well started, and then we returned to Fort Dinosaur, +as I feared that Bradley might return and be worried by our absence. +The U-33 merely landed those of us that were to return to the fort +and then retraced its course toward the oil-well. Olson, Whitely, +Wilson, Miss La Rue, and myself disembarked, while von Schoenvorts +and his German crew returned to refine the oil. The next day +Plesser and two other Germans came down overland for ammunition. +Plesser said they had been attacked by wild men and had exhausted +a great deal of ammunition. He also asked permission to get some +dried meat and maize, saying that they were so busy with the work +of refining that they had no time to hunt. I let him have +everything he asked for, and never once did a suspicion of their +intentions enter my mind. They returned to the oil-well the same +day, while we continued with the multitudinous duties of camp life. + +For three days nothing of moment occurred. Bradley did not +return; nor did we have any word from von Schoenvorts. In the +evening Lys and I went up into one of the bastion towers and +listened to the grim and terrible nightlife of the frightful ages +of the past. Once a saber-tooth screamed almost beneath us, and +the girl shrank close against me. As I felt her body against +mine, all the pent love of these three long months shattered the +bonds of timidity and conviction, and I swept her up into my arms +and covered her face and lips with kisses. She did not struggle +to free herself; but instead her dear arms crept up about my neck +and drew my own face even closer to hers. + +"You love me, Lys?" I cried. + +I felt her head nod an affirmative against my breast. "Tell me, +Lys," I begged, "tell me in words how much you love me." + +Low and sweet and tender came the answer: "I love you beyond +all conception." + +My heart filled with rapture then, and it fills now as it has +each of the countless times I have recalled those dear words, as +it shall fill always until death has claimed me. I may never see +her again; she may not know how I love her--she may question, she +may doubt; but always true and steady, and warm with the fires of +love my heart beats for the girl who said that night: "I love you +beyond all conception." + +For a long time we sat there upon the little bench constructed for +the sentry that we had not as yet thought it necessary to post in +more than one of the four towers. We learned to know one another +better in those two brief hours than we had in all the months that +had intervened since we had been thrown together. She told me that +she had loved me from the first, and that she never had loved von +Schoenvorts, their engagement having been arranged by her aunt for +social reasons. + +That was the happiest evening of my life; nor ever do I expect +to experience its like; but at last, as is the way of happiness, +it terminated. We descended to the compound, and I walked with Lys +to the door of her quarters. There again she kissed me and bade +me good night, and then she went in and closed the door. + +I went to my own room, and there I sat by the light of one of the +crude candles we had made from the tallow of the beasts we had +killed, and lived over the events of the evening. At last I +turned in and fell asleep, dreaming happy dreams and planning for +the future, for even in savage Caspak I was bound to make my girl +safe and happy. It was daylight when I awoke. Wilson, who was +acting as cook, was up and astir at his duties in the cook-house. +The others slept; but I arose and followed by Nobs went down to +the stream for a plunge. As was our custom, I went armed with +both rifle and revolver; but I stripped and had my swim without +further disturbance than the approach of a large hyena, a number +of which occupied caves in the sand-stone cliffs north of the camp. +These brutes are enormous and exceedingly ferocious. I imagine +they correspond with the cave-hyena of prehistoric times. +This fellow charged Nobs, whose Capronian experiences had taught +him that discretion is the better part of valor--with the result +that he dived head foremost into the stream beside me after giving +vent to a series of ferocious growls which had no more effect upon +Hyaena spelaeus than might a sweet smile upon an enraged tusker. +Afterward I shot the beast, and Nobs had a feast while I dressed, +for he had become quite a raw-meat eater during our numerous hunting +expeditions, upon which we always gave him a portion of the kill. + +Whitely and Olson were up and dressed when we returned, and we +all sat down to a good breakfast. I could not but wonder at Lys' +absence from the table, for she had always been one of the +earliest risers in camp; so about nine o'clock, becoming +apprehensive lest she might be indisposed, I went to the door of +her room and knocked. I received no response, though I finally +pounded with all my strength; then I turned the knob and entered, +only to find that she was not there. Her bed had been occupied, +and her clothing lay where she had placed it the previous night +upon retiring; but Lys was gone. To say that I was distracted +with terror would be to put it mildly. Though I knew she could +not be in camp, I searched every square inch of the compound and +all the buildings, yet without avail. + +It was Whitely who discovered the first clue--a huge human-like +footprint in the soft earth beside the spring, and indications of +a struggle in the mud. + +Then I found a tiny handkerchief close to the outer wall. +Lys had been stolen! It was all too plain. Some hideous member +of the ape-man tribe had entered the fort and carried her off. +While I stood stunned and horrified at the frightful evidence +before me, there came from the direction of the great lake an +increasing sound that rose to the volume of a shriek. We all +looked up as the noise approached apparently just above us, and +a moment later there followed a terrific explosion which hurled +us to the ground. When we clambered to our feet, we saw a large +section of the west wall torn and shattered. It was Olson who +first recovered from his daze sufficiently to guess the +explanation of the phenomenon. + +"A shell!" he cried. "And there ain't no shells in Caspak +besides what's on the U-33. The dirty boches are shellin' +the fort. Come on!" And he grasped his rifle and started on +a run toward the lake. It was over two miles, but we did not pause +until the harbor was in view, and still we could not see the lake +because of the sandstone cliffs which intervened. We ran as fast +as we could around the lower end of the harbor, scrambled up the +cliffs and at last stood upon their summit in full view of the lake. +Far away down the coast, toward the river through which we had come +to reach the lake, we saw upon the surface the outline of the U-33, +black smoke vomiting from her funnel. + +Von Schoenvorts had succeeded in refining the oil! The cur had +broken his every pledge and was leaving us there to our fates. +He had even shelled the fort as a parting compliment; nor could +anything have been more truly Prussian than this leave-taking of +the Baron Friedrich von Schoenvorts. + +Olson, Whitely, Wilson, and I stood for a moment looking at +one another. It seemed incredible that man could be so +perfidious--that we had really seen with our own eyes the thing +that we had seen; but when we returned to the fort, the shattered +wall gave us ample evidence that there was no mistake. + +Then we began to speculate as to whether it had been an ape-man +or a Prussian that had abducted Lys. From what we knew of von +Schoenvorts, we would not have been surprised at anything from +him; but the footprints by the spring seemed indisputable +evidence that one of Caprona's undeveloped men had borne off +the girl I loved. + +As soon as I had assured myself that such was the case, I made my +preparations to follow and rescue her. Olson, Whitely, and +Wilson each wished to accompany me; but I told them that they +were needed here, since with Bradley's party still absent and the +Germans gone it was necessary that we conserve our force as far +as might be possible. + + + +Chapter 8 + + +It was a sad leave-taking as in silence I shook hands with each +of the three remaining men. Even poor Nobs appeared dejected as +we quit the compound and set out upon the well-marked spoor of +the abductor. Not once did I turn my eyes backward toward +Fort Dinosaur. I have not looked upon it since--nor in all +likelihood shall I ever look upon it again. The trail led +northwest until it reached the western end of the sandstone +cliffs to the north of the fort; there it ran into a well-defined +path which wound northward into a country we had not as yet explored. +It was a beautiful, gently rolling country, broken by occasional +outcroppings of sandstone and by patches of dense forest relieved +by open, park-like stretches and broad meadows whereon grazed +countless herbivorous animals--red deer, aurochs, and infinite +variety of antelope and at least three distinct species of horse, +the latter ranging in size from a creature about as large as +Nobs to a magnificent animal fourteen to sixteen hands high. +These creatures fed together in perfect amity; nor did they show +any great indications of terror when Nobs and I approached. +They moved out of our way and kept their eyes upon us until we +had passed; then they resumed their feeding. + +The path led straight across the clearing into another forest, +lying upon the verge of which I saw a bit of white. It appeared +to stand out in marked contrast and incongruity to all its +surroundings, and when I stopped to examine it, I found that +it was a small strip of muslin--part of the hem of a garment. +At once I was all excitement, for I knew that it was a sign left +by Lys that she had been carried this way; it was a tiny bit torn +from the hem of the undergarment that she wore in lieu of the +night-robes she had lost with the sinking of the liner. +Crushing the bit of fabric to my lips, I pressed on even more +rapidly than before, because I now knew that I was upon the right +trail and that up to this, point at least, Lys still had lived. + +I made over twenty miles that day, for I was now hardened to +fatigue and accustomed to long hikes, having spent considerable +time hunting and exploring in the immediate vicinity of camp. +A dozen times that day was my life threatened by fearsome creatures +of the earth or sky, though I could not but note that the farther +north I traveled, the fewer were the great dinosaurs, though they +still persisted in lesser numbers. On the other hand the +quantity of ruminants and the variety and frequency of +carnivorous animals increased. Each square mile of Caspak +harbored its terrors. + +At intervals along the way I found bits of muslin, and often they +reassured me when otherwise I should have been doubtful of the trail +to take where two crossed or where there were forks, as occurred +at several points. And so, as night was drawing on, I came to the +southern end of a line of cliffs loftier than any I had seen before, +and as I approached them, there was wafted to my nostrils the pungent +aroma of woodsmoke. What could it mean? There could, to my mind, +be but a single solution: man abided close by, a higher order of +man than we had as yet seen, other than Ahm, the Neanderthal man. +I wondered again as I had so many times that day if it had not been +Ahm who stole Lys. + +Cautiously I approached the flank of the cliffs, where they +terminated in an abrupt escarpment as though some all powerful +hand had broken off a great section of rock and set it upon the +surface of the earth. It was now quite dark, and as I crept +around the edge of the cliff, I saw at a little distance a great +fire around which were many figures--apparently human figures. +Cautioning Nobs to silence, and he had learned many lessons in +the value of obedience since we had entered Caspak, I slunk +forward, taking advantage of whatever cover I could find, until +from behind a bush I could distinctly see the creatures assembled +by the fire. They were human and yet not human. I should say +that they were a little higher in the scale of evolution than +Ahm, possibly occupying a place of evolution between that of the +Neanderthal man and what is known as the Grimaldi race. Their features +were distinctly negroid, though their skins were white. A considerable +portion of both torso and limbs were covered with short hair, and +their physical proportions were in many aspects apelike, though not +so much so as were Ahm's. They carried themselves in a more erect +position, although their arms were considerably longer than those +of the Neanderthal man. As I watched them, I saw that they possessed +a language, that they had knowledge of fire and that they carried +besides the wooden club of Ahm, a thing which resembled a crude +stone hatchet. Evidently they were very low in the scale of +humanity, but they were a step upward from those I had previously +seen in Caspak. + +But what interested me most was the slender figure of a dainty +girl, clad only in a thin bit of muslin which scarce covered her +knees--a bit of muslin torn and ragged about the lower hem. It was +Lys, and she was alive and so far as I could see, unharmed. A huge +brute with thick lips and prognathous jaw stood at her shoulder. +He was talking loudly and gesticulating wildly. I was close enough +to hear his words, which were similar to the language of Ahm, though +much fuller, for there were many words I could not understand. +However I caught the gist of what he was saying--which in effect +was that he had found and captured this Galu, that she was his +and that he defied anyone to question his right of possession. +It appeared to me, as I afterward learned was the fact, that I was +witnessing the most primitive of marriage ceremonies. The assembled +members of the tribe looked on and listened in a sort of dull and +perfunctory apathy, for the speaker was by far the mightiest of the clan. + +There seemed no one to dispute his claims when he said, or rather +shouted, in stentorian tones: "I am Tsa. This is my she. +Who wishes her more than Tsa?" + +"I do," I said in the language of Ahm, and I stepped out into the +firelight before them. Lys gave a little cry of joy and started +toward me, but Tsa grasped her arm and dragged her back. + +"Who are you?" shrieked Tsa. "I kill! I kill! I kill!" + +"The she is mine," I replied, "and I have come to claim her. +I kill if you do not let her come to me." And I raised my pistol +to a level with his heart. Of course the creature had no conception +of the purpose of the strange little implement which I was poking +toward him. With a sound that was half human and half the growl +of a wild beast, he sprang toward me. I aimed at his heart and +fired, and as he sprawled headlong to the ground, the others of +his tribe, overcome by fright at the report of the pistol, +scattered toward the cliffs--while Lys, with outstretched arms, +ran toward me. + +As I crushed her to me, there rose from the black night behind us +and then to our right and to our left a series of frightful +screams and shrieks, bellowings, roars and growls. It was the +night-life of this jungle world coming into its own--the huge, +carnivorous nocturnal beasts which make the nights of Caspak hideous. +A shuddering sob ran through Lys' figure. "O God," she cried, +"give me the strength to endure, for his sake!" I saw that +she was upon the verge of a breakdown, after all that she must +have passed through of fear and horror that day, and I tried to +quiet and reassure her as best I might; but even to me the future +looked most unpromising, for what chance of life had we against +the frightful hunters of the night who even now were prowling +closer to us? + +Now I turned to see what had become of the tribe, and in the +fitful glare of the fire I perceived that the face of the +cliff was pitted with large holes into which the man-things +were clambering. "Come," I said to Lys, "we must follow them. +We cannot last a half-hour out here. We must find a cave." +Already we could see the blazing green eyes of the hungry carnivora. +I seized a brand from the fire and hurled it out into the night, +and there came back an answering chorus of savage and rageful +protest; but the eyes vanished for a short time. Selecting a +burning branch for each of us, we advanced toward the cliffs, +where we were met by angry threats. + +"They will kill us," said Lys. "We may as well keep on in search +of another refuge." + +"They will not kill us so surely as will those others out there," +I replied. "I am going to seek shelter in one of these caves; +nor will the man-things prevent." And I kept on in the direction +of the cliff's base. A huge creature stood upon a ledge and +brandished his stone hatchet. "Come and I will kill you and take +the she," he boasted. + +"You saw how Tsa fared when he would have kept my she," I replied +in his own tongue. "Thus will you fare and all your fellows if +you do not permit us to come in peace among you out of the dangers +of the night." + +"Go north," he screamed. "Go north among the Galus, and we will +not harm you. Some day will we be Galus; but now we are not. +You do not belong among us. Go away or we will kill you. The she +may remain if she is afraid, and we will keep her; but the he +must depart." + +"The he won't depart," I replied, and approached still nearer. +Rough and narrow ledges formed by nature gave access to the +upper caves. A man might scale them if unhampered and unhindered, +but to clamber upward in the face of a belligerent tribe of half-men +and with a girl to assist was beyond my capability. + +"I do not fear you," screamed the creature. "You were close to +Tsa; but I am far above you. You cannot harm me as you harmed Tsa. +Go away!" + +I placed a foot upon the lowest ledge and clambered upward, +reaching down and pulling Lys to my side. Already I felt safer. +Soon we would be out of danger of the beasts again closing in +upon us. The man above us raised his stone hatchet above his head +and leaped lightly down to meet us. His position above me gave +him a great advantage, or at least so he probably thought, for he +came with every show of confidence. I hated to do it, but there +seemed no other way, and so I shot him down as I had shot down Tsa. + +"You see," I cried to his fellows, "that I can kill you wherever +you may be. A long way off I can kill you as well as I can kill +you near by. Let us come among you in peace. I will not harm you +if you do not harm us. We will take a cave high up. Speak!" + +"Come, then," said one. "If you will not harm us, you may come. +Take Tsa's hole, which lies above you." + +The creature showed us the mouth of a black cave, but he kept at +a distance while he did it, and Lys followed me as I crawled in +to explore. I had matches with me, and in the light of one I +found a small cavern with a flat roof and floor which followed +the cleavage of the strata. Pieces of the roof had fallen at +some long-distant date, as was evidenced by the depth of the +filth and rubble in which they were embedded. Even a superficial +examination revealed the fact that nothing had ever been +attempted that might have improved the livability of the cavern; +nor, should I judge, had it ever been cleaned out. With considerable +difficulty I loosened some of the larger pieces of broken rock which +littered the floor and placed them as a barrier before the doorway. +It was too dark to do more than this. I then gave Lys a piece of +dried meat, and sitting inside the entrance, we dined as must have +some of our ancient forbears at the dawning of the age of man, while +far below the open diapason of the savage night rose weird and +horrifying to our ears. In the light of the great fire still +burning we could see huge, skulking forms, and in the blacker +background countless flaming eyes. + +Lys shuddered, and I put my arm around her and drew her to me; +and thus we sat throughout the hot night. She told me of her +abduction and of the fright she had undergone, and together we +thanked God that she had come through unharmed, because the great +brute had dared not pause along the danger-infested way. She said +that they had but just reached the cliffs when I arrived, for on +several occasions her captor had been forced to take to the trees +with her to escape the clutches of some hungry cave-lion or saber- +toothed tiger, and that twice they had been obliged to remain for +considerable periods before the beasts had retired. + +Nobs, by dint of much scrambling and one or two narrow escapes +from death, had managed to follow us up the cliff and was now +curled between me and the doorway, having devoured a piece of the +dried meat, which he seemed to relish immensely. He was the +first to fall asleep; but I imagine we must have followed suit +soon, for we were both tired. I had laid aside my ammunition- +belt and rifle, though both were close beside me; but my pistol +I kept in my lap beneath my hand. However, we were not disturbed +during the night, and when I awoke, the sun was shining on the +tree-tops in the distance. Lys' head had drooped to my breast, +and my arm was still about her. + +Shortly afterward Lys awoke, and for a moment she could not seem +to comprehend her situation. She looked at me and then turned +and glanced at my arm about her, and then she seemed quite +suddenly to realize the scantiness of her apparel and drew away, +covering her face with her palms and blushing furiously. I drew +her back toward me and kissed her, and then she threw her arms +about my neck and wept softly in mute surrender to the inevitable. + +It was an hour later before the tribe began to stir about. +We watched them from our "apartment," as Lys called it. +Neither men nor women wore any sort of clothing or ornaments, +and they all seemed to be about of an age; nor were there any +babies or children among them. This was, to us, the strangest +and most inexplicable of facts, but it recalled to us that +though we had seen many of the lesser developed wild people +of Caspak, we had never yet seen a child or an old man or woman. + +After a while they became less suspicious of us and then quite +friendly in their brutish way. They picked at the fabric of our +clothing, which seemed to interest them, and examined my rifle +and pistol and the ammunition in the belt around my waist. +I showed them the thermos-bottle, and when I poured a little water +from it, they were delighted, thinking that it was a spring which +I carried about with me--a never-failing source of water supply. + +One thing we both noticed among their other characteristics: they +never laughed nor smiled; and then we remembered that Ahm had +never done so, either. I asked them if they knew Ahm; but they +said they did not. + +One of them said: "Back there we may have known him." And he +jerked his head to the south. + +"You came from back there?" I asked. He looked at me in surprise. + +"We all come from there," he said. "After a while we go there." +And this time he jerked his head toward the north. "Be Galus," +he concluded. + +Many times now had we heard this reference to becoming Galus. +Ahm had spoken of it many times. Lys and I decided that it was +a sort of original religious conviction, as much a part of them +as their instinct for self-preservation--a primal acceptance of +a hereafter and a holier state. It was a brilliant theory, but +it was all wrong. I know it now, and how far we were from +guessing the wonderful, the miraculous, the gigantic truth which +even yet I may only guess at--the thing that sets Caspak apart +from all the rest of the world far more definitely than her +isolated geographical position or her impregnable barrier of +giant cliffs. If I could live to return to civilization, I +should have meat for the clergy and the layman to chew upon for +years--and for the evolutionists, too. + +After breakfast the men set out to hunt, while the women went to +a large pool of warm water covered with a green scum and filled +with billions of tadpoles. They waded in to where the water was +about a foot deep and lay down in the mud. They remained there +from one to two hours and then returned to the cliff. While we +were with them, we saw this same thing repeated every morning; +but though we asked them why they did it we could get no reply +which was intelligible to us. All they vouchsafed in way of +explanation was the single word Ata. They tried to get Lys to go +in with them and could not understand why she refused. After the +first day I went hunting with the men, leaving my pistol and +Nobs with Lys, but she never had to use them, for no reptile or +beast ever approached the pool while the women were there--nor, +so far as we know, at other times. There was no spoor of wild +beast in the soft mud along the banks, and the water certainly +didn't look fit to drink. + +This tribe lived largely upon the smaller animals which they +bowled over with their stone hatchets after making a wide circle +about their quarry and driving it so that it had to pass close to +one of their number. The little horses and the smaller antelope +they secured in sufficient numbers to support life, and they also +ate numerous varieties of fruits and vegetables. They never +brought in more than sufficient food for their immediate needs; +but why bother? The food problem of Caspak is not one to cause +worry to her inhabitants. + +The fourth day Lys told me that she thought she felt equal to +attempting the return journey on the morrow, and so I set out for +the hunt in high spirits, for I was anxious to return to the fort +and learn if Bradley and his party had returned and what had been +the result of his expedition. I also wanted to relieve their +minds as to Lys and myself, as I knew that they must have already +given us up for dead. It was a cloudy day, though warm, as it +always is in Caspak. It seemed odd to realize that just a few +miles away winter lay upon the storm-tossed ocean, and that snow +might be falling all about Caprona; but no snow could ever +penetrate the damp, hot atmosphere of the great crater. + +We had to go quite a bit farther than usual before we could +surround a little bunch of antelope, and as I was helping drive +them, I saw a fine red deer a couple of hundred yards behind me. +He must have been asleep in the long grass, for I saw him rise +and look about him in a bewildered way, and then I raised my gun +and let him have it. He dropped, and I ran forward to finish him +with the long thin knife, which one of the men had given me; but +just as I reached him, he staggered to his feet and ran on for +another two hundred yards--when I dropped him again. Once more +was this repeated before I was able to reach him and cut his +throat; then I looked around for my companions, as I wanted them +to come and carry the meat home; but I could see nothing of them. +I called a few times and waited, but there was no response and no +one came. At last I became disgusted, and cutting off all the +meat that I could conveniently carry, I set off in the direction +of the cliffs. I must have gone about a mile before the truth +dawn upon me--I was lost, hopelessly lost. + +The entire sky was still completely blotted out by dense clouds; +nor was there any landmark visible by which I might have taken +my bearings. I went on in the direction I thought was south but +which I now imagine must have been about due north, without +detecting a single familiar object. In a dense wood I suddenly +stumbled upon a thing which at first filled me with hope and later +with the most utter despair and dejection. It was a little mound +of new-turned earth sprinkled with flowers long since withered, +and at one end was a flat slab of sandstone stuck in the ground. +It was a grave, and it meant for me that I had at last stumbled +into a country inhabited by human beings. I would find them; +they would direct me to the cliffs; perhaps they would accompany +me and take us back with them to their abodes--to the abodes of +men and women like ourselves. My hopes and my imagination ran +riot in the few yards I had to cover to reach that lonely grave +and stoop that I might read the rude characters scratched upon +the simple headstone. This is what I read: + +HERE LIES JOHN TIPPET ENGLISHMAN KILLED BY TYRANNOSAURUS 10 +SEPT., A.D. 1916 R. I. P. + + +Tippet! It seemed incredible. Tippet lying here in this gloomy wood! +Tippet dead! He had been a good man, but the personal loss was not +what affected me. It was the fact that this silent grave gave +evidence that Bradley had come this far upon his expedition and that +he too probably was lost, for it was not our intention that he should +be long gone. If I had stumbled upon the grave of one of the party, +was it not within reason to believe that the bones of the others lay +scattered somewhere near? + + + +Chapter 9 + + +As I stood looking down upon that sad and lonely mound, wrapped +in the most dismal of reflections and premonitions, I was +suddenly seized from behind and thrown to earth. As I fell, a +warm body fell on top of me, and hands grasped my arms and legs. +When I could look up, I saw a number of giant fingers pinioning +me down, while others stood about surveying me. Here again was +a new type of man--a higher type than the primitive tribe I had +just quitted. They were a taller people, too, with better-shaped +skulls and more intelligent faces. There were less of the ape +characteristics about their features, and less of the negroid, too. +They carried weapons, stone-shod spears, stone knives, and hatchets-- +and they wore ornaments and breech-cloths--the former of feathers +worn in their hair and the latter made of a single snake-skin cured +with the head on, the head depending to their knees. + +Of course I did not take in all these details upon the instant of +my capture, for I was busy with other matters. Three of the +warriors were sitting upon me, trying to hold me down by main +strength and awkwardness, and they were having their hands full +in the doing, I can tell you. I don't like to appear conceited, +but I may as well admit that I am proud of my strength and the +science that I have acquired and developed in the directing of +it--that and my horsemanship I always have been proud of. And now, +that day, all the long hours that I had put into careful study, +practice and training brought me in two or three minutes a full +return upon my investment. Californians, as a rule, are familiar +with ju-jutsu, and I especially had made a study of it for several +years, both at school and in the gym of the Los Angeles Athletic +Club, while recently I had had, in my employ, a Jap who was a +wonder at the art. + +It took me just about thirty seconds to break the elbow of one of +my assailants, trip another and send him stumbling backward among +his fellows, and throw the third completely over my head in such +a way that when he fell his neck was broken. In the instant that +the others of the party stood in mute and inactive surprise, I +unslung my rifle--which, carelessly, I had been carrying across +my back; and when they charged, as I felt they would, I put a +bullet in the forehead of one of them. This stopped them all +temporarily--not the death of their fellow, but the report of the +rifle, the first they had ever heard. Before they were ready to +attack me again, one of them spoke in a commanding tone to his +fellows, and in a language similar but still more comprehensive +than that of the tribe to the south, as theirs was more complete +than Ahm's. He commanded them to stand back and then he advanced +and addressed me. + +He asked me who I was, from whence I came and what my intentions were. +I replied that I was a stranger in Caspak, that I was lost and that +my only desire was to find my way back to my companions. He asked +where they were and I told him toward the south somewhere, using +the Caspakian phrase which, literally translated, means "toward +the beginning." His surprise showed upon his face before he voiced +it in words. "There are no Galus there," he said. + +"I tell you," I said angrily, "that I am from another country, +far from Caspak, far beyond the high cliffs. I do not know who +the Galus may be; I have never seen them. This is the farthest +north I have been. Look at me--look at my clothing and my weapons. +Have you ever seen a Galu or any other creature in Caspak who +possessed such things?" + +He had to admit that he had not, and also that he was much +interested in me, my rifle and the way I had handled his +three warriors. Finally he became half convinced that I was +telling him the truth and offered to aid me if I would show him +how I had thrown the man over my head and also make him a present +of the "bang-spear," as he called it. I refused to give him my +rifle, but promised to show him the trick he wished to learn if +he would guide me in the right direction. He told me that he +would do so tomorrow, that it was too late today and that I might +come to their village and spend the night with them. I was loath +to lose so much time; but the fellow was obdurate, and so I +accompanied them. The two dead men they left where they had +fallen, nor gave them a second glance--thus cheap is life upon Caspak. + +These people also were cave-dwellers, but their caves showed the +result of a higher intelligence that brought them a step nearer +to civilized man than the tribe next "toward the beginning." +The interiors of their caverns were cleared of rubbish, though +still far from clean, and they had pallets of dried grasses +covered with the skins of leopard, lynx, and bear, while before +the entrances were barriers of stone and small, rudely circular +stone ovens. The walls of the cavern to which I was conducted were +covered with drawings scratched upon the sandstone. There were +the outlines of the giant red-deer, of mammoths, of tigers and +other beasts. Here, as in the last tribe, there were no children +or any old people. The men of this tribe had two names, or +rather names of two syllables, and their language contained words +of two syllables; whereas in the tribe of Tsa the words were all +of a single syllable, with the exception of a very few like Atis +and Galus. The chief's name was To-jo, and his household +consisted of seven females and himself. These women were much +more comely, or rather less hideous than those of Tsa's people; +one of them, even, was almost pretty, being less hairy and having +a rather nice skin, with high coloring. + +They were all much interested in me and examined my clothing and +equipment carefully, handling and feeling and smelling of each article. +I learned from them that their people were known as Bandlu, or +spear-men; Tsa's race was called Sto-lu--hatchet-men. Below these +in the scale of evolution came the Bo-lu, or club-men, and then the +Alus, who had no weapons and no language. In that word I recognized +what to me seemed the most remarkable discovery I had made upon +Caprona, for unless it were mere coincidence, I had come upon a word +that had been handed down from the beginning of spoken language upon +earth, been handed down for millions of years, perhaps, with +little change. It was the sole remaining thread of the ancient +woof of a dawning culture which had been woven when Caprona was +a fiery mount upon a great land-mass teeming with life. It linked +the unfathomable then to the eternal now. And yet it may have been +pure coincidence; my better judgment tells me that it is coincidence +that in Caspak the term for speechless man is Alus, and in the outer +world of our own day it is Alalus. + +The comely woman of whom I spoke was called So-ta, and she took +such a lively interest in me that To-jo finally objected to her +attentions, emphasizing his displeasure by knocking her down and +kicking her into a corner of the cavern. I leaped between them +while he was still kicking her, and obtaining a quick hold upon +him, dragged him screaming with pain from the cave. Then I made +him promise not to hurt the she again, upon pain of worse punishment. +So-ta gave me a grateful look; but To-jo and the balance of his women +were sullen and ominous. + +Later in the evening So-ta confided to me that she was soon to +leave the tribe. + +"So-ta soon to be Kro-lu," she confided in a low whisper. I asked +her what a Kro-lu might be, and she tried to explain, but I do not +yet know if I understood her. From her gestures I deduced that the +Kro-lus were a people who were armed with bows and arrows, had +vessels in which to cook their food and huts of some sort in which +they lived, and were accompanied by animals. It was all very +fragmentary and vague, but the idea seemed to be that the Kro-lus +were a more advanced people than the Band-lus. I pondered a long +time upon all that I had heard, before sleep came to me. I tried +to find some connection between these various races that would +explain the universal hope which each of them harbored that some +day they would become Galus. So-ta had given me a suggestion; but +the resulting idea was so weird that I could scarce even entertain +it; yet it coincided with Ahm's expressed hope, with the various +steps in evolution I had noted in the several tribes I had encountered +and with the range of type represented in each tribe. For example, +among the Band-lu were such types as So-ta, who seemed to me to be +the highest in the scale of evolution, and To-jo, who was just a +shade nearer the ape, while there were others who had flatter noses, +more prognathous faces and hairier bodies. The question puzzled me. +Possibly in the outer world the answer to it is locked in the bosom +of the Sphinx. Who knows? I do not. + +Thinking the thoughts of a lunatic or a dope-fiend, I fell asleep; +and when I awoke, my hands and feet were securely tied and my +weapons had been taken from me. How they did it without awakening +me I cannot tell you. It was humiliating, but it was true. +To-jo stood above me. The early light of morning was dimly +filtering into the cave. + +"Tell me," he demanded, "how to throw a man over my head and +break his neck, for I am going to kill you, and I wish to know +this thing before you die." + +Of all the ingenuous declarations I have ever heard, this one +copped the proverbial bun. It struck me as so funny that, even +in the face of death, I laughed. Death, I may remark here, had, +however, lost much of his terror for me. I had become a disciple +of Lys' fleeting philosophy of the valuelessness of human life. +I realized that she was quite right--that we were but comic figures +hopping from the cradle to the grave, of interest to practically +no other created thing than ourselves and our few intimates. + +Behind To-jo stood So-ta. She raised one hand with the palm +toward me--the Caspakian equivalent of a negative shake of the head. + +"Let me think about it," I parried, and To-jo said that he would +wait until night. He would give me a day to think it over; then +he left, and the women left--the men for the hunt, and the women, +as I later learned from So-ta, for the warm pool where they immersed +their bodies as did the shes of the Sto-lu. "Ata," explained So-ta, +when I questioned her as to the purpose of this matutinal rite; +but that was later. + +I must have lain there bound and uncomfortable for two or three +hours when at last So-ta entered the cave. She carried a sharp +knife--mine, in fact, and with it she cut my bonds. + +"Come!" she said. "So-ta will go with you back to the Galus. +It is time that So-ta left the Band-lu. Together we will go to +the Kro-lu, and after that the Galus. To-jo will kill you tonight. +He will kill So-ta if he knows that So-ta aided you. We will +go together." + +"I will go with you to the Kro-lu," I replied, "but then I must +return to my own people `toward the beginning.'" + +"You cannot go back," she said. "It is forbidden. They would +kill you. Thus far have you come--there is no returning." + +"But I must return," I insisted. "My people are there. I must +return and lead them in this direction." + +She insisted, and I insisted; but at last we compromised. I was +to escort her as far as the country of the Kro-lu and then I was +to go back after my own people and lead them north into a land +where the dangers were fewer and the people less murderous. +She brought me all my belongings that had been filched from +me--rifle, ammunition, knife, and thermos bottle, and then hand +in hand we descended the cliff and set off toward the north. + +For three days we continued upon our way, until we arrived +outside a village of thatched huts just at dusk. So-ta said +that she would enter alone; I must not be seen if I did not +intend to remain, as it was forbidden that one should return +and live after having advanced this far. So she left me. +She was a dear girl and a stanch and true comrade--more like +a man than a woman. In her simple barbaric way she was both +refined and chaste. She had been the wife of To-jo. Among the +Kro-lu she would find another mate after the manner of the +strange Caspakian world; but she told me very frankly that +whenever I returned, she would leave her mate and come to me, as +she preferred me above all others. I was becoming a ladies' man +after a lifetime of bashfulness! + +At the outskirts of the village I left her without even seeing +the sort of people who inhabited it, and set off through the +growing darkness toward the south. On the third day I made a +detour westward to avoid the country of the Band-lu, as I did not +care to be detained by a meeting with To-jo. On the sixth day I +came to the cliffs of the Sto-lu, and my heart beat fast as I +approached them, for here was Lys. Soon I would hold her tight +in my arms again; soon her warm lips would merge with mine. +I felt sure that she was still safe among the hatchet people, and +I was already picturing the joy and the love-light in her eyes +when she should see me once more as I emerged from the last clump +of trees and almost ran toward the cliffs. + +It was late in the morning. The women must have returned from +the pool; yet as I drew near, I saw no sign of life whatever. +"They have remained longer," I thought; but when I was quite +close to the base of the cliffs, I saw that which dashed my hopes +and my happiness to earth. Strewn along the ground were a score +of mute and horrible suggestions of what had taken place during +my absence--bones picked clean of flesh, the bones of manlike +creatures, the bones of many of the tribe of Sto-lu; nor in any +cave was there sign of life. + +Closely I examined the ghastly remains fearful each instant that +I should find the dainty skull that would shatter my happiness +for life; but though I searched diligently, picking up every +one of the twenty-odd skulls, I found none that was the skull +of a creature but slightly removed from the ape. Hope, then, +still lived. For another three days I searched north and south, +east and west for the hatchetmen of Caspak; but never a trace of +them did I find. It was raining most of the time now, and the +weather was as near cold as it ever seems to get on Caprona. + +At last I gave up the search and set off toward Fort Dinosaur. +For a week--a week filled with the terrors and dangers of a +primeval world--I pushed on in the direction I thought was south. +The sun never shone; the rain scarcely ever ceased falling. +The beasts I met with were fewer in number but infinitely more +terrible in temper; yet I lived on until there came to me the +realization that I was hopelessly lost, that a year of sunshine +would not again give me my bearings; and while I was cast down by +this terrifying knowledge, the knowledge that I never again could +find Lys, I stumbled upon another grave--the grave of William James, +with its little crude headstone and its scrawled characters +recording that he had died upon the 13th of September--killed by +a saber-tooth tiger. + +I think that I almost gave up then. Never in my life have I felt +more hopeless or helpless or alone. I was lost. I could not +find my friends. I did not even know that they still lived; in +fact, I could not bring myself to believe that they did. I was +sure that Lys was dead. I wanted myself to die, and yet I clung +to life--useless and hopeless and harrowing a thing as it had become. +I clung to life because some ancient, reptilian forbear had clung +to life and transmitted to me through the ages the most powerful +motive that guided his minute brain--the motive of self-preservation. + +At last I came to the great barrier-cliffs; and after three days +of mad effort--of maniacal effort--I scaled them. I built crude +ladders; I wedged sticks in narrow fissures; I chopped toe-holds +and finger-holds with my long knife; but at last I scaled them. +Near the summit I came upon a huge cavern. It is the abode of +some mighty winged creature of the Triassic--or rather it was. +Now it is mine. I slew the thing and took its abode. I reached +the summit and looked out upon the broad gray terrible Pacific of +the far-southern winter. It was cold up there. It is cold here +today; yet here I sit watching, watching, watching for the thing +I know will never come--for a sail. + + + +Chapter 10 + + +Once a day I descend to the base of the cliff and hunt, and fill +my stomach with water from a clear cold spring. I have three +gourds which I fill with water and take back to my cave against +the long nights. I have fashioned a spear and a bow and arrow, +that I may conserve my ammunition, which is running low. My clothes +are worn to shreds. Tomorrow I shall discard them for leopard-skins +which I have tanned and sewn into a garment strong and warm. It is +cold up here. I have a fire burning and I sit bent over it while +I write; but I am safe here. No other living creature ventures +to the chill summit of the barrier cliffs. I am safe, and I am +alone with my sorrows and my remembered joys--but without hope. +It is said that hope springs eternal in the human breast; but there +is none in mine. + +I am about done. Presently I shall fold these pages and push +them into my thermos bottle. I shall cork it and screw the cap +tight, and then I shall hurl it as far out into the sea as my +strength will permit. The wind is off-shore; the tide is running +out; perhaps it will be carried into one of those numerous +ocean-currents which sweep perpetually from pole to pole and +from continent to continent, to be deposited at last upon some +inhabited shore. If fate is kind and this does happen, then, for +God's sake, come and get me! + +It was a week ago that I wrote the preceding paragraph, which I +thought would end the written record of my life upon Caprona. +I had paused to put a new point on my quill and stir the crude ink +(which I made by crushing a black variety of berry and mixing it +with water) before attaching my signature, when faintly from the +valley far below came an unmistakable sound which brought me to +my feet, trembling with excitement, to peer eagerly downward from +my dizzy ledge. How full of meaning that sound was to me you may +guess when I tell you that it was the report of a firearm! For a +moment my gaze traversed the landscape beneath until it was +caught and held by four figures near the base of the cliff--a +human figure held at bay by three hyaenodons, those ferocious and +blood-thirsty wild dogs of the Eocene. A fourth beast lay dead +or dying near by. + +I couldn't be sure, looking down from above as I was; but yet I +trembled like a leaf in the intuitive belief that it was Lys, and +my judgment served to confirm my wild desire, for whoever it was +carried only a pistol, and thus had Lys been armed. The first +wave of sudden joy which surged through me was short-lived in the +face of the swift-following conviction that the one who fought +below was already doomed. Luck and only luck it must have +been which had permitted that first shot to lay low one of the +savage creatures, for even such a heavy weapon as my pistol is +entirely inadequate against even the lesser carnivora of Caspak. +In a moment the three would charge! A futile shot would but tend +more greatly to enrage the one it chanced to hit; and then the +three would drag down the little human figure and tear it to pieces. + +And maybe it was Lys! My heart stood still at the thought, but mind +and muscle responded to the quick decision I was forced to make. +There was but a single hope--a single chance--and I took it. +I raised my rifle to my shoulder and took careful aim. It was +a long shot, a dangerous shot, for unless one is accustomed to +it, shooting from a considerable altitude is most deceptive work. +There is, though, something about marksmanship which is quite +beyond all scientific laws. + +Upon no other theory can I explain my marksmanship of that moment. +Three times my rifle spoke--three quick, short syllables of death. +I did not take conscious aim; and yet at each report a beast +crumpled in its tracks! + +From my ledge to the base of the cliff is a matter of several +thousand feet of dangerous climbing; yet I venture to say that +the first ape from whose loins my line has descended never could +have equaled the speed with which I literally dropped down the +face of that rugged escarpment. The last two hundred feet is +over a steep incline of loose rubble to the valley bottom, and I +had just reached the top of this when there arose to my ears an +agonized cry--"Bowen! Bowen! Quick, my love, quick!" + +I had been too much occupied with the dangers of the descent to +glance down toward the valley; but that cry which told me that it +was indeed Lys, and that she was again in danger, brought my eyes +quickly upon her in time to see a hairy, burly brute seize her +and start off at a run toward the near-by wood. From rock to +rock, chamoislike, I leaped downward toward the valley, in +pursuit of Lys and her hideous abductor. + +He was heavier than I by many pounds, and so weighted by the +burden he carried that I easily overtook him; and at last he +turned, snarling, to face me. It was Kho of the tribe of Tsa, +the hatchet-men. He recognized me, and with a low growl he +threw Lys aside and came for me. "The she is mine," he cried. +"I kill! I kill!" + +I had had to discard my rifle before I commenced the rapid descent +of the cliff, so that now I was armed only with a hunting knife, +and this I whipped from its scabbard as Kho leaped toward me. +He was a mighty beast, mightily muscled, and the urge that has +made males fight since the dawn of life on earth filled him with +the blood-lust and the thirst to slay; but not one whit less did +it fill me with the same primal passions. Two abysmal beasts +sprang at each other's throats that day beneath the shadow of +earth's oldest cliffs--the man of now and the man-thing of the +earliest, forgotten then, imbued by the same deathless passion +that has come down unchanged through all the epochs, periods and +eras of time from the beginning, and which shall continue to the +incalculable end--woman, the imperishable Alpha and Omega of life. + +Kho closed and sought my jugular with his teeth. He seemed to +forget the hatchet dangling by its aurochs-hide thong at his hip, +as I forgot, for the moment, the dagger in my hand. And I doubt +not but that Kho would easily have bested me in an encounter of +that sort had not Lys' voice awakened within my momentarily +reverted brain the skill and cunning of reasoning man. +"Bowen!" she cried. "Your knife! Your knife!" +It was enough. It recalled me from the forgotten eon to which my +brain had flown and left me once again a modern man battling with +a clumsy, unskilled brute. No longer did my jaws snap at the +hairy throat before me; but instead my knife sought and found a +space between two ribs over the savage heart. Kho voiced a single +horrid scream, stiffened spasmodically and sank to the earth. +And Lys threw herself into my arms. All the fears and sorrows of +the past were wiped away, and once again I was the happiest of men. + +With some misgivings I shortly afterward cast my eyes upward +toward the precarious ledge which ran before my cave, for it +seemed to me quite beyond all reason to expect a dainty modern +belle to essay the perils of that frightful climb. I asked her +if she thought she could brave the ascent, and she laughed gayly +in my face. + +"Watch!" she cried, and ran eagerly toward the base of the cliff. +Like a squirrel she clambered swiftly aloft, so that I was forced +to exert myself to keep pace with her. At first she frightened me; +but presently I was aware that she was quite as safe here as was I. +When we finally came to my ledge and I again held her in my arms, +she recalled to my mind that for several weeks she had been living +the life of a cave-girl with the tribe of hatchet-men. They had +been driven from their former caves by another tribe which had slain +many and carried off quite half the females, and the new cliffs to +which they had flown had proven far higher and more precipitous, so +that she had become, through necessity, a most practiced climber. + +She told me of Kho's desire for her, since all his females had +been stolen and of how her life had been a constant nightmare of +terror as she sought by night and by day to elude the great brute. +For a time Nobs had been all the protection she required; but one +day he disappeared--nor has she seen him since. She believes that +he was deliberately made away with; and so do I, for we both are +sure that he never would have deserted her. With her means of +protection gone, Lys was now at the mercy of the hatchet-man; +nor was it many hours before he had caught her at the base of the +cliff and seized her; but as he bore her triumphantly aloft toward +his cave, she had managed to break loose and escape him. + +"For three days he has pursued me," she said, "through this +horrible world. How I have passed through in safety I cannot +guess, nor how I have always managed to outdistance him; yet I +have done it, until just as you discovered me. Fate was kind +to us, Bowen." + +I nodded my head in assent and crushed her to me. And then we +talked and planned as I cooked antelope-steaks over my fire, and +we came to the conclusion that there was no hope of rescue, that +she and I were doomed to live and die upon Caprona. Well, it +might be worse! I would rather live here always with Lys than to +live elsewhere without her; and she, dear girl, says the same of +me; but I am afraid of this life for her. It is a hard, fierce, +dangerous life, and I shall pray always that we shall be rescued +from it--for her sake. + +That night the clouds broke, and the moon shone down upon our +little ledge; and there, hand in hand, we turned our faces toward +heaven and plighted our troth beneath the eyes of God. No human +agency could have married us more sacredly than we are wed. We are +man and wife, and we are content. If God wills it, we shall live +out our lives here. If He wills otherwise, then this manuscript +which I shall now consign to the inscrutable forces of the sea +shall fall into friendly hands. However, we are each without hope. +And so we say good-bye in this, our last message to the world beyond +the barrier cliffs. + +(Signed) Bowen J. Tyler, Jr. Lys La R. Tyler. + + + + + +The End of Project Gutenberg etext of "The Land that Time Forgot" + |