 CHAPTER I. A NOT UN NATURAL ENTERPRISE. This is written from memory, unfortunately. If I could have brought with me the material I so carefully prepared this would be a very different story. Whole books full of notes, carefully copied records, first-hand descriptions, and the pictures. That's the worst loss. We had some birds' eyes of the cities and parks, a lot of lovely views of streets, buildings, outside and in, in some of those gorgeous gardens, and most important of all, of the women themselves. Nobody will ever believe how they looked. Descriptions aren't any good when it comes to the women, and I never was good at descriptions anyhow, but it's got to be done somehow. The rest of the world needs to know about that country. I haven't said where it was for fearsome self-appointed missionaries or traders or land-greedy expansionists will take it upon themselves to push in. They will not be wanted. I can tell them that, and will fare worse than we did if they do find it. It began this way. There were three of us, classmates and friends. Terry O. Nicholson, we used to call him the Old Nick with good reason. Jeff Margrave and I, Van Dyke Jennings. We had known each other years and years, and in spite of our differences we had a good deal in common. All of us were interested in science. Terry was rich enough to do as he pleased. His great aim was exploration. He used to make all kinds of a row because there was nothing left to explore now, only patchwork and filling in, he said. He filled in well enough. He had a lot of talents, great on mechanics and electricity, had all kinds of boats and motor-boats, and was one of the best of our airmen. We could never have done the thing at all without Terry. Jeff Margrave was born to be a poet, a botanist or both, but his folks persuaded him to be a doctor instead. He was a good one for his age, but his real interest was in what he loved to call the wonders of science. As for me, sociology's my major. You have to back that up with a lot of other sciences, of course, and I'm interested in them all. Terry was strong on facts, geography and meteorology and those. Jeff could beat him any time on biology. And I didn't care what it was they talked about so long as it connected with human life somehow. There are few things that don't. We had a chance to join a big scientific expedition. They needed a doctor, and that gave Jeff an excuse for dropping his just-opening practice. They needed Terry's experience, his machine, and his money. And as for me, I got in through Terry's influence. The expedition was up among the thousand tributaries, an enormous hinterland of a great river, up there where the maps had to be made, savage dialects studied, and all manner of strange flora and fauna expected. But this story is not about that expedition. That was only the nearest starter for ours. My interest was first roused by talk among our guides. I'm quick at languages, know a good many, and pick them up readily. But with that, and a really good interpreter we took with us, I made out quite a few legends and folk myths of these scattered tribes. And as we got farther and farther upstream, in a dark tangle of rivers, lakes, morasses, and dense forests, with here and there an unexpected long spur running out from the big mountains beyond, I noticed that more and more of these savages had a story about a strange and terrible woman land in the high distance. Up yonder, over there, way up, was all the direction they could offer. But their legends all agreed on the main point, that there was this strange country where no men lived, only women, and girl children. None of them had ever seen it. It was dangerous, deadly, they said, for any man to go there. But there were tales of long ago, when some brave investigator had seen it, a big country, big houses, plenty people, all women. Had no one else gone? Oh yes, a good many, but they never came back. It was no place for men. Of that they seemed sure. Well, I told the boys about these stories and they laughed at them. Naturally I did myself. I knew the stuff that savage dreams are made of. But when we had reached our farthest point, just the day before we all had to turn around and start for home again, as the best of expeditions must in time, we three made a discovery. The main encampment was on a spit of land running out into the mainstream, or what we thought was the mainstream. It had the same muddy colour we had been seeing for past weeks, the same taste. I happened to speak of that river to our last guide, a rather superior fellow with quick bright eyes. He told me that there was another river. Over there, short river, sweet water, red and blue. I was interested in this and anxious to see if I had understood correctly. So I showed him a red and blue pencil I carried and asked again. Yes, he pointed to the river and then to the south westward, river, good water, red and blue. Terry was close by and interested in this fellow's pointing. What does he say, Van? I told him. Terry blazed up at once. Ask him how far it is. The man indicated a short journey. I judged about two hours. Maybe three. Let's go, urge Terry, just us three. Maybe we can really find something, maybe cinnabar in it. Maybe in to go, Jeff suggested with his lazy smile. It was early yet, we had just breakfasted and leaving word that we'd be back before night we got away quietly, but not wishing to be thought too gullible if we failed and secretly hoping to have some nice little discovery all to ourselves. It was along two hours, nearer three. I fancy the savage could have done it alone much quicker. There was a desperate tangle of wood and water and a swampy patch we never should have found our way across alone. But there was one, and I could see Terry with compass and notebook, marking directions and trying to place landmarks. We came after a while to a sort of marshy lake, very big, so that the circling forest looked quite low and dim across it. Our guide told us that boats could go from there to our camp, but long way, all day. This water was somewhat clearer than what we had left, but we could not judge well from the margin. We skirted it for another half hour or so, the ground-growing firmer as we advanced, and presently we turned the corner of a wooded promontory and saw a quite different country, a sudden view of mountains steep and bare. One of those long easterly spurs, Terry said appraisingly, maybe hundreds of miles from the range, they crop out like that. Suddenly we left the lake and struck directly toward the cliffs. We heard running water before we reached it, and the guide pointed proudly to his river. It was short. We could see where it poured down a narrow vertical cataract from an opening in the face of the cliff. It was sweet water. The guide drank eagerly, and so did we. That snow-water, Terry announced, must come from way back in the hills. But as to being red and blue, it was greenish in tint. The guide seemed not at all surprised. He hunted about a little and showed us a quiet marginal pool where there were smears of red along the border. Yes, and of blue. Terry got out his magnifying glass and squatted down to investigate. Chemicals of some sort, I can't tell on the spot, looked to me like dice-stuffs. Let's get nearer, he urged, up there by the fall. We scrambled along the steep banks and got closer to the pool that foamed and boiled beneath the falling water. Here we searched the border and found traces of color beyond dispute. More, Jeff suddenly held up an unlooked-for trophy. It was only a rag, a long-ravelled fragment of cloth, but it was a well-woven fabric with a pattern and of a clear scarlet that the water had not faded. No savage tribe that we had heard of had made such fabrics. The guide stood serenely on the bank well pleased with our excitement. One day blue, one day red, one day green, he told us and pulled from his pouch another strip of bright-hued cloth. Come down, he said, pointing to the cataract. Woman-country, up there. Then we were interested. We had our rest and our lunch right there and pumped the man for further information. He could tell us only what the others had. A land of women, no men, babies, but all girls. No place for men, dangerous. Some had gone to see, none had come back. I could see Terry's jaw said it that. No place for men, dangerous. He looked as if he might shin up the waterfall on the spot. But the guide would not hear of going up, even if there had been any possible method of scaling that sheer cliff and we had to get back to our party before night. They might stay if we told them to, I suggested. But Terry stopped in his tracks. Look here, fellows, he said, this is our find. Let's not tell those cocky old professors. Let's go on home with them and then come back just to us and have a little expedition of our own. We looked at him. Much impressed. There was something attractive to a bunch of unattached young men in finding an undiscovered country of strictly Amazonian nature. Of course we didn't believe the story. And yet. There's no such cloth made by any of these local tribes, I announced, examining those rags with great care. Somewhere up yonder they spin and weave and die, as well as we do. That would mean a considerable civilization van. There couldn't be such a place and not be known about. Oh, well, I don't know. What's that old republic up in the Pyrenees somewhere? Andora? Precious few people know anything about that and it's been minding its own business for a thousand years. Then there's Montenegro, splendid little state. You could lose a dozen Montenegros up and down these great ranges. We discussed it hotly all the way back to camp. We discussed it with care and privacy on the voyage home. We discussed it after that still only among ourselves, while Terry was making his arrangements. He was hot about it. Lucky he had so much money, we might have had to beg and advertise for years to start the thing. And then it would just been a matter of public amusement, just sport for the papers. But T. O. Nicholson could fix up his big steam yacht, load his specially made big motorboat aboard, and tuck in a disassembled biplane, without any more notice than a snip in the society column. We had provisions and preventatives in all manner of supplies. His previous experience stood him in good stead there. It was a very complete little outfit. We were to leave the yacht at the nearest safe port, and go up that endless river in our motorboat, just the three of us in a pilot, and then drop the pilot when we got to that last stopping place of the previous party, and hunt up that clear water stream on our own. The motorboat we were going to leave at anchor in that wide shallow lake. It had a special covering of fitted armor, thin but strong, shut up like a clamshell. Those natives can't get into it or hurt it or move it, Terry explained proudly. We'll start our flyer from the lake and leave the boat as a base to come back to. If we come back, I suggested cheerfully. Afraid the ladies will eat you? He scoffed. We're not so sure about those ladies, you know, Droll Jeff. There may be a contingent of gentlemen with poison arrows or something. You don't need to go if you don't want to, Terry remarked dryly. Go! You'll have to get an injunction to stop me. Both Jeff and I were sure about that. But we did have differences of opinion all the way along. An ocean voyage is an excellent time for discussion. Now we had no eavesdroppers, we could lull and loaf in our deck chairs and talk and talk, there was nothing else to do. Our absolute lack of facts only made the field of discussion wider. We'll leave papers with our console where the yacht stays, Terry planned. If we don't come back in, say, a month, they can send a relief party after us. A punitive expedition, I urged. If the ladies do eat us, we must make reprisals. They can locate that last stopping place easily enough, and I've made sort of a chart of that lake and cliff and waterfall. Yes, but how will they get up? Asked Jeff. Same way we do, of course. If three valuable American citizens are lost up there, they will follow somehow to say nothing of the glittering attractions of that fair land. Let's call it Feminisia, he broke off. You're right, Terry. Once the story gets out, the river will crawl with expeditions, and the airships rise like a storm of mosquitoes. I laughed as I thought of it. We've made a great mistake not to let Mr. Yellow present on this. Save us! What headlines? Not much, said Terry Grimly. This is our party. We're going to find that place alone. What are you going to do with it when you find it? We do, Jeff asked mildly. Jeff was a tender soul. I think he thought that country, if there was one, was just blossoming with roses and babies and canaries and tidies and all that sort of thing. And Terry, in his secret heart, had visions of a sort of sublimated summer resort. Just girls and girls and girls and... that he was going to be... well... Terry was popular among women, even when there were other men around. And it's not to be wondered at that. He had pleasant dreams of what might happen. I could see it in his eyes as he lay there, looking at the long blue rollers slipping by and fingering that impressive mustache of his. But I thought, then, that I could form a far clearer idea of what was before us than either of them. You're all off, boys, I insisted. If there is such a place, and there does seem to be some foundation for believing it, you'll find it's built on a sort of matriarchal principle. That's all. The men have a separate cult of their own, less socially developed than the women, and make an annual visit. A sort of wedding call. This is a condition known to have existed. Here's just a survival. They've got some particularly isolated valley or table land up there, and their primeval customs have survived. That's all there is to it. How about the boys? Oh, the men take them away as soon as they're five or six, you see. And how about this danger theory all our guides are so sure of? Danger enough, Terry, and we'll have to be mighty careful. Women of that stage of culture are quite able to defend themselves and have no welcome for unseasonable visitors. We talked and talked. And with all my airs of sociological superiority, I was no nearer the truth than any of them. It was funny, though, just what we did find, those extremely clear ideas of ours as to what a country of women would be like. It was no use to tell ourselves and one another that all this was idle speculation. We were idle, and we did speculate, on the ocean voyage and on the river voyage, too. Admitting the improbability, we would begin solemnly and then launch out again. They would fight among themselves, Terry insisted. Women always do. We mustn't look to find order and organization. You're dead wrong, Jeff told them. It will be like a nunnery under an abyss. Peaceful, harmonious sisterhood. I snorted derision at the idea. Nuns, indeed. Your peaceful sisterhoods were all celibate, Jeff, and under vows of obedience. These are just women and mothers. And where there's motherhood, you don't find sisterhood, not much. No, sir, they'll scrap, agreed, Terry. Look for inventions and progress. It'll be awfully primitive. How about the cloth mill, Jeff suggested? Oh, cloth. Women have always been spinsters. But there they stop. You'll see. We joked Terry about his modest impression that he would be warmly received. But he held his ground. You'll see, he insisted. I'll get solid with them all and play one bunch against the other. I'll get myself elected king in no time. Solomon will have to take a back seat. Where do we come in in that deal? I demanded, aren't we viziers or something? Couldn't risk it, he asserted solemnly. You might start a revolution. You probably would. No, you'll have to be beheaded or boastrung or whatever the popular method of execution is. You'll have to do it yourself, remember? Grin, Jeff. No husky black slaves and mamalooks. And there'll be two of us and only one of you. Eh, Van? Jeff's ideas and Terry's were so far apart that sometimes it was all I could do to keep the peace between them. Jeff idealized women in the Beth Southern style. He was full of chivalry and sentiment and all that. And he was a good boy. He lived up to his ideals. You might say Terry did too if you can call his views about women anything so polite as ideals. I always liked Terry. He was a man's man, very much so. Generous and brave and clever. But I don't think any of us in college days was quite pleased to have him with our sisters. We weren't very stringent, heavens know, but Terry was the limit. Later on, why, of course, a man's life is his own. We held and asked no questions. But barring a possible exception in favor of a not-impossible wife or of his mother or, of course, the fair relatives of his friends, Terry's ideas seemed to be that pretty women were just so much game and homely ones were not worth considering. It was really unpleasant sometimes to see the notions he had. But I got out of patience with Jeff too. He had such rose-colored halos on his women, folks. I held a middle ground, highly scientific, of course, and I used to argue learnedly about the physiological limitations of the sex. We were not, in the least, advanced on the women question any of us back then. So we joked and disputed and speculated, and after an interminable journey we got to our old camping place at last. It was not hard to find the river just poking along that side till we came to it, and it was navigable as far as the lake. When we reached that and slid out on its broad, glistening bosom with that high gray promontory running out toward us and the straight white fall clearly visible, it began to be really exciting. There was some talk, even then, of skirting the rock wall and seeking a possible fruit-way up, but the marshy jungle made that method look not only difficult but dangerous. Terry dismissed the plan sharply. Nonsense, fellows, we've decided that. It might take months. We haven't got the provisions. No, sir, we've got to take our chances. If we get back safe, all right. If we don't, why we're not the first explorers to get lost in the shuffle, they're planning to come after us. We were playing together and loaded it with our scientifically compressed baggage. The camera, of course, the glasses, a supply of concentrated food, our pockets were magazines of small necessities, and we had our guns, of course. There was no knowing what might happen. Up and up and up we sailed, way up at first, to get the lay of the land and make note of it. Out of that dark green sea of crowding forests, this high standing spur rose steeply. It ran back on either side, apparently to the far-off white-crowned peaks in the distance, themselves probably inaccessible. Let's make the first trip geographical, I suggested. Spy out the land and drop back here for more gasoline. With your tremendous speed we can reach that range and back all right. Then we can leave a sort of map on board for that relief expedition. There's sense in that, Terry agreed. I'll put off being King of Lady Land for one more day. So we made a long skirting voyage, turned the point of the Cape, which was close by, ran up one side of the Triangle at our best speed, crossed over the base where it left the higher mountains, and so back to our lake by moonlight. That's not a bad little kingdom, we agreed when it was roughly drawn and measured. We could tell the size fairly by our speed, and from what we could see of the sides and that icy ridge at the back end, it's a pretty enterprising savage who could manage to get into it, Jeff said. Of course we'd looked at the land itself eagerly, but we were too high and going too fast to see much. It appeared to be well forested about the edges, but in the interior there were wide plains and everywhere park-like meadows and open places. There were cities, too, that I insisted. It looked... well, it looked like any other country. It was a civilized one, I mean. We had to sleep after that long sweep through the air, but we turned out early enough next day, and again we rose softly up the height till we could stop the crowning trees and see the broad fair land at our pleasure. Semi-tropical. Looks like a first-rate climate. It's wonderful what a little height will do for temperature. Terry was studying the forest growth. Little height? Is that what you call little? I asked. Our instruments measured it clearly. We had not realized the long gentle rise from the coast, perhaps. Mighty lucky piece of land, I call it, Terry pursued. Now for the folks. I've had enough scenery. So we sailed low, crossing back and forth, quartering the country as we went, and studying it. We saw... I can't remember now how much of this we noted then, and how much was supplemented by our later knowledge, but we could not help seeing this much even on that excited day. There was a lot of perfect cultivation where even the forests looked as if they were cared for. A land that looked like an enormous park. Only it was even more evidently an enormous garden. I don't see any cattle, I suggested. But Terry was silent. We were approaching a village. I confess that we paid small attention to the clean roads, to the attractive architecture, to the ordered beauty of the little town. We had our glasses out, even Terry, setting his machine for a spiral glide, clapped binoculars to his eyes. They heard our whirring screw. They ran out of the houses, they gathered in from the fields, swift running light figures, crowds of them. We stared and stared until it was almost too late to catch the levers, sweep off and rise again. And then we held our peace for a long time and upward. Gosh, said Terry after a while. Only women there and children, Jeff urged excitedly. But look, why this is a civilized country I protested. There must be men. Of course there are men, said Terry. Come on, let's find them. He refused to listen to Jeff's suggestion that we examine the country further before we risked leaving our machine. There's a fine landing place right there where we came over, he insisted. And it was an excellent one, a wide, flat topped rock overlooking the lake and quite out of sight from the interior. They won't find this in a hurry, he asserted as we scrambled with the utmost difficulty down to safer footing. Come on boys, there were some good lookers in that bunch. Of course. This was unwise of us. It was quite easy to see afterward that our best plan was to have studied the country more fully before we left our swooping airship and trusted ourselves to mere foot service. But we were three young men. We had been talking about this country for over a year hardly believing that there was such a place and now we were in it. It looked safe and civilized enough among those upturned crowding faces though some were terrified enough. There was great beauty. On that we all agreed. Come on! cried Terry pushing forward. Oh come on! Here goes for Hurtland. End chapter one. Chapter two. Hurtland. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Heather Ordover. MamaOKnits.blogspot.com Hurtland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman Chapter two. Rash Advances Not more than ten or fifteen miles we judged it from our landing rock to that last village for all our eagerness we thought it wise to keep to the woods and go carefully. Even Terry's ardor was held in check by his firm conviction that there were men to be met and we saw to it that each of us had a good stack of cartridges. They may be scarce and they may be hidden away somewhere some kind of matriarchate as Jeff tells us for that matter they may live up in the mountains yonder and keep the women in this part of the country sort of a national harem but there are men somewhere didn't you see the babies we had all seen babies children big and little everywhere that we had come near enough to distinguish the people and though by dress we could not be sure of all the grown persons still there had not been one man that we were certain of I always liked that Arab saying first tire camel and then trust the Lord Jeff murmured so we all had our weapons in hand and stole cautiously through the forest Terry studied it as we progressed talk of civilization he cried softly and restrained enthusiasm I never saw a forest so petted even in Germany look there's not a dead bow the vines are trained actually trained and see here he stopped and looked about him calling Jeff's attention to the kinds of trees they left me for a landmark and made a limited extortion on either side food bearing practically all of them they announced returning the rest splendid hardwood call this a forest it's a truck farm good thing to have a botanist on hand I agreed sure there are no medicinal ones or any for pure ornament as a matter of fact they were quite right these towering trees were under as careful cultivation as so many cabbages in other conditions we should have found these woods full of fair foresters and fruit gatherers but an airship is a conspicuous object and by no means quiet and women are cautious all we found moving in those woods as we started through them were birds some gorgeous, some musical all so tame that it seemed almost to contradict our theory of cultivation at least until we came upon occasional little glades where carved stone seats and tables stood in the shade beside clear fountains that's always added they don't kill birds and apparently they do kill cats Terry declared must be men here, hark! we had heard something something not in the least like a bird song and very much like a suppressed whisper of laughter a little happy sound instantly smothered we stood like so many pointers and then used our glasses swiftly carefully it couldn't have been far off, said Terry excitedly how about this big tree there was a very large and beautiful tree in the glade we had just entered with thick, widespreading branches that sloped out in lapping fans like a beach or a pine it was trimmed underneath some twenty feet up and stood there like a huge umbrella with circling seats beneath look! he pursued there are short stumps of branches left to climb on there's someone up that tree, I believe we stole near, cautiously look out for a poison arrow in your eye I suggested but Terry pressed forward sprang up on the seat back and grasped the trunk in my heart more likely he answered gee, look boys we rushed close in and looked up there, among the boughs overhead was something more than one something that clung motionless close to the great trunk at first and then as one and all we started up the tree separated into three swift moving figures and fled upward as we climbed we could catch glimpses of them scattering above us by the time we had reached about as far as three men together dared push they had left the main trunk and moved outward each one balanced on a long branch that dipped and swayed beneath the weight we paused uncertain if we pursued further the boughs would break under the double burden we might shake them off perhaps but none of us was so inclined in the soft dappled light of these high regions breathless with our rapid climb we rested a while eagerly studying our objects of pursuit while they in turn with no more terror than a set of frolics some children in a game of tag sat as lightly as many a bright bird on their precarious perches and frankly curiously stared at us girls whispered Jeff under his breath as if they might fly if he spoke too loud peaches added Terry scarcely louder peacherinos apricot nectarines they were girls of course no boys could ever have shown that sparkling beauty and yet none of us was certain at first we saw short hair hatless loose and shining a suit of some light firm stuff the closest of tunics and knee-bridges met by trim-gaters as bright and smooth as parrots and as unaware of danger they swung there before us wholly at ease, staring as we stared tell first one and then all of them burst into peels of delighted laughter then there was a torrent of soft talk tossed back and forth no savage sing-song clear musical fluent speech we met their laughter cordially and doffed our hats to them at which they laughed again, delightedly then Terry wholly in his element made a polite speech with explanatory gestures and proceeded to introduce us with pointing finger Mr. Jeff Margrave he said clearly Jeff bowed as gracefully as a man could do in the Fork of Great Lim for Van Dyke Jennings I also tried to make an effective salute and nearly lost my balance then Terry laid his hand upon his own chest a fine chest he had to and introduced himself he was braced carefully for the occasion and achieved an excellent obeisance again they laughed delightedly and the one nearest me followed his tactics cellis she said distinctly pointing to the one in blue Alima the one in Rose then with a vivid imitation of Terry's impressive manner she laid a firm delicate hand on her gold-green jerkin Elador this was pleasant but we got no nearer we can't sit here and learn the language Terry protested he beckoned to them to come nearer most winningly but they all gaily shook their heads headed by signs that we all go down together but again they shook their heads still merrily then Elador clearly indicated that we should go down pointing to each and all of us with unmistakable firmness and further seeming to imply by the sweep of a little arm that we were not only to go downward but go away altogether at which we shook our heads in turn have to use bait, grin Terry I don't know about you fellows but I came prepared he produced from an inner pocket a little box of purple velvet that opened with a snap and out of it he drew a long sparkling thing a necklace of big very colored stones that would have been worth a million if they were real he held it up swung it glittering in the sun offered it first to one then to another holding it out as far as he could reach toward the girl nearest him she should braced in the fork held firmly by one hand the other swinging his bright temptation reached far out along the bow but not quite to his full stretch she was visibly moved I noted, hesitated spoke to her companions they chattered softly together one evidently warning her the other one encouraging then softly and slowly she drew nearer a tall long limb last well-knit and evidently both strong and agile her eyes were splendid wide, fearless as free from suspicion as a child who has never been rebuked her interest was more that of an intent boy playing a fascinating game than of a girl lured by an ornament the others moved a bit farther out holding firmly watching Terry's smile was irreproachable but I did not like the look in his eyes it was like a creature about to spring I could already see it happen the drop necklace the sudden clutching hand the girl's sharp cry as he seized her and drew her in but it didn't happen she made a timid reach with her right hand for the gay swinging thing he held it a little nearer then swift as light she seized it from him with her left and dropped on the instant to the bow below he made a snatch quite vainly almost losing his position as his hand clutched only the air and then with inconceivable rapidity the three bright creatures were gone they dropped from the ends of the big bows to those below fairly pouring themselves off the tree while we climbed downward as swiftly as we could we heard their vanishing gay laughter we saw them fleeting away in the wide open reaches of the forest and gave chase but we might as well have chased wild antelope so we stopped at length, somewhat breathless no use gasp, terry they got away with it my word the men of this country must be good sprinters inhabitants evidently arboreal I grimly suggested civilized and still arboreal kill your people you shouldn't have tried it that way jeff protested they were perfectly friendly I always scared them but it was no use grumbling and terry refused to admit any mistake nonsense he said they expected it women life to be run after come on let's go get to that town maybe we'll find them there let's see it was in this direction and not far from the woods as I remember when we reached the edge of the open country we reconnoitered with our field glasses about four miles off the same town we concluded unless as jeff ventured they all had pink houses the broad green fields and closely cultivated gardens sloped away at our feet a long easy slant with good roads winding pleasantly here and there and narrower paths besides look at that cried jeff suddenly there they go sure enough close to town three bright-hued figures were running swiftly how could they have gotten that far in this time it can't be the same ones I urged but through the glasses we could identify our pretty tree climbers quite plainly at least by costume terry watched them we all did for that matter till they disappeared among the houses then he put down his glass and turned to us drawing a long breath mother of mic boys what gorgeous girls to climb like that to run like that and afraid of nothing this country suits me all right let's get ahead nothing ventured nothing have I suggested but terry preferred faint heart and her one fair lady we set forth in the open walking briskly if there are any men we better keep an eye out I suggested but jeff seemed lost in heavenly dreams and terry in highly practical plans what a perfect road what a heavenly country see the flowers will you this was jeff always an enthusiast but we could agree with him fully the road was some sort of hard manufactured stuff sloped slightly shed rain with every curve and grade and gutter as perfect as if it were Europe's best no men huh sneered terry on either side a double row of trees shed footpaths between the tree bushes or vines all fruit bearing now and then seats in little wayside fountains everywhere flowers we better import some of these ladies and set them up to parking in the united states I suggested mighty nice place they've got here we rested a few moments by one of the fountains tested the fruit that looked ripe and went on impressed for all our gay bravado by the sense of quiet potency which lay about us here was evidently a people highly skilled efficient caring for their country as a florist cares for his costliest orchids under the soft brilliant blue of that clear sky in the pleasant shade of those endless rows of trees we walked unharmed the placid silence broken only by the birds presently there lay before us at the foot of a long hill the town or village we were aiming for we stopped and studied it Jeff drew a long breath I wouldn't have believed a collection of houses could look so lovely he said they've got architects and landscape gardeners in plenty that's for sure agreed Terry I was astonished myself you see I come from California and there's no country lovelier but when it comes to towns I've often grown at home to see the offensive mess made in the face of nature even though I'm no art sharp like Jeff but this place it was built mostly of a sort of dull rose colored stone with here and there some clear white houses and it lay abroad among the green groves and gardens like a broken rosary of pink coral those big white ones are public buildings evidently Terry declared this is no savage country my friend but no men boys it behooves us to go forward most politely the place had an odd look more impressive as we approached it's like an exposition it's too pretty to be true plenty of palaces but where are the homes oh there are little ones enough but it certainly was different from any towns we had ever seen there's no dirt Jeff said suddenly there's no smoke after a little there's no noise I offered but Terry snubbed me that's because they're lying low for us we better be careful how we go in there nothing could induce him to stay out however so we walked on everything was beauty order perfect cleanness and the pleasantest sense of home over it all as we near the center of the town ran together as it were grew into rambling palaces grouped among parks and open squares something as college buildings stand in their quiet greens and then turning a corner we came into a broad paved space and saw before us a band of women standing close together in even order evidently waiting for us we stopped a moment and looked back the street behind was closed by another band marching steadily shoulder to shoulder we went on there seemed no other way to go and presently found ourselves quite surrounded by this closed mass multitude women all of them but they were not young they were not old they were not in the girl sense beautiful they were not in the least ferocious and yet as I looked from face to face calm grave wise evidently assured and determined I had the funniest feeling a very early feeling a feeling that I traced back and back in my memory until I caught up with it at last it was that sense of being hopelessly in the wrong that I had so often felt in early youth when my short legs at most effort failed to overcome the fact that I was late to school Jeff felt it too I could see that he did we felt like small boys very small boys caught doing mischief in some gracious ladies house but Terry showed no such consciousness I saw his quick eyes darting here and there estimating numbers measuring distances judging chances of escape he examined the close ranks about us reaching back far on every side and murmured softly to me every one of them over 40 as I'm a sinner yet they were not old women each was in the full bloom of rosy health, erect, serene standing sure-footed and light as any pugilist they had no weapons and we had but we had no wish to shoot I'd soon as shoot my aunts mother Terry again what do they want with us anyhow they seem to mean business but in spite of that business like aspect to try his favorite tactics Terry had come armed with a theory he stepped forward with his brilliant ingratiating smile and made low obeisance to the women before him then he produced another tribute a broad soft scarf of filmy texture rich in color and pattern a lovely thing even to my eye and offered it with a deep bow to the tall unsmiling woman who seemed to head the ranks before him she took it with a gracious nod of acknowledgement and passed it on to those behind her he tried again this time bringing out a circlet of rhinestones a glittering crown that should have pleased any woman on earth he made a brief address including Jeff and me as his partners in his enterprise and with another bow presented this again his gift was accepted and as before passed out of sight if they were only younger he muttered between his teeth what on earth is a fellow to say as a regimen of old kernels like this in all our discussions and speculations we had always unconsciously assumed that the women whatever else they might be would be young most men do think that way I fancy woman in the abstract is young and we assume charming as they get older they pass off the stage somehow into private ownership mostly or out of it altogether but these good ladies were very much on the stage and yet any one of them might have been a grandmother we looked for nervousness there was none for terror perhaps there was none for uneasiness for curiosity for excitement and all we saw was what might have been a vigilance committee of doctors as cool as cucumbers and evidently meaning to take us to task for being there six of them stepped forward now one on either side of each of us and indicated that we were to go with them we thought it best to a seed at first anyway and marched along one behind these close at each elbow and the others in close masses before behind on both sides a large building opened before us a very heavy thick walled impressive place the end old looking of grey stone not like the rest of the town this won't do so Terry to us quickly we must let us get them in this boys altogether now we stopped in our tracks we began to explain to make signs pointing away toward the big force indicating that we would go back to it at once it makes me laugh knowing all I do now to think of us three boys nothing else three audacious impertinent boys butting into an unknown country without any sort of guard or defense we seem to think that if there were men we could fight them and if there were only women why they would be no obstacles at all Jeff with his gentle romantic old fashioned notions of women as clinging vines Terry with his clear decided practical theories that there were two kinds of women those he wanted and those he didn't desirable and undesirable was his demarcation the latter is larger class but negligible he had never thought about them at all and now here they were in great numbers evidently indifferent to what he might think evidently determined on some purpose of their own regarding him and apparently well able to enforce their purpose we all thought hard just then it had not seemed wise to object to going with them even if we could have our one chance was friendliness a civilized attitude on both sides but once inside that building there was no knowing what these determined ladies might do to us even a peaceful detention was not to our minds and when we named it imprisonment it looked even worse so we made a stand trying to make clear that we preferred the open country one of them come forward with a sketch of our flyer asking by signs if we were the aerial visitors they had seen this we admitted they pointed to it again and to the outlying country in different directions but we pretended we did not know where it was and in truth we were not quite sure and gave a rather wild indication of its whereabouts again they motioned us to advance standing so packed about the door that there remained but the one straight path opened all around us and behind they were massed solidly there was simply nothing to do but go forward or fight we held a consultation I've never fought with women in my life Cetare greatly perturbed but I'm not going in there I'm not going to be herded in as if I were in a cattle shoot we can't fight them of course Jeff urged, they're all women in spite of their nondescript clothes nice women too, good strong sensible faces I guess we'll have to go in we may never get out of it if we do I told them, strong and sensible yes but I'm not sure about the good look at those faces they had stood at ease waiting while we conferred together but never relaxing their close attention their attitude was not the rigid discipline of soldiers there was no compulsion about them Terry's term of a vigilance committee was highly descriptive they had just the aspect of sturdy burkers gathered hastily to meet some common need or peril all moved by precisely the same feelings to the same end never anywhere before had I seen women precisely this quality fish wives and market women might show similar strength but it was a course and heavy strength these were merely athletic women light and powerful college professors teachers writers many women showed similar intelligence but often were a strained nervous look while these were as calm as cows for all their evident intellect we observed pretty closely just then for all of us felt that it was a crucial moment the leader gave some word of command and beckoned us on and the surrounding mass moved a step nearer side quick said Terry I vote to go in Jeff urged but we were two to one against him and he loyally stood by us we made one more effort to be let go urgent but not imploring now for a rush boys Terry said and if we can't break them I'll shoot in the air then we found ourselves much in the position of the suffragette trying to get the parliament buildings through a triple cordon of London police the solidarity of these women was something amazing Terry soon found that it was useless tore himself loose for a moment pulled his revolver and fired upward as they caught at it he fired again we heard a cry instantly each of us was seized by five women each holding arm or leg or head we were lifted like children straddling helpless children and born onward wriggling indeed but most ineffectually we were born inside struggling manfully but held secure most womanfully in spite of our best efforts so carried and so held we came into a high inner hall gray and bare and were brought before a majestic gray haired woman who seemed to hold a judicial position there was some talk not much among them and then suddenly there fell upon each of us at once a firm hand holding a wetted cloth before her mouth and nose an order of swimming sweetness anesthesia and Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Herland this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Heather Ordover mommaonitz.blogspot.com craftlet.blogspot.com Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman Chapter 3 a peculiar imprisonment from a slumber as deep as death as refreshing as that of a healthy child I slowly awakened rising up up up through a deep warm ocean nearer and nearer to full light and stirring air or like the return to consciousness after concussion of the brain I was once thrown from a horse while on a visit to a wild mountainous country quite new to me and I can clearly remember the mental experience of coming back to life through lifting veils of dream when I first dimly heard the voices of those about me and saw the shining snow peaks of that mighty range I assumed that this too would pass and I should presently find myself in my own home that was precisely the experience of this awakening receding waves of half-caught swirling vision memories of home the steamer, the boat the airship, the forest at last all sinking away one after another till my eyes were wide open my brain clear and I realized what had happened the most prominent sensation was of absolute physical comfort I was lying in a perfect bed long, broad, smooth firmly soft and level with a finest linen some warm, light quilt of blanket and a counterpane that was a joy to the eye the sheet turned down some fifteen inches yet I could stretch my feet at the foot of the bed free but warmly covered I felt as light and clean as a white feather it took me some time to conscientiously locate my arms and legs to feel the vivid sense of life radiate from the awakening center to the extremities a big room high and wide with many lofty windows whose clothes blinds let through some soft green air a beautiful room in proportion, in color in smooth simplicity a scent of blossoming gardens outside I lay perfectly still quite happy, quite conscious and yet not actively realizing what had happened till I heard Terry gosh was what he said I turned my head there were three beds in this chamber and plenty of room for them Terry was sitting up looking about him, alert as ever his remark, though not loud roused Jeff also we all sat up Terry swung his legs out of bed stood up, stretched himself mightily he was in a long night robe sort of seamless garment undoubtedly comfortable we all found ourselves so covered shoes were beside each bed also quite comfortable and good looking though by no means like our own we looked for our clothes they were not there, nor anything of all the varied contents of our pockets a door stood somewhat ajar it opened into a most attractive bathroom copiously provided with towels, soap, mirrors and all such convenient comforts with indeed our toothbrushes and combs our notebooks and thank goodness our watches but no clothes then we made a search of the big room again and found a large airy closet holding plenty of clothing but not ours a council of war demand Terry come back to bed the bed's all right anyhow now then my scientific friend let us consider our case dispassionately he meant me but Jeff seemed most impressed they haven't heard us in the least he said they could have killed us or anything and I never felt better in my life that argues that they are all women I suggested and highly civilized you know you hit one in the last scrimmage I heard her sing out and we kicked awfully Terry was grinning at us so you realized what those ladies have done to us he pleasantly inquired they have taken away all our possessions all our clothes every stitch we have been stripped and washed and put to bed like so many yearling babies by these highly civilized women Jeff actually blushed he had a poetic imagination Terry had imagination enough of a different kind so had I also different I always flattered myself I had the scientific imagination which incidentally I considered the highest sword to a certain amount of egotism if found it on fact and kept to oneself I think no use kicking boys I said they've got us and apparently they're perfectly harmless it remains for us to cook up some plan of escape like any other bottled heroes meanwhile we've got to put on these clothes Hobson's Choice the garments were simple in the extreme and absolutely comfortable physically though of course we all felt like soups in the theater there was a one piece cotton undergarment thin and soft that reached over the knees and shoulders something like those one piece pajamas some fellows wear and a kind of half hose that came up to just under the knee and stayed there at elastic tops of their own and covered the edges of the first then there was a thicker variety of union suit allotted them in the closet of varying weights and somewhat sturdier material evidently they would do in a pinch with nothing further then there were tunics and some long robes needless to say we took the tunics we bathed and dressed quite cheerfully not half bad said Terry surveying himself in a long mirror his hair went somewhat longer than when we left the last barber and the hats provided were much like those seen on the prints in the fairy tale lacking the plume the costume was similar to that which we had seen all on all the women though some of them those working in the fields glimpsed by our glasses when we first flew over wore only the first two I settled my shoulders and stretched my arms remarking they have worked out a mighty sensible dress I'll say that for them which we all agreed now then Terry proclaimed we've had a fine long sleep we've had a good bath, we're clothed and in our right minds though feeling like a lot of neuters do you think these highly civilized ladies are going to give us any breakfast of course they will Jeff asserted confidently if they'd meant to kill us they would have done it before I believe we are going to be treated as guests hailed as deliverers I think said Terry studied as curiosities I told them but anyhow we want food so now for a sorri a sorri was not so easy the bathroom only opened into our chamber and that had but one out a big heavy door which was fastened we listened someone outside Jeff suggested let's knock so we knocked whereupon the door opened outside was another large room furnished with a great table at one end long benches or couches against the wall some smaller tables and chairs all these were solid, strong simple in structure and comfortable in use and also incidentally beautiful this room was occupied by a number of women 18 to be exact some of whom we distinctly recalled Terry heaved a disappointed sigh the kernels I heard him whisper to Jeff Jeff however advanced and bowed in his best manner so did we all and we were saluted civilly by the tall standing women we had no need to make partial pantomime of hunger the smaller tables were already laid with food and we were gravely invited to be seated the tables were set for two each of us found ourselves placed vis-a-vis with one of our hosts had five other stalwarts nearby unobtrusively watching we had plenty of time to get tired of these women the breakfast was not profuse but sufficient in amount and excellent in quality we were all too good travelers to object to novelty and this were passed with its new but delicious fruit its dish of large rich flavored nuts and its highly satisfactory little cakes was most agreeable there was water to drink and a hot beverage of a most pleasing quality some preparation like cocoa and then and there, willy-nilly before we had satisfied our appetites our education began by each of our plates lay a little book a real printed book though different from ours both in paper and binding as well of course as in type we examined them curiously shades of savour monetary where to learn the language we were indeed to learn the language and not only that but to teach our own they were blank books with parallel columns neatly ruled evidently prepared for this occasion and in these as fast as we learned and wrote down the name of anything we were urged to write our own name for it by its side the book we had to study was evidently a school book one in which children learned to read and we judged from this and from their frequent consultation as to methods that they had no previous experience in the art of teaching foreigners their language or of learning any other on the other hand what they lacked in experience they made up for ingenious such subtle understanding such instant recognition of our difficulties and readiness to meet them were a constant surprise to us of course we were milling to meet them halfway it was wholly to our advantage to be able to understand and speak with them and as to refusing to teach them well why should we have an open rebellion but only once that first meal was pleasant enough each of us quietly studying his companion Jeff with sincere admiration Terry with that highly technical look of his as of a past master like a lion tamer a serpent charmer or some such professional I myself was intensely interested it was evident that those sets of five were there to check any outbreak on our part we had no weapons and if we did try to do any damage with a chair say why five to one was too many for us even if they were women that we had found out to our sorrow it was not pleasant having them always around but we soon got used to it it's better than being physically restrained ourselves Jeff philosophically suggested when we were alone they've given us room with no great possibility of escape and personal liberty heavily chaperoned it's better than we'd have been likely to demand country man country do you really believe there are no men here you innocent don't you know there must be demanded Terry yes Jeff agreed of course and yet and yet what come you abduate sentimentalist what are you thinking about they may have some peculiar division of labor we've never heard of I suggested the men may live in separate towns or they may have subdued them somehow and keep them shut up but there must be some that last suggestion of yours is a nice one van Terry protested same as they've got us subdued and shut up you make me shiver we'll figure it out for yourself anyway you please we saw plenty of kids the first day and we've seen those girls real girls Terry agreed in immense relief glad you mentioned them I declare if I thought there was nothing with those grenadiers I'd jump out this window speaking of windows I suggested let's examine ours we looked out of all the windows the blinds open easily enough and there were no bars but the prospect was not reassuring this was not the pink walled town we had so rashly entered the day before our chamber was high up in a projecting wing of a sort of castle built out of a steep spur of rock immediately below us were gardens fruitful and pregnant but their high walls followed the edge of the cliff which dropped sheer down we could not see how far the distant sound of water suggested a river at the foot we could look out east west and south to the southward stretch the open country lying bright and fair in the morning light but on either side and evidently behind rose great mountains this thing is a regular fortress and no women built it I can tell you that said Terry we nodded agreeingly it's built right up among the hills they must have brought us a long way we saw some kind of swift moving vehicles that first stage if they've got motors they are civilized civilized or not we've got our work cut out for us to get away from here I don't propose to make a rope of bedclothes and try these walls till I'm sure there's no better way out we all concurred on this point then return to our discussion as to the women Jeff continued thoughtful all the same there's something funny about it it isn't just that we don't see any men but we don't see any signs of them the reaction of these women is different from any that I've ever met there is something in what you say Jeff I agreed there is a different atmosphere they don't seem to notice our being men they treat us well just as they do one another it's as if our being men was a minor incident I nodded I noticed it myself but Terry broke in rudely fiddlesticks he said it's because of their advanced age they weren't really great ants anyhow those girls were girls all right weren't they yes Jeff agreed still slowly but they weren't afraid they flew up that tree and hid like schoolboys caught out of bounds not like shy girls and they ran like marathon winners you'll admit to that Terry he added Terry was moody as the days passed he seemed to mind our confinement more than Jeff or I did but Jeff was getting on excellent terms with his tutor and even his guards and so was I it interested me profoundly to note and study the subtle difference between these women and other women and try to account for them in the matter of personal appearance there was a great difference they all wore short hair some a few inches at most but Jeff was getting on excellent terms with his tutor some a few inches at most some curly some not all light and clean and fresh looking if their hair was only long Jeff would complain they would look so much more feminine I rather liked it myself after I got used to it why we should so admire a woman's crown of hair and not admire a Chinaman's queue is hard to explain except that we are so convinced that the long hair belongs to a woman the mane in horses is on both and in lions, buffaloes and such creatures only on the male but I did miss it at first our time was quite pleasantly filled we were free of the garden below our windows quite long in its irregular rambling shape bordering the cliff the walls were perfectly smooth and high ending in masonry of the building and as I studied the great stones I became convinced that the whole structure was extremely old the pre-Incan architecture in Peru of enormous monoliths fitted as closely as mosaics these folks have a history that's sure I told the others and some time they were fighters else why build a fortress I said we were free of the garden but not wholly alone in it there was always a string of those uncomfortably strong women sitting about always one of them watching us even if the others were reading playing games or busy at some kind of handiwork when I see them knit Terry said I can almost call them feminine that doesn't prove anything chef promptly replied scott shepherds knit always knitting when we get out Terry stretched himself and looked at the peaks when we get out of this and get to where the real women are the mothers and the girls well what do we do then I asked rather gloomily how do you know we'll ever get out that's an unpleasant idea which we unanimously considered returning with earnestness to our studies if we are good boys and learn our lessons well I suggested if we are quiet and respectful and polite and they are not afraid of us then perhaps they will let us out and anyway when we do escape it is of immense importance that we know the language personally I was tremendously interested in that language and seeing they had books I was eager to get at them and read them into their history if they had one it was not hard to speak smooth and pleasant to the ear and so easy to read and write that I marveled at it they had an absolutely phonetic system the whole thing was as scientific as Esperanto yet bore all the marks of an old and rich civilization we were free to study as much as we wished and were not left merely to wander in the garden for recreation but introduced to a great gymnasium partly on the roof and partly in the story below we learned real respect for our tall guards no change of costume was needed for this work save to lay off outer clothing the first one was as perfect a garment for exercises need be devised absolutely free to move in and I had to admit much better looking than our usual one 40 over 40 some of them 50 look at them rumbled terry and reluctant admiration there were no spectacular acrobatics as only the young can perform but for all around development they had a most excellent system a good deal of music went with it with posture dancing and sometimes gravely beautiful processional performances Jeff was much impressed by it we did not know then how small a part of their physical culture methods this really was but found it agreeable to watch and to take part in oh yes we took part all right it wasn't absolutely compulsory but we thought it better to please terry was the strongest of us although I was wiry and had good staying power and Jeff was a great sprinter and hurtler but I can tell you those old ladies gave us cards and spades they ran like deer by which I mean that they ran not as if it was a performance but as if it was their natural gait we remembered those fleeting girls of our first bright adventure and concluded that it was they leaped like deer too with a quick folding motion of the legs drawn up and turned to one side with a side long twist of the body I remembered the sprawling spread eagle way in which some of the fellows used to come over the line and tried to learn the trick we did not easily catch up with these experts however never thought I'd live to be bossed by a lot of elderly lady acrobats terry protested they had games too a good many of them but we found them rather uninteresting at first it was like two people playing solitaire to see who would get it first more like a race or a a competitive examination than a real game with some fight in it I philosophized a bit over this and told terry it argued against them having any meant about there isn't a man size game in the lot I said but they are interesting I like them Jeff objected and I'm sure they're educational I'm sick and tired of being educated terry protested fancy going to a dame school at our age I want to get out but we could not get out and we were being educated swiftly our special tutors rose rapidly in our esteem they seemed a rather finer quality than the guards though all were on terms of fancy friendliness mine was named samel Jeff's Zava and terry's moadin we tried to generalize from the names those of the guards and of the three girls but we got nowhere they sound well enough and they're mostly short but there's no similarity of termination and no two alike however our acquaintance is limited as yet there were many things we meant to ask as soon as we could talk well enough better teaching I never saw from morning to night there was samel always on call except between two and four always pleasant with a steady friendly kindness that I grew to enjoy very much Jeff said Miss Zava he would put on the title though they apparently had none was a darling that she reminded him of his aunt ester at home but terry refused to be one and rather jeered at his own companion when we were alone I'm sick of it he protested sick of the whole thing here we are cooped up as helpless as a bunch of three year old orphans and being taught what they think is necessary whether we like it or not can't found their old maid impudence nevertheless we were taught they brought in a raised map of their country beautifully made and increased our knowledge of geographical terms but when we inquired for information as to the country outside they smilingly shook their heads they brought pictures not only engravings in the books but colored studies of plants and trees and flowers and birds they brought tools and various small objects we had plenty of material in our school if it had not been for terry we would have been much more contented but as the weeks ran into months he grew more and more irritable don't act like a bear with a sore head I begged him we're getting on finally we can understand them better and soon we will make reasonable pleas to be let out let out he stormed let out like children kept after school I want to get out and I'm going to I want to find the men of this place and fight or the girls guess it's the girls you're most interested in Jeff commented what are you going to fight with your fists sticks and stones I just like to and terry squared off and tapped Jeff softly on the jaw just for instance he said anyhow we could get back to our machine and clear out if it's still there I cautiously suggested oh don't croak van if it isn't there we'll find our way down somehow the boat's there I guess it was hard on terry so hard that he finally persuaded us to stop it was difficult it was highly dangerous but he declared that he'd go alone if we wouldn't go with him and of course we couldn't think of that it appeared he had made a pretty careful study of the environment from our end window that faced the point of the promontory we could get a fair idea of the stretch of wall in the drop below also from the roof we could make out more and even in one place a glimpse a sort of a path below the wall it's a question of three things he said ropes agility and not being seen well that's the hardest part I urged still hoping to dissuade him one or another pair of eyes is on us every minute except at night therefore we must do it at night he answered that's easy we've got to think that if they catch us we may not be so well treated afterward said Jeff that's the business risk we must take I'm going even if I break my neck there was no changing him the rope problem was not easy something strong enough to hold a man and long enough to let us down into the garden and then down over the wall there were plenty of strong ropes in the gymnasium they seemed to love to swing and climb on them but we were never there by ourselves we should have to piece it out from our bedding rugs and garments and moreover we should have to do it after we were shut in for the night for every day the place was cleaned to perfection by two of our guardians we had no shears no knives but Terry was resourceful these jennies have glass in china you see we'll break a glass from the bathroom and use that love will find a way he hummed when we're all out of the window we'll stand three man high cut the rope as far up as we can reach those have to have more for below the wall I know just where I saw that bit of path below and there's a big tree there too or a vine or something I saw the leaves it seemed a crazy risk to take but this was in a way Terry's expedition and we were all tired of our imprisonment so we waited for a full moon retired early and spent an anxious hour or two in the unskilled manufacture of man strong ropes to retire into the depths of the closet muffle a glass in thick cloth and break it without noise was not difficult and broken glass will cut though not as deathly as a pair of scissors the broad moonlight streamed in through four of our windows we had not dared leave our lights on too long and we worked hard and fast at our task of destruction hangings rugs robes towels as well as bed furniture even the mattress covers we left not one stitch upon another as Jeff put it then at the end window as less liable to observation we fastened one end of our cable strongly to the firm set hinge of the inner blind and dropped our coiled bundle of rope softly over this part's easy enough I'll come last so as to cut the ropes at Terry so I slipped down first and stood well braced against the wall then Jeff on my shoulders then Terry who shook us a little as he sawed through the cord above his head then I slowly dropped to the ground Jeff following and at last we all three stood safe in the garden with most of our rope with us good-bye grandma whispered Terry under his breath and we crept softly toward the wall taking advantage of the shadow of every bush and tree he had been foresighted enough to mark the very spot only a scratch of stone on stone but we could see to read in that light for anchorage there was a tough fair-sized shrub close to the wall now I'll climb up on you two again and go over first Terry that'll hold the rope firm till you both get on top then I'll go down to the end if I can get off safely you can see me and follow or stay I'll twitch it three times if I find there's absolutely no footing why I'll climb up again that's all I don't think they'll kill us from the top he reconnoitered carefully waved his hand and whispered okay then slipped over Jeff climbed up and I followed and we rather shivered to see how far down that swaying wavering figure dropped hand over hand till it disappeared into a mass of foliage far below then there were three quick pulls and Jeff and I, not without a joyous sense of recovered freedom successfully followed our leader End of Chapter 3 CHAPTER 4 OF HER LAND This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Elizabeth Klett Her Land by Charlotte Perkins Gilman CHAPTER 4 Our Venture We were standing on a narrow, irregular all too slanting little ledge and should doubtless have ignominiously slipped off and broken our rash necks but for the vine this was a thick-leaved, wide-spreading thing, a little like Amphalopsis It's not quite vertical here, you see said Terry, full of pride and enthusiasm this thing never would hold our direct weight but I think if we sort of slide down on it one at a time sticking in with hands and feet we'll reach that next ledge alive as we do not wish to get up our rope again and can't comfortably stay here I approve," said Jeff solemnly. Terry slid down first said he'd show us how a Christian meets his death luck was with us we had put on the thickest of those indeterminate suits leaving our tunics behind and made this scramble quite successfully though I got a pretty heavy fall just at the end and was only kept on the second ledge by main force the next stage was down a sort of chimney and so with scratches many and painful and bruises not a few we finally reached the stream it was darker there but we felt it highly necessary to put as much distance as possible behind us so we waited, jumped and clamber down that rocky river bed in the flickering black and white moonlight and leaf shadow till growing daylight forced to halt we found a friendly nut tree those large satisfying soft shelled nuts we already knew so well and filled our pockets I see that I have not remarked that these women had pockets in surprising number and variety they were in all their garments and the middle one in particular was shingled with them so we stocked up with nuts till we bulged like Prussian privates in marching order drank all we could hold and retired for the day it was not a very comfortable place not at all easy to get at this high up along the steep bank but it was well veiled with foliage and dry after our exhaustive three or four hour scramble and the good breakfast food we all lay down along that crack heads and tails as it were and slept till the afternoon sun almost toasted our faces Terry poked a tenetive foot against my head how are you Van? alive yet? very much so I told him that Jeff was equally cheerful we had room to stretch if not to turn around but we could very carefully roll over one at a time behind the sheltering foliage it was no use to leave there by daylight we could not see much of the country but enough to know that we were now at the beginning of the cultivated area and no doubt there would be an alarm sent out far and wide Terry chuckled softly to himself lying there on that hot narrow little rim of rock he dilated on the discomforture of our guards and tutors making many discourteous remarks I reminded him that we still had a long way to go before getting to the place where we'd left our machine and no probability of finding it there but he only kicked me mildly for a croaker if you can't boost don't knock he protested I never said it would be a picnic but I'd run away in the Antarctic ice fields and be a prisoner we soon dozed off again the long rest and penetrating dry heat were good for us and that night we covered a considerable distance keeping always in the rough forested belt of land which we knew bordered the whole country sometimes we were near the outer edge and caught sudden glimpses of the tremendous depths beyond this piece of geography stands up like a basalt column, Jeff said nice time we'll have getting down as they have confiscated our machine for which suggestion he received summery chastisement what we could see inland was peaceable enough but only moonlit glimpses by daylight we lay very close as Terry said we did not wish to kill the old ladies even if we could and short of that they were perfectly competent to pick us up bodily and carry us back if discovered there was nothing for it to mean if we could do it there wasn't much talking done at night we had our marathon obstacle race we stayed not for break and we stopped not for stone and swam whatever water was too deep to wait and could not be got around but that was only necessary twice by day sleep sound and sweet mighty lucky it was that we could live off the country as we did even that margin of forest seemed rich in foodstuffs but Jeff thoughtfully suggested that that very thing showed how careful we should have to be as we might run into some stalwart group of gardeners or foresters or nut-gatherers at any minute careful we were feeling pretty sure that if we did not make good this time we were not likely to have another opportunity and at last we reached a point from which we could see far below the broad stretch of that still lake from which we had made our ascent that looks pretty good to me said Terry gazing down at it now if we can't find the plane we know where to aim if we have to drop over this wall some other way the wall at that point was singularly uninviting it rose so straight that we had to put our heads over to see the base and the country below seemed to be a far off marshy tangle of rank vegetation we did not have to risk our necks to that extent however for at last stealing along among the rocks and trees like so many creeping savages we came to that flat space where we had landed and there in unbelievable good fortune we found our machine covered too by jingo would you think they had that much sense cried Terry if they had that much they're likely to have more I warned him softly bet to the things watched we reconnoitred as widely as we could in the failing moonlight moons are of a painfully unreliable nature but the growing dawn showed us the familiar shape shrouded in some heavy cloth like canvas and no slightest sign of any watchman near we decided to make a quick dash as soon as the light was strong enough for accurate work I don't care if the old thing will go or not Terry declared we can run her to the edge get aboard and just plane down plop beside our boat there look there see the boat sure enough there was our motor take a coon on the flat pale sheet of water quietly but swiftly we rushed forward began to tug at the fastenings of that cover confound the thing Terry cried in desperate impatience they've got it sewed up in a bag and we've not a knife among us then as we tugged and pulled at that tough cloth we heard a sound that made Terry lift his head like a warhorse the sound of an unmistakable giggle three giggles there they were Celis Alima Elador looking just as they had when we first saw them standing a little way off from us as interested as mischievous as three school boys hold on Terry hold on I warned that's too easy look out for a trap let us appeal to their kind hearts Jeff urged I think they will help us perhaps they've got knives it's no use rushing them anyhow I was absolutely holding on to Terry we know they can outrun and out-climb us he reluctantly admitted this and after a brief parlay among ourselves we all advanced slowly toward them holding out our hands in token of friendliness they stood their ground till we had come fairly near and then indicated that we should stop to make sure we advanced a step or two and they promptly and swiftly withdrew so we stopped at the distance specified then we used their language as far as we were able to explain our plight telling how we were imprisoned how we had escaped a good deal of pantomime here and vivid interest on their part how we had travelled by night and hidden by day living on nuts and here Terry pretended great hunger I know he could not have been hungry we had found plenty to eat and not been sparing and helping ourselves but they seemed somewhat impressed and after a murmured consultation they produced from their pockets certain little packages and with the utmost ease and accuracy tossed them into our hands Jeff was most appreciative of this and Terry made extravagant gestures of admiration which seemed to set them off boy fashion to show their skill while we ate the excellent biscuits they had thrown us and while Ellador kept a watchful eye on our movements Celis ran off to some distance and set up a sort of duck on a rock arrangement a big yellow nut on top of three balanced sticks a lima, meanwhile, gathering stones they urged us to throw at it and we did but the thing was a long way off and it was only after a number of failures at which those elvish damsels laughed delightedly that Jeff succeeded in bringing the whole structure to the ground it took me still longer and Terry to his intense annoyance came third then Celis set up the little tripod again and look back at us knocking it down, pointing at it and shaking her short curls severely no, she said bad, wrong we were quite able to follow her then she set it up once more put the fat nut on top and returned to the others and there those aggravating girls sat and took turns throwing little stones at that thing while one stayed by as a set her up and they just popped that nut off two times out of three without upsetting the sticks pleased as punch they were too and we pretended to be but weren't we got very friendly over this game but I told Terry we'd be sorry if we didn't get off while we could and then we begged for knives it was easy to show what we wanted to do and they each proudly produced a sort of strong clasp knife from their pockets yes, we said eagerly that's it, please we had learned quite a bit of their language, you see and we just begged for those knives but they would not give them to us if we came a step too near they backed off standing light and eager for flight it's no sort of use, I said come on, let's get a sharp stone or something we must get this thing off so we hunted about and found what edged fragments we could and hacked away but it was like trying to cut sailcloth with a clamshell Terry hacked and dug but said to us under his breath boys were in pretty good condition let's make a life-and-death dash and get hold of those girls we've got to they had drawn rather near to watch our efforts and we did take them rather by surprise also, as Terry said, our recent training had strengthened us in wind and limb and for a few desperate moments those girls were scared and we almost triumphant but just as we stretched out our hands the distance between us widened they had got their pace, apparently and then, though we ran at our utmost speed and much farther than I thought wise they kept just out of reach all the time we stopped breathless at last at my repeated admonitions this is stark foolishness, I urged they are doing it on purpose come back or you'll be sorry we went back much slower than we came and in truth we were sorry as we reached our swaddled machine and sought again to tear Lucid's covering they rose up from all around the sturdy forms the quiet determined faces we knew so well oh lord ground Terry the kernels, it's all up they're forty to one it was no use to fight these women evidently relied on numbers not so much as a drilled force but as a multitude actuated by a common impulse they showed no sign of fear and since we had no weapons whatever and there were at least a hundred of them standing ten deep about us we gave in as gracefully as we might of course we looked for punishment a closer imprisonment solitary confinement maybe but nothing of the kind happened they treated us as truance only and as if they quite understood our truancy back we went not under an anesthetic this time but skimming along in electric motors enough like ours to be quite recognizable each of us in a separate vehicle with one able-bodied lady on either side and three facing him they were all pleasant enough and talked to us as much as was possible with our limited powers and though Terry was keenly mortified and at first we all rather dreaded harsh treatment I for once soon began to feel a sort of pleasant confidence and to enjoy the trip here were my five familiar companions all good-natured as could be seeming to have no worse feeling than a mild triumph as of winning some simple game that they politely suppressed this was a good opportunity to see the country too and the more I saw of it the better I liked it we went too swiftly for close observation but I could appreciate perfect roads as dustless as a swept floor the shade of endless lines of trees the ribbon of flowers that unrolled beneath them and the rich comfortable country that stretched often away full of varied charm we rolled through many villages and towns and saw that the park-like beauty of our first-seen city was no exception our swift high-sweeping view from the plain had been most attractive but lacked detail and in that first day of struggle and capture we noticed little but now we were swept along at an easy rate of some thirty miles an hour and covered quite a good deal of ground we stopped for lunch in quite a sizable town and here, rolling slowly through the streets we saw more of the population we had to look at us everywhere we had passed but here were more and when we went in to eat in a big garden place with little shaded tables among the trees and flowers many eyes were upon us and everywhere open country village or city only women old women and young women in a great majority who seemed neither young nor old but just women young girls also though these and the children seemed to be in groups by themselves generally there was no evidence we caught many glimpses of girls and children in what seemed to be schools or in playgrounds and so far as we could judge there were no boys we all looked carefully everyone gazed at us politely, kindly and with eager interest no one was impertinent we could catch quite a bit of the talk now and all they said seemed pleasant enough well, before nightfall we were all safely back in our big room the damage we had done was quite ignored the beds as smooth and comfortable as before new clothing and towels supplied the only thing those women did was to illuminate the gardens at night and to set an extra watch but they called us to account next day our three tutors who had not joined in the recapturing expedition had been quite busy in preparing for us and now made explanation they knew well we would make fair our machine and also that there was no other way of getting down alive so our flight had troubled no one all they did was to call the inhabitants to keep an eye on our movements all along the edge of the forest between the two points it appeared that many of those nights we had been seen by careful ladies sitting snugly in big trees by the river bed or up among the rocks Terry looked immensely disgusted but it struck me as extremely funny here we had been risking our lives hiding and prowling like outlaws living on nuts and fruit getting wet and cold at night and dry and hot by day and all the while these estimable women had just been waiting for us to come out now they began to explain carefully using such words as we could understand it appeared that we were considered as guests of the country sort of public wards our first violence had made it necessary to keep us safeguarded for a while but as soon as we learned the language and it would agree to do no harm they would show us all about the land Jeff was eager to reassure them of course he did not tell on Terry but he made it clear that he was ashamed himself and that he would now conform as to the language we all fell upon it with redoubled energy they brought us books and greater numbers and I began to study them seriously pretty punk literature Terry burst forth one day when we were in the privacy of our own room of course one expects to begin on child stories but I would like something more interesting now can't expect stirring romance and wild adventure without men can you? I asked nothing irritated Terry more than to have us assume that there were no men but there were no signs of them in the books they gave us or the pictures shut up he growled what infernal nonsense you talk I'm going to ask about right we know enough now in truth we had been using our best efforts to master the language and were able to read fluently and to discuss what we read with considerable ease that afternoon we were all sitting together on the roof we three and the tutors gathered about a table no guards about we had been made to understand some time earlier that if we would agree to do no violence they would withdraw their constant attendance and we promised most willingly so there we sat at ease all in similar dress our hair by now as long as theirs only our beards to distinguish us we did not want those beards but had so far been unable to induce them to give us any cutting instruments ladies Terry began out of a clear sky as it were are there no men in this country men like you yes men Terry indicated his beard and threw back his broad shoulders men real men no he answered quietly there are no men in this country there has not been a man among us for two thousand years her look was clear and truthful and she did not advance this astonishing statement as if it was astonishing but quite as a matter of fact but the people the children he protested not believing her in the least but not wishing to say so oh yes she smiled we are mothers all of us but there are no fathers we thought you would ask about that long ago why have you not her look was as frankly kind as always her tone quite simple Terry explained that we had not felt sufficiently used to the language making rather a mess of it I thought but Jeff was franker will you excuse us all he said if we admit that we find it hard to believe there is no such possibility in the rest of the world have you no kind of life where it is possible asked Zava why yes some low forms of course how low or how high rather well there are some rather high forms of insect life in which it occurs Parthenogenesis we call it that means virgin birth she could not follow him birth we know of course but what is virgin Terry looked uncomfortable but Jeff met the question quite calmly among mating animals the term virgin is applied to the female who has not mated he answered oh I see and does it apply to the male also or is there a different term for him he passed this over rather hurriedly saying that the same term would apply but was seldom used no but one cannot mate without the other surely is not each then virgin before mating and tell me have you any forms of life in which there is birth from a father only I know of none he answered and I inquired seriously you ask us to believe that for two thousand years there have been only women here and only girl babies born exactly answered somal not engravely of course we know that among other animals it is not so that there are fathers as well as mothers and we see that you are fathers that you come from a people who are of both kinds we have been waiting you see for people to be able to speak freely with us and teach us about your country in the rest of the world you know so much you see and we know only our own land in the course of our previous studies we had been at some pains to tell them about the big world outside of the countries maps to make a globe even out of a spherical fruit and show the size in relation of the countries and to tell of the numbers of their people all of this had been scant and in outline but they quite understood I find I succeed very poorly in conveying the impression I would like to of these women so far from being ignorant they were deeply wise that we realized more and more and for clear reasoning for real brain scope and power A number one but there were a lot of things they did not know they had the evenest tempers the most perfect patience and good nature one of the things most impressive about them all was the absence of irritability so far we had only this group to study but afterward I found it a common trait we had gradually come to feel that we were in the hands of friends and very capable ones at that but we couldn't form any opinion yet of the general level of these women we wanted to teach us all you can Somal went on her firm shapely hands clasped on the table before her her clear quiet eyes meeting ours frankly and we want to teach you what we have that is novel and useful you can well imagine that it is a wonderful event to us to have men among us after two thousand years and we want to know about your women what she said about our importance gave instant pleasure to Terry I could see by the way he lifted his head that it pleased him but when she spoke of our women some way I had a queer little indescribable feeling not like any feeling I had ever had before when women were mentioned will you tell us how it came about Jeff pursued you said for two thousand years did you have men here before that yes answered Zava they were all quiet for a little you should have our full history to read do not be alarmed it has been made clear and short it took us a long time to learn how to write history oh how I should love to read yours she turned with flashing eager eyes looking from one to the other of us it would be so wonderful would it not to compare the history of two thousand years to see what the differences are between us who are only mothers and you who are mothers and fathers too of course we see with our birds that the father is as useful as the mother almost but among insects we find him of less importance sometimes very little is it not so with you oh yes birds and bugs Terry said but not among animals have you no animals we have cats the father is not very useful have you no cattle sheep horses I drew some rough outlines of these beasts I drew them to her we had in the very old days these said Somal and sketched with swift sure touches a sort of sheep or llama and these dogs of two or three kinds that pointing to my absurd but recognizable horse what became of them asked Jeff we do not want them anymore they took up too much room we need all our land to feed our people it is such a little country you know whatever do you do without milk Terry demanded incredulously milk we have milk in abundance our own but but I mean for cooking for grown people Terry blundered while they looked amazed and a shade displeased Jeff came to the rescue we keep cattle for their milk as well as for their meat he explained because milk is a staple article of diet there is a great milk industry to collect and distribute it still they looked puzzled I pointed to my outline of a cow the farmer milks the cow I said and sketched a milk pail the stool and in pantomime showed the man milking then it is carried to the city and distributed by milkmen everybody has it at the door in the morning has the cow no child asked Somal earnestly oh yes of course a calf that is is there milk for the calf and you too it took some time to make clear to those three sweet-faced women the process which robs the cow of her calf and the calf of its true food and the talk led us into a further discussion of the meat business they heard it out looking very white and presently begged to be excused