 1 Since earliest childhood I have been strangely fascinated by the mystery surrounding the history of the last days of 20th century Europe. My interest is keenest, perhaps not so much in relation to known facts as to speculation upon the unknowable, of the two centuries that have rolled by since human intercourse between the Western and Eastern Hemisphere ceased, the mystery of Europe's state following the termination of the Great War, provided of course that the war had been terminated. From out of the meagerness of our censored histories we learned that for 15 years after the cessation of diplomatic relations between the United States of North America and the belligerent nations of the old world, news of more or less doubtful authenticity filtered from time to time into the Western Hemisphere from the Eastern. Then came the fruition of that historic propaganda which is best described by its own slogan, the East for the East, the West for the West, and all further intercourse was stopped by statute. Even prior to this, trans-oceanic commerce had practically ceased owing to the perils and hazards of the mind-stream waters of both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Just when submarine activities ended, we do not know, but the last vessel of this type sighted by the Pan-American merchantmen was the huge Q-138 which discharged 29 torpedoes at a Brazilian tank steamer off the Bermudas in the fall of 1972. A heavy sea and the excellent seamanship of the master of the Brazilian permitted the Pan-American to escape and report this last of a long series of outrages upon our commerce. God alone knows how many hundreds of our ancient ships fell prey to the roving steel sharks of blood-friends in Europe, countless with the vessels and men that passed over our eastern and western horizons, never to return. But whether they met their fates before the belching tubes of submarines or among the aimlessly drifting minefields, no man lived to tell. And then came the great Pan-American Federation which linked the western hemisphere from pole to pole under a single flag, which joined the navies of the New World into the mightiest fighting force that ever sailed the Seven Seas, the greatest argument for peace the world had ever known. Since that day peace had reigned from the western shores of the Azores to the western shores of the Hawaiian Islands, nor has any man of either hemisphere dared cross 30DW or 175DW. From 30D to 175D is ours. From 30D to 175D is peace, prosperity and happiness. Beyond was the great unknown. Even the geographies of my boyhood showed nothing beyond. We were taught of nothing beyond. Speculation was discouraged. For 200 years the eastern hemisphere had been wiped from the maps and histories of Pan-America. Its mention in fiction even was forbidden. Our ships of peace patrol 30 and 175. What ships from beyond they have warned only the secret archives of government show. But, a naval officer myself, I have gathered from the traditions of the service that it has been fully 200 years since smoke or sail has been sighted east of 30D or west of 175D. The fate of the relinquished provinces which lay beyond the deadlines we could only speculate upon. That they were taken by the military power which rose so suddenly in China after the fall of the Republic and which arrested Manchuria and Korea from Russia and Japan and also absorbed the Philippines is quite within the range of possibility. It was the commander of a Chinese man of war who received a copy of the edit of 1972 from the hand of my illustrious ancestor Admiral Turk. And 175, 206 years ago and from the yellow pages of the admiral's diary, I learned that the fate of the Philippines was even then presaged by these Chinese naval officers. Yes, for over 200 years no man crossed 30D to 175D and lived to tell his story. Not until chance drew me across and back again and public opinion revolting at last against the drastic regulations of our long dead forebears demanded that my story be given to the world and that the narrow interdict which commanded peace, prosperity and happiness to halt at 30D and 175D be removed forever. I am glad that it was given to me to be an instrument in the hands of Providence for the uplifting of benighted Europe and the amelioration of the suffering, degradation and abysmal ignorance in which I found her. I shall not live to see the complete regeneration of the savage hordes of the eastern hemisphere. That is a work which will require many generations, perhaps ages, so complete has been their reversion to savagery. But I know that the work has been started and I am proud of the share in it which my generous countrymen have placed in my hands. The government already possesses a complete official report of my adventures beyond 30. In the narrative I purpose telling my story in a less formal and I hope a more entertaining style, though being only a naval officer and without claim to the slightest literary ability, I shall most certainly fall far short of the possibilities which are inherent in my subject. That I have passed through the most wondrous adventures that have befallen a civilised man during the past two centuries encourages me in the belief that however ill the telling the facts themselves will command your interests to the final page. Beyond 30 romance, adventure, strange peoples, fearsome beasts, all the excitement and scurry of the lives of the 20th century ancients that have been denied us in these dull days of peace and prosaic prosperity. All, all lay beyond 30 the invisible barrier between the stupid commercial present and the carefree barbarous past. What boy has not sighed for the good old days of wars, revolutions and riots, how I used to pour over the chronicles of those old days, those dear old days, when workmen went armed to their labours, when they fell upon one another with gun and bomb and dagger, and the streets ran red with blood. Ah, but those were the times when life was worth the living, when a man who went out by night knew not at which dark corner a footpad might leap upon and slay him, when wild beasts roamed the forests and the jungles and there were savage men and countries yet unexplored. Now in all the western hemisphere dwells no man who may not find a schoolhouse within walking distance of his home, or at least within flying distance. The wildest beast that roams our waste places lairs in the frozen north or the frozen south within a government reserve, where the curious may view him and feed him bread crusts from hand with perfect impunity, but beyond thirty, and I have gone there and come back, and now you may go there for no longer is it high treason punishable by disgrace or death to cross thirty D or a hundred and seventy five D. My name is Jefferson Turk, I am a lieutenant in the Navy, in the great Pan American Navy, the only Navy which now exists in all the world. I was born in Arizona in the United States of North America in the year of our Lord, 2116. Therefore I am twenty one years old. In early boyhood I tired of the teeming cities and overcrowded rural districts of Arizona. Every generation of Turks for over two centuries has been represented in the Navy. The Navy called to me as did the free wide unpeopled spaces of the mighty oceans and so I joined the Navy coming up from the ranks as we all must learning our craft as we advance. My promotion was rapid for my family seems to inherit Naval Law. We are born officers and I reserve to myself no special credit for an early advancement in the service. At twenty I found myself a lieutenant in command of the Aero submarine Coldwater of the SS96 class. The Coldwater was one of the first of the air and underwater craft which have been so greatly improved since its launching and was possessed of innumerable weaknesses which fortunately have been eliminated in more recent vessels of similar type. Even when I took command she was fit only for the junk pile. But the world old parsimony of government retained her in active service and sent two hundred men to see in her with myself a mere boy in command of her to patrol thirty from Iceland to the Azores. Much of my service had been spent aboard the great merchant men of war. These are the utility naval vessels that have transformed the navies of old which burdened the peoples with taxes for their support into the present day fleets of self-supporting ships that find ample time for target practice and gun drill while they bear freight and the males from the continents to the far scattered island of Pan America. This change in service was most welcome to me especially as it brought with it coveted responsibilities of sole command and I was prone to overlook the deficiencies of the Coldwater in the natural pride I felt in my first ship. The Coldwater was fully equipped for two months patrolling the ordinary length of assignment to this service and a month had already passed its monotony entirely unrelieved by sight of another craft when the first of our misfortunes befell. We had been riding out of storm in an altitude of about three thousand feet. All night we had hovered above the tossing billows of the moonlight clouds. The detonation of the thunder and the glare of lightning through an occasional rift in the vaporous wall proclaimed the continued fury of the tempest upon the surface of the sea, but we far above it all rode in comparative ease upon the upper gale. With the coming of dawn the clouds beneath us became a glorious sea of gold and silver, soft and beautiful, but they could not deceive us as to the blackness and the terrors of the storm-lashed ocean which they hid. I was at breakfast when my chief engineer entered and saluted. His face was grave, and I thought he was even a trifle paler than usual. Well, I asked. He drew the back of his forefinger nervously across his brow in a gesture that was habitual with him in moments of mental stress. The gravitation screen generated, sir, he said. Number one went to the bed about an hour and a half ago. We have been working upon it steadily since, but I have to report, sir, that it is beyond repair. Number two will keep us supplied, I answered. In the meantime we will send a wireless for relief. But that is the trouble, sir, he went on. Number two has stopped. I knew it would come, sir. I made a report on these generators three years ago. I advised them that they both be scrapped. Their principle is entirely wrong. They're done for, and with a grim smile. I shall at least have the satisfaction of knowing my report was accurate. Have we sufficient reserve screen to permit us to make land? Or at least meet our relief halfway, I asked. No, sir, he replied gravely. We are sinking now. Have you anything further to report, I asked? No, sir, he said. Very good, I replied. And as I dismissed him I rang for my wireless operator. When he appeared I gave him a message to the secretary of the navy to whom all vessels in service on 30 and 175 report direct. I explained our predicament and stated that with what screening force remained I should continue in the air making as rapid headway towards St John's as possible and that when we were forced to take to the water I should continue in the same direction. The accident occurred directly over 30d and about 52d in. The surface wind was blowing a tempest from the west. To attempt to ride out such a storm upon the surface seemed suicidal for the cold water was not designed for surface navigation except under fair weather conditions. Submerged or in the air she was tractable enough in any sort of weather when under control but without her screen generators she was almost helpless since she could not fly and if submerged could not rise to the surface. All these defects have been remedied in later models but the knowledge did not help us any that day aboard the slowly settling cold water with an angry sea roaring beneath a tempest raging out of the west and 30d only a few knots astern. To cross 30 or 175 has been as you know the direst calamity that could befall a naval commander. Court martial and degradation follow swiftly unless as is often the case the unfortunate man takes his own life before this unjust and heartless regulation can hold him up to public scorn. There has been in the past no excuse no circumstance that could palliate the offence. He was in command and he took his ship across 30 that was sufficient. It might not have been in any way his fault as in the case of the cold water that could possibly have been justly charged to my account that the gravitation screen generators were worthless but well I knew that should chance have it that we were blown across 30 today as we might easily be before the terrific west wind that we could hear howling below us the responsibility would fall upon my shoulders. In a way the regulation was a good one for it certainly accomplished that for which it was intended. We all fought shy of 30d on the east and 175d on the west and though we had to skirt them pretty close nothing but an act of God ever drew one of us across. You all are familiar with the naval tradition that a good officer could sense proximity to either line and from my part. I am firmly convinced of the truth of this as I am that the compass finds the north without recourse to tedious processes of reasoning. Old Admiral Sanchez was wont to maintain that he could smell 30 and the men of the first ship in which I sailed claimed that Coburn the navigating officer knew by name every wave along 30 from 60DN to 60DS however I'd hate to vouch for this. Well to get back to my narrative we kept on dropping slowly toward the surface the while we bucked the west wind clawing away from 30 as fast as we could. I was on the bridge and as we dropped from the brilliant sunlight into the dense vapor of clouds and on down through them to the wild dark storm strata beneath it seemed that my spirits dropped with the falling ship and the buoyancy of hope ran low in sympathy. The waves were running to tremendous heights and the cold water was not designed to meet such waves head on. Her elements were the blue ether far above the raging storm or the greater depths of ocean which no storm could ruffle. As I stood speculating upon our chances once we settled into the frightful maelstrom beneath us and at the same time mentally computing the hours which must elapse before aid could reach us the wireless operator clambered up the ladder to the bridge and dishevelled and breathless stood before me at salute. It needed but a glance at him to assure me that something was amiss. What now? I asked. The wireless, sir, he cried. My God, sir, I cannot send. But the emergency outfit I asked. I have tried everything, sir. I have exhausted every resource we cannot send. And he drew himself up and saluted again. I dismissed him with a few kind words for I knew that it was through no fault of his that the mechanism was antiquated and worthless in common with the balance of the cold water's equipment. There was no finer operator in Pan America than he. The failure of the wireless did not appear as momentous to me as to him which is not unnatural. Since it is but human to feel that when our own little cog slips the entire universe must necessarily be put out of gear. I knew that if this storm were destined to blow us across 30 or send us to the bottom of the ocean no help could reach us in time to prevent it. I had ordered the message sent solely because regulations required it and not with any particular hope that we could benefit by it in our present extremity. I had little time to dwell upon the coincidence of the simultaneous failure of the wireless and the buoyancy generators. Since very shortly after the cold water had dropped so low over the waters that all my attention was necessarily centred upon the delicate business of settling upon the waves without breaking my ship's back. With our buoyancy generators in commission it would have been a simple thing to enter the water. Since then it would have been but a trifling matter of a 45 degree dive into the base of a huge wave. We should have cut into the water like a hot knife through butter and have been totally submerged with scarce ajar. I have done it a thousand times. But I did not dare submerge the cold water for fear that it would remain submerged to the end of time, a condition far from conducive to the longevity of commander or crew. Most of my officers were older men than I. John Alvarez, my first officer, is twenty years my senior. He stored at my side on the bridge as the ship glided closer and closer to those stupendous waves. He watched my every move. But he was by far too fine an officer and gentlemen to embarrass me by either comment or suggestion. When I saw that we soon would touch I ordered the ship brought around broadside to the wind. And there we hovered a moment until a huge wave reached up and seized us upon its crest. And then I gave the order that suddenly reversed the screening force and led us into the ocean. Down into the trough we went, wallowing like the carcass of a dead whale. And then began the fight with rudder and propellers to force the cold water back into the teeth of the gale and drive her on and on, farther and farther from relentless thirty. I think that we should have succeeded even though the ship was racked from stem to stern by the terrific buffettings she received and though she were half submerged, the greater part of the time had no further accident befallen us. We were making headway though slowly and it began to look as though we were going to pull through. Alvarez never left my side though I all but ordered him below for much needed rest. My second officer, Porfirio Johnson, was also often on the bridge. He was a good officer, but a man for whom I had conceived a rather unreasoning aversion almost at the first moment of meeting him. An aversion which was not lessened by the knowledge which I subsequently gained that he looked upon my rapid promotion with jealousy. He was ten years my senior both in years and service and I rather think he could never forget the fact that he had been an officer when I was a green apprentice. As it became more and more apparent that the cold water under my seamanship was weathering the tempest and giving promise of pulling through safely I could have sworn that I perceived a shade of annoyance and disappointment growing upon his dark countenance. He left the bridge finally and went below. I do not know that he is directly responsible for what followed so shortly after but I have always had my suspicions and Alvarez is even more prone to place the blame upon him than I. It was about six bells of the forenoon watch that Johnson returned to the bridge after an absence of some thirty minutes. He seemed nervous and ill at ease. A fact which made little impression on me at the time but which both Alvarez and I recalled subsequently. Not three minutes after his reappearance at my side the cold water suddenly commenced to lose headway. I seized the telephone at my elbow pressing upon the button which would call the chief engineer to the instrument in the bowels of the ship only to find him already at the receiver attempting to reach me. Numbers one, two and five engines have broken down, sir, he called. Shall we force the remaining three? We can do nothing else, I bellowed into the transmitter. They won't stand the gas, sir, he returned. Can you suggest a better plan? I asked. No, sir, he replied. Then give them the gaff lieutenant, I shouted back and hung up the receiver. For twenty minutes the cold water bucked the great seas with her three engines. I doubt if she advanced a foot but it was enough to keep her nose in the wind and at least we were not drifting toward thirty. Johnson and Alvarez were at my side when without warning the bow swung swiftly around and the ship fell into the trough of the sea. The other three have gone, I said and I happened to be looking at Johnson as I spoke. Was it the shadow of a satisfied smother crossed his thin lips? I do not know but at least he did not weep. You always have been curious, sir, about the great unknown beyond thirty, he said. You are in a good way to have your curiosity satisfied. And then I could not mistake the slight sneer that curved his upper lip. There must have been a trace of disrespect in his tone or manner which escaped me. For Alvarez turned upon him like a flash. When Lieutenant Turk crosses thirty, he said, we shall all cross with him and God help the officer or the man who reproaches him. I shall not be a party to hide treason, and if the cold water crosses thirty, it devolves upon you to place Lieutenant Turk under arrest and immediately exert every endeavour to bring the ship back into Pan-American waters. I shall not know, replied Alvarez, that the cold water passes thirty, nor shall any other man aboard know it. And with his words, he drew a revolver from his pocket. And before either I or Johnson could prevent it, had put a bullet into every instrument upon the bridge, ruining them beyond repair. And then he saluted me and strode from the bridge, a martyr to loyalty and friendship, for the no man might know that Lieutenant Jefferson Turk had taken his ship across thirty. Every man aboard would know that the first officer had committed a crime that was punishable by both degradation and death. Johnson turned and eyed me narrowly. Shall I place him under arrest? He asked. You shall not, I replied, nor shall anyone else. You become a party to his crime, he cried angrily. You may go below, Mr. Johnson, I said, and attend to the work of unpacking the extra instruments and having them properly set upon the bridge. He saluted and left me, and for some time I strode gazing out upon the angry waters. My mind filled with unhappy reflections upon the unjust fate that had overtaken me and the sorrow and disgrace that I had unwittingly brought down upon my house. I rejoice that I should leave neither wife nor child to bear the burden of my shame throughout their lives. As I thought upon my misfortune, I considered more clearly than ever before the unrighteousness of the regulation which was to prove my doom, and in the natural revolt against its injustice my anger rose, and there mounted within me a feeling which I imagine must have paralleled that spirit that once was prevalent among the ancients called Anarchy. For the first time in my life I found my sentiments arraying themselves against custom, tradition and even government. The wave of rebellion swept over me in an instant, beginning with an heretical doubt as to the sanctity of the established order of things, that fetish which has ruled Pan-Americans for two centuries and which is based upon a blind faith in the infallibility of the prescience of the long-dead framers of the Articles of Pan-American Federation and ending in an adamantine determination to defend my honour and my life to the last ditch against the blind and senseless regulation which assumed the synonymity of misfortune and treason. I would replace the destroyed instruments upon the bridge. Every officer and man should know when we cross thirty, but then I should assert the spirit which dominated me. I should resist arrest and insist upon bringing my ship back across the deadline, remaining at my post until we had reached New York. Then I should make a full report and with it a demand upon public opinion that the dead lines be wiped forever from the seas. I knew that I was right. I knew that no more loyal officer wore the uniform of the navy. I knew that I was a good officer and sailor and I didn't propose submitting to degradation and discharge because a lot of old pre-glacial fossils had declared over two hundred years before that no man should cross thirty. Even while these thoughts were passing through my mind, I was busy with the details of my duties. I had seen to it that a sea anchor was rigged and even now the men had completed their task and the cold water was swinging round rapidly, her nose pointing once more into the wind and the frightful rolling consequent upon her wallowing in the trough was happily diminishing. It was then that Johnson came hurrying to the bridge. One of his eyes was swollen and already darkening and his lip was cut and bleeding. Without even the formality of a salute, he placed upon me white with fury. "'Lutelant Averez attacked me,' he cried. "'I demand that he be placed under arrest.' I found him in the act of destroying the reserve instruments and when I would have interfered to protect them, he fell upon me and beat me. I demand that you arrest him.' "'You forget yourself, Mr. Johnson,' I said. "'You are not in command of my ship. I deploy the action of Lieutenant Averez, but I cannot expunge from my mind the loyalty and self-sacrificing friendship which has prompted him to his acts. "'Where I use her, I should profit by the example,' he has said. "'Further, Mr. Johnson, I intend retaining command of the ship, even though she crosses thirty. And I shall demand implicit obedience from every officer and man aboard, until I am properly relieved from duty by a superior officer in the port of New York.' "'You mean to say that you were crossed thirty without submitting to arrest?' he almost shouted. "'I do, sir,' I replied. "'And now you may go below, and when again you find it necessary to address me, you will please be so good as to bear in mind the fact that I am your commanding officer and as such entitled to a salute.' He flushed, hesitated a moment, and then Saluting turned upon his hill and left the bridge. Shortly after, Averez appeared. He was pale and seemed to have aged ten years in the few brief minutes since I last had seen him. Saluting, he told me very simply what he had done, and asked that I place him under arrest. I put my hand on his shoulder, and I guessed that my voice trembled a trifle as, while reproving him for his act, I made it plain to him that my gratitude was no less potent a force than his loyalty to me. Then it was that I outlined to him my purpose to defy the regulation that had raised the deadlines, and to take my ship back to New York myself. I did not ask him to share the responsibility with me. I merely stated that I should refuse to submit to arrest, and that I should demand of him and every other officer and man implicit obedience to my every command until we docked at home. His face brightened at my words, and he assured me that I would find to him as ready to acknowledge my command upon the wrong side of thirty, as upon the right, an assurance which I hastened to tell him I did not need. The storm continued to rage for three days, and as far as the wind scarce varied a point during all that time, I knew that we must be far beyond thirty, drifting rapidly east by south. All this time it had been impossible to work upon the damaged engines or the gravity screen generators, but we had a full set of instruments upon the bridge, for Alvarez, after discovering my intentions, had fetched the reserve instruments from his own cabin, where he had hidden them. Those which Johnson had seen him destroy had been a third set which only Alvarez had known was aboard the cold water. We waited impatiently for the sun, that we might determine our exact location, and upon the fourth day our vigil was rewarded a few minutes before noon. Every officer and man aboard was tense with nervous excitement as we awaited the result of the reading. The crew had known almost as soon as I that we were doomed to cross thirty, and I am inclined to believe that every man-jack of them was tickled to death, for the spirits of adventure and romance still live in the hearts of men of the twenty-second century, even though there be little for them to feed upon between thirty and one hundred seventy-five. The men carried none of the burdens of responsibility. They might cross thirty with impunity, and doubtless they would return to be heroes at home. But how different the homecoming of their commanding officer. The wind had dropped to a steady blow, still from west by north, and the sea had gone down correspondingly. The crew, with the exception of those whose duty kept them below, were ranged on deck below the bridge. When our position was definitely fixed, I personally announced it to the eager, waiting men. Men, I said, stepping forward to the handrail and looking down into their upturned, bronzed faces, you are anxiously awaiting information as to the ship's position. It has been determined at latitude fifty degrees seven minutes north, longitude twenty degrees sixteen minutes west. I paused and a buzz of animated comment ran through the masked men beneath me. Beyond thirty, but there will be no change in commanding officers in routine or in discipline until after we have docked again in New York. As I ceased speaking and stepped back from the rail, there was a roar of applause from the deck such as I never before had heard a boarder ship of peace. It recalled to my mind tales that I had read of the good old days when naval vessels were built to fight, when ships of peace had been man of war and guns had flashed in other than futile target practice, and decks had run red with blood. With the subsistence of the sea, we were able to go to work upon the damaged engines to some effect. And I also set men to examine the gravitation screen generators with a view to putting them in working order should it prove not beyond our resources. For two weeks we laboured at the engines, which indisputably showed evidence of having been tampered with. I appointed a board to investigate and report upon the disaster. But it accomplished nothing other than to convince me that there were several officers upon it who were in full sympathy with Johnson. For, though no charges had been preferred against him, the board went out of its way specifically to exonerate him in its findings. All this time we were drifting almost due east. The work upon the engines had progressed to such an extent that within a few hours we might expect to be able to proceed under our own power westward in the direction of Pan-American waters. To relieve the monotony, I had taken to fishing, and early that morning I had departed from the cold water in one of the boats on such an excursion. A gentle west wind was blowing. The sea shimmered in the sunlight. A cloudless sky canipid the west for our sport. As I had made it a point, never voluntarily, to make an inch toward the east that I could avoid. At least they should not be able to charge me with a willful violation of the deadline's regulation. I had with me only the boat's ordinary complement of men, three in all, and more than enough to handle any small powerboat. I had not asked any of my officers to accompany me, as I wished to be alone, and very glad I am now that I had not. My only regret is that, in view of what befell us, it had been necessary to bring the three brave fellows who manned the boat. Our fishing, which proved excellent, carried us so far to the west that we no longer could see the cold water. The day wore on, until at last about mid-afternoon I gave the order to return to the ship. We had proceeded but a short distance toward the east when one of the men gave an exclamation of excitement, at the same time pointing eastward. We all looked on in the direction he had indicated, and there, a short distance above the horizon, we saw the outlines of the cold water silhouetted against the sky. They have repaired the engines and the generators both, exclaimed one of the men. It seemed impossible, but yet it had evidently been done. Only that morning Lieutenant Johnson had told me that he feared that it would be impossible to repair the generators. I had put him in charge of this work, since he always had been accounted one of the best gravitation screen men in the Navy. He had invented several of the improvements that are incorporated in the later models of these generators, and I am convinced that he knows more concerning both the theory and the practice of screening gravitation than any living Pan-American. At the site of the cold water once more under control, the three men burst into a glad cheer. But for some reason which I could not then account, I was strangely overcome by a premonition of personal misfortune. It was not that I now anticipated an early return to Pan-America and a board of inquiry, for I had rather looked forward to the fight that must follow my return. No, there was something else, something indefinable and vague that cast a strange gloom upon me as I saw my ship rising farther above the water and making straight in our direction. I was not long in ascertaining a possible explanation of my depression. For though we were plainly visible from the bridge of the aero submarine and to the hundreds of men who swarmed her deck, the ship passed directly above us, not five hundred feet from the water and sped directly westward. We all shouted, and I fired my pistol to attract their attention, though I knew full well that all who cared to have observed us, but the ship moved steadily away, growing smaller and smaller to our view, until at last she passed completely out of sight. End of Chapter 1 Chapter 2 of The Lost Continent This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, recording by Lucy LaFaro. The Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burrows. Chapter 2 What could it mean? I had left Alvarez in command. He was my most loyal subordinate. It was absolutely beyond the pale of possibility that Alvarez should desert me. No, there was some other explanation. Something occurred to place my second officer, Porfirio Johnson, in command. I was sure of it, but why speculate? The futility of conjecture was only too palpable. The cold water had abandoned us in mid-ocean. Doubtless, none of us would survive to know why. The young man at the wheel of the powerboat had turned her nose about as it became evident that the ship intended passing over us, and now he still held her in futile pursuit of the cold water. Bring her about, Snyder, I directed, and hold her due east. We can't catch the cold water, and we can't cross the Atlantic in this. Our only hope lies in making the nearest land, which, unless I am mistaken, is the Silly Islands, off the south-west coast of England. Ever heard of England, Snyder? There's a part of the United States of North America that used to be known to the ancients as New England, he replied. Is that where you mean, sir? No, Snyder, I replied. The England I referred to was an island off the continent of Europe. It was the seat of a very powerful kingdom that flourished over 200 years ago. A part of the United States of North America and all of the Federated States of Canada once belonged to this ancient England. Europe breathed one of the men, his voice tense with excitement. My grandfather used to tell me stories of the world beyond 30. He had been a great student, and he had read much from forbidden books. In which I resemble your grandfather, I said, for I too have read more even than naval officers are supposed to read, and as you men know, we are permitted a greater latitude in the study of geography and history than men of other professions. Among the books and papers of Admiral Porter Turk who lived 200 years ago and from whom I am descended, many volumes still exist and are in my possession, which deal with the history and geography of ancient Europe. Usually I bring several of these books with me upon a cruise. And this time, among others, I have maps of Europe and her surrounding waters. I was studying them as we came away from the cold water this morning, and luckily I have them with me. You are going to try to make Europe, sir? Asked Taylor, the young man who had last spoken. It is the nearest land, I replied. I have always wanted to explore the forgotten lands of the eastern hemisphere. Here's our chance. To remain at sea is to perish. None of us ever will see home again. Let us make the best of it and enjoy while we do live that which is forbidden the balance of our race, the adventure and the mystery which lie beyond 30. Taylor and Delcarte seized the spirit of my mood, but Snyder, I think, was a trifle sceptical. It is treason, sir, I replied. But there is no law which compels us to visit punishment upon ourselves. Could we return to Pan America? I should be the first to insist that we face it. But we know that's not possible. Even if this craft would carry us so far, we haven't enough water or food for more than three days. We are doomed, Snyder, to die far from home and without ever again looking upon the face of another fellow countrymen than those who sit here now in this boat. Isn't that punishment sufficient for even the most exacting judge? Even Snyder had to admit that it was. Very well, then. Let us live while we live and enjoy to the fullest whatever of adventure or pleasure each new day brings, since any day may be our last and we shall be dead for a considerable while. I could see that Snyder was still fearful, but Taylor and Delcarte responded with a hearty, ay, ay, sir. They were of different mould. Both were sons of naval officers. They represented the aristocracy of birth, and they dared to think for themselves. Snyder was in the minority, and so we continued toward the east. Beyond Thirty and separated from my ship, my authority ceased. I held leadership, if I was to hold it at all, by virtue of personal qualifications only, but I did not doubt my ability to remain the director of our destinies insofar as they were amenable to human agencies. I have always led. While my brain and brawn remain unimpaired, I shall continue always to lead. Following is an art which Turks do not easily learn. It was not until the third day that we raised land, dead ahead, which I took from my map to be the isles of Silly. But such a gale was blowing that I did not dare attempt to land, and so we passed to the north of them, skirted land's end, and entered the English Channel. I think that up to that moment I had never experienced such a thrill as passed through me when I realised that I was navigating these historic waters. The lifelong dreams that I never had dared hope to see fulfilled were at last a reality. But under what forlorn circumstances never could I return to my native land to the end of my days I must remain in exile. Yet even these thoughts failed to dampen my ardour. My eyes scanned the waters. To the north I could see the rock-bound coast of Cornwall. Mine were the first American eyes to rest upon it for more than 200 years. In vain I searched for some sign of ancient commerce that if history is to be believed must have dotted the bosom of the Channel with white sails and blackened the heavens with the smoke of countless funnels. But as far as the eye could reach the tossing waters of the Channel were empty and deserted. Toward midnight the wind and sea abated so that shortly after dawn I determined to make inshore in an attempt to effect a landing for we were sadly in need of fresh water and food. According to my observations we were just off Ramhead and it was my intention to enter Plymouth Bay and visit Plymouth. From my map it appeared that this city lay back from the coast a short distance and there was another city given as Devonport which appeared to lie at the mouth of the river Tamar. However I knew that it would make little difference which city we entered as the English people were famed of old for their hospitality toward visiting mariners. As we approached the mouth of the bay I looked for the fishing craft which I expected to see emerging thus early in the day for their labours. But even after we rounded Ramhead and were well within the waters of the bay I saw no vessel. Neither was there boy nor light nor any other mark to show larger ships to the Channel and I wondered much at this. The coast was densely overgrown nor was any building or sign of man apparent from the water. Up the bay and into the river Tamar we motored through a solitude as unbroken as that which rested upon the waters of the Channel for all we could see. There was no indication that man had ever set his foot upon this silent coast. I was nonplussed and then for the first time there crept over me an intuition of the truth. He was no sign of war. As far as this portion of the Devon Coast was concerned that seemed to have been over for many years but neither were there any people. Yet I could not find it within myself to believe that I should find no inhabitants in England. Reasoning thus I discovered that it was improbable that a state of war still existed and that the people all had been drawn from this portion of England to some other where they might better defend themselves against an invader. But what of their ancient coast defences? What was there here in Plymouth Bay to prevent an army landing in force and marching where they wished? Nothing. I could not believe that any enlightened military nation such as the ancient English are reputed to have been would have voluntarily so deserted an exposed coast and an excellent harbour to the mercies of an enemy. I found myself becoming more and more deeply involved in quandary the puzzle which confronted me I could not unravel. We had landed and stood upon the spot where according to my map a large city should rear its spires and chimneys. There was nothing but rough broken ground covered densely with weeds and brambles and tall rank grass. Had a city ever stood there? No sign of it remained. The roughness and unevenness of the ground suggested something of a great mass of debris hidden by the accumulation of centuries of undergrowth. I drew the short cutlass with which both officers and men of the Navy are, as you know, armed out of courtesy to the traditions and memories of the past and with its point dug into the loam about the roots of the vegetation growing at my feet. The blade entered the soil for a matter of seven inches when it struck upon something stone-like. Digging about the obstacle I presently loosened it and when I had withdrawn it from its sepulchre I found the thing to be an ancient brick of clay baked in an oven. Delcart we had left in charge of the boat but Snyder and Taylor were with me and following my example each engaged in the fascinating sport of prospecting for antiques. Each of us uncovered a great number of these bricks until we commenced to weary of the monotony of it when Snyder suddenly gave an exclamation of excitement and as I turned to look he held up a human skull for my inspection. I took it from him and examined it directly in the centre of the forehead with a small round hole. The gentleman had evidently come to his end defending his country from an invader. Snyder again held aloft another trophy of the search a metal spike and some tarnished and corroded metal ornaments. They had lain close beside the skull. With the point of his cutlass Snyder scraped the dirt and verdigris from the face of the larger ornament. An inscription he said and handed the thing to me. They were the spike and ornaments of an ancient German helmet. Before long we had uncovered many other indications that a great battle had been fought upon the ground where we stood but I was then and still am had lost to account for the presence of German soldiers upon the English coast so far from London which history suggests would have been the natural goal of an invader. I can only account for it by assuming that either England was temporarily conquered by the Teutons or that an invasion of so vast proportions was undertaken that German troops were hurled upon the England coast in huge numbers and that landings were necessarily affected at many places simultaneously. Subsequent discoveries tend to strengthen this view. We dug about for a short time with our cutlasses until I became convinced that a city had stood upon the spot at some time in the past and that beneath our feet crumbled and dead lay ancient Devonport. I could not repress a sigh at the thought of the havoc war in this part of England at least. Far the east, nearer London we should find things very different. There would be the civilisation that two centuries must have wrought upon our English cousins as they had upon us. There would be mighty cities cultivated fields happy people. There we would be welcomed as long lost brothers. There would we find a great nation anxious to learn of the world beyond their side of 30 as I had been anxious to learn of that which lay beyond our side of the deadline. I turned back toward the boat. Come men I said we will go up the river and fill our casts with fresh water search for food and fuel and then tomorrow be in readiness to push on toward the east. I am going to London. End of Chapter 2 Chapter 3 of the Lost Continent This LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Lucy LaFaro The Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burroughs Chapter 3 The report of a gun blasted the silence of a dead Devonport with startling abruptness. It came from the direction of the launch and in an instant we three were running for the boat as fast as our legs would carry us. As we came inside of it we saw a delicat 100 yards inland from the launch leaning over something which lay upon the ground. As we called to him he waved his cap and stooping lifted a small deer for our inspection. I was about to congratulate him on his trophy when we were startled by a horrid half human half beastial scream a little ahead and to the right of us. It seemed to come from a clump of rank and tangled bush not far from where Delacorte stood. It was a horrid fearsome sound the like of which never had befallen upon my ears before. We looked in the direction from which it came. The smile had died from Delacorte's lips. Even at the distance we were from him I saw his face go suddenly white and he quickly threw his rifle to his shoulder. At the same moment the thing that had given tongue to the cry moved from the concealing brushwood far enough for us to see it. Both Taylor and Snyder gave little gas of astonishment and dismay. What is it sir? asked the latter. The creature stood about the height of a tall man's waist and was long and gaunt and signeous with a tawny coat striped with black and with wide throat and belly. In confirmation it was similar to a cat a huge cat exaggerated colossal cat with fiendish eyes and the most devilish cast of countenance as it wrinkled its bristling snout and bared its great yellow fangs. It was pacing or rather slinking straight for Delcorte who had now levelled his rifle upon it. What is it sir? mumbled Snyder again and then a half forgotten picture from an old natural history sprang to my mind and I recognised in the frightful beast the fearless Tigris of ancient Asia specimens of which had in former centuries been exhibited in the western hemisphere. Snyder and Taylor were armed with rifles and revolvers while I carried only a revolver. Seizing Snyder's rifle from his trembling hands I called to Taylor to follow me and together we ran forward shouting to attract the beast's attention from Delcorte until we should all be quite close enough to attack with the greatest assurance of success. I cried to Delcorte not to fire until we reached his side for I was fearful lest our small caliber steel-jacketed bullets should far from killing the beast tend merely to enrage it still further but he misunderstood me thinking that I had ordered him to fire. With the report of his rifle the Tigris stopped short in apparent surprise then turned and bit savagely at its shoulder for an instant after which it wheeled again toward Delcorte issuing the most terrific roars and screams and launched itself with incredible speed toward the brave fellow who now stood his ground pumping bullets from his automatic rifle as rapidly as the weapon would fire. Taylor and I also opened up on the creature and as it was broadside to us it offered a splendid target though for all the impression we appeared to make upon the great cat we might as well have been launching soap bubbles at it straight as a torpedo it rushed for Delcorte and as Taylor and I stumbled on through the tall grass toward our unfortunate comrade we saw the tiger rear upon him and crush him to the earth not a backward step had the noble Delcorte taken. Two hundred years of peace had not sapped the red blood from his courageous line he went down beneath that avalanche of bestial savagery still working his gun and with his face toward his antagonist even in the instant that I thought him dead I could not help but feel a thrill of pride that he was one of my men one of my class a pan-American gentleman of birth and that he had demonstrated one of the principal contentions of the army and navy adherents that military training was necessary for the salvation of personal courage in the pan-American race which for generations had had to face no dangers more grave than those incident to ordinary life in a highly civilised community safeguarded by every means at the disposal of a perfectly organised and all powerful government utilising the best that advanced science could suggest as we ran toward Delcorte both Taylor and I were struck by the fact that the beasts upon him appeared not to be mauling him but lay quiet and motionless upon its prey and when we were quite close and the muzzles of our guns were at the animals head I saw the explanation of this sudden cessation of hostilities fearless Tigris was dead one of our bullets or one of the last that Delcorte fired had penetrated the heart and the beast had died even as it sprawled forward crushing Delcorte to the ground a moment later with our assistance the man had scrambled from beneath the carcass of his would-be slayer without a scratch to indicate how close to death he had been Delcorte's buoyance was entirely unruffled he came from under the tiger with a broad grin on his handsome face nor could I perceive that a muscle trembled or that his voice showed the least indication of nervousness or excitement with the termination of the adventure we began to speculate upon the explanation of the presence of this savage brute at large so great a distance from its native habitat my readings had taught me that it was particularly unknown outside of Asia and that so late as the 20th century at least there had been no savage beasts outside captivity in England as we talked Snyder joined us and I returned his rifle to him Taylor and Delcorte picked up the slain deer and we all started down toward the launch walking slowly Delcorte wanted to fetch the tiger's skin but I had to deny him permission since we had no means to properly cure it upon the beach we skinned the deer and cut away as much meat as we thought we could dispose of and as we were again embarking to continue up the river for fresh water and fuel we were startled by a series of screams from the bushes a short distance away another fell as Tigris said Taylor or a dozen of them supplemented Delcorte and even as he spoke they leaped into sight one after another eight of the beasts full-grown magnificent specimens at the sight of us they came charging down like infuriated demons I saw that three rifles would be no match for them and so I gave the word to put out from shore hoping that the tiger as the ancients called him could not swim sure enough they all halted at the beach pacing back and forth uttering fiendish cries and glaring at us in the most malevolent manner as we motored away we presently heard the calls of similar animals far inland they seemed to be answering the cries of their fellows at the water's edge and from the wide distribution and great volume of the sound we came to the conclusion that enormous numbers of these beasts must roam the adjacent country they have eaten up the inhabitants I imagine you are right I agreed for their extreme boldness and fearlessness in the presence of man would suggest either that man is entirely unknown to them or that they are extremely familiar with him as their natural and most easily procured prey but where did they come from asked Delcorte could they have travelled here from Asia I shook my head the thing was a puzzle to me I knew that it was practically beyond reason to imagine that tigers had crossed the mountain ranges and rivers and all the great continent of Europe to travel this far from their native lairs and entirely impossible that they should have crossed the English Channel at all yet here they were and in great numbers we continued up the tamar several miles filled our casks and then landed to cook some of our de-steak and have the first square meal that had fallen to our lot since the cold water deserted us but scarce had we built our fire and prepared the meat for cooking than Snyder whose eyes had been constantly roving about the landscape from the moment that we left the launch touched me on the arm and pointed to a clump of bushes which grew a couple of hundred yards away half concealed behind their screening foliage I saw the yellow and black of a big tiger and as I looked the beast stalked majestically toward us a moment later he was followed by another and another and it is needless to state that we beat a hasty retreat to the launch the country was apparently infested by these huge carnivora for after three other attempts to land and cook our food we were forced to abandon the idea entirely as each time we were driven off by hunting tigers it was also equally impossible to obtain the necessary ingredients for our chemical fuel and as we had very little left aboard we determined to step our folding mast and proceed under sail hoarding our fuel supply for use in emergencies I may say that it was with no regret that we bit a Jew to Tigerland as we rechristened the ancient Devon and beating out into the channel turned to the launchers nose northeast to round bolt head and continue up the coast toward the strait of Dover and the North Sea I was determined to reach London as soon as possible that we might obtain fresh clothing meet with cultured people and learn from the lips of Englishmen the secrets of the two centuries since the East had been divorced from the West our first stopping place was the Isle of Wight we entered the Solent about ten o'clock one morning and I must confess that my heart sank as we came close to shore no lighthouse was visible though one was plainly indicated upon my map upon neither shore was sign of human habitation we skirted the northern shore of the island in fruitless search of man and then at last landed upon an eastern point where new ports should have stood but where only weeds and great trees and tangled wild wood rioted and not a single man-made thing was visible to the eye before landing I had the men substitute soft bullets for the steel-jacketed projectiles with which their belts and magazines were filled thus equipped we felt upon more even terms with the tigers but there was no sign of the tigers and I decided that they must be confined to the mainland after eating we set out in search of fuel leaving Taylor to guard the launch for some reason I could not trust Snyder alone I knew that he looked with disapproval upon my plan to visit England and I did not know but what at his first opportunity he might desert us taking the launch with him and attempt to return to Pan America that he would be full enough to venture it I did not doubt we had gone inland for a mile or more and were passing through a park like wood when we came suddenly upon the first human beings we had seen since we sighted the English coast there were a score of men in the party hairy half-naked men they were resting in the shade of a great tree at the first sight of us they sprang to their feet with wild gels seizing long spears that had lain beside them as they rested for a matter of fifty yards they ran from us as rapidly as they could and then they turned and surveyed us for a moment evidently emboldened by the scarcity of our numbers they commenced to advance upon us brandishing their spears and shouting horribly they were short and muscular of build with long hair and beards tangled and matted with filth their heads however were shapely and their eyes though fierce and warlike were intelligent appreciation of these physical attributes came later of course when I had better opportunity to study the men at close range and under circumstances less fraught with danger and excitement at the moment I saw and with unmixed wonder only a score of wild savages charging down upon us where I had expected to find a community of civilised and enlightened people each of us was armed with rifle, revolver and cutlass but as we stood shoulder to shoulder facing the wild men I was loath to give the command to fire upon them inflicting death or suffering upon strangers with whom we had no quarrel and so I attempted to restrain them for the moment that we might parley with them to this end I raised my left hand above my head with the palm toward them as the most natural gesture indicative of peaceful intentions which occurred to me at the same time I called aloud to them that we were friends though from their appearance there was nothing to indicate that they might understand Pan-American or ancient English which are of course practically identical at my gesture and words they ceased their shouting and came to a halt a few paces from us then in deep tones one who was in advance of the others and whom I took to be the chief or leader of the party replied in a tongue which while intelligible to us was so distorted from the English language from which it evidently had sprung that it was with difficulty that we interpreted it who are you he asked and from what country I told him that we were from Pan-America but he only shook his head and asked where that was he had never heard of it all of the Atlantic Ocean which I told him separated his country from mine it has been two hundred years I told him said to Pan-American visited England England he asked what is England why this is a part of England I exclaimed this is Group 10 he assured me I know nothing about England and I have lived here all my life it was not until long after that the derivation of Gruberton occurred to me unquestionably it is a corruption of Great Britain a name formally given to the large island comprising England, Scotland and Wales subsequently we heard it pronounced Grab Britain and Gruberton I then asked the fellow if he could direct us to Ride or Newport but again he shook his head and said that he never had heard of such countries and when I asked him if there were any cities in this country he did not know what I meant never having heard the word cities I explained my meanings as best I could by stating that by city I referred to a place where many people lived together in houses oh he exclaimed you mean a camp yes there are two great camps here East camp and West camp we are from East camp the use of the word camp to describe a collection of inhabitations naturally suggested war to me and my next question was as to whether the war was over and who had been victorious no he replied to this question the war is not yet over but it soon will be and it will end as it always does with the West Enders running away we the East Enders are always victorious no I said seeing that he referred to the petty tribal wars of his little island I mean the Great War the war with Germany is it ended and who was victorious he shook his head impatiently I never heard he said of any of the strange countries of which you speak it seemed incredible and yet it was true these people living at the very seat of the Great War knew nothing of it though but two centuries had passed since to our knowledge it had been running in the height of its titanic frightfulness all about them and to us upon the far side of the Atlantic still was a subject of keen interest he was a lifelong inhabitant of the Isle of Wight who never had heard of either Germany or England I turned to him quite suddenly with a new question what people live upon your mainland I asked and pointed in the direction of the Hatt's coast no one lives there he replied long ago it is said my people dwelt across the waters upon that other land but the wild beasts devoured them in such numbers that finally they were driven here paddling across upon logs and driftwood nor has any dead returned since because of the frightful creatures which dwell in that horrid country do no other peoples ever come to your country in ships I asked he never heard the word ship before and did not know its meaning but he assured me that until we came he had thought that there were no other peoples in the world other than the group Britons who consist of the East Enders and the West Enders of the ancient Isle of Wight assured that we were inclined to friendliness our new acquaintances led us to their village or as they called it camp there we found a thousand people perhaps dwelling in rude shelters and living upon the fruits of the chase and such seafood as is obtainable close to shore for they had no boats nor any knowledge of such things their weapons were most primitive consisting of rude spears tipped with pieces of metal pounded roughly into shape they had no literature no religion and recognised no law other than the law of might they produced fire by striking a bit of flint and steel together but for the most part they ate their food raw marriage is unknown among them and while they have the word mother they did not know what I meant by father the males fight for the favour of the females they practise infanticide and kill the aged and physically unfit the family consists of the mother and the children the men dwelling sometimes in one hut and sometimes in another owing to their bloody jewels they are always numerically inferior to the women so there is shelter for them all we spent several hours in the village where we were objects of the greatest curiosity the inhabitants examined our clothing and all our belongings and asked innumerable questions concerning the strange country from which we had come and the manner of our coming I questioned many of them concerning past historical events but they knew nothing beyond the narrow limits of their island and the savage primitive life they led there London they had never heard of and they assured me that I would find no human beings upon the mainland much saddened by what I had seen I took my departure from them and the three of us made our way back to the launch accompanied by about five hundred men women girls and boys as we sailed away after procuring the necessary ingredients of our chemical fuel the grubitons lined the shore in silent wonder at the strange sight of our dainty craft dancing over the sparkling waters and watched us until we were lost to their sight End of Chapter 3