 4 It was during the morning of July 6, 2137, that we entered the mouth of the Tams, to the best of my knowledge the first western keel to cut those historic waters for two hundred and twenty-one years. But where were the tugs and the lighters and the barges, the light ships and the boys, and all those countless attributes, which went to make up the myriad life of the ancient Tams? Gone, all gone, only silence and desolation reigned, where once the commerce of the world had centred. I could not help but compare this once great waterway with the waters about our New York or Rio or San Diego or Valparaiso. They had become what they are today during the two centuries of the profound peace which we of the Navy have been prone to deplore, and what during this same period had shorn the waters of the Tams of their pristine grandeur. Militarist that I am, I could find but a single word of explanation. War. I bowed my head and turned my eyes downward from the lonely and depressing sight, and in a silence which none of us seemed willing to break, we proceeded up the deserted river. We had reached a point which from my map I imagined must have been about the former sight of Errath, when I discovered a small band of antelope a short distance inland. As we were now entirely out of meat once more, and as I had given up all expectations of finding a city upon the side of ancient London, I determined to land and bag a couple of the animals. Assured that they would be timid and easily frightened, I decided to stalk them alone, telling the men to wait at the boat until I called to them to come and carry the carcasses back to the shore. Crawling carefully through the vegetation, making use of such trees and bushes as afforded shelter, I came at last almost within easy range of my quarry. When the antelode head of the buck went suddenly into the air, and then, as though in accordance with the pre-arranged signal, the whole band moved stately off farther inland. As their pace was leisurely, I determined to follow them until I came again within range, as I was sure that they would stop and feed in a short time. They must have led me a mile or more at least before they again halted and commenced to browse upon the rank luxuriant grasses. All the time that I had followed them, I had kept both eyes and ears alert for sign or sound that would indicate the presence of Phyllis Tigris, but so far not the slightest indication of the beast had been apparent. As I crept closer to the antelope, sure this time of a good shot at a large buck, I suddenly saw something that caused me to forget all about my prey in wonderment. It was the figure of an immense grey-black creature, rearing its colossal shoulders twelve or fourteen feet above the ground. Never in my life had I seen such a beast, nor did I at first recognise it. So different in appearance is the live reality from the stuffed unnatural specimens preserved to us in our museums. But presently I guessed the identity of the mighty creature as Elephus africanus, or as the ancients commonly described it, African elephant. The antelope, although in plain view of the huge beast, paid not the slightest attention to it, and I was so wrapped up in watching the mighty pachyderm that I quite forgot to shoot at the buck, and presently, and in quite a startling manner, it became impossible to do so. The elephant was browsing upon the young and tender shoots of some low bushes, waving his great ears and switching his short tail. The antelope, scarce twenty paces from him, continued their feeding, when suddenly, from close behind the latter, there came a most terrifying roar, and I saw a great tourney body shoot from the concealing verdure beyond the antelope, full upon the back of a small buck. Instantly the scene changed from one of quiet and peace to indescribable chaos. The startled and terrified buck uttered cries of agony. His fellows broke and leapt off in all directions. The elephant raised his trunk, and, trumpeting loudly, lumbered off through the wood, crushing down small trees and trampling bushes in his mad flight. Growling horribly, a huge lion stood across the body of his prey, such a creature as no Pan-American of the twenty second century had ever beheld until my eyes rested upon this lordly specimen of the king of beasts. But what a different creature was this fierce-eyed demon, palpitating with life and vigor, glossy of coat, alert, growling, magnificent, from the dingy, moth-eaten replicas beneath their glass cases in the stuffy halls of our public museums. I had never hoped or expected to see a living lion, tiger or elephant, using the common terms that were familiar to the ancients, since they seemed to me less unwieldy than those now in general use among us. And so it was, with sentiments not unmixed with awe, that I stood gazing at this regal beast as above the carcass of his skill. He roared out his challenge to the world. So enthralled was I by the spectacle that I quite forgot myself, and the better to view him, the great lion, I had risen to my feet and stood not fifty paces from him in full view. For a moment he did not see me, his attention being directed toward the retreating elephant, and I had ample time to face my eyes upon his splendid proportions, his great head and his thick black mane. Ah, what thoughts passed through my mind in those brief moments as I stood there in rapt fascination. I had come to find a wondrous civilisation, and instead I found a wild beast monarch of the realm where English kings had ruled. A lion reigned, undisturbed, within a few miles of the seat of one of the greatest governments the world has ever known, his domain a howling wilderness, where yesterday fell the shadows of the largest city in the world. It was appalling, but my reflections upon this depressing subject were doomed to sudden extinction. The lion had discovered me. For an instant he stood silent and motionless as one of the mangy effigies at home, but only for an instant. Then, with the most ferocious roar, and without the slightest hesitancy or warning, he charged upon me. He forsook the prey already dead beneath him for the pleasure of the delectable tidbit man. From the remorselessness with which the great carnivora of modern England hunted men, I am constrained to believe that whatever their appetites in times past they have cultivated a gruesome taste for human flesh. As I threw my rifle to my shoulder I thanked God, the ancient God of my ancestors, that I had replaced the hard jacketed bullets in my weapon with soft nose projectiles. For though this was my first experience with Phyllis Leo, I knew the moment that I faced that charge, that even my wonderfully perfected firearm would be as futile as a peace shooter, unless I chanced to place my first bullet in a vital spot. Unless you had seen it you could not believe credible the speed of a charging lion. Apparently the animal is not built for speed, nor can he maintain it for long. But for a matter of forty or fifty yards there is, I believe, no animal on earth that can overtake him. Like a bolt he bore down upon me, but fortunately for me I did not lose my head. I guessed that no bullet would kill him instantly. I doubted that I could pierce his skull. There was hope, though, in finding his heart through his exposed chest, or better yet, of breaking his shoulder or foreleg and bringing him up long enough to pump more bullets into him and finish him. I covered his left shoulder and pulled the trigger as he was almost upon me. It stopped him. With a terrific howl of pain and rage the brute rolled over and over upon the ground almost to my feet. As he came I pumped two more bullets into him, and as he struggled to rise, clawing viciously at me, I put a bullet in his spine. That finished him, and I am free to admit that I was mighty glad of it. There was a grey tree close behind me, and stepping within its shade I leaned against it, wiping the perspiration from my face, for the day was hot, and the exertion and excitement left me exhausted. I stood there, resting for a moment, preparatory to turning and retracing my steps to the launch, when, without warning, something whizzed through space straight toward me. There was a dull thud of impact as it struck the tree. And as I dodged to one side and turned to look at the thing I saw a heavy spear embedded in the wood not three inches from where my head had been. The thing had come from a little to one side of me, and without waiting to investigate at the instant, I leapt behind the tree, and, circling it, peered around to the other side to get a sight of my would-be murderer. This time I was pitted against men. The spear told me that all too plainly, but so long as they didn't take me unawares or from behind, I had little fear of them. Cautiously I edged about the far side of the trees, until I could obtain a view of the spot from which the spear must have come. And when I did, I saw the head of a man just emerging from behind a bush. The fellow was quite similar in type to those I had seen upon the Isle of Wight. He was hairy and unkempt, and as he finally stepped into view, I saw that he was garbed in the same primitive fashion. He stood for a moment gazing about in search of me, and then he advanced. As he did so, a number of others precisely like him stepped from the concealing verdure of nearby bushes and followed in his wake. Keeping the trees between them and me, I ran back a short distance until I found a clump of underbrush. That would effectively conceal me, for I wished to discover the strength of the party and its armament before attempting to parlay with it. The useless destruction of any of these poor creatures was the farthest idea from my mind. I should have liked to have spoken with them, but I did not care to risk having to use my high-powered rifle upon them other than in the last extremity. Once in my new place of concealment, I watched them as they approached the tree. There were about 30 men in the party and one woman, a girl whose hands seemed to be bound behind her and who was being pulled along by two of the men. They came forward wearily, peering cautiously into every bush and halting often. At the body of the lion they paused, and I could see from their gesticulations and the higher pitch of their voices that they were much excited over my kill. But presently they resumed their search for me, and as they advanced I became suddenly aware of the unnecessary brutality with which the girls' guards were treating her. She stumbled once, not far from my place of concealment, and after the balance of the party had passed me, as she did so one of the men at her side jerked her roughly to her feet and struck her across the mouth with his fist. Instantly my blood boiled, and forgetting every consideration of caution, I leapt from my concealment, and springing to the man's side felt him with a blow. So unexpected had been my act, that it found him and his fellow unprepared, but instantly the latter drew the knife that protruded from his belt and lunged viciously at me, at the same time giving voice to a wild cry of alarm. The girl shrank back at side of me, her eyes wide in astonishment, and then my antagonist was upon me. I parried his first blow with my forearm, at the same time delivering a powerful blow to his jaw that sent him reeling back, but he was at me again in an instant. Though in the brief interim I had time to draw my revolver. I saw his companion crawling slowly to his feet, and the others of the party racing down upon me. There was no time to argue now, other than with the weapons we wore, and so as the fellow lunged at me again with the wicked-looking knife I covered his heart and pulled the trigger. Without a sound he slipped to the earth, and then I turned the weapon upon the other guard who was now about to attack me. He too collapsed, and I was alone with the astonished girl. The balance of the party was some twenty paces from us, but coming rapidly. I seized her arm and drew her after me behind a nearby tree, for I had seen that with both their comrades down the others were preparing to launch their spears. With the girls safe behind the tree I stepped out in sight of the advancing foe, shouting to them that I was no enemy and that they should halt and listen to me. But for answer they only yelled in derision and launched a couple of spears at me, both of which missed. I saw then that I must fight, yet still I hated to slay them, and it was only as a final resort that I dropped two of them with my rifle, bringing the others to a temporary halt. Again I appealed to them to desist, but they only mistook my solicitude for them for fear, and with shouts of rage and derision leapt forward once again to overwhelm me. It was now quite evident that I must punish them severely, or myself die and relinquish the girl once more to her captors. Neither of these things had I the slightest notion of doing. And so I again stepped from behind the tree, and with all the care and deliberation of target practice I commenced picking off the foremost of my assailants. One by one the wild men dropped. Yet on came the others, fierce and vengeful, until only a few remaining. These seemed to realise the futility of combating my modern weapon with their primitive spears, and still howling rawfully withdrew toward the West. Now for the first time I had an opportunity to turn my attention toward the girl, who had stood silent and motionless behind me as I pumped death into my enemies, and hers from my automatic rifle. She was of medium height, well formed, and with fine clear-cut features. Her forehead was high, and her eyes both intelligent and beautiful. Exposure to the sun had browned a smooth and velvety skin to a shade which seemed to enhance rather than maw an altogether lovely picture of youthful femininity. A trace of apprehension marked her expression. I cannot call it fear, since I have learned to know her, and astonishment was still apparent in her eyes. She stood quite erect, her hands still bound behind her, and met my gaze with level, proud return. What language do you speak? I asked. Do you understand mine? Yes, she replied. It is similar to my own. I am Grabritan. What are you? I am Pan-American, I answered. She shook her head. What is that? I pointed toward the west, far away across the ocean. Her expression altered a trifle. A slight frown contracted her brow. The expression of apprehension deepened. Take off your cap, she said, and when, to humour her strange request, I did as she bid, she appeared relieved. Then she edged to one side and leaned over, seemingly to peer behind me. I turned quickly to see what she discovered, but finding nothing wealed about to see that her expression once once more altered. You are not from there? And she pointed toward the east. It was a half-question. You are not from across the water there? No, I assured her. I am from Pan-America, far away to the west. Have you ever heard of Pan-America? She shook her head in negation. I do not care where you come from, she explained. If you are not from there, and I am sure you are not, for the men from there have horns and tails. It was with difficulty that I restrained a smile. Who are the men from there? I asked. They are bad men, she replied. Some of my people do not believe that there are such creatures. But we have a legend, a very old, old legend, that once the men from there came across to Great Britain. They came upon the water, and under the water, and even in the air. They came in great numbers, so that they rolled across the land like a great gray fog. They brought with them thunder and lightning, and smoke that killed, and they fell upon us, and slew our people by the thousands, and the hundreds of thousands. But at last we drove them back to the water's edge, back into the sea, where many were drowned. Some escaped, and these our people followed. Men, women, and even children. We followed them back. That is all. The legend says our people never returned. Maybe they were all killed. Maybe they are still there. But this also is in the legend, that as we drove the men back across the water, they swore that they would return, and that when they left our shores, they would leave no human being alive behind them. I was afraid that you were from there. By what name were these men called? I asked. We call them only the men from there, she replied, pointing toward the east. I have never heard that they had another name. In the light of what I knew of ancient history, it was not difficult for me to guess the nationality of those she described simply as the men from over there. But what utter and appalling devastation the Great War must have wrought to have erased not only every sign of civilization from the face of this great land, but even the name of the enemy from the knowledge and language of the people. I could only account for it on the hypothesis that the country had been entirely depopulated except for a few scattered and forgotten children who, in some marvellous manner, had been preserved by Providence to repopulate the land. These children had, doubtless, been too young to retain in their memories to transmit to their children any but the vaguest suggestion of the cataclysm which had overwhelmed their parents. Professor Corteran, since my return to Pan America, has suggested another theory which is not entirely without claim to serious consideration. He points out that it is quite beyond the pale of human instinct to desert little children as my theory suggests the ancient English must have done. He is more inclined to believe that the expulsion of the foe from England was synchronous with widespread victories by the allies upon the continent, and that the people of England merely emigrated from their ruined cities and their devastated, blood-drenched fields to the mainland, in the hope of finding, in the domain of the conquered enemy, cities and farms which would replace those they had lost. The learned professor assumes that while a long continued war had strengthened rather than weakened the instinct of paternal devotion it had also doled other humanitarian instincts and raised to the first magnitude the law of the survival of the fittest with the result that when the exodus took place the strong the intelligent and the cunning together with their offspring crossed the waters of the channel or the North Sea to the continent leaving in unhappy England only the helpless inmates of asylums for the feeble-minded and insane. My objections to this that the present inhabitants of England are mentally fit and could therefore not have descended from an ancestry of undiluted lunacy he brushes aside with the assertion that insanity is not necessarily hereditary and that even though it was in many cases a return to natural conditions from the state of high civilization, which is thought to have induced mental disease in the ancient world would after several generations have thoroughly expunged every trace of the affliction from the brains and nerves of the descendants of the original maniacs. Personally I did not place much stock in Professor Quateron's theory though I admit that I am prejudiced. Naturally one does not care to believe that the object of his greatest affection is descended from a gibbering idiot and a raving maniac. But I am forgetting the continuity of my narrative a continuity which I desire to maintain though I fear that I shall often be led astray so numerous and varied are the bypass of speculation which lead from the present day story of the grabitons into the mysterious past of their forebears. As I stood talking with the girl I presently recollected that she still was bound and with a word of apology I drew my knife and cut the raw hide thongs which confined her wrists at her back. She thanked me and with such a sweet smile that I should have been amply repaid by it for a much more arduous service. And now I said let me accompany you to your home and see you safely again under the protection of your friends. No she said with a hint of alarm in her voice you must not come with me Buckingham will kill you. Buckingham the name was famous in ancient English history. Its survival with many other illustrious names is one of the strongest arguments in refutal of Professor Cortrins's theory. Yet it opens no new doors to the past and on the whole rather adds two than dissipates the mystery. And who is Buckingham I asked and why should he wish to kill me? He would think that you had stolen me she replied and as he wishes me for himself he will kill any other whom he thinks desires me. He killed Wetton a few days ago my mother told me once that Wetton was my father he was king now Buckingham is king. Here evidently were a people slightly superior to those of the Isle of Wight these must have at least the rudiments of civilised government since they recognised one among them as ruler with the title King. Also they retained the word father. The girl's pronunciation while far from identical with ours was much closer than the tortured dialect of the Eastinders of the Isle of Wight. The longer I talked with her the more hopeful I became of finding here among her people some records or traditions which might assist in clearing up the historic enigma of the past two centuries. I asked her if we were far from the city of London but she did not know what I meant when I tried to explain describing mighty buildings of stone and brick broad avenues parks palaces and countless people she but shook her head sadly. There is no such place nearby she said only the camp of the lions has places of stone where the beasts lay but there are no people in the camp of the lions who would dare go there and she shuddered the camp of the lions are repeated and where is that and what it is there she said pointing up the river toward the west I've seen it from a great distance but I have never been there we are much afraid of the lions for this is their country and they are angry that man has come to live here far away there and she pointed toward the southwest is the island of tigers which is even worse than this the land of the lions for the tigers are more numerous than the lions and hungrier for human flesh there were tigers here long ago but both the lions and the men set upon them and drove them off where did these savage beasts come from I asked ah she replied they have been here always it is their country do they not kill and eat your people I asked often when we meet them by accident and we are too few to slay them or when one goes too close to their camp but seldom do they hunt us for they find what food they need among the deer and wild cattle and too we make them gifts for are we not intruders in their country really we live upon good terms with them though I should not care to meet one where there not many spears in my party I should like to visit this camp of the lions I said oh no you must not cried the girl that would be terrible they would eat you for a moment then she seemed lost in thought but presently she turned upon me with you must go now for any minute Buckingham may come in search of me long since should they have learnt that I am gone from the camp they watch over me very closely and they will set out after me go I shall wait here until they come in search of me no I told her I'll not leave you alone in a land infested by lions and other wild beasts if you won't let me go as far as your camp with you then I'll wait here until they come in search of you please go she begged you have saved me and I would save you but nothing will save you if Buckingham gets his hands on you he is a bad man he wishes to have me for his woman so that he may be king he would kill anyone who befriended me for fear that I might become another's didn't you say that Buckingham is already the king I asked he is he took my mother for his woman after he had killed Wetton but my mother will die soon she is very old and then the man to whom I belong will become king finally after much questioning I got the thing through my head it appears that the line of descent is through the women a man is merely head of his wife's family that is all if she chances to be the oldest female member of the royal house he is king very naively the girl explained that there was seldom any doubt as to whom a child's mother was this accounted for the girl's importance in the community and for Buckingham's anxiety to claim her though she told me that she did not wish to become his woman for he was a bad man and would make a bad king but he was powerful and there was no other man who dared dispute his wishes why not come with me I suggested if you do not wish to become Buckingham's where would you take me she asked where indeed I had not thought of that but before I could reply to her question she shook her head and said no I cannot leave my people I must stay and do my best even if Buckingham gets me but you must go at once do not wait until it is too late the lions have had no offering for a long time and Buckingham would seize upon the first stranger as a gift to them I did not perfectly understand what she meant and was about to ask her when a heavy body leapt upon me from behind and great arms encircled my neck I struggled to free myself and turn upon my antagonist but in another instant I was overwhelmed by a half dozen powerful half-naked men while a score of others surrounded me a couple of whom seized the girl I fought as best I could for my liberty and for hers but the weight of numbers was too great though I had the satisfaction at least of giving them a good fight when they had overpowered me and I stood my hands bound behind me at the girl's side she gazed commiseratingly at me it is too bad that you did not do as I bid you she said for now it has happened just as I feared Buckingham has you which is Buckingham I asked I am Buckingham growled a burly unwashed brute swaggering trusently before me and who are you who would have stolen my woman the girl spoke up then and tried to explain that I had not stolen her but on the contrary I had saved her from the men from the elephant country who were carrying her away Buckingham only sneered at her explanation and a moment later gave the command that started us all off toward the west we marched for a matter of an hour or so coming at last to a collection of rude huts fashioned from branches of trees covered with skins and grasses and sometimes plastered with mud all about the camp they had erected a wall of saplings pointed at the tops and fire hardened this palisade was a protection against both man and beasts and within it dwelt upward of 2 000 persons the shelters being built very close together and sometimes partially underground like deep trenches with the poles and hides above merely as protection from the sun and rain the older part of the camp consisted almost wholly of trenches as though this had been the original form of dwellings which was slowly giving way to the drier and area surface domiciles in these trench habitations I saw a survival of the military trenches which formed so famous a part of the operation of the warring nations during the 20th century the women wore a single light disk in about their hips for it was summer and quite warm the men too were clothed in a single garment usually the pelt of some beast of prey the hair of both men and women was confined by a raw hide thong passing about the forehead and tied behind in this leaven band were suck feathers flowers or the tails of small mammals all wore necklaces of the teeth or claws of wild beasts and there were numerous metal wristlets and anklets among them they wore in fact every indication of a most primitive people a race which had not yet risen to the heights of agriculture or even the possession of domestic animals they were hunters the lowest plane in the evolution of the human race of which science takes cognizance and yet as I looked at their well-shaped heads their handsome features and their intelligent eyes it was difficult to believe that I was not among my own it was only when I took into consideration their mode of living their scant apparel the lack of every leased luxury among them that I was forced to admit that they were in truth but ignorant savages Buckingham had relieved me of my weapons though he had not the slightest idea of their purpose or uses and when we reached the camp he exhibited both me and my arms with every indication of pride in this great capture the inhabitants flocked around me examining my clothing and exclaiming in wonderment at each new discovery of button buckle pocket and flap it seemed incredible that such a thing could be almost within a stone's throw of the spot where but a brief two centuries before had stood the greatest city of the world they bound me to a small tree that grew in the middle of one of their crooked streets but the girl they released as soon as we had entered the enclosure the people greeted her with every mark of respect as she hastened to a large hut near the centre of the camp presently she returned with a fine-looking white-haired woman who proved to be her mother the older woman carried herself with a regal dignity that seemed quite remarkable in a place of such primitive squalor the people fell aside as she approached making a wide way for her and her daughter when they had come near and stopped before me the older woman addressed me my daughter has told me she said of the manner in which you rescued her from the men of the elephant country if Wetton lived you would be well treated but Buckingham has taken me now and is king you can hope for nothing from such a beast as Buckingham the fact that Buckingham stood within a pace of us and was an interested listener appeared not to temper her expressions in the slightest Buckingham is a pig she continued he is a coward he came upon Wetton from behind and ran his spear through him he will not be king for long someone will make a face at him and he will run away and jump into the river the people began to titter and clap their hands Buckingham became red in the face it was evident that he was far for popular if he dared went on the old lady he would kill me now but he does not dare he is too great a coward if i could help you i should gladly do so but i am only queen the vehicle that has helped carry down unsullied the royal blood from the days when Grebritten was a mighty country the old queen's words had a noticeable effect upon the mob of curious savages which surrounded me the moment they discovered that the old queen was friendly to me and that i had rescued her daughter they commenced to accord me a more friendly interest and i heard many words spoken in my behalf and demands were made that i not be harmed but now Buckingham interfered he had no intention of being robbed of his prey blustering and storming he ordered the people back to their huts at the same time directing two of his warriors to confine me in a dugout in one of the trenches close to his own shelter here they threw me upon the ground binding my ankles together and trusting them up to my wrists behind there they left me lying upon my stomach a most uncomfortable and strained position to which was added the pain where the cords cut into my flesh just a few days ago my mind had been filled with the anticipation of the friendly welcome i should find among the cultured englishmen of london today i should be sitting in the place of honor at the banquet board of one of london's most exclusive clubs fettered and lionized the actuality here i lay bound hand and foot doubtless almost upon the very sight of a part of ancient london yet all about me was a primeval wilderness and i was a captive of half-naked wild men i wondered what had become of delcarte and taylor and snyder would they search for me they could never find me i feared yet if they did what could they accomplish against this horde of savage warriors would that i could warn them i thought of the girl doubtless she could get word to them but how was i to communicate with her would she come to see me before i was killed it seemed incredible that she should not make some slight attempt to befriend me yet as i recalled she had made no effort to speak with me after we had reached the village she had hastened to her mother the moment she had been liberated though she had returned with the old queen she had not spoken to me even then i began to have my doubts finally i came to the conclusion that i was absolutely friendless except for the old queen for some unaccountable reason my rage against the girl for her ingratitude rose to colossal proportions for a long time i waited for someone to come to my prison whom i might ask to bear word to the queen but i seemed to have been forgotten the strained position in which i lay became unbearable i wriggled and twisted until i managed to turn myself partially upon my side where i lay half facing the entrance to the dugout presently my attention was attracted by the shadow of something moving in the trench without and a moment later the figure of a child appeared creeping upon all fours as wide-eyed and prompted by childish curiosity a little girl crawled to the entrance of my hut and peered cautiously and fearfully in i did not speak at first for fear of frightening the little one away but when i was satisfied that her eyes had become sufficiently accustomed to the subdued light of the interior i smiled instantly the expression of fear faded from her eyes to be replaced with an answering smile who are you little girl i asked my name is mary she replied i am victory sister and who is victory you do not know who victory is she asked in astonishment i shook my head in negation you saved her from the elephant country people and yet you say you do not know her she exclaimed oh so she is victory and you are her sister i have not heard her name before that is why i did not know whom you met i explained he was just the messenger for me fate was becoming more kind will you do something for me mary i asked if i can go to your mother the queen and ask her to come to me i said i have a favor to ask she said that she would and with a parting smile she left me for what seemed many hours i awaited her return chafing with impatience the afternoon war on and night came and yet no one came near me my captors brought me neither food nor water i was suffering considerable pain where the raw hide thongs cut into my swollen flesh i thought that they had either forgotten me or that it was their intention to leave me here to die of starvation once i heard a great uproar in the village men were shouting women were screaming and moaning after a time this subsided and again there was a long interval of silence half the night must have been spent when i heard a sound in the trench near the hut it resembled muffled sobs presently a figure appeared silhouetted against the lesser darkness beyond the doorway it crept inside the hut are you here whispered the childlike voice it was mary she had returned the thongs no longer hurt me the pangs of hunger and thirst disappeared i realized that it had been loneliness from which i suffered most mary i exclaimed you are a good girl you have come back after all i had commenced to think that you would not did you give my message to the queen will she come where is she the girl sobs increased and she flung herself upon the dirt floor of the hut apparently overcome by grief what is it i asked why did you cry the queen my mother will not come to you she said between sobs she is dead bucking him has killed her now he will take victory for victory is queen he kept us fastened up in our shelter for fear that victory would escape him but i dug a hole beneath the back wall and got out i came to you because you saved victory once before and i thought that you might save her again and me also tell me that you will i am bound and helpless mary i replied otherwise i would do what i could to save you and your sister i will set you free cried the girl creeping up to my side i will set you free and then you may come and slay buckingham gladly i assented we must hurry she went on as she fumbled with the hard knots in the stiffened raw hide for buckingham will be after you soon he must make an offering to the lions at dawn before he can take victory the taking of a queen requires a human offering and i am to be the offering i asked yes she said tugging at a knot buckingham has been wanting a sacrifice ever since he killed wetten that he might slay my mother and take victory the thought was horrible not solely because of the hideous fate to which i was condemned but from the contemplation it engendered of the sad decadence of a once enlightened race to these depths of ignorance brutality and superstition had the vaunted civilization of 20th century england been plunged and by what war i felt the structure of our time honored militaristic arguments crumbling about me mary labored with the thongs that confined me they proved refractory defying her tender childish fingers she assured me however that she would release me if they did not come too soon but alas they came we heard them coming down the trench and i bade mary hide in a corner lest she be discovered and punished there was not else she could do and so she crawled away into the stygian blackness behind me presently two warriors entered the leader exhibited a unique method of discovering my whereabouts in the darkness he advanced slowly kicking out viciously before him finally he kicked me in the face then he knew where i was a moment later i had been jerked roughly to my feet one of the fellows stopped and severed the bonds that held my ankles i could scarcely stand alone the two pulled and hauled me through the low doorway and along the trench a party of 40 or 50 warriors were awaiting us at the brink of the excavation some hundred yards from the hut hands were lowered to us and we were dragged to the surface then commenced a long march we stumbled through the underbrush wet with dew our way lighted by a score of torchbearers who surrounded us but the torches were not to light the way that was but incidental they were carried to keep off the huge carnivora that moaned and coughed and roared about us the noises were hideous the whole country seemed alive with lions yellow green eyes blazed wickedly at us from out the surrounding darkness my escort carried long heavy spears these they kept ever pointed toward the beast of prey and i learned from snatches of the conversation i overheard that occasionally there might be a lion who would brave even the terrors afire to leap in upon human prey it was for such that the spears were always couched but nothing of the sort occurred during this hideous death march and with the first pale heralding of dawn we reached our goal an open place in the midst of a tangled wildwood here rose in crumbling grandeur the first evidences i had seen of the ancient civilization which once had graced fair albion a single time-worn ark of masonry the entrance to the camp of the lions moment one of the party in a voice husky with awe hear the party knelt while buckingham recited a weird prayer-like chant it was rather long and i recall only a portion of it which ran if my memory serves me somewhat as follows lord of grebritan we fall on our knees to thee this gift to bring greatest of kings are thou to thee we humbly bow peace to our camp allow god save thee king then the party rose and dragging me to the crumbling ark made me fast to a huge corroded copper ring which was dangling from an eyeball embedded in the masonry none of them not even buckingham seemed to feel any personal animosity toward me they were naturally rough and brutal as primitive men are supposed to have been since the dawn of humanity but they did not go out of their way to maltreat me with the coming of dawn the number of lions about us seemed to have greatly diminished at least they made less noise and as buckingham and his party disappeared into the woods leaving me alone to my terrible fate i could hear the grumblings and growlings of the beasts diminishing with the sound of the chant which the party still continued it appeared that the lions had failed to note that i had been left for their breakfast and had followed off after their worshipers instead but i knew the reprieve would be but for a short time and though i had no wish to die i must confess that i rather wish the ordeal over and the peace of oblivion upon me the voices of the men and the lions receded in the distance until finally quiet reigned about me broken only by the sweet voices of birds and the sighing of the summer wind in the trees it seemed impossible to believe that in this peaceful woodland setting the frightful thing was to occur which must come with the passing of the next lion who chanced within sight or smell of the crumbling ark i straved to tear myself loose from my bonds but succeeded only in tightening them about my arms then i remained passive for a long time letting the scenes of my lifetime pass in review before my mind's eye i try to imagine the astonishment incredulity and horror with which my family and friends would be overwhelmed if for an instant space could be annihilated and they could see me at the gates of london the gates of london where was the multitude hurrying to the marts of trade after a night of pleasure or rest where was the clang of tram car gongs the screech of motorhorns the vast murmur of a dense throng where were they and as i asked the question alone gaunt lion strode from the tangled jungle upon the far side of the clearing majestically and noiselessly upon his padded feet the king of beasts moves slowly toward the gates of london and toward me was i afraid i fear that i was almost afraid i know that i thought that fear was coming to me and so i straightened up and squared my shoulders and looked the lion straight in the eyes and waited it is not a nice way to die alone with one's hands fast bound beneath the fangs and talons of a beast of prey no it is not a nice way to die not a pretty way the lion was halfway across the clearing when i heard a slight sound behind me the great cat stopped in his tracks he lashed his tail against his sides now instead of simply twitching its tip and his low moan became a thunderous roar as i crammed my neck to catch a glimpse of the thing that had aroused the fury of the beast before me it sprang through the arch gateway and was at my side with parted lips and heaving bosom and disheveled hair a bronze and lovely vision to eyes that had never harbored hope of rescue it was victory and in her arms she clutched my rifle and revolver a long knife was in the dough skin belt that supported the dough skin skirt tightly about her lithe limbs she dropped my weapons at my feet and snatching the knife from its resting place severed the bonds that held me i was free and the lion was preparing to charge run i cried to the girl as i bent and seized my rifle but she only stood there at my side her bed blade ready in her hand the lion was bounding toward us now in prodigious sleeps i raised the rifle and fired it was a lucky shot for i had no time to aim carefully and when the beast crumpled and rolled lifeless to the ground i went upon my knees and gave thanks to the god of my ancestors and still upon my knees i turned and taking the girl's hand in mine i kissed it she smiled at that and laid her other hand upon my head you have strange customs in your country she said i could not but smile at that when i thought how strange it would seem to my countrymen could they but see me kneeling there on the site of london kissing the hand of england's queen and now i said as i rose you must return to the safety of your camp i will go with you until you are near enough to continue alone in safety then i shall try to return to my comrades i will not return to the camp she replied but what shall you do i do not know only i shall never go back while buckingham lives i should rather die than go back to him Mary came to me after they had taken you from the camp and told me i found your strange weapons and followed with them it took me a little longer for often i had to hide in the trees that the lions might not get me but i came in time and now you are free to go back to your friends and leave you here i exclaimed she nodded but i could see through all her brave front that she was frightened at the thought i could not leave her of course but what in the world was i to do numbered with the care of a young woman and a queen at that i was at a loss to know i pointed out that phase of it to her but she only shrugged her shapely shoulders and pointed to her knife it was evident that she felt entirely competent to protect herself as we stood there we heard the sound of voices they were coming from the forest through which we had passed when we had come from camp they are searching for me said the girl where shall we hide i didn't relish hiding but when i thought of the innumerable dangers which surrounded us and the comparatively small amount of ammunition that i had with me i hesitated to provoke a battle with Buckingham and his warriors when by flight i could avoid them and preserve my cartridges against emergencies which could not be escaped would they follow us there i asked pointing through the archway into the camp of the lions never she replied for in the first place they would know that we would not dare go there and in the second they themselves would not dare then we shall take refuge in the camp of the lions i said she shuddered and drew closer to me you dare she asked why not i returned we shall be safe from Buckingham and you have seen for the second time in two days that lions are harmless before my weapons then too i can find my friends easiest in this direction for the river Tams runs through this place you call the camp of the lions and it is farther down the Tams that my friends are awaiting me do you not dare come with me i dare follow wherever you lead she answered simply and so i turned and passed beneath the great arch into the city of london end of chapter four chapter five of the lost continent this LibriVox recording is in the public domain the lost continent by Edgar Rice Burroughs chapter five as we enter deeper into what had once been the city the evidences of man's past occupancy became more frequent for a mile from the arch there was only a riot of weeds and undergrowth and trees covering small mounds and little hillocks that i was sure were formed of the ruins of stately buildings of the dead past but presently we came upon a district where shattered walls still raised their crumbling tops in sad silence above the grass-grown sepulchres of their fallen fellows softened and mellowed by ancient ivy stood these sentinels of sorrow their sacred faces still revealing the redness and gashes of shrapnel and of bomb contrary to our expectations we found little indication that lions in any great numbers led in this part of ancient london well-worn pathways molded by padded pores led through the cavernous windows or doorways of a few of the ruins we passed and once we saw the savage face of a great black mained lion scowling down upon us from a shattered stone balcony we followed down the bank of the Thames after we came upon it i was anxious to look with my own eyes upon the famous bridge and i guessed too that the river would lead me into the part of london where stood west minster abbey and the tower realizing that the section through which we had been passing was doubtless outlying and therefore not so built up with large structures as the more centrally located part of the old town i felt sure that farther down the river i should find the ruins larger the bridge would be there in part at least and so would remain the walls of many of the great edifices of the past there would be no such complete ruin of large structures as i had seen among the smaller buildings but when i had come to that part of the city which i judged to have contained the relics i thought i found havoc that had been wrought there even greater than elsewhere at one point upon the bosom of the Thames there rises a few feet above the water a single disintegrating mound of masonry opposite it upon either bank of the river a tumbled piles of ruins overgrown with vegetation these i am forced to believe are all that remain of london bridge for nowhere else along the river is there any other slightest sign of peer or abutment rounding the base of a large pile of grass covered debris we came suddenly upon the best preserved ruin we had yet discovered the entire lowest story and part of the second story of what must once have been a splendid public building rose from a great knoll of shrubbery and trees while ivy thick and luxuriant clambered upward to the summit of the broken walls in many places the gray stone was still exposed its smoothly chiseled face pitted with the scars of battle the massive portal yawned somber and sorrowful before us giving a glimpse of marble halls within the temptation to enter was too great i wish to explore the interior of this one remaining monument of civilization now dead beyond recall through this same portal within these very marble halls had gray and chamberlain and kitchener and shore perhaps come and gone with the other great ones of the past i took victory's hand in mine come i said i do not know the name by which this great pile was known nor the purposes it fulfilled it may have been the palace of your size victory from some great throne within your forebests may have directed the destinies of half the world come i must confess to a feeling of awe as we entered the rotunda of the great building pieces of massive furniture of another day still stored where man had placed them centuries ago they were littered with dust and broken stone and plaster but otherwise so perfect was their preservation i could hardly believe that two centuries had rolled by since human eyes were last set upon them through one great room after another we wandered hand in hand while victory asked many questions and for the first time i began to realise something of the magnificence and power of the race from whose loins she had sprung splendid tapestries now mildewed and rotting hung upon the walls there were mural paintings too depicting great historic events of the past for the first time victory saw the likeness of a horse and she was much affected by a huge oil which depicted some ancient cavalry charge against a battery of field guns in other pictures there were steam ships battleships submarines and quaint looking railway trains all small and antiquated in appearance to me but wonderful to victory she told me that she would like to remain for the rest of her life where she could look at those pictures daily from room to room we passed until presently we emerged into a mighty chamber dark and gloomy for its high and narrow windows were choked and clogged by ivy along one paneled wall we groped our eyes slowly becoming accustomed to the darkness a rank and pungent odor pervaded the atmosphere we had made our way about half the distance across one end of the great apartment when a low growl from the far end brought us to a startled halt straining my eyes through the gloom i made out a raised dais at the extreme opposite end of the hall upon the dais stood two great chairs high backed and with great arms the throne of england but what were those strange forms about it victory gave my hand a quick excited little squeeze the lions she whispered yes lions indeed sprawled about the dais were a dozen huge forms while upon the seat of one of the thrones a small cub lay curled in slumber as we stood there for a moment spellbound by the sight of those fearsome creatures occupying the very thrones of the sovereigns of england the low growl was repeated and a great male rose slowly to his feet his devilish eyes bored straight through the semi-darkness toward us had he discovered the interloper what right had man within this palace of the beasts again he opened his giant jaws and this time their rumbled forth a warning roar instantly eight or ten of the other beasts leapt to their feet already the great fellow who had spied us was advancing slowly in our direction i held my rifle ready but how futile it appeared in the face of this savage horde the foremost beast broke into a slow trot and at his heels came the others all were roaring now and the din of their great voices reverberating through the halls and corridors of the palace formed the most frightful chorus of thunderous savagery imaginable to the mind of man and then the leader charged and upon the hideous pandemonium broke the sharp crack of my rifle once twice thrice three lions rolled struggling and biting to the floor victory seized my arm with a quick this way here is a door and a moment later we were in a tiny antechamber at the foot of a narrow stone staircase up this way backed victory just behind me as the first of the remaining lions leapt from the throne room and sprang for the stairs again a fire but others of the ferocious beasts leapt over their fallen fellows and pursued us the stairs were very narrow that was all that saved us for as i backed slowly upward but a single lion could attack me at a time and the carcasses of those i slew impeded the rushes of the others at last we reached the top there was a long corridor from which opened many doorways one directly behind us was tight closed if we could open it and pass into the chamber behind we might find a respite from attack the remaining lions were roaring horribly i saw one sneaking very slowly up the stairs toward us try that door i called to victory see if it will open she ran up to it and pushed turn the knob i cried seeing that she did not know how to open a door but neither did she know what i meant by knob i put a bullet in the spine of the approaching lion and leapt to victory side the door resisted my first efforts to swing it inward rusted hinges and swollen wood held it tightly closed but at last it gave and just as another lion mounted to the top of the stairway it swung in and i pushed victory across the threshold then i turned to meet the renewed attack of the savage foe one lion fell in his tracks another stumbled to my very feet and then i leapt within and slammed the portal to a quick glance showed me that this was the only door to the small apartment in which we had found sanctuary and with a sigh of relief i leaned for a moment against the panels of the stout barrier that separated us from the rampaging demons without across the room between two windows stood a flat top desk a little pile of white and brown lay upon it close to the opposite edge after a moment of rest across the room to investigate the white was the bleached human bones the skull collar bones arms and a few of the upper ribs of a man the brown was the dust of a decayed military cap and blouse in a chair before the desk were other bones while more still strewed the floor beneath the desk and about the chair the man had died sitting there with his face buried in his arms 200 years ago beneath the desk were a pair of spurred military boots green and rotten with decay in them were the leg bones of a man among the tiny bones of the hands was an ancient fountain pen as good apparently as the day it was made and a metal covered memorandabook closed over the bones of an index finger it was a gruesome sight a pitiful sight this lone inhabitant of mighty london i picked up the metal covered memorandabook its pages were rotten and stuck together only here and there was a sentence or a part of a sentence legible the first that i could read was near the middle of the little volume his majesty left for tumbridge wells today he jesty was stricken today god give she does not die and military governor of london and further on it is awful hundred deaths today worse than the bomb bottom nearer the end i picked out the following i promised his match he will find me here when he read alone the most legible passage was on the next page thank god we drove them out there is not a single man on british soil today but at what awful cost i tried to persuade sir philip to urge the people to remain but they are mad with fear of the death and rage at our enemies he tells me that the coast cities are packed waiting to be taken across what will become of england with none left to rebuild her shattered cities and the last entry alone only the wild beasts a lion is roaring now beneath the palace windows i think the people feared the beasts even more than they did the death but they are gone all gone and to what how much better conditions will they find on the continent all gone only i remain i promised his majesty and when he returns he will find that i was true to my trust for i shall be awaiting him god save the king that was all this brave and forever nameless officer died nobly at his post true to his country and his king it was the death no doubt that took him some of the entries had been dated from the few legible letters and figures which remained i judged the end came sometime in august 1937 but of that i am not at all certain the diary has cleared up at least one mystery that had puzzled me not a little and now i am surprised that i had not guessed its solution myself the presence of african and asiatic beasts in england acclimated by years of confinement in the zoological gardens they were fitted to resume in england the wild existence for which nature had intended them and once free had evidently bred prolifically in marked contrast to the captive exotics of 20th century pan america which had gradually become fewer until extinction occurred sometime during the 21st century the palace if such it was lay not far from the banks of the thames the room in which we were imprisoned overlooked the river and i determined to attempt to escape in this direction to descend through the palace was out of the question but outside we could discover no lions the stems of the ivy which clambered upward past the window of the room were as large around as my arm i knew that they would support our weight and as we could gain nothing by remaining longer in the palace i decided to descend by way of the ivy and follow along down the river in the direction of the launch naturally i was much handicapped by the presence of the girl but i could not abandon her though i had no idea what i should do with her after rejoining my companions that she would prove a burden and an embarrassment i was certain but she had made it equally plain to me that she would never return to her people to mate with buckingham i owed my life to her and all other considerations aside that was sufficient demand upon my gratitude and my honor to necessitate my suffering every inconvenience in her service two she was queen of england but by far the most potent argument in her favor she was a woman in distress and a young and very beautiful one and so though i wished a thousand times that she was back in her camp i never let her guess it but did all that lay within my power to serve and protect her i thank god now that i did so with the lion still padding back and forth beyond the closed door victory and i crossed the room to one of the windows i had outlined my plan to her and she had assured me that she could descend the ivy without assistance in fact she smiled a trifle at my question swinging myself outward i began the descent and had come to within a few feet of the ground being just opposite a narrow window when i was startled by a savage growl almost in my ear and then a great talent poor darted from the aperture to seize me and i saw the snarling face of a lion within the embrasure releasing my hold upon the ivy i dropped the remaining distance to the ground saved from laceration only because the lion's paw struck the thick stem of ivy the creature was making a frightful racket now leaping back and forth from the floor at the broad window ledge tearing at the masonry with his claws in vain attempts to reach me but the opening was too narrow and the masonry too solid victory had commenced the descent but i called to her to stop just above the window and as the lion reappeared growling and snarling i put a 33 bullet in his face and at the same moment victory slipped quickly past him dropping into my upraised arms that were awaiting her the roaring of the beast that had discovered us together with the report of my rifle had set the balance of the fierce inmates of the palace into the most frightful uproar i had ever heard i feared that it would not belong before intelligence or instinct would draw them from the interiors and set them upon our trail the river nor had we much more than reached it when a lion bounded around the corner of the edifice we had just quitted and stood looking about as though in search of us following came others while victory and i crouched in hiding behind a clump of bushes close to the bank of the river the beast sniffed about the ground for a while but they did not chance to go near the post where we had stood beneath the window that had given us escape presently a black maned male raised his head and with cocktails and glaring eyes gazed straight at the bush behind which we lay i could have sworn that he had discovered us and when he took a few short and stately steps in our direction i raised my rifle and covered him but after a long tense moment he looked away and turned to glare in another direction i breathed a sigh of relief and so did victory i could feel her body quiver as she lay pressed close to me our cheeks almost touching as we both peered through the same small opening in the foliage i turned to give her a reassuring smile as the lion indicated that he had not seen us and as i did so she too turned her face toward mine for the same purpose doubtless anyway as our heads turned simultaneously our lips brushed together a startled expression came into victory's eyes as she drew back in evident confusion as for me the stranger sensation that i have ever experienced claimed me for an instant a peculiar tingling thrill ran through my veins and my head swam i could not account for it naturally being a naval officer and consequently in the best society of the federation i have seen much of women with others i have laughed at the assertions of the savants that modern man is a cold and passionless creation in comparison with the males of former ages in a world that love as the one grand passion had ceased to exist i do not know now but that they were more nearly right than we have guessed at least in so far as modern civilized woman is concerned i have kissed many women young and beautiful and middle-aged and old and many that i had no business kissing but never before had i experienced that remarkable and altogether delightful thrill that followed the accidental brushing of my lips against the lips of victory the occurrence interested me and i was tempted to experiment further but when i would have essayed it another new and entirely unaccountable force restrained me for the first time in my life i felt embarrassment in the presence of a woman what further might have developed i cannot say for at that moment a perfect she-devil of a lioness with keener eyes than her lord and master discovered us she came trotting toward our place of concealment growling and bearing her yellow fangs i waited for an instant hoping that i might be mistaken and that she would turn off in some other direction but no she increased her truck to a gallop and then i fired at her but the bullet though it struck her full in the breast didn't stop her screaming with pain and rage the creature fairly flew toward us behind her came other lions our case looked hopeless we were upon the brink of the river there seemed no avenue of escape and i knew that even my modern automatic rifle was inadequate in the face of so many of these fierce beasts to remain where we were would have been suicidal we were both standing now victory keeping her place bravely at my side when i reached the only decision open to me seizing the girl's hand i turned just as the lioness crashed into the opposite side of the bushes and dragging victory after me leapt over the edge of the bank into the river i did not know that lions are not fond of water nor did i know if victory could swim but death immediate and terrible stared us in the face if we remained and so i took the chance at this point the current ran close to the shore so that we were immediately in deep water and to my intense satisfaction victory struck out with a strong overhand stroke and set all my fears on her account at rest but my relief was short-lived that lioness as i have said before was a veritable devil she stood for a moment glaring at us then like a shot she sprang into the river and swam swiftly after us victory was a length ahead of me swim for the other shore i called to her i was much impeded by my rifle having to swim with one hand while i clung to my precious weapon with the other girl had seen the lioness take to the water and she had also seen that i was swimming much more slowly than she and what did she do she started to drop back to my side go on i cried make for the other shore and then follow down until you find my friends tell them that i sent you and with orders that they are to protect you go on go on but she only waited until we were again swimming side by side and i saw that she had drawn her long knife and was holding it between her teeth do as i tell you i said to her sharply but she shook her head the lioness was overhauling us rapidly she was swimming silently her chin just touching the water but blood was streaming from between her lips it was evident that her lungs were pierced she was almost upon me i saw that in a moment she would take me under her forepaws or seize me in those great jaws i felt that my time had come but i meant to die fighting and so i turned and treading water raised my rifle above my head and awaited her victory animated by a bravery no less ferocious than that of the dumb beast assailing us swam straight for me it all happened so swiftly that i cannot recall the details of the kaleidoscopic action which ensued i knew that i rose high out of the water and with clubbed rifle dealt the animal a terrific blow upon the skull that i saw victory her long blade flashing in her hand close striking upon the beast that a great poor fell upon her shoulder and that i was swept beneath the surface of the water like a straw before the prowl of a freighter still clinging to my rifle i rose again to see the lioness struggling in her death rows but an arms length from me scarcely had i risen then the beast turned upon her side struggled frantically for an instant and then sank end of chapter five chapter six of the lost continent this LibriVox recording is in the public domain the lost continent by Edgar Rice Burrows chapter six victory was nowhere in sight alone i floated upon the bosom of the Tams in that brief instant i believe that i suffered more mental anguish than i have crowded into all the balance of my life before or since a few hours before i had been wishing that i might be rid of her and now that she was gone i would have given my life to have her back again wearily i turned to swim about the spot where she had disappeared hoping that she might rise once at least and i would be given the opportunity to save her and as i turned the water boiled before my face and her head shot up before me i was on the point of striking out to seize her when a happy smile illuminated her features you are not dead she cried i have been searching the bottom for you i was sure that the blow she gave you must have disabled you and she glanced about for the lioness she has gone she asked dead i replied the blow you struck her with the thing you call rifle stunned her she explained and then i swam in close enough to get my knife into her heart ah such a girl i could not but wonder what one of our own pan-american women would have done under like circumstances but then of course they have not been trained by stern necessity to cope with the emergencies and dangers of savage primeval life along the bank we had just quitted a score of lions paced to and fro growling menacingly we could not return and we struck out for the opposite shore i am a strong swimmer and had no doubt as to my ability to cross the river but i was not so sure about victory so i swam close behind her to be ready to give her assistance should she need it she did not however reaching the opposite bank as fresh apparently as when she entered the water victory is a wonder every day that we were together brought new proofs of it nor was it her courage or vitality only which amazes me she had a head on those shapely shoulders of hers and dignity my but she could be regal when she chose she told me that the lions were fewer upon this side of the river but that there were many wolves running in great packs later in the year now they were north somewhere and we should have little to fear from them though we might meet with a few my first concern was to take my weapons apart and dry them which was rather difficult in the face of the fact that every rag about me was drenched but finally thanks to the sun and much rubbing i succeeded though i had no oil to lubricate them we ate some wild berries and roots that victory found and then we set off again down the river keeping an eye open for game on one side and the launch on the other for i thought that delcarte who would be the natural leader during my absence might run up the tams in search of me the balance of that day we sought in vain for game or for the launch and when night came we lay down our stomachs empty to sleep beneath the stars we were entirely unprotected from attack from wild beasts and for this reason i remained awake most of the night on guard but nothing approached us though i could hear the lions roaring across the river and once i thought i heard the howl of a beast north of us it might have been a wolf altogether it was a most unpleasant night and i determined then that if we were forced to sleep out again that i should provide some sort of shelter which would protect us from attack while we slept toward morning i dozed and the sun was well up when victory aroused me by gently shaking my shoulder antelope she whispered in my ear and as i raised my head she pointed up river crawling to my knees i looked in the direction she indicated to see a buck standing upon a little knoll some 200 yards from us there was good cover between the animal and me and so though i might have hit him at 200 yards i preferred to crawl closer to him and make sure of the meat we both so craved i had covered about 50 yard of the distance and the beast was still feeding peacefully so i thought that i would make even sure of a hit by going ahead another 50 yards when the animal suddenly raised his head and looked away up river his whole attitude proclaimed that he was startled by something beyond him that i could not see realizing that he might break and run and that i should then probably miss him entirely i raised my rifle to my shoulder but even as i did so the animal leapt into the air and simultaneously there was a sound of a shot from beyond the knoll for an instant i was dumbfounded had the report come from downriver i should have instantly thought that one of my own men had fired but coming from up river it puzzled me considerably who could there be with firearms in primitive england other than we of the cold water victory was directly behind me and i motioned for her to lie down as i did behind the bush from which i had been upon the point of firing at the antelope we could see that the buck was quite dead and from our hiding place we waited to discover the identity of his slayer when the latter should approach and claim his kill we had not long to wait and when i saw the head and shoulders of a man appear above the crest of the knoll i sprang to my feet with a heartfelt cry of joy for it was delkat at the sound of my voice delkat half raised his rifle in readiness for the attack of an enemy but a moment later he recognized me and was coming rapidly to meet us behind him was snider they both were astounded to see me upon the north bank of the river and much more so at the sight of my companion then i introduced them to victory and told them that she was queen of england they thought at first that i was joking but when i had recounted my adventures and they realized that i was in earnest they believed me they told me that they had followed me in shore when i had not returned from the hunt that they had met the men of the elephant country and had had a short and one sighted battle with the fellows and that afterwards they had returned to the launch with a prisoner from whom they had learnt that i had probably been captured by the men of the lion country with the prisoner as a guide they had set off upriver in search of me but had been much delayed by motor trouble and had finally camped after dark a half mile above the spot where victory and i had spent the night they must have passed us in the dark and why i did not hear the sound of the propeller i do not know unless it passed me at a time when the lions were making an unusually ear splitting din upon the opposite side taking the antelope with us we all returned to the launch where we found taylor as delighted to see me alive again as delcarte had been i cannot say truthfully that snider evanced much enthusiasm at my rescue taylor had found the ingredients for chemical fuel and the distilling of them had with the motor trouble accounted for their delay in setting out after me the prisoner that delcarte and snider had taken was a powerful young fellow from the elephant country notwithstanding the fact that they had all assured him to the contrary he still could not believe that we would not kill him he assured us that his name was 36 and as he could not count above 10 i am sure that he had no conception of the correct meaning of the word and that it may have been handed down to him either from the military number of an ancestor who had served in the english ranks during the great war or that originally it was the number of some famous regiment with which a forebear fought now that we were reunited we held a council to determine what course we should pursue in the immediate future snider was still for setting out to see and returning to pan america but the better judgment of delcarte and taylor ridiculed the suggestion we should not have lived a fortnight to remain in england constantly menaced by wild beasts and men equally as wild seemed about as bad i suggested that we cross the channel and ascertain if we could not discover a more enlightened and civilized people upon the continent i was sure that some trace of the ancient culture and greatness of europe must remain germany probably would be much as it was during the 20th century for in common with most pan americans i was positive that germany had been victorious in the great war snider demured at the suggestion he said that it was bad enough to have come this far he did not want to make it worse by going to the continent the outcome of it was that i finally lost my patience and told him that from then on he would do what i thought best that i proposed to assume command of the party and that they might all consider themselves under my orders as much so as though we were still aboard the cold water and in pan american waters delcarte and taylor immediately assured me that they had not for an instant assumed anything different and that they were as ready to follow and obey me here as they would be upon the other side of thirty snider said nothing but he wore a sullen scale and i wish then as i had before and as i did to a much greater extent later that fate had not decreed that he should have chance to be a member of the launchers party upon that memorable day when last we quitted the cold water victory who was given a voice in our councils was all for going to the continent or anywhere else in fact where she might see new sites and experience new adventures afterward we can come back to grebritan she said and if buckingham is not dead and we can catch him away from his men and kill him then i can return to my people and we can all live in peace and happiness she spoke of killing buckingham with no greater concern than one might evidence in the contemplated destruction of a sheep yet she was neither cruel nor vindictive in fact victory is a very sweet and womanly woman but human life is a small account beyond thirty a legacy from the bloody days when thousands of men perished in the trenches between the rising and the setting of a sun when they laid them lengthwise in these same trenches and sprinkled dirt over them when the germans courted their corpses like wood and set fire to them when women and children and old men were butchered and great passenger ships were torpedoed without warning thirty six finally assured that we did not intend slaying him was as keen to accompany us as was victory the crossing to the continent was uneventful its monotony being relieved however by the childish delight of victory and thirty six in the novel experience of riding safely upon the bosom of the water and of being so far from land with the possible exception of snider the little party appeared in the best of spirits laughing and joking or interestingly discussing the possibilities which the future held for us what we should find upon the continent and whether the inhabitants would be civilized or barbarian peoples victory asked me to explain the difference between the two and when i had tried to do so as clearly as possible she broke into a gay little laugh oh she cried then i am a barbarian i could not but laugh too as i admitted that she was indeed a barbarian she was not offended taking the matter as a huge joke but sometime thereafter she sat in silence apparently deep in thought finally she looked up at me her strong white teeth gleaming behind her smiling lips should you take that thing you call razor she said and cut the hair from the face of thirty six and exchanged garments with him you would be the barbarian and thirty six the civilized man there is no other difference between you except your weapons clothe you in a wolf's skin give you a knife and a spear and set you down in the woods of grabritan of what service would your civilization be to you delca and taylor smiled at her reply but thirty six and snyder laughed uproariously i was not surprised at thirty six but i thought that snyder laughed louder than the occasion warranted as a matter of fact snyder it seemed to me was taking advantage of every opportunity however slight to show in subordination and i determined then that at the first real breach of discipline i should take action that would remind snyder even after that i was still his commanding officer i could not help but notice that his eyes were much upon victory and i did not like it for i knew the type of man he was but as it would not be necessary ever to leave the girl alone with him i felt no apprehension for her safety after the incident of the discussion of barbarians i thought that victory's manner toward me changed perceptibly she held aloof from me and when snyder took his turn at the wheel sat beside him upon the pretext that she wished to learn how to steer the launch i wondered if she had guessed the man's antipathy for me and was seeking his company solely for the purpose of peaking me snyder was too taking full advantage of his opportunity often he leaned toward the girl to whisper in her ear and he laughed much which was unusual with snyder of course it was nothing at all to me yet for some unaccountable reason the sight of the two of them sitting there so close to one another and seeming to be enjoying each other's society to such a degree irritated me tremendously and put me in such a bad humor that i took no pleasure whatsoever in the last few hours of the crossing we aimed to land near the site of ancient austen but when we neared the coast we discovered no indication of any human habitations whatever let alone a city after we had landed we'd found the same howling wilderness about us that we had discovered on the british isle there was no slightest indication that civilized man had ever set afoot upon that portion of the continent of europe although i had feared as much since our experience in england i could not but own to a feeling of marked disappointment and to the gravest fears of the future which induced a mental depression that was in no way dissipated by the continued familiarity between victory and snyder i was angry with myself that i permitted that matter to affect me as it had i did not wish to admit to myself that i was angry with this uncultured little savage that it made the slightest difference to me what she did or what she did not do or that i could so lower myself as to feel personal enmity toward a common sailor and yet to be honest i was doing both finding nothing to detain us about the spot where austen once had stood we set out up the coast in search of the mouth of the river rine which i purposed ascending in search of civilized man it was my intention to explore the rine as far up as the launch would take us if we found no civilization there we would return to the north sea continue up the coast to the elb and follow that river and the canals of berlin here at least i was sure that we should find what we sought and if not then all europe had reverted to barbarism the weather remained fine and we made excellent progress but everywhere along the rine we met with the same disappointment no sign of civilized man in fact no sign of man at all i was not enjoying the exploration of modern europe as i had anticipated i was unhappy victory seemed changed too i had enjoyed her company at first but since the trip across the channel i had held a loop from her her chin was in the air most of the time and yet i rather think that she regretted her friendliness with snider for i noticed that she avoided him entirely he on the contrary and boldened by her former friendliness sought every opportunity to be near her i should have liked nothing better than a reasonably good excuse to punch his head yet paradoxically i was ashamed of myself for harboring him any ill will i realized that there was something the matter with me but i did not know what it was matters remained thus for several days and we continued our journey up the rine at cologne i had hoped to find some reassuring indications but there was no cologne and as there had been no other cities along the river up to that point the devastation was infinitely greater than time alone could have wrought great guns bombs and mines must have levelled every building that man had raised and then nature unhindered had covered the ghastly evidence of human depravity with her beautyous mantle of verdure splendid trees reared their stately tops where splendid cathedral once had read their domes and sweet wildflowers blossomed in simple serenity in soil that once was drenched with human blood nature had reclaimed what man had once stolen from her and defiled a herd of zebras grazed her once the german kaiser may have reviewed his troops an antelope rested peacefully in a bed of daisies where perhaps 200 years ago a big gun belched its terra-laden messages of death of hate of destruction against the works of man and god alike we were in need of fresh meat yet i hesitated to shatter the quiet and peaceful serenity of the view with the crack of a rifle and the death of one of those beautiful creatures before us but it had to be done we must eat i left the work to delkhart however and in a moment we had two antelope and the landscape to ourselves after eating we boarded the launch and continued up the river for two days we passed through a primeval wilderness in the afternoon of the second day we landed upon the west bank of the river and leaving snider and 36 to guard victory and the launch delkhart taylor and i set out after game we tramped away from the river for upwards of an hour before discovering anything and then only a small red deer which taylor brought down with a neat shot of 200 yards it was getting too late to proceed farther so we rigged a sling and the two men carried the deer back toward the launch while i walked 100 yards ahead in the hope of bagging something further for our larder we had covered about half the distance to the river when i suddenly came face to face with a man he was as primitive and uncouth in appearance as the grebritons a shaggy unkempt savage clothed in a shirt of skin cured with the head on the latter surmounting his own head to form a bonnet and giving to him a most fearful and ferocious aspect the fellow was armed with a long spear and a club the latter dangling down his back from a leavened thong about his neck his feet were encased in hide sandals outside of me he halted for an instant then turned and dove into the forest and though i called reassuringly to him in english he did not return nor did i again see him the sight of the wild man raised my hopes once more that elsewhere we might find men in a higher state of civilization it was the society of civilized man that i craved and so with a lighter heart i continued on toward the river and the launch i was still some distance ahead of delcott and taylor when i came in sight of the rhine again but i came to the water's edge before i noticed that anything was amiss with the party we had left there a few hours before my first intimation of disaster was the absence of the launch from its former moorings and then a moment later i discovered the body of a man lying upon the bank running toward it i saw that it was 36 as i stopped and raised the grebiton's head in my arms i heard a faint moan break from his lips he was not dead but that he was badly injured was all too evident delcott and taylor came up a moment later and the three of us worked over the fellow hoping to revive him that he might tell us what had happened and what had become of the others my first thought was prompted by the sight i had recently had of the savage native the little party had evidently been surprised and in the attack 36 had been wounded and the others taken prisoners the thought was almost like a physical blow in the face it stunned me victory in the hands of these abysmal brutes it was frightful i almost took poor 36 in my efforts to revive him i explained my theory to the others and then delcott shattered it by a single movement of the hand he drew aside the lion's skin that covered half of the grebiton's breast revealing a neat round hole in 36's chest a hole that could have been made by no other weapon than a rifle snider i exclaimed delcott nodded at about the same time the eyelids of the wounded man fluttered and raised he looked up at us and very slowly the light of consciousness returned to his eyes what happened 36 i asked him he tried to reply but the effort caused him to cough bringing about a hemorrhage of the lungs and again he fell back exhausted for several long minutes he lay as one dead then in an almost inaudible whisper he spoke snider he paused tried to speak again raised his hand and pointed downriver they went back and then he shuddered convulsively and died none of us voiced his belief but i think they were all alike victory and snider had stolen the launch and deserted us end of chapter six