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01 - Out of Time's Abyss - Edgar Rice Burroughs · Classic Sci Fi Books - Daily

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Speaker 1: Chapter one. This is the tale of Bradley. After he
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Speaker 1: left Fort Dinosaur, upon the west coast of the Great
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Speaker 1: Lake that is in the center of the island. Upon
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Speaker 1: the fourth day of September nineteen sixteen, he set out
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Speaker 1: with four companions, Sinclair, Brady, James and Tippett, to search
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Speaker 1: along the base of the Barrier cliffs for a point
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Speaker 1: at which they might be scaled through the heavy Caspakian
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Speaker 1: air beneath the swollen sun. The five men marched northwest
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Speaker 1: from Fort Dinosaur, now waist deep in lush jungle grasses,
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Speaker 1: starred with myriad gorgeous blooms, now across open meadow land
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Speaker 1: and park like expanses, and again plunging into dense forests
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Speaker 1: of eucalyptus s and acacia and giant Arboreus ferns, with
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Speaker 1: feathered fronds waving gently a hundred feet above their heads.
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Speaker 1: About them. Upon the ground, among the trees and in
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Speaker 1: the air over them, moved and swamp, ung and swored
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Speaker 1: the countless forms of cast Back's teeming life. Always were
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Speaker 1: they menaced by some frightful thing, and seldom were their
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Speaker 1: rifles cool. Yet even in the brief time they had
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Speaker 1: dwelt upon Caprona. They had become callous to danger, so
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Speaker 1: that they swung along, laughing and chatting like soldiers on
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Speaker 1: a summer high. This reminds me of South Clark Street,
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Speaker 1: remarked Brady, who had once served on the traffic squad
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Speaker 1: in Chicago, and as no one asked him why he volunteered.
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Speaker 1: That it was because it's no place for an irishman.
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Speaker 1: South Clark Street and Heaven have something in common, then,
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Speaker 1: suggested Sinclair. James and Tippett laughed, and then a hideous
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Speaker 1: growl broke from a dense thicket ahead and diverted their
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Speaker 1: attention to other matters, one of them behemous a bole eret,
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Speaker 1: muttered Tippett. As they came to a halt, and with
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Speaker 1: guns ready, awaited the almost inevitable charge. Hungry lot of beggars, these,
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Speaker 1: said Bradley, always trying to eat everything they see. For
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Speaker 1: a moment, no further sound came from the thicket. He
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Speaker 1: may be feeding, now, suggested Bradley. We'll try to go
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Speaker 1: around him. Contwaiste, ammunition won't last forever. Follow me, and
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Speaker 1: he set off at right angles to their former course,
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Speaker 1: hoping to avert a charge. They had taken a dozen
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Speaker 1: steps perhaps, when the thicket moved to the advance of
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Speaker 1: the thing within it. The leafy branches parted, and the
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Speaker 1: hideous head of a gigantic bear emerged. Pick your trees,
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Speaker 1: whispered Bradley, kant waste ammunition. The men looked about them.
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Speaker 1: The bear took a couple of steps forward, still growling menacingly,
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Speaker 1: he was exposed to the shoulders. Now Tippet took one
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Speaker 1: look at the monster and bolted for the nearest tree.
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Speaker 1: And then the bear charges. He charged straight for Tippet.
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Speaker 1: The other men scattered for the various trees they had selected,
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Speaker 1: all except Bradley. He stood watching Tippet and the bear.
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Speaker 1: The man had a good start, and the tree was
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Speaker 1: not far away, but the speed of the enormous creature
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Speaker 1: behind him was something to marvel at. Yet Tippet was
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Speaker 1: in a fair way to make his sanctuary when his
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Speaker 1: foot caught in a tangle of roots, and down he went,
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Speaker 1: his rifle flying from his hand and falling several yards away.
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Speaker 1: Instantly Bradley's piece was at his shoulder. There was a
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Speaker 1: sharp report, answered by a roar of mingled rage and
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Speaker 1: pain from the carnivore. Tippet attempted to scramble to his feet,
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Speaker 1: lie still, shouted Bradley, contwaiste ammunition. The bear halted in
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Speaker 1: its tracks, wheeled toward Bradley, and then back again toward Tippet. Again.
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Speaker 1: The former's rifle spit angrily, and the bear turned again
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Speaker 1: in his direction. Bradley shouted loudly, come on you, Behemeth
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Speaker 1: of Holy writ. He cried, come on you duffer contwate ammunition.
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Speaker 1: And as he saw the bear apparently upon the verge
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Speaker 1: of deciding to charge him, he encouraged the idea by
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Speaker 1: backing rapidly away, knowing that an angry beast will more
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Speaker 1: often charge one who moves than one who lies still.
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Speaker 1: And the bear did charge. Like a bolt of lightning.
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Speaker 1: He flashed down upon the Englishman, Now run, Bradley called
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Speaker 1: a tippet and himself turned in flight toward a near
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Speaker 1: by tree. The other men, now safely asconced upon various branches,
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Speaker 1: watched the race with breathless interest. Would Bradley make it?
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Speaker 1: It seemed scarce possible. And if he didn't, James gasped
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Speaker 1: at the thought. Six feet at the shoulders stood the
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Speaker 1: frightful mountain of blood mad flesh and bone and sinew
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Speaker 1: that was bearing down with the speed of an express
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Speaker 1: train upon the seemingly slow moving man. It all happened
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Speaker 1: in a few seconds, but they were seconds that seemed
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Speaker 1: like hours to the men who watched. They saw Tippet
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Speaker 1: leap to his feet at Bradley's shouted warning. They saw
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Speaker 1: him run, stooping to recover his rifle as he passed
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Speaker 1: the spot where it had fallen. They saw him glance
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Speaker 1: back toward Bradley, and then they saw him stop short
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Speaker 1: of the tree that might have given him safety, and
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Speaker 1: turned back in the direction of the bear, firing as
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Speaker 1: he ran. Tippet raced after the great cave bear, the
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Speaker 1: monstrous thing that should have been extinct ages before, ran
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Speaker 1: for it, and fired. Even as the beast was almost
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Speaker 1: upon Bradley. The men in the trees scarcely breathed. It
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Speaker 1: seemed to them such a futile thing for Tippet to do,
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Speaker 1: And Tippet, of all men, they had never looked upon
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Speaker 1: Tippet as a coward. There seemed to be no cowards
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Speaker 1: among that strangely assorted company that fate had gathered together
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Speaker 1: from the four corners of the earth. But Tippet was
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Speaker 1: considered a cautious man. Over cautious, some thought him how
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Speaker 1: futile he and his little pop gun appeared as he
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Speaker 1: dashed after that living engine of destruction. But oh, how
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Speaker 1: glorious it was some such thought as this that ran
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Speaker 1: through Brady's mind. Though articulated, it might have been expressed otherwise,
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Speaker 1: albeit more forcefully. Just then it occurred to Brady to fire,
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Speaker 1: and he too opened upon the bear. But at the
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Speaker 1: same instant the animal stumbled and fell forward, though still
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Speaker 1: growling most fearsomely. Tippet never stopped running or firing until
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Speaker 1: he stood within a foot of the brute, which lay
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Speaker 1: almost touching Bradley and was already struggling to regain its feet.
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Speaker 1: Placing the muzzle of the gun against the bear's ear,
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Speaker 1: Tippet pulled the trigger. The creature sank limply to the ground,
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Speaker 1: and Bradley scrambled to his feet. Good work, Tippet, he said,
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Speaker 1: mightily obliged to you. Awful waste of ammunition, really, And
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Speaker 1: then they resumed the march, and in fifteen minutes the
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Speaker 1: encounter had ceased even to be a topic of conversation.
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Speaker 1: For two days they continued upon their perilous way. All
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Speaker 1: the cliffs loomed high and forbidding close ahead without sign
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Speaker 1: of break, to encourage hope that somewhere they might be scaled.
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Speaker 1: Late in the afternoon, the party crossed a small stream
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Speaker 1: of warm water, upon the sluggishly moving surface of which
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Speaker 1: floated countless millions of tiny green eggs, surrounded by a
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Speaker 1: light scum of the same color, though of a darker shade.
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Speaker 1: Their past experience of cast Pack had taught them that
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Speaker 1: they might expect to come upon a stagnant pool of
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Speaker 1: warm water if they followed the stream to its source.
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Speaker 1: But there they were almost certain to find some of
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Speaker 1: Castpack's grotesque manlike creatures. Already, since they had disembarked from
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Speaker 1: the U thirty three after its perilous trip through the
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Speaker 1: subterranean channel beneath the barrier cliffs had brought them into
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Speaker 1: the inland sea of Castpack, had they encountered what had
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Speaker 1: appeared to be three distinct types of these creatures. There
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Speaker 1: had been the pure apes, huge guerrilla like beasts, and
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Speaker 1: those who walked a trifle more erect and had features
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Speaker 1: with just a shade more of the human caste about them.
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Speaker 1: Then there were men like Alm, whom they had captured
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Speaker 1: and confined at the Fort Olm. The clubman, well known
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Speaker 1: clubman Tyler, had called him Alm. And his people had
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Speaker 1: knowledge of speech, They had a language in which they were,
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Speaker 1: unlike the race, just inferior to them, and they walked
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Speaker 1: much more erect and were less hairy. But it was
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Speaker 1: principally the fact that they possessed a spoken language and
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Speaker 1: carried a weapon that differentiated them from the others. All
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Speaker 1: of these peoples had proven belligerent in the extreme, in
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Speaker 1: common with the rest of the fauna of Caprona. The
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Speaker 1: first law of nature, as they seemed to understand it,
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Speaker 1: was to kill, kill, kill, And so it was that
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Speaker 1: Bradley had no desire to follow up the little stream
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Speaker 1: toward the pool, near which were sure to be the
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Speaker 1: caves of some savage tribe. But fortune played him an
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Speaker 1: unkind trick, for the pool was much closer than he imagined,
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Speaker 1: its southern end, reaching fully a mile south of the
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Speaker 1: point at which they crossed the stream. And so it
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Speaker 1: was that, after forcing their way through a tangle of
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Speaker 1: jungle vegetation, they came out upon the edge of the pool,
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Speaker 1: which they had wished to avoid. Almost Simultaneously, there appeared
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Speaker 1: south of them a party of naked men armed with
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Speaker 1: clubs and hatchets. Both parties halted as they caught sight
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Speaker 1: of one another. The men from the fort saw before
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Speaker 1: them a hunting party, evidently returning to its caves or
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Speaker 1: billies laden with meat. They were large men, with features
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Speaker 1: closely resembling those of the African Negro. Though their skins
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Speaker 1: were white, Short hair grew upon a large portion of
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Speaker 1: their limbs and bodies, which still retained a considerable trace
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Speaker 1: of Apish progenitors. They were, however, a distinctly higher type
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Speaker 1: than the Bolu or club. Bradley would have been glad
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Speaker 1: to have averted a meeting, but as he desired to
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Speaker 1: lead his party south round the end of the pool,
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Speaker 1: and as it was hemmed in by the jungle on
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Speaker 1: one side and the water on the other, there seemed
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Speaker 1: no escape from an encounter. On the chance that he
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Speaker 1: might avoid a clash, Bradley stepped forward with upraised hand.
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Speaker 1: We are friends, he called in the tongue of Aum
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Speaker 1: the Buloo, who had been held prisoner at the fort.
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Speaker 1: Permit us to pass in peace. We will not harm you.
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Speaker 1: At this the hatchet men set up a great jabbering
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Speaker 1: with much laughter. Loud and boisterous no shouted one. You
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Speaker 1: will not harm us, for we shall kill you. Come
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Speaker 1: we kill, we kill, And with hideous shouts, they charged
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Speaker 1: down upon the Europeans. Sinclair, you may fire, said Bradley, quietly.
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Speaker 1: Pick off the leader. Contwaiste ammunition. The Englishman raised his
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Speaker 1: piece to his shoulder and took quick aim at the
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Speaker 1: breast of the yelling savage leaping toward them. Directly behind
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Speaker 1: the leader came another hatchet man, and with the report
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Speaker 1: of Sinclair's rifle, both warriors lunged forward in the tall grasp,
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Speaker 1: pierced by the same bullet. The effect upon the rest
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Speaker 1: of the band was electrical. As one man, they came
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Speaker 1: to a sudden halt, wheeled to the east, and dashed
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Speaker 1: into the jungle, where the men could hear them, forcing
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Speaker 1: their way in an effort to put as much distance
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Speaker 1: as possible between themselves and the authors of this new
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Speaker 1: and frightful noise that killed warriors at a great distance.
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Speaker 1: Both the savages were dead when Bradley approached to examine them,
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Speaker 1: and as the Europeans gathered round, other eyes were bent
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Speaker 1: upon them with greater curiosity than they displayed for the
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Speaker 1: victim of Sinclair's bullet. When the party again took up
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Speaker 1: the march around the southern end of the pool, the
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Speaker 1: owner of the eyes followed them, large round eyes, almost
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Speaker 1: expressionless except for a certain cold cruelty which glinted malignly
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Speaker 1: from under their pale gray irises. All unconscious of the stalker,
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Speaker 1: the men came laid in the afternoon to a spot
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Speaker 1: which seemed favorable as a camp site. A cold spring
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Speaker 1: bubbled from the base of a rocky formation which overhung
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Speaker 1: and partially encircled a small enclosure. At Bradley's command, the
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Speaker 1: men took up the duties assigned them, gathering wood, building
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Speaker 1: a cook fire, and preparing the evening meal. It was
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Speaker 1: while they were thus engaged that Brady's attention was attracted
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Speaker 1: by the dismal flapping of huge wings. He glanced up,
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Speaker 1: expecting to see one of the great flying reptiles of
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Speaker 1: a by gone age. His rifle ready in his hand.
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Speaker 1: Brady was a brave man. He had groped his way
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Speaker 1: up narrow tenement stairs and taken an armed maniac from
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Speaker 1: a dark room without turning a hair. But now as
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Speaker 1: he looked up, he went white and staggered back. God,
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Speaker 1: he almost screamed, what is it? Attracted by Brady's cry,
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Speaker 1: the others seized their rifles as they followed his wide eyed,
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Speaker 1: frozen gaze. Nor was there one of them that was
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Speaker 1: not moved by some species of terror or awe. Then
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Speaker 1: Brady spoke again, in an almost inaudible voice, Holy Mother,
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Speaker 1: protect us. It's a banshee. Bradley, always cool, almost to
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Speaker 1: indifference in the face of danger, felt a strange, creeping
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Speaker 1: sensation run over his flesh. As slowly, not a hundred
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Speaker 1: feet above them, the thing flapped itself across the sky,
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Speaker 1: its huge round eyes glaring down upon them, and until
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Speaker 1: it disappeared over the tops of the trees of a
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Speaker 1: nearby wood. The five men stood as though paralyzed, their
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Speaker 1: eyes never leaving the weird shape, nor never one of
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Speaker 1: them appearing to recall that he grasped a loaded rifle
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Speaker 1: in his hands. With the passing of the thing came
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Speaker 1: the reaction. Tippett sank to the ground and buried his
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Speaker 1: face in his hands. Oh, Gord, he moaned, take me
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Speaker 1: away from this order for police. Brady, who recovered from
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Speaker 1: the first shot, swore loud and luridly, he called upon
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Speaker 1: all the saints to witness that he was unafraid, and
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Speaker 1: that anybody with half an eye could have seen that
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Speaker 1: the creature was nothing more than one of them flying
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Speaker 1: alley gaters that they all were familiar with. Yes, said Sinclair,
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Speaker 1: with fine sarcasm. We've saw so many of them with
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Speaker 1: white shrouds on him. Shut up, you fool, growled Brady.
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Speaker 1: If you know so much, tell us what it was
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Speaker 1: after beyond them. Then he turned toward Bradley. What was it, sir,
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Speaker 1: do you think? He asked? Bradley shook his head. I
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Speaker 1: don't know, he said. It looked like a winged human
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Speaker 1: being clothed in a flowing white robe. Its face was
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Speaker 1: more a human than otherwise. That is the way it
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Speaker 1: looked to me. But what it really was I can't
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Speaker 1: even guess, for such a creature is as far beyond
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Speaker 1: my experience or knowledge as it is beyond yours. All
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Speaker 1: that I am sure of is that, whatever else it
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Speaker 1: may have been, it was quite material. It was no ghost,
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Speaker 1: rather just another of the strange forms of life which
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Speaker 1: we have met here, and with which we should be
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Speaker 1: accustomed by this time. Tippet looked up, his face still ashy.
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Speaker 1: You can't tell me, he cried. I seen it, blimey,
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Speaker 1: I seen it. It was how dead man flying through
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Speaker 1: the hair. Didn't I see his eyes? Oh, girld, didn't
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Speaker 1: I see him? It didn't look like any beast or
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Speaker 1: reptile to me, spoke up Sinclair. It was looking right
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Speaker 1: down at me when I looked up, and I saw
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Speaker 1: its face plain as I see yours. It had big
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Speaker 1: browned eyes that looked all cold and dead, and its
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Speaker 1: cheeks were sunken in deep, and I could see its
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Speaker 1: yellow teeth behind thin, tight drawn lips, like a man
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Speaker 1: who had been dead a long while, sir, he added,
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Speaker 1: turning toward Bradley. Yes, James had not spoken since the
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Speaker 1: apparition had passed over them, and now it was scarce speech,
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Speaker 1: which he uttered rather a series of articulate gasps. Yes,
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Speaker 1: dead a long while. It du means something. It come
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Speaker 1: for some one, for one of us. One of us
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Speaker 1: is goin to die. I'm going to die, he ended
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Speaker 1: in a wail. Come come, snapped Bradley. Won't do won't
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Speaker 1: do it all, Get to work, all of you, waste
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Speaker 1: of time, can't waste time. His authoritative tones brought them
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Speaker 1: all up standing, and presently each was occupied with his
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Speaker 1: own duties. But each worked in silence, and there was
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Speaker 1: no singing and no bantering, such as had marked the
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Speaker 1: making of previous cams. Not until they had eaten, and
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Speaker 1: to each had been issued the little ration of smoking
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Speaker 1: tobacco aloud after each evening meal did any sign of
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Speaker 1: a relaxation of taut nerves appear. It was Brady who
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Speaker 1: showed the first signs of returning good spirits. He commenced
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Speaker 1: humming It's a long way to Tipperary, and presently to
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Speaker 1: boist the words. But he was well into his third
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Speaker 1: song before anyone joined him, and even then there seemed
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Speaker 1: a dismal note in even the gayest of tunes. A
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Speaker 1: huge fire blazed in the opening of their rocky shelter,
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Speaker 1: that the prowling carnivora might be kept at bay, and
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Speaker 1: always one man stood on guard, watchfully alert against a
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Speaker 1: sudden rush by some maddened beast of the jungle. Beyond
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Speaker 1: the fire, yellow green spots of flame appeared, moved restlessly about, disappeared,
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Speaker 1: and reappeared, accompanied by a hideous chorus of screams and
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Speaker 1: growls and roars, as the hungry meaty hunting through the
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Speaker 1: night were attracted by the light or the scent of
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Speaker 1: possible prey. But to such sights and sounds as these,
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Speaker 1: the five men had become callous. They sang or talked
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Speaker 1: as unconcernedly as they might have done in the bar
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Speaker 1: room of some public house. At home. Sinclair was standing guard.
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Speaker 1: The others were listening to Brady's description of traffic congestion
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Speaker 1: at the rough Street bridge during the rush hour at night.
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Speaker 1: The fire crackled cheerily. The owners of the Yellow Green
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Speaker 1: Eyes raised their frightful chorus to the heavens. Conditions seemed
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Speaker 1: again to have returned to normal, and then, as though
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Speaker 1: the hand of death had reached out and touched them, all,
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Speaker 1: the five men tensed into sudden rigidity. Above the nocturnal
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Speaker 1: diapason of the teeming jungle sounded a dismal flapping of wings,
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Speaker 1: and overhead, through the thick night, a shadowy form passed
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Speaker 1: across the diffused light of the flaring camp fire. Sinclair
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Speaker 1: raised his rifle and fired. An eerie wail floated down
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Speaker 1: from above, and the apparition, whatever it might have been,
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Speaker 1: was swallowed by the darkness. For several seconds, the listening
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Speaker 1: men heard the sound of those dismally flapping wings lessening
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Speaker 1: in the distance until they could no longer be heard.
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Speaker 1: Bradley was the first to speak. Shouldn't have fired, Sinclair,
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Speaker 1: he said, can't waste ammunition. But there was no note
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Speaker 1: of censure in his tone. It was as though he
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Speaker 1: understood the nervous reaction that had compelled the other's act.
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Speaker 1: I couldn't help it, sir, said Sinclair. Lord it would
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Speaker 1: take an iron man to keep from shootin at that
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Speaker 1: awful thing you believe in gosts Sir, No, replied Bradley,
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Speaker 1: No such things. I don't know about that, said Brady.
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Speaker 1: There was a woman murdered over on the prairie near Brighton.
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Speaker 1: Her throat was cut from ear to ear. Shut up,
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Speaker 1: snapped Bradley. My granddaddy used to live down Coppington, Why,
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Speaker 1: said Tippett. They were old ruined castle on Eel near by,
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Speaker 1: and at midnight they used to see pale blue lights
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Speaker 1: through the windows and air. Will you close your hatch,
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Speaker 1: demanded Bradley, You fools will have yourselves scared to death
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Speaker 1: in a minute. Now go to sleep. But there was
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Speaker 1: little sleep in camp that night until utter exhaustion overtook
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Speaker 1: the harassed men toward morning. Nor was there any return
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Speaker 1: of the weird creature that had set the nerves of
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Speaker 1: each of them on edge. The following forenoon, the party
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Speaker 1: reached the base of the Barrier Cliffs and for two
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Speaker 1: days marched northward in an effort to discover a break
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Speaker 1: in the frowning abutment that raised its rocky face almost
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Speaker 1: perpendicularly above them. Yet nowhere was there the slightest indication
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Speaker 1: that the cliffs were scalable. Disheartened, Bradley determined to turn
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Speaker 1: and back toward the fort, as he already had exceeded
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Speaker 1: the time decided upon by Bowen, Tyler and himself for
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Speaker 1: the expedition. The cliffs, for many miles had been trending
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Speaker 1: in a northeasterly direction, indicating to Bradley that they were
21:15
Speaker 1: approaching the northern extremity of the island. According to the
21:19
Speaker 1: best of his calculations, they had made sufficient easting during
21:23
Speaker 1: the past two days to have brought them to a
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Speaker 1: point almost directly north of Fort Dinosaur, and as nothing
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Speaker 1: could be gained by retracing their steps along the base
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Speaker 1: of the cliffs. He decided to strike due south through
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Speaker 1: the unexpored country between them and the fort. That night,
21:42
Speaker 1: September ninth, nineteen sixteen, they made camp a short distance
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Speaker 1: from the cliffs, beside one of the numerous cool springs
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Speaker 1: that are to be found within cast Back, oftentimes close
21:54
Speaker 1: beside the still more numerous warm and hot springs which
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Speaker 1: feed the many pools. After supper, the men lay smoking
22:02
Speaker 1: and chatting among themselves. Tippet was on guard. Fewer night
22:06
Speaker 1: prowlers threatened them, and the men were commenting upon the
22:10
Speaker 1: fact that the farther north they had traveled, the smaller
22:13
Speaker 1: the number of all species of animals became, though it
22:16
Speaker 1: was still present in what would have seemed appalling plenitude
22:20
Speaker 1: in any other part of the world. The diminution in
22:23
Speaker 1: reptilian life was the most noticeable change in the fauna
22:26
Speaker 1: of northern cast Back. Here, however, were forms they had
22:30
Speaker 1: not met elsewhere, several of which were of gigantic proportions
22:35
Speaker 1: according to their custom, All, with the exception of the
22:39
Speaker 1: man on guard, sought sleep early, nor once disposed upon
22:43
Speaker 1: the ground for slumber, were they long in finding it.
22:46
Speaker 1: It seemed to Bradley that he had scarcely closed his
22:49
Speaker 1: eyes when he was brought to his feet, wide awake
22:52
Speaker 1: by a piercing scream, which was punctuated by the sharp
22:56
Speaker 1: report of a rifle from the direction of the fire
22:59
Speaker 1: where tip but stood guard. As he ran toward the man,
23:03
Speaker 1: Bradley heard above him the same uncanny wail that had
23:06
Speaker 1: set every nerve on edge several nights before, and the
23:10
Speaker 1: dismal flapping of huge wings. He did not need to
23:14
Speaker 1: look up at the white shrouded figure winging slowly away
23:17
Speaker 1: into the night to know that their grim visitor had returned.
23:22
Speaker 1: The muscles of his arm, reacting to the sight and
23:24
Speaker 1: sound of the menacing form, carried his hand to the
23:28
Speaker 1: butt of his pistol. But after he had drawn the weapon,
23:31
Speaker 1: he immediately returned it to its holster with a shrug.
23:34
Speaker 1: What for, he muttered, caunt waist ammunition. Then he walked
23:39
Speaker 1: quickly to where Tippet lay sprawled upon his face. By
23:43
Speaker 1: this time, James Brady and Sinclair were at his heels,
23:47
Speaker 1: eat with his rifle in readiness. Is he dead, sir?
23:50
Speaker 1: Whispered James. As Bradley kneeled beside the prostrate form. Bradley
23:55
Speaker 1: turned Tippet over on his back and pressed an ear
23:58
Speaker 1: close to the other's heart. In a moment, he raised
24:01
Speaker 1: his head fainted. He announced, get water, hurry. Then he
24:05
Speaker 1: loosened Tippet's shirt at the throat, and when the water
24:08
Speaker 1: was brought through a cupful in the man's face. Slowly,
24:12
Speaker 1: Tippet regained consciousness and sat up. At first he looked
24:16
Speaker 1: curiously into the faces of the men about him. Then
24:19
Speaker 1: an expression of terror overspread his features. He shot a
24:23
Speaker 1: startled glance up into the black void above, and then,
24:27
Speaker 1: burying his face in his arms, began to sob like
24:30
Speaker 1: a child. What's wrong, man, demanded Bradley. Buck up, cont play,
24:35
Speaker 1: cry baby, waste of energy? What oppened? What happened? Sir,
24:41
Speaker 1: wailed Tibbett. Oh gird, sir, He came back.
24:45
Speaker 2: It came for me, sir, right it did, sir, straight
24:49
Speaker 2: hot me, sir, and with long white hands, and he
24:53
Speaker 2: clawed for me. Oh gird, it almost caught me, sir.
24:58
Speaker 2: A'm as good as dead. I'm a markman, That's what
25:02
Speaker 2: I am. It was a golden for a keremie wharf, sir.
25:07
Speaker 1: Stuff and nonsense, snapped Bradley. Did you get a good
25:11
Speaker 1: look at it? Tippett said that he did a much
25:14
Speaker 1: better look than he wanted. The thing had almost clutched him,
25:18
Speaker 1: and he had looked straight into its eyes, dead eyes,
25:22
Speaker 1: in a dead defrice. He had described them, what was
25:25
Speaker 1: it apt to be? And do you think? Inquired Brady.
25:29
Speaker 1: It was death, moaned Tippet, shuddering, and again a pall
25:33
Speaker 1: of gloom fell upon the little party. The following day,
25:38
Speaker 1: Tippet walked as one in a trance. He never spoke
25:41
Speaker 1: except in reply to a direct question, which more often
25:45
Speaker 1: than not had to be repeated before it could attract
25:48
Speaker 1: his attention. He insisted that he was already a dead man,
25:52
Speaker 1: for if the thing didn't come for him during the day,
25:55
Speaker 1: he would never live through another night of agonized apprehension,
25:59
Speaker 1: waiting for the frightful end that he was positive was
26:02
Speaker 1: in store for him. Oilers see to that, he said,
26:06
Speaker 1: and they all knew that Tippett meant to take his
26:08
Speaker 1: own life before darkness set in. Bradley tried to reason
26:12
Speaker 1: with him in any short, crisp way, but soon saw
26:16
Speaker 1: the futility of it. Nor could he take the man's
26:19
Speaker 1: weapons from him without subjecting him to almost certain death
26:22
Speaker 1: from any of the numberless dangers that beset their way.
26:26
Speaker 1: The entire party was moody and glum. There was none
26:30
Speaker 1: of the bantering that had marked their intercourse before, even
26:33
Speaker 1: in the face of blighting, hardships, and hideous danger. This
26:37
Speaker 1: was a new menace that threatened them, something that they
26:40
Speaker 1: couldn't explain, and so naturally it aroused within them superstitious fear,
26:45
Speaker 1: which Tippett's attitude only tended to augment. To add further
26:50
Speaker 1: to their gloom. Their way led through a dense forest, where,
26:53
Speaker 1: on account of the underbrush, it was difficult to make
26:56
Speaker 1: even a mile an hour. Constant watchfulness was reached required
27:00
Speaker 1: to avoid the many snakes of various degrees of repulsiveness
27:04
Speaker 1: and enormity that infested the wood, and the only ray
27:08
Speaker 1: of hope they had to cling to was that the
27:10
Speaker 1: forest wood, like the majority of Caspakian forests, proved to
27:14
Speaker 1: be of no considerable extent. Bradley was in the lead
27:19
Speaker 1: when he came suddenly upon a grotesque creature of titanic
27:23
Speaker 1: proportions crouching among the trees, which here commenced to thin
27:27
Speaker 1: out slightly. Bradley saw what appeared to be an enormous
27:31
Speaker 1: dragon devouring the carcass of a mammoth from frightful jaws
27:36
Speaker 1: to the tip of its long tail. It was fully
27:39
Speaker 1: forty feet in length. Its body was covered with plates
27:43
Speaker 1: of thick skin which bore a striking resemblance to armor plate.
27:48
Speaker 1: The creature saw Bradley almost at the same instant that
27:51
Speaker 1: he saw it, and reared up on its enormous hind
27:55
Speaker 1: legs until its head towered a full twenty five feet
27:58
Speaker 1: above the ground. From the cavernous jaws issued a hissing
28:02
Speaker 1: sound of a volume equal to the escaping steam from
28:06
Speaker 1: the safety valves of half a dozen locomotives, and then
28:10
Speaker 1: the creature came for the man. Scatter shouted Bradley to
28:14
Speaker 1: those behind him, and all but Tippet heeded the warning.
28:18
Speaker 1: The man stood as though dazed, and when Bradley saw
28:21
Speaker 1: the other's danger, he too stopped, and, wheeling about, sent
28:25
Speaker 1: a bullet into the massy body, forcing its way through
28:28
Speaker 1: the trees toward him. The shot struck the creature in
28:31
Speaker 1: the belly, where there was no protecting armor, eliciting a
28:35
Speaker 1: new note, which rose in a shrill whistle and ended
28:38
Speaker 1: in a wail. It was then that Tippett appeared to
28:42
Speaker 1: come out of his trance, for with a cry of terror,
28:45
Speaker 1: he turned and fled to the left. Bradley, seeing that
28:48
Speaker 1: he had as good an opportunity as the others to escape,
28:52
Speaker 1: now turned his attention to extricating himself, and as the
28:56
Speaker 1: woods seemed dense on the right, he ran in that direction,
29:00
Speaker 1: hoping that the close set bowls would prevent pursuit on
29:03
Speaker 1: the part of the great reptile. The dragon paid no
29:06
Speaker 1: further attention to him, however, for Tippet's sudden break for
29:10
Speaker 1: liberty had attracted its attention, and after Tippet, it went
29:15
Speaker 1: bowling over small trees, uprooting underbrush, and leaving a weight
29:19
Speaker 1: behind it like that of a fall tornado. Bradley, the
29:23
Speaker 1: moment he had discovered the thing was pursuing Tippet, had
29:27
Speaker 1: followed it. He was afraid to fire for fear of
29:30
Speaker 1: hitting the man, and so it was that he came
29:32
Speaker 1: upon them at the very moment that the monster lunsed
29:35
Speaker 1: its great weight forward upon the doomed man. The sharp
29:40
Speaker 1: three toad talons of the forelimb seized poor Tippet, and
29:43
Speaker 1: Bradley saw the unfortunate fellow lifted high above the ground
29:48
Speaker 1: as the creature again reared up on its hind legs,
29:51
Speaker 1: immediately transferring Tippet's body to its gaping jaws, which closed
29:56
Speaker 1: with a sickening crunching sound. As Tippet's bone cracked beneath
30:01
Speaker 1: the great teeth. Bradley half raised his rifle to fire again,
30:06
Speaker 1: and then lowered it with a shake of his head.
30:09
Speaker 1: Tippet was beyond succor. Why waist a bullet that cast
30:13
Speaker 1: back could never replace. If he could now escape the
30:16
Speaker 1: further notice of the monster, it would be a wiser
30:19
Speaker 1: act than to throw his life away in futile revenge.
30:23
Speaker 1: He saw that the reptile was not looking in his direction,
30:27
Speaker 1: and so he slipped noiselessly behind the bowl of a
30:30
Speaker 1: large tree, and thence quietly faded away in the direction
30:34
Speaker 1: he believed the others to have taken. At what he
30:37
Speaker 1: considered a safe distance, he halted and looked back. Half
30:42
Speaker 1: hidden by the intervening trees, he still could see the
30:45
Speaker 1: huge head and the massive jaws from which protruded the
30:49
Speaker 1: limp legs of the dead man. Then, as though struck
30:53
Speaker 1: by the hammer of thor, the creature collapsed and crumpled
30:57
Speaker 1: to the ground. Bradley's single bullet, penetrating the body through
31:01
Speaker 1: the soft skin of the belly, had slain the titan.
31:05
Speaker 1: A few minutes later, Bradley found the others of the party.
31:09
Speaker 1: The four returned cautiously to the spot where the creature lay, and,
31:13
Speaker 1: after convincing themselves that it was quite dead, came close
31:17
Speaker 1: to it. It was an arduous and gruesome jaw, extricating
31:21
Speaker 1: Tippet's mangled remains from the powerful jaws the men working,
31:26
Speaker 1: for the most part silently. It was the work of
31:29
Speaker 1: a banshy. All right, muttered Brady. It warned poor Tippet.
31:34
Speaker 1: It did. It'd killed him, That's what it did, and
31:38
Speaker 1: it'll kill some more of us, said James, his lower
31:41
Speaker 1: lip trembling. If it was a ghost, interjected Sinclair. And
31:45
Speaker 1: I don't say as it was. But if it was,
31:48
Speaker 1: why it could take on any form it wanted to.
31:51
Speaker 1: It might have turned itself into this thing, which ain't
31:54
Speaker 1: no natural thing at all, just to get poor Tippet.
31:57
Speaker 1: If it had been a lion or something else human like,
32:00
Speaker 1: it wouldn't look so strange. But this here thing ain't
32:04
Speaker 1: human like. There ain't no such thing, and never was.
32:08
Speaker 1: Bullets don't kill ghosts, said Bradley, so this couldn't have
32:12
Speaker 1: been a ghost. Furthermore, there are no such things. I've
32:17
Speaker 1: been trying to place this creature just succeeded. It's a Tyrannosaurus.
32:23
Speaker 1: Saw a picture of skeleton in magazine. There's one in
32:26
Speaker 1: New York Natural History Museum. Seems to me it's said
32:30
Speaker 1: it was found in place called Hell Creek, somewhere in
32:34
Speaker 1: western North America, supposed to have lived about six million
32:38
Speaker 1: years ago. Hell Creek's in Montana, said Sinclair. I used
32:43
Speaker 1: to punch cows in Wyoming, and I've heard of Hell Creek.
32:47
Speaker 1: Do you suppose that there are things six million years old?
32:51
Speaker 1: His tone was skeptical. No, replied Bradley, but it would
32:55
Speaker 1: indicate that the island of Kokrona has stood almost without
33:00
Speaker 1: change for more than six million years. The conversation, in
33:05
Speaker 1: Bradley's assurance that the creature was not of supernatural origin,
33:09
Speaker 1: helped to raise a trifle the spirits of the men,
33:12
Speaker 1: and then came another diversion in the form of ravenous
33:15
Speaker 1: meat eaters, attracted to the spot by the uncanny sense
33:19
Speaker 1: of smell which had apprised them of the presence of
33:22
Speaker 1: flesh killed and ready for the eating. It was a
33:26
Speaker 1: constant battle while they dug a grave and consigned all
33:29
Speaker 1: that was mortal of John Tippett to his last lonely
33:33
Speaker 1: resting place. Nor would they leave then, but remain to
33:37
Speaker 1: fashion a rude headstone from a crumbling outcropping of sandstone,
33:42
Speaker 1: and to gather a mass of the gorgeous flowers growing
33:45
Speaker 1: in such a great profusion round them, and heap the
33:48
Speaker 1: new made grave with bright blooms upon the headstone. Sinclair
33:53
Speaker 1: scratched in rude characters, the words here lies John Tippet,
33:57
Speaker 1: Englishmen killed by Tyrannus Tsaurus ten September a d. Nineteen sixteen. R. I. P.
34:07
Speaker 1: And Bradley repeated a short prayer before they left their
34:10
Speaker 1: comrade forever. For three days the party marched due south
34:15
Speaker 1: through forests and meadowland, and great park like areas. Were
34:19
Speaker 1: countless herbivorous animals grazed, deer and antelope, and bows, and
34:25
Speaker 1: the little ecca, the smallest species of Caspakian horse, about
34:29
Speaker 1: the size of a rabbit. There were other horses too,
34:33
Speaker 1: but all were small, the largest being not above eight
34:36
Speaker 1: hands in height, preying continually upon the herbivora were the
34:40
Speaker 1: meat eaters, large and small wolves, hyenodons, panthers, lions, tigers,
34:46
Speaker 1: and bear, as well as several large and ferocious species
34:50
Speaker 1: of reptilian life. On September twelfth, the party scale a
34:55
Speaker 1: line of sandstone cliffs which crossed their route towards the south,
35:00
Speaker 1: but they crossed them only after an encounter with the
35:03
Speaker 1: tribe that inhabited the numerous caves which pitted the face
35:07
Speaker 1: of the escarpment. That night, they camped upon a rocky
35:10
Speaker 1: plateau which was sparsely wooded with jarra, and here once
35:15
Speaker 1: again they were visited by the weird nocturnal apparition that
35:18
Speaker 1: had already filled them with a nameless terror. As on
35:22
Speaker 1: the night of September ninth, the first warning came from
35:26
Speaker 1: the sentinel standing guard over his sleeping companions. A terror
35:30
Speaker 1: stricken cry punctuated by the crack of a rifle brought Bradley,
35:35
Speaker 1: Sinclair and Brady to their feet in time to see
35:37
Speaker 1: James with clubbed rifle, battling with a white robed figure
35:41
Speaker 1: that hovered on widespread wings on a level with the
35:45
Speaker 1: Englishman's head. As they ran shouting forward, it was obvious
35:49
Speaker 1: to them that the weird and terrible apparition was attempting
35:53
Speaker 1: to seize James, but when it saw the others coming
35:56
Speaker 1: to his rescue, it desisted, flapping rapidly upward and away,
36:00
Speaker 1: its long, ragged wings, giving forth the peculiarly dismal notes
36:04
Speaker 1: which always characterized the sound of its flying. Bradley fired
36:09
Speaker 1: at the vanishing menacer of their peace and safety, but
36:12
Speaker 1: whether he scored ahead or not none could tell, though
36:16
Speaker 1: following the shot there was wafted back to them the
36:18
Speaker 1: same piercing wail that had on other occasions frozen their marrow.
36:23
Speaker 1: Then they turned toward James, who lay face downward upon
36:27
Speaker 1: the ground, trembling as with agu But for a time
36:31
Speaker 1: he could not even speak, but at last regained sufficient
36:34
Speaker 1: composure to tell them how the thing must have swooped
36:37
Speaker 1: silently upon him from above and behind, as the first
36:41
Speaker 1: premonition of danger he had received was when the long,
36:44
Speaker 1: claw like fingers had clutched him beneath either arm in
36:48
Speaker 1: the melee. His rifle had been discharged, and he had
36:52
Speaker 1: broken away at the same instant and turned to defend
36:55
Speaker 1: himself with the butt. The rest they had seen from
36:59
Speaker 1: that instant, James was an absolutely broken man. He maintained
37:04
Speaker 1: with shaking lips that his doom was sealed, that the
37:07
Speaker 1: thing had marked him for its own, and that he
37:10
Speaker 1: was as good as dead. Nor could any amount of
37:13
Speaker 1: argument or raillery convince him to the contrary. He had
37:17
Speaker 1: seen Tippet marked and claimed, and now he had been marked.
37:22
Speaker 1: Nor were his constant reiterations of this belief without effect
37:26
Speaker 1: upon the rest of the party. Even Bradley felt depressed,
37:30
Speaker 1: though for the sake of the others he managed to
37:32
Speaker 1: hide it beneath a show of confidence. He was far
37:35
Speaker 1: from feeling, and on the following day William James was
37:39
Speaker 1: killed by a saber tooth tiger September thirteenth, nineteen sixteen,
37:45
Speaker 1: beneath a jar tree on the stony plateau, on the
37:48
Speaker 1: northern edge of the Stolough Country, in the land that
37:51
Speaker 1: time forgot. He lies in a lonely grave marked by
37:56
Speaker 1: a rough headstone. Southward from his grave mar three grim
38:01
Speaker 1: and silent men. To the best of Bradley's reckoning, they
38:04
Speaker 1: were some twenty five miles north of Fort Dinosaur, and
38:08
Speaker 1: that they might reach the fort on the following day.
38:11
Speaker 1: They plodded on until darkness overtook them with comparative safety.
38:16
Speaker 1: Fifteen miles away. They made camp at last, but there
38:20
Speaker 1: was no singing now, and no joking. In the bottom
38:24
Speaker 1: of his heart, each prayed that they might come safely
38:27
Speaker 1: through just this night, for they knew that during the
38:30
Speaker 1: morrow they would make the final stretch. Yet the nerves
38:34
Speaker 1: of each were taut with strained anticipation of what gruesome
38:38
Speaker 1: thing might flap down upon them from the black sky,
38:41
Speaker 1: marking another for its own, who would be the next?
38:46
Speaker 1: As was their custom, they took turns at guard, each
38:49
Speaker 1: man doing two hours and then rousing the next. Brady
38:54
Speaker 1: had gone on from eight to ten, followed by Sinclair
38:57
Speaker 1: from ten to twelve. Then Bradley had been awakened. Brady
39:02
Speaker 1: would stand the last guard from two to four, as
39:05
Speaker 1: they had determined to start the moment that it became
39:07
Speaker 1: light enough to insure comparative safety upon the trail. The
39:12
Speaker 1: snapping of a twig aroused Brady out of a dead sleep,
39:16
Speaker 1: and as he opened his eyes he saw that it
39:18
Speaker 1: was broad daylight, and that at twenty paces from him
39:22
Speaker 1: stood a huge lion. As the man sprang to his feet,
39:26
Speaker 1: his rifle ready in his hand, Sinclair awoke and took
39:30
Speaker 1: in the scene in a single swift glance. The fire
39:33
Speaker 1: was out and Bradley was nowhere in sight. For a
39:36
Speaker 1: long moment, the lion and the men eyed one another.
39:40
Speaker 1: The latter had no mind to fire if the beast
39:42
Speaker 1: minded its own affairs. They were only too glad to
39:46
Speaker 1: let it go its way if it would. But the
39:48
Speaker 1: lion was of a different mind. Suddenly, the long tail snapped,
39:53
Speaker 1: stiffly erect, and as though it had been attached to
39:56
Speaker 1: two trigger fingers, the two rifles spoke in unison. For
40:00
Speaker 1: both men knew this signal only too well, the immediate
40:03
Speaker 1: forerunner of a deadly charge. As the brute's head had
40:06
Speaker 1: been raised, his spine had not been visible, and so
40:10
Speaker 1: they did what they had learned by long experience was
40:12
Speaker 1: best to do. Each covered a front leg, and as
40:16
Speaker 1: the tail snapped, Aloft fired with a hideous roar. The
40:19
Speaker 1: mighty flesh eater lurched forward to the ground with both
40:23
Speaker 1: front legs broken. It was an easy accomplishment in the
40:26
Speaker 1: instant before the beast charged, after it would have been
40:30
Speaker 1: well nigh and impossible feet Brady stepped close in and
40:34
Speaker 1: finished him with a shot in the base of the brain.
40:37
Speaker 1: Lest his terrific roaring should attract his mate or others
40:41
Speaker 1: of their kind. Then the two men turned and looked
40:44
Speaker 1: at one another. Where is Lieutenant Bradley, asked Sinclair. They
40:49
Speaker 1: walked to the fire. Only a few smoking embers remained.
40:53
Speaker 1: A few feet away lay Bradley's rifle. There was no
40:56
Speaker 1: evidence of a struggle. The two men circled about the
40:59
Speaker 1: camp twise, and on the last lap, Brady stooped and
41:02
Speaker 1: picked up an object which had lain about ten yards
41:05
Speaker 1: beyond the fire. It was Bradley's cap. Again, the two
41:10
Speaker 1: looked questioningly at one another, and then simultaneously both pairs
41:14
Speaker 1: of eyes swung upward and searched the sky. A moment later,
41:19
Speaker 1: Brady was examining the ground about the spot where Bradley's
41:22
Speaker 1: cap had lain. It was one of those little barren
41:25
Speaker 1: sandy stretches that they had found only upon this stony plateau.
41:30
Speaker 1: Brady's own footsteps showed as plainly as black ink upon
41:33
Speaker 1: white paper, but his was the only foot that had
41:37
Speaker 1: marred the smooth, wind swept surface. There was no sign
41:41
Speaker 1: that Bradley had crossed the spot upon the surface of
41:44
Speaker 1: the ground, and yet his cap lay well toward the
41:47
Speaker 1: center of it. Breakfastless and with shaken nerves, the two
41:52
Speaker 1: survivors plunged madly into the long day's march. Both were strong, courageous,
41:58
Speaker 1: resourceful men, but each had reached the limit of human
42:01
Speaker 1: nerve endurance, and each felt that he would rather die
42:05
Speaker 1: than spend another night in the hideous open of that
42:08
Speaker 1: frightful land. Vivid in the mind of each was a
42:11
Speaker 1: picture of Bradley's end, For though neither had witnessed the tragedy,
42:16
Speaker 1: both could imagine almost precisely what had occurred. They did
42:20
Speaker 1: not discuss it, they did not even mention it. Yet
42:24
Speaker 1: all day long the thing was uppermost in the mind
42:26
Speaker 1: of each, and mingled with it a similar picture with
42:29
Speaker 1: himself as victims should they fail to make Fort Dinosaur
42:33
Speaker 1: before dark. And so they plunged forward at reckless speed,
42:38
Speaker 1: their clothes their hands, their faces torn by the retarding
42:42
Speaker 1: underbrush that reached forth to hinder them. Again and again
42:46
Speaker 1: they fell. But be it to their credit that the
42:48
Speaker 1: one always waited and helped the other, and that into
42:51
Speaker 1: the mind of neither entered the thought or the temptation
42:54
Speaker 1: to desert his companion. They would reach the fort together
42:58
Speaker 1: if both survived or neither would reach it. They encountered
43:02
Speaker 1: the usual number of savage beasts and reptiles, but they
43:06
Speaker 1: met them with a courageous recklessness born of desperation, and
43:10
Speaker 1: by virtue of the very madness of the chances they took.
43:13
Speaker 1: They came through unscathed and with the minimum of delay.
43:18
Speaker 1: Shortly after noon they reached the end of the plateau.
43:21
Speaker 1: Before them was a drop of two hundred feet to
43:23
Speaker 1: the valley beneath to the left, in the distance they
43:27
Speaker 1: could see the waters of the Great Inland Sea that
43:29
Speaker 1: covers a considerable portion of the area of the crater
43:32
Speaker 1: island of Caprona, and at a little lesser distance to
43:35
Speaker 1: the south of the cliffs, they saw a thin spiral
43:39
Speaker 1: of smoke arising above the tree tops. The landscape was familiar.
43:44
Speaker 1: Each recognized it immediately and knew that that smoky column
43:48
Speaker 1: marked the spot where dinosaur had stood. Was the fort
43:51
Speaker 1: still there or did the smoke arise from the smoldering
43:55
Speaker 1: embers of the building they had helped a fashion for
43:57
Speaker 1: the housing of their party. Who could say thirty precious
44:02
Speaker 1: minutes that seemed as many hours to the impatient men
44:05
Speaker 1: were consumed in locating a precarious way from the summit
44:09
Speaker 1: to the base of the cliffs that bounded the plateau
44:12
Speaker 1: upon the south, and then once again they struck off
44:14
Speaker 1: upon level ground toward their goal. The closer they approached
44:18
Speaker 1: the fort, the greater became their apprehension that all would
44:21
Speaker 1: not be well. They pictured the barracks deserted, or the
44:25
Speaker 1: small company massacred, and the buildings in ashes. It was
44:28
Speaker 1: almost in a frenzy of fear that they broke through
44:31
Speaker 1: the final fringe of jungle and stood at last upon
44:34
Speaker 1: the verge of the open meadow a half mile from
44:37
Speaker 1: Fort Dinosaur. Lord ejaculated Sinclair, they are still there, and
44:43
Speaker 1: he fell to his knees sobbing. Brady trembled like a
44:47
Speaker 1: leaf as he crossed himself and gave silent thanks for
44:51
Speaker 1: There before them stood the sturdy ramparts of Dinosaur, and
44:55
Speaker 1: from inside the enclosure rose a thin spiral of smoke
44:58
Speaker 1: that marked the location of the cook house. All was
45:02
Speaker 1: well then, and their comrades were preparing the evening meal.
45:06
Speaker 1: Across the clearing they raced, as though they had not
45:08
Speaker 1: already covered in a single day, attractless primeval country that
45:12
Speaker 1: might easily have required two days by fresh and untired
45:16
Speaker 1: men withinhaling distance. They set up such a loud shouting
45:20
Speaker 1: that presently hadsappeared above the top of the parapet, and
45:24
Speaker 1: soon answering shouts were rising from within Fort Dinosaur. A
45:28
Speaker 1: moment later three men issued from the enclosure and came
45:32
Speaker 1: forward to meet the survivors and listened to the hurried
45:35
Speaker 1: story of the eleven eventful days since they had set
45:39
Speaker 1: out upon their expedition to the Barrier Cliffs. They heard
45:42
Speaker 1: of the deaths of Tippet and James, and of the
45:45
Speaker 1: disappearance of Lieutenant Bradley, and a new terror settled upon Dinosaur. Olson,
45:51
Speaker 1: the Irish engineer, with Whiteley and Wilson, constituted the remnants
45:56
Speaker 1: of Dinosaur's defenders, and to Brady and Sinclair they narrated
46:00
Speaker 1: the salient events that had transpired since Bradley and his
46:04
Speaker 1: party had marched away on September fourth. They told them
46:08
Speaker 1: of the infamous act of Baron Friedrich Bonschuenbortz and his
46:12
Speaker 1: German crew, who had stolen the U thirty three, breaking
46:16
Speaker 1: their parole and steaming away towards the subterranean opening through
46:20
Speaker 1: the Barrier Cliffs that carried the waters of the inland
46:23
Speaker 1: Sea into the open Pacific beyond, and of the cowardly
46:27
Speaker 1: shelling of the fort. They told of the disappearance of
46:30
Speaker 1: Miss LaRue in the night of September eleventh, and of
46:33
Speaker 1: the departure of Bolan Tyler in search of her, accompanied
46:37
Speaker 1: only by his Airdale Knobs. Thus, of the original party
46:41
Speaker 1: of eleven Allies and nine Germans that had constituted the
46:45
Speaker 1: company of the U thirty three when she left English
46:48
Speaker 1: Waters after her capture by the crew of the English tug,
46:52
Speaker 1: there were but five now to be accounted for at
46:54
Speaker 1: Fort Dinosaur. Benson, Tippett, James, and one of the Germans
46:58
Speaker 1: were known to be dead. It was assumed that Bradley
47:02
Speaker 1: Tyler and the girl had already succumbed some of the
47:05
Speaker 1: savage denizens of Casspack, while the fate of the Germans
47:08
Speaker 1: was equally unknown. Though it might readily be believed that
47:12
Speaker 1: they had made good their escape, they had had ample
47:15
Speaker 1: time to provision the ship, and the refining of the
47:18
Speaker 1: crude oil they had discovered north of the fort could
47:20
Speaker 1: have insured them an ample supply to carry them back
47:23
Speaker 1: to Germany. End of Chapter one