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20 - The Island of Dr Moreau - H G Wells · Science Fiction Books

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  Speaker 1: Twenty. Alone with the beast folk. I faced these people,
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  Speaker 1: facing my feet in them single handed, now literally single handed,
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  Speaker 1: for I had a broken arm. In my pocket was
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  Speaker 1: a revolver with two empty chambers. Among the chips scattered
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  Speaker 1: about the beach lay the two axes that had been
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  Speaker 1: used to chop up the boats. The tide was creeping
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  Speaker 1: in behind me. There was nothing for it but courage.
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  Speaker 1: I looked squarely into the faces of the advancing monsters.
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  Speaker 1: They avoided my eyes, and their quivering nostrils investigated the
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  Speaker 1: bodies that lay beyond me on the beach. I took
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  Speaker 1: a half dozen steps, picked up the blood stained whip
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  Speaker 1: that lay beneath the body of the wolf man, and
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  Speaker 1: cracked it. They stopped and stared at me. Salute, said
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  Speaker 1: I bow down. They hesitated, one bent his knees. I
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  Speaker 1: repeated my command with my heart in my mouth, and
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  Speaker 1: advanced upon them. One knelt, then the other two. I
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  Speaker 1: turned and walked towards the dead bodies, keeping my face
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  Speaker 1: towards the three kneeling beastmen, very much as an actor
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  Speaker 1: passing up the stage faces the audience. They broke the law,
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  Speaker 1: said I, putting my foot on the sayer of the law.
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  Speaker 1: They have been slain, even the sayer of the law,
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  Speaker 1: even the other with the whip. Great is the law.
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  Speaker 1: Come and see none escape, said one of them, advancing
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  Speaker 1: and peering. None escape, said I, therefore hear and do
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  Speaker 1: as I command. They stood up, looking questioningly at one another.
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  Speaker 1: Stand there, said I. I picked up the hatchets and
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  Speaker 1: swung them by their heads from the sling of my arm.
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  Speaker 1: Turning Montgomery over, picked up his revolver, still loaded in
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  Speaker 1: two chambers, and bending down to rummage, found a half
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  Speaker 1: dozen cartridges in his pocket. Take him, said I, standing
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  Speaker 1: up again, and pointing with a whip. Take him and
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  Speaker 1: carry him out, and cast him into the sea. They
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  Speaker 1: came forward, evidently still afraid of Montgomery, but still more
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  Speaker 1: afraid of my cracking red whiplash. And after some fumbling
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  Speaker 1: and hesitation, some whip cracking and shouting, they lifted him gingerly,
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  Speaker 1: carried him down to the beach, and went splashing into
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  Speaker 1: the dazzling welter of the sea. On, said I, on
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  Speaker 1: carry him far. They went in up to their arm
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  Speaker 1: pits and stood regarding me. Let go, said I, and
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  Speaker 1: the body of Montgomery vanished with a splash. Something seemed
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  Speaker 1: to tighten across my chest. Good, said I, with a
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  Speaker 1: break in my voice. And they came back, hurrying and fearful,
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  Speaker 1: to the margin of the water, leaving long wakes of
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  Speaker 1: black in the silver. At the water's edge. They stopped
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  Speaker 1: turning and glaring into the sea, as though they presently
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  Speaker 1: expected Montgomery to arise therefrom and exact vengeance. Now these,
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  Speaker 1: said I, pointing to the other dead bodies. They took
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  Speaker 1: care not to approach the place where they had thrown
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  Speaker 1: Montgomery into the water, but instead carried the four dead
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  Speaker 1: beast people slantingly along the beach for perhaps a hundred
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  Speaker 1: yards before they waded out and cast them away. As
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  Speaker 1: I watched them disposing of the mangled remains of Hmling,
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  Speaker 1: I heard a light footfall behind me, and turning quickly,
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  Speaker 1: saw the big hight ena swine perhaps a dozen yards away.
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  Speaker 1: His head was bent down, his bright eyes were fixed
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  Speaker 1: upon me, his stumpy hands clinched and held close by
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  Speaker 1: his side. He stopped in this crouching attitude when I turned,
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  Speaker 1: his eyes a little averted. For a moment we stood
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  Speaker 1: I to eye. I dropped the whip and snatched at
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  Speaker 1: the pistol in my pocket, for I meant to kill
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  Speaker 1: this brute, the most formidable of any left now upon
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  Speaker 1: the island, at the first excuse. It may seem treacherous,
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  Speaker 1: but so I was resolved. I was far more afraid
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  Speaker 1: of him than any of the other two of the
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  Speaker 1: beast folk. His continued life was. I knew a great
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  Speaker 1: threat against mine. I was perhaps a dozen seconds collecting myself,
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  Speaker 1: then cried, I salute, bow down. His teeth flashed upon
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  Speaker 1: me in a snarl. Who are you that I should
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  Speaker 1: perhaps a little too Spasmodically, I drew my revolver, aimed
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  Speaker 1: quickly and fired. I heard him yelp, saw him run
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  Speaker 1: sideways and turn. Knew I had missed, and clicked back
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  Speaker 1: the cock with my thumb for the next shot. But
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  Speaker 1: he was already running headlong, jumping from side to side,
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  Speaker 1: and I dared not risk another miss. Every now and
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  Speaker 1: then he looked back at me over his shoulder. He
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  Speaker 1: went slanting along the beach and vanished beneath the driving
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  Speaker 1: masses of dense smoke that was still pouring out from
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  Speaker 1: the burning enclosure. For some time I stood staring after him.
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  Speaker 1: I turned my three obedient beast folk again and signaled
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  Speaker 1: them to drop the body they still carried. Then I
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  Speaker 1: went back to the place by the fire where the
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  Speaker 1: bodies had fallen, and kicked the sand until all the
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  Speaker 1: brown blood stains were absorbed and hidden. I dismissed my
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  Speaker 1: three serfs with the wave of the hand and went
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  Speaker 1: up the beach into the thickets. I carried my pistol
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  Speaker 1: in my hand, my whip thrust with the hatches, and
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  Speaker 1: the sling of my arm. I was anxious to be alone,
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  Speaker 1: to think out the position in which I was now placed.
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  Speaker 1: A dreadful thing that I was only beginning to realize
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  Speaker 1: was that over all this island there was now no
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  Speaker 1: safe place where I could be alone and secure to
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  Speaker 1: rest or sleep. I had recovered strength amazingly since my landing,
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  Speaker 1: but I was still inclined to be nervous and to
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  Speaker 1: break down under any great stress. I felt that I
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  Speaker 1: ought to cross the island and establish myself with the
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  Speaker 1: beast people and make myself secure in their confidence. But
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  Speaker 1: my heart failed me. I went back to the beach, and,
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  Speaker 1: turning eastward past the burning enclosure, made for a point
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  Speaker 1: where a shallow spit of coral sand ran out towards
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  Speaker 1: the reef. Here I could sit down and think my
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  Speaker 1: back to the sea ye and my face against any surprise.
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  Speaker 1: And there I sat, chin on knees, the sun beating
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  Speaker 1: down upon my head, and unspeakable dread in my mind,
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  Speaker 1: plotting how I could live on against the hour of
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  Speaker 1: my rescue, if ever rescue came. I tried to review
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  Speaker 1: the whole situation as calmly as I could, but it
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  Speaker 1: was difficult to clear the thing of emotion. I began
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  Speaker 1: turning over in my mind the reason of Montgomery's despair.
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  Speaker 1: They will change, he said, they are through ar to change.
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  Speaker 1: And Moreau what was it that Moreau had said? The
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  Speaker 1: stubborn beast flesh grows day by day back again. Then
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  Speaker 1: I came round to the hyena swine. I felt sure
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  Speaker 1: that if I did not kill that brute, he would
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  Speaker 1: kill me. The Sayer of the Law was dead. Worse luck,
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  Speaker 1: they knew now that we of the whips could be killed,
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  Speaker 1: even as they themselves were killed. Were they peering at
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  Speaker 1: me already out of the green masses of ferns and
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  Speaker 1: palms of a yonder, watching until I came within their spring?
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  Speaker 1: Were they plotting against me? What was the hyena swine
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  Speaker 1: telling them? My imagination was running away with me into
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  Speaker 1: a morass of unsubstantial fears. My thoughts were disturbed by
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  Speaker 1: a crying of sea birds, hurrying towards some black object
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  Speaker 1: that had been stranded by the waves on the beach
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  Speaker 1: near the enclosure. I knew what the object was, but
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  Speaker 1: I had not the heart to go back and drive
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  Speaker 1: them off. I began walking along the beach in the
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  Speaker 1: opposite direction, designing to come round the eastward corner of
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  Speaker 1: the island and so approach the ravine of the huts
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  Speaker 1: without traversing the possible ambuse scards of the thickets. Perhaps
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  Speaker 1: half a mile along the beach, I became aware of
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  Speaker 1: one of my three beast folk advancing out of the
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  Speaker 1: landward bushes towards me. I was now so nervous with
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  Speaker 1: my own imaginings that I immediately drew my revolver. Even
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  Speaker 1: the propitiatory gestures of the creature failed to disarm me.
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  Speaker 1: He hesitated as he approached go away. I cried, there
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  Speaker 1: was something very suggestive of a dog in the cringing
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  Speaker 1: attitude of the creature. It retreated a little way, very
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  Speaker 1: like a dog being sent home, and stopped looking at
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  Speaker 1: me imploringly. With canine brown eyes. Go away, said I
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  Speaker 1: do not come near me. May I not come near you?
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  Speaker 1: It said, no, go away, I insisted, and snapped my whip. Then,
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  Speaker 1: putting my whip in my teeth, I stooped for a stone,
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  Speaker 1: and with that threat drove the creature away. So in
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  Speaker 1: solitude I came round by the ravine of the beast people,
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  Speaker 1: and hiding among the weeds and reeds that separated this
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  Speaker 1: crevice from the sea, I watched such of them as appeared,
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  Speaker 1: tried to judge from them their gestures and appearance. Had
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  Speaker 1: the death of Moreau and Montgomery and the destruction of
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  Speaker 1: the House of Pain had affected them. I know now
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  Speaker 1: the folly of my cowardice. Had I kept my courage
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  Speaker 1: up to the level of the dawn, had I not
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  Speaker 1: allowed it to ebb away in solitary thought, I might
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  Speaker 1: have grasped the vacant scepter of Moreau and ruled over
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  Speaker 1: the beast people. As it was, I lost the opportunity
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  Speaker 1: and sank to the position of a mere leader among
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  Speaker 1: my fellows. Towards noon, certain of them came and squatted,
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  Speaker 1: basking in the hot sand. The imperious voices of hunger
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  Speaker 1: and thirst prevailed over my dread. I came out of
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  Speaker 1: the bushes, and revolver in hand, walked down towards these
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  Speaker 1: seated figures. One a wolf woman, turned her head and
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  Speaker 1: stead at me, and then the others. None attempted to
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  Speaker 1: rise or salute me. I felt too faint and weary
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  Speaker 1: to insist, and I let the moment pass. I want food,
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  Speaker 1: said I, almost apologetically, and drawing near. There is food
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  Speaker 1: in the huts, said an ox bore man, drowsily, and
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  Speaker 1: looking away from me. I passed them and went down
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  Speaker 1: to the shadow and odors of the almost deserted ravine.
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  Speaker 1: In an empty hut, I feasted on some specked and
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  Speaker 1: half decayed fruit, And then, after I had propped some
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  Speaker 1: branches and sticks about the opening, and placed myself with
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  Speaker 1: my face towards it and my hand upon my revolver,
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  Speaker 1: the exhaustion of the last thirty hours claimed its own,
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  Speaker 1: and I fell into a light slumber, hoping that the
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  Speaker 1: flimsy barricade I had erected would cause sufficient noise in
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  Speaker 1: its removal to save me from surprise.