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06 - Lost Continent (Beyond Thirty) by Edgar Rice Burroughs · Lost Continent (Beyond Thirty)

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  Speaker 1: Chapter six of the Lost Continent. This LibriVox recording is
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  Speaker 1: in the public domain. The Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burrows,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter six. Victory was nowhere in sight alone. I floated
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  Speaker 1: upon the bosom of the Thames. In that brief instant,
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  Speaker 1: I believed that I suffered more mental anguish than I
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  Speaker 1: have crowded into all the balance of my life before
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  Speaker 1: or since. A few hours before, I had been wishing
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  Speaker 1: that I might be rid of her, and now that
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  Speaker 1: she was gone, I would have given my life to
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  Speaker 1: have her back again. Wearily, I turned to swim about
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  Speaker 1: the spot where she had disappeared, hoping that she might
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  Speaker 1: rise once at least, and I would be given the
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  Speaker 1: opportunity to save her. And as I turned, the water
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  Speaker 1: boiled before my face, and her head shot up before me.
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  Speaker 1: I was on the point of striking out to seize her,
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  Speaker 1: when a happy smile illuminated her features. You are not dead,
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  Speaker 1: she cried, I have been searching the bottom for you.
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  Speaker 1: I was sure that the blow she gave you must
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  Speaker 1: have disabled you, and she glanced about for the lioness.
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  Speaker 1: She has gone, She asked, dead, I replied, the blow
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  Speaker 1: you struck her with the thing you call rifle stunned her,
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  Speaker 1: she explained, and then I swam in close enough to
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  Speaker 1: get my knife into her heart. Ah, such a girl.
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  Speaker 1: I could not but wonder what one of our own
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  Speaker 1: Pan American women would have done under like circumstances. But then,
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  Speaker 1: of course they have not been trained by stern necessity
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  Speaker 1: to cope with the emergencies and dangers of savage primeval life.
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  Speaker 1: Along the bank we had just quitted, a score of
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  Speaker 1: lions paced to and fro, growling menacingly. We could not return,
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  Speaker 1: and we struck out for the opposite shore. I am
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  Speaker 1: a strong swimmer and had no doubt as to my
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  Speaker 1: ability to cross the river. But I was not so
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  Speaker 1: sure about victory. So I swam close behind her to
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  Speaker 1: be ready to give her assistance should she need it.
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  Speaker 1: She did, not, however, reaching the opposite bank as fresh
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  Speaker 1: apparently as when she entered the water. Victory is a wonder.
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  Speaker 1: Every day that we were together brought new proofs of it.
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  Speaker 1: Nor was it her courage or vitality only which amazed me.
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  Speaker 1: She had a head on those shapely shoulders of hers,
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  Speaker 1: and dignity my. But she could be regal when she chose.
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  Speaker 1: She told me that the lions were fewer upon this
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  Speaker 1: side of the river, but that there were many wolves
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  Speaker 1: running in great packs later in the year. Now they
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  Speaker 1: were north somewhere, and we should have little to fear
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  Speaker 1: from them, though we might meet with a few. My
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  Speaker 1: first concern was to take my webs apart and dry them,
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  Speaker 1: which was rather difficult in the face of the fact
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  Speaker 1: that every rag about me was drenched, but finally, thanks
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  Speaker 1: to the sun and much rubbing, I succeeded, though I
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  Speaker 1: had no oil to lubricate them. We ate some wild
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  Speaker 1: berries and roots that Victory found, and then we set
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  Speaker 1: off again down the river, keeping an eye open for
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  Speaker 1: game on one side and the launch on the other,
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  Speaker 1: for I thought that Delcarte, who would be the natural
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  Speaker 1: leader during my absence, might run up the tams in
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  Speaker 1: search of me. The balance of that day we sought
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  Speaker 1: in vain for game or for the launch, and when
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  Speaker 1: night came, we lay down, our stomachs empty to sleep
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  Speaker 1: beneath the stars. We were entirely unprotected from attack from
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  Speaker 1: wild beasts, and for this reason I remained awake most
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  Speaker 1: of the night on guard, but nothing approached us, though
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  Speaker 1: I could hear the lions roaring across the river, and
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  Speaker 1: once I thought I heard the hand of a beast
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  Speaker 1: north of us, it might have been a wolf. Altogether,
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  Speaker 1: it was a most unpleasant night, and I determined then
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  Speaker 1: that if we were forced to sleep out again, that
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  Speaker 1: I should provide some sort of shelter which would protect
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  Speaker 1: us from attack. While we slept. Toward morning, I dozed
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  Speaker 1: and the sun was well up when Victory aroused me
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  Speaker 1: by gently shaking my shoulder. Antelope, she whispered in my ear,
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  Speaker 1: and as I raised my head, she pointed up river.
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  Speaker 1: Crawling to my knees, I looked in the direction she
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  Speaker 1: indicated to see a buck standing upon a little knoll
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  Speaker 1: some two hundred yards from us. There was good cover
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  Speaker 1: between the animal and me, and so though I might
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  Speaker 1: have hit him at two hundred yards, I preferred to
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  Speaker 1: crawl closer to him and make sure of the meat
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  Speaker 1: we both so craved. I had covered about fifty yard
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  Speaker 1: of the distance, and the beast was still feeding peacefully,
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  Speaker 1: so I thought that I would make even surer of
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  Speaker 1: a hit by going ahead another fifty yards. When the
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  Speaker 1: animal suddenly raised his head and looked away upriver. His
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  Speaker 1: whole attitude proclaimed that he was startled by something beyond
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  Speaker 1: him that I could not see. Realizing that he might
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  Speaker 1: break and run, and that I should then probably miss
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  Speaker 1: him entirely, I raised my rifle to my shoulder, but
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  Speaker 1: even as I did so, the animal leaped into the air,
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  Speaker 1: and simultaneously there was a sound of a shot from
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  Speaker 1: beyond the knoll. For an instant I was dumbfounded. Had
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  Speaker 1: the report come from downriver, I should have instantly thought
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  Speaker 1: that one of my own men had fired, But coming
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  Speaker 1: from upriver, it puzzled me considerably. Who could there be
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  Speaker 1: with firearms in primitive England other than we of the
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  Speaker 1: cold water. Victory was directly behind me, and I motioned
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  Speaker 1: for her to lie down, as I did behind the
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  Speaker 1: bush from which I had been upon the point of
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  Speaker 1: firing at the antelope. We could see that the buck
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  Speaker 1: was quite dead, and from our hiding place we waited
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  Speaker 1: to discover the identity of his slayer, when the latter
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  Speaker 1: should approach and claim his kill. We had not long
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  Speaker 1: to wait, and when I saw the head and shoulders
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  Speaker 1: of a man appear above the crest of the knoll,
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  Speaker 1: I sprang to my feet with a heart felt cry
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  Speaker 1: of joy, for it was del cart at the sound
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  Speaker 1: of my voice. Del Cart half raised his rifle in
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  Speaker 1: readiness for the attack of an enemy, but a moment
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  Speaker 1: later he recognized me and was coming rapidly to meet us.
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  Speaker 1: Behind him was Snyder. They both were astounded to see
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  Speaker 1: me upon the north bank of the river, and much
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  Speaker 1: more so at the sight of my companion. Then I
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  Speaker 1: introduced them to Victory and told them that she was
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  Speaker 1: Queen of England. They thought at first that I was joking,
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  Speaker 1: but when I had recounted my adventures and they realized
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  Speaker 1: that I was in earnest, they believed me. They told
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  Speaker 1: me that they had followed me in shore when I
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  Speaker 1: had not returned from the hunt, that they had met
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  Speaker 1: the men of the Elephant Country and had had a
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  Speaker 1: short and one sighted battle with the fellows, and that
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  Speaker 1: afterwards they had returned to the launch with a prisoner
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  Speaker 1: from whom they had learned that I had probably been
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  Speaker 1: captured by the men of the Lion Country. With the
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  Speaker 1: prisoner as a guide, they had set off up river
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  Speaker 1: in search of me, but had been much delayed by
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  Speaker 1: motor trouble, and had finally camped after dark a half
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  Speaker 1: mile above the spot where Victory and I had spent
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  Speaker 1: the night. They must have passed us in the dark,
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  Speaker 1: and why I did not hear the sound of the propeller,
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  Speaker 1: I do not know, unless it passed me at a
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  Speaker 1: time when the lions were making an unusually spitting din
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  Speaker 1: upon the opposite side. Taking the antelope with us, we
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  Speaker 1: all returned to the launch, where we found Taylor as
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  Speaker 1: delighted to see me alive again as Delcarte had been.
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  Speaker 1: I cannot say truthfully that Snyder evinced much enthusiasm at
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  Speaker 1: my rescue. Taylor had found the ingredients for chemical fuel,
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  Speaker 1: and the distilling of them had with the mode of trouble,
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  Speaker 1: accounted for their delay in setting out after me. The
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  Speaker 1: prisoner that delcart and Snyder had taken was a powerful
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  Speaker 1: young fellow from the Elephant country. Notwithstanding the fact that
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  Speaker 1: they had all assured him to the contrary, he still
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  Speaker 1: could not believe that we would not kill him. He
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  Speaker 1: assured us that his name was thirty six, and as
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  Speaker 1: he could not count above ten, I am sure that
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  Speaker 1: he had no conception of the correct meaning of the word,
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  Speaker 1: and that it may have been handed down to him
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  Speaker 1: either from the military number of an ancestor who had
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  Speaker 1: served in the English ranks during the Great war, or
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  Speaker 1: that originally it was the number of some famous regiment
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  Speaker 1: with which a four bare fort. Now that we were reunited,
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  Speaker 1: we held a council to determine what course we should
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  Speaker 1: pursue in the immediate future. Snyder was still for setting
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  Speaker 1: out to sea and returning to Pan America, but the
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  Speaker 1: better judgment of Delcart and Taylor ridiculed the suggestion. We
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  Speaker 1: should not have lived a fortnight to remain in England,
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  Speaker 1: constantly menaced by wild beasts and men equally as wild,
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  Speaker 1: seemed about as bad. I suggested that we crossed the
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  Speaker 1: channel and ascertain if we could not discover a more
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  Speaker 1: enlightened and civilized people upon the continent. I was sure
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  Speaker 1: that some trace of the ancient culture and greatness of
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  Speaker 1: Europe must remain. Germany probably would be much as it
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  Speaker 1: was during the twentieth century, for, in common with most
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  Speaker 1: Pan Americans, I was positive that Germany had been victorious
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  Speaker 1: in the Great War. Snyder demurred at the suggestion. He
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  Speaker 1: said that it was bad enough to have come this far.
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  Speaker 1: He did not want to make it worse by going
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  Speaker 1: to the continent. The outcome of it was that I
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  Speaker 1: finally lost my patience and told him that from then
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  Speaker 1: on he would do what I thought best. That I
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  Speaker 1: proposed to assume command of the party, and that they
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  Speaker 1: might all consider themselves under my orders, as much so
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  Speaker 1: as though we were still abhorred the cold Water and
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  Speaker 1: in Pan American waters. Delka and Taylor immediately assured me
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  Speaker 1: that they had not, for an instant assumed anything different,
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  Speaker 1: and that they were as ready to follow and obey
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  Speaker 1: me here as they would be upon the other side
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  Speaker 1: of thirty Snyder said nothing, but he wore a sullen scowl.
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  Speaker 1: And I wish then, as I had before, and as
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  Speaker 1: I did to a much greater extent later, that fate
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  Speaker 1: had not decreed that he should have chance to be
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  Speaker 1: a member of the Launcher's party. Upon that memorable day
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  Speaker 1: when last we quitted the Cold Water. Victory, who was
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  Speaker 1: given a voice in our councils, was all for going
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  Speaker 1: to the continent, or anywhere else in fact, where she
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  Speaker 1: might see new sights and experience new adventures. Afterward, we
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  Speaker 1: can come back to Britain, she said. And if Buckingham
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  Speaker 1: is not dead, and we can catch him away from
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  Speaker 1: his men and kill him, then I can return to
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  Speaker 1: my people and we can all live in peace and happiness.
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  Speaker 1: We spoke of killing Buckingham with no greater concern than
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  Speaker 1: one might Evans in the contemplated destruction of a sheep.
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  Speaker 1: Yet she was neither cruel nor vindictive. In fact, Victory
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  Speaker 1: is a very sweet and womanly woman. But human life
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  Speaker 1: is of small account beyond thirty a legacy from the
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  Speaker 1: bloody days when thousands of men perished in the trenches
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  Speaker 1: between the rising and the setting of a sun, when
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  Speaker 1: they laid them lengthwise in these same trenches and sprinkled
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  Speaker 1: dirt over them, when the Germans corded their corpses like
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  Speaker 1: wood and set fire to them, when women and children
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  Speaker 1: and old men were butchered, and great passenger ships were
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  Speaker 1: torpedoed without warning. Thirty six finally assured that we did
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  Speaker 1: not intend slaying him. Was as keen to accompany us
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  Speaker 1: as was Victory. The crossing to the continent was uneventful,
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  Speaker 1: its monotony being relieved, however, by the childish delight of
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  Speaker 1: Victory and thirty six in the novel experience of riding
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  Speaker 1: safely upon the bosom of the water, and of being
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  Speaker 1: so far from land, with the possible exception of Snyder,
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  Speaker 1: the little party appeared in the best of spirits, laughing
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  Speaker 1: and joking, or interestedly discussing the possibilities which the future
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  Speaker 1: held for us, what we should find upon the continent,
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  Speaker 1: and whether the inhabitants would be civilized or barbarian peoples.
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  Speaker 1: Victory asked me to explain the difference between the two,
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  Speaker 1: and when I had tried to do so as clearly
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  Speaker 1: as possible, she broke into a gay little laugh. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: she cried, Then I am a barbarian. I could not
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  Speaker 1: but laugh too, as I admitted that she was indeed
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  Speaker 1: a barbarian. She was not offended, taking the matter as
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  Speaker 1: a huge joke, But some time thereafter she sat in silence,
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  Speaker 1: apparently deep in Finally she looked up at me, her
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  Speaker 1: strong white teeth gleaming behind her smiling lips. Should you
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  Speaker 1: take that thing you call razor, she said, and cut
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  Speaker 1: the hair from the face of thirty six and exchanged
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  Speaker 1: garments with him. You would be the barbarian and thirty
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  Speaker 1: six the civilized man. There is no other difference between
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  Speaker 1: you except your weapons. Clothe you in a wolf skin,
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  Speaker 1: give you a knife and a spear, and set you
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  Speaker 1: down in the woods of grebritin of what service, would
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  Speaker 1: your civilization be to you? Delka and Taylor smiled at
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  Speaker 1: her reply, but thirty six and Snyder laughed uproarously. I
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  Speaker 1: was not surprised at thirty six, but I thought that
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  Speaker 1: Snyder laughed louder than the occasion warranted. As a matter
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  Speaker 1: of fact, Snyder, it seemed to me, was taking advantage
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  Speaker 1: of every opportunity, however slight to show insubordinate and I
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  Speaker 1: determined then that at the first real breach of discipline,
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  Speaker 1: I should take action that would remind Snyder. Even after
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  Speaker 1: that I was still his commanding officer, I could not
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  Speaker 1: help but notice that his eyes were much upon Victory,
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  Speaker 1: and I did not like it, for I knew the
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  Speaker 1: type of man he was. But as it would not
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  Speaker 1: be necessary ever to leave the girl alone with him,
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  Speaker 1: I felt now apprehension for her safety. After the incident
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  Speaker 1: of the discussion of barbarians, I thought that Victory's manner
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  Speaker 1: toward me changed perceptibly. She held aloof from me, and
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  Speaker 1: when Snyder took his turn at the wheel, sat beside him.
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  Speaker 1: Upon the pretext that she wished to learn how to
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  Speaker 1: steer the launch, I wondered if she had guessed the
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  Speaker 1: man's antipathy for me, and was seeking his company solely
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  Speaker 1: for the purpose of piquing me. Snyder was too, taking
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  Speaker 1: full advantage of his opportunity. Often he leaned toward the
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  Speaker 1: girl to whisper in her ear, and he laughed much,
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  Speaker 1: which was unusual with Snyder. Of course, it was nothing
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  Speaker 1: at all to me. Yet, for some unaccountable reason, the
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  Speaker 1: sight of the two of them sitting there, so close
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  Speaker 1: to one another, and seeming to be enjoying each other's
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  Speaker 1: society to such a degree, irritated me tremendously, and put
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  Speaker 1: me in such a bad humor that I took no
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  Speaker 1: pleasure whatsoever. In the last few hours of the crossing,
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  Speaker 1: we aimed to land near the sight of ancient Ostend,
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  Speaker 1: But when we neared the coast, we discovered no indication
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  Speaker 1: of any human habitations whatever, let alone a city. After
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  Speaker 1: we had landed, we'd found the same howling wilderness about
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  Speaker 1: us that we had discovered on the British Isle. There
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  Speaker 1: was no slightest indication that civilized man had ever set
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  Speaker 1: a foot upon that portion of the continent of Europe.
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  Speaker 1: Although I had feared as much since our experience in England,
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  Speaker 1: I could not but own to a feeling of marked
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  Speaker 1: disappointment and to the gravest fears of the future, which
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: induced a mental depression that was in no way dissipated
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  Speaker 1: by the continued familiarity between Victory and Snyder. I was
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  Speaker 1: angry with myself that I permitted that matter to affect
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  Speaker 1: me as it had. I did not wish to admit
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  Speaker 1: to myself that I was angry with this uncultured little savage,
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  Speaker 1: that it made the slightest difference to me what she
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  Speaker 1: did or what she did not do, or that I
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: could so lower myself as to feel personal enmity toward
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  Speaker 1: a common sailor, and yet to be honest, I was
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  Speaker 1: doing both. Finding nothing to detain us about the spot
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  Speaker 1: where Ostend once had stood, we set out up the
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  Speaker 1: coast in search of the mouth of the river Rhine,
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  Speaker 1: which I purposed ascending in search of civilized man. It
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  Speaker 1: was my intention to explore the Rhine as far up
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  Speaker 1: as the launch would take us. If we found no
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  Speaker 1: civilization there, we would return to the North Sea, continue
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  Speaker 1: up the coast to the Elbe, and follow that river
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  Speaker 1: and the canals of Berlin. Here, at least, I was
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  Speaker 1: sure that we should find what we sought, and if not,
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: then all Europe had reverted to barbarism. The weather remained fine,
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: and we made excellent progress. But everywhere along the Rhine
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: we met with the same disappointment, no sign of civilized man,
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  Speaker 1: in fact, no sign of man at all. I was
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  Speaker 1: not enjoying the expiration of modern Europe as I had anticipated.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: I was unhappy. Victory seemed changed too. I had enjoyed
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  Speaker 1: her company at first, but since the trip across the channel,
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: I had held aloof from her. Her chin was in
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  Speaker 1: the air most of the time. And yet I rather
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: think that she regretted her friendliness with Snyder, for I
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  Speaker 1: noticed that she avoided him entirely. He, on the contrary,
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  Speaker 1: emboldened by her former friendliness, sought every opportunity to be
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  Speaker 1: near her. I should have liked nothing better than a
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: reasonably good excuse to punch his head. Yet paradoxically I
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: was ashamed of myself for harboring him any ill will.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: I realized that there was something the matter with me,
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  Speaker 1: but I did not know what it was. Matters remained
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  Speaker 1: thus for several days, and we continued our journey up
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  Speaker 1: the Rhine. At Cologne, I had hoped to find some
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  Speaker 1: reassuring indications, but there was no Cologne, and as there
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  Speaker 1: had been no other cities along the river up to
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  Speaker 1: that point, the devastation was infinitely greater than time alone
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  Speaker 1: could have wrought. Great guns, bombs, and mines must have
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: leveled every building that man had raised, And then nature, unhindered,
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  Speaker 1: had covered the ghastly evidence of human de gravity with
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  Speaker 1: her beauteous mantle of verdure. Splendid trees reared their stately
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  Speaker 1: tops where splendid cathedral once had reared their domes, and
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  Speaker 1: sweet wildflowers blossomed in simple serenity in soil that once
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  Speaker 1: was drenched with human blood. Nature had reclaimed what man
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: had once stolen from her and defiled a herd of
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: zebras grazed her. Once the German kaiser may have reviewed
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  Speaker 1: his troops. An antelope rested peacefully in a bed of
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  Speaker 1: daisies where, perhaps two hundred years ago, a big gun
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: belched its terror lated messages of death, of hate, of destruction,
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: against the works of man and God alike. We were
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: in need of fresh meat, yet I hesitated to shatter
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  Speaker 1: the quiet and peaceful serenity of the view with the
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: crack of a rifle and the death of one of
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  Speaker 1: those beautiful creatures before us. But it had to be done.
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  Speaker 1: We must eat. I left the work to Delcarte, however,
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  Speaker 1: and in a moment we had two antelopes and the
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  Speaker 1: landscape to ourselves. After eating, we boarded the launch and
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: continued up the river for two days. We passed through
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: a primeval wilderness. In the afternoon of the second day,
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: we landed upon the west bank of the river, and,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: leaving Snyder and thirty six to guard Victory and the launch,
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: del Carte, Taylor and I set out after game. We
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: tramped away from the river for upwards of an hour
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: before discovering anything, and then only a small red deer,
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: which Taylor brought down with a neat shot of two
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: hundred yards. It was getting too late to proceed farther,
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: so we rigged a sling and the two men carried
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: the deer back toward the launch, while I walked a
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: hundred yards ahead in the hope of bagging something further
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: for our larder. We had covered about half the distance
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: to the river when I suddenly came face to face
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: with a man. He was as primitive and uncouth in
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: appearance as the Grebritons, a shaggy, unkempt savage clothed in
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: a shirt of skin, cured with the head on the
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: latter surmounting his own head to form a bonnet, and
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: giving to him a most fearful and ferocious aspect. The
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: fellow was armed with a long spear and a club,
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: the latter dangling down his back from a leathern song
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: about his neck. His feet were encased in hie sandals.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: At sight of me, he halted for an instant, then
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: turned and dove into the forest, and though I called
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: reassuringly to him in English, he did not return, nor
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: did I again see him. The sight of the wild
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: man raised my hopes once more that elsewhere we might
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: find men in a high estate of civilization. It was
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: the society of civilized man that I craved, and so
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: with a lighter heart I continued on toward the river
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: and the launch. I was still some distance ahead of
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: Delkhat and Taylor when I came in sight of the
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: rhine again. But I came to the water's edge before
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: I noticed that anything was amiss with the party. We
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: had left there a few hours before. My first intimation
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: of disaster was the absence of the launch from its
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: former moorings. And then a moment later I discovered the
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: body of a man lying upon the bank. Running toward it,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: I saw that it was thirty six. As I stopped
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: and raised the Gribittan's head in my arms, I heard
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: a faint moan break from his lips. He was not dead,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: but that he was badly injured was all too evident.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: Delka Taylor came up a moment later, and the three
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: of us worked over the fellow, hoping to revive him,
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: that he might tell us what had happened and what
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: had become of the others. My first thought was prompted
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: by the sight I had recently had of the savage native.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: The little party had evidently been surprised, and in the attack,
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: thirty six had been wounded and the others taken prisoners.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: The thought was almost like a physical blow in the face.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: It stunned me. Victory in the hands of these abysmal brutes.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: It was frightful. I almost shook poor thirty six in
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: my efforts to revive him. I explained my theory to
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: the others, and then del Cart shattered it by a
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: single movement of the hand. He drew aside the lion's
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: skin that covered half of the Grebitton's breast, revealing a
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: neat round hole in thirty six's chest, a hole that
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: could have been made by no other weapon than a
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: right Snyder, I exclaimed. Delcart nodded. At about the same
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: time the eyelids of the wounded man fluttered and raised.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: He looked up at us, and very slowly the light
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: of consciousness returned to his eyes. What happened thirty six,
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: I asked him. He tried to reply, but the effort
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: caused him to cough, bringing about a hemorrhage of the lungs,
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: and again he fell back, Exhausted. For several long minutes,
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: he lay as one dead. Then, in an almost inaudible whisper,
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: he spoke Snyder. He paused, tried to speak again, raised
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: his hand and pointed downriver. They went back, and then
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: he shuddered convulsively and died. None of us voiced his belief,
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: but I think they were all like Victory and Senyda
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: had stolen the launch and deserted us. End of Chapter
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: six