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

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Speaker 1: Chapter nine of the Lost Continent. This LibriVox recording is
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Speaker 1: in the public domain. Recording by Lucy Lefaro. The Lost
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Speaker 1: Continent by Edgar Rice Burrows, Chapter nine, Victory, she was
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Speaker 1: here a slave to these black conquerors. Once more I
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Speaker 1: started toward her, but better judgment held me back. I
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Speaker 1: could do nothing to help her other than by stealth.
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Speaker 1: Could I even accomplish aught by this means? I did
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Speaker 1: not know. It seemed beyond the pale of possibility. And
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Speaker 1: yet I should try. And you will not bend the
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Speaker 1: knee to me, continued Menelik. After she had spoken, Victory
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Speaker 1: shook her head in no most decided negation. You shall
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Speaker 1: be my first choice, then said the Emperor. I like
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Speaker 1: your spirit, for the breaking of it will add to
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Speaker 1: my pleasure in you. And never fear but that it
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Speaker 1: shall be broken this very night. Take her to my apartments,
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Speaker 1: and he motioned to an officer at his side. I
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Speaker 1: was surprised to see Victory follow the man off in
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Speaker 1: apparent quiet submission. I tried to follow, that I might
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Speaker 1: be near her against some opportunity to speak with her
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Speaker 1: or assist in her escape. But after I had followed
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Speaker 1: them from the throne room, through several other apartments, and
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Speaker 1: down a long corridor. I found my further progress barred
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Speaker 1: by a soldier who stood guard before a doorway through
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Speaker 1: which the officer conducted Victory. Almost immediately the officer reappeared
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Speaker 1: and started back in the direction of the throne room.
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Speaker 1: I had been hiding in a doorway after the guard
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Speaker 1: had turned me back, having taken refuge there while his
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Speaker 1: back was turned, and as the officer approached me, I
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Speaker 1: withdrew into the room beyond, which was in darkness. There
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Speaker 1: I remained for a long time, watching the sentry before
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Speaker 1: the door of the room in which Victory was a prisoner,
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Speaker 1: and awaiting some favorable circumstance which would give me entry
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Speaker 1: to her. I have not attempted to fully describe my
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Speaker 1: sensations at the moment are recognized Victory, because I can
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Speaker 1: assure you they were entirely indescribable. I should never have
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Speaker 1: imagined that the sight of any human being could affect
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Speaker 1: me as had this unexpected discovery of Victory in the
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Speaker 1: same room in which I was, while I had thought
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Speaker 1: of her for weeks either as dead or at best
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Speaker 1: hundreds of miles to the west, and as irretrievably lost
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Speaker 1: to me, as though she were in truth dead. I
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Speaker 1: was filled with a strange, mad impulse to be near her.
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Speaker 1: It was not enough merely to assist her or protect her.
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Speaker 1: I desired to touch her, to take her in my arms.
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Speaker 1: I was astounded at myself. Another thing puzzled me. It
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Speaker 1: was my incomprehensible feeling of elation, since I had again
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Speaker 1: seen her with a fate worse than death, staring her
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Speaker 1: in the face, and with the knowledge that I should
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Speaker 1: probably die defending her. Within the hour, I was still
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Speaker 1: happier than I had been for weeks, and all because
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Speaker 1: I had seen again, for a few brief minutes the
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Speaker 1: figure of a little heathen maiden. I couldn't account for it,
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Speaker 1: and it angered me. I had never before felt any
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Speaker 1: such sensations in the presence of a woman, and I
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Speaker 1: had made love to some very beautiful ones in my time.
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Speaker 1: It seemed ages that I stood in the shadow of
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Speaker 1: that doorway. In the ill lit corridor of the Palace
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Speaker 1: of Menelect the fourteenth a sickly gas jet cast a
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Speaker 1: sad parlor upon the black face of the sentry. The
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Speaker 1: fellow seemed rooted to the spot evidently he would never
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Speaker 1: leave or turn his back again. I had been in
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Speaker 1: hiding but a short time when I heard the sound
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Speaker 1: of distant cannon. The truce had ended and the battle
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Speaker 1: had been resumed. Very shortly thereafter, the earth shook to
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Speaker 1: the explosion of a shell within the city, and from
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Speaker 1: time to time thereafter other shells burst At no great
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Speaker 1: distance from the palace. The yellow Men were bombarding New
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Speaker 1: Gondar again. Presently, officers and slaves commenced to traverse the
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Speaker 1: corridor on matters pertaining to their duties, and then came
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Speaker 1: the Emperor, scowling and wrathful. He was followed by a
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Speaker 1: few personal attendants, whom he deceive. I missed at the
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Speaker 1: doorway of his apartments, the same doorway through which victory
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Speaker 1: had been taken. I chafed to follow him, but the
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Speaker 1: corridor was filled with people. At last, they betook themselves
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Speaker 1: to their own apartments, which lay upon either side of
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Speaker 1: the corridor. An officer and a slave entered the very
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Speaker 1: room in which I hid, forcing me to flatten myself
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Speaker 1: to one side in the darkness until they had passed.
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Speaker 1: Then the slave made a light, and I knew that
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Speaker 1: I must find another hiding place. Stepping boldly into the corridor,
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Speaker 1: I saw that it was now empty, save for the
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Speaker 1: single sentry before the Emperor's door. He glanced up as
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Speaker 1: I emerged from the room, the occupants of which had
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Speaker 1: not seen me. I walked straight toward the soldier. My
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Speaker 1: mind made up in an instant, I tried to simulate
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Speaker 1: an expression of cringing civility, and I must have succeeded,
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Speaker 1: for I entirely threw the man off his guard, so
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Speaker 1: that he permitted me to approach within reach of his
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Speaker 1: rifle before stopping me. Then it was too late for him.
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Speaker 1: Without a word or a warning, I snatched the piece
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Speaker 1: from his grasp and at the same time struck him
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Speaker 1: a terrific blow between the eyes with my clenched fist.
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Speaker 1: He staggered back in surprise, too dumbfounded even to cry out.
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Speaker 1: And then I clubbed his rifle and felled him with
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Speaker 1: a single mighty blow. A moment later I had burst
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Speaker 1: into the room beyond it was empty. I gazed about,
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Speaker 1: mad with disappointment. Two doors opened from this to other rooms.
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Speaker 1: I ran to the nearest and listened. Yes, voices were
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Speaker 1: coming from beyond, and one was a woman's level and
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Speaker 1: cold and filled with scorn. There was no terror in it.
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Speaker 1: It was Victori's. I turned the knob and pushed the
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Speaker 1: door inward, just in time to see Melick seize the
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Speaker 1: girl and drag her toward the far end of the apartment.
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Speaker 1: At the same instant, there was a deafening roar just
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Speaker 1: outside the palace. A shell had struck much nearer than
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Speaker 1: any of its predecessors. The noise of it drowned my
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Speaker 1: rapid rush across the room. But in her struggles, Victory
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Speaker 1: turned to Menelik about so that he saw me. She
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Speaker 1: was striking him in the face with her clenched fist,
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Speaker 1: and now he was choking her. At sight of me,
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Speaker 1: he gave voice to a roar of anger. What means
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Speaker 1: this slave? He cried, out of here, out of here, quick,
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Speaker 1: before I kill you. But for answer, I rushed upon him,
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Speaker 1: striking him with the butt of the rifle. He staggered back,
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Speaker 1: dropping Victory to the floor. And then he cried aloud
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Speaker 1: for the guard and came at me again and again.
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Speaker 1: I struck him, but his thick skull might have been
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Speaker 1: armor plate for all the damage I did it. He
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Speaker 1: tried to close with me, seizing the rifle, but I
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Speaker 1: was stronger than he, and, wrenching the weapon from his grasp,
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Speaker 1: tossed it aside and made for his throat with my
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Speaker 1: bare hands. I had not dared fire the weapon for
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Speaker 1: fear that its rapport would bring the large guard stationed
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Speaker 1: at the farther end of the corridor. We struggled about
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Speaker 1: the room, striking one another, knocking over furniture, and rolling
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Speaker 1: upon the floor. Menelek was a powerful man, and he
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Speaker 1: was fighting for his life. Continually. He kept calling for
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Speaker 1: the guard until I succeeded in getting a grip upon
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Speaker 1: his throat. But it was too late. His cries had
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Speaker 1: been heard, and suddenly the door burst open and a
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Speaker 1: score of armed guardsmen rushed into the apartment. Victory seized
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Speaker 1: the rifle from the floor and leapt between me and them.
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Speaker 1: I had the Black Emperor up upon his back, and
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Speaker 1: both my hands were at his throat, choking the life
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Speaker 1: from him. The rest happened in the fraction of a second.
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Speaker 1: There was a rending crash above us, then a deafening
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Speaker 1: explosion within the chamber. Smoke and powder fumes filled the room.
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Speaker 1: Half stunned, I rose from the lifeless body of my antagonist,
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Speaker 1: just in time to see Victory staggered to her feet
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Speaker 1: and turned toward me. Slowly. The smoke cleared to reveal
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Speaker 1: the shattered remnants of the guard. A shell had fallen
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Speaker 1: through the palace roof and exploded just in the rear
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Speaker 1: of the detachment of guardsmen who were coming to the
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Speaker 1: rescue of their emperor. While neither Victory nor I were
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Speaker 1: struck is a miracle. The room was a wreck, A
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Speaker 1: great jagged hole was torn in the ceiling, and the
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Speaker 1: wall toward the corridor had been blown entirely out. As
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Speaker 1: I rose, Victory had risen too and started toward me,
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Speaker 1: But when she saw the that I was uninjured, she
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Speaker 1: stopped and stood there in the center of the demolished apartment,
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Speaker 1: looking at me. Her expression was inscrutable. I could not
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Speaker 1: guess whether she was glad to see me or not. Victory,
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Speaker 1: I cried, thank God that you are safe, and I
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Speaker 1: approached her a greater gladness in my heart than I
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Speaker 1: had felt since the moment that I knew the cold
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Speaker 1: water must be swept beyond thirty. There was no answering
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Speaker 1: gladness in her eyes. Instead, she stamped her little foot
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Speaker 1: in anger. Why did it have to be you who
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Speaker 1: saved me? She exclaimed, I hate you hate me? I asked,
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Speaker 1: Why should you hate me? Victory? I do not hate you,
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Speaker 1: I I What was I about to say? I was
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Speaker 1: very close to her as a great light broke over me.
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Speaker 1: Why had I never realized it before? The truth accounted
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Speaker 1: for a great many here, thereto inexplicable moods that had
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Speaker 1: claimed me from time to time since first I had
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Speaker 1: seen Victory. Why should I hate you, she repeated, because
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Speaker 1: Snider told me. He told me that you had promised
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Speaker 1: me to him, but he did not get me. I
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Speaker 1: killed him as I should like to kill you. Snider lied,
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Speaker 1: I cried, and then I seized her and held her
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Speaker 1: in my arms and made her listen to me, though
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Speaker 1: she struggled and fought like a young lioness. I love you, Victory.
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Speaker 1: You must know that I love you, that I have
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Speaker 1: always loved you, and that I never could have made
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Speaker 1: so base a promise. She seized, her struggles just a trifle,
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Speaker 1: but still tried to push me from her. You called
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Speaker 1: me a barbarian, she said, Ah, so that was it
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Speaker 1: that still rankled. I crushed her to me. You could
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Speaker 1: not love a barbarian, she went on, but she had
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Speaker 1: ceased to struggle. But I do love a barbarian victory,
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Speaker 1: I cried, the dearest barbarian in the world. She raised
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Speaker 1: her eyes to mine, and then her smooth brown arms
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Speaker 1: encircled my neck and drew my lips down to hers.
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Speaker 1: I love you, I have loved you always, she said,
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Speaker 1: And then she buried her face upon my shoulder and sobbed.
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Speaker 1: I have been so unhappy, she said, but I could
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Speaker 1: not die while I thought that you might live. As
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Speaker 1: we stood there momentarily forgetful of all else than our
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Speaker 1: new found happiness, the ferocity of the bombardment increased until
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Speaker 1: scarce thirty seconds elapsed between the shells that reigned about
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Speaker 1: the palace. To remain long would be to invite certain death.
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Speaker 1: We could not escape the way that we had entered
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Speaker 1: the apartment, for not only was the corridor now choked
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Speaker 1: with debris, but beyond the corridor there were doubtless many
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Speaker 1: members of the Emperor's household who would stop us. Upon
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Speaker 1: the opposite side of the room was another door, and
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Speaker 1: toward this I led the way. It opened into a
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Speaker 1: third apartment with windows overlooking and inner court. From one
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Speaker 1: of these windows, I surveyed the courtyard. Apparently it was empty,
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Speaker 1: and the rooms upon the opposite side were unlighted. Assisting
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Speaker 1: victory to the open I followed, and together we crossed
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Speaker 1: the court, discovering upon the opposite side a number of
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Speaker 1: wide wooden doors set in the wall of the palace,
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Speaker 1: with small windows between. As we stood close behind one
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Speaker 1: of the doors, listening, a horse within neighed the stables.
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Speaker 1: I whispered, and a moment later had pushed back a
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Speaker 1: door and entered from the city. About us we could
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Speaker 1: hear the din of great commotion, and quite close the
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Speaker 1: sounds of battle, the crack of thousands of rifles, the
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Speaker 1: yells of the soldiers, the horse commands of officers, and
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Speaker 1: the blare of bugles. The bombardment had ceased as suddenly
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Speaker 1: as it had commenced. I judged that the enemy was
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Speaker 1: storming the city, for the sounds we heard were the
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Speaker 1: sounds of hand to hand combat. Within the stables, I
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Speaker 1: groped about until I had found saddles and bridles for
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Speaker 1: two horses, But afterwards, in the darkness I could find
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Speaker 1: but a single mount. The doors of the opposite side
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Speaker 1: leading to the street were open, and we could see
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Speaker 1: great multitudes of men, women and children fleeing toward the west.
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Speaker 1: Soldiers afoot and mounted were joining the mad exodus. Now
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Speaker 1: and then a camel or an elephant would pass, bearing
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Speaker 1: some officer or dignitary to safety. It was evident that
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Speaker 1: the city would fall at any moment, fact which was
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Speaker 1: amply proclaimed by the terror stricken haste of the fear
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Speaker 1: mad mob. Horse, camel and elephant tried helpless women and
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Speaker 1: children beneath their feet. A common soldier dragged a general
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Speaker 1: from his mount, and, leaping to the animal's back, fled
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Speaker 1: down the packed street toward the west. A woman seized
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Speaker 1: a gun and brained a court dignitary whose horse had
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Speaker 1: trampled her child to death. Shrieks, curses, commands, supplications filled
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Speaker 1: the air. It was a frightful scene, one that will
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Speaker 1: be burned upon my memory forever. I had saddled and
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Speaker 1: bridled the single horse, which had evidently been overlooked by
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Speaker 1: the royal household in its flight, and standing a little
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Speaker 1: back in the shadow of the stable's interior victory, and
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Speaker 1: I watched the surging throng without to have entered it
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Speaker 1: would have been to have courted greater danger than we
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Speaker 1: were already in. We decided to wait until the stress
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Speaker 1: of blacks the eis and for more than an hour
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Speaker 1: we stood there, while the sounds of battle raged upon
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Speaker 1: the eastern side of the city, and the population flew
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Speaker 1: toward the west. More and more numerous became the uniform
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Speaker 1: soldiers among the fleeing throng, until toward the last the
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Speaker 1: street was packed with them. It was no orderly retreat,
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Speaker 1: but a route complete and terrible. The fighting were steadily
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Speaker 1: approaching us now until the crack of rifles sounded in
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Speaker 1: the very street upon which we were looking. And then
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Speaker 1: came a handful of brave men, a little rear guard,
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Speaker 1: backing slowly toward the west, working their smoking rifles in
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Speaker 1: feverish haste as they fired volley after volley at the
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Speaker 1: foe we could not see, but these were pressed back
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Speaker 1: and back until the first line of the enemy came
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Speaker 1: opposite our shelter. They were men of medium height, with
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Speaker 1: olive comple actions and arm and eyes in them I
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Speaker 1: recognized the descendants of the ancient Chinese race. They were
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Speaker 1: well uniformed and superbly armed, and they fought bravely and
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Speaker 1: under perfect discipline. So wrapt was I in the exciting
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Speaker 1: events transpiring in the street that I did not hear
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Speaker 1: the approach of a body of men from behind. It
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Speaker 1: was a party of the conquerors who had entered the
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Speaker 1: palace and were searching it. They came upon us so
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Speaker 1: unexpectedly that we were prisoners before we realized what had happened.
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Speaker 1: That night we were held under a strong guard just
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Speaker 1: outside the eastern wall of the city, and the next
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Speaker 1: morning we started upon a long march toward the east.
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Speaker 1: Our captors were not unkind to us and treated the
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Speaker 1: women prisoners with respect. We marched for many days, so
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Speaker 1: many that I lost count of them, and at last
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Speaker 1: we came to another city, a Chinese city, this time,
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Speaker 1: which stands upon the site of ancient Moscow. It is
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Speaker 1: only a small frontier city, but it is well built
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Speaker 1: and well kept. Here a large military force is maintained,
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Speaker 1: and here also is a terminus of the railroad that
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Speaker 1: crosses modern China to the Pacific. There was every evidence
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Speaker 1: of a high civilization in all that we saw within
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Speaker 1: the city, which, in connection with the humane treatment that
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Speaker 1: had been accorded all prisoners upon the long and tiresome
18:32
Speaker 1: march encouraged me to hope that I might appeal to
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Speaker 1: some high officer here for the treatment which my rank
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Speaker 1: and birth merited. We could converse with our captors only
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Speaker 1: through the medium of interpreters who spoke both Chinese and Abyssinian,
18:50
Speaker 1: but there were many of these, and shortly after we
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Speaker 1: reached the city, I persuaded one of them to carry
18:56
Speaker 1: a verbal message to the officer who had commanded the
18:59
Speaker 1: troops during the return from Ugonda, asking that I might
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Speaker 1: be given a hearing by some high official. The reply
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Speaker 1: to my request was a summons to appear before the
19:10
Speaker 1: officer to whom I had addressed my appeal. A sergeant
19:15
Speaker 1: came for me, along with the interpreter, and I managed
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Speaker 1: to obtain his permission to let Victory accompany me. I
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Speaker 1: had never left her alone with the prisoners since we
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Speaker 1: had been captured. To my delight, I found that the
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Speaker 1: officer in whose presence we were conducted spoke Abyssinian fluently.
19:36
Speaker 1: He was astounded when I told him that I was
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Speaker 1: a Pan American. Unlike all others whom I had spoken
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Speaker 1: with since my arrival in Europe, he was well acquainted
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Speaker 1: with ancient history was familiar with twentieth century conditions in
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Speaker 1: pan America, and after putting a half dozen questions to me,
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Speaker 1: was satisfied that I spoke the truth. When I told
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Speaker 1: him that Victory was Queen of England, he showed little surprise,
20:04
Speaker 1: telling me that in their recent explorations in ancient Russia
20:08
Speaker 1: they had found many descendants of the old nobility and royalty.
20:13
Speaker 1: He immediately set aside a comfortable house for us, furnished
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Speaker 1: us with servants and with money, and in other ways
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Speaker 1: showed us every attention and kindness. He told me that
20:26
Speaker 1: he would telegraph his emperor at once, and the result
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Speaker 1: was that we were presently commanded to repair to pe
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Speaker 1: King and present ourselves before the ruler. We made the
20:36
Speaker 1: journey in a comfortable railway carriage through a country which,
20:40
Speaker 1: as we traveled farther toward the east, showed increasing evidence
20:44
Speaker 1: of prosperity and wealth. At the imperial court, we were
20:48
Speaker 1: received with great kindness, the Emperor being most inquisitive about
20:53
Speaker 1: the state of modern pan America. He told me that
20:57
Speaker 1: while he personally deplored the existence of the strict regulations
21:01
Speaker 1: which had raised a barrier between the East and the west.
21:05
Speaker 1: He had felt, as had his predecessors, that recognition of
21:10
Speaker 1: the wishes of the Great Pan American Federation would be
21:13
Speaker 1: most conducive to the continued peace of the world. His
21:18
Speaker 1: empire includes all of Asia and the islands of the
21:22
Speaker 1: Pacific as far west as one seventy five w The
21:27
Speaker 1: Empire of Japan no longer exists, having been conquered and
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Speaker 1: absorbed by China over a hundred years ago. The Philippines
21:37
Speaker 1: are well administered and constitute one of the most progressive
21:41
Speaker 1: colonies of the Chinese Empire. The Emperor told me that
21:45
Speaker 1: the building of this great empire and the spreading of
21:49
Speaker 1: enlightenment among its diversified and savage peoples, had required all
21:55
Speaker 1: the best efforts of nearly two hundred years. Upon his
21:59
Speaker 1: accession to the throne, he had found the labor well
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Speaker 1: nigh perfected, and had turned his attention to the reclamation
22:08
Speaker 1: of Europe. His ambition is to wrest it from the
22:11
Speaker 1: hands of the Blacks, and then to attempt the work
22:15
Speaker 1: of elevating its fallen peoples to the high estate from
22:19
Speaker 1: which the Great War precipitated them. I asked him who
22:23
Speaker 1: was victorious in that war? And he shook his head
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Speaker 1: sadly as he replied, pat America perhaps, and China with
22:31
Speaker 1: the blacks of Abyssinia. He said, those who did not
22:35
Speaker 1: fight were the only ones to reap any of the
22:38
Speaker 1: rewards that are supposed to belong to victory. The combatants
22:44
Speaker 1: reaped nought but annihilation. You have seen better than any man.
22:49
Speaker 1: You must realize that there was no victory for any
22:52
Speaker 1: nation embroiled in that frightful war. When did it end?
22:57
Speaker 1: I asked him again. He shook his head. It has
23:01
Speaker 1: not ended yet. There has never been a formal peace
23:05
Speaker 1: declared in Europe. After a while there were none left
23:09
Speaker 1: to make peace, and the rude tribes which sprang from
23:12
Speaker 1: the survivors continued to fight among themselves because they knew
23:16
Speaker 1: no better condition of society. War raised the works of man,
23:22
Speaker 1: War and pestilence raised man. God give that there shall
23:27
Speaker 1: never be such another war. You all know how Porphyrio
23:31
Speaker 1: Johnson returned to pan America with John Alvarez in chains.
23:37
Speaker 1: How Alvarez's trial raised a popular demonstration that the government
23:42
Speaker 1: could not ignore his eloquent appeal not for himself but
23:46
Speaker 1: for me is historic, as are its results. You know
23:51
Speaker 1: how a fleet was sent across the Atlantic to search
23:54
Speaker 1: for me, How the restrictions against crossing thirty to one
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Speaker 1: hundred seventy five were removed forever, and how the officers
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Speaker 1: were brought to Pe King, arriving upon the very day
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Speaker 1: that Victory and I were married at the Imperial Court.
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Speaker 1: My return to pan America was very different from anything
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Speaker 1: I could possibly have imagined a year before. Instead of
24:17
Speaker 1: being received as a trader to my country, I was
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Speaker 1: acclaimed a hero. It was good to get back again,
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Speaker 1: good to witness the kindly treatment that was accorded my
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Speaker 1: dear Victory. And when I learned that del Cart and
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Speaker 1: Taylor had been found at the mouth of the Rhine
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Speaker 1: and were already back in pan America, my joy was unalloyed.
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Speaker 1: And now we are going back, Victory and I, with
24:44
Speaker 1: the men and the munitions and power to reclaim England
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Speaker 1: for her Queen again, I shall cross thirty, but under
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Speaker 1: what altered conditions? A new epoch for Europe is inaugurated,
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Speaker 1: with enlightened China on the east and enlightened pan America
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Speaker 1: on the west, the two great peace powers, whom God
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Speaker 1: has preserved to regenerate, chastened and forgiven Europe I have
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Speaker 1: been through much, I have suffered much, but I have
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Speaker 1: won two great Laurel wreaths beyond thirty. One is the
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Speaker 1: opportunity to rescue Europe from barbarism. The other is a
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Speaker 1: little barbarian. And the greater of these is victory. End
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Speaker 1: of chapter nine, End of the Lost Continent by Edgar
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Speaker 1: Rice Burroughs. Recording by Lucy LaFaro, Australia,