Latest / A Drop in Infinity / Chapter XXIII

Transcript

Chapter XXIII · A Drop in Infinity

• 0:01
  Section twenty three of A Drop in Infinity. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 0:06
  All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
• 0:12
  please visit LibriVox dot org. A Drop in Infinity by Gerald Grogan,
• 0:18
  Chapter twenty three. There you go now, repeated Lieutenant Peter Omenson, late
• 0:25
  of the hundred and first Foster Hussers. Marjorie land I said firmly, it's
• 0:31
  no use your prodding round that tub. He won't come back. You sure
• 0:36
  he not? Dville, I tank, I got kill still displace uncommon like
• 0:42
  hale. If you're dead, I am, I said. The man's only
• 0:48
  a mad scientist, has made rather a curious discovery. He played the same
• 0:53
  game on me years ago, more than anything else in de Varl, said
• 0:58
  Omindsen. Inconsequentially, I like some beer when we get home, I said.
• 1:03
  You can drink beer until you burst, drink it out of a cow's
• 1:07
  horn, like your ancestors did. But for goodness's sake, let's get down
• 1:11
  into the hollow before it gets dark. At the mention of this refreshing drink,
• 1:17
  ere Omensen's eye brightened. I come with you, he said, simply,
• 1:23
  what need to dwell much farther on the details of that journey back.
• 1:26
  Those who know Peter Omenson will realize how the thought of the glorious prize in
• 1:32
  the store would stimulate his manly spirit. And I did not need to look
• 1:37
  twice to see that his companionship was going to more than have my difficulties for
• 1:42
  me. By the end of May we were past the head waters of the
• 1:45
  sun, and I was jubilant the thought of getting back to Marjory Land with
• 1:49
  three looking glasses and a new friend, A friend moreover, one could trust
• 1:55
  to the death, for we had already encountered enough minor adventures on the way
• 1:59
  to prove thought to the end. It was here on the Upper Sin that
• 2:04
  we encountered the sheep. I have been accused of romancing, both with regard
• 2:08
  to this matter, the fight with the plesiosaurus and my killing of a stag
• 2:13
  with the velvet half of his antlers in June. Henry McTavish is probably behind
• 2:19
  the libel. He has never seen sheep on the Upper Sin. He has
• 2:23
  only been there twice, nor has he or any other man found a pleasiosaurus
• 2:28
  knocking about. Therefore, according to Henry, these things cannot exist. I
• 2:34
  can only assure my readers that these things I did meet with, and remind
• 2:38
  Henry that he has never seen his own brains. We found a herd of
• 2:43
  about fifty sheep, I say, on the upper scent. I shot six
• 2:46
  ewes and a ram, and we captured ten lambs, four of which died
• 2:51
  on the voyage down. Peter will bear me out. After that, we
• 2:55
  were faced with the problem of getting our captives home. But we solved this
• 3:00
  by cutting down trees with my machete and Peter's sword, and building a raft.
• 3:04
  The current the swift is only dangerous in four places, and the worst
• 3:08
  of these we negotiated by letting the raft shoot the rapids by itself. We
• 3:13
  moored it to the bank, and I waited above until Peter had traveled down
• 3:16
  to the smooth water below. Then I cast loose the painter and let the
• 3:21
  raft take its chance. It came through all right, and Peter swam out
• 3:24
  and got it ashore. He was a strong swimmer and saved his life thereby
• 3:29
  when he got knocked overboard shooting the first cataract. I was in a blue
• 3:32
  funk when I saw him go overboard, But the Ruffian came up laughing.
• 3:38
  A useful man, Peter. So it came about that sleeping on the raft
• 3:42
  and only coming ashore to get fodder for the lambs, we've saved so much
• 3:46
  time that we sighted the foothills of the Eastern Range on the first of July.
• 3:51
  The river takes a big bend to the north. Here, approaching the
• 3:53
  southern end of the mountains, I suggested to omen Sin that in place of
• 3:59
  continuing our our journey by sixty mile Camp and the Cross Tree, we should
• 4:02
  try to discover a short cut across the mountains. We beached our raft and
• 4:08
  herded our lambs, now fairly docile, before us to the north. It
• 4:13
  was slow progress we made, but a week's travel found us amidst granite and
• 4:16
  heather at a point I judged to be not far off the head waters of
• 4:20
  the East Brook, which flows into Lake Marjorie. I lost a day by
• 4:25
  getting into the wrong valley at first, but crossing a ridge, we saw
• 4:29
  the forest and downs in the distance and caught the glint of the lake.
• 4:33
  We struck another brook, and late in the evening of the tenth we turned
• 4:38
  a corner and found ourselves at the eastern end of the little tarn we call
• 4:42
  Upper Lake. Omensen gave a shout as his eye fell on the turf roofed
• 4:46
  stone hut, which stood in a walled enclosure on the south shore. We
• 4:50
  were pretty well petered out with hardship, and I think he imagined the great
• 4:55
  moment had arrived, and I was loath to inform him that sixty miles of
• 5:00
  broken ground, yet intervened that last is more than a day's travel. When
• 5:04
  herting sickly lambs. We held a consultation over the six survivors of the flock
• 5:11
  and came to the conclusion it would be safer to rest them for a few
• 5:14
  days. I discovered that Marjorie had provisioned the hut in my absence, so
• 5:18
  on the morrow I left Peter, very happily, engaged with our ham and
• 5:23
  home brewed, and dropped down the water alone. The murmur of the brook
• 5:27
  mingled with the swish of my sandals as I sped easily down the faint trail
• 5:30
  our feet had already worn between Upper Lake and Limestone Meadow. I was on
• 5:35
  familiar ground again, and my only anxiety was to discover how my family had
• 5:40
  fared in my absence. I was not long in discovering what I may call
• 5:45
  indications. It was just where the brook enters the forest by lower falls,
• 5:49
  that I became aware of a high, thin sound which rode clearly above the
• 5:54
  roar of the cascade. Peeping down through the bushes to investigate, I saw
• 5:59
  our the beautiful standing by the water's edge and howling as if her heart would
• 6:03
  break. She had both fat hands clasped to her hind quarters, and my
• 6:09
  first idea was that she had merely sat down too abruptly. Rather annoyed to
• 6:14
  find the child straying about by herself, I slided down over the rocks and
• 6:17
  picked her up. What's the matter, Irene, I said, what are
• 6:23
  you doing here by yourself? You naughty girl? Irene choked, gasped,
• 6:29
  and stared in bewilderment. The voice was the voice of Jacob, but the
• 6:32
  beard was an unfamiliar feature in her eyes, Daddy, she shouted triumphantly.
• 6:39
  After a moment's hesitation, Then she threw her arms round my neck and began
• 6:45
  to cry louder than ever. For Heaven's sake, Irene, I cried,
• 6:48
  what is the matter? Are you hurt? No? The crying became louder
• 6:55
  and louder, then choked off into stifled sobs as she buried her face on
• 6:59
  my shod. I saw that fright, more than pain, was at the
• 7:02
  root of her trouble. Did you come here yourself, Irene? Do be
• 7:06
  good now and stop crying. You're quite safe with Daddy Deela. What Irene?
• 7:13
  Oh? Oh, bad bad? Who's bad? Adela? Bad?
• 7:20
  Mike? Shrieked Irene with a new tone of indignation. She is her mother's
• 7:26
  child, and rage overcomes fear in her bad bad, bad Mike. Just
• 7:32
  at this moment, I caught sight of something unusual beneath the bank ahead,
• 7:36
  and I held Irene tighter and ran. Adela Watkins was crumpled up on her
• 7:41
  face among the roots of a big beech tree. I thought at first that
• 7:46
  she was dead. Indeed, her injuries were such that I dropped Irene and
• 7:48
  forbade her to come closer. I was overcome with a horrible feeling of nausea,
• 7:55
  and I dared not think what greater tragedy might be at the back of
• 7:58
  this, this discovery and Irene's incoherent wailings about Michael Quelch. Of course,
• 8:05
  as a hunter, I was used enough to the sight of blood, but
• 8:09
  this was different. Somehow, I suppose the mere fact that the victim was
• 8:13
  a woman, perhaps coupled with the additional fact that she was a personal friend,
• 8:18
  helped to upset my control. Anyhow, it is providential that I did
• 8:22
  not lay hands on Michael Quelch that day, and the less set about my
• 8:26
  thoughts on the matter, the better. Briefly, what happened was this some
• 8:33
  one, presumably Quelch, for it could be no other, had struck at
• 8:37
  the head of the woman now lying unconscious before me, I imagine, at
• 8:41
  a moment when her attention was diverted. Luckily, the blow had been turned
• 8:46
  by an overhanging branch. She had gone down before a partly spent blow with
• 8:50
  the back or the flat. Following this, an attempt had been made to
• 8:56
  cut her throat, fortunately in a bungling manner which argued extreme terror coupled with
• 9:01
  lack of anatomical knowledge. I remembered, as I noted all this that Quilch
• 9:07
  never hunted or slaughtered he professing a horror of bloodshed, I tore the collar
• 9:13
  from her linen undershirt and started to bind up her wounds as best I could,
• 9:18
  much as bloodshed revolts you, mister Quelch, I thought, I fear
• 9:22
  you are not done with the sight of it yet. Awhile that is to
• 9:26
  stay if you live long enough. Then I lit a fire and called Irene
• 9:31
  to me. It was out of the question carrying Adela back at the moment,
• 9:35
  for I was out of strength and I felt speed was essential. Irene,
• 9:39
  I said, you've got to be a very good, brave girl and
• 9:43
  help Daddy. Do you understand. She clenched her baby teeth and nodded.
• 9:50
  She seemed to understand, although she was only four years old. Very well,
• 9:54
  then you must sit by this fire and Adela and not move until Daddy
• 9:58
  comes back. If bad beasts come, throw burning sticks at them. If
• 10:03
  Mike comes, show him this. I repeated my instructions again. As I
• 10:09
  pegged out this a square of linen torn from the shirt on the ground,
• 10:15
  I cut my arm and scrawled my message to Qulch on it with the blood.
• 10:18
  What was it? Well, perhaps it were wise to forget that I
• 10:24
  did not anticipate any further harm. Should qultchapen that way again and read those
• 10:28
  words, he knew I was not given to idle promises. I repeated all
• 10:35
  that I had told Irene for the third time, picked up my weapons and
• 10:37
  ran on end of chapter twenty three