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

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  Speaker 1: Nineteen Montgomery's bank holiday. When this was accomplished and we
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: had washed in Eton, Montgomery and I went into my
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  Speaker 1: little room and seriously discussed our position for the first time.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: It was then near midnight. He was almost sober, but
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  Speaker 1: greatly disturbed in his mind. He had been strangely under
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  Speaker 1: the influence of Moreau's personality. I do not think it
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  Speaker 1: had ever occurred to him that Moreau could die. This
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  Speaker 1: disaster was the sudden collapse of the habits that had
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  Speaker 1: become part of his nature in the tin or more
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: monotonous years he had spent on the island. He talked vaguely,
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  Speaker 1: answered my questions crookedly, wandered into general questions. The silly
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  Speaker 1: ass of a world, he said, what a muddle it
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  Speaker 1: all is. I haven't heard any life. I wonder when
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  Speaker 1: it's going to begin. Sixteen years of being bullied by
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  Speaker 1: nurses and schoolmath turth at their own sweet will five
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  Speaker 1: in London, grinding hard at madicine, bad food, shabby lodgings,
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  Speaker 1: shabby clothes, shabby vice, A blunder. I didn't know any better,
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  Speaker 1: and hustled off to this Beethly island ten yearth here,
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  Speaker 1: what it all for Preddick, are we bubbles blown by
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  Speaker 1: a baby? It was hard to deal with such ravings.
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  Speaker 1: The thing we have to think of now, said I,
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  Speaker 1: is how to get away from this island. What's the
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  Speaker 1: good of getting away? I'm an outcast. Where am I
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  Speaker 1: to join on? It's all very well for you, Prendick,
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  Speaker 1: poor old Moreau. We can't leave him here to have
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  Speaker 1: his bones picked as it is. And besides, what will
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: become of the death and part of the beast folk, well,
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: said I, that will do tomorrow. I've been thinking we
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  Speaker 1: might make the brushwood into a pyre and burn his
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  Speaker 1: body and those other things. Then what will happen with
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  Speaker 1: the beast folk? I don't know. I suppose those that
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  Speaker 1: will made beasts of prey we'll make thilly aths of themselves.
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  Speaker 1: Sooner or later. We can't maffacre the lot, can we.
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  Speaker 1: I suppose that's what your humanity would suggest. But they'll change.
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  Speaker 1: They are sure to change. He talked thus inconclusively, until
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  Speaker 1: at last I felt my temper going dar nation, he exclaimed,
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  Speaker 1: at some petulance of mine. Can't you see I'm in
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  Speaker 1: a worth whole than you are? Ut up and went
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  Speaker 1: for the brandy drink. He said, returning you logic chopping
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  Speaker 1: chalky faith, think of an atheist. Drink not, I said I,
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  Speaker 1: and sat grimly, watching his face under the yellow paraffin
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  Speaker 1: flare as he drank himself into a garrulous misery. I
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  Speaker 1: have a memory of infinite tedium. He wandered into a
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  Speaker 1: model in defense of the beast people and of Imling. Imling,
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  Speaker 1: he said, was the only thing that had ever really
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  Speaker 1: cared for him, And suddenly an idea came to him.
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  Speaker 1: I'm damned, said he, staggering to his feet and clutching
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  Speaker 1: the brandy bottle. By some flash of intuition, I knew
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  Speaker 1: what it was he intended. You don't give drink to
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  Speaker 1: that beast, I said, rising and facing him. Beast said
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  Speaker 1: he you're the beast. He taketh hith liquor like a Christian.
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  Speaker 1: Come out of my way, prindic, for God's sake, said I.
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  Speaker 1: Get out of the way. He roared, and suddenly whipped
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  Speaker 1: out his revolver. Very well, said I, and stood aside,
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  Speaker 1: half minded to fall upon him as he put his
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  Speaker 1: hand upon the latch, but deterred by the thought of
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  Speaker 1: my useless arm. You've made a beast of yourself to
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  Speaker 1: the beasts. You may go. He flung the doorway open
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  Speaker 1: and stood half facing me between the yellow lamp light
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  Speaker 1: and the pallid glare of the moon. His eye sockets
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  Speaker 1: were blotches of black under his stubbly eyebrows. You're a
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  Speaker 1: solemn prig, prindick, a thiliath. You're always fearing and fancying.
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  Speaker 1: We're on thee hedge of things. I'm bound to cut
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  Speaker 1: my throat tomorrow. I'm going to have a damned bank
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  Speaker 1: holiday to night. He turned and went out into the moonlight.
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  Speaker 1: Yim Ling, he cried, jim Ling, old friend. Three dim
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  Speaker 1: creatures in the silvery light came along the edge of
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  Speaker 1: the wan beach, one a white wrapped creature, the other
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  Speaker 1: two blotches of blackness following it. They halted, staring. Then
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  Speaker 1: I saw Imling's hunched shoulders as he came round the
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  Speaker 1: corner of the house. Drink, cried Montgomery. Drink, you bruthe
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  Speaker 1: drink and be man. Damn, I'm the cleverest Moreau forgot this.
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  Speaker 1: This is the last touch drink, I tell you, And
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: waving the bottle in his hand, he started off at
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  Speaker 1: a kind of quick trot to the westward, Imbling, ranging
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  Speaker 1: himself between him and the three dim creatures who followed.
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  Speaker 1: I went to the doorway. They were already indistinct in
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  Speaker 1: the midst of the moonlight. Before Montgomery halted. I saw
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  Speaker 1: him in minister a dose of the raw brandy to Imbling,
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  Speaker 1: and saw the five figures melt into one vague patch.
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  Speaker 2: Thing.
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  Speaker 1: I heard Montgomery shout, sing all together. Confound Old Prendick.
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  Speaker 1: That's right now again, confound Old Prendick. The black group
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  Speaker 1: broke up into five separate figures and wound slowly away
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  Speaker 1: from me along the band of shining beach. Each went
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  Speaker 1: howling at his own sweet will yelping insults at me,
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  Speaker 1: or giving whatever other vent this new inspiration of brandy demanded. Presently,
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  Speaker 1: I heard Montgomery's voice shouting right, turn, and they passed
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  Speaker 1: with their shouts and howls into the blackness of the
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: landward trees. Slowly, very slowly, they receded into silence. The
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  Speaker 1: peaceful splendor of the night healed again. The moon was
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  Speaker 1: now past the meridian, and traveling down the west, it
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: was at its full and very bright. Riding through the
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  Speaker 1: empty blue sky, the shadow of the wall lay a
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  Speaker 1: yard wide and of inky blackness. At my feet. The
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  Speaker 1: eastward sea was a featureless, gray, dark and mysterious. And
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  Speaker 1: between the sea and the shadow, the gray sands of
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  Speaker 1: volcanic glass and crystals flashed and shone like a beach
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  Speaker 1: of diamonds. Behind me, the paraffine lamp flared hot and ruddy.
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  Speaker 1: Then I shut the door, locked it, and went into
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  Speaker 1: the enclosure, where Moreau lay beside his latest victims, the
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  Speaker 1: staghounds and the Lama and some other wretched brutes, with
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  Speaker 1: his massive face calm even after his terrible death, and
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  Speaker 1: with his hard eyes open staring at the dead white
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  Speaker 1: moon above, I sat down upon the edge of the sink,
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  Speaker 1: and with my eyes upon that ghastly pile of silvery
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  Speaker 1: light and ominous shadows, began to turn over my plans.
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  Speaker 1: In the morning, I would gather some provisions in the dinghy,
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  Speaker 1: and after setting fire to the pyre before me, push
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  Speaker 1: out into the desolation of the high sea. Once more,
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  Speaker 1: I felt that for Montgomery there was no help, that
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  Speaker 1: he was, in truth half akin to these beast folk,
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  Speaker 1: unfitted for human kindred. I do not know how long
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  Speaker 1: I sat there, scheming, It must have been an hour
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  Speaker 1: or so. Then my planning was interrupted by the return
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  Speaker 1: of Montgomery to my neighborhood. I heard a yelling from
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  Speaker 1: many throats, a tumult of exultant cries passing down towards
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  Speaker 1: the beach, whooping and howling, and excited shrieks that seemed
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  Speaker 1: to come to a stop near the water's edge. The
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  Speaker 1: riot rose and fell. I heard heavy blows and the
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  Speaker 1: splintering smash of wood, but it did not trouble me.
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  Speaker 1: Then a discordant chanting began. My thoughts went back to
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  Speaker 1: my means of escape. I got up, brought the lamp,
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  Speaker 1: and went into a shed to look at some kegs
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: I had seen there. Then I became interested in the
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  Speaker 1: contents of some biscuit tins and opened one. I saw
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  Speaker 1: something out of the tail of my eye, a red figure,
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  Speaker 1: and turned sharply. Behind me. Lay the yard, vividly black
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  Speaker 1: and white in the moonlight, and the pile of wood
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  Speaker 1: and faggots on which Moreau and his mutilated victims lay
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  Speaker 1: one over another. They seemed to be gripping one another
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  Speaker 1: in one last revengeful grapple. His wounds gaped black as night,
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  Speaker 1: and the blood that had dripped lay in black patches
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  Speaker 1: upon the sand. Then I saw, without understanding the cause
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  Speaker 1: of my phantom, a ruddy glow that came and danced
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  Speaker 1: and went upon the wall opposite. I misinterpreted this, fancied
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  Speaker 1: it was a reflection of my flickering lamp, and turned
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  Speaker 1: again to the stalls in the shed. I went on
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  Speaker 1: rummaging among them as well as a one armed man could,
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  Speaker 1: finding this convenient thing and that, and putting them aside
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  Speaker 1: for tomorrow's launch. My movements were slow, and the time
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  Speaker 1: passed quickly. Insensibly, the daylight crept upon me. The chanting
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  Speaker 1: died down, giving place to a clamor. Then it began again,
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  Speaker 1: and suddenly broke into a tumult. I heard cries of
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  Speaker 1: more more, a sound like quarreling, and a sudden wild
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  Speaker 1: Shrieky of the sounds changed so greatly that it arrested
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  Speaker 1: my attention. I went out into the yard and listened. Then,
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  Speaker 1: cutting like a knife across the confusion, came the crack
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  Speaker 1: of a revolver. I rushed at once through my room
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  Speaker 1: to the little doorway. As I did so, I heard
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  Speaker 1: some of the packing cases behind me go sliding down
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  Speaker 1: and smashed together with a clatter of glass on the
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  Speaker 1: floor of the shed, but I did not heat these.
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  Speaker 1: I flung the door open and looked out up the beach.
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  Speaker 1: By the boat house, a bonfire was burning, raining up
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  Speaker 1: sparks into the indistinctness of the dawn. Around this struggled
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  Speaker 1: a mass of black figures. I heard Montgomery call my name.
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  Speaker 1: I began to run at once towards this fire, revolver
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  Speaker 1: in hand, I saw the pink tongue of Montgomery's pistol
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  Speaker 1: lick out. Once close to the ground, he was down.
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  Speaker 1: I shouted with all my strength and fired into the air.
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  Speaker 1: I heard someone cry. The mass stir. The knotted black
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  Speaker 1: struggle broken to scattering units. The fire leaped and sank down.
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  Speaker 1: The crowd of beast people fled in sudden panic before
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  Speaker 1: me up the beach. In my excitement, I fired at
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  Speaker 1: their retreating backs as they disappeared among the bushes. Then
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  Speaker 1: I turned to the black heaps upon the ground. Montgomery
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  Speaker 1: lay on his back, with a hairy gray beast man
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  Speaker 1: sprawling across his body. The brute was dead, but still
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  Speaker 1: gripping Montgomery's throat with its curving claws. Near By lay
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  Speaker 1: himbling on his face and quite still, his neck bitten open,
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  Speaker 1: and the upper part of the smashed brandy bottle in
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  Speaker 1: his hand. Two other figures lay near the fire, the
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  Speaker 1: one motionless, the other groaning fitfully every now and then,
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  Speaker 1: raising its head slowly, then dropping it again. I caught
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  Speaker 1: hold of the gray man and pulled him off Montgomery's body.
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  Speaker 1: His claws drew down the torn coat reluctantly as I
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  Speaker 1: dragged him away. Montgomery was dark in the face and
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  Speaker 1: scarcely breathing. I splashed sea water on his face and
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  Speaker 1: pillowed his head on my rolled up coat. Imling was dead.
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  Speaker 1: The wounded creature by the fire. It was a wolf
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  Speaker 1: brute with a bearded gray face. Lay I found with
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  Speaker 1: the fore part of its body upon the still glowing timber.
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  Speaker 1: The wretched thing was injured so dreadfully that in mercy
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  Speaker 1: I blew its brains out at once. The other brute
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  Speaker 1: was one of the bull men, swathed in white. He
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  Speaker 1: too was dead. The rest of the beast people had
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  Speaker 1: vanished from the beach. I went to Montgomery again and
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  Speaker 1: knelt beside him, cursing my ignorance of medicine. The fire
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  Speaker 1: beside me had sunk down, and only charred beams of
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  Speaker 1: timber glowing at the central ends, and mixed of the
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  Speaker 1: gray ash of brushwood remained. I wondered casually where Montgomery
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  Speaker 1: had got his wood. Then I saw that the dawn
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: was upon us. The sky had grown brighter, The setting
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: moon was becoming pale and opaque in the luminous blue
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: of the day. The sky to the eastward was rimmed
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: with red. Suddenly I heard a thud and a hissing
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: behind me, and looking round, sprang to my feet with
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  Speaker 1: a cry of horror. Against the warm dawn, great tumultuous
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: masses of black smoke were boiling up out of the enclosure,
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: and through their stormy darkness shot flickering threads of blood
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: red flame. Then the thatched roof caught I saw the
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: curving charge of the flames across the sloping straw. A
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  Speaker 1: spurt of fire jetted from the window of my room.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: I knew at once what had happened. I remembered the
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  Speaker 1: crash I had heard when I had rushed out to
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  Speaker 1: Montgomery's assistance. I had overturned the lamp. The hopelessness of
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  Speaker 1: saving any of the contents of the enclosure stared me
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  Speaker 1: in the face. My mind came back to my plan
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  Speaker 1: of flight, and turning swiftly, I looked to see where
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  Speaker 1: the two boats lay upon the beach. They were gone.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: Two axes lay upon the sands beside me. Chips and
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: splinters were scattered broadcast, and the ashes of the bonfire
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: were blackening and smoking under the dawn. Montgomery had burnt
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  Speaker 1: the boats to revenge himself upon me and prevent our
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: return to mankind. A sudden convulsion of rage shook me.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: I was almost moved to batter his foolish head in
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: as he lay there helpless at my feet. Then suddenly
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: his hand moved so feebly, so pitifully, that my wrath vanished.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: He groaned and opened his eyes. For a minute. I
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: knelt down beside him and raised his head. He opened
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: his eyes again, staring silently at the dawn, and then
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: they met mine. The lids fell sorry, he said, presently,
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: with an effort he seemed trying to think.
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  Speaker 2: The laughed. He murmured, the laugh of this silly universe.
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  Speaker 2: What a mess.
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  Speaker 1: I listened. His head fell helplessly to one side. I
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  Speaker 1: thought some drink might revive him, But there was neither drink,
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: no vessel in which to bring drink at hand. He
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: seemed suddenly heavier. My heart went cold. I bent down
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: to his face, put my hand through the rent in
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: his blouse. He was dead, and even as he died,
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: a line of white heat. The limb of the sun
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: rose eastward beyond the projection of the bay, splashing its
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: radiance across the sky and turning the dark sea into
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: a weltering tumult of dazzling light. It fell like a
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: glory upon his death, shrunken face. I let his head
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: fall gently upon the rough pillow I had made for him,
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  Speaker 1: and stood up. Before me was the glittering desolation of
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: the sea, the awful solitude upon which I had already
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: suffered so much. Behind me, the island hushed under the dawn,
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: its beast people silent and unseen. The Enclosia, with all
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: its provisions and ammunition, burnt noisily with sudden gusts of flame,
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: a fitful crackling, and now and then a crash. The
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: heavy smoke drove up the beach away from me, rolling
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: low over the distant treetops towards the huts in the ravine.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: Beside me were the charred vestiges of the boats, and
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: these five dead bodies then out of the bushes came
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: three beast people with hunched shoulders, protruding heads, misshapen hands,
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: awkwardly held and inquisitive unfriendly eyes, and advanced towards me
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: with hesitating gestures