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

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  Speaker 1: Seventeen, a catastrophe. Scarcely six weeks passed before I had
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  Speaker 1: lost every feeling but dislike and abhorrence for this infamous
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  Speaker 1: experiment of morose. My one idea was to get away
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  Speaker 1: from these horrible caricatures of my maker's image, back to
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  Speaker 1: the sweet and wholesome intercourse of men. My fellow creatures
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  Speaker 1: from whom I was thus separated, began to assume my
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  Speaker 1: dilic virtue and beauty. In my memory, my first friendship
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  Speaker 1: with Montgomery did not increase. His long separation from humanity,
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  Speaker 1: his secret vice of drunkenness, his evident sympathy with the
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  Speaker 1: beast people tainted in to me. Several times I let
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  Speaker 1: him go alone among them. I avoided intercourse with them
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  Speaker 1: in every possible way. I spent an increasing proportion of
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  Speaker 1: my time upon the beach looking for some liberating sail
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  Speaker 1: that never appeared, until one day there fell upon us
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  Speaker 1: an appalling disaster which put an altogether different aspect upon
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  Speaker 1: my strange surroundings. It was about seven or eight weeks
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  Speaker 1: after my landing. Rather more, I think, though I had
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  Speaker 1: not troubled to keep account of the time when this
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  Speaker 1: catastrophe occurred, it happened in the early morning, I should
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  Speaker 1: think about six. I had risen and breakfasted early, having
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  Speaker 1: been aroused by the noise of three beast men carrying
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  Speaker 1: wood into the enclosure. After breakfast, I went to the
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  Speaker 1: open gateway of the enclosure and stood there, smoking a
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  Speaker 1: cigarette and enjoying the freshness of the early morning. Moreau
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  Speaker 1: presently came round the corner of the enclosure and greeted me.
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  Speaker 1: He passed by me, and I heard him behind me
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  Speaker 1: in lock and into his laboratory. So indurated was I
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  Speaker 1: at that time to the abomination of the place that
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  Speaker 1: I heard, without a touch of emotion, the puma victim
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  Speaker 1: begin another day of torture. It met its persecutor with
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  Speaker 1: a shriek, almost exactly like that of an angry virago.
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  Speaker 1: Then suddenly something happened. I do not know what to
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  Speaker 1: this day. I heard a short, sharp cry behind me,
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  Speaker 1: a fall, and turning saw an awful face rushing upon me,
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  Speaker 1: not human, not animal, but hellish, brown, seamed with red
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  Speaker 1: branching scars, red drops starting out upon it, and the
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  Speaker 1: lidless eyes ablaze. I threw up my arm to defend
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  Speaker 1: myself from the blow that flung me headlong with a
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  Speaker 1: broken forearm, and the great monster, swathed in lint and
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  Speaker 1: with red stained bandages fluttering about. It leaped over me
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  Speaker 1: and passed. I rolled over and over down the beach,
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  Speaker 1: tried to sit up, and collapsed upon my broken arm.
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  Speaker 1: Then Moreau appeared, his massive white face, all the more
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  Speaker 1: terrible for the blood that trickled from his forehead. He
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  Speaker 1: carried a revolver in one hand. He scarcely glanced at me,
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  Speaker 1: but rushed off at once in pursuit of the puma.
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  Speaker 1: I tried the other arm and sat up. The muffled
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  Speaker 1: figure in front ran in great striding leaps along the beach,
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  Speaker 1: and Moreau followed her. She turned her head and saw him, then, doubling, abruptly,
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  Speaker 1: made for the bushes. She gained upon him at every stride.
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  Speaker 1: I saw her plunge into them, and Moreau, running slantingly
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  Speaker 1: to intercept her, fired and missed as she disappeared. Then
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  Speaker 1: he too vanished in the green confusion. I stared after them,
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  Speaker 1: and then the pain in my arm flamed up, and
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  Speaker 1: with a groan, I staggered to my feet. Montgomery appeared
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  Speaker 1: in the doorway, dressed and with his revolver in his hand.
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  Speaker 1: Great God, prendick, he said, not noticing that I was hurt.
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  Speaker 1: That bruth Luth tore the fetter out of the wall.
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  Speaker 1: Have you seen them? Then? Sharply seeing I gripped my arm.
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  Speaker 1: What's the matter? I was standing in the doorway, said I.
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  Speaker 1: He came forward and took my arm. Blood on the leave,
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  Speaker 1: said he, and rolled back the flannel. He pocketed his weapon,
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  Speaker 1: felt my arm about painfully, and led me inside. Your
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  Speaker 1: arm is broken, he said, And then tell me exactly
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  Speaker 1: how it happened. What happened? I told him what I
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  Speaker 1: had seen, told him in broken sentences, with gasps of
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  Speaker 1: pain between them, and very dexterously and swiftly he bound
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  Speaker 1: my arm. Meanwhile, he slap it from my shoulder, stood
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  Speaker 1: back and looked at me. You'll do, he said, And
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  Speaker 1: now he thought. Then he went out and locked the
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  Speaker 1: gates of the enclosure. He was absent some time. I
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  Speaker 1: was chiefly concerned about my arm. The incident seen merely
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  Speaker 1: one more of many horrible things. I sat down in
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  Speaker 1: the deck chair, and I must admit, swore heartily at
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  Speaker 1: the island. The first all feeling of injury in my
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  Speaker 1: arm had already given way to a burning pain. When
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  Speaker 1: Montgomery reappeared, his face was rather pale, and he showed
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  Speaker 1: more of his lower gums than ever. I can neither
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  Speaker 1: thiegh nor hear anything of him, he said, I've been
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  Speaker 1: thinking he may want my help. He stared at me
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  Speaker 1: with his expressionless eyes. That was a strong brute, he said,
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  Speaker 1: simply wrenched its fetter out of the wall. He went
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  Speaker 1: to the window, then to the door, and there turned
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  Speaker 1: to me. I shall go after him. He said that
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  Speaker 1: another revolver I can leave with you to tell you
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  Speaker 1: the truth. I feel anxious somehow. He obtained the weapon
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  Speaker 1: and put it ready to my hand on the table,
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  Speaker 1: then went out, leaving a restless contagion in the air.
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  Speaker 1: I did not sit long after he left, but took
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  Speaker 1: the revolver in hand and went to the doorway. The
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  Speaker 1: morning was as still as death. Not a whisper of
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  Speaker 1: wind was stirring. The sea was like polished glass, the
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  Speaker 1: sky empty, the beach desolate. In my half excited, half
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  Speaker 1: feverish state, this stillness of things oppressed me. I tried
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  Speaker 1: to whistle, and the tune died away. I swore again
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  Speaker 1: the second time that morning. Then I went to the
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  Speaker 1: corner of the enclosure and stared inland at the green
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  Speaker 1: bush that had swallowed up Moreau and Montgomery. When would
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  Speaker 1: they return? And howl? Then, far away up the beach,
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  Speaker 1: a little gray beast man appeared, ran down to the
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  Speaker 1: water's edge and began splashing about. I strolled back to
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  Speaker 1: the doorway, then to the corner again, and so began
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  Speaker 1: pacing to and fro, like a sentinel upon duty. Once
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  Speaker 1: I was arrested by the distant voice of Montgomery, bawling
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  Speaker 1: Couie Moreau. My arm became less painful but very hot.
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  Speaker 1: I got feverish and thirsty. My shadow grew shorter. I
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  Speaker 1: watched the distant figure until it went away again. Would
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  Speaker 1: Moreau and Montgomery never return? Three sea birds began fighting
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  Speaker 1: for some stranded treasure. Then, from far away behind the enclosure,
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  Speaker 1: I heard a pistol shot, a long silence, and then
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  Speaker 1: came another, Then a yelling cry nearer, and another dismal
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  Speaker 1: gap of silence. My unfortunate imagination set to work to
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  Speaker 1: torment me. Then suddenly a shot close by. I went
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  Speaker 1: to the corner, startled, and saw Montgomery, his face scarlet,
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  Speaker 1: his hair disordered, and the knee of his trousers torn,
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  Speaker 1: his face expressed profound consternation. Behind him slouched the beast man,
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  Speaker 1: imbling and round imling's jaws were some queer dark stains.
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  Speaker 1: Hath he come? Said Montgomery. Moreau said, I no, my god.
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  Speaker 1: The man was panting, almost sobbing. Go back in, he said,
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  Speaker 1: taking my arm. They're mad, They're all rushling about mad.
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  Speaker 1: What can have happened? I don't know. I'll tell you
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  Speaker 1: when my breath comes. Where thumb brandy. Montgomery limped before
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  Speaker 1: me into the room and sat down in the deck chair.
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  Speaker 1: Emlin flung himself down just outside the doorway and began
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  Speaker 1: panting like a dog. I got Montgomery some brandy and water.
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  Speaker 1: He sat staring in front of him at nothing, recovering
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  Speaker 1: his breath. After some minutes he began to tell me
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  Speaker 1: what had happened. He had followed their track for some way.
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  Speaker 1: It was plain enough at first, on account of the
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  Speaker 1: crushed and broken bushes, white rags torn from the puma's bandages,
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  Speaker 1: and occasional smears of blood on the leaves of the
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  Speaker 1: shrubs and undergrowth. He lost track, However, on the stony
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  Speaker 1: ground beyond the stream, where I had seen the beast
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  Speaker 1: man drinking and went wandering aimlessly westward, shouting Moreau's name.
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  Speaker 1: Then Imling had come to him carrying a light hatchet.
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  Speaker 1: Imling had seen nothing of the puma affair, had been
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  Speaker 1: felling wood and heard him calling. They went on shouting together.
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  Speaker 1: Two beast men came, crouching and peering at them through
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  Speaker 1: the undergrowth, with gestures and a furtive carriage that alarmed
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  Speaker 1: Montgomery by their strangeness. He hailed them, and they fled guiltily.
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  Speaker 1: He stopped shouting after that, and, after wandering some time
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  Speaker 1: farther in an undecided way, determined to visit the huts.
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  Speaker 1: He found the ravine deserted, growing more alarmed every minute,
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  Speaker 1: he began to retrace his steps. Then it was he
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  Speaker 1: encountered the two swine men I had seen dancing on
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  Speaker 1: the night of my arrival. Blood Stained, they were about
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  Speaker 1: the mouth and intensely excited. They came rashing through the
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  Speaker 1: ferns and stopped with fierce faces when they saw him.
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  Speaker 1: He cracked his whip in some trepidation, and forthwith they
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  Speaker 1: rushed at him. Never before had a beast man dared
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  Speaker 1: to do that. One he shot through the head. Imling
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  Speaker 1: flung himself upon the other, and the two rolled grappling.
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  Speaker 1: Imling got his brute under and with his teeth in
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  Speaker 1: its throat, and Montgomery shot that too, as it struggled
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  Speaker 1: in Imling's grip. He had some difficulty in inducing Imling
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  Speaker 1: to come on with him. Thence they had hurried back
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  Speaker 1: to me. On the way, Imling had suddenly rushed into
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  Speaker 1: a thicket and driven out an undersized ocelot man, also
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  Speaker 1: blood stained and lame through a wound in the foot.
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  Speaker 1: This brute had run a little way and then turned
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  Speaker 1: savagely at Bay and Montgomery with a certain wantonness I
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  Speaker 1: thought had shot him. What does it all mean? Said I.
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  Speaker 1: He shook his head and turned once more to the brandy.