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

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  Speaker 1: Chapter two 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 Riisburrough's Chapter two. What could it mean?
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  Speaker 1: I had left Alvarez in command? He was my most
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  Speaker 1: loyal subordinate. It was absolutely beyond the pale of possibility
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  Speaker 1: that Alvarez should desert me. No, there was some other explanation.
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  Speaker 1: Something occurred to place my second officer, Porphyrio Johnson in command.
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  Speaker 1: I was sure of it. But why speculate? The futility
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  Speaker 1: of conjecture was only too palpable. The cold water had
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  Speaker 1: abandoned us in mid ocean. Doubtless none of us would
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  Speaker 1: survive to know why. The young man at the wheel
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  Speaker 1: of the power boat had turned her about as it
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  Speaker 1: became evident that the ship intended passing over us, and
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  Speaker 1: now he still held her in futile pursuit of the
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  Speaker 1: cold water. Bring her about, Snyder, I directed, and hold
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  Speaker 1: her due east. We can't catch the cold water, and
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  Speaker 1: we can't cross the Atlantic. In this our only hope
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  Speaker 1: lies in making the nearest land, which, unless I am mistaken,
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  Speaker 1: is the Silly Islands off the southwest coast. Of England.
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  Speaker 1: Ever heard of England? Snyder? There's a part of the
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  Speaker 1: United States of North America that used to be known
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  Speaker 1: to the ancients as New England. He replied, Is that
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  Speaker 1: where you mean, sir, No, Snyder, I replied. The England
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  Speaker 1: I referred to was an island off the continent of Europe.
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  Speaker 1: It was the seat of a very powerful kingdom that
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  Speaker 1: flourished over two hundred years go. A part of the
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  Speaker 1: United States of North America and all of the Federated
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  Speaker 1: States of Canada once belonged to this ancient England Europe,
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  Speaker 1: breathed one of the men, his voice tense with excitement.
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  Speaker 1: My grandfather used to tell me stories of the world
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  Speaker 1: beyond thirty. He had been a great student, and he
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  Speaker 1: had read much from forbidden books, in which I resemble
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  Speaker 1: your grandfather, I said, for I too have read more
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  Speaker 1: even than naval offices are supposed to read. And as
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  Speaker 1: you men know, we are permitted a greater latitude in
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  Speaker 1: a study of geography and history than men of other professions.
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  Speaker 1: Among the books and papers of Admiral Porter Turk, who
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  Speaker 1: lived two hundred years ago and from whom I am descended,
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  Speaker 1: many volumes still exist, and are in my possession, which
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  Speaker 1: deal with the history and geography of ancient Europe. Usually
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  Speaker 1: I bring several of these books with me upon a cruise,
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  Speaker 1: and this time, among others, I have maps of Europe
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  Speaker 1: and her surrounding waters. I was studying them as we
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  Speaker 1: came away from the cold water this morning, and luckily
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  Speaker 1: I have them with me. You are going to try
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  Speaker 1: to make Europe, sir, asked Taylor, the young man who
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  Speaker 1: had last spoken. It is the nearest land, I replied,
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  Speaker 1: I have always wanted to explore the forgotten lands of
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  Speaker 1: the Eastern Hemisphere. Here is our chance. To remain at
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  Speaker 1: sea is to perish. None of us ever will see
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  Speaker 1: home again. Let us make the best of it and
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  Speaker 1: enjoy while we do live that which is forbidden, the
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  Speaker 1: balance of our race, the adventure and the mystery which
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  Speaker 1: lie beyond thirty Taylor and el Carte seize the spirit
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  Speaker 1: of my mood. But Snyder, I think was a trifle skeptacal.
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  Speaker 1: It is treason, Sir, I replied, But there is no
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  Speaker 1: law which compels us to visit punishment upon ourselves. Could
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  Speaker 1: we return to Pan America. I should be the first
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  Speaker 1: to insist that we face it, But we know that's
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  Speaker 1: not possible, even if this craft would carry us. So
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  Speaker 1: far we haven't enough water or food for more than
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  Speaker 1: three days. We are doomed, Snyder, to die far from
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  Speaker 1: home and without ever again looking upon the face of
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  Speaker 1: another fellow countryman than those who sit here and now
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  Speaker 1: in this boat. Isn't that punishment sufficient for even the
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  Speaker 1: most exacting judge? Even Snyder had to admit that it
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  Speaker 1: was very well? Then let us live while we live,
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  Speaker 1: and enjoy to the fullest, whatever of adventure or pleasure
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  Speaker 1: each new day brings, since any day may be our last,
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  Speaker 1: and we shall be dead for a considerable while. I
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  Speaker 1: could see that Snyder was still fearful, but Taylor and
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  Speaker 1: el Carte responded with a hearty aye ay, sir. They
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  Speaker 1: were of different mold. Both were sons of naval officers.
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  Speaker 1: They represented the aristocracy of birth, and they dared to
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  Speaker 1: think for themselves. Snyder was in the minority. And so
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  Speaker 1: we continued toward the east, beyond thirty and separated from
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  Speaker 1: my ship. My authority ceased. I held leadership, if I
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  Speaker 1: was to hold it at all, by virtue of personal
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  Speaker 1: qualifications only. But I did not doubt my ability to
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  Speaker 1: remain the director of our destinies in so far as
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  Speaker 1: they were amenable to human agencies. I have always led,
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  Speaker 1: while my brain and brawn remain unimpaired. I shall continue
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  Speaker 1: always to lead. Following is an art which Turks do
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  Speaker 1: not easily learn. It was not until the third day
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  Speaker 1: that we raised land dead ahead, which I took from
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  Speaker 1: my map to be the Isles of Scilly. But such
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  Speaker 1: a gale was blowing that I did not dare attempt
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  Speaker 1: to land, and so we passed to the north of them,
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  Speaker 1: skirted Land's end, and entered the English Channel. I think
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  Speaker 1: that up to that moment I had never experienced such
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  Speaker 1: a thrill as passed through me when I realized that
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  Speaker 1: I was navigating these historic waters. The lifelong dreams that
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  Speaker 1: I never had dared hope to see fulfilled were at
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  Speaker 1: last a reality. But under what forlorn circumstances? Never could
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  Speaker 1: I return to my native land. To the end of
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  Speaker 1: my days, I must remain in exile. Yet even these
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  Speaker 1: thoughts failed to dampen my ardor my eyes scanned the waters.
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  Speaker 1: To the north, I could see the rock bound coast
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  Speaker 1: of Cornwall. Mine were the first American eyes to rest
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  Speaker 1: upon it. For more than two hundred years in Vain.
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  Speaker 1: I searched for some sign of ancient commerce, that, if
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  Speaker 1: history is to be believed, must have dotted the bosom
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  Speaker 1: of the channel with why sails and blackened the heavens
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  Speaker 1: with the smoke of countless funnels. But as far as
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  Speaker 1: the eye could reach, the tossing waters of the channel
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  Speaker 1: were empty and deserted. Toward midnight, the wind and sea abated,
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  Speaker 1: so that shortly after dawn I determined to make inshore
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  Speaker 1: in an attempt to effect a landing, for we were
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  Speaker 1: sadly in need of fresh water and food. According to
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  Speaker 1: my observations, we were just off ram Head, and it
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  Speaker 1: was my intention to enter Plymouth Bay and visit Plymouth.
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  Speaker 1: From my map it appeared that this city lay back
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  Speaker 1: from the coast a short distance, and there was another
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  Speaker 1: city given as Devonport, which appeared to lie at the
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  Speaker 1: mouth of the river Tamar. However, I knew that it
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  Speaker 1: would make little difference which city we entered, as the
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  Speaker 1: English people were famed of old for their hospitality towards
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  Speaker 1: visiting mariners. As we approached the mouth of the bay,
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  Speaker 1: I looked for the fishing craft which I expected to
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  Speaker 1: see emerging thus early in the day for their labors.
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  Speaker 1: But even after we rounded Ramhead and were well within
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  Speaker 1: the waters of the bay, I saw no vessel. Neither
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  Speaker 1: was there buoy, nor light, nor any other mark to
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  Speaker 1: show larger ships the channel, and I wondered much at this.
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  Speaker 1: The coast was densely overgrown, nor was any building or
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  Speaker 1: sign of man apparent from the water up the bay
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  Speaker 1: and into the River Tamar. We motored through a solitude
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  Speaker 1: as unbroken as that which rested upon the waters of
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  Speaker 1: the channel. For all we could see, there was no
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  Speaker 1: indication that man had ever set his foot upon this
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  Speaker 1: silent coast. I was nonplussed, and then for the first
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  Speaker 1: time there crept over me an intuition of the truth.
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  Speaker 1: Here was no sign of war as far as this
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  Speaker 1: portion of the Devon coast was concerned. That seemed to
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  Speaker 1: have been over for many years. But neither were there
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  Speaker 1: any people. Yet I could not find it within myself
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  Speaker 1: to believe that I should find no inhabitants in England.
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  Speaker 1: Reasoning thus, I discovered that it was improbable that a
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  Speaker 1: state of war still existed, and that the people all
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  Speaker 1: had been drawn from this portion of England to some
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  Speaker 1: other where they might better defend themselves against an invader.
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  Speaker 1: But what of their ancient coast defenses? What was there
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  Speaker 1: here in Plymouth Bay to prevent an army landing in
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  Speaker 1: force and marching where they wished nothing. I could not
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  Speaker 1: believe that any enlightened military nation, such as the ancient
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  Speaker 1: English are reputed to have been, would have voluntarily so
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  Speaker 1: deserted an exposed coast and an excellent harbor to the
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  Speaker 1: mercies of an enemy. I found myself becoming more and
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  Speaker 1: more deeply involved in quandary. The puzzle which confronted me
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  Speaker 1: I could not unravel. We had landed, and I now
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  Speaker 1: stood upon the spot where, according to my map, a
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  Speaker 1: large city should rear its spires and chimneys. There was
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  Speaker 1: nothing but rough, broken ground, covered densely with weeds and
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  Speaker 1: brambles and tall rank grass. Had a city ever stood there,
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  Speaker 1: no sign of it remained. The roughness and unevenness of
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  Speaker 1: the ground suggested something of a great, massive debris, hidden
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  Speaker 1: by the accumulation of centuries of undergrowth. I drew the
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  Speaker 1: short cutlass with which both officers and men of the
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  Speaker 1: navy are as you know, armed out of courtesy to
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  Speaker 1: the traditions and memories of the past, and with its point,
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  Speaker 1: dug into the loam about the roots of the vegetation,
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  Speaker 1: Going at my feet. The blade entered the soil for
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  Speaker 1: a matter of seven inches when it struck upon something
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  Speaker 1: stone like. Digging about the obstacle, I presently loosened it,
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  Speaker 1: and when I had withdrawn it from its sepulcher, I
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  Speaker 1: found the thing to be an ancient brick of clay
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  Speaker 1: baked in an oven. Del Carte we had left in
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  Speaker 1: charge of the boat, but Snyder and Taylor were with me, and,
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  Speaker 1: following my example, each engaged in the fascinating sport of
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  Speaker 1: prospecting for antiques. Each of us uncovered a great number
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  Speaker 1: of these bricks, until we commenced to weary of the
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  Speaker 1: monotony of it. When Snyder suddenly gave an exclamation of excitement,
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  Speaker 1: and as I turned to look, he held up a
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  Speaker 1: human skull for my inspection. I took it from him
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  Speaker 1: and examined it. Directly in the center of the forehead
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  Speaker 1: was a small round hole. The gentleman had evidently come
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  Speaker 1: to his end defending his country from an invader. Snyder
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  Speaker 1: again held aloft another trophy of the search, a metal
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  Speaker 1: spike and some tarnished and corroded metal ornaments they had
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  Speaker 1: lain close beside the skull. With the point of his cutlass,
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  Speaker 1: Snyder scraped the dirt and verdigree from the face of
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  Speaker 1: the larger ornament inscription, he said, and handed the thing
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  Speaker 1: to me. They were the spike and ornaments of an
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  Speaker 1: ancient German helmet. Before long we had uncovered many other
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  Speaker 1: indications that a great battle had been fought upon the
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  Speaker 1: ground where we stood. But I was then and still
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  Speaker 1: am at loss to account for the presence of German
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  Speaker 1: soldiers upon the English coast so far from London, which
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  Speaker 1: history suggests would have been the natural goal of an invader.
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  Speaker 1: I can only account for it by assuming that either
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  Speaker 1: England was temporarily conquered by the Teutons, or that an
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  Speaker 1: invasion of so vast proportions was undertaken, that German troops
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  Speaker 1: were hurled upon the England coast in huge numbers, and
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  Speaker 1: that landings were necessarily effected at many places simultaneously. Subsequent
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  Speaker 1: discovery tend to strengthen this view. We dug about for
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  Speaker 1: a short time with our cutlasses, until I became convinced
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  Speaker 1: that a city had stood upon the spot at some
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  Speaker 1: time in the past, and that beneath our feet crumbled
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  Speaker 1: and dead lay ancient Devenport. I could not repress a
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  Speaker 1: sigh the thought of the Havoc War had wrought in
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  Speaker 1: this part of England. At least farther east, nearer London,
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  Speaker 1: we should find things very different. There would be the
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  Speaker 1: civilization that two centuries must have wrought upon our English cousins,
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  Speaker 1: as they had upon us. There would be mighty cities,
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  Speaker 1: cultivated fields, happy people. There we would be welcomed as
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  Speaker 1: long lost brothers. There would we find a great nation
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  Speaker 1: anxious to learn of the world beyond their side of thirty,
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  Speaker 1: as I had been anxious to learn of that which
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  Speaker 1: lay beyond our side of the day dead line. I
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  Speaker 1: turned back toward the boat. Come then, I said, we
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  Speaker 1: will go up the river and fill our casks with
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  Speaker 1: fresh water, search for food and fuel, and then to
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  Speaker 1: morrow be in readiness to push on toward the east.
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  Speaker 1: I am going to London. End of Chapter two