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

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  Speaker 1: Chapter seven of the Lost Continent. This LibriVox recording is
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  Speaker 1: in the public domain. The Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burrows,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter seven. We stood there, grouped about the body of
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  Speaker 1: the dead Ga Briton, looking futilely down the river to
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  Speaker 1: where it made an abrupt curve to the west, a
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  Speaker 1: quarter of a mile below us, and was lost to sight.
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  Speaker 1: As though we expected to see the truant returning to
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  Speaker 1: us with our precious launch, the thing that meant life
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  Speaker 1: or death to us in this unfriendly, savage world. I
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  Speaker 1: felt rather than sore. Taylor turned his eyes slowly toward
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  Speaker 1: my profile, and as mine swung to meet them, the
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  Speaker 1: expression upon his face recalled me to my duty and
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  Speaker 1: responsibility as an officer. The utter hopelessness that was reflected
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  Speaker 1: in his face must have been the counterpart of what
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  Speaker 1: I myself felt, But in that brief instant, I determined
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  Speaker 1: to hide my own misgivings that I might bolster up
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  Speaker 1: the courage of the others. We are lost was written
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  Speaker 1: as plainly upon Taylor's face, as though his features were
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  Speaker 1: the printed words upon an open book. He was thinking
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  Speaker 1: of the launch, and of the launch alone, was I
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  Speaker 1: I tried to think that I was. But a greater
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  Speaker 1: grief than the loss of the launch could have engendered
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  Speaker 1: in me filled my heart a sullen, gnawing misery which
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  Speaker 1: I tried to deny, which I refused to admit, but
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  Speaker 1: which persisted in obsessing me, until my heart rose and
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  Speaker 1: filled my throat, and I could not speak when I
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  Speaker 1: would have uttered words of reassurance to my companions. And
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  Speaker 1: then rage came to my relief. Rage against the vile
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  Speaker 1: traitor who had desire irted three of his fellow countrymen
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  Speaker 1: in so frightful a position. I tried to feel an
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  Speaker 1: equal rage against the woman, but somehow I could not,
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  Speaker 1: and kept searching for excuses for her, her youth, her inexperience,
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  Speaker 1: her savagery. My rising anger swept away my temporary helplessness.
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  Speaker 1: I smiled and told Taylor not to look so glum.
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  Speaker 1: We will follow them, I said, And the chances are
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  Speaker 1: that we shall overtake them. They will not travel as
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  Speaker 1: rapidly as Snider probably hopes. He will be forced to
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  Speaker 1: halt for fuel and for food, and the launch must
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  Speaker 1: follow the windings of the river. We can take short
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  Speaker 1: cuts while they are traversing the detour. I have my
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  Speaker 1: map thank God, I always carry it upon my person,
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  Speaker 1: and with that and the compass, we will have an
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  Speaker 1: advantage over them. My words seemed to cheer them both,
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  Speaker 1: and they were for starting off at once. In suit,
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  Speaker 1: there was no reason why we should delay, and we
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  Speaker 1: set forth down the river. As we tramped along, we
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  Speaker 1: discussed a question that was uppermost in the mind of
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  Speaker 1: each what we should do with Snyder when we had
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  Speaker 1: captured him. For with the action of pursuit had come
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  Speaker 1: the optimistic conviction that we should succeed. As a matter
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  Speaker 1: of fact, we had to succeed. The very thought of
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  Speaker 1: remaining in this utter wilderness for the rest of our
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  Speaker 1: lives was impossible. We arrived at nothing very definite in
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  Speaker 1: the matter of Snider's punishment, since Taylor was for shooting him,
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  Speaker 1: Delcart insisting that he should be hanged, while I, although
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  Speaker 1: fully conscious of the gravity of his offense, could not
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  Speaker 1: bring myself to give the death penalty. I fell to
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  Speaker 1: wondering what charm Victory had found in such a man
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  Speaker 1: as Snyder, and why I insisted upon finding excuses for
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  Speaker 1: her and trying to defend her indefensible act. She was
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  Speaker 1: nothing to me aside from the natural gratitude I felt
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  Speaker 1: for her. Since she had saved my life, I owed
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  Speaker 1: her nothing. She was a half naked, little savage. I
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  Speaker 1: a gentleman and an officer in the world's greatest navy.
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  Speaker 1: There could be no close bonds of interest between us.
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  Speaker 1: This line of reflection I discovered to be as distressing
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  Speaker 1: as the former. But though I tried to turn my
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  Speaker 1: mind to other things, it persisted in returning to the
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  Speaker 1: vision of an oval face sun tanned, of smiling lips
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  Speaker 1: revealing white and even teeth, of brave eyes that harbored
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  Speaker 1: no shadow of guile, and of a tumbling mass of
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  Speaker 1: wavy hair. The crowned the loveliest picture on which my
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  Speaker 1: eyes had ever rested. Every time this vision presents itself,
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  Speaker 1: I felt myself turned cold with rage and hate against Snyder.
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  Speaker 1: I could forgive the launch, but if he had wronged her,
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  Speaker 1: he should die. He should die at my own hands.
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  Speaker 1: In this I was determined. For two days, we followed
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  Speaker 1: the river northward, cutting off where we could, but confined
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  Speaker 1: for the most part to the game trails that paralleled
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  Speaker 1: the stream. One afternoon, we cut across a narrow neck
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  Speaker 1: of land that saved us many miles, where the river
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  Speaker 1: wound to the west and back again. Here we decided
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  Speaker 1: to halt, for we had had a hard day of it,
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  Speaker 1: and if the truth were known, I think that we
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  Speaker 1: had all given up hope of overtaking the launch. Other
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  Speaker 1: than by the merest accident. We had shot a deer
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  Speaker 1: just before our halt, and as Taylor and delcart were
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  Speaker 1: preparing it, I walked down to the water to fill
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  Speaker 1: our canteens. I had just finished and was straightening up
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  Speaker 1: when something floating around a bend above me caught my eye.
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  Speaker 1: For a moment I could not believe the testimony of
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  Speaker 1: my own senses. It was a boat. I shouted to
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  Speaker 1: Delcarte and Taylor, who came running to my side. The launch,
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  Speaker 1: cried delcart And indeed it was the launch, floating down
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  Speaker 1: river from above us. Where had it been? How had
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  Speaker 1: we passed it? And how were we to reach it? Now?
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  Speaker 1: Should Snyder and the girl discover us? It's drifting, said Taylor.
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  Speaker 1: I see no one in it. I was stripping off
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  Speaker 1: my clothes, and Delcarte soon followed my example. I told
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  Speaker 1: Taylor to remain on shore with the clothing and rifles.
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  Speaker 1: He might also serve us better there, since it would
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  Speaker 1: give him an opportunity to take a shot at Snyder,
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  Speaker 1: should the man discover us and show himself with powerful strokes.
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  Speaker 1: We swam out the path of the oncoming launch. Being
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  Speaker 1: a stronger swimmer than Delcart, I was soon far in
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  Speaker 1: the lead, reaching the center of the channel. Just as
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  Speaker 1: the launch bore down upon me. It was drifting broadside on.
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  Speaker 1: I seized the gunwale and raised myself quickly so that
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  Speaker 1: my chin topped the side. I expected a blow the
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  Speaker 1: moment that I came within the view of the occupants,
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  Speaker 1: but no blow fell. Snyder lay upon his back in
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  Speaker 1: the bottom of the boat alone. Even before I had
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  Speaker 1: clambered in and stooped above him, I knew that he
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  Speaker 1: was dead. Without examining him further, I ran forward to
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  Speaker 1: the control board and pressed the starting button. To my relief,
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  Speaker 1: the mechanism responded. The launch was uninjured. Coming about, I
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  Speaker 1: picked up Delcart. He was astounded at the sight that
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  Speaker 1: met his eyes, and immediately fell to examining Snyder's body
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  Speaker 1: for signs of life or an explanation of the manner
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  Speaker 1: in which he met his death. The fellow had been
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  Speaker 1: dead for hours. He was cold and still, but Delcart's
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  Speaker 1: search was not without results. For above Snider's heart was
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  Speaker 1: a wound, a slit about an inch in length, such
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  Speaker 1: a slit as a sharp knife would make. And in
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  Speaker 1: the dead fingers of one hand was clutched a strand
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  Speaker 1: of long brown hair. Victory's hair was brown. They say
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  Speaker 1: the dead men tell no tales, But Snider told the
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  Speaker 1: story of his end as clearly as though the dead
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  Speaker 1: lips had parted and poured forth the truth. The beast
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  Speaker 1: had attacked the girl, and she had defended her honor.
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  Speaker 1: We bare it Snider beside the rhine, and no stone
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  Speaker 1: marks his last resting place. Beasts did not require headstones.
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  Speaker 1: Then we set out in the launch, turning her nose
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  Speaker 1: up stream. When I told del Cart and Taylor that
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  Speaker 1: I intended searching for the girl, neither had demurred. We
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  Speaker 1: had her wrong in our thoughts, said Delcart, And the
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  Speaker 1: least that we can do in expiation is to find
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  Speaker 1: and rescue her. We called her name aloud every few
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  Speaker 1: minutes as we motored up the river, but though we
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  Speaker 1: returned all the way to our former camping place, we
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  Speaker 1: did not find her. I then decided to retrace our journey,
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  Speaker 1: letting Taylor handle the launch while del cart and I,
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  Speaker 1: upon opposite sides of the river, searched for some sign
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  Speaker 1: of the spot where Victory had landed. We found nothing
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  Speaker 1: until we had reached a point a few miles above
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  Speaker 1: the spot where I had first seen the launch drifting
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  Speaker 1: down toward us, And there I discovered the remnants of
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  Speaker 1: a recent camp fire that Victory carried flint. And still
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  Speaker 1: I was aware, and that it was she who built
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  Speaker 1: the fire, I was positive. But which way had she gone?
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  Speaker 1: Since she stopped here? Would she go on down the
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  Speaker 1: river that she might thus bring herself nearer her own
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  Speaker 1: gre Britain? Or would she have sought to search for
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  Speaker 1: us up stream where she had seen us last? I
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  Speaker 1: had hail Taylor and sent him across the river to
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  Speaker 1: take in Delcarte, that the two might join me and
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  Speaker 1: discuss my discovery and our future plans. While waiting for them,
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  Speaker 1: I stood looking out over the river, my back toward
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  Speaker 1: the woods that stretched away from the east behind me.
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  Speaker 1: Del cart was just stepping into the launch upon the
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  Speaker 1: opposite side of the stream, when, without the least warning,
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  Speaker 1: I was violently seized by both arms, and about the
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  Speaker 1: waist three or four men were upon me at once.
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  Speaker 1: My rifle was snatched from my hands and my revolver
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  Speaker 1: from my belt. I struggled for an instant, but finding
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  Speaker 1: my efforts of no avail, I ceased them and turned
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  Speaker 1: my head to have a look at my assailants. At
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  Speaker 1: the same time, several others of them walked around in
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  Speaker 1: front of me, and to my astonishment, I found myself
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  Speaker 1: looking upon uniformed soldiery, armed with rifles, revolvers, and sabers,
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  Speaker 1: but with faces as black as coal. End of Chapter
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  Speaker 1: seven