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01 - Out of Time's Abyss - Edgar Rice Burroughs · Science Fiction Books - Daily

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Chapter one. This is the tale of Bradley. After he left Fort Dinosaur,
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upon the west coast of the Great Lake that is in the center of
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the island. Upon the fourth day of September nineteen sixteen, he set out
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with four companions, Sinclair, Brady, James and Tippett, to search along
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the base of the Barrier cliffs for a point at which they might be scaled
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through the heavy Caspakian air beneath the swollen sun. The five men marched northwest
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from Fort Dinosaur, now waist deep in lush jungle grasses, starred with myriad
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gorgeous blooms, now across open meadow land and park like expanses, and again
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plunging into dense forests of eucalyptus s and acacia and giant Arboreus ferns, with
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feathered fronds waving gently a hundred feet above their heads. About them. Upon
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the ground, among the trees and in the air over them, moved and
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swamp, ung and swored the countless forms of cast Back's teeming life. Always
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were they menaced by some frightful thing, and seldom were their rifles cool.
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Yet even in the brief time they had dwelt upon Caprona. They had become
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callous to danger, so that they swung along, laughing and chatting like soldiers
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on a summer high. This reminds me of South Clark Street, remarked Brady,
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who had once served on the traffic squad in Chicago, and as no
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one asked him why he volunteered. That it was because it's no place for
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an irishman. South Clark Street and Heaven have something in common, then,
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suggested Sinclair. James and Tippett laughed, and then a hideous growl broke from
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a dense thicket ahead and diverted their attention to other matters, one of them
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behemous a bole eret, muttered Tippett. As they came to a halt,
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and with guns ready, awaited the almost inevitable charge. Hungry lot of beggars,
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these, said Bradley, always trying to eat everything they see. For
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a moment, no further sound came from the thicket. He may be feeding,
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now, suggested Bradley. We'll try to go around him. Contwaiste,
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ammunition won't last forever. Follow me, and he set off at right angles
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to their former course, hoping to avert a charge. They had taken a
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dozen steps perhaps, when the thicket moved to the advance of the thing within
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it. The leafy branches parted, and the hideous head of a gigantic bear
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emerged. Pick your trees, whispered Bradley, kant waste ammunition. The men
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looked about them. The bear took a couple of steps forward, still growling
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menacingly, he was exposed to the shoulders. Now Tippet took one look at
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the monster and bolted for the nearest tree. And then the bear charges.
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He charged straight for Tippet. The other men scattered for the various trees they
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had selected, all except Bradley. He stood watching Tippet and the bear.
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The man had a good start, and the tree was not far away,
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but the speed of the enormous creature behind him was something to marvel at.
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Yet Tippet was in a fair way to make his sanctuary when his foot caught
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in a tangle of roots, and down he went, his rifle flying from
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his hand and falling several yards away. Instantly Bradley's piece was at his shoulder.
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There was a sharp report, answered by a roar of mingled rage and
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pain from the carnivore. Tippet attempted to scramble to his feet, lie still,
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shouted Bradley, contwaiste ammunition. The bear halted in its tracks, wheeled
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toward Bradley, and then back again toward Tippet. Again. The former's rifle
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spit angrily, and the bear turned again in his direction. Bradley shouted loudly,
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come on you, Behemeth of Holy writ. He cried, come on
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you duffer contwate ammunition. And as he saw the bear apparently upon the verge
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of deciding to charge him, he encouraged the idea by backing rapidly away,
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knowing that an angry beast will more often charge one who moves than one who
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lies still. And the bear did charge. Like a bolt of lightning.
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He flashed down upon the Englishman, Now run, Bradley called a tippet and
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himself turned in flight toward a near by tree. The other men, now
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safely asconced upon various branches, watched the race with breathless interest. Would Bradley
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make it? It seemed scarce possible. And if he didn't, James gasped
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at the thought. Six feet at the shoulders stood the frightful mountain of blood
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mad flesh and bone and sinew that was bearing down with the speed of an
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express train upon the seemingly slow moving man. It all happened in a few
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seconds, but they were seconds that seemed like hours to the men who watched.
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They saw Tippet leap to his feet at Bradley's shouted warning. They saw
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him run, stooping to recover his rifle as he passed the spot where it
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had fallen. They saw him glance back toward Bradley, and then they saw
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him stop short of the tree that might have given him safety, and turned
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back in the direction of the bear, firing as he ran. Tippet raced
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after the great cave bear, the monstrous thing that should have been extinct ages
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before, ran for it, and fired. Even as the beast was almost
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upon Bradley. The men in the trees scarcely breathed. It seemed to them
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such a futile thing for Tippet to do, And Tippet, of all men,
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they had never looked upon Tippet as a coward. There seemed to be
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no cowards among that strangely assorted company that fate had gathered together from the four
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corners of the earth. But Tippet was considered a cautious man. Over cautious,
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some thought him how futile he and his little pop gun appeared as he
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dashed after that living engine of destruction. But oh, how glorious it was
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some such thought as this that ran through Brady's mind. Though articulated, it
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might have been expressed otherwise, albeit more forcefully. Just then it occurred to
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Brady to fire, and he too opened upon the bear. But at the
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same instant the animal stumbled and fell forward, though still growling most fearsomely.
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Tippet never stopped running or firing until he stood within a foot of the brute,
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which lay almost touching Bradley and was already struggling to regain its feet.
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Placing the muzzle of the gun against the bear's ear, Tippet pulled the trigger.
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The creature sank limply to the ground, and Bradley scrambled to his feet.
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Good work, Tippet, he said, mightily obliged to you. Awful
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waste of ammunition, really, And then they resumed the march, and in
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fifteen minutes the encounter had ceased even to be a topic of conversation. For
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two days they continued upon their perilous way. All the cliffs loomed high and
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forbidding close ahead without sign of break, to encourage hope that somewhere they might
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be scaled. Late in the afternoon, the party crossed a small stream of
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warm water, upon the sluggishly moving surface of which floated countless millions of tiny
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green eggs, surrounded by a light scum of the same color, though of
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a darker shade. Their past experience of cast Pack had taught them that they
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might expect to come upon a stagnant pool of warm water if they followed the
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stream to its source. But there they were almost certain to find some of
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Castpack's grotesque manlike creatures. Already, since they had disembarked from the U thirty
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three after its perilous trip through the subterranean channel beneath the barrier cliffs had brought
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them into the inland sea of Castpack, had they encountered what had appeared to
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be three distinct types of these creatures. There had been the pure apes,
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huge guerrilla like beasts, and those who walked a trifle more erect and had
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features with just a shade more of the human caste about them. Then there
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were men like Alm, whom they had captured and confined at the Fort Olm.
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The clubman, well known clubman Tyler, had called him Alm. And
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his people had knowledge of speech, They had a language in which they were,
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unlike the race, just inferior to them, and they walked much more
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erect and were less hairy. But it was principally the fact that they possessed
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a spoken language and carried a weapon that differentiated them from the others. All
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of these peoples had proven belligerent in the extreme, in common with the rest
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of the fauna of Caprona. The first law of nature, as they seemed
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to understand it, was to kill, kill, kill, And so it
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was that Bradley had no desire to follow up the little stream toward the pool,
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near which were sure to be the caves of some savage tribe. But
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fortune played him an unkind trick, for the pool was much closer than he
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imagined, its southern end, reaching fully a mile south of the point at
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which they crossed the stream. And so it was that, after forcing their
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way through a tangle of jungle vegetation, they came out upon the edge of
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the pool, which they had wished to avoid. Almost Simultaneously, there appeared
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south of them a party of naked men armed with clubs and hatchets. Both
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parties halted as they caught sight of one another. The men from the fort
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saw before them a hunting party, evidently returning to its caves or billies laden
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with meat. They were large men, with features closely resembling those of the
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African Negro. Though their skins were white, Short hair grew upon a large
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portion of their limbs and bodies, which still retained a considerable trace of Apish
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progenitors. They were, however, a distinctly higher type than the Bolu or
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club. Bradley would have been glad to have averted a meeting, but as
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he desired to lead his party south round the end of the pool, and
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as it was hemmed in by the jungle on one side and the water on
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the other, there seemed no escape from an encounter. On the chance that
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he might avoid a clash, Bradley stepped forward with upraised hand. We are
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friends, he called in the tongue of Aum the Buloo, who had been
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held prisoner at the fort. Permit us to pass in peace. We will
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not harm you. At this the hatchet men set up a great jabbering with
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much laughter. Loud and boisterous no shouted one. You will not harm us,
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for we shall kill you. Come we kill, we kill, And
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with hideous shouts, they charged down upon the Europeans. Sinclair, you may
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fire, said Bradley, quietly. Pick off the leader. Contwaiste ammunition.
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The Englishman raised his piece to his shoulder and took quick aim at the breast
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of the yelling savage leaping toward them. Directly behind the leader came another hatchet
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man, and with the report of Sinclair's rifle, both warriors lunged forward in
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the tall grasp, pierced by the same bullet. The effect upon the rest
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of the band was electrical. As one man, they came to a sudden
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halt, wheeled to the east, and dashed into the jungle, where the
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men could hear them, forcing their way in an effort to put as much
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distance as possible between themselves and the authors of this new and frightful noise that
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killed warriors at a great distance. Both the savages were dead when Bradley approached
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to examine them, and as the Europeans gathered round, other eyes were bent
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upon them with greater curiosity than they displayed for the victim of Sinclair's bullet.
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When the party again took up the march around the southern end of the pool,
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the owner of the eyes followed them, large round eyes, almost expressionless
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except for a certain cold cruelty which glinted malignly from under their pale gray irises.
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All unconscious of the stalker, the men came laid in the afternoon to
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a spot which seemed favorable as a camp site. A cold spring bubbled from
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the base of a rocky formation which overhung and partially encircled a small enclosure.
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At Bradley's command, the men took up the duties assigned them, gathering wood,
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building a cook fire, and preparing the evening meal. It was while
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they were thus engaged that Brady's attention was attracted by the dismal flapping of huge
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wings. He glanced up, expecting to see one of the great flying reptiles
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of a by gone age. His rifle ready in his hand. Brady was
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a brave man. He had groped his way up narrow tenement stairs and taken
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an armed maniac from a dark room without turning a hair. But now as
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he looked up, he went white and staggered back. God, he almost
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screamed, what is it? Attracted by Brady's cry, the others seized their
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rifles as they followed his wide eyed, frozen gaze. Nor was there one
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of them that was not moved by some species of terror or awe. Then
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Brady spoke again, in an almost inaudible voice, Holy Mother, protect us.
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It's a banshee. Bradley, always cool, almost to indifference in the
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face of danger, felt a strange, creeping sensation run over his flesh.
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As slowly, not a hundred feet above them, the thing flapped itself across
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the sky, its huge round eyes glaring down upon them, and until it
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disappeared over the tops of the trees of a nearby wood. The five men
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stood as though paralyzed, their eyes never leaving the weird shape, nor never
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one of them appearing to recall that he grasped a loaded rifle in his hands.
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With the passing of the thing came the reaction. Tippett sank to the
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ground and buried his face in his hands. Oh, Gord, he moaned,
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take me away from this order for police. Brady, who recovered from
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the first shot, swore loud and luridly, he called upon all the saints
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to witness that he was unafraid, and that anybody with half an eye could
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have seen that the creature was nothing more than one of them flying alley gaters
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that they all were familiar with. Yes, said Sinclair, with fine sarcasm.
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We've saw so many of them with white shrouds on him. Shut up,
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you fool, growled Brady. If you know so much, tell us
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what it was after beyond them. Then he turned toward Bradley. What was
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it, sir, do you think? He asked? Bradley shook his head.
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I don't know, he said. It looked like a winged human being
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clothed in a flowing white robe. Its face was more a human than otherwise.
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That is the way it looked to me. But what it really was
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I can't even guess, for such a creature is as far beyond my experience
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or knowledge as it is beyond yours. All that I am sure of is
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that, whatever else it may have been, it was quite material. It
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was no ghost, rather just another of the strange forms of life which we
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have met here, and with which we should be accustomed by this time.
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Tippet looked up, his face still ashy. You can't tell me, he
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cried. I seen it, blimey, I seen it. It was how
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dead man flying through the hair. Didn't I see his eyes? Oh,
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girld, didn't I see him? It didn't look like any beast or reptile
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to me, spoke up Sinclair. It was looking right down at me when
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I looked up, and I saw its face plain as I see yours.
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It had big browned eyes that looked all cold and dead, and its cheeks
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were sunken in deep, and I could see its yellow teeth behind thin,
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tight drawn lips, like a man who had been dead a long while,
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sir, he added, turning toward Bradley. Yes, James had not spoken
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since the apparition had passed over them, and now it was scarce speech,
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which he uttered rather a series of articulate gasps. Yes, dead a long
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while. It du means something. It come for some one, for one
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of us. One of us is goin to die. I'm going to die,
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he ended in a wail. Come come, snapped Bradley. Won't do
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won't do it all, Get to work, all of you, waste of
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time, can't waste time. His authoritative tones brought them all up standing,
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and presently each was occupied with his own duties. But each worked in silence,
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and there was no singing and no bantering, such as had marked the
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making of previous cams. Not until they had eaten, and to each had
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been issued the little ration of smoking tobacco aloud after each evening meal did any
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sign of a relaxation of taut nerves appear. It was Brady who showed the
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first signs of returning good spirits. He commenced humming It's a long way to
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Tipperary, and presently to boist the words. But he was well into his
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third song before anyone joined him, and even then there seemed a dismal note
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in even the gayest of tunes. A huge fire blazed in the opening of
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their rocky shelter, that the prowling carnivora might be kept at bay, and
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always one man stood on guard, watchfully alert against a sudden rush by some
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maddened beast of the jungle. Beyond the fire, yellow green spots of flame
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appeared, moved restlessly about, disappeared, and reappeared, accompanied by a hideous
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chorus of screams and growls and roars, as the hungry meaty hunting through the
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night were attracted by the light or the scent of possible prey. But to
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such sights and sounds as these, the five men had become callous. They
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sang or talked as unconcernedly as they might have done in the bar room of
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some public house. At home. Sinclair was standing guard. The others were
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listening to Brady's description of traffic congestion at the rough Street bridge during the rush
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hour at night. The fire crackled cheerily. The owners of the Yellow Green
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Eyes raised their frightful chorus to the heavens. Conditions seemed again to have returned
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to normal, and then, as though the hand of death had reached out
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and touched them, all, the five men tensed into sudden rigidity. Above
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the nocturnal diapason of the teeming jungle sounded a dismal flapping of wings, and
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overhead, through the thick night, a shadowy form passed across the diffused light
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of the flaring camp fire. Sinclair raised his rifle and fired. An eerie
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wail floated down from above, and the apparition, whatever it might have been,
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was swallowed by the darkness. For several seconds, the listening men heard
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the sound of those dismally flapping wings lessening in the distance until they could no
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longer be heard. Bradley was the first to speak. Shouldn't have fired,
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Sinclair, he said, can't waste ammunition. But there was no note of
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censure in his tone. It was as though he understood the nervous reaction that
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had compelled the other's act. I couldn't help it, sir, said Sinclair.
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Lord it would take an iron man to keep from shootin at that awful
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thing you believe in gosts Sir, No, replied Bradley, No such things.
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I don't know about that, said Brady. There was a woman murdered
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over on the prairie near Brighton. Her throat was cut from ear to ear.
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Shut up, snapped Bradley. My granddaddy used to live down Coppington,
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Why, said Tippett. They were old ruined castle on Eel near by,
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and at midnight they used to see pale blue lights through the windows and air.
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Will you close your hatch, demanded Bradley, You fools will have yourselves
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scared to death in a minute. Now go to sleep. But there was
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little sleep in camp that night until utter exhaustion overtook the harassed men toward morning.
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Nor was there any return of the weird creature that had set the nerves
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of each of them on edge. The following forenoon, the party reached the
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base of the Barrier Cliffs and for two days marched northward in an effort to
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discover a break in the frowning abutment that raised its rocky face almost perpendicularly above
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them. Yet nowhere was there the slightest indication that the cliffs were scalable.
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Disheartened, Bradley determined to turn and back toward the fort, as he already
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had exceeded the time decided upon by Bowen, Tyler and himself for the expedition.
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The cliffs, for many miles had been trending in a northeasterly direction,
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indicating to Bradley that they were approaching the northern extremity of the island. According
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to the best of his calculations, they had made sufficient easting during the past
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two days to have brought them to a point almost directly north of Fort Dinosaur,
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and as nothing could be gained by retracing their steps along the base of
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the cliffs. He decided to strike due south through the unexpored country between them
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and the fort. That night, September ninth, nineteen sixteen, they made
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camp a short distance from the cliffs, beside one of the numerous cool springs
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that are to be found within cast Back, oftentimes close beside the still more
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numerous warm and hot springs which feed the many pools. After supper, the
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men lay smoking and chatting among themselves. Tippet was on guard. Fewer night
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prowlers threatened them, and the men were commenting upon the fact that the farther
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north they had traveled, the smaller the number of all species of animals became,
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though it was still present in what would have seemed appalling plenitude in any
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other part of the world. The diminution in reptilian life was the most noticeable
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change in the fauna of northern cast Back. Here, however, were forms
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they had not met elsewhere, several of which were of gigantic proportions according to
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their custom, All, with the exception of the man on guard, sought
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sleep early, nor once disposed upon the ground for slumber, were they long
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in finding it. It seemed to Bradley that he had scarcely closed his eyes
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when he was brought to his feet, wide awake by a piercing scream,
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which was punctuated by the sharp report of a rifle from the direction of the
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fire where tip but stood guard. As he ran toward the man, Bradley
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heard above him the same uncanny wail that had set every nerve on edge several
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nights before, and the dismal flapping of huge wings. He did not need
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to look up at the white shrouded figure winging slowly away into the night to
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know that their grim visitor had returned. The muscles of his arm, reacting
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to the sight and sound of the menacing form, carried his hand to the
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butt of his pistol. But after he had drawn the weapon, he immediately
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returned it to its holster with a shrug. What for, he muttered,
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caunt waist ammunition. Then he walked quickly to where Tippet lay sprawled upon his
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face. By this time, James Brady and Sinclair were at his heels,
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eat with his rifle in readiness. Is he dead, sir? Whispered James.
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As Bradley kneeled beside the prostrate form. Bradley turned Tippet over on his
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back and pressed an ear close to the other's heart. In a moment,
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he raised his head fainted. He announced, get water, hurry. Then
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he loosened Tippet's shirt at the throat, and when the water was brought through
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a cupful in the man's face. Slowly, Tippet regained consciousness and sat up.
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At first he looked curiously into the faces of the men about him.
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Then an expression of terror overspread his features. He shot a startled glance up
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into the black void above, and then, burying his face in his arms,
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began to sob like a child. What's wrong, man, demanded Bradley.
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Buck up, cont play, cry baby, waste of energy? What
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oppened? What happened? Sir, wailed Tibbett. Oh gird, sir,
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He came back. It came for me, sir, right it did,
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sir, straight hot me, sir, and with long white hands, and
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he clawed for me. Oh gird, it almost caught me, sir.
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A'm as good as dead. I'm a markman, That's what I am.
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It was a golden for a keremie wharf, sir. Stuff and nonsense,
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snapped Bradley. Did you get a good look at it? Tippett said that
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he did a much better look than he wanted. The thing had almost clutched
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him, and he had looked straight into its eyes, dead eyes, in
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a dead defrice. He had described them, what was it apt to be?
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And do you think? Inquired Brady. It was death, moaned Tippet,
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shuddering, and again a pall of gloom fell upon the little party.
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The following day, Tippet walked as one in a trance. He never spoke
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except in reply to a direct question, which more often than not had to
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be repeated before it could attract his attention. He insisted that he was already
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a dead man, for if the thing didn't come for him during the day,
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he would never live through another night of agonized apprehension, waiting for the
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frightful end that he was positive was in store for him. Oilers see to
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that, he said, and they all knew that Tippett meant to take his
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own life before darkness set in. Bradley tried to reason with him in any
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short, crisp way, but soon saw the futility of it. Nor could
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he take the man's weapons from him without subjecting him to almost certain death from
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any of the numberless dangers that beset their way. The entire party was moody
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and glum. There was none of the bantering that had marked their intercourse before,
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even in the face of blighting, hardships, and hideous danger. This
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was a new menace that threatened them, something that they couldn't explain, and
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so naturally it aroused within them superstitious fear, which Tippett's attitude only tended to
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augment. To add further to their gloom. Their way led through a dense
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forest, where, on account of the underbrush, it was difficult to make
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even a mile an hour. Constant watchfulness was reached required to avoid the many
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snakes of various degrees of repulsiveness and enormity that infested the wood, and the
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only ray of hope they had to cling to was that the forest wood,
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like the majority of Caspakian forests, proved to be of no considerable extent.
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Bradley was in the lead when he came suddenly upon a grotesque creature of titanic
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proportions crouching among the trees, which here commenced to thin out slightly. Bradley
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saw what appeared to be an enormous dragon devouring the carcass of a mammoth from
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frightful jaws to the tip of its long tail. It was fully forty feet
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in length. Its body was covered with plates of thick skin which bore a
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striking resemblance to armor plate. The creature saw Bradley almost at the same instant
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that he saw it, and reared up on its enormous hind legs until its
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head towered a full twenty five feet above the ground. From the cavernous jaws
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issued a hissing sound of a volume equal to the escaping steam from the safety
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valves of half a dozen locomotives, and then the creature came for the man.
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Scatter shouted Bradley to those behind him, and all but Tippet heeded the
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warning. The man stood as though dazed, and when Bradley saw the other's
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danger, he too stopped, and, wheeling about, sent a bullet into
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the massy body, forcing its way through the trees toward him. The shot
28:30
struck the creature in the belly, where there was no protecting armor, eliciting
28:34
a new note, which rose in a shrill whistle and ended in a wail.
28:40
It was then that Tippett appeared to come out of his trance, for
28:42
with a cry of terror, he turned and fled to the left. Bradley,
28:48
seeing that he had as good an opportunity as the others to escape,
28:52
now turned his attention to extricating himself, and as the woods seemed dense on
28:56
the right, he ran in that direction, hoping that the close set bowls
29:02
would prevent pursuit on the part of the great reptile. The dragon paid no
29:06
further attention to him, however, for Tippet's sudden break for liberty had attracted
29:11
its attention, and after Tippet, it went bowling over small trees, uprooting
29:17
underbrush, and leaving a weight behind it like that of a fall tornado.
29:22
Bradley, the moment he had discovered the thing was pursuing Tippet, had followed
29:26
it. He was afraid to fire for fear of hitting the man, and
29:30
so it was that he came upon them at the very moment that the monster
29:34
lunsed its great weight forward upon the doomed man. The sharp three toad talons
29:41
of the forelimb seized poor Tippet, and Bradley saw the unfortunate fellow lifted high
29:45
above the ground as the creature again reared up on its hind legs, immediately
29:51
transferring Tippet's body to its gaping jaws, which closed with a sickening crunching sound.
29:57
As Tippet's bone cracked beneath the great teeth. Bradley half raised his rifle
30:03
to fire again, and then lowered it with a shake of his head.
30:08
Tippet was beyond succor. Why waist a bullet that cast back could never replace.
30:15
If he could now escape the further notice of the monster, it would
30:18
be a wiser act than to throw his life away in futile revenge. He
30:22
saw that the reptile was not looking in his direction, and so he slipped
30:27
noiselessly behind the bowl of a large tree, and thence quietly faded away in
30:33
the direction he believed the others to have taken. At what he considered a
30:37
safe distance, he halted and looked back. Half hidden by the intervening trees,
30:44
he still could see the huge head and the massive jaws from which protruded
30:48
the limp legs of the dead man. Then, as though struck by the
30:52
hammer of thor, the creature collapsed and crumpled to the ground. Bradley's single
30:59
bullet, penetrating the body through the soft skin of the belly, had slain
31:03
the titan. A few minutes later, Bradley found the others of the party.
31:08
The four returned cautiously to the spot where the creature lay, and,
31:12
after convincing themselves that it was quite dead, came close to it. It
31:18
was an arduous and gruesome jaw, extricating Tippet's mangled remains from the powerful jaws
31:25
the men working, for the most part silently. It was the work of
31:29
a banshy. All right, muttered Brady. It warned poor Tippet. It
31:33
did. It'd killed him, That's what it did, and it'll kill some
31:38
more of us, said James, his lower lip trembling. If it was
31:42
a ghost, interjected Sinclair. And I don't say as it was. But
31:47
if it was, why it could take on any form it wanted to.
31:51
It might have turned itself into this thing, which ain't no natural thing at
31:55
all, just to get poor Tippet. If it had been a lion or
31:59
something else human like, it wouldn't look so strange. But this here thing
32:02
ain't human like. There ain't no such thing, and never was. Bullets
32:07
don't kill ghosts, said Bradley, so this couldn't have been a ghost.
32:13
Furthermore, there are no such things. I've been trying to place this creature
32:19
just succeeded. It's a Tyrannosaurus. Saw a picture of skeleton in magazine.
32:24
There's one in New York Natural History Museum. Seems to me it's said it
32:30
was found in place called Hell Creek, somewhere in western North America, supposed
32:37
to have lived about six million years ago. Hell Creek's in Montana, said
32:42
Sinclair. I used to punch cows in Wyoming, and I've heard of Hell
32:45
Creek. Do you suppose that there are things six million years old? His
32:51
tone was skeptical. No, replied Bradley, but it would indicate that the
32:57
island of Kokrona has stood almost without change for more than six million years.
33:04
The conversation, in Bradley's assurance that the creature was not of supernatural origin,
33:08
helped to raise a trifle the spirits of the men, and then came another
33:13
diversion in the form of ravenous meat eaters, attracted to the spot by the
33:17
uncanny sense of smell which had apprised them of the presence of flesh killed and
33:22
ready for the eating. It was a constant battle while they dug a grave
33:28
and consigned all that was mortal of John Tippett to his last lonely resting place.
33:35
Nor would they leave then, but remain to fashion a rude headstone from
33:38
a crumbling outcropping of sandstone, and to gather a mass of the gorgeous flowers
33:45
growing in such a great profusion round them, and heap the new made grave
33:49
with bright blooms upon the headstone. Sinclair scratched in rude characters, the words
33:54
here lies John Tippet, Englishmen killed by Tyrannus Tsaurus ten September a d.
34:02
Nineteen sixteen. R. I. P. And Bradley repeated a short prayer
34:08
before they left their comrade forever. For three days the party marched due south
34:15
through forests and meadowland, and great park like areas. Were countless herbivorous animals
34:21
grazed, deer and antelope, and bows, and the little ecca, the
34:25
smallest species of Caspakian horse, about the size of a rabbit. There were
34:30
other horses too, but all were small, the largest being not above eight
34:36
hands in height, preying continually upon the herbivora were the meat eaters, large
34:42
and small wolves, hyenodons, panthers, lions, tigers, and bear,
34:46
as well as several large and ferocious species of reptilian life. On September twelfth,
34:53
the party scale a line of sandstone cliffs which crossed their route towards the
34:59
south, but they crossed them only after an encounter with the tribe that inhabited
35:04
the numerous caves which pitted the face of the escarpment. That night, they
35:08
camped upon a rocky plateau which was sparsely wooded with jarra, and here once
35:15
again they were visited by the weird nocturnal apparition that had already filled them with
35:20
a nameless terror. As on the night of September ninth, the first warning
35:24
came from the sentinel standing guard over his sleeping companions. A terror stricken cry
35:30
punctuated by the crack of a rifle brought Bradley, Sinclair and Brady to their
35:36
feet in time to see James with clubbed rifle, battling with a white robed
35:40
figure that hovered on widespread wings on a level with the Englishman's head. As
35:46
they ran shouting forward, it was obvious to them that the weird and terrible
35:51
apparition was attempting to seize James, but when it saw the others coming to
35:55
his rescue, it desisted, flapping rapidly upward and away, its long,
36:00
ragged wings, giving forth the peculiarly dismal notes which always characterized the sound of
36:07
its flying. Bradley fired at the vanishing menacer of their peace and safety,
36:12
but whether he scored ahead or not none could tell, though following the shot
36:16
there was wafted back to them the same piercing wail that had on other occasions
36:22
frozen their marrow. Then they turned toward James, who lay face downward upon
36:27
the ground, trembling as with agu But for a time he could not even
36:30
speak, but at last regained sufficient composure to tell them how the thing must
36:36
have swooped silently upon him from above and behind, as the first premonition of
36:42
danger he had received was when the long, claw like fingers had clutched him
36:45
beneath either arm in the melee. His rifle had been discharged, and he
36:51
had broken away at the same instant and turned to defend himself with the butt.
36:57
The rest they had seen from that instant, James was an absolutely broken
37:01
man. He maintained with shaking lips that his doom was sealed, that the
37:07
thing had marked him for its own, and that he was as good as
37:10
dead. Nor could any amount of argument or raillery convince him to the contrary.
37:16
He had seen Tippet marked and claimed, and now he had been marked.
37:22
Nor were his constant reiterations of this belief without effect upon the rest of
37:25
the party. Even Bradley felt depressed, though for the sake of the others
37:30
he managed to hide it beneath a show of confidence. He was far from
37:35
feeling, and on the following day William James was killed by a saber tooth
37:40
tiger September thirteenth, nineteen sixteen, beneath a jar tree on the stony plateau,
37:47
on the northern edge of the Stolough Country, in the land that time
37:52
forgot. He lies in a lonely grave marked by a rough headstone. Southward
37:58
from his grave mar three grim and silent men. To the best of Bradley's
38:04
reckoning, they were some twenty five miles north of Fort Dinosaur, and that
38:08
they might reach the fort on the following day. They plodded on until darkness
38:13
overtook them with comparative safety. Fifteen miles away. They made camp at last,
38:20
but there was no singing now, and no joking. In the bottom
38:23
of his heart, each prayed that they might come safely through just this night,
38:29
for they knew that during the morrow they would make the final stretch.
38:32
Yet the nerves of each were taut with strained anticipation of what gruesome thing might
38:37
flap down upon them from the black sky, marking another for its own,
38:44
who would be the next? As was their custom, they took turns at
38:47
guard, each man doing two hours and then rousing the next. Brady had
38:53
gone on from eight to ten, followed by Sinclair from ten to twelve.
38:59
Then Bradley had been awakened. Brady would stand the last guard from two to
39:04
four, as they had determined to start the moment that it became light enough
39:07
to insure comparative safety upon the trail. The snapping of a twig aroused Brady
39:14
out of a dead sleep, and as he opened his eyes he saw that
39:17
it was broad daylight, and that at twenty paces from him stood a huge
39:22
lion. As the man sprang to his feet, his rifle ready in his
39:27
hand, Sinclair awoke and took in the scene in a single swift glance.
39:32
The fire was out and Bradley was nowhere in sight. For a long moment,
39:37
the lion and the men eyed one another. The latter had no mind
39:40
to fire if the beast minded its own affairs. They were only too glad
39:45
to let it go its way if it would. But the lion was of
39:49
a different mind. Suddenly, the long tail snapped, stiffly erect, and
39:53
as though it had been attached to two trigger fingers, the two rifles spoke
39:58
in unison. For both men knew this signal only too well, the immediate
40:02
forerunner of a deadly charge. As the brute's head had been raised, his
40:07
spine had not been visible, and so they did what they had learned by
40:10
long experience was best to do. Each covered a front leg, and as
40:15
the tail snapped, Aloft fired with a hideous roar. The mighty flesh eater
40:21
lurched forward to the ground with both front legs broken. It was an easy
40:24
accomplishment in the instant before the beast charged, after it would have been well
40:30
nigh and impossible feet Brady stepped close in and finished him with a shot in
40:35
the base of the brain. Lest his terrific roaring should attract his mate or
40:39
others of their kind. Then the two men turned and looked at one another.
40:45
Where is Lieutenant Bradley, asked Sinclair. They walked to the fire.
40:50
Only a few smoking embers remained. A few feet away lay Bradley's rifle.
40:54
There was no evidence of a struggle. The two men circled about the camp
41:00
twise, and on the last lap, Brady stooped and picked up an object
41:04
which had lain about ten yards beyond the fire. It was Bradley's cap.
41:08
Again, the two looked questioningly at one another, and then simultaneously both pairs
41:14
of eyes swung upward and searched the sky. A moment later, Brady was
41:19
examining the ground about the spot where Bradley's cap had lain. It was one
41:23
of those little barren sandy stretches that they had found only upon this stony plateau.
41:30
Brady's own footsteps showed as plainly as black ink upon white paper, but
41:35
his was the only foot that had marred the smooth, wind swept surface.
41:39
There was no sign that Bradley had crossed the spot upon the surface of the
41:44
ground, and yet his cap lay well toward the center of it. Breakfastless
41:50
and with shaken nerves, the two survivors plunged madly into the long day's march.
41:55
Both were strong, courageous, resourceful men, but each had reached the
42:00
limit of human nerve endurance, and each felt that he would rather die than
42:05
spend another night in the hideous open of that frightful land. Vivid in the
42:09
mind of each was a picture of Bradley's end, For though neither had witnessed
42:15
the tragedy, both could imagine almost precisely what had occurred. They did not
42:20
discuss it, they did not even mention it. Yet all day long the
42:24
thing was uppermost in the mind of each, and mingled with it a similar
42:29
picture with himself as victims should they fail to make Fort Dinosaur before dark.
42:35
And so they plunged forward at reckless speed, their clothes their hands, their
42:39
faces torn by the retarding underbrush that reached forth to hinder them. Again and
42:45
again they fell. But be it to their credit that the one always waited
42:49
and helped the other, and that into the mind of neither entered the thought
42:52
or the temptation to desert his companion. They would reach the fort together if
42:58
both survived or neither would reach it. They encountered the usual number of savage
43:04
beasts and reptiles, but they met them with a courageous recklessness born of desperation,
43:09
and by virtue of the very madness of the chances they took. They
43:13
came through unscathed and with the minimum of delay. Shortly after noon they reached
43:19
the end of the plateau. Before them was a drop of two hundred feet
43:22
to the valley beneath to the left, in the distance they could see the
43:27
waters of the Great Inland Sea that covers a considerable portion of the area of
43:31
the crater island of Caprona, and at a little lesser distance to the south
43:36
of the cliffs, they saw a thin spiral of smoke arising above the tree
43:40
tops. The landscape was familiar. Each recognized it immediately and knew that that
43:46
smoky column marked the spot where dinosaur had stood. Was the fort still there
43:52
or did the smoke arise from the smoldering embers of the building they had helped
43:55
a fashion for the housing of their party. Who could say thirty precious minutes
44:01
that seemed as many hours to the impatient men were consumed in locating a precarious
44:07
way from the summit to the base of the cliffs that bounded the plateau upon
44:12
the south, and then once again they struck off upon level ground toward their
44:15
goal. The closer they approached the fort, the greater became their apprehension that
44:21
all would not be well. They pictured the barracks deserted, or the small
44:24
company massacred, and the buildings in ashes. It was almost in a frenzy
44:30
of fear that they broke through the final fringe of jungle and stood at last
44:34
upon the verge of the open meadow a half mile from Fort Dinosaur. Lord
44:39
ejaculated Sinclair, they are still there, and he fell to his knees sobbing.
44:45
Brady trembled like a leaf as he crossed himself and gave silent thanks for
44:51
There before them stood the sturdy ramparts of Dinosaur, and from inside the enclosure
44:55
rose a thin spiral of smoke that marked the location of the cook house.
45:00
All was well then, and their comrades were preparing the evening meal. Across
45:06
the clearing they raced, as though they had not already covered in a single
45:09
day, attractless primeval country that might easily have required two days by fresh and
45:15
untired men withinhaling distance. They set up such a loud shouting that presently hadsappeared
45:22
above the top of the parapet, and soon answering shouts were rising from within
45:27
Fort Dinosaur. A moment later three men issued from the enclosure and came forward
45:32
to meet the survivors and listened to the hurried story of the eleven eventful days
45:37
since they had set out upon their expedition to the Barrier Cliffs. They heard
45:42
of the deaths of Tippet and James, and of the disappearance of Lieutenant Bradley,
45:46
and a new terror settled upon Dinosaur. Olson, the Irish engineer,
45:52
with Whiteley and Wilson, constituted the remnants of Dinosaur's defenders, and to Brady
45:59
and Sinclair they narrated the salient events that had transpired since Bradley and his party
46:04
had marched away on September fourth. They told them of the infamous act of
46:09
Baron Friedrich Bonschuenbortz and his German crew, who had stolen the U thirty three,
46:15
breaking their parole and steaming away towards the subterranean opening through the Barrier Cliffs
46:21
that carried the waters of the inland Sea into the open Pacific beyond, and
46:25
of the cowardly shelling of the fort. They told of the disappearance of Miss
46:30
LaRue in the night of September eleventh, and of the departure of Bolan Tyler
46:35
in search of her, accompanied only by his Airdale Knobs. Thus, of
46:39
the original party of eleven Allies and nine Germans that had constituted the company of
46:45
the U thirty three when she left English Waters after her capture by the crew
46:50
of the English tug, there were but five now to be accounted for at
46:53
Fort Dinosaur. Benson, Tippett, James, and one of the Germans were
46:58
known to be dead. It was assumed that Bradley Tyler and the girl had
47:02
already succumbed some of the savage denizens of Casspack, while the fate of the
47:07
Germans was equally unknown. Though it might readily be believed that they had made
47:12
good their escape, they had had ample time to provision the ship, and
47:16
the refining of the crude oil they had discovered north of the fort could have
47:21
insured them an ample supply to carry them back to Germany. End of Chapter one