As we strolled slowly back toward
the boat, planning and discussing
this, we were suddenly startled
by a loud and unmistakable detonation.
"A shell from the U-33!" exclaimed
von Schoenvorts.
"What can be after signifyin'?" queried
Olson.
"They are in trouble," I answered
for all, "and it's up to us to
get back to them. Drop that carcass," I
directed the men carrying the
meat, "and follow me!" I set
off at a rapid run in the direction
of the harbor.
We ran for the better part
of a mile without hearing anything
more from the direction of the
harbor, and then I reduced the
speed to a walk, for the exercise
was telling on us who had been
cooped up for so long in the
confined interior of the U-33.
Puffing and panting, we plodded
on until within about a mile
of the harbor we came upon a
sight that brought us all up
standing. We had been passing
through a little heavier timber
than was usual to this part of
the country, when we suddenly
emerged into an open space in
the center of which was such
a band as might have caused the
most courageous to pause. It
consisted of upward of five hundred
individuals representing several
species closely allied to man.
There were anthropoid apes and
gorillas--these I had no difficulty
in recognizing; but there were
other forms which I had never
before seen, and I was hard put
to it to say whether they were
ape or man. Some of them resembled
the corpse we had found upon
the narrow beach against Caprona's
sea-wall, while others were of
a still lower type, more nearly
resembling the apes, and yet
others were uncannily manlike,
standing there erect, being less
hairy and possessing better shaped
heads.
There was one among the lot,
evidently the leader of them,
who bore a close resemblance
to the so-called Neanderthal
man of La Chapelle-aux-Saints.
There was the same short, stocky
trunk upon which rested an enormous
head habitually bent forward
into the same curvature as the
back, the arms shorter than the
legs, and the lower leg considerably
shorter than that of modern man,
the knees bent forward and never
straightened. This creature and
one or two others who appeared
to be of a lower order than he,
yet higher than that of the apes,
carried heavy clubs; the others
were armed only with giant muscles
and fighting fangs--nature's
weapons. All were males, and
all were entirely naked; nor
was there upon even the highest
among them a sign of ornamentation.
At sight of us they turned
with bared fangs and low growls
to confront us. I did not wish
to fire among them unless it
became absolutely necessary,
and so I started to lead my party
around them; but the instant
that the Neanderthal man guessed
my intention, he evidently attributed
it to cowardice upon our part,
and with a wild cry he leaped
toward us, waving his cudgel
above his head. The others followed
him, and in a minute we should
have been overwhelmed. I gave
the order to fire, and at the
first volley six of them went
down, including the Neanderthal
man. The others hesitated a moment
and then broke for the trees,
some running nimbly among the
branches, while others lost themselves
to us between the boles. Both
von Schoenvorts and I noticed
that at least two of the higher,
manlike types took to the trees
quite as nimbly as the apes,
while others that more nearly
approached man in carriage and
appearance sought safety upon
the ground with the gorillas.
An examination disclosed that
five of our erstwhile opponents
were dead and the sixth, the
Neanderthal man, was but slightly
wounded, a bullet having glanced
from his thick skull, stunning
him. We decided to take him with
us to camp, and by means of belts
we managed to secure his hands
behind his back and place a leash
around his neck before he regained
consciousness. We then retraced
our steps for our meat being
convinced by our own experience
that those aboard the U-33 had
been able to frighten off this
party with a single shell--but
when we came to where we had
left the deer it had disappeared.
On the return journey Whitely
and I preceded the rest of the
party by about a hundred yards
in the hope of getting another
shot at something edible, for
we were all greatly disgusted
and disappointed by the loss
of our venison. Whitely and I
advanced very cautiously, and
not having the whole party with
us, we fared better than on the
journey out, bagging two large
antelope not a half-mile from
the harbor; so with our game
and our prisoner we made a cheerful
return to the boat, where we
found that all were safe. On
the shore a little north of where
we lay there were the corpses
of twenty of the wild creatures
who had attacked Bradley and
his party in our absence, and
the rest of whom we had met and
scattered a few minutes later.
We felt that we had taught
these wild ape-men a lesson and
that because of it we would be
safer in the future--at least
safer from them; but we decided
not to abate our carefulness
one whit; feeling that this new
world was filled with terrors
still unknown to us; nor were
we wrong. The following morning
we commenced work upon our camp,
Bradley, Olson, von Schoenvorts,
Miss La Rue, and I having sat
up half the night discussing
the matter and drawing plans.
We set the men at work felling
trees, selecting for the purpose
jarrah, a hard, weather-resisting
timber which grew in profusion
near by. Half the men labored
while the other half stood guard,
alternating each hour with an
hour off at noon. Olson directed
this work. Bradley, von Schoenvorts
and I, with Miss La Rue's help,
staked out the various buildings
and the outer wall. When the
day was done, we had quite an
array of logs nicely notched
and ready for our building operations
on the morrow, and we were all
tired, for after the buildings
had been staked out we all fell
in and helped with the logging--all
but von Schoenvorts. He, being
a Prussian and a gentleman, couldn't
stoop to such menial labor in
the presence of his men, and
I didn't see fit to ask it of
him, as the work was purely voluntary
upon our part. He spent the afternoon
shaping a swagger-stick from
the branch of jarrah and talking
with Miss La Rue, who had sufficiently
unbent toward him to notice his
existence.
We saw nothing of the wild
men of the previous day, and
only once were we menaced by
any of the strange denizens of
Caprona, when some frightful
nightmare of the sky swooped
down upon us, only to be driven
off by a fusillade of bullets.
The thing appeared to be some
variety of pterodactyl, and what
with its enormous size and ferocious
aspect was most awe-inspiring.
There was another incident, too,
which to me at least was far
more unpleasant than the sudden
onslaught of the prehistoric
reptile. Two of the men, both
Germans, were stripping a felled
tree of its branches. Von Schoenvorts
had completed his swagger-stick,
and he and I were passing close
to where the two worked.
One of them
threw to his rear a small branch
that he had just
chopped off, and as misfortune
would have it, it struck von
Schoenvorts across the face.
It couldn't have hurt him, for
it didn't leave a mark; but he
flew into a terrific rage, shouting: "Attention!" in
a loud voice. The sailor immediately
straightened up, faced his officer,
clicked his heels together and
saluted. "Pig!" roared the Baron,
and struck the fellow across
the face, breaking his nose.
I grabbed von Schoenvorts' arm
and jerked him away before he
could strike again, if such had
been his intention, and then
he raised his little stick to
strike me; but before it descended
the muzzle of my pistol was against
his belly and he must have seen
in my eyes that nothing would
suit me better than an excuse
to pull the trigger. Like all
his kind and all other bullies,
von Schoenvorts was a coward
at heart, and so he dropped his
hand to his side and started
to turn away; but I pulled him
back, and there before his men
I told him that such a thing
must never again occur--that
no man was to be struck or otherwise
punished other than in due process
of the laws that we had made
and the court that we had established.
All the time the sailor stood
rigidly at attention, nor could
I tell from his expression whether
he most resented the blow his
officer had struck him or my
interference in the gospel of
the Kaiser-breed. Nor did he
move until I said to him: "Plesser,
you may return to your quarters
and dress your wound." Then he
saluted and marched stiffly off
toward the U-33.
Just before dusk we moved out
into the bay a hundred yards
from shore and dropped anchor,
for I felt that we should be
safer there than elsewhere. I
also detailed men to stand watch
during the night and appointed
Olson officer of the watch for
the entire night, telling him
to bring his blankets on deck
and get what rest he could. At
dinner we tasted our first roast
Caprona antelope, and we had
a mess of greens that the cook
had found growing along the stream.
All during the meal von Schoenvorts
was silent and surly.
After dinner we all went on
deck and watched the unfamiliar
scenes of a Capronian night--that
is, all but von Schoenvorts.
There was less to see than to
hear. From the great inland lake
behind us came the hissing and
the screaming of countless saurians.
Above us we heard the flap of
giant wings, while from the shore
rose the multitudinous voices
of a tropical jungle--of a warm,
damp atmosphere such as must
have enveloped the entire earth
during the Palezoic and Mesozoic
eras. But here were intermingled
the voices of later eras--the
scream of the panther, the roar
of the lion, the baying of wolves
and a thunderous growling which
we could attribute to nothing
earthly but which one day we
were to connect with the most
fearsome of ancient creatures.
One by one the others went
to their rooms, until the girl
and I were left alone together,
for I had permitted the watch
to go below for a few minutes,
knowing that I would be on deck.
Miss La Rue was very quiet, though
she replied graciously enough
to whatever I had to say that
required reply. I asked her if
she did not feel well.
"Yes," she said, "but I am
depressed by the awfulness of
it all. I feel of so little consequence--so
small and helpless in the face
of all these myriad manifestations
of life stripped to the bone
of its savagery and brutality.
I realize as never before how
cheap and valueless a thing is
life. Life seems a joke, a cruel,
grim joke. You are a laughable
incident or a terrifying one
as you happen to be less powerful
or more powerful than some other
form of life which crosses your
path; but as a rule you are of
no moment whatsoever to anything
but yourself. You are a comic
little figure, hopping from the
cradle to the grave. Yes, that
is our trouble--we take ourselves
too seriously; but Caprona should
be a sure cure for that." She
paused and laughed.
"You have evolved a beautiful
philosophy," I said. "It fills
such a longing in the human breast.
It is full, it is satisfying,
it is ennobling. What wonderous
strides toward perfection the
human race might have made if
the first man had evolved it
and it had persisted until now
as the creed of humanity."
"I don't like irony," she said; "it
indicates a small soul."
"What other sort of soul, then,
would you expect from `a comic
little figure hopping from the
cradle to the grave'?" I inquired. "And
what difference does it make,
anyway, what you like and what
you don't like? You are here
for but an instant, and you mustn't
take yourself too seriously."
She looked
up at me with a smile. "I imagine that I am frightened
and blue," she said, "and I know
that I am very, very homesick
and lonely." There was almost
a sob in her voice as she concluded.
It was the first time that she
had spoken thus to me. Involuntarily,
I laid my hand upon hers where
it rested on the rail.
"I know how difficult your
position is," I said; "but don't
feel that you are alone. There
is--is one here who--who would
do anything in the world for
you," I ended lamely. She did
not withdraw her hand, and she
looked up into my face with tears
on her cheeks and I read in her
eyes the thanks her lips could
not voice. Then she looked away
across the weird moonlit landscape
and sighed. Evidently her new-found
philosophy had tumbled about
her ears, for she was seemingly
taking herself seriously. I wanted
to take her in my arms and tell
her how I loved her, and had
taken her hand from the rail
and started to draw her toward
me when Olson came blundering
up on deck with his bedding.
The following morning we started
building operations in earnest,
and things progressed finely.
The Neanderthal man was something
of a care, for we had to keep
him in irons all the time, and
he was mighty savage when approached;
but after a time he became more
docile, and then we tried to
discover if he had a language.
Lys spent a great deal of time
talking to him and trying to
draw him out; but for a long
while she was unsuccessful. It
took us three weeks to build
all the houses, which we constructed
close by a cold spring some two
miles from the harbor.
We changed our plans a trifle
when it came to building the
palisade, for we found a rotted
cliff near by where we could
get all the flat building-stone
we needed, and so we constructed
a stone wall entirely around
the buildings. It was in the
form of a square, with bastions
and towers at each corner which
would permit an enfilading fire
along any side of the fort, and
was about one hundred and thirty-five
feet square on the outside, with
walls three feet thick at the
bottom and about a foot and a
half wide at the top, and fifteen
feet high. It took a long time
to build that wall, and we all
turned in and helped except von
Schoenvorts, who, by the way,
had not spoken to me except in
the line of official business
since our encounter--a condition
of armed neutrality which suited
me to a T. We have just finished
it, the last touches being put
on today. I quit about a week
ago and commenced working on
this chronicle for our strange
adventures, which will account
for any minor errors in chronology
which may have crept in; there
was so much material that I may
have made some mistakes, but
I think they are but minor and
few.
I see in reading over the last
few pages that I neglected to
state that Lys finally discovered
that the Neanderthal man possessed
a language. She had learned to
speak it, and so have I, to some
extent. It was he--his name he
says is Am, or Ahm-- who told
us that this country is called
Caspak. When we asked him how
far it extended, he waved both
arms about his head in an all-including
gesture which took in, apparently,
the entire universe. He is more
tractable now, and we are going
to release him, for he has assured
us that he will not permit his
fellows to harm us. He calls
us Galus and says that in a short
time he will be a Galu. It is
not quite clear to us what he
means. He says that there are
many Galus north of us, and that
as soon as he becomes one he
will go and live with them.
Ahm went out to hunt with us
yesterday and was much impressed
by the ease with which our rifles
brought down antelopes and deer.
We have been living upon the
fat of the land, Ahm, having
shown us the edible fruits, tubers
and herbs, and twice a week we
go out after fresh meat. A certain
proportion of this we dry and
store away, for we do not know
what may come. Our drying process
is really smoking. We have also
dried a large quantity of two
varieties of cereal which grow
wild a few miles south of us.
One of these is a giant Indian
maize--a lofty perennial often
fifty and sixty feet in height,
with ears the size off a man's
body and kernels as large as
your fist. We have had to construct
a second store house for the
great quantity of this that we
have gathered.
September 3, 1916: Three months
ago today the torpedo from the
U-33 started me from the peaceful
deck of the American liner upon
the strange voyage which has
ended here in Caspak. We have
settled down to an acceptance
of our fate, for all are convinced
that none of us will ever see
the outer world again. Ahm's
repeated assertions that there
are human beings like ourselves
in Caspak have roused the men
to a keen desire for exploration.
I sent out one party last week
under Bradley. Ahm, who is now
free to go and come as he wishes,
accompanied them. They marched
about twenty-five miles due west,
encountering many terrible beasts
and reptiles and not a few manlike
creatures whom Ahm sent away.
Here is Bradley's report of the
expedition:
Marched fifteen
miles the first day, camping
on the bank of a
large stream which runs southward.
Game was plentiful and we saw
several varieties which we had
not before encountered in Caspak.
Just before making camp we were
charged by an enormous woolly
rhinoceros, which Plesser dropped
with a perfect shot. We had rhinoceros-steaks
for supper. Ahm called the thing "Atis." It
was almost a continuous battle
from the time we left the fort
until we arrived at camp. The
mind of man can scarce conceive
the plethora of carnivorous life
in this lost world; and their
prey, of course, is even more
abundant.
The second day we marched about
ten miles to the foot of the
cliffs. Passed through dense
forests close to the base of
the cliffs. Saw manlike creatures
and a low order of ape in one
band, and some of the men swore
that there was a white man among
them. They were inclined to attack
us at first; but a volley from
our rifles caused them to change
their minds. We scaled the cliffs
as far as we could; but near
the top they are absolutely perpendicular
without any sufficient cleft
or protuberance to give hand
or foot-hold. All were disappointed,
for we hungered for a view of
the ocean and the outside world.
We even had a hope that we might
see and attract the attention
of a passing ship. Our exploration
has determined one thing which
will probably be of little value
to us and never heard of beyond
Caprona's walls--this crater
was once entirely filled with
water. Indisputable evidence
of this is on the face of the
cliffs.
Our return journey occupied
two days and was as filled with
adventure as usual. We are all
becoming accustomed to adventure.
It is beginning to pall on us.
We suffered no casualties and
there was no illness.
I had to smile as I read Bradley's
report. In those four days he
had doubtless passed through
more adventures than an African
big-game hunter experiences in
a lifetime, and yet he covered
it all in a few lines. Yes, we
are becoming accustomed to adventure.
Not a day passes that one or
more of us does not face death
at least once. Ahm taught us
a few things that have proved
profitable and saved us much
ammunition, which it is useless
to expend except for food or
in the last recourse of self-
preservation. Now when we are
attacked by large flying reptiles
we run beneath spreading trees;
when land carnivora threaten
us, we climb into trees, and
we have learned not to fire at
any of the dinosaurs unless we
can keep out of their reach for
at least two minutes after hitting
them in the brain or spine, or
five minutes after puncturing
their hearts--it takes them so
long to die. To hit them elsewhere
is worse than useless, for they
do not seem to notice it, and
we had discovered that such shots
do not kill or even disable them.
September 7, 1916: Much has
happened since I last wrote.
Bradley is away again on another
exploration expedition to the
cliffs. He expects to be gone
several weeks and to follow along
their base in search of a point
where they may be scaled. He
took Sinclair, Brady, James,
and Tippet with him. Ahm has
disappeared. He has been gone
about three days; but the most
startling thing I have on record
is that von Schoenvorts and Olson
while out hunting the other day
discovered oil about fifteen
miles north of us beyond the
sandstone cliffs. Olson says
there is a geyser of oil there,
and von Schoenvorts is making
preparations to refine it. If
he succeeds, we shall have the
means for leaving Caspak and
returning to our own world. I
can scarce believe the truth
of it. We are all elated to the
seventh heaven of bliss. Pray
God we shall not be disappointed.
I have tried on several occasions
to broach the subject of my love
to Lys; but she will not listen.
|