The Lost Continent.............................................................................................................................................1

Edgar Rice Burroughs ..............................................................................................................................1

Since earliest childhood I have been strangely fascinated by the mystery surrounding the history of the last

days of twentieth century Europe. My interest is keenest, perhaps, not so much in relation to known facts as

to speculation upon the unknowable of the two centuries that have rolled by since human intercourse between

the Western and Eastern Hemispheres ceasedthe mystery of Europe's state following the termination of the

From out of the meagerness of our censored histories we learned that for fifteen years after the cessation of

diplomatic relations between the United States of North America and the belligerent nations of the Old

World, news of more or less doubtful authenticity filtered, from time to time, into the Western Hemisphere

Then came the fruition of that historic propaganda which is best described by its own slogan: "The East for

the East the West for the West," and all further intercourse was stopped by statute.

Even prior to this, transoceanic commerce had practically ceased, owing to the perils and hazards of the

minestrewn waters of both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Just when submarine activities ended we do not

know but the last vessel of this type sighted by a PanAmerican merchantman was the huge Q 138, which

discharged twentynine torpedoes at a Brazilian tank steamer off the Bermudas in the fall of 1972. A heavy

sea and the excellent seamanship of the master of the Brazilian permitted the PanAmerican to escape and

report this last of a long series of outrages upon our commerce. God alone knows how many hundreds of our

ancient ships fell prey to the roving steel sharks of bloodfrenzied Europe. Countless were the vessels and

men that passed over our eastern and western horizons never to return; but whether they met their fates before

the belching tubes of submarines or among the aimlessly drifting mine fields, no man lived to tell.

And then came the great PanAmerican Federation which linked the Western Hemisphere from pole to pole

under a single flag, which joined the navies of the New World into the mightiest fighting force that ever

Since that day peace had reigned from the western shores of the Azores to the western shores of the Hawaiian

Islands, nor has any man of either hemisphere dared cross 30°W. or 175°W. From 30° to 175° is oursfrom

Beyond was the great unknown. Even the geographies of my boyhood showed nothing beyond. We were

taught of nothing beyond. Speculation was discouraged. For two hundred years the Eastern Hemisphere had

been wiped from the maps and histories of PanAmerica. Its mention in fiction, even, was forbidden.

Our ships of peace patrol thirty and one hundred seventyfive. What ships from beyond they have warned

only the secret archives of government show; but, a naval officer myself, I have gathered from the raditions

of the service that it has been fully two hundred years since smoke or sail has been sighted east of 30° or west

of 175°. The fate of the relinquished provinces which lay beyond the dead lines we could only speculate

upon. That they were taken by the military power, which rose so suddenly in China after the fall of the

republic, and which wrested Manchuria and Korea from Russia and Japan, and also absorbed the Philippines,

It was the commander of a Chinese manofwar who received a copy of the edict of 1972 from the hand of

my illustrious ancestor, Admiral Turck, on one hundred seventyfive, two hundred and six years ago, and

from the yellowed pages of the admiral's diary I learned that the fate of the Philippines was even then

Yes, for over two hundred years no man crossed 30° to 175° and lived to tell his storynot until chance

drew me across and back again, and public opinion, revolting at last against the drastic regulations of our

longdead forbears, demanded that my story be given to the world, and that the narrow interdict which

commanded peace, prosperity, and happiness to halt at 30° and 175° be removed forever.

I am glad that it was given to me to be an instrument in the hands of Providence for the uplifting of benighted

Europe, and the amelioration of the suffering, degradation, and abysmal ignorance in which I found her.

I shall not live to see the complete regeneration of the savage hordes of the Eastern Hemispherethat is a

work which will require many generations, perhaps ages, so complete has been their reversion to savagery;

but I know that the work has been started, and I am proud of the share in it which my generous countrymen

The government already possesses a complete official report of my adventures beyond thirty. In the narrative

I purpose telling my story in a less formal, and I hope, a more entertaining, style; though, being only a naval

officer and without claim to the slightest literary ability, I shall most certainly fall far short of the possibilities

which are inherent in my subject. That I have passed through the most wondrous adventures that have

befallen a civilized man during the past two centuries encourages me in the belief that, however ill the telling,

Beyond thirty! Romance, adventure, strange peoples, fearsome beastsall the excitement and scurry of the

lives of the twentieth century ancients that have been denied us in these dull days of peace and prosaic

prosperityall, all lay beyond thirty, the invisible barrier between the stupid, commercial present and the

What boy has not sighed for the good old days of wars, revolutions, and riots; how I used to pore over the

chronicles of those old days, those dear old days, when workmen went armed to their labors; when they fell

upon one another with gun and bomb and dagger, and the streets ran red with blood! Ah, but those were the

times when life was worth the living; when a man who went out by night knew not at which dark corner a

"footpad" might leap upon and slay him; when wild beasts roamed the forest and the jungles, and there were

Now, in all the Western Hemisphere dwells no man who may not find a school house within walking distance

The wildest beast that roams our waste places lairs in the frozen north or the frozen south within a

government reserve, where the curious may view him and feed him bread crusts from the hand with perfect

But beyond thirty! And I have gone there, and come back; and now you may go there, for no longer is it high

My name is Jefferson Turck. I am a lieutenant in the navy in the great PanAmerican navy, the only navy

I was born in Arizona, in the United States of North America, in the year of our Lord 2116. Therefore, I am

In early boyhood I tired of the teeming cities and overcrowded rural districts of Arizona. Every generation of

Turcks for over two centuries has been represented in the navy. The navy called to me, as did the free, wide,

unpeopled spaces of the mighty oceans. And so I joined the navy, coming up from the ranks, as we all must,

learning our craft as we advance. My promotion was rapid, for my family seems to inherit naval lore. We are

born officers, and I reserve to myself no special credit for an early advancement in the service.

At twenty I found myself a lieutenant in command of the aerosubmarine Coldwater, of the SS96 class. The

Coldwater was one of the first of the air and underwater craft which have been so greatly improved since its

launching, and was possessed of innumerable weaknesses which, fortunately, have been eliminated in more

Even when I took command, she was fit only for the junk pile; but the worldold parsimony of government

retained her in active service, and sent two hundred men to sea in her, with myself, a mere boy, in command

Much of my service had been spent aboard the great merchantmenofwar. These are the utility naval

vessels that have transformed the navies of old, which burdened the peoples with taxes for their support, into

the present day fleets of selfsupporting ships that find ample time for target practice and gun drill while they

bear freight and the mails from the continents to the farscattered island of PanAmerica.

This change in service was most welcome to me, especially as it brought with it coveted responsibilities of

sole command, and I was prone to overlook the deficiencies of the Coldwater in the natural pride I felt in my

The Coldwater was fully equipped for two months' patrolling the ordinary length of assignment to this

serviceand a month had already passed, its monotony entirely unrelieved by sight of another craft, when

We had been riding out a storm at an altitude of about three thousand feet. All night we had hovered above

the tossing billows of the moonlight clouds. The detonation of the thunder and the glare of lightning through

an occasional rift in the vaporous wall proclaimed the continued fury of the tempest upon the surface of the

sea; but we, far above it all, rode in comparative ease upon the upper gale. With the coming of dawn the

clouds beneath us became a glorious sea of gold and silver, soft and beautiful; but they could not deceive us

I was at breakfast when my chief engineer entered and saluted. His face was grave, and I thought he was even

He drew the back of his forefinger nervously across his brow in a gesture that was habitual with him in

"The gravitationscreen generators, sir," he said. "Number one went to the bad about an hour and a half ago.

We have been working upon it steadily since; but I have to report, sir, that it is beyond repair."

"Number two will keep us supplied," I answered. "In the meantime we will send a wireless for relief."

"But that is the trouble, sir," he went on. "Number two has stopped. I knew it would come, sir. I made a

report on these generators three years ago. I advised then that they both be scrapped. Their principle is

entirely wrong. They're done for." And, with a grim smile, "I shall at least have the satisfaction of knowing

"Have we sufficient reserve screen to permit us to make land, or, at least, meet our relief halfway?" I asked.

"Very good," I replied; and, as I dismissed him, I rang for my wireless operator. When he appeared, I gave

him a message to the secretary of the navy, to whom all vessels in service on thirty and one hundred

seventyfive report direct. I explained our predicament, and stated that with what screening force remained I

should continue in the air, making as rapid headway toward St. Johns as possible, and that when we were

The accident occurred directly over 30° and about 52° N. The surface wind was blowing a tempest from the

west. To attempt to ride out such a storm upon the surface seemed suicidal, for the Coldwater was not

designed for surface navigation except under fair weather conditions. Submerged, or in the air, she was

tractable enough in any sort of weather when under control; but without her screen generators she was almost

helpless, since she could not fly, and, if submerged, could not rise to the surface.

All these defects have been remedied in later models; but the knowledge did not help us any that day aboard

the slowly settling Coldwater, with an angry sea roaring beneath, a tempest raging out of the west, and 30°

To cross thirty or one hundred seventyfive has been, as you know, the direst calamity that could befall a

naval commander. Courtmartial and degradation follow swiftly, unless as is often the case, the unfortunate

man takes his own life before this unjust and heartless regulation can hold him up to public scorn.

There has been in the past no excuse, no circumstance, that could palliate the offense.

"He was in command, and he took his ship across thirty!" That was sufficient. It might not have been in any

way his fault, as, in the case of the Coldwater, it could not possibly have been justly charged to my account

that the gravitationscreen generators were worthless; but well I knew that should chance have it that we

were blown across thirty todayas we might easily be before the terrific west wind that we could hear

In a way, the regulation was a good one, for it certainly accomplished that for which it was intended. We all

fought shy of 30° on the east and 175° on the west, and, though we had to skirt them pretty close, nothing but

an act of God ever drew one of us across. You all are familiar with the naval tradition that a good officer

could sense proximity to either line, and for my part, I am firmly convinced of the truth of this as I am that

Old Admiral Sanchez was wont to maintain that he could smell thirty, and the men of the first ship in which I

sailed claimed that Coburn, the navigating officer, knew by name every wave along thirty from 60°N. to

Well, to get back to my narrative; we kept on dropping slowly toward the surface the while we bucked the

west wind, clawing away from thirty as fast as we could. I was on the bridge, and as we dropped from the

brilliant sunlight into the dense vapor of clouds and on down through them to the wild, dark storm strata

beneath, it seemed that my spirits dropped with the falling ship, and the buoyancy of hope ran low in

The waves were running to tremendous heights, and the Coldwater was not designed to meet such waves

head on. Her elements were the blue ether, far above the raging storm, or the greater depths of ocean, which

As I stood speculating upon our chances once we settled into the frightful Maelstrom beneath us and at the

same time mentally computing the hours which must elapse before aid could reach us, the wireless operator

clambered up the ladder to the bridge, and, disheveled and breathless, stood before me at salute. It needed but

"I have tried everything, sir. I have exhausted every resource. We cannot send," and he drew himself up and

I dismissed him with a few kind words, for I knew that it was through no fault of his that the mechanism was

antiquated and worthless, in common with the balance of the Coldwater's equipment. There was no finer

The failure of the wireless did not appear as momentous to me as to him, which is not unnatural, since it is

but human to feel that when our own little cog slips, the entire universe must necessarily be put out of gear. I

knew that if this storm were destined to blow us across thirty, or send us to the bottom of the ocean, no help

could reach us in time to prevent it. I had ordered the message sent solely because regulations required it, and

not with any particular hope that we could benefit by it in our present extremity.

I had little time to dwell upon the coincidence of the simultaneous failure of the wireless and the buoyancy

generators, since very shortly after the Coldwater had dropped so low over the waters that all my attention

was necessarily centered upon the delicate business of settling upon the waves without breaking my ship's

back. With our buoyancy generators in commission it would have been a simple thing to enter the water,

since then it would have been but a trifling matter of a fortyfive degree dive into the base of a huge wave.

We should have cut into the water like a hot knife through butter, and have been totally submerged with

scarce a jarI have done it a thousand timesbut I did not dare submerge the Coldwater for fear that it

would remain submerged to the end of timea condition far from conducive to the longevity of commander

Most of my officers were older men than I. John Alvarez, my first officer, is twenty years my senior. He

stood at my side on the bridge as the ship glided closer and closer to those stupendous waves. He watched my

every move, but he was by far too fine an officer and gentleman to embarrass me by either comment or

When I saw that we soon would touch, I ordered the ship brought around broadside to the wind, and there we

hovered a moment until a huge wave reached up and seized us upon its crest, and then I gave the order that

suddenly reversed the screening force, and let us into the ocean. Down into the trough we went, wallowing

like the carcass of a dead whale, and then began the fight, with rudder and propellers, to force the Coldwater

back into the teeth of the gale and drive her on and on, farther and farther from relentless thirty.

I think that we should have succeeded, even though the ship was wracked from stem to stern by the terrific

buffetings she received, and though she were half submerged the greater part of the time, had no further

We were making headway, though slowly, and it began to look as though we were going to pull through.

Alvarez never left my side, though I all but ordered him below for muchneeded rest. My second officer,

Porfirio Johnson, was also often on the bridge. He was a good officer, but a man for whom I had conceived a

rather unreasoning aversion almost at the first moment of meeting him, an aversion which was not lessened

by the knowledge which I subsequently gained that he looked upon my rapid promotion with jealousy. He

was ten years my senior both in years and service, and I rather think he could never forget the fact that he had

As it became more and more apparent that the Coldwater, under my seamanship, was weathering the tempest

and giving promise of pulling through safely, I could have sworn that I perceived a shade of annoyance and

disappointment growing upon his dark countenance. He left the bridge finally and went below. I do not know

that he is directly responsible for what followed so shortly after; but I have always had my suspicions, and

It was about six bells of the forenoon watch that Johnson returned to the bridge after an absence of some

thirty minutes. He seemed nervous and ill at easea fact which made little impression on me at the time, but

Not three minutes after his reappearance at my side the Coldwater suddenly commenced to lose headway. I

seized the telephone at my elbow, pressing upon the button which would call the chief engineer to the

instrument in the bowels of the ship, only to find him already at the receiver attempting to reach me.

"Numbers one, two, and five engines have broken down, sir," he called. "Shall we force the remaining three?"

"Then give them the gaff, lieutenant," I shouted back, and hung up the receiver.

For twenty minutes the Coldwater bucked the great seas with her three engines. I doubt if she advanced a

foot; but it was enough to keep her nose in the wind, and, at least, we were not drifting toward thirty.

Johnson and Alvarez were at my side when, without warning, the bow swung swiftly around and the ship fell

"The other three have gone," I said, and I happened to be looking at Johnson as I spoke. Was it the shadow of

a satisfied smile that crossed his thin lips? I do not know; but at least he did not weep.

"You always have been curious, sir, about the great unknown beyond thirty," he said. "You are in a good way

to have your curiosity satisfied." And then I could not mistake the slight sneer that curved his upper lip. There

must have been a trace of disrespect in his tone or manner which escaped me, for Alvarez turned upon him

"When Lieutenant Turck crosses thirty," he said, "we shall all cross with him, and God help the officer or the

"I shall not be a party to high treason," snapped Johnson. "The regulations are explicit, and if the Coldwater

crosses thirty it devolves upon you to place Lieutenant Turck under arrest and immediately exert every

"I shall not know," replied Alvarez, "that the Coldwater passes thirty; nor shall any other man aboard know

it," and, with his words, he drew a revolver from his pocket, and before either I or Johnson could prevent it

had put a bullet into every instrument upon the bridge, ruining them beyond repair.

And then he saluted me, and strode from the bridge, a martyr to loyalty and friendship, for, though no man

might know that Lieutenant Jefferson Turck had taken his ship across thirty, every man aboard would know

that the first officer had committed a crime that was punishable by both degradation and death. Johnson

"You may go below, Mr. Johnson," I said, "and attend to the work of unpacking the extra instruments and

He saluted, and left me, and for some time I stood, gazing out upon the angry waters, my mind filled with

unhappy reflections upon the unjust fate that had overtaken me, and the sorrow and disgrace that I had

I rejoiced that I should leave neither wife nor child to bear the burden of my shame throughout their lives.

As I thought upon my misfortune, I considered more clearly than ever before the unrighteousness of the

regulation which was to prove my doom, and in the natural revolt against its injustice my anger rose, and

there mounted within me a feeling which I imagine must have paralleled that spirit that once was prevalent

For the first time in my life I found my sentiments arraying themselves against custom, tradition, and even

government. The wave of rebellion swept over me in an instant, beginning with an heretical doubt as to the

sanctity of the established order of thingsthat fetish which has ruled PanAmericans for two centuries, and

which is based upon a blind faith in the infallibility of the prescience of the longdead framers of the articles

of PanAmerican federationand ending in an adamantine determination to defend my honor and my life to

the last ditch against the blind and senseless regulation which assumed the synonymity of misfortune and

I would replace the destroyed instruments upon the bridge; every officer and man should know when we

crossed thirty. But then I should assert the spirit which dominated me, I should resist arrest, and insist upon

bringing my ship back across the dead line, remaining at my post until we had reached New York. Then I

should make a full report, and with it a demand upon public opinion that the dead lines be wiped forever from

I knew that I was right. I knew that no more loyal officer wore the uniform of the navy. I knew that I was a

good officer and sailor, and I didn't propose submitting to degradation and discharge because a lot of old,

preglacial fossils had declared over two hundred years before that no man should cross thirty.

Even while these thoughts were passing through my mind I was busy with the details of my duties. I had seen

to it that a sea anchor was rigged, and even now the men had completed their task, and the Coldwater was

swinging around rapidly, her nose pointing once more into the wind, and the frightful rolling consequent

It was then that Johnson came hurrying to the bridge. One of his eyes was swollen and already darkening, and

his lip was cut and bleeding. Without even the formality of a salute, he burst upon me, white with fury.

"Lieutenant Alvarez attacked me!" he cried. "I demand that he be placed under arrest. I found him in the act

of destroying the reserve instruments, and when I would have interfered to protect them he fell upon me and

"You forget yourself, Mr. Johnson," I said. "You are not in command of the ship. I deplore the action of

Lieutenant Alvarez, but I cannot expunge from my mind the loyalty and selfsacrificing friendship which has

prompted him to his acts. Were I you, sir, I should profit by the example he has set. Further, Mr. Johnson, I

intend retaining command of the ship, even though she crosses thirty, and I shall demand implicit obedience

from every officer and man aboard until I am properly relieved from duty by a superior officer in the port of

"You mean to say that you will cross thirty without submitting to arrest?" he almost shouted.

"I do, sir," I replied. "And now you may go below, and, when again you find it necessary to address me, you

will please be so good as to bear in mind the fact that I am your commanding officer, and as such entitled to a

He flushed, hesitated a moment, and then, saluting, turned upon his heel and left the bridge. Shortly after,

Alvarez appeared. He was pale, and seemed to have aged ten years in the few brief minutes since I last had

seen him. Saluting, he told me very simply what he had done, and asked that I place him under arrest.

I put my hand on his shoulder, and I guess that my voice trembled a trifle as, while reproving him for his act,

I made it plain to him that my gratitude was no less potent a force than his loyalty to me. Then it was that I

outlined to him my purpose to defy the regulation that had raised the dead lines, and to take my ship back to

I did not ask him to share the responsibility with me. I merely stated that I should refuse to submit to arrest,

and that I should demand of him and every other officer and man implicit obedience to my every command

His face brightened at my words, and he assured me that I would find him as ready to acknowledge my

command upon the wrong side of thirty as upon the right, an assurance which I hastened to tell him I did not

The storm continued to rage for three days, and as far as the wind scarce varied a point during all that time, I

knew that we must be far beyond thirty, drifting rapidly east by south. All this time it had been impossible to

work upon the damaged engines or the gravityscreen generators; but we had a full set of instruments upon

the bridge, for Alvarez, after discovering my intentions, had fetched the reserve instruments from his own

cabin, where he had hidden them. Those which Johnson had seen him destroy had been a third set which only

We waited impatiently for the sun, that we might determine our exact location, and upon the fourth day our

Every officer and man aboard was tense with nervous excitement as we awaited the result of the reading. The

crew had known almost as soon as I that we were doomed to cross thirty, and I am inclined to believe that

every man jack of them was tickled to death, for the spirits of adventure and romance still live in the hearts of

men of the twentysecond century, even though there be little for them to feed upon between thirty and one

The men carried none of the burdens of responsibility. They might cross thirty with impunity, and doubtless

they would return to be heroes at home; but how different the home coming of their commanding officer!

The wind had dropped to a steady blow, still from west by north, and the sea had gone down correspondingly.

The crew, with the exception of those whose duties kept them below, were ranged on deck below the bridge.

When our position was definitely fixed I personally announced it to the eager, waiting men.

"Men," I said, stepping forward to the handrail and looking down into their upturned, bronzed faces, "you are

anxiously awaiting information as to the ship's position. It has been determined at latitude fifty degrees seven

I paused and a buzz of animated comment ran through the massed men beneath me. "Beyond thirty. But there

will be no change in commanding officers, in routine or in discipline, until after we have docked again in

As I ceased speaking and stepped back from the rail there was a roar of applause from the deck such as I

never before had heard aboard a ship of peace. It recalled to my mind tales that I had read of the good old

days when naval vessels were built to fight, when ships of peace had been manofwar, and guns had flashed

With the subsistence of the sea, we were able to go to work upon the damaged engines to some effect, and I

also set men to examining the gravitationscreen generators with a view to putting them in working order

For two weeks we labored at the engines, which indisputably showed evidence of having been tampered with.

I appointed a board to investigate and report upon the disaster. But it accomplished nothing other than to

convince me that there were several officers upon it who were in full sympathy with Johnson, for, though no

charges had been preferred against him, the board went out of its way specifically to exonerate him in its

All this time we were drifting almost due east. The work upon the engines had progressed to such an extent

that within a few hours we might expect to be able to proceed under our own power westward in the direction

To relieve the monotony I had taken to fishing, and early that morning I had departed from the Coldwater in

one of the boats on such an excursion. A gentle west wind was blowing. The sea shimmered in the sunlight.

A cloudless sky canopied the west for our sport, as I had made it a point never voluntarily to make an inch

toward the east that I could avoid. At least, they should not be able to charge me with a willful violation of

I had with me only the boat's ordinary complement of men three in all, and more than enough to handle

any small power boat. I had not asked any of my officers to accompany me, as I wished to be alone, and very

glad am I now that I had not. My only regret is that, in view of what befell us, it had been necessary to bring

Our fishing, which proved excellent, carried us so far to the west that we no longer could see the Coldwater.

The day wore on, until at last, about midafternoon, I gave the order to return to the ship.

We had proceeded but a short distance toward the east when one of the men gave an exclamation of

excitement, at the same time pointing eastward. We all looked on in the direction he had indicated, and there,

a short distance above the horizon, we saw the outlines of the Coldwater silhouetted against the sky.

"They've repaired the engines and the generators both," exclaimed one of the men.

It seemed impossible, but yet it had evidently been done. Only that morning, Lieutenant Johnson had told me

that he feared that it would be impossible to repair the generators. I had put him in charge of this work, since

he always had been accounted one of the best gravitationscreen men in the navy. He had invented several of

the improvements that are incorporated in the later models of these generators, and I am convinced that he

knows more concerning both the theory and the practice of screening gravitation than any living

At the sight of the Coldwater once more under control, the three men burst into a glad cheer. But, for some

reason which I could not then account, I was strangely overcome by a premonition of personal misfortune. It

was not that I now anticipated an early return to PanAmerica and a board of inquiry, for I had rather looked

forward to the fight that must follow my return. No, there was something else, something indefinable and

vague that cast a strange gloom upon me as I saw my ship rising farther above the water and making straight

I was not long in ascertaining a possible explanation of my depression, for, though we were plainly visible

from the bridge of the aerosubmarine and to the hundreds of men who swarmed her deck, the ship passed

directly above us, not five hundred feet from the water, and sped directly westward.

We all shouted, and I fired my pistol to attract their attention, though I knew full well that all who cared to

had observed us, but the ship moved steadily away, growing smaller and smaller to our view until at last she

What could it mean? I had left Alvarez in command. He was my most loyal subordinate. It was absolutely

beyond the pale of possibility that Alvarez should desert me. No, there was some other explanation.

Something occurred to place my second officer, Porfirio Johnson, in command. I was sure of it but why

speculate? The futility of conjecture was only too palpable. The Coldwater had abandoned us in midocean.

The young man at the wheel of the power boat had turned her nose about as it became evident that the ship

intended passing over us, and now he still held her in futile pursuit of the Coldwater.

"Bring her about, Snider," I directed, "and hold her due east. We can't catch the Coldwater, and we can't cross

the Atlantic in this. Our only hope lies in making the nearest land, which, unless I am mistaken, is the Scilly

"There's a part of the United States of North America that used to be known to the ancients as New England,"

"No, Snider," I replied. "The England I refer to was an island off the continent of Europe. It was the seat of a

very powerful kingdom that flourished over two hundred years ago. A part of the United States of North

America and all of the Federated States of Canada once belonged to this ancient England."

"Europe," breathed one of the men, his voice tense with excitement. "My grandfather used to tell me stories

of the world beyond thirty. He had been a great student, and he had read much from forbidden books."

"In which I resemble your grandfather," I said, "for I, too, have read more even than naval officers are

supposed to read, and, as you men know, we are permitted a greater latitude in the study of geography and

"Among the books and papers of Admiral Porter Turck, who lived two hundred years ago, and from whom I

am descended, many volumes still exist, and are in my possession, which deal with the history and geography

of ancient Europe. Usually I bring several of these books with me upon a cruise, and this time, among others,

I have maps of Europe and her surrounding waters. I was studying them as we came away from the

"You are going to try to make Europe, sir?" asked Taylor, the young man who had last spoken.

"It is the nearest land," I replied. "I have always wanted to explore the forgotten lands of the Eastern

Hemisphere. Here's our chance. To remain at sea is to perish. None of us ever will see home again. Let us

make the best of it, and enjoy while we do live that which is forbidden the balance of our racethe

Taylor and Delcarte seized the spirit of my mood but Snider, I think, was a trifle sceptical.

"It is treason, sir," I replied, "but there is no law which compels us to visit punishment upon ourselves. Could

we return to PanAmerica, I should be the first to insist that we face it. But we know that's not possible. Even

if this craft would carry us so far, we haven't enough water or food for more than three days.

"We are doomed, Snider, to die far from home and without ever again looking upon the face of another

fellow countryman than those who sit here now in this boat. Isn't that punishment sufficient for even the most

"Very well, then, let us live while we live, and enjoy to the fullest whatever of adventure or pleasure each

new day brings, since any day may be our last, and we shall be dead for a considerable while."

I could see that Snider was still fearful, but Taylor and Delcarte responded with a hearty, "Aye, aye, sir!"

They were of different mold. Both were sons of naval officers. They represented the aristocracy of birth, and

Snider was in the minority, and so we continued toward the east. Beyond thirty, and separated from my ship,

my authority ceased. I held leadership, if I was to hold it at all, by virtue of personal qualifications only, but I

did not doubt my ability to remain the director of our destinies in so far as they were amenable to human

agencies. I have always led. While my brain and brawn remain unimpaired I shall continue always to lead.

It was not until the third day that we raised land, dead ahead, which I took, from my map, to be the isles of

Scilly. But such a gale was blowing that I did not dare attempt to land, and so we passed to the north of them,

I think that up to that moment I had never experienced such a thrill as passed through me when I realized that

I was navigating these historic waters. The lifelong dreams that I never had dared hope to see fulfilled were at

Never could I return to my native land. To the end of my days I must remain in exile. Yet even these thoughts

My eyes scanned the waters. To the north I could see the rockbound coast of Cornwall. Mine were the first

American eyes to rest upon it for more than two hundred years. In vain, I searched for some sign of ancient

commerce that, if history is to be believed, must have dotted the bosom of the Channel with white sails and

blackened the heavens with the smoke of countless funnels, but as far as eye could reach the tossing waters of

Toward midnight the wind and sea abated, so that shortly after dawn I determined to make inshore in an

According to my observations, we were just off Ram Head, and it was my intention to enter Plymouth Bay

and visit Plymouth. From my map it appeared that this city lay back from the coast a short distance, and there

was another city given as Devonport, which appeared to lie at the mouth of the river Tamar.

However, I knew that it would make little difference which city we entered, as the English people were

famed of old for their hospitality toward visiting mariners. As we approached the mouth of the bay I looked

for the fishing craft which I expected to see emerging thus early in the day for their labors. But even after we

rounded Ram Head and were well within the waters of the bay I saw no vessel. Neither was there buoy nor

light nor any other mark to show larger ships the channel, and I wondered much at this.

The coast was densely overgrown, nor was any building or sign of man apparent from the water. Up the bay

and into the River Tamar we motored through a solitude as unbroken as that which rested upon the waters of

the Channel. For all we could see, there was no indication that man had ever set his foot upon this silent

I was nonplused, and then, for the first time, there crept over me an intuition of the truth.

Here was no sign of war. As far as this portion of the Devon coast was concerned, that seemed to have been

over for many years, but neither were there any people. Yet I could not find it within myself to believe that I

should find no inhabitants in England. Reasoning thus, I discovered that it was improbable that a state of war

still existed, and that the people all had been drawn from this portion of England to some other, where they

But what of their ancient coast defenses? What was there here in Plymouth Bay to prevent an enemy landing

in force and marching where they wished? Nothing. I could not believe that any enlightened military nation,

such as the ancient English are reputed to have been, would have voluntarily so deserted an exposed coast

I found myself becoming more and more deeply involved in quandary. The puzzle which confronted me I

could not unravel. We had landed, and I now stood upon the spot where, according to my map, a large city

should rear its spires and chimneys. There was nothing but rough, broken ground covered densely with weeds

Had a city ever stood there, no sign of it remained. The roughness and unevenness of the ground suggested

something of a great mass of debris hidden by the accumulation of centuries of undergrowth.

I drew the short cutlass with which both officers and men of the navy are, as you know, armed out of courtesy

to the traditions and memories of the past, and with its point dug into the loam about the roots of the

The blade entered the soil for a matter of seven inches, when it struck upon something stonelike. Digging

about the obstacle, I presently loosened it, and when I had withdrawn it from its sepulcher I found the thing to

Delcarte we had left in charge of the boat; but Snider and Taylor were with me, and following my example,

each engaged in the fascinating sport of prospecting for antiques. Each of us uncovered a great number of

these bricks, until we commenced to weary of the monotony of it, when Snider suddenly gave an exclamation

of excitement, and, as I turned to look, he held up a human skull for my inspection.

I took it from him and examined it. Directly in the center of the forehead was a small round hole. The

Snider again held aloft another trophy of the searcha metal spike and some tarnished and corroded metal

With the point of his cutlass Snider scraped the dirt and verdigris from the face of the larger ornament.

They were the spike and ornaments of an ancient German helmet. Before long we had uncovered many other

indications that a great battle had been fought upon the ground where we stood. But I was then, and still am,

at loss to account for the presence of German soldiers upon the English coast so far from London, which

I can only account for it by assuming that either England was temporarily conquered by the Teutons, or that

an invasion of so vast proportions was undertaken that German troops were hurled upon the England coast in

huge numbers and that landings were necessarily effected at many places simultaneously. Subsequent

We dug about for a short time with our cutlasses until I became convinced that a city had stood upon the spot

at some time in the past, and that beneath our feet, crumbled and dead, lay ancient Devonport.

I could not repress a sigh at the thought of the havoc war had wrought in this part of England, at least. Farther

east, nearer London, we should find things very different. There would be the civilization that two centuries

must have wrought upon our English cousins as they had upon us. There would be mighty cities, cultivated

fields, happy people. There we would be welcomed as longlost brothers. There would we find a great nation

anxious to learn of the world beyond their side of thirty, as I had been anxious to learn of that which lay

"Come, men!" I said. "We will go up the river and fill our casks with fresh water, search for food and fuel,

and then tomorrow be in readiness to push on toward the east. I am going to London."

The report of a gun blasted the silence of a dead Devonport with startling abruptness.

It came from the direction of the launch, and in an instant we three were running for the boat as fast as our

legs would carry us. As we came in sight of it we saw Delcarte a hundred yards inland from the launch,

leaning over something which lay upon the ground. As we called to him he waved his cap, and stooping,

I was about to congratulate him on his trophy when we were startled by a horrid, halfhuman, halfbestial

scream a little ahead and to the right of us. It seemed to come from a clump of rank and tangled bush not far

from where Delcarte stood. It was a horrid, fearsome sound, the like of which never had fallen upon my ears

We looked in the direction from which it came. The smile had died from Delcarte's lips. Even at the distance

we were from him I saw his face go suddenly white, and he quickly threw his rifle to his shoulder. At the

same moment the thing that had given tongue to the cry moved from the concealing brushwood far enough

The creature stood about the height of a tall man's waist, and was long and gaunt and sinuous, with a tawny

coat striped with black, and with white throat and belly. In conformation it was similar to a cata huge cat,

exaggerated colossal cat, with fiendish eyes and the most devilish cast of countenance, as it wrinkled its

It was pacing, or rather, slinking, straight for Delcarte, who had now leveled his rifle upon it.

"What is it, sir?" mumbled Snider again, and then a half forgotten picture from an old natural history sprang

to my mind, and I recognized in the frightful beast the Felis tigris of ancient Asia, specimens of which had, in

Snider and Taylor were armed with rifles and revolvers, while I carried only a revolver. Seizing Snider's rifle

from his trembling hands, I called to Taylor to follow me, and together we ran forward, shouting, to attract

the beast's attention from Delcarte until we should all be quite close enough to attack with the greatest

I cried to Delcarte not to fire until we reached his side, for I was fearful lest our small caliber, steeljacketed

bullets should, far from killing the beast, tend merely to enrage it still further. But he misunderstood me,

With the report of his rifle the tiger stopped short in apparent surprise, then turned and bit savagely at its

shoulder for an instant, after which it wheeled again toward Delcarte, issuing the most terrific roars and

screams, and launched itself, with incredible speed, toward the brave fellow, who now stood his ground

Taylor and I also opened up on the creature, and as it was broadside to us it offered a splendid target, though

for all the impression we appeared to make upon the great cat we might as well have been launching soap

Straight as a torpedo it rushed for Delcarte, and, as Taylor and I stumbled on through the tall grass toward our

Not a backward step had the noble Delcarte taken. Two hundred years of peace had not sapped the red blood

from his courageous line. He went down beneath that avalanche of bestial savagery still working his gun and

with his face toward his antagonist. Even in the instant that I thought him dead I could not help but feel a

thrill of pride that he was one of my men, one of my class, a PanAmerican gentleman of birth. And that he

had demonstrated one of the principal contentions of the armyandnavy adherentsthat military training

was necessary for the salvation of personal courage in the PanAmerican race which for generations had had

to face no dangers more grave than those incident to ordinary life in a highly civilized community,

safeguarded by every means at the disposal of a perfectly organized and all powerful government utilizing

As we ran toward Delcarte, both Taylor and I were struck by the fact that the beast upon him appeared not to

be mauling him, but lay quiet and motionless upon its prey, and when we were quite close, and the muzzles

of our guns were at the animal's head, I saw the explanation of this sudden cessation of hostilitiesFelis

One of our bullets, or one of the last that Delcarte fired, had penetrated the heart, and the beast had died even

A moment later, with our assistance, the man had scrambled from beneath the carcass of his wouldbe slayer,

Delcarte's buoyance was entirely unruffled. He came from under the tiger with a broad grin on his handsome

face, nor could I perceive that a muscle trembled or that his voice showed the least indication of nervousness

With the termination of the adventure, we began to speculate upon the explanation of the presence of this

savage brute at large so great a distance from its native habitat. My readings had taught me that it was

practically unknown outside of Asia, and that, so late as the twentieth century, at least, there had been no

As we talked, Snider joined us, and I returned his rifle to him. Taylor and Delcarte picked up the slain deer,

and we all started down toward the launch, walking slowly. Delcarte wanted to fetch the tiger's skin, but I had

Upon the beach, we skinned the deer and cut away as much meat as we thought we could dispose of, and as

we were again embarking to continue up the river for fresh water and fuel, we were startled by a series of

"Or a dozen of them," supplemented Delcarte, and, even as he spoke, there leaped into sight, one after

At the sight of us, they came charging down like infuriated demons. I saw that three rifles would be no match

for them, and so I gave the word to put out from shore, hoping that the "tiger," as the ancients called him,

Sure enough, they all halted at the beach, pacing back and forth, uttering fiendish cries, and glaring at us in

As we motored away, we presently heard the calls of similar animals far inland. They seemed to be

answering the cries of their fellows at the water's edge, and from the wide distribution and great volume of

the sound we came to the conclusion that enormous numbers of these beasts must roam the adjacent country.

"I imagine you are right," I agreed, "for their extreme boldness and fearlessness in the presence of man would

suggest either that man is entirely unknown to them, or that they are extremely familiar with him as their

"But where did they come from?" asked Delcarte. "Could they have traveled here from Asia?"

I shook my head. The thing was a puzzle to me. I knew that it was practically beyond reason to imagine that

tigers had crossed the mountain ranges and rivers and all the great continent of Europe to travel this far from

their native lairs, and entirely impossible that they should have crossed the English Channel at all. Yet here

We continued up the Tamar several miles, filled our casks, and then landed to cook some of our deer steak,

and have the first square meal that had fallen to our lot since the Coldwater deserted us. But scarce had we

built our fire and prepared the meat for cooking than Snider, whose eyes had been constantly roving about the

landscape from the moment that we left the launch, touched me on the arm and pointed to a clump of bushes

Half concealed behind their screening foliage I saw the yellow and black of a big tiger, and, as I looked, the

beast stalked majestically toward us. A moment later, he was followed by another and another, and it is

The country was apparently infested by these huge Carnivora, for after three other attempts to land and cook

our food we were forced to abandon the idea entirely, as each time we were driven off by hunting tigers.

It was also equally impossible to obtain the necessary ingredients for our chemical fuel, and, as we had very

little left aboard, we determined to step our folding mast and proceed under sail, hoarding our fuel supply for

I may say that it was with no regret that we bid adieu to Tigerland, as we rechristened the ancient Devon, and,

beating out into the Channel, turned the launch's nose southeast, to round Bolt Head and continue up the coast

I was determined to reach London as soon as possible, that we might obtain fresh clothing, meet with

cultured people, and learn from the lips of Englishmen the secrets of the two centuries since the East had

Our first stopping place was the Isle of Wight. We entered the Solent about ten o'clock one morning, and I

must confess that my heart sank as we came close to shore. No lighthouse was visible, though one was

plainly indicated upon my map. Upon neither shore was sign of human habitation. We skirted the northern

shore of the island in fruitless search for man, and then at last landed upon an eastern point, where Newport

should have stood, but where only weeds and great trees and tangled wild wood rioted, and not a single

Before landing, I had the men substitute soft bullets for the steeljacketed projectiles with which their belts

and magazines were filled. Thus equipped, we felt upon more even terms with the tigers, but there was no

After eating, we set out in search of fuel, leaving Taylor to guard the launch. For some reason I could not

trust Snider alone. I knew that he looked with disapproval upon my plan to visit England, and I did not know

but what at his first opportunity, he might desert us, taking the launch with him, and attempt to return to

We had gone inland for a mile or more, and were passing through a parklike wood, when we came suddenly

There were a score of men in the party. Hairy, halfnaked men they were, resting in the shade of a great tree.

At the first sight of us they sprang to their feet with wild yells, seizing long spears that had lain beside them

For a matter of fifty yards they ran from us as rapidly as they could, and then they turned and surveyed us for

a moment. Evidently emboldened by the scarcity of our numbers, they commenced to advance upon us,

They were short and muscular of build, with long hair and beards tangled and matted with filth. Their heads,

however, were shapely, and their eyes, though fierce and warlike, were intelligent.

Appreciation of these physical attributes came later, of course, when I had better opportunity to study the men

at close range and under circumstances less fraught with danger and excitement. At the moment I saw, and

with unmixed wonder, only a score of wild savages charging down upon us, where I had expected to find a

Each of us was armed with rifle, revolver, and cutlass, but as we stood shoulder to shoulder facing the wild

men I was loath to give the command to fire upon them, inflicting death or suffering upon strangers with

whom we had no quarrel, and so I attempted to restrain them for the moment that we might parley with them.

He never heard the word ship before, and did not know its meaning. But he assured me that until we came he

had thought that there were no other peoples in the world other than the Grubittens, who consist of the

Assured that we were inclined to friendliness, our new acquaintances led us to their village, or, as they call it,

camp. There we found a thousand people, perhaps, dwelling in rude shelters, and living upon the fruits of the

chase and such sea food as is obtainable close to shore, for they had no boats, nor any knowledge of such

Their weapons were most primitive, consisting of rude spears tipped with pieces of metal pounded roughly

into shape. They had no literature, no religion, and recognized no law other than the law of might. They

produced fire by striking a bit of flint and steel together, but for the most part they ate their food raw.

Marriage is unknown among them, and while they have the word, mother, they did not know what I meant by

"father." The males fight for the favor of the females. They practice infanticide, and kill the aged and

The family consists of the mother and the children, the men dwelling sometimes in one hut and sometimes in

another. Owing to their bloody duels, they are always numerically inferior to the women, so there is shelter

We spent several hours in the village, where we were objects of the greatest curiosity. The inhabitants

examined our clothing and all our belongings, and asked innumerable questions concerning the strange

I questioned many of them concerning past historical events, but they knew nothing beyond the narrow limits

of their island and the savage, primitive life they led there. London they had never heard of, and they assured

Much saddened by what I had seen, I took my departure from them, and the three of us made our way back to

As we sailed away, after procuring the necessary ingredients of our chemical fuel, the Grubittens lined the

shore in silent wonder at the strange sight of our dainty craft dancing over the sparkling waters, and watched

It was during the morning of July 6, 2137, that we entered the mouth of the Thamesto the best of my

knowledge the first Western keel to cut those historic waters for two hundred and twentyone years!

But where were the tugs and the lighters and the barges, the lightships and the buoys, and all those countless

Gone! All gone! Only silence and desolation reigned where once the commerce of the world had centered.

I could not help but compare this once great waterway with the waters about our New York, or Rio, or San

Diego, or Valparaiso. They had become what they are today during the two centuries of the profound peace

which we of the navy have been prone to deplore. And what, during this same period, had shorn the waters of

I bowed my head and turned my eyes downward from the lonely and depressing sight, and in a silence which

We had reached a point which, from my map, I imagined must have been about the former site of Erith, when

I discovered a small band of antelope a short distance inland. As we were now entirely out of meat once

more, and as I had given up all expectations of finding a city upon the site of ancient London, I determined to

Assured that they would be timid and easily frightened, I decided to stalk them alone, telling the men to wait

at the boat until I called to them to come and carry the carcasses back to the shore.

Crawling carefully through the vegetation, making use of such trees and bushes as afforded shelter, I came at

last almost within easy range of my quarry, when the antlered head of the buck went suddenly into the air,

and then, as though in accordance with a prearranged signal, the whole band moved slowly off, farther inland.

As their pace was leisurely, I determined to follow them until I came again within range, as I was sure that

They must have led me a mile or more at least before they again halted and commenced to browse upon the

rank, luxuriant grasses. All the time that I had followed them I had kept both eyes and ears alert for sign or

sound that would indicate the presence of Felis tigris; but so far not the slightest indication of the beast had

As I crept closer to the antelope, sure this time of a good shot at a large buck, I suddenly saw something that

It was the figure of an immense greyblack creature, rearing its colossal shoulders twelve or fourteen feet

above the ground. Never in my life had I seen such a beast, nor did I at first recognize it, so different in

appearance is the live reality from the stuffed, unnatural specimens preserved to us in our museums.

But presently I guessed the identity of the mighty creature as Elephas africanus, or, as the ancients commonly

The antelope, although in plain view of the huge beast, paid not the slightest attention to it, and I was so

wrapped up in watching the mighty pachyderm that I quite forgot to shoot at the buck and presently, and in

The elephant was browsing upon the young and tender shoots of some low bushes, waving his great ears and

switching his short tail. The antelope, scarce twenty paces from him, continued their feeding, when suddenly,

from close beside the latter, there came a most terrifying roar, and I saw a great, tawny body shoot, from the

Instantly the scene changed from one of quiet and peace to indescribable chaos. The startled and terrified

buck uttered cries of agony. His fellows broke and leaped off in all directions. The elephant raised his trunk,

and, trumpeting loudly, lumbered off through the wood, crushing down small trees and trampling bushes in

Growling horribly, a huge lion stood across the body of his preysuch a creature as no PanAmerican of the

twenty second century had ever beheld until my eyes rested upon this lordly specimen of "the king of

beasts." But what a different creature was this fierceeyed demon, palpitating with life and vigor, glossy of

coat, alert, growling, magnificent, from the dingy, motheaten replicas beneath their glass cases in the stuffy

I had never hoped or expected to see a living lion, tiger, or elephantusing the common terms that were

familiar to the ancients, since they seem to me less unwieldy than those now in general use among usand

so it was with sentiments not unmixed with awe that I stood gazing at this regal beast as, above the carcass of

So enthralled was I by the spectacle that I quite forgot myself, and the better to view him, the great lion, I had

For a moment he did not see me, his attention being directed toward the retreating elephant, and I had ample

time to feast my eyes upon his splendid proportions, his great head, and his thick black mane.

Ah, what thoughts passed through my mind in those brief moments as I stood there in rapt fascination! I had

come to find a wondrous civilization, and instead I found a wild beast monarch of the realm where English

kings had ruled. A lion reigned, undisturbed, within a few miles of the seat of one of the greatest

governments the world has ever known, his domain a howling wilderness, where yesterday fell the shadows

It was appalling; but my reflections upon this depressing subject were doomed to sudden extinction. The lion

For an instant he stood silent and motionless as one of the mangy effigies at home, but only for an instant.

Then, with a most ferocious roar, and without the slightest hesitancy or warning, he charged upon me.

He forsook the prey already dead beneath him for the pleasures of the delectable tidbit, man. From the

remorselessness with which the great Carnivora of modern England hunted man, I am constrained to believe

that, whatever their appetites in times past, they have cultivated a gruesome taste for human flesh.

As I threw my rifle to my shoulder, I thanked God, the ancient God of my ancestors, that I had replaced the

hard jacketed bullets in my weapon with softnosed projectiles, for though this was my first experience

with Felis leo, I knew the moment that I faced that charge that even my wonderfully perfected firearm would

be as futile as a peashooter unless I chanced to place my first bullet in a vital spot.

Unless you had seen it you could not believe credible the speed of a charging lion. Apparently the animal is

not built for speed, nor can he maintain it for long. But for a matter of forty or fifty yards there is, I believe,

Like a bolt he bore down upon me, but, fortunately for me, I did not lose my head. I guessed that no bullet

would kill him instantly. I doubted that I could pierce his skull. There was hope, though, in finding his heart

through his exposed chest, or, better yet, of breaking his shoulder or foreleg, and bringing him up long

I covered his left shoulder and pulled the trigger as he was almost upon me. It stopped him. With a terrific

howl of pain and rage, the brute rolled over and over upon the ground almost to my feet. As he came I

pumped two more bullets into him, and as he struggled to rise, clawing viciously at me, I put a bullet in his

That finished him, and I am free to admit that I was mighty glad of it. There was a great tree close behind me,

and, stepping within its shade, I leaned against it, wiping the perspiration from my face, for the day was hot,

I stood there, resting, for a moment, preparatory to turning and retracing my steps to the launch, when,

without warning, something whizzed through space straight toward me. There was a dull thud of impact as it

struck the tree, and as I dodged to one side and turned to look at the thing I saw a heavy spear imbedded in

The thing had come from a little to one side of me, and, without waiting to investigate at the instant, I leaped

behind the tree, and, circling it, peered around the other side to get a sight of my wouldbe murderer.

This time I was pitted against menthe spear told me that all too plainlybut so long as they didn't take me

Cautiously I edged about the far side of the trees until I could obtain a view of the spot from which the spear

must have come, and when I did I saw the head of a man just emerging from behind a bush.

The fellow was quite similar in type to those I had seen upon the Isle of Wight. He was hairy and unkempt,

and as he finally stepped into view I saw that he was garbed in the same primitive fashion.

He stood for a moment gazing about in search of me, and then he advanced. As he did so a number of others,

precisely like him, stepped from the concealing verdure of nearby bushes and followed in his wake. Keeping

the trees between them and me, I ran back a short distance until I found a clump of underbrush that would

effectually conceal me, for I wished to discover the strength of the party and its armament before attempting

The useless destruction of any of these poor creatures was the farthest idea from my mind. I should have

liked to have spoken with them, but I did not care to risk having to use my highpowered rifle upon them

Once in my new place of concealment, I watched them as they approached the tree. There were about thirty

men in the party and one womana girl whose hands seemed to be bound behind her and who was being

They came forward warily, peering cautiously into every bush and halting often. At the body of the lion, they

paused, and I could see from their gesticulations and the higher pitch of their voices that they were much

But presently they resumed their search for me, and as they advanced I became suddenly aware of the

unnecessary brutality with which the girl's guards were treating her. She stumbled once, not far from my

place of concealment, and after the balance of the party had passed me. As she did so one of the men at her

side jerked her roughly to her feet and struck her across the mouth with his fist.

Instantly my blood boiled, and forgetting every consideration of caution, I leaped from my concealment, and,

So unexpected had been my act that it found him and his fellow unprepared; but instantly the latter drew the

knife that protruded from his belt and lunged viciously at me, at the same time giving voice to a wild cry of

The girl shrank back at sight of me, her eyes wide in astonishment, and then my antagonist was upon me. I

parried his first blow with my forearm, at the same time delivering a powerful blow to his jaw that sent him

reeling back; but he was at me again in an instant, though in the brief interim I had time to draw my revolver.

I saw his companion crawling slowly to his feet, and the others of the party racing down upon me. There was

no time to argue now, other than with the weapons we wore, and so, as the fellow lunged at me again with the

Without a sound, he slipped to the earth, and then I turned the weapon upon the other guard, who was now

about to attack me. He, too, collapsed, and I was alone with the astonished girl.

The balance of the party was some twenty paces from us, but coming rapidly. I seized her arm and drew her

after me behind a nearby tree, for I had seen that with both their comrades down the others were preparing to

With the girl safe behind the tree, I stepped out in sight of the advancing foe, shouting to them that I was no

enemy, and that they should halt and listen to me. But for answer they only yelled in derision and launched a

I saw then that I must fight, yet still I hated to slay them, and it was only as a final resort that I dropped two

of them with my rifle, bringing the others to a temporary halt. Again, I appealed to them to desist. But they

only mistook my solicitude for them for fear, and, with shouts of rage and derision, leaped forward once

It was now quite evident that I must punish them severely, ormyselfdie and relinquish the girl once

more to her captors. Neither of these things had I the slightest notion of doing, and so I again stepped from

behind the tree, and, with all the care and deliberation of target practice, I commenced picking off the

One by one the wild men dropped, yet on came the others, fierce and vengeful, until, only a few remaining,

these seemed to realize the futility of combating my modern weapon with their primitive spears, and, still

Now, for the first time, I had an opportunity to turn my attention toward the girl, who had stood, silent and

motionless, behind me as I pumped death into my enemies and hers from my automatic rifle.

She was of medium height, well formed, and with fine, clear cut features. Her forehead was high, and her

eyes both intelligent and beautiful. Exposure to the sun had browned a smooth and velvety skin to a shade

which seemed to enhance rather than mar an altogether lovely picture of youthful femininity.

A trace of apprehension marked her expressionI cannot call it fear since I have learned to know herand

astonishment was still apparent in her eyes. She stood quite erect, her hands still bound behind her, and met

Her expression altered a trifle. A slight frown contracted her brow. The expression of apprehension deepened.

"Take off your cap," she said, and when, to humor her strange request, I did as she bid, she appeared relieved.

Then she edged to one side and leaned over seemingly to peer behind me. I turned quickly to see what she

discovered, but finding nothing, wheeled about to see that her expression was once more altered.

"You are not from there?" and she pointed toward the east. It was a half question. "You are not from across

"No," I assured her. "I am from PanAmerica, far away to the west. Have you ever heard of PanAmerica?"

She shook her head in negation. "I do not care where you are from," she explained, "if you are not from there,

"They are bad men," she replied. "Some of my people do not believe that there are such creatures. But we

have a legenda very old, old legend, that once the men from there came across to Grabritin. They came

upon the water, and under the water, and even in the air. They came in great numbers, so that they rolled

across the land like a great gray fog. They brought with them thunder and lightning and smoke that killed,

and they fell upon us and slew our people by the thousands and the hundreds of thousands. But at last we

drove them back to the water's edge, back into the sea, where many were drowned. Some escaped, and these

our people followedmen, women, and even children, we followed them back. That is all. The legend says

our people never returned. Maybe they were all killed. Maybe they are still there. But this, also, is in the

legend, that as we drove the men back across the water they swore that they would return, and that when they

left our shores they would leave no human being alive behind them. I was afraid that you were from there."

"We call them only the 'men from there,'" she replied, pointing toward the east. "I have never heard that they

In the light of what I knew of ancient history, it was not difficult for me to guess the nationality of those she

described simply as "the men from over there." But what utter and appalling devastation the Great War must

have wrought to have erased not only every sign of civilization from the face of this great land, but even the

I could only account for it on the hypothesis that the country had been entirely depopulated except for a few

scattered and forgotten children, who, in some marvelous manner, had been preserved by Providence to

repopulate the land. These children had, doubtless, been too young to retain in their memories to transmit to

their children any but the vaguest suggestion of the cataclysm which had overwhelmed their parents.

Professor Cortoran, since my return to PanAmerica, has suggested another theory which is not entirely

without claim to serious consideration. He points out that it is quite beyond the pale of human instinct to

desert little children as my theory suggests the ancient English must have done. He is more inclined to

believe that the expulsion of the foe from England was synchronous with widespread victories by the allies

upon the continent, and that the people of England merely emigrated from their ruined cities and their

devastated, blooddrenched fields to the mainland, in the hope of finding, in the domain of the conquered

The learned professor assumes that while a longcontinued war had strengthened rather than weakened the

instinct of paternal devotion, it had also dulled other humanitarian instincts, and raised to the first magnitude

the law of the survival of the fittest, with the result that when the exodus took place the strong, the intelligent,

and the cunning, together with their offspring, crossed the waters of the Channel or the North Sea to the

continent, leaving in unhappy England only the helpless inmates of asylums for the feebleminded and insane.

My objections to this, that the present inhabitants of England are mentally fit, and could therefore not have

descended from an ancestry of undiluted lunacy he brushes aside with the assertion that insanity is not

necessarily hereditary; and that even though it was, in many cases a return to natural conditions from the state

of high civilization, which is thought to have induced mental disease in the ancient world, would, after

several generations, have thoroughly expunged every trace of the affliction from the brains and nerves of the

Personally, I do not place much stock in Professor Cortoran's theory, though I admit that I am prejudiced.

Naturally one does not care to believe that the object of his greatest affection is descended from a gibbering

But I am forgetting the continuity of my narrativea continuity which I desire to maintain, though I fear that

I shall often be led astray, so numerous and varied are the bypaths of speculation which lead from the present

As I stood talking with the girl I presently recollected that she still was bound, and with a word of apology, I

She thanked me, and with such a sweet smile that I should have been amply repaid by it for a much more

"And now," I said, "let me accompany you to your home and see you safely again under the protection of

"No," she said, with a hint of alarm in her voice; "you must not come with meBuckingham will kill you."

Buckingham. The name was famous in ancient English history. Its survival, with many other illustrious

names, is one of the strongest arguments in refutal of Professor Cortoran's theory; yet it opens no new doors

"He would think that you had stolen me," she replied, "and as he wishes me for himself, he will kill any other

whom he thinks desires me. He killed Wettin a few days ago. My mother told me once that Wettin was my

Here, evidently, were a people slightly superior to those of the Isle of Wight. These must have at least the

rudiments of civilized government since they recognized one among them as ruler, with the title, king. Also,

they retained the word father. The girl's pronunciation, while far from identical with ours, was much closer

than the tortured dialect of the Eastenders of the Isle of Wight. The longer I talked with her the more hopeful

I became of finding here, among her people, some records, or traditions, which might assist in clearing up the

historic enigma of the past two centuries. I asked her if we were far from the city of London, but she did not

know what I meant. When I tried to explain, describing mighty buildings of stone and brick, broad avenues,

"There is no such place near by," she said. "Only the Camp of the Lions has places of stone where the beasts

lair, but there are no people in the Camp of the Lions. Who would dare go there!" And she shuddered.

"It is there," she said, pointing up the river toward the west. "I have seen it from a great distance, but I have

never been there. We are much afraid of the lions, for this is their country, and they are angry that man has

"Far away there," and she pointed toward the southwest, "is the land of tigers, which is even worse than this,

the land of the lions, for the tigers are more numerous than the lions and hungrier for human flesh. There

were tigers here long ago, but both the lions and the men set upon them and drove them off."

"Often, when we meet them by accident, and we are too few to slay them, or when one goes too close to their

camp. But seldom do they hunt us, for they find what food they need among the deer and wild cattle, and,

too, we make them gifts, for are we not intruders in their country? Really we live upon good terms with them,

"Oh, no, you must not!" cried the girl. "That would be terrible. They would eat you." For a moment, then, she

seemed lost in thought, but presently she turned upon me with: "You must go now, for any minute

Buckingham may come in search of me. Long since should they have learned that I am gone from the

campthey watch over me very closelyand they will set out after me. Go! I shall wait here until they

"No," I told her. "I'll not leave you alone in a land infested by lions and other wild beasts. If you won't let me

go as far as your camp with you, then I'll wait here until they come in search of you."

"Please go!" she begged. "You have saved me, and I would save you, but nothing will save you if

Buckingham gets his hands on you. He is a bad man. He wishes to have me for his woman so that he may be

king. He would kill anyone who befriended me, for fear that I might become another's."

"He is. He took my mother for his woman after he had killed Wettin. But my mother will die soonshe is

Finally, after much questioning, I got the thing through my head. It appears that the line of descent is through

the women. A man is merely head of his wife's familythat is all. If she chances to be the oldest female

member of the "royal" house, he is king. Very naively the girl explained that there was seldom any doubt as

This accounted for the girl's importance in the community and for Buckingham's anxiety to claim her, though

she told me that she did not wish to become his woman, for he was a bad man and would make a bad king.

"Why not come with me," I suggested, "if you do not wish to become Buckingham's?"

Where, indeed! I had not thought of that. But before I could reply to her question she shook her head and

said, "No, I cannot leave my people. I must stay and do my best, even if Buckingham gets me, but you must

go at once. Do not wait until it is too late. The lions have had no offering for a long time, and Buckingham

I did not perfectly understand what she meant, and was about to ask her when a heavy body leaped upon me

from behind, and great arms encircled my neck. I struggled to free myself and turn upon my antagonist, but in

another instant I was overwhelmed by a half dozen powerful, halfnaked men, while a score of others

I fought as best I could for my liberty and for hers, but the weight of numbers was too great, though I had the

When they had overpowered me, and I stood, my hands bound behind me, at the girl's side, she gazed

"It is too bad that you did not do as I bid you," she said, "for now it has happened just as I

"I am Buckingham," growled a burly, unwashed brute, swaggering truculently before me. "And who are you

The girl spoke up then and tried to explain that I had not stolen her; but on the contrary I had saved her from

Buckingham only sneered at her explanation, and a moment later gave the command that started us all off

toward the west. We marched for a matter of an hour or so, coming at last to a collection of rude huts,

fashioned from branches of trees covered with skins and grasses and sometimes plastered with mud. All

about the camp they had erected a wall of saplings pointed at the tops and fire hardened.

This palisade was a protection against both man and beasts, and within it dwelt upward of two thousand

persons, the shelters being built very close together, and sometimes partially underground, like deep trenches,

The older part of the camp consisted almost wholly of trenches, as though this had been the original form of

dwellings which was slowly giving way to the drier and airier surface domiciles. In these trench habitations I

saw a survival of the military trenches which formed so famous a part of the operation of the warring nations

The women wore a single light deerskin about their hips, for it was summer, and quite warm. The men, too,

were clothed in a single garment, usually the pelt of some beast of prey. The hair of both men and women

was confined by a rawhide thong passing about the forehead and tied behind. In this leathern band were stuck

feathers, flowers, or the tails of small mammals. All wore necklaces of the teeth or claws of wild beasts, and

They wore, in fact, every indication of a most primitive peoplea race which had not yet risen to the heights

of agriculture or even the possession of domestic animals. They were huntersthe lowest plane in the

And yet as I looked at their well shaped heads, their handsome features, and their intelligent eyes, it was

difficult to believe that I was not among my own. It was only when I took into consideration their mode of

living, their scant apparel, the lack of every least luxury among them, that I was forced to admit that they

Buckingham had relieved me of my weapons, though he had not the slightest idea of their purpose or uses,

and when we reached the camp he exhibited both me and my arms with every indication of pride in this great

The inhabitants flocked around me, examining my clothing, and exclaiming in wonderment at each new

discovery of button, buckle, pocket, and flap. It seemed incredible that such a thing could be, almost within a

stone's throw of the spot where but a brief two centuries before had stood the greatest city of the world.

They bound me to a small tree that grew in the middle of one of their crooked streets, but the girl they

released as soon as we had entered the enclosure. The people greeted her with every mark of respect as she

Presently she returned with a fine looking, whitehaired woman, who proved to be her mother. The older

woman carried herself with a regal dignity that seemed quite remarkable in a place of such primitive squalor.

The people fell aside as she approached, making a wide way for her and her daughter. When they had come

"My daughter has told me," she said, "of the manner in which you rescued her from the men of the elephant

country. If Wettin lived you would be well treated, but Buckingham has taken me now, and is king. You can

The fact that Buckingham stood within a pace of us and was an interested listener appeared not to temper her

"Buckingham is a pig," she continued. "He is a coward. He came upon Wettin from behind and ran his spear

through him. He will not be king for long. Some one will make a face at him, and he will run away and jump

The people began to titter and clap their hands. Buckingham became red in the face. It was evident that he

"If he dared," went on the old lady, "he would kill me now, but he does not dare. He is too great a coward. If I

could help you I should gladly do so. But I am only queenthe vehicle that has helped carry down,

The old queen's words had a noticeable effect upon the mob of curious savages which surrounded me. The

moment they discovered that the old queen was friendly to me and that I had rescued her daughter they

commenced to accord me a more friendly interest, and I heard many words spoken in my behalf, and

But now Buckingham interfered. He had no intention of being robbed of his prey. Blustering and storming,

he ordered the people back to their huts, at the same time directing two of his warriors to confine me in a

Here they threw me upon the ground, binding my ankles together and trussing them up to my wrists behind.

There they left me, lying upon my stomacha most uncomfortable and strained position, to which was

Just a few days ago my mind had been filled with the anticipation of the friendly welcome I should find

among the cultured Englishmen of London. Today I should be sitting in the place of honor at the banquet

The actuality! Here I lay, bound hand and foot, doubtless almost upon the very site of a part of ancient

London, yet all about me was a primeval wilderness, and I was a captive of halfnaked wild men.

I wondered what had become of Delcarte and Taylor and Snider. Would they search for me? They could

never find me, I feared, yet if they did, what could they accomplish against this horde of savage warriors?

Would that I could warn them. I thought of the girl doubtless she could get word to them, but how was I to

communicate with her? Would she come to see me before I was killed? It seemed incredible that she should

not make some slight attempt to befriend me; yet, as I recalled, she had made no effort to speak with me after

we had reached the village. She had hastened to her mother the moment she had been liberated. Though she

had returned with the old queen, she had not spoken to me, even then. I began to have my doubts.

Finally, I came to the conclusion that I was absolutely friendless except for the old queen. For some

unaccountable reason my rage against the girl for her ingratitude rose to colossal proportions.

For a long time I waited for some one to come to my prison whom I might ask to bear word to the queen, but

I seemed to have been forgotten. The strained position in which I lay became unbearable. I wriggled and

twisted until I managed to turn myself partially upon my side, where I lay half facing the entrance to the

Presently my attention was attracted by the shadow of something moving in the trench without, and a

moment later the figure of a child appeared, creeping upon all fours, as, wideeyed, and prompted by childish

curiosity, a little girl crawled to the entrance of my hut and peered cautiously and fearfully in.

I did not speak at first for fear of frightening the little one away. But when I was satisfied that her eyes had

Instantly the expression of fear faded from her eyes to be replaced with an answering smile.

"You saved her from the elephant country people, and yet you say you do not know her!" she exclaimed.

"Oh, so she is Victory, and you are her sister! I have not heard her name before. That is why I did not know

whom you meant," I explained. Here was just the messenger for me. Fate was becoming more kind.

"Go to your mother, the queen, and ask her to come to me," I said. "I have a favor to ask."

For what seemed many hours I awaited her return, chafing with impatience. The afternoon wore on and night

came, and yet no one came near me. My captors brought me neither food nor water. I was suffering

considerable pain where the rawhide thongs cut into my swollen flesh. I thought that they had either forgotten

Once I heard a great uproar in the village. Men were shoutingwomen were screaming and moaning. After

Half the night must have been spent when I heard a sound in the trench near the hut. It resembled muffled

sobs. Presently a figure appeared, silhouetted against the lesser darkness beyond the doorway. It crept inside

It was Mary! She had returned. The thongs no longer hurt me. The pangs of hunger and thirst disappeared. I

"Mary!" I exclaimed. "You are a good girl. You have come back, after all. I had commenced to think that you

The child's sobs increased, and she flung herself upon the dirt floor of the hut, apparently overcome by grief.

"The queen, my mother, will not come to you," she said, between sobs. "She is dead. Buckingham has killed

her. Now he will take Victory, for Victory is queen. He kept us fastened up in our shelter, for fear that

Victory would escape him, but I dug a hole beneath the back wall and got out. I came to you, because you

saved Victory once before, and I thought that you might save her again, and me, also. Tell me that you will."

"I am bound and helpless, Mary," I replied. "Otherwise I would do what I could to save you and your sister."

"I will set you free!" cried the girl, creeping up to my side. "I will set you free, and then you may come and

"We must hurry," she went on, as she fumbled with the hard knots in the stiffened rawhide, "for Buckingham

will be after you soon. He must make an offering to the lions at dawn before he can take Victory. The taking

"Yes," she said, tugging at a knot. "Buckingham has been wanting a sacrifice ever since he killed Wettin, that

The thought was horrible, not solely because of the hideous fate to which I was condemned, but from the

contemplation it engendered of the sad decadence of a once enlightened race. To these depths of ignorance,

brutality, and superstition had the vaunted civilization of twentieth century England been plunged, and by

what? War! I felt the structure of our timehonored militaristic arguments crumbling about me.

Mary labored with the thongs that confined me. They proved refractorydefying her tender, childish fingers.

She assured me, however, that she would release me, if "they" did not come too soon.

But, alas, they came. We heard them coming down the trench, and I bade Mary hide in a corner, lest she be

discovered and punished. There was naught else she could do, and so she crawled away into the Stygian

Presently two warriors entered. The leader exhibited a unique method of discovering my whereabouts in the

darkness. He advanced slowly, kicking out viciously before him. Finally he kicked me in the face. Then he

A moment later I had been jerked roughly to my feet. One of the fellows stopped and severed the bonds that

held my ankles. I could scarcely stand alone. The two pulled and hauled me through the low doorway and

along the trench. A party of forty or fifty warriors were awaiting us at the brink of the excavation some

Hands were lowered to us, and we were dragged to the surface. Then commenced a long march. We stumbled

through the underbrush wet with dew, our way lighted by a score of torchbearers who surrounded us. But the

torches were not to light the waythat was but incidental. They were carried to keep off the huge Carnivora

The noises were hideous. The whole country seemed alive with lions. Yellowgreen eyes blazed wickedly at

us from out the surrounding darkness. My escort carried long, heavy spears. These they kept ever pointed

toward the beast of prey, and I learned from snatches of the conversation I overheard that occasionally there

might be a lion who would brave even the terrors of fire to leap in upon human prey. It was for such that the

But nothing of the sort occurred during this hideous death march, and with the first pale heralding of dawn

we reached our goalan open place in the midst of a tangled wildwood. Here rose in crumbling grandeur the

first evidences I had seen of the ancient civilization which once had graced fair Albiona single, timeworn

"The entrance to the Camp of the Lions!" murmured one of the party in a voice husky with awe.

Here the party knelt, while Buckingham recited a weird, prayerlike chant. It was rather long, and I recall

Then the party rose, and dragging me to the crumbling arch, made me fast to a huge, corroded, copper ring

None of them, not even Buckingham, seemed to feel any personal animosity toward me. They were naturally

rough and brutal, as primitive men are supposed to have been since the dawn of humanity, but they did not go

With the coming of dawn the number of lions about us seemed to have greatly diminishedat least they

made less noise and as Buckingham and his party disappeared into the woods, leaving me alone to my

terrible fate, I could hear the grumblings and growlings of the beasts diminishing with the sound of the chant,

which the party still continued. It appeared that the lions had failed to note that I had been left for their

But I knew the reprieve would be but for a short time, and though I had no wish to die, I must confess that I

The voices of the men and the lions receded in the distance, until finally quiet reigned about me, broken only

It seemed impossible to believe that in this peaceful woodland setting the frightful thing was to occur which

must come with the passing of the next lion who chanced within sight or smell of the crumbling arch.

I strove to tear myself loose from my bonds, but succeeded only in tightening them about my arms. Then I

remained passive for a long time, letting the scenes of my lifetime pass in review before my mind's eye.

I tried to imagine the astonishment, incredulity, and horror with which my family and friends would be

overwhelmed if, for an instant, space could be annihilated and they could see me at the gates of London.

The gates of London! Where was the multitude hurrying to the marts of trade after a night of pleasure or rest?

Where was the clang of tramcar gongs, the screech of motor horns, the vast murmur of a dense throng?

Where were they? And as I asked the question a lone, gaunt lion strode from the tangled jungle upon the far

side of the clearing. Majestically and noiselessly upon his padded feet the king of beasts moved slowly

Was I afraid? I fear that I was almost afraid. I know that I thought that fear was coming to me, and so I

straightened up and squared my shoulders and looked the lion straight in the eyesand waited.

It is not a nice way to diealone, with one's hands fast bound, beneath the fangs and talons of a beast of

The lion was halfway across the clearing when I heard a slight sound behind me. The great cat stopped in his

tracks. He lashed his tail against his sides now, instead of simply twitching its tip, and his low moan became

As I craned my neck to catch a glimpse of the thing that had aroused the fury of the beast before me, it sprang

through the arched gateway and was at my sidewith parted lips and heaving bosom and disheveled haira

It was Victory, and in her arms she clutched my rifle and revolver. A long knife was in the doeskin belt that

supported the doeskin skirt tightly about her lithe limbs. She dropped my weapons at my feet, and, snatching

the knife from its resting place, severed the bonds that held me. I was free, and the lion was preparing to

"Run!" I cried to the girl, as I bent and seized my rifle. But she only stood there at my side, her bared blade

The lion was bounding toward us now in prodigious leaps. I raised the rifle and fired. It was a lucky shot, for

I had no time to aim carefully, and when the beast crumpled and rolled, lifeless, to the ground, I went upon

And, still upon my knees, I turned, and taking the girl's hand in mine, I kissed it. She smiled at that, and laid

I could not but smile at that when I thought how strange it would seem to my countrymen could they but see

"And now," I said, as I rose, "you must return to the safety of your camp. I will go with you until you are near

"I do not know. Only I shall never go back while Buckingham lives. I should rather die than go back to him.

Mary came to me, after they had taken you from the camp, and told me. I found your strange weapons and

followed with them. It took me a little longer, for often I had to hide in the trees that the lions might not get

She nodded, but I could see through all her brave front that she was frightened at the thought. I could not

leave her, of course, but what in the world I was to do, cumbered with the care of a young woman, and a

queen at that, I was at a loss to know. I pointed out that phase of it to her, but she only shrugged her shapely

As we stood there we heard the sound of voices. They were coming from the forest through which we had

I didn't relish hiding. But when I thought of the innumerable dangers which surrounded us and the

comparatively small amount of ammunition that I had with me, I hesitated to provoke a battle with

Buckingham and his warriors when, by flight, I could avoid them and preserve my cartridges against

"Would they follow us there?" I asked, pointing through the archway into the Camp of the Lions.

"Never," she replied, "for, in the first place, they would know that we would not dare go there, and in the

"Why not?" I returned. "We shall be safe from Buckingham, and you have seen, for the second time in two

days, that lions are harmless before my weapons. Then, too, I can find my friends easiest in this direction, for

the River Thames runs through this place you call the Camp of the Lions, and it is farther down the Thames

As we entered deeper into what had once been the city, the evidences of man's past occupancy became more

frequent. For a mile from the arch there was only a riot of weeds and undergrowth and trees covering small

mounds and little hillocks that, I was sure, were formed of the ruins of stately buildings of the dead past.

But presently we came upon a district where shattered walls still raised their crumbling tops in sad silence

above the grassgrown sepulchers of their fallen fellows. Softened and mellowed by ancient ivy stood these

sentinels of sorrow, their scarred faces still revealing the rents and gashes of shrapnel and of bomb.

Contrary to our expectations, we found little indication that lions in any great numbers laired in this part of

ancient London. Wellworn pathways, molded by padded paws, led through the cavernous windows or

doorways of a few of the ruins we passed, and once we saw the savage face of a great, blackmaned lion

We followed down the bank of the Thames after we came upon it. I was anxious to look with my own eyes

upon the famous bridge, and I guessed, too, that the river would lead me into the part of London where stood

Realizing that the section through which we had been passing was doubtless outlying, and therefore not so

built up with large structures as the more centrally located part of the old town, I felt sure that farther down

the river I should find the ruins larger. The bridge would be there in part, at least, and so would remain the

walls of many of the great edifices of the past. There would be no such complete ruin of large structures as I

But when I had come to that part of the city which I judged to have contained the relics I sought I found

At one point upon the bosom of the Thames there rises a few feet above the water a single, disintegrating

mound of masonry. Opposite it, upon either bank of the river, are tumbled piles of ruins overgrown with

These, I am forced to believe, are all that remain of London Bridge, for nowhere else along the river is there

Rounding the base of a large pile of grasscovered debris, we came suddenly upon the best preserved ruin we

had yet discovered. The entire lower story and part of the second story of what must once have been a

splendid public building rose from a great knoll of shrubbery and trees, while ivy, thick and luxuriant,

In many places the gray stone was still exposed, its smoothly chiseled face pitted with the scars of battle. The

massive portal yawned, somber and sorrowful, before us, giving a glimpse of marble halls within.

The temptation to enter was too great. I wished to explore the interior of this one remaining monument of

civilization now dead beyond recall. Through this same portal, within these very marble halls, had Gray and

Chamberlin and Kitchener and Shaw, perhaps, come and gone with the other great ones of the past.

"Come!" I said. "I do not know the name by which this great pile was known, nor the purposes it fulfilled. It

may have been the palace of your sires, Victory. From some great throne within, your forebears may have

I must confess to a feeling of awe as we entered the rotunda of the great building. Pieces of massive furniture

of another day still stood where man had placed them centuries ago. They were littered with dust and broken

stone and plaster, but, otherwise, so perfect was their preservation I could hardly believe that two centuries

Through one great room after another we wandered, hand in hand, while Victory asked many questions and

for the first time I began to realize something of the magnificence and power of the race from whose loins she

Splendid tapestries, now mildewed and rotting, hung upon the walls. There were mural paintings, too,

depicting great historic events of the past. For the first time Victory saw the likeness of a horse, and she was

much affected by a huge oil which depicted some ancient cavalry charge against a battery of field guns.

In other pictures there were steamships, battleships, submarines, and quaint looking railway trainsall small

and antiquated in appearance to me, but wonderful to Victory. She told me that she would like to remain for

From room to room we passed until presently we emerged into a mighty chamber, dark and gloomy, for its

high and narrow windows were choked and clogged by ivy. Along one paneled wall we groped, our eyes

slowly becoming accustomed to the darkness. A rank and pungent odor pervaded the atmosphere.

We had made our way about half the distance across one end of the great apartment when a low growl from

Straining my eyes through the gloom, I made out a raised dais at the extreme opposite end of the hall. Upon

Yes, lions indeed! Sprawled about the dais were a dozen huge forms, while upon the seat of one of the

As we stood there for a moment, spellbound by the sight of those fearsome creatures occupying the very

thrones of the sovereigns of England, the low growl was repeated, and a great male rose slowly to his feet.

His devilish eyes bored straight through the semidarkness toward us. He had discovered the interloper.

What right had man within this palace of the beasts? Again he opened his giant jaws, and this time there

Instantly eight or ten of the other beasts leaped to their feet. Already the great fellow who had spied us was

advancing slowly in our direction. I held my rifle ready, but how futile it appeared in the face of this savage

The foremost beast broke into a slow trot, and at his heels came the others. All were roaring now, and the din

of their great voices reverberating through the halls and corridors of the palace formed the most frightful

And then the leader charged, and upon the hideous pandemonium broke the sharp crack of my rifle, once,

twice, thrice. Three lions rolled, struggling and biting, to the floor. Victory seized my arm, with a quick,

"This way! Here is a door," and a moment later we were in a tiny antechamber at the foot of a narrow stone

Up this we backed, Victory just behind me, as the first of the remaining lions leaped from the throne room

and sprang for the stairs. Again I fired, but others of the ferocious beasts leaped over their fallen fellows and

The stairs were very narrowthat was all that saved usfor as I backed slowly upward, but a single lion

could attack me at a time, and the carcasses of those I slew impeded the rushes of the others.

At last we reached the top. There was a long corridor from which opened many doorways. One, directly

behind us, was tight closed. If we could open it and pass into the chamber behind we might find a respite

The remaining lions were roaring horribly. I saw one sneaking very slowly up the stairs toward us.

"Turn the knob!" I cried, seeing that she did not know how to open a door, but neither did she know what I

I put a bullet in the spine of the approaching lion and leaped to Victory's side. The door resisted my first

efforts to swing it inward. Rusted hinges and swollen wood held it tightly closed. But at last it gave, and just

as another lion mounted to the top of the stairway it swung in, and I pushed Victory across the threshold.

Then I turned to meet the renewed attack of the savage foe. One lion fell in his tracks, another stumbled to

A quick glance showed me that this was the only door to the small apartment in which we had found

sanctuary, and, with a sigh of relief, I leaned for a moment against the panels of the stout barrier that

Across the room, between two windows, stood a flattopped desk. A little pile of white and brown lay upon it

close to the opposite edge. After a moment of rest I crossed the room to investigate. The white was the

bleached human bonesthe skull, collar bones, arms, and a few of the upper ribs of a man. The brown was

the dust of a decayed military cap and blouse. In a chair before the desk were other bones, while more still

strewed the floor beneath the desk and about the chair. A man had died sitting there with his face buried in

Beneath the desk were a pair of spurred military boots, green and rotten with decay. In them were the leg

bones of a man. Among the tiny bones of the hands was an ancient fountain pen, as good, apparently, as the

day it was made, and a metal covered memoranda book, closed over the bones of an index finger.

I picked up the metal covered memoranda book. Its pages were rotten and stuck together. Only here and there

was a sentence or a part of a sentence legible. The first that I could read was near the middle of the little

"His majesty left for Tunbridge Wells today, he . . . jesty was stricken . . . terday. God give she does not die .

"Thank God we drove them out. There is not a single . . . man on British soil today; but at what awful cost. I

tried to persuade Sir Phillip to urge the people to remain. But they are mad with fear of the Death, and rage at

our enemies. He tells me that the coast cities are packed . . . waiting to be taken across. What will become of

". . . alone. Only the wild beasts . . . A lion is roaring now beneath the palace windows. I think the people

feared the beasts even more than they did the Death. But they are gone, all gone, and to what? How much

better conditions will they find on the continent? All goneonly I remain. I promised his majesty, and when

he returns he will find that I was true to my trust, for I shall be awaiting him. God save the King!"

That was all. This brave and forever nameless officer died nobly at his posttrue to his country and his king.

Some of the entries had been dated. From the few legible letters and figures which remained I judge the end

The diary has cleared up at least one mystery that had puzzled me not a little, and now I am surprised that I

had not guessed its solution myselfthe presence of African and Asiatic beasts in England.

Acclimated by years of confinement in the zoological gardens, they were fitted to resume in England the wild

existence for which nature had intended them, and once free, had evidently bred prolifically, in marked

contrast to the captive exotics of twentieth century PanAmerica, which had gradually become fewer until

The palace, if such it was, lay not far from the banks of the Thames. The room in which we were imprisoned

To descend through the palace was out of the question, but outside we could discover no lions. The stems of

the ivy which clambered upward past the window of the room were as large around as my arm. I knew that

they would support our weight, and as we could gain nothing by remaining longer in the palace, I decided to

descend by way of the ivy and follow along down the river in the direction of the launch.

Naturally I was much handicapped by the presence of the girl. But I could not abandon her, though I had no

idea what I should do with her after rejoining my companions. That she would prove a burden and an

embarrassment I was certain, but she had made it equally plain to me that she would never return to her

I owed my life to her, and, all other considerations aside, that was sufficient demand upon my gratitude and

my honor to necessitate my suffering every inconvenience in her service. Too, she was queen of England.

But, by far the most potent argument in her favor, she was a woman in distressand a young and very

And so, though I wished a thousand times that she was back in her camp, I never let her guess it, but did all

that lay within my power to serve and protect her. I thank God now that I did so.

With the lions still padding back and forth beyond the closed door, Victory and I crossed the room to one of

the windows. I had outlined my plan to her, and she had assured me that she could descend the ivy without

Swinging myself outward, I began the descent, and had come to within a few feet of the ground, being just

opposite a narrow window, when I was startled by a savage growl almost in my ear, and then a great taloned

paw darted from the aperture to seize me, and I saw the snarling face of a lion within the embrasure.

Releasing my hold upon the ivy, I dropped the remaining distance to the ground, saved from laceration only

The creature was making a frightful racket now, leaping back and forth from the floor at the broad window

ledge, tearing at the masonry with his claws in vain attempts to reach me. But the opening was too narrow,

Victory had commenced the descent, but I called to her to stop just above the window, and, as the lion

reappeared, growling and snarling, I put a .33 bullet in his face, and at the same moment Victory slipped

The roaring of the beasts that had discovered us, together with the report of my rifle, had set the balance of

the fierce inmates of the palace into the most frightful uproar I have ever heard.

I feared that it would not be long before intelligence or instinct would draw them from the interiors and set

them upon our trail, the river. Nor had we much more than reached it when a lion bounded around the corner

of the edifice we had just quitted and stood looking about as though in search of us.

Following, came others, while Victory and I crouched in hiding behind a clump of bushes close to the bank of

the river. The beasts sniffed about the ground for a while, but they did not chance to go near the spot where

Presently a blackmaned male raised his head, and, with cocked ears and glaring eyes, gazed straight at the

bush behind which we lay. I could have sworn that he had discovered us, and when he took a few short and

stately steps in our direction I raised my rifle and covered him. But, after a long, tense moment he looked

I breathed a sigh of relief, and so did Victory. I could feel her body quiver as she lay pressed close to me, our

cheeks almost touching as we both peered through the same small opening in the foliage.

I turned to give her a reassuring smile as the lion indicated that he had not seen us, and as I did so she, too,

turned her face toward mine, for the same purpose, doubtless. Anyway, as our heads turned simultaneously,

our lips brushed together. A startled expression came into Victory's eyes as she drew back in evident

As for me, the strangest sensation that I have ever experienced claimed me for an instant. A peculiar, tingling

Naturally, being a naval officer and consequently in the best society of the federation, I have seen much of

women. With others, I have laughed at the assertions of the savants that modern man is a cold and passionless

creation in comparison with the males of former agesin a word, that love, as the one grand passion, had

I do not know, now, but that they were more nearly right than we have guessed, at least in so far as modern

civilized woman is concerned. I have kissed many womenyoung and beautiful and middle aged and old,

and many that I had no business kissingbut never before had I experienced that remarkable and altogether

delightful thrill that followed the accidental brushing of my lips against the lips of Victory.

The occurrence interested me, and I was tempted to experiment further. But when I would have essayed it

another new and entirely unaccountable force restrained me. For the first time in my life I felt embarrassment

What further might have developed I cannot say, for at that moment a perfect shedevil of a lioness, with

keener eyes than her lord and master, discovered us. She came trotting toward our place of concealment,

I waited for an instant, hoping that I might be mistaken, and that she would turn off in some other direction.

But noshe increased her trot to a gallop, and then I fired at her, but the bullet, though it struck her full in

Screaming with pain and rage, the creature fairly flew toward us. Behind her came other lions. Our case

looked hopeless. We were upon the brink of the river. There seemed no avenue of escape, and I knew that

even my modern automatic rifle was inadequate in the face of so many of these fierce beasts.

To remain where we were would have been suicidal. We were both standing now, Victory keeping her place

Seizing the girl's hand, I turned, just as the lioness crashed into the opposite side of the bushes, and, dragging

I did not know that lions are not fond of water, nor did I know if Victory could swim, but death, immediate

At this point the current ran close to the shore, so that we were immediately in deep water, and, to my intense

satisfaction, Victory struck out with a strong, overhand stroke and set all my fears on her account at rest.

But my relief was shortlived. That lioness, as I have said before, was a veritable devil. She stood for a

moment glaring at us, then like a shot she sprang into the river and swam swiftly after us.

I was much impeded by my rifle, having to swim with one hand while I clung to my precious weapon with

the other. The girl had seen the lioness take to the water, and she had also seen that I was swimming much

"Go on!" I cried. "Make for the other shore, and then follow down until you find my friends. Tell them that I

But she only waited until we were again swimming side by side, and I saw that she had drawn her long knife,

The lioness was overhauling us rapidly. She was swimming silently, her chin just touching the water, but

blood was streaming from between her lips. It was evident that her lungs were pierced.

She was almost upon me. I saw that in a moment she would take me under her forepaws, or seize me in those

great jaws. I felt that my time had come, but I meant to die fighting. And so I turned, and, treading water,

Victory, animated by a bravery no less ferocious than that of the dumb beast assailing us, swam straight for

me. It all happened so swiftly that I cannot recall the details of the kaleidoscopic action which ensued. I knew

that I rose high out of the water, and, with clubbed rifle, dealt the animal a terrific blow upon the skull, that I

saw Victory, her long blade flashing in her hand, close, striking, upon the beast, that a great paw fell upon her

shoulder, and that I was swept beneath the surface of the water like a straw before the prow of a freighter.

Still clinging to my rifle, I rose again, to see the lioness struggling in her death throes but an arm's length

from me. Scarcely had I risen than the beast turned upon her side, struggled frantically for an instant, and

Victory was nowhere in sight. Alone, I floated upon the bosom of the Thames. In that brief instant I believe

that I suffered more mental anguish than I have crowded into all the balance of my life before or since. A few

hours before, I had been wishing that I might be rid of her, and now that she was gone I would have given my

Wearily I turned to swim about the spot where she had disappeared, hoping that she might rise once at least,

and I would be given the opportunity to save her, and, as I turned, the water boiled before my face and her

head shot up before me. I was on the point of striking out to seize her, when a happy smile illumined her

"You are not dead!" she cried. "I have been searching the bottom for you. I was sure that the blow she gave

"The blow you struck her with the thing you call rifle stunned her," she explained, "and then I swam in close

Ah, such a girl! I could not but wonder what one of our own PanAmerican women would have done under

like circumstances. But then, of course, they have not been trained by stern necessity to cope with the

Along the bank we had just quitted, a score of lions paced to and fro, growling menacingly. We could not

return, and we struck out for the opposite shore. I am a strong swimmer, and had no doubt as to my ability to

cross the river, but I was not so sure about Victory, so I swam close behind her, to be ready to give her

She did not, however, reaching the opposite bank as fresh, apparently, as when she entered the water. Victory

is a wonder. Each day that we were together brought new proofs of it. Nor was it her courage or vitality only

which amazed me. She had a head on those shapely shoulders of hers, and dignity! My, but she could be regal

She told me that the lions were fewer upon this side of the river, but that there were many wolves, running in

great packs later in the year. Now they were north somewhere, and we should have little to fear from them,

My first concern was to take my weapons apart and dry them, which was rather difficult in the face of the fact

that every rag about me was drenched. But finally, thanks to the sun and much rubbing, I succeeded, though I

We ate some wild berries and roots that Victory found, and then we set off again down the river, keeping an

eye open for game on one side and the launch on the other, for I thought that Delcarte, who would be the

The balance of that day we sought in vain for game or for the launch, and when night came we lay down, our

stomachs empty, to sleep beneath the stars. We were entirely unprotected from attack from wild beasts, and

for this reason I remained awake most of the night, on guard. But nothing approached us, though I could hear

the lions roaring across the river, and once I thought I heard the howl of a beast north of usit might have

Altogether, it was a most unpleasant night, and I determined then that if we were forced to sleep out again

that I should provide some sort of shelter which would protect us from attack while we slept.

Toward morning I dozed, and the sun was well up when Victory aroused me by gently shaking my shoulder.

"Antelope!" she whispered in my ear, and, as I raised my head, she pointed upriver. Crawling to my knees, I

looked in the direction she indicated, to see a buck standing upon a little knoll some two hundred yards from

us. There was good cover between the animal and me, and so, though I might have hit him at two hundred

yards, I preferred to crawl closer to him and make sure of the meat we both so craved.

I had covered about fifty yards of the distance, and the beast was still feeding peacefully, so I thought that I

would make even surer of a hit by going ahead another fifty yards, when the animal suddenly raised his head

and looked away, upriver. His whole attitude proclaimed that he was startled by something beyond him that

Realizing that he might break and run and that I should then probably miss him entirely, I raised my rifle to

my shoulder. But even as I did so the animal leaped into the air, and simultaneously there was a sound of a

For an instant I was dumbfounded. Had the report come from downriver, I should have instantly thought

that one of my own men had fired. But coming from upriver it puzzled me considerably. Who could there

Victory was directly behind me, and I motioned for her to lie down, as I did, behind the bush from which I

had been upon the point of firing at the antelope. We could see that the buck was quite dead, and from our

hiding place we waited to discover the identity of his slayer when the latter should approach and claim his

We had not long to wait, and when I saw the head and shoulders of a man appear above the crest of the knoll,

At the sound of my voice, Delcarte half raised his rifle in readiness for the attack of an enemy, but a moment

later he recognized me, and was coming rapidly to meet us. Behind him was Snider. They both were

astounded to see me upon the north bank of the river, and much more so at the sight of my companion.

Then I introduced them to Victory, and told them that she was queen of England. They thought, at first, that I

was joking. But when I had recounted my adventures and they realized that I was in earnest, they believed

They told me that they had followed me inshore when I had not returned from the hunt, that they had met the

men of the elephant country, and had had a short and onesided battle with the fellows. And that afterward

they had returned to the launch with a prisoner, from whom they had learned that I had probably been

With the prisoner as a guide they had set off upriver in search of me, but had been much delayed by motor

trouble, and had finally camped after dark a half mile above the spot where Victory and I had spent the night.

They must have passed us in the dark, and why I did not hear the sound of the propeller I do not know, unless

it passed me at a time when the lions were making an unusually earsplitting din upon the opposite side.

Taking the antelope with us, we all returned to the launch, where we found Taylor as delighted to see me

alive again as Delcarte had been. I cannot say truthfully that Snider evinced much enthusiasm at my rescue.

Taylor had found the ingredients for chemical fuel, and the distilling of them had, with the motor trouble,

The prisoner that Delcarte and Snider had taken was a powerful young fellow from the elephant country.

Notwithstanding the fact that they had all assured him to the contrary, he still could not believe that we would

He assured us that his name was Thirtysix, and, as he could not count above ten, I am sure that he had no

conception of the correct meaning of the word, and that it may have been handed down to him either from the

military number of an ancestor who had served in the English ranks during the Great War, or that originally it

Now that we were reunited, we held a council to determine what course we should pursue in the immediate

future. Snider was still for setting out to sea and returning to PanAmerica, but the better judgment of

Delcarte and Taylor ridiculed the suggestionwe should not have lived a fortnight.

To remain in England, constantly menaced by wild beasts and men equally as wild, seemed about as bad. I

suggested that we cross the Channel and ascertain if we could not discover a more enlightened and civilized

people upon the continent. I was sure that some trace of the ancient culture and greatness of Europe must

remain. Germany, probably, would be much as it was during the twentieth century, for, in common with most

Snider demurred at the suggestion. He said that it was bad enough to have come this far. He did not want to

make it worse by going to the continent. The outcome of it was that I finally lost my patience, and told him

that from then on he would do what I thought bestthat I proposed to assume command of the party, and

that they might all consider themselves under my orders, as much so as though we were still aboard the

Delcarte and Taylor immediately assured me that they had not for an instant assumed anything different, and

that they were as ready to follow and obey me here as they would be upon the other side of thirty.

Snider said nothing, but he wore a sullen scowl. And I wished then, as I had before, and as I did to a much

greater extent later, that fate had not decreed that he should have chanced to be a member of the launch's

Victory, who was given a voice in our councils, was all for going to the continent, or anywhere else, in fact,

"Afterward we can come back to Grabritin," she said, "and if Buckingham is not dead and we can catch him

away from his men and kill him, then I can return to my people, and we can all live in peace and happiness."

She spoke of killing Buckingham with no greater concern than one might evince in the contemplated

destruction of a sheep; yet she was neither cruel nor vindictive. In fact, Victory is a very sweet and womanly

woman. But human life is of small account beyond thirtya legacy from the bloody days when thousands of

men perished in the trenches between the rising and the setting of a sun, when they laid them lengthwise in

these same trenches and sprinkled dirt over them, when the Germans corded their corpses like wood and set

fire to them, when women and children and old men were butchered, and great passenger ships were

Thirtysix, finally assured that we did not intend slaying him, was as keen to accompany us as was Victory.

The crossing to the continent was uneventful, its monotony being relieved, however, by the childish delight

of Victory and Thirtysix in the novel experience of riding safely upon the bosom of the water, and of being

With the possible exception of Snider, the little party appeared in the best of spirits, laughing and joking, or

interestedly discussing the possibilities which the future held for us: what we should find upon the continent,

Victory asked me to explain the difference between the two, and when I had tried to do so as clearly as

I could not but laugh, too, as I admitted that she was, indeed, a barbarian. She was not offended, taking the

matter as a huge joke. But some time thereafter she sat in silence, apparently deep in thought. Finally she

"Should you take that thing you call 'razor,'" she said, "and cut the hair from the face of Thirtysix, and

exchange garments with him, you would be the barbarian and Thirtysix the civilized man. There is no other

difference between you, except your weapons. Clothe you in a wolfskin, give you a knife and a spear, and set

you down in the woods of Grabritinof what service would your civilization be to you?"

Delcarte and Taylor smiled at her reply, but Thirtysix and Snider laughed uproariously. I was not surprised

at Thirty six, but I thought that Snider laughed louder than the occasion warranted. As a matter of fact,

Snider, it seemed to me, was taking advantage of every opportunity, however slight, to show insubordination,

and I determined then that at the first real breach of discipline I should take action that would remind Snider,

I could not help but notice that his eyes were much upon Victory, and I did not like it, for I knew the type of

man he was. But as it would not be necessary ever to leave the girl alone with him I felt no apprehension for

After the incident of the discussion of barbarians I thought that Victory's manner toward me changed

perceptibly. She held aloof from me, and when Snider took his turn at the wheel, sat beside him, upon the

pretext that she wished to learn how to steer the launch. I wondered if she had guessed the man's antipathy for

Snider was, too, taking full advantage of his opportunity. Often he leaned toward the girl to whisper in her

Of course, it was nothing at all to me; yet, for some unaccountable reason, the sight of the two of them sitting

there so close to one another and seeming to be enjoying each other's society to such a degree irritated me

tremendously, and put me in such a bad humor that I took no pleasure whatsoever in the last few hours of the

We aimed to land near the site of ancient Ostend. But when we neared the coast we discovered no indication

of any human habitations whatever, let alone a city. After we had landed, we found the same howling

wilderness about us that we had discovered on the British Isle. There was no slightest indication that civilized

Although I had feared as much, since our experience in England, I could not but own to a feeling of marked

disappointment, and to the gravest fears of the future, which induced a mental depression that was in no way

I was angry with myself that I permitted that matter to affect me as it had. I did not wish to admit to myself

that I was angry with this uncultured little savage, that it made the slightest difference to me what she did or

what she did not do, or that I could so lower myself as to feel personal enmity towards a common sailor. And

Finding nothing to detain us about the spot where Ostend once had stood, we set out up the coast in search of

the mouth of the River Rhine, which I purposed ascending in search of civilized man. It was my intention to

explore the Rhine as far up as the launch would take us. If we found no civilization there we would return to

the North Sea, continue up the coast to the Elbe, and follow that river and the canals of Berlin. Here, at least,

I was sure that we should find what we soughtand, if not, then all Europe had reverted to barbarism.

The weather remained fine, and we made excellent progress, but everywhere along the Rhine we met with the

I was not enjoying the exploration of modern Europe as I had anticipatedI was unhappy. Victory seemed

changed, too. I had enjoyed her company at first, but since the trip across the Channel I had held aloof from

Her chin was in the air most of the time, and yet I rather think that she regretted her friendliness with Snider,

for I noticed that she avoided him entirely. He, on the contrary, emboldened by her former friendliness,

sought every opportunity to be near her. I should have liked nothing better than a reasonably good excuse to

punch his head; yet, paradoxically, I was ashamed of myself for harboring him any ill will. I realized that

Matters remained thus for several days, and we continued our journey up the Rhine. At Cologne, I had hoped

to find some reassuring indications, but there was no Cologne. And as there had been no other cities along the

river up to that point, the devastation was infinitely greater than time alone could have wrought. Great guns,

bombs, and mines must have leveled every building that man had raised, and then nature, unhindered, had

covered the ghastly evidence of human depravity with her beauteous mantle of verdure. Splendid trees reared

their stately tops where splendid cathedrals once had reared their domes, and sweet wild flowers blossomed

Nature had reclaimed what man had once stolen from her and defiled. A herd of zebras grazed where once

the German kaiser may have reviewed his troops. An antelope rested peacefully in a bed of daisies where,

perhaps, two hundred years ago a big gun belched its terrorladen messages of death, of hate, of destruction

We were in need of fresh meat, yet I hesitated to shatter the quiet and peaceful serenity of the view with the

crack of a rifle and the death of one of those beautiful creatures before us. But it had to be donewe must

eat. I left the work to Delcarte, however, and in a moment we had two antelope and the landscape to

After eating, we boarded the launch and continued up the river. For two days we passed through a primeval

wilderness. In the afternoon of the second day we landed upon the west bank of the river, and, leaving Snider

and Thirtysix to guard Victory and the launch, Delcarte, Taylor, and I set out after game.

We tramped away from the river for upwards of an hour before discovering anything, and then only a small

red deer, which Taylor brought down with a neat shot of two hundred yards. It was getting too late to proceed

farther, so we rigged a sling, and the two men carried the deer back toward the launch while I walked a

We had covered about half the distance to the river, when I suddenly came face to face with a man. He was as

primitive and uncouth in appearance as the Grabritinsa shaggy, unkempt savage, clothed in a shirt of skin

cured with the head on, the latter surmounting his own head to form a bonnet, and giving to him a most

The fellow was armed with a long spear and a club, the latter dangling down his back from a leathern thong

At sight of me, he halted for an instant, then turned and dove into the forest, and, though I called reassuringly

The sight of the wild man raised my hopes once more that elsewhere we might find men in a higher state of

civilizationit was the society of civilized man that I cravedand so, with a lighter heart, I continued on

I was still some distance ahead of Delcarte and Taylor, when I came in sight of the Rhine again. But I came

to the water's edge before I noticed that anything was amiss with the party we had left there a few hours

My first intimation of disaster was the absence of the launch from its former moorings. And then, a moment

later I discovered the body of a man lying upon the bank. Running toward it, I saw that it was Thirtysix,

and as I stopped and raised the Grabritin's head in my arms, I heard a faint moan break from his lips. He was

Delcarte and Taylor came up a moment later, and the three of us worked over the fellow, hoping to revive

him that he might tell us what had happened, and what had become of the others. My first thought was

prompted by the sight I had recently had of the savage native. The little party had evidently been surprised,

and in the attack Thirtysix had been wounded and the others taken prisoners. The thought was almost like a

physical blow in the faceit stunned me. Victory in the hands of these abysmal brutes! It was frightful. I

I explained my theory to the others, and then Delcarte shattered it by a single movement of the hand. He drew

aside the lion's skin that covered half of the Grabritin's breast, revealing a neat, round hole in Thirtysix's

"Snider!" I exclaimed. Delcarte nodded. At about the same time the eyelids of the wounded man fluttered,

and raised. He looked up at us, and very slowly the light of consciousness returned to his eyes.

He tried to reply, but the effort caused him to cough, bringing about a hemorrhage of the lungs and again he

fell back exhausted. For several long minutes he lay as one dead, then in an almost inaudible whisper he

"Snider" He paused, tried to speak again, raised a hand, and pointed downriver. "Theywentback,"

None of us voiced his belief. But I think they were all alike: Victory and Snider had stolen the launch, and

We stood there, grouped about the body of the dead Grabritin, looking futilely down the river to where it

made an abrupt curve to the west, a quarter of a mile below us, and was lost to sight, as though we expected

to see the truant returning to us with our precious launchthe thing that meant life or death to us in this

I felt, rather than saw, Taylor turn his eyes slowly toward my profile, and, as mine swung to meet them, the

expression upon his face recalled me to my duty and responsibility as an officer.

The utter hopelessness that was reflected in his face must have been the counterpart of what I myself felt, but

in that brief instant I determined to hide my own misgivings that I might bolster up the courage of the others.

"We are lost!" was written as plainly upon Taylor's face as though his features were the printed words upon

an open book. He was thinking of the launch, and of the launch alone. Was I? I tried to think that I was. But a

greater grief than the loss of the launch could have engendered in me, filled my hearta sullen, gnawing

misery which I tried to denywhich I refused to admitbut which persisted in obsessing me until my heart

rose and filled my throat, and I could not speak when I would have uttered words of reassurance to my

And then rage came to my reliefrage against the vile traitor who had deserted three of his fellow

countrymen in so frightful a position. I tried to feel an equal rage against the woman, but somehow I could

not, and kept searching for excuses for herher youth, her inexperience, her savagery.

My rising anger swept away my temporary helplessness. I smiled, and told Taylor not to look so glum.

"We will follow them," I said, "and the chances are that we shall overtake them. They will not travel as

rapidly as Snider probably hopes. He will be forced to halt for fuel and for food, and the launch must follow

the windings of the river; we can take short cuts while they are traversing the detour. I have my mapthank

God! I always carry it upon my personand with that and the compass we will have an advantage over

My words seemed to cheer them both, and they were for starting off at once in pursuit. There was no reason

why we should delay, and we set forth down the river. As we tramped along, we discussed a question that

was uppermost in the mind of eachwhat we should do with Snider when we had captured him, for with the

action of pursuit had come the optimistic conviction that we should succeed. As a matter of fact, we had to

succeed. The very thought of remaining in this utter wilderness for the rest of our lives was impossible.

We arrived at nothing very definite in the matter of Snider's punishment, since Taylor was for shooting him,

Delcarte insisting that he should be hanged, while I, although fully conscious of the gravity of his offense,

I fell to wondering what charm Victory had found in such a man as Snider, and why I insisted upon finding

excuses for her and trying to defend her indefensible act. She was nothing to me. Aside from the natural

gratitude I felt for her since she had saved my life, I owed her nothing. She was a halfnaked little savageI,

a gentleman, and an officer in the world's greatest navy. There could be no close bonds of interest between

This line of reflection I discovered to be as distressing as the former, but, though I tried to turn my mind to

other things, it persisted in returning to the vision of an oval face, suntanned; of smiling lips, revealing

white and even teeth; of brave eyes that harbored no shadow of guile; and of a tumbling mass of wavy hair

Every time this vision presented itself I felt myself turn cold with rage and hate against Snider. I could

forgive the launch, but if he had wronged her he should diehe should die at my own hands; in this I was

For two days we followed the river northward, cutting off where we could, but confined for the most part to

the game trails that paralleled the stream. One afternoon, we cut across a narrow neck of land that saved us

Here we decided to halt, for we had had a hard day of it, and, if the truth were known, I think that we had all

We had shot a deer just before our halt, and, as Taylor and Delcarte were preparing it, I walked down to the

water to fill our canteens. I had just finished, and was straightening up, when something floating around a

bend above me caught my eye. For a moment I could not believe the testimony of my own senses. It was a

"The launch!" cried Delcarte; and, indeed, it was the launch, floating downriver from above us. Where had

it been? How had we passed it? And how were we to reach it now, should Snider and the girl discover us?

I was stripping off my clothes, and Delcarte soon followed my example. I told Taylor to remain on shore with

the clothing and rifles. He might also serve us better there, since it would give him an opportunity to take a

With powerful strokes we swam out in the path of the oncoming launch. Being a stronger swimmer than

Delcarte, I soon was far in the lead, reaching the center of the channel just as the launch bore down upon me.

It was drifting broadside on. I seized the gunwale and raised myself quickly, so that my chin topped the side.

I expected a blow the moment that I came within the view of the occupants, but no blow fell.

Snider lay upon his back in the bottom of the boat alone. Even before I had clambered in and stooped above

him I knew that he was dead. Without examining him further, I ran forward to the control board and pressed

the starting button. To my relief, the mechanism respondedthe launch was uninjured. Coming about, I

picked up Delcarte. He was astounded at the sight that met his eyes, and immediately fell to examining

Snider's body for signs of life or an explanation of the manner in which he met his death.

The fellow had been dead for hourshe was cold and still. But Delcarte's search was not without results, for

above Snider's heart was a wound, a slit about an inch in length such a slit as a sharp knife would make,

and in the dead fingers of one hand was clutched a strand of long brown hairVictory's hair was brown.

They say that dead men tell no tales, but Snider told the story of his end as clearly as though the dead lips had

parted and poured forth the truth. The beast had attacked the girl, and she had defended her honor.

We buried Snider beside the Rhine, and no stone marks his last resting place. Beasts do not require

Then we set out in the launch, turning her nose upstream. When I had told Delcarte and Taylor that I intended

"We had her wrong in our thoughts," said Delcarte, "and the least that we can do in expiation is to find and

We called her name aloud every few minutes as we motored up the river, but, though we returned all the way

to our former camping place, we did not find her. I then decided to retrace our journey, letting Taylor handle

the launch, while Delcarte and I, upon opposite sides of the river, searched for some sign of the spot where

We found nothing until we had reached a point a few miles above the spot where I had first seen the launch

drifting down toward us, and there I discovered the remnants of a recent camp fire.

That Victory carried flint and steel I was aware, and that it was she who built the fire I was positive. But

Would she go on down the river, that she might thus bring herself nearer her own Grabritin, or would she

I had hailed Taylor, and sent him across the river to take in Delcarte, that the two might join me and discuss

While waiting for them, I stood looking out over the river, my back toward the woods that stretched away to

the east behind me. Delcarte was just stepping into the launch upon the opposite side of the stream, when,

without the least warning, I was violently seized by both arms and about the waistthree or four men were

upon me at once; my rifle was snatched from my hands and my revolver from my belt.

I struggled for an instant, but finding my efforts of no avail, I ceased them, and turned my head to have a look

at my assailants. At the same time several others of them walked around in front of me, and, to my

astonishment, I found myself looking upon uniformed soldiery, armed with rifles, revolvers, and sabers, but

Delcorte and Taylor were now in misstream, coming toward us, and I called to them to keep aloof until I

knew whether the intentions of my captors were friendly or otherwise. My good men wanted to come on and

annihilate the blacks. But there were upward of a hundred of the latter, all well armed, and so I commanded

A young officer called and beckoned to them. But they refused to come, and so he gave orders that resulted in

my hands being secured at my back, after which the company marched away, straight toward the east.

I noticed that the men wore spurs, which seemed strange to me. But when, late in the afternoon, we arrived at

In the center of a plain stood a log fort, with a block house at each of its four corners. As we approached, I

saw a herd of cavalry horses grazing under guard outside the walls of the post. They were small, stocky

horses, but the telltale saddle galls proclaimed their calling. The flag flying from a tall staff inside the

We marched directly into the compound, where the company was dismissed, with the exception of a guard of

four privates, who escorted me in the wake of the young officer. The latter led us across a small parade

ground, where a battery of light field guns was parked, and toward a log building, in front of which rose the

I was escorted within the building into the presence of an old negro, a fine looking man, with a dignified and

military bearing. He was a colonel, I was to learn later, and to him I owe the very humane treatment that was

He listened to the report of his junior, and then turned to question me, but with no better results than the

former had accomplished. Then he summoned an orderly, and gave some instructions. The soldier saluted,

and left the room, returning in about five minutes with a hairy old white man just such a savage,

primevallooking fellow as I had discovered in the woods the day that Snider had disappeared with the

The colonel evidently expected to use the fellow as interpreter, but when the savage addressed me it was in a

language as foreign to me as was that of the blacks. At last the old officer gave it up, and, shaking his head,

From his office I was led to a guardhouse, in which I found about fifty halfnaked whites, clad in the skins of

wild beasts. I tried to converse with them, but not one of them could understand PanAmerican, nor could I

For over a month I remained a prisoner there, working from morning until night at odd jobs about the

headquarters building of the commanding officer. The other prisoners worked harder than I did, and I owe my

better treatment solely to the kindliness and discrimination of the old colonel.

What had become of Victory, of Delcarte, of Taylor I could not know; nor did it seem likely that I should

ever learn. I was most depressed. But I whiled away my time in performing the duties given me to the best of

Who they were or where they came from was a mystery to me. That they were the outpost of some powerful

black nation seemed likely, yet where the seat of that nation lay I could not guess.

They looked upon the whites as their inferiors, and treated us accordingly. They had a literature of their own,

and many of the men, even the common soldiers, were omnivorous readers. Every two weeks a dustcovered

trooper would trot his jaded mount into the post and deliver a bulging sack of mail at headquarters. The next

day he would be away again upon a fresh horse toward the south, carrying the soldiers' letters to friends in the

Troops, sometimes mounted and sometimes afoot, left the post daily for what I assumed to be patrol duty. I

judged the little force of a thousand men were detailed here to maintain the authority of a distant government

in a conquered country. Later, I learned that my surmise was correct, and this was but one of a great chain of

similar posts that dotted the new frontier of the black nation into whose hands I had fallen.

Slowly I learned their tongue, so that I could understand what was said before me, and make myself

understood. I had seen from the first that I was being treated as a slave that all whites that fell into the

Almost daily new prisoners were brought in, and about three weeks after I was brought in to the post a troop

of cavalry came from the south to relieve one of the troops stationed there. There was great jubilation in the

encampment after the arrival of the newcomers, old friendships were renewed and new ones made. But the

The next morning they started away, and as they were forced upon the parade ground we prisoners were

marched from our quarters and lined up before them. A couple of long chains were brought, with rings in the

links every few feet. At first I could not guess the purpose of these chains. But I was soon to learn.

A couple of soldiers snapped the first ring around the neck of a powerful white slave, and one by one the rest

of us were herded to our places, and the work of shackling us neck to neck commenced.

The colonel stood watching the procedure. Presently his eyes fell upon me, and he spoke to a young officer at

his side. The latter stepped toward me and motioned me to follow him. I did so, and was led back to the

By this time I could understand a few words of their strange language, and when the colonel asked me if I

would prefer to remain at the post as his body servant, I signified my willingness as emphatically as possible,

for I had seen enough of the brutality of the common soldiers toward their white slaves to have no desire to

start out upon a march of unknown length, chained by the neck, and driven on by the great whips that a score

About three hundred prisoners who had been housed in six prisons at the post marched out of the gates that

morning, toward what fate and what future I could not guess. Neither had the poor devils themselves more

than the most vague conception of what lay in store for them, except that they were going elsewhere to

continue in the slavery that they had known since their capture by their black conquerorsa slavery that was

My position was altered at the post. From working about the headquarters office, I was transferred to the

colonel's living quarters. I had greater freedom, and no longer slept in one of the prisons, but had a little room

My master was always kind to me, and under him I rapidly learned the language of my captors, and much

concerning them that had been a mystery to me before. His name was Abu Belik. He was a colonel in the

cavalry of Abyssinia, a country of which I do not remember ever hearing, but which Colonel Belik assured

Colonel Belik was born in Adis Abeba, the capital of the empire, and until recently had been in command of

the emperor's palace guard. Jealousy and the ambition and intrigue of another officer had lost him the favor

of his emperor, and he had been detailed to this frontier post as a mark of his sovereign's displeasure.

Some fifty years before, the young emperor, Menelek XIV, was ambitious. He knew that a great world lay

across the waters far to the north of his capital. Once he had crossed the desert and looked out upon the blue

There lay another world to conquer. Menelek busied himself with the building of a great fleet, though his

people were not a maritime race. His army crossed into Europe. It met with little resistance, and for fifty

years his soldiers had been pushing his boundaries farther and farther toward the north.

"The yellow men from the east and north are contesting our rights here now," said the colonel, "but we shall

winwe shall conquer the world, carrying Christianity to all the benighted heathen of Europe, and Asia as

He smiled, and shook his head indulgently, as a father to a child who sets up his childish judgment against

Then I set out to prove my point. I told him of our cities, of our army, of our great navy. He came right back

at me asking for figures, and when he was done I had to admit that only in our navy were we numerically

Menelek XIV is the undisputed ruler of all the continent of Africa, of all of ancient Europe except the British

Isles, Scandinavia, and eastern Russia, and has large possessions and prosperous colonies in what once were

He has a standing army of ten million men, and his people possess slaveswhite slavesto the number of

Colonel Belik was much surprised, however, upon his part to learn of the great nation which lay across the

ocean, and when he found that I was a naval officer, he was inclined to accord me even greater consideration

than formerly. It was difficult for him to believe my assertion that there were but few blacks in my country,

Just the reverse is true in Colonel Belik's land. He considered whites inferior beings, creatures of a lower

order, and assuring me that even the few white freemen of Abyssinia were never accorded anything

approximating a position of social equality with the blacks. They live in the poorer districts of the cities, in

The arms and ammunition of the Abyssinians are greatly inferior to ours, yet they are tremendously effective

against the illarmed barbarians of Europe. Their rifles are of a type similar to the magazine rifles of

twentieth century PanAmerica, but carrying only five cartridges in the magazine, in addition to the one in

the chamber. They are of extraordinary length, even those of the cavalry, and are of extreme accuracy.

The Abyssinians themselves are a fine looking race of black mentall, muscular, with fine teeth, and regular

features, which incline distinctly toward Semitic moldI refer to the fullblooded natives of Abyssinia.

They are the patricians the aristocracy. The army is officered almost exclusively by them. Among the

soldiery a lower type of negro predominates, with thicker lips and broader, flatter noses. These men are

recruited, so the colonel told me, from among the conquered tribes of Africa. They are good soldiers brave

and loyal. They can read and write, and they are endowed with a selfconfidence and pride which, from my

readings of the words of ancient African explorers, must have been wanting in their earliest progenitors. On

the whole, it is apparent that the black race has thrived far better in the past two centuries under men of its

own color than it had under the domination of whites during all previous history.

I had been a prisoner at the little frontier post for over a month, when orders came to Colonel Belik to hasten

to the eastern frontier with the major portion of his command, leaving only one troop to garrison the fort. As

his body servant, I accompanied him mounted upon a fiery little Abyssinian pony.

We marched rapidly for ten days through the heart of the ancient German empire, halting when night found

us in proximity to water. Often we passed small posts similar to that at which the colonel's regiment had been

quartered, finding in each instance that only a single company or troop remained for defence, the balance

having been withdrawn toward the northeast, in the same direction in which we were moving.

Naturally, the colonel had not confided to me the nature of his orders. But the rapidity of our march and the

fact that all available troops were being hastened toward the northeast assured me that a matter of vital

importance to the dominion of Menelek XIV in that part of Europe was threatening or had already broken.

I could not believe that a simple rising of the savage tribes of whites would necessitate the mobilizing of such

a force as we presently met with converging from the south into our trail. There were large bodies of cavalry

and infantry, endless streams of artillery wagons and guns, and countless horsedrawn covered vehicles laden

Here, for the first time, I saw camels, great caravans of them, bearing all sorts of heavy burdens, and miles

upon miles of elephants doing similar service. It was a scene of wondrous and barbaric splendor, for the men

and beasts from the south were gaily caparisoned in rich colors, in marked contrast to the gray uniformed

The rumor reached us that Menelek himself was coming, and the pitch of excitement to which this

announcement raised the troops was little short of miraculousat least, to one of my race and nationality

whose rulers for centuries had been but ordinary men, holding office at the will of the people for a few brief

As I witnessed it, I could not but speculate upon the moral effect upon his troops of a sovereign's presence in

the midst of battle. All else being equal in war between the troops of a republic and an empire, could not this

exhilarated mental state, amounting almost to hysteria on the part of the imperial troops, weigh heavily

On the eleventh day we reached our destinationa walled frontier city of about twenty thousand. We passed

some lakes, and crossed some old canals before entering the gates. Within, beside the frame buildings, were

many built of ancient brick and wellcut stone. These, I was told, were of material taken from the ruins of the

The name of the town, translated from the Abyssinian, is New Gondar. It stands, I am convinced, upon the

ruins of ancient Berlin, the one time capital of the old German empire, but except for the old building

The day after we arrived, the town was gaily decorated with flags, streamers, gorgeous rugs, and banners, for

Colonel Belik had accorded me the greatest liberty, permitting me to go where I pleased, after my few duties

had been performed. As a result of his kindness, I spent much time wandering about New Gondar, talking

As I had been given a semimilitary uniform which bore insignia indicating that I was an officer's body

servant, even the blacks treated me with a species of respect, though I could see by their manner that I was

really as the dirt beneath their feet. They answered my questions civilly enough, but they would not enter into

conversation with me. It was from other slaves that I learned the gossip of the city.

Troops were pouring in from the west and south, and pouring out toward the east. I asked an old slave who

was sweeping the dirt into little piles in the gutters of the street where the soldiers were going. He looked at

"Why, to fight the yellow men, of course," he said. "They have crossed the border, and are marching toward

He shrugged his shoulders. "Who knows?" he said. "I hope it will be the yellow men, but Menelek is

Crowds were gathering along the sidewalks to view the emperor's entry into the city. I took my place among

them, although I hate crowds, and I am glad that I did, for I witnessed such a spectacle of barbaric splendor as

Down the broad main thoroughfare, which may once have been the historic Unter den Linden, came a

brilliant cortege. At the head rode a regiment of redcoated hussarsenormous men, black as night. There

were troops of riflemen mounted on camels. The emperor rode in a golden howdah upon the back of a huge

elephant so covered with rich hangings and embellished with scintillating gems that scarce more than the

Menelek was a rather grosslooking man, well past middle age, but he carried himself with an air of dignity

His eyes were bright but crafty, and his features denoted both sensuality and cruelness. In his youth he may

have been a rather fine looking black, but when I saw him his appearance was revoltingto me, at least.

Following the emperor came regiment after regiment from the various branches of the service, among them

In the center of the troops following the imperial elephant marched a great caravan of slaves. The old street

sweeper at my elbow told me that these were the gifts brought in from the far outlying districts by the

commanding officers of the frontier posts. The majority of them were women, destined, I was told, for the

harems of the emperor and his favorites. It made my old companion clench his fists to see those poor white

women marching past to their horrid fates, and, though I shared his sentiments, I was as powerless to alter

For a week the troops kept pouring in and out of New Gondar in, always, from the south and west, but

always toward the east. Each new contingent brought its gifts to the emperor. From the south they brought

rugs and ornaments and jewels; from the west, slaves; for the commanding officers of the western frontier

From the number of women they brought, I judged that they knew the weakness of their imperial master.

And then soldiers commenced coming in from the east, but not with the gay assurance of those who came

from the south and westno, these others came in covered wagons, bloodsoaked and suffering. They came

at first in little parties of eight or ten, and then they came in fifties, in hundreds, and one day a thousand

It was then that Menelek XIV became uneasy. For fifty years his armies had conquered wherever they had

marched. At first he had led them in person, lately his presence within a hundred miles of the battle line had

been sufficient for large engagementsfor minor ones only the knowledge that they were fighting for the

One morning, New Gondar was awakened by the booming of cannon. It was the first intimation that the

townspeople had received that the enemy was forcing the imperial troops back upon the city. Dust covered

couriers galloped in from the front. Fresh troops hastened from the city, and about noon Menelek rode out

For three days thereafter we could hear the cannonading and the spitting of the small arms, for the battle line

was scarce two leagues from New Gondar. The city was filled with wounded. Just outside, soldiers were

engaged in throwing up earthworks. It was evident to the least enlightened that Menelek expected further

And then the imperial troops fell back upon these new defenses, or, rather, they were forced back by the

enemy. Shells commenced to fall within the city. Menelek returned and took up his headquarters in the stone

building that was called the palace. That night came a lull in the hostilitiesa truce had been arranged.

Colonel Belik summoned me about seven o'clock to dress him for a function at the palace. In the midst of

death and defeat the emperor was about to give a great banquet to his officers. I was to accompany my master

In the privacy of the colonel's quarters I had become accustomed to my menial duties, lightened as they were

by the natural kindliness of my master, but the thought of appearing in public as a common slave revolted

I cannot, even now, bring myself to a narration of the humiliation which I experienced that night as I stood

behind my black master in silent servility, now pouring his wine, now cutting up his meats for him, now

As fond as I had grown of him, I could have thrust a knife into him, so keenly did I feel the affront that had

been put upon me. But at last the long banquet was concluded. The tables were removed. The emperor

ascended a dais at one end of the room and seated himself upon a throne, and the entertainment commenced.

It was only what ancient history might have led me to expectmusicians, dancing girls, jugglers, and the

Near midnight, the master of ceremonies announced that the slave women who had been presented to the

emperor since his arrival in New Gondar would be exhibited, that the royal host would select such as he

wished, after which he would present the balance of them to his guests. Ah, what royal generosity!

A small door at one side of the room opened, and the poor creatures filed in and were ranged in a long line

before the throne. Their backs were toward me. I saw only an occasional profile as now and then a bolder

spirit among them turned to survey the apartment and the gorgeous assemblage of officers in their brilliant

dress uniforms. They were profiles of young girls, and pretty, but horror was indelibly stamped upon them

I heard the master of ceremonies command them to prostrate themselves before the emperor, and the sounds

as they went upon their knees before him, touching their foreheads to the floor. Then came the official's voice

I looked up, attracted by the tone of the man's voice, to see a single, straight, slim figure standing erect in the

center of the line of prostrate girls, her arms folded across her breast and little chin in the air. Her back was

toward meI could not see her face, though I should like to see the countenance of this savage young

"Down! Down!" shouted the master of ceremonies, taking a step toward her and half drawing his sword.

My blood boiled. To stand there, inactive, while a negro struck down that brave girl of my own race!

Instinctively I took a forward step to place myself in the man's path. But at the same instant Menelek raised

his hand in a gesture that halted the officer. The emperor seemed interested, but in no way angered at the

"Let us inquire," he said in a smooth, pleasant voice, "why this young woman refuses to do homage to her

She answered him in Abyssinian, but brokenly and with an accent that betrayed how recently she had

"I go on my knees to no one," she said. "I have no sovereign. I myself am sovereign in my own country."

Menelek, at her words, leaned back in his throne and laughed uproariously. Following his example, which

seemed always the correct procedure, the assembled guests vied with one another in an effort to laugh more

The girl but tilted her chin a bit higher in the aireven her back proclaimed her utter contempt for her

captors. Finally Menelek restored quiet by the simple expedient of a frown, whereupon each loyal guest

"I am Victory, Queen of Grabritin," replied the girl so quickly and so unexpectedly that I gasped in

Victory! She was here, a slave to these black conquerors. Once more I started toward her, but better judgment

held me backI could do nothing to help her other than by stealth. Could I even accomplish aught by this

means? I did not know. It seemed beyond the pale of possibility, and yet I should try.

"And you will not bend the knee to me?" continued Menelek, after she had spoken. Victory shook her head in

"You shall be my first choice, then," said the emperor. "I like your spirit, for the breaking of it will add to my

pleasure in you, and never fear but that it shall be broken this very night. Take her to my apartments," and

I was surprised to see Victory follow the man off in apparent quiet submission. I tried to follow, that I might

be near her against some opportunity to speak with her or assist in her escape. But, after I had followed them

from the throne room, through several other apartments, and down a long corridor, I found my further

progress barred by a soldier who stood guard before a doorway through which the officer conducted Victory.

Almost immediately the officer reappeared and started back in the direction of the throne room. I had been

hiding in a doorway after the guard had turned me back, having taken refuge there while his back was turned,

and, as the officer approached me, I withdrew into the room beyond, which was in darkness. There I

remained for a long time, watching the sentry before the door of the room in which Victory was a prisoner,

I have not attempted to fully describe my sensations at the moment I recognized Victory, because, I can

assure you, they were entirely indescribable. I should never have imagined that the sight of any human being

could affect me as had this unexpected discovery of Victory in the same room in which I was, while I had

thought of her for weeks either as dead, or at best hundreds of miles to the west, and as irretrievably lost to

I was filled with a strange, mad impulse to be near her. It was not enough merely to assist her, or protect

herI desired to touch herto take her in my arms. I was astounded at myself. Another thing puzzled

meit was my incomprehensible feeling of elation since I had again seen her. With a fate worse than death

staring her in the face, and with the knowledge that I should probably die defending her within the hour, I

was still happier than I had been for weeksand all because I had seen again for a few brief minutes the

figure of a little heathen maiden. I couldn't account for it, and it angered me; I had never before felt any such

sensations in the presence of a woman, and I had made love to some very beautiful ones in my time.

It seemed ages that I stood in the shadow of that doorway, in the illlit corridor of the palace of Menelek

XIV. A sickly gas jet cast a sad pallor upon the black face of the sentry. The fellow seemed rooted to the spot.

I had been in hiding but a short time when I heard the sound of distant cannon. The truce had ended, and the

battle had been resumed. Very shortly thereafter the earth shook to the explosion of a shell within the city,

and from time to time thereafter other shells burst at no great distance from the palace. The yellow men were

Presently officers and slaves commenced to traverse the corridor on matters pertaining to their duties, and

then came the emperor, scowling and wrathful. He was followed by a few personal attendants, whom he

dismissed at the doorway to his apartmentsthe same doorway through which Victory had been taken. I

chafed to follow him, but the corridor was filled with people. At last they betook themselves to their own

An officer and a slave entered the very room in which I hid, forcing me to flatten myself to one side in the

darkness until they had passed. Then the slave made a light, and I knew that I must find another hiding place.

Stepping boldly into the corridor, I saw that it was now empty save for the single sentry before the emperor's

door. He glanced up as I emerged from the room, the occupants of which had not seen me. I walked straight

toward the soldier, my mind made up in an instant. I tried to simulate an expression of cringing servility, and

I must have succeeded, for I entirely threw the man off his guard, so that he permitted me to approach within

Without a word or a warning, I snatched the piece from his grasp, and, at the same time struck him a terrific

blow between the eyes with my clenched fist. He staggered back in surprise, too dumbfounded even to cry

I gazed about, mad with disappointment. Two doors opened from this to other rooms. I ran to the nearer and

listened. Yes, voices were coming from beyond and one was a woman's, level and cold and filled with scorn.

I turned the knob and pushed the door inward just in time to see Menelek seize the girl and drag her toward

the far end of the apartment. At the same instant there was a deafening roar just outside the palacea shell

had struck much nearer than any of its predecessors. The noise of it drowned my rapid rush across the room.

But in her struggles, Victory turned Menelek about so that he saw me. She was striking him in the face with

"What means this, slave?" he cried. "Out of here! Out of here! Quick, before I kill you!"

But for answer I rushed upon him, striking him with the butt of the rifle. He staggered back, dropping Victory

to the floor, and then he cried aloud for the guard, and came at me. Again and again I struck him; but his

He tried to close with me, seizing the rifle, but I was stronger than he, and, wrenching the weapon from his

grasp, tossed it aside and made for his throat with my bare hands. I had not dared fire the weapon for fear that

its report would bring the larger guard stationed at the farther end of the corridor.

We struggled about the room, striking one another, knocking over furniture, and rolling upon the floor.

Menelek was a powerful man, and he was fighting for his life. Continually he kept calling for the guard, until

I succeeded in getting a grip upon his throat; but it was too late. His cries had been heard, and suddenly the

Victory seized the rifle from the floor and leaped between me and them. I had the black emperor upon his

The rest happened in the fraction of a second. There was a rending crash above us, then a deafening explosion

within the chamber. Smoke and powder fumes filled the room. Half stunned, I rose from the lifeless body of

my antagonist just in time to see Victory stagger to her feet and turn toward me. Slowly the smoke cleared to

reveal the shattered remnants of the guard. A shell had fallen through the palace roof and exploded just in the

rear of the detachment of guardsmen who were coming to the rescue of their emperor. Why neither Victory

nor I were struck is a miracle. The room was a wreck. A great, jagged hole was torn in the ceiling, and the

As I rose, Victory had risen, too, and started toward me. But when she saw that I was uninjured she stopped,

and stood there in the center of the demolished apartment looking at me. Her expression was inscrutableI

"Victory!" I cried. "Thank God that you are safe!" And I approached her, a greater gladness in my heart than I

had felt since the moment that I knew the Coldwater must be swept beyond thirty.

There was no answering gladness in her eyes. Instead, she stamped her little foot in anger.

"Hate me?" I asked. "Why should you hate me, Victory? I do not hate you. II" What was I about to say?

I was very close to her as a great light broke over me. Why had I never realized it before? The truth

accounted for a great many hitherto inexplicable moods that had claimed me from time to time since first I

"Why should I hate you?" she repeated. "Because Snider told mehe told me that you had promised me to

"Snider lied!" I cried. And then I seized her and held her in my arms, and made her listen to me, though she

struggled and fought like a young lioness. "I love you, Victory. You must know that I love youthat I have

She ceased her struggles, just a trifle, but still tried to push me from her. "You called me a barbarian!" she

"But I do love a barbarian, Victory!" I cried, "the dearest barbarian in the world."

She raised her eyes to mine, and then her smooth, brown arms encircled my neck and drew my lips down to

"I love youI have loved you always!" she said, and then she buried her face upon my shoulder and sobbed.

"I have been so unhappy," she said, "but I could not die while I thought that you might live."

As we stood there, momentarily forgetful of all else than our new found happiness, the ferocity of the

bombardment increased until scarce thirty seconds elapsed between the shells that rained about the palace.

To remain long would be to invite certain death. We could not escape the way that we had entered the

apartment, for not only was the corridor now choked with debris, but beyond the corridor there were

Upon the opposite side of the room was another door, and toward this I led the way. It opened into a third

apartment with windows overlooking an inner court. From one of these windows I surveyed the courtyard.

Assisting Victory to the open, I followed, and together we crossed the court, discovering upon the opposite

side a number of wide, wooden doors set in the wall of the palace, with small windows between. As we stood

"The stables!" I whispered, and, a moment later, had pushed back a door and entered. From the city about us

we could hear the din of great commotion, and quite close the sounds of battlethe crack of thousands of

rifles, the yells of the soldiers, the hoarse commands of officers, and the blare of bugles.

The bombardment had ceased as suddenly as it had commenced. I judged that the enemy was storming the

Within the stables I groped about until I had found saddles and bridles for two horses. But afterward, in the

darkness, I could find but a single mount. The doors of the opposite side, leading to the street, were open, and

we could see great multitudes of men, women, and children fleeing toward the west. Soldiers, afoot and

mounted, were joining the mad exodus. Now and then a camel or an elephant would pass bearing some

officer or dignitary to safety. It was evident that the city would fall at any momenta fact which was amply

Horse, camel, and elephant trod helpless women and children beneath their feet. A common soldier dragged a

general from his mount, and, leaping to the animal's back, fled down the packed street toward the west. A

woman seized a gun and brained a court dignitary, whose horse had trampled her child to death. Shrieks,

curses, commands, supplications filled the air. It was a frightful sceneone that will be burned upon my

I had saddled and bridled the single horse which had evidently been overlooked by the royal household in its

flight, and, standing a little back in the shadow of the stable's interior, Victory and I watched the surging

To have entered it would have been to have courted greater danger than we were already in. We decided to

wait until the stress of blacks thinned, and for more than an hour we stood there while the sounds of battle

raged upon the eastern side of the city and the population flew toward the west. More and more numerous

became the uniformed soldiers among the fleeing throng, until, toward the last, the street was packed with

The fighting was steadily approaching us now, until the crack of rifles sounded in the very street upon which

we were looking. And then came a handful of brave mena little rear guard backing slowly toward the west,

working their smoking rifles in feverish haste as they fired volley after volley at the foe we could not see.

But these were pressed back and back until the first line of the enemy came opposite our shelter. They were

men of medium height, with olive complexions and almond eyes. In them I recognized the descendants of the

They were well uniformed and superbly armed, and they fought bravely and under perfect discipline. So rapt

was I in the exciting events transpiring in the street that I did not hear the approach of a body of men from

behind. It was a party of the conquerors who had entered the palace and were searching it.

They came upon us so unexpectedly that we were prisoners before we realized what had happened. That

night we were held under a strong guard just outside the eastern wall of the city, and the next morning were

Our captors were not unkind to us, and treated the women prisoners with respect. We marched for many

daysso many that I lost count of themand at last we came to another citya Chinese city this

It is only a small frontier city, but it is well built and well kept. Here a large military force is maintained, and

here also, is a terminus of the railroad that crosses modern China to the Pacific.

There was every evidence of a high civilization in all that we saw within the city, which, in connection with

the humane treatment that had been accorded all prisoners upon the long and tiresome march, encouraged me

to hope that I might appeal to some high officer here for the treatment which my rank and birth merited.

We could converse with our captors only through the medium of interpreters who spoke both Chinese and

Abyssinian. But there were many of these, and shortly after we reached the city I persuaded one of them to

carry a verbal message to the officer who had commanded the troops during the return from New Gondar,

The reply to my request was a summons to appear before the officer to whom I had addressed my appeal. A

sergeant came for me along with the interpreter, and I managed to obtain his permission to let Victory

accompany meI had never left her alone with the prisoners since we had been captured.

To my delight I found that the officer into whose presence we were conducted spoke Abyssinian fluently. He

was astounded when I told him that I was a PanAmerican. Unlike all others whom I had spoken with since

my arrival in Europe, he was well acquainted with ancient historywas familiar with twentieth century

conditions in PanAmerica, and after putting a half dozen questions to me was satisfied that I spoke the truth.

When I told him that Victory was Queen of England he showed little surprise, telling me that in their recent

explorations in ancient Russia they had found many descendants of the old nobility and royalty.

He immediately set aside a comfortable house for us, furnished us with servants and with money, and in other

He told me that he would telegraph his emperor at once, and the result was that we were presently

We made the journey in a comfortable railway carriage, through a country which, as we traveled farther

At the imperial court we were received with great kindness, the emperor being most inquisitive about the

state of modern PanAmerica. He told me that while he personally deplored the existence of the strict

regulations which had raised a barrier between the east and the west, he had felt, as had his predecessors, that

recognition of the wishes of the great PanAmerican federation would be most conducive to the continued

His empire includes all of Asia, and the islands of the Pacific as far east as 175°W. The empire of Japan no

longer exists, having been conquered and absorbed by China over a hundred years ago. The Philippines are

well administered, and constitute one of the most progressive colonies of the Chinese empire.

The emperor told me that the building of this great empire and the spreading of enlightenment among its

diversified and savage peoples had required all the best efforts of nearly two hundred years. Upon his

accession to the throne he had found the labor well nigh perfected and had turned his attention to the

His ambition is to wrest it from the hands of the blacks, and then to attempt the work of elevating its fallen

I asked him who was victorious in that war, and he shook his head sadly as he replied:

"PanAmerica, perhaps, and China, with the blacks of Abyssinia," he said. "Those who did not fight were the

only ones to reap any of the rewards that are supposed to belong to victory. The combatants reaped naught

but annihilation. You have seenbetter than any man you must realize that there was no victory for any

Again he shook his head. "It has not ended yet. There has never been a formal peace declared in Europe.

After a while there were none left to make peace, and the rude tribes which sprang from the survivors

continued to fight among themselves because they knew no better condition of society. War razed the works

of manwar and pestilence razed man. God give that there shall never be such another war!"

You all know how Porfirio Johnson returned to PanAmerica with John Alvarez in chains; how Alvarez's

trial raised a popular demonstration that the government could not ignore. His eloquent appealnot for

himself, but for meis historic, as are its results. You know how a fleet was sent across the Atlantic to

search for me, how the restrictions against crossing thirty to one hundred seventyfive were removed forever,

and how the officers were brought to Peking, arriving upon the very day that Victory and I were married at

My return to PanAmerica was very different from anything I could possibly have imagined a year before.

Instead of being received as a traitor to my country, I was acclaimed a hero. It was good to get back again,

good to witness the kindly treatment that was accorded my dear Victory, and when I learned that Delcarte and

Taylor had been found at the mouth of the Rhine and were already back in PanAmerica my joy was

And now we are going back, Victory and I, with the men and the munitions and power to reclaim England for

A new epoch for Europe is inaugurated, with enlightened China on the east and enlightened PanAmerica on

the west the two great peace powers whom God has preserved to regenerate chastened and forgiven

Europe. I have been through muchI have suffered much, but I have won two great laurel wreaths beyond

thirty. One is the opportunity to rescue Europe from barbarism, the other is a little barbarian, and the greater