September 25, 2025 • 27 mins
Originally published as Beyond Thirty, this gripping novel transports readers to the year 2137, where the haunting shadows of World War I have reshaped the world. In this dystopian future, Europe has spiraled into chaos and barbarism, while the Western Hemisphere remains an isolated sanctuary untouched by devastation. The title, Beyond Thirty, alludes to the mysterious line of longitude that the inhabitants of this sheltered region are strictly forbidden to cross. (Summary from Wikipedia)
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Chapter five of the Lost Continent. Thisce LibriVox recording is
in the public domain. The Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burroughs,
Chapter five. As we entered deeper into what had once
been the city, the evidences of man's past occupancy became
(00:22):
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
(00:43):
still raised their crumbling tops in sad silence. Above the
grass grown sepulchers of their fallen fallows, softened and mellowed
by ancient ivy, stood these sentinels of sorrow, their sacred
faces still revealing the reddents and gashes of shrapnel and
of bomb Contrary to our expectations, we found little indication
(01:09):
that lions in any great numbers led in this part
of ancient London. Well worn 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 black maned lion scowling down
(01:31):
upon us from a shattered stone balcony. 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
Westminster Abbey and the Tower. Realizing that the section through
(01:57):
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
(02:17):
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 had seen among the
smaller buildings. But when I had come to that part
of the city which I judged to have contained the relics,
I thought I found havoc that had been wrought there
(02:42):
even greater than elsewhere. 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, a tumble piles of ruins, overgrown
(03:02):
with vegetation. These I am forced to believe, are all
that remain of London Bridge. For nowhere else along the
river is there any other slightest sign of peer or abutment.
Rounding the base of a large pile of grass covered debris,
we came suddenly upon the best preserved ruin we had
(03:24):
yet discovered. The entire lowest 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 clambered upward to the summit
of the broken walls. In many places the gray stone
(03:48):
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
(04:11):
dead beyond recall, through this same portal, within these very
marble halls had gray, and chamberlain, and kitchener and shawl,
perhaps come and gone with the other great ones of
the past. I took Victory's hand in mine. Come, I said,
I do not know the name by which this great
(04:32):
pile was known, nor the purposes it fulfilled. It may
have been the palace of your size's victory, from some
great thrown within your foe best may have directed the
destinies of half the world. Come, I must confess to
a feeling of awe. As we entered the rotunda of
the great building, pieces of massive furniture of another day
(04:57):
still stood where man had placed them centrary years 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 had rolled by since human eyes
were last set upon them. Through one great room after another,
(05:20):
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 had sprung. Splendid tapestries, now mildewed and rotting,
hung upon the walls. There were mural paintings too, depicting
(05:44):
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 steam ships, battleships, submarines, and quaint looking
(06:09):
railway trains, all small and antiquated in appearance to me,
but wonderful to Victory. She told me that she would
like to remain for the rest of her life where
she could look at those pictures daily. From room to
room we passed until presently we emerged into a mighty chamber,
(06:31):
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
(06:54):
the great apartment when a low growl from the far
end brought us to a startled halt. Straining my eyes
through the gloom, I made out a raised dais at
the extreme opposite end of the hall. Upon the dais
stood two great chairs, high backed, and with great arms,
(07:17):
the throne of England. But what were those strange forms
about it? Victory gave my hand a quick, excited little
squeeze the lions, She whispered, yes, lions. Indeed, sprawled about
the dais were a dozen huge forms. While upon the
seat of one of the thrones, a small cub lay
(07:39):
curled in slumber. As we stood there for a moment,
spell bound by the sight of those fearsome creatures occupying
the very thrones of the sovereigns of England. The low
growl was repeated, and a great mail rose slowly to
his feet. His devilish eyes bored straight through the semidarkness
(08:01):
toward us. Had he discovered the anteloper? What right had
man within this palace of the beasts? Again he opened
his giant jaws, and this time there rumbled forth a
warning roar. Instantly, eight or ten of the other beasts
leaped to their feet. Already the great fellow, who had
(08:23):
spied us, was advancing slowly in our direction. I held
my rifle ready, But how futile it appeared in the
face of this savage horde. The foremost beasts broke into
a slow trot, and at his heels came the others.
All were roaring now, and the din of their great voices,
(08:44):
reverberating through the halls and corridors of the palace, formed
the most frightful chorus of thunderous savagery imaginable to the
mind of man. And then the leader charged, and upon
their hideous pandemonia, broke the sharp crack of my rifle once, twice, thrice.
(09:06):
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 ante chamber at the foot of a narrow stone staircase.
Up this we backed, Victory just behind me, as the
(09:29):
first of the remaining lions leaped from the throne room
and sprang for the stairs. Again, I fired, but others
of the ferocious beasts leapt over their fallen fellows and
pursued us. The stairs were very narrow. That was all
that saved us for as I backed slowly upward, but
(09:50):
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 the top. There
was a long corridor from which opened many doorways. One
directly behind us was tight closed. If we could open
(10:10):
it and pass into the chamber behind, we might find
a respite from attack. The remaining lions were roaring horribly.
I saw one sneaking very slowly up the stairs toward us.
Try that door, I called to Victory, see if it
will open. She ran up to it and pushed turn
the knob. I cried, seeing that she did not know
(10:32):
how to open a door, but neither did she know
what I meant by knob. I put a bullet in
the spine of the approaching lion and leaped to Victory 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
(10:52):
to the top of the stairway, it swung in, and
I pushed Victory across the threshold. Then I turned to
me the renewed attack of the savage foe. One lion
fell in his tracks, another stumbled to my very feet,
and then I leaped within and slammed the portal too.
A quick glance showed me that this was the only
(11:15):
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 separated
us from the rampaging demons without. Across the room, between
two windows stood a flat topped desk. A little pile
of white and brown lay upon it, close to the
(11:37):
opposite edge. After a moment of rest, I crossed the
room to investigate. The white was the bleached human bones,
the 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
(12:00):
the floor. Beneath the desk and about the chair. The
man had died sitting there with his face buried in
his arms, two hundred years ago. Beneath the desk were
a pair of spurred military boots, green and rotten with
decay in them were the leg bones of a man.
(12:20):
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. It was a gruesome sight, a
pitiful sight, this lone inhabitant of mighty London. I picked
(12:43):
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 volume.
His Majesty left for Tunbridge ware else today he Jesty
was stricken today, God give she does not die, and
(13:08):
military governor of Lunn. And further on. It is awful,
one hundred deaths today, worse than the bombardam nearer the end,
I picked out the following, I promised his mage e
will find me here when he read alone, the most
(13:29):
legible passage was on the next page. 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 Philip to urge the people to remain.
But they are mad with fear of the death and
(13:50):
rage at our enemies. He tells me that the coast
cities are pat waiting to be taken across what will
become of in with none left to rebuild her shattered cities,
and the last entry alone only the wild beasts. A
(14:13):
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 gone? Only I remain. I promised his majesty, And
(14:37):
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 post, true to his
country and his king. It was the death, no doubt,
(14:59):
that took him. Some of the entries had been dated.
From the few legible letters and figures which remained, I
judged the end came some time in August nineteen thirty seven,
but of that I am not at all certain. The
diary has cleared up at least one mystery that had
(15:19):
puzzled me not a little, And now I am surprised
that I had not guessed its solution myself. The 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
(15:40):
intended them, and once free, had evidently bred prolifically, in
marked contrast to the captive exotics of twentieth century Pan America,
which had gradually become fewer until extinction occurred some time
during the twenty first century. The palace, if such it was,
lay not far from the banks of the Thames. The
(16:02):
room in which we were imprisoned overlooked the river, and
I determined to attempt to escape in this direction. 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
(16:26):
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
(16:48):
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 people to mate with Buckingham.
I owed my life to her, and all other considerations aside.
That was sufficient demand upon my gratitude and my honor
(17:10):
to necessitate my suffering every inconvenience in her service. Two
she was Queen of England, but by far the most
potent argument in her favor, she was a woman in distress,
and a young and very beautiful one. And so though
I wished a thousand times that she was back in
her camp, I never let her guess it, but did
(17:33):
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 assistance.
(17:54):
In fact, she smiled a trifle at my question. 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
(18:16):
saw the snarling face of a lion within the embrasure.
Releasing my hold upon the ivy, I dropped the remaining
distance to the ground, save from laceration only because the
lion's pow struck the thick stem of ivy. The creature
was making a frightful racket, now leaping back and forth
from the floor at the broad window ledge, tearing at
(18:38):
the masonry with his claws in vain attempts to reach me,
but the opening was too narrow and the masonry too solid.
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 thirty three bullet in
his face, and at the same moment Victory slipped quickly
(19:01):
past him, dropping into my upraised arms that were awaiting her.
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 had ever heard. I feared that it
would not be long before intelligence or instinct would draw
(19:22):
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
(19:43):
to the bank of the river. The beasts sniffed about
the ground for a while, but they did not chance
to go near the post where we had stood beneath
the window that had given us escape. Presently, a black
maned 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
(20:06):
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 away and turned
to glare in another direction. 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,
(20:30):
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
(20:52):
came into Victory's eyes as she drew back in evident confusion.
As for me, the stranger sensation that I have ever
experienced claimed me. For an instant, A peculiar, tingling thrill
ran through my veins and my head swam. I could
not account for it. Naturally, being a naval officer, and
(21:14):
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 ages, in a world that love, as the one
(21:35):
grand passion, had ceased to exist. 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 women, young and beautiful, and middle
aged and old, and many that I had no business kissing.
(22:00):
But 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.
(22:24):
For the first time in my life, I felt embarrassment
in the presence of a woman. What further might have developed,
I cannot say, for at that moment, a perfect she
devil of a lioness with keener eyes than her Lord
and Master, discovered us. She came trotting toward our place
of concealment, growling and bearing her yellow fangs. I waited
(22:47):
for an instant, hoping that I might be mistaken and
that she would turn off in some other direction. But no,
she increased her trot to a gallop, and then I
fired at her. But the bullet, though it struck her
full in the breast, didn't stop her. Screaming with pain
and rage. The creature fairly flew toward us. Behind her
(23:10):
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
(23:31):
were both standing now, Victory keeping her place bravely at
my side, when I reached the only decision open to me,
seizing the girl's hand, I turned just as the lioness
crashed into the opposite side of the bushes, and, dragging
Victory after me, leapt over the edge of the bank
(23:51):
into the river. I did not know that lions are
not fond of water, nor did I know if Victory
could swim, But death, immediate and terrible stared us in
the face if we remained, and so I took the chance.
At this point, the current ran close to the shore,
so that we were immediately in deep water, and to
(24:15):
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 short lived. That Lioness, as I
have said before, was a veritable devil. She stood for
a moment, glaring at us, then like a shot, she
(24:37):
sprang into the river and swam swiftly after us. Victory
was a length ahead of me. Swim for the other shore,
I called to her. 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
(24:57):
the Lioness take to the water, and she had also
seen that I was swimming much more slowly than she.
And what did she do? She started to drop back
to my side. Go On, I cried, make for the
other shore, and then follow down until you find my friends.
Tell them that I sent you and with orders that
(25:18):
they are to protect you. Go on, go on. But
she only waited until we were again swimming side by side,
and I saw that she had drawn her long knife
and was holding it between her teeth. Do as I
tell you, I said to her, sharply, but she shook
her head. The Lioness was overhauling us rapidly. She was
(25:43):
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 fore paws or seized me in those great jaws.
(26:05):
I felt that my time had come, but I meant
to die fighting, and so I turned and treading mortar,
raised my rifle above my head and awaited her victory.
Animated by a bravery no less ferocious than that of
the dumb beast assailing us, swam straight for me. It
(26:26):
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 poor fell
(26:51):
upon her shoulder, and that I was swept beneath the
surface of the water like a straw before the prow
of a freighter. Still you were clinging to my rifle.
I rose again to see the lioness struggling in her
death roes, but an arm's length from me. Scarcely had
I risen than the beast turned upon her side, struggled
(27:14):
frantically for an instant, and then sank end of Chapter five,
Chapter five of the Lost Continent. Thisce LibriVox recording is
in the public domain. The Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burroughs,
Chapter five. As we entered deeper into what had once
been the city, the evidences of man's past occupancy became
(00:22):
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
(00:43):
still raised their crumbling tops in sad silence. Above the
grass grown sepulchers of their fallen fallows, softened and mellowed
by ancient ivy, stood these sentinels of sorrow, their sacred
faces still revealing the reddents and gashes of shrapnel and
of bomb Contrary to our expectations, we found little indication
(01:09):
that lions in any great numbers led in this part
of ancient London. Well worn 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 black maned lion scowling down
(01:31):
upon us from a shattered stone balcony. 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
Westminster Abbey and the Tower. Realizing that the section through
(01:57):
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
(02:17):
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 had seen among the
smaller buildings. But when I had come to that part
of the city which I judged to have contained the relics,
I thought I found havoc that had been wrought there
(02:42):
even greater than elsewhere. 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, a tumble piles of ruins, overgrown
(03:02):
with vegetation. These I am forced to believe, are all
that remain of London Bridge. For nowhere else along the
river is there any other slightest sign of peer or abutment.
Rounding the base of a large pile of grass covered debris,
we came suddenly upon the best preserved ruin we had
(03:24):
yet discovered. The entire lowest 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 clambered upward to the summit
of the broken walls. In many places the gray stone
(03:48):
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
(04:11):
dead beyond recall, through this same portal, within these very
marble halls had gray, and chamberlain, and kitchener and shawl,
perhaps come and gone with the other great ones of
the past. I took Victory's hand in mine. Come, I said,
I do not know the name by which this great
(04:32):
pile was known, nor the purposes it fulfilled. It may
have been the palace of your size's victory, from some
great thrown within your foe best may have directed the
destinies of half the world. Come, I must confess to
a feeling of awe. As we entered the rotunda of
the great building, pieces of massive furniture of another day
(04:57):
still stood where man had placed them centrary years 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 had rolled by since human eyes
were last set upon them. Through one great room after another,
(05:20):
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 had sprung. Splendid tapestries, now mildewed and rotting,
hung upon the walls. There were mural paintings too, depicting
(05:44):
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 steam ships, battleships, submarines, and quaint looking
(06:09):
railway trains, all small and antiquated in appearance to me,
but wonderful to Victory. She told me that she would
like to remain for the rest of her life where
she could look at those pictures daily. From room to
room we passed until presently we emerged into a mighty chamber,
(06:31):
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
(06:54):
the great apartment when a low growl from the far
end brought us to a startled halt. Straining my eyes
through the gloom, I made out a raised dais at
the extreme opposite end of the hall. Upon the dais
stood two great chairs, high backed, and with great arms,
(07:17):
the throne of England. But what were those strange forms
about it? Victory gave my hand a quick, excited little
squeeze the lions, She whispered, yes, lions. Indeed, sprawled about
the dais were a dozen huge forms. While upon the
seat of one of the thrones, a small cub lay
(07:39):
curled in slumber. As we stood there for a moment,
spell bound by the sight of those fearsome creatures occupying
the very thrones of the sovereigns of England. The low
growl was repeated, and a great mail rose slowly to
his feet. His devilish eyes bored straight through the semidarkness
(08:01):
toward us. Had he discovered the anteloper? What right had
man within this palace of the beasts? Again he opened
his giant jaws, and this time there rumbled forth a
warning roar. Instantly, eight or ten of the other beasts
leaped to their feet. Already the great fellow, who had
(08:23):
spied us, was advancing slowly in our direction. I held
my rifle ready, But how futile it appeared in the
face of this savage horde. The foremost beasts broke into
a slow trot, and at his heels came the others.
All were roaring now, and the din of their great voices,
(08:44):
reverberating through the halls and corridors of the palace, formed
the most frightful chorus of thunderous savagery imaginable to the
mind of man. And then the leader charged, and upon
their hideous pandemonia, broke the sharp crack of my rifle once, twice, thrice.
(09:06):
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 ante chamber at the foot of a narrow stone staircase.
Up this we backed, Victory just behind me, as the
(09:29):
first of the remaining lions leaped from the throne room
and sprang for the stairs. Again, I fired, but others
of the ferocious beasts leapt over their fallen fellows and
pursued us. The stairs were very narrow. That was all
that saved us for as I backed slowly upward, but
(09:50):
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 the top. There
was a long corridor from which opened many doorways. One
directly behind us was tight closed. If we could open
(10:10):
it and pass into the chamber behind, we might find
a respite from attack. The remaining lions were roaring horribly.
I saw one sneaking very slowly up the stairs toward us.
Try that door, I called to Victory, see if it
will open. She ran up to it and pushed turn
the knob. I cried, seeing that she did not know
(10:32):
how to open a door, but neither did she know
what I meant by knob. I put a bullet in
the spine of the approaching lion and leaped to Victory 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
(10:52):
to the top of the stairway, it swung in, and
I pushed Victory across the threshold. Then I turned to
me the renewed attack of the savage foe. One lion
fell in his tracks, another stumbled to my very feet,
and then I leaped within and slammed the portal too.
A quick glance showed me that this was the only
(11:15):
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 separated
us from the rampaging demons without. Across the room, between
two windows stood a flat topped desk. A little pile
of white and brown lay upon it, close to the
(11:37):
opposite edge. After a moment of rest, I crossed the
room to investigate. The white was the bleached human bones,
the 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
(12:00):
the floor. Beneath the desk and about the chair. The
man had died sitting there with his face buried in
his arms, two hundred years ago. Beneath the desk were
a pair of spurred military boots, green and rotten with
decay in them were the leg bones of a man.
(12:20):
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. It was a gruesome sight, a
pitiful sight, this lone inhabitant of mighty London. I picked
(12:43):
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 volume.
His Majesty left for Tunbridge ware else today he Jesty
was stricken today, God give she does not die, and
(13:08):
military governor of Lunn. And further on. It is awful,
one hundred deaths today, worse than the bombardam nearer the end,
I picked out the following, I promised his mage e
will find me here when he read alone, the most
(13:29):
legible passage was on the next page. 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 Philip to urge the people to remain.
But they are mad with fear of the death and
(13:50):
rage at our enemies. He tells me that the coast
cities are pat waiting to be taken across what will
become of in with none left to rebuild her shattered cities,
and the last entry alone only the wild beasts. A
(14:13):
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 gone? Only I remain. I promised his majesty, And
(14:37):
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 post, true to his
country and his king. It was the death, no doubt,
(14:59):
that took him. Some of the entries had been dated.
From the few legible letters and figures which remained, I
judged the end came some time in August nineteen thirty seven,
but of that I am not at all certain. The
diary has cleared up at least one mystery that had
(15:19):
puzzled me not a little, And now I am surprised
that I had not guessed its solution myself. The 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
(15:40):
intended them, and once free, had evidently bred prolifically, in
marked contrast to the captive exotics of twentieth century Pan America,
which had gradually become fewer until extinction occurred some time
during the twenty first century. The palace, if such it was,
lay not far from the banks of the Thames. The
(16:02):
room in which we were imprisoned overlooked the river, and
I determined to attempt to escape in this direction. 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
(16:26):
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
(16:48):
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 people to mate with Buckingham.
I owed my life to her, and all other considerations aside.
That was sufficient demand upon my gratitude and my honor
(17:10):
to necessitate my suffering every inconvenience in her service. Two
she was Queen of England, but by far the most
potent argument in her favor, she was a woman in distress,
and a young and very beautiful one. And so though
I wished a thousand times that she was back in
her camp, I never let her guess it, but did
(17:33):
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 assistance.
(17:54):
In fact, she smiled a trifle at my question. 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
(18:16):
saw the snarling face of a lion within the embrasure.
Releasing my hold upon the ivy, I dropped the remaining
distance to the ground, save from laceration only because the
lion's pow struck the thick stem of ivy. The creature
was making a frightful racket, now leaping back and forth
from the floor at the broad window ledge, tearing at
(18:38):
the masonry with his claws in vain attempts to reach me,
but the opening was too narrow and the masonry too solid.
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 thirty three bullet in
his face, and at the same moment Victory slipped quickly
(19:01):
past him, dropping into my upraised arms that were awaiting her.
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 had ever heard. I feared that it
would not be long before intelligence or instinct would draw
(19:22):
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
(19:43):
to the bank of the river. The beasts sniffed about
the ground for a while, but they did not chance
to go near the post where we had stood beneath
the window that had given us escape. Presently, a black
maned 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
(20:06):
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 away and turned
to glare in another direction. 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,
(20:30):
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
(20:52):
came into Victory's eyes as she drew back in evident confusion.
As for me, the stranger sensation that I have ever
experienced claimed me. For an instant, A peculiar, tingling thrill
ran through my veins and my head swam. I could
not account for it. Naturally, being a naval officer, and
(21:14):
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 ages, in a world that love, as the one
(21:35):
grand passion, had ceased to exist. 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 women, young and beautiful, and middle
aged and old, and many that I had no business kissing.
(22:00):
But 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.
(22:24):
For the first time in my life, I felt embarrassment
in the presence of a woman. What further might have developed,
I cannot say, for at that moment, a perfect she
devil of a lioness with keener eyes than her Lord
and Master, discovered us. She came trotting toward our place
of concealment, growling and bearing her yellow fangs. I waited
(22:47):
for an instant, hoping that I might be mistaken and
that she would turn off in some other direction. But no,
she increased her trot to a gallop, and then I
fired at her. But the bullet, though it struck her
full in the breast, didn't stop her. Screaming with pain
and rage. The creature fairly flew toward us. Behind her
(23:10):
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
(23:31):
were both standing now, Victory keeping her place bravely at
my side, when I reached the only decision open to me,
seizing the girl's hand, I turned just as the lioness
crashed into the opposite side of the bushes, and, dragging
Victory after me, leapt over the edge of the bank
(23:51):
into the river. I did not know that lions are
not fond of water, nor did I know if Victory
could swim, But death, immediate and terrible stared us in
the face if we remained, and so I took the chance.
At this point, the current ran close to the shore,
so that we were immediately in deep water, and to
(24:15):
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 short lived. That Lioness, as I
have said before, was a veritable devil. She stood for
a moment, glaring at us, then like a shot, she
(24:37):
sprang into the river and swam swiftly after us. Victory
was a length ahead of me. Swim for the other shore,
I called to her. 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
(24:57):
the Lioness take to the water, and she had also
seen that I was swimming much more slowly than she.
And what did she do? She started to drop back
to my side. Go On, I cried, make for the
other shore, and then follow down until you find my friends.
Tell them that I sent you and with orders that
(25:18):
they are to protect you. Go on, go on. But
she only waited until we were again swimming side by side,
and I saw that she had drawn her long knife
and was holding it between her teeth. Do as I
tell you, I said to her, sharply, but she shook
her head. The Lioness was overhauling us rapidly. She was
(25:43):
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 fore paws or seized me in those great jaws.
(26:05):
I felt that my time had come, but I meant
to die fighting, and so I turned and treading mortar,
raised my rifle above my head and awaited her victory.
Animated by a bravery no less ferocious than that of
the dumb beast assailing us, swam straight for me. It
(26:26):
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 poor fell
(26:51):
upon her shoulder, and that I was swept beneath the
surface of the water like a straw before the prow
of a freighter. Still you were clinging to my rifle.
I rose again to see the lioness struggling in her
death roes, but an arm's length from me. Scarcely had
I risen than the beast turned upon her side, struggled
(27:14):
frantically for an instant, and then sank end of Chapter five,
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