September 25, 2025 • 31 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 (00:00):
Chapter eight of the Lost Continent. This LibriVox recording is
in the public domain. The Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burrows,
Chapter eight. Belcart and Taylor were now in midstream, coming
towards us, and I called to them to keep aloof
until I knew whether the intentions of my captors were
(00:23):
friendly or otherwise. My good men wanted to come on
and annihilate the Blacks, but they were upward of a
hundred of the latter, all well armed, and so I
commanded Delcart to keep out of harm's way and stay
where he was till I needed him. A young officer
called and beckoned to them, but they refused to come,
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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 their encampment, I discovered
that my captors were cavalry men. In the center of
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a plane stood a log fort with a blockhouse 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 palisade was one which
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I had never before seen nor heard of. 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,
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in front of which rose the flag staff. I was
escorted within the building into the present 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
accorded me. While I remained his prisoner, he listened to
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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,
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primeval looking fellow, as I had discovered in the woods
the day that Snyder had disappeared with the launch. 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
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his head, gave instructions for my removal from his office.
I was led to a guard house, in which I
found about fifty half naked whites clad in the skins
of wild beasts. I tried to converse with them, but
not one of them could understand Pan American, nor could
(03:23):
I make head or tail of their jargon. For over
a month I remained a prisoner there, working from morning
till 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
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and discrimination of the old colonel. What had become a
victory of del cart of Taylor, I could not know,
nor did it seem likely that I should ever learn.
I was most oppressed, but I whiled away my time
in forming the duties given me to the best of
my ability, and attempting to learn the language of my captors.
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Who they were or where they came from was a
mystery to me. That they were the outposts 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
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had a literature of their own, and many of the men,
even the common soldiers, were omnivorous readers. Every two weeks,
a dust covered 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
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fresh horse, toward the south, carrying the soldier's letters to
friends in the far off land of mystery. From whence
they all had come. Troops, sometimes me mounted and sometimes afoot,
left the post daily for what I assumed to be
patrol duty. I judged the little force of a thousand
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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.
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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
hands of the blacks were thus treated all most daily,
new prisoners were brought in, and about three weeks after
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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 happiest men were those
of the troop that was to be relieved. The next morning,
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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 lynks every few feet. At first
I could not guess the purpose of these chains, but
I was soon to learn. Couple of soldiers snapped the
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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
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and motioned me to follow him. I did so, and
was led back to the colonel. 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
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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 of
the soldiers carried to accelerate the speed of their charges.
About three hundred prisoners, who had been housed in six
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prisons at the post marched out of the gates that morning.
To 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
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that they had known since their capture by the Black conquerors,
a slavery that was to continue until death released them.
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
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of the prisons, but had a little room to myself
off the kitchen of the colonel's log house. 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 Belick. He was a colonel in the Cavalry
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of Abyssinia, a country of which I do not remember
ever hearing, but which Colonel Bellick assured me is the
oldest civilized country in the world. Colonel Bellick was born
in Addis Abeba, the capital of the Empire, and until
recently had been in command of the Emperor's palace guard.
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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 the fourteenth was ambitious. He knew that a great
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world lay across the waters far to the north of
his capital. Once he had crossed the desert and looked
out upon the Blue Sea that was the northern boundary
of his dominions, 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
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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 win. We shall conquer the world, carrying
Christianity to all the benighted heathen of Europe and Asia
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as well. You are a Christian people, I asked. He
looked at me in surprise, nodding his head affirmatively. I
am a Christian, I said. My people are the most
powerful on earth. He smiled and shook his head indulgently,
as a father to a child who sets up his
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childish judgment against that of his elders. Then I set
out to prove my point. I told him of our cities,
of our army, and 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
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navy were we numerically superior. Menelek the fourteenth is the
undisputed ruler of all the continent of Africa, of all
of ancient Europe except the British Isles, Scandinavia and Eastern Russia,
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and has large possessions and prosperous colonies in what once
were Arabia and Turkey. In Asia. He has a standing
army of ten million men, and his people possess slaves
white slaves, to the number of ten or fifteen million.
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Colonel Bellick 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
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there were but few blacks in my country, and that
these occupied a lower social plane than the whites. Just
the reverse is true in Colonel Bellicks's land. He considered
white's inferior beings creatures of a lower order, and assuring
me that even the few white freemen of Abyssinia were
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never accorded anything approximating a position of social equality with
the blacks. They live in the poorer districts of the cities,
in little white colonies, and a black who marries a
white is socially ostracized. The arms and ammunition of the
Abyssinians are greatly inferior to ours, yet they are tremendously
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effective against the ill armed barbarians of Europe. Their rifles
are of a type similar to the magazine riffles of
twentieth century Pan America, by 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,
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and are of extreme accuracy. The Abyssinians themselves are a
fine looking race of black men, tall muscular with fine
teeth and regular features which incline distinctly towards Semitic mold.
I referred to the full blooded natives of Abyssinia. They
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are the patricians, the aristocracy. The army is officed almost
exclusively by them. Among the soldiery, a lower type of
Nego predominates, with thicker lips and broader, flatter noses. These
men are recruited, so the colonel told me, from among
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the conquered tribes of Africa. They are good soldiers, brave
and loyal. They can read and write, and they are
endowed with a self confidence 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
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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 posts for over a month when orders came
to Colonel Bellick to hasten to the Eastern Frontier, with
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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
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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 defense, the
balance having been withdrawn toward the northeast in the same
direction in which we were moving. Naturally, the colonel had
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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 the fourteenth in that part of Europe was threatening
or had already broken. I could not believe that single
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rising of the savage tribes of White 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 horse drawn covered vehicles laden with
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camp equipage, munitions, and provisions. 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,
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for the men and beasts from the south were gaily
caparisoned in rich colors, in marked contrast to the gray,
uniformed forces of the frontier with which I had been familiar.
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 miraculous, at least to one
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of my race and nationality, whose rulers for centuries had
been but ordinary men holding off at the will of
the people for a few brief years. 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,
or else being equal in war between the troops of
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a republic and an empire. Could not this exhilarated mental state,
amounting almost to hysteria on the part of the imperial
troops weigh heavily against the soldiers of a president, I wonder.
But if the Emperor chanced to be absent, what then, again,
I wonder. On the eleventh day we reached our destination,
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a 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, where many built of
ancient brick and well cut stone. These I was told
were of material taken from the ruins of the ancient
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city which once had stood upon the site of the
present town. 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
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material used in the new town, there is no sign
of the former city. The day after we arrived, the
town was gaily decorated with flags, streamers, gorgeous rugs and banners.
For the rumor had proved true the Emperor was coming.
Colonel Bellick had accorded me the greatest liberty, permitting me
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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 with the inhabitants,
and exploring the city of black men. As I had
been given a semi military uniform which bore insignia indicating
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that I was an officer's body servant. Even the blacks
treated me with as 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
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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 me in surprise. Why to fight the
yellow men? Of course, he said, they have crossed the
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border and are marching toward Ugonda. Who will win, I asked.
He shrugged his shoulders. Who knows, he said, I hope
it will be the yellow men, but Menelek is powerful.
It will take many yellow men to defeat him. Crowds
were gathering along the sidewalks to view the emperor's entry
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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
no other Pan American has ever looked upon. Down the
broad main thoroughfare, which may once have been the historic
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unto den Linden, came a brilliant cortege. At the head
rode a regiment of red coated husars, enormous men black
as night. There were troops of riflemen mounted on camels.
The emperor rode in a golden hawder upon the back
of a huge elephant, so covered with rich hangings and
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embellished with scintillation gems that scarce more than the beast's
eyes and feet were visible. Menelek was a rather gross
looking man, well past middle age, but he carried himself
with an air of dignity, befitting one descended in unbroken
line from the prophet, as was his claim. His eyes
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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 revolting to me, at least. Following the Emperor
came regiment after regiment from the various branches of the service,
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among them batteries of field guns mounted on elephants. 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 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,
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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 their destinies as he. For a week,
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the troops kept pouring in and out of Ugonda, 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 offices of the western
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frontier posts had nought else to bring. 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 west. No,
these others came in covered wagons, blood soaked, and suffering.
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They came at first in little parties of eight or ten,
and then they came in fifties, in hundreds, and one
day a thousand maimed and dying men were carded into Ugonda.
It was then that Menelekt the fourteenth became uneasy. For
fifty years, his armies had conquered wherever they had marched.
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At first he had led them in person. Lately, his
presence within one hundred miles of the battle line had
been sufficient for large engagements. For minor ones, only the
knowledge that they were fighting for the glory of their
sovereign was necessary to win victories. One morning, Nugonda was
awakened by the booming of cannon. It was the first
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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, surrounded by
his staff. For three days thereafter we could hear the
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cannonading and the spitting of the small arms, for the
battle line was scarce two legs from New Gonda. 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 reverses. And then the imperial
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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 hostilities. A truce had
been arranged. Colonel Bellick summoned me about seven o'clock to
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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 and wait upon him. I Jefferson Turk,
lieutenant in a Pan American navy, in the privacy of
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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 every fine instinct within me. Yet there was
nothing for it but to obey. I can not even
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now bring myself to a narration of the humiliation which
I experienced that night, as I stood behind my black
master in silent civility, now pouring his wine, now cutting
up his meats for him, now fanning him with a
large plumed fan of feathers. As fond as I had
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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 the dais at
one end of the room and seated himself upon a throne,
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and the entertainment commenced. It was only what ancient history
might have led me to expect. Musicians, dancing girls, jugglers
and the like. Near midnight, the master of Ceremonies announced
that the slave women who had been presented to the
Emperor since his arrival in Ugonda would be exhibited, that
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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
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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.
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All nodded as I contemplated their sad fate and turned
my eyes away. 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 again,
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in sharp and peremptory command. Down, slave, he cried, make
obsense to your sovereign. 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
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little chindin in the air. Her back was toward me.
I could not see her face, though I should like
to see the countenance of this savage young lioness standing
there defiant among that herd of terrified sheep. Dam Down,
shouted the master of ceremonies, taking a step toward her
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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
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way angered at the girl's attitude. Let us inquire, he said,
in a smooth, pleasant voice, why this young woman refuses
to do homage to her sovereign? And he put the
question himself directly to her. She answered him in Abyssinian,
but brokenly and with an accent that betrayed how recently
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she had acquired her slight knowledge of the tongue. I
go on my knees to no one, she said, I
have no sovereign. I myself am sovereign in my own country. Mennelek,
at her words, leaned back in his throne and laughed uproariously.
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Following his example, which seemed always the correct procedure, the
assembled guests vied with one another in an effort to
laugh more noisily than the emperor. The girl, but tilted
her chin a bit higher in the air even her back,
proclaimed her utter contempt for her captors. Finally, Menelek restored
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quiet by the simple expedient of a frown, whereupon each
loyal guest exchanged his mirthful mane for an emmulative scowl.
And who asked, Menelek, are you, and by what name
is your country called? I am Victory, Queen of Rebritton,
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replied the girl, so quickly and so unexpectedly, that I
gasped in astonishment. End of Chapter eight
Chapter eight of the Lost Continent. This LibriVox recording is
in the public domain. The Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burrows,
Chapter eight. Belcart and Taylor were now in midstream, coming
towards us, and I called to them to keep aloof
until I knew whether the intentions of my captors were
(00:23):
friendly or otherwise. My good men wanted to come on
and annihilate the Blacks, but they were upward of a
hundred of the latter, all well armed, and so I
commanded Delcart to keep out of harm's way and stay
where he was till I needed him. A young officer
called and beckoned to them, but they refused to come,
(00:44):
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 their encampment, I discovered
that my captors were cavalry men. In the center of
(01:06):
a plane stood a log fort with a blockhouse 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 palisade was one which
(01:30):
I had never before seen nor heard of. 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,
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in front of which rose the flag staff. I was
escorted within the building into the present 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
accorded me. While I remained his prisoner, he listened to
(02:17):
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,
(02:39):
primeval looking fellow, as I had discovered in the woods
the day that Snyder had disappeared with the launch. 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
(03:02):
his head, gave instructions for my removal from his office.
I was led to a guard house, in which I
found about fifty half naked whites clad in the skins
of wild beasts. I tried to converse with them, but
not one of them could understand Pan American, nor could
(03:23):
I make head or tail of their jargon. For over
a month I remained a prisoner there, working from morning
till 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
(03:44):
and discrimination of the old colonel. What had become a
victory of del cart of Taylor, I could not know,
nor did it seem likely that I should ever learn.
I was most oppressed, but I whiled away my time
in forming the duties given me to the best of
my ability, and attempting to learn the language of my captors.
(04:07):
Who they were or where they came from was a
mystery to me. That they were the outposts 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
(04:27):
had a literature of their own, and many of the men,
even the common soldiers, were omnivorous readers. Every two weeks,
a dust covered 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
(04:48):
fresh horse, toward the south, carrying the soldier's letters to
friends in the far off land of mystery. From whence
they all had come. Troops, sometimes me mounted and sometimes afoot,
left the post daily for what I assumed to be
patrol duty. I judged the little force of a thousand
(05:09):
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.
(05:29):
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
hands of the blacks were thus treated all most daily,
new prisoners were brought in, and about three weeks after
(05:52):
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 happiest men were those
of the troop that was to be relieved. The next morning,
(06:15):
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 lynks every few feet. At first
I could not guess the purpose of these chains, but
I was soon to learn. Couple of soldiers snapped the
(06:39):
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
(07:03):
and motioned me to follow him. I did so, and
was led back to the colonel. 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
(07:25):
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 of
the soldiers carried to accelerate the speed of their charges.
About three hundred prisoners, who had been housed in six
(07:48):
prisons at the post marched out of the gates that morning.
To 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
(08:09):
that they had known since their capture by the Black conquerors,
a slavery that was to continue until death released them.
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
(08:31):
of the prisons, but had a little room to myself
off the kitchen of the colonel's log house. 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 Belick. He was a colonel in the Cavalry
(08:52):
of Abyssinia, a country of which I do not remember
ever hearing, but which Colonel Bellick assured me is the
oldest civilized country in the world. Colonel Bellick was born
in Addis Abeba, the capital of the Empire, and until
recently had been in command of the Emperor's palace guard.
(09:14):
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 the fourteenth was ambitious. He knew that a great
(09:36):
world lay across the waters far to the north of
his capital. Once he had crossed the desert and looked
out upon the Blue Sea that was the northern boundary
of his dominions, 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
(09:58):
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 win. We shall conquer the world, carrying
Christianity to all the benighted heathen of Europe and Asia
(10:22):
as well. You are a Christian people, I asked. He
looked at me in surprise, nodding his head affirmatively. I
am a Christian, I said. My people are the most
powerful on earth. He smiled and shook his head indulgently,
as a father to a child who sets up his
(10:42):
childish judgment against that of his elders. Then I set
out to prove my point. I told him of our cities,
of our army, and 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
(11:03):
navy were we numerically superior. Menelek the fourteenth is the
undisputed ruler of all the continent of Africa, of all
of ancient Europe except the British Isles, Scandinavia and Eastern Russia,
(11:23):
and has large possessions and prosperous colonies in what once
were Arabia and Turkey. In Asia. He has a standing
army of ten million men, and his people possess slaves
white slaves, to the number of ten or fifteen million.
(11:44):
Colonel Bellick 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
(12:05):
there were but few blacks in my country, and that
these occupied a lower social plane than the whites. Just
the reverse is true in Colonel Bellicks's land. He considered
white's inferior beings creatures of a lower order, and assuring
me that even the few white freemen of Abyssinia were
(12:28):
never accorded anything approximating a position of social equality with
the blacks. They live in the poorer districts of the cities,
in little white colonies, and a black who marries a
white is socially ostracized. The arms and ammunition of the
Abyssinians are greatly inferior to ours, yet they are tremendously
(12:52):
effective against the ill armed barbarians of Europe. Their rifles
are of a type similar to the magazine riffles of
twentieth century Pan America, by 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,
(13:15):
and are of extreme accuracy. The Abyssinians themselves are a
fine looking race of black men, tall muscular with fine
teeth and regular features which incline distinctly towards Semitic mold.
I referred to the full blooded natives of Abyssinia. They
(13:36):
are the patricians, the aristocracy. The army is officed almost
exclusively by them. Among the soldiery, a lower type of
Nego predominates, with thicker lips and broader, flatter noses. These
men are recruited, so the colonel told me, from among
(13:56):
the conquered tribes of Africa. They are good soldiers, brave
and loyal. They can read and write, and they are
endowed with a self confidence 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
(14:18):
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 posts for over a month when orders came
to Colonel Bellick to hasten to the Eastern Frontier, with
(14:41):
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
(15:02):
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 defense, the
balance having been withdrawn toward the northeast in the same
direction in which we were moving. Naturally, the colonel had
(15:23):
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 the fourteenth in that part of Europe was threatening
or had already broken. I could not believe that single
(15:46):
rising of the savage tribes of White 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 horse drawn covered vehicles laden with
(16:08):
camp equipage, munitions, and provisions. 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,
(16:30):
for the men and beasts from the south were gaily
caparisoned in rich colors, in marked contrast to the gray,
uniformed forces of the frontier with which I had been familiar.
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 miraculous, at least to one
(16:53):
of my race and nationality, whose rulers for centuries had
been but ordinary men holding off at the will of
the people for a few brief years. 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,
or else being equal in war between the troops of
(17:15):
a republic and an empire. Could not this exhilarated mental state,
amounting almost to hysteria on the part of the imperial
troops weigh heavily against the soldiers of a president, I wonder.
But if the Emperor chanced to be absent, what then, again,
I wonder. On the eleventh day we reached our destination,
(17:37):
a 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, where many built of
ancient brick and well cut stone. These I was told
were of material taken from the ruins of the ancient
(17:58):
city which once had stood upon the site of the
present town. 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
(18:19):
material used in the new town, there is no sign
of the former city. The day after we arrived, the
town was gaily decorated with flags, streamers, gorgeous rugs and banners.
For the rumor had proved true the Emperor was coming.
Colonel Bellick had accorded me the greatest liberty, permitting me
(18:44):
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 with the inhabitants,
and exploring the city of black men. As I had
been given a semi military uniform which bore insignia indicating
(19:06):
that I was an officer's body servant. Even the blacks
treated me with as 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
(19:27):
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 me in surprise. Why to fight the
yellow men? Of course, he said, they have crossed the
(19:50):
border and are marching toward Ugonda. Who will win, I asked.
He shrugged his shoulders. Who knows, he said, I hope
it will be the yellow men, but Menelek is powerful.
It will take many yellow men to defeat him. Crowds
were gathering along the sidewalks to view the emperor's entry
(20:13):
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
no other Pan American has ever looked upon. Down the
broad main thoroughfare, which may once have been the historic
(20:34):
unto den Linden, came a brilliant cortege. At the head
rode a regiment of red coated husars, enormous men black
as night. There were troops of riflemen mounted on camels.
The emperor rode in a golden hawder upon the back
of a huge elephant, so covered with rich hangings and
(20:58):
embellished with scintillation gems that scarce more than the beast's
eyes and feet were visible. Menelek was a rather gross
looking man, well past middle age, but he carried himself
with an air of dignity, befitting one descended in unbroken
line from the prophet, as was his claim. His eyes
(21:20):
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 revolting to me, at least. Following the Emperor
came regiment after regiment from the various branches of the service,
(21:44):
among them batteries of field guns mounted on elephants. 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 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,
(22:10):
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 their destinies as he. For a week,
(22:34):
the troops kept pouring in and out of Ugonda, 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 offices of the western
(22:57):
frontier posts had nought else to bring. 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 west. No,
these others came in covered wagons, blood soaked, and suffering.
(23:23):
They came at first in little parties of eight or ten,
and then they came in fifties, in hundreds, and one
day a thousand maimed and dying men were carded into Ugonda.
It was then that Menelekt the fourteenth became uneasy. For
fifty years, his armies had conquered wherever they had marched.
(23:48):
At first he had led them in person. Lately, his
presence within one hundred miles of the battle line had
been sufficient for large engagements. For minor ones, only the
knowledge that they were fighting for the glory of their
sovereign was necessary to win victories. One morning, Nugonda was
awakened by the booming of cannon. It was the first
(24:12):
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, surrounded by
his staff. For three days thereafter we could hear the
(24:36):
cannonading and the spitting of the small arms, for the
battle line was scarce two legs from New Gonda. 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 reverses. And then the imperial
(25:02):
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 hostilities. A truce had
been arranged. Colonel Bellick summoned me about seven o'clock to
(25:26):
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 and wait upon him. I Jefferson Turk,
lieutenant in a Pan American navy, in the privacy of
(25:48):
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 every fine instinct within me. Yet there was
nothing for it but to obey. I can not even
(26:09):
now bring myself to a narration of the humiliation which
I experienced that night, as I stood behind my black
master in silent civility, now pouring his wine, now cutting
up his meats for him, now fanning him with a
large plumed fan of feathers. As fond as I had
(26:31):
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 the dais at
one end of the room and seated himself upon a throne,
(26:52):
and the entertainment commenced. It was only what ancient history
might have led me to expect. Musicians, dancing girls, jugglers
and the like. Near midnight, the master of Ceremonies announced
that the slave women who had been presented to the
Emperor since his arrival in Ugonda would be exhibited, that
(27:15):
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
(27:36):
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.
(27:58):
All nodded as I contemplated their sad fate and turned
my eyes away. 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 again,
(28:21):
in sharp and peremptory command. Down, slave, he cried, make
obsense to your sovereign. 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
(28:45):
little chindin in the air. Her back was toward me.
I could not see her face, though I should like
to see the countenance of this savage young lioness standing
there defiant among that herd of terrified sheep. Dam Down,
shouted the master of ceremonies, taking a step toward her
(29:05):
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
(29:29):
way angered at the girl's attitude. Let us inquire, he said,
in a smooth, pleasant voice, why this young woman refuses
to do homage to her sovereign? And he put the
question himself directly to her. She answered him in Abyssinian,
but brokenly and with an accent that betrayed how recently
(29:52):
she had acquired her slight knowledge of the tongue. I
go on my knees to no one, she said, I
have no sovereign. I myself am sovereign in my own country. Mennelek,
at her words, leaned back in his throne and laughed uproariously.
(30:13):
Following his example, which seemed always the correct procedure, the
assembled guests vied with one another in an effort to
laugh more noisily than the emperor. The girl, but tilted
her chin a bit higher in the air even her back,
proclaimed her utter contempt for her captors. Finally, Menelek restored
(30:37):
quiet by the simple expedient of a frown, whereupon each
loyal guest exchanged his mirthful mane for an emmulative scowl.
And who asked, Menelek, are you, and by what name
is your country called? I am Victory, Queen of Rebritton,
(31:01):
replied the girl, so quickly and so unexpectedly, that I
gasped in astonishment. End of Chapter eight
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