The Land that Time Forgot, by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Part II.

0:00Spring weekends are all about family sunshine and evenings on the patio before the barbecue starts I like to stop by my local total wine and more to pick up a great bourbon maybe a single barrel I already love or something new to try with dinner with so many bottles to choose from It's easy to discover a favorite or something new for everyone to enjoy Find what you love and love what you find only a total wine and more Curbside pickup and delivery available in most areas visit total wine.com to learn more Spirits not sold in Virginia and North Carolina drink responsibly B-21 Chapter four of the land that time forgot. This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit Libravox.org Recording by Ralph Snellson. The land that time forgot by Edgar Rice Burrows. Chapter four For several days things went long in about the same course. I took our position every morning

1:01with my crude sextant but the results were always most unsatisfactory. They always showed a considerable westing when I knew that we had been sailing due north. I blamed my crude instrument and kept on. Then one afternoon the girl came to me. Part of me, she said, but where are you? I should watch this man Benson, especially when he is in charge. I asked her what she meant, thinking I could see the influence of Von Schoenborg's raising a suspicion against one of my most trusted men. If you will note the boat's course a half hour after Benson goes on duty, she said, you will know what I mean, and you will understand why he prefers a nightquash. Possibly too, you will understand some other things that have taken place aboard. Then she went back to her room thus ending the conversation. I waited until half an hour after Benson had gone on duty, passing through the conning tower where Benson sat and looking at the compass. It showed that our

2:03course was north by west, that is one point west of north, which was for our assume position about right. I was greatly relieved to find that nothing was wrong, for the girl's words had caused me considerable apprehension. I was about to return to my room when a thought occurred to me that again caused me to change my mind, and incidentally came near proving my death warrant. When I had left the conning tower, little more than a half hour since, the sea had been breaking over the port bow, and it seemed to me quite improbable, that in so short a time, an equally heavy sea could be de-luginess from the opposite side of the ship. Winds may change quickly, but not a long heavy sea. There was only one other solution, since I left the tower our course had been altered some eight points. Turning quickly I climbed out upon the conning tower, a single glance at the heavens confirmed my suspicions. The constellations which should have been dead ahead were directly

3:05starboard. We were sailing, due west. Just for an instant longer I stood there to check up my calculations. I wanted to be quite sure before I accused Benson of perfidy, and about the only thing I came near making quite sure of was my death. I cannot see even now how I escaped it. I was standing on the edge of the conning tower when a heavy palm suddenly struck me between the shoulders and hurled me into space. The drop to the triangular deck forward of the conning tower might easily have broken the leg for me, or I might have slipped off onto the deck and rolled overboard. But fate was upon my side, as I was only slightly bruised. As I came to my feet I heard the conning tower cover slam. There is a ladder which leads from the deck to the top of the tower. Up this I scrambled as fast as I could go, but Benson had the cover tight before I reached it. I stood there a moment in dumb consternation. What did the fellow intend? What was going on

4:08below? If Benson was a traitor, how could I know that there were not other traitors among us? I cursed myself for my folly and going out upon the deck, and then this thought suggested another a hideous one. Who was it that had really been responsible for my being here? Thinking to attract attention from inside the craft, I again ran down the ladder and onto the small deck, only to find that the steel covers of the conning tower windows were shot, and then I leaned with my back against the tower and cursed myself for a gullible idiot. I glanced at the bow. The sea seemed to be getting heavier, for every wave now watched completely over the lower deck. I watched them for a moment, and then a sudden chill pervaded my entire being. It was not the chill of wet clothing or the dashing spray which drinks my face. No, it was the chill of the hand of death upon my heart. In an instant I had turned the last corner of life's

5:09highway, and was looking God Almighty in the face. The U-33 was being slowly submerged. It would be difficult, even impossible to set down in writing my sensations at that moment. All I can particularly recall is that I laughed, though neither from a spirit of bravado, nor from hysteria. And I wanted to smoke, Lord, how I did want to smoke. But that was out of the question. I watched the water rise until the little deck I stood on was a wash, and then I clamored once more to the top of the conning tower. From the very slow submergence of the boat I knew that Benson was doing the entire trick alone, that he was merely permitting the diving tanks to fill, and that the diving rudders were not in use. The throbbing of the engine ceased, and instead came the steady vibration of the electric motors. The water was halfway up the conning tower. I had perhaps five minutes longer on the deck. I tried to decide what I should do after I was

6:13washed away. Should I swim until exhaustion claimed me, or should I give up, and end the agony at the first plunge? From below came two muffled reports. They sounded not unlike shots. Was Benson meeting with resistance? Personally, it could mean little to me, or even though my man might overcome the enemy, none would know of my predicament until long after it was too late to sucker me. The top of the conning tower was now a wash. I clung to the wire this mass, while the great wave surged, sometimes completely over me. I knew the end was near, and almost involuntarily I did that which I had not done since childhood. I prayed. After that, I felt better. I clung and waited, but the water rose no higher. Instead it receded. Now the top of the conning tower received only the crests of the higher waves. Now the little triangular deck below became visible. What had occurred within? Did Benson believe me already gone,

7:18and was he emerging because of that belief? Or had he and his forces been vanquished? The suspense was more wearing than that which I had endured while waiting for disillusion. Presently the main deck came into view, and then the conning tower opened behind me, and I turned to look into the anxious face of Bradley, an expression of relief overspread his features. Thank God, man, was all he said as he reached forth and dragged me into the tower. I was cold and numb and rather all in. Another few minutes would have done for me, I am sure, but the warmth of the interior helped to revive me, aided and abetted by some brandy which Bradley poured down my throat, from which it nearly removed the membrane. That brandy would have revived the corpse. When I got down into this entrail, I saw the Germans lined up on one side with a couple of my men with pistols standing over them. Bon Chouendorche was among them,

8:19on the floor lay Benson, moaning, and beyond him stood the girl, a revolver in one hand. I looked about bewildered. What has happened down here, I asked, tell me, Bradley replied. You see the result, sir? He said it might have been a very different result, but for Miss LaRue, we were all asleep. Benson had relieved the guard early in the evening. There was no one to watch him, no one but Miss LaRue. She felt the submergence of the boat and came out of her room to investigate. She was just in time to see Benson at the diving retters. When he saw her, he raised his pistol and fired, point blank at her, but he missed and she fired, and didn't miss. The two shots awakened everyone, and as our men were armed, the result was inevitable as you see it, but it would have been very different had not it been for Miss LaRue. It was she who closed the diving tank, sea-caughts, and roused oats and under me, and had the pumps started to empty them.

9:26And there I had been thinking that through her machinations I had been lured to the deck and to my death. I could have gone on my knees to her and begged her forgiveness, or at least I could have had I not been Anglo-Saxon. As it was, I could only remove my soggy cap and bow and mumble my appreciation. She made no reply, only turned and walked very rapidly toward her room. Could I have heard a right? Was it really a sob that came floating back to me through the narrow aisle of the U-33? Benson died that night. He remained defiant almost to the last, but just before he went out, he motioned to me, and I leaned over to catch the faintly whispered words. I did it alone, he said. I did it because I hate you. I hate all your kind. I was kicked out of your shipyard at Santa Monica. I was locked out of California. I am an IWW. I became a German agent,

10:30not because I loved them, for I hate them too, but because I wanted to injure Americans, whom I hated more. I threw the wireless apparatus overboard. I destroyed the chronometer and the segment. I devised the scheme for varying the compass to suit my wishes. I told Wilson that I had seen the girl talking with Bonn Fulonverts, and I made the poor egg think he had seen her doing the same thing. I am sorry, sorry that my plans failed. I hate you. He didn't die for a half hour after that, nor did he speak again, allowed. But just a few seconds before he went to meet his maker, his lips moved in a faint whisper, and as I leaned closer to catch his words, what do you suppose I heard? Now I lay me down to sleep. That was all. Benson was dead. We threw his body

11:36overboard. The wind of that night brought on some pretty rough weather with a lot of black clouds, which persisted for several days. We didn't know what course we had been holding, and there was no way of finding out, as we could no longer trust the compass, not knowing what Benson had done to it. The long and the short of it was that we cruised about aimlessly until the sun came out again. I'll never forget that day, or at surprises. We reckoned or rather guessed that we were somewhere off the coast of Peru. The wind, which had been blowing fitfully from the east, suddenly veered around into the south, and presently we felt a sudden chill. Peru, snored at Olsen, went more years after smelling ice-bells at Peru. Ice-bergs, ice-bergs, nothing, explained one of the Englishmen. Why, man, they don't come north of fourteen here in these waters. Then replied Olsen, you're south of fourteen my boy. We thought he was crazy, but he wasn't.

12:42For that afternoon we sighted a great bird south of us, and we'd been running north. We thought for days. I can tell you we were a discouraged lot. But we got a faint thrill of hope early the next morning, when the lookout balled down the open hatch. Land, land northwest by west. I think we were all sick for the sight of land. I know that I was, but my interest was quickly dissipated by the sudden illness of three of the Germans. Almost simultaneously they commenced vomiting. They couldn't suggest any explanation for it. I asked them what they had eaten, and found they had eaten nothing other than the food cook for all of us. Have you drunk anything? I asked, where I knew that there was liquor aboard and medicines in the same locker. Only water, one of them. We all drank water together, this morning. We opened a new tank, maybe it was the water. I started an investigation which revealed a terrifying condition. Someone, probably Benson,

13:47had poisoned all the running water on the ship. It would have been worse though, had land not been inside. The sight of land filled us with renewed hope. Our course had been altered, and we were rapidly approaching what appeared to be a precipitous headland. Cliff, seemingly rising perpendicularly out of the sea, faded away into the mist upon either hand as we approached. The land before us might have been a continent, so might he appeared to shoreline, yet we knew that we must be thousands of miles from the nearest western landmass, New Zealand, or Australia. We took our bearings with our crude and inaccurate instruments. We searched the chart, we cuddled our brains, and at last it was Bradley who suggested a solution. He was in the tower and watching the compass, to which he called my attention. The needle was pointing straight toward the land. Bradley swung the helm hard to starboard. I could feel the U-33

14:48respond, and yet the arrows still clung straight and short toward the distant cliffs. What do you make of it, I asked him? Did you have a hearer of Caproni, he asked? An early Italian navigator, I returned? Yes, he followed Cook about 1721. He is scarcely mentioned, even by contemporaneous historians, probably because he got into political difficulties on his return to Italy. It was the fashion to scoff at his claims, but I recall reading one of his words, his only one, I believe, in which he described a new continent in the south seas. A continent made up of some strange metal, which attracted the compass, a rock bound in hospitable coast, without beach or harbor, which extended for hundreds of miles. He could make no landing, nor in the several days he cruised about it, did he see signs of life. He called it Caprona

15:48and sailed away. I believe, sir, that we are looking upon the coast of Caprona, uncharted and forgotten for two hundred years. If you're right, it might account for much of the deviation of the compass during the past two days, I suggested. Caprona has been luring us upon her deadly rocks, well, we'll accept her challenge. We'll land upon Caprona. Along that long front there must be a vulnerable spot. We will find it, Bradley, or we must find it. We must find water on Caprona, or we must die. And so we approached the coast upon which no living eyes had ever rested, straight from the ocean's depths rose towering cliffs, shot with brown and blues and greens, withered moss and lichen, and the verdigrees of copper and everywhere the rusty ochre of iron pyrites. The cliff-tops, though ragged, were of such uniform height as to suggest the boundaries

16:49of a great plateau. And now and again we caught glimpses of verger, topping the rocky escarpment, as though bush or jungle land had pushed outward from a lush vegetation farther inland, to signal to an unseen world that Caprona lived and joyed in life beyond her austere and repellent coast. But metaphor, however poetic, never slaked a dry throat. To enjoy Caprona's romantic suggestions, we must have water, and so we came in close, always sounding and skirted the shore. As close in, as we dared cruise, we found fathomless depths, and always the same undented coastline of bald cliffs. As darkness threatened, we drew away and lay well off the coast all night. We had not yet really commenced to suffer for lack of water, but I knew that it would not be long before we did, and so at the first streak of dawn I moved in again, and once more took up the hopeless survey of the forbidding coast. Toward noon we discovered a beach,

17:55the first we had seen. It was a narrow strip of sand at the base of a part of the cliff that seemed lower than any we had before scanned. At its foot, half buried in the sand, lay great boulders, mute evidence that in a bygone age some mighty natural force had crumpled Caprona's barrier at this point. It was Bradley who first called our attention to a strange object lying among the boulders above the surf. It looked like a man, he said, and passed his glasses to me. I looked long and carefully and could have sworn that the thing I saw was the sprawl figure of a human being. Miss LaRou was on deck with us. I turned and asked her to go below. Without a word, she did, as I bade. Then I stripped, and as I did so knobs looked questioningly at me. He had been won't at home to enter the surf with me, and evidently he had not forgotten it. What are you going to do, sir? Ask Olson. I'm going to see what that thing is on

19:00shore, I reply. If it's a man, it may mean that Caprona is inhabited, or it may merely mean that some board devils were shipwrecked here. I ought to be able to tell from the clothing, which is more near the truth. Hell about Sharc's, question, Olson. Sharry, yacht, a carry, a knife. Here you are, sir, cried one of the men. It was a long slim blade, he offered, one that I could carry between my teeth, and so I accepted it gladly. Keep close in, I directed Bradley, and then I dived over the side and struck out by the narrow beach. There was another splash directly behind me, and turning my head I saw faithful old knobs swimming valiantly in my wake. The surf was not heavy, and there was no undertow, so we made sure easily, affecting an equally easy landing. The beach was composed largely of small stones worn smooth by the action of water. There was little sand, though from the deck of the U-33, the beach had appeared

20:03beyond sand, and I saw no evidences of molesca or crustacea, such as our common to all beaches I have previously seen. I attribute this to the fact of the smallness of the beach, the enormous depth of surrounding water, and the great distance at which Caprona lies from her nearest neighbor. As knobs and I approached the recumbent figure farther out the beach, I was appraised by my nose that whether or not the thing had once been organic in life, but that for some time it had been dead. Nobs halted, sniffed, and growled. A little later he sat down upon his haunches, raised his muzzle to the heavens, and bade forth a most dismal howl. I shied a small stone at him, and bade him shut up, his uncanny noise made me nervous. When I had come quite close to the thing, I still could not say whether it had been man or beast. The carcass was badly swollen,

21:03and partly decomposed. There was no sign of clothing upon or about it. A fine brownish hair covered the chest and abdomen, and the face, the palms of the hands, the feet, the shoulders, and back were practically hairless. The creature must have been about the height of a fair-sized man. Its features were similar to those of a man, yet had it been a man? I could not say, for it resembled an ape no more than it did a man. Its large toes protruded laterally, as do those of the semi-arborial peoples of Borneo. The Philippines, another remote regions where low-type still persist. The countenance might have been that of a cross between Pithy Canthropus, the Java ape man, and a daughter of the pilt-down race of prehistoric Sussex. A wooden cudgel lay beside the cords. Now this fact set me thinking. There was no wood of any description in sight. There was nothing about the beach to suggest a wrecked mariner. There was absolutely

22:07nothing about the body to suggest that it might possibly in life of known a maritime experience. It was the body of a low-type of man or a high-type of beast. In neither instance would it have been of a seafaring race. Therefore I deduced that it was native to Caprona, that it lived inland, and that it had fallen or been hurled from the cliffs above. Such being the case, Caprona was inhabitable, if not inhabited by man, but how to reach the inhabitable interior. That was the question. A closer view of the cliffs than had been afforded me from the deck of the U-33 only confirmed my conviction that no mortal man could scale those perpendicular heights. There was not a finger-hold, not a toe-hold upon them. I turned away backled. Nobs and I met with no sharks upon our return journey to the submarine. My report filled everyone

23:08with theories and speculations, and with renewed hope and determination. They all reasoned along the same lines that I had reasoned. The conclusions were obvious, but not the water. We were now thirstier than ever. The balance of that day we spent in continuing a minute and fruit the exploration of the monotonous coast. There was not another break in the frowning cliffs, not even another minute patch of pebbly beach. As the sun fell, so did our spirits. I had tried to make advances to the girl again, but she would have none of me, and so I was not only thirsty, but otherwise sad and downhearted. I was glad when the new day broke the hideous spell of a sleepless night. The morning search brought us no shred of hope. Caprona was impregnable. That was the decision of all. Yet we kept on. It must have been about two bells of the afternoon watch that Bradley called my attention to the branch of a tree with leaves upon it floating on the sea.

24:15It may have been carried down to the ocean by a river, he suggested. Yes, I replied. It may have. It may have tumbled or been thrown off the top of one of those cliffs. Bradley's face fell. I thought of that too, he replied. But I wanted to believe the other. Right you are, I cried. We must believe the other until we prove it false. We can't afford to give up heart now. When we need heart most, the branch was carried down by a river, and we are going to find that river. I smote my open palm with a clenched fist to emphasize a determination unsupported by hope. There, I cried suddenly. See that, Bradley, and I pointed at a spot closer to shore. See that, man? Some flowers and grasses and another leafy branch floated toward us. We both scanned the water and the coastline. Bradley evidently discovered something, or at least thought that he had. He called down for a bucket and a rope, and when they were passed

25:17up to him, he lured the former into the sea and drew it in filled with water. Of this, he took a taste, and straightening up looked into my eyes with an expression of elation, as much as to say, I told you so. This water is warm, you know, and fresh. I grabbed the bucket and tasted its contents. The water was very warm, and it was fresh, but there was a most unpleasant taste to it. Did you ever taste water from a stagnant pool full of Todd Poles, Bradley asked? That's it, I have seen. That's just the taste, exactly, though I haven't experienced it since boyhood. But how can water from a flowing stream taste us, and what the Dickens makes it so warm? It must be at least 70 or 80 Fahrenheit, possibly higher. Yes, agreed, Bradley. I should say higher, but where does it come from?

26:17That is easily discovered now that we have found it, I answered. It can't come from the ocean, so it must come from the land. All that we have to do is follow it, and sooner or later we shall come upon its source. We were already rather close in, but I ordered the youth 33's prowl turned in shore, and we crept slowly along, constantly dipping up the water and tasting it to assure ourselves that we didn't get outside the freshwater current. There was a very light off shore wind, and scarcely any breakers, so that the approach to the shore was continued without finding bottom. Yet, though we were already quite close, we saw no indication of any indentation in the coast, from which even a tiny booklet might issue, and certainly no mouth of a large river, such as this must necessarily be, to freshen the ocean, even 200 yards from shore. The tide was running out, and this, together with the strong flow of the freshwater current,

27:20would have prevented our going against the cliffs even had we not been under power. As it was, we had to buck the combined forces in order to hold our position at all. We came up to within 25 feet of the sheer wall, which loomed high above us. There was no break in its forbidding face. As we watched the face of the waters, and searched the cliff's high face, Olson suggested that the freshwater might come from a submarine geyser. This, he said, would account for its heat. But even as he spoke, a bush covered thickly with leaves and flowers, bubbled to the surface and floated off a stern. Flowering shrubs did not thrive in the subterranean caverns from which geysers spring, suggested Bradley. Olson shook his head. It beats me, he said. I got it, I explained suddenly. Look there, and I pointed at the base of the cliff ahead of us, which the receding tide was gradually exposing to our view. They all looked

28:26and all saw what I had seen, the top of a dark opening in the rock, through which water was pouring out into the sea. It's the subterranean channel of an inland river I cried. It flows through a land covered with vegetation, and therefore a land upon which the sun shines. No subterranean caverns produce any order of plant life, even remotely resembling what we have seen, disgords by this river. Beyond those cliffs lie fertile lands and fresh water, perhaps gain. Yes, saddle, said Olson, behind the cliffs. He spoke a true words, sir, behind. Bradley laughed, a rather sorry laugh, though. You might as well call our attention to the fox, sir, he said, that science has indicated that there is fresh water and vegetation on Mars. Not at all, I rejoin. A U-bolt isn't constructed to navigate space, but it is designed to travel below the surface of the water. You'd be out of saline into that

29:32blank pocket, asked Olson. I would, Olson, I replied. We haven't one chance for life in 100,000 if we don't find food and water upon Caprona. This water coming out of the cliff is not salt, but neither is it fit to drink, though each of us has drunk. It is fair to assume that inland the water is fed by pure streams, that there are fruits and herbs in game. Shall we lie out here and die of thirst and starvation, with a land of plenty possibly only a few hundred yards away, we have the means for navigating a subterranean river? Are we too cowardly to utilize this means? Be off to go unto what, said Olson. I'm willing to see it through, agreed Bradley. Then under the bottom we the best luck and give them hell, cried a young fellow who had been in the trenches. To the diving stations, I commanded, and in less than a minute the deck was deserted, the conning tower covers had slammed too,

30:36and the U-33 was submerging possibly for the last time. I know that I had this feeling, and I think that most of the others did. As we went down, I sat in the tower with the search light projecting its seemingly feeble rays ahead. We submerged very slowly, and without headway more than sufficient to keep our nose in the right direction. And as we went down, I saw outlined ahead of us the black opening in the great cliff. Yet was an opening that would have admitted a half dozen new boats at one in the same time, roughly cylindrical in contours, and dark as the pith of perdition. As I gave the command which sent the U-33 slowly ahead, I could not but feel a certain uncanny presentiment of evil. Where were we going? What lay at the end of this great sewer? Had we bidden farewell forever to the sunlight and life, or were there before us dangers even greater than those which we now faced?

31:39I tried to keep my mind from vain imagining by calling everything which I observed to the eager ears below. I was the eyes of the whole company, and I did my best not to fail them. We had advanced a hundred yards, perhaps, when our first danger confronted us. Just ahead was a sharp right-angled turn in the tunnel. I could see the river's flots some hurtling against the rocky wall upon the left as it was driven on by the mighty current. And I feared for the safety of the U-33 and making so sharp a turn, under such adverse conditions. But there was nothing for it but to try. I didn't warn my fellows of the danger it could have but caused them useless apprehension. For if we were to be smashed against the rocky wall, no power on earth could have hurt the quick end that would come to us. I gave the command full speed ahead and went charging toward the menace. I was forced to approach the dangerous left-hand wall in order to make the turn,

32:42and I depended upon the power of the motors to carry us through the surging waters in safety. Well, we made it, but it was a narrow squeak. As we swung around, the full force of the current caught us and drove the stern against the rocks. There was a thud which sent a tremor through the whole craft, and then a moment of nasty grinding as the steel hull scraped the rock wall. I expected momentarily the young rush of waters that would seal our doom, but presently from below came the welcome word that all was well. In another fifty yards there was a second turn, this time toward the left, but it was more of a gentle curve, and we took it without trouble. After that it was plain sailing, though as far as I could know there might be most anything ahead of us, and my nerves strained to the snapping point every instant. After the second turn the channel ran comparatively straight for between 150 and 200 yards.

33:46The waters grew suddenly lighter, and my spirit rose accordingly. I shouted down to those below that I saw daylight ahead, and a great shout of thanksgiving reverberated through the ship. A moment later we emerged into sun-knit water, and immediately I raised the periscope, and looked about me upon the strangest landscape I had ever seen. We were in the middle of a broad and now sluggish river, the banks of which were lined by giant arboratious ferns, raising their mighty fronds 50, 100, 200 feet into the quiet air. Close by is something rose to the surface of the river, and dashed at the periscope. I had a vision of why, distended jaws, and then all was blotted out. A shiver ran down into the tower as the thing closed upon the periscope. A moment later it was gone, and I could see again. Above the trees there soared into my vision a huge thing on bat-like wings. A creature large is

34:52a large whale, but fashioned more after the order of a lizard. Then again something charged the periscope and blotted out the mirror. I will confess that I was almost gasping for breath as I gave the commands to emerge. Into what sort of strange land had fate guided us. The instant the deck was awash, I opened the conning tower hatch and stepped out. In another minute the deck hatch lifted, and those who were not on duty below, streamed up the ladder, oats and ringing knobs under one arm. For several minutes no one spoke. I think they must each have been as overcome by awe as was I. All about us was a flora and fauna as strange and wonderful to us as might have been those upon a distant planet had we suddenly been miraculously transported through either to an unknown world. Even the grass upon the near bank was unearthly, lush and high at grew, and each blade bore upon its tip of brilliant flower,

35:57violet or yellow or carbon or blue, making this gorgeous a sward as human imagination might conceive. But the life it teemed, the tall, fern-like trees were alive with monkey snakes and lizards. Huge insects hummed and buzzed hither and thither. Mighty forms could be seen moving upon the ground in the thick forest while the bosom of the river wriggled with living things and above flat the wings of gigantic creatures such as we are taught have been extinct throughout countless ages. Look, Gradolson, would you look at that young raft coming up out of the bottom of the sea? We looked in the direction he pointed and saw a long, glossy neck surmounted by a small head rising above the surface of the river. Presently the back of the creature was exposed, brown and glossy as the water dripped from it. It turned its eyes upon us, opened its lizard-like mouth,

37:01emitted a shrill hiss and came for us. The thing must have been sixteen or eighteen feet in length, and closely resembled pictures I had seen of restored pleaciosars of the Lord Jurassic. It charged us as savagely as a mad bull, and one would have thought it, intended to destroy and devour the mighty U-bolt, as I barely believe it did intend. We were moving slowly up the river as the creature bore down upon us with distended jaws. The long neck was far outstretched, and the four flippers with which it swam were working with powerful strokes, carrying it forward at a rapid pace. When it reached the craft side, the jaws closed upon one of the stonchins of the deck rail, and tore it from its socket, as though it had been a toothpick stuck in putty. At this exhibition of titanic strength, I think we all simultaneously stepped backward, and Bradley drew his revolver and fired. The bullet struck the thing in the neck just above its

38:05body, but instead of disabling it, it merely increased its rage. Its hissing rose to a shrill screen as it raged half its body out of water onto the sloping sides of the hull of the U-33, and endeavored to scramble upon the deck to devour us. A dozen shots rang out as we, who were armed, drew our pistols and fired at the thing, but those struck several times it showed no signs of succumbing, and only floundered farther aboard the submarine. I had noticed that the girl had come on deck and was standing not far behind me, and when I saw the danger to which we were all exposed, I turned and forced her toward the hatch. We had not spoken for some days, and we did not speak now, but she gave me a disdainful look, which was quite as eloquent as words, and broke loose from my grasp. I saw I could do nothing with her unless I exerted force, and so I turned with my

39:07back toward her, that I might be in a position to shield her from the strange reptile should it really succeed in reaching the deck. And as I did so, I saw the thing rage one flipper over the rail, dart its head forward, and with the quickness of lightning seize upon one of the bosses. I ran forward, discharging my pistol into the creature's body, and an effort to force it to relinquish its prey, but I might as profitably have shot at the sun. Shrieking and screaming the German was dragged from the deck, and the moment the reptile was clear of the boat, it died beneath the surface of the water with its terrified prey. I think we were all more or less shaken by the frightfulness of the tragedy, until Olsen remarked that the balance of power now rested where it belonged. Following the death of Benson, we had been nine and nine. Nine Germans and nine allies, as we called ourselves, now there were but eight Germans. We never counted the girl on either side,

40:10I suppose, because she was a girl, though we knew well enough now that she was ours. And so Olsen's remark helped to clear the atmosphere for the allies at least, and then our attention was once more directed toward the river. For around us there had sprung up a perfect bedlam of screams and hisses, and a seething cauldron of hideous reptiles, devoid of fear and filled only with hunger and with rage. They clamored squirmed and wriggled to the deck, forcing us steadily backward, though we emptied our pistols into them. There were all sorts and conditions of horrible things. Huge hideous, grotesque, monstrous, a veritable Mesozoic nightmare. I saw that the girl was gotten below as quickly as possible, and she took knobs with her. Poor knobs had nearly barked his head off, and I think, too, that for the first time since his littlest puppyhood he had known fear, nor can I blame him. After the girl I sent Bradley, and most of the allies, and then the Germans

41:16who were on deck, von Schroenberg's being still in irons below. The creatures were approaching perilously close before I dropped through the hatchway, and slammed down the cover. Then I went into the tower, and ordered full speed ahead, hoping to distance the fearsome things. But it was useless. Not only could any of them easily outdistance the U-33, but the further upstream we progressed the greater the number of our besiegers. Until fearful of navigating a strange river at high speed, I gave orders to reduce and move solely and majestically through the plunging hissing mass. I was mighty glad that our entrance into the interior of Caprona had been inside a submarine, rather than in any other form of vessel. I could readily understand how it might have been that Caprona had been invaded in the past by venture-some navigators without word of it ever reaching the outside world, for I can assure you that only by submarine could man pass up that great sluggish

42:22river alive. We proceeded up the river for some forty miles before darkness overtook us. I was afraid to submerge and lie on the bottom overnight for fear that the mud might be deep enough to hold us, and as we could not hold with the anchor I ran in close to shore, and in a brief interim attack from the reptiles we made fast to a large tree. We also dipped up some of the river water and found it though quite warm a little sweeter than before. We had food enough, and with the water we were all quite refreshed, but we missed fresh meat. It had been weeks now since we had tasted it, and the sight of the reptiles gave me an idea that a staker to from one of them might not be bad eating. So I went on deck with a rifle, twenty of which were aboard the U-33. At sight of me a huge thing charged and climbed to the deck. I retreated to the top of the conning tower, and when it had raised its mighty bulk to the level of the little deck on which I stood,

43:27I let it have a bullet bright between the eyes. The thing stopped then and looked at me a moment, as much as to say, why this thing has a stinger? I must be careful, and then it reached out its long neck and opened its mighty jaws and grabbed for me. But I wasn't there. I had tumbled backward into the tower, and I mighty near-killed myself doing it. When I glanced up that little head on the end of its long neck was coming straight down on top of me, and once more I tumbled into greater safety, sprawling upon the floor of the centrail. Oldson was looking up, and seeing what was poking about in the tower ran for an axe, nor did he hesitate a moment when he returned with one, but sprang up the ladder and commence chopping away at that hideous phase. The thing didn't have sufficient rainpan to entertain more than a single idea, once. Though chopped and hacked, and with a bullet hole between its eyes, it still persisted madly in its attempt to get inside

44:28the tower and devour Oldson, though its body was many times the diameter of the hatch, nor did it seat its efforts until after Oldson had succeeded in decapitating it. Then he and Bradley went on deck through the main hatch, and while one kept watch, the other cut a high-end quarter off, fleeceous arousal Sony, as Bradley dubbed the thing. Meantime, Oldson, could off the long neck, saying that it would make fine soup. By the time we had cleared away the blood and refuse in the tower, the cook had juicy steaks and a steaming broth upon the electric stove, and the aroma arising from peel, Sony filled us with an hitherto unfelt admiration for him, and all his kind. End of chapter 4 Chapter 5 of the Land That Time Forgot

45:31This is a Librevox recording. All Librevox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librevox.org. Recording by Ralph Snellson. The Land That Time Forgot By Edgar Rice Burles. Chapter 5 The states we had that night, and they were fine, and the following morning we tasted the broth. It seemed odd to be eating a creature that should, by all the laws of paleontology, have been extinct for several million years. It gave one a feeling of noonice that was almost embarrassing, although it didn't seem to embarrass our appetites, ultsonate until I thought he would burst. The girl ate with us that night at the little officer's mess just back of the torpedo compartment. The narrow table was unfolded, the forced tools were set out, and for the first time in days we sat down to eat, and for the first time in weeks we had something to eat,

46:33other than the monotony of the short rations of an impoverished U-bolt. Knob sat between the girl and me, and was fed with morsels of the Plesiosaurus steak, at the risk of forever contaminating his manners. He looked at me sheeplessly all the time, for he knew that no well-bred dog should eat at table, but the poor fellow was so wasted from improper food, that I couldn't enjoy my own meal, had he been denied an immediate share in it, and anyway, Liss wanted to feed him, so there you are. Liss was coldly polite to me, and sweetly gracious to Bradley and ultson. She wasn't of the gushing-tie by new, so I didn't expect much from her, and was duly grateful for the few morsels of attention she threw upon the floor to me. We had a pleasant meal, with only one unfortunate occurrence, when ultson suggested that possibly the creature we were eating was the same one that ate the German. It was some time before we could persuade the girl to continue her meal,

47:36but at last Bradley prevailed upon her, pointing out that we had come upstream nearly 40 miles since the Bosch had been seized, and that during that time we had seen literally thousands of these denizens of the river, indicating that the chances were very remote that this was the same they see us are. Undone away, he concluded, it was only a scheme of Mr. Ultson's to get all the stakes for himself. We discussed the future and ventured opinions as to what lay before us, but we could only theorize best, for none of us knew. If the whole land was infested by these and similar horrid monsters, life would be impossible upon it, and we decided that we would only search long enough to find and take aboard fresh water and such meat and fruits, as might be safely procurable, and then retrace our way between the cliffs to the open sea. And so at last we turned into our narrow bumps, hopeful, happy, and at peace with ourselves, our lives, and our God,

48:41to awaken the following morning refreshed and still optimistic. We had an easy time getting away, as we learned later, because the Saurians do not commence to feed until late in the morning. From noon to midnight their curve of activity is at its height, while from dawn to about nine o'clock it is lost. As a matter of fact, we didn't see one of them all the time we were getting underway, though I had the cannon raised to the deck and manned against an assault. I hoped, but I was none too sure that shells might discourage them. The trees were full of monkeys of all sizes and shades, and once we thought we saw a manlike creature watching us from the depth of the forest. Shortly after we resumed our course upstream, we saw the mouth of another and smaller river emptying into the main channel from the south, that is upon our right, and almost immediately after we came upon a large island five or six miles in length,

49:42and at fifty miles there was a still larger river than the last coming in from the northwest. The course of the main stream, having now changed to northeast by south-west. The water was quite free from reptiles, and the vegetation upon the banks of the river had altered to more open and park-like forest, with eucalyptus and acacia mingled with a scattering of tree ferns, as though two distinct periods of geologic time had overlapped and merged. The grass too was less flowering, though there were still gorgeous patches modeling the greens were, and lastly the fauna was less multitudinous. Six or seven miles farther, and the river widen considerably, before us opened an expansive water to the farther horizon, and then we sailed out upon an inland sea so large that only a shoreline upon our side was visible to us. The waters all about us were alive with life. There were still a few reptiles,

50:44but there were fish by the thousands, by the millions. The water of the inland sea was very warm, almost hot, and the atmosphere was hot and heavy above it. It seemed strange that beyond the buttressed walls of Caprona, icebergs floated, and the south wind was biting, for only a gentle breeze moved across the face of these living waters, and that was damp and warm. Gradually, we commenced to divest ourselves with our clothing, retaining only sufficient for modesty, but the sun was not hot, it was more the heat of a steam room than of an oven. We costed up the shore of the lake in a north-westernly direction, sounding all the time. We found the lake deep, and the bottom rocky, and steeply shelving toward the center, and once, when I moved straight out from shore to take other soundings, we could find no bottom, whatsoever. In open spaces along the shore, we caught occasional glimpses of the distant cliffs,

51:45and here they appeared only a trifle less precipitous than those which bound Caprona on the seward side. My theory is that in a far distant era, Caprona was a mighty mountain. Perhaps the world's mightiest volcanic action blew off the entire crest. Blue thousands of feet of the mountain upward and outward, and on to the surrounding continent, leaving a great crater, and then possibly the continent sank as ancient continents have been known to do, leaving only the summit of Caprona above the sea. The encircling walls, the central lake, the hot springs which feed the lake, all point to a conclusion, and the fauna and the flora bear indisputable evidence that Caprona was once part of some great landmass. As we cruised up along the coast, the landscape continued a more or less open forest, with here and there a small plain where we saw animals grazing. With my glass I could make out a species of large red deer, some antelope, and what appeared to be

52:49a species of horse, and once I saw the shaggy form of what might have been a monstrous bison. Here was game a plenty. There seemed little danger of starving upon Caprona. The game, however, seemed wary. For the instant the animals discovered us, they threw up their heads and tails and went cavorting off, those farther inland, following the example of the others, until all were lost in the mazes of the distant forest. Only the great shaggy ox stood his ground, with lord had he watched us until we had passed, and then continued feeding. About twenty miles up the coast from the mouth of the river, we encountered low cliffs of sandstone, broken and tortured evidence of the great upheaval, which entorned Caprona's under in the past, intermingling upon a common level the rock formations of widely separated eras, fusing some and leaving others untouched. We ran along beside them for a matter of ten miles,

53:50arriving off a broad cleft, which led into what appeared to be another lake. As we were in search of pure water, we did not wish to overlook any portion of the coast, and so after sounding and finding that we had ample depth. I ran the U-33 between headlands into as pretty a landlocked harbor as sailor-man could care to see, with good water right up to within a few yards of the shore. As we cruised slowly along, two of the boshes again saw what they believed to be a man, or manlike creature, watching us from a fringe of trees a hundred yards inland, and shortly after we discovered the mouth with a small stream emptying into the bay. It was the first stream we had found since leaving the river, and I at once made preparations to test its water. To land it would be necessary to run the U-33 close into the shore, at least as close as we could, for even these waters were infested, though not so thickly, by savage reptiles.

54:54I ordered sufficient water, led into the diving tanks, to lure us about a foot, and then I ran the boughs slowly toward the shore, confident that, should we run aground, we still had sufficient lifting force to free us when the water should be pumped out of the tanks. But the bough knows its way gently into the reeds, and touched the shore with the keel still clear. My men were all armed now with both rifles and pistols, each having plenty of ammunition. I ordered one of the Germans ashore with a line, and sent two of my own men to guard him. For from what little we had seen of Caprona, or Caspac, as we learned later to call the interior, we realized that any instant some new and terrible danger might confront us. The line was made fast to a small tree, and at the same time I had the stern anchor dropped. As soon as the bosh and his guard were aboard again, I called all hands on deck, including Bon Shouenverts, and there I explained to them

55:57that the time had come for us to enter into some sort of an agreement among ourselves that would relieve us of the annoyance and embarrassment of being divided into two antagonistic parts, prisoners and captors. I told them that it was obvious our very existence depended upon our unity of action, that we were to all intent and purpose entering a new world, as far from the seat and causes of our own world war, as if millions of miles of space and eons of times separated us from our past lives and the habitations. There is no reason why we should carry our racial and political hatreds into Caprona, I insisted. The Germans among us might kill all the English, or the English might kill the last German, without affecting in the slightest degree, either the outcome of even the smallest skirmish upon the Western Front, or the opinion of a single individual in any belligerent or neutral country. I therefore put the issue squarely to you all. Shall we

57:00bury our animosities and work together with, and for one another, while we remain upon Caprona, or must we continue thus divided and but have armed? Possibly until death is claimed the last of us. And let me tell you, if you have not already realized it, the chances are a thousand to one, that not one of us ever will see the outside world again. We are safe now, in the matter of food and water. We could provision the U-33 for a long cruise, but we are practically out of fuel, and without fuel we cannot hope to reach the ocean, as only a submarine can pass through the barrier cliffs. What is your answer? I turned toward Bonn Schuylenbarts. He eyed me in that disagreeable way of his, and demanded to know, in case they accepted my suggestion, what their status would be in event of our finding a way to escape with the U-33. I replied that I felt that if we had all worked loyally together, we should leave Caprona upon a common footing, and to that

58:05end I suggested that should the remote possibility of our escape in the submarine develop into reality, we should then immediately make for the nearest neutral port and give ourselves into the hands of the authorities, when we should all probably be in turn for the duration of the war. To my surprise he agreed that this was fair and told me that they would accept my conditions, and that I could depend upon their loyalty to the common cause. I thanked him, and then addressed each one of his men individually, and each gave me his word that he would abide by all that I had outlined. It was further understood that we were to act as a military organization under military rules and discipline. I, as commander, with Bradley as my first lieutenant, and Olson as my second in command of the Englishman, while Bonn Schuylenbarts was to act as an additional second lieutenant, and have charge of his own men. The four of us were to constitute a military court,

59:08under which men might be tried and sentenced to punishment for infraction of military rules and discipline, even to the passing of the death sentence. I then had arms and ammunition issued to the Germans, and leaving Bradley and five men to guard the U-33, the balance of us went ashore. The first thing we did was to taste the water of the little stream, which to our delight we found sweet, pure, and cold. This stream was entirely free from dangerous reptiles, because, as I later discovered, they became immediately dormant when subjected to a much lower temperature than seventy degrees Fahrenheit. They disliked cold water, and keep as far away from it as possible. There were countless brook trout here, and deep holes that invited us to bat, and along the bank of the stream were trees bearing a close resemblance to ash and beach and oak. Their characteristics evidently induced by the lower temperature of the air above the cold

1:00:12water, and by the fact that their roots were watered by the water from the stream, rather than from the warm springs, which we afterward found in such abundance elsewhere. Our first concern was to fill the watertimes of the U-33 with fresh water, and that having been accomplished, we set out to hunt for game and explore inland for a short distance. Oldson, von Schuendord, to Englishman and to Germans, accompanied me, leaving, ten to guard the ship, and the girl. I had intended leaving knobs behind, but he got away and joined me and was so happy over it that I hadn't the heart to send him back. We followed the stream upward through a beautiful country for about five miles, and then came upon its source in a little boulder strewn clearing. From among the rocks bubbled fully twenty ice cold springs. North of the clearing rose sandstone cliffs to a height of some fifty to seventy-five feet, with tall trees growing at their base,

1:01:15and almost concealing them from our view. To the west the country was flat and sparsely wooded, and here it was that we saw our first game, a large red deer. It was grazing away from us and had not seen us when one of my men called my attention to it. Motioning for silence and having the rest of the party lie down, I crept toward the quarry, accompanied only by whitely. We got within a hundred yards of the deer, when he suddenly raised his anchored head, and pricked up his great ears. We both fired at once, and had the satisfaction of seeing the buck drop. Then we ran forward to finish him with our knives. The deer lay in a small open space close to a clump of occasions, and we had advanced within several yards of our kill when we both halted suddenly and simultaneously. Whitely looked at me, and I looked at Whitely, and then we both looked back in the direction of the deer. Blimey, he said. What's he said, sir? It looks to me Whitely, like an error, I said.

1:02:19Some assistant God, who had been creating elephants, must have been temporarily transferred to the lizard department. Hi, what inside that, sir?" said Whitely. It sounds blasphemous. It is more blasphemous than that thing which is swiping our meat, I replied, for whatever the thing was, it had leaped upon our deer, and was devouring it in great mouthfuls, which it swallowed without mastication. The creature appeared to be a great lizard at least ten feet high, with a huge, powerful tail, as long as its torso, mighty hind legs and short forelegs. When it had advanced from the wood, it hopped much after the fashion of a kangaroo. Using its hind feet and tail to propel it, and when it stood erect, it sat upon its tail. It said, was long and thick, with a blunt muzzle, and the opening of the jaws ran back to a point behind the eyes, and the jaws were armed with long, sharp teeth. The scaly body was covered with

1:03:20black and yellow spots about a foot in diameter, and a regular in contour. These spots were outlined in red, with edgings about an inch wide. The underside of the chest, body and tail, were a greenish white. What sight we potted up Lumenberg, sir, suggested widely. I told him to wait until I gave the word, then we would fire simultaneously, he at the heart and I at the spine. At the heart, sir? Yes, sir, he replied, and raised his piece to his shoulder. Our shots rang out together, the thing raised its head, and looked about until its eyes rested upon us, then it gave vent to a most appalling hiss that rose to the crescendo of a terrific shriek and came for us. Beat it widely, I cried, as I turned around. We were about a quarter of a mile from the rest of our party, and in full sight of them as they lay in the tall grass, watching us. That they saw all that had happened was evidenced by the fact that they now rose and ran toward us,

1:04:23and at their head leaped knobs. The creature in our rear was gaining honest rapidly when knobs flew past me like a meteor and rushed straight for the frightful reptile. I tried to recall him, but he would pay no attention to me, and as I couldn't see him sacrificed, I too stopped and faced the monster. The creature appeared to be more impressed with knobs than by us and our firearms, for it stopped as the air-dail dashed at it growling and struck at him viciously with powerful jaws. Nobs, though, was lightening by comparison with the slow-thinking beast, and dodged his opponent's thrust with ease. Then he raced to the rear of the tremendous thing and seized it by the tail. There, nobs made the error of his life. Within that model organ were the muscles of a titan, the force of a dozen mighty catapults, and the owner of the tail was fully aware of the possibilities which it contained. With a single flip of the tip it sent poor knobs sailing through the air a hundred feet above the ground, straight back into the clump of acasias

1:05:28from which the beast had leaped upon our kill, and then the grotesque thing sank lifeless to the ground. Olson and Bonn Schoenvarts came up a minute later with their men, then we all cautiously approached the still form upon the ground. The creature was quite dead, and an examination resulted in disclosing the fact that Whiteley's bullet had pierced its heart and mine had severed the spinal cord. But why didn't it die instantly, I exclaimed? Because, said Bonn Schoenvarts in his disagreeable way, the beast had stalled large, and it's not of a so-organization of so low a caliber, that it took all this time for the intelligence of death to reach and be impressed upon the minute brain. The thing was dead when your bullet struck it, but it did not know it for several seconds, possibly a minute. If I am not mistaken, it is an allosaurus of the upper jawlastic remains

1:06:29of which have been found in central Wyoming in the suburbs of New York. An Irishman by the name of Brady Grindr, I afterward learned that he had served three years on the traffic squad of the Chicago police force. I had been calling knobs in the meantime, and was about to set out in search of him, fearing to tell the truth to do so, lest I find him mangled and dead among the trees of the occasion grow. When he suddenly emerged from among the bowls his ears flattened his tail between his legs, and his body screwed into a supple and s. He was unharmed, except for minor bruises, but he was the most chasing dog I have ever seen. We gathered up what was left of the red deer after skinning and cleaning it, and set out upon our return journey toward the U-boat. On the way, Olson, von Schoenvarts, and I discussed the needs of our immediate future, and we were unanimous in placing foremost the necessity of a permanent camp on shore.

1:07:32The interior of a U-boat is about as impossible and uncomfortable and abiding place, as one can well imagine, and in this warm climate and in warm water it was almost unendurable. So we decided to construct a palisated camp. End of chapter 5. This is The New Weight Watchers. Built for real life and real results, no matter what mojure in. Maddie went all in for her big day and lost 33 pounds. Emily lost 85 pounds and hit her goal while still living her life. Weight watches gave me the tools and I feel amazing. Join the millions of members, and lose weight with the number one doctor recommended weight loss program. Lose more at weightwatchers.com. At six months participants in the clinical trial of Weight Watchers program lost an average of 12 pounds. Spring weekends are my favorite. The artistful blooms, the grill is fired up, and the family gathers around the patio table.

1:08:32Before everyone arrives, I stop by my local, total wine and more to pick up a few bottles of wine, usually a cabernet I already love, and sometimes a new fine to share. Find what you love and love what you find, only at Total Wine and More. Visit TotalWine.com to learn more. Spirits not sold in Virginia and North Carolina. Drink responsibly B-21.