The Land That Time Forgot

ant; but the results were always most unsatisfactory. They always showed a considerable westing when I knew that

y when he is in charge." I asked her what she meant, thinking I could see the in

d, "you will know what I mean, and you will understand why he prefers a night watch

at the compass. It showed that our course was north by west-that is, one point west of north, which was, for our assumed position, about right. I was greatly relieved to find that nothing was wrong, for the g

luging us 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. Turni

nning-tower, when a heavy palm suddenly struck me between the shoulders and hurled me forward into space. The drop to the triangular deck forward of the conning-tower might easily have broken a leg for me, or I might have slipped off onto the deck and rolled overboard; but fa

or, how could I know that there were not other traitors among us? I cursed myself for my folly in going out upon the dec

the small deck only to find that the steel covers of the conning-tower windows were shut

sudden chill pervaded my entire being. It was not the chill of wet clothing, or the dashing spray which drenched my face; no, it was the chill of the hand of

I can particularly recall is that I laughed, though neither from a spirit of bravado nor from h

that he was merely permitting the diving-tanks to fill and that the diving-rudders were not in use. The throbbing of the engines ceased, and in its stead came the steady vibration of the electric motors. The water was halfway up

to me, for even though my men might overcome the enemy, none would know of my predicament until long after it was too late to succor m

arily, I did that which I had not done since

ed, but the wate

eve me already gone, and 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 dissolut

her 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

men with pistols standing over them. Von Schoenvorts was among them. On the floor lay Benson

ed down here?" I

bmergence of the boat and came out of her room to investigate. She was just in time to see Benson at the diving rudders. 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 ev

veness-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

he last; but just before he went out, he motioned to me

love 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 sextant. I devised a scheme for varying the

t to meet his Maker, his lips moved in a faint whisper; and as I leaned closer to catch his words, what do y

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 its surprise

When were yez after smel

e of the Englishmen. "Why, man, they don't

on, "ye're sout' of

en running north, we thought, for days. I can tell you we were a discouraged lot; but we got a faint thrill

most simultaneously they commenced vomiting. They couldn't suggest any explanation for it. I asked them what they had eaten, and found they had eaten nothi

drank water together this morning. We op

y Benson, had poisoned all the running water on the ship. It would have been worse

icularly 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 m

ested 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.

make of it?

hear of Capr

lian navigato

rks-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 rockbound, inhospitable coast, without beach or harbor, which extended for hundreds of m

has been luring us upon her deadly rocks. Well, we'll accept her challenge. We'll land upon Caprona. Along that long front t

er, and everywhere the rusty ocher of iron pyrites. The cliff-tops, though ragged, were of such uniform height as to suggest the boundaries of a great plateau, and now and again we caught glimpses of verdure topping

red 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 as yet really commenc

y 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

he said, and passe

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,

oing to do, sir

n that Caprona is inhabited, or it may merely mean that some poor devils were shipwre

ried Olson. "Sure, you

sir," cried o

d-one that I could carry between m

uck out for the narrow beach. There was another splash directly behind me,

ater. There was little sand, though from the deck of the U-33 the beach had appeared to be all sand, and I saw no evidences of mollusca or crustacea such as are common to all beaches I hav

e heavens and bayed 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 and partly decomposed. There was no sign of clot

ples of Borneo, the Philippines and other remote regions where low types still persist. The countenance might have been that of a cross be

r 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

theories and speculations, and with renewed hope and determination. They all reasoned along the same li

iffs-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 ha

on. It must have been about two bells of the afternoon watch that Bradley called my attention to the branch of a t

may have tumbled or been thrown o

of that, too," he replied, "bu

upported 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 thou

arm," he announc

. The water was very warm, and it was fresh,

from a stagnant pool full

ed it since boyhood; but how can water from a flowing stream, taste thus, and what th

I should say higher; but

an't come from the ocean; so it must come from the land. All that we hav

in the coast from which even a tiny brooklet might issue, and certainly no mouth of a large river such as this must necessarily be to freshen the ocean even two hundred yards from shore. The tide was running out, and this, together with the strong flow of the freshwater current, would 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

he subterranean caverns from which

head. "It beat

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

ehoind the cliffs! Ye spok

l call our attention to the fact, sir," he said, "that science

nstructed to navigate space, but it is desig

in' into that blank

r is it fit to drink, though each of us has drunk. It is fair to assume that inland the river is fed by pure streams, that there are fruits and herbs and game. Shall we lie out here and d

oin' to it,"

see it through,"

' luck an' give 'em hell!" cried a you

d, the conning-tower covers had slammed to and the U-33 was submerging-possibly for t

e than sufficient to keep her nose in the right direction, and as we went down, I saw outlined ahead of us the black opening in the great cliff. It w

sharp right-angle turn in the tunnel. I could see the river's flotsam 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 in 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 avert the quick end that would come to us. I gave the command full speed ahead and went charging toward the menace. I was

nerves strained to the snapping-point every instant. After the second turn the channel ran comparatively straight for between one hundred and fifty and two hundred yards. The waters grew suddenly lighter, and my spirits rose accordingly. I shouted down

pe. I had a vision of wide, 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 batlike wings-a creatu

to us as might have been those upon a distant planet had we suddenly been miraculously transported through ether to an unknown world. Even the grass upon the nearer bank was unearthly-lush and high it grew, and each blade bore upon its tip a brilliant flower-violet or yellow or carmine or blue-making as gorgeous a sward as human imagination might conceive. But the life! It

ack 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, emitted a shrill hiss and came for us. The thing must have been sixteen or eighteen feet in length and

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 body; but instead of disabling it, merely increased its rage. Its hissing rose to a shrill scr

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 back 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

ore or less shaken by the frightfulness of the tragedy-until Olson remarked that the balance of power now rested where it belonged. Following the death of Benson we had been nine and nine-nine Germans

age. They clambered, 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, a

tream 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 moved slowly and majestically through the plunging, hissing mass. I was mighty glad that our entrance into the interior of Caprona had been inside a submarine

. 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 steak or two from one of them mi

ned 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

its eyes, it still persisted madly in its attempt to get inside the tower and devour Olson, though its body was many times the diameter of the hatch; nor did it cease its efforts until after Olson had succeeded in decapitating it. Then the two men went on deck through the main hatch, and while one kept watch, the other cut a hind quarter off Plesiosaurus O