October 8, 1916: This is the
last entry I shall make upon
my manuscript. When this is done,
I shall be through. Though I
may pray that it reaches the
haunts of civilized man, my better
judgment tells me that it will
never be perused by other eyes
than mine, and that even though
it should, it would be too late
to avail me. I am alone upon
the summit of the great cliff
overlooking the broad Pacific.
A chill south wind bites at my
marrow, while far below me I
can see the tropic foliage of
Caspak on the one hand and huge
icebergs from the near Antarctic
upon the other. Presently I shall
stuff my folded manuscript into
the thermos bottle I have carried
with me for the purpose since
I left the fort--Fort Dinosaur
we named it--and hurl it far
outward over the cliff-top into
the Pacific. What current washes
the shore of Caprona I know not;
whither my bottle will be borne
I cannot even guess; but I have
done all that mortal man may
do to notify the world of my
whereabouts and the dangers that
threaten those of us who remain
alive in Caspak--if there be
any other
than myself.
About the 8th of September
I accompanied Olson and von Schoenvorts
to the oil-geyser. Lys came with
us, and we took a number of things
which von Schoenvorts wanted
for the purpose of erecting a
crude refinery. We went up the
coast some ten or twelve miles
in the U-33, tying up to shore
near the mouth of a small stream
which emptied great volumes of
crude oil into the sea--I find
it difficult to call this great
lake by any other name. Then
we disembarked and went inland
about five miles, where we came
upon a small lake entirely filled
with oil, from the center of
which a geyser of oil spouted.
On the edge of the lake we
helped von Schoenvorts build
his primitive refinery. We worked
with him for two days until he
got things fairly well started,
and then we returned to Fort
Dinosaur, as I feared that Bradley
might return and be worried by
our absence. The U-33 merely
landed those of us that were
to return to the fort and then
retraced its course toward the
oil-well. Olson, Whitely, Wilson,
Miss La Rue, and myself disembarked,
while von Schoenvorts and his
German crew returned to refine
the oil. The next day Plesser
and two other Germans came down
overland for ammunition. Plesser
said they had been attacked by
wild men and had exhausted a
great deal of ammunition. He
also asked permission to get
some dried meat and maize, saying
that they were so busy with the
work of refining that they had
no time to hunt. I let him have
everything he asked for, and
never once did a suspicion of
their intentions enter my mind.
They returned to the oil-well
the same day, while we continued
with the multitudinous duties
of camp life.
For three days nothing of moment
occurred. Bradley did not return;
nor did we have any word from
von Schoenvorts. In the evening
Lys and I went up into one of
the bastion towers and listened
to the grim and terrible nightlife
of the frightful ages of the
past. Once a saber-tooth screamed
almost beneath us, and the girl
shrank close against me. As I
felt her body against mine, all
the pent love of these three
long months shattered the bonds
of timidity and conviction, and
I swept her up into my arms and
covered her face and lips with
kisses. She did not struggle
to free herself; but instead
her dear arms crept up about
my neck and drew my own face
even closer to hers.
"You love me, Lys?" I
cried.
I felt her
head nod an affirmative against
my breast. "Tell me,
Lys," I begged, "tell me in words
how much you love me."
Low and sweet
and tender came the answer: "I
love you beyond all conception."
My heart filled
with rapture then, and it fills
now as it
has each of the countless times
I have recalled those dear words,
as it shall fill always until
death has claimed me. I may never
see her again; she may not know
how I love her--she may question,
she may doubt; but always true
and steady, and warm with the
fires of love my heart beats
for the girl who said that night: "I
love you beyond all conception."
For a long time we sat there
upon the little bench constructed
for the sentry that we had not
as yet thought it necessary to
post in more than one of the
four towers. We learned to know
one another better in those two
brief hours than we had in all
the months that had intervened
since we had been thrown together.
She told me that she had loved
me from the first, and that she
never had loved von Schoenvorts,
their engagement having been
arranged by her aunt for social
reasons.
That was the happiest evening
of my life; nor ever do I expect
to experience its like; but at
last, as is the way of happiness,
it terminated. We descended to
the compound, and I walked with
Lys to the door of her quarters.
There again she kissed me and
bade me good night, and then
she went in and closed the door.
I went to my own room, and
there I sat by the light of one
of the crude candles we had made
from the tallow of the beasts
we had killed, and lived over
the events of the evening. At
last I turned in and fell asleep,
dreaming happy dreams and planning
for the future, for even in savage
Caspak I was bound to make my
girl safe and happy. It was daylight
when I awoke. Wilson, who was
acting as cook, was up and astir
at his duties in the cook-house.
The others slept; but I arose
and followed by Nobs went down
to the stream for a plunge. As
was our custom, I went armed
with both rifle and revolver;
but I stripped and had my swim
without further disturbance than
the approach of a large hyena,
a number of which occupied caves
in the sand-stone cliffs north
of the camp. These brutes are
enormous and exceedingly ferocious.
I imagine they correspond with
the cave-hyena of prehistoric
times. This fellow charged Nobs,
whose Capronian experiences had
taught him that discretion is
the better part of valor--with
the result that he dived head
foremost into the stream beside
me after giving vent to a series
of ferocious growls which had
no more effect upon Hyaena spelaeus
than might a sweet smile upon
an enraged tusker. Afterward
I shot the beast, and Nobs had
a feast while I dressed, for
he had become quite a raw-meat
eater during our numerous hunting
expeditions, upon which we always
gave him a portion of the kill.
Whitely and Olson were up and
dressed when we returned, and
we all sat down to a good breakfast.
I could not but wonder at Lys'
absence from the table, for she
had always been one of the earliest
risers in camp; so about nine
o'clock, becoming apprehensive
lest she might be indisposed,
I went to the door of her room
and knocked. I received no response,
though I finally pounded with
all my strength; then I turned
the knob and entered, only to
find that she was not there.
Her bed had been occupied, and
her clothing lay where she had
placed it the previous night
upon retiring; but Lys was gone.
To say that I was distracted
with terror would be to put it
mildly. Though I knew she could
not be in camp, I searched every
square inch of the compound and
all the buildings, yet without
avail.
It was Whitely who discovered
the first clue--a huge human-like
footprint in the soft earth beside
the spring, and indications of
a struggle in the mud.
Then I found a tiny handkerchief
close to the outer wall. Lys
had been stolen! It was all too
plain. Some hideous member of
the ape-man tribe had entered
the fort and carried her off.
While I stood stunned and horrified
at the frightful evidence before
me, there came from the direction
of the great lake an increasing
sound that rose to the volume
of a shriek. We all looked up
as the noise approached apparently
just above us, and a moment later
there followed a terrific explosion
which hurled us to the ground.
When we clambered to our feet,
we saw a large section of the
west wall torn and shattered.
It was Olson who first recovered
from his daze sufficiently to
guess the explanation of the
phenomenon.
"A shell!" he cried. "And there
ain't no shells in Caspak besides
what's on the U-33. The dirty
boches are shellin' the fort.
Come on!" And he grasped his
rifle and started on a run toward
the lake. It was over two miles,
but we did not pause until the
harbor was in view, and still
we could not see the lake because
of the sandstone cliffs which
intervened. We ran as fast as
we could around the lower end
of the harbor, scrambled up the
cliffs and at last stood upon
their summit in full view of
the lake. Far away down the coast,
toward the river through which
we had come to reach the lake,
we saw upon the surface the outline
of the U-33, black smoke vomiting
from her funnel.
Von Schoenvorts had succeeded
in refining the oil! The cur
had broken his every pledge and
was leaving us there to our fates.
He had even shelled the fort
as a parting compliment; nor
could anything have been more
truly Prussian than this leave-taking
of the Baron Friedrich von Schoenvorts.
Olson, Whitely, Wilson, and
I stood for a moment looking
at one another. It seemed incredible
that man could be so perfidious--that
we had really seen with our own
eyes the thing that we had seen;
but when we returned to the fort,
the shattered wall gave us ample
evidence that there was no mistake.
Then we began to speculate
as to whether it had been an
ape-man or a Prussian that had
abducted Lys. From what we knew
of von Schoenvorts, we would
not have been surprised at anything
from him; but the footprints
by the spring seemed indisputable
evidence that one of Caprona's
undeveloped men had borne off
the girl I loved.
As soon as I had assured myself
that such was the case, I made
my preparations to follow and
rescue her. Olson, Whitely, and
Wilson each wished to accompany
me; but I told them that they
were needed here, since with
Bradley's party still absent
and the Germans gone it was necessary
that we conserve our force as
far as might be possible.
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