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CHAPTER I THE AWAKENING
CHAPTER I THE AWAKENING
Dimly , like the daybreak glimmer of a sky long wrapped in fogs, a sign of consciousness began to dawn in the face of the tranced girl. Once more the breath of life began to stir in that full bosom, to which again a vital warmth had on this day of days crept slowly back. And as she lay there, prone upon the dusty floor, her beautiful face buried and shielded in the hollow of her arm, a sigh welled from her lips. Life--life was flowing back again! The miracle of miracles was growing to reality. F
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CHAPTER II REALIZATION
CHAPTER II REALIZATION
The joy in Beatrice's eyes gave way to poignant wonder as she gazed on him. Could this be he? Yes, well she knew it was. She recognized him even through the grotesquery of his clinging rags, even behind the mask of a long, red, dusty beard and formidable mustache, even despite the wild and staring incoherence of his whole expression. Yet how incredible the metamorphosis! To her flashed a memory of this man, her other-time employer--keen and smooth-shaven, alert, well-dressed, self-centered, domi
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CHAPTER III ON THE TOWER PLATFORM
CHAPTER III ON THE TOWER PLATFORM
Suddenly the girl started, rebelling against the evidence of her own senses, striving again to force upon herself the belief that, after all, it could not be so. “No, no, no!” she cried. “This can't be true. It mustn't be. There's a mistake somewhere. This simply must be all an illusion, a dream! “If the whole world's dead, how does it happen we're alive? How do we know it's dead? Can we see it all from here? Why, all we see is just a little segment of things. Perhaps if we could know the truth,
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CHAPTER IV THE CITY OF DEATH
CHAPTER IV THE CITY OF DEATH
Presently Beatrice grew calmer. For though grief and terror still weighed upon her soul, she realized that this was no fit time to yield to any weakness--now when a thousand things were pressing for accomplishment, if their own lives, too, were not presently to be snuffed out in all this universal death. “Come, come,” said Stern reassuringly. “I want you, too, to get a complete idea of what has happened. From now on you must know all, share all, with me.” And, taking her by the hand he led her a
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CHAPTER V EXPLORATION
CHAPTER V EXPLORATION
Came now the evening, as they sat and talked together, talked long and earnestly, there within that ruined place. Too eager for some knowledge of the truth, they, to feel hunger or to think of their lack of clothing. Chairs they had none, nor even so much as a broom to clean the floor with. But Stern, first-off, had wrenched a marble slab from the stairway. And with this plank of stone still strong enough to serve, he had scraped all one corner of the office floor free of rubbish. This gave them
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CHAPTER VI TREASURE-TROVE
CHAPTER VI TREASURE-TROVE
Never before had either of them realized just what the meaning of forty-eight stories might be. For all their memories of this height were associated with smooth-sliding elevators that had whisked them up as though the tremendous height had been the merest trifle. This night, however, what with the broken stairs, the débris-cumbered hallways, the lurking darkness which the torch could hardly hold back from swallowing them, they came to a clear understanding of the problem. Every few minutes the
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CHAPTER VII THE OUTER WORLD
CHAPTER VII THE OUTER WORLD
Before daybreak the engineer was up again, and active. Now that he faced the light of morning, with a thousand difficult problems closing in on every hand, he put aside his softer moods, his visions and desires, and--like the scientific man he was--addressed himself to the urgent matters in hand. “The girl's safe enough alone, here, for a while,” thought he, looking in upon her where she lay, calm as a child, folded within the clinging masses of the tiger-skin. “I must be out and away for two or
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CHAPTER VIII A SIGN OF PERIL
CHAPTER VIII A SIGN OF PERIL
Stern's weakness--as he judged it--lasted but a minute. Then, realizing even more fully than ever the necessity for immediate labor and exploration, he tightened his grip upon the sledge and set forth into the forest of Madison Square. Away from him scurried a cotton-tail. A snake slid, hissing, out of sight under a jungle of fern. A butterfly, dull brown and ocher, settled upon a branch in the sunlight, where it began slowly opening and shutting its wings. “Hem! That's a Danaus plexippus , righ
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CHAPTER IX HEADWAY AGAINST ODDS
CHAPTER IX HEADWAY AGAINST ODDS
Stern gazed at this alarming object with far more trepidation than he would have eyed a token authentically labeled: “Direct from Mars.” For the space of a full half-minute he found no word, grasped no coherent thought, came to no action save to stand there, thunder-struck, holding the rotten leather bag in one hand, the spear-head in the other. Then, suddenly, he shouted a curse and made as though to fling it clean away. But ere it had left his grasp, he checked himself. “No, there's no use in
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CHAPTER X TERROR
CHAPTER X TERROR
Noon found them far advanced in the preliminaries of their hard adventuring. Working together in a strong and frank companionship--the past temporarily forgotten and the future still put far away--half a day's labor advanced them a long distance on the road to safety. Even these few hours sufficed to prove that, unless some strange, untoward accident befell, they stood a more than equal chance of winning out. Realizing to begin with, that a home on the forty-eighth story of the tower was entirel
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CHAPTER XI A THOUSAND YEARS!
CHAPTER XI A THOUSAND YEARS!
Sickened with a numbing anguish of fear such as in all his life he had never known, Stern stood there a moment, motionless and lost. Then he turned. Out into the hall he ran, and his voice, re-echoing wildly, rang through those long-deserted aisles. All at once he heard a laugh behind him--a hail. He wheeled about, trembling and spent. Out his arms went, in eager greeting. For the girl, laughing and flushed, and very beautiful, was coming down the stair at the end of the hall. Never had the engi
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CHAPTER XII DRAWING TOGETHER
CHAPTER XII DRAWING TOGETHER
Days passed, busy days, full of hard labor and achievement, rich in experience and learning, in happiness, in dreams of what the future might yet bring. Beatrice made and finished a considerable wardrobe of garments for them both. These, when the fur had been clipped close with the scissors, were not oppressively warm, and, even though on some days a bit uncomfortable, the man and woman tolerated them because they had no others. Plenty of bathing and good food put them in splendid physical condi
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CHAPTER XIII THE GREAT EXPERIMENT
CHAPTER XIII THE GREAT EXPERIMENT
The idea that there might possibly be others of their kind in far-distant parts of the earth worked strongly on the mind of the girl. Next day she broached the subject again to her companion. “Suppose,” theorized she, “there might be a few score of others, maybe a few hundred, scattered here and there? They might awaken one by one, only to die, if less favorably situated than we happen to be. Perhaps thousands may have slept, like us, only to wake up to starvation!” “There's no telling, of cours
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CHAPTER XIV THE MOVING LIGHTS
CHAPTER XIV THE MOVING LIGHTS
Panting with exhaustion and excitement, Stern made his way back to the engine-room. It was a strangely critical moment when he seized the corroded throttle-wheel to start the dynamo. The wheel stuck, and would not budge. Stern, with a curse of sheer exasperation, snatched up his long spanner, shoved it through the spokes, and wrenched. Groaning, the wheel gave way. It turned. The engineer hauled again. “Go on!” shouted the man. “Start! Move!” With a hissing plaint, as though rebellious against t
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CHAPTER XV PORTENTS OF WAR
CHAPTER XV PORTENTS OF WAR
Stern and Beatrice stood there a few seconds at the foot of the ladder, speechless, utterly at a loss for any words to voice the turmoil of confused thoughts awakened by this inexplicable apparition. But all at once the girl, with a wordless cry, sank on her knees beside the vast looming bulk of the tower. She covered her face with both hands, and through her fingers the tears of joy began to flow. “Saved--oh, we're saved!” cried she. “There are people--and they're coming for us!” Stern glanced
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CHAPTER XVI THE GATHERING OF THE HORDES
CHAPTER XVI THE GATHERING OF THE HORDES
“ Tom-toms ? So they are savages?” exclaimed the girl, taking a quick breath. “But--what then? ” “Don't just know, yet. It's a fact, though; they're certainly savages. Two tribes, one with torches, one with drums. Two different kinds, I guess. And they're coming in here to parley or fight or something. Regular powwow on hand. Trouble ahead, whichever side wins!” “For us?” “That depends. Maybe we'll be able to lie hidden, here, till this thing blows over, whatever it may be. If not, and if they c
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CHAPTER XVII STERN'S RESOLVE
CHAPTER XVII STERN'S RESOLVE
How long it lasted, what its meaning, its details, the watchers could not tell. Impossible, from that height and in that gloom, broken only by an occasional pale gleam of moonlight through the drifting cloud-rack, to judge the fortunes of this primitive war. They knew not the point at issue nor yet the tide of victory or loss. Only they knew that back and forth the torches flared, the war-drums boomed and rattled, the yelling, slaughtering, demoniac hordes surged in a swirl of bestial murder-lus
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CHAPTER XVIII THE SUPREME QUESTION
CHAPTER XVIII THE SUPREME QUESTION
Now that his course lay clear before him, the man felt an instant and a huge relief. Whatever the risks, the dangers, this adventuring was better than a mere inaction, besieged there in the tower by that ugly, misshapen horde. First of all, as he had done on the first morning of the awakening, when he had left the girl asleep, he wrote a brief communication to forestall any possible alarm on her part. This, scrawled with charcoal on a piece of smooth hide, ran: “ Have had to go down to get water
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CHAPTER XIX THE UNKNOWN RACE
CHAPTER XIX THE UNKNOWN RACE
An almost irresistible repugnance, a compelling aversion, more of the spirit than of the flesh, instantly seized the man at sight of even the few members of the Horde which lay within his view. Though he had been expecting to see something disgusting, something grotesque and horrible, his mind was wholly unprepared for the real hideousness of these creatures, now seen by the ever-strengthening light of day. And slowly, as he stared, the knowledge dawned on him that here was a monstrous problem t
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CHAPTER XX THE CURIOSITY OF EVE
CHAPTER XX THE CURIOSITY OF EVE
At him the girl peered eagerly, a second, as though to make quite sure he was not hurt in any way, to satisfy herself that he was safe and sound. Then with a little gasp of relief, she ran to him. Her sandaled feet lightly disturbed the rubbish on the floor; dust rose. Stern checked her with an upraised hand. “Back! Back! Go back, quick!” he formed the words of command on his trembling lips. The idea of this girl's close proximity to the beast-horde terrified him, for the moment. “Back! What on
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CHAPTER XXI EVE BECOMES AN AMAZON
CHAPTER XXI EVE BECOMES AN AMAZON
Stern laid a hand on her shoulder, striving to draw her away. This spectacle, it seemed to him, was no fit sight for her to gaze on. But she shrugged her shoulders as if to say: “I'm not a child! I'm your equal, now, and I must see!” So the engineer desisted. And he, too, set his eye to the twisting aperture. At sight of the narrow segment of forest visible through it, and of the several members of the Horde, a strong revulsion came upon him. Up welled a deep-seated love for the memory of the ra
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CHAPTER XXII GODS!
CHAPTER XXII GODS!
Some few minutes later, together they approached Pine Tree Gate, leading directly out into the Horde. The girl, rosier than ever, held her Krag loosely in the hollow of her bare, warm right arm. One of Stern's revolvers lay in its holster. The other balanced itself in his right hand. His left held the precious water-pail, so vital now to all their plans and hopes. Girt in his garb of fur, belted and sandaled, well over six feet tall and broad of shoulder, the man was magnificent. His red beard a
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CHAPTER XXIII THE OBEAH
CHAPTER XXIII THE OBEAH
Together , as in a dream--a nightmare, dazed, incredible, grotesque--they advanced out into the dim-shaded forest aisles. “Don't look!” Stern exclaimed, shuddering at sight of the unspeakable hideousness of the Things, at glimpses of gnawed bones, grisly bits of flesh, dried gouts of blood upon the woodland carpet. “Don't think--just come along! “Five minutes, and we're safe, there and back again. S-h-h-h! Don't hurry! Count, now--count your steps--one, two, three--four, five, six--steady, stead
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CHAPTER XXIV THE FIGHT IN THE FOREST
CHAPTER XXIV THE FIGHT IN THE FOREST
Now the Thing was close, very close to them, while a hush lay upon the watching Horde and on the forest. So close, that Stern could hear the soughing breath between those hideous lips and see the twitching of the wrinkled lid over the black, glittering eye that blinked as you have often seen a chimpanzee's. All at once the obeah stopped. Stopped and leered, his head craned forward, that ghastly rictus on his mouth. Stern's hot anger welled up again. Thus to be detained, inspected and seemingly m
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CHAPTER XXV THE GOAL, AND THROUGH IT
CHAPTER XXV THE GOAL, AND THROUGH IT
It all happened in a moment of time, a moment, long--in seeming--as an hour. The girl's revolver crackled, there behind him. Stern saw a little round bluish hole take shape in the obeah's ear, and red drops start. Then with a ghastly screaming, the Thing was upon him. Out struck the engineer, with the rifle-barrel. All the force of his splendid muscles lay behind that blow. The Thing tried to dodge. But Stern had been too quick. Even as it sprang, with talons clutching for the man's throat, the
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CHAPTER XXVI BEATRICE DARES
CHAPTER XXVI BEATRICE DARES
An hour later, Stern and Beatrice sat weak and shaken in their stronghold on the fifth floor, resting, trying to gather up some strength again, to pull together for resistance to the siege that had set in. With the return of reason to the engineer--his free bleeding had somewhat checked the onset of fever--and of consciousness to the girl, they began to piece out, bit by bit, the stages of their retreat. Now that Stern had barricaded the stairs, two stories below, and that for a little while the
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CHAPTER XXVII TO WORK!
CHAPTER XXVII TO WORK!
The engineer awoke with a start--awoke to find daylight gone, to find that dusk had settled, had shrouded the whole place in gloom. Confused, he started up. He was about to call out, when prudence muted his voice. For the moment he could not recollect just what had happened or where he was; but a vast impending consciousness of evil and of danger weighed upon him. It warned him to keep still, to make no outcry. A burning thirst quickened his memory. Then his comprehension returned. Still weak an
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CHAPTER XXVIII THE PULVERITE
CHAPTER XXVIII THE PULVERITE
An hour passed. And now, under the circle of light cast by the hooded lamp upon the table, there in that bare, wrecked office-home of theirs, the Pulverite was coming to its birth. Already at the bottom of the metal dish lay a thin yellow cloud, something that looked like London fog on a December morning. There, covered with the water, it gently swirled and curdled, with strange metallic glints and oily sheens, as Beatrice with a gold spoon stirred it at the engineer's command. From moment to mo
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CHAPTER XXIX THE BATTLE ON THE STAIRS
CHAPTER XXIX THE BATTLE ON THE STAIRS
Almost like the echo of his shout, a faint snarling cry rose from the corridor, outside. They heard a clicking, sliding, ominous sound; and, with instant comprehension, knew the truth. “They've got up, some of them--somehow!” Stern cried. “They'll be at our throats, here, in a moment! Load! Load! You shoot-- I'll give 'em Pulverite!” No time, now, for caution. While the girl hastily threw in more cartridges, Stern gathered up all the remaining vials of the explosive. These, garnered along his wo
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CHAPTER XXX CONSUMMATION
CHAPTER XXX CONSUMMATION
After a while, both calmer grown, they looked again from the high window. “See!” exclaimed the engineer, and pointed. There, far away to westward, a few straggling lights--only a very few--slowly and uncertainly were making their way across the broad black breast of the river. Even as the man and woman watched, one vanished. Then another winked out, and did not reappear. No more than fifteen seemed to reach the Jersey shore, there to creep vaguely, slowly away and vanish in the dense primeval wo
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CHAPTER I BEGINNINGS
CHAPTER I BEGINNINGS
A thousand years of darkness and decay! A thousand years of blight, brutality, and atavism; of Nature overwhelming all man's work, of crumbling cities and of forgotten civilization, of stupefaction, of death! A thousand years of night! Two human beings, all alone in that vast wilderness--a woman and a man. The past, irrevocable; the present, fraught with problems, perils, and alarms; the future--what? A thousand years! Yet, though this thousand years had seemingly smeared away all semblance of t
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CHAPTER II SETTLING DOWN
CHAPTER II SETTLING DOWN
Together , in the comradeship of love and trust and mutual understanding, they reached the somewhat open space before the bungalow, where once the road had ended in a stone-paved drive. Allan's wounded arm, had he but sensed it, was beginning to pain more than a little. But he was oblivious. His love, the fire of spring that burned in his blood, the lure of this great adventuring, banished all consciousness of ill. Parting a thicket, they reached the steps. And for a while they stood there, hand
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CHAPTER III THE MASKALONGE
CHAPTER III THE MASKALONGE
With characteristic resourcefulness Stein soon manufactured adequate tackle with a well-trimmed alder pole, a line of leather thongs and a hook of stout piano wire, properly bent to make a barb and rubbed to a fine point on a stone. He caught a dozen young frogs among the sedges in the marshy stretch at the north end of the landing-beach, and confined them in the only available receptacle, the holster of his automatic. All this hurt his arm severely, but he paid no heed. “Now,” he announced, “we
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CHAPTER IV THE GOLDEN AGE
CHAPTER IV THE GOLDEN AGE
Stern's plans of hard work for the immediate present had to be deferred a little, for in spite of his perfect health, the spear-thrust in his arm--lacking the proper treatment, and irritated by his labor in catching the big fish--developed swelling and soreness. A little fever even set in the second day. And though he was eager to go out fishing again, Beatrice appointed herself his nurse and guardian, and withheld permission. They lived for some days on the excellent flesh of the maskalonge, on
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CHAPTER V DEADLY PERIL
CHAPTER V DEADLY PERIL
Pages on pages would not tell the full details of the following week--the talks they had, the snaring and shooting of small game, the fishing, the cleaning out of the bungalow, and the beginnings of some order in the estate, the rapid healing of Stern's arm, and all the multifarious little events of their new beginnings of life there by the river-bank. But there are other matters of more import than such homely things; so now we come to the time when Stern felt the pressing imperative of a retur
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CHAPTER VI TRAPPED!
CHAPTER VI TRAPPED!
“ That's not the truth you're telling me, Allan,” said Beatrice very gravely. “And if we don't tell each other the whole truth always, how can we love each other perfectly and do the work we have to do? I don't want you to spare me anything, even the most terrible things. That's not the cry of a bird--it's wolves!” “Yes, that's what it is,” the man admitted. “I was in the wrong. But, you see--it startled me at first. Don't be alarmed, little girl! We're well armed you see, and--” “Are we going t
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CHAPTER VII A NIGHT OF TOIL
CHAPTER VII A NIGHT OF TOIL
An hour later, from the gnarled branches of the willow--up into which Stern had fairly flung her, and where he had himself clambered with the beasts ravening at his legs--the two sole survivors of the human race watched the glowering eyes that dotted the velvet gloom. “I estimate a couple of hundred, all told,” judged Allan. “Odd we never ran across any of them before to-night. Must be some kind of a migration under way--maybe some big shift of game, of deer, or buffalo, or what-not. But then, i
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CHAPTER VIII THE REBIRTH OF CIVILIZATION
CHAPTER VIII THE REBIRTH OF CIVILIZATION
A month had hardly gone, before order and peace and the promise of bountiful harvests dwelt in and all about Hope Lodge, as they had named the bungalow. From the kitchen, where the stove and the aluminum utensils now shone bright and free from rust, to the bedrooms where fir-tips and soft skin rugs made wondrous sleeping places, the house was clean and sweet and beautiful again. Rough-hewn chairs and tables, strong, serviceable and eloquent of nature--through which this rebirth of the race all h
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CHAPTER IX PLANNING THE GREAT MIGRATION
CHAPTER IX PLANNING THE GREAT MIGRATION
Stern rigged a tripod for the powerful field-glasses he had rescued from the Metropolitan Building, and by an ingenious addition of a wooden tube and another lens carefully ground out of rock crystal, succeeded in producing (on the right-hand barrel of the binoculars) a telescope of reasonably high power. With this, of an evening, he often made long observations, after which he would spend hours figuring all over many sheets of the birch bark, which he then carefully saved and bound up with leat
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CHAPTER X TOWARD THE GREAT CATARACT
CHAPTER X TOWARD THE GREAT CATARACT
Pleasant and warm shone the sun that Monday morning, the 2d of September, warm through the greenery of oak and pine and fern-tree. Golden it lay upon the brakes and mosses by the river-bank; silver upon the sands. Save for the chippering of the busy squirrels, a hush brooded over nature. The birds were silent. A far blue haze veiled the distant reaches of the stream. Over the world a vague, premonitory something had fallen; it was summer still, but the first touch of dissolution, of decay, had l
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CHAPTER XI THE PLUNGE!
CHAPTER XI THE PLUNGE!
Dazed though Stern was at his first realization of the impending horror, yet through his fear for Beatrice, still asleep among her furs, struggled a vast wonder at the meaning, the possibility of such a phenomenon. How could a current like that rush up along the Sound? How could there be a cataract, sucking down the waters of the sea itself--whither could it fall? Even at that crisis the man's scientific curiosity was aroused; he felt, subconsciously, the interest of the trained observer there i
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CHAPTER XII TRAPPED ON THE LEDGE
CHAPTER XII TRAPPED ON THE LEDGE
Consciousness won back to Allan Stern--how long afterward he could not tell--under the guise of a vast roaring tumult, a deafening thunder that rose, fell, leaped aloft again in huge, titanic cadences of sound. And coupled with this glimmering sense-impression, he felt the drive of water over him; he saw, vaguely as in the memory of a dream, a dim gray light that weakly filtered through the gloom. Weak, sick, dazed, the man realized that he still lived; and to his mind the thought “Beatrice!” fl
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CHAPTER XIII ON THE CREST OF THE MAELSTROM
CHAPTER XIII ON THE CREST OF THE MAELSTROM
Stern's observation of the rising flood proved correct. By whatever theory it might or might not be explained, the fact was positive that now the water there below them was rising fast, and that inside of half an hour at the outside the torrent would engulf their ledge. It seemed as though there must be some vast, rhythmic ebb and flux in the unsounded abysses that yawned beneath them, some incalculable regurgitation of the sea, which periodically spewed forth a part, at least, of the enormous t
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CHAPTER XIV A FRESH START
CHAPTER XIV A FRESH START
Indomitably the human spirit, temporarily beaten down and crushed by misfortunes beyond all calculation, once more rose in renewed strength to the tremendous task ahead. And, first of all, Stern and the girl made a camping place in the edge of the forest, close by the spring under the big rock. “We've got to have a base of supplies, or something of that sort,” the man declared. “We can't start trekking away into the wilderness at once, without consideration and at least some definite place where
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CHAPTER XV LABOR AND COMRADESHIP
CHAPTER XV LABOR AND COMRADESHIP
Four days later, having hastened all their preparations and worked with untiring energy, they broke camp for the long, perilous trek in quest of the ruins of a dead and buried city. It was at daylight that they started from the little shack in the edge of the forest. Both were refreshed by a long sleep and by a plunge in the curling breakers that now, at high tide, were driven up the beach by a stiff sea-breeze. The morning, which must have been toward the end of September--Stern had lost accura
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CHAPTER XVI FINDING THE BIPLANE
CHAPTER XVI FINDING THE BIPLANE
The way up the shores of Narragansett Bay was full of experiences for them both. Animal life revealed itself far more abundantly here than along the open sea. “Some strange blight or other must lie in the proximity of that terrific maelstrom,” judged Stern, “something that repels all the larger animals. But skirting this bay, there's life and to spare. How many deer have we seen to-day? Three? And one bull-buffalo! With any kind of a gun, or even a revolver, I could have had them all. And that b
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CHAPTER XVII ALL ABOARD FOR BOSTON!
CHAPTER XVII ALL ABOARD FOR BOSTON!
Nineteen days from the discovery of the biplane, a singular happening for a desolate world took place on the broad beach that now edged the city where once the sluggish Providence River had flowed seaward. For here, clad in a double suit of leather that Beatrice had made for him, Allan Stern was preparing to give the rehabilitated Pauillac a try-out. Day by day, working incessantly when not occupied in hunting or fishing, the man had rebuilt and overhauled the entire mechanism. Tools he had foun
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CHAPTER XVIII THE HURRICANE
CHAPTER XVIII THE HURRICANE
Soaring strongly even under the additional weight, humming with the rush of air, the plane made the last turn of her spiral and straightened out at the height of twelve hundred feet for her long northward run across the unbroken wilderness. Stern preferred to fly a bit high, believing the air-currents more dependable there. Even as he rose above the forest-level, his experienced eye saw possible trouble in the wind-clouds banked to eastward and in the fall of the barometer. But with the thought,
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CHAPTER XIX WESTWARD HO!
CHAPTER XIX WESTWARD HO!
Fate meant that they should live, those two lone wanderers on the face of the great desolation; and, though night had gathered now and all was cloaked in gloom, they landed with no worse than a hard shake-up on a level strip of beach that edged the confines of the unknown lake. Exhausted by the strain and the long fight with death, chilled by that sojourn in the upper air, drenched and stiffened and half dead, they had no strength to make a camp. The most that they could do was drag themselves d
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CHAPTER XX ON THE LIP OF THE CHASM
CHAPTER XX ON THE LIP OF THE CHASM
Very near, now, was the strange apparition. On, on, swift as a falcon, the plane hurtled. Stern glanced at Beatrice. Never had he seen her more beautiful. About her face, rosy and full of life, the luxuriant loose hair was whipping. Her eyes sparkled with this new excitement, and on her full red lips a smile betrayed her keen enjoyment. No trace of fear was there--nothing but confidence and strength and joy in the adventure. The phenomenon of the world's end--for nothing else describes it adequa
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CHAPTER XXI LOST IN THE GREAT ABYSS
CHAPTER XXI LOST IN THE GREAT ABYSS
For two days they camped beside the chasm, resting, planning, discussing, while Stern, with improvised transits, pendulums and other apparatus, made tests and observations to determine, if possible, the properties of the great gap. During this time they developed some theories regarding the catastrophe which had swept the world a thousand years ago. “It seems highly and increasingly probable to me,” the engineer said, after long thought, “that we have here the actual cause of the vast blight of
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CHAPTER XXII LIGHTS!
CHAPTER XXII LIGHTS!
At realization of the ghastly situation that confronted them, Stern's heart stopped beating for a moment. Despite his courage, a sick terror gripped his soul; he felt a sudden weakness, and in his ears the rushing wind seemed shouting mockeries of death. As in a dream he felt the girl's hand close in fear upon his arm, he heard her crying something--but what, he knew not. Then all at once he fought off the deadly horror. He realized that now, if ever, he needed all his strength, resource, intell
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CHAPTER XXIII THE WHITE BARBARIANS
CHAPTER XXIII THE WHITE BARBARIANS
Warmth , wetness, and a knowledge of great weakness--these, joined with a singular lassitude, oppression of the lungs and stifling of the breath, were Allan Stern's sensations when conscious life returned. Pain there was as well. His body felt sorely bruised and shaken. His first thought, his intense yearning wonder for the girl's welfare and his sickening fear lest she be dead, mingled with some attempt to analyze his own suffering; to learn, if possible, what damage he had taken in flesh and b
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CHAPTER XXIV THE LAND OF THE MERUCAANS
CHAPTER XXIV THE LAND OF THE MERUCAANS
“ I'll remember,” she answered simply, and for a little space there came silence between them. A vast longing possessed the man to take her in his arms and hold her tight, tight to his fast-throbbing heart. But he lay bound and helpless. All he could do was call to her again, as the two canoes now drew on, side by side and as still others, joining them, made a little fleet of strange, flare-lighted craft. “Beatrice!” “Yes--what is it?” “Don't worry, whatever happens. Maybe there's no great harm
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CHAPTER XXV THE DUNGEON OF THE SKELETONS
CHAPTER XXV THE DUNGEON OF THE SKELETONS
As the two interlopers from the outer world moved up the slippery beach toward the great, mist-dimmed flare, escorted by the strange and spectral throng, Stern had time to analyze some factors of the situation. It was evident that diplomacy was now--unless in a sharp crisis--the only role to play. How many of these people there might be he could not tell. The present gathering he estimated at about a hundred and fifty or a hundred and seventy-five; and moment by moment more were coming down the
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CHAPTER XXVI “YOU SPEAK ENGLISH!”
CHAPTER XXVI “YOU SPEAK ENGLISH!”
Even in his pain and rage and fear, Stern did not lose his wits. Too great the peril, he subconsciously realized, for any false step now. Despite the fact that the stone prison could measure no more than some ten feet in diameter, he knew that in its floors some pit or fissure might exist, frightfully deep, for their destruction. And other dangers, too, might lie hidden in this fearful place. So, restraining himself with a strong effort, he stood there motionless a few seconds, listening, trying
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CHAPTER XXVII DOOMED!
CHAPTER XXVII DOOMED!
The aged man stood for a moment as though tranced at sound of the engineer's voice. Then, tapping feebly with his staff, he advanced a pace or two into the dungeon. And Stern and Beatrice--who now had sprung up, too, and was likewise staring at this singular apparition--heard once again the words: “Peace, friends! Peace!” Stern snatched up the revolver and leveled it. “Stop there!” he shouted. “Another step and I--I--” The old man hesitated, one hand holding the staff, the other groping out vaca
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CHAPTER XXVIII THE BATTLE IN THE DARK
CHAPTER XXVIII THE BATTLE IN THE DARK
For a time no word passed between them. Stern took the girl in his arms and comforted her as best he might; but his heart told him there was now no hope. The old man had spoken only too truly. There existed no way of convincing these barbarians that their prisoners were not of some hated, hostile tribe. Evidently the tradition of the outer world had long since perished as a belief among them. The patriarch's faith in it had come to be considered a mere doting second childhood vagary, just as the
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CHAPTER XXIX SHADOWS OF WAR
CHAPTER XXIX SHADOWS OF WAR
A blue and flickering gleam of light, dim, yet persistent, seemed to enhalo a woman's face; and as Stern's weary eyes opened under languid lids, closed, then opened again, the wounded engineer smiled in his weakness. “Beatrice!” he whispered, and tried to stretch a hand to her, as she sat beside his bed of seaweed covered with the coarse brown fabric. “Oh, Beatrice! Is this--is this another--hallucination?” She took the hand and kissed it, then bent above him and kissed him again, this time fair
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CHAPTER XXX EXPLORATION
CHAPTER XXX EXPLORATION
Under the ministering care of Beatrice and the patriarch, Stern's convalescence was rapid. The old man, consumed with terror lest the dreaded chief, Kamrou, return ere the stranger should have wholly recovered, spent himself in efforts to hasten the cure. And with deft skill he brewed his potions, made his salves, and concocted revivifying medicines from minerals which only he--despite his blindness--knew how to compound. The blow that had so shrewdly clipped Stern's skull must have inevitably k
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CHAPTER XXXI ESCAPE?
CHAPTER XXXI ESCAPE?
Who could, indeed, suspect aught of this threatening danger? Outwardly all now was peaceful. Each waking-time the fishers put forth in their long boats of metal strips covered with fish-skins. Every sleeping-time they returned laden with the fish that formed the principal staple of the community. The weaving of seaweed fiber, the making of mats, blankets, nets and slings went on as probably for many centuries before. At forges here and there, where gas-wells blazed, the smiths of the Folk shaped
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CHAPTER XXXII PREPARATIONS
CHAPTER XXXII PREPARATIONS
He woke to hear a drumming roar that seemed to fill the spaces of the Abyss with a wild tumult such as he had never known--a steady thunder, wonderful and wild. Starting up, he saw by the dim light that the patriarch was sitting there upon the stone, thoughtful and calm, apparently giving no heed to this singular tumult. But Stern, not understanding, put a hasty question. “What's all this uproar, father? I never heard anything like that up in the surface-world!” “That? Only the rain, my son,” th
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CHAPTER XXXIII THE PATRIARCH'S TALE
CHAPTER XXXIII THE PATRIARCH'S TALE
“ In the beginning,” he commanded, slowly and thoughtfully, “our people were as yours; they were the same. Our tradition tells that a great breaking of the world took place very many centuries ago. Out of the earth a huge portion was split, and it became as the moon you tell of, only dark. It circled about the earth--” “By Jove!” cried Stern, and started to his feet. “That dark patch in the sky! That moving mystery we saw nights at the bungalow on the Hudson!” “You mean--” the girl exclaimed. “I
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CHAPTER XXXIV THE COMING OF KAMROU
CHAPTER XXXIV THE COMING OF KAMROU
The storm, in fact, was now almost at an end, and when the engineer awoke next morning he found the rain had wholly ceased. Though the sea was still giving forth white vapors, yet these had not yet reached their usual density. From the fortifications he could see, by the reflected lights of the village and of the great flame, a considerable distance out across the dim, mysterious sea. He knew the time was come to try for the recovery of the machine, if ever. “If I don't make a go of it to-day,”
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CHAPTER XXXV FACE TO FACE WITH DEATH
CHAPTER XXXV FACE TO FACE WITH DEATH
For a moment Stern stared, speechless with amazement, at the old man, as though to determine whether or not he had gone mad. But the commotion, the mingled fear and anger of the boat crews convinced him the danger, though unknown, was very real. And, flaring into sudden rage at this untimely interruption just in the very moment of success, he jerked his pistol from its holster, and stood up in the boat. “I'll have no butting in here!” he cried in a loud, harsh voice. “Who the devil is Kamrou, I'
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CHAPTER XXXVI GAGE OF BATTLE
CHAPTER XXXVI GAGE OF BATTLE
The chief of the People of the Abyss was seated at his ease in a large stone chair, over which heavy layers of weed-fabric had been thrown. He was flanked on either side by spearsmen and by drummers, who still held their iron sticks poised above their copper drums with shark-skin heads. Stern saw at a glance that he was a man well over six feet tall, with whipcord muscles and a keen, eager, domineering air. Unlike any of the other Folk, his hair (snow-white) was not twisted into a fantastic knot
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CHAPTER XXXVII THE FINAL STRUGGLE
CHAPTER XXXVII THE FINAL STRUGGLE
Kamrou flung off his long and heavy cloak. He stood there in the flamelight, broad-chested, beautifully muscled, lean of hip, the perfect picture of a fighting man. Naked he was, save for his loin-cloth. And still he smiled. Stern likewise stripped away his own cloak. Clad only like the chief, he faced him. “Well, now,” said he, “here goes! And may the best man win!” Kamrou waved the circle back at one side. It opened, revealing the great pit to southward of the flame. Stern saw the vapors risin
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CHAPTER XXXVIII THE SUN OF SPRING
CHAPTER XXXVIII THE SUN OF SPRING
“ What altitude now? Can you make-out, Allan?” “No. The aneroid's only good up to five miles. We must have made two hundred, vertically, since this morning. The way the propeller takes hold and the planes climb in this condensed air is just a miracle!” “Two passengers at that!” Beatrice answered, leaning back in her seat again. She turned to the patriarch, who, sitting in an extra place in the thoroughly overhauled and newly equipped Pauillac, was holding with nervous hands to the wire stays in
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CHAPTER I DEATH, LIFE, AND LOVE
CHAPTER I DEATH, LIFE, AND LOVE
Life ! Life again, and light, the sun and the fresh winds of heaven, the perfect azure of a June sky, the perfume of the passionate red blooms along the lips of the chasm, the full-throated song of hidden birds within the wood to eastward--life, beauty, love--such, the sunrise hour when Allan and the girl once more stood side by side in the outer world, delivered from the perils of the black Abyss. Hardly more real than a disordered nightmare now, the terrible fall into those depths, the captivi
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CHAPTER II EASTWARD HO!
CHAPTER II EASTWARD HO!
Practical matters now for a time thrust introspection, dreams and sentiment aside. The morning was already half spent, and in spite of sorrow, hunger had begun to assert itself; for since time was, no two such absolutely vigorous and healthy humans had ever set foot on earth as Beatrice and Allan. The man gathered brush and dry-kye and proceeded to make a fire, not far from the precipice, but well out of sight of the patriarch's grave. He fetched a generous heap of wood from the neighboring fore
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CHAPTER III CATASTROPHE!
CHAPTER III CATASTROPHE!
Toward five o'clock next afternoon, from the swooping back of the air-dragon they sighted a far blue ribbon winding among wooded heights, and knew Hudson once more lay before them. The girl's heart leaped for joy at thought of once again seeing Hope Villa, the beach, the garden, the sun-dial--all the thousand and one little happy and pleasant things that, made by them in the heart of the vast wilderness, had brought them such intimate and unforgetable delight. “There it is, Allan!” cried she, po
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CHAPTER IV “TO-MORROW IS OUR WEDDING-DAY”
CHAPTER IV “TO-MORROW IS OUR WEDDING-DAY”
Purple and gold the light of that dying day still glowed across the western sky when the stanch old Pauillac, heated yet throbbing with power, skimmed the last league and swung the last great bend of the river that hid old Storm King from the wanderers' eager sight. Stern's eyes brightened at vision of that vast, rugged headland, forest-clad and superb in the approaching twilight. Beatrice, weary now and spent--for the long journeys, the excitements and griefs of the day had worn her down despit
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CHAPTER V THE SEARCH FOR THE RECORDS
CHAPTER V THE SEARCH FOR THE RECORDS
Morning found them early astir, to greet the glory of June sunlight over the shoulder of Storm King. A perfect morning, if ever any one was perfect since the world began--soft airs stirring in the forest, golden robins' full-throated song, the melody of the scarlet tropic birds they had named “fire-birds” for want of any more descriptive title, the chatter of gray squirrels on the branches overhead, all blent, under a sky of wondrous azure, to tell them of life, full and abundant, joyous and kin
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CHAPTER VI TRAPPED!
CHAPTER VI TRAPPED!
Some thirty steps the way descended, ending in a straight and very narrow passage. The air, though somewhat chill, was absolutely dry and perfectly respirable, thanks to the enormously massive foundation of solid concrete which formed practically one solid monolith six hundred feet long by two hundred and fifty broad--a monolith molded about the crypt and absolutely protecting it from every outside influence. “Not even the Great Pyramid of Ghizeh could afford a more perfect--hello, what's this?
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CHAPTER VII THE LEADEN CHEST
CHAPTER VII THE LEADEN CHEST
Not at any time since the girl and he had wakened in the tower, more than a year ago, had Allan felt so compelling a fear as overswept him then. The siege of the Horde at Madison Forest, the plunge down the cataract, the fall into the Abyss and the battle with the Lanskaarn had all taxed his courage to the utmost, but he had met these perils with more calm than he now faced the blank menace of that metal door. For now no sky overhung him, no human agency opposed him, no counterplay of stress and
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CHAPTER VIII TILL DEATH US DO PART
CHAPTER VIII TILL DEATH US DO PART
“ All right, my darling,” he made answer. “But not here. This is no place for melody, down in this dark and gloomy crypt, surrounded by the relics of the dead. We've been buried alive down here altogether too long as it is. Brrr! The chill's beginning to get into my very bones! Don't you feel it, Beta?” “I do, now I stop to think of it. Well, let's go up then. We'll have our music where it belongs, in the cathedral, with sunshine and air and birds to keep it company!” Half an hour later they had
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CHAPTER IX AT SETTLEMENT CLIFFS
CHAPTER IX AT SETTLEMENT CLIFFS
Ten days later the two lovers--now man and wife--were back again at the eastern lip of the Abyss. With them on the biplane they had brought the phonograph and records, all securely wrapped in oiled canvas, the same which had enveloped the precious objects in the leaden chest. They made a camp, which was to serve them for a while as headquarters in their tremendous undertaking of bringing the Merucaans to the surface, and here carefully stored their treasure in a deep cleft of rock, secure from r
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CHAPTER X SEPARATION
CHAPTER X SEPARATION
They spent the remainder of that day and all the next in hard work, making practical preparations for the arrival of the first settlers. Allan assured himself the waters of New Hope River were soft and pure and that an ample supply of fish dwelt in the pool as well as in the rapids--trout, salmon and pike of new varieties and great size, as well as other species. Beatrice and he, working together, put the largest and darkest of the caves into habitable order. They also prepared, for their own us
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CHAPTER XI “HAIL TO THE MASTER!”
CHAPTER XI “HAIL TO THE MASTER!”
Eleven hours of incessant labor, care, watchfulness and fatigue, three hours of flight and eight of coasting into the terrific depths, brought Allan once more through the fogs, the dark, the heat, to sight of the vast sunken sea, five hundred miles below the surface. Throughout the whole stupendous labor he thanked Heaven the girl was safely left behind, nor forced to share this travail and exhaustion. Myriad anxieties and fears assailed him--fears he had taken good care not to let her know or d
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CHAPTER XII CHALLENGED!
CHAPTER XII CHALLENGED!
After many hours of profound and dreamless sleep, Allan awoke filled with fresh vigor for the tasks that lay ahead. His splendid vitality, quickly recuperating, calmed his mind; and now the problems, the anxieties and fears of the day before--to call it such, though there was neither night nor day in this strange place--seemed negligible. Only a certain haunting uneasiness about the girl still clung to him. But, sending her many a thought of love, he reflected that soon he should be back again w
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CHAPTER XIII THE RAVISHED NEST
CHAPTER XIII THE RAVISHED NEST
“ It cannot be? Who says it cannot be? Who dares stand out and challenge me? ” “I, H'yemba, the man of iron and of flame!” Stern faced him, every nerve and fiber quivering with sudden passion. At realization that in the exact psychological moment when success lay almost in his hand, this surly brute might baffle him, he felt a wave of murderous hate. He realized that the dreaded catastrophe had indeed come to pass. Now his sole claim to chieftainship lay in his power to defend the title. Failure
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CHAPTER XIV ON THE TRAIL OF THE MONSTER
CHAPTER XIV ON THE TRAIL OF THE MONSTER
Stern's cry of horror as he scrambled from the ravaged, desecrated cave, and the ghastly horror of his face, seen by the firelight, brought Zangamon and Bremilu to him, in terror. “Master! Master! What--” “My God! The girl--she's gone!” he stammered, leaning against the cliff in mortal anguish. “Gone, master? Where?” “Gone! Dead, perhaps! Find her for me! Find her! You can see--in the dark! I--I am as though blind! Quick, on the trail!” “But tell us--” “Something has taken her! Some savage thing
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CHAPTER XV IN THE GRIP OF TERROR
CHAPTER XV IN THE GRIP OF TERROR
As the three pursuers steadily advanced, the thing roared once more, and again they heard the hammering, drumming boom. Zangamon whispered some unintelligible phrase. Allan projected the light forward again, and at sight of a moving mass, vague and intangible, among the gigantic fronds, leveled his automatic. But on the instant Bremilu seized his arm. “O master! Do not throw the fire of death!” he warned. “You cannot see, but we can! Do not throw the fire!” “Why not? What is that thing?” “It see
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CHAPTER XVI A RESPITE FROM TOIL
CHAPTER XVI A RESPITE FROM TOIL
The bright beam of the flash-lamp in his face roused Allan to a consciousness that he was bruised and suffering, and that his left arm ached with dull insistence. Dazed, he brought it up and saw his sleeve of dull brown stuff was dripping red. Beside him, in the trampled grass, he vaguely made out a hairy bulk, motionless and huge. Bremilu was kneeling beside his master, with words of cheer. “It is dead, O Kromno! The man-beast is dead! My stone ax broke its skull. See, now it lies here harmless
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CHAPTER XVII THE DISTANT MENACE
CHAPTER XVII THE DISTANT MENACE
Stern never knew when he, too, drifted off to sleep; but he awoke to find Zangamon sitting beside him, with his cloak drawn over his head, while Beatrice and Bremilu still slept. “The light, master--it is like knives to me! Like spears to my eyes, master! I cannot bear it!” whispered the Merucaan, pointing to where, around the interstices of the doorway, bright white gleams were streaming in. Allan considered with perplexity. “It hurts, you say?” “Yes, Kromno! Once or twice I have tried to watch
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CHAPTER XVIII THE ANNUNCIATION
CHAPTER XVIII THE ANNUNCIATION
A week later all was ready for Allan's second trip into the Abyss. His arm had recovered its usual strength and suppleness, for his flesh, healthy as any savage's, now had the power of healing with a rapidity unknown to civilized men in the old days. And his abounding vigor dictated action--always action, progress, and accomplishment. Only one thing depressed him--idleness. It was on the second day of July, according to the rude calendar they were keeping, that he once more bade farewell to Beat
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CHAPTER XIX THE MASTER OF HIS RACE
CHAPTER XIX THE MASTER OF HIS RACE
Days , busy days, lengthened into weeks, and these to months happy and full of labor; and in the ever-growing colony progress and change came steadily forward. All along the cliff-face and the terraces the cave-dwellings now extended, and the smoke from a score of chimneys fashioned among the clefts rose on the temperate air of that sub-tropic winter. At the doors, nets hung drying. On the pool, boats were anchored at several well-built stone wharfs. The terraces had been walled with palisades o
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CHAPTER XX DISASTER!
CHAPTER XX DISASTER!
That evening, the evening of the same day, Allan presented the man-child to his assembled Folk. Eager, silent, awed, the white barbarians gathered on the terrace, all up and down the slope of it, before the door of their Kromno's house, waiting to behold the son of him they all obeyed, of him who was their law. Allan took the child and bore it to the doorway; and in the presence of all he held it up, and in the yellow moonlight dedicated it to their service and the service of the world. “Listen,
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CHAPTER XXI ALLAN RETURNS NOT
CHAPTER XXI ALLAN RETURNS NOT
Five days dragged past, then six, then seven, and still no sign of Allan came to lighten the terrible and growing anguish of the woman. All day long now she would watch for him--save at such times as the care and nursing of her child mercifully distracted her attention a little while from the intolerable grief and woe consuming her. She would stand for hours on the rock terrace, peering into the northwest; she would climb the steep path a dozen times a day, and in distraction pace the cliff-top
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CHAPTER XXII THE TREASON OF H'YEMBA
CHAPTER XXII THE TREASON OF H'YEMBA
Not yet even fully awake, Beatrice was conscious of a sudden, vast responsibility laid on her shoulders. She felt the thrill of leadership and command, for in her hands alone now rested the fate of the community. Out of bed she sprang, her grief for the moment crushed aside, aquiver now with the spirit of defense against all ills that might menace the colony and her child. “The cliff falls?” she cried, starting for the doorway. “Yea, mistress! Hark!” Both women heard a grating, crushing sound. T
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CHAPTER XXIII THE RETURN OF THE MASTER
CHAPTER XXIII THE RETURN OF THE MASTER
Suddenly finding herself very much alarmed and shaken, Beatrice sat down in the low chair beside her bed, and covering her face with both hands tried to think. The old woman, somewhat recovered, moved about with words of pity and indignation, and sought to make speech with her, but she paid no heed. Now, if ever, she had need of self-searching--of courage and enterprise. And all at once she found that, despite everything, she was only a woman. Her passion spent, she felt a desperate need of a ma
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CHAPTER XXIV THE BOY IS GONE!
CHAPTER XXIV THE BOY IS GONE!
The man, weak, wounded, racked with exhaustion from the terrible ordeal of the past days, felt fresh vigor leap through his spent veins at sight of her distress, afar. He broke into a strange, limping run across the slight and shaking bridge; and as he ran he called to her, words of cheer and greeting, words of encouragement and love. But when, having penetrated the palisaded area and stumbled down the terraces, he reached her side, he stopped short, shaking, speechless, with wide and terror-str
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CHAPTER XXV THE FALL OF H'YEMBA
CHAPTER XXV THE FALL OF H'YEMBA
Blinded with staggering grief and terror, stunned, stricken, all but annihilated, the man recoiled. Then, with a cry, he sprang to the bed again, and now in a very passion of eagerness explored it. His trembling hands dragged all the bedding off and threw it broadcast. By the dim light he peered with wide and terror-smitten eyes. “My boy!” he choked. “ My boy! ” But beyond all manner of doubt the boy had been stolen. Unable to understand, or think, or plan, Allan stood there, his face ghastly, h
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CHAPTER XXVI THE COMING OF THE HORDE
CHAPTER XXVI THE COMING OF THE HORDE
Now that, for an hour or two at least, he felt himself free and master of the situation, Allan devoted himself with energy to the immediate situation in Cliff Villa. Though still weak and dazed, old Gesafam had now recovered strength and wit enough to soothe and care for the child. Allan heard from her, in a few disjointed words, all she knew of the kidnapping. H'yemba, she said, had suddenly appeared to her, from the remote end of the cave, and had tried to snatch the child. She had fought, but
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CHAPTER XXVII WAR!
CHAPTER XXVII WAR!
At sight of the advance-guard of the Horde now already loping, crouched and ugly, over the narrow bridge to Settlement Cliffs Allan's first impulse was one of absolute despair. He had expected an attack ere night, but at least he had hoped an hour's respite to recover a little of his strength and to muster all the still valid men of the Folk for resistance. Now, however, he saw even this was to be denied him. For already the leaders of the Horde scouts had passed the center of the bridge. Three
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CHAPTER XXVIII THE BESOM OF FLAME
CHAPTER XXVIII THE BESOM OF FLAME
Stern was not long in carrying out his plan. Even before Frumnos had returned, with the seventeen men still able to bear arms, he was at work. In Cliff Villa he hastily lashed up half a dozen fireballs, of coarse cloth, thoroughly soaked them in oil, and, with a blazing torch, brought them out to the terrace. Old Gesafam, at his command, bolted the door behind him. At all hazards, Beta and the child must be protected from any possibility of peril. “Here, Frumnos!” cried Stern. “Yes, master?” “Ru
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CHAPTER XXIX ALLAN'S NARRATIVE
CHAPTER XXIX ALLAN'S NARRATIVE
The week that followed was one of terrible labor, vigil and responsibility for Stern. Not yet recovered from his wounds nor fully rested from his flight before the Horde--now forever happily wiped out--the man nevertheless plunged with untiring energy into the stupendous tasks before him. He was at once the life, the brain, the inspiration of the colony. Without him all must have perished. In the hollow of his hand he held them, every one; and he alone it was who wrought some measure of reconstr
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CHAPTER XXX INTO THE FIRE-SWEPT WILDERNESS
CHAPTER XXX INTO THE FIRE-SWEPT WILDERNESS
Less than three weeks after the extermination of the Horde, Stern had already completed important measures looking toward the rehabilitation of the colony. The damage had been largely repaired. Now only some half-dozen convalescent cases still remained on the sick-list. What the colony had lost in numbers it had gained in solidarity and a truer loyalty than ever before felt there. All the survivors, now vastly more faithful to the common cause than in the beginning, showed an eager longing to la
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CHAPTER XXXI A STRANGE APPARITION
CHAPTER XXXI A STRANGE APPARITION
At a good round pace, where open going permitted, the party made way, striking boldly across country in the probable direction of the lost aeroplane. Some marched in silence, thoughtfully; others sang, as though setting out upon the Great Sunken Sea in fishing boats. But one common purpose and ambition thrilled them all. A man less boldly resourceful than Allan Stern must have thought long, and long hesitated, before thus plunging into a desolated and unknown territory on such a hunt. For, to sp
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CHAPTER XXXII THE MEETING OF THE BANDS
CHAPTER XXXII THE MEETING OF THE BANDS
Convinced though Stern now was of the reality of the amazing sight he had just witnessed through his binoculars, yet for a long moment he remained silent and staring, utterly at a loss for any rational explanation of the remarkable apparition. Exhausted in body and confused in mind, he could hit upon no answer to the riddle. Might these be some detached and belated members of the Horde? No; for their figures and their gait, as he now for the third time studied them through the glass, were unmist
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CHAPTER XXXIII FIVE YEARS LATER
CHAPTER XXXIII FIVE YEARS LATER
Long before daybreak that morning, the thriving village of Settlement Cliffs, capital and market-town of the New Hope Colony, was awake and astir. For the great festival day was at hand, the fifth anniversary of the founding of the colony, to be celebrated by the arrival of the last Merucaans from the depths of the Abyss. The old caves, now abandoned save for grain, fruit and fish storehouses were closed and silent. No labor was going forward there. The nets hung dry. From the forges, smithies a
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CHAPTER XXXIV HISTORY AND ROSES
CHAPTER XXXIV HISTORY AND ROSES
Allan sat writing in his library. Ten years had now slipped past since the last of the Folk had been brought to the surface and the ancient settlement in the bowels of the earth forever abandoned. Heavily sprinkled with gray, the man's hair showed the stress of time and labors incredible. Lines marked his face with the record of their character-building, even as his rapid pen traced on white paper the all but completing history of the new world whereat he had been laboring so long. Through the o
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CHAPTER XXXV THE AFTERGLOW
CHAPTER XXXV THE AFTERGLOW
Evening ! Far in the west, beyond the cañon of the New Hope River--now a beautifully terraced park and pleasure-ground--the rolling hills, fertile and farm-covered, lay resting as the sun died in a glory of crimson, gold and green. The reflections of the passing day spread a purple haze through the palm and fern-tree aisles of the woodland. Only a slight breeze swayed the branches. Infinite in its serenity brooded a vast peace from the glowing sky. A few questing swallows shot here and there lik
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