Chapter 5
Days became weeks, and weeks became months, and the months
followed one another in a lazy procession of hot, humid days and
warm, humid nights. The fugitives saw never a Wieroo by day
though often at night they heard the melancholy flapping of giant
wings far above them.
Each day was much like its predecessor. Bradley splashed about
for a few minutes in the cold pool early each morning and after
a time the girl tried it and liked it. Toward the center it was
deep enough for swimming, and so he taught her to swim--she was
probably the first human being in all Caspak's long ages who had
done this thing. And then while she prepared breakfast, the man
shaved--this he never neglected. At first it was a source of
wonderment to the girl, for the Galu men are beardless.
When they needed meat, he hunted, otherwise he busied himself
in improving their shelter, making new and better weapons,
perfecting his knowledge of the girl's language and teaching her
to speak and to write English--anything that would keep them
both occupied. He still sought new plans for escape, but with
ever-lessening enthusiasm, since each new scheme presented some
insurmountable obstacle.
And then one day as a bolt out of a clear sky came that which
blasted the peace and security of their sanctuary forever.
Bradley was just emerging from the water after his morning
plunge when from overhead came the sound of flapping wings.
Glancing quickly up the man saw a white-robed Wieroo circling
slowly above him. That he had been discovered he could not
doubt since the creature even dropped to a lower altitude as
though to assure itself that what it saw was a man. Then it
rose rapidly and winged away toward the city.
For two days Bradley and the girl lived in a constant state of
apprehension, awaiting the moment when the hunters would come for
them; but nothing happened until just after dawn of the third
day, when the flapping of wings apprised them of the approach
of Wieroos. Together they went to the edge of the wood and
looked up to see five red-robed creatures dropping slowly in
ever-lessening spirals toward their little amphitheater. With no
attempt at concealment they came, sure of their ability to
overwhelm these two fugitives, and with the fullest measure of
self-confidence they landed in the clearing but a few yards from
the man and the girl.
Following a plan already discussed Bradley and the girl retreated
slowly into the woods. The Wieroos advanced, calling upon them
to give themselves up; but the quarry made no reply. Farther and
farther into the little wood Bradley led the hunters, permitting
them to approach ever closer; then he circled back again toward
the clearing, evidently to the great delight of the Wieroos, who
now followed more leisurely, awaiting the moment when they should
be beyond the trees and able to use their wings. They had opened
into semicircular formation now with the evident intention of
cutting the two off from returning into the wood. Each Wieroo
advanced with his curved blade ready in his hand, each hideous
face blank and expressionless.
It was then that Bradley opened fire with his pistol--three
shots, aimed with careful deliberation, for it had been long
since he had used the weapon, and he could not afford to chance
wasting ammunition on misses. At each shot a Wieroo dropped; and
then the remaining two sought escape by flight, screaming and
wailing after the manner of their kind. When a Wieroo runs, his
wings spread almost without any volition upon his part, since
from time immemorial he has always used them to balance himself
and accelerate his running speed so that in the open they appear
to skim the surface of the ground when in the act of running.
But here in the woods, among the close-set boles, the spreading
of their wings proved their undoing--it hindered and stopped them
and threw them to the ground, and then Bradley was upon them
threatening them with instant death if they did not surrender--
promising them their freedom if they did his bidding.
"As you have seen," he cried, "I can kill you when I wish and at
a distance. You cannot escape me. Your only hope of life lies
in obedience. Quick, or I kill!"
The Wieroos stopped and faced him. "What do you want of us?"
asked one.
"Throw aside your weapons," Bradley commanded. After a moment's
hesitation they obeyed.
"Now approach!" A great plan--the only plan--had suddenly come
to him like an inspiration.
The Wieroos came closer and halted at his command. Bradley turned
to the girl. "There is rope in the shelter," he said. "Fetch it!"
She did as he bid, and then he directed her to fasten one end of
a fifty-foot length to the ankle of one of the Wieroos and the
opposite end to the second. The creatures gave evidence of great
fear, but they dared not attempt to prevent the act.
"Now go out into the clearing," said Bradley, "and remember that
I am walking close behind and that I will shoot the nearer one
should either attempt to escape--that will hold the other until
I can kill him as well."
In the open he halted them. "The girl will get upon the back
of the one in front," announced the Englishman. "I will mount
the other. She carries a sharp blade, and I carry this weapon
that you know kills easily at a distance. If you disobey in
the slightest, the instructions that I am about to give you, you
shall both die. That we must die with you, will not deter us.
If you obey, I promise to set you free without harming you.
"You will carry us due west, depositing us upon the shore of the
mainland--that is all. It is the price of your lives. Do you agree?"
Sullenly the Wieroos acquiesced. Bradley examined the knots that
held the rope to their ankles, and feeling them secure directed
the girl to mount the back of the leading Wieroo, himself upon
the other. Then he gave the signal for the two to rise together.
With loud flapping of the powerful wings the creatures took to
the air, circling once before they topped the trees upon the hill
and then taking a course due west out over the waters of the sea.
Nowhere about them could Bradley see signs of other Wieroos, nor
of those other menaces which he had feared might bring disaster
to his plans for escape--the huge, winged reptilia that are so
numerous above the southern areas of Caspak and which are often
seen, though in lesser numbers, farther north.
Nearer and nearer loomed the mainland--a broad, parklike expanse
stretching inland to the foot of a low plateau spread out before them.
The little dots in the foreground became grazing herds of deer
and antelope and bos; a huge woolly rhinoceros wallowed in a
mudhole to the right, and beyond, a mighty mammoth culled the
tender shoots from a tall tree. The roars and screams and growls
of giant carnivora came faintly to their ears. Ah, this was Caspak.
With all of its dangers and its primal savagery it brought a
fullness to the throat of the Englishman as to one who sees and
hears the familiar sights and sounds of home after a long absence.
Then the Wieroos dropped swiftly downward to the flower-starred
turf that grew almost to the water's edge, the fugitives slipped
from their backs, and Bradley told the red-robed creatures they
were free to go.
When he had cut the ropes from their ankles they rose with that
uncanny wailing upon their lips that always brought a shudder to
the Englishman, and upon dismal wings they flapped away toward
frightful Oo-oh.
When the creatures had gone, the girl turned toward Bradley.
"Why did you have them bring us here?" she asked. "Now we are
far from my country. We may never live to reach it, as we are
among enemies who, while not so horrible will kill us just as
surely as would the Wieroos should they capture us, and we have
before us many marches through lands filled with savage beasts."
"There were two reasons," replied Bradley. "You told me that
there are two Wieroo cities at the eastern end of the island.
To have passed near either of them might have been to have brought
about our heads hundreds of the creatures from whom we could not
possibly have escaped. Again, my friends must be near this spot--
it cannot be over two marches to the fort of which I have told you.
It is my duty to return to them. If they still live we shall find
a way to return you to your people."
"And you?" asked the girl.
"I escaped from Oo-oh," replied Bradley. "I have accomplished
the impossible once, and so I shall accomplish it again--I shall
escape from Caspak."
He was not looking at her face as he answered her, and so he
did not see the shadow of sorrow that crossed her countenance.
When he raised his eyes again, she was smiling.
"What you wish, I wish," said the girl.
Southward along the coast they made their way following the
beach, where the walking was best, but always keeping close
enough to trees to insure sanctuary from the beasts and reptiles
that so often menaced them. It was late in the afternoon when
the girl suddenly seized Bradley's arm and pointed straight ahead
along the shore. "What is that?" she whispered. "What strange
reptile is it?"
Bradley looked in the direction her slim forefinger indicated.
He rubbed his eyes and looked again, and then he seized her wrist
and drew her quickly behind a clump of bushes.
"What is it?" she asked.
"It is the most frightful reptile that the waters of the world
have ever known," he replied. "It is a German U-boat!"
An expression of amazement and understanding lighted her features.
"It is the thing of which you told me," she exclaimed, "--the
thing that swims under the water and carries men in its belly!"
"It is," replied Bradley.
"Then why do you hide from it?" asked the girl. "You said that
now it belonged to your friends."
"Many months have passed since I knew what was going on among my
friends," he replied. "I cannot know what has befallen them.
They should have been gone from here in this vessel long since,
and so I cannot understand why it is still here. I am going to
investigate first before I show myself. When I left, there were
more Germans on the U-33 than there were men of my own party at
the fort, and I have had sufficient experience of Germans to know
that they will bear watching--if they have not been properly
watched since I left."
Making their way through a fringe of wood that grew a few yards
inland the two crept unseen toward the U-boat which lay moored to
the shore at a point which Bradley now recognized as being near
the oil-pool north of Dinosaur. As close as possible to the
vessel they halted, crouching low among the dense vegetation, and
watched the boat for signs of human life about it. The hatches
were closed--no one could be seen or heard. For five minutes
Bradley watched, and then he determined to board the submarine
and investigate. He had risen to carry his decision into effect
when there suddenly broke upon his ear, uttered in loud and
menacing tones, a volley of German oaths and expletives among
which he heard Englische schweinhunde repeated several times.
The voice did not come from the direction of the U-boat; but
from inland. Creeping forward Bradley reached a spot where,
through the creepers hanging from the trees, he could see a party
of men coming down toward the shore.
He saw Baron Friedrich von Schoenvorts and six of his men--all
armed--while marching in a little knot among them were Olson,
Brady, Sinclair, Wilson, and Whitely.
Bradley knew nothing of the disappearance of Bowen Tyler and Miss
La Rue, nor of the perfidy of the Germans in shelling the fort
and attempting to escape in the U-33; but he was in no way
surprised at what he saw before him.
The little party came slowly onward, the prisoners staggering
beneath heavy cans of oil, while Schwartz, one of the German
noncommissioned officers cursed and beat them with a stick of
wood, impartially. Von Schoenvorts walked in the rear of the
column, encouraging Schwartz and laughing at the discomfiture of
the Britishers. Dietz, Heinz, and Klatz also seemed to enjoy the
entertainment immensely; but two of the men--Plesser and Hindle--
marched with eyes straight to the front and with scowling faces.
Bradley felt his blood boil at sight of the cowardly indignities
being heaped upon his men, and in the brief span of time occupied
by the column to come abreast of where he lay hidden he made his
plans, foolhardy though he knew them. Then he drew the girl
close to him. "Stay here," he whispered. "I am going out to
fight those beasts; but I shall be killed. Do not let them
see you. Do not let them take you alive. They are more cruel,
more cowardly, more bestial than the Wieroos."
The girl pressed close to him, her face very white. "Go, if that
is right," she whispered; "but if you die, I shall die, for I
cannot live without you." He looked sharply into her eyes.
"Oh!" he ejaculated. "What an idiot I have been! Nor could I
live without you, little girl." And he drew her very close and
kissed her lips. "Good-bye." He disengaged himself from her
arms and looked again in time to see that the rear of the column
had just passed him. Then he rose and leaped quickly and
silently from the jungle.
Suddenly von Schoenvorts felt an arm thrown about his neck and
his pistol jerked from its holster. He gave a cry of fright and
warning, and his men turned to see a half-naked white man holding
their leader securely from behind and aiming a pistol at them
over his shoulder.
"Drop those guns!" came in short, sharp syllables and perfect
German from the lips of the newcomer. "Drop them or I'll put a
bullet through the back of von Schoenvorts' head."
The Germans hesitated for a moment, looking first toward von
Schoenvorts and then to Schwartz, who was evidently second in
command, for orders.
"It's the English pig, Bradley," shouted the latter, "and he's
alone--go and get him!"
"Go yourself," growled Plesser. Hindle moved close to the side
of Plesser and whispered something to him. The latter nodded.
Suddenly von Schoenvorts wheeled about and seized Bradley's
pistol arm with both hands, "Now!" he shouted. "Come and take
him, quick!"
Schwartz and three others leaped forward; but Plesser and Hindle
held back, looking questioningly toward the English prisoners.
Then Plesser spoke. "Now is your chance, Englander," he
called in low tones. "Seize Hindle and me and take our guns from
us--we will not fight hard."
Olson and Brady were not long in acting upon the suggestion.
They had seen enough of the brutal treatment von Schoenvorts
accorded his men and the especially venomous attentions he
had taken great enjoyment in according Plesser and Hindle
to understand that these two might be sincere in a desire
for revenge. In another moment the two Germans were unarmed
and Olson and Brady were running to the support of Bradley;
but already it seemed too late.
Von Schoenvorts had managed to drag the Englishman around so that
his back was toward Schwartz and the other advancing Germans.
Schwartz was almost upon Bradley with gun clubbed and ready to
smash down upon the Englishman's skull. Brady and Olson were
charging the Germans in the rear with Wilson, Whitely, and
Sinclair supporting them with bare fists. It seemed that Bradley
was doomed when, apparently out of space, an arrow whizzed,
striking Schwartz in the side, passing half-way through his body
to crumple him to earth. With a shriek the man fell, and at the
same time Olson and Brady saw the slim figure of a young girl
standing at the edge of the jungle coolly fitting another arrow
to her bow.
Bradley had now succeeded in wrestling his arm free from von
Schoenvorts' grip and in dropping the latter with a blow from the
butt of his pistol. The rest of the English and Germans were
engaged in a hand-to-hand encounter. Plesser and Hindle standing
aside from the melee and urging their comrades to surrender and
join with the English against the tyranny of von Schoenvorts.
Heinz and Klatz, possibly influenced by their exhortation, were
putting up but a half-hearted resistance; but Dietz, a huge,
bearded, bull-necked Prussian, yelling like a maniac, sought to
exterminate the Englische schweinhunde with his bayonet,
fearing to fire his piece lest he kill some of his comrades.
It was Olson who engaged him, and though unused to the long
German rifle and bayonet, he met the bull-rush of the Hun with
the cold, cruel precision and science of English bayonet-fighting.
There was no feinting, no retiring and no parrying that was not
also an attack. Bayonet-fighting today is not a pretty thing to
see--it is not an artistic fencing-match in which men give and
take--it is slaughter inevitable and quickly over.
Dietz lunged once madly at Olson's throat. A short point, with
just a twist of the bayonet to the left sent the sharp blade over
the Englishman's left shoulder. Instantly he stepped close in,
dropped his rifle through his hands and grasped it with both
hands close below the muzzle and with a short, sharp jab sent his
blade up beneath Dietz's chin to the brain. So quickly was the
thing done and so quick the withdrawal that Olson had wheeled to
take on another adversary before the German's corpse had toppled
to the ground.
But there were no more adversaries to take on. Heinz and Klatz
had thrown down their rifles and with hands above their heads
were crying "Kamerad! Kamerad!" at the tops of their voices.
Von Schoenvorts still lay where he had fallen. Plesser and
Hindle were explaining to Bradley that they were glad of the
outcome of the fight, as they could no longer endure the
brutality of the U-boat commander.
The remainder of the men were looking at the girl who now
advanced slowly, her bow ready, when Bradley turned toward her
and held out his hand.
"Co-Tan," he said, "unstring your bow--these are my friends,
and yours." And to the Englishmen: "This is Co-Tan. You who
saw her save me from Schwartz know a part of what I owe her."
The rough men gathered about the girl, and when she spoke to them
in broken English, with a smile upon her lips enhancing the charm
of her irresistible accent, each and every one of them promptly
fell in love with her and constituted himself henceforth her
guardian and her slave.
A moment later the attention of each was called to Plesser by a
volley of invective. They turned in time to see the man running
toward von Schoenvorts who was just rising from the ground.
Plesser carried a rifle with bayonet fixed, that he had snatched
from the side of Dietz's corpse. Von Schoenvorts' face was livid
with fear, his jaws working as though he would call for help; but
no sound came from his blue lips.
"You struck me," shrieked Plesser. "Once, twice, three times,
you struck me, pig. You murdered Schwerke--you drove him insane
by your cruelty until he took his own life. You are only one of
your kind--they are all like you from the Kaiser down. I wish
that you were the Kaiser. Thus would I do!" And he lunged his
bayonet through von Schoenvorts' chest. Then he let his rifle
fall with the dying man and wheeled toward Bradley. "Here I am,"
he said. "Do with me as you like. All my life I have been
kicked and cuffed by such as that, and yet always have I gone out
when they commanded, singing, to give up my life if need be to
keep them in power. Only lately have I come to know what a fool
I have been. But now I am no longer a fool, and besides, I am
avenged and Schwerke is avenged, so you can kill me if you wish.
Here I am."
"If I was after bein' the king," said Olson, "I'd pin the V.C. on
your noble chist; but bein' only an Irishman with a Swede name,
for which God forgive me, the bist I can do is shake your hand."
"You will not be punished," said Bradley. "There are four of you
left--if you four want to come along and work with us, we will
take you; but you will come as prisoners."
"It suits me," said Plesser. "Now that the captain-lieutenant is
dead you need not fear us. All our lives we have known nothing
but to obey his class. If I had not killed him, I suppose I
would be fool enough to obey him again; but he is dead. Now we
will obey you--we must obey some one."
"And you?" Bradley turned to the other survivors of the original
crew of the U-33. Each promised obedience.
The two dead Germans were buried in a single grave, and then the
party boarded the submarine and stowed away the oil.
Here Bradley told the men what had befallen him since the night
of September 14th when he had disappeared so mysteriously from
the camp upon the plateau. Now he learned for the first time
that Bowen J. Tyler, Jr., and Miss La Rue had been missing even
longer than he and that no faintest trace of them had been discovered.
Olson told him of how the Germans had returned and waited in
ambush for them outside the fort, capturing them that they might
be used to assist in the work of refining the oil and later in
manning the U-33, and Plesser told briefly of the experiences of
the German crew under von Schoenvorts since they had escaped from
Caspak months before--of how they lost their bearings after
having been shelled by ships they had attempted to sneak farther
north and how at last with provisions gone and fuel almost
exhausted they had sought and at last found, more by accident
than design, the mysterious island they had once been so glad to
leave behind.
"Now," announced Bradley, "we'll plan for the future. The boat
has fuel, provisions and water for a month, I believe you said,
Plesser; there are ten of us to man it. We have a last sad duty
here--we must search for Miss La Rue and Mr. Tyler. I say a sad
duty because we know that we shall not find them; but it is none
the less our duty to comb the shoreline, firing signal shells at
intervals, that we at least may leave at last with full knowledge
that we have done all that men might do to locate them."
None dissented from this conviction, nor was there a voice raised
in protest against the plan to at least make assurance doubly
sure before quitting Caspak forever.
And so they started, cruising slowly up the coast and firing an
occasional shot from the gun. Often the vessel was brought to a
stop, and always there were anxious eyes scanning the shore for
an answering signal. Late in the afternoon they caught sight of
a number of Band-lu warriors; but when the vessel approached the
shore and the natives realized that human beings stood upon the
back of the strange monster of the sea, they fled in terror
before Bradley could come within hailing distance.
That night they dropped anchor at the mouth of a sluggish stream
whose warm waters swarmed with millions of tiny tadpolelike
organisms--minute human spawn starting on their precarious
journey from some inland pool toward "the beginning"--a journey
which one in millions, perhaps, might survive to complete.
Already almost at the inception of life they were being greeted
by thousands of voracious mouths as fish and reptiles of many
kinds fought to devour them, the while other and larger creatures
pursued the devourers, to be, in turn, preyed upon by some other
of the countless forms that inhabit the deeps of Caprona's
frightful sea.
The second day was practically a repetition of the first.
They moved very slowly with frequent stops and once they landed
in the Kro-lu country to hunt. Here they were attacked by the
bow-and-arrow men, whom they could not persuade to palaver
with them. So belligerent were the natives that it became
necessary to fire into them in order to escape their persistent
and ferocious attentions.
"What chance," asked Bradley, as they were returning to the boat
with their game, "could Tyler and Miss La Rue have had among such
as these?"
But they continued on their fruitless quest, and the third day,
after cruising along the shore of a deep inlet, they passed a
line of lofty cliffs that formed the southern shore of the inlet
and rounded a sharp promontory about noon. Co-Tan and Bradley
were on deck alone, and as the new shoreline appeared beyond the
point, the girl gave an exclamation of joy and seized the man's
hand in hers.
"Oh, look!" she cried. "The Galu country! The Galu country!
It is my country that I never thought to see again."
"You are glad to come again, Co-Tan?" asked Bradley.
"Oh, so glad!" she cried. "And you will come with me to my people?
We may live here among them, and you will be a great warrior--oh,
when Jor dies you may even be chief, for there is none so mighty
as my warrior. You will come?"
Bradley shook his head. "I cannot, little Co-Tan," he answered.
"My country needs me, and I must go back. Maybe someday I
shall return. You will not forget me, Co-Tan?"
She looked at him in wide-eyed wonder. "You are going away from
me?" she asked in a very small voice. "You are going away from Co-Tan?"
Bradley looked down upon the little bowed head. He felt the soft
cheek against his bare arm; and he felt something else there too--
hot drops of moisture that ran down to his very finger-tips and
splashed, but each one wrung from a woman's heart.
He bent low and raised the tear-stained face to his own.
"No, Co-Tan," he said, "I am not going away from you--for you
are going with me. You are going back to my own country to be
my wife. Tell me that you will, Co-Tan." And he bent still lower
yet from his height and kissed her lips. Nor did he need more
than the wonderful new light in her eyes to tell him that she
would go to the end of the world with him if he would but take her.
And then the gun-crew came up from below again to fire a signal
shot, and the two were brought down from the high heaven of their
new happiness to the scarred and weather-beaten deck of the U-33.
An hour later the vessel was running close in by a shore of
wondrous beauty beside a parklike meadow that stretched back a
mile inland to the foot of a plateau when Whitely called
attention to a score of figures clambering downward from the
elevation to the lowland below. The engines were reversed and
the boat brought to a stop while all hands gathered on deck to
watch the little party coming toward them across the meadow.
"They are Galus," cried Co-Tan; "they are my own people. Let me
speak to them lest they think we come to fight them. Put me
ashore, my man, and I will go meet them."
The nose of the U-boat was run close in to the steep bank; but
when Co-Tan would have run forward alone, Bradley seized her hand
and held her back. "I will go with you, Co-Tan," he said; and
together they advanced to meet the oncoming party.
There were about twenty warriors moving forward in a thin line,
as our infantry advance as skirmishers. Bradley could not but
notice the marked difference between this formation and the
moblike methods of the lower tribes he had come in contact with,
and he commented upon it to Co-Tan.
"Galu warriors always advance into battle thus," she said.
"The lesser people remain in a huddled group where they can scarce
use their weapons the while they present so big a mark to us that
our spears and arrows cannot miss them; but when they hurl theirs
at our warriors, if they miss the first man, there is no chance that
they will kill some one behind him.
"Stand still now," she cautioned, "and fold your arms. They will
not harm us then."
Bradley did as he was bid, and the two stood with arms folded as
the line of warriors approached. When they had come within some
fifty yards, they halted and one spoke. "Who are you and from
whence do you come?" he asked; and then Co-Tan gave a little,
glad cry and sprang forward with out-stretched arms.
"Oh, Tan!" she exclaimed. "Do you not know your little Co-Tan?"
The warrior stared, incredulous, for a moment, and then he, too,
ran forward and when they met, took the girl in his arms. It was
then that Bradley experienced to the full a sensation that was
new to him--a sudden hatred for the strange warrior before him
and a desire to kill without knowing why he would kill. He moved
quickly to the girl's side and grasped her wrist.
"Who is this man?" he demanded in cold tones.
Co-Tan turned a surprised face toward the Englishman and then of
a sudden broke forth into a merry peal of laughter. "This is my
father, Brad-lee," she cried.
"And who is Brad-lee?" demanded the warrior.
"He is my man," replied Co-Tan simply.
"By what right?" insisted Tan.
And then she told him briefly of all that she had passed through
since the Wieroos had stolen her and of how Bradley had rescued
her and sought to rescue An-Tak, her brother.
"You are satisfied with him?" asked Tan.
"Yes," replied the girl proudly.
It was then that Bradley's attention was attracted to the edge of
the plateau by a movement there, and looking closely he saw a
horse bearing two figures sliding down the steep declivity.
Once at the bottom, the animal came charging across the meadowland
at a rapid run. It was a magnificent animal--a great bay stallion
with a white-blazed face and white forelegs to the knees, its
barrel encircled by a broad surcingle of white; and as it came to
a sudden stop beside Tan, the Englishman saw that it bore a man
and a girl--a tall man and a girl as beautiful as Co-Tan. When the
girl espied the latter, she slid from the horse and ran toward her,
fairly screaming for joy.
The man dismounted and stood beside Tan. Like Bradley he was
garbed after the fashion of the surrounding warriors; but
there was a subtle difference between him and his companion.
Possibly he detected a similar difference in Bradley, for his
first question was, "From what country?" and though he spoke in
Galu Bradley thought he detected an accent.
"England," replied Bradley.
A broad smile lighted the newcomer's face as he held out his hand.
"I am Tom Billings of Santa Monica, California," he said. "I know
all about you, and I'm mighty glad to find you alive."
"How did you get here?" asked Bradley. "I thought ours was the
only party of men from the outer world ever to enter Caprona."
"It was, until we came in search of Bowen J. Tyler, Jr.,"
replied Billings. "We found him and sent him home with his
bride; but I was kept a prisoner here."
Bradley's face darkened--then they were not among friends
after all. "There are ten of us down there on a German sub
with small-arms and a gun," he said quickly in English.
"It will be no trick to get away from these people."
"You don't know my jailer," replied Billings, "or you'd not be
so sure. Wait, I'll introduce you." And then turning to the girl
who had accompanied him he called her by name. "Ajor," he said,
"permit me to introduce Lieutenant Bradley; Lieutenant, Mrs.
Billings--my jailer!"
The Englishman laughed as he shook hands with the girl. "You are
not as good a soldier as I," he said to Billings. "Instead of
being taken prisoner myself I have taken one--Mrs. Bradley, this
is Mr. Billings."
Ajor, quick to understand, turned toward Co-Tan. "You are going
back with him to his country?" she asked. Co-Tan admitted it.
"You dare?" asked Ajor. "But your father will not permit it--
Jor, my father, High Chief of the Galus, will not permit it, for
like me you are cos-ata-lo. Oh, Co-Tan, if we but could!
How I would love to see all the strange and wonderful things of
which my Tom tells me!"
Bradley bent and whispered in her ear. "Say the word and you may
both go with us."
Billings heard and speaking in English, asked Ajor if she would go.
"Yes," she answered, "If you wish it; but you know, my Tom, that
if Jor captures us, both you and Co-Tan's man will pay the
penalty with your lives--not even his love for me nor his
admiration for you can save you."
Bradley noticed that she spoke in English--broken English like
Co-Tan's but equally appealing. "We can easily get you aboard
the ship," he said, "on some pretext or other, and then we can
steam away. They can neither harm nor detain us, nor will we
have to fire a shot at them."
And so it was done, Bradley and Co-Tan taking Ajor and Billings
aboard to "show" them the vessel, which almost immediately raised
anchor and moved slowly out into the sea.
"I hate to do it," said Billings. "They have been fine to me.
Jor and Tan are splendid men and they will think me an ingrate;
but I can't waste my life here when there is so much to be done
in the outer world."
As they steamed down the inland sea past the island of Oo-oh, the
stories of their adventures were retold, and Bradley learned that
Bowen Tyler and his bride had left the Galu country but a
fortnight before and that there was every reason to believe that
the Toreador might still be lying in the Pacific not far off
the subterranean mouth of the river which emitted Caprona's
heated waters into the ocean.
Late in the second day, after running through swarms of hideous
reptiles, they submerged at the point where the river entered
beneath the cliffs and shortly after rose to the sunlit surface
of the Pacific; but nowhere as far as they could see was sign of
another craft. Down the coast they steamed toward the beach
where Billings had made his crossing in the hydro-aeroplane and
just at dusk the lookout announced a light dead ahead. It proved
to be aboard the Toreador, and a half-hour later there was
such a reunion on the deck of the trig little yacht as no one
there had ever dreamed might be possible. Of the Allies there
were only Tippet and James to be mourned, and no one mourned any
of the Germans dead nor Benson, the traitor, whose ugly story was
first told in Bowen Tyler's manuscript.
Tyler and the rescue party had but just reached the yacht
that afternoon. They had heard, faintly, the signal shots fired
by the U-33 but had been unable to locate their direction and so
had assumed that they had come from the guns of the Toreador.
It was a happy party that sailed north toward sunny, southern
California, the old U-33 trailing in the wake of the Toreador
and flying with the latter the glorious Stars and Stripes
beneath which she had been born in the shipyard at Santa Monica.
Three newly married couples, their bonds now duly solemnized by
the master of the ship, joyed in the peace and security of the
untracked waters of the south Pacific and the unique honeymoon
which, had it not been for stern duty ahead, they could have
wished protracted till the end of time.
And so they came one day to dock at the shipyard which Bowen
Tyler now controlled, and here the U-33 still lies while those
who passed so many eventful days within and because of her, have
gone their various ways.
