3
The report of a gun blasted the silence of a dead Devonport withstartling abruptness.
It came from the direction of the launch, and in an instant we threewere running for the boat as fast as our legs would carry us. As wecame in sight of it we saw Delcarte a hundred yards inland from thelaunch, leaning over something which lay upon the ground. As we calledto him he waved his cap, and stooping, lifted a small deer for ourinspection.
I was about to congratulate him on his trophy when we were startled bya horrid, half-human, half-bestial scream a little ahead and to theright of us. It seemed to come from a clump of rank and tangled bushnot far from where Delcarte stood. It was a horrid, fearsome sound,the like of which never had fallen upon my ears before.
We looked in the direction from which it came. The smile had died fromDelcarte's lips. Even at the distance we were from him I saw his facego suddenly white, and he quickly threw his rifle to his shoulder. Atthe same moment the thing that had given tongue to the cry moved fromthe concealing brushwood far enough for us, too, to see it.
Both Taylor and Snider gave little gasps of astonishment and dismay.
"What is it, sir?" asked the latter.
The creature stood about the height of a tall man's waist, and was longand gaunt and sinuous, with a tawny coat striped with black, and withwhite throat and belly. In conformation it was similar to a cat--ahuge cat, exaggerated colossal cat, with fiendish eyes and the mostdevilish cast of countenance, as it wrinkled its bristling snout andbared its great yellow fangs.
It was pacing, or rather, slinking, straight for Delcarte, who had nowleveled his rifle upon it.
"What is it, sir?" mumbled Snider again, and then a half-forgottenpicture from an old natural history sprang to my mind, and I recognizedin the frightful beast the Felis tigris of ancient Asia, specimens ofwhich had, in former centuries, been exhibited in the WesternHemisphere.
Snider and Taylor were armed with rifles and revolvers, while I carriedonly a revolver. Seizing Snider's rifle from his trembling hands, Icalled to Taylor to follow me, and together we ran forward, shouting,to attract the beast's attention from Delcarte until we should all bequite close enough to attack with the greatest assurance of success.
I cried to Delcarte not to fire until we reached his side, for I wasfearful lest our small caliber, steel-jacketed bullets should, far fromkilling the beast, tend merely to enrage it still further. But hemisunderstood me, thinking that I had ordered him to fire.
With the report of his rifle the tiger stopped short in apparentsurprise, then turned and bit savagely at its shoulder for an instant,after which it wheeled again toward Delcarte, issuing the most terrificroars and screams, and launched itself, with incredible speed, towardthe brave fellow, who now stood his ground pumping bullets from hisautomatic rifle as rapidly as the weapon would fire.
Taylor and I also opened up on the creature, and as it was broadside tous it offered a splendid target, though for all the impression weappeared to make upon the great cat we might as well have beenlaunching soap bubbles at it.
Straight as a torpedo it rushed for Delcarte, and, as Taylor and Istumbled on through the tall grass toward our unfortunate comrade, wesaw the tiger rear upon him and crush him to the earth.
Not a backward step had the noble Delcarte taken. Two hundred years ofpeace had not sapped the red blood from his courageous line. He wentdown beneath that avalanche of bestial savagery still working his gunand with his face toward his antagonist. Even in the instant that Ithought him dead I could not help but feel a thrill of pride that hewas one of my men, one of my class, a Pan-American gentleman of birth.And that he had demonstrated one of the principal contentions of thearmy-and-navy adherents--that military training was necessary for thesalvation of personal courage in the Pan-American race which forgenerations had had to face no dangers more grave than those incidentto ordinary life in a highly civilized community, safeguarded by everymeans at the disposal of a perfectly organized and all-powerfulgovernment utilizing the best that advanced science could suggest.
As we ran toward Delcarte, both Taylor and I were struck by the factthat the beast upon him appeared not to be mauling him, but lay quietand motionless upon its prey, and when we were quite close, and themuzzles of our guns were at the animal's head, I saw the explanation ofthis sudden cessation of hostilities--Felis tigris was dead.
One of our bullets, or one of the last that Delcarte fired, hadpenetrated the heart, and the beast had died even as it sprawledforward crushing Delcarte to the ground.
A moment later, with our assistance, the man had scrambled from beneaththe carcass of his would-be slayer, without a scratch to indicate howclose to death he had been.
Delcarte's buoyance was entirely unruffled. He came from under thetiger with a broad grin on his handsome face, nor could I perceive thata muscle trembled or that his voice showed the least indication ofnervousness or excitement.
With the termination of the adventure, we began to speculate upon theexplanation of the presence of this savage brute at large so great adistance from its native habitat. My readings had taught me that itwas practically unknown outside of Asia, and that, so late as thetwentieth century, at least, there had been no savage beasts outsidecaptivity in England.
As we talked, Snider joined us, and I returned his rifle to him.Taylor and Delcarte picked up the slain deer, and we all started downtoward the launch, walking slowly. Delcarte wanted to fetch thetiger's skin, but I had to deny him permission, since we had no meansto properly cure it.
Upon the beach, we skinned the deer and cut away as much meat as wethought we could dispose of, and as we were again embarking to continueup the river for fresh water and fuel, we were startled by a series ofscreams from the bushes a short distance away.
"Another Felis tigris," said Taylor.
"Or a dozen of them," supplemented Delcarte, and, even as he spoke,there leaped into sight, one after another, eight of the beasts, fullgrown--magnificent specimens.
At the sight of us, they came charging down like infuriated demons. Isaw that three rifles would be no match for them, and so I gave theword to put out from shore, hoping that the "tiger," as the ancientscalled him, could not swim.
Sure enough, they all halted at the beach, pacing back and forth,uttering fiendish cries, and glaring at us in the most malevolentmanner.
As we motored away, we presently heard the calls of similar animals farinland. They seemed to be answering the cries of their fellows at thewater's edge, and from the wide distribution and great volume of thesound we came to the conclusion that enormous numbers of these beastsmust roam the adjacent country.
"They have eaten up the inhabitants," murmured Snider, shuddering.
"I imagine you are right," I agreed, "for their extreme boldness andfearlessness in the presence of man would suggest either that man isentirely unknown to them, or that they are extremely familiar with himas their natural and most easily procured prey."
"But where did they come from?" asked Delcarte. "Could they havetraveled here from Asia?"
I shook my head. The thing was a puzzle to me. I knew that it waspractically beyond reason to imagine that tigers had crossed themountain ranges and rivers and all the great continent of Europe totravel this far from their native lairs, and entirely impossible thatthey should have crossed the English Channel at all. Yet here theywere, and in great numbers.
We continued up the Tamar several miles, filled our casks, and thenlanded to cook some of our deer steak, and have the first square mealthat had fallen to our lot since the Coldwater deserted us. But scarcehad we built our fire and prepared the meat for cooking than Snider,whose eyes had been constantly roving about the landscape from themoment that we left the launch, touched me on the arm and pointed to aclump of bushes which grew a couple of hundred yards away.
Half concealed behind their screening foliage I saw the yellow andblack of a big tiger, and, as I looked, the beast stalked majesticallytoward us.
A moment later, he was followed by another and another, andit is needless to state that we beat a hasty retreat to the launch.
The country was apparently infested by these huge Carnivora, for afterthree other attempts to land and cook our food we were forced toabandon the idea entirely, as each time we were driven off by huntingtigers.
It was also equally impossible to obtain the necessary ingredients forour chemical fuel, and, as we had very little left aboard, wedetermined to step our folding mast and proceed under sail, hoardingour fuel supply for use in emergencies.
I may say that it was with no regret that we bid adieu to Tigerland, aswe rechristened the ancient Devon, and, beating out into the Channel,turned the launch's nose southeast, to round Bolt Head and continue upthe coast toward the Strait of Dover and the North Sea.
I was determined to reach London as soon as possible, that we mightobtain fresh clothing, meet with cultured people, and learn from thelips of Englishmen the secrets of the two centuries since the East hadbeen divorced from the West.
Our first stopping place was the Isle of Wight. We entered the Solentabout ten o'clock one morning, and I must confess that my heart sank aswe came close to shore. No lighthouse was visible, though one wasplainly indicated upon my map. Upon neither shore was sign of humanhabitation. We skirted the northern shore of the island in fruitlesssearch for man, and then at last landed upon an eastern point, whereNewport should have stood, but where only weeds and great trees andtangled wild wood rioted, and not a single manmade thing was visible tothe eye.
Before landing, I had the men substitute soft bullets for thesteel-jacketed projectiles with which their belts and magazines werefilled. Thus equipped, we felt upon more even terms with the tigers,but there was no sign of the tigers, and I decided that they must beconfined to the mainland.
After eating, we set out in search of fuel, leaving Taylor to guard thelaunch. For some reason I could not trust Snider alone. I knew thathe looked with disapproval upon my plan to visit England, and I did notknow but what at his first opportunity, he might desert us, taking thelaunch with him, and attempt to return to Pan-America.
That he would be fool enough to venture it, I did not doubt.
We had gone inland for a mile or more, and were passing through apark-like wood, when we came suddenly upon the first human beings wehad seen since we sighted the English coast.
There were a score of men in the party. Hairy, half-naked men theywere, resting in the shade of a great tree. At the first sight of usthey sprang to their feet with wild yells, seizing long spears that hadlain beside them as they rested.
For a matter of fifty yards they ran from us as rapidly as they could,and then they turned and surveyed us for a moment. Evidentlyemboldened by the scarcity of our numbers, they commenced to advanceupon us, brandishing their spears and shouting horribly.
They were short and muscular of build, with long hair and beardstangled and matted with filth. Their heads, however, were shapely, andtheir eyes, though fierce and warlike, were intelligent.
Appreciation of these physical attributes came later, of course, when Ihad better opportunity to study the men at close range and undercircumstances less fraught with danger and excitement. At the moment Isaw, and with unmixed wonder, only a score of wild savages chargingdown upon us, where I had expected to find a community of civilized andenlightened people.
Each of us was armed with rifle, revolver, and cutlass, but as we stoodshoulder to shoulder facing the wild men I was loath to give thecommand to fire upon them, inflicting death or suffering upon strangerswith whom we had no quarrel, and so I attempted to restrain them forthe moment that we might parley with them.
To this end I raised my left hand above my head with the palm towardthem as the most natural gesture indicative of peaceful intentionswhich occurred to me. At the same time I called aloud to them that wewere friends, though, from their appearance, there was nothing toindicate that they might understand Pan-American, or ancient English,which are of course practically identical.
At my gesture and words they ceased their shouting and came to a halt afew paces from us. Then, in deep tones, one who was in advance of theothers and whom I took to be the chief or leader of the party repliedin a tongue which while intelligible to us, was so distorted from theEnglish language from which it evidently had sprung, that it was withdifficulty that we interpreted it.
"Who are you," he asked, "and from what country?"
I told him that we were from Pan-America, but he only shook his headand asked where that was. He had never heard of it, or of the AtlanticOcean which I told him separated his country from mine.
"It has been two hundred years," I told him, "since a Pan-Americanvisited England."
"England?" he asked. "What is England?"
"Why this is a part of England!" I exclaimed.
"This is Grubitten," he assured me. "I know nothing about England, andI have lived here all my life."
It was not until long after that the derivation of Grubitten occurredto me. Unquestionably it is a corruption of Great Britain, a nameformerly given to the large island comprising England, Scotland andWales. Subsequently we heard it pronounced Grabrittin and Grubritten.
I then asked the fellow if he could direct us to Ryde or Newport; butagain he shook his head, and said that he never had heard of suchcountries. And when I asked him if there were any cities in thiscountry he did not know what I meant, never having heard the wordcities.
I explained my meaning as best I could by stating that by city Ireferred to a place where many people lived together in houses.
"Oh," he exclaimed, "you mean a camp! Yes, there are two great campshere, East Camp and West Camp. We are from East Camp."
The use of the word camp to describe a collection of habitationsnaturally suggested war to me, and my next question was as to whetherthe war was over, and who had been victorious.
"No," he replied to this question. "The war is not yet over. But itsoon will be, and it will end, as it always does, with the Westendersrunning away. We, the Eastenders, are always victorious."
"No," I said, seeing that he referred to the petty tribal wars of hislittle island, "I mean the Great War, the war with Germany. Is itended--and who was victorious?"
He shook his head impatiently.
"I never heard," he said, "of any of these strange countries of whichyou speak."
It seemed incredible, and yet it was true. These people living at thevery seat of the Great War knew nothing of it, though but two centurieshad passed since, to our knowledge, it had been running in the heightof its titanic frightfulness all about them, and to us upon the farside of the Atlantic still was a subject of keen interest.
Here was a lifelong inhabitant of the Isle of Wight who never had heardof either Germany or England! I turned to him quite suddenly with anew question.
"What people live upon the mainland?" I asked, and pointed in thedirection of the Hants coast.
"No one lives there," he replied.
"Long ago, it is said, my people dwelt across the waters upon thatother land; but the wild beasts devoured them in such numbers thatfinally they were driven here, paddling across upon logs and driftwood,nor has any dared return since, because of the frightful creatureswhich dwell in that horrid country."
"Do no other peoples ever come to your country in ships?" I asked.
He never heard the word ship before, and did not know its meaning. Buthe assured me that until we came he had thought that there were noother peoples in the world other than the Grubittens, who consist ofthe Eastenders and the Westenders of the ancient Isle of Wight.
Assured that we were inclined to friendliness, our new acquaintancesled us to their village, or, as they call it, camp. There we found athousand people, perhaps, dwelling in rude shelters, and living uponthe fruits of the chase and such sea food as is obtainable close toshore, for they had no boats, nor any knowledge of such things.
Their weapons were most primitive,
consisting of rude spears tippedwith pieces of metal pounded roughly into shape. They had noliterature, no religion, and recognized no law other than the law ofmight. They produced fire by striking a bit of flint and steeltogether, but for the most part they ate their food raw. Marriage isunknown among them, and while they have the word, mother, they did notknow what I meant by "father." The males fight for the favor of thefemales. They practice infanticide, and kill the aged and physicallyunfit.
The family consists of the mother and the children, the men dwellingsometimes in one hut and sometimes in another. Owing to their bloodyduels, they are always numerically inferior to the women, so there isshelter for them all.
We spent several hours in the village, where we were objects of thegreatest curiosity. The inhabitants examined our clothing and all ourbelongings, and asked innumerable questions concerning the strangecountry from which we had come and the manner of our coming.
I questioned many of them concerning past historical events, but theyknew nothing beyond the narrow limits of their island and the savage,primitive life they led there. London they had never heard of, andthey assured me that I would find no human beings upon the mainland.
Much saddened by what I had seen, I took my departure from them, andthe three of us made our way back to the launch, accompanied by aboutfive hundred men, women, girls, and boys.
As we sailed away, after procuring the necessary ingredients of ourchemical fuel, the Grubittens lined the shore in silent wonder at thestrange sight of our dainty craft dancing over the sparkling waters,and watched us until we were lost to their sight.