The Land That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs (uplifting novels TXT) đ
- Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs
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Nobs and I met with no sharks upon our return journey to the submarine. My report filled everyone with theories and speculations, and with renewed hope and determination. They all reasoned along the same lines that I had reasonedâthe conclusions were obvious, but not the water. We were now thirstier than ever.
The balance of that day we spent in continuing a minute and fruitless exploration of the monotonous coast. There was not another break in the frowning cliffsânot even another minute patch of pebbly beach. As the sun fell, so did our spirits. I had tried to make advances to the girl again; but she would have none of me, and so I was not only thirsty but otherwise sad and downhearted. I was glad when the new day broke the hideous spell of a sleepless night.
The morningâs search brought us no shred of hope. Caprona was impregnableâthat was the decision of all; yet we kept on. It must have been about two bells of the afternoon watch that Bradley called my attention to the branch of a tree, with leaves upon it, floating on the sea. âIt may have been carried down to the ocean by a river,â he suggested. âYes, â I replied, âit may have; it may have tumbled or been thrown off the top of one of these cliffs.â
Bradleyâs face fell. âI thought of that, too,â he replied, âbut I wanted to believe the other.â
âRight you are!â I cried. âWe must believe the other until we prove it false. We canât afford to give up heart now, when we need heart most. The branch was carried down by a river, and we are going to find that river.â I smote my open palm with a clenched fist, to emphasize a determination unsupported by hope. âThere!â I cried suddenly. âSee that, Bradley?â And I pointed at a spot closer to shore. âSee that, man!â Some flowers and grasses and another leafy branch floated toward us. We both scanned the water and the coastline. Bradley evidently discovered something, or at least thought that he had. He called down for a bucket and a rope, and when they were passed up to him, he lowered the former into the sea and drew it in filled with water. Of this he took a taste, and straightening up, looked into my eyes with an expression of elationâas much as to say âI told you so!â
âThis water is warm,â he announced, âand fresh!â
I grabbed the bucket and tasted its contents. The water was very warm, and it was fresh, but there was a most unpleasant taste to it.
âDid you ever taste water from a stagnant pool full of tadpoles?â Bradley asked.
âThatâs it,â I exclaimed, ââthatâs just the taste exactly, though I havenât experienced it since boyhood; but how can water from a flowing stream, taste thus, and what the dickens makes it so warm? It must be at least 70 or 80 Fahrenheit, possibly higher.â
âYes,â agreed Bradley, âI should say higher; but where does it come from?â
âThat is easily discovered now that we have found it,â I answered. âIt canât come from the ocean; so it must come from the land. All that we have to do is follow it, and sooner or later we shall come upon its source.â
We were already rather close in; but I ordered the U-33âs prow turned inshore and we crept slowly along, constantly dipping up the water and tasting it to assure ourselves that we didnât get outside the freshwater current. There was a very light off-shore wind and scarcely any breakers, so that the approach to the shore was continued without finding bottom; yet though we were already quite close, we saw no indication of any indention in the coast from which even a tiny brooklet might issue, and certainly no mouth of a large river such as this must necessarily be to freshen the ocean even two hundred yards from shore. The tide was running out, and this, together with the strong flow of the freshwater current, would have prevented our going against the cliffs even had we not been under power; as it was we had to buck the combined forces in order to hold our position at all. We came up to within twenty-five feet of the sheer wall, which loomed high above us. There was no break in its forbidding face. As we watched the face of the waters and searched the cliffâs high face, Olson suggested that the fresh water might come from a submarine geyser. This, he said, would account for its heat; but even as he spoke a bush, covered thickly with leaves and flowers, bubbled to the surface and floated off astern.
âFlowering shrubs donât thrive in the subterranean caverns from which geysers spring,â suggested Bradley.
Olson shook his head. âIt beats me,â he said.
âIâve got it!â I exclaimed suddenly. âLook there!â And I pointed at the base of the cliff ahead of us, which the receding tide was gradually exposing to our view. They all looked, and all saw what I had seenâthe top of a dark opening in the rock, through which water was pouring out into the sea. âItâs the subterranean channel of an inland river,â I cried. âIt flows through a land covered with vegetationâand therefore a land upon which the sun shines. No subterranean caverns produce any order of plant life even remotely resembling what we have seen disgorged by this river. Beyond those cliffs lie fertile lands and fresh waterâperhaps, game!â
âYis, sir,â said Olson, âbehoind the cliffs! Ye spoke a true word, sirâbehoind!â
Bradley laughedâa rather sorry laugh, though. âYou might as well call our attention to the fact, sir,â he said, âthat science has indicated that there is fresh water and vegetation on Mars.â
âNot at all,â I rejoined. âA U-boat isnât constructed to navigate space, but it is designed to travel below the surface of the water.â
âYouâd be after sailinâ into that blank pocket?â asked Olson.
âI would, Olson,â I replied. âWe havenât one chance for life in a hundred thousand if we donât find food and water upon Caprona. This water coming out of the cliff is not salt; but neither is it fit to drink, though each of us has drunk. It is fair to assume that inland the river is fed by pure streams, that there are fruits and herbs and game. Shall we lie out here and die of thirst and starvation with a land of plenty possibly only a few hundred yards away? We have the means for navigating a subterranean river. Are we too cowardly to utilize this means?â
âBe afther goinâ to it,â said Olson.
âIâm willing to see it through,â agreed Bradley.
âThen under the bottom, wiâ the best oâ luck anâ give âem hell!â cried a young fellow who had been in the trenches.
âTo the diving-stations!â I commanded, and in less than a minute the deck was deserted, the conning-tower covers had slammed to and the U-33 was submergingâpossibly for the last time. I know that I had this feeling, and I think that most of the others did.
As we went down, I sat in the tower with the searchlight projecting its seemingly feeble rays ahead. We submerged very slowly and without headway more than sufficient to keep her nose in the right direction, and as we went down, I saw outlined ahead of us the black opening in the great cliff. It was an opening that would have admitted a half-dozen U-boats at one and the same time, roughly cylindrical in contourâand dark as the pit of perdition.
As I gave the command which sent the U-33 slowly ahead, I could not but feel a certain uncanny presentiment of evil. Where were we going? What lay at the end of this great sewer? Had we bidden farewell forever to the sunlight and life, or were there before us dangers even greater than those which we now faced? I tried to keep my mind from vain imagining by calling everything which I observed to the eager ears below. I was the eyes of the whole company, and I did my best not to fail them. We had advanced a hundred yards, perhaps, when our first danger confronted us. Just ahead was a sharp right-angle turn in the tunnel. I could see the riverâs flotsam hurtling against the rocky wall upon the left as it was driven on by the mighty current, and I feared for the safety of the U-33 in making so sharp a turn under such adverse conditions; but there was nothing for it but to try. I didnât warn my fellows of the dangerâit could have but caused them useless apprehension, for if we were to be smashed against the rocky wall, no power on earth could avert the quick end that would come to us. I gave the command full speed ahead and went charging toward the menace. I was forced to approach the dangerous left-hand wall in order to make the turn, and I depended upon the power of the motors to carry us through the surging waters in safety. Well, we made it; but it was a narrow squeak. As we swung around, the full force of the current caught us and drove the stern against the rocks; there was a thud which sent a tremor through the whole craft, and then a moment of nasty grinding as the steel hull scraped the rock wall. I expected momentarily the inrush of waters that would seal our doom; but presently from below came the welcome word that all was well.
In another fifty yards there was a second turn, this time toward the left! but it was more of a gentle curve, and we took it without trouble. After that it was plain sailing, though as far as I could know, there might be most anything ahead of us, and my nerves strained to the snapping-point every instant. After the second turn the channel ran comparatively straight for between one hundred and fifty and two hundred yards. The waters grew suddenly lighter, and my spirits rose accordingly. I shouted down to those below that I saw daylight ahead, and a great shout of thanksgiving reverberated through the ship. A moment later we emerged into sunlit water, and immediately I raised the periscope and looked about me upon the strangest landscape I had ever seen.
We were in the middle of a broad and now sluggish river the banks of which were lined by giant, arboraceous ferns, raising their mighty fronds fifty, one hundred, two hundred feet into the quiet air. Close by us something rose to the surface of the river and dashed at the periscope. I had a vision of wide, distended jaws, and then all was blotted out. A shiver ran down into the tower as the thing closed upon the periscope. A moment later it was gone, and I could see again. Above the trees there soared into my vision
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