Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1902-03-29
. . The 3 D
Lost Continent
By CUTCLIFFE HYNE.
Pub BY Harper Bros. Copyright isoi by cutefs Hyns
CHAPTER XIU.-CoNTINUEp
ub. by Harper Bros Copyright, 1901 by cuteliffs Hy

Now, and again these monsters
would get caught in some vast fissur-
ing of the ground, but not often.
Their speed of foot was great, and
their sagacity keen. They seemed to
know when the worst boilings of the
mountains might be expected, and
then they found safety in the deeper
lakes, or buried themselves in wallows
of the mud. Moreover, they were
more kindly constituted than man to
withstand one great danger of these
regions, in that the heat of the wa
ter did them no harm. Indeed, they
will lie peacefully in pools where sud-
den stream-bursts are making the wa
ter leap into boiling fountains; and
have seen one run quickly across a
flow of molten rock which threatened
to cut it off, and not be so much as
singed in the transit.
In the midst of such neighbors, then,
was my new life thrown, and exist
ence became perilous and hard to me
from the outset. I came near to know
ing what fear was, and indeed only
q fervent trust in the most high gods,
and a firm belief that my life was al
ways under tn cir fostering care, pre-
vented me from gaining that horrid
knowledge. For long enough, till I
learned somewhat of the ways of this
steaming, sweltering land, I was in
as miserable a case as even Phorenice
could have wished to see me- NV
clothes rotted from my back with the
constant wetness, till / went as naked
as savage from Europe; my limbs
were racked with agues, and I could
find no herbs to make drugs for their
relief; for days together / could find
no better food than tree-grubs and
leaves; and often when I did kill
beasts, knowing little of their quail
ties, I ate those that gave me pain and
sickness.
But as man is born to make himself
adaptabl to his surroundings, so as
the months dragged on did I learn
the limitation of this new life of mine,
and gather some knowledge of its
resources. As example: / found a
great black tree, with a hollow core,
and hole into its middle near the
roots. Here / harbored, till one night
some monstrous lizard, whose sheer
weight made the tree rock like a sap
ling, endeavored TO suck me forth a 5
a bird picks worm from a hollow
log. I escaped by the will of the gods
Il could as much have done harm to
n mountain as injure that horny
tongue with my weapons-but I gave
myself warning that this chance must
not happen again.
So I cut myself a ladder of foot
holes on the inside of the trunk till
l had reached point ten man-heights
from the ground, and there cut other
notches, and with tree-branches made
floor on which l might rest. Later,
for luxury, I carved me arrow-slit
windows in the walls of my chamber,
and even carried up sand for a hearth,
SO that | might cook my victual up
there instead of lighting fire in all
the dangers of the open below.
BY degrees, too, I began to find how
the large-scaled fish of the rivers and
the lesser turtles might be more rap
idly captured, and so my ribs threat
ened less to start through their prop
er covering of skin S the days went
on. But the lack of salads and gruels
] could never overcome. All the green
meat was tainted so powerfully with
the taste of tars that never could I
force my palate to accept it. And of
course, too, there remained the peril
OF the greater lizards and the other
dangers native to the place.
But as the months began to mount
into years, and the brute part of nv
nature became more satisfied, there
came other longings which it was less
easy to provide for. From the ivory
of a river-horse's tooth I had endeav-
ored to carve me a representation of
Nais as last / had seen her. But,
though my fingers might be loving and
my will good, my art was of the dull
est, and the sult-though l tried
time and time again-was always
clumsy and pitiful. Still, in my eyes
1t carried some suggestion of the origi-
nal-a curve here, an outline there
and it made my old love glow anew
within me as / sat and ate it with my
eyes. Yet it did little to satisfy my
longings for the woman I had lost;
rather it whetted my cravings to be
with her again, or at least to have
some knowledge of her fate.
Other men of the Priests clan have
come out and made an abode in these
Dangerous Lands, and by Notifying
the flesh have gained an intimacy
withAthe higher mysteries which has
carried them far past what mere hui
man learning and repetition could
'eaeh- Indeed, here and there one,
VINO from some cause and another
mas returned to the abodes of men.
mas carried with him knowledge that
has brought him the rennta tion
among the vulgar for the workings
OF magic and miracles, which-since
all arts must be allowed which aid 60
holy a cause-have added very ma
terially to the ardor with which these
common people pursne the cult of the
gods. But for mysel; could not free
my mind to the necessary clearness