ERB'S EMBRYONIC JOURNEY:
THE TRIMESTERS OF CASPAK

Part Six
by
Woodrow Edgar Nichols, Jr.
(Dedicated to George McWhorter)

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THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT
(Chapters 7-8)
B. Bowen Tyler, Jr (continued):

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Yes, the time has come for Bowen’s folly to fully manifest itself. For some odd, unknown reason, Bradley has taken off with four other Englishmen – Sinclair, Brady, James, and Tippet – on another expedition estimated to take weeks, leaving only Bowen, Olson, Whitely, and Wilson to defend themselves against eight armed and well-led Germans. Perhaps Bradley was more comfortable with his old tug boat buddies, and we know he must have resented von Schoenvorts for the killing of his skipper. But he’s the most practical of the Englishmen. Surely he would have protested that leaving the fort under such uneven odds was sheer madness? 

We will never know because no one even thinks to mention it at any time later in the novel as a critical choice coming at such a critical time under the terms of a temporary truce between wartime belligerents. Perhaps this is a flaw in plotting, or more likely ERB is attempting to point out what bunglers his first person narrators have been so far. When Bradley’s story is finally told in the blessed third person in Book Three of the Caspakian Trilogy, Out of Time’s Abyss – the more I consider this, I more I attribute it to the deliberate plotting of ERB, in order to contrast the foolishness of the first person narrators against that of the cool, rational approach of Bradley, who we got a taste of his first person persona in his brief report of the First Exploratory Expedition from Fort Dinosaur – the story immediately begins with the Second Exploratory Expedition without mention of the situation they were leaving behind at Fort Dinosaur.

Anyway, Chapter Seven begins with Bowen’s gloomy philosophy overshadowing every word that he records in his journal – every word dripping with the hopelessness of total nihilistic despair – opening with an entry for October 8, 1916:

“This is the last entry I shall make upon my manuscript. When this is done, I shall be through. Though I may pray that it reaches the haunts of civilized man, my better judgment tells me that it will never be perused by other eyes than mine, and that even though it should, it would be too late to avail me. I am alone upon the summit of the great cliff overlooking the broad Pacific. A chill south wind bites at my marrow, while far below me I can see the tropic foilage of Caspak on the one hand and huge icebergs from the near Antarctic upon the other. Presently I shall stuff my folded manuscript into the thermos bottle I have carried with me for the purpose since I left the fort – Fort Dinosaur we named it – and hurl it far outward over the cliff-top into the Pacific. What current washes the shore of Caprona I know not; whither my bottle will be borne I cannot even guess; but I have done all that mortal man may do to notify the world of my whereabouts and the dangers that threaten those of us who remain alive in Caspak – if there by any other than myself.” (LTF/7.)

The time sequence gets sort of weird from here on. First, Bowen will recap his adventures since Bradley’s team departed Fort Dinosaur, then he bring us back to the October 8, 1916 entry, then he will go past that time. Confusing? Not really, if you pay attention.

“About the 8 of September I th accompanied Olson and von Schoenvorts to the oil-geyser. Lys came with us, and we took a number of things which von Schoenvorts wanted for the purpose of erecting a crude refinery. We went up the coast some ten or twelve miles in the U-33, tying up to shore near the mouth of a small stream which emptied great volumes of crude oil into the sea – I find it difficult to call this great lake by any other name. Then we disembarked and went inland about five miles, where we came upon a small lake entirely filled with oil, from the center of which a geyser of oil spouted.” (LTF/7.)

Okay, if I am reading this correctly, the small lake which ERB states is “entirely filled with oil,” which cannot without difficulty be named by any other name, is named Oil Lake? That would be my first guess. Or, Crude Oil Lake? Or, how about Crude Oil Geyser Lake? But those appear to me as being too wordy. I will go with Oil Lake, my first guess and final choice.

Bowen later mentions that everyone went on this trip, leaving no one behind to defend Fort Dinosaur. Thus, the crew is made up of Bowen and three Englishmen, and one American woman, against nine Germans, including their commander. We must further imagine that even with the balance of power in favor of the shrewd von Shoenvorts, he would wisely bide his time before moving on his enemy. In fact, we learn that von Schoenvorts had the foresight to take his entire crew up the coast for their oil exploration, leaving only Bowen and the three Englishmen to oppose any future German insurrection. Oh, yes, there is always the formidable Ms. La Rue, but Bowen never considers her as a factor when it comes to the “men’s work” of war.

Most readers will have already guessed what a blunder Bowen is making at this point. He has placed the U-33 basically back in the hands of the Germans. They may act like Bowen is commanding the sub, but they have been fully armed, and if they are allowed to refine oil for the sub then they are no longer bound by the truce. And you won’t believe what Bowen does on top of all this: 

“On the edge of the lake we helped von Schoenvorts build his primitive refinery. We worked with him for two days until he got things fairly well started, and then we returned to Fort Dinosaur, as I feared that Bradley might return and be worried by our absence. The U-33 merely landed those of us that were to return to the fort and then retraced its course toward the oil-well. Olson, Whitely, Wilson, Miss La Rue, and myself disembarked, while von Schoenvorts and his German crew returned to refine the oil. The next day Plesser and two other Germans came down overland for ammunition. Plesser said they had been attacked by wild men and had exhausted a great deal of ammunition. He also asked permission to get some dried meat and maize, saying that they were so busy with the work of refining that they had no time to hunt. I let them have everything he asked for, and never once did a suspicion of their intentions enter my mind. They returned to the oil-well the same day, while we continued with the
multitudinous duties of camp-life.” (LTF/7.)

Yes, Bowen put the command of the sub back under control of von Schoenvorts, and never once thinks ill of his opponent even after von Schoenvorts mocks him openly by sending Plesser and two others back two days later to load up on ammunition and food. You may recall during a bout of bravado that Bowen pulled his pistol on von Schoenvorts after the Prussian broke Plesser’s nose – while he was standing at attention – with a riding crop. Von Schoenvorts’ Prussian pride was wounded by this effront and you can just see the smirk of amusement on his face as he sends Plesser on the mission of deception. Who best to pull the ruse off better than Plesser, on whom Bowen had taken pity? Bowen wondered at the time whether Plesser would be grateful for Bowen’s interference with his punishment, or whether he was a totally brainwashed German who resented the interference in what Bowen called “the gospel of the Kaiser-breed”? Bowen will soon learn that it was the latter. But first, we must remember the number one item disturbing the psyche of Bowen: the presence of Lys.

“For three days nothing of moment occurred. Bradley did not return; nor did we have any word from von Schoenvorts. In the evening Lys and I went up into one of the bastion towers and listened to the grim and terrible night-life of the frightful ages of the past. Once a saber-tooth screamed almost beneath us, and the girl shrank close against me. As I felt her body against mine, all the pent up love of these three long months shattered the bonds of timidity and conviction, and I swept her up into my arms and covered her face and lips with kisses. She did not struggle to free herself; but instead her dear arms crept up about my neck and drew my own face even closer to hers. 
“‘You love me, Lys?’ I cried.
“I felt her head nod an affirmative against my breast. ‘Tell me, Lys,’ I begged, ‘tell me in words how much you love me.’
“Low and sweet and tender came the answer: ‘I love you beyond all conception.’
“My heart filled with rapture then, and it fills me now as it has each of the countless times I have recalled those dear words, as it shall fill always until death has claimed me. I may never see her again; she may not know how I love her – she may question, she may doubt; but always true and steady, and warm with the fires of love my heart beats for the girl who said that night: ‘I love you beyond all conception.’
“For a long time we sat there upon the little bench constructed for the sentry that we had not as yet thought it necessary to post in more than one of the four towers. We learned to know one another better in those two brief hours than we had in all the months that had intervened since we had been thrown together. She told me that she had loved me from the first, and that she never had loved von Schoenvorts, their engagement having been arranged by her aunt for social reasons.
“That was the happiest evening of my life; nor ever do I expect to experience its like; but at last, as is the way of happiness, it terminated. We descended to the compound, and I walked Lys to the door of her quarters. There again she kissed me and bade me good night, and then she went in and closed the door.” (LTF/7.)

All right, did they or didn’t they? Most people at the time understood that fully knowing a woman was in the Biblical sense, and meant that you had had sexual relations with a woman. Thus, this can be implied to be the hidden meaning of, “We learned to know one another better in those two hours....” Most people at the time also knew that sexual activity usually ends in orgasm. Thus one could imagine this is the meaning of the enigmatic: “but at last, as is the way of happiness, it terminated.”

Remember, almost everyone in the USA regarded premarital sex as fornication, a sin against God and his ten commandments. Thus, ERB had to be very careful when dealing with the censors. There was a time when his Tarzan books were banned from high school libraries because of the innuendo occurring between Tarzan and Jane prior to the time that Jane’s father performed a marriage ceremony for them. Had they been living in sin before then?

Yes, it was very likely. Just like imagining that Bowen and Lys had engaged in heavy hanky panky up in the old tower bastion. Suggest it then let the imagination run wild. The evidence is there for any dirty mind. ERB could never have suggested it explicitly. Otherwise it would have been censored.

ERB could have also meant that the termination of happiness comes the next day when Bowen finally awakes and finds that Lys has not risen. He waits for an appropriate amount of time before knocking on her door, only to discover that she has been kidnapped by an ape-man, evidenced by a big footprint in the dirt next to a tiny handkerchief:

“While I stood there stunned and horrified at the frightful evidence before me, there came from the direction of the great lake an increasing sound that rose to the volume of a shriek. We all looked up as the noise approached apparently just above us, and a moment later there followed a terrific explosion which hurled us to the ground. When we clambered to our feet, we saw a large section of the west wall torn and shattered. It was Olson who first recovered from his daze sufficiently to guess the explanation of the phenomenon.
“‘A shell!’ he cried. ‘And there ain’t no shells in Caspak besides what’s on the U-33. The dirty boches are shellin’ the fort. Come on!’ And he grasped his rifle and started on a run toward the lake. It was over two miles, but we did not pause until the harbor was in view, and still we could not see the lake because of the sandstone cliffs which intervened. We ran as fast as we could around the lower end of the harbor, scrambled up the cliffs and at last stood upon their summit in full view of the lake. Far away down the coast, toward the river through which we had come to reach the lake, we saw upon the surface the outline of the U-33, black smoke vomiting from her funnel.
“Von Schoenvorts had succeeded in refining the oil! The cur had broken his every pledge and was leaving us there to our fates. He had even shelled the fort as a passing compliment; nor could anything have been more truly Prussian than this leave-taking of the Baron Friedrich von Shoenvorts.” (LTF/7.)

We must remember that we are reading glorified war propaganda. Most readers at the time would have been outraged at the barbarity of the Germans – the end result of all war propaganda – but I can’t help but admire the Germans for their wartime efficiency, and how they totally outplayed the stupid American who had built their submarine. The shelling of the fort would have looked splendid in von Schoenvorts’ war log, tending to underplay the time they had lived among the enemy in a compromised position. You can imagine the entry: “Sept. 14: loaded sufficient oil for long cruise. Shelled enemy fort causing major damage on departure. Returning to outside world to resume sinking and harrassing enemy shipping lanes.” 

Bowen, Olson, Whitely, and Wilson are, of course, outraged, wondering it the Germans might have also kidnaped Lys. But the evidence of the footprint points to a primitive ape-man. Convinced of the latter, Bowen takes off by himself to track her down. Bradley and the rest of the Englishmen were likely glad to get rid of the bungling American fool. 

Thus ends Chapter Seven. Bowen sets off from Fort Dinosaur with only Nobs to accompany him at the beginning of  Chapter Eight. He follows the trail:

“The trail led northwest until it reached the western end of the sandstone cliffs to the north of the fort; there it ran into a well-defined path which wound northward into a country we had not as yet explored. It was a beautiful, gently rolling country, broken by occasional outcroppings of sandstone and by patches of dense forest relieved by open, parklike stretches and broad meadows whereupon grazed countless herbivorous animals – red deer, aurochs, and infinite variety of antelope and at least three distinct species of horse, the latter ranging in size from a creature about as large as Nobs to a magnificent animal of fourteen to sixteen hands high. These creatures fed together in perfect amity; nor did they show any great indications of terror when Nobs and I approached. They moved out of our way and kept their eyes upon us until we had passed; then they resumed their feeding.
“The path led straight across the clearing into another forest, lying upon the verge of which I saw a bit of white. It appeared to stand out in marked contrast and incongruity to all its surroundings, and when I stopped to examine it, I found that it was a small strip of muslin – part of the hem of a garment. At once I was all excitement, for I knew that it was a sign left by Lys that she had been carried this way; it was a tiny bit torn from the hem of the undergarment she wore in lieu of the nightrobes she had lost with the sinking of the liner. Crushing the bit of fabric to my lips, I pressed on even more rapidly than before, because now I knew that I was upon the right trail and that up to this point at least, Lys still had lived.” (LTF/7.)

Lys still has her wits about her, leaving bits of her undergarment behind as signs. Well, at least we know what she was wearing at the time she was kidnaped. Just a muslin undergarment covered her nakedness. Bowen finds more bits of it, especially at forks in the road and where two trails cross. Soon, he smells wood smoke. 

“Cautiously I approached the flank of the cliffs, where they terminated in an abrupt escarpment as though some allpowerful hand had broken off a great section of rock and set it upon the surface of the earth. It was now quite dark, and as I crept around the edge of the cliff, I saw at a little distance a great fire around which were many figures – apparently human figures. Cautioning Nobs to silence, and he had learned many lessons in the value of obedience since we had entered Caspak, I slunk forward, taking advantage of whatever cover I could find, until from a behind a bush I could distinctly see the creatures assembled by the fire. They were human and yet not human. I should say that they were a little higher in the scale of evolution than Ahm, possibly occupying a plane of evolution between that of the Neanderthal man and what is known as the Grimaldi race. Their features were distinctly negroid, though their skins were white. A considerable portion of both torso and limbs were covered with short hair, and their physical proportions were in many aspects apelike, though not so much so as were Ahm’s. They carried themselves in a more erect position, although their arms were considerably longer than those of the Neanderthal man. As I watched them, I saw that they possessed a language, that they had knowledge of fire and they carried besides the wooden club of Ahm, a thing which resembled a crude stone hatchet. Evidently they were very low in the scale of humanity, but they were a step upward from those I had previously seen in Caspak.” (LTF/8.)

The first Caspakian being we came to know was Ahm, a Neanderthal man, from a group that varied in type between Ahm and even lesser evolved ape-men. Ahm is mainly distinguished by his more human than ape characteristics and by the fact that he possesses a weapon, a crude wooden club. Now Bowen is confronted with a higher type than Ahm, who are not only more human looking, but also, besides the club, carry a crude stone hatchet. As we shall discover, each tribe that is more northward on Caspak not only is more higher evolved, but are also more sophisticated in language, ornamentation and weaponry. But we lose our focus.

“But what interested me most was the slender figure of a dainty girl, clad only in a thin bit of muslin which scarce covered her knees – a bit of muslin torn and ragged about the lower hem. It was Lys, and she was alive and so far as I could see, unharmed. A huge brute with thick lips and prognathous jaw stood at her shoulder. He was talking loudly and gesticulating wildly. I was close enough to hear his words, which were similar to the language of Ahm, though much fuller, for there were many words I could not understand. However, I caught the gist of what he was saying – which in effect was that he had found and captured this Galu, that she was his and that he defied anyone to question his right of possession. It appeared to me, as I afterward learned was the fact, that I was witnessing the most primitive of marriage ceremonies. The assembled members of the tribe looked on and listened in a sort of dull and perfunctory apathy, for the speaker was by far the mightiest of the clan. There seemed no one to dispute his claims when he said, or rather shouted, in stentorian tones:
‘I am Tsa. This is my wife. Who wishes her more than Tsa?’
“‘I do,’ I said in the language of Ahm, and I stepped out into the firelight before them. Lys gave a little cry of joy and started toward me, but Tsa grasped her arm and dragged her back.
“‘Who are you?’ shrieked Tsa. ‘I kill! I kill! I kill!’
“‘The she is mine,’ I replied, ‘and I have come to claim her. I kill if you do not let her come to me.’ And I raised my pistol to a level with his heart. Of course the creature had no conception of the purpose of the strange little implement which I was poking toward him. With a sound that was half human and half the growl of a wild beast, he sprang toward me. I aimed at his heart and fired, and as he sprawled headlong to the ground, the others of his tribe, overcome by fright at the report of the pistol, scattered toward the cliffs – while Lys, with outstretched arms, ran toward me.
“As I crushed her to me, there rose from the black night behind us and then to our right and to our left a series of frightful screams and shrieks, bellowings, roars and growls. It was the night-life of this jungle world coming into its own – the huge, carnivorous nocturnal beasts which make the nights of Caspak hideous.” (LTF/8.)

Lys starts praying and is near exhaustion. Bowen tries to reassure as best as he can. He chases animals away with brands from the fire. With burning branches in hand they approach the cliffs and are met with stiff resistance from the tribe:

“‘They will kill us,’ said Lys. ‘We may as well keep on in search of another refuge.’
“‘They will not kill us so surely as will those others out there,’ I replied. ‘I am going to seek shelter in one of those many caves; nor will the man-things prevent.’ And I kept on in the direction of the cliff’s base. A huge creature stood upon a ledge and brandished his stone hatchet. ‘Come and I will kill you and take the she,’ he boasted.
“‘You saw how Tsa fared when he would have kept my she,’ I replied in his own tongue. ‘Thus will you fare and all your fellows if you do not permit us to come in peace among you out of the dangers of the night.’
“‘Go north,’ he screamed. ‘Go north among the Galus, and we will not harm you. Some day will we be Galus; but now we are not. You do not belong among us. Go away or we will kill you. The she may remain if she is afraid, and we will keep her; but the he must depart.’
“‘The he won’t depart,’ I replied, and approached still nearer. Rough and narrow ledges formed by nature gave access to the upper caves. A man might scale them if unhampered and unhindered, but to clamber upward in the face of a belligerent tribe of half-men and with a girl to assist was beyond my capability.
“‘I do not fear you,’ screamed the creature. ‘You were close to Tsa; but I am far above you. You cannot harm me as you harmed Tsa. Go away!’
“I placed a foot upon the lowest ledge and clambered upward, reaching down and pulling Lys to my side. Already I felt safer. Soon we would be out of danger of the beasts again closing in upon us. The man above us raised his stone hatchet above his head and leaped lightly down to meet us. His position above me gave him a great advantage, or at least so he probably thought, for he came with every show of confidence. I hated to do it, but there seemed no other way, and so I shot him down as I had shot down Tsa.
“‘You see,’ I cried to his fellows, ‘that I can kill you wherever you may be. A long way off I can kill you as well as I can kill you near by. Let us come among you in peace, I will not harm you if you do not harm us. We will take a cave high up. Speak!’
“‘Come, then,’ said one. ‘If you will not harm us, you may come. Take Tsa’s hole, which lies above you.’” (LTF/8.)

Bowen may be a fool when it comes to romance and human nature, but he knows how to kill. ERB sets up the killings in such a way – injecting an element of humor – the reader actually enjoys the bloodshed. His heroes never kill wantonly or cruelly. They are always justified, even if it’s vigilante justice.

They possess Tsa’s cave. They find it filthy with a deep level of rubble in which there is no sign of anyone having the idea of cleaning it up. They build a rock barrier to protect them and build a fire between them and the entrance to keep at bay the shadows outside.

“Lys shuddered, and I put my arm around her and drew her to me; and thus we sat throughout the hot night. She told me of her abduction and of the fright she had undergone, and together we thanked God that she had come through unharmed, because the great brute had dared not pause along the danger-infested way. She said that they had but reached the cliffs when I arrived, for on several occasions her captor had been forced to take to the trees with her to escape the clutches of some hungry cave-lion or saber-tooth tiger, and that twice they had been obliged to remain for considerable periods before the beasts had retired.” (LTF/8.)

ERB wants to assure his readers that there was no time for the ape creature to have raped Lys. Most male readers of the time would have been so morally offended by Lys being a rape victim, they may have had a hard time imagining ever having a loving sexual relationship with her. For a raped woman, regardless of her innocence, was regarded as damaged goods. Soiled.

No man from a good family could have ever brought a woman home to meet his parents if she was damaged goods. These ideas are very obsolete, but they are still common in some parts of the country. The people who harbor these obsolete views will likely be voting for Mitt Romney in November.

This reminds me of a bumper sticker that my youngest daughter, Hannah, gave me for my birthday a few years ago. It shows the common figures of the ascent of man, from the lowest ape to modern man, stating: “Evolution: Not for Everyone.” I know the meaning is ambiguous, but I think you get the idea. Some people are just more evolved than others.

Next comes a scene which questions any seedy assumptions we may have made previously about their time in the bastion tower. This could be another trick of ERB’s to provide a clear backup story in case he was accused of promoting fornication. But as it is, it still borders on salaciousness:

“However, we were not disturbed during the night, and when I awoke, the sun was shining on the tree-tops in the distance. Lys’ head had drooped to my breast, and my arm was still about her.
“Shortly afterward Lys awoke, and for a moment she could not seem to comprehend her situation. She looked at me and then turned and glanced at my arm about her, and then she seemed quite suddenly to realize the scantiness of her apparel and drew away, covering her face with her palms and blushing furiously. I drew her back toward me and kissed her, and then she threw her arms about my neck and wept softly in mute surrender to the inevitable.” (LTF/8.)

Take it any way you like. To me, this in no way diminishes the bastion tower sex scene for she had never spent the night love making that first time. Afterwards, she had gone to bed alone. Waking up with a man after having sex was a new experience for her. Well, at least we assume so. Anyway, it makes little difference whether they made love in the tower, for there surely can be no doubt that they made love when she surrendered to the inevitable. ERB was walking a very risky road vis-a-vis censorship at this point in the story.

Though, there are two more hints in the next paragraph that should seal any doubts we might have had. The first is the mention of the time being one hour later after her surrender for fornication and the next is to her referring to the cave as their “apartment,” which was a favorite rendezvous for sin at the time:

“It was an hour later before the tribe began to stir about. We watched them from our ‘apartment,’ as Lys called it. Neither men nor women wore any sort of clothing or ornaments, and they all seemed to be about of an age; nor were there any babies or children among them. This was, to us, the strangest and most inexplicable of facts, but it recalled to us that though we had seen many of the lesser developed wild people of Caspak, we had never yet seen a child or an old man or woman.” (LTF/8.)

They soon become familiar with the tribe, noting that like Ahm none of them smile nor laughed. Bowen asks them if they know Ahm:

“One of them said: ‘Back there we may have known him.’ And he jerked his head to the south.
“‘You came from back there?’ I asked. He looked at me in surprise.
“‘We all come from there,’ he said. ‘After a while we go there.’ And this time he jerked his head toward the north. ‘Be Galus,’ he concluded.
“Many times now had we heard this reference to becoming Galus. Ahm had spoken of it many times. Lys and I decided that it was a sort of original religious conviction, as much a part of them as their instinct for self-preservation – a primal acceptance of a hereafter and a holier state. It was a brilliant theory, but it was all wrong. I know it now, and how far we were from guessing the wonderful, the miraculous, the gigantic truth which even yet I may only guess at – the thing that sets Caspak apart from all the rest of the world far more definitely that her isolated geographical position or her impregnable barrier of giant cliffs. If I could live to return to civilization, I should have meat for the clergy and the layman to chew upon for years – and for the evolutionists, too.
“After breakfast the men set out to hunt, while the women went to a large pool of warm water covered with a green scum and filled with billions of tadpoles. They waded in to where the water was about a foot deep and lay down in the mud. They remained there from one to two hours and then returned to the cliff. While we were with them, we saw this same thing repeated every morning; but though we asked them why they did it we could get no reply which was intelligible to us. All they vouchsafed in way of explanation was the single word Ata. They tried to get Lys to go in with them and could not understand why she refused. After the first day I went hunting with the men, leaving my pistol and Nobs with Lys, but she never had to use them, for no reptile or beast ever approached the pool when the women were there – nor, so far as we know, at other times. There was no spoor of wild beast in the soft mud along the banks, and the water certainly didn’t look fit to drink.” (LTF/8.)

I know you are all wondering why in the hell they are they hanging around when they should be beating a hot trail back to Fort Dinosaur? Well, it seems that Lys’ kidnaping had drained her so much she needed a few days to recuperate. On the fourth day Lys tells Bowen that she feels well enough to leave the next day. Yes, you guessed it! That’s one day too many.

Bowen goes hunting the next day with the tribe and the dumb shit gets separated from the tribe and then gets absolutely lost trying to kill a wounded antelope. He kills it and cuts off a hindquarter before setting off back for the cliffs, which he is unable to find.

“The entire sky was still completely blotted out by dense clouds; nor was there any landmark visible by which I might have taken my bearings. I went on in the direction I thought was south but which I now imagine must have been about due north, without detecting a single familiar object. In a dense wood I suddenly stumbled upon a thing which at first filled me with hope and later with the most utter despair and dejection. It was a little mound of new-turned earth sprinkled with flowers long since withered, and at one end was a flat slab of sandstone stuck in the ground. It was a grave, and it meant for me that I had at last stumbled into a country inhabited by human beings. I would find them; they would direct me to the cliffs; perhaps they would accompany me and take us back with them to their abodes – to the abodes of men and women like ourselves. My hopes and my imagination ran riot in the few yards I had to cover to reach that lonely grave and stoop that I might read the rude characters scratched upon the simple headstone.

This is what I read:

“HERE LIES JOHN TIPPET
ENGLISHMAN
KILLED BY TYRANNOSAURUS
10 SEPT., A.D. 1916
R.I.P. “Tippet! It seemed incredible. Tippet lying here in this gloomy wood! Tippet dead! He had been a good man, but the personal loss was not what affected me. It was the fact that this silent grave gave evidence that Bradley had come this far upon his expedition and he too probably was lost, for it was not our intention that he should be long gone. If I had stumbled upon the grave of one of the party, was it not within reason to believe that the bones of the others lay scattered somewhere near?” (LTF/8.)

Leave it to Bowen for such a pessimistic appraisal. But Bowen still has two more chapters before his foolish adventures are concluded.