[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
"And leave you here?" I exclaimed.
She nodded, but I could see through all her brave front that
she was frightened at the thought. I could not leave her,
of course, but what in the world I was to do, cumbered with
the care of a young woman, and a queen at that, I was at a
loss to know. I pointed out that phase of it to her, but
she only shrugged her shapely shoulders and pointed to her
knife.
It was evident that she felt entirely competent to protect
herself.
As we stood there we heard the sound of voices. They were
coming from the forest through which we had passed when we
had come from camp.
"They are searching for me," said the girl. "Where shall we
a
a
T
T
n
n
s
s
F
F
f
f
o
o
D
D
r
r
P
P
m
m
Y
Y
e
e
Y
Y
r
r
B
B
2
2
.
.
B
B
A
A
Click here to buy
Click here to buy
w
w
m
m
w
w
o
o
w
w
c
c
.
.
.
.
A
A
Y
Y
B
B
Y
Y
B
B
r r
hide?"
I didn't relish hiding. But when I thought of the
innumerable dangers which surrounded us and the
comparatively small amount of ammunition that I had with me,
I hesitated to provoke a battle with Buckingham and his
warriors when, by flight, I could avoid them and preserve my
cartridges against emergencies which could not be escaped.
"Would they follow us there?" I asked, pointing through the
archway into the Camp of the Lions.
"Never," she replied, "for, in the first place, they would
know that we would not dare go there, and in the second they
themselves would not dare."
"Then we shall take refuge in the Camp of the Lions," I
said.
She shuddered and drew closer to me.
"You dare?" she asked.
"Why not?" I returned. "We shall be safe from Buckingham,
and you have seen, for the second time in two days, that
lions are harmless before my weapons. Then, too, I can find
my friends easiest in this direction, for the River Thames
runs through this place you call the Camp of the Lions, and
it is farther down the Thames that my friends are awaiting
me. Do you not dare come with me?"
"I dare follow wherever you lead," she answered simply.
And so I turned and passed beneath the great arch into the
city of London.
5
As we entered deeper into what had once been the city, the
evidences of man's past occupancy became more frequent. For
a mile from the arch there was only a riot of weeds and
undergrowth and trees covering small mounds and little
hillocks that, I was sure, were formed of the ruins of
stately buildings of the dead past.
a
a
T
T
n
n
s
s
F
F
f
f
o
o
D
D
r
r
P
P
m
m
Y
Y
e
e
Y
Y
r
r
B
B
2
2
.
.
B
B
A
A
Click here to buy
Click here to buy
w
w
m
m
w
w
o
o
w
w
c
c
.
.
.
.
A
A
Y
Y
B
B
Y
Y
B
B
r r
But presently we came upon a district where shattered walls
still raised their crumbling tops in sad silence above the
grass-grown sepulchers of their fallen fellows. Softened
and mellowed by ancient ivy stood these sentinels of sorrow,
their scarred faces still revealing the rents and gashes of
shrapnel and of bomb.
Contrary to our expectations, we found little indication
that lions in any great numbers laired in this part of
ancient London. Well-worn pathways, molded by padded paws,
led through the cavernous windows or doorways of a few of
the ruins we passed, and once we saw the savage face of a
great, black-maned lion scowling down upon us from a
shattered stone balcony.
We followed down the bank of the Thames after we came upon
it. I was anxious to look with my own eyes upon the famous
bridge, and I guessed, too, that the river would lead me
into the part of London where stood Westminster Abbey and
the Tower.
Realizing that the section through which we had been passing
was doubtless outlying, and therefore not so built up with
large structures as the more centrally located part of the
old town, I felt sure that farther down the river I should
find the ruins larger. The bridge would be there in part,
at least, and so would remain the walls of many of the great
edifices of the past. There would be no such complete ruin
of large structures as I had seen among the smaller
buildings.
But when I had come to that part of the city which I judged
to have contained the relics I sought I found havoc that had
been wrought there even greater than elsewhere.
At one point upon the bosom of the Thames there rises a few
feet above the water a single, disintegrating mound of
masonry. Opposite it, upon either bank of the river, are
tumbled piles of ruins overgrown with vegetation.
These, I am forced to believe, are all that remain of London
Bridge, for nowhere else along the river is there any other
slightest sign of pier or abutment.
Rounding the base of a large pile of grass-covered debris,
we came suddenly upon the best preserved ruin we had yet
a
a
T
T
n
n
s
s
F
F
f
f
o
o
D
D
r
r
P
P
m
m
Y
Y
e
e
Y
Y
r
r
B
B
2
2
.
.
B
B
A
A
Click here to buy
Click here to buy
w
w
m
m
w
w
o
o
w
w
c
c
.
.
.
.
A
A
Y
Y
B
B
Y
Y
B
B
r r
discovered. The entire lower story and part of the second
story of what must once have been a splendid public building
rose from a great knoll of shrubbery and trees, while ivy,
thick and luxuriant, clambered upward to the summit of the
broken walls.
In many places the gray stone was still exposed, its
smoothly chiseled face pitted with the scars of battle. The
massive portal yawned, somber and sorrowful, before us,
giving a glimpse of marble halls within.
The temptation to enter was too great. I wished to explore
the interior of this one remaining monument of civilization
now dead beyond recall. Through this same portal, within
these very marble halls, had Gray and Chamberlin and
Kitchener and Shaw, perhaps, come and gone with the other
great ones of the past.
I took Victory's hand in mine.
"Come!" I said. "I do not know the name by which this great
pile was known, nor the purposes it fulfilled. It may have
been the palace of your sires, Victory. From some great
throne within, your forebears may have directed the
destinies of half the world. Come!"
I must confess to a feeling of awe as we entered the rotunda
of the great building. Pieces of massive furniture of
another day still stood where man had placed them centuries
ago. They were littered with dust and broken stone and
plaster, but, otherwise, so perfect was their preservation I
could hardly believe that two centuries had rolled by since
human eyes were last set upon them.
Through one great room after another we wandered, hand in
hand, while Victory asked many questions and for the first
time I began to realize something of the magnificence and
power of the race from whose loins she had sprung.
Splendid tapestries, now mildewed and rotting, hung upon the
walls. There were mural paintings, too, depicting great
historic events of the past. For the first time Victory saw
the likeness of a horse, and she was much affected by a huge
oil which depicted some ancient cavalry charge against a
battery of field guns.
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]