Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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I defy you
Punch:
the same time."
to read
net
them and think of the Boches
"Mr. London
6s.
and
is.
at
6d. net
at his best.
An
64. net
treatise
on a
It is
self to
Mr. London
him-
Kipling's
work."
Daily Telegraph :
Saturday Review
"Mr. London
is
in
dog
stories."
and
6s.
"A
rein."
He
CHILDREN OF THE
"He
Loos. W.i
THE
SCARLET PLAGUE
BY
JACK LONDON
AUTHOR OF
VALLEY OF THE MOON."
ETC. ETC.
RUPERT STREET
LONDON, W.I
THE way
led
in a green
embankment and
wave
crested across
The
and bushes.
of trees
through
the forest-mould,
the
and the
rail
ties
into
followed the
had
remained.
lifted
through
the end of a rail
The
rail,
held to
tie
it
had evidently
by the
bed to be
spike
filled
long enough
gravel and rotten leaves, so that
1*
In
tree, bursting
view.
for its
advertised that
still
now
with
the
10
it
had been
of the
mono-
rail type.
XAn
this
man and
old
runway.
a boy
They moved
man was
travelled along
slowly,
for
the
old, a
rude skull-cap
of goat- skin protected his head from the
sun. From beneath this fell, a scant fringe
upon
heavily
of
stained
ingeniously
his eyes,
the
way
which
his
staff.
and dirty-white
made from
should
hair.
a large
this
on the
have been
leaf,
visor,
shielded
he peered at
His beard,
snow-white but
trail.
camp- stain as
his
fell
hair,
nearly to his
garment
withered
of
goat-skin.
and
skinny,
legs,
extreme
of
exposure
11
wore a
single
garment
He
severed
one
over
tail of
a pig.
medium-sized
ear
old.
Tucked
was the
co-
freshly
bow and an
arrow.
On
his
walked
softly,
his
deep blue,
eyes
blue,
sun-burned
but
keen'
As he went along he
smelled things, as well, his distended, quivering nostrils carrying to his brain an endless
so
of
trained that
it
operated automatically.
12
Without conscious
effort,
lie
heard
all
the
heard,
and
sounds
differentiated,
and
classified these
to
stood
of the
and
still.
Ahead,
embankment,
t/he
*at
a grizzly, crashed
Then a
into view,
large bear,
and likewise
He
to the bow,
string
taut.
13
still
They
waited
till
bow
crashing
among
opposite side of
the
the em-
told
on.
the
"
holding the
ward,
bankment
The boy
bankment.
trail.
The
old
man
"
They get
plained
in
thin,
undependable
little
Cliff
then.
afraid of his
life
House.
falsetto.
to see the
When I
Edwin, men and women and
was a boy,
live
day.
No,
And
sir.
there
of
thousands on a
weren't
any
bears
14
to look at
them
rare/'
"
What
is
money, Granser
"
?
recollected
forth a battered
and tarnished
glistened,
silver dollar.
as he held
"
and
I can't see,"
see
if
he muttered.
"
You
look
"
lightedly,
"
own
2012," he
eyes.
shrilled,
"
ling grotesquely.
and then
fell
to cack-
Lord
Death came
think of
it
in 2013.
Lord
15
am
in
"
Edwin
swered promptly.
"
got
it
when we was
off
of
Hoo-Hoo
found
it
said it
shining
He
Hoo-hoo.
herdin' goats
was money.
"
?
staff in
a tighter
trail, his
old eyes
greedily.
eat-
ing, crabs,
make a
When
was a boy
But Edwin, suddenly stopped by what
he saw, was drawing the bowstring on a
fitted arrow.
He had
of a crevasse in the
embankment.
An
an-
16
cient
culvert
and
out,
hung.
Beyond, crouch-
it.
in trembling hesitancy.
rabbit,
crying
out
in
away
a flash
of
and
efficient
action.
hundred
wounded
creature,
feet
he overtook
knocked
head
its
it
some delicacy
a boy
prefer crab.
When
was
17
Why
no sense
Edwin impatiently
interrupted
and economical
of
qualifying phrases.
His
What
tinued,
is
why
Crab
'
delicacy
I never
want
"
heard
to
)fou
is
call
crab
'
crab, ain't it
toothsome
?
No
one
calls it
silence.
The
surf
18
Here huge sea-lions hauled themup to lie in the sun or battle with one
another. In the immediate foreground arose
from
shore.
selves
the smoke of a
fire,
looking boy.
the goats.
Mussels
"
Mussels
Hoo
he
And
fire.
muttered
ain't
tbat
ecstatically.
Hoo-
crab,
down
palsied eagerness
-in
from
let
four/'
was
pitiful.
out
its shells
salmon-coloured,
the
limbs would
rock-mussel
of
was
apart,
thoroughly
cooked.
forefinger, in trembling
moment
the next
man
old
tears
and carried
morsel
caught the
to his mouth. But
lie
haste,
it
19
was too
hot,
as violently ejected.
with
spluttered
ran out of
his
the
eyes
pain,
and down
and
The
and
his
cheeks.
them the
savages,
possessing
of the savage.
To
fun/
"
'.
man
cool a crab,
Edwin,
too.
From
the
coals
great
sizzling,
the
many
mussels
arose
The
20
we
respected them."
notice,
and Granser
an incoherent flow
of
was more
The
slyly
third boy,
deposited a
who was
called
pinch of sand
relenting,
Again Granger's eyes burned with greediness as a large crab was handed to him.
was a
and
all
21
complete,
"
,
man
broke
off
it
with emptiness.
The
crabs,
Hoo-Hoo
"
?
He
wailed.
"The crabs?"
"
crabs.
was
I
foolin',
Granser.
They
ain't
no
delight
tacle.
22
when he smacked
his
his
think
mayonnaise
instance,
and champed
"
Just
for
as,
lips
Mayonnaise
And
it's
sixty
IVo
Why,
When
every res-
hands on
his
naked
man
legs,
cent.
"
To think
alive with
of it
And now,
in
the
whole
dirigibles
and
23
machines.
flying
hour.
a Frenchman,
forget his
right clue,
and
unheeded by
who were long accustomed to his
garrulousness, and whose vocabularies, beon,
the boys,
sides,
he used.
into
phraseology.
better
construction
and
directly
simpler forms.
24
"
man wandered
in those
on.
"
They
And now
too.
long,
crabs
are
accessible
the whole year around. Think of it catching all the crabs you want, any time
you want, in the surf of the Cliff House
"
beach
who guarded
the
goats,
while
the
their
human
protectors.
half-dozen
that
fell short.
But
through the
of
air
its flight.
squarely
among
the
25
He had
ously.
interlaced, he
"
'
The
'
tion.
man's
toil
He
foam.
foam, and
That's it
All
fleeting.
much
just so
the land of
wild vegetation.
its
And
then
away
the
his fields,
his flocks,
Cliff
beasts
of
He was
House beach."
the thought.
"
Where
appalled
by
and
with
themselves
Think
Death
the
savage
prehistoric
against
of it!
And
progeny
weapons,
of
our
defend
the
all
fanged despoilers.
because of the Scarlet
"
ear.
26
"What
Edwin.
'
me
old
"
"
'
The
scarlet
of
man
quoted.
It's red,"
And you
don't
know
red
"
to
said
scarlet?"
is
none
of
I know that."
Red is red, ain't
it ?
nothing,
Scarlet
is
"
Hare-lip grum-
"
"
Scarlet
ain't
anything,
but red
is
red.
Why
Don't I know
time.
of it
because
is
And
am
Red
telling
well, because it
no other word
"
is
for it."
27
"
muttered obstinately.
My dad calls red
and
he
to
know.
He says everyred,
ought
body died
"
of the
Your dad
is
Red Death."
common fellow, descended
Don't
chauffeur,
He
Your
other
for
grandmother was
the
of
But your
persons.
good
stock,
remember when
fish at
11
I first
Lake Temescal
What
is
beginning
was a
grandsire
servant,
worked
know
the Chauffeurs.
of
only the
Don't
education ?
"
Edwin
asked.
"
"
My
it
was a Santa
He
said she
was a
Red
his
head in token
of
ignorance.
"
It
is
true, she
28
"
acknowledged.
Women
was
But
is
"
"
pounded
wa
Van Warden.
of
of the
,
common
man ex-
lady.
wife
Bill,
Board
of
He was
President
Industrial Magnates,
He was
worth one
millions
of
billion,
coins
dollars
and
eight
like
And
hundred
you have
then came
first
Chauffeur.
have seen
it
He
used
myself."
his
29
first,
small
he
hole
his toe-nail,
had dug.
exposed.
Two were
of
adults,
old
man hudged
the
The
in sudden dismay,
savages.
30
the
custom
another
of
wearing
you
generation
human
In
teeth.
be
will
perforat-
ments
of
human
race
bone and
is
shell.
doomed
know.
it
begins
civilization.
human
And
ere
When we
lack of room,
another.
its
The
increase
and
feel
the
as you, Edwin,
who
my
"
What
Hare-Lip
remarked,
extracted, they
when,
the
teeth
all
division.
was
truly a gabble.
They spoke in
and
short
monosyllables
jerky sentences that
a
more
were
gibberish than a language.
teeth,
ran
it
through
yet,
hints
31
of
gram-
of
some superior
culture.
it
This, however,
boys.
When
babbling to himself,
into pure English.
it
full
swing of
Tfte sentences
grew longer
and were enunciated with a rhythm and
ease that was reminiscent of the lecture
platform.
"
Tell us
Rosan ought
like
to talk.
you."
II
THE
man showed
old
called
upon.
He
cleared
his
throat,
and
began.
"
was
"
There you go
Cut out the funny
!
41
What's
You
interested ?
that don't
"
stuff
talk
a baby
like
know how."
"
or he'll
Let him alone," Edwin urged,
talk
at
mad
and
won't
all.
get
Skip the
catch
on
to
some of
We'll
funny places.
what he
tells
"Let her
couraged
us."
go,
for
Granser,"
the
old
Hoo-Hoo
man was
already
for elders
to cruelty of all
32
en-
humans
fell
33
ditions.
The
tale began.
"
What
is
"
millions
Edwin
interrupted.
On
sand
this grain of
you hold
it,
Hoo-Hoo."
He
add another
And
other,
as
grain.
add another, and another, and anuntil I have added as many grains
Edwin has
fingers
and thumbs.
makes what
I call
that word
one hundred.
one hundred.
Now
That
Remember
I
put this
one hundred
2
fingers.
34
They stand
for a
thousand
a mussel-shell, and
or one
it
hundred grains
.
fingers.
And
I take
of sand, or
one thousand
."
so
fingers.
on,
laboriously,
reiteration,
For
hands.
their
laid
the
wood
symbols
still
on
higher
the
log
sums,
of
he
drift-
and
billions.
It
for symbols
showing signs
of
for
becoming
tired.
"
Francisco
four teeth."
That was a
35
Edwin
at last hazarded.
"
woman,
Yes,
like
sand
sand a man, or
of
my
boy,
all
those
more people
More more
more.
city.
last year,
lived, clear
from
dro
lions."
whole
world
billions.
eight
was not
crab-shells,
like to-day.
yes,
eight
Mankind
knew a
And
It
36
of
grain
sand,
Hoo-Hoo
one hundred
Europe
hundred
Hoo-
And
crab-shells
Eight
there,
eight
yes,
billion
Death began.
was a young man when the Plague
and I lived
came twenty-seven years old
on the other side of San Francisco Bay.
Scarlet
"
in
Berkeley.
You remember
the
hills
where
from
lived,
was a professor
Much
of this
Contra
in
those
great
those
stone
That was
houses.
of English literature."
of the
stone
37
houses
for
"
?
Hare-Lip queried.
"
you to swim
taught
"
Well,
that
name we had
we taught
houses
the
for
is
the
fifty at
you now.
to
time,
time
"
Was
talk
"
?
a time, just as I
I
men had
written
that
before
in
their
all
talk,
Who
am
them about
told
and milked
"
?
sible question.
question,
As
38
wise.
men.
you
and
say,
few
men
talked.
talked
As
the time,
all
was given me
many
things.
much
food,
have
abundance,
was
its
lous
delicacy.
life
in
those
food
our tremendous
its
inconceivable
infinite variety,
Oh,
my
days,
its
grandsons,
when we
marvellife
had
was
such
"Our
freemen.
We
took almost
left
any man
39
tried to take it
"
class
owned
all
the land,
all
of the ruling
And
a mussel-shell,
Hoo-Hoo
And
ture
courses
very
many
liked
were very
Pro-
And my
popular
that
lecis,
my
all
He
disgust.
surveyed his
"
We did
Even
40
the
slaves
You boys
fall
never
swimming/'
Neither do you, Granser/' Hoo-Hoo
"
re-
torted.
"
man.
know,
know.
am
a filthy
old
Nobody
washes these days, and there are no conveniences. It is sixty years since I have
seen a piece of soap.
what soap
am
is,
and
You do
I shall
not
tell
not
know
you, for I
sickness
Very many
is.
word
It is
We
called it
of the diseases
came
Remember
that
is
so small that
Hoo-Hoo began
"
you cannot
see it
to laugh.
what
41
"
anything you can't see ?
"
A good question, a very good question,
Hoo-Hoo. But we did see some of them.
We
had what we
called
microscopes and
thousand times
larger.
thousand fingers
Our
best ultrami-
like Edwin's.
is
Take forty
our
eyes
of
themselves
could
not
into
ten.
2*
Break one
of
42
and one
ten,
of
and do
will
germs/'
The boys were openly incredulous. HareLip sniffed and sneered and Hoo-Hoo snick-
ered, until
"
there would be as
shell,
please
as
many
many
organisms.
lion, of
of a
them were
man, he was
a disease.
of
When
them
as a billion
We
as
that
called
a crab-
crab-shell
germs micro-
a few million, or a
in a
man,
bil-
more
sick.
different
We knew
The micro-organic
see,
little
something.
about
There
bacillus
micrococcus
anthracis
43
was the
there
there
lactis
that's
termo,
what turns
the goat milk sour even to this day, Hareand there were Schizomycetes without
Lip
;
And
end.
there were
many
others.
."
Here the old man launched into a, disquisition on germs and their natures, using
words and phrases of such extraordinary
length and meaninglessness, that the boys
grinned at one another and looked out over
the deserted ocean
man was
"But
win at
till
babbling on.
the Scarlet Death, Granser," Ed-
last suggested.
and with a
of
and germ-
diseases.
"
Yes, yes,
times the
Edwin
memory
had forgotten.
Some-
44
savage grandsons
who
primeval wilderness.
foam/ and
lapse like
colossal civilization.
old man.
married
fleeting
systems
am
Granser, a tired
Rosans.
The
into
that
My
tribe.
feurs, the
Edwin, are
Hoo-Hoo, are
takes
its
of the Chauffeurs.
Sacramentos.
You,
And
you,
Your tribe
town that was near
of the Palo-Altos.
name from
It
was
remember now.
was
telling
was
I in
"
you
you
my
You was
It
is
perfectly
Yes,
clear.
Where
"
story
telling
make men
sick/'
Edwin prompted.
"
not notice at
A man
did
first
them
He
disease,
millions of
many
in the body.
had a
45
sick.
It might be measles,
in him.
might be influenza,
it might be yellow fever
it might be any
of thousands and thousands of kinds of
it
diseases.
"
Now
this
is
the
strange thing
about
a few
men
together
new
But
eases.
as
in
great
diseases
cities
millions
and
civilizations,
of germs
Thus were countless
And
and
new kinds
arose,
billions of
new
diseases that
came to
my
time, in the
be.
Long
before
Europe many
times.
There
was tubercu-
men wherever
they
46
bacteriologists
all
fought
sickness.
these
just as
The
sicknesses
you boys
fight
Edwin
is
a what-you- call-
interrupted.
"
is
bacteriologist watches
hundred years
found a way to
pictures.
kill it.
disease that
found
logists
it
47
bacterio-
out,
kill it, so
and which
But
easily
And
also the
killed
in 1910,
hookworm.
there
These
by the bacteriologists.
new disease that
before.
It
got into
hands and
and the
feet, or to eat, or
anything
bacteriologists were eleven years
in discovering
how
in the world.
This
it
the more
were;
men
of all
arise, there
was because
easier it
men
earth
48
diseases.
they had no guaranty against some new disease, a thousand times more deadly than
arising
and
by the
killing
bil-
re-
And
to kill men.
it
For
about
as
it.
many
all
different kinds of
germs as there
same
world
And
also,
might well
be that new kinds of germs came to be. It
might be there that life originated the abys-
in that
invisible
it
'
was at
to his feet,
on
his
it,
apply-
written
..."
before him.
It
called
an expression
face.
of
Hare-Lip rose
huge contempt
me
tell
he
"
announced,
sick
so,
49
you make
Why "don't
?
If
you
you
ain't
camp."
down
cry.
The weak
his cheeks,
and
all
silently
the feebleness of
showed in
his grief-
stricken countenance.
"
"
down, Hare-Lip.
Go
ahead, Granser."
Ill
THE
old
man wiped
the tears
away on
his
Plague came.
and well do
"
I
I
remember
old,
Wireless des-
it.
patches
We
and
thousands
and
thousands
of
miles.
And
51
and
all
the body.
Within twenty-
four hours
in
made
in the world,
"
like
everywhere else,
were sure that the
we
in California,
We
bacteriologists would
find a way to overcome this new germ, just
as they had overcome other germs in the
past.
But the
trouble
human
beings,
evitably killed
No
and the
fact
that
it
in-
Asiatic cholera,
with a
man
eat dinner
if
you got up
early
52
Some
Many
died
face
and body.
and the
first
But
these
;fche
convulsions
If
one lived
hips,
creeping up his
cool
numbed and
And
stopped.
53
their heart
another strange
away even
you looked at
as
That was
it.
rapidly.
were
"
so immediately released.
And
it
was because
bacteriologists
had
They were
killed
in their
They were
heroes.
As
and took
their
places.
that they
first
isolated
It
was
in
London
it.
was dead.
thing
All
that would
drugs
failed.
kill
You
the
see,
plague germs.*
the problem
54
They
body.
tried
to fight
it
body
with
of a sick
other
man
germs
"
And you
can't
see
gabble,
gabble
about them
as
if
all.
what.
in
them
days.
That's
they croaked. I
such rot, I tell you
why
that."
you
believe
in
can't see."
cross
55
"
That's to keep
/ip's
"
"
"
off
defence.
You
believe in
bad luck
"
?
Sure/'
An' you
never
ain't
You're
his germs.
Go
believe in
see.
You
on, Gran-
ser."
defeat,
went
tails,
and
Often
on.
often,
this
though
narrative
was Granser's
de-
interrupted while
tale
among
themselves.
Also,
a'
constant,
and con-
into his
"
The
Scarlet
The
Francisco.
day morning.
like
They
their
flies
in
world.
died everywhere
work,
man
walking
in
along
their
the
beds,
street.
at
It
56
saw
death
students, sitting
in
my
lecture-
was
talking.
room.
my
my first
my
eyes,
It
.first
of us
One
of the
cried out
'
My
little of it,
and
feet
am unaware
my
I
'
than a minute.
of water.
"
less
young men
'
left
them/
have no
feet.
can scarcely
feel
feet.
And
that
have knees/
"
floor,
a bundle of note-
And we
could do
when
fifteen
it
room, dead.
ful,
strong,
from the
by the
minutes,
first
And
clock
57
I
timed
my own
class-
she
healthy
you how
"
Yet
in those
few minutes
remained
When
emerged, on
my way
make
to
report
university deserted.
"President Hoag,
all
found in his
office,
before.
away
after
I
At the
sight of
and tottered
his feet
it.
You
see,
he knew
afraid.
He
58
shouted to
I shall
down
deserted
was not
campus*.
afraid.
It
my
was
like
world.
the
had
My
father
and
half
had
this univer-
steadily
on.
had stopped.
flame die
I
And
It
was
down on some
When
arrived home,
my
housekeeper
away. And
I
found
had
the
housemaid
I
when
rang,
likewise fled. I investigated. In the kitchen
screamed as
I entered,
and
fled
But
59
dropped a suitcase of her personal belongings and ran out of the house and across the
grounds,
still
act in this
We
us.
and sent
You
way when
see,
we
did not
what
just
screaming.
to
do.
But
It struck so suddenly,
this
and
stroke.
was
different.
killed so swiftly,
When
the scarlet
known
"
case of a recovery.
was alone
in
my
big
house.
As
through the
and I found
told
me
air.
whether or not
"
To
all
and wait to
of this I
find out
plague.
agreed, staying in
my
60
time in
first
And
tempting to cook.
my
life at-
By means
of the tele-
them to be thrown
to
up
my
was happening with, the rest of the world.
"
New York City and Chicago were in
chaos. And what happened with them was
happening in
chief
all
New York
of the
was
also
the large
cities.
dead,
likewise
were
lying
in
the
streets
the
third
Their,
mayor.
The bodies
unburied.
All
bery and drunkenness were everywhere. Already the people had fled from the city by
millions
mass
of
and
:s
on the top
the towns
all
on the way.
less operator,
and
61
his instrument
of a lofty building.
remaining in the
city
The people
he estimated them
man who
had
arrived,
an obscure
said,
no trans-
and no more
Germany
that
we
last
serum,
it
was
62
score
may have
sur-
to
Then
sent
perched
lofty building, had
either died of the plague or been consumed
in the great conflagrations he had described
in
them,
his
oc-
curred in
been duplicated
It was the same in
so rapidly
could
not
be
handled,
corpses
and dead bodies lay everywhere. Thursday
that their
the salmon-run you have seen on the Sacramento river, pouring out of the cities bymillions,
You
Even
see, they carried the germp with them.
the airships of the rich, fleeing for mountain
and desert
Hundreds
63
of
It
actly as
Africa
of
New
was
of
ex-
know
there
no longer
must be such
as
places
It
loss
if
For
out.
this
them
York,
not in sixty years. With the comDeath the world fell apart,
years
of
irretrievably.
culture
and
was
Ten
thousand
civilization passed
'
lapsed like
in
foam/
telling
64
eldest
He came
daughter.
into
the
tribe
He was
then
marry.
You
see,
sixteen
until
grown
years.
Gimp-Leg, who was killed
mountain lion.
It
my Mary
had
was
son,
last
his
year by the
"
which
is far
But there
It
is far
to the north.
The
boy
of eleven
survivor.
For
kind.
And
65
great
When
around
cities
my
still
I told
brother.
him
this flight
from the
was
insanity, that there were no symptoms of the plague in me, and that the thing
cities
for us to
do was to
some
relatives in
isolate ourselves
and our
We
decided
safe
place.
All
begged
this
me
being
arranged,
to stay in
my
brother
my own house
on the chance
To
of the provisioning
for at
for
this
me
details
of the
66
No
ness.
more
taking
place
rioting
and
windows
outside.
of
were
newspapers
had no knowledge
printed, so I
heard
shots,
pistol
of
being
what was
sounds
and from
of
my
not
know
A man why
was
killed
ports of
and how
do
on the sidewalk in
heard the rapid
re-
door,
to him.
By
moan and
"
accorn-
67
my
him.
1
'
Look
manded.
"He
he sank
"
'
down
My God
'
!
nervelessly in a chair.
he
I
'
said.
am
to
the
in dying,
last,
Don't
a dead man.'
seized
him.
He
heart,
was
his
slew.
upon them.
68
filled
of
wind,
end
"
it
was
Truly,
days
my
of the
of the world.
car.
had given
out.
ment near
it
women and a
ing children
couples,
the
city
and
of
by the hand
death.
there were
"
many who
all
Some
fleeing
carried
and
in
out of
supplies
carried nothing.
fathers load-
singly,
in families
a place where
it
belonged
knew him
well
sober,
quiet,
69
but
The
broken
counter,
number
windows
in,
was
of
and
had
doors
been
but he,
men on
the sidewalk
who were
Even
as I looked
man's assistance.
The time
ling,
for
Civilization
for himself.
such acts
was crumb-
IV
"
WENT away
and at 'the
first
hastily,
down a
cross-street,
sight,
to him.
long admired.
for at the
there
Yet
moment
was a
pistol
the brutes.
I did
I
tion.
and
flame.
filled
From somewhere
70
with smoke
in that
murk
71
man's heart
heard
"
all
too
many
Returning to
shocking sight. The two children had vanwhither I could not tell. And I knew,
ished
now,
I
why
it
encountered
fleeing persons
so
along
slipped
faces.
furtively
In the midst
our civilization,
labour ghettoes,
barians, of savages
ling
and
madness.
killing
One group
of
working
men
litters
72
and being
horses
carried,
pulling
truck-load
of
of
provisions,
He
getic explanation.
me
in apolo-
what
was soon to
see so often.
One
of
place to let
them pass
on.
woman, most
on her and
saw, and
saw the
man
also,
This I
73
opposite
side
of
the
"
street.
heard the
life-
the ground.
After
turned
being
fires,
the
who were
Chemistry
Building.
They were
all
and that
his brother
had been
killed
"
Midway
the other
3*
women
set
The un-
Immediately
up a screaming, and
74
began to run away from her. Her two children were with a nurse, and these also ran
with the women.
'
Go
on,
'
Keep an
escape,
shall
come
to
Afterwards,
me
"
if
the Chemistry
me and
let
in.'
left
his wife
and
arranged for a
refuge.
By
company
of sixty to
number
souls.
"A
75
had been
it,
families
number
of
committees
knew that
several
we heard them
sanely shouting.
to ruin about
camps
of
far edge
rife,
and often
them and
all
its
filled
fought
all,
and
what did
drank
it
of
the
and
died.
matter?
And
and
after
Everybody died
When
live.
They
passed.
76
and no
we
ourselves
congratulated
You have
digging a well.
and
set
about
to
all
the city-dwellers.
fires in
empty the
cement
We
reservoirs.
floor
the
of
So we
central
tore
court
up the
of
the
And
well.
hours before
we
reached water,
Three
the pipes
went dry.
"
We
not
know what
still
I afterwards decided to
be
namely, that the period of the incubation of the plague germs in a human's
true,
a number of days. It
so swiftly when once it manifested
that we were led to believe that the
of
So,
77
we were
free of
the contagion.
"
But the third day disillusioned us.
can never forget the night preceding it.
I
I
to twelve,
I
works.
the
from a score
fire
world
were
like so
land,
ing
red
seemed wrapped in
San Francisco spouted smoke and
All
flames.
many
active volcanoes.
all
Oak-
were burn-
clear to Point
o'clock
that
night,
the
great
powder
78
left
the roof
telling
An hour later,
As we afterwards
pistols.
fight
conjectured, this
on the part
of those that
number
sick.
At
ajny rate,
was instantly
killed,
We
opened
fire
in turn,
and
all
the
reckless.
Like foul
from the
skies,
with
One
at us.
fire
my own
hand.
79
men
of the
shot
to
watch
them
die
of
the
plague.
"
The
situation
was
critical.
The explo-
sions of the
all
so that
the
we were exposed
corpses.
called
upon
to act, and
it
responded nobly.
required to go out
and
this
and remove
sacrifice of their own lives, for, having performed the task, they were not to be per-
undergraduates volunteered.
bade good-bye to us and went forth.
of
the
were heroes.
They gave up
They
They
live.
After they
80
well and
city.
And
It
was no time
On
the
manded her
to be
gone.
of
us,
felt
like
brutes,
sacrificed.
"In
had domiciled themselves, and that afternoon we found among them no less than
four corpses and seven cases of the plague
in all its different stages.
"
Then
it
to break out
among
81
symptoms appeared, we
sent the
fast as the
ones
stricken
to
these
segregated
rooms.
We
It
the plague
still
after
room was
filled
dead, that,
floor
by
floor,
tinned foods.
while some stood guard, others of us volunteered to scout into the city in quest of
horses,
motor-cars,
carts,
and wagons, or
men
had seen
fighting their
way out
"
was one
of these scouts
and Doctor
82
Dombey,
We
it.
panied me.
Here the
build-
fires
had played
And
work.
We
our
carried
were
still
at their
automatic
pistols
But
tacking us.
the
thing
even as we came to
burst forth.
"
The miscreant
staggered
Untouched
happened.
down
the driveway.
it
who had
the
by
fire,
set fire
to
it
and
My
first
did not.
self,
.83
down one
bleeding slash
seating
I
Dombey through
wanton
absolute,
shot him.
expired
doubt
if
But
act.
it
It
The next
was too
without a
groan,
instant I
late.
Dombey
immediately.
to him.
"
hurried on
tanks were
filled
And
it
was
it
was
a Shetland
poor creature,
84
tied in a
stable
it
men were
insisted that we
the
us, so that,
have
''
it
if
all.
Some
but
should lead
we got out
it
along with
of food,
we would
to eat.
started,
many
The President
being
women and
of the Faculty,
'children.
an old man
hopelessly broken
of the past week,
Fairmead.
English,
who had
walked,
pony.
"
It
Professor
of
a grievous bullet-wound
The
rest of us
FairnieacT leading
the
slimmer day, but the smoke from the burning world filled the sky, through which the
lifeless
orb,
smoke
it
was
It
different.
85
bit
into
We
directed
through the endless miles of suburban residences, travelling along where the first
swells of low hills rose
central
that
city.
from the
was by
It
we could expect
this
flat of
way,
the
only,
way
of walking,
all
was not
really to walk.
So
it
of
of
prey.
lived to be a constant
Many
of
menace to
us.
touched by
everywhere.
fire,
yet
86
freshly
"
fire.
Several of us scouted
among the
But
in this
we were
great flights
such
and
unsuccessful.
from the
private
gasolene.
The
first
had swept
cities
all
utilities
man, was
away.
fire
on
we
before he
"
At
Fruitvale,
still
him
magnificent
the plague again smote us.
victim.
shot
hurt.
the city,
Professor Pair-
residence section
all of us.
Making
of
signs to us
He
man-
down
several
sat
miles
in the city,
beyond Pruitvale
we made camp.
And
and
still
that night
shifted
dead.
of
us.
camp
twice to get
shall
of the Faculty.
his
87
wife,
who was
walking,
betrayed the
fatal
to
as well, for
if
we
any, might
ultimately escape.
"
That night, the second of our march,
And
in the first
in the
morning
Also,
the
the
night, Wathope,
professor
during
with the wounded leg, deserted us in the
motor-car.
He
his
It
resting
by
airship
much
first
sister
and
in
the afternoon,
while
88
lessly at
an elevation
of
two thousand
feet.
lower.
this I
airship.
Often
somewhere in the
survived.
But
it
world
civilization
was not to
be.
had
What
three of us.
the highway,
of
"
of con-
my
last
companions,
89
Why
no explaining.
that
the
is
all.
one lucky
this
I
should be so there
was immune.
man
in
was merely
a million
just
as
"
sheltered in a pleasant
what small
ting
I
woman,
land.
Not a
started
live
man,
and
of
it
It
was
was
all
cleared of trees
The food
cultivated.
to waste.
gathered
From
and brush
for millions
ripening,
and going
vegetables,
and
berries.
91
rooms.
"
place with all the domestic animals. Everywhere they were going wild and preying on
one another.
the
to
first
were the
cats.
first
to go wild, followed
by the
in adapting
in the distance.
by, I
noticed
first
suspicious
fight.
But
began to
mesticated
by man.
In the
last
days of
many very
different
kinds
of
dogs
warm
fur,
dogs
dogs
92
that
small
so
a mouthful for
mountain
as
they would
"<5ther
make
scarcely
lions.
Well,
the
all
small
killed
by
their
fellows.
the
Also,
Hoo-Hoo
"
objected.
social animal.
As
he is wild.
"
The hqrses
fine
small
also
went
wild,
and
all
the
breeds
know
yourself.
But
93
the wild chicken of' to-day is quite a different thing from the chickens we had in those
days.
"
But
my
must go on with
story.
time went by
more
for
human
As the
and
one,
crossed
San Joaquin.
valley, but
You have
it is
never
and
it is
seen
that
the
home
very large
There are great droves
I
there, thousands and tens of thousands.
of the wild horse.
You
so I
know.
down
those
of
the
San
Joaquin.
"
94
by
fire.
But they were 'filled by the pestiand I passed by without exthem. It was near Lathrop that,
lential dead,
ploring
out of
my
collie
panied
me
for
them are
of
man.
to
allegiance
collies
accom-
and the
strains
These
many
years,
more
like domesticated
These brutes
thing else."
man's
tale.
Urged
to
hurry
by Edwin,
There
is
little
more to
tell.
With
my
riding a horse
I
crossed the
to a wonderful
In
95
The pasture
an utter
loneliness that
was a
social
was a
plague, there
had survived.
Also, I
must
all
be
Valley,
down
into Livermore
Valley.
The change
sea
the
of
see, tfie
trees
96
tender.
things,
practically
all
the
domesticated
The coyotes were greatly inand it was at this time that I first
vegetation.
creased,
encountered wolves,
straying in twos
and
and small packs down from the regions where they had always persisted.
"
It was at Lake Temescal, not far from
threes
upon the
first live
grandsons,
down
smoke
trees.
my
of
camp-fire
Almost did
I felt that I
the cry of
my
rising
through
the
whole world.
It could not be
97
cry of a babe.
"
outjutting
come.
and
stopped my
out but could not. I waved
seemed to
me
man
that the
was over-
fishing.
horse.
I tried to call
my
hand.
It
looked at me,
laid
I
was
knew
was
it
Thus
snarling,
remained until
and a man's
'
:
it
Where in
hell
voice.
I
heard
my
dogs
What do you
It
'
98
years
they were
the most
in-
effable
my
And
ago.
I opened
and there he stood before me, a
eyes,
browed, fierce-eyed.
I
do not know.
knew
But
How
I got off
my
slant-
horse
it
of
but
suspicious
him,
Yet did
recollection,
down
and
"
boys looked on
giggled.
Yet did
desire to
cry/'
he continued,
"
and
name was
strange,
how
have forgotten
him Chauffeur
Everybody
was the name of his occupation, and it
stuck.
That is how, to this day, the tribe
his
name.
called
it
he founded
"He
is
was a
violent,
unjust man.
Why
him
99
can never
understand.
that there
Why
is
cheat as well.
All he could
talk about
lene,
huge
delight, of his
mean
pilferings
him
and sordid
coming
of the
plague.
And
hundreds
men were
"
I
yet
glorious
and
while
Van Warden,
and
his
one woman.
pitiful.
Van Warden,
scarred
spared,
destroyed.
saw
Vesta
was
he
toil- calloused
100
eight hundred
billion,
Board
millions
and President
dustrial
of Control, he
men who
seven
Her
had come
herself
of
equally
of the
of In-
America.
Board
of the
Board
noble
she
stock.
of Industrial
of the
And
Magnates up to
This
office
was
in
process
becoming hereditary, and had
had a son, that son would have
Saxon
Philip
of
succeeded
him.
But
his
only
child
was
the highest culture this planet has ever produced. It was not until the engagement
am
sure, a political
marriage.
mad
really
passionate
And
there
shfc
101
nence
the
of
On
Alameda
a crowning emiHills,
overlooking
of
Armed guards
When
a thousand acres.
Van Warden
the
not
first
fumigated.
And
away the
So
it
had become
a charnel house.
"
Now
that
ran
102
summer
little
pavilion
He was
lished herself.
afraid,
trees.
mountains
she,
feet
briars.
He
her.
nor the
struck her.
scratch
Do you
of
understand
made her
his
It
slave.
and do
her
He
fists of his
and
who
and de-
stones
followed,
He
whose tender
licate
of
She was
a brute.
fires,
cook,
life.
Good
mented
"
in
He
fish."
for
a corker.
things
go.
did nothing,
on.
But he did
died.
things,
He was
and he made
married
his
103
was a
son-of-a-gun.
around.
stick
my
head
he kept always
Hare-Lip rubbed his bullet head reminiscently, and the boys returned to the old
man, who was maundering ecstatically about
Vesta, the squaw of the founder of the Chauffeur
"
Tribe.
And
servant.
And he
servant,
cringed,
understand,
with
bowed
of life,
The
des-
Oh,
one
of
have
seen
it.
Once,
remember, there
104
was embarking in
it
to her
to her,
it.
name and
the creature's
to see that he
And
was
And
service.
Van Warden.
made his
slave.
"
.
that was
Bill
it
feur.
Bill,
the Chauf-
He was
a wret-
instincts
and
chivalrous
promptings
No, there is no absolute
to him fell that wonder of woman-
of a cultured soul.
justice, for
hood,
Van Warden.
Vesta
ness of this
you
grandsons
for
tive
little
you
are yourselves
Why
I
grievous-
never understand,
savages,
but savagery.
been mine ?
The
will
unaware
my
primi-
of
aught else
should Vesta not have
was a man
of culture and.
105
Even
so, in
I existed.
Mark,
ing less
had made
it
all
Noth-
mankind
know
her,
Why
'?
"
me
to kill him.
my
4*
And he
if
he would
grinned in
my
106
face
and shook
insulting.
He
his
head.
He was
very
he
'
vile
oaths
fell
con-
me that if he caught me
making eyes at his woman he'd wring my
neck and give her a beating as well. What
was I to do t I was afraid. He was a
"'Also,
brute.
he told
That
first night,
when
I discovered
and the
He was
107
'
And this
he spoke up and said
of Van
Van
one-time
wife
Vesta
Warden,
:
finally
is
Warden the Magnate a high and stuckup beauty, who is now my -squaw. Eh,
Professor
is
Smith,
changed.
times
Here,
changed, times
woman, take off
is
you,
my
how
teeth,
and
sick at heart.
want
well I have
trained/
"
of
it.
He
and
you
drew back
was
afraid,
could do nothing to
So
got up to go,
indignity.
But
And
by the camp-fire
Lake Temescal, and saw
Vesta, Vesta Van Warden, kneel and remove
I
on the shore
of
human
brute.
"...
108
f
feur
while
she
'
menial task.
dreadful,
performed
lamb/
gentle as a
And
balky at
but a clout
"
that
trifle
'
:
We've got
You're
handicapped, Professor.
no wife, and we're up against
a regular Garden-of-Eden proposition. But
multiply.
You
ain't got
I ain't proud.
He
I'll tell
pointed at their
little
infant,
barely a
it ?
We're all equals here, and I'm
the biggest toad in the splash. But I ain't
stuck up not I. I do you the honour,
ain't
betrothing to you
daughter.
Warden
Ain't
cussed
'
VI
"
of
infinite
torment
And
then,
of
my
bad
effect
still
human
other
on the other
side,
embark
my
found served
breeze fanned
to the
ruins
was able to
animals.
me
me
for a sail,
of
Vallejo.
and a southerly
and up
Here,
on
the
outskirts of
occupied
recently
camp.
109
Many
clarn-
110
me why
humans had
This was
shells
showed
come
these
along
the
old
railroad
its
right-of-way
Sonoma
Valley.
one of
all told.
whom was
Two were
Jones,
old men,
a banker.
The
Of
all
all
and populous
valley, she
survivor.
men
All three
illiterate farmer,
est prize,
had
women who
of
and the
telling
111
to do but
become
his wife.
He had
good
a keen sense of justice and right-dealing,
and she was far happier with him than was
fellow, in spite of his illiteracy.
idiots
and
redge,
five or six
Rosa
Tribe.
Also, there
was Bertha.
She
spite of the
and
of
yours,
Hoo-Hoo.
And
it
was our
112
"
And
teenth
so it
was that
member
became the
of
nineTribe.
who wandered
alone in the
us.
He
it
Utah
lies
It
In
all
that
Utah
region he
reported but
westward on the
possibility of finding
survivors in California.
women
He was
forty-six
years old
lie
joined us,
113
daughter of Isadore
his eldest
feur.
will of his
he
that
seceded
from
the
Santa
Rosans
a small tribe
is
;
but, though he
influence
it will
grow
into a strong
and play
tribe
know
melitos.
we
of
The
and woman.
latter
He was
called
Lopez,
man
and
He was
cowherd
in the ranges
Hotel.
It
114
too warm.
and
fifty
that
course,
there
are
no scattered
such,
of
provided,
little
be
If there
Since
knew
gone.
in
is
else.
my
am
the last
Hare-Lip,
are
for
already
has four
your sister,
children.
We
rapidly
across
start
along,
the Sierras,
generation by
115
slowly
oozing
over the
generation,
'
East
"
We
so far to climb.
so hopelessly far.
fell
If
The Chauffeur
He made
which we use to
lazy man, and
the forge
But he was a
this day.
What
was a
classical scholar,
him
all
other
men who
The
not a chemist.
tobacco.
It
I firmly believe
drunken
fit
of
cruelty,
And my
grandsons,
let
fell
me warn you
They
call
them-
116
noble
profession,
devil-devil
medicine-men,
make
for superstition
are cheats
was once a
and
liars.
we
believe their
lies.
and they
liars
will
to
rule
and charlatans.
posing as a
at young Cross-Eyes,
charms against
selling
strive
we
us.
Look
doctor,
sickness, giving
good
Yet
do these things, he
lies.
I,
Professor Smith,
Professor
lies.
so deeply are
you sunk
in black
117
again.
you
and
must
tell
hot by
tell
fire,
there resides in
ten thousand
work
it
You
made
a wonderful
stronger than
all
man's
for him.
things.
is
is
In "the
lightning
flash
resides
"
It is
of
on Telegraph
Hill,
me
often
alphabet, so
that one
who knows
picture-
118
writing
men
may
also
has befallen
Professor
my
know
;
print.
and then,
if
Some day
no accident
know
that
and saved
for
lived
of the
ancients.
"
There
is
another
little
powder.
men
device that
It
is
called gun-
kill
Certain things
surely and at long distances.
which are found in the ground, when com-
make
things are,
gunpowder. What
have forgotten, or else I never knew. But
wish
these
this
did know.
Then would
make
"
After I
am man-grown
am
going to
give
when
know,
up and take
I'll
notice.
They'll get
down
sit
in
his
119
head solemnly,
"
Strange it is to hear the vestiges and remnants of tlje complicated Aryan speech
falling from the lips of a filthy little skinAll the world
clad savage.
And
is
topsy-turvy.
it
plague/'
"
I paid
you
and
it
"
understand, you Hoo-Hoo, you ?
"I'm going to get Granser to remember
this here
"
make everybody
afraid.
And
if
catch
I'm going to
be 'boss
I'll
120
his
"
Man
and men
will increase,
will fight.
The
it
It
may
take
fifty
it will pass.
thousand
All things
ever in flux, ever acting and reacting and realizing the eternal types the priest, the soldier,
and the
king.
Out
and
all
some
of the
mouths
of
the ages.
Some
some
pray
all
will rule,
toil
and
of
will
babes
reared again,
remain or perish,
all
their
whether they
121
feet,
giving a quick
trail
through the
by the old
direction.
forest,
Edwin stayed
sand.
There were
and mares,
led
by a
beautiful
stallion
of
"
What
is it ?
"
Granser queried.
off
the
122
I ever seen
"First time
It's
the moun-
up out
of
"
Come
And
on, Granser,"
old
man and
barbaric, turned
Edwin prompted.
boy,
skin-clad
and
right-
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