The report of a gun blasted the silence of a dead Devonportwith startling abruptness.

It came from the direction of the launch, and in an instantwe three were running for the boat as fast as our legs wouldcarry us. As we came in sight of it we saw Delcarte ahundred yards inland from the launch, leaning over somethingwhich lay upon the ground. As we called to him he waved hiscap, and stooping, lifted a small deer for our inspection.

I was about to congratulate him on his trophy when we werestartled by a horrid, half-human, half-bestial scream alittle ahead and to the right of us. It seemed to come froma clump of rank and tangled bush not far from where Delcartestood. It was a horrid, fearsome sound, the like of whichnever had fallen upon my ears before.

We looked in the direction from which it came. The smilehad died from Delcarte's lips. Even at the distance we werefrom him I saw his face go suddenly white, and he quicklythrew his rifle to his shoulder. At the same moment thething that had given tongue to the cry moved from theconcealing brushwood far enough for us, too, to see it.

Both Taylor and Snider gave little gasps of astonishment anddismay.

"What is it, sir?" asked the latter.

The creature stood about the height of a tall man's waist,and was long and gaunt and sinuous, with a tawny coatstriped with black, and with white throat and belly. Inconformation it was similar to a cat--a huge cat,exaggerated colossal cat, with fiendish eyes and the mostdevilish cast of countenance, as it wrinkled its bristlingsnout and bared its great yellow fangs.

It was pacing, or rather, slinking, straight for Delcarte,who had now leveled his rifle upon it.

"What is it, sir?" mumbled Snider again, and then a half-forgotten picture from an old natural history sprang to mymind, and I recognized in the frightful beast the Felistigris of ancient Asia, specimens of which had, in formercenturies, been exhibited in the Western Hemisphere.

Snider and Taylor were armed with rifles and revolvers,while I carried only a revolver. Seizing Snider's riflefrom his trembling hands, I called to Taylor to follow me,and together we ran forward, shouting, to attract thebeast's attention from Delcarte until we should all be quiteclose enough to attack with the greatest assurance ofsuccess.

I cried to Delcarte not to fire until we reached his side,for I was fearful lest our small caliber, steel-jacketedbullets should, far from killing the beast, tend merely toenrage it still further. But he misunderstood me, thinkingthat I had ordered him to fire.

With the report of his rifle the tiger stopped short inapparent surprise, then turned and bit savagely at itsshoulder for an instant, after which it wheeled again towardDelcarte, issuing the most terrific roars and screams, andlaunched itself, with incredible speed, toward the bravefellow, who now stood his ground pumping bullets from hisautomatic rifle as rapidly as the weapon would fire.

Taylor and I also opened up on the creature, and as it wasbroadside to us it offered a splendid target, though for allthe impression we appeared to make upon the great cat wemight as well have been launching soap bubbles at it.

Straight as a torpedo it rushed for Delcarte, and, as Taylorand I stumbled on through the tall grass toward ourunfortunate comrade, we saw the tiger rear upon him andcrush him to the earth.

Not a backward step had the noble Delcarte taken. Twohundred years of peace had not sapped the red blood from hiscourageous line. He went down beneath that avalanche ofbestial savagery still working his gun and with his facetoward his antagonist. Even in the instant that I thoughthim dead I could not help but feel a thrill of pride that hewas one of my men, one of my class, a Pan-American gentlemanof birth. And that he had demonstrated one of the principalcontentions of the army-and-navy adherents--that militarytraining was necessary for the salvation of personal couragein the Pan-American race which for generations had had toface no dangers more grave than those incident to ordinarylife in a highly civilized community, safeguarded by everymeans at the disposal of a perfectly organized and all-powerful government utilizing the best that advanced sciencecould suggest.

As we ran toward Delcarte, both Taylor and I were struck bythe fact that the beast upon him appeared not to be maulinghim, but lay quiet and motionless upon its prey, and when wewere quite close, and the muzzles of our guns were at theanimal's head, I saw the explanation of this suddencessation of hostilities--Felis tigris was dead.

One of our bullets, or one of the last that Delcarte fired,had penetrated the heart, and the beast had died even as itsprawled forward crushing Delcarte to the ground.

A moment later, with our assistance, the man had scrambledfrom beneath the carcass of his would-be slayer, without ascratch to indicate how close to death he had been.

Delcarte's buoyance was entirely unruffled. He came fromunder the tiger with a broad grin on his handsome face, norcould I perceive that a muscle trembled or that his voiceshowed the least indication of nervousness or excitement.

With the termination of the adventure, we began to speculateupon the explanation of the presence of this savage brute atlarge so great a distance from its native habitat. Myreadings had taught me that it was practically unknownoutside of Asia, and that, so late as the twentieth century,at least, there had been no savage beasts outside captivityin England.

As we talked, Snider joined us, and I returned his rifle tohim. Taylor and Delcarte picked up the slain deer, and weall started down toward the launch, walking slowly.Delcarte wanted to fetch the tiger's skin, but I had to denyhim permission, since we had no means to properly cure it.

Upon the beach, we skinned the deer and cut away as muchmeat as we thought we could dispose of, and as we were againembarking to continue up the river for fresh water and fuel,we were startled by a series of screams from the bushes ashort distance away.

"Another Felis tigris," said Taylor.

"Or a dozen of them," supplemented Delcarte, and, even as hespoke, there leaped into sight, one after another, eight ofthe beasts, full grown--magnificent specimens.

At the sight of us, they came charging down like infuriateddemons. I saw that three rifles would be no match for them,and so I gave the word to put out from shore, hoping thatthe "tiger," as the ancients called him, could not swim.

Sure enough, they all halted at the beach, pacing back andforth, uttering fiendish cries, and glaring at us in themost malevolent manner.

As we motored away, we presently heard the calls of similaranimals far inland. They seemed to be answering the criesof their fellows at the water's edge, and from the widedistribution and great volume of the sound we came to theconclusion that enormous numbers of these beasts must roamthe adjacent country.

"They have eaten up the inhabitants," murmured Snider,shuddering.

"I imagine you are right," I agreed, "for their extremeboldness and fearlessness in the presence of man wouldsuggest either that man is entirely unknown to them, or thatthey are extremely familiar with him as their natural andmost easily procured prey."

"But where did they come from?" asked Delcarte. "Could theyhave traveled here from Asia?"

I shook my head. The thing was a puzzle to me. I knew thatit was practically beyond reason to imagine that tigers hadcrossed the mountain ranges and rivers and all the greatcontinent of Europe to travel this far from their nativelairs, and entirely impossible that they should have crossedthe English Channel at all. Yet here they were, and ingreat numbers.

We continued up the Tamar several miles, filled our casks,and then landed to cook some of our deer steak, and have thefirst square meal that had fallen to our lot since theColdwater deserted us. But scarce had we built our fire andprepared the meat for cooking than Snider, whose eyes hadbeen constantly roving about the landscape from the momentthat we left the launch, touched me on the arm and pointedto a clump of bushes which grew a couple of hundred yardsaway.

Half concealed behind their screening foliage I saw theyellow and black of a big tiger, and, as I looked, the beaststalked majestically toward us. A moment later, he wasfollowed by another and another, and it is needless to statethat we beat a hasty retreat to the launch.

The country was apparently infested by these huge Carnivora,for after three other attempts to land and cook our food wewere forced to abandon the idea entirely, as each time wewere driven off by hunting tigers.

It was also equally impossible to obtain the necessaryingredients for our chemical fuel, and, as we had verylittle left aboard, we determined to step our folding mastand proceed under sail, hoarding our fuel supply for use inemergencies.

I may say that it was with no regret that we bid adieu toTigerland, as we rechristened the ancient Devon, and,beating out into the Channel, turned the launch's nosesoutheast, to round Bolt Head and continue up the coasttoward the Strait of Dover and the North Sea.

I was determined to reach London as soon as possible, thatwe might obtain fresh clothing, meet with cultured people,and learn from the lips of Englishmen the secrets of the twocenturies since the East had been divorced from the West.

Our first stopping place was the Isle of Wight. We enteredthe Solent about ten o'clock one morning, and I must confessthat my heart sank as we came close to shore. No lighthousewas visible, though one was plainly indicated upon my map.Upon neither shore was sign of human habitation. We skirtedthe northern shore of the island in fruitless search forman, and then at last landed upon an eastern point, whereNewport should have stood, but where only weeds and greattrees and tangled wild wood rioted, and not a single manmadething was visible to the eye.

Before landing, I had the men substitute soft bullets forthe steel-jacketed projectiles with which their belts andmagazines were filled. Thus equipped, we felt upon moreeven terms with the tigers, but there was no sign of thetigers, and I decided that they must be confined to themainland.

After eating, we set out in search of fuel, leaving Taylorto guard the launch. For some reason I could not trustSnider alone. I knew that he looked with disapproval uponmy plan to visit England, and I did not know but what at hisfirst opportunity, he might desert us, taking the launchwith him, and attempt to return to Pan-America.

That he would be fool enough to venture it, I did not doubt.

We had gone inland for a mile or more, and were passingthrough a park-like wood, when we came suddenly upon thefirst human beings we had seen since we sighted the Englishcoast.

There were a score of men in the party. Hairy, half-nakedmen they were, resting in the shade of a great tree. At thefirst sight of us they sprang to their feet with wild yells,seizing long spears that had lain beside them as theyrested.

For a matter of fifty yards they ran from us as rapidly asthey could, and then they turned and surveyed us for amoment. Evidently emboldened by the scarcity of ournumbers, they commenced to advance upon us, brandishingtheir spears and shouting horribly.

They were short and muscular of build, with long hair andbeards tangled and matted with filth. Their heads, however,were shapely, and their eyes, though fierce and warlike,were intelligent.

Appreciation of these physical attributes came later, ofcourse, when I had better opportunity to study the men atclose range and under circumstances less fraught with dangerand excitement. At the moment I saw, and with unmixedwonder, only a score of wild savages charging down upon us,where I had expected to find a community of civilized andenlightened people.

Each of us was armed with rifle, revolver, and cutlass, butas we stood shoulder to shoulder facing the wild men I wasloath to give the command to fire upon them, inflictingdeath or suffering upon strangers with whom we had noquarrel, and so I attempted to restrain them for the momentthat we might parley with them.

To this end I raised my left hand above my head with thepalm toward them as the most natural gesture indicative ofpeaceful intentions which occurred to me. At the same timeI called aloud to them that we were friends, though, fromtheir appearance, there was nothing to indicate that theymight understand Pan-American, or ancient English, which areof course practically identical.

At my gesture and words they ceased their shouting and cameto a halt a few paces from us. Then, in deep tones, one whowas in advance of the others and whom I took to be the chiefor leader of the party replied in a tongue which whileintelligible to us, was so distorted from the Englishlanguage from which it evidently had sprung, that it waswith difficulty that we interpreted it.

"Who are you," he asked, "and from what country?"

I told him that we were from Pan-America, but he only shookhis head and asked where that was. He had never heard ofit, or of the Atlantic Ocean which I told him separated hiscountry from mine.

"It has been two hundred years," I told him, "since a Pan-American visited England."

"England?" he asked. "What is England?"

"Why this is a part of England!" I exclaimed.

"This is Grubitten," he assured me. "I know nothing aboutEngland, and I have lived here all my life."

It was not until long after that the derivation of Grubittenoccurred to me. Unquestionably it is a corruption of GreatBritain, a name formerly given to the large islandcomprising England, Scotland and Wales. Subsequently weheard it pronounced Grabrittin and Grubritten.

I then asked the fellow if he could direct us to Ryde orNewport; but again he shook his head, and said that he neverhad heard of such countries. And when I asked him if therewere any cities in this country he did not know what Imeant, never having heard the word cities.

I explained my meaning as best I could by stating that bycity I referred to a place where many people lived togetherin houses.

"Oh," he exclaimed, "you mean a camp! Yes, there are twogreat camps here, East Camp and West Camp. We are from EastCamp."

The use of the word camp to describe a collection ofhabitations naturally suggested war to me, and my nextquestion was as to whether the war was over, and who hadbeen victorious.

"No," he replied to this question. "The war is not yetover. But it soon will be, and it will end, as it alwaysdoes, with the Westenders running away. We, the Eastenders,are always victorious."

"No," I said, seeing that he referred to the petty tribalwars of his little island, "I mean the Great War, the warwith Germany. Is it ended--and who was victorious?"

He shook his head impatiently.

"I never heard," he said, "of any of these strange countriesof which you speak."

It seemed incredible, and yet it was true. These peopleliving at the very seat of the Great War knew nothing of it,though but two centuries had passed since, to our knowledge,it had been running in the height of its titanicfrightfulness all about them, and to us upon the far side ofthe Atlantic still was a subject of keen interest.

Here was a lifelong inhabitant of the Isle of Wight whonever had heard of either Germany or England! I turned tohim quite suddenly with a new question.

"What people live upon the mainland?" I asked, and pointedin the direction of the Hants coast.

"No one lives there," he replied.

"Long ago, it is said, my people dwelt across the watersupon that other land; but the wild beasts devoured them insuch numbers that finally they were driven here, paddlingacross upon logs and driftwood, nor has any dared returnsince, because of the frightful creatures which dwell inthat horrid country."

"Do no other peoples ever come to your country in ships?" Iasked.

He never heard the word ship before, and did not know itsmeaning. But he assured me that until we came he hadthought that there were no other peoples in the world otherthan the Grubittens, who consist of the Eastenders and theWestenders of the ancient Isle of Wight.

Assured that we were inclined to friendliness, our newacquaintances led us to their village, or, as they call it,camp. There we found a thousand people, perhaps, dwellingin rude shelters, and living upon the fruits of the chaseand such sea food as is obtainable close to shore, for theyhad no boats, nor any knowledge of such things.

Their weapons were most primitive, consisting of rude spearstipped with pieces of metal pounded roughly into shape.They had no literature, no religion, and recognized no lawother than the law of might. They produced fire by strikinga bit of flint and steel together, but for the most partthey ate their food raw. Marriage is unknown among them,and while they have the word, mother, they did not know whatI meant by "father." The males fight for the favor of thefemales. They practice infanticide, and kill the aged andphysically unfit.

The family consists of the mother and the children, the mendwelling sometimes in one hut and sometimes in another.Owing to their bloody duels, they are always numericallyinferior to the women, so there is shelter for them all.

We spent several hours in the village, where we were objectsof the greatest curiosity. The inhabitants examined ourclothing and all our belongings, and asked innumerablequestions concerning the strange country from which we hadcome and the manner of our coming.

I questioned many of them concerning past historical events,but they knew nothing beyond the narrow limits of theirisland and the savage, primitive life they led there.London they had never heard of, and they assured me that Iwould find no human beings upon the mainland.

Much saddened by what I had seen, I took my departure fromthem, and the three of us made our way back to the launch,accompanied by about five hundred men, women, girls, andboys.

As we sailed away, after procuring the necessary ingredientsof our chemical fuel, the Grubittens lined the shore insilent wonder at the strange sight of our dainty craftdancing over the sparkling waters, and watched us until wewere lost to their sight.