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outward and onto the surrounding continent, leaving a great crater; and then,
possibly, the continent sank as ancient continents have been known to do,
leaving only the summit of Caprona above the sea. The encircling walls, the
central lake, the hot springs which feed the lake, all point to such a conclusion,
and the fauna and the flora bear indisputable evidence that Caprona was once
part of some great land-mass.
As we cruised up along the coast, the landscape continued a more or less open
forest, with here and there a small plain where we saw animals grazing. With my
glass I could make out a species of large red deer, some antelope and what
appeared to be a species of horse; and once I saw the shaggy form of what might
have been a monstrous bison. Here was game a plenty! There seemed little
danger of starving upon Caprona. The game, however, seemed wary; for the
instant the animals discovered us, they threw up their heads and tails and went
cavorting off, those farther inland following the example of the others until all
were lost in the mazes of the distant forest. Only the great, shaggy ox stood his
ground. With lowered head he watched us until we had passed, and then
continued feeding.
About twenty miles up the coast from the mouth of the river we encountered low
cliffs of sandstone, broken and tortured evidence of the great upheaval which had
torn Caprona asunder in the past, intermingling upon a common level the rock
formations of widely separated eras, fusing some and leaving others untouched.
We ran along beside them for a matter of ten miles, arriving off a broad cleft
which led into what appeared to be another lake. As we were in search of pure
water, we did not wish to overlook any portion of the coast, and so after sounding
and finding that we had ample depth, I ran the U-33 between head-lands into as
pretty a landlocked harbor as sailormen could care to see, with good water right
up to within a few yards of the shore. As we cruised slowly along, two of the
boches again saw what they believed to be a man, or manlike creature, watching
us from a fringe of trees a hundred yards inland, and shortly after we discovered
the mouth of a small stream emptying into the bay. It was the first stream we had
found since leaving the river, and I at once made preparations to test its water.
To land, it would be necessary to run the U-33 close in to the shore, at least as
close as we could, for even these waters were infested, though, not so thickly, by
savage reptiles. I ordered sufficient water let into the diving-tanks to lower us
about a foot, and then I ran the bow slowly toward the shore, confident that
should we run aground, we still had sufficient lifting force to free us when the
water should be pumped out of the tanks; but the bow nosed its way gently into
the reeds and touched the shore with the keel still clear.
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