The Lost Continent | Page 5

was told in the last few pages, which a
certain vandal smashed up with his pocketknife, in getting them away
from the place where they were stowed."
"That's right, abuse me. Deucalion you say? There was a Deucalion in
the Greek mythology. He was one of the two who escaped from the
Flood: their Noah, in fact."
"The swamping of the continent of Atlantis might very well correspond
to the Flood."
"Is there a Pyrrha then? She was Deucalion's wife."
"I haven't come across her yet. But there's a Phorenice, who may be the
same. She seems to have been the reigning Empress, as far as I can
make out at present."
I looked with interest at illustrations in the margin. They were quite
understandable, although the perspective was all wrong. "Weird beasts
they seem to have had knocking about the country in those days.
Whacking big size too, if one may judge. By Jove, that'll be a
cave-tiger trying to puff down a mammoth. I shouldn't care to have
lived in those days."
"Probably they had some way of fighting the creatures. However, that
will show itself as I get along with the translation." He looked at his
watch--"I suppose I ought to be ashamed of myself, but I haven't been

to bed. Are you going out?"
"I shall drive back to Las Palmas. I promised a man to have a round at
golf this afternoon."
"Very well, see you at dinner. I hope they've sent back my dress shirts
from the wash. O, lord! I am sleepy."
I left him going up to bed, and went outside and ordered a carriage to
take me down, and there I may say we parted for a considerable time. A
cable was waiting for me in the hotel at Las Palmas to go home for
business forthwith, and there was a Liverpool boat in the harbour which
I just managed to catch as she was steaming out. It was a close thing,
and the boatmen made a small fortune out of my hurry.
Now Coppinger was only an hotel acquaintance, and as I was up to the
eyes in work when I got back to England, I'm afraid I didn't think very
much more about him at the time. One doesn't with people one just
meets casually abroad like that. And it must have been at least a year
later that I saw by a paragraph in one of the papers, that he had given
the lump of sheets to the British Museum, and that the estimated worth
of them was ten thousand pounds at the lowest valuation.
Well, this was a bit of revelation, and as he had so repeatedly impressed
on me that the things were mine by right of discovery, I wrote rather a
pointed note to him mentioning that he seemed to have been making
rather free with my property. Promptly came back a stilted letter
beginning, "Doctor Coppinger regrets" and so on, and with it the
English translation of the wax-upon-talc MSS. He "quite admitted" my
claim, and "trusted that the profits of publication would be a sufficient
reimbursement for any damage received."
Now I had no idea that he would take me unpleasantly like this, and
wrote back a pretty warm reply to that effect; but the only answer I got
to this was through a firm of solicitors, who stated that all further
communications with Dr. Coppinger must be made through them.
I will say here publicly that I regret the line he has taken over the

matter; but as the affair has gone so far, I am disposed to follow out his
proposition. Accordingly the old history is here printed; the credit (and
the responsibility) of the translation rests with Dr. Coppinger; and
whatever revenue accrues from readers, goes to the finder of the
original talc-upon-wax sheets, myself.
If there is a further alteration in this arrangement, it will be announced
publicly at a later date. But at present this appears to be most unlikely.

1. MY RECALL
The public official reception was over. The sentence had been read, the
name of Phorenice, the Empress, adored, and the new Viceroy installed
with all that vast and ponderous ceremonial which had gained its pomp
and majesty from the ages. Formally, I had delivered up the reins of my
government; formally, Tatho had seated himself on the snake-throne,
and had put over his neck the chain of gems which symbolised the
supreme office; and then, whilst the drums and the trumpets made their
proclamation of clamour, he had risen to his feet, for his first state
progress round that gilded council chamber as Viceroy of the Province
of Yucatan.
With folded arms and bended head, I followed him between the
glittering lines of soldiers, and the