To. The World Adventurers Club bids you welcome. You are invited to join an informal gathering of this international organization whose members have explored all the strange lands of the earth, from the Russian steppes to Madagascar. Here you will meet men who have dared adventure in every form. Explorers, travelers, big game hunters, war correspondents, and international diplomats. The members of the club invite you to pull up a chair and listen to a tale of the Royal Road to Adventure. Off to the Jolly Roger Boys and off we go to sea. There's heaps of fun when the Jolly Roger's hung and the wind is on the lead, and the wind is on the lead. From high below, it's off to sea we go, without a single light, in the pale moonlight, our small luck and years will go. Here's to each man, each man of the Jolly Jolly crew, who sails the deep blue sea, who sails the deep blue sea, sails the deep blue sea. We're the Jolly Jolly Roger, mind-boggling free, the pride of the Spanish name may be, and at home we come, yo ho, yo ho, and the girls will be waiting on a key, I know. For the man who sails the main, for the man who sails the main, yo ho, yo ho, yo ho, ha ha ha ha ha ha, ya ha ha ha ha ha ha. Bravo boys. Oh, Dr. Roberts, have you met Mr. Nelson? I think not. How do you do, sir? How do you do, doctor? Our friend Nelson joined the club while you were away on your last expedition, doctor. Oh, is that so? Yes. You were on that expedition in New Guinea, wasn't it? Yes, Papua to be exact. Few people realize that Papua is the second largest island in the world, second only to Australia. Mention Papua and most people visualize it as a small island of the South Seas. Instead, it's an immense place of bush and jungles and mountains. It's due north of Australia and just below the equator. I notice that most of the cartographers designate it as New Guinea. But I prefer the original name of Papua. Gentlemen, I suggest that we draw up some chairs and ask Dr. Roberts to go on with his story of Papua. Well, now, just a minute. I had no intention of giving a discourse on that expedition. I'm afraid you can't avoid it, doctor. It's been six months and you've circled the globe since you visited the club, doctor. I think he's due to explain where he's been. How about it, boys? That's right. It's up to you, doctor. Come on, doctor, please. Not giving the count of you. Well, gentlemen, this is very impromptu, but if you do want to hear about Papua, I can tell you some things that'll make your hair stand on end. First of all, my object in going into the little-known interior of that country was to reach a native tribe that had not been seen by white men. It was my desire to visit them as a friend, observe their mode of life, and if possible, bring back to civilization with me one or two of these natives who had never been touched by the white man's world. This I succeeded in doing, but in a method that I never anticipated. If I'd have foreseen the perils of that trip, I doubt if I could have been forced to take it. Yes, that's what you say now, but if you had it to do all over again, I'll wager you'd be ready to leave for Papua today. Perhaps so. There's no appeal like that of adventure. At any rate, I had an unusual expedition. I wanted to make speed, and I found speed absolutely impossible. It takes weeks to batter through the jungle, and the rivers are sluggish and full of crocodiles. So I tried a new idea. I got a small hydroplane, fitted it out at Mabu on the coast with a crew of two white men, and I was ready for Papua. You mean to say there were only three men including yourself in your expedition? That's all. It meant that we didn't have to depend upon natives, and that was a blessing, as I never can get black boys to work hard for me. With the hydroplane, we could fly over the jungles as long as we followed the general course of the river. Whenever we wished to land, it was a case of dropping down on the surface of the water. I carried enough supplies for a week of cruising, and figured that I could accomplish the purpose of the expedition in that time. Simple, wasn't it? An excellent idea. I had a base established about 200 miles upstream, where I could replenish gasoline and other supplies, and then we headed the plane's nose for the heart of the unknown. My companions were Jackson, a pilot, and Gail, a navigator. For hours, we flew over an impassable jungle, always keeping within sight of a broad river in case we had to make an emergency landing. Several times, we dropped down at villages. They had never seen an airplane before, and most of these natives were panic-stricken. As we progressed toward the interior, all signs of life disappeared, and I knew that we had passed the farthest exploration point of white men. To look down upon a land that no man of your race has ever seen before is a thrill, gentlemen, that cannot be described, but must be experienced. That must be a moment that comes once in a lifetime. And of course you had no idea what you might encounter. A tropical storm would have been mighty dangerous. Well, we were very lucky. After eight hours of flying, we saw a huge native village below us. We circled the place and decided to risk a landing. We had no means of knowing if the natives were hostile, but we decided to gamble our skill with theirs, and so we dropped down. Nicely done, Gail. Now let's taxi up there to what appears to be the landing place for the native dugout. Yes, sir. I don't think those natives are hostile, Dr. Roberts. Neither do I, sir, but I wish they showed a little more fear. They certainly don't run for their lives the way most of them did. I'll cut off the engine, sir, and bring it to you by that large dugout. That's right. Don't get too close to shore. Look at them! They're all crowing down to meet us. They're yelling something. Listen! Well, that means little to me. I think they're trying to welcome us. And that's really glad to see us, then. Oh, there comes a chief all dressed up in war paint and feathers. You boys keep an eye on him and don't let any of them touch the plane. Well, I can see him. Could you speak their language, Doctor? No, and I won't bore you, gentlemen, with the tedious procedure of trying to converse with those natives. I use two or three combined native dialects, and by making the savage repeat many times and by guessing at almost half the words, I gathered his meaning. It seems that he was not the chief, but a kind of medicine man. He was a doctor for his people, as I am for mine. But unfortunately, you weren't from the same medical college. Not by a wide margin. But he made me understand that his chief was very ill, and he had cast a spell to cure the chief. He thought that our appearance out of a clear sky, so to speak, was a token of good. He thought I had come to cure his chief, and he told the village then. Oh, so that's why they weren't antagonistic. Exactly. They thought it was some... I was some strange god that their medicine man had conjured to come and cure the dying chief. I was really a guest of honor. And did you visit the stricken chief, Doctor? I had to. There was no alternative. I left game with the plane, and Jackson and I went ashore. One look at the chief, and I knew he was a goner. It was beyond the power of medicine to save him. But I couldn't leave the village without incurring the natives' anger. So we spent the night ashore. I had Gail moor the plane, securely, and the three of us were given a crude kind of a hut in the middle of the village. Well, so far, so good. I would say that luck was with you. So I hoped. But in the middle of the night, a terrible pandemonium broke out. There was yelling and screaming and drum beating, and we didn't know what to make of it. The medicine man appeared and motioned for us to follow him. He led us to a large elliptical hut, and we followed him inside. At first, I couldn't see much. But gradually, I became aware of the contents of that awful hut. It was lined with thousands of human heads, all grinning or shrunken and distorted in the most horrible grimaces, as if they had died in terrible agony. Great Scott! There we were, surrounded by a thousand mummified heads. Dozens of natives were watching us, and it was only too obvious that our heads were to be added to those of that terrible hut. Phew! I thought they looked upon you as a god. They did at first. But the medicine man told us that the chief had died an hour ago, and now they blamed us for his death. They meant to murder us as a sacrifice to the dead chief. They banished huge clubs and knives, and in another minute, we'd have been decapitated. Of course, in a moment like that, one acts first and thinks later, with a yell that equalled that of any of the savages, I whipped out a revolver and shot three of them on the spot. Jostens did the same thing, and Gale picked up a war club and smashed a huge hole in the side of the hut. This sudden attack of ours surprised the natives for a brief moment, and we made a break for our lives. We rushed to the river in a plane, firing at anything we could see. Behind us, a thousand murderers yelling headhunter team whooping. This way, men! Here's the river! They're right behind us! Look, the plane's gone! We've lost the plane! It's gone! What? They've cut the plane into him! We're done for! We can't escape! Oh, they must have sunk it! This way, men! Climbing to the river! We haven't a chance until we stay on the bank! Follow me! Look! Look down the stream! That's it! It's the plane! Somebody's on it! Maybe they're trying to break in after that! Follow me, men! We must take that plane or die! It's amazing! Here, grab that rope! They're trying to get away! I've got one, fellow! I'll find you that control secret! Can you move it, Jackson? I think we've wrecked them on it! Try again! Oh, they'll be on us in a minute! Hurry! We're off! She works! Down the stream! Down the stream! Down the stream, boys! Here we come! Get her clear, Gale, and get her away fast! If you want it so far than your life, do it now! Well, that was a lively night in Papua. That would be enough to last me a lifetime. We were all pretty scared, but we didn't have time to think about it. I'd say it was the most thrilling experience in my career. And in spite of our hurried exit, the expedition was successful. You remember I told you I wanted to bring one of the savages back to civilization with me? Yes. Well, I did. One of those who was trying to wreck the plane didn't get off in time. We were up in the air, and I hauled him on board and took him back to civilization as exhibit A of a trip I shall never forget. Well, Dr. Roberts, that's a story I shall never forget. Nor I. Oh, it's an episode that might have happened to anyone. A dozen members of this club might tell a better story. I doubt it. But nevertheless, I don't intend to be absent at the next meeting. It's up to Jack Palmer to tell the next adventure story. Yes, Jack, you're next. You're going to tell us what you've been doing in China for the last two years. And that is going to be a story. The mighty jungle lord, come with a flashing sword, crashing on footsteps of thunder, thunder. Through this cathedral vast, there rings a trumpet blast, and all of nature paulers to wonder. Oh, swiftly the little fleeting deer leap at the sound of following feet, leaping to fly, fearing to die. In the jungle deep, and the river lies sleeping, dreaming. And as we say goodbye, the World Adventurers Club invites you to come to another meeting, and hear one of its members tell of his strange adventures in strange lands. The World Adventurers Club invites you to come to another meeting, and hear one of its members tell of his strange adventures in strange lands. The World Adventurers Club invites you to come to another meeting, and hear one of its members
