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THE LOST WORLD by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
CHAPTER IX
"Who could have Foreseen it?"
A dreadful thing has happened to us. Who could have foreseen it? I
cannot foresee any end to our troubles. It may be that we are
condemned to spend our whole lives in this strange, inaccessible place.
I am still so confused that I can hardly think clearly of the facts of
the present or of the chances of the future. To my astounded senses
the one seems most terrible and the other as black as night.
No men have ever found themselves in a worse position; nor is there any
use in disclosing to you our exact geographical situation and asking
our friends for a relief party. Even if they could send one, our fate
will in all human probability be decided long before it could arrive in
South America.
We are, in truth, as far from any human aid as if we were in the moon.
If we are to win through, it is only our own qualities which can save
us. I have as companions three remarkable men, men of great
brain-power and of unshaken courage. There lies our one and only hope.
It is only when I look upon the untroubled faces of my comrades that I
see some glimmer through the darkness. Outwardly I trust that I appear
as unconcerned as they. Inwardly I am filled with apprehension.
Let me give you, with as much detail as I can, the sequence of events
which have led us to this catastrophe.
When I finished my last letter I stated that we were within seven miles
from an enormous line of ruddy cliffs, which encircled, beyond all
doubt, the plateau of which Professor Challenger spoke. Their height,
as we approached them, seemed to me in some places to be greater than
he had stated—running up in parts to at least a thousand feet—and
they were curiously striated, in a manner which is, I believe,
characteristic of basaltic upheavals. Something of the sort is to be
seen in Salisbury Crags at Edinburgh. The summit showed every sign of
a luxuriant vegetation, with bushes near the edge, and farther back
many high trees. There was no indication of any life that we could see.
That night we pitched our camp immediately under the cliff—a most wild
and desolate spot. The crags above us were not merely perpendicular,
but curved outwards at the top, so that ascent was out of the question.
Close to us was the high thin pinnacle of rock which I believe I
mentioned earlier in this narrative. It is like a broad red church
spire, the top of it being level with the plateau, but a great chasm
gaping between. On the summit of it there grew one high tree. Both
pinnacle and cliff were comparatively low—some five or six hundred
feet, I should think.
"It was on that," said Professor Challenger, pointing to this tree,
"that the pterodactyl was perched. I climbed half-way up the rock
before I shot him. I am inclined to think that a good mountaineer like
myself could ascend the rock to the top, though he would, of course, be
no nearer to the plateau when he had done so."
As Challenger spoke of his pterodactyl I glanced at Professor
Summerlee, and for the first time I seemed to see some signs of a
dawning credulity and repentance. There was no sneer upon his thin
lips, but, on the contrary, a gray, drawn look of excitement and
amazement. Challenger saw it, too, and reveled in the first taste of
victory.
"Of course," said he, with his clumsy and ponderous sarcasm,
"Professor Summerlee will understand that when I speak of a pterodactyl
I mean a stork—only it is the kind of stork which has no feathers, a
leathery skin, membranous wings, and teeth in its jaws." He grinned
and blinked and bowed until his colleague turned and walked away.
In the morning, after a frugal breakfast of coffee and manioc—we had
to be economical of our stores—we held a council of war as to the best
method of ascending to the plateau above us.
Challenger presided with a solemnity as if he were the Lord Chief
Justice on the Bench. Picture him seated upon a rock, his absurd
boyish straw hat tilted on the back of his head, his supercilious eyes
dominating us from under his drooping lids, his great black beard
wagging as he slowly defined our present situation and our future
movements.
Beneath him you might have seen the three of us—myself, sunburnt,
young, and vigorous after our open-air ***; Summerlee, solemn but
still critical, behind his eternal pipe; Lord John, as keen as a
razor-edge, with his supple, alert figure leaning upon his rifle, and
his eager eyes fixed eagerly upon the speaker. Behind us were grouped
the two swarthy half-breeds and the little knot of Indians, while in
front and above us towered those huge, ruddy ribs of rocks which kept
us from our goal.
"I need not say," said our leader, "that on the occasion of my last
visit I exhausted every means of climbing the cliff, and where I failed
I do not think that anyone else is likely to succeed, for I am
something of a mountaineer. I had none of the appliances of a
rock-climber with me, but I have taken the precaution to bring them
now. With their aid I am positive I could climb that detached pinnacle
to the summit; but so long as the main cliff overhangs, it is vain to
attempt ascending that. I was hurried upon my last visit by the
approach of the rainy season and by the exhaustion of my supplies.
These considerations limited my time, and I can only claim that I have
surveyed about six miles of the cliff to the east of us, finding no
possible way up. What, then, shall we now do?"
"There seems to be only one reasonable course," said Professor
Summerlee. "If you have explored the east, we should travel along the
base of the cliff to the west, and seek for a practicable point for our
ascent."
"That's it," said Lord John. "The odds are that this plateau is of no
great size, and we shall travel round it until we either find an easy
way up it, or come back to the point from which we started."
"I have already explained to our young friend here," said Challenger
(he has a way of alluding to me as if I were a school child ten years
old), "that it is quite impossible that there should be an easy way up
anywhere, for the simple reason that if there were the summit would not
be isolated, and those conditions would not obtain which have effected
so singular an interference with the general laws of survival. Yet I
admit that there may very well be places where an expert human climber
may reach the summit, and yet a cumbrous and heavy animal be unable to
descend. It is certain that there is a point where an ascent is
possible."
"How do you know that, sir?" asked Summerlee, sharply.
"Because my predecessor, the American Maple White, actually made such
an ascent. How otherwise could he have seen the monster which he
sketched in his notebook?"
"There you reason somewhat ahead of the proved facts," said the
stubborn Summerlee. "I admit your plateau, because I have seen it; but
I have not as yet satisfied myself that it contains any form of life
whatever."
"What you admit, sir, or what you do not admit, is really of
inconceivably small importance. I am glad to perceive that the plateau
itself has actually obtruded itself upon your intelligence." He glanced
up at it, and then, to our amazement, he sprang from his rock, and,
seizing Summerlee by the neck, he tilted his face into the air. "Now
sir!" he shouted, hoarse with excitement. "Do I help you to realize
that the plateau contains some animal life?"
I have said that a thick fringe of green overhung the edge of the
cliff. Out of this there had emerged a black, glistening object. As
it came slowly forth and overhung the chasm, we saw that it was a very
large snake with a peculiar flat, spade-like head. It wavered and
quivered above us for a minute, the morning sun gleaming upon its
sleek, sinuous coils. Then it slowly drew inwards and disappeared.
Summerlee had been so interested that he had stood unresisting while
Challenger tilted his head into the air. Now he shook his colleague
off and came back to his dignity.
"I should be glad, Professor Challenger," said he, "if you could see
your way to make any remarks which may occur to you without seizing me
by the chin. Even the appearance of a very ordinary rock python does
not appear to justify such a liberty."
"But there is life upon the plateau all the same," his colleague
replied in triumph. "And now, having demonstrated this important
conclusion so that it is clear to anyone, however prejudiced or obtuse,
I am of opinion that we cannot do better than break up our camp and
travel to westward until we find some means of ascent."
The ground at the foot of the cliff was rocky and broken so that the
going was slow and difficult. Suddenly we came, however, upon
something which cheered our hearts. It was the site of an old
encampment, with several empty Chicago meat tins, a bottle labeled
"Brandy," a broken tin-opener, and a quantity of other travelers'
debris. A crumpled, disintegrated newspaper revealed itself as the
Chicago Democrat, though the date had been obliterated.
"Not mine," said Challenger. "It must be Maple White's."
Lord John had been gazing curiously at a great tree-fern which
overshadowed the encampment. "I say, look at this," said he. "I
believe it is meant for a sign-post."
A slip of hard wood had been nailed to the tree in such a way as to
point to the westward.
"Most certainly a sign-post," said Challenger. "What else? Finding
himself upon a dangerous errand, our pioneer has left this sign so that
any party which follows him may know the way he has taken. Perhaps we
shall come upon some other indications as we proceed."
We did indeed, but they were of a terrible and most unexpected nature.
Immediately beneath the cliff there grew a considerable patch of high
bamboo, like that which we had traversed in our journey. Many of these
stems were twenty feet high, with sharp, strong tops, so that even as
they stood they made formidable spears. We were passing along the edge
of this cover when my eye was caught by the gleam of something white
within it. Thrusting in my head between the stems, I found myself
gazing at a fleshless skull. The whole skeleton was there, but the
skull had detached itself and lay some feet nearer to the open.
With a few blows from the machetes of our Indians we cleared the spot
and were able to study the details of this old tragedy. Only a few
shreds of clothes could still be distinguished, but there were the
remains of boots upon the bony feet, and it was very clear that the
dead man was a European. A gold watch by Hudson, of New York, and a
chain which held a stylographic pen, lay among the bones. There was
also a silver cigarette-case, with "J. C., from A. E. S.," upon the
lid. The state of the metal seemed to show that the catastrophe had
occurred no great time before.
"Who can he be?" asked Lord John. "Poor devil! every bone in his body
seems to be broken."
"And the bamboo grows through his smashed ribs," said Summerlee. "It
is a fast-growing plant, but it is surely inconceivable that this body
could have been here while the canes grew to be twenty feet in length."
"As to the man's identity," said Professor Challenger, "I have no doubt
whatever upon that point. As I made my way up the river before I
reached you at the fazenda I instituted very particular inquiries about
Maple White. At Para they knew nothing. Fortunately, I had a definite
clew, for there was a particular picture in his sketch-book which
showed him taking lunch with a certain ecclesiastic at Rosario. This
priest I was able to find, and though he proved a very argumentative
fellow, who took it absurdly amiss that I should point out to him the
corrosive effect which modern science must have upon his beliefs, he
none the less gave me some positive information. Maple White passed
Rosario four years ago, or two years before I saw his dead body. He
was not alone at the time, but there was a friend, an American named
James Colver, who remained in the boat and did not meet this
ecclesiastic. I think, therefore, that there can be no doubt that we
are now looking upon the remains of this James Colver."
"Nor," said Lord John, "is there much doubt as to how he met his death.
He has fallen or been chucked from the top, and so been impaled. How
else could he come by his broken bones, and how could he have been
stuck through by these canes with their points so high above our heads?"
A hush came over us as we stood round these shattered remains and
realized the truth of Lord John Roxton's words. The beetling head of
the cliff projected over the cane-brake. Undoubtedly he had fallen
from above. But had he fallen? Had it been an accident? Or—already
ominous and terrible possibilities began to form round that unknown
land.
We moved off in silence, and continued to coast round the line of
cliffs, which were as even and unbroken as some of those monstrous
Antarctic ice-fields which I have seen depicted as stretching from
horizon to horizon and towering high above the mast-heads of the
exploring vessel.
In five miles we saw no rift or break. And then suddenly we perceived
something which filled us with new hope. In a hollow of the rock,
protected from rain, there was drawn a rough arrow in chalk, pointing
still to the westwards.
"Maple White again," said Professor Challenger. "He had some
presentiment that worthy footsteps would follow close behind him."
"He had chalk, then?"
"A box of colored chalks was among the effects I found in his knapsack.
I remember that the white one was worn to a stump."
"That is certainly good evidence," said Summerlee. "We can only accept
his guidance and follow on to the westward."
We had proceeded some five more miles when again we saw a white arrow
upon the rocks. It was at a point where the face of the cliff was for
the first time split into a narrow cleft. Inside the cleft was a
second guidance mark, which pointed right up it with the tip somewhat
elevated, as if the spot indicated were above the level of the ground.
It was a solemn place, for the walls were so gigantic and the slit of
blue sky so narrow and so obscured by a double fringe of verdure, that
only a dim and shadowy light penetrated to the bottom. We had had no
food for many hours, and were very weary with the stony and irregular
journey, but our nerves were too strung to allow us to halt. We
ordered the camp to be pitched, however, and, leaving the Indians to
arrange it, we four, with the two half-breeds, proceeded up the narrow
gorge.
It was not more than forty feet across at the mouth, but it rapidly
closed until it ended in an acute angle, too straight and smooth for an
ascent. Certainly it was not this which our pioneer had attempted to
indicate. We made our way back—the whole gorge was not more than a
quarter of a mile deep—and then suddenly the quick eyes of Lord John
fell upon what we were seeking. High up above our heads, amid the dark
shadows, there was one circle of deeper gloom. Surely it could only be
the opening of a cave.
The base of the cliff was heaped with loose stones at the spot, and it
was not difficult to clamber up. When we reached it, all doubt was
removed. Not only was it an opening into the rock, but on the side of
it there was marked once again the sign of the arrow. Here was the
point, and this the means by which Maple White and his ill-fated
comrade had made their ascent.
We were too excited to return to the camp, but must make our first
exploration at once. Lord John had an electric torch in his knapsack,
and this had to serve us as light. He advanced, throwing his little
clear circlet of yellow radiance before him, while in single file we
followed at his heels.
The cave had evidently been water-worn, the sides being smooth and the
floor covered with rounded stones. It was of such a size that a single
man could just fit through by stooping. For fifty yards it ran almost
straight into the rock, and then it ascended at an angle of forty-five.
Presently this incline became even steeper, and we found ourselves
climbing upon hands and knees among loose rubble which slid from
beneath us. Suddenly an exclamation broke from Lord Roxton.
"It's blocked!" said he.
Clustering behind him we saw in the yellow field of light a wall of
broken basalt which extended to the ceiling.
"The roof has fallen in!"
In vain we dragged out some of the pieces. The only effect was that
the larger ones became detached and threatened to roll down the
gradient and crush us. It was evident that the obstacle was far beyond
any efforts which we could make to remove it. The road by which Maple
White had ascended was no longer available.
Too much cast down to speak, we stumbled down the dark tunnel and made
our way back to the camp.
One incident occurred, however, before we left the gorge, which is of
importance in view of what came afterwards.
We had gathered in a little group at the bottom of the chasm, some
forty feet beneath the mouth of the cave, when a huge rock rolled
suddenly downwards—and shot past us with tremendous force. It was the
narrowest escape for one or all of us. We could not ourselves see
whence the rock had come, but our half-breed servants, who were still
at the opening of the cave, said that it had flown past them, and must
therefore have fallen from the summit. Looking upwards, we could see
no sign of movement above us amidst the green jungle which topped the
cliff. There could be little doubt, however, that the stone was aimed
at us, so the incident surely pointed to humanity—and malevolent
humanity—upon the plateau.
We withdrew hurriedly from the chasm, our minds full of this new
development and its bearing upon our plans. The situation was
difficult enough before, but if the obstructions of Nature were
increased by the deliberate opposition of man, then our case was indeed
a hopeless one. And yet, as we looked up at that beautiful fringe of
verdure only a few hundreds of feet above our heads, there was not one
of us who could conceive the idea of returning to London until we had
explored it to its depths.
On discussing the situation, we determined that our best course was to
continue to coast round the plateau in the hope of finding some other
means of reaching the top. The line of cliffs, which had decreased
considerably in height, had already begun to trend from west to north,
and if we could take this as representing the arc of a circle, the
whole circumference could not be very great. At the worst, then, we
should be back in a few days at our starting-point.
We made a march that day which totaled some two-and-twenty miles,
without any change in our prospects. I may mention that our aneroid
shows us that in the continual incline which we have ascended since we
abandoned our canoes we have risen to no less than three thousand feet
above sea-level. Hence there is a considerable change both in the
temperature and in the vegetation. We have shaken off some of that
horrible insect life which is the bane of tropical travel. A few palms
still survive, and many tree-ferns, but the Amazonian trees have been
all left behind. It was pleasant to see the convolvulus, the
passion-flower, and the begonia, all reminding me of home, here among
these inhospitable rocks. There was a red begonia just the same color
as one that is kept in a pot in the window of a certain villa in
Streatham—but I am drifting into private reminiscence.
That night—I am still speaking of the first day of our
circumnavigation of the plateau—a great experience awaited us, and one
which for ever set at rest any doubt which we could have had as to the
wonders so near us.
You will realize as you read it, my dear Mr. McArdle, and possibly for
the first time that the paper has not sent me on a wild-goose chase,
and that there is inconceivably fine copy waiting for the world
whenever we have the Professor's leave to make use of it. I shall not
dare to publish these articles unless I can bring back my proofs to
England, or I shall be hailed as the journalistic Munchausen of all
time. I have no doubt that you feel the same way yourself, and that
you would not care to stake the whole credit of the Gazette upon this
adventure until we can meet the chorus of criticism and scepticism
which such articles must of necessity elicit. So this wonderful
incident, which would make such a headline for the old paper, must
still wait its turn in the editorial drawer.
And yet it was all over in a flash, and there was no sequel to it, save
in our own convictions.
What occurred was this. Lord John had shot an ajouti—which is a
small, pig-like animal—and, half of it having been given to the
Indians, we were cooking the other half upon our fire. There is a
chill in the air after dark, and we had all drawn close to the blaze.
The night was moonless, but there were some stars, and one could see
for a little distance across the plain. Well, suddenly out of the
darkness, out of the night, there swooped something with a swish like
an aeroplane. The whole group of us were covered for an instant by a
canopy of leathery wings, and I had a momentary vision of a long,
snake-like neck, a fierce, red, greedy eye, and a great snapping beak,
filled, to my amazement, with little, gleaming teeth. The next instant
it was gone—and so was our dinner. A huge black shadow, twenty feet
across, skimmed up into the air; for an instant the monster wings
blotted out the stars, and then it vanished over the brow of the cliff
above us. We all sat in amazed silence round the fire, like the heroes
of Virgil when the Harpies came down upon them. It was Summerlee who
was the first to speak.
"Professor Challenger," said he, in a solemn voice, which quavered with
emotion, "I owe you an apology. Sir, I am very much in the wrong, and
I beg that you will forget what is past."
It was handsomely said, and the two men for the first time shook hands.
So much we have gained by this clear vision of our first pterodactyl.
It was worth a stolen supper to bring two such men together.
But if prehistoric life existed upon the plateau it was not
superabundant, for we had no further glimpse of it during the next
three days. During this time we traversed a barren and forbidding
country, which alternated between stony desert and desolate marshes
full of many wild-fowl, upon the north and east of the cliffs. From
that direction the place is really inaccessible, and, were it not for a
hardish ledge which runs at the very base of the precipice, we should
have had to turn back. Many times we were up to our waists in the
slime and blubber of an old, semi-tropical swamp. To make matters
worse, the place seemed to be a favorite breeding-place of the Jaracaca
snake, the most venomous and aggressive in South America. Again and
again these horrible creatures came writhing and springing towards us
across the surface of this putrid bog, and it was only by keeping our
shot-guns for ever ready that we could feel safe from them. One
funnel-shaped depression in the morass, of a livid green in color from
some lichen which festered in it, will always remain as a nightmare
memory in my mind. It seems to have been a special nest of these
vermins, and the slopes were alive with them, all writhing in our
direction, for it is a peculiarity of the Jaracaca that he will always
attack man at first sight. There were too many for us to shoot, so we
fairly took to our heels and ran until we were exhausted. I shall
always remember as we looked back how far behind we could see the heads
and necks of our horrible pursuers rising and falling amid the reeds.
Jaracaca Swamp we named it in the map which we are constructing.
The cliffs upon the farther side had lost their ruddy tint, being
chocolate-brown in color; the vegetation was more scattered along the
top of them, and they had sunk to three or four hundred feet in height,
but in no place did we find any point where they could be ascended. If
anything, they were more impossible than at the first point where we
had met them. Their absolute steepness is indicated in the photograph
which I took over the stony desert.
"Surely," said I, as we discussed the situation, "the rain must find
its way down somehow. There are bound to be water-channels in the
rocks."
"Our young friend has glimpses of lucidity," said Professor Challenger,
patting me upon the shoulder.
"The rain must go somewhere," I repeated.
"He keeps a firm grip upon actuality. The only drawback is that we
have conclusively proved by ocular demonstration that there are no
water channels down the rocks."
"Where, then, does it go?" I persisted.
"I think it may be fairly assumed that if it does not come outwards it
must run inwards."
"Then there is a lake in the center."
"So I should suppose."
"It is more than likely that the lake may be an old crater," said
Summerlee. "The whole formation is, of course, highly volcanic. But,
however that may be, I should expect to find the surface of the plateau
slope inwards with a considerable sheet of water in the center, which
may drain off, by some subterranean channel, into the marshes of the
Jaracaca Swamp."
"Or evaporation might preserve an equilibrium," remarked Challenger,
and the two learned men wandered off into one of their usual scientific
arguments, which were as comprehensible as Chinese to the layman.
On the sixth day we completed our first circuit of the cliffs, and
found ourselves back at the first camp, beside the isolated pinnacle of
rock. We were a disconsolate party, for nothing could have been more
minute than our investigation, and it was absolutely certain that there
was no single point where the most active human being could possibly
hope to scale the cliff. The place which Maple White's chalk-marks had
indicated as his own means of access was now entirely impassable.
What were we to do now? Our stores of provisions, supplemented by our
guns, were holding out well, but the day must come when they would need
replenishment. In a couple of months the rains might be expected, and
we should be washed out of our camp. The rock was harder than marble,
and any attempt at cutting a path for so great a height was more than
our time or resources would admit. No wonder that we looked gloomily
at each other that night, and sought our blankets with hardly a word
exchanged. I remember that as I dropped off to sleep my last
recollection was that Challenger was squatting, like a monstrous
bull-frog, by the fire, his huge head in his hands, sunk apparently in
the deepest thought, and entirely oblivious to the good-night which I
wished him.
But it was a very different Challenger who greeted us in the morning—a
Challenger with contentment and self-congratulation shining from his
whole person. He faced us as we assembled for breakfast with a
deprecating false modesty in his eyes, as who should say, "I know that
I deserve all that you can say, but I pray you to spare my blushes by
not saying it." His beard bristled exultantly, his chest was thrown
out, and his hand was thrust into the front of his jacket. So, in his
fancy, may he see himself sometimes, gracing the vacant pedestal in
Trafalgar Square, and adding one more to the horrors of the London
streets.
"Eureka!" he cried, his teeth shining through his beard. "Gentlemen,
you may congratulate me and we may congratulate each other. The
problem is solved."
"You have found a way up?"
"I venture to think so."
"And where?"
For answer he pointed to the spire-like pinnacle upon our right.
Our faces—or mine, at least—fell as we surveyed it. That it could be
climbed we had our companion's assurance. But a horrible abyss lay
between it and the plateau.
"We can never get across," I gasped.
"We can at least all reach the summit," said he. "When we are up I may
be able to show you that the resources of an inventive mind are not yet
exhausted."
After breakfast we unpacked the bundle in which our leader had brought
his climbing accessories. From it he took a coil of the strongest and
lightest rope, a hundred and fifty feet in length, with climbing irons,
clamps, and other devices. Lord John was an experienced mountaineer,
and Summerlee had done some rough climbing at various times, so that I
was really the novice at rock-work of the party; but my strength and
activity may have made up for my want of experience.
It was not in reality a very stiff task, though there were moments
which made my hair bristle upon my head. The first half was perfectly
easy, but from there upwards it became continually steeper until, for
the last fifty feet, we were literally clinging with our fingers and
toes to tiny ledges and crevices in the rock. I could not have
accomplished it, nor could Summerlee, if Challenger had not gained the
summit (it was extraordinary to see such activity in so unwieldy a
creature) and there fixed the rope round the trunk of the considerable
tree which grew there. With this as our support, we were soon able to
scramble up the jagged wall until we found ourselves upon the small
grassy platform, some twenty-five feet each way, which formed the
summit.
The first impression which I received when I had recovered my breath
was of the extraordinary view over the country which we had traversed.
The whole Brazilian plain seemed to lie beneath us, extending away and
away until it ended in dim blue mists upon the farthest sky-line. In
the foreground was the long slope, strewn with rocks and dotted with
tree-ferns; farther off in the middle distance, looking over the
saddle-back hill, I could just see the yellow and green mass of bamboos
through which we had passed; and then, gradually, the vegetation
increased until it formed the huge forest which extended as far as the
eyes could reach, and for a good two thousand miles beyond.
I was still drinking in this wonderful panorama when the heavy hand of
the Professor fell upon my shoulder.
"This way, my young friend," said he; "vestigia nulla retrorsum. Never
look rearwards, but always to our glorious goal."
The level of the plateau, when I turned, was exactly that on which we
stood, and the green bank of bushes, with occasional trees, was so near
that it was difficult to realize how inaccessible it remained. At a
rough guess the gulf was forty feet across, but, so far as I could see,
it might as well have been forty miles. I placed one arm round the
trunk of the tree and leaned over the abyss. Far down were the small
dark figures of our servants, looking up at us. The wall was
absolutely precipitous, as was that which faced me.
"This is indeed curious," said the creaking voice of Professor
Summerlee.
I turned, and found that he was examining with great interest the tree
to which I clung. That smooth bark and those small, ribbed leaves
seemed familiar to my eyes. "Why," I cried, "it's a beech!"
"Exactly," said Summerlee. "A fellow-countryman in a far land."
"Not only a fellow-countryman, my good sir," said Challenger, "but
also, if I may be allowed to enlarge your simile, an ally of the first
value. This beech tree will be our saviour."
"By George!" cried Lord John, "a bridge!"
"Exactly, my friends, a bridge! It is not for nothing that I expended
an hour last night in focusing my mind upon the situation. I have some
recollection of once remarking to our young friend here that G. E. C.
is at his best when his back is to the wall. Last night you will admit
that all our backs were to the wall. But where will-power and
intellect go together, there is always a way out. A drawbridge had to
be found which could be dropped across the abyss. Behold it!"
It was certainly a brilliant idea. The tree was a good sixty feet in
height, and if it only fell the right way it would easily cross the
chasm. Challenger had slung the camp axe over his shoulder when he
ascended. Now he handed it to me.
"Our young friend has the thews and sinews," said he. "I think he will
be the most useful at this task. I must beg, however, that you will
kindly refrain from thinking for yourself, and that you will do exactly
what you are told."
Under his direction I cut such gashes in the sides of the trees as
would ensure that it should fall as we desired. It had already a
strong, natural tilt in the direction of the plateau, so that the
matter was not difficult. Finally I set to work in earnest upon the
trunk, taking turn and turn with Lord John. In a little over an hour
there was a loud crack, the tree swayed forward, and then crashed over,
burying its branches among the bushes on the farther side. The severed
trunk rolled to the very edge of our platform, and for one terrible
second we all thought it was over. It balanced itself, however, a few
inches from the edge, and there was our bridge to the unknown.
All of us, without a word, shook hands with Professor Challenger, who
raised his straw hat and bowed deeply to each in turn.
"I claim the honor," said he, "to be the first to cross to the unknown
land—a fitting subject, no doubt, for some future historical painting."
He had approached the bridge when Lord John laid his hand upon his coat.
"My dear chap," said he, "I really cannot allow it."
"Cannot allow it, sir!" The head went back and the beard forward.
"When it is a matter of science, don't you know, I follow your lead
because you are by way of bein' a man of science. But it's up to you
to follow me when you come into my department."
"Your department, sir?"
"We all have our professions, and soldierin' is mine. We are,
accordin' to my ideas, invadin' a new country, which may or may not be
chock-full of enemies of sorts. To barge blindly into it for want of a
little common sense and patience isn't my notion of management."
The remonstrance was too reasonable to be disregarded. Challenger
tossed his head and shrugged his heavy shoulders.
"Well, sir, what do you propose?"
"For all I know there may be a tribe of cannibals waitin' for
lunch-time among those very bushes," said Lord John, looking across the
bridge. "It's better to learn wisdom before you get into a
cookin'-pot; so we will content ourselves with hopin' that there is no
trouble waitin' for us, and at the same time we will act as if there
were. Malone and I will go down again, therefore, and we will fetch up
the four rifles, together with Gomez and the other. One man can then
go across and the rest will cover him with guns, until he sees that it
is safe for the whole crowd to come along."
Challenger sat down upon the cut stump and groaned his impatience; but
Summerlee and I were of one mind that Lord John was our leader when
such practical details were in question. The climb was a more simple
thing now that the rope dangled down the face of the worst part of the
ascent. Within an hour we had brought up the rifles and a shot-gun.
The half-breeds had ascended also, and under Lord John's orders they
had carried up a bale of provisions in case our first exploration
should be a long one. We had each bandoliers of cartridges.
"Now, Challenger, if you really insist upon being the first man in,"
said Lord John, when every preparation was complete.
"I am much indebted to you for your gracious permission," said the
angry Professor; for never was a man so intolerant of every form of
authority. "Since you are good enough to allow it, I shall most
certainly take it upon myself to act as pioneer upon this occasion."
Seating himself with a leg overhanging the abyss on each side, and his
hatchet slung upon his back, Challenger hopped his way across the trunk
and was soon at the other side. He clambered up and waved his arms in
the air.
"At last!" he cried; "at last!"
I gazed anxiously at him, with a vague expectation that some terrible
fate would dart at him from the curtain of green behind him. But all
was quiet, save that a strange, many-colored bird flew up from under
his feet and vanished among the trees.
Summerlee was the second. His wiry energy is wonderful in so frail a
frame. He insisted upon having two rifles slung upon his back, so that
both Professors were armed when he had made his transit. I came next,
and tried hard not to look down into the horrible gulf over which I was
passing. Summerlee held out the butt-end of his rifle, and an instant
later I was able to grasp his hand. As to Lord John, he walked
across—actually walked without support! He must have nerves of iron.
And there we were, the four of us, upon the dreamland, the lost world,
of Maple White. To all of us it seemed the moment of our supreme
triumph. Who could have guessed that it was the prelude to our supreme
disaster? Let me say in a few words how the crushing blow fell upon us.
We had turned away from the edge, and had penetrated about fifty yards
of close brushwood, when there came a frightful rending crash from
behind us. With one impulse we rushed back the way that we had come.
The bridge was gone!
Far down at the base of the cliff I saw, as I looked over, a tangled
mass of branches and splintered trunk. It was our beech tree. Had the
edge of the platform crumbled and let it through? For a moment this
explanation was in all our minds. The next, from the farther side of
the rocky pinnacle before us a swarthy face, the face of Gomez the
half-breed, was slowly protruded. Yes, it was Gomez, but no longer the
Gomez of the demure smile and the mask-like expression. Here was a
face with flashing eyes and distorted features, a face convulsed with
hatred and with the mad joy of gratified revenge.
"Lord Roxton!" he shouted. "Lord John Roxton!"
"Well," said our companion, "here I am."
A shriek of laughter came across the abyss.
"Yes, there you are, you English dog, and there you will remain! I
have waited and waited, and now has come my chance. You found it hard
to get up; you will find it harder to get down. You cursed fools, you
are trapped, every one of you!"
We were too astounded to speak. We could only stand there staring in
amazement. A great broken bough upon the grass showed whence he had
gained his leverage to tilt over our bridge. The face had vanished,
but presently it was up again, more frantic than before.
"We nearly killed you with a stone at the cave," he cried; "but this is
better. It is slower and more terrible. Your bones will whiten up
there, and none will know where you lie or come to cover them. As you
lie dying, think of Lopez, whom you shot five years ago on the Putomayo
River. I am his brother, and, come what will I will die happy now, for
his memory has been avenged." A furious hand was shaken at us, and then
all was quiet.
Had the half-breed simply wrought his vengeance and then escaped, all
might have been well with him. It was that foolish, irresistible Latin
impulse to be dramatic which brought his own downfall. Roxton, the man
who had earned himself the name of the Flail of the Lord through three
countries, was not one who could be safely taunted. The half-breed was
descending on the farther side of the pinnacle; but before he could
reach the ground Lord John had run along the edge of the plateau and
gained a point from which he could see his man. There was a single
crack of his rifle, and, though we saw nothing, we heard the scream and
then the distant thud of the falling body. Roxton came back to us with
a face of granite.
"I have been a blind simpleton," said he, bitterly, "It's my folly
that has brought you all into this trouble. I should have remembered
that these people have long memories for blood-feuds, and have been
more upon my guard."
"What about the other one? It took two of them to lever that tree over
the edge."
"I could have shot him, but I let him go. He may have had no part in
it. Perhaps it would have been better if I had killed him, for he
must, as you say, have lent a hand."
Now that we had the clue to his action, each of us could cast back and
remember some sinister act upon the part of the half-breed—his
constant desire to know our plans, his arrest outside our tent when he
was over-hearing them, the furtive looks of hatred which from time to
time one or other of us had surprised. We were still discussing it,
endeavoring to adjust our minds to these new conditions, when a
singular scene in the plain below arrested our attention.
A man in white clothes, who could only be the surviving half-breed, was
running as one does run when Death is the pacemaker. Behind him, only
a few yards in his rear, bounded the huge ebony figure of Zambo, our
devoted ***. Even as we looked, he sprang upon the back of the
fugitive and flung his arms round his neck. They rolled on the ground
together. An instant afterwards Zambo rose, looked at the prostrate
man, and then, waving his hand joyously to us, came running in our
direction. The white figure lay motionless in the middle of the great
plain.
Our two traitors had been destroyed, but the mischief that they had
done lived after them. By no possible means could we get back to the
pinnacle. We had been natives of the world; now we were natives of the
plateau. The two things were separate and apart. There was the plain
which led to the canoes. Yonder, beyond the violet, hazy horizon, was
the stream which led back to civilization. But the link between was
missing. No human ingenuity could suggest a means of bridging the
chasm which yawned between ourselves and our past lives. One instant
had altered the whole conditions of our existence.
It was at such a moment that I learned the stuff of which my three
comrades were composed. They were grave, it is true, and thoughtful,
but of an invincible serenity. For the moment we could only sit among
the bushes in patience and wait the coming of Zambo. Presently his
honest black face topped the rocks and his Herculean figure emerged
upon the top of the pinnacle.
"What I do now?" he cried. "You tell me and I do it."
It was a question which it was easier to ask than to answer. One thing
only was clear. He was our one trusty link with the outside world. On
no account must he leave us.
"No no!" he cried. "I not leave you. Whatever come, you always find
me here. But no able to keep Indians. Already they say too much
Curupuri live on this place, and they go home. Now you leave them me
no able to keep them."
It was a fact that our Indians had shown in many ways of late that they
were weary of their journey and anxious to return. We realized that
Zambo spoke the truth, and that it would be impossible for him to keep
them.
"Make them wait till to-morrow, Zambo," I shouted; "then I can send
letter back by them."
"Very good, sarr! I promise they wait till to-morrow," said the ***.
"But what I do for you now?"
There was plenty for him to do, and admirably the faithful fellow did
it. First of all, under our directions, he undid the rope from the
tree-stump and threw one end of it across to us. It was not thicker
than a clothes-line, but it was of great strength, and though we could
not make a bridge of it, we might well find it invaluable if we had any
climbing to do. He then fastened his end of the rope to the package of
supplies which had been carried up, and we were able to drag it across.
This gave us the means of life for at least a week, even if we found
nothing else. Finally he descended and carried up two other packets of
mixed goods—a box of ammunition and a number of other things, all of
which we got across by throwing our rope to him and hauling it back.
It was evening when he at last climbed down, with a final assurance
that he would keep the Indians till next morning.
And so it is that I have spent nearly the whole of this our first night
upon the plateau writing up our experiences by the light of a single
candle-lantern.
We supped and camped at the very edge of the cliff, quenching our
thirst with two bottles of Apollinaris which were in one of the cases.
It is vital to us to find water, but I think even Lord John himself had
had adventures enough for one day, and none of us felt inclined to make
the first push into the unknown. We forbore to light a fire or to make
any unnecessary sound.
To-morrow (or to-day, rather, for it is already dawn as I write) we
shall make our first venture into this strange land. When I shall be
able to write again—or if I ever shall write again—I know not.
Meanwhile, I can see that the Indians are still in their place, and I
am sure that the faithful Zambo will be here presently to get my
letter. I only trust that it will come to hand.
P.S.—The more I think the more desperate does our position seem. I
see no possible hope of our return. If there were a high tree near the
edge of the plateau we might drop a return bridge across, but there is
none within fifty yards. Our united strength could not carry a trunk
which would serve our purpose. The rope, of course, is far too short
that we could descend by it. No, our position is hopeless—hopeless!
CHAPTER X
"The most Wonderful Things have Happened"
The most wonderful things have happened and are continually happening
to us. All the paper that I possess consists of five old note-books
and a lot of scraps, and I have only the one stylographic pencil; but
so long as I can move my hand I will continue to set down our
experiences and impressions, for, since we are the only men of the
whole human race to see such things, it is of enormous importance that
I should record them whilst they are fresh in my memory and before that
fate which seems to be constantly impending does actually overtake us.
Whether Zambo can at last take these letters to the river, or whether I
shall myself in some miraculous way carry them back with me, or,
finally, whether some daring explorer, coming upon our tracks with the
advantage, perhaps, of a perfected monoplane, should find this bundle
of manuscript, in any case I can see that what I am writing is destined
to immortality as a classic of true adventure.
On the morning after our being trapped upon the plateau by the
villainous Gomez we began a new stage in our experiences. The first
incident in it was not such as to give me a very favorable opinion of
the place to which we had wandered. As I roused myself from a short
nap after day had dawned, my eyes fell upon a most singular appearance
upon my own leg. My trouser had slipped up, exposing a few inches of
my skin above my sock. On this there rested a large, purplish grape.
Astonished at the sight, I leaned forward to pick it off, when, to my
horror, it burst between my finger and thumb, squirting blood in every
direction. My cry of disgust had brought the two professors to my side.
"Most interesting," said Summerlee, bending over my shin. "An enormous
blood-tick, as yet, I believe, unclassified."
"The first-fruits of our labors," said Challenger in his booming,
pedantic fashion. "We cannot do less than call it Ixodes Maloni. The
very small inconvenience of being bitten, my young friend, cannot, I am
sure, weigh with you as against the glorious privilege of having your
name inscribed in the deathless roll of zoology. Unhappily you have
crushed this fine specimen at the moment of satiation."
"Filthy vermin!" I cried.
Professor Challenger raised his great eyebrows in protest, and placed a
soothing paw upon my shoulder.
"You should cultivate the scientific eye and the detached scientific
mind," said he. "To a man of philosophic temperament like myself the
blood-tick, with its lancet-like proboscis and its distending stomach,
is as beautiful a work of Nature as the peacock or, for that matter,
the aurora borealis. It pains me to hear you speak of it in so
unappreciative a fashion. No doubt, with due diligence, we can secure
some other specimen."
"There can be no doubt of that," said Summerlee, grimly, "for one has
just disappeared behind your shirt-collar."
Challenger sprang into the air bellowing like a bull, and tore
frantically at his coat and shirt to get them off. Summerlee and I
laughed so that we could hardly help him. At last we exposed that
monstrous torso (fifty-four inches, by the tailor's tape). His body
was all matted with black hair, out of which jungle we picked the
wandering tick before it had bitten him. But the bushes round were
full of the horrible pests, and it was clear that we must shift our
camp.
But first of all it was necessary to make our arrangements with the
faithful ***, who appeared presently on the pinnacle with a number of
tins of cocoa and biscuits, which he tossed over to us. Of the stores
which remained below he was ordered to retain as much as would keep him
for two months. The Indians were to have the remainder as a reward for
their services and as payment for taking our letters back to the
Amazon. Some hours later we saw them in single file far out upon the
plain, each with a bundle on his head, making their way back along the
path we had come. Zambo occupied our little tent at the base of the
pinnacle, and there he remained, our one link with the world below.
And now we had to decide upon our immediate movements. We shifted our
position from among the tick-laden bushes until we came to a small
clearing thickly surrounded by trees upon all sides. There were some
flat slabs of rock in the center, with an excellent well close by, and
there we sat in cleanly comfort while we made our first plans for the
invasion of this new country. Birds were calling among the
foliage—especially one with a peculiar whooping cry which was new to
us—but beyond these sounds there were no signs of life.
Our first care was to make some sort of list of our own stores, so that
we might know what we had to rely upon. What with the things we had
ourselves brought up and those which Zambo had sent across on the rope,
we were fairly well supplied. Most important of all, in view of the
dangers which might surround us, we had our four rifles and one
thousand three hundred rounds, also a shot-gun, but not more than a
hundred and fifty medium pellet cartridges. In the matter of
provisions we had enough to last for several weeks, with a sufficiency
of tobacco and a few scientific implements, including a large telescope
and a good field-glass. All these things we collected together in the
clearing, and as a first precaution, we cut down with our hatchet and
knives a number of thorny bushes, which we piled round in a circle some
fifteen yards in diameter. This was to be our headquarters for the
time—our place of refuge against sudden danger and the guard-house for
our stores. Fort Challenger, we called it.
It was midday before we had made ourselves secure, but the heat was not
oppressive, and the general character of the plateau, both in its
temperature and in its vegetation, was almost temperate. The beech,
the oak, and even the birch were to be found among the tangle of trees
which girt us in. One huge gingko tree, topping all the others, shot
its great limbs and maidenhair foliage over the fort which we had
constructed. In its shade we continued our discussion, while Lord
John, who had quickly taken command in the hour of action, gave us his
views.
"So long as neither man nor beast has seen or heard us, we are safe,"
said he. "From the time they know we are here our troubles begin.
There are no signs that they have found us out as yet. So our game
surely is to lie low for a time and spy out the land. We want to have
a good look at our neighbors before we get on visitin' terms."
"But we must advance," I ventured to remark.
"By all means, sonny my boy! We will advance. But with common sense.
We must never go so far that we can't get back to our base. Above all,
we must never, unless it is life or death, fire off our guns."
"But YOU fired yesterday," said Summerlee.
"Well, it couldn't be helped. However, the wind was strong and blew
outwards. It is not likely that the sound could have traveled far into
the plateau. By the way, what shall we call this place? I suppose it
is up to us to give it a name?"
There were several suggestions, more or less happy, but Challenger's
was final.
"It can only have one name," said he. "It is called after the pioneer
who discovered it. It is Maple White Land."
Maple White Land it became, and so it is named in that chart which has
become my special task. So it will, I trust, appear in the atlas of
the future.
The peaceful penetration of Maple White Land was the pressing subject
before us. We had the evidence of our own eyes that the place was
inhabited by some unknown creatures, and there was that of Maple
White's sketch-book to show that more dreadful and more dangerous
monsters might still appear. That there might also prove to be human
occupants and that they were of a malevolent character was suggested by
the skeleton impaled upon the bamboos, which could not have got there
had it not been dropped from above. Our situation, stranded without
possibility of escape in such a land, was clearly full of danger, and
our reasons endorsed every measure of caution which Lord John's
experience could suggest. Yet it was surely impossible that we should
halt on the edge of this world of mystery when our very souls were
tingling with impatience to push forward and to pluck the heart from it.
We therefore blocked the entrance to our zareba by filling it up with
several thorny bushes, and left our camp with the stores entirely
surrounded by this protecting hedge. We then slowly and cautiously set
forth into the unknown, following the course of the little stream which
flowed from our spring, as it should always serve us as a guide on our
return.
Hardly had we started when we came across signs that there were indeed
wonders awaiting us. After a few hundred yards of thick forest,
containing many trees which were quite unknown to me, but which
Summerlee, who was the botanist of the party, recognized as forms of
conifera and of cycadaceous plants which have long passed away in the
world below, we entered a region where the stream widened out and
formed a considerable bog. High reeds of a peculiar type grew thickly
before us, which were pronounced to be equisetacea, or mare's-tails,
with tree-ferns scattered amongst them, all of them swaying in a brisk
wind. Suddenly Lord John, who was walking first, halted with uplifted
hand.
"Look at this!" said he. "By George, this must be the trail of the
father of all birds!"
An enormous three-toed track was imprinted in the soft mud before us.
The creature, whatever it was, had crossed the swamp and had passed on
into the forest. We all stopped to examine that monstrous spoor. If
it were indeed a bird—and what animal could leave such a mark?—its
foot was so much larger than an ostrich's that its height upon the same
scale must be enormous. Lord John looked eagerly round him and slipped
two cartridges into his elephant-gun.
"I'll stake my good name as a shikarree," said he, "that the track is a
fresh one. The creature has not passed ten minutes. Look how the
water is still oozing into that deeper print! By Jove! See, here is
the mark of a little one!"
Sure enough, smaller tracks of the same general form were running
parallel to the large ones.
"But what do you make of this?" cried Professor Summerlee,
triumphantly, pointing to what looked like the huge print of a
five-fingered human hand appearing among the three-toed marks.
"Wealden!" cried Challenger, in an ecstasy. "I've seen them in the
Wealden clay. It is a creature walking erect upon three-toed feet, and
occasionally putting one of its five-fingered forepaws upon the ground.
Not a bird, my dear Roxton—not a bird."
"A beast?"
"No; a reptile—a dinosaur. Nothing else could have left such a track.
They puzzled a worthy Sussex doctor some ninety years ago; but who in
the world could have hoped—hoped—to have seen a sight like that?"
His words died away into a whisper, and we all stood in motionless
amazement. Following the tracks, we had left the morass and passed
through a screen of brushwood and trees. Beyond was an open glade, and
in this were five of the most extraordinary creatures that I have ever
seen. Crouching down among the bushes, we observed them at our leisure.
There were, as I say, five of them, two being adults and three young
ones. In size they were enormous. Even the babies were as big as
elephants, while the two large ones were far beyond all creatures I
have ever seen. They had slate-colored skin, which was scaled like a
lizard's and shimmered where the sun shone upon it. All five were
sitting up, balancing themselves upon their broad, powerful tails and
their huge three-toed hind-feet, while with their small five-fingered
front-feet they pulled down the branches upon which they browsed. I do
not know that I can bring their appearance home to you better than by
saying that they looked like monstrous kangaroos, twenty feet in
length, and with skins like black crocodiles.
I do not know how long we stayed motionless gazing at this marvelous
spectacle. A strong wind blew towards us and we were well concealed,
so there was no chance of discovery. From time to time the little ones
played round their parents in unwieldy gambols, the great beasts
bounding into the air and falling with dull thuds upon the earth. The
strength of the parents seemed to be limitless, for one of them, having
some difficulty in reaching a bunch of foliage which grew upon a
considerable-sized tree, put his fore-legs round the trunk and tore it
down as if it had been a sapling. The action seemed, as I thought, to
show not only the great development of its muscles, but also the small
one of its brain, for the whole weight came crashing down upon the top
of it, and it uttered a series of shrill yelps to show that, big as it
was, there was a limit to what it could endure. The incident made it
think, apparently, that the neighborhood was dangerous, for it slowly
lurched off through the wood, followed by its mate and its three
enormous infants. We saw the shimmering slaty gleam of their skins
between the tree-trunks, and their heads undulating high above the
brush-wood. Then they vanished from our sight.
I looked at my comrades. Lord John was standing at gaze with his
finger on the trigger of his elephant-gun, his eager hunter's soul
shining from his fierce eyes. What would he not give for one such head
to place between the two crossed oars above the mantelpiece in his
snuggery at the Albany! And yet his reason held him in, for all our
exploration of the wonders of this unknown land depended upon our
presence being concealed from its inhabitants. The two professors were
in silent ecstasy. In their excitement they had unconsciously seized
each other by the hand, and stood like two little children in the
presence of a marvel, Challenger's cheeks bunched up into a seraphic
smile, and Summerlee's sardonic face softening for the moment into
wonder and reverence.
"Nunc dimittis!" he cried at last. "What will they say in England of
this?"
"My dear Summerlee, I will tell you with great confidence exactly what
they will say in England," said Challenger. "They will say that you
are an infernal liar and a scientific charlatan, exactly as you and
others said of me."
"In the face of photographs?"
"Faked, Summerlee! Clumsily faked!"
"In the face of specimens?"
"Ah, there we may have them! Malone and his filthy Fleet Street crew
may be all yelping our praises yet. August the twenty-eighth—the day
we saw five live iguanodons in a glade of Maple White Land. Put it
down in your diary, my young friend, and send it to your rag."
"And be ready to get the toe-end of the editorial boot in return," said
Lord John. "Things look a bit different from the latitude of London,
young fellah my lad. There's many a man who never tells his
adventures, for he can't hope to be believed. Who's to blame them?
For this will seem a bit of a dream to ourselves in a month or two.
WHAT did you say they were?"
"Iguanodons," said Summerlee. "You'll find their footmarks all over
the Hastings sands, in Kent, and in Sussex. The South of England was
alive with them when there was plenty of good lush green-stuff to keep
them going. Conditions have changed, and the beasts died. Here it
seems that the conditions have not changed, and the beasts have lived."
"If ever we get out of this alive, I must have a head with me," said
Lord John. "Lord, how some of that Somaliland-Uganda crowd would turn
a beautiful pea-green if they saw it! I don't know what you chaps
think, but it strikes me that we are on mighty thin ice all this time."
I had the same feeling of mystery and danger around us. In the gloom
of the trees there seemed a constant menace and as we looked up into
their shadowy foliage vague terrors crept into one's heart. It is true
that these monstrous creatures which we had seen were lumbering,
inoffensive brutes which were unlikely to hurt anyone, but in this
world of wonders what other survivals might there not be—what fierce,
active horrors ready to pounce upon us from their lair among the rocks
or brushwood? I knew little of prehistoric life, but I had a clear
remembrance of one book which I had read in which it spoke of creatures
who would live upon our lions and tigers as a cat lives upon mice.
What if these also were to be found in the woods of Maple White Land!
It was destined that on this very morning—our first in the new
country—we were to find out what strange hazards lay around us. It
was a loathsome adventure, and one of which I hate to think. If, as
Lord John said, the glade of the iguanodons will remain with us as a
dream, then surely the swamp of the pterodactyls will forever be our
nightmare. Let me set down exactly what occurred.
We passed very slowly through the woods, partly because Lord Roxton
acted as scout before he would let us advance, and partly because at
every second step one or other of our professors would fall, with a cry
of wonder, before some flower or insect which presented him with a new
type. We may have traveled two or three miles in all, keeping to the
right of the line of the stream, when we came upon a considerable
opening in the trees. A belt of brushwood led up to a tangle of
rocks—the whole plateau was strewn with boulders. We were walking
slowly towards these rocks, among bushes which reached over our waists,
when we became aware of a strange low gabbling and whistling sound,
which filled the air with a constant clamor and appeared to come from
some spot immediately before us. Lord John held up his hand as a
signal for us to stop, and he made his way swiftly, stooping and
running, to the line of rocks. We saw him peep over them and give a
gesture of amazement. Then he stood staring as if forgetting us, so
utterly entranced was he by what he saw. Finally he waved us to come
on, holding up his hand as a signal for caution. His whole bearing
made me feel that something wonderful but dangerous lay before us.
Creeping to his side, we looked over the rocks. The place into which
we gazed was a pit, and may, in the early days, have been one of the
smaller volcanic blow-holes of the plateau. It was bowl-shaped and at
the bottom, some hundreds of yards from where we lay, were pools of
green-scummed, stagnant water, fringed with bullrushes. It was a weird
place in itself, but its occupants made it seem like a scene from the
Seven Circles of Dante. The place was a rookery of pterodactyls.
There were hundreds of them congregated within view. All the bottom
area round the water-edge was alive with their young ones, and with
hideous mothers brooding upon their leathery, yellowish eggs. From
this crawling flapping mass of obscene reptilian life came the shocking
clamor which filled the air and the mephitic, horrible, musty odor
which turned us sick. But above, perched each upon its own stone,
tall, gray, and withered, more like dead and dried specimens than
actual living creatures, sat the horrible males, absolutely motionless
save for the rolling of their red eyes or an occasional snap of their
rat-trap beaks as a dragon-fly went past them. Their huge, membranous
wings were closed by folding their fore-arms, so that they sat like
gigantic old women, wrapped in hideous web-colored shawls, and with
their ferocious heads protruding above them. Large and small, not less
than a thousand of these filthy creatures lay in the hollow before us.
Our professors would gladly have stayed there all day, so entranced
were they by this opportunity of studying the life of a prehistoric
age. They pointed out the fish and dead birds lying about among the
rocks as proving the nature of the food of these creatures, and I heard
them congratulating each other on having cleared up the point why the
bones of this flying dragon are found in such great numbers in certain
well-defined areas, as in the Cambridge Green-sand, since it was now
seen that, like penguins, they lived in gregarious fashion.
Finally, however, Challenger, bent upon proving some point which
Summerlee had contested, thrust his head over the rock and nearly
brought destruction upon us all. In an instant the nearest male gave a
shrill, whistling cry, and flapped its twenty-foot span of leathery
wings as it soared up into the air. The females and young ones huddled
together beside the water, while the whole circle of sentinels rose one
after the other and sailed off into the sky. It was a wonderful sight
to see at least a hundred creatures of such enormous size and hideous
appearance all swooping like swallows with swift, shearing wing-strokes
above us; but soon we realized that it was not one on which we could
afford to linger. At first the great brutes flew round in a huge ring,
as if to make sure what the exact extent of the danger might be. Then,
the flight grew lower and the circle narrower, until they were whizzing
round and round us, the dry, rustling flap of their huge slate-colored
wings filling the air with a volume of sound that made me think of
Hendon aerodrome upon a race day.
"Make for the wood and keep together," cried Lord John, clubbing his
rifle. "The brutes mean mischief."
The moment we attempted to retreat the circle closed in upon us, until
the tips of the wings of those nearest to us nearly touched our faces.
We beat at them with the stocks of our guns, but there was nothing
solid or vulnerable to strike. Then suddenly out of the whizzing,
slate-colored circle a long neck shot out, and a fierce beak made a
thrust at us. Another and another followed. Summerlee gave a cry and
put his hand to his face, from which the blood was streaming. I felt a
prod at the back of my neck, and turned dizzy with the shock.
Challenger fell, and as I stooped to pick him up I was again struck
from behind and dropped on the top of him. At the same instant I heard
the crash of Lord John's elephant-gun, and, looking up, saw one of the
creatures with a broken wing struggling upon the ground, spitting and
gurgling at us with a wide-opened beak and blood-shot, goggled eyes,
like some devil in a medieval picture. Its comrades had flown higher
at the sudden sound, and were circling above our heads.
"Now," cried Lord John, "now for our lives!"
We staggered through the brushwood, and even as we reached the trees
the harpies were on us again. Summerlee was knocked down, but we tore
him up and rushed among the trunks. Once there we were safe, for those
huge wings had no space for their sweep beneath the branches. As we
limped homewards, sadly mauled and discomfited, we saw them for a long
time flying at a great height against the deep blue sky above our
heads, soaring round and round, no bigger than wood-pigeons, with their
eyes no doubt still following our progress. At last, however, as we
reached the thicker woods they gave up the chase, and we saw them no
more.
"A most interesting and convincing experience," said Challenger, as we
halted beside the brook and he bathed a swollen knee. "We are
exceptionally well informed, Summerlee, as to the habits of the enraged
pterodactyl."
Summerlee was wiping the blood from a cut in his forehead, while I was
tying up a nasty stab in the muscle of the neck. Lord John had the
shoulder of his coat torn away, but the creature's teeth had only
grazed the flesh.
"It is worth noting," Challenger continued, "that our young friend has
received an undoubted stab, while Lord John's coat could only have been
torn by a bite. In my own case, I was beaten about the head by their
wings, so we have had a remarkable exhibition of their various methods
of offence."
"It has been touch and go for our lives," said Lord John, gravely, "and
I could not think of a more rotten sort of death than to be outed by
such filthy vermin. I was sorry to fire my rifle, but, by Jove! there
was no great choice."
"We should not be here if you hadn't," said I, with conviction.
"It may do no harm," said he. "Among these woods there must be many
loud cracks from splitting or falling trees which would be just like
the sound of a gun. But now, if you are of my opinion, we have had
thrills enough for one day, and had best get back to the surgical box
at the camp for some carbolic. Who knows what venom these beasts may
have in their hideous jaws?"
But surely no men ever had just such a day since the world began. Some
fresh surprise was ever in store for us. When, following the course of
our brook, we at last reached our glade and saw the thorny barricade of
our camp, we thought that our adventures were at an end. But we had
something more to think of before we could rest. The gate of Fort
Challenger had been untouched, the walls were unbroken, and yet it had
been visited by some strange and powerful creature in our absence. No
foot-mark showed a trace of its nature, and only the overhanging branch
of the enormous ginko tree suggested how it might have come and gone;
but of its malevolent strength there was ample evidence in the
condition of our stores. They were strewn at random all over the
ground, and one tin of meat had been crushed into pieces so as to
extract the contents. A case of cartridges had been shattered into
matchwood, and one of the brass shells lay shredded into pieces beside
it. Again the feeling of vague horror came upon our souls, and we
gazed round with frightened eyes at the dark shadows which lay around
us, in all of which some fearsome shape might be lurking. How good it
was when we were hailed by the voice of Zambo, and, going to the edge
of the plateau, saw him sitting grinning at us upon the top of the
opposite pinnacle.
"All well, *** Challenger, all well!" he cried. "Me stay here. No
fear. You always find me when you want."
His honest black face, and the immense view before us, which carried us
half-way back to the affluent of the Amazon, helped us to remember that
we really were upon this earth in the twentieth century, and had not by
some magic been conveyed to some raw planet in its earliest and wildest
state. How difficult it was to realize that the violet line upon the
far horizon was well advanced to that great river upon which huge
steamers ran, and folk talked of the small affairs of life, while we,
marooned among the creatures of a bygone age, could but gaze towards it
and yearn for all that it meant!
One other memory remains with me of this wonderful day, and with it I
will close this letter. The two professors, their tempers aggravated
no doubt by their injuries, had fallen out as to whether our assailants
were of the genus pterodactylus or dimorphodon, and high words had
ensued. To avoid their wrangling I moved some little way apart, and
was seated smoking upon the trunk of a fallen tree, when Lord John
strolled over in my direction.
"I say, Malone," said he, "do you remember that place where those
beasts were?"
"Very clearly."
"A sort of volcanic pit, was it not?"
"Exactly," said I.
"Did you notice the soil?"
"Rocks."
"But round the water—where the reeds were?"
"It was a bluish soil. It looked like clay."
"Exactly. A volcanic tube full of blue clay."
"What of that?" I asked.
"Oh, nothing, nothing," said he, and strolled back to where the voices
of the contending men of science rose in a prolonged duet, the high,
strident note of Summerlee rising and falling to the sonorous bass of
Challenger. I should have thought no more of Lord John's remark were
it not that once again that night I heard him mutter to himself: "Blue
clay—clay in a volcanic tube!" They were the last words I heard before
I dropped into an exhausted sleep.
CHAPTER XI
"For once I was the Hero"
Lord John Roxton was right when he thought that some specially toxic
quality might lie in the bite of the horrible creatures which had
attacked us. On the morning after our first adventure upon the
plateau, both Summerlee and I were in great pain and fever, while
Challenger's knee was so bruised that he could hardly limp. We kept to
our camp all day, therefore, Lord John busying himself, with such help
as we could give him, in raising the height and thickness of the thorny
walls which were our only defense. I remember that during the whole
long day I was haunted by the feeling that we were closely observed,
though by whom or whence I could give no guess.
So strong was the impression that I told Professor Challenger of it,
who put it down to the cerebral excitement caused by my fever. Again
and again I glanced round swiftly, with the conviction that I was about
to see something, but only to meet the dark tangle of our hedge or the
solemn and cavernous gloom of the great trees which arched above our
heads. And yet the feeling grew ever stronger in my own mind that
something observant and something malevolent was at our very elbow. I
thought of the Indian superstition of the Curupuri—the dreadful,
lurking spirit of the woods—and I could have imagined that his
terrible presence haunted those who had invaded his most remote and
sacred retreat.
That night (our third in Maple White Land) we had an experience which
left a fearful impression upon our minds, and made us thankful that
Lord John had worked so hard in making our retreat impregnable. We
were all sleeping round our dying fire when we were aroused—or,
rather, I should say, shot out of our slumbers—by a succession of the
most frightful cries and screams to which I have ever listened. I know
no sound to which I could compare this amazing tumult, which seemed to
come from some spot within a few hundred yards of our camp. It was as
ear-splitting as any whistle of a railway-engine; but whereas the
whistle is a clear, mechanical, sharp-edged sound, this was far deeper
in volume and vibrant with the uttermost strain of agony and horror.
We clapped our hands to our ears to shut out that nerve-shaking appeal.
A cold sweat broke out over my body, and my heart turned sick at the
misery of it. All the woes of tortured life, all its stupendous
indictment of high heaven, its innumerable sorrows, seemed to be
centered and condensed into that one dreadful, agonized cry. And then,
under this high-pitched, ringing sound there was another, more
intermittent, a low, deep-chested laugh, a growling, throaty gurgle of
merriment which formed a grotesque accompaniment to the shriek with
which it was blended. For three or four minutes on end the fearsome
duet continued, while all the foliage rustled with the rising of
startled birds. Then it shut off as suddenly as it began. For a long
time we sat in horrified silence. Then Lord John threw a bundle of
twigs upon the fire, and their red glare lit up the intent faces of my
companions and flickered over the great boughs above our heads.
"What was it?" I whispered.
"We shall know in the morning," said Lord John. "It was close to
us—not farther than the glade."
"We have been privileged to overhear a prehistoric tragedy, the sort of
drama which occurred among the reeds upon the border of some Jurassic
lagoon, when the greater dragon pinned the lesser among the slime,"
said Challenger, with more solemnity than I had ever heard in his
voice. "It was surely well for man that he came late in the order of
creation. There were powers abroad in earlier days which no courage
and no mechanism of his could have met. What could his sling, his
throwing-stick, or his arrow avail him against such forces as have been
loose to-night? Even with a modern rifle it would be all odds on the
monster."
"I think I should back my little friend," said Lord John, caressing his
Express. "But the beast would certainly have a good sporting chance."
Summerlee raised his hand.
"Hush!" he cried. "Surely I hear something?"
From the utter silence there emerged a deep, regular pat-pat. It was
the tread of some animal—the rhythm of soft but heavy pads placed
cautiously upon the ground. It stole slowly round the camp, and then
halted near our gateway. There was a low, sibilant rise and fall—the
breathing of the creature. Only our feeble hedge separated us from
this horror of the night. Each of us had seized his rifle, and Lord
John had pulled out a small bush to make an embrasure in the hedge.
"By George!" he whispered. "I think I can see it!"
I stooped and peered over his shoulder through the gap. Yes, I could
see it, too. In the deep shadow of the tree there was a deeper shadow
yet, black, inchoate, vague—a crouching form full of savage vigor and
menace. It was no higher than a horse, but the dim outline suggested
vast bulk and strength. That hissing pant, as regular and full-volumed
as the exhaust of an engine, spoke of a monstrous organism. Once, as
it moved, I thought I saw the glint of two terrible, greenish eyes.
There was an uneasy rustling, as if it were crawling slowly forward.
"I believe it is going to spring!" said I, cocking my rifle.
"Don't fire! Don't fire!" whispered Lord John. "The crash of a gun in
this silent night would be heard for miles. Keep it as a last card."
"If it gets over the hedge we're done," said Summerlee, and his voice
crackled into a nervous laugh as he spoke.
"No, it must not get over," cried Lord John; "but hold your fire to the
last. Perhaps I can make something of the fellow. I'll chance it,
anyhow."
It was as brave an act as ever I saw a man do. He stooped to the fire,
picked up a blazing branch, and slipped in an instant through a
sallyport which he had made in our gateway. The thing moved forward
with a dreadful snarl. Lord John never hesitated, but, running towards
it with a quick, light step, he dashed the flaming wood into the
brute's face. For one moment I had a vision of a horrible mask like a
giant toad's, of a warty, leprous skin, and of a loose mouth all
beslobbered with fresh blood. The next, there was a crash in the
underwood and our dreadful visitor was gone.
"I thought he wouldn't face the fire," said Lord John, laughing, as he
came back and threw his branch among the faggots.
"You should not have taken such a risk!" we all cried.
"There was nothin' else to be done. If he had got among us we should
have shot each other in tryin' to down him. On the other hand, if we
had fired through the hedge and wounded him he would soon have been on
the top of us—to say nothin' of giving ourselves away. On the whole,
I think that we are jolly well out of it. What was he, then?"
Our learned men looked at each other with some hesitation.
"Personally, I am unable to classify the creature with any certainty,"
said Summerlee, lighting his pipe from the fire.
"In refusing to commit yourself you are but showing a proper scientific
reserve," said Challenger, with massive condescension. "I am not
myself prepared to go farther than to say in general terms that we have
almost certainly been in contact to-night with some form of carnivorous
dinosaur. I have already expressed my anticipation that something of
the sort might exist upon this plateau."
"We have to bear in mind," remarked Summerlee, "that there are many
prehistoric forms which have never come down to us. It would be rash
to suppose that we can give a name to all that we are likely to meet."
"Exactly. A rough classification may be the best that we can attempt.
To-morrow some further evidence may help us to an identification.
Meantime we can only renew our interrupted slumbers."
"But not without a sentinel," said Lord John, with decision. "We can't
afford to take chances in a country like this. Two-hour spells in the
future, for each of us."
"Then I'll just finish my pipe in starting the first one," said
Professor Summerlee; and from that time onwards we never trusted
ourselves again without a watchman.
In the morning it was not long before we discovered the source of the
hideous uproar which had aroused us in the night. The iguanodon glade
was the scene of a horrible butchery. From the pools of blood and the
enormous lumps of flesh scattered in every direction over the green
sward we imagined at first that a number of animals had been killed,
but on examining the remains more closely we discovered that all this
carnage came from one of these unwieldy monsters, which had been
literally torn to pieces by some creature not larger, perhaps, but far
more ferocious, than itself.
Our two professors sat in absorbed argument, examining piece after
piece, which showed the marks of savage teeth and of enormous claws.
"Our judgment must still be in abeyance," said Professor Challenger,
with a huge slab of whitish-colored flesh across his knee. "The
indications would be consistent with the presence of a saber-toothed
tiger, such as are still found among the breccia of our caverns; but
the creature actually seen was undoubtedly of a larger and more
reptilian character. Personally, I should pronounce for allosaurus."
"Or megalosaurus," said Summerlee.
"Exactly. Any one of the larger carnivorous dinosaurs would meet the
case. Among them are to be found all the most terrible types of animal
life that have ever cursed the earth or blessed a museum." He laughed
sonorously at his own conceit, for, though he had little sense of
humor, the crudest pleasantry from his own lips moved him always to
roars of appreciation.
"The less noise the better," said Lord Roxton, curtly. "We don't know
who or what may be near us. If this fellah comes back for his
breakfast and catches us here we won't have so much to laugh at. By
the way, what is this mark upon the iguanodon's hide?"
On the dull, scaly, slate-colored skin somewhere above the shoulder,
there was a singular black circle of some substance which looked like
asphalt. None of us could suggest what it meant, though Summerlee was
of opinion that he had seen something similar upon one of the young
ones two days before. Challenger said nothing, but looked pompous and
puffy, as if he could if he would, so that finally Lord John asked his
opinion direct.
"If your lordship will graciously permit me to open my mouth, I shall
be happy to express my sentiments," said he, with elaborate sarcasm.
"I am not in the habit of being taken to task in the fashion which
seems to be customary with your lordship. I was not aware that it was
necessary to ask your permission before smiling at a harmless
pleasantry."
It was not until he had received his apology that our touchy friend
would suffer himself to be appeased. When at last his ruffled feelings
were at ease, he addressed us at some length from his seat upon a
fallen tree, speaking, as his habit was, as if he were imparting most
precious information to a class of a thousand.
"With regard to the marking," said he, "I am inclined to agree with my
friend and colleague, Professor Summerlee, that the stains are from
asphalt. As this plateau is, in its very nature, highly volcanic, and
as asphalt is a substance which one associates with Plutonic forces, I
cannot doubt that it exists in the free liquid state, and that the
creatures may have come in contact with it. A much more important
problem is the question as to the existence of the carnivorous monster
which has left its traces in this glade. We know roughly that this
plateau is not larger than an average English county. Within this
confined space a certain number of creatures, mostly types which have
passed away in the world below, have lived together for innumerable
years. Now, it is very clear to me that in so long a period one would
have expected that the carnivorous creatures, multiplying unchecked,
would have exhausted their food supply and have been compelled to
either modify their flesh-eating habits or die of hunger. This we see
has not been so. We can only imagine, therefore, that the balance of
Nature is preserved by some check which limits the numbers of these
ferocious creatures. One of the many interesting problems, therefore,
which await our solution is to discover what that check may be and how
it operates. I venture to trust that we may have some future
opportunity for the closer study of the carnivorous dinosaurs."
"And I venture to trust we may not," I observed.
The Professor only raised his great eyebrows, as the schoolmaster meets
the irrelevant observation of the naughty boy.
"Perhaps Professor Summerlee may have an observation to make," he said,
and the two savants ascended together into some rarefied scientific
atmosphere, where the possibilities of a modification of the birth-rate
were weighed against the decline of the food supply as a check in the
struggle for existence.
That morning we mapped out a small portion of the plateau, avoiding the
swamp of the pterodactyls, and keeping to the east of our brook instead
of to the west. In that direction the country was still thickly
wooded, with so much undergrowth that our progress was very slow.
I have dwelt up to now upon the terrors of Maple White Land; but there
was another side to the subject, for all that morning we wandered among
lovely flowers—mostly, as I observed, white or yellow in color, these
being, as our professors explained, the primitive flower-shades. In
many places the ground was absolutely covered with them, and as we
walked ankle-deep on that wonderful yielding carpet, the scent was
almost intoxicating in its sweetness and intensity. The homely English
bee buzzed everywhere around us. Many of the trees under which we
passed had their branches bowed down with fruit, some of which were of
familiar sorts, while other varieties were new. By observing which of
them were pecked by the birds we avoided all danger of poison and added
a delicious variety to our food reserve. In the jungle which we
traversed were numerous hard-trodden paths made by the wild beasts, and
in the more marshy places we saw a profusion of strange footmarks,
including many of the iguanodon. Once in a grove we observed several
of these great creatures grazing, and Lord John, with his glass, was
able to report that they also were spotted with asphalt, though in a
different place to the one which we had examined in the morning. What
this phenomenon meant we could not imagine.
We saw many small animals, such as porcupines, a scaly ant-eater, and a
wild pig, piebald in color and with long curved tusks. Once, through a
break in the trees, we saw a clear shoulder of green hill some distance
away, and across this a large dun-colored animal was traveling at a
considerable pace. It passed so swiftly that we were unable to say
what it was; but if it were a deer, as was claimed by Lord John, it
must have been as large as those monstrous Irish elk which are still
dug up from time to time in the bogs of my native land.
Ever since the mysterious visit which had been paid to our camp we
always returned to it with some misgivings. However, on this occasion
we found everything in order.
That evening we had a grand discussion upon our present situation and
future plans, which I must describe at some length, as it led to a new
departure by which we were enabled to gain a more complete knowledge of
Maple White Land than might have come in many weeks of exploring. It
was Summerlee who opened the debate. All day he had been querulous in
manner, and now some remark of Lord John's as to what we should do on
the morrow brought all his bitterness to a head.
"What we ought to be doing to-day, to-morrow, and all the time," said
he, "is finding some way out of the trap into which we have fallen.
You are all turning your brains towards getting into this country. I
say that we should be scheming how to get out of it."
"I am surprised, sir," boomed Challenger, stroking his majestic beard,
"that any man of science should commit himself to so ignoble a
sentiment. You are in a land which offers such an inducement to the
ambitious naturalist as none ever has since the world began, and you
suggest leaving it before we have acquired more than the most
superficial knowledge of it or of its contents. I expected better
things of you, Professor Summerlee."
"You must remember," said Summerlee, sourly, "that I have a large class
in London who are at present at the mercy of an extremely inefficient
locum tenens. This makes my situation different from yours, Professor
Challenger, since, so far as I know, you have never been entrusted with
any responsible educational work."
"Quite so," said Challenger. "I have felt it to be a sacrilege to
divert a brain which is capable of the highest original research to any
lesser object. That is why I have sternly set my face against any
proffered scholastic appointment."
"For example?" asked Summerlee, with a sneer; but Lord John hastened to
change the conversation.
"I must say," said he, "that I think it would be a mighty poor thing to
go back to London before I know a great deal more of this place than I
do at present."
"I could never dare to walk into the back office of my paper and face
old McArdle," said I. (You will excuse the frankness of this report,
will you not, sir?) "He'd never forgive me for leaving such
unexhausted copy behind me. Besides, so far as I can see it is not
worth discussing, since we can't get down, even if we wanted."
"Our young friend makes up for many obvious mental lacunae by some
measure of primitive common sense," remarked Challenger. "The
interests of his deplorable profession are immaterial to us; but, as he
observes, we cannot get down in any case, so it is a waste of energy to
discuss it."
"It is a waste of energy to do anything else," growled Summerlee from
behind his pipe. "Let me remind you that we came here upon a perfectly
definite mission, entrusted to us at the meeting of the Zoological
Institute in London. That mission was to test the truth of Professor
Challenger's statements. Those statements, as I am bound to admit, we
are now in a position to endorse. Our ostensible work is therefore
done. As to the detail which remains to be worked out upon this
plateau, it is so enormous that only a large expedition, with a very
special equipment, could hope to cope with it. Should we attempt to do
so ourselves, the only possible result must be that we shall never
return with the important contribution to science which we have already
gained. Professor Challenger has devised means for getting us on to
this plateau when it appeared to be inaccessible; I think that we
should now call upon him to use the same ingenuity in getting us back
to the world from which we came."
I confess that as Summerlee stated his view it struck me as altogether
reasonable. Even Challenger was affected by the consideration that his
enemies would never stand confuted if the confirmation of his
statements should never reach those who had doubted them.
"The problem of the descent is at first sight a formidable one," said
he, "and yet I cannot doubt that the intellect can solve it. I am
prepared to agree with our colleague that a protracted stay in Maple
White Land is at present inadvisable, and that the question of our
return will soon have to be faced. I absolutely refuse to leave,
however, until we have made at least a superficial examination of this
country, and are able to take back with us something in the nature of a
chart."
Professor Summerlee gave a snort of impatience.
"We have spent two long days in exploration," said he, "and we are no
wiser as to the actual geography of the place than when we started. It
is clear that it is all thickly wooded, and it would take months to
penetrate it and to learn the relations of one part to another. If
there were some central peak it would be different, but it all slopes
downwards, so far as we can see. The farther we go the less likely it
is that we will get any general view."
It was at that moment that I had my inspiration. My eyes chanced to
light upon the enormous gnarled trunk of the gingko tree which cast its
huge branches over us. Surely, if its bole exceeded that of all
others, its height must do the same. If the rim of the plateau was
indeed the highest point, then why should this mighty tree not prove to
be a watchtower which commanded the whole country? Now, ever since I
ran wild as a lad in Ireland I have been a bold and skilled
tree-climber. My comrades might be my masters on the rocks, but I knew
that I would be supreme among those branches. Could I only get my legs
on to the lowest of the giant off-shoots, then it would be strange
indeed if I could not make my way to the top. My comrades were
delighted at my idea.
"Our young friend," said Challenger, bunching up the red apples of his
cheeks, "is capable of acrobatic exertions which would be impossible to
a man of a more solid, though possibly of a more commanding,
appearance. I applaud his resolution."
"By George, young fellah, you've put your hand on it!" said Lord John,
clapping me on the back. "How we never came to think of it before I
can't imagine! There's not more than an hour of daylight left, but if
you take your notebook you may be able to get some rough sketch of the
place. If we put these three ammunition cases under the branch, I will
soon hoist you on to it."
He stood on the boxes while I faced the trunk, and was gently raising
me when Challenger sprang forward and gave me such a thrust with his
huge hand that he fairly shot me into the tree. With both arms
clasping the branch, I scrambled hard with my feet until I had worked,
first my body, and then my knees, onto it. There were three excellent
off-shoots, like huge rungs of a ladder, above my head, and a tangle of
convenient branches beyond, so that I clambered onwards with such speed
that I soon lost sight of the ground and had nothing but foliage
beneath me. Now and then I encountered a check, and once I had to shin
up a creeper for eight or ten feet, but I made excellent progress, and
the booming of Challenger's voice seemed to be a great distance beneath
me. The tree was, however, enormous, and, looking upwards, I could see
no thinning of the leaves above my head. There was some thick,
bush-like clump which seemed to be a parasite upon a branch up which I
was swarming. I leaned my head round it in order to see what was
beyond, and I nearly fell out of the tree in my surprise and horror at
what I saw.
A face was gazing into mine—at the distance of only a foot or two.
The creature that owned it had been crouching behind the parasite, and
had looked round it at the same instant that I did. It was a human
face—or at least it was far more human than any monkey's that I have
ever seen. It was long, whitish, and blotched with pimples, the nose
flattened, and the lower jaw projecting, with a bristle of coarse
whiskers round the chin. The eyes, which were under thick and heavy
brows, were *** and ferocious, and as it opened its mouth to snarl
what sounded like a curse at me I observed that it had curved, sharp
canine teeth. For an instant I read hatred and menace in the evil
eyes. Then, as quick as a flash, came an expression of overpowering
fear. There was a crash of broken boughs as it dived wildly down into
the tangle of green. I caught a glimpse of a hairy body like that of a
reddish pig, and then it was gone amid a swirl of leaves and branches.
"What's the matter?" shouted Roxton from below. "Anything wrong with
you?"
"Did you see it?" I cried, with my arms round the branch and all my
nerves tingling.
"We heard a row, as if your foot had slipped. What was it?"
I was so shocked at the sudden and strange appearance of this ape-man
that I hesitated whether I should not climb down again and tell my
experience to my companions. But I was already so far up the great
tree that it seemed a humiliation to return without having carried out
my mission.
After a long pause, therefore, to recover my breath and my courage, I
continued my ascent. Once I put my weight upon a rotten branch and
swung for a few seconds by my hands, but in the main it was all easy
climbing. Gradually the leaves thinned around me, and I was aware,
from the wind upon my face, that I had topped all the trees of the
forest. I was determined, however, not to look about me before I had
reached the very highest point, so I scrambled on until I had got so
far that the topmost branch was bending beneath my weight. There I
settled into a convenient fork, and, balancing myself securely, I found
myself looking down at a most wonderful panorama of this strange
country in which we found ourselves.
The sun was just above the western sky-line, and the evening was a
particularly bright and clear one, so that the whole extent of the
plateau was visible beneath me. It was, as seen from this height, of
an oval contour, with a breadth of about thirty miles and a width of
twenty. Its general shape was that of a shallow funnel, all the sides
sloping down to a considerable lake in the center. This lake may have
been ten miles in circumference, and lay very green and beautiful in
the evening light, with a thick fringe of reeds at its edges, and with
its surface broken by several yellow sandbanks, which gleamed golden in
the mellow sunshine. A number of long dark objects, which were too
large for alligators and too long for canoes, lay upon the edges of
these patches of sand. With my glass I could clearly see that they
were alive, but what their nature might be I could not imagine.
From the side of the plateau on which we were, slopes of woodland, with
occasional glades, stretched down for five or six miles to the central
lake. I could see at my very feet the glade of the iguanodons, and
farther off was a round opening in the trees which marked the swamp of
the pterodactyls. On the side facing me, however, the plateau
presented a very different aspect. There the basalt cliffs of the
outside were reproduced upon the inside, forming an escarpment about
two hundred feet high, with a *** slope beneath it. Along the base
of these red cliffs, some distance above the ground, I could see a
number of dark holes through the glass, which I conjectured to be the
mouths of caves. At the opening of one of these something white was
shimmering, but I was unable to make out what it was. I sat charting
the country until the sun had set and it was so dark that I could no
longer distinguish details. Then I climbed down to my companions
waiting for me so eagerly at the bottom of the great tree. For once I
was the hero of the expedition. Alone I had thought of it, and alone I
had done it; and here was the chart which would save us a month's blind
groping among unknown dangers. Each of them shook me solemnly by the
hand.
But before they discussed the details of my map I had to tell them of
my encounter with the ape-man among the branches.
"He has been there all the time," said I.
"How do you know that?" asked Lord John.
"Because I have never been without that feeling that something
malevolent was watching us. I mentioned it to you, Professor
Challenger."
"Our young friend certainly said something of the kind. He is also the
one among us who is endowed with that Celtic temperament which would
make him sensitive to such impressions."
"The whole theory of telepathy——" began Summerlee, filling his pipe.
"Is too vast to be now discussed," said Challenger, with decision.
"Tell me, now," he added, with the air of a bishop addressing a
Sunday-school, "did you happen to observe whether the creature could
cross its thumb over its palm?"
"No, indeed."
"Had it a tail?"
"No."
"Was the foot prehensile?"
"I do not think it could have made off so fast among the branches if it
could not get a grip with its feet."
"In South America there are, if my memory serves me—you will check the
observation, Professor Summerlee—some thirty-six species of monkeys,
but the anthropoid ape is unknown. It is clear, however, that he
exists in this country, and that he is not the hairy, gorilla-like
variety, which is never seen out of Africa or the East." (I was
inclined to interpolate, as I looked at him, that I had seen his first
cousin in Kensington.) "This is a whiskered and colorless type, the
latter characteristic pointing to the fact that he spends his days in
arboreal seclusion. The question which we have to face is whether he
approaches more closely to the ape or the man. In the latter case, he
may well approximate to what the vulgar have called the 'missing link.'
The solution of this problem is our immediate duty."
"It is nothing of the sort," said Summerlee, abruptly. "Now that,
through the intelligence and activity of Mr. Malone" (I cannot help
quoting the words), "we have got our chart, our one and only immediate
duty is to get ourselves safe and sound out of this awful place."
"The flesh-pots of civilization," groaned Challenger.
"The ink-pots of civilization, sir. It is our task to put on record
what we have seen, and to leave the further exploration to others. You
all agreed as much before Mr. Malone got us the chart."
"Well," said Challenger, "I admit that my mind will be more at ease
when I am assured that the result of our expedition has been conveyed
to our friends. How we are to get down from this place I have not as
yet an idea. I have never yet encountered any problem, however, which
my inventive brain was unable to solve, and I promise you that
to-morrow I will turn my attention to the question of our descent."
And so the matter was allowed to rest.
But that evening, by the light of the fire and of a single candle, the
first map of the lost world was elaborated. Every detail which I had
roughly noted from my watch-tower was drawn out in its relative place.
Challenger's pencil hovered over the great blank which marked the lake.
"What shall we call it?" he asked.
"Why should you not take the chance of perpetuating your own name?"
said Summerlee, with his usual touch of acidity.
"I trust, sir, that my name will have other and more personal claims
upon posterity," said Challenger, severely. "Any ignoramus can hand
down his worthless memory by imposing it upon a mountain or a river. I
need no such monument."
Summerlee, with a twisted smile, was about to make some fresh assault
when Lord John hastened to intervene.
"It's up to you, young fellah, to name the lake," said he. "You saw it
first, and, by George, if you choose to put 'Lake Malone' on it, no one
has a better right."
"By all means. Let our young friend give it a name," said Challenger.
"Then," said I, blushing, I dare say, as I said it, "let it be named
Lake Gladys."
"Don't you think the Central Lake would be more descriptive?" remarked
Summerlee.
"I should prefer Lake Gladys."
Challenger looked at me sympathetically, and shook his great head in
mock disapproval. "Boys will be boys," said he. "Lake Gladys let it
be."
End of Chapter XI �