U n i v e r si t y o f C a l i fo r n i a B e rk e l ey

Gi ft o f

T H E H E A R ST C O R P O R AT I O N
T H E L OS T WOR L D
an a ccoun t o f the rece n t a ma z n i g a dv e n tures o f

Pro fe ssor G eorge E C h a lle n ge r .

, Lord Jo h n Rox ton ,

Professor S um m e rle e , an d Mr . E D . M a l on e
o f th e D a i l y Ga z e tte .

A RT H U R C O NA N D OY L E

AU T HOR OF

a NX G E L ,
"
Tu x Wa rn s C O M P AN Y ,
"
R O D NE Y St o w s, &c
.
, a c.

H OD D E R A N D S T O U G H TON

LON D ON NE W Y O R ! T O R ON TO
T H E L OST WOR L D
Be in g an a cco un t o f t he r e ce n t a ma zin g a dv e n tures o f
Pro fe ssor Ge orge E C h a lle n ge r Lord .
, Jo h n Rox ton ,

Professor S u m m e rle e , an d Mr . E D . M a lon e

o f th e D a ily Gaz e t te .

A RT H U R C O NA N D OY L E

AU T H OR OF

a NI GE L ,
"
THE WH I TE C O M P A NY ,

R O D N EY SO
T NE , &c.
, &c .

H O D D E R A ND S T O U G H T ON
LON D ON NE W Y O R ! T O R ON T O
I w r ou g ht my si m p l e p l a n

If I giv e on e h ou r o f j o y
w ho s ha l f a m a n

To t h e b o y ,

Or t h e m a n w h o s h a l f a b oy

.
 FOREWORD
MR . E D M A L ON E desires to state tha t both the
. .

inj unction for restraint and the libel action have been
W ithdrawn unreservedly by P rofessor G E Chal . .

lenger w h o being satised that no criticism or

, ,

comment in this book i s meant in an offensive spirit ,

h a s guaranteed that he will place no impediment to

its publication and circulation Mr E D Malone . . . .

would wish also to express his gratitude to Mr .

P atrick L Forbes of Rosslyn Hill Hampstead for

.
, , ,

t h e skill and sympathy with which he has worked

up the sketches which were brought from South
Ame ri ca and also to Mr W Ransford of Elm Row
,
. .
, ,

Hampstead for his valuable expert help in dealing

,

with the photographs .

 CONT E NT S

CHA P TER I

THERE HER OI S M S A LL R OU N D US

CHA P TE R I I

TRY Y OUR L U C ! W I TH P R OF E SS OR C HA LL E N

CHA P TE R III

HE I S A P ER F E C T L Y I M P OSSI B L E P ER S ON

CHA P TER IV

J U ST V ERY B IGG EST TH I N G I N

IT S TH E THE

W OR L D
vi C ONTENTS

C HA P TE R V

! U ES T I ON

CHA P TER VI

I WA S TH E FLA I L OF T H E L ORD

CHA P TER VI I

TO- M ORR OW WE D I S A P P EAR I N T O T HE UN

! N OW N

CHA P TE R VI I I

TH E O UT LY IN G P I C ! ET S OF T H E NE W W OR LD

CHA P TER IX

WH O C O U L D HA V E F ORE S EE N IT 7

CHA P TER X

TH E M OS T W ON DER F U L TH I N G S HA V E HA P

P ENED

CHA P TER XI

FOR O NCE I WA S THE HER O

 C ONTENTS vii

CHA P TER XII

IT WA S DRE A D F U L I N TH E F ORE S T

CHA P TER XII I

A S IGHT W HI CH I S H ALL NE V ER F ORG E T

CHA P TER XIV

TH OSE W ER E T HE REA L C ON ! UE S T S

CHA P TER XV

OU R EY E S H AVE S EEN G R E AT W O ND ER S

CHA P TER XVI

A P R OGE S S I O N ! A P R O GE S S I O N !
 C HA P TER I
T HERE A RE H ER OI S M S A LL R OUN D U S .

M R H U N G ERTON her father really was the mos t

.
, ,

tactless person upon earth a u ffy feathery u n , ,

tidy cockatoo of a man perfectly good natured but

,
-
,

absolutely centred upon his own silly self If a n y .

thing could have driven me from Gladys it would ,

have been the thought of such a father i n law I - -

.

am convinced that he really believed in his heart

that I came round to the Chestnuts three days a
week for the pleasure of his company and very ,

especially to hear his V iews upon bimetallism a

subj ect upon which he was by w a y of being an
authority .

For an hour or more that evening I listened to

his monotonous chirrup about bad money driving
out good the token value of silver the depreciation
, ,

of the rupee and the true standards of exchange

, .

Suppose he cried with feeble violence

, , that ,

all the debts in the world W ere called up S imultan

e ou s l y and immediate payment insisted upon .

What under our present conditions would happen

, ,

then
I gave the self evident answer that I sho u ld be a
-
I O THE LOST WORLD
ruined man upon which he j umped from his chair
, ,

reproved me for my habitual levity which made it ,

impossible for him to discuss any reasonable subj ect

in my presence and bounced off out of the room to
,

dress for a Masonic meeting .

At last I was alone with Gladys and the moment ,

of fate had come All that evening I had felt like

the soldier w h o awaits the S ignal whi ch will send
him on a forlorn h Op e hope of V ictory and fear of
,

repulse alternating in his mind .

She s a t with that proud delica t e prole of hers

,

outlined against the red curtain How beautiful .

s h e was And yet how aloof We had been friends ,

quite good friends ; but never could I ge t beyond

t he same comradeship which I might have established
with one of my fellow reporters upon the Ga zette
-

perfectly frank perfectly kindly and perfectly u n

, ,

sexual My instinc t s are all against a woman being

.

too frank and at her ease with me It is no com .

p l i m e n t to a man .Where the real s ex feeling begin s ,

timidity and distrust are its companions heritage ,

from old W icked days when love and V iolence went

often hand in hand The bent head the averted
.
,

eye the faltering voice the wincing g u r e these

, ,
,

and n ot the unshrinking gaze and frank reply are ,

the true signals of passion Even in my short life I

.

had learned as much as that or had inherited it in
that race memory which we cal l instinct
-
.

Gladys w a s full of every womanly quali t y Som e .

j udged her to b e cold and hard but such a thought ,

 THERE ARE HEROISMS ALL ROUND US I I

was treason That delicately bronzed skin alm o st

.
-
,

Oriental in its colouring that raven hair the large , ,

liquid eyes the full but exquisite lips all the
,

stigmata of passion were there But I w a s sa dl y .

conscious that up to now I had never found the

secret of drawing it forth However come what .
,

might I should have done with suspense and bring

,

matters to a head to nig ht She could but refuse -

.

me and better be a repulsed lover than an accepted

,

brother .

So far my thoughts had carried me and I w a s ,

about to break the long and uneasy silence when

t w o critical dark eyes looked round at me and the ,

proud head w a s Shaken in smiling reproof .

I have a presentiment that you are going to

propose Ned I do wish you wouldn t for things
, .

are so much nicer as they are .

I drew my chair a little nearer .

Now how did you know that I was going to

,

propose P I asked in genuine wonder , .

D on t women always know ? D O you suppose

any woman in the world was ever taken unawares

But oh Ned our friendship has been s o good and
, , ,

so pleasant What a pity to spoil it Don t you

feel how splendid it is that a young man and a young

woman should be able to talk face to fa c e as we have
talked

I don t know Gladys You s ee I ca n talk face
, .
,

to face with with the station master
I can t -
.

imagine h ow that o fcial came into the matter but ,

12 THE LOST WORLD
in he t rotted and se t us both laughing That doe s .

not satisfy me in the least I want my arms round .

you and your head on my breast and oh Gladys I , , , ,

want
She had sprung from her chair a s sh e saw signs
that I proposed to demonstrate some of my wants .

You ve spoiled everything Ned

sh e said , , .

It s all s o beautiful and natural until this kind of

thing comes in It is such a pity Why can t you
. .

control yourself P
I didn t inven t it I pleaded

It s nature
, .

.

It s love .

Well perhaps if b oth love it may be di fferent

, .

I have never felt i t .

But you must you with your beauty with , ,

your soul ! Oh Gladys you were made for love !

, ,

You must love 1

One must wai t t ill it comes .

But w h y c an t you love me Gladys Is i t my

appe arance or what i ,

She did unbend a little She put forward a hand .

su c h a gracious stooping attitude it w a s and

,
-

S h e pressed back my head Then S h e looked into .

my upturned face with a very wistful smile

No it isn t that she said at last
, ,
You re .

not a co nceited boy by nature and so I can safely ,

tell you that it is not that I t s deeper . .

My character P
She n o dded severely .

What can I do to mend i t D o sit down and

 THERE ARE HE ROISMS ALL ROUND US 13

talk it over No really I won t if you ll o nly s i t
.
, ,

down
She looked at me with a wondering distrust which
was much more to my mind than her whole hearted
condence How primitive and bestial it looks when
.

you put it down in black and white I And perhaps

after all it is only a feeling peculiar to myself Any .

how s h e S a t down
,
.

Now tell me what s amiss with me
I m in love with somebody else said s h e

, .

It was my turn to j ump out of my chair .

It s nobody in particular s h e explained laugh

, ,

ing at the expression of my face only an ideal , .

I ve never met the kind of man I mean

.

Tell me about him What does he look like P .

Oh he might look very much like you

, .

How dear of you to say that Well what is it ,

that he does that I don t do P Just say the word

teetotal vegetarian aeronaut Theosophist Super

, , , ,

man I ll have a try at it Gladys if you will only

, ,

give me an idea what woul d please you .

She laughed at the elasticity of my character .

Well in the r st place I don t think my ideal w o uld

, ,

speak like that said S he He would be a harder
,
.
,

sterner man no t so ready to adopt himself t o a S illy

,

girl s whim But above all he must be a man wh o
.

could do w h o co ul d ac t w h o would look D eath in

, ,

the face and have no fear of him a man of great
deeds and strange experienc e s It i s never a man .

that I should lov e bu t always the glories he had ,

x4 TH E LOST WORLD
w o n for the y would b e re ected up o n me Thin k of
, .

Richard Bur t on When I read his wife s life of him

I could s o understand her love And Lady Stanley .

Did you ever read the wonderful last chapter of tha t

book a b out her husband ? These are the sort of
men that a woman could worship with all her soul
and yet be the greater not the less on account of , ,

her love honoured by all the world as the inspirer of

,

noble deeds .

She looked so b eautiful in her en t husiasm t hat I

nearly brought down the whole level of the in t erview .

I gripped myself hard and went on with the argu ,

ment .

We can t all b e Stanleys and Bur t ons said I , .

Besides we don t get the chance a t leas t I never
, ,

had the chance If I did I should t ry to take it

. .

But chances are all around you It is the mark .

of the kind of man I mean that he makes his own

chances You can t hold him back I ve never
. .

met him and yet I seem to know him so well There

, .

are heroisms all round us waiting to be done It s .

for men to do t hem and for women t o reserve t heir

,

love as a reward for such men L o ok a t that young .

Frenchman w h o went up last week in a b alloon It .

was blowing a gale of wind but because he w as ,

announced to go he insisted on s t ar t ing The wind .

blew him one thousand ve hundred miles in t wen t y

four hours and he fell in the middle of Russia
, .

That w a s the kind of man I mean Think of t he .

woman he loved and how other women must have

,
 THERE ARE HEROISMS ALL ROUND US xs

envied her ! That s what I should liketo b e

envied for my man .

I d have done it to please you .

But you shouldn t do it merely to please me .

You should do it because you can t help it because ,

i t s natural to you because the man in you is

crying out for heroic expression Now when you .

,

described the Wigan coal explosion last month ,

c ould you not have gone down and helped those

people in S pite of the choke damp
,
-
.

I did .

You never said s o .

There was nothing worth bucking about .

I didn t know She looked at me with rather
.

more interest That was brave of you

. .

I had to If you want to write good copy you

.

must be where the things are .

What a prosaic motive ! It seems to take all

the romance out of it But still whatever your .
,

motive I am glad that you went down that mine
, .

She gave me her hand but with such sweetne s s and ,

dignity that I could only stoop and kiss it I dare .

say I am merely a foolish woman with a young girl s

fancies And yet it is s o real with me s o entirely

.
,

part of my very self that I cannot help acting upon

,

it If I marry I do want to marry a famous man
, .

Why should you not P I cried It is women .

like you w h o brace men up Give me a chance and .

s e e if I will take it Besides as you s a y men ought , ,

to m a k e their own chances and not wait until they ,

16 THE LOST WORLD
are given .

Look at Clive j ust a clerk
and b e ,

conquered India By George I I ll do something
.

in the world yet 1

She laughed at my sudden Irish e ffervescence .

Why not P S he said You have everything

.

a man could have youth health strength educa , , ,

tion energy I was sorry you spoke And now I

, . .

am glad s o glad i f it wakens these thoughts in
you .

And if I do 9

Her hand rested like warm velvet upon my lips .

Not another word s i r You should have been

, .

at the o fce for evening duty half an hour ago only ,

I hadn t the hear t to remind you Some day per

.
,

haps when y o u have won your place in the world

, ,

we shall talk it over again .

And so it w a s that I found myself tha t f oggy

November evening pursuing the Camberwell tram
with my heart glowing wi t hin me and wi t h the eager ,

determination that no t ano t her da y should elapse

before I should nd some deed whi c h was worthy o f
my lady But w h o in all this wide world c o uld ever
.

have imagined the incredible shape which t ha t deed

w a s to take or the strange s t eps b y whi ch I was led
,

to t he d o ing of it P
A nd a f ter all this op e n i ng c hapter w ill s e em to t h e
, ,

reader t o have no t hing to do wi th my narrative ;

and ye t t here would hav e been no narra t ive w ithou t
it for i t is only when a man go e s out in t o the w o rld
,

wi t h the t hough t t ha t th e re are her o ism s al l r o und

 THERE AR E HEROISMS A LL ROUND Us I 7
him and with the desire all alive in his heart to
,

follow any which may come within S ight of him ,

that he breaks away as I did from the life he knows ,

and ventures forth into the wonderfu l mystic t wi

light land where lie the great adven t ures and the
great rewards Behold me then at the Ofce of the
.
, ,

D a i l y Ga zette on the sta ff of which I w a s a most

,

insignicant unit with the settled determination

,

that very night if possible to nd the quest which

, ,

should be worthy of my Gladys Was it hardness ,

was it selshness that s h e should ask me to risk my

,

life for her own glorication ? Such thoughts may

come to middle age but never to arden t t h ree and
,
-

twenty in the fe v er o f his rst l o ve .

 C HA P TE R I I
TRY Y OUR LU C ! WI TH P R OF E SS OR CHA LL ENGER .

I AL WA Y S liked McAr dl e the crabbed old round , ,

backed red headed news editor and I rather hoped

,
-
,

tha t he liked me Of c ourse Beaumont was the real

.
,

b oss bu t he lived in the rareed atm o sphere of some

,

Olympian height from which he co uld distinguish

nothing smaller than an international c risis o r a S plit
in t he C abine t Sometimes we saw him passing in
.

lonely maj esty t o his inner sanctum with his eyes

staring vaguely and his mind hovering o ver the
B alkans or the P ersian Gulf He was above and .

beyond us B u t M cAr d l e was his rst lieutenan t

.
,

and it was he that we knew The Ol d man nodded .

as I en t ered the room and he pushed his spectacles ,

far up on his bald forehead .

Well Mr Malone from all I hear you seem t o

,
.
, ,

b e doing v ery well said he in his kindly Sc otc h , ,

accen t .

I thanked him .

The colliery explosion was ex c ellen t So was .

t he Southwark re You have the true d e scr e ep t i v e

.

touch What did you wan t t o s e e me about

.
P

To ask a favour .
 TRY YOUR LUCK 19

He looked alarmed and his eyes shunned mine .

Tut ! tut ! What is it P

D o you think s i r that you could possibly send me
, ,

on some mission for the paper ? I would do my best

to put it through and get you some good cop y .

What sort of a m ees i on had you in your mind ,

Mr Malone ?
.

Well s i r anything that had adventure and

, ,

danger in it I would really do my very best The

. .

more d i i cu l t it w a s the better it would suit me .

You seem very anxious to lose your life .

To j ustify my life s i r .

Dear me Mr Malone this i s very very exalted

,
.
,
.

I m afraid the day for this sort of thing is rather past

.

The expense of the special m e es i on business hardly

j usties the result and of course in any case it
, , ,

would only be an experienced man with a name that

would command publi c condence w h o would get
such an order The big blank spaces in the map are
.

a l l being l led in and there s no room for romance
,

anywhere Wait a bit though

. he added with a
, ,

sudden smile upon h i s face Talking of the blank .

S pa c es of the map gives me an idea What about

.

exposing a fraud a modern Munchausen and

making him d r i e e cu l ou s P You could show him up
as the liar that he is Eh man i t would be ne , , .

How does it appeal to you P

Anything anywhere I care nothing .

M cAr dl e was plunged in thought for some minutes .

I wonder whether you could get on friendly

20 THE L OST WORLD
o r a t leas t on t al king terms with t he fellow he said , ,

a t last. You seem to have a sort of genius for

establishing relations with people s e e m p a t h y I ,

suppose or animal magnetism or youthful vitality

, , ,

or something I am conscious of it myself
. .

You are very good s i r , .

So why should you no t t ry your luck with P r o

fess or Challenger of Enmore P ark P ,

I dare say I looked a little startled .

C hallenger I cried P rofessor Challenger .

,

t he famous zoologist Wasn t he the man who broke

the skull of Blundell of the Tel egr a gh P , .

The news editor sm i led grimly .

D o you mind P Didn t you say i t was a d v e n

t ures you were after P

It is all in the way of business sir I answered , ,
.

Exactly I don t suppose he can always be so
.

v iolent as that I m t hinking that B lundell go t him

.

at t he wrong moment maybe or in the wrong fashion , , .

You may have b etter luck or more tact in handling ,

him There s some t hing in your line there I am

.

,

sure and the Ga zette sh o uld work it

, .

I really know no t hing about him said I I , .

o nly remember his name in connection with the police

court proceedings for striking B lundell ,
.

I have a few no t es for your guidance Mr Malone , . .

I ve had my eye on t he P r o fess o r for some li tt le time

.

He took a paper from a drawer Here is a sum .

mary of his record I give it you briey .

Challenger George Edward B or n

,
Largs .
,
 TRY YOUR LUCK 21

N B 1 8 63 E d u c
. .
,
Largs Acad e my
. Edinburgh
.

University British Museum Assistant 1 8 9 2 A s

.
,
.

s i s t a n t Keeper of Comparative Anthropology De

-

p a r t m e n t 1 8 93 ,
Resigned after acrimonious
. Corres
p on d en c e same year Winner of Cr a y s t on Medal .

for Zoological Research Foreign Member of .

well quite a lot of things about two inches Of sm a ll

, ,

type Soci t Belge American Academy of Sciences , ,

La P lata etc etc Ex P resident P al aeontological

,
.
,
.
-

Society Section H British Association

.
s o on, ,

s o on P u bl i ca ti on s Some Observations Upon

a Series of Kalmuck Skulls Outlines of Verte
brate Evolution and numerous papers including ,

The Underlying Fallacy of We i ss m a n n i s m which

,

caused heated discussion at the Zoological Congress

of Vienna R ecr ea ti on s Walking Alpine climbing
.
,
.

A d d r es s

Enmore P ark Kensington W , ,
.

There take it with you I ve nothing more f o r

, .

you to night -
.

I pocketed the slip of paper .

One moment s i r I said as I realized that it
, , ,

was a pink bald head and not a red face which was , ,

fronting me I am no t very clear yet W hy I am

.

to interview this gentleman What has he done P .

The face ashed back again .

Went to South America on a s ol i t a r y e x p e d e et i on

two years ago Came back last year Had undoubt . .

e dl y been to South America but refused to say exactly ,

where Began to tell his adventures in a vague way

.
,

but somebody star t ed t o pick holes and he j us t shut ,

22 THE LOST WOR L D
up like an oys t er Something wonderful happened
.

Or the man s a champion liar which is the more

,

probable s u p p os e e t i on Had some damaged photo

.

g raphs said,
to be fakes Got s o touchy that.he
assaul ts anyone who asks questions and heaves ,

reporters doun the stairs In my Opinion h e s j ust .

a homicidal megalomaniac with a turn for science .

That s your man Mr Malone Now off you run

,
. .
, ,

and s e e what you ca n make of him You re big .

enough t o look aft er yourself Anyway you are all .

,

safe Employers Liab i lity Act you know
.

,
.

A grinning red face turned once more in t o a pin k

oval fringed with gingery u ff the in t erview was
,

at an end .

I walked across to the Savage Club b u t ins t ead ,

of turning into it I leaned upon the railings o f Adelphi

Terrace and gazed thoughtfully for a long time at the
brown oily river I ca n always think most sanely
,
.

and clearly in the Open a i r I took ou t the lis t o f .

P rofessor Challenger s exploits and I read it over

,

under the electric lamp Then I had wha t I ca n .

only regard as an inspiration As a P ressman I .

,

felt sure from what I had been told that I co ul d never

hope t o get in t o touch with this cantankerous
P rofessor But these recriminations t wice men
.
,

t i on e d in his skeleton biography could only mean ,

that he was a fanatic in science Was there not an .

exposed margin there upon which he might be

a c cessible P I would try .

I en t ered the club It was j us t a ft er eleven and

.
,
 TR Y YOUR LUCK 23

the big room was fairly ful l though the rush had not ,

yet s e t in I noticed a tall thin angular man seated

.
, ,

in an arm chair by the re He turned as I drew my

-
.

chair up to him It w a s the man Of all others whom

.

I should have chosen Tarp Henry of the staff of ,

Na tu r e a thin dry leathery creature who was full

, , , , ,

to those who knew him of kindly humanity I , .

plunged instantly into my subj ect .

What do you know of P rofessor Challenger P

Challenger P He gathered his brows in s e ien
t i c disapproval Challenger was the man who c ame
.

with some cock and bull story from South Ameri c a
- -
.

What story P
Oh it was rank nonsense a b ou t some queer
,

animals he had discovered I believe he has retra e .

ted since Anyhow he has suppressed it all He

.
, .

gave an interview to Reuter s and there was such a ,

howl that he s a w it wouldn t do It was a discredi .

table business There were one or two folk who

.

were inclined to take him seriously bu t he soon ,

choke d them off .

How P
Well by his insuffera b le rudeness and impossible
,

behaviour There was poor old Wadley of the

.
,

Zoological Institute Wadley sent a message .

The P resident of the Zoological Institute presen t s

his compliments to P rofessor Challenger and wo ul d ,

take it as a personal favour if he would do them the

honour to c ome to their nex t meeting The an s wer .

was unprintable .
24 THE LOST WORLD

Y o u don t say P
Well a b owdlerized version of it wo ul d run
,

P rofessor Challenger presen t s his complimen t s to

the P residen t of the Zoological Institute and would ,

take it as a personal favour if he would go t o the

devil .

Good Lord
Yes I expect that s wha t old Wa d ley said I
,

.

remember his wail at the mee t ing which began ,

In fty years experience of scientic intercourse

I t quite br o ke the old man up .

Anything more about Challenger P

Well I m a bacteriologis t you kn o w I live in
, ,
.

a nine hundred diameter microscope I c an hardly

- -
.

claim t o t ake serious no t ice of anything that I ca n

see with my naked eye I m a frontiersman from .

t he extreme edge of t he Knowable and I feel quite ,

o u t of pla c e when I leave my s t udy and come into

t ouch wi t h all you great r o ugh hu lking crea t ures
, , .

I m to o detached to t alk scandal and yet at scien t ic

,

conversazi o nes I h a v e heard something of Challenger ,

for he is one of t hose men wh o m no b ody ca n ignore .

He s as clever as t hey make em a full c harged

-

ba tt ery of for c e and vi t ali t y bu t a quarrelsome il l, ,

co nditioned faddist and uns cr upul ous a t that He

,
.

had gone t he leng t h o f faking some photographs

over t he S o u t h American b usine s s .

You say he is a faddis t Wha t is his particular .

fad P
He has a th o usand b u t t he la t es t is s o me t hing
,
 TR Y YOUR LUCK 25

about Weissmann and Evolution He had a fearful

r ow about it in Vienna I believe ,
.

Can t you tell me the point P

Not at the moment but a translation of the ,

pr o ceedings exists We have it l ed at the Ofce

. .

Would you c are to come P

It s j ust what I want I have to interview t he

.

fellow and I need some lead up to him It s really
,
.

awfully good of you to give me a lift I ll go with .

you now if it is not too late

,
.

H al f an hour later I w a s seated in the newspaper

o f c e with a huge tome in front of me which had been ,

opened at the article Weissmann v er s u s Darwin ,

with the su b heading -

Spirited P rotest at Vienna
, .

Lively P roceedings My scientic education having

.

been somewhat neglected I w a s unable to follow the ,

whole argument but it was evident that the English

,

P rofessor had handled his subj ect in a very aggressive

fashion and had thoroughly annoyed his Continental
,

c olleagues P rotests
. Uproar and General
, ,

appeal to the Chairman were three of the rst

brackets which caught my eye Most of the matter .

might have been written in Chinese for any denite

meaning t hat it conveyed to my brain .

I wish you could translate it into English for

me I said pathetically to my help mate
, , ,
-
.

Well it is a translation
, .

Then I d better try my luck with the original .

It i s c ertainly rather deep for a laym an .
26 THE LOST WORLD
I f I could o nly ge t a single g o od mea ty sen t en c e,

which seemed t o c onvey some sort of denite human

idea i t would serve my turn Ah yes this one wi ll
, .
, ,

do I seem in a vague way almost to unders t and i t

. .

I ll copy it out This S hall b e my link with the
terrible P rofessor .

Nothing else I can do P

Well yes ,
I propose to wri t e t o him I f I .

co uld frame the let t er here and use your address it

, ,

would give atmosphere .

We ll have t he fell o w round here mak i ng a row

and breaking the furniture .

No no ; you ll see t he le tt er n ot hing con t en
,

tious I assure you

, .

Well tha t s my chair and des k You ll nd
, .

paper there I d like t o censor it b efore it goes
. .

I t took some doing bu t I at t er myself t ha t i t

,

wasn t such a bad j ob when i t was nished I read

.

i t aloud to the critical bacteriol o gist wi t h so me prid e

in my handiw o rk .

D EA R P R OF E S S OR CH ALL ENGER i t said As , .

a humble student of Nature I have always taken t he ,

m o st profound interest in your speculations as to t h e

di fferences between Darwin and Weissmann I have .

recently had occasion to refresh my memory by r e

reading
You infernal liar l murmured Tarp Hen r y .

by r e reading your masterly address a t

-

V i enna That lu c id and admirable statemen t seems

.
 TR Y YOUR LUCK 27

to be the last word in the matter There is one .

sentence in it however namely ,
I protest strongly
against the insu fferable and entirely dogmatic asser
tion that each separate i d is a microcosm possessed
of an historical architecture elaborated slowly

through the series of generations Have you no .

desire in V iew of later research to modify this state

, ,

ment P Do you not think that it is over accentuated P -

With your permission I would ask the favour of an

,

interview as I feel strongly upon the subj ect and

, ,

have certain suggestions which I could onl y elaborate

in a personal conversation With your consent I .
,

t rust to have the honour of call ing at eleven O clo c k

the day after to m o rrow (Wednesday! morning

-
.

I remain Sir with assurances of profound

, ,

respe ct yours very truly

, ,

E D W A RD D M AL ONE . .

How s that P I asked triumphantly

, .

Well if your conscience can stand it

,

It has never failed me yet .

But What do you mean to do P

To get there Once I am in his room I may see
.

some opening I may even go the length of open

.

confession If he is a sportsman he will be tickled
. .

Tickled indeed He s much more likely to do
,

the tickling Chain mail or an American football

.
,

suit that s what you ll want Well good bye I ll

.
,
-
.

have the answer for you here on Wednesday morning

i i he ever deigns to answer you He is a violent .
28 THE LOST WORLD
dangerous cantankerous chara c ter hated b y every
, ,

one who c omes across him and the butt of the s t u

,

dents S O far as they dare take a liberty with him

, .

P erhaps it would be best for you if you never heard

fr o m the fellow at all
.
 CHA P TE R I I I
HE I S A P ER F E CTL Y I M P OSSI B L E P ER S ON .

MY friend s fear or hope was not destined to be

realized When I called on Wednesday there was

.

a letter with the West Kensington postmark upon it ,

and my name scrawled across the envelope in a hand

writing which looked like a barbed wire railing The
-
.

contents were as follows

Enmore P ark W , .

SIR
, I have duly received your note in which
-
,

you claim to endorse my views although I am not

,

aware that they are dependent upon endorsemen t

either from you or anyone else You have ventured
.

to use the word speculation with regard to my

s tatement upon the subj ect of Darwinism and I ,

would call your attention to the fact that such a word

in such a connection is o ffensive to a degree The .

context convinces me however that you have sinned

, ,

rather through ignorance and tactlessness than

through malice s o I am content to pass the matter by
, .

You quote an isolated sentence from my lecture and ,

appear to have some di fculty in understanding it .

I should have thought that only a sub human -

29
3 0 TH E LOST WORLD
intelligen c e co uld have failed to grasp the point but ,

i f i t reall y needs amplication I shall consent to see you

a t t he hour named though visits and visit o rs of every
,

sor t are exceedingly distasteful to me As to your .

suggestion tha t I may modify my Opinion I w o uld ,

have you know that it is not my habit t o do s o after

a deliberate expression of my ma t ure views You .

will kindly S how t he envelope of this letter t o my

man Austin when you call as he has to take every
, , ,

precaution to shield me from the intrusive rascals

who c all themsel v es j ournalists .

Yours faithfu lly .

G E ORGE E D WA R D CH ALL ENGE R .

This was the le t ter t ha t I read aloud t o Tarp Henry ,

who had come down early t o hear the result of my

venture His only remark was
. There s some n ew ,

stu ff cu t i cu r a or something which is better than

, ,

arni c a . Some people have such extraordinary
n o ti o ns of humour .

I t was nearly half past ten before I had re c eived

-

my message but a taxicab took me r o und in good

,

t ime for my appointmen t It was an imposing .

p o rti c oed house at which we stopped and the heavil y ,

c urtained windows gave every indicati o n of wealth

upon the part of this formidable P rofessor The .

door was opened by an odd swarth y dried u p person

, ,
-

of un c e rtain age with a dark pilot j acket and brown

,

leather gai t ers I f ound afterwards that he was the

.

c hau ffeur who lled the gaps left by a succession of

,
 HE IS P ERFECTLY IM P OSSIBLE 31

fugitive butlers He looked me up and down with a

.

searching light blue eye .

Expected P he asked .

An appointment .

Go t your letter P
I produced the envelope .

Right He seemed to be a person of few

words F ol l ow i n g him down the passage I was
.

suddenly interrupted by a small woman who stepped ,

out from what proved to be the dining room door -

.

She was a bright vivacious dark eyed lady more

, ,
-
,

Fren c h than English in her typ e .

One moment she said ,You c an wai t Austin .
, .

Step in here sir May I ask if you have met my

,
.

husband before P
No madam I have not had the honour
, ,
.

Then I apologize to you in advance I must t ell .

you that he is a perfectly impossible person a b s o

l u t el y impossible If you are forewarned you will
.

be the more ready to make allowances .

It is most considerate of you madam , .

Get quickly out of the room if he seems inclin ed

to be violent D on t wait to argu e with him
. .

Several people have been inj ured through doing

that Afterwards there is a publi c scandal and it
.
,

reects upon me and all of us I suppose it wasn t .

about South America you wanted to see him P

I could not lie to a lady .

Dear me I That is his most dangerous subj ect

.

You won t believe a word he says I m sure I don t

 32 THE LOST WORLD
w o nder B ut don t tell him so for it makes him
.

v ery V iolen t P retend to believe him and y o u ma y

.
,

ge t thr o ugh all right Remember he believes i t

.

himself Of that you may be assured A more

. .

honest man never lived Don t wai t an y longer or

.

he may suspe c t If you nd him dangerous really

.


dangerous ring the bell and hold him off until I
come Even a t his worst I can usually c ontrol him
. .

With these encouraging words the lady handed me

o ver t o t he taciturn Austin w h o had wai t ed like a
,

br o nze s t a t ue of dis c retion during our sh o rt in t er

view and I was c onduc t ed t o the end of t he passage
,
.

There was a t ap at a door a bull s bellow from ,

within and I was fa c e t o fa c e with the P rofessor

,
.

He sa t in a ro t a t ing chair behind a b road t able ,

whi c h was co v ered wi t h books maps and diagram s , , .

As I en t ered his sea t spun round to face me His

,
.

appearan c e made me gasp I was prepared f o r .

some t hing strange bu t no t for so overpowering a

,

personality as this It was his si z e which to ok one s
.

b rea t h away his si z e and his imposing presen c e .

His head was enormous the larges t I have ever seen

,

upon a human b eing I am sure t hat his t op ha t

.
-
,

had I ever ven t ured t o don i t would have slipped ,

over me entirely and res t ed on my shoulders He .

had the fa c e and beard which I associate with an

Assyrian bull the former orid the latter so blac k ,

as almo st to ha v e a suspicion of blue spade shaped ,

-

and rippling down over his ches t The hair was .

peculiar plas t ered down in front in a long c urv ing

, ,
 HE I S P ERFECTLY IM P OSSIBLE 33
w isp o ver h i s massive forehead The eyes were .

blue grey under great black tufts very clear very

-
, ,

c ritical and very mas t erfu l A huge S pread o f

,
.

sho ul ders and a ches t like a barrel were the other

parts of him which appeared above the table save ,

for two enormous hands c o vered with long black

hair This and a bellowing roaring rumbl ing voi c e
.
, ,

made up my rs t impressi o n Of the no t orious P r o

fessor Challenger .

Well ? said he wi t h a mos t in solen t s t are
, .

Wha t now P
I must keep up my de c ep t i o n for a t leas t a li t tle
t ime longer o therwise here was evidently an end of
,

t he in t erview .

You were good enough to give me an app o in t

ment S ir said I humbly producing his envelope
, , , , .

He t oo k my le tt er from his desk and laid i t ou t

b efore him .

Oh you are t he young person who cannot
,

unders t and plain English are you ? My general ,

conclusions you are g oo d en o ugh t o approve as I ,

understand P
Entirely s i r en t irely,
I was very empha t i c .

D ear me ! Tha t s t rengt hens my p o si t ion very

much does i t no t ? Y o ur age and appearance
,

make your suppor t doub ly valuable Well at leas t .

,

you are be t ter t han that herd of swine in Vienna ,

whose gregari o us grun t is however not more o ffen, ,

sive than the isola t ed effor t of the B ri t ish hog He .

glared a t me as the present representative o f t he beas t .

34 TH E LOST WO RLD
They s eem t o have b ehaved a bo minab ly ,

said I .

I assure you t ha t I ca n ght my o wn battles ,

and t hat I ha v e no po s sible need of your sympa t hy .

P u t me al o ne s i r and wi t h my back to the wall

, ,
.

G E C is happies t then Well s i r let us d o wha t we

. . . .
, ,

ca n t o c ur t a i l this visi t whi c h ca n hardly b e agree ,

a b le t o y o u and is i n ex p r ess i bl y i r k s om e to me Y o u
,
.

had as I ha v e been led t o believe some c omments

, ,

to ma k e up o n t he prop o si t i o n whi c h I advan c ed in

m y t hes is .

There wa s a b ru t al direc t nes s a b ou t his me t hods

whi c h made evasi o n di fcul t I mus t s t ill make .

play and wai t for a be t ter Opening It had seemed .

s imple en o ugh at a distance Oh my Irish wits .

, ,

c ould they no t help me now when I needed help s o ,

s o rely ? He transxed me with t w o sharp s t eely ,

eyes C ome come

. he rumbled
,
.

I am of course a mere student said I with a

, , , ,

fa t uous smile hardly more I migh t say t han an

, , ,

earnes t inquirer At t he same time i t seemed t o me

.
,

tha t you were a little severe upon Weissmann in t his

ma tt er Has no t t he general eviden c e since that
.

da t e t ended to well to strengthen h i s posi t ion P ,

What eviden c e P He sp o ke with a menacing

c alm .

Well o f course I am aware that there is not any

, ,

what you might c al l d en i te evidence I alluded .

merely to the trend of modern thought and the general

scientic point of view if I mi g ht so express it , .
 HE I S P ERFECTLY IM P OSS IBLE 35

He leaned forward wi t h great earnestness .

I suppose you are aware said he c hecking off , ,

p o in t s upon his ngers that the c ranial index is a

,

constant factor P
Na t urally said I , .

And that telegony is still s u b j u d i ce P

'

Undoubtedly .

And that the germ plasm is di fferen t from the

parthenogenetic egg P
Why surely ! I c ried and gloried in my ow n
, ,

audacity .

B u t what does that pr ov e P he asked in a ,

gen t le persuasive voice

, .

A h what indeed P
, I murmured Wha t d o es .

it prove P
Shall I tell you P he co oed .

P ray d o .

It proves he r o ared with a sudden blast of fury

, , ,

that you are the rankest impos t or in L ondon

a vile crawling j ournalist w h o has no more s c ien c e
, ,

than he has decency in his composition

He had sprung to his fee t with a mad rage in his
eyes Even at that moment of tension I found ti me
.

for amazement at the dis c overy that he w a s quite a

sh o rt man his head not higher than my S houlder
,

a stun t ed Hercules whose tremendous vitality had

all run to d epth breadth and brain , ,
.

Gibberish he c ried leaning forward with his , ,

ngers on the table and his f ace proj ecting That s .

what I have been talking to you S i p sci en t i c ,

3 6 TH E LOST WORLD
gi bb erish Did you think you co uld ma tc h c unn i ng
with meyou with your walnut of a b rain ? You t hink

you are o mnipoten t you infernal scrib b lers d o n t
, ,

you P That your praise ca n make a man and your

b lame c an break him ? We mus t all bo w to you ,

and t ry t o get a fav ourab le word mus t we P This ,

man sh al l have a leg up a nd this man shall hav e a ,

dressing down C reeping v erm i n I know y o u ! ,

You ve got o u t of your s t ation Time was when

.

your ears were clipped Y o u ve l o s t y o ur sense o f
.

prop o r t ion Sw ol len gas bags

. I l l keep you in -

y o ur proper place Yes s i r y o u haven t go t ov er

.
, ,

G E C There s one man w h o is still your mas t er He

. . . .

warned y o u o ff b ut if you w i l l c ome b y t he Lord

, ,

you do i t a t your own risk Forfeit my g o od Mr .

, .

Malone I c laim forfeit ! You have played a ra t her

,

danger o us game and it s t rikes me t ha t y o u ha v e l o s t

,

it
Look here sir said I b a ck ing to t he do o r and
, ,

opening i t ; you c an b e as a b usive as you like .

B ut t here is a limi t You shall no t assaul t me

. .

Shall I not P He was slowly advan c ing i n a

peculiarly menacing way but he stopped now and ,

put his b ig hands in t o the side p oc kets of a rather -

bo yish short j acke t which he wore I have t hrown .

s e v eral o f you o ut o f t he house You will b e the .

fo urth o r fth Three pound f t een ea c h t ha t is
.

how i t averaged Expensive bu t very necessary

.
, .

Now s i r why should you n o t follow your bre t hren P

, ,

I ra t her think y ou must He resumed his unpleasant

.
 H E I s P ERFECTLY IM P OSS IBLE 37

and stealthy advan c e poin t ing his t oes as he

,

walked li k e a dancing mas t er

, .

I co uld have b olted for the hall do o r b u t i t woul d ,

ha v e been to o ignominious Besides a li t tle glow of

.
,

righ t eous anger w as springing up W ithin me I had .

been hopelessly in the wrong before b ut this man s ,

mena c es were pu t ting me in t h e righ t .

I ll t rouble you t o keep y o ur hands off sir I ll , .

n ot s t and it .

Dear me His b lac k mous t ache lifted and a

whi t e fang twinkled in a sneer You wo n t stand .

it eh ?

Don t be such a fool P rofessor I cried
, .

What ca n you hope for P I m fteen s to ne a s hard

a s nails and play c en t re t hree quarter e v ery Sa t urday

,
-

f o r t he L o ndon Irish I m no t the man
.

I t w as at that moment that he rushed me I t w as .

lucky that I had Opened the door or w e S hould have ,

gone through it We did a Catharine wheel t ogether

.
-

down t he passage Somehow we gathered up a

.

c hair upon o ur way and bounded o n with it to w ards

,

t he s t reet My mouth w a s full of his b eard o ur

.
,

a rms w ere lo c ked our b odies intertwined and t ha t

, ,

infernal c hair radia t ed its legs all round u s The .

wat c hful Austin had thrown open the hall door .

We w en t with a b ack somersault down the fron t

s t eps I have seen the tw o Ma c s attempt s o me t hing
.

o f the kind a t t he halls but it appears t o take some

,

pra c ti c e to do it without hur t ing oneself The c hair .

wen t t o m a t chw ood a t the bo tt om and w e rolled ,

3 8 TH E LOST WORLD
apart into the gutter He sprang to his f eet waving .
,

his s t s and wheezing li k e an asthmati c .

Had enough P he panted .

You infernal b ully ! I c ried a s I gat hered ,

myself t oge t her .

Then and there we sh o uld have t ried t he t hing

out for he was efferves c ing with ght b u t fortunat ely
, ,

I was res c ued fr o m an odious si t uation A policeman .

was beside us h i s no t ebook in his hand

, .

Wha t s all t his ? You ough t t o b e ashamed

,

said the policeman I t wa s t he m o s t ra t ional

.

remark which I had heard in Enmore P ark Well .
,

he insis t ed t urning t o me wha t is it then P

, , ,

This man a t tacked me said I ,
.

Did y o u a t tack him P asked t he poli c eman .

The P rofess o r breat hed hard and said no t hing .

I t s not the rst time either said the policeman

, , ,

s e v erely sha k ing his head

,
You were in tr o u b le .

las t mon t h for the same thing You ve b la c kened .

t his young man s eye D o y o u give him in charge

.
,

s ir P
I relen t ed .

No said I I d o n ot
, , .

Wha t s t ha t P s aid t he p o li c eman

.

I was t o blame myself I in t ruded up o n him . .

He gave me fair warning .

The policeman snapped up his n ot e b ook .

D o n t le t us have a n y more s u c h g oi ngs ou

-
,

said he . Now t hen Move o n t here m o ve o n

, , ,

T h is t o a butcher s boy a maid and o ne o r t wo

, ,
 HE IS P ERFECTLY IM P OSSIBLE 39

loafers who had collec t ed He clumped heavily

.

down t he s treet driving t his little ock before him

,
.

The P rofessor looked at me and there was s o methi ng

,

humorous at the back of his eyes .

Come in said he
. I ve no t done with you
yet .

The S peech had a sinister sound but I followed ,

him none the less into the house The man servant
.
-
,

Austin like a wooden image closed the door behind

, ,

us.
 C HA P TE R I V

I T S J U S T THE VER Y B I GG ES T T H IN G IN THE WORL D

.

H A RD L Y wa s it shu t t han Mrs C hall enger dar t ed .

o u t from t he dining r o om The small wo man was

-
.

in a furi o u s t emper She b arred her hu sb and s way
.

like an enraged c hic k en in fr o n t of a b ulldog It .

was eviden t tha t s h e had seen m y exi t b u t had n ot ,

o bserved my re t urn .

Y o u b ru t e Ge o rge ! she sc re a med
,
You ve .

hur t t ha t ni c e y o ung man .

H e j erk ed b a ck wards wi t h his t hum b

Here he is safe and s ound behind me
, .

She w as co n fu s ed b u t n ot undul y so
,
.

I am so so rry I didn t s ee yo u
,
.

I a ss ure yo u madam t ha t i t i s all righ t

, ,
.

He ha s mark ed yo ur p oo r f a c e ! Oh Ge o rge , ,

wha t a b ru t e y o u are N ot h i ng b u t sc andal s fr o m

o ne end of t he wee k to t he ot her E v ery o ne ha ti ng .

and ma k ing f un of y o u Y o u v e nished my .

pa t ien c e This end s i t

. .

Dir t y linen he rumb led
,
.

I t s no t a s e c re t D o yo u s upp o se

s he c rie d .

t ha t t he wh o le st reet t he wh o le of Lo ndon fo r t ha t ,

ma tt er Ge t away Aus t in w e don t want you

, ,

40
 THE BIGGEST THING IN THE WORLD 4 1

here Do you suppose they don t all talk about
.

you ? Where is your dignity ? You a man who ,

sh o uld have been Regius P rofessor at a great Uni

versity with a thousand s t udents all revering you .

Where is your dignity George P ,

How ab o ut yours my dear ,

You try me too much A r u f a n a c ommon .

b rawling r u f a n that s what y o u have bec o me

.

B e good J essie ,
.

A roaring raging bully ,

Tha t s done it

Stool of penan c e said he .

To my amazement he s t o o ped picked her up and , ,

placed her sitting upon a high pedestal of black

marb le in the angle of the hall It was at least .

s even feet high and s o t hin that s h e could hardly

,

b alan c e up o n i t A more absurd ob j e ct than s h e

.

presen t ed co cked up t here wi t h her face co nv ul sed

wi t h anger her feet dangling and her bo dy rigid for
, ,

fear o f an upset I c o uld not imagine , .

L e t me down she wailed .

S a y please

.

You b ru t e Ge o rge L e t me d o wn t his ins t an t

,

Co me in t o the s t udy Mr Malone , . .

Really sir , said I lo o king at t he lady , .

Here s Mr Malone pleading for y o u J essie
.
, .

Say please and down you come
, .

Oh you b ru t e
, P lease please
He t ook her down as if s h e had b een a c anary .

You mus t b ehav e y o urself dear Mr Mal o ne , . .

is a Pressman He will have it all in his rag

.
4 2 TH E LOST WORLD
to m o rr o w and sell an ex t ra dozen among o ur neigh
-
,

bo urs Strange st o ry of high life

. you f el t fairly
high o n that pedestal did you n ot ? Then a sub ,

title Glimpse of a singular m nage
, He s a foul .

f eeder is Mr Malone a carrion eater li k e all of his

.
, , ,

k ind por ou s ex g r eg e d i a bol i a swine fr o m the

devil s herd That s it Malone what P .

You are really in t olerab le said I ho t ly , .

He b ellowed with laughter .

We shall hav e a coalition presen t ly he bo omed , ,

lo o k ing from his w ife t o me and pull i ng o ut his

enormous chest Then suddenly altering his tone .
, ,

Ex c use this fri v olous family badi n age Mr Malone ,

.

I c alled you b ack for some more serious purp o se t han

t o mix you up with our little d o mesti c pleasan t ries .

Run away little woman and don t fret
, He placed , .

a huge hand upon each of her s houlders All tha t .

you s a y is perfe c tly t rue I should b e a b e tt er man .

if I did wha t y o u advise b ut I shouldn t b e q ui t e ,

Ge o rge Edward C hallenger There are plen ty of .

b e t ter men my dear b u t o nly one G E C S o mak e

, , . . .

the b es t of him He suddenly gav e her a res o und i ng

.

k iss whi c h em b arrassed me even m o re t han his

,
'

V iolence had done Now Mr Malone he co n .

, .

t i n u e d w ith a great a cc essi o n o f dignity

, this way , ,

i f you please .

We r e entered the room whi c h w e had le f t so

-

tumultu o usly ten minutes before The P rofessor .

closed t he door c arefully b ehind us mo t i o ned me int o ,

an arm chair and pushed a c igar b o x under m y nose

-
,
-
.
 THE BIGGEST THING IN THE WORLD 43

Real San Juan Colorado he said ,
Excitable .

pe o ple like you are t he b etter for narco t ics Heavens !

don t b i t e it C u tand cu t with reverence
.

Now
lean ba c k and lis t en a tt entively t o wha t ever I may
,

care t o say to you If any remark should o cc ur to

.

you y o u ca n reserv e i t fo r s o me more opp o rtune

,

time .

Firs t of all as t o y o ur re t urn to my h o use after

,

your mos t j ustiable expul sion h e protruded his

beard and s t ared at me as one w h o challenges and
,

invites c ontradi c tion after as I sa y your well

, ,

merited expulsion The reason lay in your answer

.

to that most of ci ou s policeman in which I seemed ,

to dis c ern some glimmering of good feeling up o n

y o ur par t more at any rate than I am ac c ustomed
, ,

to associate with your profession In admitting t ha t .

t he fault of the incide n t lay wi t h you you gave some ,

eviden c e of a c ertain mental deta chment and breadth

of V ie w whi c h attracted my fav o urable notice The .

sub S pe c ies o f the human race t o which you u n for t u n

-

a t ely belong has always b een b elow my mental hori

z on Your words brought you suddenly above it
. .

You swam up into my serious notice F or this .

reason I asked you to return with me as I w a s ,

minded to make your further acquaintance You .

will kindly deposit your ash in the small J apanese

tray on the b amboo table which stands at y o ur left

elbow .

All this he boomed forth like a professor addres sing

his class He had swung round his revolving chair
.
-
44 TH E LOST WORLD
s o a s to fa c e me and he sat all pu ffed o ut like an
,

e n o rm o us b ull frog his head laid b a c k and hi s eyes

-
, ,

hal f cov ered b y superc ili o us lids N o w he s uddenly

-
.

t urned himself side w ays and all I co uld s ee o f him ,

w a s t angled hair w ith a red pro t ruding ear He w a s , .

s c ra tc hing a b ou t among the li t ter of papers up o n h i s

des k He f a c ed me presently with wha t lo ok ed li k e
.

a v ery t a tt ered ske tc h bo ok in his hand -

.

I a m g o ing t o t al k t o y ou ab o u t South America ,

sai d he . No co mmen t s if yo u please First of .

all I wish y o u t o unders t and t ha t nothing I t ell y o u

,

n o w i s to b e repeated in any pub lic way unless you

hav e m y express permissi o n Tha t permission will .
,

in all human pr ob ab ili t y ne v er b e gi v en Is t ha t ,

.

c lear P

I t i s v ery h a rd s aid I Surely a j ud icio u s
,
.

a cco un t

He replac ed t he n o te bo ok up o n t he t a b le .

Tha t ends it s a i d he ,
I wi sh you a V ery .

g oo d m o rning .

No no,
I c ried I su b mi t to a n y co ndi tio ns
. .

S o f ar a s I c an s ee I h a ve no c h oic e
,
.

N o ne i n the wo rld sa i d he ,
.

W ell then I pr o mise
, ,
.

W o rd of hon o ur P
Wo rd o f hon o ur .

H e loo k ed a t m e w ith doubt i n his ins olen t eyes .

A ft er a l l wh a t d o I k n o w ab o u t your h o n o ur P
,

s a i d he .

Upon my w o rd s i r I c ried a ngrily,

you t ake
, , ,
 TH E BIGGEST THING IN TH E WORLD 45
very grea t li b erties I have never b een so insul t ed
in my li fe .

He seemed m o re in t eres t ed than annoyed a t my

o utbreak .

Round headed he muttered -
Brachycephali c
, .
,

grey eyed bla ck haired with suggesti o n of the

-
,
-
,

negroid C eltic I presume

.
P ,

I am an Irishman S i r , .

Irish Irish P

Yes sir , .

That of c ourse explains it Le t me see ; you

, , .

have given me your promise that my c onden c e

will be respected ? That c o ndence I may s a y , ,

wil l be far from complete B u t I am prepared to .

give you a few indi c ations which will be of in t eres t .

In t he rst place you are probably aware that ,

t wo yea rs ago I made a j ourney to South America

one which will be classical in the scientic his
tory of the world ? The obj ec t of my j ourney
was t o verify some conclusions of Walla c e and of
Ba t es which could only be done by observing
,

their repor t ed facts under the same conditi o ns in

which they had themselves noted them If my .

expedition had no other results it would s t ill have

been noteworthy but a curious incident occurred
,

to me wh i le there which Opened up an en t irely

fresh line of inquiry .

You are aware or probably in this half ,

educated age you are not aware that the country
,

round some parts of t he Amazon is still only partially

4 6 THE LOST WORLD
expl o red and t ha t a grea t num b er of t ri b utarie s
, ,

s o me o f t hem en t irely un c har t ed run in to t he ,

main river It was my b usiness to visi t t hi s li tt le

.

kn own back c o un t ry and t o examine its fauna

-
,

whi c h furnished me with the ma t erials for several

c hapters for tha t grea t and monumental w o rk upon
zo ology whi c h will be my life s j us t i c ation I
.

was re t urning my work ac co mplished when I had

, ,

o ccasion t o spend a night at a small Indian V illage

at a p o in t where a c ert ain t ri b u t aryt he name

and p o si t ion o f whi c h I wi t hhold opens in to the
main river The na t ives were C u cama Indians
.
,

an amiab le but degraded race with men t al p o wers ,

hardly superior t o t he a v erage L ondoner I had .

e ffe c ted some cures among them upon my way up

t he river and had impressed t hem c o nsiderably
,

with my personali t y s o tha t I was n ot surprised

,

t o nd myself eagerly awai t ed upon my re t urn .

I gathered from their signs that someone h a d urgen t

need of my medical servi c e s and I f ollowed t he ,

c hief t o one of his hu t s When I en t ered I found

.

t ha t t he su fferer to whose aid I had been summ o ned

had t ha t ins t an t expired He was to my sur .
,

prise no Indian b ut a whi t e man ; indeed I may

, , ,

s a y a very whi t e man for he was a x en haired

,
-

and had s o me chara ct eristics of an albino He .

was c lad in rags was very ema c iated and bore

, ,

every tra c e of prolonged hardship So fa r as I .

could unders t and the a cco unt of the na t ives he ,

was a comple t e s t ranger to them and had come ,

 THE B IGGEST THING IN THE WORLD 47

upon their V illage through the woods alone and

in the last stage of exhaustion .

The man s knapsack lay beside the cou ch a n d

,

I examined the c on t ents His name was written

.

upon a tab within i t Maple White Lake Avenue , ,

Detroit Michigan It is a name to which I am

,
.

prepared always to lift my hat It is no t to o mu c h .

to say tha t i t will rank level with my own when

the nal c redi t of this business c omes to be a p
port ioned .

From the co n t ents of the knapsack it was

evident that this man had been an artis t and poet
in sear c h of e ffects There were scraps of verse
. .

I do not profess t o be a j udge of such things but ,

t hey appeared to me to be sing u larly wanting in

merit There were also some rather c ommonplace
.

pictures of river scenery a paint box a box of ,

-
,

coloured chalks some brushes that curved bone

, ,

which lies upon my inkstand a volume of Baxter s ,

Moths and Butter ies a cheap revolver and a

,

,

few c artridges Of personal equipment he eithe r

.

had none or he had lost i t in his j ourney Such were .

t he t otal e ffects of this strange American Bohemian .

I was turning away from him when I observed

that something proj ected from t he fron t of his
ragged j acket It was this sketch book which
.
-
,

was as dilapidated then as you s e e it now Indeed .

,

I can assure you that a rst folio of Shakespeare

could not be treated with greater reverence than
this rel i c has b een since it came in t o my possession .
4 8 TH E LOST WORL D
I hand i t t o you now and I ask you to t ak e it page
,

b y page and t o examine t he co n t en t s .

He helped himself to a cigar and leaned b a ck

wi t h a ercely criti c al pair of eyes taking no t e ,

of t he e ffec t which t his do c ument would pr o du c e .

I had Opened t he volume with some expe ct a t ion

o f a revelat ion though of wha t nat ure I co uld
,

n ot imagine The rs t page was disapp o in t ing

.
,

h o wever as i t co n t ained no t hing b u t the pic t ure

,

of a v ery fa t man in a pea j ac k e t wi t h t he legend

-
, ,

J immy C olver on the Ma il bo a t wri tt en b enea t h
-
,

it There f o llowe d several page s whi c h were lled

.

with small ske t ches of Indians and t heir ways .

Then c ame a pic t ure of a c heer ful and co rpulen t

e cclesias t ic in a shovel hat si t ting opposi t e a v ery
,

t hin Eur o pean and t he ins c ription

, L un c h with

Fra C ris t ofero at R o sario Studies of women and
.

bab ies a cc oun t ed for several m o re pages and t hen ,

t here was an unbroken series of animal drawings

with such explanations as Mana t ee upon Sand

b ank ,
Turtles and Their Eggs Bla ck Aj ou t i
,

under a Miri t i P al m t he la tt er d i s cl qs i n g some

-

sor t of pig like animal ; and nally came a double

-

page o f s t udies of long sn o uted and very unpleas a n t

-

saurians I could ma k e n ot hing of i t and s aid so

.
,

to t he P rofess o r .

Surely t hese are only cro c odiles P

Alliga to rs ! Alligators ! There is hardly such
a thing as a true c ro c odile in S o u t h Ameri c a The .

distin c ti o n b e t ween t hem

 THE BIGGEST THING IN THE WORLD 49
I meant that I could s e e nothing unusual

n ot hing to j ustify wha t y o u hav e s aid .

He smiled serenely
Try t he nex t page said he ,
.

I was still unable to sympathi z e It w a s a ful l .

page S ke tc h of a lands c ape r oughly t in t ed in c olour

t he kind o f painting which an Open air artist takes -

as a guide t o a fut ure more elabora t e e ffort There .

was a pale green foregr o und of feathery vege t a t ion

-
,

whi ch l p ed upwards and ended in a line o f cli ffs

dark red in c olour and curi o usly ri bb ed like s o me
,

basal t ic format i o ns which I have seen They ex .

t ended i n an un b roken wall righ t across t he b a c k

ground At o ne point was an is o la t ed p yramidal
.

ro c k c rowned by a great tree which appeared to be

, ,

separated by a cleft from t he main crag B ehind it .

all a b lue tr o pi c al s k y A thin green line of vege t a

, .

t ion fringed the summi t of the ruddy cli ff On t h e

, .

nex t page was an oth er water colour w ash of t he -

same pla c e bu t mu c h nearer s o t ha t o ne co uld

, ,

clearly s e e t he de t ails
Well P he as k ed .

It is n o doubt a cu r i ou s format i o n said I bu t , ,

I am no t ge o l og is t enough to s a y that it i s wonder ful .

Wonder ful ! he repeated It is unique It

. .

is in c redible N 0 one on earth has ever dreamed o f

.

s u ch a p o ssibility Now t he next
. .

I t urned i t o ver and gave an ex clama t ion of s u r

,

pri s e There wa s a full page pi ct ure of t he mos t

.
-

ext raordinary c reature t ha t I had e v er s een It w a s .

D
5 0 TH E LOST WORLD
the w ild dream of an opium sm o ker a Vi si o n of ,

delirium The head was like t ha t of a f owl t h e

.
,

body t ha t of a bloat ed li z ard t he t railing t ail w a s ,

f urnished with upward turned S pi k es and the c urved

-
,

b a c k was edged with a high serra t ed fringe whi c h ,

lo ok ed like a do z en co c ks wa t tles pla c ed b ehind each
o t her In front of this c rea t ure wa s an a bs urd
.

manni k in o r dwarf in t he human fo rm w h o sto od

, ,

s t aring at it .

Well wha t do y ou t hink of t ha t P c ri ed t h e

,

P r ofessor rubbing h i s hands wi t h an air of t riumph

, .

It is m ns t rous gr o tesque
o

.

B ut what made him draw s u c h an an i mal P

Tr a de gin I Sh ould thin k, .

Oh t h a t s the best explana t i o n yo u c an gi v e i s it ?

, ,

Well s i r W hat is y o urs P

, ,

The obvious o ne that t he c reat ure exi st s Tha t .

i t is a ct uall y s k e tc hed fr o m t he life .

I should hav e laughed o nly t ha t I had a V ision of

o ur doing an ot her C atherine wheel down t he passage -
.

No d o ubt s aid I ,no dou bt as on e hum o urs
, ,

an im b e c ile .I c onfess h o we v er I added,

t ha t , ,

t his t iny human gure pu zz les me If i t were .

a n Indian we co uld s et i t d o wn a s e viden c e of

s o me pigmy race in America bu t it appears t o b e a ,

European in a sun hat -
.

The P rofess o r sn o rted li k e an angry b u ff al o .

You re a lly to uch the l i mit sa i d he You , .

e n l arge my V iew of the p o ssi b le C ere b ral paresis

Mental inertia Wonderful
 THE BIGGEST THING IN THE WORLD 51
He w a s t o o ab surd to make me angry Indeed it .
,

w as a waste of energy f or if you were going to be

,

angry with this man y o u would be angry all the time .

I con t ented myself with smiling wearily It .

s tru c k me tha t the man was small said I , .

Look here ! he c ried leaning fo rward and dabb ing
,

a grea t hairy sausage o f a nger on to the pi c ture .

You see t hat plan t b ehind the animal ; I s upp o s e

you thought it w a s a dandelion or a Brussels sprout
what ? Well it is a v egetab le iv o r y palm and they run
, ,

to ab out fty or S ixty feet Don t you see that the
.

man i s put in f o r a purpose P He c ould n t really have

sto o d in fr o n t of that b rute and li v ed t o draw it He .

ske tc hed himself in to give a scale of heights He .

was w e will say o v er five feet high The tree i s t en

, , .

t imes bigger which I S What one would expe c t
, .

Go o d heav ens I cried Then you thin k t h e

.

b east w a s Why Charing C ross stati o n w o ul d

,

hardly make a kennel for such a b rute

Apar t from exaggeration he is certainl y a well ,

gr own S pecimen said the P rofessor complacently
, , .

B ut I cried
, surely the whole experience of
,

t he human rac e is not to be s e t aside on acc o unt of a

s ingle ske tc h I had t urned o v er the leaves and
a s cer tained that there w a s nothing more in the book
a single sketch by a wandering American artis t
w h o may ha v e done it under hashish or in the ,

d elirium of fe v er or simply in order to gratify a

,

freakish imaginati o n You c an t as a m a n of
.
,

s cience def e nd s u ch a position a s that

, .
52 THE L OST WOR L D
For answer the P rofessor took a b ook down from
a shelf .

This is an ex c ellent mon ograph by m y g ift ed

friend Ray L ankester
,
said he There is a n .

illustration here which would interes t y o u Ah .

,

yes here it is ! The ins c rip t i o n b enea t h i t runs

,

P robable appearan c e in life o f the Jura s si c D i n o s a u r

Stegosaurus The hind leg alone is twi c e a s t all a s
.

a full grown man

-
Well what do yo u make of t ha t ?
.

He handed me the open book I s t ar t ed a s I .

lo oked at the pic t ure In this re c ons t ru ct ed a nim a l

.

o f a dead world there was certainly a very gre a t

resemblan c e to the sketch o f t he unkn o wn artis t .

That is c ertainly remarkab le said I , .

But y o u w o n t admit that i t is nal P
Surely it migh t b e a coi n ci den c e or this Ameri ,

c an may hav e seen a pi ct ure of t he k i nd and c a rr i ed

i t in his mem o ry I t wo ul d b e li k ely to re c ur to a
.

man in a delirium .

Very g oo d s aid the P ro fess o r i ndulge n tly
, ,

w e le a v e it a t t h a t I wi ll n ow a sk yo u to l o o k

a t t h i s bo ne He h a nded o v er t he o ne whi ch h e
.

had already des c ri b ed a s par t of t h e de a d m a n s

p o sse s si o n s It was abo u t s i x i n ches l o ng and t hick er

.
,

than my t humb w i t h s o me i nd ic ati o ns of dried

,

ca r t i l e g e at o ne end of i t .

To what k nown crea t ure does tha t b o ne be

long P asked the P r o fessor .

I e x amined i t w ith c a re and t ried t o re c all s o m e

,

h a lf forgo t ten kn owledge

-
.
 TH E BIGGEST THING IN TH E WORLD 5 3
I t migh t b e a v ery thic k human co llar bo ne -
,
I
said .

My co mpanion waved his hand in contemp t uou s

d epre c ation .

The human co llar b one is c urved This i s -

.

st raight There is a gr o o v e upon i ts surface showing

.

t ha t a grea t tendon played across it which c ould ,

n ot b e the c as e with a c lavi c le

Then I mu st co n fe s s t ha t I don t k no w wh a t it is .

Y o u need n ot be ashamed t o expose your i g n or

a nc e for I don t suppose the whole South Kensington

sta ff c ould give a name to it He took a little bone .

t he size of a b ean out of a pill b o x S o far as I am -

.

a j udge this human bone is the analogue of the

o ne wh ic h you hold in your hand That will .

gi v e y o u some idea of t he size of the creature .

Y o u will o b ser v e from the ca r t i l e g e that this is

n o fossil spe ci men but recent What do you say
,
.

to tha t P
Surely in an elephant
He winced as if in pain .

D on t ! Don t talk of elephants in South

Ameri c a Even in these days Of B oard schools

.

Well I interrup t ed any large South Ameri

c an anim al a tapir for example
, ,

.
,

You may take it young man that I am versed , ,

in t he ele m ents of my business This is not a con .

ce i v a bl e bone either of a tapir or of any other creature

known to zoology It belongs to a very large a .

,

very strong and b y all analog y a very erce animal

, , ,
54 THE LOST WORLD
whi c h exis ts up on the face o f t he ear t h b u t has n ot ,

ye t co me under t he n ot i c e o f s c i en c e You are stil l

.

un c onvin c ed P

I am at least deeply in t eres t ed .

Then your case is no t hopeles s I feel t ha t t here

.

i s reason lurking in you somewhere s o we will ,

pat ien t ly grope round for it We will now lea v e the

.

dead American and pro c eed with my narra t ive You .

c an imagine t ha t I c ould har dl y co me away fro m

t he Ama zo n wi t hou t probing de eper into t he matt er .

There were indi c at ions as to t he direc t ion from which

t he dead t ravell er had come Indian legends would
.

alone have been my guide f o r I found t hat rumours

,

of a strange land were common among al l t he

riverine t ribes You have heard n o d o u bt o f
.
, ,

Cu r u p u i
r P
Never .

is the s piri t o f the w oo ds so me t h ing

Cu r u p u r i ,

terrible something malevolen t some t hing to be

, ,

avoided None ca n des c ribe i t s s hape or nature bu t

.
,

it is a word of terror along t he Ama zo n Now all .

t ribes agree as t o the direc t ion in which Cu r u p u r i

lives It was the same direction from which the
.

Ameri c an had come Something terrible lay t ha t

.

way It was my business t o nd out what i t w a s
. .

What did you do My i pp a n cy was all gone .

This massive man c ompelled o ne s a tt en t ion and

respect .

I overc ame t he ex t reme reluc t an c e of the na t i v es

a reluctance whi c h ex t ends even to talk upon the
 THE BIGGEST THING IN THE WORLD 5 5
s ubj e c t and by j udi c iou s persuasi o n and gift s ,

aided I will admit by some threats of c oer c ion I

, , ,

got two of t hem to a ct as guides A fter many .

adven t ures whi c h I need n ot de sc ri b e and after ,

travelling a distance which I will not men t ion in a ,

dire c ti o n whi c h I wi t hhold we c ame at last t o a

,

t ra ct o f co un t ry whi c h ha s never b een desc ribed nor , ,

indeed visi t ed save b y my unfo r t una t e prede c ess o r

,
.

Would y ou kindl y lo o k a t this P

He handed me a pho t ograph hal f pla t e si z e .

The unsat isfa cto ry appearance of it is due to t he

f a c t said he
, ,that on descending the river the
boa t was upset and the c ase which con t ained the
u ndeveloped lms was broken with disastrous ,

results Nearly all of th em were totally ruined

.

an irreparable loss This is one o f the few whi c h

.

partially escaped This explanation of de c iencies

.

or abn o rmalities you will kindly ac c ept There was .

t alk of faking I am no t in a mood to argue such a

.

point .

The photograph was c er t ainly very Off col o ured -

.

An unkind c ritic might easily have misin t erpre t ed

that dim surface It was a dull grey lands c ape
.
,

and a s I gradually deciphered the details of i t I

reali z ed tha t it represented a long and enormously
high line of cli ffs exactly like an immense cataract
seen in the distance with a S loping tree clad plain
, ,
-

in the foreground .

I believe it i s t h e same pla c e as the painted

p ic t ure sai
, d I .
 THE L OST WORLD
I t i s t he same pla c e t he P r o fes so r answered
, .

I found t ra c es of t he fellow s c amp N ow l o ok a t .

this .

I t was a nearer V iew of the same sc en e t h o ugh t h e ,

photograph was extremely defe c tive I co uld dis .

t i n ct l y see t he isola t ed t ree c rowned pinna c le of

,
-

r ock which w a s de t ached fr o m t he c rag .

I hav e n o doub t of i t at all said 1 , .

Well t ha t is something gained said he

,

We , .

progress d o w e n o t P Now w ill y o u please lo o k at

, ,

t he t o p o f that roc k y pinn a cle ? D o y o u obs erv e

s o me t hing there P
An en o rmous t ree .

But on t he tree P
A large bird said I ,
.

He handed me a lens .

Yes I said peering t hr o ugh i t
, , a larg e b ird ,

s t ands o n the t ree It appears to hav e a co nsidera b le

.

b eak I sh o uld say it was a peli c an
. .

I c a nn ot c ongra t ulate you upon y o ur e y esigh t ,

s aid t he P r ofess o r It is no t a peli c an n o r indeed

.
, , ,

is i t a b ird It may in t erest y o u t o kn ow tha t I su c

.

cee d e d in sh oo ting that par t i c ular spe c imen I t w as .

t he o nly absolute proof of my experien c es whi c h I

was ab le t o b ring away wi t h me .

You have i t t hen P, Here a t las t was t angi ble

c orr ob ora t ion .

I had it It w a s unfor t unately los t with so

.

much else in the same b o at a c cident whi ch ruined

m y photographs I clutch ed a t i t a s i t disa ppeare d
.
 THE BIGGEST THI NG I N THE WORLD 5 7
in t h e swirl o f t he rapids and p a r t of i t s wing w a s
,

left in my hand I was insensible when washed

.

ashore but the miserable remnant of my superb

,

specimen was s t ill intact I n o w lay it b efore

yo u.

Fr o m a draw er he pr o du c ed wha t seemed to me t o

b e t h e upper por t ion of the wing of a large b at I t .

was a t leas t t wo feet in length a c urv ed bo ne wi th a , ,

mem b ran o us v eil beneath it .

A m o ns t rous bat I sugges t ed .

Nothing o f the sort said the P rofess o r se v erely

, , .

Livi ng as I d o in an educated and scienti c atm o s

, ,

p h e r e I
, could not have conceived that the rs t
principles of zool o gy were s o little kn o wn Is i t .

p o ssible that you do no t know the elementary fa ct

in comparative anatomy tha t the w i ng of a b ird is ,

really the forearm while the wing o f a b a t c onsis t s

,

o f three elonga t ed ngers with mem b ra nes b etween P

Now in this case the b o ne is cer t ainly no t the fore
, ,

a r m and you c an s e e for yourself that this is a single

,

membrane hanging upon a single b one and therefo re ,

t ha t it cannot b elong to a b at B u t i f it is neither .

b ird n o r b at wha t is it P
,

My small s to ck of kn o wledg e w a s exh a us t ed .

I really do not kn o w said 1 , .

He o p ened the s t andard w o rk t o whi c h h e had

already referred me .

Here said he pointing t o the pic t ure of an

, ,

extraordinary ying monster is an ex c ellen t ,

r e pr odu ctio n of t h e d i m or ph od on or pter o dact l a

y , ,
58 TH E LOST WORLD
ying reptile of the Jurassi c peri o d On the nex t .

page is a diagram o f t he me c hanism o f i ts wi ng .

Kindly co mpare it wi th t he specimen i n yo ur hand .

A wave of amazemen t passed over me as I l ook ed .

I was convinced There could b e n o getting aw ay

.

from it The c umula t i v e pr oof w a s ov erwhelming

. .

The ske tc h t he ph oto graphs the narra t i v e and n ow

, , ,

t he a c tual spe c imen t he e v iden c e was co mple t e

I s a i d s oI said s o warml y fo r I f el t tha t t he P r o
.

fe s sor wa s an i ll used man -

He leaned b a ck i n h i s
.

chai r with dr oo ping eyel i ds and a t o l era n t sm il e ,

b as k ing in this sudden gleam of sunsh i ne .

It s j us t t he very b iggest th i ng tha t I e v er heard
of ! said I t h o ugh it was my j ournalisti c rather than
,

my scien t i c enthusiasm tha t was r o used I t is .

col o ssal You are a C olum b us Of s c ien c e wh o ha s

.

dis cov ered a los t w o rld I m really aw ful l y s o rr y

.

if I seemed t o d o ubt you It w a s a ll s o unthin k able

. .

B ut I understand eviden c e when I see i t a n d t hi s ,

should be g o od en o ugh for any o ne .

The P ro fes so r purred with s atis f a ct i o n .

A nd t hen s i r wha t d i d you d o next P

, ,

I t was the we t season Mr Malone a n d m y sto re s

, .
,

w ere exhaus t ed I explored s o me p o r t ion of t his

.

huge cli ff b ut I w a s unab le to nd any way to s c al e

,

it The p y ramidal rock upon which I saw and sh ot

.

t he p t erodactyl w a s more accessi ble B eing s o me .

thing o f a cragsman I did manage to get half way

,

to the top o f that Fr o m t ha t height I had a b e tt er

.

idea o f the plateau upon the t op o f t he c rag s It .

 THE BIGGEST THING IN THE WORLD 5 9
appeared t o be V ery large ; neither to eas t nor t o
west co uld I see any end to the V ista of green c apped -

c li ffs Bel ow i t is a swampy j ungly region full o f

.
, , ,

s nakes insects and fever

, It is a n a t ur a l pr ote c ti o n
,

to this S ingu lar country .

Did y o u s ee any o ther t ra c e of li f e P

N o sir I did n o t b u t during the w ee k t ha t we
, ,

lay en c amped a t the b a s e o f t he cli ff w e he a rd s o me

v ery strange n o ises fr o m abov e .

Bu t t he c rea t ure t ha t t h e Americ a n dre w P

H o w do y o u a cco un t f or t hat P
f
We c an only suppose tha t he mus t have made
his way to t he summit and seen it th ere We k now .
,

theref o re that t here i s a w ay up We k n ow equally

, .

that i t mus t b e a very di ffi c ul t o ne o t herwise the ,

c reatures w o uld have co me down and overrun t he

surrounding co un t ry Surely t hat i s c lear ? .

B u t how do they c ome to be there P

I do no t think tha t the pr ob lem is a v ery Obsc ure
o ne said the P rofessor ; there ca n only b e one
,

explanation S o uth Ameri c a is as you may have

.
,

heard a grani t e c ontinent At this single point in

, .

t he in t erior there has b een in s ome fa r dis t ant age , ,

a grea t s udden vol c ani c upheaval Thes e cli ffs I

,
.
,

may remark are basal t i c and there fore plu t oni c

, , .

An area as large perhaps as Sussex has been lifted

, ,

up en bl oc with all i t s living c ontents and c u t off by ,

perpendicular pre c ipices of a hardness which dees

erosion from all the rest of t he continent What is .

the result P Why the o rdinary laws o f Na t ure a r e ,

50 THE LOST WORLD
s uspended The vari o us c he ck s whi c h i n uen c e t h e
.

st ruggle for exis t en c e in the world a t large are all

neu t ralized or al t ered Creat ure s survive whi c h
.

w o u ld otherwise disappear You wi ll o bserve tha t .

bot h t he pter o da ct yl and the stego sauru s are J u ra s si c ,

and t here fore of a great age in t he o rder of li fe .

They have b een arti c iall y c on s erv ed by t h os e

st range a cc iden t al co ndi t i o n s .

Bu t surely your eviden c e is co n c lusive Y o u .

have o nly t o lay i t b e fo re t he proper au t h o ri ti es .

So in my simpl i ci t y I had imagined s aid t he
, , ,

P r of ess o r b i tt erly
,
I c an onl y t ell you t ha t i t was
.

n o t s o t ha t I was me t a t every t urn b y increduli t y

, ,

bo rn part ly of s t upidi ty and par t ly of j eal o usy I t .

is no t my na t ure s ir t o c ringe t o any man o r t o s ee k

, , ,

to prove a fa ct i f my w o rd has been d o u bt ed A ft er .

t he rs t I hav e no t co ndes c ended to sh o w su c h

co rr obo ra t ive proofs as I possess The s u bj e ct

.

b e c ame ha t eful t o me I w o uld n ot spea k of i t .

When men like y o urself who represen t t he foolish

,

c uriosi ty of t he pu bli c came t o dis t ur b my privacy

,

I was unab le to meet them wi t h dignied reserve .

B y na t ure I am I admi t somewha t ery and under

, , ,

pr o vo c a t i o n I am inclined to b e v iolen t I fear yo u .

may have remark ed i t .

I nurs ed my eye and was s ilen t .

My wife has frequen t ly remons t ra t ed with me

upon the subj e ct and yet I fancy tha t any man of
,

honour would feel t he same To nigh t however .

-
, ,

I propose t o g ive a n ex t rem e exam ple of t he cont ro l

 THE B IG GEST THING I N THE WOR L D 61

of t he will o ver the emo t i o ns I invite you to be .

pres en t a t t he exhibition He handed me a c ard
.

fr o m his desk Y ou will per c eive t ha t Mr P er c ival

. .

Waldr o n a nat uralis t of s ome popular repu t e is

, ,

ann o un c ed t o le ct ure a t eigh t t hirty at the Zool o gi c al

-

Ins t i t u t e s Hall up o n The Record of t h e Ages

.

I ha v e b een S pe c ially invited t o b e presen t up o n t he

pla t fo rm and to move a v o t e of t hanks t o the l ee
,

t urer Wh ile doing s o I shall make it my b usiness

.
, ,

with inni t e t a c t and deli c a cy to t hr o w o u t a f ew ,

remarks wh ic h may ar o use t he in t eres t of t he audi

en c e and c aus e s o me o f t hem to desire to g o m o re
deeply in to the ma tt er No t hing c on t en t ious y o u
.
,

unders t and b u t o nly an indica t ion t ha t there are

,

great er deeps bey o nd I shall hold mys elf s t r o ngl y

.

i n leash and see whe t her b y t his self re st rain t I a tt ai n

,
-

a more favourable re s ult .

And I may co me P I a s ked eagerly .

Wh y surely he an s wered cordially He had
, , , .

an en o rm o us ly mas sive genial manner which wa s ,

al m ost as o verp o wering as his V iolen c e His s mile .

o f b ene vo len c e was a wonderful thing when hi s ,

c heeks w o uld suddenly b un ch in t o tw o red apples ,

b e t ween his h al f closed eyes and his great bla ck

-

b eard . B y all means co me I t will b e a co m for t

, .

t o me to kn o w t ha t I have one ally in t he hal l how ,

ever i n efci en t and ignoran t o f the s u b j e c t he may b e .

I fan cy t here will b e a large audien c e fo r Waldr o n , ,

t hough an a bso lu t e c harlata n ha s a co ns iderab l e ,

pop ular fo llowing N o w Mr Malone I ha v e gi v e n

.
, .
,
62 THE LOST WORLD

y o u ra t her m o re of my time than I had in t ended .

The individu al mus t no t mon o poli z e wha t is mean t

for t he world I shall b e pleased to see you a t the
.

lec t ure to night In t he meantime you will under

-
.
,

stand t ha t no pu b li c use i s to be made of an y of the

material t hat I have given you .

.

B u t Mr M cAr d l e m y news editor yo u k now ,

will want t o kn o w what I have done

.

Tell him what you like You can s a y among

.
,

other t hings tha t if he sends anyone else t o I n t rude

,

up o n me I S hall c all upon him wi t h a riding-whip .

B u t I lea v e i t to y o u t ha t n ot hing of all t h i s appears

-

in prin t V ery g oo d Then t he Zo o l o gi c al Ins t i

. .

t u t e s Hall a t eight thir t y t o nigh t
-
I had a las t
-
.

impressi o n of red chee ks b lue rippling b eard and

, ,

i n t oleran t ey es as he waved me o ut of t he r oo m
, .
 C HA P TER V
Q UE S T I ON
W HA T with the physical S hocks in c idental to my rst
interview with P rofessor Challenger and the mental
ones which a c companied the second I was a some ,

what demoralized j ournalist by the time I found

myself in Enmore P ark once more I n my aching .

head the o ne thought w a s throbbing that there really

w a s truth in this man s st o ry that it w a s of t r e m en ,

dous c onse q uence and that it would work up int o

,

in c on c eivable cop y for the Ga zette when I c ould

obtain permission to use it A ta x icab w a s w aiting .

at the end of the r o ad s o I sprang into it and drove ,

down t o the o fce M cAr d l e was at h i s pos t as usual

. .

Well he c ried expe c tantly

, wha t may it run
, ,

to ? I m thinking young man y o u hav e b een in

, ,

the wars Don t tell me that he assaulted you
. .

We had a little di fference at rst .

What a man it is What did you do P

Well he became more reasonable and w e had a
,

chat But I got nothing out of him n o thing for
.

publi c ation .

I m not s o sure about that You g ot a b lac k

.

eye out of him and that s for publication We can t

, .

63
64 TH E LOST WORLD
hav e this reign of terror Mr M al one We must , . .

b ri ng t he man t o his bearings I ll hav e a leadere tt e .

o n hi m to m o rr o w t hat will raise a b lister Jus t

-
.

give me the material and I will engage to b rand t he

fell ow f or e v er P
rofessor Munchausen h ow s t ha t
.

fo r an i n s et headline P Sir J ohn Mande v ille redi vi

v u s C agli o s t ro a ll the imp o stors and bullies in

h i s to ry I ll show him up fo r the fra ud he i s
. .

I wo ul dn t do t ha t sir , .

Why n ot P
B e c ause he i s no t a fraud a t all .

Wha t ! r o ared McAr d l e You don t mean

to s ay y o u really b el i e v e this s t u ff of h i s a bo u t
mamm ot hs a n d masto dons and grea t sea s a i r p en t s P

Well I d o n t kn ow abo ut tha t I don t t hi n k
, .

he mak es any c l a ims of t ha t k ind B u t I d o b el i e v e .

he h a s g ot so me t hing ne w .

Then fo r Heav en s s ak e man w rit e i t up , ,

I m l o ng in g t o bu t a l l I k n o w he gav e me i n
,

co n den c e a n d o n co ndi t i o n t ha t I di dn t I co n

.

d en se d in to a f e w s en t en c es t he P r ofe sso r s n a rra tiv e

.

Th a t s h ow i t s t and s .

McAr dl e l ook ed deeply in c redulo us .

Well Mr Mal o ne he s a id at las t

,
. a bo u t t his
, ,

s ci en tic mee ti ng to nigh t t here ca n b e n o pri va c y

-

a bo u t t hat anyh o w, I d o n t supp o se a n y paper wil l
.

wa n t to rep o rt it fo r W aldr o n has b een repor t ed

,

already a d oz en times and no o ne is aware t h a t ,

C h a l lenger will S peak We may get a scoop i f we .

,

are lucky Y o u ll b e there in any c ase s o y o u ll
.
,

a
 QUESTION 65

j ust give us a pretty full report I ll keep space up .

to midnight .

My day was a busy one and I had an early dinner ,

a t the Savage Club with Tarp Henry to whom I gave ,

some account of my adventures He listened with .

a sceptical smile on his gaunt face and roared with ,

laughter on hearing that the P rofessor had convinced

me

My dear chap things don t happen like that in
,

real life P eople don t stumble upon enormous dis

.

cov e r i e s and then lose their evidence Leave that .

to the novelists The fellow is as full of tricks as the

monkey house at the Zoo It s all absolute bosh
-
. .

But the American poet P

He never existed .

I saw his sketch book -

.

Challenger s sketch book

-
.

You think he drew that animal P

Of course he did Who else P.

Well then the photographs P

, ,

There was nothing in the photographs By .

your own admission you only s a w a bird .

A pterodactyl .

That s what h e s ay s He put the pteroda c ty l

.

into your head .

Well then t he bones P

, ,

First one out of an Irish stew Second on e .

vamped up for the occasion If you are clever and .

know your business you can fake a bone as easily a s

you can a photograph .
 THE LOST WORLD
I began t o feel uneasy P erhaps after all I had .
, ,

b een premature in my acquiescence Then I had a .

sudden happy thought .

Will you come to the meeting P I as k ed .

Tarp Henry looked thoughtful .

He is not a popular person the genial Challenger , ,

said he . A lot of people have accounts to settle

with him I should s a y he is about the best hated
.
-

man in London If the medic al s t udents t urn ou t

.

there will be no end o f a rag I don t w an t to ge t .

into a bear garden -
.

You migh t at leas t do him t he j us t i c e t o hear him

s t ate his own case .

Well perhaps it s only f a i r All righ t I m
, , . .

yo ur man for the evening .

When we arrived at the hall we found a mu c h

greater concourse than I had expected A line of .

e lectric broughams discharged their l ittle cargoes o f

white bearded professors while the dark stream of

-
,

humbler pedestrians who c rowded through t h e ,

arched doorway S howed that the audien c e would be

,

popular as well as scientic Indeed i t be c ame .

,

evident to us as soon a s we had taken our seats that

a youthful and even boyish S pirit was abroad in the
gallery and the back portions o f the hall Looking .

behind me I could s e e rows of faces of the familiar

,

medical student type Apparently the great hos .

p i t a l s had ea c h sent down their contingen t The .

behaviour of t he audien c e a t presen t was good

humoured b u t m i sc hievou s S c raps of popular
, .
 QUESTION 67

songs were chorused with an enthusiasm which was

a strange prelude to a scientic lecture and there ,

was already a tendency to personal chaff which

promised a j ovial evening to others however em ,

b a r r a s s i n g it might be to the recipients of thes e

dubious honours .

Thus when old Doctor Meldrum with his wel l

, ,

known curly brimmed opera hat appeared upon the

- -
,

platform there was such a universal query Of Where

,

d i d you get that tile P that he hurriedly removed

it and concealed it furtively under his chair When
,
.

gouty P rofessor Wadley limped down to his seat

there were general a ffectionate inquiries from all
parts Of the hall as to the exact state of his poor toe ,

which caused him obvious embarrassment Th e .

greatest demonstration of all however was at t h e

, ,

entrance of my new acquaintance P rofessor Challen,

ger when he passed down to take his place at t h e

,

extreme end of the front row of the platform Such .

a yell of welcome broke forth when his black beard

rst protruded round the corner that I began t o
s uspect Tarp Henry w a s right in his surmise and ,

that this assemblage was there not merely for the

sake of the lecture but because it had got rumoured
,

abroad that the famous P rofessor wo ul d take part

in the proceedings .

There was some sympathetic laughter o n his en

trance among the front benches of well dressed -

S pectators as though the demonstra t ion o f t he

,

st u dents in this instan c e was not u nwelcome t o

68 THE LOST WORLD
t hem. That greeting was indeed a frightfu l ou t, ,

burs t of sound the uproar of the carnivora cage when

,

t he step of the bucket bearing keeper is heard in t h e

-

distance There was an o ffensive tone in it perhaps

.
, ,

a n d yet in the main it struck me as mere riotou s

ou t cry the noisy reception of one who amused and

,

interested them rather than of one they disliked or

,

despised Challenger smiled with weary and toleran t

.

contempt as a kindly man would meet the yapping

,

of a li t ter of puppies He s a t slowly down blew out

.
,

his chest passed his hand caressingly down his beard

, ,

a n d looked with drooping eyelids and superciliou s

e ye s at the crowded hall before him The uproar .

of his adven t had not yet died away when P rofesso r

Ronald Murray the chairman and Mr Waldron
, ,
.
,

t h e lecturer threaded t heir way to t he fron t and t h e

, ,

proceedings began .

P rofessor Murray will I am sure e x c use me if I

, ,

s a y tha t he has the common fault of most Englishmen

of being inaudible Why on earth people who hav e

.

s omething to s a y w h i eh is worth hearing should not

t ake the slight trouble to learn how to make i t heard

is one of the strange mysteries of modern life Their .

methods are as reasonable as to t ry to pour som e

precious stu ff from the spring to the reservoir through
a non co nducting pipe which could by the least e ffort
-
,

be Opened P rofessor Murray made several profound

.

remarks to his white tie and to the water carafe upon -

the table with a humorous twinkling aside t o t he

, ,

s i lver c an d lestick upon his right Then he s a t d o wn .

,
 QUESTION 69

and Mr Waldron the famous pop ul ar lecturer rose

.
, ,

amid a general murmur of applause He was a stern .

,

gaunt man with a harsh voice and an aggressive

,

manner but he had the merit of knowing how t o

,

assimilate the ideas of other men and to pass them ,

on in a way which was intelligible and even interes t

ing to the lay public with a happy knack of being ,

funny about the most unlikely obj ects s o that t h e ,

precession of the Equinox or the formation of a ver

t e b r a t e became a highly humorous process as treated
by him .

It w a s a bird s eye view Of creation as interpreted

-
,

by science which in language always clear and

, ,

s ometimes picturesque he unfolded b efore us He , .

told us of the globe a huge mass of aming g a s , ,

aring through the heavens Then he pictured t h e .

s olidication the cooling the wrinkling which

, ,

formed the mountains the steam which turned to ,

water the S low preparation of the stage upon which

,

was to be played the inexplicable drama of life On .

the origin of life itself he was discreetly vague That .

the germs of it could hardly have survived t h e

original roasting w a s he declared fairly certain , ,
.

Therefore it had come later Had it built itself out .

of the c ooling inorganic elements of the globe P

,

Very likely Had the germs of it arrived from out

.

side upon a m et e or P It w a s hardly conceivable .

On the whole the wisest man w a s the least dogmatic

,

upon the point We could not o r at least we had

.

not succeeded up to date in making organic life in

7 0 THE L OST WORLD
o ur laboratories out of inorganic materials The .

gulf between the dead and the living was something

which our chemistry could not as yet bridge But .

t here was a higher and sub t ler chemistry of Nature ,

which working with great forces over long epochs

, ,

might well produ c e results which were impossible for

us There the matter mus t be left
. .

This brought the lecturer to the great ladder of

a nimal life b eginning low down in molluscs and
,

f eeble s e a creatures then up rung b y rung through

,

reptiles and shes till at last we came to a kangaroo

,

rat a creature which brought forth its young alive

, ,

the direct ancestor of all mammals and presumably , ,

therefore of everyone in the audience ( No no
, .
, ,

from a sceptical student in the b ack row ! If t h e .

young gentleman i ri the red tie who cried No no

, ,

and w h o presumably claimed to have been hatche d

ou t Of an egg would wait upon him after the lecture
, ,

he would be glad t o s ee such a curiosity ( Laughter ! . .

I t was strange to think that the climax of all the age

long processes of Nature had b een the creation of
t hat gentleman in the red tie But had the process .

s topped ? Was t his gentleman t o be taken as the

nal type the b e all and end all of d e v e IOp m en t P
- -

He hoped that he would not hurt the feelings of the

gentleman i n the red tie if he maintained t hat ,

whate v er virtues that gentleman migh t possess in

private life still the vast processes of the universe
,

w ere not fully j ustied if they were t o end entirely

i n his producti o n Ev o lu t ion w as n ot a s pen t fo rc e
.
,
 QUESTION 7 1

but one still workin g and even greater a chievements

,

were in store .

Having thus amid a general titter played very

, ,

prettily with his interrupter the lecturer went back ,

to his picture of the past the drying of the seas , ,

the emergence of the sand bank the sluggish viscous

-
, ,

life which lay upon their margins the overcrowded ,

lagoons the tendency of the s e a creatures to take

,

refuge upon the mud a t s the abundance of food

-
,

awaiting them their consequent enormous growth

, .

Hence ladies and gentlemen he added

, that , ,

frightful brood of saurians which still a ffright our

eyes when seen in the Wealden or in the S ol e n h ofe n
S lates but which were fortunately extinct long before
,

the rst appearance of mankind upon this planet .

Question boomed a voice from the platform .

Mr Waldron w a s a strict disciplinarian with a gift

.

of acid humour as exemplied upon the gentleman

,

with the red tie which made it perilous to interrupt

,

him But this interj ection appeared to him s o

.

absurd that he was at a loss how to deal with it S o .

looks the Shakespearean w h o is confronted by a

rancid Baconian or the astron omer w h o is assailed
,

by a a t earth fanatic He paused for a moment

-
.
,

and then raising his voice repeated slowly the

, ,

words Which were extinct before the coming o f

man .

Question boomed the voice once more .

Waldron looked with amazement along the line of

professors upon the platform until his eyes fell upon
 7 2 THE LOST WORLD
th e gure of Challenger who leaned back i n his
,

chair with closed eye s and an amused expression

a s if he were s miling in h i s sleep .

I see s aid Waldron with a s hrug ,

It is my .

friend P rofessor Challenger and amid laughter he ,

renewed his lecture as if this was a nal explanation

and no more need be said .

But the incident w a s fa r from being cl o sed What .

e ver path the lecturer took amid the wild s o f the

pa s t seemed invariably to lead him to some assertion

a s to extinct or prehistoric life which instantly
brought the s am e bull s bellow from the P rofessor

.

The audience began to anticipate it and to ro a r with

delight when it cam e The packed benches o f s t u
.

dents j oined in and every time C hallenger s b eard
,

opened b efore any sound could come forth there

, ,

was a yell of Question from a hundred voice s ,

and an answering counter cr y o f Order ! and

Shame from as many more Waldron though .
,

a hardened lecturer and a strong man b ecame ,

rattled He hesitated stammered repeated himself

.
, , ,

got snarled in a long sentence and nally turned ,

furiously upon the cause of his troubles .

This is really intolerable ! he cried glaring across ,

the platform . I must ask you P rofessor Chall enger, ,

to cease t h es e i g n or a n t and u n m a n n e r l y i n t e r r u p t i on s .

There w a s a hush over the hall the students rigid ,

w ith delight at seeing the high gods on Olympus

quarrelling among themselves Challenger le v e red .

his bulky gure slowly out of his chair .

 QUESTION 73

I must in turn ask you Mr Waldron he said , .

, ,

to cease to make assertions which are not in strict

accordance with scientic fact .

The words unlo o sed a tempest Shame !

Shame ! Give him a hearing ! P u t him

out ! Shove him off the platform ! Fair
play ! emerged from a general roar of amusement
or execration The chai rman was on his feet apping
.

both his hands and bleating excitedly P rofessor .

ChallengerpersonalV iewsl a ter were the solid ,

"

peaks above his clouds of inaudible mutter The .

interrupter bow e d smiled stroked his beard and

, , ,

relapsed into his chair Waldron very ushed and

.
,

warlike continued his observations Now and then

, .
,

a s he made an assertion he shot a venomous glance,

at his opponent w h o seemed to be slumbering

,

deeply with the same broad happy smile upon his

, ,

face.

At last the lecture came t o an endI am inclined

to think that it w a s a premature one as the perora ,

tion was hurried and disconnected The thread of .

the argument had been rudely broken and the ,

audience was restless and expectant Waldron s a t .

down and after a chirrup from the chairman

, , ,

P rofessor Chal lenger rose and advanced to the edge

of the platform In the interests of my paper I took
.

down his speech verbatim .

Ladies and Gentlemen he began amid a , ,

sustained interruption from the back I beg .

pardon Ladies Gentlemen and Children I mus t
, ,
74 THE LOST WORLD
apologize I had inadvertently omitted a considerable
,

section of this audience ( tumult during which the ,

P rofessor stood with one hand raised and his enor

mous head nodding sympathetically as if he were ,

bestowing a p on t i ca l blessing upon the crowd ! ,

I have been selected to move a vote of thanks to

Mr Waldron for the very picturesque and imagina
.

tive address to which we have j ust listened There .

are points in it with which I disagree and it has b een ,

my duty to indicate them as they arose but non e , ,

the less Mr Waldron has accomplished his obj e c t

,
.

well that obj ect being t o give a simple and interest

,

ing account of what he conceives to have b een the

history of our planet P opular lectures are the .

easiest to listen to but Mr Waldron ( here

,
he .

beamed and blinked at the lecturer ! will excuse m e

when I s a y that they are necessarily both supercial
and misleading since they have t o be graded to t h e
,

comprehension of an ignorant audience ( Ironical .

c heering ! P op u lar lecturers are in their nature

.

parasitic ( Angry. gesture of protest from Mr .

Waldron ! They exploit for fame or cash t h e

.

work which has been done by their indigen t and

unknown brethren One smallest new fact Obtained .

in the laboratory one brick built into the temple of

,

scien c e far o u tweighs any second hand exposition

,
-

which passes an idle hour but c an leave no useful ,

result behind it I put forward this obvious r e ec

.

t ion not out of any desire to disparage Mr Waldron

, .

in particular b ut that y ou may not lose y our s ens e

,
 QUESTION 75
of proportion and mistake the acolyte for the high
priest .
( At this point Mr Waldron whispered
!
. t o
the chairman w h o half rose and said something
,

severely to his water carafe ! But enough of

-
.

this ! ( L oud and prolonged cheers ! Let me .

pass to some subj ect of wider interest What is .

the particular point upon which I as an original ,

investigator have challenged our lecturer s accur

,

acy ? It is upon the permanence of certain types

of animal life upon the earth I do not S peak upon .

this subj ect as an amateur nor I may add a s a , , ,

popular lecturer but I S pea k as one Whose scienti c

,

conscience compels him to adhere closely to facts ,

when I s a y that Mr Waldron is very wrong in s u p

.

posing that because he has never himself seen a

s o called prehistoric animal therefore these creatures
-
,

no longer exist They are indeed as he has said

.
, ,

our ancestors but they are if I may use the expres

, ,

sion our contemporary ancestors who ca n still be

, ,

found with all their hideous and formidable char

a ct e r i s t i cs if one has but the energy and hardihood

to seek their haunts Creatures which were supposed

.

to be Jurassic monsters w h o would hunt down and

,

devour our largest and ercest mammals still exist , .

( C ries of Bosh P rove it How do y ou

know P Question How do I know you ,

ask m e P I know because I have V isited their secret

haunts I know because I have seen some of them
. .

( Applause ,
uproar and a voice
,
Liar ! Am I ,

a liar P ( General hearty and noisy assen t ! Did .

74 THE LOST WORLD
apologize I had inadvertently omitted a considerable
,

section of this audience ( tumult during which t he ,

P rofessor stood with one hand raised and his enor

mous head nodding sympathetically as if he were ,

bestowing a p on t i ca l blessing upon the crowd ! ,

I have been selected to move a vote of thanks to

Mr Waldron for the very picturesque and imagina
.

tive address to which we have j ust listened There .

are points in it with which I disagree and it has been ,

my duty to indicate them as they arose but no n e , ,

the less Mr Waldron has accomplished his Obj e c t

,
.

well that obj ect being t o give a simple and interest

,

ing accoun t of what he conceives to have been the

history of our planet P opular lectures are t he .

easiest to listen to bu t Mr Waldron ( here

,
he .

beamed and blinked at the lecturer ! will excuse m e

when I s a y that they are necessarily both super cial
and misleading since they have to be graded to t h e
,

comprehension of an ignorant audience ( Ironical .

cheering ! P opular lecturers are in their nature

.

parasitic ( Angry gesture

. of protest from Mr .

Waldron ! They exploit for fame or c ash t h e

.

work which has been done by their indigent and

unknown brethren One smallest new fact obtained .

in the laboratory one brick built into the temple of

,

science far o u tweighs any second hand exposition

,
-

which passes an idle hour but can leave no usefu l ,

result behind it I put forward this obvious r e ec

.

tion not out of any desire to disparage Mr Waldron

, .

in particular bu t that y ou may not lose y our s ens e

,
 QUESTION 75
o f proportion and mistake the acolyte for the high
priest .
( At t his point Mr Waldron whispered
! . to
the chairman w h o half rose and said something
,

severely to his water carafe ! But enough of

-
.

this ! ( L oud and prolonged cheers ! Let me .

pass t o some subj ect of wider interest What is .

the particular point upon which I as an original ,

investigator have challenged our lecturer s accur

,

acy ? It is upon the permanence of certain types

of animal life upon the earth I do not S peak upon .

this subj ect as an amateur nor I may add as a , , ,

popular lecturer but I spea k as one whose scientic

,

conscience compels him to adhere closely to facts ,

when I s a y that Mr Waldron is very wrong in s u p

.

posing that because he has never himself seen a

S O called prehistoric animal therefore these creatures
-
,

no longer exist They are indeed as he has said

.
, ,

o ur ancestors but they are if I may u s e the expres

, ,

sion our contemporary ancestors who can still be

, ,

found with all their hideous and formidable char

a ct e r i s t i cs if one has but the energy and hardihood

to seek their haunts Creatures which were supposed

.

to be Jurassic monsters w h o would hunt down and

,

devour our largest and ercest mammals still exist , .

( C ries of Bosh P rove it How do y ou

know P Question How do I know you ,

ask me P I know because I have V isited their secret

haunts I know because I have seen some of them
. .

( Applause ,
uproar and a voice
,
Liar ! Am I ,

a liar P ( General hearty and noisy assen t ! Did .

7 6 TH E LOST WORLD
I hear someone s a y that I w a s a liar ? Will the
person who c alled me a liar kindly stand up that I
may know him P ( A voice Here he is S ir and , ,

an ino ffensive l i ttle person in spectacles struggling ,

violently was held up among a group o f students !

,
.

Did you venture to call me a liar P No s i r , ,

no ! shouted the accused and disappeared like a ,
-

J ack i n the box !

- -
If any person in this hall dares
-
.

to doubt my veracity I shall be glad to have a few ,

words with him after the lecture Liar ! .

Who sai d tha t P ( Again the inoffensive one

plung i ng desperately was elevated high into t h e ,

air ! . If I come down among you ( Gene r al

choru s of C ome love come ! which interrupted
, ,

the proceedings for so me moments while the chair ,

man standing u p and waving both his arms seemed

, ,

t o be conducting t he music The P rofessor w ith h i s .

,

fac e ushed his nostrils dilated and his beard

, ,

b ristling was now in a proper Berserk mood ! Every

, .

g reat discoverer has been met with the same i n

c redulity the sure brand of a generation o f fools .

When great facts are laid before you you have not ,

t he intuition the imagination which would help you

,

to understand them You ca n only throw mud a t .

the me n who have risked their lives to open new

elds to science You persecute the prophets .

Galileo Darwin and I

, ( P rolonged
, cheering
and complete interruption ! .

All this is from my hurried notes taken at t he time ,

which give little notion of the absolute chaos t o

 QUESTION 77
which the assembly had by this time b e en reduced .

S o terric was the uproar that several ladies had

already beaten a hurried retreat Grave and rev .

e r e n d seniors seemed to have caught the prevailing

S pirit as badly as the students and I saw white ,

bearded men rising and shaking their sts at t h e

Obdurate P rofessor The whole great audienc e
.

seethed and simmered like a boiling pot Th e .

P rofessor took a step forward and raised both h i s

hands There was something s o big and arresting
.

and V irile in the man that the clatter and S houting

died gradually away before his commanding gesture
a n d his masterf ul eyes He seemed to have a denit e
.

message They hushed to hear it

. .

I will not detain you he said It is not w orth

, .

it Truth is truth and the noise of a number of

.
,

foolish young menand I fear I must add of their , ,

equally foolish seniors cannot affect the matter I .

claim that I have Opened a new eld of science You .

dispute it ( Cheers
.
! Then I put you to the
test Will you accredit one or more of your own
.

number to go out as your representatives and tes t

my statemen t in your name P
Mr Summerlee the veteran P rofessor of C ompara
.
,

tive Anatomy rose among the audience a tall thin

, , , ,

bitter man with the withered aspect of a theologian

, .

He wished he said to ask P rofessor Challenger

, ,

whether the results to which he had alluded in his re

marks had been obtained during a j ourney to the head
waters of the Amazon made by him t wo years before .
 THE LOST WO RLD
P rofessor Challenger answered that they had .

Mr Summerlee desired to know how it was that

.

P rofessor Challenger claimed to have made di scover

ies in those regions which had been overlooked by
Wallace Bates and other previous explorers of
, ,

e stablished scientic repute .

P rofessor Challenger answered that Mr Summerlee .

a ppeared to be confusing the Amazon with the

Thames ; th a t i t was in reality a somewhat larger

river ; that Mr Summerlee might be interes t ed t o
.

k now that with the Orinoco which communicated,

with it s ome fty thousand m iles of country were

,

opened up and tha t in so vast a space it was no t

,

impossible f or one person t o nd what ano t her had

missed .

Mr Summerlee declared with an acid smile t ha t

.
, ,

he fully appreciat e d the di fference between t h e

Thames and the Amazon whi c h lay in t he fac t t ha t
,

any assertion about the former could be tested while ,

about the latter it could not He would be obliged

.

if P rofessor C hallenger would give the lati t ude and

the longitude of the coun t ry in which preh i s to ri c
animals were to b e f ound .

P rofessor Challenger replied tha t he reserved su c h

information for good reasons of his own bu t would ,

be prepared to give it w ith proper precautions t o a

committee chosen from the audience Would Mr . .

Summerlee serve on such a commi tt ee and tes t his

s t ory in person P
Mr Summerlee !
. Yes I w ill
, ( Gre a t c
. h eer i n g! .
 QUESTION 79
P rofessor Challenger Then I guarantee that I
will place in your hands such material as will enable
you to nd your w a y It is only right however .
, ,

since Mr Summerlee goes to check my statement

.

that I should have one or more with him w h o may

check his I will not disguise from you that there
.

are di f culties and dangers Mr Summerlee will . .

need a younger colleague May I ask for volum .

teers P

It is thus that the great crisis of a man s life springs
ou t at him Could I have imagined when I entered
.

that hall that I was about to pledge myself to a

wilder adventure than had ever come to me in my
dreams P But Gladyswas it not the very Opp or
t u n i t y of which S h e S poke ? Gladys would have
told me to go I had sprung to my feet I was
. .

speaking and yet I had prepared no words Tarp

, .

Henry my companion w a s plucking at my S kirts

, ,

and I heard him whispering Sit down Malone !, ,

Don t make a public ass of yourself At the same .

time I w a s aware tha t a tall thin man with dark , ,

gingery hair a few seats in front Of me was also

, ,

upon his feet He glared back at me with hard

.

angry eyes but I refused to give way

, .

I will go Mr Chairman ,
. I kept repeating ,

over and over again .

Name Name cri ed the audience .

My name is Edward Dunn Malone I am the .

reporter of the D a i l y Ga zette I cl ai m to be a n

a b solu t el y unprej udic ed wi t n es s .
 THE LOST WORLD
W h at is you r name s i r P the chairman a sked
,

of my tall r iv al .

I am Lord John Roxton I have already been .

up the Amazon I k n ow all the ground and hav e

, ,

special qualications for this investigation .

Lord John Roxton s reputation as a sportsman
and a traveller is of course world famous said
, ,
-
,

the chairman ; at the same time it would cer

t a i n l y be as well to have a member of the P ress

upon such an expedition .

Then I move said P rofessor Challenger

,
that ,

both these gentlemen be elected as representative s ,

of this meeting to accompany P rofessor Summerlee

,

upon his j ourney to investigate and to report upon

the truth of my statements .

And so amid S houting and cheering our f at e

, ,

was decided and I found m yself borne away in

,

the human current which swirled towards the door ,

with my mind half stunned by the vast new pro

j e c t which had ri sen s o suddenly before it A S .

I emerged from the hall I w a s conscious for a

moment of a rush of laughing students down t h e
pavement and of an arm wielding a heavy um
,

brella which rose and fell in the midst of them

,
.

Then amid a mixture of groans and cheers P r o

, ,

fe s s or Challenger s elect r ic brougham sli d from

the kerb and I found myself walking under t h e

,

silvery l ights of Regent Street full of thoughts of ,

Gladys and of wonder as to my future .

Suddenly there was a touch at my elbow I .

 QUESTIO N 8I

turned and found myself looking into the humorous

, ,

masterful eyes of the tall thi n man w h o had v ol u n

,

teered to be my companion on this strange quest .

Mr Malone I understand said he

.
, , . We are
to be companionswhat ? My rooms are j ust
over the road in the Albany P erhaps you wo ul d
, .

have the kindness to spare me half an hour for ,

there are one or two things that I badly want to

say to you .
 CHA P TE R VI
I WA S THE F LA I L OF T H E L ORD
L OR D J OH N R OX TON and I turned down Vigo Stree t
together and through the dingy portals of the
famous aristocratic rookery At the end of a long
.

drab passage my new acquaintance pushed open

a door and turned on an electric switch A number .

of lamps shining through tinted S hades bathed the

whole great room before us in a ruddy radiance .

Standing in the doorway and glancing round me ,

I had a general impression of extraordinary com

fort and elegance combined with an atmosphere
of masc u line Virility Everywhere there were mingled
.

the luxury of the wealthy man of taste and the

careless untidiness of the bachelor Rich furs and
.

strange iridescent mats from some Orient al bazaar

were scattered upon the oor P ictures and prints
.

which even my unpractised eyes co ul d recognize

as being of great price and rarity hung thi ck upon
the walls Sketches of boxers of ballet girls and
.
,
-
,

of racehorses alternated with a sensuous Fragonard ,

a martial Girardet and a dreamy Turner Bu t

, .

ami d these varied ornaments there were scattered

the trophies which brought back strongly to my
82
 I WA S TH E FLAIL OF TH E LORD 83

recollection the fact that Lord J ohn Roxton w a s one

of the great all round S portsmen and athletes of his
-

day A dark blue oar crossed with a cherry pink

.
- -

one above his mantel piece spoke of the old Oxonian

-

and Leander man While the foils and boxing gloves

,
-

above and below them were the tools of a man

who had won supremacy with each Like a dado .

round the room w a s the j utting line of splendid

heavy game heads the best of their sort from
-
,

every quarter of the world wi th the rare Whi te ,

rhinoceros of the Lado Enclave drooping its super

ci l i o u s lip above them all .

In the centre of the rich red carpet w a s a black

and gold Louis Q u inze table a lovely antique now , ,

sacr ilegiously desecrated with marks of glasses and

the scars of cigar stumps On it stood a silver
-
.

tray of smokables and a burnished spi ri t stand -

,

from which and an adj acent siphon my S i lent host

proceeded to charge two high glasses Having .

indicated an arm chair to me and placed my r e

-

freshment near it he handed me a long smooth

, ,

Havana Then seating himself opposite to me

.
, ,

he looked at me long and xe d ly with his strange ,

,

twi nkling reckless eyes eyes of a cold light blue ,

the colour of a glacier lake .

Through the thin haze of my cigar smoke I noted -

the details of a face which was already familiar

to me from many photographs the strongly curved -

nose the hollow worn cheeks the dark ruddy

, , , ,

hair thin at the top the crisp V irile moustaches

, , , ,
84 TH E LOST WORLD
the small aggressive tuft upon his proj ecting chin
, ,

Something there was of Napoleon II I something .

,

of Don Quixote and yet again something which ,

was the essence of the English country gentleman ,

the keen alert Open air lover of dogs and of horses

, ,
-
.

His skin was of a rich ow er pot red from s u n and -

wind His eyebrows were tufted and overhang

.

ing which gave those natural ly cold eyes an almos t

,

ferocious aspect an impression which was increased ,

by his strong and furrowed brow In gure h e .

was S pare bu t very strongly builtindeed he had

, ,

often proved that there were few men in England

c apable of such sustained exertions His height .

was a little over s i x feet but he seemed shorter ,

on account of a peculiar rounding of the shoulders .

Such was the famous Lord J ohn Rox t on as he s a t

Opposite t o me biting hard upon his c igar and ,

watching me steadily in a long and embarrassing

s en ce .

Well said he at last we ve gone and done

, , ,

i t young fellah my lad
, ( This curious phrase .

he pronounced as if it were all one word young

fellah me lad -
Yes we ve take a j ump you
-
.
,

,

an me I suppose now when you went in t o

.
, ,

tha t room there was n o such notion in your head

what P
N o t hought of it .

The same here No thought of i t And her e . .

we are up to our necks in the tureen Wh y I v e

,
.

onl y been ba ck three weeks from Uganda and ,

 I WA S THE FLAIL OF T H E LORD 85

taken a place in Scotland and signed the lease ,

and all P retty goin s on what ? How does it

.

hit you P
Well it is all in the main line of my business
, .

I am a j ournalist on the Ga zette .

Of course you said s o when you took it on .

By the way I ve got a small j ob for you if you ll

,

help me .

With pleasure .

Don t mind takin a risk do you P
,

What is the risk P

Well it s Ballingerhe s the risk You ve
,

.

heard of him P
N0
.

Why young fellah where h a ve you lived ?

, ,

Sir J ohn Ballinger is the best gentleman j ock in

the north country I could hold him on the at .

at my best but over j umps he s my master Well

,

.
,

i t s an Open secret that when he s out of t r a i n i n

he drinks hard s t r i k i n an average he calls it

,
.

He got delirium on To os d a y and has been ragin ,

like a devil ever S ince His room is above this . .

The doctors s a y that it is all up with the old dear

unless some food is got into him but as he lies ,

in bed with a revolver on his coverlet and swears ,

he will put s i x of the best through anyone that

comes near him there s been a bit of a strike among
,

the serving men He s a hard nail is J ack and

-
.

, ,

a dead S hot too but you can t leave a Grand

, ,

Na t i on al wi n n er to d i e l i ke t h a t W h a t P
 THE LOST WORLD
Wha t do you mean to do then ? I asked , .

Well my idea was that you and I could rush

,

him He may be dozin and at the worst he can
.
,

only wing one of us and the other shoul d have

,

him If we can get his bolster cover round his

.
-

arms and then phone up a stomach pump we ll

-
,

give the old dear the supper of his life .

It was a rather desperate business to come s u d

d e n l y into one s day s work

I don t think that

.

I am a particularly brave man I have an Irish .

imagination which makes t he unknown and the

untried more terrible than they are On the other .

hand I was brought up with a horror of cowardice

,

and with a terror of such a stigma I dare say .

tha t I could throw myself over a precipice like ,

the Hun in the history books if my courage to do ,

i t were questioned and yet it would surely be

,

pride and fear rather than courage which would

, ,

b e my inspiration Therefore although every nerve

.
,

in my body shrank from the whisky maddened -

gure which I pictured in the room above I still ,

answered in as careless a voice as I could command

, ,

that I was ready to go Some further remark of Lord

.

Roxton s about the danger only made me irritable

.

Talking won t make it any bet t er

said I ,
.

Come on .

I rose from my chair and he from his Then .

,

with a little condential chuckle of laugh t er he ,

patted me two or three times on the c hes t nally ,

p ushing me bac k into m y ch a ir .

 I WAS TH E FLAIL OF TH E LORD 87

,

All right sonny my lad you ll do
, said he .

I looked up in surprise .

I saw after J ack Ballinger myself this m or n i n

.

He blew a hole in the skirt of my kimono bless ,

his shaky old hand but we got a j acket on him, ,

and he s to be all right in a week I s a y young

.
,

fellah I hope you don t mindwhat ? You s e e

,

,

between you an me close tiled I look on this

-
,

South American business as a mighty serious thing ,

and if I have a pal with me I want a man I can bank

on So I S ized you down and I m bound to s a y
.
,

that you came well out of it You s e e i t s all .

,

up to you and me for this Ol d Summerlee man ,

will want dry nursin from the rst By the way
-
.
,

are you by any chance the Malone w h o is expected

to get his Rugby cap for Ireland P
A reserve perhaps , .

I thought I remembered your face Why I was .

,

there when you got that try against Richmond as

ne a s w er v i n run as I saw the whole season I

.

never miss a Rugby match if I can help it for it is ,

the manliest game we have left Well I didn t ask .

,

you in here j ust to talk S port We ve got to x our .

business Here are the s a i l i n s on the rst page of

.

the Ti m es There s a Booth boat for P ara next
.

Wednesday week and if the P rofessor and you can

,

,
i
work it I think we Should take t what ? Very
good I ll x it with him What about your outt ?
,

.

My paper will see to that .

C an y ou shoot P
 88 THE LOST WORLD
About average Terri to ri al standard .

Good Lord as bad as that P It s the last thing

you young fellahs think Of l e a r n i n You re all bees

.

without stings s o far as lookin after the hive goes
, .

You ll look silly some 0 these days when someone

, ,

Comes along an sneaks the honey But you ll need
.

to hold your gun straight in South Ame ri ca for , ,

unless our friend the P rofessor is a madman or a liar ,

we may s e e some queer things before w e ge t back .

What gun have you P

He crossed to an o aken cupboard and as he threw ,

it open I caught a glimpse of glistening rows of paral

lel barrels like the pipes of an organ
, .

I ll s e e what I ca n spare you ou t of my own

battery said he ,
.

One by one he took ou t a succession of beautiful

ries Opening and shutting them with a snap and a
,

clang and then patting them as he put them back

,

into the rack as tenderly as a mother wo ul d fo n dle

her children .

This is a Bland s 5 7 7 axite express said he
, .

I got that big fellow with it He glanced up at .

the white rhinoceros Ten more yards and he d .

,

would have added me to h i s collection .

On t ha t co n i ca l bu l l et h i s o n ce c h a n ce h a n g s ,

Ti s t h e

w ea k on e s a d v a n t a g e fa i r .

Hope you know your Gordon for h e s the poet of the ,

horse and the gun and the man that handles both .

o ,

N w h e r e s a u seful t ool 4 7 0 t el es copic si ght ,

,
 I WAS TH E FLAIL OF TH E LORD 89

double ej ector point blank up to three ft y That s

,
- -
.

the ri e I used against the P eruvian slave drivers -

three years ago I w a s the ail of the Lord up in

.

those parts I may tell you though you won t nd it
, ,

in any Blue book There are times young fellah

-
.
, ,

when every one of us must make a stand for human

right and j ustice or you never feel clean again ,
.

That s w h y I made a little w a r on my own Declared .

it myself waged it myself ended it myself Each

, , .

of those nicks is for a slave murderera good row

of themwhat ? That big one is for P edro Lopez ,

the king of them all that I killed in a backwater of ,

t h e P u t o m a y o River Now here s something that

.
,

would do for you He took out a beautiful brown
.

and S ilver rie

-
Well rubbered at the stock
.
,

S harply S ighted ve cartridges to the clip You

,
.

ca n trust your life to that He handed it to me and .

closed the door of his oak cabinet By the w a y .

,

he continued coming back to his chair

,
what do ,

you know of this P rofessor Challenger P

I never saw him till to day -
.

Well neither did I I t s funny w e S hould both

, .

sail under se al ed orders from a man w e don t know

.

He seemed an uppish old bird His brothers of .

science don t seem too fond of him either How

, .

came you to take an interest in the a ffair P

I told him S hortly my experiences of the morning ,

and he listened intently Then he drew out a map .

of South America and laid it on the table .

I b el i e v e e v e r y s i n
g le w o r d he S a i d t o y o u w as
9 0 TH E LOST WORLD
the truth said he earnestly
,
and mind you I
, , , ,

have something to go on w hen I S peak like that .

South America is a place I love and I think if you , ,

take it right through from D arien to Fuego i t s the ,

grandest richest most wonderful bit of earth upon

, ,

this planet P eople don t know it yet and don t
.

realize what it may become I ve been up an down .

it from end to end and had two dry s easons in those

,

very parts as I told you when I spoke of the war I

,

made on the slave dealers Well when I was up -

.
,

there I heard some yarns of the same kind tradi

tions of Indians and the like but with s om e t h i n

behind them no doubt The more you knew of tha t

,
.

country young fellah the more you would under

, ,

stand that a n y t h i n w a s possiblea n yth i n

There
.

are j ust some narrow water lanes along which folk -

travel and outside that it is all darkness Now

,
.
,

down here in the Matto Grosso h e swept his

cigar over a part of the map or up in this corner
where three countries meet nothin would surprise ,

me A S that ch ap said to night there are ft y

.
-
,

thousand miles of water w a y r u n n i n through a -

forest that is very near the S ize of Europe You .

and I could be as far away from each other as Scot

land is from Constantinople and yet each of us be in ,

the same great Brazilian forest Man has j ust made .

a track here and a scrape there in the maze Why .

,

the river rises and falls the best part of forty feet ,

and half the country is a morass that you can t pass

o v er Why shouldn t s om e t h i n new and wonderful

.
 I WAS THE FLAIL OF THE LORD 9 1

lie in such a country P And w h y shouldn t we be

the men to nd it out ? Besides he added his , ,

queer gaunt face shining with delight

,
there s a ,

S p or t i n risk in every mile of it I m like an old golf

.

ball I ve had all the white paint knocked off me

long ago Life can whack me about now and it

.

can t leave a mark But a S p or t i n risk young

fellah that s the salt Of existence

,

Then it s worth .

livin again We re a l l gettin a deal too soft and

.

dull and comfy Give me the great waste lands and

.

the wi de spaces with a gun in my st and s om e t h i n

,

to look for that s worth n di n I ve tried war and

.

s t e e p l e ch a s i n and aeroplanes but this huntin of

beasts that look like a lobster supper dream is a
brand n e w sensation
-
He chuckled with glee at
.

the prospect .

P erhaps I have dwelt too long upon this new

acquaintance but he is to be my comrade for many
,

a day and s o I have tried to s e t him down as I rst

,

s a w him with his quaint personality and h i s queer

,

little tricks of speech and of thought It was only .

the need of getting in the account of my meeting

which drew me at last from his company I left him .

seated amid his pink radiance oiling the lock of his ,

favourite rie while he still chuckled to himself at

,

the thought of the adventures which awaited us .

It was very clear to me that if dangers lay before us

I could not in all England have found a cooler head or
a braver spirit with which to share them .

That ni g ht wearied a s I was a ft er t h e wonder ful

,
9 2 TH E LOST WORLD
happenings of the day I s a t late with M cAr dl e t he
, ,

news editor explaining to him the whole situation

, ,

which he thought important enough to bring next

morning before the notice Of Sir George Beaumont ,

the chief It was agreed that I should write home

.

full accounts of my adven t ures in the S hape of su c

ce s s i v e letters to M cA r d l e and that these S hould
,

ei t her b e edited for the Ga zette as they arrived or ,

held back to be published later according to the ,

wishes of P rofessor Challenger since we could not ,

yet know what conditions he might attach to those

directions which should guide us to the unknown
land In response to a telephone inquiry We
.
,

received nothing more denite than a fulmination

against the P ress ending up with the remark tha t
,

if we would notify our boat he would hand us any

direc t ions which he might think it proper to give us a t
t he moment of starting A second question from
.

us failed to elicit any answer at all save a plaintive ,

bleat from his wife to the e ffect that her husband was
in a very violent temper already and that s h e hoped ,

we would do nothing to mak e it worse A third .

attemp t later in the day provoked a terric crash

, , ,

and a subsequent message from the Central Ex

change that P rofessor Challenger s receiver had been

shattered After that we abandoned all attempt a t

.

communication .

And now my patient readers I ca n address you

, ,

directly no longer From now onwards ( if indeed

.
, ,

n
a y co n ti n uatio n of t h is n arr a tive s h ould e v e r r e a ch
 I WA S TH E FLAI L OF TH E LORD 93
you ! it can only be through the paper which I r ep r e
sent In the hands o i the editor I leave this account
.

of the events which have led up to one of the most

remarkable expeditions of all time s o that if I never ,

return to England there S hall be some record as to

how the affair came about I am writing these last .

lines in the saloon of the Booth liner Fr a n ci s ca and ,

they will go back by the pilot to the keeping of Mr .

M cAr dl e Let me draw one last picture before I

.

close the notebook a picture which is the last

memory of the Ol d country which I bear away with
me It is a wet foggy morning in the late spring
.
,

a thin cold rain is falling Three shining mackin

,
.

toshed gures are walking down the quay making for ,

the gang plank of the great liner from which the blue
-

peter i s ying In front of them a porter pushes a

.

trolley piled high with trunks wraps and gun cases , ,

-
.

P rofessor Summerlee a long melancholy g u r e w a l k s

, , ,

with dragging steps and drooping head as one who ,

is al ready profoun d ly sorry for himself Lord J ohn .

Roxton steps briskly and his thin eager face beams , ,

forth between his hunting cap and h i s mu f er As -

.

for myself I am glad to have got the bustling days

,

of preparation and the pangs of leave taking behind -

me and I have no doubt that I show it in my bearing

, .

Suddenly j ust as we reach the vessel there i s a shout

, ,

behind us It is P rofessor Challenger who had pro

.
,

m i s e d to s e e us Off He runs after u s a pu fng red

.
, ,

faced irascible gure

,

N 0 thank you
,
says h e I sho ul d mu c h
,
94 TH E LOST WORLD
prefer not to go aboard I have only a few words
.

to s a y to you and they ca n very well be said

,

where w e are I beg you not to imagine that I

.

am in any way indebted to you for making this

j ourney I would have you to understand that it
.

is a matter of perfect indi fference to me and ,

I refuse to entertain the most remote sense of

personal obligation Truth is tru t h and nothing
.
,

which you ca n report ca n a ffect it in any way ,

though it may excite the emotions and allay the

curiosity of a number of very ine ffectual people .

My directions for your instruction and guidance

are in this sealed envelope You will open it when
.

you reach a town upon the Amazon which is c al led

Manaos but not until the date and hour which is
,

marked upon the outside Have I made myself .

clear P I leave the strict observance of my condi

tions entirely to your honour No Mr Malone I .
,
.
,

will place no restriction upon your correspondence ,

since the ventilation of the facts is the obj ect of your

j ourney ; but I demand that you S h al l give no
particulars as to your exact destination and that ,

nothing be actually published until your return .

Good bye s i r
-
, You have done something to miti
.

gate my feelings for the loathsome profession t o

to which you unhappily belong Good bye Lord .
-
,

J ohn Science is as I understand a sealed b ook

.
, ,

to you ; but you may congratulate yourself upon

the hunting e l d which awaits you You will no
-
.
,

doubt have the opportunity of describing in the

,
 I WAS THE FLAIL OF THE LORD 95
Fi el d how you brought down the rocketing d i m or
p h o d on And. good bye to you -
also P rofessor ,

Summerlee If you are still capable of self improve

.
-

ment of which I am frankly unconvinced you will

, ,

surely return to London a wiser man .

So he turned upon his heel and a minute later ,

from the deck I could s e e his short squat gure ,

bobbing about in the distance as he made his w a y

back to his train Well w e are well down Channel
.
,

now There s the last bell for letters and it s good

.

bye to the pilot We ll be down hull down on

.

,
-
,

the old trail from n ow on God bless all w e leave

.

behind us and send us safely back

, .
 CHA P TER VII
To M o RR o w WE
-
D I S A P P E A R I N TO THE U N ! N OW N
I W ILL not bore those whom this narrative may reach
by an account of our luxurious voyage upon t h e
Booth liner nor will I tell of our week s stay at P ara
,

( save that I S hould wish to acknowledge the great

kindness of the P ereira da P inta Company in helping
us to get together our equipment ! I will al so .

al lude very briey to our river j ourney up a wide , ,

S low moving clay tinted stream in a steamer which

-
,
-
,

was little smaller than that which had carried us

across the Atlantic Eventually w e found ourselves
.

through the narrows of Obidos and reached the town

of Man aos Here we were rescued from the limited
,

attractions of the local inn by Mr S h or t m a n t h e .

,

representative of the British and Brazilian Trading

Company In his hospitable fazenda w e spent our
.

time until the day when w e were empowered to Open

the letter of instructions given to us by P rofessor
C hallenger Before I reach the surprising events
.

o f that date I would desire to give a clearer S ketch

o f my comrades in this enterprise and of the asso ,

ciates whom we had already gathered together in

S o uth America I S peak freely and I leave t h e u s e
.
,

9 6
 WE DISA P P EAR INTO THE UN KNOWN 97
of m y m a t erial t o your o wn dis c retion Mr McAr d l e , .
,

S in c e i t is through your hands t ha t this report mus t

pass before i t rea c hes the world .

The scientic a t tainments of P rofess o r Summerlee

are t oo well known for me to t rou b le to recapitulate
them He is b etter equipped for a rough expedition
.

of this sort than one would imagine at rst sight .

His tall gaunt stringy gure is insensible to fatigue

, , ,

and his dry half sarcastic and often wholly u n s y m

,
-
,

pathetic manner is u n i n u en ce d by any change in

his surr o undings Though in his sixty sixth year
.
-
,

I have never heard him express any dissatisfaction

a t t he occ asional hardships which we have had to
encounter I had regarded his presence as an e n
.

cumbrance to the expedition but as a matter of fact , , ,

I am now well convinced that his power of endurance

is as grea t as my own In temper he is naturally

acid and sceptical From the beginning he has

.

never concealed his belief that P rofessor Challenger

i s an absolute fraud that we are all embarked upon
,

an absurd wil d goose chase and that we are likely

-

to reap nothing but disappointment and danger in

South America and corresponding ridicule in
,

England Such are the views which with much

.
,

passionate distortion of his thin features and wagging

o f his thin goat like beard he poured into our ears
,
-
,

all the way from Southampton to Manaos Since .

landing from the boat he has Obtained some consola

tion from the beauty and variety of the insect and
bird life ar o und him for he is absolutely whole
,

G
9 8 T HE LOST WORLD
heart ed in his de vot ion to s c ien c e He s pend s h i s .

days itting thr ough the woods wi th his sho t gun -

and h i s bu t t er y ne t and his evenings in m o un t ing

-
,

t he many S pe ci mens he has a cquired A mong h i s .

minor pe c ul iari ties are tha t he is c a reless a s to his

attire unclean in his perso n ex c eed i ngly a bsent
, ,

minded in his hab its and addi ct ed t o smoking a

,

shor t br i ar pipe which is seldom o ut of his mou t h

, .

He has b een upon several scienti c expeditions in

his y o uth (he w a s with Ro b er t s o n in P apua! and ,

the life of the c amp and the can o e i s n ot hing f resh

t o him .
Lord J ohn Rox t on has some poin t s in c omm o n
w i t h P rofess o r Summerl ee and others in which they
,

are the very antithesis t o ea c h other He is twenty .

years younger bu t has some t hing o f the same spare

, ,

scraggy physique As to his appearance I ha v e a s

.
, ,

I recollec t described i t in tha t po r tion of my n arrative

,

which I have left behind me in London He is .

ex c eedingly nea t and prim in his ways dresse s always ,

with grea t c are in white drill suits and hig h brown

mosquit o boo t s ; and shaves a t leas t on c e a da y
-
.

Like most men of action he is lac o nic in S peech , ,

and sinks readily int o his o wn thoughts but h e is ,

always quick t o answer a question or j oin in a c on

versation talki n g in a queer j erky half humorous
, , ,
-

f ashion His knowledge o f t he world and v ery e sp eci

.
,

ally oi Sou t h America is surprising and he has a

, ,

whole hear t ed b elief in t he p o ssib i lities of our j ourney

-

wh ich is no t to b e das hed by t he s neers of P r of essor

 WE DISA P P EAR INTO UN ! NOWN 9 9 TH E

Summerlee He has a gen t le vo i c e and a q ui e t manner

.
,

b u t b ehind his t win kling b lue eyes t here lur ks a capa

c ity for furious wrath and implacable resolution t he ,

more dangerous b ecause they are held in leash He .

sp o ke little o f his own exploits in B ra z il and P eru bu t ,

i t was a revelation to me to nd the excitement which

was c aused by his presen c e among t he riverine n a tives ,

who looked upon him as their champion and p r ot e c

t or The exploits of the Red Chief as they called
.
,

him had b e co me legends among them but the real

, ,

fa c ts as far as I could learn them were amazing

, ,

enough .

These were t ha t L ord J ohn had found himsel f

s ome years before in that n O man s land which is - -

formed by t he half d e n e d fron t iers between P eru

-

-
,

Brazil and Colombia In this grea t distri c t the wild

, .

rubber tree ourishes and has b ecome as in t he , ,

Congo a curse to t he natives which ca n only be

,

compared to their forced labour under the Spaniards

up o n the Ol d S ilver mines of Darien A handful of .

villainous half breeds dominated the country armed

-
,

such Indians as would support them and turned the ,

res t in t o slaves terr o rizing them with the m o s t i n

,

human tort ures i n o rder to force them to gather the

india rub ber which w a s then oated down the river
-
,

to P ara Lord J ohn Roxton expos t ulated on behalf

.

of the wret c hed V i c tims and received nothing but ,

threats and insults for h i s pain s He then formally .

declared war against P edro Lopez the leader of the ,

slav e dri v ers enr o ll ed a b a nd of runa w ay s laves in

-
,
10 0 THE LOST WORLD
his servi c e a rmed t hem and c ondu ct ed a c ampaign
, , ,

which ended b y his killing with his own hands t he

notorious half breed and breaking down t he sys t em
-

which he represented .

No wonder that t he ginger headed man wi t h t he -

silky voice and t he free and easy manners w a s n o w

looked upon with deep in t erest upon t he banks o f
the great South American river though t he feelings ,

he inspired were naturally mixed since t he gra t i t ude ,

of the natives was equalled by the resen t men t of

t hose who desired to exploit t hem One use ful .

resul t of his former experiences was t ha t he c o uld

talk uently in the Li n g o a Geral which is the pe en ,

liar talk one t hird P ortuguese and t wo t hirds

,
- -

Indian which is curren t all over Brazil

,
.

I have said before that Lord J ohn Rox t on was a

South Am e r i co m a n i a c He could not speak of that
.

great country without ardour and this ardour was ,

infectious for ignoran t as I was he xed my at t en

, , ,

tion and stimulated my curiosity How I wish I .

could reproduce the glamour of his discourses the ,

peculiar mixture of ac c urate knowledge and of racy

imagination which gave them their fascina t ion until ,

even the P rofessor s cynical and scep t ical smile
would gradually vanish from his thin face as he
lis t ened He would tell the history of the mighty
.

river s o rapidly explored ( for some of the rst con

e r or s of P eru actually cr o ssed t he entire continent
q u

upon i t s waters ! and ye t s o un kn o wn in regard t o

,

a l l that la y behind i t s ever c hanging ban k s -

.
 WE D I SA P P E AR I NTO TH E U N! NO WN Tor

What i s there ?
he would cry pointing to
,

the north Wood and marsh and unpene t rated

.

j ungle Who knows what it may S helter ? And

.

there to the south ? A w ilderness of swampy

forest where no white man has ever been The
, .

unknown is up against us on every side Outside .

the narrow lines of the rivers what does anyone

know ? Who will s a y what is possible in such a

country ? Why should old man Challenger not be
ri gh t ? At which direct deance the stubborn
sneer would reappear upon P rofessor Summerlee s

face and he woul d si t shaking h i s sardonic head i n

, ,

unsympat hetic silen c e behind the cloud of his bri ar,

root pipe .

So mu ch for t he moment for my t w o white com

, ,

panions whose characters and limitations will be

,

fur t her exposed a s surely as my ow n a s this narra

, ,

ti v e proceeds But already w e have enrolled certain

.

retainers who may play no small part in what i s to

come The rst i s a gigantic negro named Zambo
.
,

w h o is a black Hercules as w i lling as any horse and , ,

ab out as intelligent Him w e enlisted at P ara o n.

,

t he recommendation of the s teamship company ,

on whose v essels he had learned to speak a halting

English .

It w a s at P ara also that w e engaged Gome z an d

Manuel two h a l f b r e e d s from up the ri ver j ust
,
~
,

come down with a cargo of redwood They w ere .

swarthy fellows bearded and erce as ac ti v e and

, ,

w ir y as pan t hers Both of them had spent t h ei r

.
 THE LOS T WORLD

r oe

l ives in those upper waters of the Amazon which we

were about to explore and i t was this r e com m e n d a
,

t ion which had caused Lord Joh n to engage them .

One of them Gomez had the further advantage

, ,

t ha t he c ould speak excellent English These men .

were willing to act as our personal serv ants t o c ook , ,

t o row or to make themsel v es use ful in any way a t

,

a pay ment of fteen dollars a mon t h Besides .

t hes e we had engaged three Moj o Indi ans from

B ol i v I a who are the most s kilfu l at shing and boa t
,

w o rk of a l l the ri v er t ribes The chief of t hese we .

called Moj o after his t ribe and t he o t hers are k nown

, ,

as Jos and Fernando Three white men then

.
, ,

t wo half breeds one negro and three Indians made

-
, ,

up the personnel of the little expedition which lay

w ai ting for i ts instructions a t Manaos before s t art ,

i ng upon its S i ngular quest .

A t las t after a weary week t he da y had co me

, ,

and the hour I ask you to pic t ure the S haded

.

si t t i ng room of t he Fazenda San t o I gnaci o t w o miles

-
,

i nland from the town of Manaos Outside la y the .

y ellow brass y glare of the sunshine with the shadows

, ,

of the p al m trees as black and den it e as t he trees

themsel v es The air w a s calm f u ll of t he eternal
.
,

hum of insec t s a trop i cal chorus of many oc t aves

, ,

from t he deep drone of the bee to t he high keen

- ,

pipe o f t he mosqui t o B ey o nd the v eranda w a s a

.

sm al l cl eared garden bounded w i th ca ct us hedges

,

a n d adorned wi th clumps of owering shrubs round ,

which the great blue bu tt eri es and the ti n y

 WE DISA P P EAR INTO THE UN KNOWN 10 3

m i
hum ng birds
-
u t tered and dar t ed i n c res c ents of
sparkling light Within we were seated round
.

the cane table on which lay a sealed envelope

, .

Inscribed upon it in the j agged handwriting of

,

P rofessor Challenger were the words

,

Instructions to Lo rd John Rox t on and par t y .

To be opened at Manaos upon J ul y 1 5 t h a t 1 2 o cloc k ,

precisely .

Lord J ohn had pla c ed h i s wa tch upon the t ab l e

beside him .

We have se v en more minutes s ai d he , .

old dear is v ery precise .

P rofessor Summerlee gave an acid smile as he

picked up the envelope in his gaunt hand .

What can it possibly matter whether w e open

i t now o r in seven minutes P said he It is all .

part and parcel of the same sys t em of quackery and

nonsense for which I regret t o say that t he writer
,

i s notori ous .

Oh co me we mus t play the game a ccor d i n t o

, ,

rul es
, said Lord J ohn It s old man Chal .

lenger s S how and we are here by his good will s o

,

it would be rot t en bad form i f we didn t follow his

instru c tions to the let t er .

A pretty business it is ! c ried the P rofessor ,

bitterl y It s t ruck me as preposter o us in London

.

but I m bound to s a y that it seems even more

s o upon closer acquaintance I don t know what .

is inside t hi s en v elope but unless i t is s o mething

, ,
104 THE LOST WORLD
pretty denite I shall b e mu c h temp t ed to take
,

the nex t down r iver b oa t and c a t ch the B ol i vi a at

-

P ara Aft er all I have some more responsi ble w o rk

.
,

in the world than t o run a b out dispro v ing t he asser

t ions of a lun atic N ow Roxton surely it i s time
.
, ,
.

Time it is said Lord J ohn,
You can blow .

the whistle He took up the envelope and c u t i t
.

with his penknife Fr om i t he drew a folded shee t

.

of paper This he c arefully Opened out and a tt ened

.

on the table I t was a b lank S hee t He turned it

. .

over Again i t was blank We l ook ed a t ea c h

. .

other in a bewildered sil ence which was b ro k en by ,

a dis c ordan t burs t o f derisive laugh t er fr o m P r of e s s o r

Summerlee .

It is an o pen a dmission he cried Wha t , .

more do you want P The fell ow is a s elf co n f essed -

humbug We have only t o return home and repor t

.

him as the b ra z en impostor that he is .

Invisible ink I suggested .

I don t think said Lord Rox to n holding t he ,

paper to the light N 0 young fellah my lad there

.
, ,

is no u s e deceiving yourself I ll go b ail for i t t ha t .

nothing has ever been writ t en upon t his paper .

May I come in ? b oomed a v oi c e fr o m t he
v eranda .

The shadow of a squa t gure had s t olen a c r oss t he

patch of sunlight That voice ! Tha t mons t rous .

b read t h of shoulder ! We sprang t o o ur feet with

a gasp of astonishment as Challenger in a round

, ,

boyish s t raw ha t wi t h a co l o ured r ibbo n C hallenger

-
,
 WE D ISA P P EAR INTO TH E UN KNOWN 10 5

with his hands in his j acket pockets and his canvas

-

S hoes daintily pointing a s he walked appeared in

the Open S pace before us He threw back his head
.
,

and there he stood in the golden glow with all his

o ld Assyrian luxuriance of beard all his native ,

insolence of drooping eyelids and intoleran t eyes .

I fear said he taking out his watch
, ,
that I ,

am a few minutes too late When I gave you t his

.

envelope I mus t confess that I had never intended

t hat y ou S hould Open it for it had been my xed
,

i n tention to be with you before the h o ur The .

unfortunate delay can be apportioned between a

blundering pilot and an intrusive sandbank I fear .

that it has given my colleague P rofessor Summerlee , ,

oc c asion t o blaspheme .

I am b ound to s a y s i r said Lord J ohn with

, , ,

some sternness of voice that your turning up i s a

,

considerab le relief to u s for our mission seemed to

,

have come to a prema t ure end Even now I can t .

for the life of me understand w h y you should have

worked it in s o extraordinary a manner .

Instead of answeri ng P rofessor Challenger entered

, ,

s hook hands with myself and Lord J ohn bowed ,

with ponderous insolence to P rofessor Summerlee ,

and sank back in t o a basket chair which creaked -

,

and swayed beneath his weight .

I s all ready for your j ourney P he asked .

We ca n start to morrow
-
.

Then s o you shall You need n o chart of d i r e c

.

t ions n o w s in c e you will ha v e the inestimable

,
10 6 THE L OS T WOR L D

advan t age of my own guidan c e F rom the rs t I had .

de t ermined that I would myself preside o ver y our

inves t igation The most elabora t e chart s woul d
.
,

a s yo u will readil y admi t b e a poor s ub st itu t e fo r ,

m y o wn in t elligen c e and advi c e As to t he s mall .

ruse wh ich I pla yed up o n you in t he ma t ter o f the

e nvel o pe i t is clear that had I t o ld y o u all my
, ,

inten t i o ns I s h o uld ha v e been for c ed to r esis t u n

,

wel c ome pressure to t ra v el o u t with y o u .

N ot fr o m me s i r ! ex cl a i med P r ofessor Su m
,

m er l e e heartily
,
S o long as t here was a no t her
.

ship up o n t he A t lan t i c .

C hal lenger wa v ed hi m away wit h h i s grea t hai ry

hand .

Y our c ommon sense will I am sure sus t a i n my , ,

obj ec t ion and realize tha t it was better tha t I should

di rect m y o wn mo v emen t s and appear only at the
exact momen t when my presence was needed Tha t .

moment h a s now arrived You are in safe hands . .

Y o u w il l n ot n ow fail t o reach your des t ina t ion .

F rom hence fo rth I t ake command of this expedit ion ,

and I mus t a s k y ou t o c o mp l e t e y our prepar a ti ons

t o n i gh t s o t ha t w e m a y b e ab le t o m a k e a n earl y
-
,

s t a r t i n t he morning My ti me i s of v alue and t he

.
,

same thi ng may be sai d n o doubt i n a lesser degree , ,

of your own I propose theref o re that we push

.
, ,

on a s rap i dly as possible until I hav e dem o ns t rated ,

wh a t you hav e come t o see .

Lo rd J o hn R o x t on had char t ered a large ste a m

l a unch t he E s mer a l d a which was to c arr y us up t he
, ,
 WE D ISA P PEA R IN TO THE U N! N OWN 10 7
river So far as climate goes it w a s immaterial
.
,

what time we chose for our expedition as the tem ,

p e r a t u r e ranges from seventy v e to ninety

-
degrees
both summer and winter with no appreciable di ffer
,

ence in heat I n moisture however it is otherwise

.
, ,

from December to May is the pe ri od of the rains ,

and during this time the river slowly ri ses un t il it

attains a height of nearly forty fee t abo v e i ts low
wa t er mark It oods the banks extends i n great
.
,

lagoons ov e r a monstrous was t e o f country and ,

forms a hug e district called locall y the Gapo which

, ,

i s for the most par t too marshy for foot tra v e l and -

to o shallow for boating About June the waters

.

begi n to fal l and are at their lowest at October or

,

November Thus our expedition w a s at the ti me

.

of the dry season when the great river and i t s

,

tri butar ies were more or less in a n ormal conditi on .

The current of the ri v er is a slight one the drop ,

being not greater than eigh t inches in a mile No .

stream could be more conveni ent for naviga ti on ,

since the pre v ai l ing wind is south east and sailing -

,

boats may make a continuou s progress to the

P eruvi an frontier dropping down aga in with the
,

current In our o w n case the excell ent engines

.

of the E s m er a l d a could disregard the sluggish ow

of the stream and we made as rapid progress as if
,

we were navigating a stagnant lake For three days .

we steamed north westwards up a stre a m whi ch

-

even here a thousand miles from i t s mouth w a s

, ,

s till s o enormous that from i t s centre the t w o b an ks

10 8 THE L OST W O R L D
w e r e mere shad o ws upon the distan t skyline On .

t he fourth day after leavi n g Manaos w e turned i n t o

a tributary which at i t s m o u t h w a s little smalle r
.

than t he mai n stream It narrowed rap i dl y how

.
,

e v er and after tw o more days s t eaming we rea ched
,

an Indi an Vill age where the P rofessor ins i ste d t hat

,

we should land and t ha t t he E s m er a l d a shoul d be

,

sent back to Manaos We should soon come upon

.

rapids he explained whi ch would make i t s further

, ,

use impossi ble He added p ri va t ely tha t we were

.

now approach i ng t he door of t he un k nown c oun t ry ,

and t hat t he fewer whom w e t ook in t o our c o n dence

t he be tt er it wo ul d be To this end also he made
.

each of us give our word of honour t ha t w e would

publish or s a y nothing wh ich would give an y exac t
clue as t o the whereabouts of our travels whil e t he ,

servants were all solem n l y sworn to the same e ffec t .

It i s f o r this reason that I am c ompell ed t o be v ague

i n m y narra t i v e and I would warn m y readers t ha t
,

in any map or diagram which I may gi v e t he rela t ion

of places to each other may be correct bu t the points ,

of t he compass are carefully c onfused so t ha t in no ,

way ca n it be taken a s an ac t ual guide to the country .

P rofessor C h a llenger s reasons for secrecy may be
v a lid or not but we had no choice bu t t o adop t
,

them f or he w a s prepared t o abandon t he whole

,

expedi ti on ra t her than modify the c ondi tio ns upon

w h i ch he would guide us .

It w a s August 2 n d when we snapped our las t l i nk

wi th the ou t er world by bidding farewell t o t he
 WE DISA P P EAR INTO THE UN KNOWN 10 9

Since t hen four days hav e passed

E s m er a l d a .
,

during which we have engaged two large canoes

from the Indians made of s o light a mate ri al (skins
,

over a bamboo framework! that w e sho u ld be able

to carry them round any obstacle These we have .

loaded with all our e ffects and hav e engaged two

,

additional Indians to help us in the navi gation .

I understand that they are the very t wo A t aca

and Ipetu by namew h o accompanied P rofessor
Challenger upon his previous j ourney They .

appeared to be terried at the prospect of repeating

it but the chief has pat ri archal powers in t hese
,

coun t r ies and if the barg ai n is good in his eyes the

,

clansman has little choice in the mat t er .

So to morrow w e disappear into t he unknown

-
.

This account I am transmitting down the river by

canoe and it may be our last word to those w h o are
,

interested in our fate I have according to our

.
,

arrangement addressed it to you my dear Mr

, , .

M cAr d l e and I leave it to your discretion to delete

, ,

alter or do what you l ike with it From the assur

,
.

l
ance of P rofessor Cha lenger s manner and in spite
of the continued scepticism of P rofessor Summerlee
I have no doubt that our leader will make good
his s t atement and that we are really on the e v e
,

of some most remarkable experiences .

 C HA P TER VI II
THE O UTL Y I NG P I C! ET S OF THE NE W W OR L D .

OU R friends at home may well rej oic e w i t h us for ,

w e are a t o ur goal and up to a poin t a t le a s t w e

, , ,

have sh o wn t ha t the statemen t o f P rofessor C hal

lenger can b e veried We ha v e no t it is true
.
, ,

as c ended the pla t eau b u t it lies b e f ore us and

, ,

even P r ofess o r Summerlee is in a m o re chas t ened

mood No t tha t he will for an instant admit t hat
.

his rival c ould b e right but he is less persisten t

,

in his in c essan t o b j e c tions and has sunk for the

,

mos t part in t o an observant silence I mus t hark .

back howe v er and continue my narrative f rom

, ,

where I dropped it We are sending home o ne

.

of o ur l o cal Indians w h o is inj ured and I am com ,

mitting t his letter to his c harge with considerable ,

doubts in my mind as to whether i t will e v er c ome

t o hand .

When I wro t e las t we w ere a bo u t to leav e t he

Indian V illage where w e had b een deposited b y
the E s m er a l d a I have t o b egin my repor t by
.

bad news for the rst serious personal t r o u b le ( I

,

pass over the incessant bickerings between the

P rofess o rs ! oc curred this evening a n d might ha v e ,
 P ICKETS OF THE NEW WORLD I I I

h ad a t rag ic en di ng I h a v e spoke n of o ur E n g lis h

.

speaking hal f breed G o me z a ne w orke r and a

-
,

willi ng fe ll ow but afi c t ed I fancy with the V ice

, , ,

o f c uriosity wh ic h is c o mm o n enough among su ch

,

men On the last even i ng he seems to have hid

.

h i mse lf near the hut in whi c h we w ere dis c ussing

our p lans and b eing o b ser v ed by our huge negr o
, ,

Zambo who is as faithful as a dog and has the

,

ha t red which all his ra c e bear to the hal f breeds -

,

he w a s dragged out and c arried in t o o ur presen c e .

Gomez whipped out his knife however and but , ,

for the huge strength of his captor which enab led ,

him to disarm him with one hand he w o uld cer ,

t a i n l y have sta b bed him The matter has ended .

in reprimands the opponents have been compelled

,

to shake hands and there is every hope tha t all

,

will be well As to the feuds of the t w o learned

.

men they are continuous and bitter It mus t

, .

be admitted that Challenger is provocative in t h e

last degree but Summerlee has an acid tongue
, ,

which makes matters worse Last nigh t C hallenger .

said that he never cared t o walk on the Thames

Em b ankment and look up the river as it was ,

always s a d to s ee one s ow n e v entual goal He .

is convinced of course that he is destined for

, ,

Westminster Abbey Summerlee r etorted how .

,

ever with a sour smile by saying that he understood

, ,

t hat Millbank P rison had been pulled d o wn Chal .

lenger s conceit is to o c olossal to allow him t o be

really anno y ed He o nl y smi l e d i n his b eard and

.
1 12 THE LOST WORLD

repe a ted Really ! really ! in the pi t y i ng t one

o ne would use to a c hild Indeed they are c hil .
,

dren both the one wizened and cantan kerous t he ,

other formidable and overbearing yet each with ,

a brain which has pu t him in the fron t rank of h i s

.

s c ienti c age B rain c haracter soul o nly as one , ,

sees more of life does one unders t and how distin ct

i s each .

The very nex t day we did actually make our

start upon this remarkable expedition We f ound .

that all our possessions tted very easily in t o the

two c anoes and we divided our pers o nnel six in
, ,

each taking t he obvious precaution in the i nterests

,

of pea c e of put t ing o ne P rofessor into each canoe .

P ersonally I was wi t h C hallenger who was in a

, ,

b e a t i c humour moving a b out as one in a silent

,

ecstasy and beaming benevolence from every fea

ture I have had some experience of him in other
.

moods howe v er and S hall be the less surprised

, ,

when the thunderstorms suddenly come up amidst

the sunshine If it is impossible to be at your
.

ease it is equally impossible to be dull in his com

,

pany for one is always in a state of half tremulous

,
-

doubt as t o what sudden turn his formida b le t emper

may take .

F o r two days we made our way up a go od sized -

river some hundreds o f yards b road and dark in

, ,

c olour but transparent so t ha t one c ould usually

, ,

see the bottom The a fu e n t s of the Amazon.

are h al f of them o f this na t ure wh i le t he o th er

, , ,
 P I CKETS OF THE NE W WOR L D
half a r e wh i tish and opa q ue the di fferen c e depend
,

ing upon the class of c o untry thr o ugh whi c h the y

have owed The dark indi c a t e v ege t a b le decay
.
,

while the o thers poin t t o clayey soil Twi c e w e .

c ame acr o ss rapids and in each case made a por t age

,

of half a mile of s o t o avoid them The wo o ds o n .

either side were primeval which are more easily

,

pene t ra t ed than woods of the second grow t h and ,

we had n o grea t di fculty in carrying o ur c anoes

t hr o ugh them Ho w shall I ever forget t he solemn
.

mys t ery o f it ? The height o f the trees a n d the

t hi ckness of the bo les exceeded anything which I
i n m y to wn b red life c ould have imagined shoo t ing
-
,

up w ards i n magnicent c o lumns un t il a t an enor ,

m o us d i stan c e abo ve our heads we co uld dimly ,

d isc ern the spo t where they threw o u t their side

b ra nches into Go t hic upward curves which c oalesced
to fo rm o ne great matted roof of v erdure through ,

whi ch only an oc c asional golden ray of sunsh i ne

S h ot d o wnw ards to trace a thin daz zling l ine of
ligh t amidst the maj estic obscurity As w e wal ked .

n o iselessly amid the thick soft c arpe t of de c aying

,

v egetation the hush fell upon our souls which c o mes

up en us in the twilight of the Abbey and even ,

P r ofess o r Challenger s full chested n o tes san k into

-

a wh i sper. Alone I should have been ign o ran t

,

o f the names o f these giant gr o wths but our men ,

of s ci en c e p oin t e d out the cedars the great sil k ,

co tt o n t rees and the redwood trees with all that

, ,

pr ofusio n of v ari o us plants which has made this

H
 TH E LOST WO RLD
continen t the chief supplier to the human ra c e o f
those gifts of Nature which depend upon the v e g e
table world while i t is the most backward in those
,

products which come from animal life Vivid .

orchids and wonderful coloured lichens smouldered

upon the swarthy tree trunks and where a wander
-
,

i ng shaft of light fell full upon the golden allamanda ,

the scarl et star clusters of the tacsonia or the rich

-
,

deep blue of i p om aea the e ffect was as a dream

of fairyland In these great wastes of forest life
.
, ,

which abhors darkness struggles ever upwards to

,

t he light Every plant even the smaller ones

.
, ,

curls and writhes to the green surface twining ,

itself round i t s stronger and taller brethren in the

e ffort Climbing plants are mons t rous and l u x u r i
.

ant bu t others which have never been known t o

,

climb elsewhere learn the art a s an escape from

that sombre shadow s o that the common ne tt le
, ,

the j asmine and even the j acitara palm tree ca n

,

be seen circling the stems of the cedars and striving

to reach their crowns Of animal life there w a s
.

no movement amid the maj esti c vaulted aisles

which s t retched from us as we walked but a con ,

s t ant movement far above our heads t old of that

multitudinous world of snake and monke y bird ,

and sloth which lived in t he sunshine and l o oked

, ,

down in wonder a t our tiny dark stumbling gures , ,

in the obscure depths immeasurably below them .

A t dawn and at sunset the howler monkeys s c reamed

t ogether and t he parak ee t s b roke in t o s hri ll c ha tt er ,
 P ICKETS OF THE NEW WORLD 115

b u t during the hot hours of the day only the

full drone of insects like the bea t of a distan t surf
, ,

lled t he ear while nothing moved amid the solemn

,

vistas of stupendous trunks fading away in to the ,

darkness which held us in Once some bandy .

legged lurching creature an ant eater or a bear

, ,
-
,

scuttled clumsily amid the S hadows It was the .

only S ign of ear t h life which I s a w in this great

Ama zo nian fores t .

And y e t there were indi c a t ions that e v en human

life i t self was not far from us in those mysterious
'

re c esses On the third day out we were aware

.

of a S ing u lar deep throbbing in the air rhyt hmi c ,

and solemn coming and going t fu l l y throughout

,

the m o rning The two boats were paddling within

.

a fe w yards of each other when rst we heard it ,

and o ur Indians remained motionless a s if they ,

had been t urned t o br o nze listening in t en t ly with ,

expressions o f terr o r upon their faces .

Wha t is it then P I asked ,

.

Drums said Lord J ohn carelessly ;
, ,

drums I have heard them before
. .

Yes sir war drums , said G o mez the half , ,
i

breed . Wild Indians b r a v os not mansos ; they , ,

wa tc h us e v ery mile of the w a y ; kill us if they

c an .

How can they watch us ? I as k ed ga z ing ,

into the dark motionl es s void ,

.

The hal f breed shr ugged h i s br o ad sh o ulders

-
.

The Indian s kn o w They have their own way . .

1 16 THE LOST WORLD
They wa t c h us They t al k t h e dru m t alk t o ea c h
.

o t her ! ill u s if t hey can
B y t he aft ern oo n of t ha t day
. .

m y pock e t diary
s h o ws me t ha t i t wa s Tue s da y
Augus t 1 8 t h a t,

l east six o r s e v e n drums were t hr obbi ng fr o m various

poin ts S o me ti mes the y b ea t q u ick l y s o me t ime s
.
,

s lowl y s o me ti mes i n o b vi o us q ues t i o n and answer

, ,

one f ar to t h e e a st b rea k ing ou t i n a high sta cc ato

ra t t l e a n d b ein g fo ll o wed aft er a paus e by a deep
,

roll f r o m t he nor t h There wa s s o m e t hing i n

.

d e scri b a bly ner v e sha k ing and mena c ing in t hat

-

c ons t an t mu tt er whi c h s eemed to shape i t self into

,

the v e ry s ylla b le s o f t he half b reed endle ssl y r e -

,

p e a t e d We w ,i ll ki ll y o u i f we c an We will k ill .

y o u i f we can N o o ne e v er m o ved i n t he silen t
.

wo o d s All t he pea c e and soot hin g of q u i e t Na t ure

.

lay in t h a t dar k c ur t ain of vege t ati o n b u t awa y ,

fr o m b ehind t her e c a me e v er the o ne me s sag e fr o m

o ur f ell o w man
- We will kill yo u if w e ca n
.
,

said the men in t he east We will k ill yo u if w e

.

c an said t h e men in the nor t h

, .

Al l d a y t he drums rum b led and whispered wh i le ,

the i r mena c e re e ct ed i t sel f i n t he f a c es of our

coloured co mpani o ns Even t he hard y swagger
.
,

i ng half b reed seemed c owed I learned h o wever

-
.
, ,

tha t da y o n c e fo r all t ha t b o t h Summerlee and

C hallenger p oss e ss ed t ha t highes t t ype of b ravery ,

t he bravery of t he sc ien t i c m i nd The i rs was .

the spiri t wh ic h upheld Darwin am o ng t he gau ch o s

o f t h e Arg en ti ne o r Walla c e am o ng t he head hun t ers -
 P ICKETS or TH E NE W WORLD 1 17

o f Malay a I t is decreed by a merc iful Nature that

.

the human brain cannot think of two things simul

t a n eou sl y s o t hat if it b e s t eeped in c uriosity as
,

t o sc ien c e it has no room for merely pers o nal co n

siderati o ns All da y amid t hat in c essant a n d
.

mys t eri o us mena c e o ur t wo P r o fessors wa tc he d

every bird up o n the wing and every shrub up o n
,

the b ank with many a sharp word y c onten t io n

, ,

when t he snarl of Summerl ee c ame q uic k up o n

the deep growl o f C hallenger bu t wi t h no m o re ,

sense of danger and no m o re reference to drum

beat ing Indians t han if they were seated to ge t her
in the smoking r o om o f the Royal S oc iet y s Club
-

in S t J ames s Street On c e o nly did t hey co n
. .

des c end t o dis c uss t hem .

Miranha o r Am a j u a ca cann ib als s aid Chal ,

lenger j er king his t humb t owards t he re v erb erating

,

wo o d.

No doubt sir Summerlee answered

, ,
L ike .

all such tribes I s hall expe c t to nd t hem of poly

,

synthetic S pee c h and o f Mongolian type .

P olysynthetic cert ainly said C hallenger i n
, ,

d u l g en t l y. I am not aware tha t an y ot her type

o f language exis t s in t hi s con t inent and I ha v e ,

no t es o f m o re t han a hundred The Mongolian .

the o ry I regard with deep suspicion .

I sho ul d have th o ught t hat even a lim i t ed

kn o wledge of co mpar a tive a nat o my w o uld have

helped to verify it said Summerlee bitterly
, , .

Challen g er thrust ou t his ag g ressiv e chin un t i l

1 18 THE LOST WORLD
he w as all beard and
ha t rim
N o d o ub t s ir .
, ,

a limited knowledge would have t ha t effec t When .

one s knowledg e is exhaus t ive o ne co mes t o ot her ,

con c lusions They glared a t e ach ot her in mu t ual
.

dean c e while all round ro s e t he dis t an t whisper

,

We will kill yo u w e will kill you i f we c an .

Tha t nigh t we m o ored our canoes with heav y

sto nes fo r an c h o rs in t he centre of t he s t ream and ,

made every prepara t ion for a p o ssible a tt a c k .

No t hing c ame however and wi t h t he dawn we

, ,

pu s hed upon o ur wa y t he drum bea t ing dying

,
-

ou t b ehi nd us A bo u t t hree o clo c k in t he a ft er

.

noon we c ame t o a very s t eep rapi d more than a

,

mile l o ng t he very o ne in whi ch P ro f es s or C h a l

len ger had su ffered disas t er up on his rs t j o urne y .

I con fes s t ha t the sigh t of i t consoled me for i t ,

was reall y the rs t direct corr obo ra t ion sligh t as i t ,

was of t he t ru t h of his s t ory The Indian s c arried

, .

rs t our c anoes and t hen o ur s t ores thr o ugh t he

b rushw oo d wh ic h is very t hi c k a t t his p o in t while
, ,

we f o ur w hi t es our ri es on our sh o ulders walked

, ,

b e t ween t hem and any danger c oming fr o m t he

woods B e fo re evening we had suc c essfully passed
.

t he rapids and made our way s o me t en miles a bov e

,

t hem where we an c h o red for t he nigh t A t t his

,
.

poin t I re c k o ned t ha t we had c ome no t less t han

a hundred mile s up t he t rib u t ary fr o m t he main
s t ream .

It was in the early foren o on of the nex t da y t ha t ,

w e m ade the rea t de ar t ure Since d a wn P r o fess or

g p
.
.
 P ICKETS OF THE NEW WORLD 1 19

C hallenger had been acutely uneasy continually ,

scanning each bank of the ri v er Suddenly he gave .

an exclamation of satisfaction and p om t e d to a

single t ree which proj ected at a peculiar angle over
,

t he S ide of t he stream .

Wha t do you make of tha t P he asked .

It i s surely an Assai palm said Summerlee , .

Exa c tly I t w a s an Assai palm which I took

.

for my landmark The secret opening is half a

.

mile onwards upon the other S ide of the river There .

is no break in the trees That is t he wonder and .

the mys t ery of it There where you s ee light green

.
-

rushes ins t ead of dark green undergrowth there -

,

between the great cotton woods that is my private ,

gate into the unknown P ush through and you .

,

will unde rstand .

It was indeed a wonderful place Having reached .

the spo t marked by a line of ligh t green rushes we -

,

poled our t wo canoes through them for some hundreds

of yard s and eventually emerged into a placid and
,

shallow stream running clear and transparent over

,

a sandy bottom It may have been twenty yards

.

a cross
,
and was banked in on each side by most
luxuriant vegetation No one w h o had not observed
.

that for a short distance reeds had taken the place

of shrubs could possibly have guessed the existence
of such a stream or dreamed of the fairyland beyond

.

For a fai ryland it was the most wonderful that

the imagination of man could conceive The thick .

veg etat i on met overhead interlacing into a natural ,

 120 THE LOST WOR L D
pergola and through this tunnel of v erdure i n a
,

golden t wi ligh t owed the green pellucid ri v er , ,

beautiful in itself but marvellous from the strange

,

t ints t hrown by t he vi vid ligh t from above ltered

and tempered in its fall Clear as c rys t al mo t i o n.
,

l ess as a shee t of glass green as t h e edge of an iceberg

, ,

it s t re t ched in fron t of us under it s lea fy archwa y ,

e v ery s t roke of our paddles send i ng a t h o usand

r ipples across i t s shin i ng surfa c e It was a t ti ng .

a v enue t o a land of wonders All S ign of t he Indians .

had passed away b u t animal l i fe was m o re fre q uen t

, ,

and the t ameness o f t he creatures S howed t ha t t hey

k new no t hing of t he hun t er Fu zz y l itt le blac k .

v elve t m o nkeys wit h snow whi t e t eeth a n d gleam i ng

,
-
,

mock ing e y es chattered a t us as we passed Wit h

, .

a dull heavy splash an oc c asional c a yman plunged

,

in from t he ban k On ce a dark cl ums y tapir

.
v

s t ared a t us f rom a gap i n t he bushes a n d t he n ,

lumbered awa y t hrough t he f ores t ; on c e too t he , ,

y ellow s i nu o us form of a grea t puma whisked a mid

,

t he brushwood and i t s green b ale ful eyes glared

, ,

ha t red at us o v er its t awn y shoul der Bird l ife was .

abundant espe cially t he wading birds st o rk heron

, , , ,

and ib i s ga t hering in little groups blue scarl e t and , , ,

wh it e upon every lo g which j u tt ed from t h e b ank

, ,

while beneath us the c rys t al wa t er was al iv e wit h

sh of every shape and col our .

For three day s we made our way up t hi s t unnel

o f haz y green sunshine On t he lo n ger s t re tches o ne
.

co ul d hardl y t el l as o ne l oo k ed ahead where t he di s t an t

 P ICKETS OF THE NEW WOR L D 12 1

green water ended and the distant green archway

began The deep peace of this strange w a t erway
.

was unbro k en by any S ign of man .

N 0 I ndi an here Too much afrai d Cu r u p u r i
. .
,

Said Gome z .

Cu r u p u ri is the spiri t of the w oods L ord ,

J ohn explained I t s a name fo r any k ind of
.

de vi l The poor beggars think that t here is some

.

thing fe arsome i n t his direction and t herefore they

,

a v oid it .

On the third day it be c ame e vi den t tha t our

j ourne y in t he canoes c ould no t las t much longer ,

for the stream was rapidly growing more shallow .

Twice in as m a n y hours we stuck upon the bot t om .

Finally we pulled t he boats up among t he brush

wood and spen t t he nigh t o n t he bank of t he river .

In the morning L ord J ohn and I made o ur w a y for

a couple of miles through t he fores t keep i ng parallel ,

with the S tream ; but as it grew e v er shallower we

returned and rep o r t ed what P rofessor Challenger
,

had already suspected that w e had reached the

,

highes t point to which the c anoes c o uld be brought .

We drew them up t herefore and concealed them

, ,

among the bushes bla z ing a tree with our axes so

, ,

tha t we should nd them again Then w e d i s t r i

buted the various burdens among u s
.

guns a m m u n i ,

tion food a t ent blankets and the restand

, , , , ,

shoulde r i ng our packages we s e t f o rth upon the

,

more l ab o r ious st age of our j ourne y .

An unfor t unate quarrel between ou r p e pp e r p ot s

12 2 THE LOST WORLD
mark ed t he o u t se t o f our new s t age C hallenger .

had from the moment of j om m g us issued direc t ions

to the whole party much to the e viden t discontent ,

of Summerlee Now upon h i s assigni ng s ome duty

.
,

to his fellow P rofess o r (it was only the carryi ng of

-

an aneroid barome t er! t he mat t er suddenly came ,

to a head .

May I ask sir said Summerlee w i t h v i ci ous

, , ,

calm i n wha t capacity you t ake i t upon yourself
,

to issue t hese orders P

Challenger glared and bristled .

I do it P rofessor Summerlee as leader of t his ,

expedition .

I am compelled t o t ell y ou s i r t ha t I do no t , ,

recogni z e you in tha t c apaci t y .

Indee d ! C hallenger bowed wi th unwieldy

sar c asm P erhaps y ou would dene m y exac t
position .

Yes sir You are a man whose v eracity is upon

, .

trial and this commi tt ee is here t o try it You

, .

walk si r with your j udges

, ,
.

Dear me sai d Challenger seating himself on ,

the side of one of the can oes In tha t case you .

wi ll of course go on your way and I wi ll follow at

, , ,

my leisure If I am no t t he l eader you c annot ex

.

peet me to lead .

Thank heaven t ha t t here were t wo sane men

L ord J ohn Roxton and myself t o pre v ent the
petulance and folly of our learned P rofessors from
sending us back empty handed to London Such -
.
 P ICKETS or TH E NE W WORLD 123

arguing and pleading and expla i ning before we could

get them m ol l i e d ! Then at last Summerlee with ,

his sneer and his pipe would mo v e forwards and

, ,

Challenger woul d come rolling and grumbling after .

B y some good fortune we discovered about this time

that both our savan t s had the very poorest opinion
of Dr Illingworth of Edinburgh Thenceforward
. .

tha t was our one safe ty and every strained si t uation

,

was relie v ed by our introducing the name of the

Scotch zoologist when both our P rofessors would
,

form a temporary alliance and friendship in their

detestation and abuse of this common rival .

Ad v ancing I n S ingle le along the bank of the

stream we soon found that it narrowed down to a
,

mere b r ook a n d nally that it lost itself in a grea t green

,

morass of sponge like mosses into which we sank

-
,

up t o our knees The place w a s horribly haunted

.

b y clouds of mosqui t oes and every form of yi ng

pes t s o w e were glad t o nd solid ground again and
,

to make a c i rcui t among the trees which enabled ,

us t o ou t a n k t hi s pestilent morass which droned ,

l ike an organ in the d i s t ance s o loud w a s it with

,

insec t l ife .

On the se c ond d ay after leaving our canoes we

found that the whole character of the country
changed Our road w a s persistently upwards and
.
,

as w e ascended the woods became thinner and lost

their tropical luxu r iance The huge trees of the
.

alluvi al Amazonian plain gave place to the P hoenix

a n d coco palms g rowing in scattered c lumps w i th
, ,
124 THE LOST WOR L D
t hick b r ushw oo d b e t ween I n the damp er hollows
.

the Maurit i a pal ms thre w ou t t heir gra c eful droop i ng

f ronds We t ra v elled en t irel y by compass and
. ,

on c e o r t wic e t here were di fferen c es of op i nion be

t wee n C hallenger and the tw o Indians when t o , ,

quo t e t he P rofessor s indignan t words the who l e ,

par ty agreed t o trus t t he fallacio u s i ns ti n ct s of

unde v eloped sav ages ra t her than the hi ghes t pr o du ct
o f modern Eur o pean cul t ure Tha t w e were j us ti
.

e d i n d oi ng so w a s shown upon the t hi rd day whe n ,

C ha ll enger admitt ed t hat he recogni z ed se v eral

landm a rk s o f h i s former j ourne y and in o ne sp ot we ,

a ct uall y c a me upon four r e bla ck ened s t ones wh ic h

-
,

mus t h a v e marked a campi ng place -

.

The r o ad s t ill ascended and we c r o ssed a r ock

,

s t udded s l ope which t ook t wo da y s to t ra v ers e .

The v ege t at i on had a gain c hanged and onl y t he ,

v egetable i vory tree remai ned wi t h a grea t pro ,

fusion o f wonder ful orch i ds among wh i ch I l earn ed

,

t o recogni z e t he rare Nu tton i a Vex i l l a r i a and t h e

glori ous pin k a n d scarle t blossoms o f C a ttl e y a and
o don to glossum O c casional br o oks with p ebbl y
.

bo tt oms and f ern draped banks gurgled down t he

-

sh al low gorges i n t he hill and o ffered good c amp i ng

,

grounds every evening on t he banks of some r o ck

s t udded pool where swarms o f li ttl e blue b a cked
,
-

sh abou t t he si z e a n d shape o f Engl i sh t ro u t ga v e

, ,

u s a de li c i ous s upper .

On t he n i n t h day aft er leavi ng t he c anoes having ,

done as I re cko n a b ou t a hundred and twen ty m il e s

, , ,
 P ICKETS OF THE NEW WORLD 12 5

we began to emerge from the tre es which had grown ,

smaller until they were mere shrubs Their place .

was taken by an immen s e wilderness of bamboo ,

which grew so thic kl y t ha t we could only penetrate it

b y cutting a pathwa y with the mache t es a n d bill
hooks o f the Indians It took u s a long day travel
.
,

l ing from seven in the morning till eight at night ,

with only two breaks of one hour each to get through ,

this obstacle Anything more monotonous and

.

we a rying could no t be imagined for even a t the , ,

mos t open places I could not s e e more than ten or

,

t wel v e yards while usual ly my vision w a s limited to

,

the back of Lord J ohn s cotton j acket in fron t o f

me and to the yellow wall within a foot of me o n

,

ei t her side From above came one thin k n ife edge

.
-

o f sunsh i ne and fteen feet over our heads one s a w

,

the tops of the reeds swaying against the deep blue

sky . I do not know what kind of creatures inhabit
such a thick et but several times we heard the plung
,

i n g o f l arge heavy animals quite close to u s

, From .

their sounds Lord J ohn j udged them to be some

form of wild cattle Jus t a s night fell w e cleared
.

the belt of bamboos and at once formed our camp

, ,

exhausted by the interminable day .

Early next morning w e were again afoot and ,

found that the character of the country had changed

on c e again B ehind us w a s the wall of bamboo a s
.
,

denite a s if it marked the course of a river In .

fron t w a s an open plain sloping slightly upward s

,

and dotted with clumps of tree fern s the w hol e -

,
126 THE LOST WO RLD
curving before us until it ended in a long whale ,

backed ri dge This we reached about midday onl y

.
,

to nd a shallow valley beyond ri sing once again in t o ,

a gentle incline which led to a low rounded s k y line ,

-
.

It was here while w e cr o ssed t he rst of these hills

, ,

t ha t an inc i dent occurred which may or may not

have been important .

P rofess o r C hallenger who wi t h t he t w o local

, ,

Indians was in the van of the par t y sto pped sud

, ,

d en l y and poin t ed ex c i t edly t o t he right AS he did .

s o we saw at the dis t an c e o f a mile or s o s o me t hing

, ,
"

which appeared t o be a huge grey b ird ap slowly

up fr o m t he ground and skim smoo t hly off ying ver y ,

low and s t raight un t il i t was los t among t he t re e f erns

,
-
.

Did y o u see i t P c ried Challenger in exul t a t ion ,

.

Summerlee did you s e e it P

,

His c olleague was staring a t t he spo t where t he

c rea t ure had disappeared .

Wha t do you claim that i t w a s P he as k ed .

To t he b es t of my belief a pterodac t yl, .

Summerlee b urs t in t o derisive laughter A .

p t er o d d l es t i ck
-
said he I t was a s to rk i f
.
,

ever I s aw o ne .

C hallenger was to o furi o us t o speak He S imply .

swung his pack up o n his b ack and continued upon his

march L o rd J ohn c ame abreas t of me however
.
, ,

and his f a c e was m o re grave than was his wo nt He .

had his Zeiss glasses in his hand .

I focussed it before it got over the trees said ,

I won t undertake to s a y wha t i t w a s b u t I ll ,

 P I CKETS OF THE NE W WORLD 127

ris k my repu t ation as a spor t sman that it wasn t any

bird that ever I clapped eyes on in my life .

So there the matter stands Are we really j ust at .

t he edge of the unknown encoun t ering the out ,

lying pickets of this lost world of which our leader

speaks P I give you the incident as it o c curred and
you will know a s much as I do It s t ands alone for .
,

we s a w n ot h i n g more which could b e called remarkable .

And now my readers if ever I have any I have

, , ,

brought you up the broad river and through the ,

screen of rushes and down the green tunnel and up

, ,

the long slope of palm trees and through the bamboo

,

brake and across the plain of tree ferns At las t our

,
-
.

des tination lay in full S ight of us When we had .

crossed the second ridge we s a w before us an i r r eg u

lar palm studded plain and t hen the line of high red
,
-
,

cli ffs which I have seen in the picture There it lies .

,

even as I write and ther e can be no question that it

,

is the same At the neares t point it i s about seven

.

miles from our present c amp and it curves away , ,

stretching as far as I ca n s e e Challenger struts .

about like a prize peacock and Summerlee i s S ilent

, ,

but still sceptical Another day should bring some

.

of our doubts to an end Meanwhile a s J o s whose

.
, ,

arm was pierced by a broken bamboo insists upon r e ,

turning I send this letter back in h i s charge and only

, ,

hope that i t may eventually come to hand I will write .

again as the occasion serves I have enclosed with this

.

a rough chart of our j ourney which may have the e ffec t

,

of makin g the a cc ount ra t her easier t o unders t and .

 ES
MALON

R O UG H MA P o r THE JO U RNE Y To THE cLI r r s .
 CHA P TER IX
WHO C O U LD HAVE F ORE S EE N IT ?

A D REA DF U L thing has happened to us Who could .

have foreseen it P 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 s o 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 u s e in disclosing to you
our exact geographical situation and asking our
friends for a relief party Even if they co ul d send
.

one our fate will in al l human probability be

,

decided long before it could arrive in South

America .

We are in trut h a s far from any human aid as if

, ,

we were in the moon If We a r e t o win t h r ough it

.
'

is only our ow n 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

.

t h e untroub l ed faces of my comrades th a t I s e e s o m e

12 9 I
1 30 THE LOST WO RLD
glimmer t hrough the darknes s Ou t wardly I trust .

that I appear as unconcerned as they Inwardly I .

am l led with apprehension .

Let me give you with a s much de t ail as I can

, ,

the sequence of events which have led us to this

catastr o phe .

When I nished my last le tt er I s t a t ed t ha t we were

within seven miles fr o m an enormous line of ruddy
cli ffs which encircled beyond all doubt the plateau
, ,

of whi c h P rofessor C hallenger spoke Their height .

,

as we approached them seemed t o me in some places

,

to be grea t er than he had sta t edr u nning up in parts

t o at least a t h o usand fee t and t hey were curiously
s t ria t ed in a manner which is I b elieve chara c ter
, , ,

i s t i c of b as al tic upheavals S o mething of the s o r t

.

is t o b e seen in Salisbury Crags a t Edinburgh The .

summi t showed every S ign of a luxurian t vegetation ,

with bushes near t he edge and f arther ba c k many ,

high trees There was n o indi c a t ion of any life t hat

.

we could s e e .

That night we pitched o ur c amp immediately under

t he cliff a mos t wild and desolate spo t The crags .

above us were not merely perpendicular b ut c urved ,

outwards at the top s o that ascent was ou t of the

,

question Close t o u s w a s the high th i n pinnacle

.
,

of rock which I believe I mentioned earlier in this

narra t ive I t is like a broad red churc h spire the
.
,

t op of it being level wi t h t he plateau but a grea t ,

chasm gaping be t ween On the summi t of it there

.

gre w one high t re e B o t h pinnacle and c li ff were

.
~
 WHO COULD HAVE FORESEEN IT .
I 3I

c o mparatively low some v e or si x hundred fe et ,

I should think .

It was on that said P rofessor Chal lenger point

, ,

ing t o this tree tha t the pterodactyl was perched

,
.

I climbed h al f way up the rock before I S hot him

-
.

I am inclined to think that a good mountaineer like

myself c o ul d ascend t h e rock to the top though he ,

wo ul d of course be no nearer to t he plateau when

,

he had done so .

As Challenger S poke of his pterodactyl I glanced

at P rofessor Summerlee and for the rst time I,

s eemed to s e e some signs of a dawning credulity and

repentance There w a s no sneer upon his thin lips
.
,

but on the contrary a grey drawn l o ok of excite

, , ,

ment and amazement Ch a llenger s a w it too and

.
, ,

revelled in the rst tas t e of victory .

Of course said he with his clumsy and pon

, ,

d er ou s sarcasm P rofessor Summerlee will under

,

stand that when I speak o f a pter o dactyl I mean a

storko n ly it i s the kind of stork which has no
fea t hers a leathery skin membranous wings and
, , ,

t eeth in i t s j aws He grinned and blinked and
.

bowed un t i l h i s colleague turned and walked away .

In the morning after a frugal breakfast of co ffee

,

and maniocw e had to be economical of our stores

w e held a council of war as to the best method of

ascending to t he plateau above u s .

Challenger presided with a solemnity a s if he were

the Lord Chief J ustice on the Bench P i ct ure him .

seated upon a rock his abs u rd boyish straw hat

,
132 THE LOST WORLD
tilted on the back of his head h i s supercilious eye s ,

d o minating us from under his drooping lids his great ,

black beard wagging as he slowly dened our presen t

si t uation and our future movemen t s .

Beneath him you might have seen the t hree of

us myself sunburnt young and vigorous after
, ,

our Open a rr tramp ; Summerlee solemn but still

-
, ,

criti c al behind his eternal pipe ; Lord J ohn as

, ,

keen as a razor edge with his supple aler t gure
, ,

leani ng upon his rie and his eagle eyes xed eagerly
,

upon the speaker Behind us were grouped the two

.

swarthy half breeds and the little knot of Indian s ,

while in front and above us towered those huge ,

ruddy ribs of rocks which kept us from our goal .

I need not s a y said our leader
, tha t on the ,

oc c asion of my last visit I exhausted every means

of climbing the cli ff and where I failed I d o n o t
,

think tha t anyone else is likely to succeed for I am ,

something of a mountaineer I had none of t he .

appliances o f a r o ck climber with me bu t I have

-
,

t aken the pre c aution t o bring them now With .

t heir aid I am positive I c o ul d climb t ha t de t a c hed

pinna cle t o t he summit ; but s o long as the main
cli ff overhangs i t is vain to a t tempt as c ending t hat
,
.

I was hurried upon my last V isit by the approa c h o f

the rainy season and by the exhaustion o f my
supplies These considerations limi t ed my time
.
,

and I c an o nly claim t hat I have surveyed ab o u t

six miles of t he c li ff to the eas t of us nding no ,

poss ibl e way up Wha t t hen sh al l we n ow d o P

.
, ,
 WHO COULD HAVE FORESEEN IT 13 3

There seems to be only one reasonable course ,

said P rofessor Summerlee If you have explored

.

the east we shoul d travel along the base of the cli ff

,

to the west and seek for a practicable point for our

,

as cent .

That s it said Lord John

The odds are
,
.

that this plateau is of no great size and we shal l ,

travel round it until we either nd 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 an y w here for the simple reason that if there
,

were the summit would not be isolated and those ,

conditions would not obtain which have e ffected

s o sing u lar 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 i s certain that there i s a

.

point where an ascent is possible .

How do you know that sir P asked Summerlee , ,

sharply .

Because my predecessor the Ameri c an Maple ,

White actually made such an ascent How other

,
.

wise could he have seen the monster which he

sketched in his notebook P
There you reason somewhat ahead of the proved

facts said the stubborn Summerlee
, I admit .
1 34 THE LOST WORLD
your plat eau be c ause I have seen it ; but I have
,

no t as yet satised myself that it c ontains any form

of life wha t ever .

What you admit s i r or what you d o no t admit

, , ,

is really o f in co nceivably small importance I am .

glad to perceive tha t the plateau itself has ac t ually

obtruded i t self upon your in t elligence He glanced .

up at it and then to our ama z ement he sprang from

, , ,

his rock and sei z ing Summerlee by the neck he

, , ,

tilted his fa c e in t o t he air Now s i r he shouted

.
, ,

hoarse with excitemen t D o I help you to realize

.

that the pla t eau contains some animal life P

I have said t ha t a thick fringe of green overhung
t he edge of the cli ff Out of this there had emerged
.

a black glis t ening obj ect AS it came S lowly forth

,
.

and overhung the chasm we saw t hat it was a very ,

large snake with a peculiar at spade like head It ,

-
.

wavered and quivered above us for a minu t e the ,

morning sun gleaming upon its sleek sinuous coils , .

Then it slowly drew inwards and disappeared .

Summerlee had been s o in t eres t ed that he had

stood unresis t ing while C hallenger tilted his head
into the air Now he s h o ok his c o lleague off and
.

c ame back t o his digni t y .

I should be glad P rofessor C hallenger said he

, , ,

if you co uld s ee your way t o make any remarks

which may o c c ur to y ou withou t sei z ing me by t he
c hin Even the appearance o f a very ordinary ro c k
.

python does not appear to j ustify such a liberty .

But there is life upon the plateau all the same ,

 WHO COULD HAVE FORESEEN IT 135

his colleague replied in triumph And now havi ng .

,

demonstrated this important conclusion s o that it is

clear to anyone however prej udiced or obtuse I am
, ,

of Opinion that we cannot do better than break up

our c amp and travel to westward until we nd some

means of ascent .

The ground at the foot of the cli ff was rocky and

broken s o tha t the going was slow and dif cult
,
.

Suddenly we c ame however upon something which , ,

cheered our hearts It w a s the site of an old en .

ca m p m en t with several empty Chicago meat tins

, ,

a bottle labelled Brandy a broken tin opener ,

-
,

and a quantity of other travellers d ebr i s A

.

crumpled disintegrated newspaper revealed itself

,

as the Ch i ca g o D em ocr a t though the date had been ,

obliterated .

Not mine said C hallenger

, It must be .

Maple White s .

Lord J ohn had been gazing curi o usly a t a great

tree fern which overshadowed t he encampment
-
.

I s a y look at t his 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 P Finding himself upon a dangerous

errand our pioneer has left thi s S ign s o t hat any
,

party which follows him may know the way he has

taken P erhaps we sh al l come upon some other
.

indications as we proceed .
136 THE LOST WORLD
We did indeed but they were o f a terrible and
,

most unexpec t ed nature Immediately beneath .

the cli ff there grew a considerable patch of high

bamboo like that which we had traversed in our
,

j ourney Many of these stems were twenty fee t

.

high wi t h sharp strong tops s o that even as they

, , ,

s t oo d they made formidable spears We were .

passing along the edge of this c o ver 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 es h l e sS 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 mache t es of our Indi ans

we cleared t h e spot and were able to study t he
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 i t was ,

very clear t hat 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 ,

.

w s
There a also a silver cigarette case wi th J C ,
. .
,

from A E S . upon the lid The state of the met al

. .
, .

seemed to show that the catastrophe had occurred

no great t ime before .

Who can he be P asked Lord J ohn P oor .

de vi l every bone in his body seems to be broken .

And the bamboo grows through h i s smashed

ri bs , s ai d Summerlee It is a fast gro w i ng plant
.
-
,

but it is surely inconceivable that this body co ul d

 WHO COULD HAVE F OR E S E E N IT 13 7

have been here while the canes grew to be twenty

feet in length .

As to the man s identity said P rofessor Chal

lenger ,
I have no doubt whatever upon that point .

As I made my way up the river before I reached

you at the faz enda I instituted very particular
inquiries about Maple White At P ara they knew .

nothing Fortunately I had a denite clue for

.
, ,

there was a particul ar picture in his sketch book -

which S howed him taking lunch with a certain

ecclesiastic at Rosario This priest I was able to
.

nd and though he proved a very argumentative

,

fellow w h o 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 Rosar io four years ago o r two years before ,

I s a w his dead body He was not alone at the time

.
,

but there w a s a friend an Ame ri can named James

,

Colver w h o remained in the boat and did not meet

,

this ecclesiastic I think therefore that there can

.
, ,

be no doubt that we are now l oo k n upon the re

mains oi this James Colver .

Nor said Lord J ohn

, is there much doubt ,

as to how he met hi s death He has fallen or been .

chucked from the top and s o 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 s o high above our heads P
A hush came over us as w e stood round these
13 8 TH E LOST WOR L D
S hattered rem ai ns and reali zed the truth of L o rd
J ohn Rox t on s w o rds The beetling head of t he cli ff

.

proj ected o v er the cane brake Undoub t edly he

-
.

had f al len from above But h a d he fallen ? Had

.

it been an accident ? Or already ominous and -

terrible possibilities began t o form round that u n

known land .

We moved o ff i n silen c e and continued t o c o ast

,

round the line o f cli ffs which were as even and

,

unbroken as some of those mons t rous An t ar c tic ice

e l d s which I have seen depic t ed as stre t ching from
horizon to hori z on and t owering high above the
mast heads of the explori ng v essel In v e mi les
- .

we s a w no rift or break And then suddenly we .

perceived somethi ng which lled us wi t h new hope .

In a hollow of the rock protected from rain there

, ,

was drawn a rough arrow in chalk pointing still t o ,

the westward .

Maple White again said P rofessor Ch al lenger

, .

He had some presentiment that worthy foo t s t eps

would follow close behind him .

He had chalk then P

,

A box o f coloured chalks w a s among the e ffec t s

I found in his knapsack I remember tha t the .

white one was worn to a stump .

That is c er t ainly good evidence said Summer ,

l ee
. We can only accept his guidance and follow

on t o the westward .

We had pr o ceeded some ve more miles when

again w e saw a white arrow upon the rocks It .
 WHO C OULD HAVE FORESEEN IT 139

was at a point where the face of the cliff was for the
rst time split into a narrow cleft Inside the cleft .

was a second gui dance mark whi ch pointed right ,

up it with the tip somewhat elevated as if the spot ,

indicated were above the level of the groun d .

It was a solemn place for the wal ls were so gigantic

,

and t he slit of blue s k y s o narrow and s o obscured

by a double fri nge of verdure that only a di m and
shadowy light penetrated to the bottom We had .

had no food for many hours and were very weary ,

with the stony and irregular j ourney but our nerves ,

were too strung to allow us to halt We ordered .

t he 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 rapidl y closed until it ended in an
,

acute angle too straight and smooth for an ascent

,
.

Certai n l y it was not t hi s whi ch our pioneer had

attempted to indicate We made our way back
.

the whole gorge was not more than a quarter of a

mile deepand then suddenly the q ui ck eyes of
Lord J ohn fell upon what w e were seeki ng 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 cli ff was heaped with loose stones

at the spot and it was not di f cult to clamber up
, .

When we reached it all doubt w a s removed Not

, .

o n l y was it an open i ng into the rock but on the S ide ,

14 0 THE LOST WORLD
o f i t there w a s marked once again the sign of t he
arrow Here was the point and this the means by
.
,

which Maple White and his i ll fated comrade had

made their ascent .

We were too excited to return to the c amp but ,

must make our rst exploration at once Lord .

J ohn had an elect ri c torch in his knapsack and ,

thi s had to serve us a s light He advanced throw

.
,

i n g his little clear circlet of yellow radiance before

him while in single le we fo l lowed at h i s heels
, .

The cave had evi dently been water worn the -

,

sides being smooth and the oor covered w i t h

rounded stones It was of such a size that a S ingle
.

man could j ust t through by stooping For fty .

yards it ran almost strai ght into the rock and then ,

it ascended at an angle of forty v e P resently

-
.

t his incline became even steeper and w e found our

,

selves 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 w e saw in the yellow eld

of light a wall of broken basalt which ex t ended to
the cei l ing .

The roof has fallen in

In vain we dragged out some of the pieces The .

onl y e ffect w a s that the larger ones became detached

and t hreatened to roll down the gradient and crush
us It was evident that the obstacle was far beyond
.

any e fforts which w e could make to remove it The .

 WH O COULD HAVE FORESEEN IT 141

road by which Maple White had ascended was no

longer available .

Too much cast d own to speak we stumbled down ,

the dark tunnel and made our w a y back to the

camp .

One incident occurred however before we left , ,

the gorge whi ch is of importance in vi ew 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 down

,

wards and shot past us with tremendous force It .

was the narrowest escape for one or all of u s We .

could not ourselves s e e whence the rock had come ,

but our half breed servants w h o were still at the

-
,

Opening of the cave said that it had own past them

, ,

and must therefore have fallen from the summit .

Looki ng upwards we co ul d see no S ign of movement

,

above us amidst the green j ungle whi ch topped the

cli ff There co ul d be little doubt however that the
.
, ,

s t one was aimed at us s o the incident surely pointed

,

t o humanityand malevolent humani tyupon the

plateau .

We withdrew hurriedly from the chasm our minds ,

full of this new development an d its bearing upon

our plans The S ituation was di fcul t enough before
.
,

but if the obstructions of Nature were increased by

t he deliberate opposition of man then our case was ,

indeed a hopeless one And yet as we looked up at.

,

t ha t beaut iful fringe of verdure onl y a few hundred s

1 42 THE LOST WORLD
of fee t ab o ve our heads t here was no t one of us w h o
,

co u ld conceive the idea o f returning to London unti l

we had explored i t to its depths .

On discussing the situation w e determined tha t ,

our best course was to continue t o co as t round the

pla t eau in the hope of nding some other means of
reaching the t op The line of cli ffs which had de
.
,

creased considerably i n heigh t had already begun ,

to trend from west t o north and if we could take this

,

as representing the arc of a circle the whole circum ,

'

ference could no t be v ery great A t the wors t then .

, ,

we should be back in a few days at our s t arting poin t -

.

We made a march t ha t day wh i ch t ot al led some

t wo and twenty mi les with o ut any change in our
- -
,

prospects I may mention tha t ou r aneroid S hows

.

us that in the continu al i ncline which w e have

ascended since we abandoned our canoes we hav e
risen t o no less than t hree thousand fee t a b ove s e a
level Hence there is a considerable change both
.

in t he temperature and in the v ege t ation We .

have shaken off some of t hat horrible insec t life

whi ch is t he bane of tropic a l travel A few palms .

still survi ve and many tree ferns but the Amazoni an

,
-
,

trees have been all left behind It w a s pleasant to .

see the convolvulus the passion ow e r and the

,
-
,

begonia all reminding me of home here among

, ,

these inhospitable rocks There was a red begonia.

j ust the same colour as one that is kept in a pot in

the window of a certain villa in Streatham but
I am drifting into private reminiscence .
 WHO COULD HAVE FORESEEN IT 1 43

Tha t night I am still spea king of the rst day
of our circumnavigation of the plateaua great
experience awaited us and one which for ever s e t
,

at rest any doubt which w e co ul d have had as to

the wonders s o near u s .

You will realize as you read it my dear Mr , .

M cAr dl e and possibly for the rst time that the

, ,

paper has not sent me on a w i ld goose chase and -

,

that there is inconceivably ne copy waiting for the

world whenever w e have the P rofessor s leave to

make use of it I shall not dare to publ ish these

.

articles unless I can bring back my proofs to Eng

land o r I shall be hailed as the j ournalistic Mun
,

ch a u s e n of all time I have no doubt that you fee l

.

the same way yourself and that you would not care
,

to stake the whole credit of the Ga zette upon thi s

adventure until w e can meet the chorus of criticism
and scepticism which such articles must of necessity
elicit So t hi s 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 ash and there was ,

no sequel to it save in our own convictions

,

What occurred was this Lord J ohn had shot

an a j ou t i which i s a small pig like animaland
.

,
-
,

half of it having been given to the Indians w e were ,

cooking the other h al f upon our re There is a chi ll .

in the air after dark and we had all drawn close to

,

the b l az e The night was moonless but there were

.
,

s ome stars and one could s e e for a little di s t ance

,
1 44 TH E LOST WORLD
across the pl ai n Well suddenly out of the dark
.
,

nes s out of the night there swooped something wi th

, ,

a swish like an aeroplane The whole group of us .

were covered for an instant by a canopy of leathery

w ings ,and I had a momentary vision of a long ,

snake like neck a erce red greedy eye and a great

-
, , , ,

snapping beak lled to my amazement with little

, , , ,

gleaming teeth The next instant it was gone

.

and s o was our dinner A huge black shadow .

,

t wenty feet across skimmed up into the air ; for

,

an instant the monster wings blotted out the s t ars ,

and then it vanished over the brow of the cli ff above

us We all sat in amazed silence round the re
.
,

like t he heroes of Virgil when the Harpies came down

upon them It was Summerlee who was the rst
.

to speak .

P rofessor Challenger said he in a solemn , ,

v oi ce w h i ch quavered with emotion

,
,
I ow e you an ,

apology Sir I am very much in the wrong and I

.
, ,

beg tha t you will forget what is past .

I t w a s handsomely said and the two men for the ,

rs t time shook hands So much we have gained .

by thi s clear vision of our rst pterodactyl It was .

worth a stolen supper to bring two such men together .

Bu t if prehistoric life exis t ed upon the pla t eau ,

i t was not superabundant for we had no further ,

glimpse of it during the nex t t hree days During .

this time we traversed a barren and forbidding

country which al ternated between stony desert
,

an d d es o l a t e m a rs h es full of m a ny wil d f o wl up o n -
,
 WHO COULD HAVE FORESEEN IT 1 45

the north and east of the cliffs From that direction

.

the place i s 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 favourite

,

breeding place of the J a r a ca ca snake the most

-
,

venomous and aggressive in Sou t h 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 colour from some lichen which fes tered

in it will always remain as a nightmare memory in
,

my mind It seems to have been a S pecial nest of

.

these vermin and the S lopes were al ive with them

, ,

all writhing in our direction for it is a pecul iarity

,

of the J a r a ca ca that it will always attack man at

rst sight There were too many for us to S hoot

.
,

s o we fairly took to our heels and ran until w e were

exhausted I shall always remember as we looked

.

back how far behind we could s e e the heads and

necks of our horrible pursuers rising and falling
amid the reeds J a r a ca ca Swamp we named it in
.

t he map which we are constructing .

The cli ffs upon the farther side had los t their
ruddy tint being chocolate brown in colour ; t h e
,
-

v egetation was more scattered along t he t 0 p of them ,

!
1 46 TH E LOST WORLD
and t hey had sunk to t hree or four hundred f ee t in
heigh t but in no place did we nd any poin t where
,

t h ey c ould be ascended If anything they wer e .

,

more impossible than at t he rst poin t where we had

met them Their absolute s t eepness is indi c ated
.

in the pho t ograph which I t ook over t h e s t on y

deser t.

Surely said I as we dis c ussed the si t uation

, , ,

the rain must nd its way down somehow There .

a r e b ound to be water channe l s in the rocks-
.

Our y o ung friend has glimpses of lucidi t y said ,

P rofessor C hallenger patting me upon the sho ul der

,
.

The rain must go somewhere I r epeated ,
.

He keeps a rm grip upon a c tuality The .

o nly drawback i s that we have conclusively proved

by oc u lar demonstr a tion that there are n o wa t er

channels down the rocks .

Where then does it go P I persis t e d

, ,
.

I t hink i t may be fairly assumed that if i t does

n o t come outwards it must run inwards .

Then there is a lake in the centre .

S o I shoul d suppose
It is more t han likely t hat the lake may b e an

o ld c ra t er said Summerlee
,
The whole forma .

ti o n is of course highly volcan i c But however

, ,
.

that may b e I sh o uld expect to nd the surface of

,

the pla t eau S lope inwards with a considerable sheet

of water in the c entre which may drain off by some
, ,

sub t erranean channel in t o the marshes of the ,

J a r a c a ca Swamp .
 WHO COULD HAVE FO RE SEEN IT 147

Or evaporation might preserve an equi librium ,

remarked Challenger and the t w o learned men

,

wandered o ff into one of their usual scientic argu

ments which were as comprehensible as Chines e
,

to the layman .

On the S ixth day we completed o ur circuit of

the cliffs and found ourselves back at the rst camp
, ,

beside the isolated pinnacle of rock We were a .

dis c onsolate party for nothing coul d have been

,

more minute than our investigation and it was ,

absolutely certain that there w a s no single poin t

where the most a c tive human being co ul d possibly
hope to scale the cli ff The place which Maple .

White s c halk marks had indicated as his own means

-

of access was now entirely impassable .

What were we t o do now ? Our stores of pro

visions 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 s o great a

height was more than our time or resources would
adm it 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 S leep my last recollection was

that Challenger w a s squatting like a monstrou s ,

b u ll frog by the re his huge head in his hands

-
, , ,

sunk apparently in the deepest thought and ,

1 48 THE L OST WORLD
entirely oblivious to the go o d night which I wished -

him .

B u t it was a very di fferen t C hall enger wh o greeted

us in t he morning a Challenger with c o ntentment
and self congratula t ion shining from his whole person
-
.

He faced us as we assembled for breakfast with a

deprecating false modesty in his e y es a s who should ,

say ,
I know that I deserve all that you c an say ,

bu t I pray you t o spare my blushes by no t saying

it
. His beard b ristled ex u ltantly his ches t was ,

thrown out and his hand was thrust into the front
,

of his j acke t So in his fan c y may he see himself

.
, ,

sometimes gracing t he vacan t pedestal in Trafalgar

,

Square and adding one more to t he h o rrors of the

,

L ond o n stree t s .

Eureka ! he cried his teeth shining thr o ugh ,

his beard Gentlemen you m ay c ongratulate me

.
,

and we may c o ngra t ulate each other The problem .

is solved .

You have found a way up P

I venture t o think s o .

And where P
For answer he poin t ed t o t he sp i re like pinna c le -

up o n our righ t .

Our fa c es o mine a t leas t fell as we surveyed
r ,

it That it could b e climbed we had o ur c ompanion s

.

a s suran c e B ut a horrible abyss la y between it

.

a n d the plateau .

We c an never ge t across I gasped , .

We c an at least all rea c h the summit said he ,

.
 WHO COULD HAVE FORESEEN IT 1 49

When we are up I may be able to S h o w you that

the resources of an inven t ive mind are not yet

exhaus t ed .

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 fty feet in length w i t h clim b
, ,

ing irons clamps and other devices Lord J ohn

, , .

was an experienced mountaineer and Summerlee had ,

done some rough climbing at various times s o 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 sti ff task though ,

there were moments which made m y hair bristle

upon my head The rst half was perfectly easy
.

but from there upwards it became con t inuall y

steeper until for the last fty fee t we were liter
, , ,

a l ly clinging with o ur ngers and toes t o tiny ledg es

and crevices in the rock I could not have a e com .

p l i s h e d it nor
, co ul d Summerlee if Chall enger had ,

not gained the summit (it was extraordinary to see

such activity in s o un w ieldy a creature ! and there
xed the rope round the trunk of the considerable
tree which grew there With thi s as our support .
,

w e were soon able to scramble up the j agged wall

until w e found ourselves upon the small grassy plat

form some twenty v e feet each way which formed
,
-
,

the summit .

The rst impression which I received when I had

150 THE LOST WORLD
r e cove r ed my breath was of the extraordi nary View
over t h e country whi ch we had travers ed Th e .

whole Brazili an plain seemed to lie beneath us ,

extending away and away until i t ended in di m blu e

mists upon the farthest sky li ne In t h e foregr ound
-
.

was the long S lope strewn with rocks and dot t ed

,

wi t h tre e ferns farther o ff in the mid dl e di s t ance

-
,

looking over the saddle back hill I could j ust see

-
,

the yell ow and green mass of bamboos through w hich

we had p a ssed and then graduall y the v ege t ation
, ,

increased unti l it formed the huge forest which

extended as far as the eyes could reach an d for a ,

good two thousand miles beyond .

I was still drin ki ng in thi s wonderful panoram a

wh en the heavy h a nd of the P rofessor fe ll upon my
shoulder .

This way my young fri end s ai d he

, , v es ti g i a

n u l l a r etr or s u m
. Never loo k rearwards bu t al ways ,

t o our glo r ious go al .

The level of the plateau when I tur ned w a s

, ,

exactly that on which we stood and t h e green b a nk ,

of bushes with occasional trees was s o near t hat it

, ,

was di fcult to realize how inaccessible i t remained .

A t a rough guess the g ul f was forty fee t across but , ,

s o far as I could see it might as well have been forty

,

m i les I placed one arm round the trunk of the tre e

.

and leaned over the abyss Far do w n were the .

s mall dark gures of our servants looking up a t us , .

The wall was absolutely precipi tous as was that ,

which faced me .
 WHO COULD HAVE FORESEEN IT 15 1

Thi s is indeed curious sai d the creaking v oi c e ,

of P rofessor 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 ,

fami liar to m y eyes Wh y I c ri ed

. it s a ,

,

beech !

Exactly said Summerlee

,
A fell o w c o u n t ry .
-

man in a far land .

Not only a fel low countryman my good S ir -

, ,

s ai d Challenger but also if I may be allowed t o

, ,

enlarge your si m ile an ally of the rst v al ue This

, .

bee ch tree w ill be our saviour .

By George cried Lord John a bridge ,

Exactly my friends a brid ge ! It is n o t for

, ,

nothing that I expended an hour last night in focus

ing my mind upon the situation I have some .

recoll ection of once remarking to our young friend

here that G E C is at his best when his back is to
. . .

the w a ll . Last n i ght you w i ll admit that all our

backs were to the w a ll But where will power and
.
-

intel lect go together ; there is al ways a way out A .

drawbridge had to be found which could be dropped

across the abyss Behold it .

I t w a s cert ai n l y a brilliant idea The tree was a .

good sixty feet in height and if it onl y fell the r i ght ,

wa y it would easily cross the chasm Challenger .

had slung the camp axe over his shoul der when he
ascended Now he handed it to me
. .

Our young friend has the thews and s in ews ,

15 2 THE LOST WORLD
said he I t hink he wi l l be t he m ost useful at this
t ask I must beg however that you will kin d ly
.
, ,

refrai n from thinking f or yourself and tha t y o u wi ll ,

do exactly wha t y ou are to ld .

Under his direc ti on I cu t such gashes in the S ides

of t he tree a s would ensure t hat it should fall as we
desired I t had al ready a strong natural til t in the
.
,

direction of the plateau so tha t the matter w a s no t ,

di f cult Finally I s e t to work in earnes t upo n the

.

trunk taking turn and turn with Lord J ohn

,
.

In a l i t tle over an hour there was a loud crack the ,

tree swayed forward and then crashed over bury , ,

ing i t s branches among the bushes on the farther

side The se v ered trunk roll ed to t he very edge
.

of our platform and for one terrible second w e all

,

thought that it was o v er It balanced itself how .

,

ever a few inches from the edge and t here was our
, ,

bridge to the unknown .

All of us wi thout a word shook hands with P r o

, ,

fe s s or Challenger who raised his straw hat and

,

bowed deeply t o each in t urn .

I cl ai m the honour said he to be t he rs t to
, ,

cross to the unkno w n land a t ting subj ect no ,

doubt for some future his t orical painting
, .

He had approached t he bridge when Lord J ohn

laid his hand upon his coa t .

My dear chap s ai d he I really canno t al l o w

, ,

Canno t a llow it sir , ! The head went bac k

and the beard forward .
 WHO COULD HAVE FORESEEN IT 153

When it is a matter of science don t you know ,

I fo l low your lead because you are by way of bein

a man of science But i t s up to you to follow me

.

when you come into my department .

Your departmen t si r P ,

We all have our professions a n d s ol di e ri n is

mine We are a ccor di n to m y ideas invadi u a
.
,

new country which may or may not be chock full

,
-

of enemies of sorts To barge blindly into it for

.

want of a li ttle common sense and patience isn t my

notion of managemen t .

The remonstrance was too reasonable to be d i s

regarded Challenger tossed h i s head and shrugged
.

his heavy shoulders .

Well s i r what do you propose P

, ,

For all I know there may be a t ribe of canni

bals w a i t i n for lunch time among those very bushes

-
,

said Lord J ohn looking across the bridge

, It s .

be t ter to learn wisdom before you get into a cook i n

pot s o we will content ourselves with hopin that

there is no trouble w a i t i n for us and at the same

,

time we wil l act as if there were Malone and I .

will go down again therefore and we will fetch , ,

up the four ries together with Gomez and the

,

other One man ca n t hen go across and the rest

.

will cover him with g u ns until he sees that it is ,

safe for the whole c rowd to c ome along .

Challenger sat down upon the cu t stump and

groaned his impatience ; bu t Summerlee and I
wer e of one mind tha t Lord J ohn was our leader
15 4 TH E LOST WORLD
when such practi c al 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
.

ries and a shot gun The half breeds had ascended

-
.
-

also and under Lord J ohn s orders they had
,

c arried up a bale of provisions in case our rst ex

ploration should be a long one We had each .

b a ndoliers of cartridges .

Now Challenger if you really insis t upon b eing

, ,

the rst man in said Lord J ohn when every
, ,

preparation was complete .

I am much i ndebted to you for your gracious

permission said the angry P rofessor ; for never
,

was a man so intolerant of every form of authori t y .

Since you are good enough to allow it I shall ,

most c ertainly take it upon mysel f t o a c t as pi o neer

upon this occasion .

Seating himself with a leg o verhanging t he abys s

on each side and his hatchet slung upon his back
, ,

Challenger hopped his way a cross the trunk and

w a s soon at the other side He clam b ered up and .

waved his arms in the air .

At last he cried ; at las t

I gazed anxiously at him with a vague expe c ta ,

tion that some t errible fate would dart at him from

the curtain of green behind him But all was .

quie t save tha t a strange many coloured bird ew

, ,
-

up from under his feet and vanished among t he

t rees .
 WH O COULD HAVE FORESEEN IT 155

Summerlee w a s the second His wiry energy is .

wonderful in so frai l a frame He i nsisted upon .

having two ries slung upon his back s o that both ,

P rofessors 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 Sum .

m er l ee held out the butt end of his rie and an

-
,

instant later I was able to grasp his hand As to .

Lord J ohn he walked across actually walked

, ,

w ithout support He must have nerves of iro n .

And there we were the four of us upon the

, ,

drea ml and the lost world of Maple White

, , To .

all of us it seemed the moment of our supreme

triumph Who co ul d have guessed that i t w a s t h e
.

prelude to our supreme disaster ? Let me say in

a few words how the crushing blow fel l upon us .

We had turned away from the edge and had ,

penetrated about fty yards of close brushwood ,

when there came a frightful rending crash from

behind us With one imp ul se we rushed back the
.

way that we had come The bridge w a s gone !

.

Far do w n at the base of the cliff I s a w 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 w a s 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 smil e and

15 6 TH E LOST WO RLD
the mask like expres sion Here was a face wi t h
-
.

ashing eyes and distorted fea t ures a fa c e convulsed ,

with h at red and with the mad j oy of gra t ie d

revenge .

Lord Rox t on he sh o u t ed Lord J ohn .

Rox t on
W ell said our c ompani o n
,
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 c ome my chance You found it hard to .

ge t up you will nd it harder to ge t down You .

cursed fools you are trapped every one of y o u !

, ,

We were to o astounded to speak We c ould only .

s t and there staring in amazement A grea t b roken .

bough u p on t h e grass showed whence he had gained

'

his leverage to til t o ver our bridge The face had .

vanished bu t presently it was up again more fran t ic

, ,

than be f ore .

We nearly k il l ed you wi t h a s t one a t t he cave ,

he cried ; bu t this is bet t er I t is slower and .

more t errible Your b ones wil l whiten up t here and

.
,

none will know where you lie or come t o c o ver t hem .

As you lie dying think o f Lope z whom you sho t

, ,

ve years ago on the P u t om a y o 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 t he half breed simply wrought his vengeance

-

and t hen es c aped all might have b een wel l with

,
 WH O COULD HAV E F ORESEEN IT 157

him It was that foolish irresistible Latin impulse

.
,

to be dramat ic which brought his own downfall .

Roxton the man who had earned himself the name

,

of the Flail of the Lord through three countries w a s ,

not one who could be safely taunted The half .

breed was descending on the farther side of the

pinnacle ; but before he could reach t he ground
Lord J ohn had run along the edge of t he plateau
and gained a point fr o m which he could see his man .

There was a single crack of h i s rie and though we, ,

saw no t hing we heard the scream and then the

,

distant thud of the falling body Roxton c ame .

back to us with a face of granite .

I have been a blind S impleton said he bi t terly

, ,
.

I t s my foll y that has brought you all in t o 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 t ook two of
them to lever that tree over the edge .

I c ould have shot him but I let him go He

, .

may have had no part in it P erhaps it would have

.

been better if I had killed him f o r 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 remembe r some sinister a c t 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 o f hatred

-
,

which from time t o time one o r other of us had

15 8 TH E LOST WO RLD
surprised We were still discussing it endeavouring
.
,

to adj us t o ur minds to these new conditions when ,

a singular s c ene in the plain below arrested our

at t ention .

A man in whi t e clothes who c oul d o nly be t h e ,

s u r v i v r n g half breed was running as one does run

-
,

when D eath is the pacemaker Behind him only a .

,

few yards in his rear bounded the huge ebony gur e

,

of Zamb o o ur devoted negro Even as we looked

,
.
,

h e S prang upon the back of t he fugi t ive and ung

his arms round his neck They rolled on t he ground .

t oge t her An instant afterwa rds Zambo rose looked

.
,

at the prostrate man and then w a v m g his hand , ,

j oy ou sl y to u s came running in our direction The

, .

white gure lay motionless in the middle of t he great

plain .

Our t w o trai t ors had been destroyed but t he ,

mischief that they had done lived after them B y .

no possible mean s could we get back to the pinnacle .

We had been na t ives of the world ; now we were

nat ives of t he pla t eau The two t hings were separat e
.

and apar t There was t he plain which led to t h e

.

canoes Yonder beyond the V iolet ha z y horizon

.
, , ,

was the s t ream which led back to civilization But .

the link b etween was missing N 0 human ingenuity .

could suggest a means of bridging the chasm which

yawned be t ween ourselves and our past lives One .

inst ant had altered the whole c o nditi o ns of ou r

exis t ence .

It was at such a moment that I learned the stuff

 WHO COULD HAVE FORESEEN IT 15 9

of whi ch my three c o mrades were composed They .

were grave it is true and thoughtful but o f an

, , ,

invincible serenity For the moment w e could only

.

S i t among the bushes in patience and wait the

c oming of Zam b o P resently his honest black fa c e

.

topped the rocks and his Herculean g u re emerged

upon the top of the pinnacle .

What I d o now P he cried You t ell me and .

I do it.

It wa s a question which it was easier to ask t han

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 c ried I not leav e you Wha t .

ever come you always nd me here Bu t no able

,
.

t o keep Indians Already they s a y too much

.
,

Cu r u p u r i live on this place and they go home , .

Now you leave t hem me no able t o keep them .

It was a fact that our Indians had S hown in many

ways of late that they were weary of their j ourney
and anxious to return We realized t ha t Zambo .

spoke the truth and t ha t i t would be impossible for

,

him to keep them .

Make them wait till to morro w Zambo I -

, ,

shouted then I can send letter back by them .

Very good sarr ! I promise they wait till t o

,

m o rrow said the negro

, B ut what I do for you .

now P
There was plenty for him to do and admirably ,

the faithful fellow did it First of all under our .

,
1 60 THE LOST WORLD
dire ct ions he undid the r o pe from the t ree stump
,
-

and t hrew one end of it a c r o ss t o us It w as no t .

t hi c ker t han a clothes line bu t it was o f grea t

-
,

s t rength and though we could no t make a bridge

,

of it we might well nd it invaluable if we had any

,

climbing t o do He t hen fas t ened his end of t he

.

r o pe t o t he package Of supplies which had been

carried up and we were able t o drag i t across
, .

This gave us the means of life for a t leas t a week ,

e Ve n if we found no t hing else Finally he des cended .

and carried up two o t her packets of mixed go o ds

a box of ammunition and a number of o t her t hings ,

all of which we g ot across by t hr o wing our rope t o

him and haul n i t back I t was evening when he .

a t las t climbed do w n with a nal assuran c e tha t he

,

wo ul d keep the Indians t ill next morning .

And s o it is t ha t I ha v e spen t nearly t he whole

of this our rst night up o n the plateau writing up
our experien c es by the ligh t of a single can dl e lantern -
.

We supped and c amped a t the very edge of the

cli ff quen c hing o ur t hirst with t wo b o t tles of Apol
,

l i n a r i s which were in o ne of t he c ases I t is vital .

to us t o nd wa t er b ut I think even Lord J ohn

,

himself had had adven t ures enough for one da y ,

and none of us felt inclined to make the rst push

in t o the unknown We f orbore to light a re or
.

to make any unne c essary sound .

To morrow ( or to day rather for it is already

- -
, ,

dawn as I write ! we S hall make our rst v enture

into this s t range land When I S hall be able to
.
 WHO COULD HAVE FORESEEN IT 1 61

write againC r if I ever shal l write againI know

not Meanwhile I can s e e that the Indians are still
.
,

in their place and I am sure that the faithful Zambo

,

wi ll be here presently to get my letter I only .

trust that it will come to hand .

P S . The more I th i nk the more desperate does

.
-

our position seem I s e e no possible hope of our

.

return If there were a high tree near the edge of

.

t h e plateau we might drop a return bridge across ,

but there is none within fty yards Our united .

strength could not carry a trunk which would serve

our purpose The TOp e of course is far too short
.
, ,

that we could descend by it No our position is

.
,

hopeless hopeless
 CHA P TE R X
T HE M OS T W ON D ER F U L T H I N GS HA V E H A P P ENED .

THE most wonderful things have happened and

are continually happening to us All the paper .

that I possess consists of ve old note books and -

a lot of scraps and I have only the one stylographic

,

pencil ; but s o long as I can move my hand I will

continue to s e t down our experiences and impres
sions for since we are the only men of the whole
, ,

human race to s e e 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 nally whether some daring explorer coming

, , ,

upon our tracks with the advantage perhaps of

, , ,

a perfected monoplane should nd this bundle of

,

manuscript in any case I can s e e 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 b y t he villainous Gomez we began a
16 2
 WONDERFUL THINGS HA P P ENED 1 63

new stage in our experiences The rst incident .

in it was not such a s to give me a very favourable

Opinion of the place to which we had wandered .

A S I roused myself from a short nap after day

had dawned my eyes fell upon a most singul ar
,

appearance upon my own leg My trouser had .

slipped up exposing a few inches of my S kin above

,

my sock On this there rested a large purplish

.
,

grape Ast o n ished at the S ight I leaned forward

.
,

to pick it o ff when to my horror it burst between

, , ,

my nger 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 unclassied
, .

The r s t fruits of our labours said Challenger

-
,

in his booming pedantic fashion ,
We cannot .

do less than call it I x od es M a l on i The very small .

inconvenience of being bitten my young friend , ,

cannot I am sure weigh with you as against the

, ,

glorious p r r v rl eg e of having your name inscribed

in the deathless roll of zoology Unhappil y you .

have crushed this ne S pecimen at the moment of

satiation .

Filthy vermin I cried .

P rofessor Challenger raised his grea t eyebrows

in protest and placed a soothing paw upon my
,

shoulder .

You should cultivate the scientic eye and
1 64 TH E LOST WORLD
the detached scientic 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 S peak of it in

.

s o unappreciative a fashion No doubt with due .

,

diligence we c an secure some other specimen

, .

There c an be no doubt of that said Sum ,

m er l e e gri m ly
,
for one has j ust disappeared behind
,

your S h i rt collar -
.

Challenger sprang into the air bellowing like a

bull and t ore frantically at his coat and shirt to
,

get them o ff Summerlee and I laughed s o that

.

we c ould hardly help him At last we exposed .

t hat mons t rous torso ( ft y four inches by the -

,

t ailor s tape ! His body was all matted with black

.

hair out of which j ungle we picked the wandering

,

tick before i t had bitten him Bu t the bushes .

round were full of the horrible pests and i t was ,

c lear that we must S hift our camp .

Bu t rst of a ll it was necessary to make our

arrange ments with the faithful negro w h o a p ,

r e d presently on the pinnacle w i th a number

p ea

of tins of cocoa and biscuits which he tossed over ,

t o us Of the stores which remained below he

.

w as ordered to ret ai n as much as would keep hi m

for two months The Indi ans were to have the.

remainder as a reward for their ser vices and a s

payment for taking our le t ters back to the Ama z o n .
 WONDERFUL THINGS HA P P ENED 1 65

Some hours later we s a w them in single le far

out upon the plain each w i th a bundle on h i s head
, ,

mak ing their way back along the path w e had come .

Zambo occupied our little ten t at the base of the

pinnacle and there he remained our one l ink
, ,

with the world below .

And now w e had to decide upon our immediate

movements We shifted our position from among
.

the tick laden bushes until w e came to a small

-

clearing thickly surroun ded by trees upon all sides .

There were some at slabs of rock in the centre ,

w i th an excellent well close by and there w e s a t ,

in cleanly comfort while w e made our rst plans

for the invasion of t hi s new country Birds were .

c al l i ng among the foliageespecially one with a

peculiar Whooping cry whi ch was new to u S bu t
beyond these sounds there were no signs of life .

Our rst care was to make some sort of list of

our own stores so that we might know what w e
,

had to rely upon What with the things w e had

.

ourselves brought up and those which Zambo had

sent across on the rope we were fairly well s u p
,

plied Most important of all in view of the dangers

.
,

which might surround us w e had our four ries ,

and one thousand three hundred rounds also a ,

shot gun but not more than a hundred and fty

-
,

medi um pellet cart ri dges In the matter of pro

.

visions w e had enough to last for several weeks ,

with a su fciency of tobacco and a few scientic

implem e nts i n cluding a large telescope and a good
,
1 66 THE LOST WORLD
el d glass All these things w e collected together
-
.

in the clearing and as a rst precaution we cut

, ,

down with our hatchet and knive a number of s

thorny bushes which w e piled roun d in a circle

,

some fteen 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 ourselve s

secure but the heat was not oppressive and the
, ,

general character of the plateau both in i t s tem ,

p e r a t u r e 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 gi r t us in .

One huge gingko tree topping all the others sho t , ,

its great limbs and maidenhair foliage over the

fort which we had constructed In its shade we .

continued our discussion while Lord J ohn who , ,

had quickly taken command in t he hour of ac t ion ,

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 w e 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 s p y

out the land We want to have a good look at
.

our neighbours before we get on v i s i t i n terms
.

B ut we must advance I ventured to remark ,
.

By all means sonny my boy ! We will a d

,

vance But with com m on sense We must never

. .
 WONDE RFUL THINGS HA P P ENED 1 67

go s o far that we can t get back to our base Above

.

all w e must never unless i t is life or death re

, , ,

off our guns .

But y ou red yesterday said Summerlee ,

.

Well it co u ldn t be helped However the

,

.
,

wind was strong and blew outwards It is not .

likely that the sound could have travelled far into

the plateau By the way what shall we call this
.
,

place P I suppose it is up to us to give it a name P

There were several suggestions more or less ,

happy but Challenger s w a s nal

,

It can only have one name said he It , .

is called after the pioneer w h o discovered it It .

is Maple White Land .

Maple White Land it became and s o it is named ,

in that chart which has become my special task .

So it w i ll I trust appear in the atlas of the future

, , .

The peaceful penetration of Maple White Land

was the pressing subj ect before us I Ve had the .

evidence of our own eyes that the place was i n

habited by some unknown creatures and there ,

was that of Maple Wh ite s sk e tch book to S how

-

that more dreadful and more dan gerous monsters

might st i ll appear Th a t there might also prove
.

to be human occupants and that they were of a

malevolent character w a s s u gg e st e d by the skeleton
impaled upon the b amboos which could not have ,

got there had it n ot been dropped from above .

Our situation stranded without possibility of escap e

,

in such a land w a s clearly full of dan g e r a n d o u r

, ,
1 68 THE LOST WORLD
reasons endorsed every measure of caution which

Lord J ohn s experience could suggest Yet i t .

was surely impossible t hat we shoul d halt on the

edge of this world of mystery when o ur very souls
were tingling with impatience to push forward
and to pluck the heart from it .

We therefore blocked the en t rance t o our zareba

by lling it up with several thorny bushes and left ,

our camp with t he stores en t irely surrounded

by t his protecting hedge We t hen slowly and
.

c autiously s e t for t h into the unknown foll owing the ,

course of the little stream which owed from our spring ,

as it should al ways serve us as a guide on our return .

Hardly had w e started when we came across

signs t ha t there were indeed wonders awaiting us .

After a few hundred yards of t hick forest con ,

t aining many t rees which were quite unknown t o

me bu t which Summerlee who was the botanist
, ,

of the party recognized as forms of conifera and o f

,

cycadaceous plants which have long passed away

in t he 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 amongs t

-
,
-

them all of them swaying in a brisk wind Sud

,
.

d en l y Lord J ohn w h o was walking rst halted

, ,

with uplifted hand .

Look at this ! said he By George this
.
,

mus t be t he t rail of t he father of all birds !
 WONDERFUL THINGS HA P P ENED 1 69

An enormous three toed track was imprinted in

-

t h e 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 S poor If it were indeed a bird and

.

what animal could leave such a mark P its foot
was s o much larger than an ostrich s that its height

upon the same scale must be enormous Lord .

J ohn looked eagerly round him and slipped two

cartridges into his elephant gun -
.

I l l stake my good name as a s h i k a r r e e said

,

he,
that the track is a fresh one The creature .

has not passed ten m i nutes Look how the wa t er

.

is st i ll oozing into that deeper print ! By J ove !

See here is the mark of a little one
,

S u re enough smaller tracks of the same general

,

form were running parallel to the large ones .

But what do you make of this P cried P r o

fes s or Summerlee triumphantly pointing to wha t
, ,

looked like the huge print of a v e n g e r e d 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 w al king erect upo n three toed feet and -

,

occasion al ly putting one of i t s v e n g er e d fore -

paws upon the ground Not a bird my dear Roxton

.
,

not a bird
.

A beast P

No a reptile a dinosaur Nothing else could .

have left such a track They puzzled a worthy

.
17 6 TH E LOST WORLD
Sussex doctor some ninety years ago ; but who
in the world could have hoped hoped to have

seen a S ight like that P
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 gl ade and in this were ve of the most extra

,

ordinary creatures that I have ever seen Crouching .

down among the bushes we observed them at our ,

leisure .

There were as I s a y ve of them two being

, , ,

adults and three young ones In size they were .

enormous Even the babies were as big as ele

.

p h a n t s while the
,
two large ones were far be y ond
all creatures I have ever seen They had slate .

coloured skin which w a s scaled like a lizard s and

,

shimmered where the s u n shone upon it All v e .

were sitting up balancing themselves upon their,

broad powerful tails and their huge three toed

,
-

hind feet while with their small v e n g e r e d front

-
,
-

feet they pulled down the branches upon which they

browsed I do not know that I can bring their
.

appearance home t o you bett e r 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 w e stayed motionless

gazing at this marvellous spect a cle A strong .

wind blew towards us and we were well concealed ,

s o there was no C hance of discovery From time .

 Fa cr n g p I 7o .

G LADE OF TH E I G U A N OD ON S .

e co n s t r u c te d by M Pat L F o r b e s fr o m s k e t ch by E D M a l on e
!
( R r .
. .
. .
 WONDERFUL THINGS HA P P ENED 17 1

to t ime 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 di fculty
, ,

in reaching a bunch of foliage which grew upon

a considerable S ized tree put his fore legs round
-
,
-

the trunk and tore it down as if it had been a s a p

ling 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 S how that big ,

as it was there was a limit to what it could endure

, .

The incident made it think apparently that the , ,

neighbourhood w a s dangerous for it slowly lurche d ,

o ff through the wood followed by its mate and it s

,

three enormous infants We s a w the shimmering

.

slatey gleam of their skins between the tree trunks -

,

a n d their heads undulating high above the brush

wood Then they vanished from our s i ght

. .

I looked at my comrades Lord John w a s .

standing at gaze with his nger on the trigger o f

his elephant gun h i s eager hunter s soul shini n g
-
,

from his erce eyes What would he not give for

.

one such head to place between the t w o crosse d

oars above the mantelpiece in his snuggery at th e
Albany ! And yet his reason held him in for all ,

our exploration of the wonders of this unknown

l and depended upon our presence being concealed
17 2 TH E LOST WO RLD
from its inhabitants The two professors were in .

silen t ecstasy In t heir excitement they had u n

.

consciously seized each other by the hand and ,

stood like two little C hildren in the presence of a

marvel Challenger s cheeks bunched up in t o a
,

seraphic sm i le and Summerlee s sardonic face

,

softening for t he moment in t o wonder and

reverence .

N u n c d i m i tti s ! he cried a t las t Wh a t .

w ill they say in England of this P

My dear Summerlee I will tell you with grea t ,

c ondence exactly what they will s a y in England ,

said Challenger They wil l s a y tha t you are an

.

infernal liar and a scientic charla t an exactly ,

as you and others said of me .

In t he face of pho t ographs P

Faked Summerlee ,
Clumsily fa k ed
In the face of specimens P
Ah there we may have t hem ! Malone and
,

his l thy Flee t S t reet crew may be all yelping our

praises yet August the twenty eighth t he day
.
-

we s a w ve live iguanodons in a glade of Maple

Whi t e Land P u t it down in your diary my y oung
.
,

friend and send i t to your rag
,
.

And be ready to get the toe end of the edi t orial -

boot in return said Lord J ohn ,
Things look .

a bit di fferent from the latitude of L ondon young ,

fellah my lad There s many a man w h o never

.

t ells his adventures for he can t hope to be believed

,

.

Who s to blame them ? For this will seem a bi t

 WONDERFUL THINGS HA P P ENED 17 3

of a dream to ourselves in a month or two Wh a t .

did you s a y they were P

Iguanodons said Summerlee
,
You ll nd
.

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 stu ff to keep them going Condition s
-
.

have changed and the beasts died Here it seem s

, .

that the conditions have not C hanged and the beasts ,

have lived .

If ever we get out of this alive I must have a

,

head with me said Lord J ohn
,
Lord how .
,

some of that Somaliland Uganda crowd wo ul d turn

-

a beautiful pea green if they s a w 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 w e 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 ino ffensive ,

brutes which were unlikely to hurt anyone but in ,

this world of wonders what other survivals might

there not b ewhat erce active horrors ready
,

to pounc e upon u s 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 c a t lives u p o n
17 4 THE LOST WORLD
mice What if these also were to be found in the
.

woods of Maple White Land

It was destined that on this very morn ing

o ur rst in the new c ountry w e were to nd out
wha t strange hazards lay around us It was a .

loathsome adventure and one of which I hate to

,

think If as Lord J ohn said the glade of the

.
, ,

iguanodons w i ll remain with us as a dream then ,

surely the swamp of the pterodactyls will for ever

be our nightmare Let me s e t down exactly wha t
.

occurred .

We passed very slowly through the woods partly ,

because Lord J ohn acted as scout before he

would let us advance and partly because at every
,

se c ond step one or other of our professors would

fall with a cr y of wonder before some ower or
, ,

ins ect which presented him with a new type We .

may have travelled two or three miles in all keep ,

ing 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 ove r our waists when we ,

b ecame aware of a strange low gabbling and whist

ling sound which lled the air with a constan t
,

clamour and appeared to come from some spot

immediately before us Lord J ohn held up his .

hand as a signal for us to stop and he made his w a y ,

swiftly stooping and running to the line of rocks

, ,
.
 WONDERFUL THINGS HA P P ENED 17 5
We s a w him peep over them and give a gesture
of amazement Then he stood staring as if for
.

getting u s s o utterly entranced w a s he by what

,

he s a w Finally he waved us to come on holding

.
,

up his hand as a S ignal for caution His whole .

bearing made me feel that something wonderful

but dangerous lay before us .

Creeping to his side w e looked over the rocks ,

.

The place into which we g a zed w a s a pit and may , ,

in the early days have b e en one of the smaller v ol

,

ca n i c blow holes of the plateau

-
It w a s bowl shaped .
,

and at the bottom some hundreds of yards from ,

where we lay were pools of green scummed stagnant

,
-
,

water fringed with bullrushes I t w a s 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 V iew All the bottom .

area round the water edge w a s alive with their -

young ones and with hideous mothers brooding upon

,

their leathery yellowish eggs ,

From this crawling .

apping mass of obscene reptilian life came the

shocking clamour which lled the air and the m e p h i
tic horrible musty odour which turned us sick
, , .

But above perched each upon its own stone tall

, , ,

grey and withered more like dead and dried S peci

, ,

mens than actual living creatures s a t 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 y went past them Their huge-

.
,
17 6 TH E LOST WORLD
membranous wings were closed by folding their
fore arms s o that they s a t like gigantic old women
-
, ,

wrapped in hideous web coloured shawls and with

-
,

their ferocious heads protruding above them Large .

and small not less than a thousand of these lthy

,

c reatures lay in the hollow before us .

Our professors would gladly have stayed there all

day s o entranced were they by this Opportunity of
,

s tudying the life of a prehistoric age They pointed.

ou t the sh and dead birds lying about among the

rocks as proving the nature of the food of these
crea t ures and I heard them congratul ating each
,

other on having cleared up the point why the bones

of this ying dragon are found in such great numbers
in certain well d e n e d areas as in the Cambridge
-
,

Green sand sin c e it was now seen that like penguins

-
, , ,

t hey lived in gregarious fashion .

Finally ho w ever Challenger bent upon proving

, , ,

some point which Summerlee had c ontested thrust ,

his head over t he rock and nearly brought destruction

upon us all In an instant the nearest male gave a
.

s hrill whistling cr y and a p p e d its twenty foot span

, ,
-

of lea t hery wings as it soared up into the air The .

females and young ones huddled together beside the

w ater while the whole circle of sentinels rose one
,

after the o t her and sailed off into the S ky It was a .

w o nder ful sigh t to s e e at least a hundred creature s

of s uch enormous S ize and hideous appearanc e all
s w oopin g like swallows with swift shearing wing
,

s t rokes above u s but soon we realiz e d tha t i t

 WONDERFUL THINGS HA P P ENED 17 7
was not one on which we could a fford to linger A t .

rst the great brutes ew round in a huge ring as ,

if to make sure what t h e exact extent of the danger

might be Then the ight grew lower and the circle
.
,

narrower until they were whizzing round and round

,

us the dry rustling ap of their huge slate coloured

, ,
-

wings lling 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 J ohn clubbing his rie , 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 bu t there was ,

no t hing solid or vulnerable to strike Then s u d .

d e n l y out of the whizzing slate coloured circle a long

,
-

neck shot out and a erce beak made a thrust at us

, .

Another and another followed Summerlee gave .

a cr y and put his hand to his face from which the

,

blood was streaming I fel t a prod at the back of

.

my neck and turned dizzy with the shock Chal

,
.

lenger 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
.

J ohn s elephant gun and looking up s a w one of

-
, , ,

t he creatures with a broken wing struggling upon the

ground spitting a n d gurgling at us with a wide
,

Opened beak and blood shot goggled eyes like some -

, ,

dev i l in a medi ae val picture Its comrades had .

M
17 8 TH E LOST WORLD
own hig h er at the sudd en sound and were circling ,

above our heads .

Now c ried Lord J ohn
,
n o w 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 S pace for their

,

sweep beneath the branches A S we limped home .

wards sadly mauled and d i s co m t e d we s a w them

, ,

for a long time ying at a great height agains t the

deep blue sky above our heads soaring round and ,

ro u nd no bigger than wood pigeons with their eyes

,
-
,

no doubt still following our progress At las t .

,

however as we reached the thicker woods they gav e

,

up t he chase and we s a w them no more

, .

A most interesting and convincing experience ,

s aid C hallenger as we halted beside the brook and

,

he bathed a swollen knee We are ex c ep t ionally .

well informed Summerlee as t o t he habits of t h e

, ,

enraged pterodactyl .

Summerlee was wiping t he b lood from a c ut in

his forehead while I was tying up a nasty stab in the
,

muscle of the neck Lord J ohn had the shoulder

.

of his c oa t torn away bu t t he crea t ure s t eeth had

,

only grazed the esh .

It is wort h no t ing C hallenger con t inued

, ,

t ha t our young friend has received an undoub t ed

s t ab while Lord J ohn s c oa t c ould only have been
,
 WONDERFUL THINGS HA P P ENED 17 9
t o rn by a bite In my own case I w a s beaten about
.
,

the head by their wings s o we have had a remarkable,

exhibition of their various methods of o ffence

It has been touch and go for our lives said ,

Lord J ohn gravely

,
and I co ul d not think of a
,

more rotten sort of death than to be outed by such

l thy vermin I was sorry to re my rie but by
.
, ,

J ove 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 wo ul d be j ust like the soun d of
a gun But now if you are of my opinion we have
.
, ,

had thrill s enough for one day and had best get back ,

to the surgical box at the camp for some carbolic .

Who knows what venom thes e beas t s may have in

their hideous j aws P
But surely no men ever had j ust such a day s i nce
the world began Some fresh surprise was ever in
.

store for us When followin g the course of our

.
,

brook we a t last reached our glade and s a w 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 gin gko tree

180 THE LOST WORLD
suggested how it might have come and gone ; bu t
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 s o as to extract the c ontents .

A case of car t ridges had been shattered in t o match

wood and one of the brass shells lay shredded into
,

pieces beside it Again t h e fe el i n g 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 w e were

.

hailed by the voice of Zambo and going to the edge , ,

of the plateau s a w him sitting grinning at us upon

,

the top of the opposite pinnacle .

All well Massa Challenger all well

,
he cried , .

Me stay here N 0 fear You always nd me when

. .

you want .

His honest black face and the immense view before

,

us which carried us half way back to the a fuen t

,
-

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 d i f .

cult 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 ,

a ffairs of life while we marooned among the crea

, ,

t ures of a bygone age could but gaze towards it and

,

yearn for a l l that i t meant

 WOND ERFUL THINGS HA P P ENED 18 1

One other memory remains with me of this wonder

ful day and with it I will close this letter The two
,
.

professors their tempers aggravated no doubt by

,

their inj uries had fallen out as to whether our assai l

,

ants were o i the genus pterodactylus or d i m or p h o d on ,

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 ,

J ohn strolled over in my direction .

I s a y Malone said he do you remember that
, , ,

place where those beasts were P

Very clearly .

A sort of volcanic pit w a s it not P ,

Exactly said I , .

Did you notice the soil P

Rocks .

But round the water where the reeds were P

It w a s a bluish soil It looked like clay . .

Exactly A volcanic tube full of blue clay

. .

What of that P I asked .

Oh nothing nothing
, said he and strolled
, , ,

back to where the voices of the contending men of

science rose in a prolo n ged duet the high strident , ,

note of Summerlee rising and falling to the sonorous

bass of Challenger I should have thought no more
.

of Lord J ohn s remark were it n ot that once again

that night I heard him mutter to himself ! Blue

clay clay in a V olcanic tube They were the
last words I heard before I dropped into an exhausted
S leep
.
 C HA P TE R XI
FOR O N CE I WA S THE H ER O
L OR D J OHN R OX TON was righ t when he t hought t ha t
s ome specially toxi c quality might lie in t he bite of

t he horrible c reatures which had attacked us On the

.

morning after our rs t adventure u pon the plateau ,

b o t h Summerlee and I were in great pain and fever ,

while Challenger s knee was s o bruised t hat he could

hardl y limp We kep t t o our c amp all day there

.
,

f o re L ord J ohn busying himself wi t h such help

, ,

as we c oul d give him in raising the height and t hick

,

ness of the thorny walls which were our only defence .

I remember t hat during the whole long day I was

haun t ed by the feeling that we were closely observed ,

t hough by whom or whence I co u ld give no guess .

So s t r o ng was the impression that I told P rofessor

Ch a ll enger of it who put it down to t he c erebral
,

excitement caused by my fever Again and again I

.

glanced round swift ly with the c onviction that I

,

was about to s e e 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
.

o wn mind that something observ ant and somet h ing

x8 a
 FOR ONCE I WAS THE HERO 1 83

malevolent was at our very elbow I thought of .

the Indian superstition of the Cu r u p u r i the dreadfu l ,

lurking spirit of the woods and I could have i m a g
i n e d that his terrible presence haunted those who
had invaded his most remote and sa cred 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 J ohn
,

had worked s o hard in making our retreat impreg

nable We were all sleeping round our dying re
.

when we were aroused or rather I should s a y , , ,

shot out of our slumbers by a succession of the
most frightful cries and screams to which I have
ev e r list ened I know no sound to which I could
.

compare this amazing tumult which seemed to come ,

from som e S pot within a few hundred yards of our

c amp It was as ear Splitting as any whistle of a
.
-

railway e ngine ; but whereas the whistle is a clear

-
,

mechanical sharp edged sound this was far deeper

,
-
,

in volum e and vibrant with the uttermost strain of

agony and horror We clapped our hands to our
.

e ar s to shut out that nerve shaking appeal -

A cold .

s w e at 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 centred and

,

c ondensed into that one dreadful agonized cr y ,

.

And then under this high pitched ringing sound

,
-
,

there was another more intermittent a low deep

, , ,

c hested laugh a growli ng throaty gurgle o f

, ,
184 TH E LOST WORLD
merriment which formed a grotesque accompanimen t
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 l ong time we sat in horried S ilence Then Lord .

J ohn threw a bundle of twigs upon the re and ,

their red glare lit up the intent faces of my com

panions and ickered over the great boughs above
our heads .

What w a s i t P I whispered .

We S hall know in the morning said L o rd

,

J ohn .

It was close to u s not f arther than t he
gl ade .

We have been privileged to overhear a prehis t oric

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 S lime 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 crea

tion There were powers abroad in earlier days which
.

no courage and no mechanism of his could have me t .

What could his sling his throwing stick or his

,
-
,

arrow avail him against such forces as have been loose

to night P Even with a modern rie it would b e all
-

odds on the monster .

I think I should back my little friend said L ord ,

J ohn caressing his E xpress

,
But the beast
.

would certainly have a good S porting chance .

 FOR ONCE I WA S TH E HE RO 1 85

Summerlee raised his hand

Hush he cried Surely I hear some.

thing P
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 S lowly round the camp
.
,

and then halted near our gateway There w a s a .

l ow sibilant rise and fall the breathing of the
,

creature Only our feeble hedge separated us from

.

this horror of the night Each of u S had seized his.

rie and Lord J ohn had pulled out a small bush

,

to make an embrasure in the hedge

By George ! he whispered I think I can .

s ee it

I stooped and peered over his shoulder through

the gap Yes I could see it too In the deep
.
, , .

S hadow of the tree there w a s a deeper S hadow yet ,

black inchoate vague a crouching form fu ll of

, ,
-

savage vigour and menace It w a s 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 s a w the glint of two terrible greenish eyes There , .

w a s an uneasy rustling as if it were crawling slowly

,

forward .

I believe it is going to spring said I cocking ,

my rie .

Don t re ! Don t re ! whispered Lord J ohn

.
1 86 THE LOST WOR L D
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 c rackled into a nervo us

,

laugh as he S poke .

No it must not get over c ried L o rd J ohn

, ,

but hold your re to the last P erhaps I can mak e .

something of the fellow I ll chance it anyhow .

,
.

It was as brave an act as ever I s a w a man do .

He stooped to the re picked up a blazing branch

, ,

and slipped in an instant through a sallyport which

he had made in our gateway The thing moved .

forward wi th a dreadful snarl Lord J ohn n e ver .

hesitated but running t owards it with a quick ligh t

, , ,

step he dashed the aming wood into t h e b rute s
,

face For o ne moment I had a vision of a h o rri b le

.

mas k like a giant toad s of a warty l e prou s S kin , , ,

and o f a loose mouth al l beslobbered with fresh blood .

The n e xt there was a crash in t h e underwo o d and o ur

,

d readful v isitor was gone .

I thought he wo ul dn t fa c e the r e said L o rd

J ohn laughing, as he came b a ck and thr e w h i s

,

branch among the faggots .

Y o u should not have taken su c h a risk we all

c ried .

There w a s nothin else to be done If he had .

go t among us w e S hould have shot each other in

t r y i n to down him On the other hand if we had

.
,

red through the hedge and wounded him he would

soon hav e been on the top of u s to s a y nothin o f

 FOR ONCE I WAS THE HERO 187

giving ourselves away On the whole I think that

.
,

we are j olly well out of it What was he then P .

,

Our learned men looked at each other with some

hesitation .

P ersonally I am unable to C lassify the creature

,

with any certainty said Summerlee lighting his
, ,

pipe from the re .

In refusing to commit yourself you are but show

ing a proper scientic reserve said Challenger with , ,

massive condescension I am not myself prepared

.

to go farther than to say in general terms that w e

have almost certainly been in conta c t to night with -

some form of carnivorous dinosaur I have already .

expressed my anticipation that s omething of the

sort migh t 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 suppos e
.

that we ca n give a name to all that we are likely to

meet
Exactly A rough classication may be t h e
.

best that w e ca n attempt To morrow some further .

-

evidence may help u S to an identi cation Mean .

time w e can only renew our interrupted S lum b ers .

But not without a sentinel said Lord J ohn , ,

with decision We can t a fford to take chances

.

in a country like this Two hour S pells in the future

.
-
,

for each of us .

Then I ll j us t nish my pipe in starting the r st

said P rofessor Summerlee and from t hat

1 88 THE LOST WORLD
time onwards w e never trusted ourselves again with
out a watchman .

In the morning it was not long before we dis

c overed the source oi the hideous uproar which had
aroused us in the night The iguanodon glade was
.

the s c ene of a horrible butchery From the pools .

of blood and the enormous lumps of esh scattered

in every direction over the green sward we imagined
at rst that a number of animals had been killed ,

but on examining the remains more closely we dis

c overed that all this carnage came from one of
these unwieldy monsters which had been liter al ly
,

t orn to pieces by some creature not larger perhaps , ,

but far more ferocious than itself

,
.

Our two professors s a t in absorbed argument ,

examining piece after piece which S howed the ,

marks of savage t eeth and of enormous claws

Our j udgm ent must still be in abeyance said ,

P rofessor Challenger with a huge slab of whitish

,

coloured esh across his knee The indications

.

would b e consistent with the presence of a sabre

t oothed tiger such as are still found am o ng the
,

breccia of our caverns ; but the creature actually

seen was undoubtedly of a larger and more reptilian
character P ersonally I should pronounce for
,

allosaurus.

Or megalosaurus said Summerlee

,
.

Exactly Any one of t he larger carnivorous

.

dinosaurs would meet the case Among them are .

t o be found all the most terrible types of animal

 FOR ONCE I WAS THE HE RO 1 89

life that have ever cursed the earth or blessed a

museum He laughed sonorously at his own con
.

ce i t
,
for though he had little sense of humour the
, ,

crudest pleasantry from his own lips moved him

always to roars of appreciation .

The less noise the better said Lord J ohn , ,

curtly . We don t know w h o or what may be

near us If this fellah comes back for his breakfast

.

and catches us here we won t have s o much to

laugh at By the w a y what is this mark upon the

.
,

iguanodon s hide P

On the du ll scaly slate coloured skin somewhere

, ,
-
,

above the sho ul der there was a singular black circle

,

of some substance which looked like asphalt None .

of us co ul d suggest what it meant though Summer ,

lee was oi Opinion that he had seen something similar

upon one of the young ones two days before Chal .

lenger said nothing but looked pompous and pu ffy

, ,

a s if he could if he wo u l d s o that nally Lord J ohn ,

asked h i s 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
19 6 TH E LOST WORLD
appeased When at last his ru f ed feelings were at
.

ca s e , he addressed us at some length from hi s seat

upon a fallen tree speaking as his habit was as if
, , ,

h e were imparting most precious information to a

class of a thousand .

With regard to the marking said he I am , ,

inclined to agre e with my friend and colleague ,

P rofessor Summerlee that the stains are from

,

asphalt AS this plateau i s in its very na t ure

.
, ,

highl y volcanic and as asphalt i s a substance which

,

one associates with P lutonic forces I cannot doub t ,

t hat it exists in the free liquid state and that t he ,

c rea t ures may have come in con t ac t with i t A .

much more important problem is t he ques t ion as

to t he existence of the carnivorous mons t er whi c h
has left its traces in t his glade We know rough l y .

t hat this plateau is not larger t han an average

English coun t y Within this c onned space a
.

certain number of creatures mostly typ es whi c h ,

have passed away in the world below have lived ,

t ogether for innumerable years Now i t is very .

,

Clear to me t hat in s o long a period one would have

expected that the carnivorous creatures mul t iply ,

ing unchecked would have exhausted t heir foo d

,

supply and have been compelled t o either modify

t heir e s h eating habits or die of hunger This we
-
.

s e e has not been s o We can only imagine t here

.
,

fore tha t the balance of Na t ure i s preserved by

,

some check which limi t s the numbers of t hes e

fe rocious creatures One of t he many interesting
.
 FOR ONCE I WAS THE HERO 19 1

probl e ms therefore which await our solution is to

, ,

discover what that check may be and how it Oper

ates I venture to trust that we may have some
.

future opportunity for the closer study of the car

n i v o r o u s dinosaurs .

And I venture to trust we may not I observed ,

.

The P rofessor only raised his great eyebrows a s ,

the schoolmaster meets the irrelevant observation

of the naughty boy .

P erhaps P rofessor Summerlee may have an

observation to make he said and the two s a v a n ts , ,

ascended together into some rareed scientic

atmosphere where the possibilities of a modication
,

of the birth rate were weighed against the declin e

-

of t he food supply as a c heck in the struggle for

e xistence .

That morning we mapped out a smal l portion of

the plateau avoiding the swamp of the pterodactyls
, ,

and keeping to the east of our brook instead of t o

the west In that direction t he country w a s still
.

thickly wooded with s o much undergrowth t hat

,

our progress was very slow .

I have dwelt up to now upon the terrors of Maple

White Land ; but there was another S ide to the
subj ect for all that morning we wandered among
,

lovely ow er s mostly as I observed white or

-
, ,

yellow in colour these being as our professors

, ,

explained the primitive ow er shades In many

,
-
.

places the ground w a s absolutely covered with

them and as we walked an kle deep on that wonder
,
-
19 2 TH E LOST WO RLD
f ul yielding carpet the scent w a s almost i n t ox i
,

e a t i n g 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 p e e k e d by the birds

we avoided all danger of poison and added a delicious
variety to our food reserve In the j ungle which .

we traversed were numerous hard trodden pa t hs -

made by the wild beasts and in the more marshy ,

places we s a w a profusion of strange footmarks ,

including many of the iguanodon Once in a grove .

we observed several of these grea t creatures grazing ,

and Lord J ohn with his glass was able t o report

, ,

that they al so were S potted with asphalt though ,

in a di fferent place t o t h e one which we had examined

l

in the morning What t his phenomenon meant we

.

could not imagine .

We s a w many small animals such as porcupines , ,

a scaly ant eater and a wild pig piebald in c olour

-
, ,

and with long curved tusks Once through a break .

,

in the trees we s a w a clear shoulder of green hill

,

some distan c e away and across this a large dun

,

coloured animal was travelling at a considerable

pace It passed so swiftly that we were unable t o
.

s a y what it w a s but if it wer e a deer as was claimed ,

by Lord J ohn it must have been as large as t hose

,

monstrous Irish elk which are still dug up from

t ime t o time in the bogs of my native land .
 FOR ON C E I WAS THE HE RO 19 3

Ever since t he myst erious visit which had been

paid t o our camp we always returned to it with
some misgivings However on this oc c asion we
.
,

found everything in order Tha t evenin g we had a .

grand dis c ussion upon ou r present S ituation and

future plans whi c h I mus t descri b e at some length
, ,

a s it led to a new departure b y whi c h we were enabled

to gain a more comple t e knowledge of Maple White

Land than might have co me in many weeks of
expl o ring It was Summerlee who opened the
.

debate All day he had been querulous in manner

.
,

and now some remark of L o rd J ohn s as t o what
w e should d o on the morr o w br o ugh t all his bi t ter

ness t o a head .

What we o ught to b e doing t o day to morr o w -

,
-
,

and al l the time said he , is nding some way
,

out of the trap in t o whi c h we have fallen You .

are all t urn ing your brains t owards ge t ting into this
c ountry I s a y tha t we should be s cheming how t o
.

get o u t of i t .

I am s u rprised s i r b oomed Challenger s t r ok

, , ,

ing his maj estic beard that any man of s c ience

,

s h o uld co mmit himself to s o ignoble a sen t iment .

You are in a land whi c h o ff ers such an inducemen t

to the ambitious nat uralist a s n o ne ever has S in c e
the world began and y ou sugges t leaving it before
,

we have a c quired m o re than t he most supercial

knowledge o f i t o r of i t s co n t en t s I expe c ted better .

things o f yo u P ro f es so r Summerlee
, .

You must remember said Summerlee sourly , , ,

N
19 4 TH E LOST WORLD
t ha t I have a large class in L ondon who are a t
pres en t a t t he mercy of an ex t remely inef c ient
l ocu m ten en s This mak e s m y si t uation diff eren t
.

from yours P rofessor Challenger since so f ar a s I

, , ,

know you have never been en t rus t ed w i t h an y

,

responsible educational work .

Qui t e s o said Challenger
, I h a v e fel t i t to
.

b e a sacrilege t o diver t a b rain which i s c apable o f

the highes t o riginal resear c h t o any less e r ob j ec t .

Tha t is why I have s t ernly set my fa c e agains t any

pro ffered scholastic appoin t men t .

For example P as k ed Summerle e wi t h a sneer ,

bu t L ord J ohn has t ened t o change t h e co nversa t i o n .

I must s a y said he , t ha t I t hin k i t wo ul d be
,

a mighty poor t hing t o g o b a ck to Lo nd o n b e f ore I

k n ow a grea t deal m o re of th is pl a c e t han I d o a t
present .

I could never dare t o walk in to t he b a ck o f ce

of my paper and fa c e old M cAr d l e said I ( Y o u , .

will excuse the frankness of this rep o rt w ill you ,

no t s i r P!
, He d ne v er forgi v e me f or leaving
s u c h unexhaus t ed c opy b ehind me B esides s o .
,

far as I can see i t is no t wor t h dis c u ss ing s in c e w e

, ,

can t ge t down even if we wan t ed

, .

Our young friend ma k es up fo r many obvious

mental lacun ae by some measure of primi t i v e co mm o n

sense ,remarked C hallenger The in t ere st s o f
.

his deplorable profe s sion are immateri al to u s ; b u t ,

as he observes we canno t ge t d o wn in a n y c a s e s o
, ,

i t is a was t e o f energ y to di sc uss i t .
 FOR ON C E I WAS TH E HERO 19 5

It is a was t e of energy to do anything else ,

gr ow led Summerlee from behind his pipe Le t .

me remind you t ha t we c ame here upon a perfe ct l y

denite mission en t rus t ed t o us a t t he meeting of
,

the Zoological Insti t ute in Lond o n Tha t mission .

was to test t h e t ru t h of P rofessor C hallenger s s t ate

ments Those s t at emen t s as I am b o und to admi t

.
, ,

we are now in a posi t ion t o endorse Our os t ensib le

.

work is therefore done AS to the d et ail whi c h

.

remains to b e worked ou t upon this pla t eau i t is so ,

enormous tha t only a large expedi t ion with a very ,

special equipment c o uld hope t o cop e with it

, .

Should we at t emp t to do s o ourselves the only ,

possible res u lt must be that we shall never return

with the import an t contribution to science which
we have already gained P rofessor C hallenger has
.

devised means for get t ing us on to this plateau

when it app eared t o b e ina cc essi ble ; I t hin k t ha t
we should now call upon him t o use the same i n
g en u i t y in getting us ba c k to the world from which

we came .

I confess tha t as Summerlee s t ated his V iew it

struck me as altogether reasonable Even Chal .

lenger was affected by the c o nsideration tha t his

enemies would never stand confuted if the c on
r m a t i on of his statements should never rea c h t h o se
who had doubted t hem .

The pr o blem of t he descen t is a t rs t sigh t a

formidable one said he
,
and yet I c anno t d o ub t
,

t hat the in t ellect ca n sol v e i t I am prepared to

.
19 6 THE LOST WORLD
agree with o ur colleague tha t a pr o tra ct ed st ay i n
Maple Whi t e Land is a t presen t inadvi s able and ,

t ha t t he ques t ion of our re t urn will soon have to b e

fa c ed I absolu t ely refuse t o lea v e however un t il
.
, ,

we have made a t leas t a supercial examina t ion of

t his co untry and are able to t a k e back wi t h us
,

s o me t hing in t he na t ure of a chart .

P r of essor Summerlee gave a snor t of impa t ien c e .

We have S pen t t wo long days in explora t ion ,

said he and we are no wiser as t o the ac t ual
,

geography of t he pla c e t han when we star t ed I t .

is clear t hat it is all thi c kly wooded and it would ,

ta k e months t o pene t ra t e it and to learn t h e rela

t ions of one part to an o ther If there were some .

c en t ral peak it would b e di ff erent but it all S l o pes,

downwards s o f ar as we can see The farther we

,
.

go t he less li k ely i t is t ha t we will ge t any general

view .

I t w a s a t t ha t m o men t t ha t I had my inspira t i o n .

My eyes c hanced to light upon the enorm o us g narled

trunk of the ging ko t ree whi c h cas t i t s huge b ran c hes
ov er us Surely if its b ole ex c eeded that of all
.
,

others i ts height must d o the same If the rim of

,
.

the pla t eau was indeed t he highest point t hen why ,

sh o uld this migh t y t ree n ot prove to be a wa t ch

tower which commanded the whole country P Now ,

e v er since I ran wild as a lad in Ireland I have

been a b old and S killed t ree c lim b er My c omrades
-
.

might be my mas t ers o n the ro ck s but I knew that ,

I would be supreme am o ng th os e b r a nches Co uld .

 FOR ONCE I WAS TH E HERO 19 7

I o n l y get my legs on to the lowest of the giant

off shoots then it would b e strange indeed if I c o uld
-
,

n ot mak e my way t o t he t o p My c omrades w ere .

deligh t ed a t my idea .

Our y o ung friend said Challenger bun c hing , ,

up the red apple s of hi s cheeks is c apab le of ,

a c r ob ati c exer t ions which would be impossi b le t o a

man o f a m o re solid though possibly of a more com
,

manding appearance I applaud his resolution

,
. .

By Ge o rge young fel lah you ve put your hand

, ,

on it ! said Lord J ohn C lapping me on the ,

bac k . Ho w we never c ame t o think o f it b e fo re

I c an t imagine ! There s not m o re than an hour
of dayligh t left but if y o u t ake your n ot ebo ok y o u
,

may b e ab le t o ge t some rough ske t ch o f the pla c e .

I f w e put t hese three ammunition c ases under the

b ra n ch I will soon hoist you on to it
, .

He s too d o n the boxes while I fa c ed the trun k ,

and was gen t ly raising me when Challenger sprang

fo rw ard and gave me such a thrust with his huge
h a nd t ha t he fairly S h o t me in t o t he tree With .

bo t h a rms clasping the bran c h I s c rambled hard ,

wi t h my feet until I had worked rst my b ody , ,

and then my knees on t o it There were three , .

excellent off sh oo ts like huge rungs of a ladder

-
, ,

above my head and a t angle of convenient bran c hes

,

bey o nd so t hat I clam b ered onwards with such

,

speed t hat I s o on los t sight of the ground and had

nothing bu t foliage beneath me N o w and then I .

en co untered a che c k and o n c e I had to shin up a

,
19 8 TH E LOST WO RLD
c reeper f o r eigh t or ten feet b ut I made excellent ,

pr ogre ss and the b o o ming of C hal l enger s vo ice
,

seem e d to b e a grea t di stan c e b eneath me The .

t re e was h ow e v er enormous and looking upw a rds

, , , , ,

I co ul d s ee n o thinning of the leaves ab o ve my head .

There was so me t h ick b ush like c lump whi c h seemed

,
-

to b e a para s it e up o n a b ranch up which I was swarm

ing I leaned my head r o und i t in order t o see what
.

w as b eyond and I nearly fell out of t he t ree in my

,

surpr i se and horror a t what I s a w .

A fac e w a s
gaz ing i n t o mine a t t he di s t an ce o f
o nl y a f o ot or t w o The c rea t ure t ha t o wned it
.

had b een c r o uching b ehind t he paras it e and had ,

lo ok ed r o und it at t he same i nstant t ha t I did It .

w as a human f a c e or at least i t was f ar more human

t h a n a n y m o n k ey s t hat I hav e ever seen I t was .

lon g w hitis h and b lotched wi t h pimples the n o se

, , ,

a tt e ned a n d t he lo w er j aw pr o j e cti ng wit h a

, ,

b ri s t le of co arse whi s k ers r o und t he c hin The .

e ye s , whi c h w ere under t hick and heavy b rows ,

were b es ti a l a n d fer oc i o us and as it opened it s

,

m o u t h t o snarl what sounded like a curse at me I

ob serv ed t ha t i t had c urved sharp canine t ee t h ,
.

Fo r an i n st an t I re a d ha t red and mena c e in the

e vi l eyes Then as q ui ck as a ash came an
.
, ,

expressi o n o f o v erpowering fear There was a .

crash of b roken boughs as it dived wildl y down

into the tangle of green I caught a glimpse of a .

h a iry bo dy l ike that of a reddish pig and then it ,

was gone amid a swirl of leaves and branches .

 FOR O NCE I WAS THE HE RO 19 9

What s the ma tt er P shouted R o x to n f rom
b elow . Any t hing wr o ng with y o u P
Did you s ee it P I cried with my arms round ,

the bran c h and all my nerves tingling .

We heard a row as if yo ur foot had slipped

,
.

What w as i t P
I was so sh o c k ed at the sudden and strange
appearance of this ape man that I hesitated whether
-

I S hould n ot c limb down again and tell my e X p er i

ence to my companions But I w a s already s o far
.

up the great tree that i t seemed a humiliation to

return wi t hout having c arried ou t my mission .

After a long pause therefore to recover my

, ,

b reath and my courage I co ntinued my ascent ,

.

Once I put my weight upon a rotten branch and

sw ung for a few se c onds b y my hands but in the ,

main i t w as all easy climbing Gradually the .

l e a ves t hinned around me and I w a s aware from , ,

t h e wind upon my fa c e that I had topped all the

,

tree s o f the forest I was determined however not

.
, ,

t o l o ok about me before I had reached the very

?

highest point s o I s c ram b led on until I had got s o

,

far t ha t t h e t opm o st bran c h was bending beneath

my weight There I s e t tl ed i nto a c onvenient fork
. ,

a n d b alan c ing myself se c urely

,
I f ound m yself look ,

ing down at a most wonderfu l panorama of this

strange country in which we found ourselves .

The sun was j ust above the western S ky line and -

,

t h e e vening was a parti c ul arly b right and clear one ,

so that t h e wh o le e xtent of the pl a teau w a s visible

 20 0 THE L OST WOR L D
b ene a t h me I t was as seen fr o m t his heigh t of an
.
, ,

oval contour with a breadth o f abo u t t hir t y miles

,

and a width of t wenty I t s general shape was that.

o f a shallow funnel all the side s sloping d o wn to a

,

c onsiderable lake in the c entre This lak e may .

have b een t en miles in circum feren c e a n d lay v ery ,

green and b eautiful in the e v ening ligh t with a ,

thick fringe o f reeds a t its edges and with i t s surfa c e

,

b r ok en by se v eral yellow sandb an k s which gleamed ,

golden in t he mell o w s unshine A number o f long .

dark o b j e ct s whi c h were t oo large fo r alliga to rs and

,

too l o ng f or c an o es lay up o n t he edges o f t hese

,

pa t ches of sand Wi t h my glass I co ul d clearly see

.

tha t they were alive b ut w h a t t he i r na t ure migh t

,

b e I c ould n ot i magine .

From t he S ide o f the pla t eau o n whi c h w e w ere ,

slopes of woo dland with o cc asi o nal glade s s t re tc he d

, ,

down f o r ve o r six miles to the c entral lak e I .

could see a t m y very fee t t he glade of t he iguan o

-

d o ns and f arther off w as a r o und o pening i n the

,

trees whi c h marked t he swamp of t he p t er o da ct yls .

On the side fac ing me h ow e v er the pla t eau pre, ,

sen t ed a v ery di ff eren t aspe c t There the b asalt .

c li ffs o f t he o uts i de wer e repr o du c ed upon t he i nside ,

f o rm i ng an es c arpmen t ab o u t t w o hundred feet high ,

wi t h a wo o dy sl o pe b eneath it Along t he b ase of.

these red cli ffs s o me dis t ance a b ove the gr o und I

, ,

could s e e a num b er o f dar k holes thr o ugh t he gl a s s ,

Which I co nj e ct ured t o b e the m o uths of c a ves .

At the Opening o f one o f the se s o me t hing white

 FOR ON C E I WAS THE HE RO 20 1

was shimmering b ut I was unable to make ou t

,

what it was I sa t chart i ng the c o untry until the

.

s u n had se t and i t was s o dark tha t I co uld no longer

distinguish details Then I clim b ed d o wn to my

.

c ompanions waiting fo r me s o eagerly a t the b ot t om

of the great t ree For o n c e I w a s the her o of the
.

expediti o n Al o ne I had t h o ught o f i t and alone

.
,

I h a d done it and here was the chart which w o uld

save us a m o nth s blind gr o ping among un k n o wn

danger s Ea ch o f them sh ook me solemnly by the

.

hand B ut b e f ore they dis c ussed the de t ails of

.

my map I had to t ell them of my encoun t er with

the ape man among the branches
-
.

He has been there all the time said I , .

How do you know tha t ? asked L o rd J ohn .

B e c ause I have never b een without that feeling

th a t something malevolent was wat c hing us I .

mentioned it to you P r ofe s sor C hallenger ,

.

Our y o ung friend c er t ainly said s o mething o f

the k ind He is also the o ne am o ng us wh o is e n
.

dowed wi t h that Celtic t emperamen t which w o uld

make him sensitive t o such impres sio ns .

The whole the o ry o f t elepathy

Summerlee lling his pipe , .

I S too v as t to b e now dis c ussed s a id Chal ,

lenger with de c isi o n

, Tell me now he added .
, , ,

with the air of a b ishop addressing a Sunday school -

,

di d y o u happen to obser v e whether t he c rea t ure

c ould cross its thum b o v er i t s p al m P
No indeed
, .
 H
R OU G CHAR T OF MAP L E WH I TE LA ND
 FOR ONCE I WAS TH E HERO 26 3

Had it a tail P
~

No
.

Was the f o ot prehensile ?

I do not think it could have made off so fast
among the branches if i t could no t get a grip with
its feet .

In South Ameri c a there are if my memory ,

serves me you will check the observation P r o ,

fe ss or Summ erlee some thirty six species of mon -

keys but the anthropoid ape is unkn o wn It is

,
.
.

clear however that he exists in this country and

, , ,

that he I s not the hairy gorilla like variety which ,

-
,

is never seen out of Africa or the East ( I was .

inclined t o interp o la t e as I looked at him that I

, ,

had seen his rst c o usin in Kensington ! This .

is a whiskered and c o lourless type the latter c harac ,

t e r i s t i c p o inting to the fact t hat he spends his days

in ar b ore al se clusion The questi o n which w e have
.

t o fac e is whether he appr o aches more c l os ely to the

ape o r the man In the latter c ase h e may well
.
,

appr o xima t e to what the v ulgar ha v e c all ed the

missing link . The s o lution o f this pr ob lem is our
immediate duty .

It is n ot hing of the s ort said Summerlee , ,

abruptly . Now that through the intell igence

,

and activity of Mr Malone ( I c anno t help quoting

.

the words! , we ha v e got o ur chart our one and ,

onl y immediate duty is to get o ursel v es s a f e and

sound out of this awful pla c e .

The esh pots of c ivili z a t i o n groa ned Challenger

-
, .
204 THE LOST WO R L D
The in k pots of c i viliz a t i o n sir I t is our t ask
-
, .

t o pu t o n re co rd wha t w e have seen a n d t o l eave t he ,

fur t her e xpl o r a tio n to ot hers Y o u all agreed as .

much b efore Mr Mal o n e g ot u s t h e c har t
. .

Well s a id C h a ll enger
, I a dmit tha t m y m i nd
,

w ill be m o re a t ea s e w hen I a m a s sured t ha t the

re s ult of o ur e x ped itio n h a s b een c onveyed to o ur
fri end s H ow w e are to ge t d own f r o m t hi s pla c e
.

I h a v e no t as ye t an idea I ha v e ne v er y e t en cou n
.

t e r e d any pr ob lem h o we v er whi c h m y i n v en tiv e

, ,

b rai n w as una b le to so lve a n d I pr o mise y o u tha t

,

t o m o rr ow I wi ll t urn my a tt en t i o n to t he q ues ti on
-

o f o ur des c en t .

And so the m a t t er was allowed to res t B ut .

tha t e v en i ng by t he light o f t h e re and of a single

,

c a ndle the rs t map o f the los t world wa s elabo ra t ed

,
.

Every de t ail which I had r o ughly n ot ed f r o m my

wa tc h tow er w a s dra w n o ut i n i t s rela tiv e pl a c e
-
.

C h a llenger s pen c i l h ov ered ov er t h e grea t bl an k

.

whic h mar k ed t he la k e .

Wha t s h a ll w e c all it P he a sk ed .

Why S h o uld yo u n ot t ake t he ch a n c e of per

p e t u a t i n g yo ur ow n name P s a i d Summer l ee wit h ,

h i s usual to u c h of a ci dity .

I t rust s ir tha t m y n a m e wi l l ha v e o t her a n d

, ,

more perso n a l c la i ms up o n p o s t erit y said C hal ,

lenger se v erely
, Any i gnoramus c an hand down
.

his w o r t hles s mem o ry b y i mposing it upon a m o un

tain o r a river I need no su c h m o nument
. .

Summerlee wit h a t wi st ed smile w a s abou t to

, ,
 FOR ONCE I WAS THE HERO 20 5

make some fresh assault when L o rd J ohn hastened

to intervene .

It s up to y o u y o ung fellah t o name the lake
, , ,

said he Y o u saw it rst and by George if y o u

.
, , ,

choose t o put L ak e Malone o n it no one has a ,

better right .

By all means Le t o ur young friend gi ve i t a

.

name said Challenger

, .

Then said I blushing I dare say as I said it
, , , , ,

let it be named Lake Gladys .

D o n t you think the C entral Lake w o uld b e
more descrip t ive P rem a rk ed Summerlee .

I S hould prefer L ake Gladys .

C hallenger l ooked at me sympatheti c ally and ,

sho o k his great head in mock disappr ov a l B o ys .

will b e b oys said he , Lake Gladys le t it be
. .
 C HA P TER XI I
I T WA S D R EA D F U L I N THE FORES T
I HAVE said
or perhaps I have n ot sai d fo r my
memor y plays me sad t ricks t hese days t ha t I
,

gl o wed wi t h pride when t hree s uch men as my

comrades t han k ed me f o r ha ving saved o r a t least ,

grea t ly help e d t he S i t ua t i o n As t h e youngs t er

, .

of the par t y no t merely in years bu t in experien c e

, , ,

c harac t er knowledge and all t ha t g o es t o make

, ,

a man I had b een o vershad o wed f r o m t he rs t

, .

And n o w I was co ming in to my own I w armed a t .

t he t hough t Alas ! f o r t he pride which g o e s b efore

.

a fall ! Tha t li tt le glow of s el f sa t isfa c ti o n that -

,

added measure o f sel f con d en ce were t o lead me

-
,

on that very nigh t to t he mos t dreadful experience

of my life ending wi t h a sho ck which t urns my hear t
,

s ic k when I t hink of it .

It came about in this way I had been unduly .

ex c i t ed by the adven t ure of t he t ree and sleep ,

seemed to b e imp o ssible Summerlee was on g uard

.
,

S itting hunched o v er Ou r small re a quaint angular , ,

gure his ri e a c r o ss his knees and his poin t ed

, ,

goa t like beard wagging wi t h each weary nod of his

-

head Lord J ohn lay silen t wrapped in the S o u t h

.
,
 IT WAS D READFUL IN THE FOREST 20 7

Ameri c an p o n cho which he wore while Challenger ,

snored wi t h a roll and ra t tle which reverb era t ed

,

through the woods The full moon was shining

.

brigh t l y and t he air wa s crisply co ld Wha t a nigh t

, .

for a walk And t hen s uddenly c ame t he th o ught ,

Wh y no t P Suppo s e I s t ole softly away sup ,

pose I made my way down t o the c entral lake ,

suppose I was ba ck at brea k fast wi t h so me re c ord

of the pla c e w o uld I n ot in tha t case b e t h o ught an
-

even more wor t hy ass o ciat e ? Then if Summerlee ,

c arried the day and s o me means of e sc ape were

found we should re t urn to London with r s t hand
,
-

knowled g e of t he c en t ral mys t ery of the plat eau ,

t o which I alone of all men would have pene t ra t ed

, , .

I though t of Gladys with her There are her o isms

,

a l l round u s I seemed t o hear her v o i c e a s she

.

said it I t hough t al so of McAr dl e Wha t a t hre e

. .

column arti cle for t he paper ! Wha t a foundation

for a career ! A corresponden t ship in the next
great war might be within my reach I clu t ched .

at a g u n m y pockets were full of cartridges and ,

parting the thorn bushes at the gat e of o ur z areba ,

I quickly slipped out My last glan c e showed me

.

the unconsci o us Summerlee m o s t fut il e o f sentinels

, ,

still nodding away like a queer me c hani c al toy in

front of the sm o uldering re .

I had not gone a hundred yards b efore I deeply

repented my rashness I may hav e said some
.

where i n this chr o ni cle tha t I am too imagin a t ive

to be a really courage o us man b u t t ha t I h a ve a n
,
20 8 THE LOST WORLD
o v erp o w ering fear of seeming afraid This was .

t he power which n ow c arried me onwards I simply .

co uld n ot slink back with n ot hing d o ne Even i f .

my co mrades should no t have missed me and ,

should never know o f my weakness there would s t ill ,

remain some intolera b le self shame in my o wn

-

soul And yet I shuddered a t the p o sition in

.

whi c h I found m yself and w o uld have given all I

,

possessed a t tha t m o men t to have b een honourably

free of t he whole b usiness .

It was dreadful in the f o res t The t ree s grew .

so t hickly and their foliage s pread s o widely t ha t I

could s e e nothing of t he mo o n ligh t s ave t ha t here
-

and there t he high branches made a t angl ed l igree

against t he starry sky As t he eyes b ecame m o re
.

used to t he o b s curity one learned tha t t here were

differen t degrees o f dar k ness among t he t rees
that some were diml y vi si b le while b e t ween and
,

among t hem t here were coal bla c k shad o wed pa tc hes

-
,

like the m o uths o f c aves fr o m whi c h I s hrank in

,

horror as I passed I t hought of t he de s pairing

.

yell o f t he to r t ured iguanodon tha t dreadful cry
which had e c h o ed t hr o ugh t he wo o ds I t h o ugh t .
,

too o f the glimpse I had in the light of Lo rd J o hn s
,

tor ch of tha t bloated warty blood slavering mu zzle

, ,
-
.

Even now I was on i t s hun t ing ground A t any -

.

n s t a n t i t migh t s pring upon me from t he shadows

this nameless and h o rrible mons t er I s t opped .

,

and picking a car t ridge fr o m my po ck e t I o pened

, ,

t he b ree c h o f m y gun A s I to u c hed t he le v er m y

.
 IT WAS D READFUL IN THE FOREST 20 9

heart leaped within me It was the sh ot gun n ot

.
-
,

t he ri e which I had t aken

,

Again the impulse to return swep t over me Here .

,

surely was a most ex c ellent reason for my failure

,

one for which no one would think the less of me .

B u t again the foolish pride fought against that very

.

word I could not must not fail After a l l .
,

my rie w o uld probably have been as useless as

a S ho t gun against such dangers a s I might mee t
-
.

If I were to go ba c k t o camp to change my weapon

I coul d hardly expec t t o enter and to leave again
without being seen In that case there would be
.

explanations and my attempt would no longer

,

b e all my own After a little hesitation then I

.
, ,

s c rewed up my c o urage and continued upon my

way my useless gun under my arm
, .

Th e darkness of the forest had been alarming ,

b u t even worse was the white still ood of moon ,

light i h the open glade o f the iguanodons Hid .

among the bushes I looked out at it None of the

, .

grea t brutes were in sight P erhaps the tragedy .

which had befal len one of them had driven them

from their feeding ground In the misty silvery
-
.
,

night I could s e e no sign of any living thing .

Taking courage therefore I slipped rapidl y across

, ,

it and among the j ungle on the farther side I

,

picked up once again the brook which was my guide .

It was a cheery companion gurgling and chuckling ,

as it ran like the dear old trout stream in the West

,
-

C ountry where I have shed a t night in m y bo y

0
2 10 THE LOST WOR L D
hood .S o lo n g a s I foll o wed i t do w n I m u st co me
t o t h e l a k e a n d s o l on g as I fol lowed it b ac k I
,

mus t co m e to t he c a mp O ft en I had to lose sight.

of it on a cco un t of t he t angled brushwood but I ,

was alwa y s wi t hin earsh ot o f its t in kle and splash .

As on e des c ended t h e slope t he w oo ds b e c ame

t hinner a n d bushes wit h occ a si o nal high t ree s
, , ,

too k the pla c e of the fo re st I co uld make g oo d .

progress t here fo r e and I co uld see wit h o u t b e i ng

, ,

S een I passed c lose to t he p t er o da c tyl swa mp

.
,

and a s I did s o wi th a dry c ri sp lea t her y ra tt le of , ,

w ings one of t hese grea t c rea t ures i t w as tw en t y

,

feet at least f rom t ip t o tip r os e up f r o m some

where near me a n d s o a red in to t he a i r As it .

pas sed a c r o s s t he f a c e of t h e m oo n t he l igh t sh o n e

c learly t hr o ugh t he mem b ran o u s wi ngs and it ,

l oo ked li k e a ying s k ele t on agai ns t t he wh it e ,

tropi c al radian c e I c rou ched lo w am o ng the

.

b ushe s f o r I k ne w fr o m pas t experi en c e t hat wit h

,

a single c r y t he c rea t ure c oul d b ring a hundred o f

its loathsome ma t es a bo u t m y ears It w a s n ot .

until i t had set t led agai n t ha t I dared to st eal

onw a rds upon my j o urne y .

The nigh t had b een e xc eed i ngly sti ll b u t a s I ,

ad v a n c ed I b e c ame co ns c ious o f a lo w rum b ling ,

sound a c ontinu o us murmur so me where i n fr o n t

, ,

o f me Th is grew louder a s I pr oc eeded u n t il a t

.
,

last i t was cl early q u it e clo se to me When I stood .

still t h e s o und w a s c onst a n t s o t ha t it seemed ,

t o c om e fr om so me st a ti on a ry c ause I t w a s l ik e .
 IT WAS D READFUL IN THE FOREST 211

a b o iling k ettle or the bubbling of some great p ot .

Soon I came upon the source of it for in the centre

,

of a small clearing I found a lakeor a pool rather , ,

for i t w a s not larger than the bas i n of the Trafalgar

Square fountain of some black pitch like stuff ,
-
,

the surface of which rose and fell in great blis t ers

o f bursting gas The air above it was shimmer
.

ing with heat and the ground round was s o h ot

,

that I could hardly bear to lay my hand on it .

It w a s clear t hat the great volcanic outburst wh ic h

had raised this strange pla t eau s o many years ago
had not yet entirely spent its forces Bla ck ened .

ro cks and m o unds of lava I had already seen every

where peeping out from amid the luxuriant vege t a
t ion whi c h draped them but this asphalt pool in
,

the j ungle was the rst S i g n that w e had of actual

existing activity on the slopes of the an c ient c rater .

I had no time to examine it further for I had need ,

to hurry if I were to be back in camp in the morning .

It w a s a fearsome walk and one which will be

,

with me s o long as memory holds In the great .

moonlit clearings I S lunk along among the shadows

on the margin In the j ungle I crept forward
.
,

stopping with a beating hear t whenever I heard ,

as I often did the crash of breaking branches as

,

some wild beast went past Now and then great

.

shad o ws loomed up for an instant and were gone

great silent shadows which seemed to prowl upon
,

padded feet How often I stopped with the i n

.

tenti o n of returning and yet e v ery time my pride

,
2 12 THE LOST WO RLD
c o n q uered m y f ear and sen t me on again un t il
,

my o bj ec t should b e attained .

A t last (my wa tc h sh o wed t hat it was one in

t he m o rn i ng! I saw t he gleam of wa t er amid the
openings of t he j ungle and ten minu t es la t er I
,

w as among t he reeds upon t he b orders of t he c entral

lak e I was ex c eedingly dry s o I la y d o wn and
. ,

t o ok a l o ng draugh t of its wa t ers wh ic h were fresh ,

and cold There was a br o ad pathway with many

.

trac k s upon i t at the S pot which I had f ound S o ,

tha t i t was clearly one of the drinking places o f -

the an i mals Close t o the wa t er s edge t here was
.

a huge isolated b l ock o f lava Up thi s I clim b ed .

,

and ly in g o n t he t op I had an ex c ell en t V iew i n

, ,

every dire ct i o n .

The rst t hing whi c h I s a w lled me wi t h ama z e

ment When I described t he v iew from t he sum
.

mit of t he grea t t ree I said that on the f ar t her

,

c li ff I c ould s ee a num b er of dark sp ot s wh i ch ,

appeared to b e t he mo u t hs of c aves N o w as I .
,

lo ok ed up a t the same cli ffs I saw d i s cs of li gh t ,

in e v ery direction ruddy clearly d e n e d pa t ches

, ,
-
,

li k e t he port holes of a liner in t he darkness For

-
.

a moment I thought i t was the lava glow from some -

Volcani c action ; but this could not be s o Any .

vo lcanic action would surely be down in the hollow ,

and n o t high among the r o c k s What then was .

, ,

t he alternative ? I t was wonderful and ye t it ,

must surely b e These ruddy spots must b e the

.

re e ct ion o f res within the caves r e s wh i ch -

 IT WAS DREADFUL IN THE FOREST 2 13

c o ul d o nly b e lit b y the hand of man There .

were human beings then upon the plateau How

, , .

gloriously my expedition was j ustied ! Here w a s

news indeed for us to bear back wi th us to L o ndon
For a long t ime I lay and wat c hed these red ,

qui v ering bl o t c hes of light I suppose they were.

ten miles off from me yet even at that dis t ance

,

one c o uld observe how from time to time they

, ,

t winkled or were obscured as someone passed b efore

them What would I not have gi v en t o be able
.

t o c rawl up to them to peep in and t o t ake back

, ,

some w o rd to my comrades as t o the appearance

and charac t er of the race w h o lived in so strange
a pla c e I t w a s out of the question for the moment ,

and yet surely w e c ould not leave the plateau until

we had some denite kn owledge upon the point .

L ake Gladys m y own lake lay like a sheet
of quick silver b efore me with a re ected moon,

shining b rightly in the centre o f i t It was shallow .

,

for in many plac es I saw low sand b a nks protruding

above the water Everywhere up o n the s t ill s u r
.

face I c o uld Se e signs of life s o metimes mere rings ,

and ripples in the water sometimes the gleam of

,

a great silver sided sh in the air sometimes the

-
,

arched slate coloured ba c k of some passing monster

,
-
.

Once upon a yellow sandbank I s a w a crea t ure like

a huge swan wi th a c lumsy body and a high
, ,

exible neck shu f ing about upon the margin

, .

P resently it plunged in and for some time I co uld

,

s e e the ar c he d n eck and dartin g head undul atin g

2 14 TH E LOST WORLD
o ver t he wa t er Then it dive d and I sa w it no
.
,

m or e .

My atten t i o n was s oo n dr a wn a w ay fr o m t hese

d is t a nt S igh t s a n d b rough t bac k t o wh a t was g o ing
o n at m y v ery f ee t Tw o c rea t ures li k e large
.

armadi ll o s had co me d o wn to the drin k ing place -

,

and w ere squa tt ing a t the edge of t he w a t er t heir ,

lo ng exi b le t o ngues like red ri bbo ns sh oot ing

,

in a n d o u t as t he y lapp e d A huge deer wi th .

,

b ran c hi n g horns a m a gn ic en t c re a t ur e whi c h

,

c arried i t s el f li k e a kin g c a m e d own w i t h i t s doe

,

and two f a wns and dran k b eside t h e a rmadi llos .

N o su c h deer e xis t s anywhere else up o n e ar t h f o r ,

the m oo s e o r el k s whi c h I ha ve s een wo ul d hardly

h a v e rea c hed its sh o ulders P resentl y it g a v e a .

w a rning sn o rt and w a s off wi th i ts family am o ng

,

t h e reeds while t h e a rmad i ll os als o sc u tt led fo r

,

shel t er A new co m e r a m ost m o n st r o u s a n i m a l

.
-
, ,

w a s co ming d own t h e pa t h .

F o r a momen t I w o ndered where I c o uld ha v e

seen t hat ungainly shape tha t ar c hed b a c k wi t h ,

t riangular fringes along i t tha t strange bird like ,

-

he a d held cl o s e t o t he gr o und Then i t c ame b ack .

t o me It was the s t egosaurus t he v ery c reature
.

which Maple White had preserved in h i s ske t ch

book and which had b een t he rs t ob j e ct whi c h
,

arres t ed the at t en t ion o f C hallenger There he was

perhaps the ve ry specimen which the Ameri c an
ar t ist had en c oun t ered The ground S h o ok b en e a t h
.

h i s t rem en d ous weig ht and his g u l pi n g s of w a t e r

,
 IT WAS DREADFUL IN THE FOREST 2 15

resounded thr o ugh t he s t ill nigh t F o r ve minu t es .

he was s o c lose t o my roc k t hat b y stretching out

my hand I coul d have to uched the hide o us wa v ing
hackles up o n his ba c k Then he l umb ered aw ay
.

and was los t a m o ng t he bo ulders .

Looki ng a t my wat ch I saw t h a t i t was half past

,
-

t w o o clo c k and high t ime therefore t ha t I started

, , ,

upon my h o me w ard j o urney There was n o d i f .

c ul t y ab o u t the dire ct i o n in whi c h I should re t urn ,

for all al o ng I had kep t t he li tt le b rook up o n my

left and it Opened in to the c en t ral lake wi t hin a
,

st o ne s throw of t he b oulder upon which I had b een

-

lying I se t off t herefore in high spirits for I felt

.
, , ,

t ha t I had done g oo d wo r k and w a s b ringing b ack

a ne b udge t o f news fo r m y co mpani o n s Fo re .

m o st o f a l l of c ourse were t he sigh t o f t he ery

, ,

c aves and the c er t ain ty tha t s o me troglodyti c ra c e

inha b i t ed t hem B u t b esides t ha t I co ul d speak
.

from experi en c e of t he c en t ral lake I c ould t estify .

t ha t i t was full o f s t range c reat ures and I had seen ,

several land for ms of prim ae val life which w e had not

be f ore en c oun t ered I re e ct ed as I walked that
.

few men in the wo rld co ul d have spent a stranger

night or added more t o human kn o wledge in t he
course o f it .

I was pl o dding up the slope t urning these t h o ughts,

over in m y mind and had rea ched a p o int which

,

may hav e b een half wa y t o home when my mind

-
,

w a s brou g ht ba c k t o my o wn p o si t i o n by a strange

noi s e b ehind m e I t w a s som et h i n g b e twe en a snore

.
 2 16 THE LOST WORLD
an d a gr o wl low deep and e xc eedi ngly m en a cing
, , ,
.

S ome s t rang e c reat ure w as evidently near m e but ,

no t hing c ould be seen so I has t ened m o re rapi d l y ,

upon my way I had t ravers e d hal f a mile o r so

.

when suddenly t he sound was repeat ed still b ehind ,

me b u t l o uder and more mena c ing t han b ef o re

, .

My hear t s t ood s t ill within me a s i t ashed a c r os s me

t ha t the b east wha t ever i t was mu st surely b e a ft er
, ,

me . My skin grew c o ld and m y hair r os e a t t he

t ho u ght That these mons t ers sh o uld t ear e a c h
.

other t o piece s wa s a par t o f t he st range st ruggle f o r

exis t ence bu t t h a t they sh o uld t urn up o n modern

man t ha t t hey shoul d deli b era t ely t rac k and hun t

,

down t he predominant human was a st aggering and ,

fea rs o me t hough t I remembered again the b l o od

.

b eslob b ered fa c e whi c h we had seen in the glare of

Lo rd J ohn s t or ch like s ome horri ble visi o n fr o m

,

t he deepe st c ircle o f Dan t e s hell Wi t h m y k nees

.

sha k ing b enea t h me I stood and glared wi t h s t ar t ing

,

eyes down t he m oo nli t path which lay behind me .

All was qu ie t as in a dream lands c ape Sil v er C lear

.

ings and t he b la ck patche s of the b ushe s n ot hing

else co uld I see Then fr o m o u t of t he S ilen c e
.
,

imminen t and threa t ening t here c am e o n c e more ,

t ha t l o w t hroat y croaking far louder and C loser t han

, ,

before There could no longer b e a dou b t S o me

. .

thing was o n m y t rail and was c l o sing in up o n me ,

e very minute .

I st o o d like a man paralyz ed st ill st aring a t t h e ,

gr o und which I had tra verse d Then suddenl y I .

 IT WAS DREADFUL IN THE FOREST 2 17

sa w it Th e re w a s m ov em e n t am o ng t he b us hes a t
.

the far end o f the Clearing whi c h I had j us t t raversed .

A grea t dark shadow disengaged i ts elf a n d h o pped

o u t in to the clear moonlight I s ay h o pped .

advisedly for the beast moved like a kangaroo

, ,

springing along in an ere ct po s i t i o n up o n i t s p o werful

hind legs while i t s fron t o nes were held bent in front
-
,

of it It was of en o rmous size and power like an

.
,

ere c t elephant but i t s movements in spite of its

, ,

bulk were ex c eedingly alert For a moment as I

, .
,

saw its shape I hoped that i t was an iguan o d o n

, ,

whi c h I knew to be harmless bu t ignoran t as I was , , ,

I so o n s a w tha t t his was a very differen t creat ure .

Ins t ead of the gentle deer shaped head of the great ,

-

t hree toed leaf eat er this beast h a d a broad squa t

- -
, , ,

to ad like fa c e like that whi c h had alarmed us in our

-

c amp His fer oc i o us c ry and the h o rri ble energ y

.

o f his pursui t bot h assured me t h a t t his was s urely

o ne of the great es h eat ing din o saurs t he m o st -
,

terrible beas t s which hav e ever walked this earth .

AS the huge b ru t e loped alon g it dropped forward

up o n i t s f o re paws and br o ught it s n o se t o the gr o u nd
-

e v ery twen t y yards or s o I t was smelling out my .

trail S o metimes for an ins t ant it was at fault

.
, ,
.

Then i t w o ul d c at c h it up again and c ome bounding

swift ly al o ng the path I had taken .

E v en n o w when I t hin k of that nigh t mar e the

swea t breaks ou t up o n m y br o w Wha t c ould I do P .

My usele ss fowling pie c e was in my hand What-

.

help could I get from that P I looked d esperately

218 THE LOST WO RLD
round for some r o ck or t ree b ut I was in a b ushy ,

j ungle wi t h no t hing higher t han a s apling wi t hin

sight w hile I k new t ha t t he c rea t ure b ehind me co ul d
,

tear d o wn an o rdinary t ree a s t hough i t wer e a reed .

M y only p o ssible chan c e lay in igh t I co ul d n ot .

m o ve swift ly over t h e rough broken gr o und b ut as , ,

I loo k ed r o und me in despair I s aw a well-marked ,

hard b ea t en pat h whi c h r a n a c r oss in fr o n t of me

-
.

We had s e en se v eral o f t he so r t t h e run s of v ario us

,

wild b e a st s dur i ng o ur expedi t i o n s Al o ng t h i s I

, .

c ould perhap s h o ld my own fo r I w a s a fa st r un ner

, ,

and in ex c ellen t c ondi t ion Flinging a wa y m y u s e

.

less gun I s e t myself t o do such a hal f mile a s I ha v e

,
-

ne v er done b ef o re or sin c e M y lim b s a c hed my

.
,

C hes t hea v ed I f elt t ha t m y t hr o a t w o uld burs t for

,

wan t of air and ye t with t ha t h o rr o r behind me I

,

r a n and I ran and ran A t la st I paused hardly a b le

.
,

t o mo v e F or a m o men t I th o ugh t tha t I had

.

t hr o wn him off The pa t h lay s t ill b ehind me And

. .

then suddenl y with a c rashing and a Ten d i n g a

, ,

thud ding o f giant fee t and a panting of m o n st er lungs ,

t he b eas t wa s upon me o n c e m o re He w a s a t my .

v e ry heels I was lo st
. .

Madman t ha t I wa s to linger s o long before I ed

Up to t hen he had hun t ed by s c ent and his m ov e ,

ment w a s sl o w B ut he had actually seen me a s I

.

star t ed t o run From then onwards he had hun t e d

.

b y sight fo r t he pa t h sh ow ed him where I had g o ne

,
.

N ow as he c ame round t he cur v e he wa s spri n g i n g

, ,

in g r ea t b ounds The mo o nlig h t s h o ne up on his

.
 IT WAS DREADFUL IN THE FOREST 2 19

huge proj e ct ing eye s the row of enormous teeth in

,

his open mouth and the gleaming fringe o f claws

,

upon his sh o r t p o werful forearms Wi t h a s c ream of

, .

terror I turned and rushed wildly down t he path .

Behind me the thi ck gasping breathing of the ,

creature sounded louder and louder His heavy .

footfall was beside me Every ins t an t I expe ct ed.

to feel h i s grip upon my back And then suddenly

there came a crash I was falling through s pa c e
.

and everything beyond w a s darkness and res t .

As I emerged from my un c ons c iousne s s which

could n ot I think have lasted more than a few
, ,

minu t e s I was aware of a most dreadful and pene
t r a t i n g smel l P utting o u t my hand in the darkness
.

I came upon so mething which felt like a huge lump

of meat while my o ther hand closed upon a large
,

bone Up ab o ve me t here was a cir cle o f starlit

.

sky which showed me that I was lying a t t he bot t om

,

of a deep pi t Sl o wly I s t aggered to my fee t and

.

felt myself all over I was stiff and sore from head
.

to foot bu t there was no limb which would not

,

move no j oin t which would n ot bend As the

, .

circumstan c es of m y fall came bac k int o my con

fused brain I looked u p in terror expe ct ing to s e e
, ,

that dreadful head silhouetted against the paling

sky There was n o S ign of t he monster however
.
, ,

nor c ould I hear any s o und fr o m above I began .

to wal k slowly round t herefore feeling in every , ,

dire c tion to nd out what this s t range place could

b e i n to wh i ch I had been s o o pp o rt unel y precipitate d .
2 20 THE L OST W OR L D
I t was as I ha ve sai d a pi t wi t h s h a r
, , , n g p ly
slop i
walls and a level bott om a bo u t t wen t y fee t a c r os s .

This bo tto m w as li tt ered wi t h grea t g obb e ts of

e s h mos t of whi c h was in t he las t s t at e o f pu t ridity
, .

The a t m o sphere w a s poison o u s and horri ble A ft er .

t ripping and stumbling over t hese lumps o f decay ,

I c ame suddenly against s o me t hing hard and I ,

fo und t ha t an upright pos t was rmly xed in t he

centre of t he hollow I t was so high t ha t I c ould
.

not rea c h t he t op of i t with my hand and i t ap pe ared ,

t o b e c overed with grease .

Suddenl y I remem b ered t ha t I had a t in bo x of

wax v e st as in m y pocke t S t ri k ing o ne of t hem
- .
,

I was a b le at las t t o form s o me Opini o n o f this pla c e

in to whi c h I had f allen There c ould b e n o q ue s
.

t ion as t o its na t ure I t was a t rap made by the
.

hand of man The pos t in the c entre so m e nine

.
,

fee t l o ng was sharpened a t t he upper end and was

, ,

bla c k wi t h the stale bl oo d of t he c rea t ures wh o had

been imp al ed upon it The remains s c att ered ab o u t
.

were f ragmen t s of the vic t ims whi c h had b een cu t,

awa y in order t o clear the s t ake f or t h e nex t who

might blunder in I remembered tha t C hallenger
.

had declared that man could n ot e x is t upon the

plateau sin c e with his feeble weapons he co u ld n o t
,

hold his o wn against t he m o ns t ers w h o roamed o ver

i t B ut n o w it was clear en o ugh how i t c o uld be
.

done In t heir narrow mouthed c aves t he na t ives

.
-
,

wh o ever they might be had refuges in to whi c h

,

t he huge saurians co uld not pene t ra t e while with ,

 IT WAS D R E AD FUL IN THE FOREST 22 1

t heir devel o ped brains t hey were c ap a ble o f se t ting

such t raps c overed wi t h b ran ches acr o ss t he paths
, ,

which marked the run of the animals a s would

des t roy them in spite of all their s t rength and
a ct ivity Man was always the master
. .

The S loping wall of the pit was not di fcul t for

an ac t ive man to Climb but I hesi t ated long b efore
,

I trus t ed myself within reach of the dreadful c reature

which had s o nearly des t royed me How did I .

know t hat he was not lurking in the neares t c lump

of bushes waiting for my reappearance ? I took
,

heart however as I re c alled a conversation between

, ,

Challenger and Summerlee upon the habit s of t he

great saurians Bo t h were agreed tha t the mons t ers
.

were practically brainles s t ha t t here w a s no room

,

for reas o n in t heir tiny c ranial c avities and tha t ,

if t hey have disappeared from the rest of the world

i t was assuredly on a c count of t heir o wn s t upidit y ,

which made it impossible for t hem to adapt t hem

selves t o Changing conditi o ns .

To lie i n wait fo r me n o w woul d mean t ha t t he

creature had apprecia t ed wha t had happened t o
me and this in t urn would argue some power c on
,

me e ting cause and effect Surely it w a s more likely

.

that a brainless creature acting solely by vague,

preda t ory instinct would give up the chase when

,

I disappeared and after a pause of astonishment

, , ,

would wander away in search of some other prey P

I clambered to the edge of the pit and looked over
The stars were f ading the s k y was whitening and
, ,
222 THE LOST WORLD
t he co ld w i nd of m o rn i ng blew pleasantly up o n my
fa c e I co ul d s ee or h ear n o thing o f my enemy
. .

Slowly I clim b ed ou t and s a t for a while u p on t h e

ground ready to spring ba c k in t o my refuge if any

,

danger sh o uld appear Then reas s ured b y the

.
,

absolu t e s t illness and by t he growing ligh t I t oo k ,

my c ourage in bot h hands and s t ole back along t he

pa t h which I had come S o me dis t ance down i t I
.

picked up my gun and shor t ly aft erwards struck

,

the brook which was my guide So with many .

,

a frigh t ened ba c kward glance I made f or ,

h ome .

And suddenly there c ame s om e t h rn g t o r emind

me o f my absen t companions In the clear still .
,

morning air t here s o unded far away t he sharp hard ,

no t e of a single r i e sho t I paused and lis t ened

-
.
,

bu t t here w a s no t hing more For a momen t I was.

sho ck ed a t t he t h o ugh t that some sudden danger

might have b efallen t hem B u t then a simpler and
.

more natural explana t ion came to my mind I t w a s .

now broad dayligh t No doubt my absence had

.

been noticed They had imagined that I was lost

.

in the woods and had red t his shot to guide me

,

home It is t rue t hat we had made a s t ric t resolu

.

ti o n against ring but if it seemed to them tha t I

,

migh t be in danger t hey would not hesitate It .

was fo r me now t o hurry o n as fast a s possible and ,

s o t o r e assure t hem .

I w as weary and spen t so my pr o gress w a s not

,

s o fast as I wished but at last I came into regions

 IT WAS D READFUL IN THE FOREST 2 23

which I knew There wa s the swamp of t he p t er o

.

da ct yls upon my l e ft t here I n fron t o f me w a s the

glad e of the iguanodons Now I was in the las t .

belt o f t rees which separated me from For t Chal

lenger I raised my voice in a cheery S hout to
.

allay t heir fears No answerin g greeting c ame back

.

to me My heart sank at that ominous stillness

. .

I quickened my pa c e in t o a run The z areba rose .

before me even as I had left i t but the ga t e w a s

, ,

Open . I rushed in In t he c old morning light it

.

w a s a fearful sight which met my eyes Our effects .

were scattered in wild c onfusi o n over t he ground

my co mrades had disappeared and close to the ,

smouldering ashes o f o ur re t he grass wa s s t ained

crimson with a hideous pool o f bl oo d .

I was s o stunned by t his s udden sh ock tha t for a

time I mus t have nearly los t my reas o n I have a .

vague re c ollection as one re members a b ad dream

, ,

of rushing ab o ut through the woods all r o und the

emp t y c amp calling wildly for my c ompanions
, .

No answer came bac k fr o m the silent shadows .

The horrible though t t hat I might never s ee t hem

aga i n t hat I might nd myself abandoned all alone
,

in that dreadful pla c e with no possible way of ,

des c ending into the world below that I might live ,

and die in tha t nightmare country dr o ve me to ,

desperation I C o uld have torn my hai r and beaten

.

my head in my despair Only now did I reali z e how

.

I had learned to lean upon my c ompanions upon ,

t h e s erene self con d en ce of Challenger and upon

-
,
2 24 TH E LOST WORLD
t he ma st er ful humorou s coolne s s o f L ord R o x to n
, .

Wi t h o u t t hem I w a s li k e a ch ild in t he dar k help ,

les s and powerless I did n ot k n o w whi c h wa y to

.

t urn or what I should do rs t .

Aft er a period during whi c h I sa t in b ewi lder

,

ment I se t myself t o try and dis c over wha t sudden

,

misfor t une c ould have be f allen m y co mpanions .

The whole dis o rdered appearan c e of the camp

sh o wed tha t t here had been some s o r t of a t ta ck ,

and t he r i e sho t no d o u bt mark ed t he t ime when

-

i t had oc c urred Tha t t here s h o uld hav e been

.

only one sho t sh o wed tha t i t had been all over in

an instant The ri es s t ill lay up o n t he gr o und
.
,

and one o f t hem Lo rd John s had t he emp t y

c ar t ridge in t he b ree ch The blank et s o f C hallenger

.

and of Summerlee b eside t he re sugges t ed tha t

they had b een asleep a t the t ime The c ases of .

ammuni t i o n and o f fo o d wer e s c a tt ered a bo u t in

a wild li tt er to ge t her wi t h our un fo r t un a t e c ameras
,

and pla t e c arriers b u t none of them were missing

-
,
.

On t he ot her hand al l t he exposed pr o vis io ns

,

a n d I remem b ered t ha t t here were a c onsidera b le

quan t i t y o f t hem were gone They were animals .
,

then and not na t ives wh o had made t he inr o ad

, , ,

f or surely t he lat t er w o uld have le f t n ot hing behind .

Bu t if animals or some single terri ble animal

, ,

t hen wha t had be c ome o f my comrades ? A fero

ci ou s beast wo u ld surely hav e destroyed t hem and

left their remains It is true that there was that

.

'

one h i d eou s p ool o f b l oo d whi c h tol d of v i o len c e

, .
 IT WAS DREADFU L IN THE FOREST 225

Such a mons t er as had pursued me during t he nigh t

co uld have carried away a vic t im as eas i ly as a c at
would a mouse In t ha t c ase t he others would have
.

followed in pursui t But then t hey would assuredl y

.

hav e taken their ries with them The more I .

tried to think it out with my confused and weary

brain the less could I nd any plausible explanation .

I searched round in the forest but could see no ,

tracks which co ul d help me to a conc lusion Once .

I lost myself and it w a s only by good luck and

, ,

after an hour of wandering that I found the c amp ,

once more .

S u ddenly a thought came to me and brough t

some little comfort to my heart I was not a b s o .

l u t el y alone in the world Down at the bottom .

of the cli ff and within call of me was waiting the

, ,

faithful Zambo I went to the edge of the plateau

.

and looked over Sure enough he w a s squatting

.
,

among his blankets beside his re in his little camp .

B u t to my amazement a second man was seated

, ,

in front of him For an instant my heart leaped

.

for j oy as I thought that one of my comrades had

,

made his way safely down But a second glance .

dispelled the hope The rising sun shone red upon

.

the man s skin He was an Indian I shouted

. .

loudly and waved my handkerchief P resently .

Zambo looked up waved his hand and turned to

, ,

ascend the pinnacle In a short time he was stand .

ing close to me and listening with deep distress

t o the story which I t old him .
226 THE L OST W OR L D
Devil go t t hem f or s ure Mas s a Malone s a i d , ,

he. You g ot int o t he devil s coun t ry sah and

, ,

he t ak e you all to himself You t ake advice .

,

Massa Malone and come d own quick else he get

, ,

you as well .

How ca n I co me down Zambo P ,

You get c reepers from trees Massa Malone , .

Throw them over here I make fast to t his s t ump

.
,

and so y o u have bridge .

We ha ve though t o f t hat There are n o

creep ers here whi c h c ould b ear us .

Send for r o pes Massa M al o ne
,
.

Who ca n I send and where P

,

Send t o Indian v illages sah P len t y hide rop e ,

.
-

in Indian village Indian down below send him

. .

Who is he P
One of our Indians Other ones bea t him .

and tak e away his pay He come back to us .

Ready now to take letter bring rope anything

.

, .

To t ake a letter ! Why not P P erhaps he

might bring help b u t in any case he would ensure
t hat o ur live s were not spent for nothing and that ,

news of all tha t we had won for Science should reach

our friends at home I had t w o completed letters
.

already waiting I would S pend the day in writing

.

a third which would bring my experien c es absolutely

,

up t o date The Indian co uld bear t his back

.

to the world I ordered Zambo therefore t o c ome

.
, ,

again in the evening and I spen t my miserable

,

and lonely day in recording my own adventures of

 IT WAS D READFUL IN TH E FOREST 227

the night before I also drew up a note to be given

.
,

t o any white merchant or captain of a steam boat -

whom the Indian could nd imploring them to,

s e e that ropes were sent to us since our lives must

,

depend upon it These documents I threw to

.

Zambo in the evening and also my purse which

, ,

contained three English S overeigns These were .

to be given to the Indian and he was promised

,

twice as much if he returned with the ropes .

So now you will understand my dear Mr McAr d l e

,
.
,

how this communication reaches you and you will ,

also know the truth in case you never hear again

,

from your unfortunate correspondent To night .

-

I am too weary and too depressed to make my

plans To morrow I must think out some way
.
-

by which I shall keep in touch with this camp ,

and yet search round for a n y traces of my unhappy

friends .
 CHA P TE R X III

A S I GHT WHIC H I S HA LL N E V ER F ORG E T

J U S T as the s u n was setting upon that melan choly
n i ght I s a w the lonely gure of the Indian upon the
vast plain beneath me and I watched him our one
, ,

faint hope of salvation unt i l he disappeared in t he

,

rising mists of evening which lay rose tinted from ,

-

the setting s u n between the far off river and me

,
-
.

It was quite dark when I at last turned back t o

our stricken camp and my last vision as I wen t was
,

the red gleam of Zambo s re the one poin t of ligh t

,

in the wide world below as was his faithful presence

,

in my own shadowed soul And yet I felt happier

.

than I had done since this crushing blow had fallen

upon me for it was good to think that the world
,

should know what w e had done s o that at the worst ,

our names S hould not perish with our bodies but ,

S hould go down to posterity associated with the

result of our labours .

It was an awesome thing t o sleep in that ill fated -

camp ; and yet it was even more unnerving to do so

in the j ungle One or the other it must be
. Pr u .

dence on the one hand warned me that I sh o uld

, ,

remain on guard but exhausted Nature on the

, ,

2 28
 A S I GHT I SHA LL NE V E R F ORG E T 2 29

other declared that I should do nothing of the kind

, .

I climbed up on to a limb of the grea t gingko tree ,

but there was no secure perch on its rounded surface ,

and I should certainly have fallen off and broken my

neck the moment I began to doze I got down .
,

therefore and pondered over what I should do

, .

Finally I closed the door of the zareba lit three

, ,

separate res in a triangle and having eaten a hearty ,

supper dropped off into a profound sleep from which ,

I had a strange and most welcome awakening In .

the early morning j ust as day was breaking a hand

, ,

was laid upon my arm and starting up with all m y, ,

nerves in a tingle and my hand feeling for a rie ,

I gave a cr y of j oy as in the cold grey light I s a w

Lord J ohn kneeling beside me .

It was h e and yet it was not he I h a d left him .

calm in his bearing correct in his person prim in h i s

, ,

dress Now he was pale and wild eyed gasping

.
-
,

as he bre a thed like one who has run far and fast .

His gaunt face was scratched and bloody his clothes ,

were hanging in rags and his hat was gone I , .

s t ared in amazement but he gave me no chance for

,

questions He was grabbing at our stores all the

.

time he S poke .

Quick young fellah

,
Quick he cried .

Every moment counts Get the ries both of them .

,

I have the other t w o Now all the cartridges you can

.
,

ga t her Fill up your pockets Now some food

. .
,
.

Half a dozen tins will do That s all right ! Don t wait

.

to talk or think Get a move on or w e are done

.
,
23 0 THE LOS T W OR LD
Still half awake and unable to imagine what i t all
-
,

migh t me a n I found myself hurrying madly after

,

him through the wood a rie under each arm and ,

a p i le of v arious s tore s in my hands He dodged in .

a n d out t hrough t he t hickes t o f the s c rub un t il he

c ame t o a dens e clump o f brushwo o d In t o this .

he rushed regardless of thorns and threw himself

, ,

into the hear t of it pulling me down b y h i s side,

There ! he panted I think we are s a f e here
. .

They ll m a k e for the camp a s sure as fa t e It will .

be their rst idea But t his s hould pu z zl e em
. .

Wha t i s i t all P I a s k ed when I had g ot m y ,

brea t h . Where are the professors P A nd who is

i t t hat i s a f ter us P
The ape men -
h e c ried ,
My God what .
,

brutes D o n t raise your voice for they have long

,

ears S harp eyes too but no power of scent so far
, , ,

as I c ould j udge s o I don t think they ca n sni ff us

,

out Where have you been young fellah ? You

.
,

were well out of it .

In a few senten c es I whispered what I had d o ne .

P re t ty bad said he when he had heard o f the
, ,

dinosaur and the pit It isn t quite the pla c e for

.

a res t c ure Wha t .

P But I had no idea wha t its pos
s i b i l i t i es were un t il those devils go t hold of us The .

man s atin P apuans had me o nce but they are

-

,

Ch es t e r el d s c o mpared t o this crowd .

How did i t happen P I as k e d .

I t was in the early m or n i n Ou r learn e d friends

.

were j us t s t i r r i n Ha d n t e v en b e gun t o argu e y et

.

.
 A SIGHT I SHALL NEVER FORGET 23 1

Suddenly it rained apes They came down a s thick.

as apples out of a tree They had been a s s e m bl i n

.

in the dark I suppose until t hat great tree over our

, ,

heads w as heavy with them I sho t o ne of them .

through the belly but before we knew where we were

,

they had us spread eagled on our back s I c all them

-
.

apes but they c arried sticks and stones in their hands

,

and j abbered talk t o ea c h other and ended up b y ,

tyin our hands with creepers s o the y are ahead of

,

any beast that I have seen in my w a n d er i n s Ape

.

men that s what they are M i s s i n Links and I

-

,

wish they had stayed m i s s i n They carried off their

.

wounded comrade h e w a s bleedin like a pig and

then they s a t around us and if ever I s a w frozen ,

murder it was in t heir fa c e s They were big fellows .

,

as big as a man and a deal stronger Curious glassy .

grey eyes they have under red tufts and they j ust
, ,

sa t and gloat ed and gloated Challenger i s no .

chicken but even he was cowed He managed to

,
.

struggle on to his feet and yelled out at them t o have

,

d o ne with it and get it over I think he h a d gone a .

bit off h i s head at the suddenness of it for he raged ,

and cursed at them like a lunati c If they had been .

a row of his favourite P ressmen he could no t have

slanged them worse .

Well what did they do ?

, I w a s enthralled
by the strange story which my companion w a s
whispering into my ear while all the time his ke e n
,

eyes were sho ot ing in e v ery direction and h i s hand

g rasping h i s c ocked rie .
 232 THE LOST WORLD
I thought it was the end of us bu t ins t ead o f ,

that it started them on a new line They all .

j a bb er e d and chattered together Then one of t hem .

stood out beside Challenger You ll smile young .
,

fellah but pon my word they might have been
,

kinsmen I c ouldn t have believed i t if I hadn t
.

seen it with my ow n eyes This old ape man .

-

he w a s t heir chief was a sort of red Challenger ,

w i t h every one of our friend s beauty points only

j ust a t ri e more s o He had the short body the .

,

b ig shoulders the round chest no neck a grea t

, , ,

ruddy frill of a beard the tufted eyebrows the , ,

What do y ou want damn you ! look abou t the

,

eyes and t he whole catalogue When the ape

, .

man stood b y C hallenger and put his paw on his

shoulder the thing was complete Summerlee w a s
, .

a bit hysterical and he laughed till he cried The

, .

ape men laughed too or at least they put up the

-

devil of a ca ck l i n
and then they s e t to work t o
drag us o ff through the fores t They wouldn t .

t ouch the guns and things thought them danger
ou s
,

I expect but they carried away all our loose

food Summerlee and I got some rough handl in

.

on the waythere s my skin and my clothes t o prove i t

for they took us a bee line through the brambl es and -

,

their own hides are like leather But Challenger was .

all right Four of them carried him shoulder high

.

and he went like a Roman emperor What s that P .

I t w a s a strange clicking noise in the distance ,

n o t unlike c astanets .
 A S IGHT I SHALL NEVE R FORGET 23
3
There they go ! said my companion slipping ,

cartridges int o the second double barrelled Express

.

Load them all up young fellah my lad for , ,

we re not going to be taken alive and don t you ,

think it ! That s the row they make when they

are excited By George ! they ll have something

.

to excite them if they put us up The Last Stand .

of the Greys won t be in it

With their ri es

.

grasped in their sti ffened hands mid a ring of the ,

dead and as some fathead S ings Can you .

hear them now P

Very far away .

That little lot will do no good but I expect ,

their search parties are all over the wood Well .

,

I w a s tellin you my tale of woe

They got us .

soon to this town of theirs about a thousand huts
of branches and leaves in a great grove of trees near

the edge of the cli ff I t s three or four miles from
.

here The lthy beasts ngered me all over and

.
,

I feel as if I should never be clean again They .

t ied us u p the fellow w h o handled me could tie


like a bo sun and there we lay with our toes up ,

beneath a tree while a great brute stood guard

,

over us with a club in his hand When I s a y w e .

I mean Summerlee and myself Old Challenger .

w a s up a tree e a t i n pines and h a v i n

, the time of

his life I m bound to say that he managed to
.

get some fr u it to us and with his own hands he ,

loosened our bonds If you d seen him S ittin up

.

in that tree hob nobbin with his twin brother
-
234 THE LOST WOR L D

and singin in that rollin bass of his Ring ou t ,

wild bells cause music of any kind seemed to put
,

em in a g oo d humour y o u d have sm i led ; b ut we

weren t in mu c h mo o d f o r l a u g h i n a s y ou c an

guess They were inclined within limi t s to le t h i m

.
, ,

do what he li k ed b ut the y drew the line pre t ty ,

sharply a t us It w a s a mighty consolation to us .

all to know that you were r u n n i n loose and had

the archives in your

Well n ow young fellah I ll tell you wha t will
, , ,

surprise y o u You sa y y o u saw S igns o f men and

.
,

res traps and t he li k e Well w e ha v e seen the

, , .
,

natives themselves P o or devils they were down .

,

faced little chaps and had enough t o make them ,

so . It seems that the humans h o ld one side of thi s

plateau over yonder where you saw the Caves ,

and t he ape men hold t his side and there is b loody

-
,

war between them all the t ime That s the si t ua .

tion s o far as I could follow it Well yes t erday

, .
,

the ape men got hold of a do z en of the human s and

-

brought them in as prisoners You never heard .

such a j a bber i n and s h r i e k i n in your life The

.

men were little red fellows and had been b i t ten ,

and c lawed s o that they could hardly walk The .

ape men put t w o of them to death there and then

-

fairly pulled the arm o ff one of them i t w a s per

fe ct l y beastly P l u ck y l i t t l e chaps they are and hardly
.
,

gave a squeak But it turned us absolutely sick Sum . .

m e r l e e fainted and ev e n Challenger had as much as he ,

could stand I think they have cleared d on t you P

.
,
 A S I GHT I SHALL NEVER F ORGET 2 35

We listened intently but nothing save the calling

,

of the birds broke the deep pea c e o f t he forest .

Lord J ohn went on with his story .

I think you have had the escape of y o ur li f e ,

y o ung fellah my lad It was ca t ch i n those Indians

.

tha t put y ou c lean out o f their heads else they ,

would have b een back to the c amp f o r you as sure

as fate and gathered you in Of c ourse as you .
,

said they have been w a t ch i n us from the begin

,

nin out of that tree and they knew perfectly well
,

that we were one short However they could think .

,

only of this new haul ; s o it w a s I and no t a b u n ch ,

of apes that dropped in on you in the morning

, .

Wel l w e had a horrid business afterwards My

, .

God ! what a nightmare the whole thing is ! You

remember the great bristle of S harp canes down
below where w e found the skeleton of the American P
Well that is j ust under a p e town and that s the

-
, ,

j i

u m p n off place of their
-
prisoners I expect .

there s heaps of skeletons there if w e looked for ,

em They have a sort of clear parade ground

.
-

on the top and they make a proper c eremony about

,

it One by one the poor devils have to j u mp

.
,

and the game is to s e e whether they are merely

dashed to pieces or whether they get skewered
on the canes They took us out to s e e it and the
.
,

whole tribe lined up on the edge Four of the .

Indians j umped and the canes went through em

,

like knitting needles through a pat of butter N o .

wonder w e found that poor Yankee s skeleton with
236 THE LOST WO RLD

the canes g r ow i n between his ribs I t w a s horrible

.

bu t i t was d ooce d l y i n t e r es t i n t o o We were

.

all fas cinated t o s ee them take the dive even when w e ,

thought it wo u ld be our turn next on the spring board -

.

Well it wasn t They kept s i x of the Indians

,

.

up f or to day that s how I understoo d i t but I
-

fancy we were to be the star performers in the show .

Challenger migh t ge t off but Summerlee and I were ,

in the bill Their language i s more than half

.

signs and it w a s not hard to follow them So I

,
.

thought it w as time w e made a break for i t I had .

been pl ot t i n it out a bit and had one or t wo things

,

clear in my mind It was all on me for Summerlee

.
,
'

was u s el e s s a n d Challenger not much better The .

only time t hey got together they go t s l a n g i n because

they couldn t agree upon the scientic classication

of these red headed devils that had go t hold of us

-
.

One said it was the dryopithecus of J ava the other ,

said it was pithecanthropus Madness I call i t .

,

loonies both But as I say I had though t out one or
.
, ,

two poin t s that were helpful One was that these .

brutes could n ot run as fast as a man in the Open .

They have short bandy legs you s e e and heavy

, , ,

b odies Even C h allenger could give a few yards in

.

a hundred to the best of t hem and y o u or I w o uld ,

be a perfect S h r u bb Another poin t was that t hey

'

knew nothin about guns I don t believe t hey

.

ever understood how the fellow I shot c ame by his

hur t If we could get at our guns there was no
.

s ay in what we could do

.
 A SIGHT 1 SHA L L NEVER FOR GE T 2 37

So I b r oke away early this m or n i n gav e my ,

guard a kick in the tummy tha t laid him ou t and ,

S prin t ed for the camp There I got you and the .

guns and here we are
,
.

But the professors I cried in consternation ,

.

Well w e must j ust go back and fetch em I

,

.

c ouldn t bring em with me Challenger was up the

.

tree and Summerlee was not t for the e ffort The

,
.

only chance was to get the guns and try a rescue .

Of course they may scupper them at once in revenge .

I don t think they would touch Challenger but I

,

wouldn t answer fo r Summerlee B ut they wo u ld

.

have had him in any case Of that I am certain . .

So I haven t made matters any worse by boltin

.

B ut we are honour bound to go back and have

them out or s e e it through with them So you can .

make up your soul young fellah my lad for it will

, ,

be one way or the other before

I have tried to imitate here Lord Roxton s j erky

talk his short strong sentences the half humorous

, , ,
-
,

half reckless tone that ran through it all But he

-
.

w a s a born leader As danger thickened his j aunty

.

manner would increase his S peech become more ,

racy his cold eyes glitter into ardent life and his
, ,

Don Quixote moustache bristle with j oyous excite

ment His love of danger his intense a p p r eci a
.
,

tion of the drama of an adventure all the more
intense for being held tightly i n his consistent
view that every peril in life is a form of sport a ,

erce game betwixt y ou and Fate with Death a s a ,

23 8 TH E LOST WORLD
forfei t made him a w o nderful c ompanion a t such
,

hours If it were not f or our fears as to t he fate o f

.

our c ompanion s it would have been a positive j oy

,

t o t hrow myself with such a man into such an affair .

We were rising fr o m o ur b rushwood hiding place -

when suddenl y I fel t his grip upon my arm .

By George he whispered here the y c ome 1 ,

From where w e lay we c ould look down a brown

ai sle arched with green formed by the trunks and
, ,

branches Along this a party of the a p e men were

.
-

passing They went in single le with ben t legs

.
,

and rounded backs their hands occasionally touch ,

ing the ground t heir heads turning to left and right

,

as they trotted along Their crouching gai t took .

away from their height but I should pu t t hem at ,

ve feet or s o with long arms and enormous chests

,
.

Many o f them carried sticks and at the distance ,

they looked like a line of very hairy and deformed

human beings For a moment I caught this clear
.

glimpse of them Then they were lost among the .

bushes .

Not t his time said L ord J ohn who had , ,

caught up his rie Our best chance is to lie .

quiet until they have given up the search Then .

we shall s e e whether w e can t get back to their

t own and hit em where it hurts most Give em

.

an hour and we ll march
.

We l led in the time by opening one of our foo d

tins and making sure of our breakfast Lord .

Rox t on had had nothing but some frui t sin c e t h e

 A SIGHT I SHALL NEVER FORGET 2 3g

m o r ning be fo re and ate like a starving man Then .

,

at last our pockets bulging with cartridges and a

,

rie in each hand w e start e d Off upon our mission

,

of res cue B efore leaving it we carefully marked

.

our little hiding place among the brushwood and

-

its bearing to Fort Challenger that we might nd ,

i t again if we needed it We slunk through the.

bushes in silen c e until we came to the very edge Of

the cli ff close t o the old camp There we halted
,
.
,

and Lord J ohn gave me some idea of his plans .

So long as we are among the thick trees these

swine are our mas t ers said he They can s e e us
, .

and we c anno t s e e t hem Bu t in the Open it is.

differen t There w e can move faster than they

. .

S O we must stick to the Open all we can The edge .

Of t he pla t eau has fewer large trees than further

inland S O that s our line Of advance Go slowly

.

.
,

keep your eyes open and your rie r e ady Above .

all never let them get you prisoner while there is a

,

cartridge left that s my last word to you young

fellah.

When we reached the edge Of the cli ff I looked

over and s a w our good Ol d black Zambo sitting
smoking on a rock below us I woul d have given a .

great deal to have hailed him and told him how w e

were placed but it w a s too dangerous lest w e should
, ,

be heard The woods seemed to be full Of the ape

.

men again and again we heard their curious click

ing chatter At such times we plunged into the
.

nearest clump of bushes and l a y still un t il t he so u nd

 240 THE L OST WO RLD
had passed away Our advance theref o re w as
.
, ,

v ery slow and t wo hours at leas t mus t ha v e passed

,

b e fo re I saw b y Lord J ohn s cautious movemen ts

t hat we must be close to our destina t ion He .

motioned t o me t o lie still and he crawled forward ,

himself In a minute he was ba c k again his f ace

.
,

quivering with eagerness .

Come said he Come quick ! I hope to

.

the Lord we are not too late already

I found myself shaking with nervous e x ci t emen t
as I scr ambled forward and lay down beside him ,

looking out through the bushes at a clearing which

stretched before us .

It was a sight which I shall never forge t un t il my

dying day s o weird s o impossible that I do no t
, ,

know how I am to make you reali ze it or how in a ,

few years I shall bring myself to believe in i t if I live

to sit once more on a lounge in the Savage Club and
look out on the drab solidity of the Embankment .

I know that it will seem then to be some wild night

mare some delirium Of fever Yet I will set it
,
.

down now while it is still fresh in my memory and

, ,

one at least the man w h o lay in the damp grasses

,

by my side will know if I have lied

,
.

A wide open s p
,
a c e l a y before u s some hundreds
Of yards
across all green turf and low bracken
growing to the very edge Of the cli ff Round this .

clearing there was a semi circle Of trees with curious

-

huts built Of foliage piled one above the other among

t he b ranches A rookery wi t h ever y nes t a li ttle
.
,
 A S IGHT I SHALL NEVE R FORGET 241

house would best convey the idea The Openings

, .

of thes e huts and the branches of the t rees were

thronged with a dense mob Of ape people whom -
,

from their size I took to be the females and infants

of the t r ibe They formed the background of the
.

picture and were all looking out with eager in t erest

,

at the same s c ene which fascina t ed and bew i ldered

us.

In the Open and near the edge of the cli ff t here h a d

, ,

assembled a cro wd of some hundred of these shaggy ,

red haired creatures many of them Of immense size

-
, ,

and all Of them horrible to look upon There was a .

certain discipline among them for none Of them ,

attempted to break the line which had been formed .

In front there stood a small group Of Indians little ,

clean limbed red fellows whose skins glowed like

-
, ,

polished bro n z e in the strong sunli ght A tall thin .

,

white man was standing beside them his head ,

bowed hi s arms folded his whole attitude expressive

, ,

Of his horror a n d dej ection There was no mista king .

the angular form of P rofessor Summerlee .

In front of and around this dej ected group Of

prisoners were several ape men w h o watched them -
,

closely and made all escape impossible Then right .

,

out from all the others and close to the edge Of the
cli ff were t w o gures so strange and under other
, , ,

circumstances so l u dicrous that they ab s o r bed ,

my att e ntion Th e o n e w a s o u r c o mrade P r o

.
,

fess or C hall enger The r e mains Of his coat still hung

.

in strips fr om his sho u ld ers bu t his shirt had been ,

!
2 42 TH E LOST WOR L D
al l torn ou t and his great beard merged i t sel f in t he
,

b lack tang le which covered his mighty chest He .

had los t his hat and his hair which had grown long
, ,

in our wanderings was ying in wild disorder A

, .

single day seemed to have changed him from the

highes t pr o duct Of modern c ivilization to t he m o s t
desperate savage in South America Beside him .

stood his mas t er the king Of the ape men In all -

.

t hings he was as Lord J ohn had said the very

, ,

i mage o f our P rofessor save that his colouring was

,

red i ns t ead of black The same shor t br o ad gure

.
, ,

t he same heavy sh o ulders the Same fo rward han g ,

Of the arms the same b ristling b eard merging itsel f

,

i n t he hairy ches t Only a b ove the eye b rows Where

.
,

t he sloping f orehead and low c urved skull o f t he ,

ape man were in sharp c ontrast t o the br o a d b r ow

-

and magnicent c ranium of the E ur o pean c o uld ,

one see any marked di fferen c e A t e v ery ot her poin t .

t he king was an a b surd parody Of the P ro fess o r .

A ll this which ta k es me s o long to des c ri b e i m

, ,

pressed itself upon me in a few se c onds Then we .

had very di fferent things to think of for an a c tive ,

drama w a s in progress Tw o of the ape men had .

-

seized one Of the Indians out of the group and

dragged him forward to the edge of the cli ff The .

king raised his hand as a signal They caught the .

man up by his leg and arm and swung him three ,

times backwards and forwards with t remendous

violence Then w i th a frightful heave they shot
.
,

the poo r w re tc h over t h e pre c ipice With such .

 A S IGHT I S HALL NEVER FORGET 2 43

f o rce did they throw him that he curved high in the

a i r b e f ore beginning to drop
, As he vanished from
.

S ight the whole assem bly except the guards

, , ,

rushed forward to the edge Of the precipi c e and ,

there was a long pause Of absolute silence broken by ,

a mad yell of delight They S prang about tossing

.
,

their long hairy arms in the air and howling with

,

exultation Then they fell back from the edge

.
,

formed themselves again in t o line and wai t ed for the ,

next victim .

This ti me it w as Summerlee Tw o of his guards .

c augh t him b y t he wrists and pulled him brutally

to the front His thin gure and long limbs struggled
.

and ut t ered like a chicken being dragged from a

coop C hallenger had turned to the king and waved
.

his hands frantically before him He was begging .

,

pleading imploring for his comrade s life The ape
, .

man pushed him roughly aside and shook his head .

It was the last c onscious movement he was to make

up o n earth Lord J ohn s ri fle cracked and the
.

king sank down a tangled red sprawling thing upon

, ,

the ground .

Sho o t into t he thick Of them ! Sh oo t ! sonny ,

S h o ot cried my companion .

There are s t range red depths in the soul Of t h e most

commonplace man I am tender hearted by nature
.
-
,

and have f o un d my eyes moist many a time over the

scream Of a wounded hare Yet the blood lust was
.

o n me no w I found myself on my feet emptying

.

one magazine then the other cli ck ing Open the

, ,
244 TH E LOST WO RLD
b ree c h to r e load snapping i t to again wh i le che er
-
, ,

i n g and yelling with pure ferocity and j oy Of slaughter

as I did so Wi th our f our guns the t w o Of us made
.

a horrible havo c B oth the guards who held Sum

.

m e r l ee were d o wn and he was staggering about li ke

,

a drun k en man in his ama z emen t unab l e t o re a liz e ,

that he w as a f ree m an The dense mob Of a pe men .

-

ran abou t in bewilderment marvelling whence this ,

s t orm Of dea t h w a s coming or what it might mean .

They wa v ed ges t iculated s c reamed and t ripped up

, , ,

o ver those who had fallen Then wi t h a sudden .

,

impulse they all rushed in a howling c rowd t o the

,

t rees f or shelter leaving t he ground behind t hem

,

spo tt ed with their stricken co mrades The pr i son .

ers were le f t f or t he momen t standing alone in t he

middle o f t he clearing .

Challenger s qu i c k b rai n h a d grasped the situa

tion He sei z ed the b ewildered Summerl e e b y t he

.

arm and t hey b oth r a n t owards us Two Of the i r

, .

guards b ounded after t hem and fell t o t wo b ullets

fr o m L o rd J ohn We ran forward in to t he Open
.

t o meet our friends and pressed a loaded ri e into

,

the hands of ea c h But Summerlee was at the end

.

Of his streng t h He c ould hardly to t t er Already

. .

the ape men were recoveri ng from their pan i c

-
.

They w ere co ming thr o ugh the b rus hw o od and

t hre a t en i ng to cu t us Off Challenger and I ran .

Summerlee a l o ng o ne a t each o f his elbo ws wh ile

, ,

Lo rd J o hn cov ered ou r re t reat ri ng ag a i n a n d ,

again a s sav a ge heads snarled a t us ou t Of the b ushes .

 A S IGHT I SHALL NEVER FORGET 2 45

F o r a mile or more the chattering brutes were at

-

o ur very heels Then the pursuit S lackened for

.
,

they learned our power and would no longer face

that unerring rie When we had at last reached
.

the camp w e looked back and found ourselves alone

, .

S O it seemed to us ; and yet we were mistaken .

We had hardly closed the thorn bush door Of our -

z areba clasped each other s hands and thrown

,

,

ourselves panting upon the ground beside our

S pring when we heard a patter of fee t and then a
,

gentle plaintive crying from outside our entrance

, .

Lord Roxton rushed forward rie in hand and , ,

threw it Open There prostrate upon their fa c es

.
, ,

lay the little red gures Of the four surviving

Indians trembling with fear Of us and yet i m p l or
,

ing our protection With an expressive sweep Of.

his hands o ne Of them pointed to the woods around

them and indi c ated that they were ful l Of danger
, .

Then darting forward h e threw h i s arms round

, ,

Lord J ohn s legs and rested his face upon them

.

By George ! cried Lord John pulling at his ,

mous t ache in great perplexity

I say what the ,

d ooce are we to do with these people ? Get up ,

little chappie and take your face Off my boots
, .

Summerlee was S itting up and stu fng some

tobacco into his Ol d briar .

We ve go t to s ee them safe said he

You ve , .

p u lled us a l l out Of the j aws Of death My w o rd .

it was a good bit Of work

A d m ir a bl e cried Ch a llen g e r A d zn i r a bl e .
2 46 THE LOST WOR L D
No t only we as individuals b u t European s c ien c e ,

colle c tively owe you a deep de bt Of gratitude fo r

,

wha t you have don e I do n ot hesi t a t e t o say .

t hat the disappearan c e Of P rofessor Summerlee and

myself would have left an appre c iable gap in modern
zoological history Our young friend here and you
.

have done mos t ex c ellen t ly well .

He b eamed at us with the Ol d pa t ernal smile ,

but European scien c e w o uld ha v e b een somewha t

amazed could t hey have seen their chosen child ,

the hope of t he future with his tangled unkempt , ,

head his bare chest and his ta t tered clo t hes He

, , .

had one of t he meat tins be t ween his knees and -

,

sat with a large pie c e of c old Aus t ralian mut t on

b e t ween his ngers The Indian looked up a t him
.
,

and then with a little yelp cringed t o t he gr o und

, ,

and clung t o Lord J o hn s leg .

Don t you b e scared my b onnie boy

said , ,

Lord J ohn patting the ma tt ed head in fron t Of

,

him . He can t stick y o ur appearance C hallenger ;

,

and by George ! I don t wonder All righ t lit t le

,

.
,

chap he s only a h uman j ust the same as the res t

,

,

Of us .

Really sir cried t he P rofessor

, .

Well it s lu c ky for you Challenger t hat you
, , ,

a r e a li tt le out Of the o rdinary I f y ou hadn t

.

been so like t he king

Upon my w o rd Lord J ohn Rox to n you allow, ,

yourself grea t lati t ude .

W ell , it s a fa c t ,
 A SIGHT I SHALL NEVER FORGET 2 47

I beg sir that you will change the subj ect

, ,
.

Your remarks are irrelevan t and unintelligi ble .

The question before us is what are we t o do with

these Indians The Obvious thing is to escort

them home if we knew where their home was
,
.

There is no di fculty about that said I ,
.

They live in the caves on the other S ide Of the

central lake .

Our young friend here knows where they live .

I gather that it is some distance .

A good twenty miles said I ,
.

Summerlee gave a groan .

I for one could never get there Surely I hear

, ,
.

those brutes still howling upon our track .

A S he spoke from the dark recesses Of the woods

,

we heard far away the j ibbering cry Of the ape men -

.

The Indians once more set up a feeble wail Of fear .

We must move and move quick ! said Lord
,

John . You help Summerlee young fellah , .

These Indians will carry stores Now then come .

, ,

along before they can see us .

In less than half a n hour we had reached our

- -

brushwood retreat and concealed ourselves All .

day we heard the excited calling of the ape men -

in the direction Of our Ol d camp but none Of them ,

came our way and the tired fugitives red and

, ,

white had a long deep sleep I was dozing myself

, , .

in the evening when someone plucked my S leeve ,

and I found Challenger kneeling beside me .

Y ou k eep a diary Of these even t s and y ou ,

2 48 THE LOST WORLD
exp e ct even t ually to pu b lish it Mr Malone said , .
,

he w ith solemnity
,
.

I am only here a s a P res s reporter I answered ,

.

Exa c tly Y o u may have heard some rather

.

f a t u o us remarks Of Lord J ohn R o x to n s which

seemed to imply that there was some some

resemblan c e
Yes I heard t hem
,
.

I need no t s a y t ha t any publici t y given to

s uch an idea any levity in your narrative Of wha t

o c curred would be ex c eedingly Offens i ve t o me .

I will keep well wi t hin t he tru t h .

Lord John s Ob s ervations are frequentl y

ex c eedingly fan c iful and he is capable Of a t t r i bu

,

t ing t he mos t absurd reasons t o t he respe c t which

is alwa ys sh o wn b y the m o s t un devel o ped ra c es to
digni t y and c hara ct er Y o u follow my meaning
.

En t i r el y .

I leave t he ma tt er to y our discretion Then .

,

a ft er a long pause he added , The k ing Of the
a p e men was really a c rea t ure o f great distinction
-

a m o s t remar k ably hands o me and intelligent pers o n

ality Did it no t s t rike y o u

.
9

A mos t remarkable c rea t ure said I , .

And the P rofessor much eased in his mind se t tled

, ,

d o w n t o his slumber o n c e more .

 C HA P TER XIV
T H OS E W ERE TH E R E AL C ON ! U ES T S
WE had imagined that our pursuers the ape men

,
-
,

knew nothing of our brushwood hiding place but -

,

we were soon t o nd o ut our mistake There was

no sound in the w o odsnot a leaf moved upon the
.

trees and all was peace around u s but w e should
,

have been warned by our rst experience h ow

cunningly and how patiently these creatures ca n
watch and wait until their chance c omes What .

ever fate may b e mine through life I am very sure ,

that I shall never b e nearer death than I w a s that

morning But I will t ell you the thing in its due
.

order .

We all awoke exhau s ted after the t erric emotions

and s c anty food of yesterday Summerlee w a s .

still S O weak that it w a s an e ffort for him to stand

but the old man w a s f ul l Of a sort Of surly courage
which would never admit defeat A council was .

held and it was agreed tha t w e should wait quietly

,

for an hour or tw o where we were have our much ,

needed breakfast and then make our way acr o ss the

,

plateau and round the central lake to the caves

wher e my Observations had S hown that the Indians
24 9
2 50 THE LOST WORLD
li v ed We relied up o n the fact that we could c ount
.

upon the good word of those wh o m we had rescued

t o ensure a warm welcome from their fellows Then .
,

w ith our mission accomplished and possess i ng a

fuller knowledge Of the secre t s of Maple White Land ,

w e should turn our whole th o ughts to the vital

problem Of our escape and return Even C hallenger .

was ready to admit that w e should then hav e done

all for which we had c ome and that our rst ,

duty fr o m tha t time onwards was to carry back

t o civiliza t ion the amazing dis c overies we had
made .

We were a b le no w to take a more leisurely V iew

Of the Indians whom we had res c ued They were .

small men wiry acti v e and well buil t with lank

, , ,
-
,

black hair tied up in a b unch behind their heads

wi t h a leathern t hong and leathern also were their
,

l o in clothes Their fa c es were hairless well formed

-
.
, ,

and good humoured The l ob es of their ears hang

-
.
,

ing ragged and bloody sh o wed that t hey had been ,

pierced for s ome ornamen t s which their c aptors had

torn ou t Th eir S pee ch t hough unintelligible to us
.
, ,

w as uen t am o ng themselves and as they pointed ,

to each other and ut t ered t he word A c cala many

times over we gathered that this was the name Of
,

their nation Occasionally with faces which w ere

.
,

co nvul sed with fear and hatred they shoo k their ,

clenched hands a t the woods round and c ried

D Od a ! D o da ! which was surely their t erm
for th eir ene m i es .
 THOSE WERE THE REAL C ONQUESTS 25 1

What do you make of them Challenger ? ,

ask ed Lord John . One thing is very clear to

m e and that is that the little chap with the fr o nt
,

of his head shaved is a chief among them .

It was indeed evident that this man stood apart

fr o m the others and that they never ventured to
,

address him without every S ign Of deep respect .

He seemed to be the youngest of them all and yet , ,

S O proud and high was his S pirit that upon C hallenger ,

laying his great hand upon his head he started like

a spurred horse and with a quic k ash Of his dark
,

eyes moved further away from the P rofessor

, .

Then placing his hand upon his breast and holding

,

himself with great dignity he uttered the word ,

M a r e t a s several times The P rofessor unabashed

.
, ,

seized the nearest Indian by the shoulder and pro

cee d e d to lecture upon him as if he were a po tt e d

specimen in a class room -

.

The type of these people said he in his sonorous ,

fashion whe t her j udged by cranial capacity facial

, ,

angle or any other test cannot be r eg a r d e d a s a low

, ,
f

one ; on the contrary w e must place it as consider

,

ably higher in the s c ale than many South American

tribes which I c an men ti on On no possible suppo .

S i tio u can we explain the evolution of such a rac e

in this plac e For tha t matter S O great a gap separ
.
,

ates these ape men from the primitive animals

-

whi c h have survived upon this plateau that it is i n ,

admissible to think that they could have developed

Where We n d th e m .
252 TH E LOST WORLD
Then where the d ooce did t hey drop from
asked L o rd J ohn .

A question which will no doubt be eagerly

, ,

discussed in every s c ienti c society in Europe and ,

America the P rofess o r answered
,
My own rea!
.

ing Of the si t uation for what it is worth he

inated his che st enormously and looked insolently
ar o und him at the w o rds is t hat evolution has
adva nced under the p e c uliar c onditions of t his
co un t ry up to the ver t ebra t e stage t he Ol d types
,

surviving and living on in co mpany wi t h t he newer

o ne s Thus we nd such modern creatures as t he
.

t apir a n animal wi t h qui t e a respectable length Of

pedigree the grea t deer and the ant eater in the
,
-

c ompanionship Of reptilian f o rms of Jurassic type .

S O much is clear .And now co me the ape man and -

t he Indian What is the s c ien t i c mind to think

.

Of t heir presen c e P I c an o nl y a cco un t fo r it b y an

invasion from ou t side I t is probable t hat t here
.

existed an an t hr o poid ape in Sou t h America who ,

in past ages found his way to t his place and tha t ,

he developed int o t he c reatures we have seen s o me ,

Of which here he looked hard at me

.
were Of
an appearan c e and shape whi c h if i t had been a ccom
i e d by corresp o nding intelligence would I do
p a n , ,

not hesi t ate to s a y have reec t ed credit upon any

,

living race As to t he Indians I cannot d o ubt that

.

they are more recent immigrants from below Under .

the stre ss Of famine or Of conquest t hey have made

their way up here Faced b y ferocious c re a t u re s
.
 THOSE WERE THE REAL CON QUESTS 253

whi ch they had never b efore seen they to o k refuge ,

in the caves which our young friend has described ,

but they have no doubt had a bitter ght to hold

their ow n agains t wild beasts and especially against
,

the ape men wh o would regard them as intruders

-
,

and wage a merciless war upon them with a c unn i ng

whi c h the larger beas t s would lack Hence the fact .

that their numbers appear t o be limi t ed Well .

,

gentlemen have I read you the riddle aright o r is

, ,

there any point which you would query P

P rofessor Su m merlee for once was too depressed
to argue though he shook his head v iolently as a
,

token of general disagreement Lord John merely.

scratched his scanty lock s with the remark that

he co ul dn t put up a ght a s he wasn t in the same

weight or class For my own part I performed my

.

usual 7 07 6 of bringing things down to a strictly

prosaic and practical level by t he remark that one
Of the Indians w a s missing .

He has gone to fetch some water said Lord ,

Rox t on .We tted him up with an empty beef

tin and he is off .

To the Ol d camp P I asked .

NO to the brook
, I t s among the trees there
.

.

I t can t be more than a c o uple Of hundred yards

.

But the beg gar i s certainly taking his tim e .

I l l go and l oo k after h i m said I I pic k ed

.
,

up my rie and s t r o l e d in the direction Of t h e brook

l
,

leaving my friends to lay out the s c an t y break fast .

It m a y s eem to you rash tha t even for S O short a

254 TH E LOST WORLD
distance I S ho ul d qui t the shel t er Of o ur frien dl y
thicke t bu t you wi ll remember t hat we were many
,

miles from Ape t own t ha t s o far as we k new t he

-
,

c rea t ures had no t dis co vered our re t reat and t hat ,

in any case wi t h a rie in m y hands I had no fear Of

them I had no t ye t learned t heir c u nning or t heir
.

s t reng t h .

I could hear the murmur of our brook somewhere

ahead Of me but there was a t angle Of trees and
,

brushwo o d be t ween me and i t I was making my .

way t hrough this a t a poin t whi c h was j ust ou t Of

sigh t Of my companions when under one Of t he , ,

t rees I no t iced something red huddled among t he

bushes As I approached it I was sh o cked t o s e e
.
,

tha t i t was t he dead b o dy Of t he missing Indian .

He lay upon his side h i s limbs drawn up and his

, ,

head sc rewed round at a mos t unnatural angle so ,

tha t he seemed to b e looking straigh t over his ow n

sh o ul der I gave a c ry to warn my friends tha t
.

so me t hing was amiss and running forwards I s t o o ped

,

over t he b ody Surely my guardian angel was very

.

near me t hen for s o me instinc t Of fear or i t may

, ,

have b een some faint rus t le of leaves made me glan c e

upwards Out Of the thick green f oliage which
.

hung low over my head two long mus c ular arms ,

c overed wi t h reddish hair were slowly des c endin g .

An ot her ins t ant and the great s t eal t hy h and s w o uld

have been round my t hroat I sprang b a ck wards .
,

but quick as I was those hands were q ui c ker st ill

,
.

Through my sudden S pring t hey missed a fa t al grip ,

 THOSE WERE TH E REAL CONQUESTS 255

but one Of them caught the back Of my neck and the

other one my face I threw my hands up to protect
.

my throat and the next moment the huge paw had

,

slid down my face and closed over them I w a s .

lifted lightly from the ground and I felt an i n t ol er ,

able pressure forcing my head back and back un t il

the strain upon the cervical spine was more than I
c ould bear My senses swam but I still tore a t t he
.
,

hand and forced it out from my chin Looking .

up I s a w a frightful face with cold inexorable light

blue eyes looking down into mine There was .

s o mething hypnotic in those terrible eyes I co ul d .

s t ruggle no longer As the creature felt me grow

.

limp in h i s grasp two whi t e canines gleamed for a

,

moment at each side of the V ile mouth and the grip ,

t ightened still more upon my chin forcing it always ,

upwards and b a ck A thin oval tinted mis t formed

.
,
-

before my eyes and little s i lvery bells tinkled in my

ears Dully and far off I heard the crack of a rie
.

and was feebly aware Of the shock a s I was dropped

t o the earth where I lay without sense or motion
,
.

I awoke to nd myself on my back upon the grass

in our lair within the thicket Someone had brought .

the water from the brook and Lord John w a s ,

S prinkling my head with it while Challenger and ,

Summerlee w ere propping me up with concern in ,

t heir faces For a moment I had a gli mpse of the

.

human spirits behind their scientic masks It was .

really shock rather than any inj ury which had

, ,

pros t rat ed me a n d in h a l f a n h ou r in S pite Of a c hing

,
~ ~
,
256 THE LOST WORLD
he a d and sti ff neck I w a s sitting up and ready for
,

anyt hing .

B ut you ve had the es c ape of y o ur life young ,

f ellah my lad said Lord John , When I heard .

your cry and ran forward and s a w your head t wis t ed ,

half Off and your s t oh w a ss er s k i ck i n in the air I

-
,

thought we were o ne sh o rt I missed t he b eas t in m y .

urry but he dropped y o u all righ t and w a s Off lik e

,

a streak By George, I wish I had ft y men with

ries I d clear ou t t he wh o le infernal gang of t hem
.

and leave this c oun t ry a bi t c leaner t han we found

it.

It w a s clear n ow that the ape men had in som e way -

marked us down and tha t w e were wa t ched on

,

every side We had no t S O much to fear from them

.

during the day but they would be very likely to

,

rush us by night ; S O the s o oner w e g ot away from

their neigh b ourhood the be tt er On three sides of .

u s was absolute forest and there we might nd

,

ourselves in an ambush Bu t on t he fourth side .

that which sloped d o wn in t he dire ct ion Of the lake

there was only low scrub with s c at t ered t rees and ,

occasional Open glades It was in fac t the route .

, ,

which I had myself taken in my solitary j ourney ,

and it led us s t raight for the Indian caves This .

then must for every reason be our road .

One grea t regret we had and t hat w a s to le a ve ,

our Ol d camp beh i n d u s not only f or the s a k e Of the

,

s to res whi c h remained there bu t even more b ec au s e ,

we were l o si n g tou c h wi t h Zam b o our link w ith the ,

 THOS E WE RE TH E RE A L CO NQU E S TS 25 7
outside world However we had a fair supply O f
.
,

c artridges and al l our guns so for a time at least w e

, , ,

c ould l o ok aft er o urselves and we h o ped s o on to

,

have a c han c e o f re t urning and res to ring o ur co m

m u n i ca t i on s wi t h our negr o He had fai t h fully .

promised t o stay where he was and we had not a ,

dou bt tha t he would be as good as his word .

It w a s in the early afternoon tha t we s t arted upon

o ur j ourney The y o ung chief walked a t o ur head
.

as our guide b u t refused indignantly to c arry any

,

burden B ehind him c ame the t wo surviving

.

Indian s wi t h our s c anty possessions upon the i r ba cks .

We four white men walked in t he rear wi t h ri es

loaded and ready As we s t arted t here b r o ke from
.

the t hick silent woods behind u s a sudden grea t

ululation o f the ape men whi c h may have b een a
-
,

cheer of triumph at our depar t ure or a j eer Of con

temp t a t our ight L o o king b a ck we s a w o n l y the
.

dense s c reen of t rees b u t tha t long drawn yell told

,
-

us how many Of our enemies lurked am o ng t hem .

We s a w n o S ign Of pursuit however and s oo n we had

, ,

got into more Open country and b eyond t heir p o wer .

As I tramped along the rearm o st Of the four I

, ,

could n o t help smiling at the appearan c e Of my

t hree co mpanions in fron t Was t hi s the lu x urious .

Lord John R o xton who had s a t that evening in the

Albany amids t his P ersian rugs and h i s pic t ures in
t he pink radian c e Of the tin t ed light s ? A nd was
t his t he imposing P rofessor who had swelled b ehind
the great desk in h i s massive s t udy a t Enmore P ark P
B
25 8 THE L O ST W O R L D
and nally c ould t his b e t he au s t ere and pri m gure
, ,

which had risen bef o re t he mee t ing a t t he Zoo l ogic a l

Institute ? N O three t ramps t ha t one co ul d have
me t in a Surrey lane could have loo k ed more h o peles s
and bedraggled We had it is t rue b een o nly a
.
, ,

week or S O up o n t he to p Of t he plat eau b u t a l l our ,

s pare c lo t hing was in our c amp below and t h e on e ,

wee k h a d b een a seve re one up o n u s all t h o ugh ,

leas t t o me who had no t t o endure t he handling o f

the ape men My t hree friends had all los t t heir
-
.

ha t s and had now bo und handker c hie fs round t heir

,

heads t heir c lo t hes hung in ri bbo ns a bo u t t hem and

, ,

t heir unshaven grim y f a c es were hardl y to b e recog

n i z ed Bot h Summerlee and C hallenger were limp
.

ing heav ily while I s till dragged my fee t from

,

weakness a ft er t he s h ock Of t he morning and m y ,

nec k w a s a s s t iff as a bo ard fr o m t he murder o us grip

t ha t held i t We were indeed a sorr y c rew and I
.
,

did n ot w o nder t o s e e o ur Indian c ompani o ns glan c e

bac k a t us o c c asionally w it h h o rror and amaz ement
on t hei r f aces .

In the la t e aft erno o n we reached t he margin of the

la k e and as we emerged from the b ush and s a w t he
,

sheet Of wa t er stretching be f ore us our na t ive

friends se t up a shrill cry of j o y and p o in t ed eagerl y
in fr o n t Of t hem I t was indeed a w o nder f ul sigh t
.

which lay be fo re u s Sweeping over t he glass y

.

sur f a c e wa s a grea t o tilla Of c an o es c o m i ng s t raigh t

f o r t he sh o re upon whi c h we s to od They were .

s ome mile s o u t when rs t we saw t hem bu t t he y ,

 TH OSE WERE THE REAL C ONQUESTS 25 9

shot forward with grea t swiftness and were soon s o ,

near that the rowers co ul d dis t inguish o ur persons .

Ins t an t ly a thunder o us shout Of deligh t b urs t from

them and we s a w t hem rise from t heir sea t s waving
, ,

their paddles and spears madly in the air Then .

bending to their work once more t hey ew across ,

t he in t ervening water beached their boats upon the

,

sloping sand and rushed up to u s prostra t ing them

, ,

selves with loud cries of greeting before t he young

chief Final ly one Of them an elderly man with a
.
, ,

nec klace and bracelet Of grea t lus t rous glass b eads

and t he skin Of some beautiful mottled amber
coloured animal slung over h i s sho ul ders ran for ,

ward and embraced most tenderly the you t h whom

we had saved He then loo k ed at us and as k ed some
.

questions after which he stepped up with much

,

dignity and em b ra c ed us also ea ch in t urn Then at .

,

his order t he whole t ri b e lay down upon t he ground

,

before us in homage P ers o nally I felt shy and .

unc o m fo r t a b le at this Ob sequious adora t ion and I ,

read the same feeling in t he faces Of Lord John and

Summerlee bu t C hallenger expanded like a ower in
,

th e su n .

They may be undeveloped types said h e , ,

stro k ing his beard and looking round at them ,

bu t their depor t ment in the pres ence Of their

superiors might be a less o n to some Of our more

advan c ed Europeans S t range how correct are t h e
.

ins t in ct s o f t he na t ur al man
I t was clear t h a t t he na t ives had c ome o ut u p o n
2 60 THE LOST WORLD
the war path for every man carried h i s spear
-

a long b amboo t ipped with b o ne his b ow and

arrows and some sor t Of club o r s t one b a tt le a x e
,
-

slung a t his side Their dark angry glan c e s at t he

.
,

w o ods from whi ch we had c ome and the fre q ue n t ,

repe t i t i o n Of t he w o rd Doda made i t c lear
,

en o ugh tha t t h is was a re sc ue par ty wh o had se t

for t h to save o r re v enge t he Ol d chief s son for
,

su ch we ga t hered t ha t t he y o u t h mus t be A .

c oun c il w a s n o w held by t he whole t ri b e squa tt ing

in a circle whils t we sa t ne a r o n a sla b of b asal t
,

an d wa t ched t heir pr oc eedings Two or t hre e .

warriors spo k e and nally our young friend made

,

a s piri t ed harangue wi t h such e loq uen t f ea t ures

and ges t ures t ha t we c ould unders t a nd it all as
clearly as i f w e had k n o wn his language .

What is t he use Of re t urning ? he said .

S oo ner o r la t er t he th i ng mus t b e done Yo u r .

co mrade s have b een murdered Wha t i f I have .

re t urned sa f e P These o t hers have b een d o ne t o

dea t h There is n o safety for any of u s We a r e
. .

a s sembled n o w and ready Then he poin t ed to

.

us . The s e st range men are o ur friends They .

are grea t ghters and they ha t e the ape men even

,
-

as we do They command
. here he poin t ed up
,

t o heaven , the t hunder a n d t he li gh t n i ng When .

shall we have such a chance again ? Le t u s go

forward and ei t her die now or live for t he fu t ure in
,

safety HOW else shall we go b a ck unasham e d t o

.

our w o men P
 THOSE WERE THE REAL CONQUESTS 26 1

The little red warriors hung upon t he words Of

the speaker and when he had nished they burs t
,

into a roar Of applause waving their rude weapons ,

in the air The Ol d chief stepped forward to us

.
,

and asked us some question pointing at the same ,

time to the woods Lord John made a sign to

.

him that he S h o uld wait for an answer and then he

turned to us .

Well it s up to yo u t o s ay what you w i ll do

,

said he for my part I hav e a score to settle with

these monkey folk and if it ends by wiping them
-

,

Off the face Of the ear t h I don t s e e that the earth

need fret a b out it I m goin with our little red
.

pals and I mean t o see them throu gh t he s c rap .

What do y o u s y young fellah

a ,
P

Of co urse I will come .

And you Challenger P

,

I will assuredly co Operate -

.

And you Su m merlee P

,

We s e e m i o be drifting v ery far from t he Obj e c t

Of t his expedition L ord J o hn , I a s sure y ou .

tha t I little thought when I left my pr o fe s si o nal

chair in London that it w a s for the purp os e Of
heading a raid Of savages upon a c olony of an t hr o

poid apes .

To such base uses d o we c ome s aid L ord ,

John smiling
,
B ut we are up agains t i t so
.
,

what s the decision P

It seems a most questionable s t ep said Sum ,

m e r l e e , argumentative to the last , but if y ou

2 62 THE L OST WORLD
are all going I hardly see how I c an remain b e
,

hind .

Then it is se t tled said L ord John and

, ,

turning to the chief he nodded and slapped his

rie The Ol d fellow clasped our hands each in
.
,

turn wh i le his men c heered louder t han e v er It

, .

was to o late to ad v an c e tha t night s o t he Indians ,

settled do wn in to a rude bivoua c On all sides t heir.

res began t o glimmer and smoke S o me Of t hem

who had disappeared into t h e j ungle c ame b a c k
presently driving a young iguanodon b e f ore t hem .

L ike t he o t hers i t had a dau b Of asphal t up o n i ts

,

shoulder and i t was only when we saw o ne Of t he

,

natives s t ep f orward wi t h t he air Of an o wner a n d

give his co nsen t t o t he b east s slaugh t er tha t w e
unders too d a t las t t ha t t hese g rea t crea t ure s were
as much priva t e proper t y as a herd of c a tt le and ,

t ha t these sym bo ls whi c h had s o perpl exed u s

were no t hing m o re t han t he mar k s Of t he owner .

Helpless t orpid a n d v ege t ari a n wi t h g rea t lim b s

, , ,

bu t a minu t e b rain t hey could b e r o unded up and

,

dri v en by a c hild In a f ew minu t e s t he huge b eas t

.

had b een c u t up and slabs of him were hanging

o v er a d oz en c a mp res t oge t her with grea t s c al y
! ,

ganoid s h whi c h had b een s peared i n t he lake .

Summerlee had lain d o wn and slep t upon t he

sand b u t we ot hers r o amed r o und t he edge Of t he
,

wat er s ee k ing t o learn s o me t hing m o re Of t his

,

s t r a n g e country Twice we found pi t s of b lue

.

clay su c h as we had already s e en in the s w am p

,
 THOSE WE R E '

T HE REAL CONQUESTS 2 63

Of the pterodactyls These were Ol d vol c ani c

.

vents and for some reason excited the greatest

,

intere s t in Lord John Wha t attracted Chal .

lenger on the other hand was a bubbling gurgli ng

, , ,

mud geyser where some strange gas formed great

,

bursting bu b ble s upon the surfa c e He thrust a .

holl o w reed int o i t and cried ou t with delight like

a sch o ol b oy when he was able on t ouching it with ,

a ligh t ed match to cause a sharp explosion and

,

a blue ame at the far end of the tube Still more .

pleased was he when inverting a leat hern p o u c h ,

over the end Of the reed and so lling it with the ,

gas he w a s able t o send i t soarin g up into the air

, .

An inammable gas and one markedly ligh t er ,

than the atmosphere I sho ul d s a y beyond doubt .

that it c ontained a c onsiderable proport ion Of free

hydrogen The resources Of G E C are not yet
. . . .

exhaus t ed my young friend I may yet S h o w

, .

you how a great mind moulds all Nature t o its use .

He swelled with some secret purpose but would ,

say n o more .

There was n ot hin g which we could see upon the

shore which seemed to me so wonderful as the great
sheet Of water before us Our numbers and our .

noise had frigh t ened all living creatures away and ,

save for a few pterodactyls which soared round ,

high above our heads while they waited for the

carrion all was stil l around the camp But it was
, .

different out upon the rose t i nted waters Of the -

cen t r a l L a k e I t b oi l e d a n d hea ve d Wi t h s t rang e

.
2 64 THE LOST WORLD
life Great slate coloured backs and h igh serra t ed
.
-

dorsal ns shot up with a fringe Of s i lver and t hen ,

ro l led down into the dep t hs again The sand banks far .

out were S p ot ted with uncouth crawling forms huge ,

turtles strange saurians and one grea t a t c rea t ure

, ,

like a writhing palpi t a t ing ma t Of b lack greas y

lea t her which opped i t s wa y sl o wl y to the lake
, .

Here and t here high serpen t heads pr o j e ct ed o u t Of

the w a t er c u t ting swift ly thr o ugh i t wi t h a li t tle
,

c ollar Of fo am in fr o n t and a l o ng swirling wake

,

b ehind rising and falling in gra c eful swan like

, ,
-

undula t ions as t hey wen t I t w a s not un t il one Of

.

these crea t ures wriggled on to a sand b ank W i t hin -

a few hundred yards of us and exposed a barrel ,

shaped b ody and huge ippers b ehind the l ong

serpen t n eck tha t Challenger and Summerlee who
, ,

had j oin e d us broke out into t heir due t Of wonder

,

and admiration .

P lesiosaurus A fre s h w a t er P lesio s aurus

c ried Summerlee That I should have lived t o

.

s ee su ch a sight ! We are blessed my dear C hal ,

l enger ab o ve all zo ol o gis t s since t he w o rld began

,

I t w as no t un t il t he nigh t had f allen and the re s,

Of o ur sa v ag e allie s glowed red in the shad o ws tha t ,

o ur t wo men o f s c ien c e c ould be dragged awa y fr o m

t h e fas c ina t i o ns Of t ha t primeval lake Even in .

the darkness as we la y up o n the strand we he a rd ,

from t ime to t ime the snor t and plunge of the huge

c r e at ures who lived therein .

A t earlies t d a w n o ur cam p was a s t ir a n d an hour

 THOSE WERE TH E REAL CON QUESTS 2 65

later we had started upon our memorable expedi

tion Oft en in my dreams have I thought that I
.

might live to be a war correspondent In wha t .

wildest one could I have c on c ei v ed the nat ure of the

campaign which it should be my lo t to report !
Here then is m y rs t despat ch from a eld Of battle
Our num b ers had been reinfor c ed during the
night b y a fresh b at c h of nat ives from the caves ,

and we may have been fo ur or v e hundred s t rong

when we mad e our advan c e A fringe Of scouts .

were thrown out in front and behind them the ,

whole for c e in a solid co lumn made their way up the

long S lope of t he bush coun t ry un t il we were near
the edg e Of the forest Here they S pread out int o
.

a long straggling line of spearmen and bowmen .

Roxton and Summerlee t o ok their position upon

the right ank while Challenger and I were on the
,

left It was a host Of the stone age t ha t we were

a c companying to bat tle w e with t he last word Of
the gunsmith s ar t from St J ames S t reet and the

.

Strand .

We had no t long to wai t for o ur enemy A wild .

shrill clamour r o se from the edge of the wood and

sud denly a body Of ape men rushed out with clubs
-

and stones and made for the centre of the Indian

,

line It w a s a valiant move but a foolish one for

.
,

the great bandy legged creatures were sl o w Of foo t

-
,

while their Opponents were as active as cats I t .

was horrible to see the erce brutes with foaming

mouths a n d glaring eyes rushing and grasping but
, ,
2 66 THE L OST W ORLD
for ever missing t heir elusive enemies while arr o w ,

after arrow buried i t self in t heir hide s One grea t .

fell o w ran pas t me r o aring wi t h pain wi t h a d oz en ,

darts sticking from his chest and ri b s In mercy .

I put a bulle t thr o ugh his S kull and he fell sprawling

,

among t he aloes B u t t his was the only sh ot red

.
,

for the at t a ck had b een o n the c en t re Of the lin e a n d ,

the Indians there had needed n o help Of o urs in

repulsing i t Of al l the ape men wh o had rushed
.
-

out into t he open I d o not think t hat o ne go t bac k

,

to c o v er .

B u t th e ma tt er was m o re deadly when we c ame

among t he t rees F o r an hour o r m o re a ft er w e
.

en t ered t he w oo d t here w a s a despera t e st ruggle in

,

which fo r a t ime we hardly held o ur o wn Spring .

ing out from among t he s c ru b t he ape men wi t h -

huge club s b r o ke in upon t he Indians and Oft en

felled t hree or four Of t hem b e fo re t hey c ould b e
S peared Their fright ful b l o ws s ha tt ered e v ery
.

thing up o n which they fell One Of them knocked

.

Summerl ee s ri e to ma tchw oo d and the nex t w o uld

h a v e c rushed hi s s k ull had an Indian n ot s t abbed

'

t h e bea s t t o t he hear t O t her ape men in t he t rees

.
-

above us hurled down s t one s and logs Of w oo d ,

occasionally dropping bo d i l y o n t o our ranks and

ghting furiously un t il t he y were felled Once .

our allies broke under the pressure and had it not ,

been for the exe c ution done by o ur ri es t hey

would c er t ainly have taken t o their heels B ut .

t hey were g allantl y rall i ed b y t h e i r Ol d c h i ef a nd

 THOSE WERE T HE REAL C ONQUESTS 2 67

c ame on with su c h a rush t hat the ape men began -

in turn to give way Summerlee w a s weaponl es s

.
,

but I was emp t ying my maga z ine a s qui ck a s I

co u ld re and on the further ank we heard the
,

continuous cracking Of our c ompanions ri es

.

Then in a moment came t he pani c and the co llaps e .

Screaming and howling t he great c reat ures rushed

,

away in a l l direction s through the brushwood ,

while our allies yelled in their sav a ge delight foll ow ,

ing swiftly after their ying enemies All the .

feuds Of countless generations all t he hat reds and

,

cruelties Of t heir narrow his to ry all t he memories ,

Of ill usage and perse c ution were t o b e purged t ha t

-

day At last man was t o be supreme and t he man

.

beas t to nd for ever his allo t ted place Fly as .

they would t he fugiti v es were t OO sl o w to es c ape

from the active savages and from every side in the
,

tangled woods we heard the exul t an t yells the ,

t wanging Of bows and t he c rash and thud as ape

,

men were brough t down from t heir hiding places in -

the t rees .

I was following the others when I found that ,

Lord John and C hallenger had c o me a c ross to

j oin us .

It s ove r said Lord John
, I think w e .

ca n leave th e tidying up to them P erhaps the .

less we s e e Of it the better w e shall sleep .

Challenger s eyes were shining with the lust Of
slaughter .

W e have been privileg ed he cried strutting
, ,
2 68 THE LOST WORLD
abo u t li k e a g a mecock to be presen t a t one Of
,

the typi c al de c isi v e b a tt les Of

his t ory t he b attles
which h a v e de t ermined t h e fa t e Of t h e world .

What my fri e nds is the co n q uest Of on e nation by

, ,

an o ther ? It is meaningle s s Ea c h produ c es t h e .

same re s ul t Bu t t h o se erc e gh t s when in t h e

.
,

dawn Of the ages t he c a v e d w eller s held t heir o wn

-

a gains t t he t i ger f o l k or the elephants rs t fo und

,

that the y had a mas t er t h o se were t h e real c on

,

ques t st he v icto ries that c ount B y t his s t range .

turn Of f a t e w e ha v e seen and helped to de c ide e v en

s uch a co n t es t Now upon this pl a teau t h e fu t ure
.

mus t e v er b e f or man .

I t needed a ro b us t f ai t h in t he end t o j u s t i fy
su c h tragi c means As w e ad v an c ed to gether
.

thr o ugh t h e wo ods w e f o und the ape men lying -

t hi c k transxed with spears or a rrows Here and

,
.

t here a little gr o up Of shattered Indians marked

where o ne Of the a n t hropoids had t urned t o b ay ,

and sold his life dearly Always in fr o n t Of u s we

.

heard the yelling a n d r o a ring whi c h S h ow ed the

direc t ion Of the pursui t The ape men had b een -

dri v en back to their c ity they had made a las t ,

stand there o n c e again they had b een b roken and

, ,

n o w we were in time to see the nal f e a rful sce ne

Of all . S o me eighty or a hundred males the las t ,

survivors had b een driven acr o ss t ha t sam e lit tl e

,

clearing which led to t he edge Of t he c li ff the s c en e ,

of our ow n exploit two days before As we arrived .

the Indians a semi circle Of s pearmen had close d

,
-
,
 THOSE WERE TH E REAL CON QUESTS 2 69

in on them and in a minu t e it was over Thirty

, .

or f or ty died where they s too d The o thers .

,

s c ream i ng and c lawi ng were thr us t o ver the,

pre c ipi c e and went hur t ling down a s their

, ,

pris o ners had Of Ol d on t o the sharp bam b oos

,

si x hundred fee t b elow It was as Challenger .

had said and the reign Of man was assured

,

for ever in Maple Wh it e L and The males were .

ex t erminated Ape Town was des t royed the females

, ,

and young were driven away to l i ve in bondage ,

and t he long rivalry Of un told c en t uri e s had reac hed
it s b l o ody end s

For us the vi c t o ry b r o ugh t mu ch ad v antage .

On c e again w e were able t o visit our c amp and

get at our stores On c e m o re also we were a b le
.

to c o mmunicate with Zam b o w h o had b een ter ,

r i e d b y the spe ct a c le from afar of an avalan c h e

Of apes f all i ng f rom the edge Of the cli ff .

Co me aw ay Mas s as come away !

, he cried
, ,

his eyes starti ng from his head The d ebbi l ge t .

you s ure if y o u stay up there .

It i s the voice of sanity ! said Summerlee

with c onviction We have had adventures enough
.

and they are neither suitable to our cha ra c ter or

our position I hold you to y o ur w o rd Challenger
.
, .

From now onwards you devote your energies to

getting us out of this horrible coun t ry and b ac k

on c e more to civilisation .
 C HA P TER XV
OU R E YE S HAVE S EEN G R E A T WOND E R S
I W R I TE t his from day to day b u t I trus t t ha t ,

b efore I c ome t o t he en d Of it I may b e a ble to

,

say t ha t t he ligh t sh i ne s a t la st t hr o ugh our clo uds

, ,
.

We a r e held here wi th n o c lear mean s o f m a ki ng

our e s c a pe and b i tt erly w e c ha fe agains t i t Y e t
,
.
,

I c an well imagi ne t ha t t he day m ay c om e when

we may b e glad that we were k ep t agai ns t our ,

will to s e e s o me t hing m o re of t he w o nder s of t his

,

s i ng ul ar pl a c e and of the creatures who inhabit it

, .

Th e victo ry Of t he Ind i ans and t he ann i h il a t ion

Of t h e a p e men -
mark ed t he t urn i ng po i n t Of our
,

f or t un es Fr o m t hen onwards we were i n t ru t h

.
,

mas t er s of t he pla t eau for t he na t ives l o o k ed up o n

us wit h a mixture Of fear and gra tit ude s i nce b y ,

o ur s t range po w ers w e had ai ded t hem to des t roy

t heir h e red it ary f oe F or their own s ak es t hey
.

woul d perhaps b e glad t o s e e t he departure of

, ,

s uch form i da b le and in c alc ulable peop l e b u t they ,

have no t themselves suggested any way by which

we may rea c h the plains below There had b een .
,

so f ar a s we could foll o w their signs a t unnel by ,

wh ic h the pl ace could be approached the lower ,

27 0
 OUR EYES HAV E SE EN WONDERS 27 1

exi t Of which we had seen from below By this .

,

n o doubt b oth ape men and Indians had at di ff erent

,
-
,

e pochs reac h ed t he t op and Maple White with h i s

,

compan i on had t aken the same way Only the

,
.

year be f ore however there had b een a terric

, ,

earthqu a k e and t he upper end Of the t unnel had

,

fallen in and completely disappeared The Indians .

now could o nly shake their heads and shrug their

shoulders when w e expressed b y signs our desire ,

to descend It may be that they cannot but i t

. ,

may also b e that they will not help us to get

away .

At the end Of the vic t orious c ampaign the s u r

vivin
g ape folk were - driven a c ross the pla t eau
( t heir wailings were horrible ! and es t a b lished in
the ne ighbourhood Of t he Indian c aves where they ,

would fr o m now onwards b e a servile ra c e under

, ,

t he eyes Of their ma st er s I t was a rude raw .

, ,

prim aev al version of t he J ews in B abylon or the

Israelites in Egypt At nigh t we co ul d hear from
.

amid the trees the long drawn cr y a s some pri m itive

-
,

Ezekiel mourned for fallen grea t ness and recal led

the departed glories of Ape Town Hewers Of wood -
.

and drawers Of water such were they from now ,

o nwards .

We had re t urned a c ross the plat eau with our

allies two days after the b at tle and made our camp ,

a t the foo t Of their cliffs They would have had us .

share their caves with them but Lord John would ,

by no means consent to i t c o nsidering tha t to do so ,

27 2 THE LOST WORLD
would put u s in their power if they were t reacher
o u s l y dispo s ed We kep t our independen c e t here
.

fore a n d had o ur weapons re a dy for a n y e mergency

, ,

while preserving t he m o s t friendly rela t i o ns We .

also c on ti nually v isi t ed t heir caves wh ich were,

mos t remark ab le pla c es though whe t her made by

,

man or b y Na t ure we hav e ne v er b een able to

de t erm i ne The y were all o n t he o ne s t ra t um
.
,

hollowed o u t Of s o me soft ro ck whi c h lay b e t ween

the v o l c ani c b asa l t forming t he ruddy cliffs a b o v e
t hem and t he hard grani t e whi c h f o rmed t heir
,

b ase .

The o pe n ing s were abou t eigh t y f ee t a b ove t he

gr o und and were led up t o b y long s to ne s t airs s o
, ,

narrow and steep t ha t no large animal co uld moun t

t hem Inside t he y w ere warm and dry running in
.
,

s t ra igh t passage s Of v arying leng t h in t o t he s ide o f

the hill wi t h sm oot h grey walls de co ra t ed wi t h
,

many ex c ellen t pi ct ures done wi t h c harred s t icks

and represen t ing t he various anim al s Of t he pla t eau .

If every living thing were swep t fr o m t he c ountry

t he fu t ure explorer would nd up o n t he walls of
these caves ample evidence of the strange fauna
t he dinosaurs iguanodons and sh li z ards which
,

had lived s o recen t ly upon earth .

Since we had learned tha t the huge iguanodons

were kep t as t ame herds b y t heir owners and were ,

simply wal k ing mea t s t ores we had co n c eived t ha t

-
,

man even w it h his primi t ive weapons had es t a b

, ,

l i sh ed his as c endancy upon t he pla t eau We were .

 OUR EYES HAVE SEEN WONDERS 27 3

s oo n t o dis cov er tha t it wa s no t so and tha t he was

,

st ill t here up o n toleran c e I t wa s o n t he t hird day

.

a fter our forming our c amp near the Indi an caves

that the t ragedy occurred Challenger and Sum
.

m er l e e had gone Off t ogether tha t day t o the lake ,

where some Of the na t ives under their direction

, ,

were engaged in harpooning specimens of the great

li z ards Lord John and I had r e mained in our
.

camp while a number of the Indians were scat t ered

,

about upon the grassy slope in front of the caves

engaged in di fferent ways Suddenly t here w a s a
.

shrill cr y o f alarm with the word Stoa resound

~

ing from a hundred tongues From every side men

.
,

women and children were rushing wildly for shelter ,

swarming up the s t aircases and in t o the caves in a

mad stampede .

L ooking up we c ould see them wav ing their arms

,

from the ro cks above and beckoning to us to j oin

them in their refuge We had both seized our
.

magazine ri es and ran out to s e e what the danger

could be . Suddenly from the near belt of trees
there broke forth a group of twelve or fteen Indian s ,

running for their lives and at their very heels t w o

,

Of those frightful monsters which had disturbed our

camp and pursued me upon my solitary j ourney .

In shape they were like horrible toads and moved ,

in a succession of springs but in size they were of

,

an incredible bulk larger than the larges t elephant

, .

We had never before seen them save at night and ,

indeed they are no c turnal animals save when

S
27 4 THE LOST W ORLD
d i s t urb ed in t heir lairs a s t hes e had b een W e no w
, .

st ood amazed a t the sight for their blo t ched and

,

warty skins were o f a curious sh like iride s c en c e -

,

and t he sunligh t stru ck them wi t h an e v er v arying -

rain b ow b loom as t hey mo v ed .

We had little time t o wa tc h t hem h o we v er f or , ,

in an ins t an t t hey had o v ert aken t he fugi t i v es and

were making a dire slaugh t er among them Thei r .

method was t o fall forward wi t h thei r full weight

upon each in t urn and lea v ing him crushed and
, ,

mangled to bound on after t he o thers The wre t ched

,
.

Indians screamed wi t h terror but were helpless run

, ,

a s t hey w o ul d ,be fo re t he relen t less purp o se and

h o rri ble a ct ivi ty Of t hese mons t r o us c rea t ures One .

aft er an o ther they wen t d o wn and there were n ot ,

half a do z en s urv iving by t he t ime m y co mpanion

- -

and I c o uld co me to t heir help B u t o ur aid was o f

.

li t tle avail and o nly in v olved us in t he same peril .

A t the range Of a c ouple o f hundred yards we emp t ied

our maga z ines ring b ulle t aft e r bulle t in t o the
,

b easts b u t wi t h no more e ffec t t han if we were

,

pelting t hem with pellets of paper Their s l o w.

rep t ilian na t ures cared nothing f o r wounds and t he ,

S prings of t heir lives with no spe c ial brain c en t re

,

b ut scattered t hroughout their spinal co rds c ould ,

n ot b e t apped by any modern weapons The mos t .

t hat we c ould d o was t o c he ck t heir pr o gres s by

distra ct ing t heir a tt en t i o n with the ash and r o ar
Of o ur guns and s o t o give bo t h the na t ives and our
,

s el ves time to rea c h the st eps whi c h led t o s afety .

 OU R EYES HAVE SEEN WONDER S 27 5
But where the conic al explosive b u lle ts Of t he
twentieth c en t ury were of no avail the poisoned
arrows Of the nat ives dipped in the j uice Of stro
,

p h a n t h u s and steeped afterwards in decayed carrion ,

could succ eed Such arrows were Of little avail to

.

the hunter who attack ed the beast because their ,

action in that torpid circulation was sl ow and ,

before i t s powers failed it could certainly overtake

and slay its assailant But now as the two monsters
.
,

hounded us to the very foot of the stairs a drift Of ,

darts came whistling from e v ery chink in the cli ff

above them In a minute they were feathered with
.

them and yet with no sign of pain the y clawed and

,

S lobbered w ith impo t ent rage at the s t eps which

would lead them to their v i c t ims m o un t ing clumsily
,

up for a few yards and then sliding down again to

the ground But a t las t t he p o is o n work ed One
. .

of them gav e a deep rumbling groan and dropped

his huge squat head on to the earth The other .

bounded round in an eccentric circle with shrill ,

wailing cries and then lying down writhed in agony

,

for some minutes before it also stiffened and lay

sti l l With yell s of triumph the Indians came ock
.

ing down from their caves and danced a frenzied

dance of vi ct ory r o und the dead bodies in mad j oy ,

that two m ore Of t h e m os t dangerous o f all their

'

enemies had been slain That night they cu t up

.

and remo v ed the bodies not to eat for t h e poison

,
-

w a s still active but lest they should breed a pesti

l en ce The g reat r e ptilian h e a r t s ho w ever e ach a s
.
, ,
27 6 THE LOST WORLD
large a s a cushion still lay there b eating sl owly a n d
, ,

steadily with a gentle rise and fall in horrib le

, ,

independent life It was only upon the t hird day

.

that the ganglia ran down and the dreadful things

w ere still .

Some day when I have a better desk than a meat

'

tin and more helpful t OOl s than a wo rn stub of

pencil and a last tattered note book I will write
,
-
,

some fuller account Of the Accala Indians Of our

life amongst them and of the glimpses wh i ch we
,

had Of the strange conditions of wondrous Maple

White Land Memory at least will ne v er fail me
.
, , ,

for s o long as the brea t h Of life is in me e v ery hour

and e v ery a ct i o n Of tha t period will stand out as
hard a n d clear as do t he rs t s t range happenings Of
our chi ldh o od N 0 new impress i ons co ul d e ffa ce
.

those which are so deeply c u t When t he ti me .

comes I will des c ribe tha t w o ndr o us m oo nlit nigh t

upon the great lake when a y o ung ich t hy o saurus
a strange creature half seal h al f sh t o loo k a t
, ,
-
, ,

with bone c overed eyes on ea c h side of his snout

-

and a third eye xed upon the t op of h i s headw as

,

entangled in an Indian net and nearly upse t o ur ,

c anoe before we towed it ashore ; the same night

that a green wa t er snake sh ot o u t from t he rushes
-

and carried Off in its coils the steersman Of Ch al

lenger s canoe I will tell too Of the great nocturnal

.
, ,

white thing to this day we do not know whether

it was beast o r reptile whi c h li v ed i n a vile swamp
t o t h e e a s t O f t h e lake and i t t e d a bo u t w i t h a
,
 OU R EYES HAVE SEEN WOND E R S 27 7
faint phosphorescent glimmer in the darkness The .

Indians Were s o terried Of it that they would not

go near the place and though we twice made expedi
, ,

tions and s a w it each time we could not make our

,

way through the deep marsh in which it lived I .

can only s a y that it seemed to be larger than a cow

and had the strangest musky Odour I will tell .

also of the huge bird which chased Challenger to the

shelter of the rocks one day a great running bird ,

far taller than an ostrich with a vulture like nec k

,
-

and cruel head which made it a walking death As .

Challenger climbed to safety one dart of that savage

curving beak shore Off the heel of his boot as if it
had been cut with a chisel This time at least .

modern weap o ns prevailed and the great creature ,

twelve feet from head to foot p h or or a ch u s its
name a c cording t o our panting but exultant P r o
,

fe ssor went down b efore Lord Roxton s rie in a

urry Of waving feathers and kicking limbs with ,

t w o remorseless yellow eyes glaring up from the

midst Of it May I live to s e e that attened vicious
.

S kull in its ow n niche amid the t rophies Of the

Al bany . Finally I will surely give some account of
,

the toxodon the giant ten foot guinea pig with

,
-
,

pro j ecting chisel teeth which w e killed as it drank

,

in the grey of the morning by the side of the lake .

All this I shall some day write at fuller length ,

a n d amidst these more stirring days I would tenderly

sketch in those lovely summer e venings when ,

with the deep blue sky above us we lay in go od

27 8 THE LOS T W O RLD
comradeship among the long grasses by the wo o d and
marvelled at the s t range fowl that swep t o v er us
and the q ua i n t new creatures which crept f rom
their b urrows to wa t ch us while above us t he
,

b oughs o f the bushes were heavy with luscious

f ru i t and b el ow us str a n ge and lovely owers p eeped
,

a t us fr o m a m o ng t he herb age or th o se l ong m oo n

li t n i ghts when we l ay out upon t he shimmering
sur f a c e o f t he great lake and wa t ched wi th wonder
and a w e t he huge circles rippling o ut fr o m the
sudden spl ash o f s o me f an t ast ic mons t er ; o r t he
greenish gleam f ar down i n t he deep w a t er Of s o me
, ,

s t range c reature upon the c onnes Of dark ness .

These are the s c enes whi c h my mind and my pen

w ill dwell upon in e v ery de t ail at some f u t ure da y.

But y o u will a s k w h y t hese experiences and

, ,

why this delay when you a n d your c omrades should

,

have b een o cc up i ed day and nigh t in t he devi sing

Of some means b y which y o u c o uld re t urn to the

outer w o rld ? My ans wer is tha t t here was no t

,

one Of u s wh o w a s no t working for t his end b ut t hat

,

our work had b een in vain One fac t w e had very

.

speedily dis c o v ered The Indians would do n othing

to help us In every o t her way they were o ur
.

friends one might almost say our devoted slaves
but w hen it w a s suggested that they should help us
to mak e and carry a plank whi ch would bridge the
chasm o r when w e wished to ge t from t hem thongs
,

Of leather or liana to wea v e r Op e s which migh t help

us w e were me t by a go o d hum o ured b u t a n

,
-
,
 OU R EYES HAVE SEEN WONDERS 27 9
in vi ncible refusal The y would smile t win kle their
, .
,

eyes shake their heads and there was t he end of i t

, ,
.

Even t he Ol d chief met us wi th t he same o b sti na t e

denial and i t was o nly M a r e t a s the youngster
, ,

whom we h a d s a v ed wh o loo k ed wis tfully at us and

,

told us b y h i s ges t ures t ha t he was grieved for our

thwarted wishes Ever sin c e their cro w ning t riumph
.

with the ape men they loo k ed upon us as supermen

-
,

w h o b o re vic t ory in the t u b e s Of s t range weapons ,

and t hey b elieved tha t so l o ng a s we remained with

them g oo d fo r t une wo uld b e t he i rs A li ttle red .

skinned wife and a c ave Of o ur ow n were freely

Offered t o each o f us if w e would but f orget our

ow n people and dwell for ever upon the plateau .

S O far al l had b een kindly h o wever far apart our

,

desires might be ; b ut we felt well assured that our

ac t ual plans of a des c ent must be kept se c ret for ,

w e had reason to fear that at the last they migh t

try t o h o ld us b y f orc e .

In spite of the danger from dinosaurs (which

i s no t grea t s ave a t nigh t for as I may ha v e said
,

before t hey are mos t ly noc t urnal in t heir habits !

I have t wice in t he las t t hree wee k s b een over to
our Ol d camp in order t o s ee our negro who still
kep t wa t ch and ward b elow t he cli ff My eyes .

strained eagerly across the great plain in the h Op e

of seeing a f ar Off the help for which we had prayed .

But the long c actus strewn levels s t ill stretched

-

away empty and bare to the distant line of the

, ,

c ane brake
- .
280 THE LOST WORLD
They w i ll come soon n o w Massa Malone Before ,
.

ano t her week pass Indian c ome b ack and b ring rope

and fe t ch y o u down Such was t he c heery cr y
.

Of our ex c ellen t Zam b o .

I had one s t range exper i en c e as I c a me from t his

second visi t which had involved my being awa y
f or a nigh t fr o m my co mpanions I w a s re t urn ing .

along t he well remem b ered route and had rea ch e d

-
,

a S po t wi t hin a mile o r so of t he mars h of t he

p t eroda ct yls when I saw an ex t ra o rdinary Obj ec t
,

approa c hing me I t was a man wh o w al k ed inside

.

a framework made Of b en t c anes s o t ha t he was

enclosed on all sides in a b ell shaped c age A s - .

I drew nearer I was m o re ama z ed s till to s e e t ha t

i t was L ord J ohn Rox t on When he saw me he slipped .

from under his c urious pr ot e ct ion and c ame to wards

me laughing and ye t, as I t hough t wit h s ome
, ,

c onfusion in his manner .

Well young fellah s aid he
, wh o w o ul d ha v e
, ,

t hough t of m e e t i n you up here P

What in t he world are you doing P I asked .

V i si t i n

my friends t he p t er o da ctyls said, ,

B u t why P
b eas t s d o n t you t h i n k ? B u t
I n t er e s t i n

,

unsocia b le ! Nas t y rude ways wi t h s t range rs as ,

you may remember So I rigged this framework .

which keeps t hem fr o m bein too p r e ssi n i n t heir

a tt entions .

B u t wha t d o y ou wan t i n t he s wamp P

 OUR E Y ES HAVE SEEN WONDERS 28 1

He looked a t me with a very questioning eye ,

and I read hesita t ion in his face .

Don t you t hin k other people besides P ro fessor s

can wan t t o know t hings P he said at last Im .

s t u d yi n

the pretty dears That s enough for you
. .

No Offence said I,
.

H i s good humour returned and he laughed

-
.

No o ffence young fellah I m goin to get a
,
.

young devil chick for Challenger That s one of .

my j o b s No I don t wan t your co mpany I m

.
,

.

safe in this cage and you are not So long and

,
.
,

I ll b e bac k in camp by night fall

-
.

He t urned away and I left him wandering on

t hrough the wood with his extraordinary c age
around him .

If Lord J ohn s b ehavi o ur at t hi s t ime was
strange t hat Of Challenger was more so I may
, .

s a y that he seemed t o possess an ex t raordinar y

fascinati o n for the Indian women and that he ,

always carried a large spreading pah n b ranch with

which he bea t t hem Off as if they were ies when ,

their attentions be c ame t o o pressing To s ee him .

walking like a comic opera Sul t an w i t h this badge

, ,

of authority in his hand h i s black b eard bristling

,

in fr o n t o f him his toes pointing a t each step and

, ,

a train Of wide eyed Indian girls behind him clad

-
,

in their slender drapery of bark cloth is on e of ,

the m o st grotesque Of a ll t he pic t ures whi ch I will

c arry back with me As to Summerlee he w a s
.
,

a b s o r b ed in the in s ect and bird life o f the pla t ea u ,

282 TH E LOST W OR LD
an d spent h i s whole t ime ( s ave tha t c o n s i dera ble
portion which was devo t ed to abusing Chal lenge r
fo r no t gett i ng us o u t of our d i f c ul t ies ! in clean
ing and moun t ing his spe ci mens .

Ch al lenger h a d b een in t he ha b i t o f wal ki ng Off

b y himsel f every morning and returning from ti me
to t ime wi t h l o o k s Of por t en to us solemni t y as o ne
,

wh o b ears the full weigh t of a grea t enterprise

upon h i s sh o ulders One day p al m branch in hand
.
, ,

and his c rowd of adoring devo t ees behind him ,

he led us down t o his hidden work shop and t oo k -

u s in t o t he se c re t of his plans .

The pla c e was a small clear i ng in t he c en t re of

a p a lm gr o ve In t his was o ne o f t h o se b oiling mud
.

geysers whi c h I ha v e already described Around .

i ts edge were s c a tt ered a num b er o f lea t hern t h o ngs

cu t from iguanodon hide and a large co llapsed
,

mem b rane which pr o ved t o be t he dried and scraped

s t oma c h of one o f the grea t s h li z ards from the
lake Thi s huge sa ck had b een sewn up a t o ne end
.

and only a small o ri c e left a t t he ot her Into .

t h i s opening several b am b o o c anes had been i n

s er t e d and t he other ends o f t hese canes were in

con t ac t wi t h conic al clay funnels which collec t ed

the gas b u b bling up through t he mud of t he geyser .

Soon the accid organ began to slowly expand

a n d s h o w such a t endency t o upward movements
v

t hat Challenger f as t ened the cords which held it

to t he t runks Of t he surrounding trees In half .

an ho r a go o d sized gas bag had been form e d

u - -
,
 OU R E Y E S HA V E SE E N W ON D E RS 2 83

and t he j erking and s t raining up o n the t hongs

showed that it was c apable of considerable lift .

Challenger like a glad f a t her in t he presen c e of his

,

r s t born s t ood smiling and stroking his b eard

-
, ,

in silent self s a t i s e d con t ent as he g a z ed at t he

,
-

creation of his brain It w a s Summerlee wh o rst .

broke t he silence .

You don t mean us to go up in that t hing .

Challenger P said he in an acid voice , .

I mean my dear Summerlee to give you such

, ,

a demonstra t ion Of its powers that after seeing it

you will I am sure hav e no hesi t ation in t rusting
, ,

yourself to it .

You can put it right out of your head now ,

at once said Summerlee with decision

, nothing ,

on earth would indu c e me to commit such a folly .

Lord J ohn I trus t that you will not countenan c e

,

such madness P

Dooced i ngenious I call it said our peer , , .

I d like to see h ow it works

.

S O you shall said Chall enger

, For some .

days I have exerted my whole brain force upon the

problem Of how we shal l descend from these cli ffs .

We have satised ourselves that w e cannot climb

down and that th ere is no tunnel We are also .

unable to construct any kind of b r idge which may

take us back to the pinnacle from which w e came .

How then sh al l I nd a means to convey us ?

Some little time ago I h a d remarked to our
young friend here that free hy dr ogen w a s evolve d
2 84 THE LOS T W ORLD
from t he geyser The idea of a balloon na t urally
.

followed I w as I will admi t s o mewha t b af ed by

.
, ,

the di ffi cul t y of d i scoveri ng an envelop e t o contain

the gas b u t t he c on t empla t ion o f t he immense
,

entrails of t hese repti les suppl i ed me w it h a s olution

to the pro b lem B ehold the resul t
.

He pu t one hand i n t he fron t o f his ragged j acke t

and poin t ed proudly with t he ot her
B y this t im e t he gas b ag had s l l en t o a goodly
-

ro t undity and was j erking strongly upon it s lashings .

Midsummer madness snor t ed Summerlee .

L or d J o hn was deligh t ed wi t h the whole i dea .

Clever Ol d de a r ain t he ? he whispered t o me

, ,

and t hen l o uder to Challenger Wh a t a bo u t a

.

c ar ?
The car wi ll b e m y nex t c are I have already .

planned h o w it is to b e made and a tt a c hed Mean .

while I will simply show you how c apabl e my appa

ra t us i s of supp o r t ing t he we i gh t of e a c h Of us .

All Of us surely ?
,

NO it is par t o f my plan t ha t each i n t urn

,

shall de sc end as in a parachu t e and t he bal l oon

b e drawn b a ck b y means which I shall have no

diffi culty in perfect i ng I f it will support the
.

weigh t Of one and let him gently down it will ,

have done all that is required of it I will now

S h o w you i ts c apacity i n t ha t direction .

He b rought out a lump of b asalt Of a co nsider

a b le si z e c onstruc t ed i n the middle s o t ha t a c o rd
,

c ould b e easily at t ached t o it This cord w as t he

.
 OUR E Y ES HAVE SEEN WONDERS 285

one which we had brought with us o n to t he plateau

after we had used it for climbing the pinna cle .

It was over a hundred feet long and though it w a s ,

thin it was very strong He had prepared a sor t

.

Of collar Of leather with many straps dependi ng f rom

it This collar was placed over the dome of t h e

.

b al loon and the hanging thongs were gathered

,

together belo w so that the pressure of any weigh t

,

would be di ffused over a considerable surf ace .

Then the lump of basalt was fastened to the th o ngs ,

and the rope was allowed to hang from the end of it ,

being passed three times round the P rofessor s arm

.

I will now said Challenger wi th a smile Of

, ,
!

pleased anti c ipation demonstrate t he c arrying
,

power Of my b all o on AS he said s o h e c ut wi t h

.

a knife the various lashings that held it .

Never w a s our expe d ition in more immi nen t

danger Of complete annihilation The in ated .

membrane shot up with frightful velocity into

the air In an instant Challenger was pulled o ff
.

his feet and dragged after it I had j ust time t o.

throw my arms round his ascending waist when I

was myself whipped up into the air Lord John .

had me with a rat trap grip round the legs but I

-
,

felt that he also was coming Off the ground For .

a moment I had a vision Of four adventurers oating

like a string of sausages over the land that they
had explored But happily there were limi ts to
.
, ,

the strain which the rope would stand though none ,

a pparently to the lifting powers Of this inferna l

2 86 THE LOST WOR L D
machine There was a sharp c rack and w e were in
.
,

a heap upon the ground with coils of rope all over

us When we were able to stagger to our f eet we
.

s a w far O ff in the deep blue s k one dark spot where

y
the lump Of b asalt w as speeding upon its way .

Splendid ! cried the undaunted Challenger ,

rubbing his inj ured arm A most thorough and

sat i sfactory demonstration ! I could not have
anticipa t ed su ch a success Within a week gentle
.
,

men I promise t hat a se c ond b alloon will b e pre

,

pared and tha t you ca n c o unt upon taking in

,

safety and comfor t the rs t stage Of our homeward

j ourney .

S O f ar I ha v e writ t en each of t he foregoing e v ents

as it occ urred Now I am round i ng Off my narra
.

tive fr o m the o ld c amp where Zambo has waited

,

so long w i th all o ur di fcul t ies and dangers left

,

like a dream behind us upo n the summi t o f those

vas t ruddy crags which t o wer above o ur heads .

We have descended in safety though in a most ,

unexpected fashion and all is well with us In

, .

si x weeks or two months we shall be in London ,

and it is possible that this let t er may not reach

you much earlier t han w e do ourselves Already .

our hearts yearn and our S piri t s y towards the

great mother c ity which holds s o much that is
dear t o us .

It was on the very evening of o ur perilous a d v e n

ture with Challenger s home made balloon t h at the

-

chan g e came in our f ortunes I have said tha t .

 OUR EYES HAVE SEEN WONDERS 2 87

t he one person from whom we had had s o me sign o f

sympathy in our attemp t s t o ge t away was the
young chief whom we had rescued He alone had .

no desire to hold us against our will in a stran ge

land He had told us as much by his expressive
.

language of signs That e v ening after dusk h e

.
, ,

came down to our little camp han ded me ( for

,

s ome reason he had always shown his a ttentions to

me perhaps because I was the one who was nearest
,

his age ! a small roll Of the bark Of a tree and then ,

pointing solemnly up at the row of cav es abo v e him ,

he had put his nger to h i s lips as a S ign o f s e c recy

and had stolen back again to his people .

I t oo k t he slip of bark to t he r el i g h t and we

examined it together It was about a foot square
.
,

and on t he inner side there was a S ingular arrange

ment of lines which I here reproduce
,

( 1
They were neatly done in charcoal upon the white
surface and looked to me at rst sight like some sort
,

of rough m u s i ca l s cor e

Whatever it is I ca n swear that it is of import

,

ance to us said I
, . I could read that on his face

as he gave it .

Unless we have come upon a primitive practical

j oker S u mmerlee su g gested whi ch I s h o ul d t h i n k
, ,
28 8 THE LOST WORLD
would be o ne Of the mo st elemen t ary de v el o pmen t s

of man .

I t is clearly s ome s o r t Of s c rip t said C hallenger ,

.

Looks like a guinea puz z le compe t i t ion re ,

mark ed Lord John craning his neck t o have a l o ok a t

,

it When sudde n l y he s t re tc hed out hi s hand and

.

sei z ed t he pu z zle

B y George ! he c ried I believe I ve go t i t
,

.

The boy guessed righ t t he very rs t t ime See here .

How many marks are on that paper ? Eigh t een .

Well if you c ome to t hink of i t t here are eigh t een

,

cave Openings on the h i ll side a b ove us -
.

He poin t ed up to t he c a v es when he ga v e it t o

me said I
,
.

W ell t ha t s e tt l es i t This is a ch a r t o f t he
,
.

c a v es Wha t
. Eigh t een Of t hem all in a r o w ,

some shor t so me deep so me b ran c hing same as

, , ,

we saw t hem I t s a m a p and here s a c r o ss on it
.
, .

Wha t s t he c r o s s for P It is pla c ed to mark one
t ha t i s mu c h deeper t han t he others .

One tha t goes through I c ried , .

I believe our young friend has read the riddle ,

said Challenger If t he c ave does no t go through

.

I do no t unders t and why t his person who h a s every ,

reason to mean us well sho u ld have drawn our ,

atten t i o n to it But if i t d oes go t hrough and comes

.

o ut at the c orresponding point on the other side ,

w e should not have more than a hundred fee t to

d escend .

A hundred fee t grumbled Summerlee .

 OUR EYES HAVE S E EN WONDERS 2 89

Well our rope is still more than a hundred feet

,

l ong,
I c ried Surely we could get down
. .

H o w ab ou t the Indians in the cave P Summer

lee o bj ected .

There are no Indians in any Of t he c ave s above

our heads said I ,
They are all used as barn s
.

and s to re h o uses Why should w e not g o up now

-
.

at o nce and s p y out the land P

There is a dry bituminous wo o d upon t he plateau

-
a spe c ies of araucaria according to our botanist ,

which is always used by the Indians for torches .

Each Of us picked up a faggot o f this and we made ,

our w a y up weed covered steps t o the parti c ular

-

cave which was marked in the drawing It was .

,

as I had said empty save for a great number of

, ,

enormous bats which a p p e d round our heads as

,

we ad v an c ed int o it As we had no desire to draw

.

the a tt ention of the Indians to our proceedings ,

we s tum b l ed along in t he dark until w e had gone

round several c urve s and pene t ra t ed a considerable
distance into the c av ern Then a t last w e lit our .
, ,

torches It was a beautiful dry tunnel with sm o oth

.
,

grey walls covered with native symbols a curved ,

roof which ar ched o ver o ur heads and white glis t en ,

ing sand beneath our feet We hurried eagerly .

along it until with a deep groan of bi t ter disappoin t

,

ment we were brough t t o a halt A s heer wall of

,
.

rock had appeared befo r e us with no c hink through ,

which a mouse could have slipped There was no .

escape for us there .

29 0 TH E LOST WORLD
We sto o d w ith b itter hear t s s t aring a t t his u n ex
p e ct e d O bsta c le I t was no t . the result o f an y c o n

v ul s i on as i n t he c ase of the ascending t unnel

,
The .

end wall was exa c tly like t he side ones I t was .

,

a n d had alw a y s been a cu l d e s a c ,

- -
.

Ne v er mind my friends s aid the indomi t able
, ,

Challenger Y o u have still m y r m promi s e Of a

.

balloon .

S u mmerl e e g r o a n e d .

C an we b e in t he wrong c ave P I sugge st ed .

NO use young fellah , said Lord John with , ,

his nger on o ur chart Se v enteen from the right

.

and s e c ond from the left This is the c ave sure .

enough .

I l o oked a t the mark t o which his nger po i nted

"

and I gave a sudden c ry of j o y .

I believe I h ave it Follow me Fo ll ow

me
I hurried b a c k a l o ng the wa y we had c o me m y ,

torch in my hand Here sa i d I poin t ing t o
.
, ,

s ome matches upon t he gr o und i s where we lit ,

N
U P
E x a ct ly .

Well i t is mark ed as a for k ed c a v e a n d i n the

, ,

darkness w e passed the f o rk be fo re the to rches were

lit On t he righ t side as w e go o u t we sh o uld nd
.

the l o nger arm .

I t w a s as I had said We had n ot gone thir t y .

y ards b efore a great bla c k Opening loomed i n t he

wall We turned into it to nd that we were in a
.
 OUR EYES HAVE SEEN WONDERS 29 1

mu c h larger passage than before Along it we .

hurried in b reathless impatien c e f or many hundreds

o f yards Then suddenly in t he b la ck darkness of
.
, ,

the arch in front Of us we s a w a gleam o f dark red

light We stared in ama z ement A S heet o f steady
. .

ame seemed to cr oss the passage and to b ar our

way We hastened towards it N 0 sound no heat
. .
, ,

no movemen t c ame fr o m it but still the great

,

luminous c urtain glowed b efore u s silvering all the ,

cave and turning the sand to powdered j ewels until ,

as we drew c loser it disc o vered a circular edge .

The moon by Ge o rge , cried Lord John .

We are through boys We are through

,

It w a s indeed the full moon which shone straight

down the aperture which opened upon the cli ffs .

It was a small rift not larger t han a wind o w but it

, ,

was enough for all our purp o ses As w e craned .

our necks through it w e co uld see that the descent

was n ot a v ery di f c ul t o ne and tha t the level
,

ground w a s n o very great way below us It w a s .

no wonder that from below we had not Observed

the place as the c li ffs curved overhead and an
,

ascent at the spot would have seemed S O imp o ssible

as to disc o urage close inspe c tion We satised our.

selves that with the help of o ur rope we could nd

our w a y down and then returned rej oicing to our
, , ,

c amp to make our preparations for the next evening .

What w e did w e had to do quickly and secretly ,

since even at this last hour the Indians might hold

us back Our stores w e would leave b ehind us
. ,
29 2 THE LOST WORLD
s ave only o ur guns and cartridges But Challenger .

had so me unwieldy st u ff which he arden t ly des i red

to take with h i m and on e p a r tic ul ar p a ck age Of
, ,

which I may n o t speak wh ic h ga ve us m o re l a bo ur ,

t han any Sl o wly the day pas s ed b ut when the

.
,

darkness fell we were ready for our depar t ure .

With much labour we got our things up the steps ,

and then lo ok ing b a c k t o ok one last long su r ve y of

, ,

that strange land s o on I fear to b e v ulgarized the

, ,

prey Of hun t er and prospe c tor b u t t o ea c h Of us a ,

dreamland Of glamour and r o mance a land where ,

w e had dared mu c h su ffered much and learned , ,

m uch OW land as we shall ever fondly c all i t
, .

Along up o n o ur left the neigh bo uring caves each

threw out it s ruddy cheery r el i g h t i n t o the gl o om .

From t h e m p e b elow us rose the v o i c e s of the

Indians as they laughed and sang B eyond was .

the l o ng sweep o f the wood s and in t he c entre , ,

shimmering vaguely through t he gloom was the ,

grea t lake t he mo t her Of s t range monsters Even

, .

as we looked a high whickering cry the c al l o f s o me ,

weird animal rang clear ou t of the dark ness I t

,
.

w a s the very voice o f Maple Whi t e Land b idding

us good bye We t urned and plunged into the c ave

-
.

which led to home .

Tw o hours later we our packages and all we , , ,

owned were at the foo t o f the cli ff Sav e f or

,
.

C hallenger s luggage we had never a di f cul ty

.

Leaving it all where we descended we star t ed at ,

o nce for Zambo s camp In t he early m o rning we

.
 OUR EYES HAVE SEEN WONDERS 293

approa c hed it but o nly to nd to our amazement

, , ,

n o t o ne re b u t a do z en upon the plain The res c ue .

par t y had arrived There were twenty Indi ans

.

from the ri v er with s t ak es r o pes and a l l t hat c ould

, , ,

be useful fo r b ridging the c hasm A t leas t w e shall

.

hav e n o diffi culty now in c arrying our packages ,

when to m o rrow we b egin t o mak e our way back

-

to the Am a z on .

And s o in hum b le and th a nk ful m oo d I close this

, ,

a cc ount Our eyes have seen great w o nders and

.

o ur souls are c has t ened b y wha t we have endured .

Ea c h is in his ow n way a be t ter and deeper man .

It may be that when we reach P ara w e shall stop

to re t I f w e d o t his le tt er will be a m a il ahead
.
,
.

If n o t it will reach L ond on o n the very day that I

,

do In either case my dear Mr M cAr dl e I h Op e

.
, .
,

very soon to shake you by the hand .

 C H A P TE R XVI
A P R OC E S S I ON ! A P R OC E S SI ON !

I S H OU L D w ish t o pla c e up o n record here o ur grati

tude to all our friends upon the Ama z on f o r t he v ery
great kindness and hospi t ality which w as shewn t o
us upon our re t urn j ourney Very par t icularly
.

would I thank Signor P enalosa and ot her Ofc ials Of

t h e Brazilian G o vernmen t fo r t he spec ial arrange
ments by which we were helped upon our way and ,

Signor P ereira o f P ara to wh o se fore t h o ugh t w e

,

ow e t he comple t e ou t t for a de c en t appearan c e in

the c ivilised world which w e f o und ready for us at

that town It seemed a poor re t urn for all the
.

cour t esy which w e encoun t ered that w e should

de c eive our h o sts a n d benefa cto rs bu t under the
.

c ircums t ances we had really no alterna t ive and I ,

hereby t ell them that they will only waste their

time and their money i f they a tt emp t to follow upon
o ur t races Even the name s have been altered in
.

our accoun t s and I am very sure t hat no o ne from

, ,

the mo st careful study Of them c ould c ome w i t hin

,

a thousand miles of our un k nown land .

The exci t ement which had been caused t hrough

those parts of S o uth America which we had to

traverse was imagined by u s t o b e purely lo c al and ,

I can assure o ur friends in England t ha t we had n o

notion of t he uproar whi c h the mere rumour Of o ur
29 4
 A P RO C ESSION A P ROCESSION 29 5

experien c e s h a d cau s ed thr o ugh Eur o pe I t was .

n ot un t il t he I v er m a w a s within ve hundred miles

Of Southampton that the wireless mes s ages from

paper a fter paper and agency after agen cy o ffering ,

huge prices for a short re t urn me ss age as to our

actual results showed us how strained was t h e
,

atten t ion not only of the scien t ic world but Of the

general public I t was agreed among u s however
.
, ,

tha t no deni t e sta t ement should be given t o the

P ress until we had met t he members of t he Zo o logical
Institute sin c e as delegates it wa s our clear duty to
,

give our rs t rep o rt t o the b o dy from which w e had

received our commission of investigation Thus .
,

although w e found Southampton full of P ressmen ,

we absolu t ely refused t o give any information which ,

had the nat ural effe c t o f fo cussing public attention

upon the meeting which was advertised for the
evening Of November 7 t h For this gathering the
.
,

Zoologi c al Hall which had been the s c ene Of the

inception of Ou r task w a s found to be far too sma l l ,

and it wa s only in t he Queen s Hall in Regent Street
that accommodation c ould be f o und .It is now
common knowledge that the promoters might have
ventured upon the Albert Hall and s t ill found their
spa c e t o o s c anty .

It was for the se cond evening a ft er our arrival

t hat the great meeting had been xed For the .

rs t we had each no doub t our own pressing per

, , ,

sonal a ffairs to absorb us Of mine I cannot yet

.

speak It may be that as it stands further from

.
29 6 THE L OST WO RL D
me I may t hink Of it and even spea k o f it wi t h le s s
, ,

em ot ion I h a v e s h o wn t he r eader i n t h e b eg inning

.

of t hi s narr a t ive where lay t he springs Of m y a ct i o n .

It i s b u t righ t perhap s t hat I s h o uld c arr y o n t h e

, ,

t ale and S h ow al s o the re s ul ts An d y e t t h e da y

.

ma y com e w hen I wo ul d n ot h a v e i t ot her w i s e A t .

lea st I h a v e b een d ri v en fo r t h to t a k e p ar t i n a
wo n d r o u s adv en t ure and I c ann ot b u t b e t h a n kful
,

to t he fo r c e t h a t dr o ve me .

And n o w I t urn to t he l a st supreme even tful

momen t o f o ur adventure As I wa s ra ck ing my
.

brain as to h o w I sh o uld bes t des c ri b e i t my eyes ,

fell upon t he issue o f my o wn J ournal f o r t he m om

ing o f t he 8 t h of N o vember wi t h t he fu ll and ex c el
len t a cco un t of m y friend and f ellow repor t er -

Ma c dona Wha t c an I d o be tt er than t ran scri b e

.

hi s narrative head line s a n d all P I adm it t ha t

-

the paper W a s exu b eran t in t he m a tt er o u t of co m ,

p l i m e n t to its o wn en t erpri s e in s endin g a co rre

s p on d en t b u t t he o t her grea t da i lie s w ere h a rdl y less
,

full in their a cco un t Thus t hen fr i end Ma c i n his

.
, ,

r ep o r t

THE N E W W OR L D
HALL

GREAT MEETING AT THE QUEEN S
S CENES OF U P ROAR
EXTRAO RDINARY IN C IDENT
WHAT WAS IT ?
NOCTURN A L RIOT IN REGENT STREET
( Special !
 A P ROCESSIO N A P ROCESS ION 29 7

The much dis c us s ed mee t ing Of t he Zoological

-

Insti t ute c onvened to hear the report of the C o m

,

m i t t e e Of Investigation sent out last year t o Sou t h

America to test the assertions made by P rofessor
Challenger as to the c on t inued exis t ence Of pre
his t oric life upon that C o n t inen t wa s held last ,

nigh t in the greater Queen s Hall and it is safe to

,

s a y that it is likely to be a red letter date in the

hi sto ry Of S c ience for t he pro c eedings were of s o

,

remark able and sen s at i o nal a character that no one

presen t is ever li k ely to fo rge t t hem ( Oh brother .
,

scribe Macdona what a monstrous Opening s en

,

ten c e The ticke t s were theoreticall y c onned
to members and t heir friends b ut the lat t er is an ,

elastic term and long b efore eight O cl oc k the hour

,

,

xed for the c ommen c emen t of the pr oc eedings all ,

parts of the Great Hall were tightly packed The .

general public however whi c h most unreasonably

, ,

entertained a grievance at having been excluded ,

s t ormed the doors at a quar t er to eight after a ,

prolonged m l e in whi ch several people were inj ured ,

including In s pector S cob le o f H Division whose ,

leg was unfortunately b roken After this unwarrant .

able invasion which no t o nl y lled every passage

, ,

bu t even intruded upon t he space s et apart for the

P ress it is est i mated tha t nearly ve thousand
,

people awai t ed the arrival of the travellers When .

they eventuall y appeared they took their places in

,

the fron t Of a platform which already contained all

the leading scientic men not only Of this country
, ,
298 TH E LOST WORLD
bu t of Fran c e and o f German y Sweden was also .

represented in the person Of P rofessor Sergius t h e

, ,

famous Zool o gis t of t he Universi t y o f Upsala The .

en t rance o f the four heroes Of the occ asi o n was the

s ignal for a remarkable dem o ns t ra t i o n of wel c ome ,

t he wh ole au d ience rising and c heering fo r so me

minutes An a c u t e o b ser v er migh t h o wever have
.
, ,

de t ected some signs o f dissen t amid t he applause ,

and gat hered t ha t t he pro c eedings were li k el y t o

become more livel y t han harmoni o us I t may .

safely b e pr o phesied h o we v er t ha t n o o ne co uld

, ,

have foreseen the ex t raordinary t urn whi c h t he y

were a ct ually to t ake .

O f the appearan c e of t he four wanderers little

need b e said sin c e their photographs hav e f or some
,

time b een a ppearing in all the papers They b ear .

few t races of the hardships which they are said to

have undergone P rofess o r Challenger s b eard may
.

be more shaggy P r o fessor Summerlee s f eatures more
,

as c etic L o rd J ohn Rox t on s gure m o re gaun t and
, ,

all t hree may b e b urned to a dark e r ti n t t han when

they left o ur S hores bu t e a c h appeared t o b e in
,

mos t excellent health As t o our ow n represen t

.

ative the well known athlete and in t ernation al

,
-

Rug b y football player E D Malone he lo ok s , . .

,

trained to a hair and as he surveyed the c r o wd a

,

smile Of g o od hum o ured c ontentment perva ded h i s

-

honest bu t homely f ace ( All right Ma c.wa i t till , ,

I get you alone

When quie t h a d b e en res to red and the audience
 A P ROCESSION ! A P ROCESS ION ! 29 9

resumed their seats after the ovation whi c h they

had given to the travellers the chairman the Duke , ,

of Durham addressed the meeting
, He would .

not he said
, , stand for more than a moment
between that vas t assembly and the trea t which
lay before them It was not fo r him to anti c ipate
.

what P rofessor Summerlee w h o w a s the S pokesman,

Of the committee had to s a y t o them but it w a s

, ,

common rumour that their expediti o n had been

crowned by ex t ra o rdinary success ( Applause ! .

Apparen t ly t he age Of r o mance was not dead and ,

there was common ground up o n which the wildes t

imaginings of the novelist could meet the actual
scientic in v estigation s o f the searcher for truth .

He would o nly add befo re he s a t down that he

, ,

rej oiced and all Of them would rej oice that these
gentlemen had returned safe and s o und from their
di fcult and dangerous task for it cannot be denied ,

that any di sas t er to such an e xpedition would have

in icted a well nigh irreparable loss to the cause of
-

zoological science ( Great applause in which P r o ,

fe s s o r Challenger was Ob served to j oin ! .

P rofessor Summerlee s rising w a s the signal for
another extra o rdinary outbreak of enthusiasm ,

which broke out again at intervals throughout his

address That ad dress will not be given i n ex ten s o
.

in these columns for the reason that a full account

,

of the whole adventures Of the expedition is being

published as a supplement fr o m the pen of our own
special correspondent S o me general indications
.
30 0 THE LOST WORLD
will t heref o re suf c e H a ving des c ri b ed the genesis
.

of their j o urney and paid a handsome t ribu t e to his

,

friend P r of essor C hallenger coupled wi th an apology ,

for the in c redulity with which his asser t i o ns n o w ,

full y vind i ca t ed had b een re c ei v ed he gav e t h e

, ,

ac t ual course of their j ourney c arefully withholding ,

such information as w o uld aid the publi c in any

attempt to locate this remarkable pla t eau Having .

described in general t erm s their c o urse from the main

, ,

river up to the time tha t the y a ct ually rea c hed

the base of the cli ffs he enthralled his heare rs b y h i s
,

a cco unt Of the di f c ulties encoun t ered by the expedi

tion in their repeated at t e mp t s t o m o unt them and ,

nally described h o w the y suc c eeded in th eir des

perate endeav o urs which c os t the lives o f their tw o
,

devoted half breed servan t s (This ama z ing reading

-
.

of the a ffair was the result Of Summerlee s endeav ours

to avoid raising any ques t i o nab le matter a t the

meeting ! .

Having condu c ted his audience in fancy t o the

summit and maro o ned them there by reason Of the
,

f all o f t heir b ridge the P rofess o r proceeded to des

,

e ri b e both t he h o rrors and the attractions of that

remarkable land O f pers o nal adventures he said

.

little but lai d s t ress upon the r i ch harvest reaped

,

by Science in t he Ob servations of the wonderful

beast bird insec t and pl a nt life of the pla t eau
, , .

P e c ul i arly ri c h in the col e o ptera and in t he lepi

d op t e r a fo rty six new species of the one and nine t y
,
-

f our Of the other had been secured in the c ourse Of

 A P RO C ESSION A P RO C ESSION ! 3 0 1

a fe w w eeks It was however in the larger animals

.
, , ,

and especially in the larger animals supposed t o

have been l o ng e x tin c t that the interes t Of the
,

pub lic was naturally centred O f t hese he was .

able to give a goodly list but had little doubt that

,

it w o uld b e largely extended when the place had

been more thoroughl y investigated He and his .

companions had s een at least a dozen c reatures ,

most of them a t a distance which corresponded with

,

nothing at presen t known t o Science These wo uld .

in time be duly c lassied and examined He .

instanced a snake the cast skin of which deep purple

, ,

in colour was ft y one feet in length and mentioned

,
-
,

a white c reature supposed to be mamm al ian which

, ,

gave forth well marked phosphorescence in the

-

darkness also a large bla c k moth the bite of which ,

was supposed by the Indians to be highly pois o n o us .

Se t ting aside these entirely ne w f o rms o f li fe t he ,

plateau w a s very ri c h in k n ow n prehistoric forms ,

dating ba c k i n s o me ca s e s to Early Jurassi c times .

Among these he mentioned the gigantic and gro

t e s q u e stegosaurus seen once by Mr Malone at a
, .

drinking place by the lake and drawn in the sketch

-
,

book of that adventurous American w h o had rs t

penetrated this unknown w orld He described also .

the iguanodon and the pter o dactyl t wo of the

rs t Of the wonders which they had enc o untered .

He then thri l led t he assembly by so me account o f

the terrible c arniv o r o us dinosaurs which had o n ,

more than o ne oc c asion pursued mem b ers Of the

30 2 THE LOST WO RLD
party and which were t he mos t f o rmidable of all
,

the c rea t ures which they had enc o un t ered Then c e .

he pa s sed to t he huge and fer ocio us b ird t he ph o r o ,

r a ch u s and t o t he grea t elk which st i ll r o am s upon

,

this upland It was n ot h o we v er un t il he s k e t ched

.
, ,

the m ysteries of t he central lake t ha t the full

interest and enthusiasm of the audien c e were ar o used .

One had to pin c h o ne s el f t o be sure t ha t o ne wa s

awak e a s o ne heard t his sane and pra ct i c al P rofessor
in co ld mea s ured t ones des c ri b ing t he m o ns t r o us
,

three eyed s h -li z ards and t he huge wa t er s nakes

- -

which inhabit t his en c han t ed shee t of wat er Nex t .

he to uched up o n t he Indians and upon t he ex t ra ,

ordinary c o l o ny of an t hr o poid apes which migh t b e ,

looked upon as an advance upon the pi t hecan

t h r 0 p u s of J ava and as coming therefore nearer
,

than any known form t o tha t h ypo t he t i c al c rea

t i on t he missing link Finall y he described amongs t
,
.
,

s ome merrimen t t he ingenious bu t highl y danger

,

ous aeronau t ic inven t ion o f P r o fe s sor Challenger and ,

wound up a most mem o ra b le address by an a cco unt

of t he me t hods by whi c h the c ommit t ee did at las t
nd t heir w ay b a ck to c iviliza t ion .

It had b een h o ped t hat t he pr oc eedings w o uld

end there and t ha t a vo t e of thanks and co ngra t ula
,

t i o n moved by P r of ess o r Sergius of Upsala Uni

, ,

ver s i t y would be duly se c onded and c arried ; bu t it

,

was s oo n e v iden t t h a t t he co urse of e v en t s w as no t

des t ined t o o w so s moo t hl y S y mp t oms o f opp o
.

s i ti o u had b een evi den t f rom t im e t o t ime d uring

 A P ROCE SSION ! A P ROCESS ION !
30 3

the evening and now Dr J ames Illingworth of

,
.
,

Edinburgh rose i n the c entre o f the hall Dr Illing

,
. .

worth asked whether a n amendmen t sh o uld no t be

taken before a re s olution .

The Chairman ! Yes s i r if there must be an
, ,

amendment .

Dr Illingwor t h ! Your Gra c e there must b e

.

,

an amendment .

The Chairman Then le t us t a k e i t a t on c e .

P rofessor Summerlee ( springing t o hi s fee t !

Might I explain yo ur Gra c e t ha t t his man i s m y
, ,

personal enemy ever sin c e o ur c o n t r ov ers y in t he

Quarterly J ournal of Science as to t he t rue nat ure
of B athybius P

The Chairman I f ear I c anno t go into personal

matters P roceed
. .

Dr Illingwor t h was imperfe ct ly heard in par t

.

of his remarks on a cco un t of the s t renuous Oppo

sitio u of the friends of the explorers Some a tt emp t s .

were also made t o p u ll him d o wn B eing a man of .

enormous physique h o wever and possessed of a , ,

v ery powerful voice he dominated t he t umul t and ,

succeeded in nishing his speech It was clear .

,

from the momen t of his rising t hat he had a number ,

of friends and sympat hisers in the h al l t hough t hey ,

formed a minority in the audience The a t ti t ude .

of the greater part of the public migh t be described

as one of attentive neutrality .

Dr Illingworth began his remarks b y expressing

.

his high appreciation of the scienti c work b o t h of

30 4 THE LOST WORLD
P ro f ess o r C h a llenger and of P rofessor Summerlee .

He mu c h regre t ted t ha t a n y pers o nal b ias should

have been read into h i s remarks which were en t irely ,

dic t a t ed by his desire for scientic t ruth His .

posi t ion in fac t was substantiall y the same as that

, ,

t aken up b y P ro f ess o r Summerle e a t t he las t mee t

ing A t tha t las t mee t ing P r o fes so r C hallenger had
.

made cer t a i n a s ser t ions w hi c h had b een queried b y

his co lleague Now t his c olleague c ame f o rward
.

himself w i t h t he same asser t ions and expec t ed them

t o remain un q ues t ioned W as t his reas o nable
.
?

Yes ,

No and prol o nged in t errup t ion during
,

,

whi ch P rofess o r Challenger was heard from t he

P ress b ox to ask leave from the c hairman t o put
Dr Illingw o rth in to the s t reet ! A year ag o one
. .

man said c er t ain t hings N ow fo ur men said o t her

.

and more s t ar t ling ones W a s t hi s to c ons t itu t e a

.

nal pr oo f where t he ma tt er s in q ue stio n were of t he

mos t revolu t ionary and incredi ble chara ct er P There
had b een re c en t e x ample s of t ra v el lers arr iv
ing fr o m t he unkn own wi t h c er t ain tales which
had b een t o o readil y ac c ep t ed Was t he L ondon .

Zo o logi c al Ins t i t ute t o pla c e i t sel f in this posi t ion P

He admi tt ed t ha t t he members of the commi tt ee
were men of c hara ct er B u t human na t ure was
.

very co mplex Even P rofessors might be misled

.

by the desire for no t orie t y L ike moths we all love

.
,

best to u t ter in the ligh t Heavy game sho t s .

-

liked to be in a p o sit io n to c ap the t ales Of their

rivals and j ournalis t s were n ot av erse fr o m sensa
,
 A P RO C ESSION ! A P ROCESS ION '
59 5

t i on a l p evencou whens, i magination had to aid

fa ct in the pro c ess Each member of the commit .

tee had his own mo t ive for making the most of his

resul t s ( Shame l . He had no desire

to b e offensive ( You are ! and interruption !
. .

The co rroborati o n of thes e wondrous tales w a s

reall y o f t he mos t s lender descrip t ion Wha t did .

it amoun t t o P S ome photographs Was it possible .

t ha t in this age of ingenious manipulation photo

graphs could b e a c cepted as evidence ? What
more ? We have a story of a igh t and a des c ent
by ropes which precluded the produ c tion o f larger
S pe c imens It was ingenious but not convincing
.
,
.

It was understood that Lord John Roxton claimed

t o have t he skull o f a p h or or a chu s He c ould o nly
.

s a y that he would like to s e e that skull .

Lord John R o x t on Is this fellow calling me a

liar P ( Uproar ! .

The C hairman ! Order ! order ! Dr Illing .

worth I mus t direc t you to bring your remark s t o

,

a conclusion and t o move your amendment .

Dr Illingwor t h
. Your Gra c e I have more t o
!

say but I bow to y o ur ruling I move then that

, .
, , ,

while P rofes sor Summerlee be t han k ed for his interest

ing address t he whole matter shall be regarded as
,

n on pr ov en
-
and shall be referred back to a larger
, ,

and possibly more reliable Committee of Inves t iga

tion .

It is di f cul t t o des c ri b e the co nfusi o n caused by

this amend m ent A large section of the audience
.

U
3 0 6 THE LOST WORLD
e x pre ss ed their i ndignation at such a slur upon the
travellers by noisy shou t s of d i ss en t and c ries of ,

D on t put i t Withdraw Turn him ou t
On the o t her hand t he malcon t en t s
, and i t canno t
be denied t hat they were fairly numerous cheered
for the a mendm en t wi t h cries o f Order
,
C hair
and F air pl a y A sc u fe b ro k e out in the b ac k
benches and b l o ws were freely e xc hanged among
,

the medi c al st uden t s who c rowded t ha t par t of t he

hall It w as o nly t he m o dera t ing in uen c e o f t he
.

pre s en c e of large num b ers of ladie s which pre v en t ed

an absolute ri o t Suddenl y however there was a
.
, ,

pause a hush and t hen complete silence

, ,
P rofessor
.

Challenger wa s on hi s feet His appearance and

.

manner are pe c uliarl y arre st ing and a s he raised

,

his hand for o rder t he whole audien c e se tt led d o wn

expectan t ly to give him a hear i ng .

It will be wi t hin t he recolle ct ion Of man y

pres ent said P rofes s or C h al lenger tha t sim il ar
, ,

fo ol i s h and unmannerly s c ene s marked t he l a s t

mee t ing at whi c h I hav e been a b le to addres s t hem .

On that occasion P rofessor Summerlee was t he chief

o ffender and though he is now chastened and con
,

trite the matter c ould not b e entirely fo rg ott en I

,
.

ha v e heard to nigh t s imilar b u t even m o re o ffensi v e

-
, ,

sen t imen t s fr o m t he pers o n wh o has j ust s a t d o wn ,

and t h o ugh i t i s a c on sc iou s e ffo r t o f s elf eff a c eme n t

-

t o co me d o wn to t ha t pers o n s men t al level I will ,

endeavo ur t o do s o in o rder t o allay any reasona b le

,

doub t whi c h c ould p o ssibly exis t in t he minds of

 A P RO C ESSION A P RO C ESSION 30 7

any o ne ( Laughter and interruption !

.

I need .

no t remind this audience t ha t th o ugh P rofessor ,

Summerlee as t he head o f t he Co mmi tt ee o f Inves t i

,

g a t i on h a
, s b een put up to speak to night st i ll it is -
,

I who am t he real prime m o ver in this b usines s and ,

that i t i s mainl y t o me tha t an y su cc essful result

must be a sc ribed I have safel y c o nducted these
.

three gentlemen to the sp o t mentioned and I have , ,

as y o u ha v e heard c onvin c ed them of the a cc ura cy

,

of my previ o us ac co unt We had hoped that we .

should nd upon our return that no o ne was s o dense

as to dispute our j oint c o n clusions Warned how .
,

e ver ,
b y my previous experien c e I have not c ome ,

without su ch proofs as may c o nvince a rea so nab le

man As explained b y P rofess o r Summerlee o ur
.
,

c amer a s h ave been t ampered with by t h e ape men -

when they ransa cked our camp and mos t of our ,

negatives ruined ( J eers .

laughter and Tell
, u s ,

an other from the back ! I have mentioned the

.

ape men and I cannot forbear from saying that

-
,

some of the sounds which now meet my ears bring

back most vividly to my recollection my experiences

with those interesting creatures ( Laughter ! In. .

S pite of the destruction of s o many invaluable nega

f ives there still remains in our collection a certain
,

number of corroborative photographs showing the

conditions of life upon the plateau Did they .

accus e them of having forged these photographs P

( A voice Yes , and considerable
,

in terruption which
ended in several men being put out of the hal l ! .
3 0 8 THE LOS T WORLD
The negatives were Open to the inspection of
experts But what other eviden c e had t hey ?
.

Under the c onditions of their es c ape i t was na t urally

impossible to b r i ng a large am o un t of b aggage bu t ,

t hey had res c ued P ro fess o r Summerlee s colle ct ion s

of b u tt er i es and b ee t les co n t aining many new

,

spe ci es W a s t his no t e v iden c e P ( Seve ral vo i c es

.
-

Who said no P
Dr Illingworth ( rising !
. Our point i s
tha t such a c ollection migh t have b een made
in ot her pla c es than a prehistori c plateau .

( Applau s e !
P ro f es s or C hallenger ! N O dou b t s i r we have , ,

t o bow t o your s c ien t i c au t h o r ity al t hough I must

,

admit t hat the name i s un f amiliar P assing then .

, ,

b ot h t he pho tog raph s and t he en to m o logi c al co lle e

tion I c o me t o the v ar i ed and a cc ura t e in fo rm a tion
,

which we b ring with us upon p o ints whi c h hav e

n e ver be fo re b een elucidat ed F or example upon.
,

the dome s ti c habits o f t he pterodactyl ( A v oi c e
,


B o sh and uproar ! I s a y tha t upon the d o me st ic
,

habits of t he p t erodac t yl we c an throw a ood of

ligh t I can exhi b it to you from my portfolio a
.

picture of tha t c rea t ure t aken from life whi c h w o uld

convince you
Dr Illingwor t h . N 0 pic t ure c ould c onvin c e us

of anything .

P ro f es s or Challenger ! You wo u ld require to

s e e t h e t hing i t self P

Dr Illingworth ! Undoubtedly
. .

 A P ROCESSION z A P ROCESSION ! 30 9

P rofessor Challenger ! And you w o uld a cc ept

that P
Dr Illingworth ( Laughing ! ! Beyond a doub t
. .

I t w a s at t his point t hat the s ensation of the

evening ar os e a sensation s o dramatic tha t it ca n
never have been paralleled in the hist o ry o f s eien
t i c gatherings P rofessor C hallenger raised hi s hand
.

in the air as a signal and at on c e our colleague , ,

Mr E D Malone was o bserved t o rise and to make

. . .
,

his way t o t he b a ck of the pla t form An ins t an t .

later he r e appeared in co mpany o f a giganti c negro

-
,

the t wo of them bearing be t ween them a large

squ a re pa c king c ase I t wa s e v iden t ly of great
-
.

weight a n d w as s l o wly c arried fo rw a rd a n d placed

,

in fr o nt o f t he P rofess o r s c hair Al l so und had

.

hushed in the audien c e and every o ne wa s ab s o rbed

in t he spe c ta cle b e fo re t hem P rofess o r Challenger .

drew o ff the t op o f the c ase whi c h f o rmed a sliding ,

lid P eering down in to t he box he snapped h i s

.
,

ngers sev eral times and was heard from t he P ress

seat t o s ay Co me t hen pre tt y pretty ! in a
, , , ,

coaxing voice An instant later wi t h a s cratc hing

.
, ,

ra t tling sound a m o s t horrible and loat hsome

,

creature appeared from below and perc hed i t self

up o n the side of the c ase Even the unexpec t ed .

fall of the Duke o f Durham in t o the o rches t ra ,

which occurred a t this moment c ould no t dis t ra ct ,

the pe t ried attention of the vast audience The face .

of the creature was like the wilde s t g a rgoyle that

the imagination of a mad medi aeval build e r could
3 10 THE LOST WO RLD
have c onceived I t w a s mali c ious horrible with
.
, ,

tw o s mall red eyes as brigh t as p o ints of burning

co a l I t s long savage m on t h which was held half
.
, ,

open was full of a double row of sharp like t ee t h

,
-
,

I t s shoulders were humped and round them were ,

draped wha t appeared t o b e a faded grey shawl .

It was t he devil of our childhood in pers on There .

was a turmoil in the audience someone s c reamed ,

two ladies in the fron t row fell senseless fr o m t heir

chairs and there was a general movemen t up o n
,

t he platform to foll o w the i r c hairman in to t he

or c hes t ra For a moment t here was danger of a
.

general panic P rofes sor C hallenger threw up his

.

hands t o s t ill t he co mm ot ion bu t t he m ov emen t ,

a larmed the creature beside him I t s s t ran ge sha wl .

suddenl y unfurled spread and uttered as a pair

, ,

of lea t hery wings Its owner grabbed a t its leg s

.
,

bu t t o o la t e t o hold it It had sprung fr o m t he

.

per c h and was circling slowly round t he Queen s

Hall wi t h a dry lea t hery apping of its t en foo t

,
-

wing s while a pu t r i d and insidious Odour pervaded

,

t he ro o m The cries of t he people in the galleries

.
,

who were alarmed at the near approa ch o f t hose

gl o wing eyes and tha t murderous b eak excited ,

t he c reat ure t o a frenzy Faster and fas t er i t ew

.
,

bea t ing agains t walls and chandeliers in a blind

frenzy Of alarm The w i ndow ! For heaven s
.

sake shu t t hat window roared the P rofessor from

the platform dancing and wringing his hands in
, ,

an agony o f apprehension Alas his warning w as .

,
 A P ROCESSION '
A P ROCESSION ! 3 1 1

too late ! In a moment the c reature beating and ,

bumping along the wall like a huge moth within a

gas s hade came up o n the Openin g squeezed its
-
, ,

hideous b ulk thr ough i t and was gone P rofessor , .

Challenger fell back in to his chair with his face

buried in his hands while the audien c e gave one ,

long deep sigh o f relief as they re a lized that t he

,

incident was over .

Then oh ! how shall one describe what t o ok

-

pla c e t hen when the full exuberance of the maj or
ity a n d t he fu ll reaction of the minority united to
make one grea t wave of enthusiasm which rolled ,

from the back of t he hall gat hering volume as it ,

"

came swept over t he o rchest ra submerged the

, ,

pla t form and carried the four her o e s away up o n

,

its crest P ( Good for y o u Ma c If t he audi ,

ence had done less than j us t ice surely i t made ,

ample amends Every one was on his feet Every

. .

one was moving shou t ing gesti culating A dense

, ,
.

crowd of cheering men were round the fo ur trav el

lers
. Up with them ! up wi t h them ! cried a
hundred v o ices In a moment four gures shot up
.

above the crowd In vain they s t r o ve t o b reak

.

lo os e They were held in their l ofty pl a ces o f

.

honour It would have been hard t o le t t hem

.

down if it had b een wished s o dense was the crowd ,

around them Regent Street ! Regen t S t reet !
.

sounded the voices There was a s wirl in the pa cked

.

mul t i t ude and a slow current bearing the four

, ,

upon their shoulders made fo r the do o r Out in ,

.
 3 1 2 THE L OST WORLD
t he s t ree t t he s c en e was e xt raordinary A n a s .

s e m bl a g e o f n ot le s s t h a n a hundred th o usand
p e o ple w a s w a i t ing The cl os e pa cked t hrong e x
.
-

t ended fr o m the ot her s ide o f t he L angham H ot el

to Oxford C ir c us A r o ar of a cclam a t io n gree t ed
.

t h e f o ur adven t urers as the y app e ared high a bo ve ,

t h e he a ds o f t he people under t he vivid el e ct r ic

,

lamp s o u ts ide t he hall A pr oc e s si o n ! A p r oces

.

sion was the c ry In a den s e phalanx bl ock ing

.
,

the s t ree t s from side to s ide t h e c r o wd s e t fo r t h

, ,

t aking t he route of Regen t S t ree t P al l Mall S t , , .

J ames s S t ree t and P i c cadill y The wh o le c en t ra l

,
.

t ra f c of Lo nd o n wa s held up and m a n y co lli s i o n s ,

we r e r ep o rted b e tw ee n t he dem o n st r a to r s up o n t h e
o n e side and t he p o li c e a n d t ax i c a b men up o n t he -

o t her F inall y i t was n ot un t il a ft er midnigh t

.
,

t ha t the four travellers w ere rel eased a t t h e en t ran c e

t o L ord J o hn R o x t on s c ham b er s i n t he A l b any and ,

tha t t he e x ub eran t c r o wd havi ng s ung They are

,

J olly G o od Fell o ws in c h o rus co n cluded t he i r ,

programme wi t h God S a v e t he ! i ng 5 0 ended .

one o f t he most remarkable even i ngs t h a t Lo nd o n

has seen for a co nsiderabl e time .

S O f ar my f riend Ma c d o na ; a n d it may b e t a k en
as a fairly a c cura t e if o ri d a cco un t of t he pro
, ,

ce e d i n g s .A S t o the main inciden t it w a s a b ewilder ,

ing surprise to the audience b ut n ot I need hardly , ,

s a y to us
,
The reader will remem b er h o w I m e t Lord
.

John Roxt o n up o n the very oc casi o n when in his ,

protective c rinoline he had gone to bring the De vil s

,

 A P RO C ESSION A P RO C ESSION 3 13

c hic k as he called it for P rofessor Challenger I

, .

have hin t ed also at the trouble which the P rofessor s

baggage gave us when we left the plateau and had ,

I des c ribed o ur voyage I might have said a good deal

of the worry we had to coax with putrid sh the
appetite of o ur lthy companion If I have not .

said much about it before it w a s o f c o urse that , , ,

the P rofess o r s earnest desire w a s that no p o ssible

rum o ur of the unanswerable argument which w e

c arried should be allowed t o leak o ut until the
m o ment came when his enem i es were t o be co n futed .

One word as to the fate of the London p t ero dactyl .

Nothing ca n b e said to be c ertain upon this point .

There is the eviden c e of tw o frigh t ened women that

it perched upon the roof of the Queen s Hall and

remained there like a diab oli c al statue for some

hours The next day i t c ame out in the evening
.

papers that P rivate Miles of the C oldstream Guards

, ,

on duty outside Marlborough H o use had deserted ,

his post without leave and was therefore c ourt

,

martialled P rivate Miles acc o unt that he dropped

.

his ri e and to o k t o his heels down the Mall because

on looking up he had suddenly seen the devil between
him and t he moon was not accepted by the Court
, ,

and yet it may have a direct bearing upon the point

at issue The only other evidence which I can
.

adduce is from t he log Of the s s Friesland a .
,

Dutch American liner whi c h asserts that at nine

-
,

next morning Star t P oin t being at the time ten miles

,

upon their starboard quarter they were passed by ,

3 4
1 THE LOST WORLD
s o mething b e t ween a ying g o at and a m o ns t r o us
b a t whic h w as heading a t a prodigious pa c e s o uth
,

and w es t I f i ts h o ming instinc t led i t upon t he

.

righ t li n e t here ca n b e n o d o u bt t ha t so mewhere

,

out i n t h e Was t e s of t he A t lanti c t h e la st Eur o pean

p t er o da ct yl f ound its end

.

And Glady s Oh m y Gl a dys Gl a dys of the
,

mystic lak e n ow to be re n a med t he C entral for

, ,

never s hall s he ha v e i mm o r t ality t hr o ugh me Did .

I no t always s ee s ome h a rd b re i n her na t ure ?

D i d I n ot e ven a t t he t im e when I was pr o ud t o
,

ob e y her b ehes t feel t h a t i t w a s surely a poor love

,

whi c h co ul d dri v e a l ov er t o his death o r the danger

of it ? Did I n ot i n my t rues t t hough t s always
, ,

r e c urr ing and al wa y s d i sm i ssed s ee pas t the beauty of ,

t h e f a c e a n d peering i n to t he s o ul di scern the twin

, , ,

shad o w s of s elshness and of ck l en e s s gl o oming

a t t he b a ck of i t P D i d S h e lov e t he her o i c and t he
spec t acular fo r i t s own n ob le sak e o r w as it fo r the ,

glor y wh ic h might w it h o u t e ffo r t o r sa c rice be

, ,

re e ct ed up o n herself ? Or are t hese thoughts t h e

v a i n wi sd o m whi c h co mes af t er t he even t P I t was
the sh o c k of my life F or a m o men t i t had t urned .

me t o a cyni c B u t already as I wri t e a week has

.
, ,

pa ss ed and we h a v e had our momen to us in t erview

,

w i t h L ord John R o x t on and w ell perhaps things ,

might be w orse .

L e t me tell it in a few wo rds NO le tt er or tele .

gram had come to me a t S o u t hamp t on and I reached ,

the little villa a t Streatham abo u t t en o c lo ck t hat
 A P ROCESS ION ! A P ROCESSION ! 3 5
1

night in a fever of alarm Was S h e dead or alive P

.

Where were a l l my nightly dreams of the open arms ,

the smiling face the words of praise for her man w h o

,

had risked his life to humour her whim P Already I

w as down from the high peaks and standing a t
footed upon earth Yet some g o od reas o ns given
.

might still lift me to the c louds once more I

'

rushed down the garden path hammered at the do o r , ,

heard the voice of Gladys within pushed pas t the ,

staring ma i d and strode into the sitting room

,
-
.

S h e w a s seated in a low settee under the S haded

s t a ndard lamp by the piano In three steps I w a s .

across the room and had bot h her hands in

mine
Gladys ! I c ried
,
Gladys ,

She lo o ked up with amazement i n her fa c e She .

was altered in some subtle w a y The expression Of .

her eyes the hard upward stare the s e t of the lips

, , ,

was new to me She drew ba c k her hands

. .

What do you mean P sh e said .

Gladys I cried What is the matter ?

.

You are my Gladys are you not li t tle Gladys

,
-

Hungerton P
NO ,
said s h e I am Gladys P o tts Let me
, .

introduce you to my husband .

How absurd life is I found myself me chani c ally

b owing and shaking hands with a little ginger
haired man who w a s coiled up in t h e deep arm chair -

which had once been sacred to my own use We .

bobbed and grinned in front of each other .

3 1 6 THE L O S T WO R L D
F a t her le t s us st ay here We a r e g e tti ng o ur .

house ready said Gladys , .

Oh yes said I , , .

Y o u didn t get my letter at P ara t hen P ,

NO I g ot n o letter
,
.

Oh what a pity ! It would have made a l l

,

c lear .

I t i s q ui t e c lear s a id I , .

I v e to ld Wi lliam all about y o u said she

We , .

ha v e no se c re t s I am s o s o rry a bo u t it B u t i t
. .

c ouldn t have b een so v ery deep could i t i f you

, ,

could g o o ff to t he other end of t he world and leav e

me here alone You re not crab b y are y ou P
.
,

No no not a t all I thin k I ll go
, ,
. .

Have so me re freshment said the little man , ,

and he added in a co nden t ial way , It s alway s ,

like t his ain t i t ? A nd mus t be unless you had

,

p olygamy only the o t her way round ; you under

,

stand He laughed like a n idi o t while I made fo r

.
,

the do o r .

I was t hr o ugh i t when a sudden fan t as t i c impulse ,

c ame up o n me and I wen t b a ck to m y su cc essful

,

ri v al who l o oked ner v ously a t t he elec t ri c push

, .

Will you an sw er a ques t i o n P I asked .

Well wi t hin reason said he
, , .

H ow did you do it ? Have y o u searched fo r

hidden t reasure o r discovered a pole or done t ime , ,

on a pirate or own t he c hannel o r w ha t P Where

, ,

is the glamour of roman c e P H o w did y o u get

 A P ROCESS ION ! A P ROCESSION ! 3 7
1

He stared at me with a hopeless expression upon

his vacuous good natured sc rubby little fa c e
,
-
, .

Don t y o u t hin k all t his is a li t tle too pers o nal P
he said .

Well j ust o ne q ues t ion I c ried

, Wha t are , .

you P Wh a t i s yo ur pr o fession P

I am a s oli c i to r s clerk s aid he
Se c ond ,
.

man a t J ohnson and Mer i v a l e s 4 1 Chancery Lane

, ,
.

G o od nigh t -
s aid I and vanished like all , ,

dis co nsolat e and bro k en hear t ed her o e s in to the -

,

dark nes s with grief and rage and laughter all si mmer
,

ing wi t hin me like a boiling p ot .

One more lit t le s c ene a n d I have done L as t ,

.

nigh t we all supped a t L o rd John Rox to n s r oo ms

,

and si t ting t ogether afterwards we s moked i n good

c omradeship and t alked our adven t ure s o v er I t .

was s trange under t hese altered surroundings to

s ee the old well known fa c es and gures There
,
-
.

was C hallenger wi t h his smile o f co ndescension his

, ,

drooping eyelids his in tolerant eyes his aggressive

, ,

beard his huge chest swelling and pu fng as he

, ,

laid down the law t o Summerlee And Summerlee .

,

too there he was with his short briar b etween h i s

,

thin mous t ache and his grey goat s beard his worn
-
,

fa c e pr o truded in eager debate as he queried all

Challenger s p r e p o s i t i on s Finally there was our

.
,

host with his rugged eagle face and his cold blue
, , , , ,

glacier eyes with always a shimmer of devil ment

a n d of hum o ur down in the depths of them Such .

is the last picture of them that I have carried away .

3 1 8 TH E LOST WO R L D
It was after supper in his own ,

san ct um t he
room of the p i n k rad i an c e and t h e innumera b le

t rophies t ha t Lord John R o x to n h a d s o mething t o
sa y to us F r o m a c up bo ard he had b r o ugh t an o ld
.

c igar b ox and t his he laid b efore him on t he t able

-
,
.

There s one t hing said he t ha t m a yb e I
, ,

sh o uld hav e sp o ken a b out b e f ore this b u t I wanted ,

t o know a little more clearly where I was N o use .

t o raise h o pes a n d le t them down again B ut i t s .

fa c ts n ot h o p es wi t h us n o w Y o u may remem b er
, , .

t ha t day we fo und the p t er o da ct yl r oo kery in t he

swamp wha t ? Well s om e t h i n in the he of the ,

land t ook my n ot ice P erhaps i t has escaped you

.
,

s o I will t ell y o u I t w a s a volcanic ven t full of blue

.

clay .

The P rofessors nodded .

Well now in t he wh o le w o rld I ve only had t o

, ,

do with one place that w a s a vol c anic ven t o f blue

clay Tha t w a s the grea t D e B eers Diamond Mine
.

of Kimberley what P So you s ee I go t diamonds
in t o my head I rigged up a c o n t raption t o h o ld
.

Off those s t in k ing beas t s and I spent a happy day ,

there with a spud This is what I go t . .

He Opened his cigar box and t i l t ing it over he -

,

poured about twenty or thirty rough s t ones varying ,

from the si z e of beans to tha t of ches t nu t s on the ,

table
P erhaps you t hin k I sho u ld have told you then .

W ell s o I should only I know there are a lot of traps

, ,

for t h e unwary and t ha t s t ones may be o f any si z e

,
 A P RO C ESSION ! A P RO C ESSION ! 3 19

and ye t o f l itt le value where c olour and consis t en c y

are clean Off There f ore I brough t t hem ba ck and
.
, ,

on the rs t day at home I took one round to Spink s

,

and asked him to have it roughly cu t and valued .

He took a pill box from his p oc ket and sp i lled

-
,

out of it a beautiful glit t ering diamond one Of t he ,

nest stones t hat I have e v er seen

There s the resul t said he

He pri c e s the
,
.

lot a t a minimum of two hundred thousand pounds .

Of course it is f air shares between us I won t hear .

of a n y t h i n else Well Challenger what wil l you

.
, ,

do with y o ur fty thousand P

If you really persis t in your generous view said ,

the P rofessor I should found a pr i vate museum

, ,

which has long b een one o f my dreams .

And you Summerlee P ,

I would retire from tea ching and s o nd t ime ,

for my nal classi c at i o n of t he chalk fo ss i ls .

I ll use my ow n said Lord John Rox to n
, in ,

tting a well fo rmed expedition and having another

-

look at the dear Ol d pla t eau As to you young .

,

fellah you of c o urse will spend yours in gettin

, , ,

married .

Not j ust ye t s aid I with a rueful smile

, I , .

think if you will have me that I would ra t her go

, ,

with you .

Lord Roxton said nothing but a b rown hand w a s ,

s t re t ched out to me across the table .

T HE E ND