have been the thought of such a father-in-
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
views upon bimetallism, a subject upon
which he was by way 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 were called up
simultaneously, and immediate payment
insisted upon,--what under our present
conditions would happen then?"

I gave the self-evident answer that I should
be a ruined man, upon which he jumped
from his chair, reproved me for my habitual
levity, which made it impossible for him to
discuss any reasonable subject 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 who awaits the
signal which will send him on a forlorn hope;
hope of victory and fear of repulse
alternating in his mind.

-1-

I drew my chair a little nearer. "Now, how did
you know that I was going to propose?" I
asked in genuine wonder.

"Don't women always know? Do you
suppose any woman in the world was ever
taken unawares? But--oh, Ned, our
friendship has been so 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 face as we have talked?"

"I don't know, Gladys. You see, I can talk
face to face with with the station-master." I
can't imagine how that official came into the
matter; but in he trotted, and set us both
laughing. "That does 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, as she saw
signs that I proposed to demonstrate some
of my wants. "You've spoiled everything,
Ned," she said. "It's all so beautiful and
natural until this kind of thing comes in! It is
such a pity! Why can't you control yourself?"

"I didn't invent it," I pleaded. "It's nature. It's
love."

"Well, perhaps if both love, it may be
different. I have never felt it."

"But you must--you, with your beauty, with
your soul! Oh, Gladys, you were made for
love! You must love!"

"One must wait till it comes."

"But why can't you love me, Gladys? Is it my
appearance, or what?"

She did unbend a little. She put forward a
hand--such a gracious, stooping attitude it

-2-

She laughed at the elasticity of my
character. "Well, in the first place, I don't
think my ideal would speak like that," said
she. "He would be a harder, sterner man,
not so ready to adapt himself to a silly girl's
whim. But, above all, he must be a man who
could do, who could act, who could look
Death in the face and have no fear of him, a
man of great deeds and strange
experiences. It is never a man that I should
love, but always the glories he had won; for
they would be reflected upon me. Think of
Richard Burton! When I read his wife's life of
him I could so understand her love! And
Lady Stanley! Did you ever read the
wonderful last chapter of that book about
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, honored by all the world
as the inspirer of noble deeds."

She looked so beautiful in her enthusiasm
that I nearly brought down the whole level of
the interview. I gripped myself hard, and
went on with the argument.

"We can't all be Stanleys and Burtons," said
I; "besides, we don't get the chance,--at
least, I never had the chance. If I did, I should
try 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 them, and for women to reserve their
love as a reward for such men. Look at that
young Frenchman who went up last week in
a balloon. It was blowing a gale of wind; but
because he was announced to go he
insisted on starting. The wind blew him
fifteen hundred miles in twenty-four hours,
and he fell in the middle of Russia. That was

-3-

Look at Clive--just a clerk, and he
conquered India! By George! I'll do
something in the world yet!"

She laughed at my sudden Irish
effervescence. "Why not?" she said. "You
have everything a man could have,--youth,
health, strength, education, energy. I was
sorry you spoke. And now I am glad--so
glad--if it wakens these thoughts in you!"

"And if I do----"

Her dear hand rested like warm velvet upon
my lips. "Not another word, Sir! You should
have been at the office for evening duty half
an hour ago; only I hadn't the heart to remind
you. Some day, perhaps, when you have
won your place in the world, we shall talk it
over again."

And so it was that I found myself that foggy
November evening pursuing the
Camberwell tram with my heart glowing
within me, and with the eager determination
that not another day should elapse before I
should find some deed which was worthy of
my lady. But who--who in all this wide world
could ever have imagined the incredible
shape which that deed was to take, or the
strange steps by which I was led to the
doing of it?

And, after all, this opening chapter will
seem to the reader to have nothing to do
with my narrative; and yet there would have
been no narrative without it, for it is only
when a man goes out into the world with the
thought that there are heroisms all round
him, and with the desire all alive in his heart
to follow any which may come within sight of
him, that he breaks away as I did from the
life he knows, and ventures forth into the
wonderful mystic twilight land where lie the
great adventures and the great rewards.
Behold me, then, at the office of the Daily

-4-

"Do you think, Sir, 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 copy."

"What sort of meesion had you in your mind,
Mr. Malone?"

"Well, Sir, anything that had adventure and
danger in it. I really would do my very best.
The more difficult it was, the better it would
suit me."

"You seem very anxious to lose your life."

"To justify my life, Sir."

"Dear me, Mr. Malone, this is very--very
exalted. I'm afraid the day for this sort of
thing is rather past. The expense of the
`special meesion' business hardly justifies
the result, and, of course, in any case it
would only be an experienced man with a
name that would command public
confidence who would get such an order.
The big blank spaces in the map are all
being filled in, and there's no room for
romance anywhere. Wait a bit, though!" he
added, with a sudden smile upon his face.
"Talking of the blank spaces of the map
gives me an idea. What about exposing a
fraud--a modern Munchausen--and
making him rideeculous? You could show
him up as the liar that he is! Eh, man, it
would be fine. How does it appeal to you?"

"Anything--anywhere--I care nothing."

McArdle was plunged in thought for some
minutes.

"I wonder whether you could get on friendly-
-or at least on talking terms with the fellow,"
he said, at last. "You seem to have a sort of
genius for establishing relations with
people--seempathy, I suppose, or animal

-5-

Comparative Anthropology Department,
1893. Resigned after acrimonious
correspondence same year. Winner of
Crayston Medal for Zoological Research.
Foreign Member of'--well, quite a lot of
things, about two inches of small type--
`Societe Belge, American Academy of
Sciences, La Plata, etc., etc. Ex-President
Palaeontological Society. Section H, British
Association'--so on, so on!--
`Publications: "Some Observations Upon a
Series of Kalmuck Skulls"; "Outlines of
Vertebrate Evolution"; and numerous
papers, including "The underlying fallacy of
Weissmannism," which caused heated
discussion at the Zoological Congress of
Vienna. Recreations: Walking, Alpine
climbing. Address: Enmore Park,
Kensington, W.'

"There, take it with you. I've nothing more for
you to-night."

I pocketed the slip of paper.

"One moment, sir," I said, as I realized that it
was a pink bald head, and not a red face,
which was fronting me. "I am not very clear
yet why I am to interview this gentleman.
What has he done?"

The face flashed back again.

"Went to South America on a solitary
expedeetion two years ago. Came back
last year. Had undoubtedly been to South
America, but refused to say exactly where.
Began to tell his adventures in a vague way,
but somebody started to pick holes, and he
just shut up like an oyster. Something
wonderful happened--or the man's a
champion liar, which is the more probable
supposeetion. Had some damaged
photographs, said to be fakes. Got so
touchy that he assaults anyone who asks
questions, and heaves reporters doun the

-6-

man who came with some cock-and-bull
story from South America."

"What story?"

"Oh, it was rank nonsense about some
queer animals he had discovered. I believe
he has retracted since. Anyhow, he has
suppressed it all. He gave an interview to
Reuter's, and there was such a howl that he
saw it wouldn't do. It was a discreditable
business. There were one or two folk who
were inclined to take him seriously, but he
soon choked them off."

"How?"

"Well, by his insufferable rudeness and
impossible behavior. There was poor old
Wadley, of the Zoological Institute. Wadley
sent a message: `The President of the
Zoological Institute presents his
compliments to Professor Challenger, and
would take it as a personal favor if he would
do them the honor to come to their next
meeting.' The answer was unprintable."

"You don't say?"

"Well, a bowdlerized version of it would run:
`Professor Challenger presents his
compliments to the President of the
Zoological Institute, and would take it as a
personal favor if he would go to the devil.'"

"Good Lord!"

"Yes, I expect that's what old Wadley said. I
remember his wail at the meeting, which
began: `In fifty years experience of
scientific intercourse----' It quite broke the
old man up."

"Anything more about Challenger?"

"Well, I'm a bacteriologist, you know. I live in

-7-

handled his subject in a very aggressive
fashion, and had thoroughly annoyed his
Continental colleagues. "Protests,"
"Uproar," and "General appeal to the
Chairman" were three of the first brackets
which caught my eye. Most of the matter
might have been written in Chinese for any
definite meaning that 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 is certainly rather deep for a layman."

"If I could only get a single good, meaty
sentence which seemed to convey some
sort of definite human idea, it would serve
my turn. Ah, yes, this one will do. I seem in a
vague way almost to understand it. I'll copy it
out. This shall be my link with the terrible
Professor."

"Nothing else I can do?"

"Well, yes; I propose to write to him. If I could
frame the letter here, and use your address
it would give atmosphere."

"We'll have the fellow round here making a
row and breaking the furniture."

"No, no; you'll see the letter--nothing
contentious, I assure you."

"Well, that's my chair and desk. You'll find
paper there. I'd like to censor it before it
goes."

It took some doing, but I flatter myself that it
wasn't such a bad job when it was finished.
I read it aloud to the critical bacteriologist

-8-

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--if he ever deigns
to answer you. He is a violent, dangerous,
cantankerous character, hated by everyone
who comes across him, and the butt of the
students, so far as they dare take a liberty
with him. Perhaps it would be best for you if
you never heard from the fellow at all."

Chapter 3 He Is A Perfectly Impossible
Person

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 handwriting which
looked like a barbed-wire railing. The
contents were as follows:

"ENMORE PARK, 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 endorsement either from
you or anyone else. You have ventured to
use the word `speculation' with regard to
my statement upon the subject of
Darwinism, and I would call your attention to
the fact that such a word in such a
connection is offensive to a degree. The
context convinces me, however, that you
have sinned rather through ignorance and
tactlessness than through malice, so I am
content to pass the matter by. You quote an
isolated sentence from my lecture, and
appear to have some difficulty in
understanding it. I should have thought that

-9-

I produced the envelope.

"Right!" He seemed to be a person of few
words. Following 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
French than English in her type.

"One moment," she said. "You can wait,
Austin. Step in here, sir. May I ask if you
have met my husband before?"

"No, madam, I have not had the honor."

"Then I apologize to you in advance. I must
tell you that he is a perfectly impossible
person--absolutely 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
inclined to be violent. Don't wait to argue
with him. Several people have been injured
through doing that. Afterwards there is a
public scandal and it reflects upon me and
all of us. I suppose it wasn't about South
America you wanted to see him?"

I could not lie to a lady.

"Dear me! That is his most dangerous
subject. You won't believe a word he says--
I'm sure I don't wonder. But don't tell him so,
for it makes him very violent. Pretend to
believe him, and you may get through all
right. Remember he believes it himself. Of
that you may be assured. A more honest
man never lived. Don't wait any longer or he
may suspect. If you find him dangerous--
really dangerous--ring the bell and hold him
off until I come. Even at his worst I can
usually control him."

-10-

"You were good enough to give me an
appointment, sir," said I, humbly, producing
his envelope.

He took my letter from his desk and laid it
out before him.

"Oh, you are the young person who cannot
understand plain English, are you? My
general conclusions you are good enough
to approve, as I understand?"

"Entirely, sir--entirely!" I was very emphatic.

"Dear me! That strengthens my position
very much, does it not? Your age and
appearance make your support doubly
valuable. Well, at least you are better than
that herd of swine in Vienna, whose
gregarious grunt is, however, not more
offensive than the isolated effort of the
British hog." He glared at me as the present
representative of the beast.

"They seem to have behaved abominably,"
said I.

"I assure you that I can fight my own battles,
and that I have no possible need of your
sympathy. Put me alone, sir, and with my
back to the wall. G. E. C. is happiest then.
Well, sir, let us do what we can to curtail this
visit, which can hardly be agreeable to you,
and is inexpressibly irksome to me. You
had, as I have been led to believe, some
comments to make upon the proposition
which I advanced in my thesis."

There was a brutal directness about his
methods which made evasion difficult. I
must still make play and wait for a better
opening. It had seemed simple enough at a
distance. Oh, my Irish wits, could they not
help me now, when I needed help so
sorely? He transfixed me with two sharp,
steely eyes. "Come, come!" he rumbled.

-11-

"It proves," he roared, with a sudden blast of
fury, "that you are the damnedest imposter
in London--a vile, crawling journalist, who
has no more science than he has decency in
his composition!"

He had sprung to his feet with a mad rage in
his eyes. Even at that moment of tension I
found time for amazement at the discovery
that he was quite a short man, his head not
higher than my shoulder--a stunted
Hercules whose tremendous vitality had all
run to depth, breadth, and brain.

"Gibberish!" he cried, leaning forward, with
his fingers on the table and his face
projecting. "That's what I have been talking
to you, sir--scientific gibberish! Did you
think you could match cunning with me--you
with your walnut of a brain? You think you
are omnipotent, you infernal scribblers,
don't you? That your praise can make a
man and your blame can break him? We
must all bow to you, and try to get a
favorable word, must we? This man shall
have a leg up, and this man shall have a
dressing down! Creeping vermin, I know
you! You've got out of your station. Time
was when your ears were clipped. You've
lost your sense of proportion. Swollen gas-
bags! I'll keep you in your proper place. Yes,
sir, you haven't got over G. E. C. There's
one man who is still your master. He warned
you off, but if you WILL come, by the Lord
you do it at your own risk. Forfeit, my good
Mr. Malone, I claim forfeit! You have played
a rather dangerous game, and it strikes me
that you have lost it."

"Look here, sir," said I, backing to the door
and opening it; "you can be as abusive as
you like. But there is a limit. You shall not
assault me."

"Shall I not?" He was slowly advancing in a
peculiarly menacing way, but he stopped

-12-

of the kind at the halls, but it appears to take
some practise to do it without hurting
oneself. The chair went to matchwood at the
bottom, and we rolled apart into the gutter.
He sprang to his feet, waving his fists and
wheezing like an asthmatic.

"Had enough?" he panted.

"You infernal bully!" I cried, as I gathered
myself together.

Then and there we should have tried the
thing out, for he was effervescing with fight,
but fortunately I was rescued from an odious
situation. A policeman was beside us, his
notebook in his hand.

"What's all this? You ought to be ashamed"
said the policeman. It was the most rational
remark which I had heard in Enmore Park.
"Well," he insisted, turning to me, "what is it,
then?"

"This man attacked me," said I.

"Did you attack him?" asked the policeman.

The Professor breathed hard and said
nothing.

"It's not the first time, either," said the
policeman, severely, shaking his head.
"You were in trouble last month for the same
thing. You've blackened this young man's
eye. Do you give him in charge, sir?"

I relented.

"No," said I, "I do not."

"What's that?" said the policeman.

"I was to blame myself. I intruded upon him.
He gave me fair warning."

-13-

other. Everyone hating and making fun of
you. You've finished my patience. This ends
it."

"Dirty linen," he rumbled.

"It's not a secret," she cried. "Do you
suppose that the whole street--the whole of
London, for that matter Get away, Austin,
we don't want you here. Do you suppose
they don't all talk about you? Where is your
dignity? You, a man who should have been
Regius Professor at a great University with
a thousand students all revering you. Where
is your dignity, George?"

"How about yours, my dear?"

"You try me too much. A ruffian--a common
brawling ruffian that's what you have
become."

"Be good, Jessie."

"A roaring, raging bully!"

"That's done it! Stool of penance!" said he.

To my amazement he stooped, picked her
up, and placed her sitting upon a high
pedestal of black marble in the angle of the
hall. It was at least seven feet high, and so
thin that she could hardly balance upon it. A
more absurd object than she presented
cocked up there with her face convulsed
with anger, her feet dangling, and her body
rigid for fear of an upset, I could not
imagine.

"Let me down!" she wailed.

"Say `please.'"

"You brute, George! Let me down this
instant!"

-14-

We re-entered the room which we had left
so tumultuously ten minutes before. The
Professor closed the door carefully behind
us, motioned me into an arm-chair, and
pushed a cigar-box under my nose.

"Real San Juan Colorado," he said.
"Excitable people like you are the better for
narcotics. Heavens! don't bite it! Cut--and
cut with reverence! Now lean back, and
listen attentively to whatever I may care to
say to you. If any remark should occur to
you, you can reserve it for some more
opportune time.

"First of all, as to your return to my house
after your most justifiable expulsion"--he
protruded his beard, and stared at me as
one who challenges and invites
contradiction--"after, as I say, your well-
merited expulsion. The reason lay in your
answer to that most officious policeman, in
which I seemed to discern some
glimmering of good feeling upon your part--
more, at any rate, than I am accustomed to
associate with your profession. In admitting
that the fault of the incident lay with you, you
gave some evidence of a certain mental
detachment and breadth of view which
attracted my favorable notice. The sub-
species of the human race to which you
unfortunately belong has always been
below my mental horizon. Your words
brought you suddenly above it. You swam
up into my serious notice. For this reason I
asked you to return with me, as I was
minded to make your further acquaintance.
You will kindly deposit your ash in the small
Japanese tray on the bamboo table which
stands at your left elbow."

All this he boomed forth like a professor
addressing his class. He had swung round
his revolving chair so as to face me, and he
sat all puffed out like an enormous bull-frog,
his head laid back and his eyes half-

-15-

He seemed more interested than annoyed
at my outbreak.

"Round-headed," he muttered.
"Brachycephalic, gray-eyed, black-haired,
with suggestion of the negroid. Celtic, I
presume?"

"I am an Irishman, sir."

"Irish Irish?"

"Yes, sir."

"That, of course, explains it. Let me see;
you have given me your promise that my
confidence will be respected? That
confidence, I may say, will be far from
complete. But I am prepared to give you a
few indications which will be of interest. In
the first place, you are probably aware that
two years ago I made a journey to South
America--one which will be classical in the
scientific history of the world? The object of
my journey was to verify some conclusions
of Wallace and of Bates, which could only
be done by observing their reported facts
under the same conditions in which they had
themselves noted them. If my expedition
had no other results it would still have been
noteworthy, but a curious incident occurred
to me while there which opened up an
entirely 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 the Amazon is
still only partially explored, and that a great
number of tributaries, some of them entirely
uncharted, run into the main river. It was my
business to visit this little-known back-
country and to examine its fauna, which
furnished me with the materials for several
chapters for that great and monumental
work upon zoology which will be my life's
justification. I was returning, my work

-16-

pictures of river scenery, a paint-box, a box
of colored chalks, some brushes, that
curved bone which lies upon my inkstand, a
volume of Baxter's `Moths and Butterflies,'
a cheap revolver, and a few cartridges. Of
personal equipment he either had none or
he had lost it in his journey. Such were the
total effects of this strange American
Bohemian.

"I was turning away from him when I
observed that something projected from
the front of his ragged jacket. It was this
sketch-book, which was as dilapidated
then as you see it now. Indeed, I can assure
you that a first folio of Shakespeare could
not be treated with greater reverence than
this relic has been since it came into my
possession. I hand it to you now, and I ask
you to take it page by page and to examine
the contents."

He helped himself to a cigar and leaned
back with a fiercely critical pair of eyes,
taking note of the effect which this
document would produce.

I had opened the volume with some
expectation of a revelation, though of what
nature I could not imagine. The first page
was disappointing, however, as it
contained nothing but the picture of a very
fat man in a pea-jacket, with the legend,
"Jimmy Colver on the Mail-boat," written
beneath it. There followed several pages
which were filled with small sketches of
Indians and their ways. Then came a picture
of a cheerful and corpulent ecclesiastic in a
shovel hat, sitting opposite a very thin
European, and the inscription: "Lunch with
Fra Cristofero at Rosario." Studies of
women and babies accounted for several
more pages, and then there was an
unbroken series of animal drawings with
such explanations as "Manatee upon
Sandbank," "Turtles and Their Eggs,"

-17-

dreamed of such a possibility. Now the
next."

I turned it over, and gave an exclamation of
surprise. There was a full-page picture of
the most extraordinary creature that I had
ever seen. It was the wild dream of an
opium smoker, a vision of delirium. The
head was like that of a fowl, the body that of
a bloated lizard, the trailing tail was
furnished with upward turned spikes, and
the curved back was edged with a high
serrated fringe, which looked like a dozen
cocks' wattles placed behind each other. In
front of this creature was an absurd
mannikin, or dwarf, in human form, who
stood staring at it.

"Well, what do you think of that?" cried the
Professor, rubbing his hands with an air of
triumph.

"It is monstrous--grotesque."

"But what made him draw such an animal?"

"Trade gin, I should think."

"Oh, that's the best explanation you can
give, is it?"

"Well, sir, what is yours?"

"The obvious one that the creature exists.
That is actually sketched from the life."

I should have laughed only that I had a vision
of our doing another Catharine-wheel down
the passage.

"No doubt," said I, "no doubt," as one
humors an imbecile. "I confess, however," I
added, "that this tiny human figure puzzles
me. If it were an Indian we could set it down
as evidence of some pigmy race in
America, but it appears to be a European in

-18-

a freakish imagination. You can't, as a man
of science, defend such a position as that."

For answer the Professor took a book
down from a shelf.

"This is an excellent monograph by my
gifted friend, Ray Lankester!" said he.
"There is an illustration here which would
interest you. Ah, yes, here it is! The
inscription beneath it runs: `Probable
appearance in life of the Jurassic Dinosaur
Stegosaurus. The hind leg alone is twice as
tall as a full-grown man.' Well, what do you
make of that?"

He handed me the open book. I started as I
looked at the picture. In this reconstructed
animal of a dead world there was certainly a
very great resemblance to the sketch of the
unknown artist.

"That is certainly remarkable," said I.

"But you won't admit that it is final?"

"Surely it might be a coincidence, or this
American may have seen a picture of the
kind and carried it in his memory. It would be
likely to recur to a man in a delirium."

"Very good," said the Professor,
indulgently; "we leave it at that. I will now ask
you to look at this bone." He handed over the
one which he had already described as part
of the dead man's possessions. It was
about six inches long, and thicker than my
thumb, with some indications of dried
cartilage at one end of it.

"To what known creature does that bone
belong?" asked the Professor.

I examined it with care and tried to recall
some half forgotten knowledge.

-19-

are still unconvinced?"

"I am at least deeply interested."

"Then your case is not hopeless. I feel that
there is reason lurking in you somewhere,
so we will patiently grope round for it. We will
now leave the dead American and proceed
with my narrative. You can imagine that I
could hardly come away from the Amazon
without probing deeper into the matter.
There were indications as to the direction
from which the dead traveler had come.
Indian legends would alone have been my
guide, for I found that rumors of a strange
land were common among all the riverine
tribes. You have heard, no doubt, of
Curupuri?"

"Never."

"Curupuri is the spirit of the woods,
something terrible, something malevolent,
something to be avoided. None can
describe its shape or nature, but it is a word
of terror along the Amazon. Now all tribes
agree as to the direction in which Curupuri
lives. It was the same direction from which
the American had come. Something terrible
lay that way. It was my business to find out
what it was."

"What did you do?" My flippancy was all
gone. This massive man compelled one's
attention and respect.

"I overcame the extreme reluctance of the
natives--a reluctance which extends even
to talk upon the subject--and by judicious
persuasion and gifts, aided, I will admit, by
some threats of coercion, I got two of them
to act as guides. After many adventures
which I need not describe, and after
traveling a distance which I will not mention,
in a direction which I withhold, we came at
last to a tract of country which has never

-20-

please look at the top of that rocky
pinnacle? Do you observe something
there?"

"An enormous tree."

"But on the tree?"

"A large bird," said I.

He handed me a lens.

"Yes," I said, peering through it, "a large bird
stands on the tree. It appears to have a
considerable beak. I should say it was a
pelican."

"I cannot congratulate you upon your
eyesight," said the Professor. "It is not a
pelican, nor, indeed, is it a bird. It may
interest you to know that I succeeded in
shooting that particular specimen. It was the
only absolute proof of my experiences
which I was able to bring away with me."

"You have it, then?" Here at last was
tangible corroboration.

"I had it. It was unfortunately lost with so
much else in the same boat accident which
ruined my photographs. I clutched at it as it
disappeared in the swirl of the rapids, and
part of its wing was left in my hand. I was
insensible when washed ashore, but the
miserable remnant of my superb specimen
was still intact; I now lay it before you."

From a drawer he produced what seemed
to me to be the upper portion of the wing of
a large bat. It was at least two feet in length,
a curved bone, with a membranous veil
beneath it.

"A monstrous bat!" I suggested.

"Nothing of the sort," said the Professor,

-21-

enthusiasm that was roused. "It is colossal.
You are a Columbus of science who has
discovered a lost world. I'm awfully sorry if I
seemed to doubt you. It was all so
unthinkable. But I understand evidence
when I see it, and this should be good
enough for anyone."

The Professor purred with satisfaction.

"And then, sir, what did you do next?"

"It was the wet season, Mr. Malone, and my
stores were exhausted. I explored some
portion of this huge cliff, but I was unable to
find any way to scale it. The pyramidal rock
upon which I saw and shot the pterodactyl
was more accessible. Being something of
a cragsman, I did manage to get half way to
the top of that. From that height I had a
better idea of the plateau upon the top of the
crags. It appeared to be very large; neither
to east nor to west could I see any end to the
vista of green-capped cliffs. Below, it is a
swampy, jungly region, full of snakes,
insects, and fever. It is a natural protection
to this singular country."

"Did you see any other trace of life?"

"No, sir, I did not; but during the week that
we lay encamped at the base of the cliff we
heard some very strange noises from
above."

"But the creature that the American drew?
How do you account for that?"

"We can only suppose that he must have
made his way to the summit and seen it
there. We know, therefore, that there is a
way up. We know equally that it must be a
very difficult one, otherwise the creatures
would have come down and overrun the
surrounding country. Surely that is clear?"

-22-

provocation I am inclined to be violent. I fear
you may have remarked it."

I nursed my eye and was silent.

"My wife has frequently remonstrated with
me upon the subject, and yet I fancy that any
man of honor would feel the same. To-
night, however, I propose to give an
extreme example of the control of the will
over the emotions. I invite you to be present
at the exhibition." He handed me a card
from his desk. "You will perceive that Mr.
Percival Waldron, a naturalist of some
popular repute, is announced to lecture at
eight-thirty at the Zoological Institute's Hall
upon `The Record of the Ages.' I have been
specially invited to be present upon the
platform, and to move a vote of thanks to the
lecturer. While doing so, I shall make it my
business, with infinite tact and delicacy, to
throw out a few remarks which may arouse
the interest of the audience and cause
some of them to desire to go more deeply
into the matter. Nothing contentious, you
understand, but only an indication that there
are greater deeps beyond. I shall hold
myself strongly in leash, and see whether by
this self-restraint I attain a more favorable
result."

"And I may come?" I asked eagerly.

"Why, surely," he answered, cordially. He
had an enormously massive genial manner,
which was almost as overpowering as his
violence. His smile of benevolence was a
wonderful thing, when his cheeks would
suddenly bunch into two red apples,
between his half-closed eyes and his great
black beard. "By all means, come. It will be
a comfort to me to know that I have one ally
in the hall, however inefficient and ignorant
of the subject he may be. I fancy there will
be a large audience, for Waldron, though an
absolute charlatan, has a considerable

-23-

"What a man it is! What did you do?"

"Well, he became more reasonable and we
had a chat. But I got nothing out of him--
nothing for publication."

"I'm not so sure about that. You got a black
eye out of him, and that's for publication. We
can't have this reign of terror, Mr. Malone.
We must bring the man to his bearings. I'll
have a leaderette on him to-morrow that will
raise a blister. Just give me the material and
I will engage to brand the fellow for ever.
Professor Munchausen--how's that for an
inset headline? Sir John Mandeville
redivivus--Cagliostro--all the imposters
and bullies in history. I'll show him up for the
fraud he is."

"I wouldn't do that, sir."

"Why not?"

"Because he is not a fraud at all."

"What!" roared McArdle. "You don't mean to
say you really believe this stuff of his about
mammoths and mastodons and great sea
sairpents?"

"Well, I don't know about that. I don't think he
makes any claims of that kind. But I do
believe he has got something new."

"Then for Heaven's sake, man, write it up!"

"I'm longing to, but all I know he gave me in
confidence and on condition that I didn't." I
condensed into a few sentences the
Professor's narrative. "That's how it
stands."

McArdle looked deeply incredulous.

"Well, Mr. Malone," he said at last, "about
this scientific meeting to-night; there can be

-24-

"Well, then, the bones?"

"First one out of an Irish stew. Second one
vamped up for the occasion. If you are
clever and know your business you can fake
a bone as easily as you can a photograph."

I began to feel uneasy. Perhaps, after all, I
had been premature in my acquiescence.
Then I had a sudden happy thought.

"Will you come to the meeting?" I asked.

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 say he is
about the best-hated man in London. If the
medical students turn out there will be no
end of a rag. I don't want to get into a bear-
garden."

"You might at least do him the justice to hear
him state his own case."

"Well, perhaps it's only fair. All right. I'm your
man for the evening."

When we arrived at the hall we found a much
greater concourse than I had expected. A
line of electric broughams discharged their
little cargoes of white-bearded professors,
while the dark stream of humbler
pedestrians, who crowded through the
arched door-way, showed that the
audience would be popular as well as
scientific. Indeed, it became evident to us
as soon as we had taken our seats that a
youthful and even boyish spirit was abroad
in the gallery and the back portions of the
hall. Looking behind me, I could see rows of
faces of the familiar medical student type.
Apparently the great hospitals had each
sent down their contingent. The behavior of
the audience at present was good-

-25-

interested them, rather than of one they
disliked or despised. Challenger smiled
with weary and tolerant contempt, as a
kindly man would meet the yapping of a litter
of puppies. He sat slowly down, blew out
his chest, passed his hand caressingly
down his beard, and looked with drooping
eyelids and supercilious eyes at the
crowded hall before him. The uproar of his
advent had not yet died away when
Professor Ronald Murray, the chairman,
and Mr. Waldron, the lecturer, threaded their
way to the front, and the proceedings
began.

Professor Murray will, I am sure, excuse me
if I say that he has the common fault of most
Englishmen of being inaudible. Why on earth
people who have something to say which is
worth hearing should not take the slight
trouble to learn how to make it heard is one
of the strange mysteries of modern life.
Their methods are as reasonable as to try to
pour some precious stuff from the spring to
the reservoir through a non-conducting
pipe, which could by the least effort be
opened. Professor Murray made several
profound remarks to his white tie and to the
water-carafe upon the table, with a
humorous, twinkling aside to the silver
candlestick upon his right. Then he sat
down, and Mr. Waldron, the famous popular
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 to
assimilate the ideas of other men, and to
pass them on in a way which was intelligible
and even interesting to the lay public, with a
happy knack of being funny about the most
unlikely objects, so that the precession of
the Equinox or the formation of a vertebrate
became a highly humorous process as
treated by him.

It was a bird's-eye view of creation, as

-26-

to think that the climax of all the age-long
process of Nature had been the creation of
that gentleman in the red tie. But had the
process stopped? Was this gentleman to be
taken as the final type--the be-all and end-
all of development? He hoped that he would
not hurt the feelings of the gentleman in the
red tie if he maintained that, whatever
virtues that gentleman might possess in
private life, still the vast processes of the
universe were not fully justified if they were
to end entirely in his production. Evolution
was not a spent force, but one still working,
and even greater achievements 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 sea creatures
to take refuge upon the mud-flats, the
abundance of food awaiting them, their
consequent enormous growth. "Hence,
ladies and gentlemen," he added, "that
frightful brood of saurians which still affright
our eyes when seen in the Wealden or in the
Solenhofen slates, but which were
fortunately extinct long before the first
appearance of mankind upon this planet."

"Question!" boomed a voice from the
platform.

Mr. Waldron was a strict disciplinarian with a
gift of acid humor, as exemplified upon the
gentleman with the red tie, which made it
perilous to interrupt him. But this interjection
appeared to him so absurd that he was at a
loss how to deal with it. So looks the
Shakespearean who is confronted by a
rancid Baconian, or the astronomer who is
assailed by a flat earth fanatic. He paused
for a moment, and then, raising his voice,

-27-

Challenger levered his bulky figure slowly
out of his chair.

"I must in turn ask you, Mr. Waldron," he said,
"to cease to make assertions which are not
in strict accordance with scientific fact."

The words unloosed a tempest. "Shame!
Shame!" "Give him a hearing!" "Put him
out!" "Shove him off the platform!" "Fair
play!" emerged from a general roar of
amusement or execration. The chairman
was on his feet flapping both his hands and
bleating excitedly. "Professor Challenger--
personal--views later," were the solid
peaks above his clouds of inaudible mutter.
The interrupter bowed, smiled, stroked his
beard, and relapsed into his chair. Waldron,
very flushed and warlike, continued his
observations. Now and then, as he made an
assertion, he shot a venomous glance at his
opponent, who seemed to be slumbering
deeply, with the same broad, happy smile
upon his face.

At last the lecture came to an end--I am
inclined to think that it was a premature one,
as the peroration was hurried and
disconnected. The thread of the argument
had been rudely broken, and the audience
was restless and expectant. Waldron sat
down, and, after a chirrup from the
chairman, Professor Challenger 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 must apologize, I had inadvertently
omitted a considerable section of this
audience" (tumult, during which the
Professor stood with one hand raised and
his enormous head nodding
sympathetically, as if he were bestowing a

-28-

to facts, when I say that Mr. Waldron is very
wrong in supposing that because he has
never himself seen a so-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
expression, our contemporary ancestors,
who can still be found with all their hideous
and formidable characteristics if one has
but the energy and hardihood to seek their
haunts. Creatures which were supposed to
be Jurassic, monsters who would hunt
down and devour our largest and fiercest
mammals, still exist." (Cries of "Bosh!"
"Prove it!" "How do YOU know?"
"Question!") "How do I know, you ask me? I
know because I have visited their secret
haunts. I know because I have seen some of
them." (Applause, uproar, and a voice,
"Liar!") "Am I a liar?" (General hearty and
noisy assent.) "Did I hear someone say that I
was a liar? Will the person who called me a
liar kindly stand up that I may know him?" (A
voice, "Here he is, sir!" and an inoffensive
little person in spectacles, struggling
violently, was held up among a group of
students.) "Did you venture to call me a liar?"
("No, sir, no!" shouted the accused, and
disappeared like a jack-in-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 said
that?" (Again the inoffensive one plunging
desperately, was elevated high into the air.)
"If I come down among you----" (General
chorus of "Come, love, come!" which
interrupted the proceedings for some
moments, while the chairman, standing up
and waving both his arms, seemed to be
conducting the music. The Professor, with
his face flushed, his nostrils dilated, and his
beard bristling, was now in a proper
Berserk mood.) "Every great discoverer has
been met with the same incredulity--the
sure brand of a generation of fools. When
great facts are laid before you, you have not

-29-

had alluded in his remarks had been
obtained during a journey to the
headwaters of the Amazon made by him
two years before.

Professor Challenger answered that they
had.

Mr. Summerlee desired to know how it was
that Professor Challenger claimed to have
made discoveries in those regions which
had been overlooked by Wallace, Bates,
and other previous explorers of established
scientific repute.

Professor Challenger answered that Mr.
Summerlee appeared to be confusing the
Amazon with the Thames; that it was in
reality a somewhat larger river; that Mr.
Summerlee might be interested to know
that with the Orinoco, which communicated
with it, some fifty thousand miles of country
were opened up, and that in so vast a space
it was not impossible for one person to find
what another had missed.

Mr. Summerlee declared, with an acid
smile, that he fully appreciated the
difference between the Thames and the
Amazon, which lay in the fact that any
assertion about the former could be tested,
while about the latter it could not. He would
be obliged if Professor Challenger would
give the latitude and the longitude of the
country in which prehistoric animals were to
be found.

Professor Challenger replied that he
reserved such information for good reasons
of his own, but would be prepared to give it
with proper precautions to a committee
chosen from the audience. Would Mr.
Summerlee serve on such a committee and
test his story in person?

Mr. Summerlee: "Yes, I will." (Great

-30-

investigation."

"Lord John Roxton's reputation as a
sportsman and a traveler is, of course,
world-famous," said the chairman; "at the
same time it would certainly be as well to
have a member of the Press upon such an
expedition."

"Then I move," said Professor Challenger,
"that both these gentlemen be elected, as
representatives of this meeting, to
accompany Professor Summerlee upon his
journey to investigate and to report upon the
truth of my statements."

And so, amid shouting and cheering, our
fate was decided, and I found myself borne
away in the human current which swirled
towards the door, with my mind half stunned
by the vast new project which had risen so
suddenly before it. As I emerged from the
hall I was conscious for a moment of a rush
of laughing students--down the pavement,
and of an arm wielding a heavy umbrella,
which rose and fell in the midst of them.
Then, amid a mixture of groans and cheers,
Professor Challenger's electric brougham
slid from the curb, and I found myself
walking under the silvery lights of Regent
Street, full of thoughts of Gladys and of
wonder as to my future.

Suddenly there was a touch at my elbow. I
turned, and found myself looking into the
humorous, masterful eyes of the tall, thin
man who had volunteered to be my
companion on this strange quest.

"Mr. Malone, I understand," said he. "We are
to be companions--what? My rooms are
just over the road, in the Albany. Perhaps
you would have the kindness to spare me
half an hour, for there are one or two things
that I badly want to say to you."

-31-

with marks of glasses and the scars of
cigar-stumps. On it stood a silver tray of
smokables and a burnished spirit-stand,
from which and an adjacent siphon my
silent host proceeded to charge two high
glasses. Having indicated an arm-chair to
me and placed my refreshment near it, he
handed me a long, smooth Havana. Then,
seating himself opposite to me, he looked
at me long and fixedly with his strange,
twinkling, reckless eyes--eyes of a cold
light blue, the color 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, virile
moustaches, the small, aggressive tuft
upon his projecting chin. Something there
was of Napoleon III., 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 flower-pot red from sun and wind. His
eyebrows were tufted and overhanging,
which gave those naturally cold eyes an
almost ferocious aspect, an impression
which was increased by his strong and
furrowed brow. In figure he was spare, but
very strongly built--indeed, he had often
proved that there were few men in England
capable of such sustained exertions. His
height was a little over six feet, but he
seemed shorter on account of a peculiar
rounding of the shoulders. Such was the
famous Lord John Roxton as he sat
opposite to me, biting hard upon his cigar
and watching me steadily in a long and
embarrassing silence.

"Well," said he, at last, "we've gone and
done it, young fellah my lad." (This curious
phrase he pronounced as if it were all one

-32-

there's been a bit of a strike among the
serving-men. He's a hard nail, is Jack, and
a dead shot, too, but you can't leave a
Grand National winner to die like that--
what?"

"What 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
should 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
suddenly into one's day's work. I don't think
that I am a particularly brave man. I have an
Irish imagination which makes the 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 that I could throw
myself over a precipice, like the Hun in the
history books, if my courage to do it were
questioned, and yet it would surely be pride
and fear, rather than courage, which would
be my inspiration. Therefore, although every
nerve in my body shrank from the whisky-
maddened figure 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 better," said I.
"Come on."

I rose from my chair and he from his. Then
with a little confidential chuckle of laughter,
he patted me two or three times on the
chest, finally pushing me back into my chair.

"All right, sonny my lad--you'll do," said he. I

-33-

along an' sneaks the honey. But you'll need
to hold your gun straight in South America,
for, unless our friend the Professor is a
madman or a liar, we may see some queer
things before we get back. What gun have
you?"

He crossed to an oaken cupboard, and as
he threw it open I caught a glimpse of
glistening rows of parallel barrels, like the
pipes of an organ.

"I'll see what I can spare you out of my own
battery," said he.

One by one he took out a succession of
beautiful rifles, 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 would fondle her
children.

"This is a Bland's .577 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 HIS
collection.

`On that conical bullet his one chance
hangs, 'Tis the weak one's advantage fair.'

Hope you know your Gordon, for he's the
poet of the horse and the gun and the man
that handles both. Now, here's a useful tool-
-.470, telescopic sight, double ejector, point-
blank up to three-fifty. That's the rifle I used
against the Peruvian slave-drivers three
years ago. I was the flail of the Lord up in
those parts, I may tell you, though you won't
find it in any Blue-book. There are times,
young fellah, when every one of us must
make a stand for human right and justice, or
you never feel clean again. That's why I
made a little war on my own. Declared it
myself, waged it myself, ended it myself.
Each of those nicks is for a slave murderer-

-34-

would understand that anythin' was
possible--ANYTHIN'1. There are just some
narrow water-lanes along which folk travel,
and outside that it is all darkness. Now,
down here in the Matto Grande"--he swept
his cigar over a part of the map--"or up in
this corner where three countries meet,
nothin' would surprise me. As that chap
said to-night, there are fifty-thousand miles
of water-way runnin' through a forest that is
very near the size of Europe. You and I could
be as far away from each other as Scotland
is from Constantinople, and yet each of us
be in the same great Brazilian forest. Man
has just 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 over.
Why shouldn't somethin' new and wonderful
lie in such a country? And why shouldn't we
be the men to find it out? Besides," he
added, his queer, gaunt face shining with
delight, "there's a sportin' 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 sportin' risk, young fellah,
that's the salt of existence. Then it's worth
livin' again. We're all gettin' a deal too soft
and dull and comfy. Give me the great
waste lands and the wide spaces, with a
gun in my fist and somethin' to look for
that's worth findin'. I've tried war and
steeplechasin' and aeroplanes, but this
huntin' of beasts that look like a lobster-
supper dream is a brand-new sensation."
He chuckled with glee at the prospect.

Perhaps I have dwelt too long upon this new
acquaintance, but he is to be my comrade
for many a day, and so I have tried to set him
down as I first saw him, with his quaint
personality and his 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

-35-

should ever reach you) it can only be through
the paper which I represent. In the hands of
the editor I leave this account of the events
which have led up to one of the most
remarkable expeditions of all time, so that if
I never return to England there shall be some
record as to how the affair came about. I am
writing these last lines in the saloon of the
Booth liner Francisca, and they will go back
by the pilot to the keeping of Mr. McArdle.
Let me draw one last picture before I close
the notebook--a picture which is the last
memory of the old 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 mackintoshed figures are walking
down the quay, making for the gang-plank
of the great liner from which the blue-peter
is flying. In front of them a porter pushes a
trolley piled high with trunks, wraps, and
gun-cases. Professor Summerlee, a long,
melancholy figure, walks with dragging
steps and drooping head, as one who is
already profoundly sorry for himself. Lord
John Roxton steps briskly, and his thin,
eager face beams forth between his
hunting-cap and his muffler. 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, just as we reach
the vessel, there is a shout behind us. It is
Professor Challenger, who had promised
to see us off. He runs after us, a puffing,
red-faced, irascible figure.

"No thank you," says he; "I should much
prefer not to go aboard. I have only a few
words to say to you, and they can very well
be said where we are. I beg you not to
imagine that I am in any way indebted to you
for making this journey. I would have you to
understand that it is a matter of perfect
indifference to me, and I refuse to entertain
the most remote sense of personal
obligation. Truth is truth, and nothing which

-36-

reach by an account of our luxurious voyage
upon the Booth liner, nor will I tell of our
week's stay at Para (save that I should wish
to acknowledge the great kindness of the
Pereira da Pinta Company in helping us to
get together our equipment). I will also
allude very briefly to our river journey, up a
wide, slow-moving, clay-tinted stream, in a
steamer which was little smaller than that
which had carried us across the Atlantic.
Eventually we found ourselves through the
narrows of Obidos and reached the town of
Manaos. Here we were rescued from the
limited attractions of the local inn by Mr.
Shortman, the representative of the British
and Brazilian Trading Company. In his
hospital Fazenda we spent our time until the
day when we were empowered to open the
letter of instructions given to us by
Professor Challenger. Before I reach the
surprising events of that date I would desire
to give a clearer sketch of my comrades in
this enterprise, and of the associates whom
we had already gathered together in South
America. I speak freely, and I leave the use
of my material to your own discretion, Mr.
McArdle, since it is through your hands that
this report must pass before it reaches the
world.

The scientific attainments of Professor
Summerlee are too well known for me to
trouble to recapitulate them. He is better
equipped for a rough expedition of this sort
than one would imagine at first sight. His
tall, gaunt, stringy figure is insensible to
fatigue, and his dry, half-sarcastic, and
often wholly unsympathetic manner is
uninfluenced by any change in his
surroundings. Though in his sixty-sixth year,
I have never heard him express any
dissatisfaction at the occasional hardships
which we have had to encounter. I had
regarded his presence as an encumbrance
to the expedition, but, as a matter of fact, I
am now well convinced that his power of

-37-

answer a question or join in a conversation,
talking in a queer, jerky, half-humorous
fashion. His knowledge of the world, and
very especially of South America, is
surprising, and he has a whole-hearted
belief in the possibilities of our journey
which is not to be dashed by the sneers of
Professor Summerlee. He has a gentle
voice and a quiet manner, but behind his
twinkling blue eyes there lurks a capacity for
furious wrath and implacable resolution, the
more dangerous because they are held in
leash. He spoke little of his own exploits in
Brazil and Peru, but it was a revelation to
me to find the excitement which was
caused by his presence among the riverine
natives, who looked upon him as their
champion and protector. The exploits of the
Red Chief, as they called him, had become
legends among them, but the real facts, as
far as I could learn them, were amazing
enough.

These were that Lord John had found
himself some years before in that no-
man's-land which is formed by the half-
defined frontiers between Peru, Brazil, and
Columbia. In this great district the wild
rubber tree flourishes, and has become, as
in the Congo, a curse to the natives which
can only be compared to their forced labor
under the Spaniards upon the old silver
mines of Darien. A handful of villainous half-
breeds dominated the country, armed such
Indians as would support them, and turned
the rest into slaves, terrorizing them with the
most inhuman tortures in order to force them
to gather the india-rubber, which was then
floated down the river to Para. Lord John
Roxton expostulated on behalf of the
wretched victims, and received nothing but
threats and insults for his pains. He then
formally declared war against Pedro
Lopez, the leader of the slave-drivers,
enrolled a band of runaway slaves in his
service, armed them, and conducted a

-38-

possible in such a country? Why should old
man Challenger not be right?" At which
direct defiance the stubborn sneer would
reappear upon Professor Summerlee's
face, and he would sit, shaking his sardonic
head in unsympathetic silence, behind the
cloud of his briar-root pipe.

So much, for the moment, for my two white
companions, whose characters and
limitations will be further exposed, as surely
as my own, as this narrative proceeds. But
already we have enrolled certain retainers
who may play no small part in what is to
come. The first is a gigantic negro named
Zambo, who is a black Hercules, as willing
as any horse, and about as intelligent. Him
we enlisted at Para, on the
recommendation of the steamship
company, on whose vessels he had learned
to speak a halting English.

It was at Para also that we engaged Gomez
and Manuel, two half-breeds from up the
river, just come down with a cargo of
redwood. They were swarthy fellows,
bearded and fierce, as active and wiry as
panthers. Both of them had spent their lives
in those upper waters of the Amazon which
we were about to explore, and it was this
recommendation which had caused Lord
John to engage them. One of them, Gomez,
had the further advantage that he could
speak excellent English. These men were
willing to act as our personal servants, to
cook, to row, or to make themselves useful
in any way at a payment of fifteen dollars a
month. Besides these, we had engaged
three Mojo Indians from Bolivia, who are
the most skilful at fishing and boat work of
all the river tribes. The chief of these we
called Mojo, after his tribe, and the others
are known as Jose and Fernando. Three
white men, then, two half-breeds, one
negro, and three Indians made up the
personnel of the little expedition which lay

-39-

"Oh, come, we must play the game
accordin' to rules," said Lord John. "It's old
man Challenger's show and we are here by
his good will, so it would be rotten bad form
if we didn't follow his instructions to the
letter."

"A pretty business it is!" cried the Professor,
bitterly. "It struck me as preposterous in
London, but I'm bound to say that it seems
even more so upon closer acquaintance. I
don't know what is inside this envelope,
but, unless it is something pretty definite, I
shall be much tempted to take the next down
river boat and catch the Bolivia at Para.
After all, I have some more responsible
work in the world than to run about
disproving the assertions of a lunatic. Now,
Roxton, surely it is time."

"Time it is," said Lord John. "You can blow
the whistle." He took up the envelope and
cut it with his penknife. From it he drew a
folded sheet of paper. This he carefully
opened out and flattened on the table. It was
a blank sheet. He turned it over. Again it
was blank. We looked at each other in a
bewildered silence, which was broken by a
discordant burst of derisive laughter from
Professor Summerlee.

"It is an open admission," he cried. "What
more do you want? The fellow is a self-
confessed humbug. We have only to return
home and report him as the brazen
imposter that he is."

"Invisible ink!" I suggested.

"I don't think!" said Lord Roxton, holding the
paper to the light. "No, young fellah my lad,
there is no use deceiving yourself. I'll go bail
for it that nothing has ever been written upon
this paper."

"May I come in?" boomed a voice from the

-40-

"Then so you shall. You need no chart of
directions now, since you will have the
inestimable advantage of my own
guidance. From the first I had determined
that I would myself preside over your
investigation. The most elaborate charts
would, as you will readily admit, be a poor
substitute for my own intelligence and
advice. As to the small ruse which I played
upon you in the matter of the envelope, it is
clear that, had I told you all my intentions, I
should have been forced to resist
unwelcome pressure to travel out with you."

"Not from me, sir!" exclaimed Professor
Summerlee, heartily. "So long as there was
another ship upon the Atlantic."

Challenger waved him away with his great
hairy hand.

"Your common sense will, I am sure, sustain
my objection and realize that it was better
that I should direct my own movements and
appear only at the exact moment when my
presence was needed. That moment has
now arrived. You are in safe hands. You will
not now fail to reach your destination. From
henceforth I take command of this
expedition, and I must ask you to complete
your preparations to-night, so that we may
be able to make an early start in the
morning. My time is of value, and the same
thing may be said, no doubt, in a lesser
degree of your own. I propose, therefore,
that we push on as rapidly as possible, until I
have demonstrated what you have come to
see."

Lord John Roxton has chartered a large
steam launch, the Esmeralda, which was to
carry us up the river. So far as climate goes,
it was immaterial what time we chose for
our expedition, as the temperature ranges
from seventy-five to ninety degrees both
summer and winter, with no appreciable

-41-

fewer whom we took into our confidence
the better it would be. To this end also he
made each of us give our word of honor that
we would publish or say nothing which
would give any exact clue as to the
whereabouts of our travels, while the
servants were all solemnly sworn to the
same effect. It is for this reason that I am
compelled to be vague in my narrative, and I
would warn my readers that in any map or
diagram which I may give the relation of
places to each other may be correct, but the
points of the compass are carefully
confused, so that in no way can it be taken
as an actual guide to the country. Professor
Challenger's reasons for secrecy may be
valid or not, but we had no choice but to
adopt them, for he was prepared to
abandon the whole expedition rather than
modify the conditions upon which he would
guide us.

It was August 2nd when we snapped our last
link with the outer world by bidding farewell
to the Esmeralda. Since then four days have
passed, during which we have engaged
two large canoes from the Indians, made of
so light a material (skins over a bamboo
framework) that we should be able to carry
them round any obstacle. These we have
loaded with all our effects, and have
engaged two additional Indians to help us in
the navigation. I understand that they are the
very two--Ataca and Ipetu by name--who
accompanied Professor Challenger upon
his previous journey. They appeared to be
terrified at the prospect of repeating it, but
the chief has patriarchal powers in these
countries, and if the bargain is good in his
eyes the clansman has little choice in the
matter.

So to-morrow we disappear into the
unknown. This account I am transmitting
down the river by canoe, and it may be our
last word to those who are interested in our

-42-

near the hut in which we were discussing
our plans, and, being observed by our huge
negro Zambo, who is as faithful as a dog
and has the hatred which all his race bear to
the half-breeds, he was dragged out and
carried into our presence. Gomez whipped
out his knife, however, and but for the huge
strength of his captor, which enabled him to
disarm him with one hand, he would
certainly have stabbed him. The matter has
ended in reprimands, the opponents have
been compelled to shake hands, and there
is every hope that all will be well. As to the
feuds of the two learned men, they are
continuous and bitter. It must be admitted
that Challenger is provocative in the last
degree, but Summerlee has an acid
tongue, which makes matters worse. Last
night Challenger said that he never cared to
walk on the Thames Embankment and look
up the river, as it was always sad to see
one's own eventual goal. He is convinced,
of course, that he is destined for
Westminster Abbey. Summerlee rejoined,
however, with a sour smile, by saying that
he understood that Millbank Prison had
been pulled down. Challenger's conceit is
too colossal to allow him to be really
annoyed. He only smiled in his beard and
repeated "Really! Really!" in the pitying tone
one would use to a child. Indeed, they are
children both--the one wizened and
cantankerous, the other formidable and
overbearing, yet each with a brain which
has put him in the front rank of his scientific
age. Brain, character, soul--only as one
sees more of life does one understand how
distinct is each.

The very next day we did actually make our
start upon this remarkable expedition. We
found that all our possessions fitted very
easily into the two canoes, and we divided
our personnel, six in each, taking the
obvious precaution in the interests of peace
of putting one Professor into each canoe.

-43-

upon our souls which comes upon us in the
twilight of the Abbey, and even Professor
Challenger's full-chested notes sank into a
whisper. Alone, I should have been ignorant
of the names of these giant growths, but our
men of science pointed out the cedars, the
great silk cotton trees, and the redwood
trees, with all that profusion of various
plants which has made this continent the
chief supplier to the human race of those
gifts of Nature which depend upon the
vegetable world, while it is the most
backward in those products which come
from animal life. Vivid orchids and
wonderful colored lichens smoldered upon
the swarthy tree-trunks and where a
wandering shaft of light fell full upon the
golden allamanda, the scarlet star-clusters
of the tacsonia, or the rich deep blue of
ipomaea, the effect was as a dream of
fairyland. In these great wastes of forest,
life, which abhors darkness, struggles ever
upwards to the light. Every plant, even the
smaller ones, curls and writhes to the green
surface, twining itself round its stronger and
taller brethren in the effort. Climbing plants
are monstrous and luxuriant, but others
which have never been known to climb
elsewhere learn the art as an escape from
that somber shadow, so that the common
nettle, the jasmine, and even the jacitara
palm tree can be seen circling the stems of
the cedars and striving to reach their
crowns. Of animal life there was no
movement amid the majestic vaulted aisles
which stretched from us as we walked, but
a constant movement far above our heads
told of that multitudinous world of snake and
monkey, bird and sloth, which lived in the
sunshine, and looked down in wonder at our
tiny, dark, stumbling figures in the obscure
depths immeasurably below them. At dawn
and at sunset the howler monkeys
screamed together and the parrakeets
broke into shrill chatter, but during the hot
hours of the day only the full drone of

-44-

throbbing from various points. Sometimes
they beat quickly, sometimes slowly,
sometimes in obvious question and
answer, one far to the east breaking out in a
high staccato rattle, and being followed
after a pause by a deep roll from the north.
There was something indescribably nerve-
shaking and menacing in that constant
mutter, which seemed to shape itself into
the very syllables of the half-breed,
endlessly repeated, "We will kill you if we
can. We will kill you if we can." No one ever
moved in the silent woods. All the peace
and soothing of quiet Nature lay in that dark
curtain of vegetation, but away from behind
there came ever the one message from our
fellow-man. "We will kill you if we can," said
the men in the east. "We will kill you if we
can," said the men in the north.

All day the drums rumbled and whispered,
while their menace reflected itself in the
faces of our colored companions. Even the
hardy, swaggering half-breed seemed
cowed. I learned, however, that day once
for all that both Summerlee and Challenger
possessed that highest type of bravery, the
bravery of the scientific mind. Theirs was
the spirit which upheld Darwin among the
gauchos of the Argentine or Wallace among
the head-hunters of Malaya. It is decreed by
a merciful Nature that the human brain
cannot think of two things simultaneously,
so that if it be steeped in curiosity as to
science it has no room for merely personal
considerations. All day amid that incessant
and mysterious menace our two Professors
watched every bird upon the wing, and
every shrub upon the bank, with many a
sharp wordy contention, when the snarl of
Summerlee came quick upon the deep
growl of Challenger, but with no more sense
of danger and no more reference to drum-
beating Indians than if they were seated
together in the smoking-room of the Royal
Society's Club in St. James's Street. Once

-45-

his story. The Indians carried first our
canoes and then our stores through the
brushwood, which is very thick at this point,
while we four whites, our rifles on our
shoulders, walked between them and any
danger coming from the woods. Before
evening we had successfully passed the
rapids, and made our way some ten miles
above them, where we anchored for the
night. At this point I reckoned that we had
come not less than a hundred miles up the
tributary from the main stream.

It was in the early forenoon of the next day
that we made the great departure. Since
dawn Professor Challenger had been
acutely uneasy, continually scanning each
bank of the river. Suddenly he gave an
exclamation of satisfaction and pointed to a
single tree, which projected at a peculiar
angle over the side of the stream.

"What do you make of that?" he asked.

"It is surely an Assai palm," said
Summerlee.

"Exactly. It was an Assai palm which I took
for my landmark. The secret opening is half
a mile onwards upon the other side of the
river. There is no break in the trees. That is
the wonder and the mystery of it. There
where you see light-green rushes instead
of dark-green undergrowth, there between
the great cotton woods, that is my private
gate into the unknown. Push through, and
you will understand."

It was indeed a wonderful place. Having
reached the spot marked by a line of light-
green rushes, we poled out two canoes
through them for some hundreds of yards,
and eventually emerged into a placid and
shallow stream, running clear and
transparent over a sandy bottom. It may
have been twenty yards across, and was

-46-

stretches one could hardly tell as one looked
ahead where the distant green water ended
and the distant green archway began. The
deep peace of this strange waterway was
unbroken by any sign of man.

"No Indian here. Too much afraid. Curupuri,"
said Gomez.

"Curupuri is the spirit of the woods," Lord
John explained. "It's a name for any kind of
devil. The poor beggars think that there is
something fearsome in this direction, and
therefore they avoid it."

On the third day it became evident that our
journey in the canoes could not last much
longer, for the stream was rapidly growing
more shallow. Twice in as many hours we
stuck upon the bottom. Finally we pulled the
boats up among the brushwood and spent
the night on the bank of the river. In the
morning Lord John and I made our way for a
couple of miles through the forest, keeping
parallel with the stream; but as it grew ever
shallower we returned and reported, what
Professor Challenger had already
suspected, that we had reached the highest
point to which the canoes could be brought.
We drew them up, therefore, and concealed
them among the bushes, blazing a tree with
our axes, so that we should find them again.
Then we distributed the various burdens
among us--guns, ammunition, food, a tent,
blankets, and the rest--and, shouldering
our packages, we set forth upon the more
laborious stage of our journey.

An unfortunate quarrel between our pepper-
pots marked the outset of our new stage.
Challenger had from the moment of joining
us issued directions to the whole party,
much to the evident discontent of
Summerlee. Now, upon his assigning some
duty to his fellow-Professor (it was only the
carrying of an aneroid barometer), the

-47-

friendship in their detestation and abuse of
this common rival.

Advancing in single file along the bank of
the stream, we soon found that it narrowed
down to a mere brook, and finally that it lost
itself in a great green morass of sponge-
like mosses, into which we sank up to our
knees. The place was horribly haunted by
clouds of mosquitoes and every form of
flying pest, so we were glad to find solid
ground again and to make a circuit among
the trees, which enabled us to outflank this
pestilent morass, which droned like an
organ in the distance, so loud was it with
insect life.

On the second day after leaving our canoes
we found that the whole character of the
country changed. Our road was persistently
upwards, and as we ascended the woods
became thinner and lost their tropical
luxuriance. The huge trees of the alluvial
Amazonian plain gave place to the Phoenix
and coco palms, growing in scattered
clumps, with thick brushwood between. In
the damper hollows the Mauritia palms
threw out their graceful drooping fronds. We
traveled entirely by compass, and once or
twice there were differences of opinion
between Challenger and the two Indians,
when, to quote the Professor's indignant
words, the whole party agreed to "trust the
fallacious instincts of undeveloped savages
rather than the highest product of modern
European culture." That we were justified in
doing so was shown upon the third day,
when Challenger admitted that he
recognized several landmarks of his former
journey, and in one spot we actually came
upon four fire-blackened stones, which
must have marked a camping-place.

The road still ascended, and we crossed a
rock-studded slope which took two days to
traverse. The vegetation had again

-48-

Early next morning we were again afoot,
and found that the character of the country
had changed once again. Behind us was
the wall of bamboo, as definite as if it
marked the course of a river. In front was an
open plain, sloping slightly upwards and
dotted with clumps of tree-ferns, the whole
curving before us until it ended in a long,
whale-backed ridge. This we reached
about midday, only to find a shallow valley
beyond, rising once again into a gentle
incline which led to a low, rounded sky-line.
It was here, while we crossed the first of
these hills, that an incident occurred which
may or may not have been important.

Professor Challenger, who with the two
local Indians was in the van of the party,
stopped suddenly and pointed excitedly to
the right. As he did so we saw, at the
distance of a mile or so, something which
appeared to be a huge gray bird flap slowly
up from the ground and skim smoothly off,
flying very low and straight, until it was lost
among the tree-ferns.

"Did you see it?" cried Challenger, in
exultation. "Summerlee, did you see it?"

His colleague was staring at the spot where
the creature had disappeared.

"What do you claim that it was?" he asked.

"To the best of my belief, a pterodactyl."

Summerlee burst into derisive laughter "A
pter-fiddlestick!" said he. "It was a stork, if
ever I saw one."

Challenger was too furious to speak. He
simply swung his pack upon his back and
continued upon his march. Lord John came
abreast of me, however, and his face was
more grave than was his wont. He had his
Zeiss glasses in his hand.

-49-

A dreadful thing has happened to us. Who
could have foreseen it? I cannot foresee any
end to our troubles. It may be that we are
condemned to spend our whole lives in this
strange, inaccessible place. I am still so
confused that I can hardly think clearly of the
facts of the present or of the chances of the
future. To my astounded senses the one
seems most terrible and the other as black
as night.

No men have ever found themselves in a
worse position; nor is there any use in
disclosing to you our exact geographical
situation and asking our friends for a relief
party. Even if they could send one, our fate
will in all human probability be decided long
before it could arrive in South America.

We are, in truth, as far from any human aid
as if we were in the moon. If we are to win
through, it is only our own qualities which
can save us. I have as companions three
remarkable men, men of great brain-power
and of unshaken courage. There lies our
one and only hope. It is only when I look upon
the untroubled faces of my comrades that I
see some glimmer through the darkness.
Outwardly I trust that I appear as
unconcerned as they. Inwardly I am filled
with apprehension.

Let me give you, with as much detail as I
can, the sequence of events which have led
us to this catastrophe.

When I finished my last letter I stated that we
were within seven miles from an enormous
line of ruddy cliffs, which encircled, beyond
all doubt, the plateau of which Professor
Challenger spoke. Their height, as we
approached them, seemed to me in some
places to be greater than he had stated--
running up in parts to at least a thousand
feet--and they were curiously striated, in a
manner which is, I believe, characteristic of

-50-

teeth in its jaws." He grinned and blinked
and bowed until his colleague turned and
walked away.

In the morning, after a frugal breakfast of
coffee and manioc--we had to be
economical of our stores--we held a
council of war as to the best method of
ascending to the plateau above us.

Challenger presided with a solemnity as if
he were the Lord Chief Justice on the
Bench. Picture him seated upon a rock, his
absurd boyish straw hat tilted on the back of
his head, his supercilious eyes dominating
us from under his drooping lids, his great
black beard wagging as he slowly defined
our present situation and our future
movements.

Beneath him you might have seen the three
of us--myself, sunburnt, young, and
vigorous after our open-air tramp;
Summerlee, solemn but still critical, behind
his eternal pipe; Lord John, as keen as a
razor-edge, with his supple, alert figure
leaning upon his rifle, and his eager eyes
fixed eagerly upon the speaker. Behind us
were grouped the two swarthy half-breeds
and the little knot of Indians, while in front
and above us towered those huge, ruddy
ribs of rocks which kept us from our goal.

"I need not say," said our leader, "that on the
occasion of my last visit I exhausted every
means of climbing the cliff, and where I
failed I do not think that anyone else is likely
to succeed, for I am something of a
mountaineer. I had none of the appliances
of a rock-climber with me, but I have taken
the precaution to bring them now. With their
aid I am positive I could climb that detached
pinnacle to the summit; but so long as the
main cliff overhangs, it is vain to attempt
ascending that. I was hurried upon my last
visit by the approach of the rainy season

-51-

proved facts," said the stubborn
Summerlee. "I admit your plateau, because I
have seen it; but I have not as yet satisfied
myself that it contains any form of life
whatever."

"What you admit, sir, or what you do not
admit, is really of inconceivably small
importance. I am glad to perceive that the
plateau itself has actually obtruded itself
upon your intelligence." He glanced up at it,
and then, to our amazement, he sprang
from his rock, and, seizing Summerlee by
the neck, he tilted his face into the air. "Now
sir!" he shouted, hoarse with excitement.
"Do I help you to realize that the plateau
contains some animal life?"

I have said that a thick fringe of green
overhung the edge of the cliff. Out of this
there had emerged a black, glistening
object. As it came slowly forth and
overhung the chasm, we saw that it was a
very large snake with a peculiar flat, spade-
like head. It wavered and quivered above us
for a minute, the morning sun gleaming
upon its sleek, sinuous coils. Then it slowly
drew inwards and disappeared.

Summerlee had been so interested that he
had stood unresisting while Challenger
tilted his head into the air. Now he shook his
colleague off and came back to his dignity.

"I should be glad, Professor Challenger,"
said he, "if you could see your way to make
any remarks which may occur to you without
seizing me by the chin. Even the
appearance of a very ordinary rock python
does not appear to justify such a liberty."

"But there is life upon the plateau all the
same," his colleague replied in triumph.
"And now, having demonstrated this
important conclusion so that it is clear to
anyone, however prejudiced or obtuse, I

-52-

white within it. Thrusting in my head
between the stems, I found myself gazing at
a fleshless skull. The whole skeleton was
there, but the skull had detached itself and
lay some feet nearer to the open.

With a few blows from the machetes of our
Indians we cleared the spot and were able
to study the details of this old tragedy. Only a
few shreds of clothes could still be
distinguished, but there were the remains of
boots upon the bony feet, and it was very
clear that the dead man was a European. A
gold watch by Hudson, of New York, and a
chain which held a stylographic pen, lay
among the bones. There was also a silver
cigarette-case, with "J. C., from A. E. S.,"
upon the lid. The state of the metal seemed
to show that the catastrophe had occurred
no great time before.

"Who can he be?" asked Lord John. "Poor
devil! every bone in his body seems to be
broken."

"And the bamboo grows through his
smashed ribs," said Summerlee. "It is a
fast-growing plant, but it is surely
inconceivable that this body could have
been here while the canes grew to be
twenty feet in length."

"As to the man's identity," said Professor
Challenger, "I have no doubt whatever upon
that point. As I made my way up the river
before I reached you at the fazenda I
instituted very particular inquiries about
Maple White. At Para they knew nothing.
Fortunately, I had a definite clew, for there
was a particular picture in his sketch-book
which showed him taking lunch with a
certain ecclesiastic at Rosario. This priest I
was able to find, and though he proved a
very argumentative fellow, who took it
absurdly amiss that I should point out to him
the corrosive effect which modern science

-53-

that worthy footsteps would follow close
behind him."

"He had chalk, then?"

"A box of colored chalks was among the
effects I found in his knapsack. I remember
that the white one was worn to a stump."

"That is certainly good evidence," said
Summerlee. "We can only accept his
guidance and follow on to the westward."

We had proceeded some five more miles
when again we saw a white arrow upon the
rocks. It was at a point where the face of the
cliff was for the first time split into a narrow
cleft. Inside the cleft was a second
guidance mark, which pointed right up it
with the tip somewhat elevated, as if the
spot indicated were above the level of the
ground.

It was a solemn place, for the walls were so
gigantic and the slit of blue sky so narrow
and so obscured by a double fringe of
verdure, that only a dim and shadowy light
penetrated to the bottom. We had had no
food for many hours, and were very weary
with the stony and irregular journey, but our
nerves were too strung to allow us to halt.
We ordered the camp to be pitched,
however, and, leaving the Indians to
arrange it, we four, with the two half-
breeds, proceeded up the narrow gorge.

It was not more than forty feet across at the
mouth, but it rapidly closed until it ended in
an acute angle, too straight and smooth for
an ascent. Certainly it was not this which our
pioneer had attempted to indicate. We
made our way back--the whole gorge was
not more than a quarter of a mile deep--
and then suddenly the quick eyes of Lord
John fell upon what we were seeking. High
up above our heads, amid the dark

-54-

down the gradient and crush us. It was
evident that the obstacle was far beyond
any efforts which we could make to remove
it. The road by which Maple White had
ascended was no longer available.

Too much cast down to speak, we stumbled
down the dark tunnel and made our way
back to the camp.

One incident occurred, however, before we
left the gorge, which is of importance in
view of what came afterwards.

We had gathered in a little group at the
bottom of the chasm, some forty feet
beneath the mouth of the cave, when a huge
rock rolled suddenly downwards--and shot
past us with tremendous force. It was the
narrowest escape for one or all of us. We
could not ourselves see whence the rock
had come, but our half-breed servants, who
were still at the opening of the cave, said
that it had flown past them, and must
therefore have fallen from the summit.
Looking upwards, we could see no sign of
movement above us amidst the green
jungle which topped the cliff. There could
be little doubt, however, that the stone was
aimed at us, so the incident surely pointed
to humanity--and malevolent humanity--
upon the plateau.

We withdrew hurriedly from the chasm, our
minds full of this new development and its
bearing upon our plans. The situation was
difficult enough before, but if the
obstructions of Nature were increased by
the deliberate opposition of man, then our
case was indeed a hopeless one. And yet,
as we looked up at that beautiful fringe of
verdure only a few hundreds of feet above
our heads, there was not one of us who
could conceive the idea of returning to
London until we had explored it to its
depths.

-55-

have the Professor's leave to make use of
it. I shall not dare to publish these articles
unless I can bring back my proofs to
England, or I shall be hailed as the
journalistic Munchausen of all time. I have
no doubt that you feel the same way
yourself, and that you would not care to
stake the whole credit of the Gazette upon
this adventure until we can meet the chorus
of criticism and scepticism which such
articles must of necessity elicit. So this
wonderful incident, which would make such
a headline for the old paper, must still wait
its turn in the editorial drawer.

And yet it was all over in a flash, and there
was no sequel to it, save in our own
convictions.

What occurred was this. Lord John had shot
an ajouti--which is a small, pig-like
animal--and, half of it having been given to
the Indians, we were cooking the other half
upon our fire. There is a chill in the air after
dark, and we had all drawn close to the
blaze. The night was moonless, but there
were some stars, and one could see for a
little distance across the plain. Well,
suddenly out of the darkness, out of the
night, there swooped something with a
swish like an aeroplane. The whole group of
us were covered for an instant by a canopy
of leathery wings, and I had a momentary
vision of a long, snake-like neck, a fierce,
red, greedy eye, and a great snapping
beak, filled, to my amazement, with little,
gleaming teeth. The next instant it was
gone--and so was our dinner. A huge black
shadow, twenty feet across, skimmed up
into the air; for an instant the monster wings
blotted out the stars, and then it vanished
over the brow of the cliff above us. We all sat
in amazed silence round the fire, like the
heroes of Virgil when the Harpies came
down upon them. It was Summerlee who
was the first to speak.

-56-

shall always remember as we looked back
how far behind we could see the heads and
necks of our horrible pursuers rising and
falling amid the reeds. Jaracaca Swamp
we named it in the map which we are
constructing.

The cliffs upon the farther side had lost their
ruddy tint, being chocolate-brown in color;
the vegetation was more scattered along
the top of them, and they had sunk to three
or four hundred feet in height, but in no
place did we find any point where they could
be ascended. If anything, they were more
impossible than at the first point where we
had met them. Their absolute steepness is
indicated in the photograph which I took
over the stony desert.

"Surely," said I, as we discussed the
situation, "the rain must find its way down
somehow. There are bound to be water-
channels in the rocks."

"Our young friend has glimpses of lucidity,"
said Professor Challenger, patting me upon
the shoulder.

"The rain must go somewhere," I repeated.

"He keeps a firm grip upon actuality. The
only drawback is that we have conclusively
proved by ocular demonstration that there
are no water channels down the rocks."

"Where, then, does it go?" I persisted.

"I think it may be fairly assumed that if it
does not come outwards it must run
inwards."

"Then there is a lake in the center."

"So I should suppose."

"It is more than likely that the lake may be an

-57-

thought, and entirely oblivious to the good-
night which I wished him.

But it was a very different Challenger who
greeted us in the morning--a Challenger
with contentment and self-congratulation
shining from his whole person. He faced us
as we assembled for breakfast with a
deprecating false modesty in his eyes, as
who should say, "I know that I deserve all
that you can say, but I pray you to spare my
blushes by not saying it." His beard bristled
exultantly, his chest was thrown out, and his
hand was thrust into the front of his jacket.
So, in his fancy, may he see himself
sometimes, gracing the vacant pedestal in
Trafalgar Square, and adding one more to
the horrors of the London streets.

"Eureka!" he cried, his teeth shining through
his beard. "Gentlemen, you may
congratulate me and we may congratulate
each other. The problem is solved."

"You have found a way up?"

"I venture to think so."

"And where?"

For answer he pointed to the spire-like
pinnacle upon our right.

Our faces--or mine, at least--fell as we
surveyed it. That it could be climbed we had
our companion's assurance. But a horrible
abyss lay between it and the plateau.

"We can never get across," I gasped.

"We can at least all reach the summit," said
he. "When we are up I may be able to show
you that the resources of an inventive mind
are not yet exhausted."

After breakfast we unpacked the bundle in

-58-

eyes could reach, and for a good two
thousand miles beyond.

I was still drinking in this wonderful
panorama when the heavy hand of the
Professor fell upon my shoulder.

"This way, my young friend," said he;
"vestigia nulla retrorsum. Never look
rearwards, but always to our glorious goal."

The level of the plateau, when I turned, was
exactly that on which we stood, and the
green bank of bushes, with occasional
trees, was so near that it was difficult to
realize how inaccessible it remained. At a
rough guess the gulf was forty feet across,
but, so far as I could see, it might as well
have been forty miles. I placed one arm
round the trunk of the tree and leaned over
the abyss. Far down were the small dark
figures of our servants, looking up at us. The
wall was absolutely precipitous, as was that
which faced me.

"This is indeed curious," said the creaking
voice of Professor Summerlee.

I turned, and found that he was examining
with great interest the tree to which I clung.
That smooth bark and those small, ribbed
leaves seemed familiar to my eyes. "Why," I
cried, "it's a beech!"

"Exactly," said Summerlee. "A fellow-
countryman in a far land."

"Not only a fellow-countryman, my good
sir," said Challenger, "but also, if I may be
allowed to enlarge your simile, an ally of the
first value. This beech tree will be our
saviour."

"By George!" cried Lord John, "a bridge!"

"Exactly, my friends, a bridge! It is not for

-59-

"I claim the honor," said he, "to be the first to
cross to the unknown land--a fitting
subject, no doubt, for some future historical
painting."

He had approached the bridge when Lord
John laid his hand upon his coat.

"My dear chap," said he, "I really cannot
allow it."

"Cannot allow it, sir!" The head went back
and the beard forward.

"When it is a matter of science, don't you
know, I follow your lead because you are by
way of bein' a man of science. But it's up to
you to follow me when you come into my
department."

"Your department, sir?"

"We all have our professions, and soldierin'
is mine. We are, accordin' to my ideas,
invadin' a new country, which may or may
not be chock-full of enemies of sorts. To
barge blindly into it for want of a little
common sense and patience isn't my notion
of management."

The remonstrance was too reasonable to
be disregarded. Challenger tossed his
head and shrugged his heavy shoulders.

"Well, sir, what do you propose?"

"For all I know there may be a tribe of
cannibals waitin' for lunch-time among
those very bushes," said Lord John, looking
across the bridge. "It's better to learn
wisdom before you get into a cookin'-pot;
so we will content ourselves with hopin' that
there is no trouble waitin' for us, and at the
same time we will act as if there were.
Malone and I will go down again, therefore,
and we will fetch up the four rifles, together

-60-

feet and vanished among the trees.

Summerlee was the second. His wiry
energy is wonderful in so frail a frame. He
insisted upon having two rifles slung upon
his back, so that both Professors were
armed when he had made his transit. I came
next, and tried hard not to look down into the
horrible gulf over which I was passing.
Summerlee held out the butt-end of his rifle,
and an instant later I was able to grasp his
hand. As to Lord John, he walked across--
actually walked without support! He must
have nerves of iron.

And there we were, the four of us, upon the
dreamland, the lost world, of Maple White.
To all of us it seemed the moment of our
supreme triumph. Who could have guessed
that it was the prelude to our supreme
disaster? Let me say in a few words how
the crushing blow fell upon us.

We had turned away from the edge, and had
penetrated about fifty yards of close
brushwood, when there came a frightful
rending crash from behind us. With one
impulse we rushed back the way that we
had come. The bridge was gone!

Far down at the base of the cliff I saw, as I
looked over, a tangled mass of branches
and splintered trunk. It was our beech tree.
Had the edge of the platform crumbled and
let it through? For a moment this explanation
was in all our minds. The next, from the
farther side of the rocky pinnacle before us
a swarthy face, the face of Gomez the half-
breed, was slowly protruded. Yes, it was
Gomez, but no longer the Gomez of the
demure smile and the mask-like
expression. Here was a face with flashing
eyes and distorted features, a face
convulsed with hatred and with the mad joy
of gratified revenge.

-61-

point from which he could see his man.
There was a single crack of his rifle, and,
though we saw nothing, we heard the
scream and then the distant thud of the
falling body. Roxton came back to us with a
face of granite.

"I have been a blind simpleton," said he,
bitterly, "It's my folly that has brought you all
into this trouble. I should have remembered
that these people have long memories for
blood-feuds, and have been more upon my
guard."

"What about the other one? It took two of
them to lever that tree over the edge."

"I could have shot him, but I let him go. He
may have had no part in it. Perhaps it would
have been better if I had killed him, for he
must, as you say, have lent a hand."

Now that we had the clue to his action, each
of us could cast back and remember some
sinister act upon the part of the half-breed--
his constant desire to know our plans, his
arrest outside our tent when he was over-
hearing them, the furtive looks of hatred
which from time to time one or other of us
had surprised. We were still discussing it,
endeavoring to adjust our minds to these
new conditions, when a singular scene in
the plain below arrested our attention.

A man in white clothes, who could only be
the surviving half breed, was running as one
does run when Death is the pacemaker.
Behind him, only a few yards in his rear,
bounded the huge ebony figure of Zambo,
our devoted negro. Even as we looked, he
sprang upon the back of the fugitive and
flung his arms round his neck. They rolled on
the ground together. An instant afterwards
Zambo rose, looked at the prostrate man,
and then, waving his hand joyously to us,
came running in our direction. The white

-62-

their journey and anxious to return. We
realized that Zambo spoke the truth, and
that it would be impossible for him to keep
them.

"Make them wait till to-morrow, Zambo," I
shouted; "then I can send letter back by
them."

"Very good, sarr! I promise they wait till to-
morrow, said the negro. "But what I do for
you now?"

There was plenty for him to do, and
admirably the faithful fellow did it. First of
all, under our directions, he undid the rope
from the tree-stump and threw one end of it
across to us. It was not thicker than a
clothes-line, but it was of great strength,
and though we could not make a bridge of
it, we might well find it invaluable if we had
any climbing to do. He then fastened his end
of the rope to the package of supplies
which had been carried up, and we were
able to drag it across. This gave us the
means of life for at least a week, even if we
found nothing else. Finally he descended
and carried up two other packets of mixed
goods--a box of ammunition and a number
of other things, all of which we got across by
throwing our rope to him and hauling it back.
It was evening when he at last climbed
down, with a final assurance that he would
keep the Indians till next morning.

And so it is that I have spent nearly the whole
of this our first night upon the plateau writing
up our experiences by the light of a single
candle-lantern.

We supped and camped at the very edge of
the cliff, quenching our thirst with two bottles
of Apollinaris which were in one of the
cases. It is vital to us to find water, but I think
even Lord John himself had had adventures
enough for one day, and none of us felt

-63-

with the advantage, perhaps, of a perfected
monoplane, should find this bundle of
manuscript, in any case I can see that what I
am writing is destined to immortality as a
classic of true adventure.

On the morning after our being trapped
upon the plateau by the villainous Gomez
we began a new stage in our experiences.
The first incident in it was not such as to give
me a very favorable opinion of the place to
which we had wandered. As I roused myself
from a short nap after day had dawned, my
eyes fell upon a most singular appearance
upon my own leg. My trouser had slipped
up, exposing a few inches of my skin above
my sock. On this there rested a large,
purplish grape. Astonished at the sight, I
leaned forward to pick it off, when, to my
horror, it burst between my finger and
thumb, squirting blood in every direction. My
cry of disgust had brought the two
professors to my side.

"Most interesting," said Summerlee,
bending over my shin. "An enormous blood-
tick, as yet, I believe, unclassified."

"The first-fruits of our labors," said
Challenger in his booming, pedantic
fashion. "We cannot do less than call it
Ixodes Maloni. The very small
inconvenience of being bitten, my young
friend, cannot, I am sure, weigh with you as
against the glorious privilege of having your
name inscribed in the deathless roll of
zoology. Unhappily you have crushed this
fine specimen at the moment of satiation."

"Filthy vermin!" I cried.

Professor Challenger raised his great
eyebrows in protest, and placed a soothing
paw upon my shoulder.

"You should cultivate the scientific eye and

-64-

immediate movements. We shifted our
position from among the tick-laden bushes
until we came to a small clearing thickly
surrounded by trees upon all sides. There
were some flat slabs of rock in the center,
with an excellent well close by, and there we
sat in cleanly comfort while we made our
first plans for the invasion of this new
country. Birds were calling among the
foliage--especially one with a peculiar
whooping cry which was new to us--but
beyond these sounds there were no signs
of life.

Our first care was to make some sort of list
of our own stores, so that we might know
what we had to rely upon. What with the
things we had ourselves brought up and
those which Zambo had sent across on the
rope, we were fairly well supplied. Most
important of all, in view of the dangers
which might surround us, we had our four
rifles and one thousand three hundred
rounds, also a shot-gun, but not more than a
hundred and fifty medium pellet cartridges.
In the matter of provisions we had enough to
last for several weeks, with a sufficiency of
tobacco and a few scientific implements,
including a large telescope and a good
field-glass. All these things we collected
together in the clearing, and as a first
precaution, we cut down with our hatchet
and knives a number of thorny bushes,
which we piled round in a circle some
fifteen yards in diameter. This was to be our
headquarters for the time--our place of
refuge against sudden danger and the
guard-house for our stores. Fort
Challenger, we called it.

IT was midday before we had made
ourselves secure, but the heat was not
oppressive, and the general character of
the plateau, both in its temperature and in its
vegetation, was almost temperate. The
beech, the oak, and even the birch were to

-65-

special task. So it will, I trust, appear in the
atlas of the future.

The peaceful penetration of Maple White
Land was the pressing subject before us.
We had the evidence of our own eyes that
the place was inhabited by some unknown
creatures, and there was that of Maple
White's sketch-book to show that more
dreadful and more dangerous monsters
might still appear. That there might also
prove to be human occupants and that they
were of a malevolent character was
suggested by the skeleton impaled upon the
bamboos, which could not have got there
had it not been dropped from above. Our
situation, stranded without possibility of
escape in such a land, was clearly full of
danger, and our reasons endorsed every
measure of caution which Lord John's
experience could suggest. Yet it was surely
impossible that we should halt on the edge
of this world of mystery when our very souls
were tingling with impatience to push
forward and to pluck the heart from it.

We therefore blocked the entrance to our
zareba by filling it up with several thorny
bushes, and left our camp with the stores
entirely surrounded by this protecting
hedge. We then slowly and cautiously set
forth into the unknown, following the course
of the little stream which flowed from our
spring, as it should always serve us as a
guide on our return.

Hardly had we started when we came
across signs that there were indeed
wonders awaiting us. After a few hundred
yards of thick forest, containing many trees
which were quite unknown to me, but which
Summerlee, who was the botanist of the
party, recognized as forms of conifera and
of cycadaceous plants which have long
passed away in the world below, we
entered a region where the stream widened

-66-

fingered forepaws upon the ground. Not a
bird, my dear Roxton--not a bird."

"A beast?"

"No; a reptile--a dinosaur. Nothing else
could have left such a track. They puzzled a
worthy Sussex doctor some ninety years
ago; but who in the world could have hoped-
-hoped--to have seen a sight like that?"

His words died away into a whisper, and
we all stood in motionless amazement.
Following the tracks, we had left the morass
and passed through a screen of brushwood
and trees. Beyond was an open glade, and
in this were five of the most extraordinary
creatures that I have ever seen. Crouching
down among the bushes, we observed
them at our leisure.

There were, as I say, five of them, two
being adults and three young ones. In size
they were enormous. Even the babies were
as big as elephants, while the two large
ones were far beyond all creatures I have
ever seen. They had slate-colored skin,
which was scaled like a lizard's and
shimmered where the sun shone upon it. All
five were sitting up, balancing themselves
upon their broad, powerful tails and their
huge three-toed hind-feet, while with their
small five-fingered front-feet they pulled
down the branches upon which they
browsed. I do not know that I can bring their
appearance home to you better than by
saying that they looked like monstrous
kangaroos, twenty feet in length, and with
skins like black crocodiles.

I do not know how long we stayed
motionless gazing at this marvelous
spectacle. A strong wind blew towards us
and we were well concealed, so there was
no chance of discovery. From time to time
the little ones played round their parents in

-67-

they say in England of this?"

"My dear Summerlee, I will tell you with
great confidence exactly what they will say
in England," said Challenger. "They will say
that you are an infernal liar and a scientific
charlatan, exactly as you and others said of
me."

"In the face of photographs?"

"Faked, Summerlee! Clumsily faked!"

"In the face of specimens?"

"Ah, there we may have them! Malone and
his filthy Fleet Street crew may be all yelping
our praises yet. August the twenty-eighth
the day we saw five live iguanodons in a
glade of Maple White Land. Put it down in
your diary, my young friend, and send it to
your rag."

"And be ready to get the toe-end of the
editorial boot in return," said Lord John.
"Things look a bit different from the latitude
of London, young fellah my lad. There's
many a man who never tells his adventures,
for he can't hope to be believed. Who's to
blame them? For this will seem a bit of a
dream to ourselves in a month or two. WHAT
did you say they were?"

"Iguanodons," said Summerlee. "You'll find
their footmarks all over the Hastings sands,
in Kent, and in Sussex. The South of
England was alive with them when there
was plenty of good lush green-stuff to keep
them going. Conditions have changed, and
the beasts died. Here it seems that the
conditions have not changed, and the
beasts have lived."

"If ever we get out of this alive, I must have a
head with me," said Lord John. "Lord, how
some of that Somaliland-Uganda crowd

-68-

plateau was strewn with boulders. We were
walking slowly towards these rocks, among
bushes which reached over our waists,
when we became aware of a strange low
gabbling and whistling sound, which filled
the air with a constant clamor and appeared
to come from some spot immediately
before us. Lord John held up his hand as a
signal for us to stop, and he made his way
swiftly, stooping and running, to the line of
rocks. We saw him peep over them and give
a gesture of amazement. Then he stood
staring as if forgetting us, so utterly
entranced was he by what he saw. Finally
he waved us to come on, holding up his
hand as a signal for caution. His whole
bearing made me feel that something
wonderful but dangerous lay before us.

Creeping to his side, we looked over the
rocks. The place into which we gazed was a
pit, and may, in the early days, have been
one of the smaller volcanic blow-holes of
the plateau. It was bowl-shaped and at the
bottom, some hundreds of yards from
where we lay, were pools of green-
scummed, stagnant water, fringed with
bullrushes. It was a weird place in itself, but
its occupants made it seem like a scene
from the Seven Circles of Dante. The place
was a rookery of pterodactyls. There were
hundreds of them congregated within view.
All the bottom area round the water-edge
was alive with their young ones, and with
hideous mothers brooding upon their
leathery, yellowish eggs. From this crawling
flapping mass of obscene reptilian life
came the shocking clamor which filled the
air and the mephitic, horrible, musty odor
which turned us sick. But above, perched
each upon its own stone, tall, gray, and
withered, more like dead and dried
specimens than actual living creatures, sat
the horrible males, absolutely motionless
save for the rolling of their red eyes or an
occasional snap of their rat-trap beaks as a

-69-

colored wings filling the air with a volume of
sound that made me think of Hendon
aerodrome upon a race day.

"Make for the wood and keep together,"
cried Lord John, clubbing his rifle. "The
brutes mean mischief."

The moment we attempted to retreat the
circle closed in upon us, until the tips of the
wings of those nearest to us nearly touched
our faces. We beat at them with the stocks
of our guns, but there was nothing solid or
vulnerable to strike. Then suddenly out of the
whizzing, slate-colored circle a long neck
shot out, and a fierce beak made a thrust at
us. Another and another followed.
Summerlee gave a cry and put his hand to
his face, from which the blood was
streaming. I felt a prod at the back of my
neck, and turned dizzy with the shock.
Challenger fell, and as I stooped to pick him
up I was again struck from behind and
dropped on the top of him. At the same
instant I heard the crash of Lord John's
elephant-gun, and, looking up, saw one of
the creatures with a broken wing struggling
upon the ground, spitting and gurgling at us
with a wide-opened beak and blood-shot,
goggled eyes, like some devil in a medieval
picture. Its comrades had flown higher at the
sudden sound, and were circling above our
heads.

"Now," cried Lord John, "now for our lives!"

We staggered through the brushwood, and
even as we reached the trees the harpies
were on us again. Summerlee was knocked
down, but we tore him up and rushed
among the trunks. Once there we were
safe, for those huge wings had no space for
their sweep beneath the branches. As we
limped homewards, sadly mauled and
discomfited, we saw them for a long time
flying at a great height against the deep blue

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to the surgical box at the camp for some
carbolic. Who knows what venom these
beasts may have in their hideous jaws?"

But surely no men ever had just such a day
since the world began. Some fresh surprise
was ever in store for us. When, following the
course of our brook, we at last reached our
glade and saw the thorny barricade of our
camp, we thought that our adventures were
at an end. But we had something more to
think of before we could rest. The gate of
Fort Challenger had been untouched, the
walls were unbroken, and yet it had been
visited by some strange and powerful
creature in our absence. No foot-mark
showed a trace of its nature, and only the
overhanging branch of the enormous ginko
tree suggested how it might have come and
gone; but of its malevolent strength there
was ample evidence in the condition of our
stores. They were strewn at random all over
the ground, and one tin of meat had been
crushed into pieces so as to extract the
contents. A case of cartridges had been
shattered into matchwood, and one of the
brass shells lay shredded into pieces
beside it. Again the feeling of vague horror
came upon our souls, and we gazed round
with frightened eyes at the dark shadows
which lay around us, in all of which some
fearsome shape might be lurking. How
good it was when we were hailed by the
voice of Zambo, and, going to the edge of
the plateau, saw him sitting grinning at us
upon the top of the opposite pinnacle.

"All well, Massa Challenger, all well!" he
cried. "Me stay here. No fear. You always
find me when you want."

His honest black face, and the immense
view before us, which carried us half-way
back to the affluent of the Amazon, helped
us to remember that we really were upon
this earth in the twentieth century, and had

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back to where the voices of the contending
men of science rose in a prolonged duet,
the high, strident note of Summerlee rising
and falling to the sonorous bass of
Challenger. I should have thought no more
of Lord John's remark were it not that once
again that night I heard him mutter to
himself: "Blue clay--clay in a volcanic tube!"
They were the last words I heard before I
dropped into an exhausted sleep.

Chapter 11 For Once I Was The Hero

Lord John Roxton was right when he thought
that some specially toxic quality might lie in
the bite of the horrible creatures which had
attacked us. On the morning after our first
adventure upon the plateau, both
Summerlee and I were in great pain and
fever, while Challenger's knee was so
bruised that he could hardly limp. We kept to
our camp all day, therefore, Lord John
busying himself, with such help as we could
give him, in raising the height and thickness
of the thorny walls which were our only
defense. I remember that during the whole
long day I was haunted by the feeling that
we were closely observed, though by whom
or whence I could give no guess.

So strong was the impression that I told
Professor Challenger of it, who put it down
to the cerebral excitement caused by my
fever. Again and again I glanced round
swiftly, with the conviction that I was about
to see something, but only to meet the dark
tangle of our hedge or the solemn and
cavernous gloom of the great trees which
arched above our heads. And yet the feeling
grew ever stronger in my own mind that
something observant and something
malevolent was at our very elbow. I thought
of the Indian superstition of the Curupuri--
the dreadful, lurking spirit of the woods--
and I could have imagined that his terrible
presence haunted those who had invaded

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"We shall know in the morning," said Lord
John. "It was close to us--not farther than
the glade."

"We have been privileged to overhear a
prehistoric tragedy, the sort of drama which
occurred among the reeds upon the border
of some Jurassic lagoon, when the greater
dragon pinned the lesser among the slime,"
said Challenger, with more solemnity than I
had ever heard in his voice. "It was surely
well for man that he came late in the order of
creation. There were powers abroad in
earlier days which no courage and no
mechanism of his could have met. What
could his sling, his throwing-stick, or his
arrow avail him against such forces as have
been loose to-night? Even with a modern
rifle it would be all odds on the monster."

"I think I should back my little friend," said
Lord John, caressing his Express. "But the
beast would certainly have a good sporting
chance."

Summerlee raised his hand.

"Hush!" he cried. "Surely I hear something?"

From the utter silence there emerged a
deep, regular pat-pat. It was the tread of
some animal--the rhythm of soft but heavy
pads placed cautiously upon the ground. It
stole slowly round the camp, and then halted
near our gateway. There was a low, sibilant
rise and fall--the breathing of the creature.
Only our feeble hedge separated us from
this horror of the night. Each of us had
seized his rifle, and Lord John had pulled
out a small bush to make an embrasure in
the hedge.

"By George!" he whispered. "I think I can
see it!"

I stooped and peered over his shoulder

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"I thought he wouldn't face the fire," said
Lord John, laughing, as he came back and
threw his branch among the faggots.

"You should not have taken such a risk!" we
all cried.

"There was nothin' else to be done. If he had
got among us we should have shot each
other in tryin' to down him. On the other
hand, if we had fired through the hedge and
wounded him he would soon have been on
the top of us--to say nothin' of giving
ourselves away. On the whole, I think that
we are jolly well out of it. What was he,
then?"

Our learned men looked at each other with
some hesitation.

"Personally, I am unable to classify the
creature with any certainty," said
Summerlee, lighting his pipe from the fire.

"In refusing to commit yourself you are but
showing a proper scientific reserve," said
Challenger, with massive condescension. "I
am not myself prepared to go farther than to
say in general terms that we have almost
certainly been in contact to-night with some
form of carnivorous dinosaur. I have already
expressed my anticipation that something
of the sort might exist upon this plateau."

"We have to bear in mind," remarked
Summerlee, that there are many prehistoric
forms which have never come down to us. It
would be rash to suppose that we can give
a name to all that we are likely to meet."

"Exactly. A rough classification may be the
best that we can attempt. To-morrow some
further evidence may help us to an
identification. Meantime we can only renew
our interrupted slumbers."

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types of animal life that have ever cursed
the earth or blessed a museum." He
laughed sonorously at his own conceit, for,
though he had little sense of humor, the
crudest pleasantry from his own lips moved
him always to roars of appreciation.

"The less noise the better," said Lord
Roxton, curtly. "We don't know who or what
may be near us. If this fellah comes back for
his breakfast and catches us here we won't
have so much to laugh at. By the way, what
is this mark upon the iguanodon's hide?"

On the dull, scaly, slate-colored skin
somewhere above the shoulder, there was
a singular black circle of some substance
which looked like asphalt. None of us could
suggest what it meant, though Summerlee
was of opinion that he had seen something
similar upon one of the young ones two
days before. Challenger said nothing, but
looked pompous and puffy, as if he could if
he would, so that finally Lord John asked his
opinion direct.

"If your lordship will graciously permit me to
open my mouth, I shall be happy to express
my sentiments," said he, with elaborate
sarcasm. I am not in the habit of being taken
to task in the fashion which seems to be
customary with your lordship. I was not
aware that it was necessary to ask your
permission before smiling at a harmless
pleasantry."

It was not until he had received his apology
that our touchy friend would suffer himself to
be appeased. When at last his ruffled
feelings were at ease, he addressed us at
some length from his seat upon a fallen
tree, speaking, as his habit was, as if he
were imparting most precious information
to a class of a thousand.

"With regard to the marking," said he, "I am

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possibilities of a modification of the birth-
rate were weighed against the decline of
the food supply as a check in the struggle
for existence.

That morning we mapped out a small
portion of the plateau, avoiding the swamp
of the pterodactyls, and keeping to the east
of our brook instead of to the west. In that
direction the country was still thickly
wooded, with so much undergrowth that our
progress was very slow.

I have dwelt up to now upon the terrors of
Maple White Land; but there was another
side to the subject, for all that morning we
wandered among lovely flowers--mostly,
as I observed, white or yellow in color, these
being, as our professors explained, the
primitive flower-shades. In many places the
ground was absolutely covered with them,
and as we walked ankle-deep on that
wonderful yielding carpet, the scent was
almost intoxicating in its sweetness and
intensity. The homely English bee buzzed
everywhere around us. Many of the trees
under which we passed had their branches
bowed down with fruit, some of which were
of familiar sorts, while other varieties were
new. By observing which of them were
pecked by the birds we avoided all danger
of poison and added a delicious variety to
our food reserve. In the jungle which we
traversed were numerous hard-trodden
paths made by the wild beasts, and in the
more marshy places we saw a profusion of
strange footmarks, including many of the
iguanodon. Once in a grove we observed
several of these great creatures grazing,
and Lord John, with his glass, was able to
report that they also were spotted with
asphalt, though in a different place to the
one which we had examined in the morning.
What this phenomenon meant we could not
imagine.

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naturalist as none ever has since the world
began, and you suggest leaving it before
we have acquired more than the most
superficial knowledge of it or of its contents.
I expected better things of you, Professor
Summerlee."

"You must remember," said Summerlee,
sourly, "that I have a large class in London
who are at present at the mercy of an
extremely inefficient locum tenens. This
makes my situation different from yours,
Professor Challenger, since, so far as I
know, you have never been entrusted with
any responsible educational work."

"Quite so," said Challenger. "I have felt it to
be a sacrilege to divert a brain which is
capable of the highest original research to
any lesser object. That is why I have sternly
set my face against any proffered
scholastic appointment."

"For example?" asked Summerlee, with a
sneer; but Lord John hastened to change
the conversation.

"I must say," said he, "that I think it would be
a mighty poor thing to go back to London
before I know a great deal more of this
place than I do at present."

"I could never dare to walk into the back
office of my paper and face old McArdle,"
said I. (You will excuse the frankness of this
report, will you not, sir?) "He'd never forgive
me for leaving such unexhausted copy
behind me. Besides, so far as I can see it is
not worth discussing, since we can't get
down, even if we wanted."

"Our young friend makes up for many
obvious mental lacunae by some measure
of primitive common sense, remarked
Challenger. "The interests of his deplorable
profession are immaterial to us; but, as he

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