Текст книги "Затерянный мир / The Lost World"

Chapter 10
The Most Wonderful Things Have Happened

The most wonderful things have happened and are happening to us. All the paper that I possess consists of five old note-books, and I have only the one pencil. But so long as I can move my hand I will continue to write down our experiences and impressions, since we are the only men to see such things.

On the morning after our being trapped upon the plateau by Gomez we began a new stage in our experiences. First we shifted our position to a small clearing thickly surrounded by trees. There we sat in comfort while we made our first plans for the invasion of this new country. There were no signs of life except some birds.

Our first care was to make a list of our own stores, so that we might know what we had to rely on. With the things that Zambo had sent across on the rope, we were very well supplied. We had our four rifles and a shot-gun. In the matter of provisions we had enough to last for several weeks, with tobacco and a few scientific implements, including a large telescope and binoculars. We cut down with our knives thorny bushes, which we piled round in a circle some fifteen yards in diameter. This was to be our refuge against sudden danger and the house for our stores. Fort Challenger, we called it.

“So long as neither man nor beast has seen or heard us, we are safe,” said Lord John. “From the time they know we are here our troubles begin. There are no signs that they have found us out as yet. We want to have a good look at our neighbours before we get on visiting terms.”

“But we must go further,” I said.

“By all means, my boy! We will go further. But with common sense. Above all, we must never, unless it is life or death, fire off our guns.”

“But YOU fired yesterday,” said Summerlee.

“Well, I had to. However, the wind was strong. It is not likely that the sound could have travelled far into the plateau. By the way, what shall we call this land?”

“It can only have one name,” said Challenger. “It is called after the man who discovered it. It is Maple White Land.”

So we knew 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. Our situation was clearly full of danger.

We therefore blocked the entrance to our refuge with several thorny bushes, and left our camp following a small river. Hardly had we started our journey when we came across signs that there were indeed wonders awaiting us. We entered a region where the stream widened out. Suddenly Lord John, who was walking first, stopped.

“Look at this!” said he. “By George, this must be the trail of the father of all birds!”

An enormous three-toed track was imprinted in the soft mud before us. If it were indeed a bird… its foot must be enormous. Lord John looked eagerly round him.

“The track is a fresh one,” said he, “The creature has not passed ten minutes. My God! See, here is the mark of a little one!”

Sure enough, smaller tracks of the same general form were running parallel to the large ones.

“But what do you make of this?” cried Professor Summerlee, pointing to what looked like the huge print of a five-fingered hand among the three-toed marks.

“I guess I know!” cried Challenger, in an ecstasy. “It is a creature walking erect upon three-toed feet, and occasionally putting one of its five-fingered forepaws on 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. Who in the world could have hoped to have seen a sight like that?”

Following the tracks, we passed through the brushwood and trees. Beyond was an open area, and there were five of the most extraordinary creatures that I have ever seen. Two being adults and three young ones. In size they were enormous. Even the babies were as big as elephants! 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. I do not know that I can describe their appearance to you better than by saying that they looked like monstrous kangaroos, 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. The strength of the parents seemed to be limitless, for one of them, having some difficulty in reaching the leaves, put his fore-legs round the trunk and tore it down. The action seemed, as I thought, to show not only the great development of its muscles, but also the small one of its brain. The tree came crashing down on the head of it. The incident made it think, apparently, that the neighbourhood was dangerous, and it slowly went through the wood, followed by its mate and its three enormous babies. Then they vanished from our sight.

I looked at my companions. Lord John was standing next to me, his eager hunter’s soul shining from his eyes. The two professors were in silent ecstasy. In their excitement they stood like two little children in the presence of a wonder.

“Oh my!” Sammerlee cried at last. “What will they say in England of this?”

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

“But photographs?”

“Faked, Summerlee! Only faked!”

“Specimens?”

“Things look a bit different from London,” said Lord John. “Who’s to blame them? 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 leaves there. 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.

I had the feeling of mystery and danger around us. In the gloom of the trees there seemed a constant menace. It is true that these monstrous creatures which we had seen were peaceful, which were unlikely to hurt anyone, but in this world of wonders what other survivals might there be? I knew little of prehistoric life, but I remembered clearly one book where it was told that the dinosaurs would live on our lions and tigers as a cat lives on mice. What if these also were to be found in the woods of Maple White Land!

It was destined that on this very morning we were to find out what dangers lay around us. Surely the swamp of the pterodactyls will forever be our nightmare. Let me tell exactly what happened.

We passed very slowly through the woods. Our professors would fall, with a cry of wonder, before some flower or insect which presented him with a new type. Finally we came on a considerable opening in the trees. A belt of brushwood led up to a tangle of rocks – the whole plateau was strewn with boulders. We were walking slowly towards these rocks, when we heard a strange whistling sound. Lord John held up his hand as a signal for us to stop, and made his way to the line of rocks. We saw him look over them and give a gesture of amazement. Finally he waved us to come on, holding up his hand as a signal for caution. It 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 water. The place was a swamp of pterodactyls. There were hundreds and hundreds of them. We saw their young ones and monstrous mothers sitting on their leathery, yellowish eggs. From this reptilian life came the shocking clamor which filled the air and the horrible smell turned us sick. Large and small, not less than a thousand of these filthy creatures lay in the hollow before us.

Our professors would have stayed there all day, so carried away were they by this opportunity of studying the life of a prehistoric age. They pointed out the fish and dead birds lying about among the rocks as proving the nature of the food of these creatures. I heard them congratulating each other on having cleared up the point why the bones of this flying dragon are found in such great numbers in certain well-defined areas, since it was now seen that, like penguins, they lived in great companies.

Finally, however, Challenger showed his head over the rock and nearly brought trouble upon us all. The nearest male gave a shrill, whistling cry, and flapped its twenty-foot span of leathery wings as it soared up into the air. The females and young ones huddled together beside the water, while the whole circle of sentinels rose one after the other and sailed off into the sky. It was a wonderful sight to see at least a hundred creatures of such enormous size, but soon we realized the danger. Then, their flight grew lower and the circle narrower, until they were whizzing round and round us.

The moment we attempted to retreat the circle closed in upon us, until 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 – they started attacking us. Summerlee gave a cry and put his hand to his face, from which the blood was streaming. Suddenly I felt a pain in the back of my neck. At the same moment I heard the crash of Lord John’s gun, and 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 rushed to the brushwood, and even as we reached the trees the harpies were on us again. Once there we were safe, because their huge wings had no space for their sweep beneath the branches. We saw them for a long time flying at a great height against the deep blue sky above our heads, soaring round and round. At last, however, as we reached the thicker woods they gave up the chase, and we saw them no more.

“A most interesting experience,” said Challenger, as we halted beside the brook and he bathed a swollen knee. “We are exceptionally well informed, Summerlee, as to the habits of the enraged pterodactyl.”

Summerlee was wiping the blood from a cut in his forehead, while I was tying up a nasty stab in the back of my neck. Lord John had the shoulder of his coat torn away, but the creature’s teeth had only grazed the flesh.

“It is worth noting,” Challenger continued, “that our young friend has received a stab, while Lord John’s coat could only have been torn by a bite. In my own case, I was beaten about the head by their wings, so we have observed the various methods of their attack.”

“It has been touch and go for our lives,” said Lord John, gravely, “I was sorry to fire my rifle, but there was no great choice. Now, I think… we have had thrills enough for one day, and had better get back to the camp for some carbolic. Who knows what poison these beasts may have in their jaws?”

When we at last reached our refuge, we thought that our adventures were at an end. 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 but our stores were thrown at random all over the ground, and one tin of meat had been crushed into pieces. 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. How good it was when we heard the voice of Zambo, and, going to the edge of the plateau, saw him sitting grinning at us at the top of the opposite rock.

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

His honest black face helped us to remember that we really were on this earth in the twentieth century, and had not by some magic been placed to some planet in its earliest and wildest state.

One other memory remains with me of this day, and with it I will close this letter. The two professors started their scientific discussions. And I moved some little way apart in order to avoid their disputes. I was seated smoking on the trunk of a fallen tree, when Lord John came up to me.

“Look, Malone,” said he, “do you remember that place where those beasts were?”

“Very clearly.”

“A sort of volcanic pit?”

“Exactly,” said I.

“Did you notice the soil?”

“Rocks.”

“But round the water… where the reeds were?”

“It looked like clay.”

“Exactly. A volcanic tube full of blue clay.”

“What of that?” I asked.

“Oh, nothing, nothing,” said he. 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 fell 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 walk. We spent all day in our camp, helping Lord John 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…

So strong was the impression that I told Professor Challenger of it, who said that it was caused by my fever. Again and again I glanced round, and yet the feeling grew ever stronger in my own mind that something observant and something dangerous was around us. I thought of the Indian superstition of the Curupuri – the dreadful spirit of the woods – and I could have imagined that his terrible presence haunted those who had invaded his land.

That night (our third in Maple White Land) we had an experience which left a fearful impression on our minds, and made us thankful that Lord John had worked so hard in making our refuge safe. We were all sleeping round our dying fire when we were aroused by a succession of the most frightful cries and screams, full of agony and horror. A cold sweat broke out over my body, and my heart turned sick at the misery of it. And then, under this high-pitched sound there was another, a low, deep-chested laugh, a growling. For three or four minutes the fearsome duet continued. Then it shut off as suddenly as it began. For a long time we sat in horrified silence. Then Lord John threw a couple of branches on the fire, and their red glare lit up the intent faces of my companions.

“What was it?” I whispered.

“We shall know in the morning,” said Lord John. “It was close to us…”

“We have just overheard a prehistoric tragedy, when the greater dragon killed the weaker one,” said Challenger, with more solemnity than I had ever heard in his voice.

Summerlee raised his hand.

“Hush!” he cried. “I hear something…”

From the silence there emerged a deep, regular pat-pat. Some animal placed its heavy pads cautiously upon the ground. It got nearer that we could hear the breathing of the creature. Only our 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 have a look at it.

“By George!” he whispered. “I see it!”

Yes, I could see it, too. In the deep shadow of the tree there was a deeper shadow – it was no higher than a horse, but everything spoke of its strength. Once, as it moved, I thought I saw two terrible, greenish eyes. There was an uneasy rustling, as if it were crawling slowly forward.

“I believe it is going to jump!” said I, taking my rifle.

“Don’t fire! Don’t fire!” whispered Lord John. “The crash of a gun in this silent night would be heard for miles. Keep it as a last card.”

“If it gets over the hedge we’re done,” said Summerlee.

“No, it must not get over,” cried Lord John; “but hold your fire to the last. Perhaps I can make something of the fellow. I’ll try it.”

It was as brave an act as ever I saw a man do. He came up to the fire, picked up a blazing branch, and slipped through our gateway. The thing moved forward with a dreadful sound. Lord John never hesitated, and dashed the flaming wood into its face. For one moment I had a vision of a horrible head like a giant toad’s. The next, our dreadful visitor was gone.

“I thought he was afraid of fire,” said Lord John, laughing, as he came back.

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

“There was nothing else to be done. If it had got here we should have shot each other in the darkness. What was it, then?”

Our learned men looked at each other with some hesitation.

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

“Me too,” said Challenger, with massive condescension. “Tomorrow some further evidence may help us to an identification. Meantime we can only renew our interrupted sleep.”

“But not without a watchman,” said Lord John. “We can’t afford to take chances in a country like this.”

“Then I’ll just finish my pipe in starting the first watch,” said Professor Summerlee; and from that time onwards we never trusted ourselves again without a watchman.

In the morning we discovered the source of the cry which had aroused us in the night. The iguanodon glade was the scene of a horrible tragedy. There was a lot of blood and enormous lumps of flesh in every direction over the green grass. The poor iguanodon had been literally torn to pieces by some creature not larger, perhaps, but far more dreadful.

Our two professors examined piece after piece, which showed the marks of savage teeth and of enormous claws.

“Our judgment must still be not precise,” said Professor Challenger, with a huge piece of whitish-coloured flesh across his knee. “It could be a saber-toothed tiger, such as are still found; but the creature actually seen was undoubtedly of a larger and more reptilian character. Personally, I should say it was allosaurus.”

“Or megalosaurus,” said Summerlee.

“Exactly. Any one of the larger dinosaurs would meet the case. Among them are to be found all the most terrible types of animal life that have ever cursed the earth or blessed a museum.” And he laughed at his own joke.

“Hush! The less noise, the better,” said Lord Roxton. “We don’t know who or what may be near us. By the way, what is this mark upon the iguanodon’s hide?”

On the dull 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, 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 opinion,” said he, with sarcasm. “I am inclined to agree with my friend and colleague, Professor Summerlee, that the stains are from asphalt. As this plateau is, in its very nature, highly volcanic, I cannot doubt that the asphalt exists in the free liquid state, and that the creatures may have come in contact with it. A much more important problem is the question as to the existence of the carnivorous monster which has left its traces in this glade. I hope we may have some future opportunity for the closer study of the carnivorous dinosaurs.”

“And I hope we may not,” I said.

The Professor only raised his great eyebrows.

That morning we mapped out a small portion of the plateau, avoiding the swamp of the pterodactyls, and keeping to the east of our small river instead of to the west. In that direction the country was still thickly wooded that slowed down the whole process.

I have told up to now only the terrors of Maple White Land; but there was another side to the subject, for all that morning we wandered among lovely flowers – in many places the ground was absolutely covered with them. 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 there were numerous paths made by the wild beasts, including iguanodons. Once we observed several of these great creatures grazing, and Lord John, with his binoculars, was able to say that they also were spotted with asphalt.

Ever since the mysterious visit which had been paid to our camp we always returned to it expecting the worst. However, on this occasion we found everything in order.

That evening we had a great discussion on our present situation and future plans, which I must describe at some length, as it led to a new departure by which we were enabled to gain a more complete knowledge of Maple White Land than might have come in many weeks of exploring. It was Summerlee who opened the debate.

“What we ought to be doing today, tomorrow, and all the time,” said he, “is finding some way out of the trap into which we have fallen. You are all turning your brains towards getting into this country. I say that we should be thinking how to get out of it.”

“I am surprised, sir,” boomed Challenger. “You are in a land which offers lots of discoveries, and you suggest leaving it. I expected better things of you, Professor Summerlee.”

“I must say,” said Lord John, “that I think it would be not reasonable to go back to London before I know a great deal more of this place.”

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

“Our young friend makes up for many obvious mental lacunae by some measure of primitive common sense,” remarked Challenger. “The interests of his deplorable profession are immaterial to us; but, as he observes, we cannot get down in any case, so it is a waste of energy to discuss it.”

“Let me remind you,” growled Summerlee from behind his pipe, “that we came here on a perfectly definite mission. That mission was to test the truth of Professor Challenger’s statements. Those statements, I should admit, we are now in a position to confirm. Our work is therefore done. As to the detail which remains… the plateau is so enormous that only a large expedition, with a very special equipment, could hope to cope with it. Should we attempt to do so ourselves, the only possible result must be that we shall never return with the important contribution to science which we have already gained.”

I confess that it struck me as very reasonable. Even Challenger was affected by the consideration that his enemies would never stand confuted if the confirmation of his statements should never reach those who had doubted them.

“The problem of the descent is a formidable one,” said he, “and yet I cannot doubt that the intellect can solve it. But I absolutely refuse to leave, however, until we have made at least a superficial examination of this country and drawn a map.”

Professor Summerlee gave a snort of impatience.

“We have spent two long days in exploration,” said he, “it would take months to penetrate it and to learn the relations of one part to another. If there were some central peak it would be different…”

It was at that moment that I had my inspiration. My eyes fell upon the enormous trunk of the gingko tree which cast its huge branches over us. Surely it was very high. Then why should this mighty tree not be a watchtower? My companions might be the masters on the rocks, but I knew that I would be supreme among those branches. My friends were delighted at my idea.

“Our young friend,” said Challenger, bunching up the red apples of his cheeks, “is capable of acrobatic exertions which would be impossible to a man of a more solid, though possibly of a more commanding, appearance. I applaud his resolution.”

“By George, my son, it’s great!” said Lord John, clapping me on the back. “How we never came to think of it before I can’t imagine! There’s not more than an hour of daylight left, but if you take your notebook you may be able to get some rough sketch of the place.”

I started climbing onwards with such speed that I soon lost sight of the ground and had nothing but leaves beneath me. I made excellent progress, and now the sound of Challenger’s voice seemed to be a great distance beneath me. The tree was, however, enormous, and, looking upwards, I could see no thinning of the leaves above my head. Then I saw something which seemed to be a parasite upon a branch up which I was holding. I leaned my head round it in order to see what it was, and I nearly fell out of the tree in my surprise and horror at what I saw.

A face was gazing into mine… at the distance of only a foot or two. It was a human face… or at least it was far more human than any monkey’s face. It was long, whitish, and blotched with pimples, the nose flattened, and the lower jaw projecting, with a bristle of coarse whiskers round the chin. The eyes, which were under thick and heavy brows, were angry, and as it opened its mouth to snarl what sounded like a curse at me I observed that it had curved, sharp teeth. For an instant I read hatred and menace in the evil eyes. Then, as quick as a flash, came an expression of overpowering fear. There was a crash of broken branches as it disappeared into the green. I caught a glimpse of a hairy body like that of a reddish pig.

“What’s the matter?” shouted Roxton from below. “Anything wrong with you?”

“Did you see it?” I cried, with my arms round the branch.

“We heard a noise. What was it?”

I was so shocked at the sudden and strange appearance of this ape-man that I hesitated whether I should not climb down again and tell my experience to my companions. But I was already so far up the great tree that it seemed a humiliation to return without having carried out my mission.

After a long pause, therefore, to recover my breath and my courage, I continued my ascent. Gradually the leaves thinned around me, and soon I reached the top. There I settled into a convenient branch, and, balancing myself securely, I found myself looking down at a most wonderful panorama of this strange country in which we found ourselves.

The sun was just above the western sky-line, and the evening was a particularly bright and clear one, so that the whole plateau was visible.

It was oval, about thirty miles long and twenty miles wide. There was a lake which was situated right in the centre. It lay very green and beautiful in the evening light, with a thick wall of reeds at its edges. Several yellow sandbanks gleamed golden in the sunshine. I could see a number of long dark objects, too large for alligators and too long for canoes. They were definetely alive but I couldn’t recognize what creatures they were. In the wood I could see the glade of the iguanodones and the swamp of the pterodactyls. On the opposite side the plateau looked different: lots of cliffs and caves. Along the base of the red cliffs, some distance above the ground, I could see a number of dark caves through the binoculars. At the opening of one of these something white was shimmering, but I was unable to make out what it was. I sat mapping the country until the sun had set and it was so dark that I could no longer distinguish details. Then I climbed down to my companions waiting for me so eagerly at the bottom of the great tree. For once I was the hero of the expedition. Alone I had thought of it, and alone I had done it; and here was the map which would save us a month. Each of them shook me solemnly by the hand.

But before they discussed the details of my map I had to tell them of the ape-man among the branches.

“He has been there all the time,” said I.

“How do you know that?” asked Lord John.

“Because I have always had that feeling that something was watching us. I mentioned it to you, Professor Challenger.”

“Our young friend certainly said something of the kind. Tell me, now,” he added, “did you happen to observe whether the creature could cross its thumb over its palm?”

“No, indeed.”

“Did it have a tail?”

“No.”

“Did it use its feet as hands?”

“I do not think it could have climbed so fast among the branches if it could not get a grip with its feet.”

“In South America there are thirty-six species of monkeys, but the ape is unknown. It is clear, however, that he exists in this country. The question which we have to face is whether he approaches more closely to the ape or the man. In the latter case, he may well approximate to what the vulgar have called the ’missing link’. The solution of this problem is our immediate duty.”

“It is nothing of the sort,” said Summerlee, abruptly. “Now that, we have got our map, our one and only immediate duty is to get ourselves safe and sound out of this awful place. It is our task to put on record what we have seen, and to leave the further exploration to others. You all agreed before Mr. Malone got us the map.”

“Well,” said Challenger, “I admit that I will be more satisfied when I am assured that the result of our expedition has been delivered to our friends. How we are to get down from this place I have not as yet an idea. I have never faced any problem, which my inventive brain was unable to solve, and I promise you that tomorrow I will turn my attention to the question of our descent.”

But that evening, by the light of the fire and of a single candle, the first map of the lost world was elaborated. Every detail which I had roughly noted from my watch-tower was drawn out in its relative place.