The Lost World
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 and by the exhaustion of my supplies.
These considerations limited my time, and I can only claim that I have
surveyed about six miles of the cliff to the east of us, finding no
possible way up. What, then, shall we now do?"
"There seems to be only one reasonable course," said Professor
Summerlee. "If you have explored the east, we should travel along the
base of the cliff to the west, and seek for a practicable point for our
ascent."
"That's it," said Lord John. "The odds are that this plateau is of no
great size, and we shall travel round it until we either find an easy
way up it, or come back to the point from which we started."
"I have already explained to our young friend here," said Challenger
(he has a way of alluding to me as if I were a school child ten years
old), "that it is quite impossible that there should be an easy way up
anywhere, for the simple reason that if there were the summit would not
be isolated, and those conditions would not obtain which have effected
so singular an interference with the general laws of survival. Yet I
admit that there may very well be places where an expert human climber
may reach the summit, and yet a cumbrous and heavy animal be unable to
descend. It is certain that there is a point where an ascent is
possible."
"How do you know that, sir?" asked Summerlee, sharply.
"Because my predecessor, the American Maple White, actually made such
an ascent. How otherwise could he have seen the monster which he
sketched in his notebook?"
"There you reason somewhat ahead of the proved facts," said the
stubborn Summerlee. "I admit your plateau, because I have seen it; but
I have not as yet satisfied myself that it contains any form of life
whatever."
"What you admit, sir, or what you do not admit, is really of
inconceivably small importance. I am glad to perceive that the plateau
itself has actually obtruded itself upon your intelligence." He glanced
up at it, and then, to our amazement, he sprang from his rock, and,
seizing Summerlee by the neck, he tilted his face into the air. "Now
sir!" he shouted, hoarse with excitement. "Do I help you to realize
that the plateau contains some animal life?"
I have said that a thick fringe of green overhung the edge of the
cliff. Out of this there had emerged a black, glistening object. As
it came slowly forth and overhung the chasm, we saw that it was a very
large snake with a peculiar flat, spade-like head. It wavered and
quivered above us for a minute, the morning sun gleaming upon its
sleek, sinuous coils. Then it slowly drew inwards and disappeared.
Summerlee had been so interested that he had stood unresisting while
Challenger tilted his head into the air. Now he shook his colleague
off and came back to his dignity.
"I should be glad, Professor Challenger," said he, "if you could see
your way to make any remarks which may occur to you without seizing me
by the chin. Even the appearance of a very ordinary rock python does
not appear to justify such a liberty."
"But there is life upon the plateau all the same," his colleague
replied in triumph. "And now, having demonstrated this important
conclusion so that it is clear to anyone, however prejudiced or obtuse,
I am of opinion that we cannot do better than break up our camp and
travel to westward until we find some means of ascent."
The ground at the foot of the cliff was rocky and broken so that the
going was slow and difficult. Suddenly we came, however, upon
something which cheered our hearts. It was the site of an old
encampment, with several empty Chicago meat tins, a bottle labeled
"Brandy," a broken tin-opener, and a quantity of other travelers'
debris. A crumpled, disintegrated newspaper revealed itself as the
Chicago Democrat, though the date had been obliterated.
"Not mine," said Challenger. "It must be Maple White's."
Lord John had been gazing curiously at a great tree-fern which
overshadowed the encampment. "I say, look at this," said he. "I
believe it is meant for a sign-post."
A slip of hard wood had been nailed to the tree in such a way as to
point to the westward.
"Most certainly a sign-post," said Challenger. "What else? Finding
himself upon a dangerous errand, our pioneer has left this sign so that
any party which follows him may know the way he has taken. Perhaps we
shall come upon some other indications as we proceed."
We did indeed, but they were of a terrible and most unexpected nature.
Immediately beneath the cliff there grew a considerable patch of high
bamboo, like that which we had traversed in our journey. Many of these
stems were twenty feet high, with sharp, strong tops, so that even as
they stood they made formidable spears. We were passing along the edge
of this cover when my eye was caught by the gleam of something white
within it. Thrusting in my head between the stems, I found myself
gazing at a fleshless skull. The whole skeleton was there, but the
skull had detached itself and lay some feet nearer to the open.
With a few blows from the machetes of our Indians we cleared the spot
and were able to study the details of this old tragedy. Only a few
shreds of clothes could still be distinguished, but there were the
remains of boots upon the bony feet, and it was very clear that the
dead man was a European. A gold watch by Hudson, of New York, and a
chain which held a stylographic pen, lay among the bones. There was
also a silver cigarette-case, with "J. C., from A. E. S.," upon the
lid. The state of the metal seemed to show that the catastrophe had
occurred no great time before.
"Who can he be?" asked Lord John. "Poor devil! every bone in his body
seems to be broken."
"And the bamboo grows through his smashed ribs," said Summerlee. "It
is a fast-growing plant, but it is surely inconceivable that this body
could have been here while the canes grew to be twenty feet in length."
"As to the man's identity," said Professor Challenger, "I have no doubt
whatever upon that point. As I made my way up the river before I
reached you at the fazenda I instituted very particular inquiries about
Maple White. At Para they knew nothing. Fortunately, I had a definite
clew, for there was a particular picture in his sketch-book which
showed him taking lunch with a certain ecclesiastic at Rosario. This
priest I was able to find, and though he proved a very argumentative
fellow, who took it absurdly amiss that I should point out to him the
corrosive effect which modern science must have upon his beliefs, he
none the less gave me some positive information. Maple White passed
Rosario four years ago, or two years before I saw his dead body. He
was not alone at the time, but there was a friend, an American named
James Colver, who remained in the boat and did not meet this
ecclesiastic. I think, therefore, that there can be no doubt that we
are now looking upon the remains of this James Colver."
"Nor," said Lord John, "is there much doubt as to how he met his death.
He has fallen or been chucked from the top, and so been impaled. How
else could he come by his broken bones, and how could he have been
stuck through by these canes with their points so high above our heads?"
A hush came over us as we stood round these shattered remains and
realized the truth of Lord John Roxton's words. The beetling head of
the cliff projected over the cane-brake. Undoubtedly he had fallen
from above. But had he fallen? Had it been an accident? Or--already
ominous and terrible possibilities began to form round that unknown
land.
We moved off in silence, and continued to coast round the line of
cliffs, which were as even and unbroken as some of those monstrous
Antarctic ice-fields which I have seen depicted as stretching from
horizon to horizon and towering high above the mast-heads of the
exploring vessel.
In five miles we saw no rift or break. And then suddenly we perceived
something which filled us with new hope. In a hollow of the rock,
protected from rain, there was drawn a rough arrow in chalk, pointing
still to the westwards.
"Maple White again," said Professor Challenger. "He had some
presentiment that worthy footsteps would follow close behind him."
"He had chalk, then?"
"A box of colored chalks was among the effects I found in his knapsack.
I remember that the white one was worn to a stump."
"That is certainly good evidence," said Summerlee. "We can only accept
his guidance and follow on to the westward."
We had proceeded some five more miles when again we saw a white arrow
upon the rocks. It was at a point where the face of the cliff was for
the first time split into a narrow cleft. Inside the cleft was a
second guidance mark, which pointed right up it with the tip somewhat
elevated, as if the spot indicated were above the level of the ground.
It was a solemn place, for the walls were so gigantic and the slit of
blue sky so narrow and so obscured by a double fringe of verdure, that
only a dim and shadowy light penetrated to the bottom. We had had no
food for many hours, and were very weary with the stony and irregular
journey, but our nerves were too strung to allow us to halt. We
ordered the camp to be pitched, however, and, leaving the Indians to
arrange it, we four, with the two half-breeds, proceeded up the narrow
gorge.
It was not more than forty feet across at the mouth, but it rapidly
closed until it ended in an acute angle, too straight and smooth for an
ascent. Certainly it was not this which our pioneer had attempted to
indicate. We made our way back--the whole gorge was not more than a
quarter of a mile deep--and then suddenly the quick eyes of Lord John
fell upon what we were seeking. High up above our heads, amid the dark
shadows, there was one circle of deeper gloom. Surely it could only be
the opening of a cave.
The base of the cliff was heaped with loose stones at the spot, and it
was not difficult to clamber up. When we reached it, all doubt was
removed. Not only was it an opening into the rock, but on the side of
it there was marked once again the sign of the arrow. Here was the
point, and this the means by which Maple White and his ill-fated
comrade had made their ascent.
We were too excited to return to the camp, but must make our first
exploration at once. Lord John had an electric torch in his knapsack,