The Lost World
oppressive, and the general character of the plateau, both in its
temperature and in its vegetation, was almost temperate. The beech,
the oak, and even the birch were to be found among the tangle of trees
which girt us in. One huge gingko tree, topping all the others, shot
its great limbs and maidenhair foliage over the fort which we had
constructed. In its shade we continued our discussion, while Lord
John, who had quickly taken command in the hour of action, gave us his
views.
"So long as neither man nor beast has seen or heard us, we are safe,"
said he. "From the time they know we are here our troubles begin.
There are no signs that they have found us out as yet. So our game
surely is to lie low for a time and spy out the land. We want to have
a good look at our neighbors before we get on visitin' terms."
"But we must advance," I ventured to remark.
"By all means, sonny my boy! We will advance. But with common sense.
We must never go so far that we can't get back to our base. Above all,
we must never, unless it is life or death, fire off our guns."
"But YOU fired yesterday," said Summerlee.
"Well, it couldn't be helped. However, the wind was strong and blew
outwards. It is not likely that the sound could have traveled far into
the plateau. By the way, what shall we call this place? I suppose it
is up to us to give it a name?"
There were several suggestions, more or less happy, but Challenger's
was final.
"It can only have one name," said he. "It is called after the pioneer
who discovered it. It is Maple White Land."
Maple White Land it became, and so it is named in that chart which has
become my special task. So it will, I trust, appear in the atlas of
the future.
The peaceful penetration of Maple White Land was the pressing subject
before us. We had the evidence of our own eyes that the place was
inhabited by some unknown creatures, and there was that of Maple
White's sketch-book to show that more dreadful and more dangerous
monsters might still appear. That there might also prove to be human
occupants and that they were of a malevolent character was suggested by
the skeleton impaled upon the bamboos, which could not have got there
had it not been dropped from above. Our situation, stranded without
possibility of escape in such a land, was clearly full of danger, and
our reasons endorsed every measure of caution which Lord John's
experience could suggest. Yet it was surely impossible that we should
halt on the edge of this world of mystery when our very souls were
tingling with impatience to push forward and to pluck the heart from it.
We therefore blocked the entrance to our zareba by filling it up with
several thorny bushes, and left our camp with the stores entirely
surrounded by this protecting hedge. We then slowly and cautiously set
forth into the unknown, following the course of the little stream which
flowed from our spring, as it should always serve us as a guide on our
return.
Hardly had we started when we came across signs that there were indeed
wonders awaiting us. After a few hundred yards of thick forest,
containing many trees which were quite unknown to me, but which
Summerlee, who was the botanist of the party, recognized as forms of
conifera and of cycadaceous plants which have long passed away in the
world below, we entered a region where the stream widened out and
formed a considerable bog. High reeds of a peculiar type grew thickly
before us, which were pronounced to be equisetacea, or mare's-tails,
with tree-ferns scattered amongst them, all of them swaying in a brisk
wind. Suddenly Lord John, who was walking first, halted with uplifted
hand.
"Look at this!" said he. "By George, this must be the trail of the
father of all birds!"
An enormous three-toed track was imprinted in the soft mud before us.
The creature, whatever it was, had crossed the swamp and had passed on
into the forest. We all stopped to examine that monstrous spoor. If
it were indeed a bird--and what animal could leave such a mark?--its
foot was so much larger than an ostrich's that its height upon the same
scale must be enormous. Lord John looked eagerly round him and slipped
two cartridges into his elephant-gun.
"I'll stake my good name as a shikarree," said he, "that the track is a
fresh one. The creature has not passed ten minutes. Look how the
water is still oozing into that deeper print! By Jove! See, here is
the mark of a little one!"
Sure enough, smaller tracks of the same general form were running
parallel to the large ones.
"But what do you make of this?" cried Professor Summerlee,
triumphantly, pointing to what looked like the huge print of a
five-fingered human hand appearing among the three-toed marks.
"Wealden!" cried Challenger, in an ecstasy. "I've seen them in the
Wealden clay. It is a creature walking erect upon three-toed feet, and
occasionally putting one of its five-fingered forepaws upon the ground.
Not a bird, my dear Roxton--not a bird."
"A beast?"
"No; a reptile--a dinosaur. Nothing else could have left such a track.
They puzzled a worthy Sussex doctor some ninety years ago; but who in
the world could have hoped--hoped--to have seen a sight like that?"
His words died away into a whisper, and we all stood in motionless
amazement. Following the tracks, we had left the morass and passed
through a screen of brushwood and trees. Beyond was an open glade, and
in this were five of the most extraordinary creatures that I have ever
seen. Crouching down among the bushes, we observed them at our leisure.
There were, as I say, five of them, two being adults and three young
ones. In size they were enormous. Even the babies were as big as
elephants, while the two large ones were far beyond all creatures I
have ever seen. They had slate-colored skin, which was scaled like a
lizard's and shimmered where the sun shone upon it. All five were
sitting up, balancing themselves upon their broad, powerful tails and
their huge three-toed hind-feet, while with their small five-fingered
front-feet they pulled down the branches upon which they browsed. I do
not know that I can bring their appearance home to you better than by
saying that they looked like monstrous kangaroos, twenty feet in
length, and with skins like black crocodiles.
I do not know how long we stayed motionless gazing at this marvelous
spectacle. A strong wind blew towards us and we were well concealed,
so there was no chance of discovery. From time to time the little ones
played round their parents in unwieldy gambols, the great beasts
bounding into the air and falling with dull thuds upon the earth. The
strength of the parents seemed to be limitless, for one of them, having
some difficulty in reaching a bunch of foliage which grew upon a
considerable-sized tree, put his fore-legs round the trunk and tore it
down as if it had been a sapling. The action seemed, as I thought, to
show not only the great development of its muscles, but also the small
one of its brain, for the whole weight came crashing down upon the top
of it, and it uttered a series of shrill yelps to show that, big as it
was, there was a limit to what it could endure. The incident made it
think, apparently, that the neighborhood was dangerous, for it slowly
lurched off through the wood, followed by its mate and its three
enormous infants. We saw the shimmering slaty gleam of their skins
between the tree-trunks, and their heads undulating high above the
brush-wood. Then they vanished from our sight.
I looked at my comrades. Lord John was standing at gaze with his
finger on the trigger of his elephant-gun, his eager hunter's soul
shining from his fierce eyes. What would he not give for one such head
to place between the two crossed oars above the mantelpiece in his
snuggery at the Albany! And yet his reason held him in, for all our
exploration of the wonders of this unknown land depended upon our
presence being concealed from its inhabitants. The two professors were
in silent ecstasy. In their excitement they had unconsciously seized
each other by the hand, and stood like two little children in the
presence of a marvel, Challenger's cheeks bunched up into a seraphic
smile, and Summerlee's sardonic face softening for the moment into
wonder and reverence.
"Nunc dimittis!" he cried at last. "What will they say in England of
this?"
"My dear Summerlee, I will tell you with great confidence exactly what
they will say in England," said Challenger. "They will say that you
are an infernal liar and a scientific charlatan, exactly as you and
others said of me."
"In the face of photographs?"
"Faked, Summerlee! Clumsily faked!"
"In the face of specimens?"
"Ah, there we may have them! Malone and his filthy Fleet Street crew
may be all yelping our praises yet. August the twenty-eighth--the day
we saw five live iguanodons in a glade of Maple White Land. Put it
down in your diary, my young friend, and send it to your rag."
"And be ready to get the toe-end of the editorial boot in return," said
Lord John. "Things look a bit different from the latitude of London,
young fellah my lad. There's many a man who never tells his
adventures, for he can't hope to be believed. Who's to blame them?
For this will seem a bit of a dream to ourselves in a month or two.
WHAT did you say they were?"
"Iguanodons," said Summerlee. "You'll find their footmarks all over
the Hastings sands, in Kent, and in Sussex. The South of England was
alive with them when there was plenty of good lush green-stuff to keep
them going. Conditions have changed, and the beasts died. Here it
seems that the conditions have not changed, and the beasts have lived."
"If ever we get out of this alive, I must have a head with me," said
Lord John. "Lord, how some of that Somaliland-Uganda crowd would turn
a beautiful pea-green if they saw it! I don't know what you chaps
think, but it strikes me that we are on mighty thin ice all this time."
I had the same feeling of mystery and danger around us. In the gloom
of the trees there seemed a constant menace and as we looked up into
their shadowy foliage vague terrors crept into one's heart. It is true
that these monstrous creatures which we had seen were lumbering,
inoffensive brutes which were unlikely to hurt anyone, but in this
world of wonders what other survivals might there not be--what fierce,
active horrors ready to pounce upon us from their lair among the rocks
or brushwood? I knew little of prehistoric life, but I had a clear
remembrance of one book which I had read in which it spoke of creatures
who would live upon our lions and tigers as a cat lives upon mice.
What if these also were to be found in the woods of Maple White Land!
It was destined that on this very morning--our first in the new
country--we were to find out what strange hazards lay around us. It
was a loathsome adventure, and one of which I hate to think. If, as
Lord John said, the glade of the iguanodons will remain with us as a
dream, then surely the swamp of the pterodactyls will forever be our
nightmare. Let me set down exactly what occurred.
We passed very slowly through the woods, partly because Lord Roxton
acted as scout before he would let us advance, and partly because at
every second step one or other of our professors would fall, with a cry
of wonder, before some flower or insect which presented him with a new
type. We may have traveled two or three miles in all, keeping to the
right of the line of the stream, when we came upon a considerable
opening in the trees. A belt of brushwood led up to a tangle of
rocks--the whole plateau was strewn with boulders. We were walking
slowly towards these rocks, among bushes which reached over our waists,