The Lost World
"You may take it, young man, that I am versed in the elements of my
business. This is not a conceivable bone either of a tapir or of any
other creature known to zoology. It belongs to a very large, a very
strong, and, by all analogy, a very fierce animal which exists upon the
face of the earth, but has not yet come under the notice of science.
You 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 been described, nor, indeed, visited save by my unfortunate
predecessor. Would you kindly look at this?"
He handed me a photograph--half-plate size.
"The unsatisfactory appearance of it is due to the fact," said he,
"that on descending the river the boat was upset and the case which
contained the undeveloped films was broken, with disastrous results.
Nearly all of them were totally ruined--an irreparable loss. This is
one of the few which partially escaped. This explanation of
deficiencies or abnormalities you will kindly accept. There was talk
of faking. I am not in a mood to argue such a point."
The photograph was certainly very off-colored. An unkind critic might
easily have misinterpreted that dim surface. It was a dull gray
landscape, and as I gradually deciphered the details of it I realized
that it represented a long and enormously high line of cliffs exactly
like an immense cataract seen in the distance, with a sloping,
tree-clad plain in the foreground.
"I believe it is the same place as the painted picture," said I.
"It is the same place," the Professor answered. "I found traces of the
fellow's camp. Now look at this."
It was a nearer view of the same scene, though the photograph was
extremely defective. I could distinctly see the isolated, tree-crowned
pinnacle of rock which was detached from the crag.
"I have no doubt of it at all," said I.
"Well, that is something gained," said he. "We progress, do we not?
Now, will you 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, severely. "Living, as I do,
in an educated and scientific atmosphere, I could not have conceived
that the first principles of zoology were so little known. Is it
possible that you do not know the elementary fact in comparative
anatomy, that the wing of a bird is really the forearm, while the wing
of a bat consists of three elongated fingers with membranes between?
Now, in this case, the bone is certainly not the forearm, and you can
see for yourself that this is a single membrane hanging upon a single
bone, and therefore that it cannot belong to a bat. But if it is
neither bird nor bat, what is it?"
My small stock of knowledge was exhausted.
"I really do not know," said I.
He opened the standard work to which he had already referred me.
"Here," said he, pointing to the picture of an extraordinary flying
monster, "is an excellent reproduction of the dimorphodon, or
pterodactyl, a flying reptile of the Jurassic period. On the next page
is a diagram of the mechanism of its wing. Kindly compare it with the
specimen in your hand."
A wave of amazement passed over me as I looked. I was convinced.
There could be no getting away from it. The cumulative proof was
overwhelming. The sketch, the photographs, the narrative, and now the
actual specimen--the evidence was complete. I said so--I said so
warmly, for I felt that the Professor was an ill-used man. He leaned
back in his chair with drooping eyelids and a tolerant smile, basking
in this sudden gleam of sunshine.
"It's just the very biggest thing that I ever heard of!" said I, though
it was my journalistic rather than my scientific 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?"
"But how did they come to be there?"
"I do not think that the problem is a very obscure one," said the
Professor; "there can only be one explanation. South America is, as
you may have heard, a granite continent. At this single point in the
interior there has been, in some far distant age, a great, sudden
volcanic upheaval. These cliffs, I may remark, are basaltic, and
therefore plutonic. An area, as large perhaps as Sussex, has been
lifted up en bloc with all its living contents, and cut off by
perpendicular precipices of a hardness which defies erosion from all
the rest of the continent. What is the result? Why, the ordinary laws
of Nature are suspended. The various checks which influence the
struggle for existence in the world at large are all neutralized or
altered. Creatures survive which would otherwise disappear. You will
observe that both the pterodactyl and the stegosaurus are Jurassic, and
therefore of a great age in the order of life. They have been
artificially conserved by those strange accidental conditions."
"But surely your evidence is conclusive. You have only to lay it
before the proper authorities."
"So in my simplicity, I had imagined," said the Professor, bitterly.
"I can only tell you that it was not so, that I was met at every turn
by incredulity, born partly of stupidity and partly of jealousy. It is
not my nature, sir, to cringe to any man, or to seek to prove a fact if
my word has been doubted. After the first I have not condescended to
show such corroborative proofs as I possess. The subject became
hateful to me--I would not speak of it. When men like yourself, who
represent the foolish curiosity of the public, came to disturb my
privacy I was unable to meet them with dignified reserve. By nature I
am, I admit, somewhat fiery, and under 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
popular following. Now, Mr. Malone, I have given you rather more of my
time than I had intended. The individual must not monopolize what is
meant for the world. I shall be pleased to see you at the lecture
to-night. In the meantime, you will understand that no public use is
to be made of any of the material that I have given you."