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 were 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 the 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.

“What shall we call the lake?” Challenger asked.

“Why should you not take the chance of using your own name?” said Summerlee, with his usual touch of acidity.

“I trust, sir, I need no such monument,” said Challenger, severely.

“It’s up to you, my friend Malone, to name the lake,” said Lord John. “You saw it first, and if you choose to put ‘Lake Malone’ on it, no one has a better right.”

“By all means. Let our young friend give it a name,” said Challenger.

“Then,” said I, blushing, “let it be named Lake Gladys.”

“Don’t you think the Central Lake would be more descriptive?” remarked Summerlee.

“I should prefer Lake Gladys.”

Challenger looked at me and shook his great head in disapproval. “Boys will be boys,” said he. “Lake Gladys let it be.”