CHAPTER X

"The most Wonderful Things have Happened"

The most wonderful things have happened and are continually happening

to us. All the paper that I possess consists of five old note-books

and a lot of scraps, and I have only the one stylographic pencil; but

so long as I can move my hand I will continue to set down our

experiences and impressions, for, since we are the only men of the

whole human race to see such things, it is of enormous importance that

I should record them whilst they are fresh in my memory and before that

fate which seems to be constantly impending does actually overtake us.

Whether Zambo can at last take these letters to the river, or whether I

shall myself in some miraculous way carry them back with me, or,

finally, whether some daring explorer, coming upon our tracks with the

advantage, perhaps, of a perfected monoplane, should find this bundle

of manuscript, in any case I can see that what I am writing is destined

to immortality as a classic of true adventure.

On the morning after our being trapped upon the plateau by the

villainous Gomez we began a new stage in our experiences. The first

incident in it was not such as to give me a very favorable opinion of

the place to which we had wandered. As I roused myself from a short

nap after day had dawned, my eyes fell upon a most singular appearance

upon my own leg. My trouser had slipped up, exposing a few inches of

my skin above my sock. On this there rested a large, purplish grape.

Astonished at the sight, I leaned forward to pick it off, when, to my

horror, it burst between my finger and thumb, squirting blood in every

direction. My cry of disgust had brought the two professors to my side.

"Most interesting," said Summerlee, bending over my shin. "An enormous

blood-tick, as yet, I believe, unclassified."

"The first-fruits of our labors," said Challenger in his booming,

pedantic fashion. "We cannot do less than call it Ixodes Maloni. The

very small inconvenience of being bitten, my young friend, cannot, I am

sure, weigh with you as against the glorious privilege of having your

name inscribed in the deathless roll of zoology. Unhappily you have

crushed this fine specimen at the moment of satiation."

"Filthy vermin!" I cried.

Professor Challenger raised his great eyebrows in protest, and placed a

soothing paw upon my shoulder.

"You should cultivate the scientific eye and the detached scientific

mind," said he. "To a man of philosophic temperament like myself the

blood-tick, with its lancet-like proboscis and its distending stomach,

is as beautiful a work of Nature as the peacock or, for that matter,

the aurora borealis. It pains me to hear you speak of it in so

unappreciative a fashion. No doubt, with due diligence, we can secure

some other specimen."

"There can be no doubt of that," said Summerlee, grimly, "for one has

just disappeared behind your shirt-collar."

Challenger sprang into the air bellowing like a bull, and tore

frantically at his coat and shirt to get them off. Summerlee and I

laughed so that we could hardly help him. At last we exposed that

monstrous torso (fifty-four inches, by the tailor's tape). His body

was all matted with black hair, out of which jungle we picked the

wandering tick before it had bitten him. But the bushes round were

full of the horrible pests, and it was clear that we must shift our

camp.

But first of all it was necessary to make our arrangements with the

faithful negro, who appeared presently on the pinnacle with a number of

tins of cocoa and biscuits, which he tossed over to us. Of the stores

which remained below he was ordered to retain as much as would keep him

for two months. The Indians were to have the remainder as a reward for

their services and as payment for taking our letters back to the

Amazon. Some hours later we saw them in single file far out upon the

plain, each with a bundle on his head, making their way back along the

path we had come. Zambo occupied our little tent at the base of the

pinnacle, and there he remained, our one link with the world below.

And now we had to decide upon our immediate movements. We shifted our

position from among the tick-laden bushes until we came to a small

clearing thickly surrounded by trees upon all sides. There were some

flat slabs of rock in the center, with an excellent well close by, and

there we sat in cleanly comfort while we made our first plans for the

invasion of this new country. Birds were calling among the

foliage--especially one with a peculiar whooping cry which was new to

us--but beyond these sounds there were no signs of life.

Our first care was to make some sort of list of our own stores, so that

we might know what we had to rely upon. What with the things we had

ourselves brought up and those which Zambo had sent across on the rope,

we were fairly well supplied. Most important of all, in view of the

dangers which might surround us, we had our four rifles and one

thousand three hundred rounds, also a shot-gun, but not more than a

hundred and fifty medium pellet cartridges. In the matter of

provisions we had enough to last for several weeks, with a sufficiency

of tobacco and a few scientific implements, including a large telescope

and a good field-glass. All these things we collected together in the

clearing, and as a first precaution, we cut down with our hatchet and

knives a number of thorny bushes, which we piled round in a circle some

fifteen yards in diameter. This was to be our headquarters for the

time--our place of refuge against sudden danger and the guard-house for

our stores. Fort Challenger, we called it.

It was midday before we had made ourselves secure, but the heat was not

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,

when we became aware of a strange low gabbling and whistling sound,

which filled the air with a constant clamor and appeared to come from

some spot immediately before us. Lord John held up his hand as a

signal for us to stop, and he made his way swiftly, stooping and

running, to the line of rocks. We saw him peep over them and give a

gesture of amazement. Then he stood staring as if forgetting us, so

utterly entranced was he by what he saw. Finally he waved us to come

on, holding up his hand as a signal for caution. His whole bearing

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-scummed, stagnant water, fringed with bullrushes. It was a weird

place in itself, but its occupants made it seem like a scene from the

Seven Circles of Dante. The place was a rookery of pterodactyls.

There were hundreds of them congregated within view. All the bottom

area round the water-edge was alive with their young ones, and with

hideous mothers brooding upon their leathery, yellowish eggs. From

this crawling flapping mass of obscene reptilian life came the shocking

clamor which filled the air and the mephitic, horrible, musty odor

which turned us sick. But above, perched each upon its own stone,

tall, gray, and withered, more like dead and dried specimens than

actual living creatures, sat the horrible males, absolutely motionless

save for the rolling of their red eyes or an occasional snap of their

rat-trap beaks as a dragon-fly went past them. Their huge, membranous

wings were closed by folding their fore-arms, so that they sat like

gigantic old women, wrapped in hideous web-colored shawls, and with

their ferocious heads protruding above them. Large and small, not less

than a thousand of these filthy creatures lay in the hollow before us.

Our professors would gladly have stayed there all day, so entranced

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, and 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, as in the Cambridge Green-sand, since it was now

seen that, like penguins, they lived in gregarious fashion.

Finally, however, Challenger, bent upon proving some point which

Summerlee had contested, thrust his head over the rock and nearly

brought destruction upon us all. In an instant 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 and hideous

appearance all swooping like swallows with swift, shearing wing-strokes

above us; but soon we realized that it was not one on which we could

afford to linger. At first the great brutes flew round in a huge ring,

as if to make sure what the exact extent of the danger might be. Then,

the flight grew lower and the circle narrower, until they were whizzing

round and round us, the dry, rustling flap of their huge slate-colored

wings filling the air with a volume of sound that made me think of

Hendon aerodrome upon a race day.

"Make for the wood and keep together," cried Lord John, clubbing his

rifle. "The brutes mean mischief."

The moment we attempted to retreat the circle closed in upon us, until

the tips of 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. Then suddenly out of the whizzing,

slate-colored circle a long neck shot out, and a fierce beak made a

thrust at us. Another and another followed. Summerlee gave a cry and

put his hand to his face, from which the blood was streaming. I felt a

prod at the back of my neck, and turned dizzy with the shock.

Challenger fell, and as I stooped to pick him up I was again struck

from behind and dropped on the top of him. At the same instant I heard

the crash of Lord John's elephant-gun, and, looking up, 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 staggered through the brushwood, and even as we reached the trees

the harpies were on us again. Summerlee was knocked down, but we tore

him up and rushed among the trunks. Once there we were safe, for those

huge wings had no space for their sweep beneath the branches. As we

limped homewards, sadly mauled and discomfited, we saw them for a long

time flying at a great height against the deep blue sky above our

heads, soaring round and round, no bigger than wood-pigeons, with their

eyes no doubt still following our progress. At last, however, as we

reached the thicker woods they gave up the chase, and we saw them no

more.

"A most interesting and convincing 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 muscle of the 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 an undoubted 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 had a remarkable exhibition of their various methods

of offence."

"It has been touch and go for our lives," said Lord John, gravely, "and

I could not think of a more rotten sort of death than to be outed by

such filthy vermin. I was sorry to fire my rifle, but, by Jove! there

was no great choice."

"We should not be here if you hadn't," said I, with conviction.

"It may do no harm," said he. "Among these woods there must be many

loud cracks from splitting or falling trees which would be just like

the sound of a gun. But now, if you are of my opinion, we have had

thrills enough for one day, and had best get back to the surgical box

at the camp for some carbolic. Who knows what venom these beasts may

have in their hideous jaws?"

But surely no men ever had just such a day since the world began. Some

fresh surprise was ever in store for us. When, following the course of

our brook, we at last reached our glade and saw the thorny barricade of

our camp, we thought that our adventures were at an end. But we had

something more to think of before we could rest. 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, and only the overhanging branch

of the enormous ginko tree suggested how it might have come and gone;

but of its malevolent strength there was ample evidence in the

condition of our stores. They were strewn at random all over the

ground, and one tin of meat had been crushed into pieces so as to

extract the contents. A case of cartridges had been shattered into

matchwood, and one of the brass shells lay shredded into pieces beside

it. 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, in all of which some fearsome shape might be lurking. How good it

was when we were hailed by the voice of Zambo, and, going to the edge

of the plateau, saw him sitting grinning at us upon the top of the

opposite pinnacle.

"All well, Massa Challenger, all well!" he cried. "Me stay here. No

fear. You always find me when you want."

His honest black face, and the immense view before us, which carried us

half-way back to the affluent of the Amazon, helped us to remember that

we really were upon this earth in the twentieth century, and had not by

some magic been conveyed to some raw planet in its earliest and wildest

state. How difficult it was to realize that the violet line upon the

far horizon was well advanced to that great river upon which huge

steamers ran, and folk talked of the small affairs of life, while we,

marooned among the creatures of a bygone age, could but gaze towards it

and yearn for all that it meant!

One other memory remains with me of this wonderful day, and with it I

will close this letter. The two professors, their tempers aggravated

no doubt by their injuries, had fallen out as to whether our assailants

were of the genus pterodactylus or dimorphodon, and high words had

ensued. To avoid their wrangling I moved some little way apart, and

was seated smoking upon the trunk of a fallen tree, when Lord John

strolled over in my direction.

"I say, Malone," said he, "do you remember that place where those

beasts were?"

"Very clearly."

"A sort of volcanic pit, was it not?"

"Exactly," said I.

"Did you notice the soil?"

"Rocks."

"But round the water--where the reeds were?"

"It was a bluish soil. It looked like clay."

"Exactly. A volcanic tube full of blue clay."

"What of that?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing, nothing," said he, and strolled back to where the voices

of the contending men of science rose in a prolonged duet, the high,

strident note of Summerlee rising and falling to the sonorous bass of

Challenger. I should have thought no more of Lord John's remark were

it not that 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 dropped into an exhausted sleep.