Part 16 (1/2)
To-morrow (or to-day, rather, for it is already dawn as I write) we shall e land When I shall be able to write again--or if I ever shall write again--I know not
Meanwhile, I can see that the Indians are still in their place, and I aet my letter I only trust that it will come to hand
PS--The more I think the more desperate does our position seeh tree near the edge of the plateau we e across, but there is none within fifty yards Our united strength could not carry a trunk which would serve our purpose The rope, of course, is far too short that we could descend by it No, our position is hopeless--hopeless!
CHAPTER X
”The s have Happened”
The s 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 s, it is of enormous importance that I should record them whilst they are fresh in my memory and before that fate which see 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 the explorer, coe, perhaps, of a perfected monoplane, should find this bundle ofis destined to immortality as a classic of true adventure
On thetrapped upon the plateau by the villainous Goe 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 trouser had slipped up, exposing a few inches of e, purplish grape
Astonished at the sight, I leaned forward to pick it off, when, toblood in every direction My cry of disgust had brought the two professors toover my shi+n ”An enormous blood-tick, as yet, I believe, unclassified”
”The first-fruits of our labors,” said Challenger in his boo, pedantic fashi+on ”We cannot do less than call it Ixodes Maloni The very s friend, cannot, I ae of having your nay Unhappily you have crushed this fine specimen at the moment of satiation”
”Filthy verreat 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 fashi+on No doubt, with due diligence, we can secure some other specirimly, ”for one has just disappeared behind your shi+rt-collar”
Challenger sprang into the air bellowing like a bull, and tore frantically at his coat and shi+rt to get thehed 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 le 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 shi+ft our caero, 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 beloas 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 pay our letters back to the Ale file far out upon the plain, each with a bundle on his head,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 noe had to decide upon our i the tick-laden bushes until we ca 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 a cry which was new to us--but beyond these sounds there were no signs of life
Our first care was to ht knoe had to rely upon What with the things we had ourselves brought up and those which Zambo had sent across on the rope, ere fairly well supplied Most iht surround us, we had our four rifles and one thousand three hundred rounds, also a shot-gun, but not es In the h to last for several weeks, with a sufficiency of tobacco and a few scientific ilass All these things we collected together in the clearing, and as a first precaution, we cut doith 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 tiuard-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 teetation, was almost temperate The beech, the oak, and even the birch were to be found ako tree, topping all the others, shot its great lie over the fort which we had constructed In its shade we continued our discussion, while Lord John, who had quickly taken co as neither man nor beast has seen or heard us, we are safe,”
said he ”Froin
There are no signs that they have found us out as yet So our game surely is to lie low for a tiood 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 coet back to our base Above all, we uns”
”But YOU fired yesterday,” said Summerlee