Part 20 (1/2)
CHAPTER XII
”It was Dreadful in the Forest”
I have said--or perhaps I have not said, for loith pride when three such reatly helped, the situation As the youngster of the party, not e, and all that goes to make a man, I had been overshadowed fro into oes before a fall! That little glow of self-satisfaction, that added ht to thewith a shock which turns my heart sick when I think of it
It came about in this way I had been unduly excited by the adventure of the tree, and sleep see hunched over our sure, his rifle across his knees and his pointed, goat-like beard wagging with each weary nod of his head Lord John lay silent, wrapped in the South Aer snored with a roll and rattle which reverberated through the woods The full htly, and the air was crisply cold What a night for a walk! And then suddenly caht, ”Why not?” Suppose I stole softly away, suppose I made my way down to the central lake, suppose I was back at breakfast with soht an even more worthy associate? Then, if Summerlee carried the day and some means of escape were found, we should return to London with first-hand knowledge of the central mystery of the plateau, to which I alone, of all ht of Gladys, with her ”There are heroisms all round us” I seeht also of McArdle What a three column article for the paper! What a foundation for a career! A correspondentshi+p in the next great war un-- the thorn bushes at the gate of our zareba, quickly slipped out My last glance showed me the unconscious Su away like a queerfire
I had not gone a hundred yards before I deeply repented my rashness I inative to be a really courageousafraid This was the pohich now carrieddone Even if my comrades should not have missed me, and should never know of my weakness, there would still remain some intolerable self-shame in my own soul And yet I shuddered at the position in which I found iven all I possessed at that moment to have been honorably free of the whole business
It was dreadful in the forest The trees grew so thickly and their foliage spread so widely that I could see nothing of the h branches ainst the starry sky As the eyes became more used to the obscurity one learned that there were different degrees of darkness a the trees--that so them there were coal-black shadowed patches, like the mouths of caves, froht of the despairing yell of the tortured iguanodon--that dreadful cry which had echoed through the woods I thought, too, of the gliht of Lord John's torch of that bloated, warty, blood-slavering round At any instant itupon me from the shadows--this na a cartridge froun As I touched the lever un, not the rifle, which I had taken!
Again the impulse to return swept over me Here, surely, was a most excellent reason for my failure--one for which no one would think the less of ainst that very word
I could not--must not--fail After all, ainst such dangers as I e ain without being seen In that case there would be explanations, and er be all my own After a little hesitation, then, I screwed up un under , but even worse was the white, still flood ofthe bushes, I looked out at it None of the great brutes were in sight Perhaps the tragedy which had befallen one of theround In theTaking courage, therefore, I slipped rapidly across it, and aain the brook which wasas it ran, like the dear old trout-streaht inas I followed it down Ias I followed it back I ht of it on account of the tangled brush-wood, but I was alithin earshot of its tinkle and splash
As one descended the slope the woods becah trees, took the place of the forest I couldseen I passed close to the pterodactyl swamp, and as I did so, with a dry, crisp, leathery rattle of wings, one of these great creatures--it enty feet at least from tip to tip--rose up from somewhere near me and soared into the air As it passed across the face of the s, and it looked like a flying skeleton against the white, tropical radiance I crouched low a the bushes, for I knew frole cry the creature could bring a hundred of its loathsoain that I dared to steal onwards upon ly still, but as I advanced I beca sound, a continuous rew louder as I proceeded, until at last it was clearly quite close to me When I stood still the sound was constant, so that it see kettle or the bubbling of soreat pot Soon I came upon the source of it, for in the center of a s I found a lake--or a pool, rather, for it was not larger than the basin of the Trafalgar Square fountain--of some black, pitch-like stuff, the surface of which rose and fell in great blisters of bursting gas The air above it was shi+round round was so hot that I could hardly bear to lay reat volcanic outburst which had raised this strange plateau so o had not yet entirely spent its forces Blackened rocks andout froetation which draped then that we had of actual existing activity on the slopes of the ancient crater I had no time to examine it further for I had need to hurry if I were to be back in ca
It was a fearso asale I crept forward, stopping with a beating heart whenever I heard, as I often did, the crash of breaking branches as soreat shadows looreat, silent shadohich seemed to prowl upon padded feet How often I stopped with the intention of returning, and yet every tiain until my object should be attained
At last (leale, and tenthe reeds upon the borders of the central lake I was exceedingly dry, so I lay down and took a long draught of its waters, which were fresh and cold There was a broad pathith many tracks upon it at the spot which I had found, so that it was clearly one of the drinking-places of the anie isolated block of lava Up this I cli on the top, I had an excellent view in every direction
The first thing which I saw filled me with areat tree, I said that on the farther cliff I could see a number of dark spots, which appeared to be the mouths of caves Now, as I looked up at the saht in every direction, ruddy, clearly-defined patches, like the port-holes of a liner in the darkness For a low from some volcanic action; but this could not be so Any volcanic action would surely be down in the hollow and not high a the rocks What, then, was the alternative? It onderful, and yet it must surely be These ruddy spots must be the reflection of fires within the caves--fires which could only be lit by the hand of s, then, upon the plateau How gloriously my expedition was justified! Here was news indeed for us to bear back with us to London!
For a long tiht I suppose they were ten miles off from me, yet even at that distance one could observe how, from time to time, they twinkled or were obscured as soiven to be able to crawl up to them, to peep in, and to take back some word to my comrades as to the appearance and character of the race who lived in so strange a place! It was out of the question for the moment, and yet surely we could not leave the plateau until we had soe upon the point
Lake Gladys--my own lake--lay like a sheet of quicksilver before htly in the center of it It was shallow, for inabove the water Everywhere upon the still surface I could see signs of life, soleareat silver-sided fish in the air, so monster Once upon a yellow sandbank I saw a creature like a huge sith a clu about upon the ed in, and for so head undulating over the water Then it dived, and I saw it no more
My attention was soon draay fro on at e ar-place, and were squatting at the edge of the water, their long, flexible tongues like red ribbons shooting in and out as they lapped A huge deer, with branching horns, a , came doith its doe and tns and drank beside the armadillos No such deer exist anywhere else upon earth, for the moose or elks which I have seen would hardly have reached its shoulders Presently it gave a warning snort, and was off with its fa the reeds, while the armadillos also scuttled for shelter A new-co down the path
For a ainly shape, that arched back with triangular fringes along it, that strange bird-like head held close to the ground Then it caosaurus--the very creature which Maple White had preserved in his sketch-book, and which had been the first object which arrested the attention of Challenger! There he was--perhaps the very speciround shook beneath his treh the still night For fiveouthackles upon his back Then he lu at h time, therefore, that I started upon my homeward journey There was no difficulty about the direction in which I should return for all along I had kept the little brook upon my left, and it opened into the central lake within a stone's-throw of the boulder upon which I had been lying
I set off, therefore, in high spirits, for I felt that I had done good work and was bringing back a fine budget of news for ht of the fiery caves and the certainty that solodytic race inhabited them But besides that I could speak from experience of the central lake I could testify that it was full of strange creatures, and I had seen several land forms of primeval life which we had not before encountered I reflected as I walked that few ht or added e in the course of it
I was plodding up the slope, turning these thoughts over in my mind, and had reached a point which ht back to e noise behind rowl, low, deep, and exceedingly e creature was evidently nearcould be seen, so I hastened more rapidly upon my way I had traversed half a mile or so when suddenly the sound was repeated, still behindthan before My heart stood still within me as it flashed across me that the beast, whatever it was, rew cold and ht That these monsters should tear each other to pieces was a part of the strange struggle for existence, but that they should turn upon modern man, that they should deliberately track and hunt down the predoht I reain the blood-besobred face which we had seen in the glare of Lord John's torch, like some horrible vision fro beneatheyes down the moonlit path which lay behind s and the black patches of the bushes--nothing else could I see Then fro, there ca, far louder and closer than before There could no longer be a doubt So in upon me everyat the ground which I had traversed Then suddenly I saw it There waswhich I had just traversed A great dark shadow disengaged itself and hopped out into the clear ht I say ”hopped” advisedly, for the beastin an erect position upon its powerful hind legs, while its front ones were held bent in front of it It was of enormous size and power, like an erect elephant, but its ly alert For a uanodon, which I knew to be harnorant as I was, I soon saw that this was a very different creature Instead of the gentle, deer-shaped head of the great three-toed leaf-eater, this beast had a broad, squat, toad-like face like that which had alary of his pursuit both assureddinosaurs, the most terrible beasts which have ever walked this earth As the huge brute loped along it dropped forward upon its fore-paws and brought its nose to the ground every twenty yards or so It was s out my trail Sometimes, for an instant, it was at fault Then it would catch it up again and co the path I had taken
Even nohen I think of that nightmare the sweat breaks out upon -piece was in et from that? I looked desperately round for soher than a sapling within sight, while I knew that the creature behind h it were a reed My only possible chance lay in flight I could not round, but as I looked round me in despair I saell-marked, hard-beaten path which ran across in front of me We had seen several of the sort, the runs of various wild beasts, during our expeditions Along this I could perhaps hold my own, for I was a fast runner, and in excellent condition Flinging away un, I set myself to do such a half-mile as I have never done before or since My limbs ached, my chest heaved, I felt that my throat would burst for want of air, and yet with that horror behind me I ran and I ran and ran At last I paused, hardly able to ht that I had thrown him off The path lay still behind , a thudding of giant feet and a panting of s the beast was upon me once more He was at er so long before I fled! Up to then he had hunted by scent, and his movement was slow But he had actually seen ht, for the path showed hione Now, as he careat bounds Theeyes, the row of enore of claws upon his short, powerful forearms With a scream of terror I turned and rushed wildly down the path Behindof the creature sounded louder and louder
His heavy footfall was beside rip uponthrough space, and everything beyond was darkness and rest