I write this from day to day,
but I trust that before I come
to the end of it, I may be able
to say that the light shines,
at
last, through our clouds. We are held here with no clear means
of making our escape, and bitterly we chafe against it. Yet, I
can well imagine that the day may come when we may be glad that
we were kept, against our will, to see something more of the
wonders of this singular place, and of the creatures who inhabit it.
The victory of the Indians
and the annihilation of the ape-men,
marked the turning point of our
fortunes. From then onwards,
we were in truth masters of the
plateau, for the natives looked
upon us with a mixture of fear
and gratitude, since by our strange
powers we had aided them to destroy
their hereditary foe. For their
own sakes they would, perhaps,
be glad to see the departure
of such formidable and incalculable
people, but they have not themselves
suggested any way by which we
may reach the plains below. There
had been, so far as we could
follow their signs, a tunnel
by which the place could be approached,
the lower exit of which we had
seen from below. By this, no
doubt, both ape-men and Indians
had at different epochs reached
the top, and Maple White with
his companion had taken the same
way. Only the year before, however,
there had been a terrific earthquake,
and the upper end of the tunnel
had fallen in and completely
disappeared. The Indians now
could only shake their heads
and shrug their shoulders when
we expressed by signs our desire
to descend. It may be that they
cannot, but it may also be that
they will not, help us to get
away.
At the end of the victorious
campaign the surviving ape-folk
were driven across the plateau
(their wailings were horrible)
and established in the neighborhood
of the Indian caves, where they
would, from now onwards, be a
servile race under the eyes of
their masters. It was a rude,
raw, primeval version of the
Jews in Babylon or the Israelites
in Egypt. At night we could hear
from amid the trees the long-drawn
cry, as some primitive Ezekiel
mourned for fallen greatness
and recalled the departed glories
of Ape Town. Hewers of wood and
drawers of water, such were they
from now onwards.
We had returned across the
plateau with our allies two days
after the battle, and made our
camp at the foot of their cliffs.
They would have had us share
their caves with them, but Lord
John would by no means consent
to it considering that to do
so would put us in their power
if they were treacherously disposed.
We kept our independence, therefore,
and had our weapons ready for
any emergency, while preserving
the most friendly relations.
We also continually visited their
caves, which were most remarkable
places, though whether made by
man or by Nature we have never
been able to determine. They
were all on the one stratum,
hollowed out of some soft rock
which lay between the volcanic
basalt forming the ruddy cliffs
above them, and the hard granite
which formed their base.
The openings were about eighty
feet above the ground, and were
led up to by long stone stairs,
so narrow and steep that no large
animal could mount them. Inside
they were warm and dry, running
in straight passages of varying
length into the side of the hill,
with smooth gray walls decorated
with many excellent pictures
done with charred sticks and
representing the various animals
of the plateau. If every living
thing were swept from the country
the future explorer would find
upon the walls of these caves
ample evidence of the strange
fauna--the dinosaurs, iguanodons,
and fish lizards--which had lived
so recently upon earth.
Since we had learned that the
huge iguanodons were kept as
tame herds by their owners, and
were simply walking meat-stores,
we had conceived that man, even
with his primitive weapons, had
established his ascendancy upon
the plateau. We were soon to
discover that it was not so,
and that he was still there upon
tolerance.
It
was on the
third day after
our forming our camp near the
Indian caves that the tragedy
occurred. Challenger and Summerlee
had gone off together that day
to the lake where some of the
natives, under their direction,
were engaged in harpooning specimens
of the great lizards. Lord John
and I had remained in our camp,
while a number of the Indians
were scattered about upon the
grassy slope in front of the
caves engaged in different ways.
Suddenly there was a shrill cry
of alarm, with the word "Stoa" resounding
from a hundred tongues. From
every side men, women, and children
were rushing wildly for shelter,
swarming up the staircases and
into the caves in a mad stampede.
Looking up, we could see them
waving their arms from the rocks
above and beckoning to us to
join them in their refuge. We
had both seized our magazine
rifles and ran out to see what
the danger could be. Suddenly
from the near belt of trees there
broke forth a group of twelve
or fifteen Indians, running for
their lives, and at their very
heels two of those frightful
monsters which had disturbed
our camp and pursued me upon
my solitary journey. In shape
they were like horrible toads,
and moved in a succession of
springs, but in size they were
of an incredible bulk, larger
than the largest elephant. We
had never before seen them save
at night, and indeed they are
nocturnal animals save when disturbed
in their lairs, as these had
been. We now stood amazed at
the sight, for their blotched
and warty skins were of a curious
fish-like iridescence, and the
sunlight struck them with an
ever-varying rainbow bloom as
they moved.
We had little time to watch
them, however, for in an instant
they had overtaken the fugitives
and were making a dire slaughter
among them. Their method was
to fall forward with their full
weight upon each in turn, leaving
him crushed and mangled, to bound
on after the others. The wretched
Indians screamed with terror,
but were helpless, run as they
would, before the relentless
purpose and horrible activity
of these monstrous creatures.
One after another they went down,
and there were not half-a-dozen
surviving by the time my companion
and I could come to their help.
But our aid was of little avail
and only involved us in the same
peril. At the range of a couple
of hundred yards we emptied our
magazines, firing bullet after
bullet into the beasts, but with
no more effect than if we were
pelting them with pellets of
paper. Their slow reptilian natures
cared nothing for wounds, and
the springs of their lives, with
no special brain center but scattered
throughout their spinal cords,
could not be tapped by any modern
weapons. The most that we could
do was to check their progress
by distracting their attention
with the flash and roar of our
guns, and so to give both the
natives and ourselves time to
reach the steps which led to
safety. But where the conical
explosive bullets of the twentieth
century were of no avail, the
poisoned arrows of the natives,
dipped in the juice of strophanthus
and steeped afterwards in decayed
carrion, could succeed. Such
arrows were of little avail to
the hunter who attacked the beast,
because their action in that
torpid circulation was slow,
and before its powers failed
it could certainly overtake and
slay its assailant. But now,
as the two monsters hounded us
to the very foot of the stairs,
a drift of darts came whistling
from every chink in the cliff
above them. In a minute they
were feathered with them, and
yet with no sign of pain they
clawed and slobbered with impotent
rage at the steps which would
lead them to their victims, mounting
clumsily up for a few yards and
then sliding down again to the
ground. But at last the poison
worked. One of them gave a deep
rumbling groan and dropped his
huge squat head on to the earth.
The other bounded round in an
eccentric circle with shrill,
wailing cries, and then lying
down writhed in agony for some
minutes before it also stiffened
and lay still. With yells of
triumph the Indians came flocking
down from their caves and danced
a frenzied dance of victory round
the dead bodies, in mad joy that
two more of the most dangerous
of all their enemies had been
slain. That night they cut up
and removed the bodies, not to
eat--for the poison was still
active--but lest they should
breed a pestilence. The great
reptilian hearts, however, each
as large as a cushion, still
lay there, beating slowly and
steadily, with a gentle rise
and fall, in horrible independent
life. It was only upon the third
day that the ganglia ran down
and the dreadful things were
still.
Some day, when I have a better
desk than a meat-tin and more
helpful tools than a worn stub
of pencil and a last, tattered
note-book, I will write some
fuller account of the Accala
Indians--of our life amongst
them, and of the glimpses which
we had of the strange conditions
of wondrous Maple White Land.
Memory, at least, will never
fail me, for so long as the breath
of life is in me, every hour
and every action of that period
will stand out as hard and clear
as do the first strange happenings
of our childhood. No new impressions
could efface those which are
so deeply cut. When the time
comes I will describe that wondrous
moonlit night upon the great
lake when a young ichthyosaurus--a
strange creature, half seal,
half fish, to look at, with bone-covered
eyes on each side of his snout,
and a third eye fixed upon the
top of his head--was entangled
in an Indian net, and nearly
upset our canoe before we towed
it ashore; the same night that
a green water-snake shot out
from the rushes and carried off
in its coils the steersman of
Challenger's canoe. I will tell,
too, of the great nocturnal white
thing--to this day we do not
know whether it was beast or
reptile--which lived in a vile
swamp to the east of the lake,
and flitted about with a faint
phosphorescent glimmer in the
darkness. The Indians were so
terrified at it that they would
not go near the place, and, though
we twice made expeditions and
saw it each time, we could not
make our way through the deep
marsh in which it lived. I can
only say that it seemed to be
larger than a cow and had the
strangest musky odor. I will
tell also of the huge bird which
chased Challenger to the shelter
of the rocks one day--a great
running bird, far taller than
an ostrich, with a vulture-like
neck and cruel head which made
it a walking death. As Challenger
climbed to safety one dart of
that savage curving beak shore
off the heel of his boot as if
it had been cut with a chisel.
This time at least modern weapons
prevailed and the great creature,
twelve feet from head to foot--phororachus
its name, according to our panting
but exultant Professor--went
down before Lord Roxton's rifle
in a flurry of waving feathers
and kicking limbs, with two remorseless
yellow eyes glaring up from the
midst of it. May I live to see
that flattened vicious skull
in its own niche amid the trophies
of the Albany. Finally, I will
assuredly give some account of
the toxodon, the giant ten-foot
guinea pig, with projecting chisel
teeth, which we killed as it
drank in the gray of the morning
by the side of the lake.
All this I shall some day write
at fuller length, and amidst
these more stirring days I would
tenderly sketch in these lovely
summer evenings, when with the
deep blue sky above us we lay
in good comradeship among the
long grasses by the wood and
marveled at the strange fowl
that swept over us and the quaint
new creatures which crept from
their burrows to watch us, while
above us the boughs of the bushes
were heavy with luscious fruit,
and below us strange and lovely
flowers peeped at us from among
the herbage; or those long moonlit
nights when we lay out upon the
shimmering surface of the great
lake and watched with wonder
and awe the huge circles rippling
out from the sudden splash of
some fantastic monster; or the
greenish gleam, far down in the
deep water, of some strange creature
upon the confines of darkness.
These are the scenes which my
mind and my pen will dwell upon
in every detail at some future
day.
But, you will ask, why these
experiences and why this delay,
when you and your comrades should
have been occupied day and night
in the devising of some means
by which you could return to
the outer world? My answer is,
that there was not one of us
who was not working for this
end, but that our work had been
in vain. One fact we had very
speedily discovered: The Indians
would do nothing to help us.
In every other way they were
our friends--one might almost
say our devoted slaves--but when
it was suggested that they should
help us to make and carry a plank
which would bridge the chasm,
or when we wished to get from
them thongs of leather or liana
to weave ropes which might help
us, we were met by a good-humored,
but an invincible, refusal. They
would smile, twinkle their eyes,
shake their heads, and there
was the end of it. Even the old
chief met us with the same obstinate
denial, and it was only Maretas,
the youngster whom we had saved,
who looked wistfully at us and
told us by his gestures that
he was grieved for our thwarted
wishes. Ever since their crowning
triumph with the ape-men they
looked upon us as supermen, who
bore victory in the tubes of
strange weapons, and they believed
that so long as we remained with
them good fortune would be theirs.
A little red-skinned wife and
a cave of our own were freely
offered to each of us if we would
but forget our own people and
dwell forever upon the plateau.
So far all had been kindly, however
far apart our desires might be;
but we felt well assured that
our actual plans of a descent
must be kept secret, for we had
reason to fear that at the last
they might try to hold us by
force.
In spite of the danger from
dinosaurs (which is not great
save at night, for, as I may
have said before, they are mostly
nocturnal in their habits) I
have twice in the last three
weeks been over to our old camp
in order to see our negro who
still kept watch and ward below
the cliff. My eyes strained eagerly
across the great plain in the
hope of seeing afar off the help
for which we had prayed. But
the long cactus-strewn levels
still stretched away, empty and
bare, to the distant line of
the cane-brake.
"They will soon come now, Massa
Malone. Before another week pass
Indian come back and bring rope
and fetch you down." Such was
the cheery cry of our excellent
Zambo.
I had one strange experience
as I came from this second visit
which had involved my being away
for a night from my companions.
I was returning along the well-remembered
route, and had reached a spot
within a mile or so of the marsh
of the pterodactyls, when I saw
an extraordinary object approaching
me. It was a man who walked inside
a framework made of bent canes
so that he was enclosed on all
sides in a bell-shaped cage.
As I drew nearer I was more amazed
still to see that it was Lord
John Roxton. When he saw me he
slipped from under his curious
protection and came towards me
laughing, and yet, as I thought,
with some confusion in his manner.
"Well, young fellah," said
he, "who would have thought of
meetin' you up here?"
"What in the world are you
doing?" I asked.
"Visitin' my friends, the pterodactyls," said
he.
"But
why?"
"Interestin'
beasts, don't
you think? But unsociable! Nasty
rude ways with strangers, as
you may remember. So I rigged
this framework which keeps them
from bein' too pressin' in their
attentions."
"But
what do you
want in the
swamp?"
He looked at me with a very
questioning eye, and I read hesitation
in his face.
"Don't you think other people
besides Professors can want to
know things?" he said at last. "I'm
studyin' the pretty dears. That's
enough for you."
"No offense," said
I.
His good-humor returned and
he laughed.
"No
offense, young
fellah. I'm
goin' to get
a young devil
chick for Challenger. That's
one of my jobs. No, I don't want
your company. I'm safe in this
cage, and you are not. So long,
and I'll be back in camp by night-fall."
He turned away and I left him
wandering on through the wood
with his extraordinary cage around
him.
If Lord John's behavior at
this time was strange, that of
Challenger was more so. I may
say that he seemed to possess
an extraordinary fascination
for the Indian women, and that
he always carried a large spreading
palm branch with which he beat
them off as if they were flies,
when their attentions became
too pressing. To see him walking
like a comic opera Sultan, with
this badge of authority in his
hand, his black beard bristling
in front of him, his toes pointing
at each step, and a train of
wide-eyed Indian girls behind
him, clad in their slender drapery
of bark cloth, is one of the
most grotesque of all the pictures
which I will carry back with
me. As to Summerlee, he was absorbed
in the insect and bird life of
the plateau, and spent his whole
time (save that considerable
portion which was devoted to
abusing Challenger for not getting
us out of our difficulties) in
cleaning and mounting his specimens.
Challenger had been in the
habit of walking off by himself
every morning and returning from
time to time with looks of portentous
solemnity, as one who bears the
full weight of a great enterprise
upon his shoulders. One day,
palm branch in hand, and his
crowd of adoring devotees behind
him, he led us down to his hidden
work-shop and took us into the
secret of his plans.
The place was a small clearing
in the center of a palm grove.
In this was one of those boiling
mud geysers which I have already
described. Around its edge were
scattered a number of leathern
thongs cut from iguanodon hide,
and a large collapsed membrane
which proved to be the dried
and scraped stomach of one of
the great fish lizards from the
lake. This huge sack had been
sewn up at one end and only a
small orifice left at the other.
Into this opening several bamboo
canes had been inserted and the
other ends of these canes were
in contact with conical clay
funnels which collected the gas
bubbling up through the mud of
the geyser. Soon the flaccid
organ began to slowly expand
and show such a tendency to upward
movements that Challenger fastened
the cords which held it to the
trunks of the surrounding trees.
In half an hour a good-sized
gas-bag had been formed, and
the jerking and straining upon
the thongs showed that it was
capable of considerable lift.
Challenger, like a glad father
in the presence of his first-born,
stood smiling and stroking his
beard, in silent, self-satisfied
content as he gazed at the creation
of his brain. It was Summerlee
who first broke the silence.
"You don't mean us to go up
in that thing, Challenger?" said
he, in an acid voice.
"I
mean, my dear
Summerlee,
to give you
such a demonstration
of its powers that after seeing
it you will, I am sure, have
no hesitation in trusting yourself
to it."
"You can put it right out of
your head now, at once," said
Summerlee with decision, "nothing
on earth would induce me to commit
such a folly. Lord John, I trust
that you will not countenance
such madness?"
"Dooced ingenious, I call it," said
our peer. "I'd like to see how
it works."
"So you shall," said Challenger. "For
some days I have exerted my whole
brain force upon the problem
of how we shall descend from
these cliffs. We have satisfied
ourselves that we cannot climb
down and that there is no tunnel.
We are also unable to construct
any kind of bridge which may
take us back to the pinnacle
from which we came. How then
shall I find a means to convey
us? Some little time ago I had
remarked to our young friend
here that free hydrogen was evolved
from the geyser. The idea of
a balloon naturally followed.
I was, I will admit, somewhat
baffled by the difficulty of
discovering an envelope to contain
the gas, but the contemplation
of the immense entrails of these
reptiles supplied me with a solution
to the problem. Behold the result!"
He put one hand in the front
of his ragged jacket and pointed
proudly with the other.
By this time the gas-bag had
swollen to a goodly rotundity
and was jerking strongly upon
its lashings.
"Midsummer madness!" snorted
Summerlee.
Lord
John was delighted
with the whole
idea. "Clever old dear,
ain't he?" he whispered to me,
and then louder to Challenger. "What
about a car?"
"The
car will be
my next care.
I have already planned how it
is to be made and attached. Meanwhile
I will simply show you how capable
my apparatus is of supporting
the weight of each of us."
"All
of us, surely?"
"No,
it is part
of my plan
that each in
turn shall
descend
as in a parachute, and the balloon
be drawn back by means which
I shall have no difficulty in
perfecting. If it will support
the weight of one and let him
gently down, it will have done
all that is required of it. I
will now show you its capacity
in that direction."
He brought out a lump of basalt
of a considerable size, constructed
in the middle so that a cord
could be easily attached to it.
This cord was the one which we
had brought with us on to the
plateau after we had used it
for climbing the pinnacle. It
was over a hundred feet long,
and though it was thin it was
very strong. He had prepared
a sort of collar of leather with
many straps depending from it.
This collar was placed over the
dome of the balloon, and the
hanging thongs were gathered
together below, so that the pressure
of any weight would be diffused
over a considerable surface.
Then the lump of basalt was fastened
to the thongs, and the rope was
allowed to hang from the end
of it, being passed three times
round the Professor's arm.
"I will now," said Challenger,
with a smile of pleased anticipation, "demonstrate
the carrying power of my balloon." As
he said so he cut with a knife
the various lashings that held
it.
Never was our expedition in
more imminent danger of complete
annihilation. The inflated membrane
shot up with frightful velocity
into the air. In an instant Challenger
was pulled off his feet and dragged
after it. I had just time to
throw my arms round his ascending
waist when I was myself whipped
up into the air. Lord John had
me with a rat-trap grip round
the legs, but I felt that he
also was coming off the ground.
For a moment I had a vision of
four adventurers floating like
a string of sausages over the
land that they had explored.
But, happily, there were limits
to the strain which the rope
would stand, though none apparently
to the lifting powers of this
infernal machine. There was a
sharp crack, and we were in a
heap upon the ground with coils
of rope all over us. When we
were able to stagger to our feet
we saw far off in the deep blue
sky one dark spot where the lump
of basalt was speeding upon its
way.
"Splendid!" cried the undaunted
Challenger, rubbing his injured
arm. "A most thorough and satisfactory
demonstration! I could not have
anticipated such a success. Within
a week, gentlemen, I promise
that a second balloon will be
prepared, and that you can count
upon taking in safety and comfort
the first stage of our homeward
journey." So far I have written
each of the foregoing events
as it occurred. Now I am rounding
off my narrative from the old
camp, where Zambo has waited
so long, with all our difficulties
and dangers left like a dream
behind us upon the summit of
those vast ruddy crags which
tower above our heads. We have
descended in safety, though in
a most unexpected fashion, and
all is well with us. In six weeks
or two months we shall be in
London, and it is possible that
this letter may not reach you
much earlier than we do ourselves.
Already our hearts yearn and
our spirits fly towards the great
mother city which holds so much
that is dear to us.
It was on the very evening
of our perilous adventure with
Challenger's home-made balloon
that the change came in our fortunes.
I have said that the one person
from whom we had had some sign
of sympathy in our attempts to
get away was the young chief
whom we had rescued. He alone
had no desire to hold us against
our will in a strange land. He
had told us as much by his expressive
language of signs. That evening,
after dusk, he came down to our
little camp, handed me (for some
reason he had always shown his
attentions to me, perhaps because
I was the one who was nearest
his age) a small roll of the
bark of a tree, and then pointing
solemnly up at the row of caves
above him, he had put his finger
to his lips as a sign of secrecy
and had stolen back again to
his people.
I took the slip of bark to
the firelight and we examined
it together. It was about a foot
square, and on the inner side
there was a singular arrangement
of lines, which I here reproduce:
They were neatly done in charcoal
upon the white surface, and looked
to me at first sight like some
sort of rough musical score.
"Whatever it is, I can swear
that it is of importance to us," said
I. "I could read that on his
face as he gave it."
"Unless we have come upon a
primitive practical joker," Summerlee
suggested, "which I should think
would be one of the most elementary
developments of man."
"It is clearly some sort of
script," said Challenger.
"Looks like a guinea puzzle
competition," remarked Lord John,
craning his neck to have a look
at it. Then suddenly he stretched
out his hand and seized the puzzle.
"By George!" he cried, "I
believe I've got it. The boy
guessed
right the very first time. See
here! How many marks are on that
paper? Eighteen. Well, if you
come to think of it there are
eighteen cave openings on the
hill-side above us."
"He pointed up to the caves
when he gave it to me," said
I.
"Well, that
settles it. This is a chart
of the caves. What!
Eighteen of them all in a row,
some short, some deep, some branching,
same as we saw them. It's a map,
and here's a cross on it. What's
the cross for? It is placed to
mark one that is much deeper
than the others."
"One that goes through," I
cried.
"I believe our young friend
has read the riddle," said Challenger. "If
the cave does not go through
I do not understand why this
person, who has every reason
to mean us well, should have
drawn our attention to it. But
if it does go through and comes
out at the corresponding point
on the other side, we should
not have more than a hundred
feet to descend."
"A hundred feet!" grumbled
Summerlee.
"Well, our rope is still more
than a hundred feet long," I
cried. "Surely we could get down."
"How about the Indians in the
cave?" Summerlee objected.
"There are no Indians in any
of the caves above our heads," said
I. "They are all used as barns
and store-houses. Why should
we not go up now at once and
spy out the land?"
There is a dry bituminous wood
upon the plateau--a species of
araucaria, according to our botanist--which
is always used by the Indians
for torches. Each of us picked
up a faggot of this, and we made
our way up weed-covered steps
to the particular cave which
was marked in the drawing. It
was, as I had said, empty, save
for a great number of enormous
bats, which flapped round our
heads as we advanced into it.
As we had no desire to draw the
attention of the Indians to our
proceedings, we stumbled along
in the dark until we had gone
round several curves and penetrated
a considerable distance into
the cavern. Then, at last, we
lit our torches. It was a beautiful
dry tunnel with smooth gray walls
covered with native symbols,
a curved roof which arched over
our heads, and white glistening
sand beneath our feet. We hurried
eagerly along it until, with
a deep groan of bitter disappointment,
we were brought to a halt. A
sheer wall of rock had appeared
before us, with no chink through
which a mouse could have slipped.
There was no escape for us there.
We stood with bitter hearts
staring at this unexpected obstacle.
It was not the result of any
convulsion, as in the case of
the ascending tunnel. The end
wall was exactly like the side
ones. It was, and had always
been, a cul-de-sac.
"Never mind, my friends," said
the indomitable Challenger. "You
have still my firm promise of
a balloon."
Summerlee groaned.
"Can we be in the wrong cave?" I
suggested.
"No use, young fellah," said
Lord John, with his finger on
the chart. "Seventeen from the
right and second from the left.
This is the cave sure enough."
I looked at the mark to which
his finger pointed, and I gave
a sudden cry of joy.
"I believe
I have it! Follow me! Follow
me!"
I hurried back
along the way we had come,
my torch in my hand. "Here," said
I, pointing to some matches upon
the ground, "is where we lit
up."
"Exactly."
"Well, it is
marked as a forked cave, and
in the darkness we
passed the fork before the torches
were lit. On the right side as
we go out we should find the
longer arm."
It was as I had said. We had
not gone thirty yards before
a great black opening loomed
in the wall. We turned into it
to find that we were in a much
larger passage than before. Along
it we hurried in breathless impatience
for many hundreds of yards. Then,
suddenly, in the black darkness
of the arch in front of us we
saw a gleam of dark red light.
We stared in amazement. A sheet
of steady flame seemed to cross
the passage and to bar our way.
We hastened towards it. No sound,
no heat, no movement came from
it, but still the great luminous
curtain glowed before us, silvering
all the cave and turning the
sand to powdered jewels, until
as we drew closer it discovered
a circular edge.
"The moon, by George!" cried
Lord John. "We are through, boys!
We are through!"
It was indeed the full moon
which shone straight down the
aperture which opened upon the
cliffs. It was a small rift,
not larger than a window, but
it was enough for all our purposes.
As we craned our necks through
it we could see that the descent
was not a very difficult one,
and that the level ground was
no very great way below us. It
was no wonder that from below
we had not observed the place,
as the cliffs curved overhead
and an ascent at the spot would
have seemed so impossible as
to discourage close inspection.
We satisfied ourselves that with
the help of our rope we could
find our way down, and then returned,
rejoicing, to our camp to make
our preparations for the next
evening.
What we did we had to do quickly
and secretly, since even at this
last hour the Indians might hold
us back. Our stores we would
leave behind us, save only our
guns and cartridges. But Challenger
had some unwieldy stuff which
he ardently desired to take with
him, and one particular package,
of which I may not speak, which
gave us more labor than any.
Slowly the day passed, but when
the darkness fell we were ready
for our departure. With much
labor we got our things up the
steps, and then, looking back,
took one last long survey of
that strange land, soon I fear
to be vulgarized, the prey of
hunter and prospector, but to
each of us a dreamland of glamour
and romance, a land where we
had dared much, suffered much,
and learned much--OUR land, as
we shall ever fondly call it.
Along upon our left the neighboring
caves each threw out its ruddy
cheery firelight into the gloom.
From the slope below us rose
the voices of the Indians as
they laughed and sang. Beyond
was the long sweep of the woods,
and in the center, shimmering
vaguely through the gloom, was
the great lake, the mother of
strange monsters. Even as we
looked a high whickering cry,
the call of some weird animal,
rang clear out of the darkness.
It was the very voice of Maple
White Land bidding us good-bye.
We turned and plunged into the
cave which led to home.
Two hours later, we, our packages,
and all we owned, were at the
foot of the cliff. Save for Challenger's
luggage we had never a difficulty.
Leaving it all where we descended,
we started at once for Zambo's
camp. In the early morning we
approached it, but only to find,
to our amazement, not one fire
but a dozen upon the plain. The
rescue party had arrived. There
were twenty Indians from the
river, with stakes, ropes, and
all that could be useful for
bridging the chasm. At least
we shall have no difficulty now
in carrying our packages, when
to-morrow we begin to make our
way back to the Amazon.
And so, in humble and thankful
mood, I close this account. Our
eyes have seen great wonders
and our souls are chastened by
what we have endured. Each is
in his own way a better and deeper
man. It may be that when we reach
Para we shall stop to refit.
If we do, this letter will be
a mail ahead. If not, it will
reach London on the very day
that I do. In either case, my
dear Mr. McArdle, I hope very
soon to shake you by the hand.
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