Professor Summerlee gave an acid smile as he picked up the envelope inhis gaunt hand.
"What can it possibly matter whether we open it now or in sevenminutes?" said he. "It is all part and parcel of the same system ofquackery and nonsense, for which I regret to say that the writer isnotorious."
"Oh, come, we must play the game accordin' to rules," said Lord John."It's old man Challenger's show and we are here by his good will, so itwould be rotten bad form if we didn't follow his instructions to theletter."
"A pretty business it is!" cried the Professor, bitterly. "It struckme as preposterous in London, but I'm bound to say that it seems evenmore so upon closer acquaintance. I don't know what is inside thisenvelope, but, unless it is something pretty definite, I shall be muchtempted to take the next down-river boat and catch the Bolivia at Para.After all, I have some more responsible work in the world than to runabout disproving the assertions of a lunatic. Now, Roxton, surely itis time."
"Time it is," said Lord John. "You can blow the whistle." He took upthe envelope and cut it with his penknife. From it he drew a foldedsheet of paper. This he carefully opened out and flattened on thetable. It was a blank sheet. He turned it over. Again it was blank.We looked at each other in a bewildered silence, which was broken by adiscordant burst of derisive laughter from Professor Summerlee.
"It is an open admission," he cried. "What more do you want? Thefellow is a self-confessed humbug. We have only to return home andreport him as the brazen imposter that he is."
"Invisible ink!" I suggested.
"I don't think!" said Lord Roxton, holding the paper to the light."No, young fellah my lad, there is no use deceiving yourself. I'll gobail for it that nothing has ever been written upon this paper."
"May I come in?" boomed a voice from the veranda.
The shadow of a squat figure had stolen across the patch of sunlight.That voice! That monstrous breadth of shoulder! We sprang to our feetwith a gasp of astonishment as Challenger, in a round, boyish straw-hatwith a colored ribbon--Challenger, with his hands in his jacket-pocketsand his canvas shoes daintily pointing as he walked--appeared in theopen space before us. He threw back his head, and there he stood inthe golden glow with all his old Assyrian luxuriance of beard, all hisnative insolence of drooping eyelids and intolerant eyes.
"I fear," said he, taking out his watch, "that I am a few minutes toolate. When I gave you this envelope I must confess that I had neverintended that you should open it, for it had been my fixed intention tobe with you before the hour. The unfortunate delay can be apportionedbetween a blundering pilot and an intrusive sandbank. I fear that ithas given my colleague, Professor Summerlee, occasion to blaspheme."
"I am bound to say, sir," said Lord John, with some sternness of voice,"that your turning up is a considerable relief to us, for our missionseemed to have come to a premature end. Even now I can't for the lifeof me understand why you should have worked it in so extraordinary amanner."
Instead of answering, Professor Challenger entered, shook hands withmyself and Lord John, bowed with ponderous insolence to ProfessorSummerlee, and sank back into a basket-chair, which creaked and swayedbeneath his weight.
"Is all ready for your journey?" he asked.
"We can start to-morrow."
"Then so you shall. You need no chart of directions now, since youwill have the inestimable advantage of my own guidance. From the firstI had determined that I would myself preside over your investigation.The most elaborate charts would, as you will readily admit, be a poorsubstitute for my own intelligence and advice. As to the small rusewhich I played upon you in the matter of the envelope, it is clearthat, had I told you all my intentions, I should have been forced toresist unwelcome pressure to travel out with you."
"Not from me, sir!" exclaimed Professor Summerlee, heartily. "So longas there was another ship upon the Atlantic."
Challenger waved him away with his great hairy hand.
"Your common sense will, I am sure, sustain my objection and realizethat it was better that I should direct my own movements and appearonly at the exact moment when my presence was needed. That moment hasnow arrived. You are in safe hands. You will not now fail to reachyour destination. From henceforth I take command of this expedition,and I must ask you to complete your preparations to-night, so that wemay be able to make an early start in the morning. My time is ofvalue, and the same thing may be said, no doubt, in a lesser degree ofyour own. I propose, therefore, that we push on as rapidly aspossible, until I have demonstrated what you have come to see."
Lord John Roxton has chartered a large steam launch, the Esmeralda,which was to carry us up the river. So far as climate goes, it wasimmaterial what time we chose for our expedition, as the temperatureranges from seventy-five to ninety degrees both summer and winter, withno appreciable difference in heat. In moisture, however, it isotherwise; from December to May is the period of the rains, and duringthis time the river slowly rises until it attains a height of nearlyforty feet above its low-water mark. It floods the banks, extends ingreat lagoons over a monstrous waste of country, and forms a hugedistrict, called locally the Gapo, which is for the most part toomarshy for foot-travel and too shallow for boating. About June thewaters begin to fall, and are at their lowest at October or November.Thus our expedition was at the time of the dry season, when the greatriver and its tributaries were more or less in a normal condition.
The current of the river is a slight one, the drop being not greaterthan eight inches in a mile. No stream could be more convenient fornavigation, since the prevailing wind is south-east, and sailing boatsmay make a continuous progress to the Peruvian frontier, dropping downagain with the current. In our own case the excellent engines of theEsmeralda could disregard the sluggish flow of the stream, and we madeas rapid progress as if we were navigating a stagnant lake. For threedays we steamed north-westwards up a stream which even here, a thousandmiles from its mouth, was still so enormous that from its center thetwo banks were mere shadows upon the distant skyline. On the fourthday after leaving Manaos we turned into a tributary which at its mouthwas little smaller than the main stream. It narrowed rapidly, however,and after two more days' steaming we reached an Indian village, wherethe Professor insisted that we should land, and that the Esmeraldashould be sent back to Manaos. We should soon come upon rapids, heexplained, which would make its further use impossible. He addedprivately that we were now approaching the door of the unknown country,and that the fewer whom we took into our confidence t
he better it wouldbe. To this end also he made each of us give our word of honor that wewould publish or say nothing which would give any exact clue as to thewhereabouts of our travels, while the servants were all solemnly swornto the same effect. It is for this reason that I am compelled to bevague in my narrative, and I would warn my readers that in any map ordiagram which I may give the relation of places to each other may becorrect, but the points of the compass are carefully confused, so thatin no way can it be taken as an actual guide to the country. ProfessorChallenger's reasons for secrecy may be valid or not, but we had nochoice but to adopt them, for he was prepared to abandon the wholeexpedition rather than modify the conditions upon which he would guideus.
It was August 2nd when we snapped our last link with the outer world bybidding farewell to the Esmeralda. Since then four days have passed,during which we have engaged two large canoes from the Indians, made ofso light a material (skins over a bamboo framework) that we should beable to carry them round any obstacle. These we have loaded with allour effects, and have engaged two additional Indians to help us in thenavigation. I understand that they are the very two--Ataca and Ipetuby name--who accompanied Professor Challenger upon his previousjourney. They appeared to be terrified at the prospect of repeatingit, but the chief has patriarchal powers in these countries, and if thebargain is good in his eyes the clansman has little choice in thematter.
So to-morrow we disappear into the unknown. This account I amtransmitting down the river by canoe, and it may be our last word tothose who are interested in our fate. I have, according to ourarrangement, addressed it to you, my dear Mr. McArdle, and I leave itto your discretion to delete, alter, or do what you like with it. Fromthe assurance of Professor Challenger's manner--and in spite of thecontinued scepticism of Professor Summerlee--I have no doubt that ourleader will make good his statement, and that we are really on the eveof some most remarkable experiences.
CHAPTER VIII
"The Outlying Pickets of the New World"
Our friends at home may well rejoice with us, for we are at our goal,and up to a point, at least, we have shown that the statement ofProfessor Challenger can be verified. We have not, it is true,ascended the plateau, but it lies before us, and even ProfessorSummerlee is in a more chastened mood. Not that he will for an instantadmit that his rival could be right, but he is less persistent in hisincessant objections, and has sunk for the most part into an observantsilence. I must hark back, however, and continue my narrative fromwhere I dropped it. We are sending home one of our local Indians whois injured, and I am committing this letter to his charge, withconsiderable doubts in my mind as to whether it will ever come to hand.
When I wrote last we were about to leave the Indian village where wehad been deposited by the Esmeralda. I have to begin my report by badnews, for the first serious personal trouble (I pass over the incessantbickerings between the Professors) occurred this evening, and mighthave had a tragic ending. I have spoken of our English-speakinghalf-breed, Gomez--a fine worker and a willing fellow, but afflicted, Ifancy, with the vice of curiosity, which is common enough among suchmen. On the last evening he seems to have hid himself near the hut inwhich we were discussing our plans, and, being observed by our hugenegro Zambo, who is as faithful as a dog and has the hatred which allhis race bear to the half-breeds, he was dragged out and carried intoour presence. Gomez whipped out his knife, however, and but for thehuge strength of his captor, which enabled him to disarm him with onehand, he would certainly have stabbed him. The matter has ended inreprimands, the opponents have been compelled to shake hands, and thereis every hope that all will be well. As to the feuds of the twolearned men, they are continuous and bitter. It must be admitted thatChallenger is provocative in the last degree, but Summerlee has an acidtongue, which makes matters worse. Last night Challenger said that henever cared to walk on the Thames Embankment and look up the river, asit was always sad to see one's own eventual goal. He is convinced, ofcourse, that he is destined for Westminster Abbey. Summerlee rejoined,however, with a sour smile, by saying that he understood that MillbankPrison had been pulled down. Challenger's conceit is too colossal toallow him to be really annoyed. He only smiled in his beard andrepeated "Really! Really!" in the pitying tone one would use to achild. Indeed, they are children both--the one wizened andcantankerous, the other formidable and overbearing, yet each with abrain which has put him in the front rank of his scientific age.Brain, character, soul--only as one sees more of life does oneunderstand how distinct is each.
The very next day we did actually make our start upon this remarkableexpedition. We found that all our possessions fitted very easily intothe two canoes, and we divided our personnel, six in each, taking theobvious precaution in the interests of peace of putting one Professorinto each canoe. Personally, I was with Challenger, who was in abeatific humor, moving about as one in a silent ecstasy and beamingbenevolence from every feature. I have had some experience of him inother moods, however, and shall be the less surprised when thethunderstorms suddenly come up amidst the sunshine. If it isimpossible to be at your ease, it is equally impossible to be dull inhis company, for one is always in a state of half-tremulous doubt as towhat sudden turn his formidable temper may take.
For two days we made our way up a good-sized river some hundreds ofyards broad, and dark in color, but transparent, so that one couldusually see the bottom. The affluents of the Amazon are, half of them,of this nature, while the other half are whitish and opaque, thedifference depending upon the class of country through which they haveflowed. The dark indicate vegetable decay, while the others point toclayey soil. Twice we came across rapids, and in each case made aportage of half a mile or so to avoid them. The woods on either sidewere primeval, which are more easily penetrated than woods of thesecond growth, and we had no great difficulty in carrying our canoesthrough them. How shall I ever forget the solemn mystery of it? Theheight of the trees and the thickness of the boles exceeded anythingwhich I in my town-bred life could have imagined, shooting upwards inmagnificent columns until, at an enormous distance above our heads, wecould dimly discern the spot where they threw out their side-branchesinto Gothic upward curves which coalesced to form one great matted roofof verdure, through which only an occasional golden ray of sunshineshot downwards to trace a thin dazzling line of light amidst themajestic obscurity. As we walked noiselessly amid the thick, softcarpet of decaying vegetation the hush fell upon our souls which comesupon us in the twilight of the Abbey, and even Professor Challenger'sfull-chested notes sank into a whisper. Alone, I should have beenignorant of the names of these giant growths, but our men of sciencepointed out the cedars, the great silk cotton trees, and the redwoodtrees, with all that profusion of various plants which has made thiscontinent the chief supplier to the human race of those gifts of Naturewhich depend upon the vegetable world, while it is the most backward inthose products which come from animal life. Vivid orchids andwonderful colored lichens smoldered upon the swarthy tree-trunks andwhere a wandering shaft of light fell full upon the golden allamanda,the scarlet star-clusters of the tacsonia, or the rich deep blue ofipomaea, the effect was as a dream of fairyland. In these great wastesof forest, life, which abhors darkness, struggles ever upwards to thelight. Every plant, even the smaller ones, curls and writhes to thegreen surface, twining itself round its stronger and taller brethren inthe effort. Climbing plants are monstrous and luxuriant, but otherswhich have never been known to climb elsewhere learn the art as anescape from that somber shadow, so that the common nettle, the jasmine,and even the jacitara palm tree can be seen circling the stems of thecedars and striving to reach their crowns. Of animal life there was nomovement amid the majestic vaulted aisles which stretched from us as wewalked, but a constant movement far above our heads told of thatmultitudinous world of snake and monkey, bird and sloth, which lived inthe sunshine, and looked down in wonder at our tiny, dark, stumblingfigures in the obscure depths immeasurably below them. At dawn and atsunset the howler monkeys screamed together and the parrakeets brokeinto shrill chatter, but during the hot hours of the day only the fulldrone of insects, like the beat of a distant surf, filled the ear,while nothing moved amid the solemn vistas of stupendous trunks, fadingaway into the darkness which held us in. Once some bandy-legged,lurching creature, an ant-eater or a bear, scuttled clumsily amid theshadows. It was the only sign of earth life which I saw in this greatAmazonian forest.