As Challenger spoke of his pterodactyl I glanced at ProfessorSummerlee, and for the first time I seemed to see some signs of adawning credulity and repentance. There was no sneer upon his thinlips, but, on the contrary, a gray, drawn look of excitement andamazement. Challenger saw it, too, and reveled in the first taste ofvictory.
"Of course," said he, with his clumsy and ponderous sarcasm,"Professor Summerlee will understand that when I speak of a pterodactylI mean a stork--only it is the kind of stork which has no feathers, aleathery skin, membranous wings, and teeth in its jaws." He grinnedand blinked and bowed until his colleague turned and walked away.
In the morning, after a frugal breakfast of coffee and manioc--we hadto be economical of our stores--we held a council of war as to the bestmethod of ascending to the plateau above us.
Challenger presided with a solemnity as if he were the Lord ChiefJustice on the Bench. Picture him seated upon a rock, his absurdboyish straw hat tilted on the back of his head, his supercilious eyesdominating us from under his drooping lids, his great black beardwagging as he slowly defined our present situation and our futuremovements.
Beneath him you might have seen the three of us--myself, sunburnt,young, and vigorous after our open-air tramp; Summerlee, solemn butstill critical, behind his eternal pipe; Lord John, as keen as arazor-edge, with his supple, alert figure leaning upon his rifle, andhis eager eyes fixed eagerly upon the speaker. Behind us were groupedthe two swarthy half-breeds and the little knot of Indians, while infront and above us towered those huge, ruddy ribs of rocks which keptus from our goal.
"I need not say," said our leader, "that on the occasion of my lastvisit I exhausted every means of climbing the cliff, and where I failedI do not think that anyone else is likely to succeed, for I amsomething of a mountaineer. I had none of the appliances of arock-climber with me, but I have taken the precaution to bring themnow. With their aid I am positive I could climb that detached pinnacleto the summit; but so long as the main cliff overhangs, it is vain toattempt ascending that. I was hurried upon my last visit by theapproach of the rainy season and by the exhaustion of my supplies.These considerations limited my time, and I can only claim that I havesurveyed about six miles of the cliff to the east of us, finding nopossible way up. What, then, shall we now do?"
"There seems to be only one reasonable course," said ProfessorSummerlee. "If you have explored the east, we should travel along thebase of the cliff to the west, and seek for a practicable point for ourascent."
"That's it," said Lord John. "The odds are that this plateau is of nogreat size, and we shall travel round it until we either find an easyway up it, or come back to the point from which we started."
"I have already explained to our young friend here," said Challenger(he has a way of alluding to me as if I were a school child ten yearsold), "that it is quite impossible that there should be an easy way upanywhere, for the simple reason that if there were the summit would notbe isolated, and those conditions would not obtain which have effectedso singular an interference with the general laws of survival. Yet Iadmit that there may very well be places where an expert human climbermay reach the summit, and yet a cumbrous and heavy animal be unable todescend. It is certain that there is a point where an ascent ispossible."
"How do you know that, sir?" asked Summerlee, sharply.
"Because my predecessor, the American Maple White, actually made suchan ascent. How otherwise could he have seen the monster which hesketched in his notebook?"
"There you reason somewhat ahead of the proved facts," said thestubborn Summerlee. "I admit your plateau, because I have seen it; butI have not as yet satisfied myself that it contains any form of lifewhatever."
"What you admit, sir, or what you do not admit, is really ofinconceivably small importance. I am glad to perceive that the plateauitself has actually obtruded itself upon your intelligence." He glancedup at it, and then, to our amazement, he sprang from his rock, and,seizing Summerlee by the neck, he tilted his face into the air. "Nowsir!" he shouted, hoarse with excitement. "Do I help you to realizethat the plateau contains some animal life?"
I have said that a thick fringe of green overhung the edge of thecliff. Out of this there had emerged a black, glistening object. Asit came slowly forth and overhung the chasm, we saw that it was a verylarge snake with a peculiar flat, spade-like head. It wavered andquivered above us for a minute, the morning sun gleaming upon itssleek, sinuous coils. Then it slowly drew inwards and disappeared.
Summerlee had been so interested that he had stood unresisting whileChallenger tilted his head into the air. Now he shook his colleagueoff and came back to his dignity.
"I should be glad, Professor Challenger," said he, "if you could seeyour way to make any remarks which may occur to you without seizing meby the chin. Even the appearance of a very ordinary rock python doesnot appear to justify such a liberty."
"But there is life upon the plateau all the same," his colleaguereplied in triumph. "And now, having demonstrated this importantconclusion so that it is clear to anyone, however prejudiced or obtuse,I am of opinion that we cannot do better than break up our camp andtravel to westward until we find some means of ascent."
The ground
at the foot of the cliff was rocky and broken so that thegoing was slow and difficult. Suddenly we came, however, uponsomething which cheered our hearts. It was the site of an oldencampment, with several empty Chicago meat tins, a bottle labeled"Brandy," a broken tin-opener, and a quantity of other travelers'debris. A crumpled, disintegrated newspaper revealed itself as theChicago Democrat, though the date had been obliterated.
"Not mine," said Challenger. "It must be Maple White's."
Lord John had been gazing curiously at a great tree-fern whichovershadowed the encampment. "I say, look at this," said he. "Ibelieve it is meant for a sign-post."
A slip of hard wood had been nailed to the tree in such a way as topoint to the westward.
"Most certainly a sign-post," said Challenger. "What else? Findinghimself upon a dangerous errand, our pioneer has left this sign so thatany party which follows him may know the way he has taken. Perhaps weshall come upon some other indications as we proceed."
We did indeed, but they were of a terrible and most unexpected nature.Immediately beneath the cliff there grew a considerable patch of highbamboo, like that which we had traversed in our journey. Many of thesestems were twenty feet high, with sharp, strong tops, so that even asthey stood they made formidable spears. We were passing along the edgeof this cover when my eye was caught by the gleam of something whitewithin it. Thrusting in my head between the stems, I found myselfgazing at a fleshless skull. The whole skeleton was there, but theskull had detached itself and lay some feet nearer to the open.
With a few blows from the machetes of our Indians we cleared the spotand were able to study the details of this old tragedy. Only a fewshreds of clothes could still be distinguished, but there were theremains of boots upon the bony feet, and it was very clear that thedead man was a European. A gold watch by Hudson, of New York, and achain which held a stylographic pen, lay among the bones. There wasalso a silver cigarette-case, with "J. C., from A. E. S.," upon thelid. The state of the metal seemed to show that the catastrophe hadoccurred no great time before.
"Who can he be?" asked Lord John. "Poor devil! every bone in his bodyseems to be broken."
"And the bamboo grows through his smashed ribs," said Summerlee. "Itis a fast-growing plant, but it is surely inconceivable that this bodycould have been here while the canes grew to be twenty feet in length."
"As to the man's identity," said Professor Challenger, "I have no doubtwhatever upon that point. As I made my way up the river before Ireached you at the fazenda I instituted very particular inquiries aboutMaple White. At Para they knew nothing. Fortunately, I had a definiteclew, for there was a particular picture in his sketch-book whichshowed him taking lunch with a certain ecclesiastic at Rosario. Thispriest I was able to find, and though he proved a very argumentativefellow, who took it absurdly amiss that I should point out to him thecorrosive effect which modern science must have upon his beliefs, henone the less gave me some positive information. Maple White passedRosario four years ago, or two years before I saw his dead body. Hewas not alone at the time, but there was a friend, an American namedJames Colver, who remained in the boat and did not meet thisecclesiastic. I think, therefore, that there can be no doubt that weare now looking upon the remains of this James Colver."
"Nor," said Lord John, "is there much doubt as to how he met his death.He has fallen or been chucked from the top, and so been impaled. Howelse could he come by his broken bones, and how could he have beenstuck through by these canes with their points so high above our heads?"
A hush came over us as we stood round these shattered remains andrealized the truth of Lord John Roxton's words. The beetling head ofthe cliff projected over the cane-brake. Undoubtedly he had fallenfrom above. But had he fallen? Had it been an accident? Or--alreadyominous and terrible possibilities began to form round that unknownland.