"Most interesting," said Summerlee, bending over my shin. "An enormousblood-tick, as yet, I believe, unclassified."
"The first-fruits of our labors," said Challenger in his booming,pedantic fashion. "We cannot do less than call it Ixodes Maloni. Thevery small inconvenience of being bitten, my young friend, cannot, I amsure, weigh with you as against the glorious privilege of having yourname inscribed in the deathless roll of zoology. Unhappily you havecrushed this fine specimen at the moment of satiation."
"Filthy vermin!" I cried.
Professor Challenger raised his great eyebrows in protest, and placed asoothing paw upon my shoulder.
"You should cultivate the scientific eye and the detached scientificmind," said he. "To a man of philosophic temperament like myself theblood-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 sounappreciative a fashion. No doubt, with due diligence, we can securesome other specimen."
"There can be no doubt of that," said Summerlee, grimly, "for one hasjust disappeared behind your shirt-collar."
Challenger sprang into the air bellowing like a bull, and torefrantically at his coat and shirt to get them off. Summerlee and Ilaughed so that we could hardly help him. At last we exposed thatmonstrous torso (fifty-four inches, by the tailor's tape). His bodywas all matted with black hair, out of which jungle we picked thewandering tick before it had bitten him. But the bushes round werefull of the horrible pests, and it was clear that we must shift ourcamp.
But first of all it was necessary to make our arrangements with thefaithful negro, who appeared presently on the pinnacle with a number oftins of cocoa and biscuits, which he tossed over to us. Of the storeswhich remained below he was ordered to retain as much as would keep himfor two months. The Indians were to have the remainder as a reward fortheir services and as payment for taking our letters back to theAmazon. Some hours later we saw them in single file far out upon theplain, each with a bundle on his head, making their way back along thepath we had come. Zambo occupied our little tent at the base of thepinnacle, and there he remained, our one link with the world below.
And now we had to decide upon our immediate movements. We shifted ourposition from among the tick-laden bushes until we came to a smallclearing thickly surrounded by trees upon all sides. There were someflat slabs of rock in the center, with an excellent well close by, andthere we sat in cleanly comfort while we made our first plans for theinvasion of this new country. Birds were calling among thefoliage--especially one with a peculiar whooping cry which was new tous--but beyond these sounds there were no signs of life.
Our first care was to make some sort of list of our own stores, so thatwe might know what we had to rely upon. What with the things we hadourselves brought up and those which Zambo had sent across on the rope,we were fairly well supplied. Most important of all, in view of thedangers which might surround us, we had our four rifles and onethousand three hundred rounds, also a shot-gun, but not more than ahundred and fifty medium pellet cartridges. In the matter ofprovisions we had enough to last for several weeks, with a sufficiencyof tobacco and a few scientific implements, including a large telescopeand a good field-glass. All these things we collected together in theclearing, and as a first precaution, we cut down with our hatchet andknives a number of thorny bushes, which we piled round in a circle somefifteen yards in diameter. This was to be our headquarters for thetime--our place of refuge against sudden danger and the guard-house forour stores. Fort Challenger, we called it.
It was midday before we had made ourselves secure, but the heat was notoppressive, and the general character of the plateau, both in itstemperature and in its vegetation, was almost temperate. The beech,the oak, and even the birch were to be found among the tangle of treeswhich girt us in. One huge gingko tree, topping all the others, shotits great limbs and maidenhair foliage over the fort which we hadconstructed. In its shade we continued our discussion, while LordJohn, who had quickly taken command in the hour of action, gave us hisviews.
"So long as neither man nor beast has seen or heard us, we are safe,"said he. "From the time they know we are here our troubles begin.There are no signs that they have found us out as yet. So our gamesurely is to lie low for a time and spy out the land. We want to havea good 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 common sense.We must never go so far that we can't get back to our base. Above all,we must never, unless it is life or death, fire off our guns."
"But YOU fired yesterday," said Summerlee.
"Well, it couldn't be helped. However, the wind was strong and blewoutwards. It is not likely that the sound could have traveled far intothe plateau. By the way, what shall we call this place? I suppose itis up to us to give it a name?"
There were several suggestions, more or less happy, but Challenger'swas final.
"It can only have one name," said he. "It is called after the pioneerwho discovered it. It is Maple White Land."
Maple White Land it became, and so it is named in that chart which hasbecome my special task. So it will, I trust, appear in the atlas ofthe future.
The peaceful penetration of Maple White Land was the pressing subjectbefore us. We had the evidence of our own eyes that the place wasinhabited by some unknown creatures, and there was that of MapleWhite's sketch-book to show that more dreadful and more dangerousmonsters might still appear. That there might also prove to be humanoccupants and that they were of a malevolent character was suggested bythe skeleton impaled upon the bamboos, which could not have got therehad it not been dropped from above. Our situation, stranded withoutpossibility of escape in such a land, was clearly full of danger, andour reasons endorsed every measure of caution which Lord John'sexperience could suggest. Yet it was surely impossible that we shouldhalt on the edge of this world of mystery when our very souls weretingling with impatience to push forward and to pluck the heart from it.
We therefore blocked the entrance to our zareba by filling it up withseveral thorny bushes, and left our camp with the stores entirelysurrounded by this protecting hedge. We then slowly and cautiously setforth into the unknown, following the course of the little stream whichflowed from o
ur spring, as it should always serve us as a guide on ourreturn.
Hardly had we started when we came across signs that there were indeedwonders awaiting us. After a few hundred yards of thick forest,containing many trees which were quite unknown to me, but whichSummerlee, who was the botanist of the party, recognized as forms ofconifera and of cycadaceous plants which have long passed away in theworld below, we entered a region where the stream widened out andformed a considerable bog. High reeds of a peculiar type grew thicklybefore us, which were pronounced to be equisetacea, or mare's-tails,with tree-ferns scattered amongst them, all of them swaying in a briskwind. Suddenly Lord John, who was walking first, halted with upliftedhand.
"Look at this!" said he. "By George, this must be the trail of thefather of all birds!"
An enormous three-toed track was imprinted in the soft mud before us.The creature, whatever it was, had crossed the swamp and had passed oninto the forest. We all stopped to examine that monstrous spoor. Ifit were indeed a bird--and what animal could leave such a mark?--itsfoot was so much larger than an ostrich's that its height upon the samescale must be enormous. Lord John looked eagerly round him and slippedtwo cartridges into his elephant-gun.
"I'll stake my good name as a shikarree," said he, "that the track is afresh one. The creature has not passed ten minutes. Look how thewater is still oozing into that deeper print! By Jove! See, here isthe mark of a little one!"
Sure enough, smaller tracks of the same general form were runningparallel to the large ones.
"But what do you make of this?" cried Professor Summerlee,triumphantly, pointing to what looked like the huge print of afive-fingered human hand appearing among the three-toed marks.
"Wealden!" cried Challenger, in an ecstasy. "I've seen them in theWealden clay. It is a creature walking erect upon three-toed feet, andoccasionally putting one of its five-fingered forepaws upon the ground.Not a bird, my dear Roxton--not a bird."
"A beast?"