"I will keep well within the truth."
"Lord John's observations are frequently exceedingly fanciful, and heis capable of attributing the most absurd reasons to the respect whichis always shown by the most undeveloped races to dignity and character.You follow my meaning?"
"Entirely."
"I leave the matter to your discretion." Then, after a long pause, headded: "The king of the ape-men was really a creature of greatdistinction--a most remarkably handsome and intelligent personality.Did it not strike you?"
"A most remarkable creature," said I.
And the Professor, much eased in his mind, settled down to his slumberonce more.
CHAPTER XIV
"Those Were the Real Conquests"
We had imagined that our pursuers, the ape-men, knew nothing of ourbrush-wood hiding-place, but we were soon to find out our mistake.There was no sound in the woods--not a leaf moved upon the trees, andall was peace around us--but we should have been warned by our firstexperience how cunningly and how patiently these creatures can watchand wait until their chance comes. Whatever fate may be mine throughlife, I am very sure that I shall never be nearer death than I was thatmorning. But I will tell you the thing in its due order.
We all awoke exhausted after the terrific emotions and scanty food ofyesterday. Summerlee was still so weak that it was an effort for himto stand; but the old man was full of a sort of surly courage whichwould never admit defeat. A council was held, and it was agreed thatwe should wait quietly for an hour or two where we were, have ourmuch-needed breakfast, and then make our way across the plateau andround the central lake to the caves where my observations had shownthat the Indians lived. We relied upon the fact that we could countupon the good word of those whom we had rescued to ensure a warmwelcome from their fellows. Then, with our mission accomplished andpossessing a fuller knowledge of the secrets of Maple White Land, weshould turn our whole thoughts to the vital problem of our escape andreturn. Even Challenger was ready to admit that we should then havedone all for which we had come, and that our first duty from that timeonwards was to carry back to civilization the amazing discoveries wehad made.
We were able now to take a more leisurely view of the Indians whom wehad rescued. They were small men, wiry, active, and well-built, withlank black hair tied up in a bunch behind their heads with a leathernthong, and leathern also were their loin-clothes. Their faces werehairless, well formed, and good-humored. The lobes of their ears,hanging ragged and bloody, showed that they had been pierced for someornaments which their captors had torn out. Their speech, thoughunintelligible to us, was fluent among themselves, and as they pointedto each other and uttered the word "Accala" many times over, wegathered that this was the name of the nation. Occasionally, withfaces which were convulsed with fear and hatred, they shook theirclenched hands at the woods round and cried: "Doda! Doda!" which wassurely their term for their enemies.
"What do you make of them, Challenger?" asked Lord John. "One thing isvery clear to me, and that is that the little chap with the front ofhis head shaved is a chief among them."
It was indeed evident that this man stood apart from the others, andthat they never ventured to address him without every sign of deeprespect. He seemed to be the youngest of them all, and yet, so proudand high was his spirit that, upon Challenger laying his great handupon his head, he started like a spurred horse and, with a quick flashof his dark eyes, moved further away from the Professor. Then, placinghis hand upon his breast and holding himself with great dignity, heuttered the word "Maretas" several times. The Professor, unabashed,seized the nearest Indian by the shoulder and proceeded to lecture uponhim as if he were a potted specimen in a class-room.
"The type of these people," said he in his sonorous fashion, "whetherjudged by cranial capacity, facial angle, or any other test, cannot beregarded as a low one; on the contrary, we must place it asconsiderably higher in the scale than many South American tribes whichI can mention. On no possible supposition can we explain the evolutionof such a race in this place. For that matter, so great a gapseparates these ape-men from the primitive animals which have survivedupon this plateau, that it is inadmissible to think that they couldhave developed where we find them."
"Then where the dooce did they drop from?" asked Lord John.
"A question which will, no doubt, be eagerly discussed in everyscientific society in Europe and America," the Professor answered. "Myown reading of the situation for what it is worth--" he inflated hischest enormously and looked insolently around him at the words--"isthat evolution has advanced under the peculiar conditions of thiscountry up to the vertebrate stage, the old types surviving and livingon in company with the newer ones. Thus we find such modern creaturesas the tapir--an animal with quite a respectable length ofpedigree--the great deer, and the ant-eater in the companionship ofreptilian forms of jurassic type. So much is clear. And now come theape-men and the Indian. What is the scientific mind to think of theirpresence? I can only account for it by an invasion from outside. Itis probable that there existed an anthropoid ape in South America, whoin past ages found his way to this place, and that he developed intothe creatures we have seen, some of which"--here he looked hard atme--"were of an appearance and shape which, if it had been accompaniedby corresponding intelligence, would, I do not hesitate to say, havereflected credit upon any living race. As to the Indians I cannotdoubt that they are more recent immigrants from below. Under thestress of famine or of conquest they have made their way up here.Faced by ferocious creatures which they had never before seen, theytook refuge in the caves which our young friend has described, but theyhave no doubt had a bitter fight to hold their own against wild beasts,and especially against the ape-men who would regard them as intruders,and wage a merciless war upon them with a cunning which the largerbeasts would lack. Hence the fact that their numbers appear to belimited. Well, gentlemen, have I read you the riddle aright, or isthere any point which you would query?"
Professor Summerlee for once was too depressed to argue, though heshook his head violently as a token of general disagreement. Lord Johnmerely scratched his scanty locks with the remark that he couldn't putup a fight as he wasn't in the same weight or class. For my own part Iperformed my usual role of bringing things down to a strictly prosaicand practical level by the remark that one of the Indians was missing.
"He has gone to fetch some water," said Lord Roxton. "We fitted him upwith an empty beef tin and he is off."
"To the old camp?" I asked.
"No, to the brook. It's among the trees there. It can't be more thana couple of hundred yards. But the beggar is certainly taking histime."
"I'll go and look after him," said I. I picked up my rifle andstrolled in the direction of the brook, leaving my friends to lay outthe scanty breakfast. It may seem to you rash that even for so short adistance I should quit the shelter of our friendly thicket, but youwill remember that we were many miles from Ape-town, that so far as weknew the creatures had not discovered our retreat, and that in any casewith a rifle in my hands I had no fear of them. I had not yet learnedtheir cunning or their strength.
I could hear the murmur of our brook somewhere ahead of me, but therewas a tangle of trees and brushwood between me and it. I was making myway through this at a point which was just out of sight of mycompanions, when, under one of the trees, I noticed something redhuddled among the bushes. As I approached it, I was shocked to seethat it was the dead body of the missing Indian. He lay upon his side,his limbs drawn up, and his head screwed round at a most unnaturalangle, so that he seemed to be looking straight over his own shoulder.I gave a cry to warn my friends that something was amiss, and runningforwards I stooped over the body. Surely my guardian angel was verynear me then, for some instinct of fear, or it may have been some faintrustle of leaves, made me glance upwards. Out of the thick greenfoliage which hung low over my head, two long muscular arms coveredwith reddish hair were slowly descending. Another instant and thegreat stealthy hands would have been round my throat. I sprangbackwards, but quick as I was, those hands were quicker still. Throughmy sudden spring they missed a fatal grip, but one of them caught theback of my neck and the other one my face. I threw my hands up toprotect my throat, and the next moment the huge paw had slid down myface and closed over them. I was lifted lightly from the ground, and Ifelt an intolerable pressure forcing my head back and back until thestrain upon the cervical spine was more than I could bear. My sensesswam, but I still tore at the hand and forced it out from my chin.Looking up I saw a frightful face with cold inexorable light blue eyeslooking down i
nto mine. There was something hypnotic in those terribleeyes. I could struggle no longer. As the creature felt me grow limpin his grasp, two white canines gleamed for a moment at each side ofthe vile mouth, and the grip tightened still more upon my chin, forcingit always upwards and back. A thin, oval-tinted mist formed before myeyes and little silvery bells tinkled in my ears. Dully and far off Iheard the crack of a rifle and was feebly aware of the shock as I wasdropped to the earth, where I lay without sense or motion.
I awoke to find myself on my back upon the grass in our lair within thethicket. Someone had brought the water from the brook, and Lord Johnwas sprinkling my head with it, while Challenger and Summerlee werepropping me up, with concern in their faces. For a moment I had aglimpse of the human spirits behind their scientific masks. It wasreally shock, rather than any injury, which had prostrated me, and inhalf-an-hour, in spite of aching head and stiff neck, I was sitting upand ready for anything.
"But you've had the escape of your life, young fellah my lad," saidLord Roxton. "When I heard your cry and ran forward, and saw your headtwisted half-off and your stohwassers kickin' in the air, I thought wewere one short. I missed the beast in my flurry, but he dropped youall right and was off like a streak. By George! I wish I had fiftymen with rifles. I'd clear out the whole infernal gang of them andleave this country a bit cleaner than we found it."
It was clear now that the ape-men had in some way marked us down, andthat we were watched on every side. We had not so much to fear fromthem during the day, but they would be very likely to rush us by night;so the sooner we got away from their neighborhood the better. On threesides of us was absolute forest, and there we might find ourselves inan ambush. But on the fourth side--that which sloped down in thedirection of the lake--there was only low scrub, with scattered treesand occasional open glades. It was, in fact, the route which I hadmyself taken in my solitary journey, and it led us straight for theIndian caves. This then must for every reason be our road.
One great regret we had, and that was to leave our old camp behind us,not only for the sake of the stores which remained there, but even morebecause we were losing touch with Zambo, our link with the outsideworld. However, we had a fair supply of cartridges and all our guns,so, for a time at least, we could look after ourselves, and we hopedsoon to have a chance of returning and restoring our communicationswith our negro. He had faithfully promised to stay where he was, andwe had not a doubt that he would be as good as his word.
It was in the early afternoon that we started upon our journey. Theyoung chief walked at our head as our guide, but refused indignantly tocarry any burden. Behind him came the two surviving Indians with ourscanty possessions upon their backs. We four white men walked in therear with rifles loaded and ready. As we started there broke from thethick silent woods behind us a sudden great ululation of the ape-men,which may have been a cheer of triumph at our departure or a jeer ofcontempt at our flight. Looking back we saw only the dense screen oftrees, but that long-drawn yell told us how many of our enemies lurkedamong them. We saw no sign of pursuit, however, and soon we had gotinto more open country and beyond their power.
As I tramped along, the rearmost of the four, I could not help smilingat the appearance of my three companions in front. Was this theluxurious Lord John Roxton who had sat that evening in the Albanyamidst his Persian rugs and his pictures in the pink radiance of thetinted lights? And was this the imposing Professor who had swelledbehind the great desk in his massive study at Enmore Park? And,finally, could this be the austere and prim figure which had risenbefore the meeting at the Zoological Institute? No three tramps thatone could have met in a Surrey lane could have looked more hopeless andbedraggled. We had, it is true, been only a week or so upon the top ofthe plateau, but all our spare clothing was in our camp below, and theone week had been a severe one upon us all, though least to me who hadnot to endure the handling of the ape-men. My three friends had alllost their hats, and had now bound handkerchiefs round their heads,their clothes hung in ribbons about them, and their unshaven grimyfaces were hardly to be recognized. Both Summerlee and Challenger werelimping heavily, while I still dragged my feet from weakness after theshock of the morning, and my neck was as stiff as a board from themurderous grip that held it. We were indeed a sorry crew, and I didnot wonder to see our Indian companions glance back at us occasionallywith horror and amazement on their faces.
In the late afternoon we reached the margin of the lake, and as weemerged from the bush and saw the sheet of water stretching before usour native friends set up a shrill cry of joy and pointed eagerly infront of them. It was indeed a wonderful sight which lay before us.Sweeping over the glassy surface was a great flotilla of canoes comingstraight for the shore upon which we stood. They were some miles outwhen we first saw them, but they shot forward with great swiftness, andwere soon so near that the rowers could distinguish our persons.Instantly a thunderous shout of delight burst from them, and we sawthem rise from their seats, waving their paddles and spears madly inthe air. Then bending to their work once more, they flew across theintervening water, beached their boats upon the sloping sand, andrushed up to us, prostrating themselves with loud cries of greetingbefore the young chief. Finally one of them, an elderly man, with anecklace and bracelet of great lustrous glass beads and the skin ofsome beautiful mottled amber-colored animal slung over his shoulders,ran forward and embraced most tenderly the youth whom we had saved. Hethen looked at us and asked some questions, after which he stepped upwith much dignity and embraced us also each in turn. Then, at hisorder, the whole tribe lay down upon the ground before us in homage.Personally I felt shy and uncomfortable at this obsequious adoration,and I read the same feeling in the faces of Roxton and Summerlee, butChallenger expanded like a flower in the sun.