Lord John Roxton was right when he thought that some speciallytoxic quality might lie in the bite of the horrible creatureswhich had attacked us. On the morning after our first adventureupon the plateau, both Summerlee and I were in great pain andfever, while Challenger's knee was so bruised that he couldhardly limp. We kept to our camp all day, therefore, Lord Johnbusying himself, with such help as we could give him, in raisingthe height and thickness of the thorny walls which were ouronly defense. I remember that during the whole long day I washaunted by the feeling that we were closely observed, though bywhom or whence I could give no guess.

So strong was the impression that I told Professor Challenger ofit, who put it down to the cerebral excitement caused by my fever. Again and again I glanced round swiftly, with the conviction thatI was about to see something, but only to meet the dark tangle ofour hedge or the solemn and cavernous gloom of the great treeswhich arched above our heads. And yet the feeling grew everstronger in my own mind that something observant and somethingmalevolent was at our very elbow. I thought of the Indiansuperstition of the Curupuri--the dreadful, lurking spirit ofthe woods--and I could have imagined that his terrible presencehaunted those who had invaded his most remote and sacred retreat.

That night (our third in Maple White Land) we had an experiencewhich left a fearful impression upon our minds, and made usthankful that Lord John had worked so hard in making ourretreat impregnable. We were all sleeping round our dying firewhen we were aroused--or, rather, I should say, shot out of ourslumbers--by a succession of the most frightful cries and screamsto which I have ever listened. I know no sound to which I couldcompare this amazing tumult, which seemed to come from some spotwithin a few hundred yards of our camp. It was as ear-splittingas any whistle of a railway-engine; but whereas the whistle is aclear, mechanical, sharp-edged sound, this was far deeper in volumeand vibrant with the uttermost strain of agony and horror. We clappedour hands to our ears to shut out that nerve-shaking appeal. A coldsweat broke out over my body, and my heart turned sick at the miseryof it. All the woes of tortured life, all its stupendous indictmentof high heaven, its innumerable sorrows, seemed to be centered andcondensed into that one dreadful, agonized cry. And then, underthis high-pitched, ringing sound there was another, more intermittent,a low, deep-chested laugh, a growling, throaty gurgle of merrimentwhich formed a grotesque accompaniment to the shriek with which itwas blended. For three or four minutes on end the fearsome duetcontinued, while all the foliage rustled with the rising ofstartled birds. Then it shut off as suddenly as it began. For along time we sat in horrified silence. Then Lord John threw a bundleof twigs upon the fire, and their red glare lit up the intent facesof my companions and flickered over the great boughs above our heads.

"What was it?" I whispered.

"We shall know in the morning," said Lord John. "It was closeto us--not farther than the glade."

"We have been privileged to overhear a prehistoric tragedy, thesort of drama which occurred among the reeds upon the border ofsome Jurassic lagoon, when the greater dragon pinned the lesseramong the slime," said Challenger, with more solemnity than I hadever heard in his voice. "It was surely well for man that hecame late in the order of creation. There were powers abroad inearlier days which no courage and no mechanism of his could have met. What could his sling, his throwing-stick, or his arrow avail himagainst such forces as have been loose to-night? Even with amodern rifle it would be all odds on the monster."

"I think I should back my little friend," said Lord John,caressing his Express. "But the beast would certainly have agood sporting chance."

Summerlee raised his hand.

"Hush!" he cried. "Surely I hear something?"

From the utter silence there emerged a deep, regular pat-pat. It was the tread of some animal--the rhythm of soft but heavy padsplaced cautiously upon the ground. It stole slowly round thecamp, and then halted near our gateway. There was a low, sibilantrise and fall--the breathing of the creature. Only our feeblehedge separated us from this horror of the night. Each of ushad seized his rifle, and Lord John had pulled out a small bushto make an embrasure in the hedge.

"By George!" he whispered. "I think I can see it!"

I stooped and peered over his shoulder through the gap. Yes, Icould see it, too. In the deep shadow of the tree there was adeeper shadow yet, black, inchoate, vague--a crouching form fullof savage vigor and menace. It was no higher than a horse, butthe dim outline suggested vast bulk and strength. That hissingpant, as regular and full-volumed as the exhaust of an engine,spoke of a monstrous organism. Once, as it moved, I thought Isaw the glint of two terrible, greenish eyes. There was anuneasy rustling, as if it were crawling slowly forward.

"I believe it is going to spring!" said I, cocking my rifle.

"Don't fire! Don't fire!" whispered Lord John. "The crash of agun in this silent night would be heard for miles. Keep it as alast card."

"If it gets over the hedge we're done," said Summerlee, and hisvoice crackled into a nervous laugh as he spoke.

"No, it must not get over," cried Lord John; "but hold yourfire to the last. Perhaps I can make something of the fellow. I'll chance it, anyhow."

It was as brave an act as ever I saw a man do. He stooped tothe fire, picked up a blazing branch, and slipped in an instantthrough a sallyport which he had made in our gateway. The thingmoved forward with a dreadful snarl. Lord John never hesitated,but, running towards it with a quick, light step, he dashed theflaming wood into the brute's face. For one moment I had avision of a horrible mask like a giant toad's, of a warty,leprous skin, and of a loose mouth all beslobbered with fresh blood. The next, there was a crash in the underwood and our dreadfulvisitor was gone.

"I thought he wouldn't face the fire," said Lord John, laughing,as he came back and threw his branch among the faggots.

"You should not have taken such a risk!" we all cried.

"There was nothin' else to be done. If he had got among us weshould have shot each other in tryin' to down him. On the otherhand, if we had fired through the hedge and wounded him he wouldsoon have been on the top of us--to say nothin' of givingourselves away. On the whole, I think that we are jolly well outof it. What was he, then?"

Our learned men looked at each other with some hesitation.

"Personally, I am unable to classify the creature with anycertainty," said Summerlee, lighting his pipe from the fire.

"In refusing to commit yourself you are but showing a properscientific reserve," said Challenger, with massive condescension. "I am not myself prepared to go farther than to say in generalterms that we have almost certainly been in contact to-night withsome form of carnivorous dinosaur. I have already expressed myanticipation that something of the sort might exist upon this plateau."

"We have to bear in mind," remarked Summerlee, that there are manyprehistoric forms which have never come down to us. It would berash to suppose that we can give a name to all that we are likelyto meet."

"Exactly. A rough classification may be the best that we can attempt. To-morrow some further evidence may help us to an identification. Meantime we can only renew our interrupted slumbers."

"But not without a sentinel," said Lord John, with decision. "We can't afford to take chances in a country like this. Two-hour spells in the future, for each of us."

"Then I'll just finish my pipe in starting the first one," saidProfessor Summerlee; and from that time onwards we never trustedourselves again without a watchman.

In the morning it was not long before we discovered the sourceof the hideous uproar which had aroused us in the night. The iguanodon glade was the scene of a horrible butchery. From the pools of blood and the enormous lumps of fleshscattered in every direction over the green sward we imaginedat first that a number of animals had been killed, but onexamining the remains more closely we discovered that all thiscarnage came from one of these unwieldy monsters, which had beenliterally torn to pieces by some creature not larger, perhaps,but far more ferocious, than itself.

Our two professors sat in absorbed argument, examining pieceafter piece, which showed the marks of savage teeth and ofenormous claws.

"Our judgment must still be in abeyance," said ProfessorChallenger, with a huge slab of whitish-colored flesh acrosshis knee. "The indications would be consistent with the presenceof a saber-toothed tiger, such as are still found among the brecciaof our caverns; but the creature actually seen was undoubtedly ofa larger and more reptilian character. Personally, I shouldpronounce for allosaurus."

"Or megalosaurus," said Summerlee.

"Exactly. Any one of the larger carnivorous dinosaurs would meetthe case. Among them are to be found all the most terrible typesof animal life that have ever cursed the earth or blessed a museum." He laughed sonorously at his own conceit, for, though he had littlesense of humor, the crudest pleasantry from his own lips moved himalways to roars of appreciation.

"The less noise the better," said Lord Roxton, curtly. "We don'tknow who or what may be near us. If this fellah comes back forhis breakfast and catches us here we won't have so much to laugh at. By the way, what is this mark upon the iguanodon's hide?"

On the dull, scaly, slate-colored skin somewhere above theshoulder, there was a singular black circle of some substancewhich looked like asphalt. None of us could suggest what itmeant, though Summerlee was of opinion that he had seensomething similar upon one of the young ones two days before. Challenger said nothing, but looked pompous and puffy, as if hecould if he would, so that finally Lord John asked his opinion direct.

"If your lordship will graciously permit me to open my mouth,I shall be happy to express my sentiments," said he, withelaborate sarcasm. I am not in the habit of being taken to taskin the fashion which seems to be customary with your lordship. I was not aware that it was necessary to ask your permissionbefore smiling at a harmless pleasantry."

It was not until he had received his apology that our touchyfriend would suffer himself to be appeased. When at last hisruffled feelings were at ease, he addressed us at some length fromhis seat upon a fallen tree, speaking, as his habit was, as if hewere imparting most precious information to a class of a thousand.

"With regard to the marking," said he, "I am inclined to agreewith my friend and colleague, Professor Summerlee, that thestains are from asphalt. As this plateau is, in its very nature,highly volcanic, and as asphalt is a substance which oneassociates with Plutonic forces, I cannot doubt that it exists inthe free liquid state, and that the creatures may have come incontact with it. A much more important problem is the questionas to the existence of the carnivorous monster which has left itstraces in this glade. We know roughly that this plateau is notlarger than an average English county. Within this confinedspace a certain number of creatures, mostly types which havepassed away in the world below, have lived together forinnumerable years. Now, it is very clear to me that in so long aperiod one would have expected that the carnivorous creatures,multiplying unchecked, would have exhausted their food supply andhave been compelled to either modify their flesh-eating habitsor die of hunger. This we see has not been so. We can onlyimagine, therefore, that the balance of Nature is preserved bysome check which limits the numbers of these ferocious creatures. One of the many interesting problems, therefore, which await oursolution is to discover what that check may be and how it operates. I venture to trust that we may have some future opportunity forthe closer study of the carnivorous dinosaurs."

"And I venture to trust we may not," I observed.

The Professor only raised his great eyebrows, as the schoolmastermeets the irrelevant observation of the naughty boy.

"Perhaps Professor Summerlee may have an observation to make," hesaid, and the two savants ascended together into some rarefiedscientific atmosphere, where the possibilities of a modificationof the birth-rate were weighed against the decline of the foodsupply as a check in the struggle for existence.

That morning we mapped out a small portion of the plateau,avoiding the swamp of the pterodactyls, and keeping to the eastof our brook instead of to the west. In that direction thecountry was still thickly wooded, with so much undergrowth thatour progress was very slow.

I have dwelt up to now upon the terrors of Maple White Land; butthere was another side to the subject, for all that morning wewandered among lovely flowers--mostly, as I observed, white oryellow in color, these being, as our professors explained, theprimitive flower-shades. In many places the ground wasabsolutely covered with them, and as we walked ankle-deep on thatwonderful yielding carpet, the scent was almost intoxicating inits sweetness and intensity. The homely English bee buzzedeverywhere around us. Many of the trees under which we passedhad their branches bowed down with fruit, some of which were offamiliar sorts, while other varieties were new. By observingwhich of them were pecked by the birds we avoided all danger ofpoison and added a delicious variety to our food reserve. In thejungle which we traversed were numerous hard-trodden paths madeby the wild beasts, and in the more marshy places we saw aprofusion of strange footmarks, including many of the iguanodon. Once in a grove we observed several of these great creaturesgrazing, and Lord John, with his glass, was able to report thatthey also were spotted with asphalt, though in a different placeto the one which we had examined in the morning. What thisphenomenon meant we could not imagine.

We saw many small animals, such as porcupines, a scaly ant-eater,and a wild pig, piebald in color and with long curved tusks. Once, through a break in the trees, we saw a clear shoulder ofgreen hill some distance away, and across this a large dun-coloredanimal was traveling at a considerable pace. It passed so swiftlythat we were unable to say what it was; but if it were a deer, aswas claimed by Lord John, it must have been as large as thosemonstrous Irish elk which are still dug up from time to time inthe bogs of my native land.

Ever since the mysterious visit which had been paid to our campwe always returned to it with some misgivings. However, on thisoccasion we found everything in order.

That evening we had a grand discussion upon our present situationand future plans, which I must describe at some length, as it ledto a new departure by which we were enabled to gain a morecomplete knowledge of Maple White Land than might have come inmany weeks of exploring. It was Summerlee who opened the debate. All day he had been querulous in manner, and now some remark ofLord John's as to what we should do on the morrow brought all hisbitterness to a head.

"What we ought to be doing to-day, to-morrow, and all the time,"said he, "is finding some way out of the trap into which wehave fallen. You are all turning your brains towards getting intothis country. I say that we should be scheming how to get out of it."

"I am surprised, sir," boomed Challenger, stroking his majesticbeard, "that any man of science should commit himself to soignoble a sentiment. You are in a land which offers such aninducement to the ambitious naturalist as none ever has since theworld began, and you suggest leaving it before we have acquiredmore than the most superficial knowledge of it or of its contents. I expected better things of you, Professor Summerlee."

"You must remember," said Summerlee, sourly, "that I have a largeclass in London who are at present at the mercy of an extremelyinefficient locum tenens. This makes my situation different fromyours, Professor Challenger, since, so far as I know, you havenever been entrusted with any responsible educational work."

"Quite so," said Challenger. "I have felt it to be a sacrilegeto divert a brain which is capable of the highest originalresearch to any lesser object. That is why I have sternly setmy face against any proffered scholastic appointment."

"For example?" asked Summerlee, with a sneer; but Lord Johnhastened to change the conversation.

"I must say," said he, "that I think it would be a mighty poorthing to go back to London before I know a great deal more ofthis place than I do at present."

"I could never dare to walk into the back office of my paper andface old McArdle," said I. (You will excuse the frankness of thisreport, will you not, sir?) "He'd never forgive me for leavingsuch unexhausted copy behind me. Besides, so far as I can see itis not worth discussing, since we can't get down, even if we wanted."

"Our young friend makes up for many obvious mental lacunae bysome measure of primitive common sense, remarked Challenger. "The interests of his deplorable profession are immaterial to us;but, as he observes, we cannot get down in any case, so it is awaste of energy to discuss it."

"It is a waste of energy to do anything else," growled Summerleefrom behind his pipe. "Let me remind you that we came here upona perfectly definite mission, entrusted to us at the meeting ofthe Zoological Institute in London. That mission was to test thetruth of Professor Challenger's statements. Those statements,as I am bound to admit, we are now in a position to endorse. Our ostensible work is therefore done. As to the detail whichremains to be worked out upon this plateau, it is so enormousthat only a large expedition, with a very special equipment,could hope to cope with it. Should we attempt to do so ourselves,the only possible result must be that we shall never return withthe important contribution to science which we have already gained. Professor Challenger has devised means for getting us on to thisplateau when it appeared to be inaccessible; I think that we shouldnow call upon him to use the same ingenuity in getting us back tothe world from which we came."

I confess that as Summerlee stated his view it struck me asaltogether reasonable. Even Challenger was affected by theconsideration that his enemies would never stand confuted if theconfirmation of his statements should never reach those who haddoubted them.

"The problem of the descent is at first sight a formidable one,"said he, "and yet I cannot doubt that the intellect can solve it. I am prepared to agree with our colleague that a protracted stayin Maple White Land is at present inadvisable, and that thequestion of our return will soon have to be faced. I absolutelyrefuse to leave, however, until we have made at least asuperficial examination of this country, and are able to takeback with us something in the nature of a chart."

Professor Summerlee gave a snort of impatience.

"We have spent two long days in exploration," said he, "and weare no wiser as to the actual geography of the place than whenwe started. It is clear that it is all thickly wooded, and itwould take months to penetrate it and to learn the relations ofone part to another. If there were some central peak it wouldbe different, but it all slopes downwards, so far as we can see. The farther we go the less likely it is that we will get anygeneral view."

It was at that moment that I had my inspiration. My eyes chancedto light upon the enormous gnarled trunk of the gingko tree whichcast its huge branches over us. Surely, if its bole exceededthat of all others, its height must do the same. If the rim ofthe plateau was indeed the highest point, then why should thismighty tree not prove to be a watchtower which commanded thewhole country? Now, ever since I ran wild as a lad in Ireland Ihave been a bold and skilled tree-climber. My comrades might bemy masters on the rocks, but I knew that I would be supreme amongthose branches. Could I only get my legs on to the lowest of thegiant off-shoots, then it would be strange indeed if I could notmake my way to the top. My comrades were delighted at my idea.

"Our young friend," said Challenger, bunching up the red applesof his cheeks, "is capable of acrobatic exertions which would beimpossible to a man of a more solid, though possibly of a morecommanding, appearance. I applaud his resolution."

"By George, young fellah, you've put your hand on it!" said LordJohn, clapping me on the back. "How we never came to think of itbefore I can't imagine! There's not more than an hour of daylightleft, but if you take your notebook you may be able to get somerough sketch of the place. If we put these three ammunitioncases under the branch, I will soon hoist you on to it."

He stood on the boxes while I faced the trunk, and was gentlyraising me when Challenger sprang forward and gave me such athrust with his huge hand that he fairly shot me into the tree. With both arms clasping the branch, I scrambled hard with myfeet until I had worked, first my body, and then my knees, onto it. There were three excellent off-shoots, like huge rungs of aladder, above my head, and a tangle of convenient branchesbeyond, so that I clambered onwards with such speed that I soonlost sight of the ground and had nothing but foliage beneath me. Now and then I encountered a check, and once I had to shin up acreeper for eight or ten feet, but I made excellent progress, andthe booming of Challenger's voice seemed to be a great distancebeneath me. The tree was, however, enormous, and, lookingupwards, I could see no thinning of the leaves above my head. There was some thick, bush-like clump which seemed to be aparasite upon a branch up which I was swarming. I leaned my headround it in order to see what was beyond, and I nearly fell outof the tree in my surprise and horror at what I saw.

A face was gazing into mine--at the distance of only a foot or two. The creature that owned it had been crouching behind the parasite,and had looked round it at the same instant that I did. It wasa human face--or at least it was far more human than any monkey'sthat I have ever seen. It was long, whitish, and blotched withpimples, the nose flattened, and the lower jaw projecting, witha bristle of coarse whiskers round the chin. The eyes, whichwere under thick and heavy brows, were bestial and ferocious,and as it opened its mouth to snarl what sounded like a curse atme I observed that it had curved, sharp canine teeth. For aninstant I read hatred and menace in the evil eyes. Then, as quickas a flash, came an expression of overpowering fear. There wasa crash of broken boughs as it dived wildly down into the tangleof green. I caught a glimpse of a hairy body like that of areddish pig, and then it was gone amid a swirl of leaves and branches.

"What's the matter?" shouted Roxton from below. "Anything wrongwith you?"

"Did you see it?" I cried, with my arms round the branch and allmy nerves tingling.

"We heard a row, as if your foot had slipped. What was it?"

I was so shocked at the sudden and strange appearance of thisape-man that I hesitated whether I should not climb down againand tell my experience to my companions. But I was already sofar up the great tree that it seemed a humiliation to returnwithout having carried out my mission.

After a long pause, therefore, to recover my breath and mycourage, I continued my ascent. Once I put my weight upon arotten branch and swung for a few seconds by my hands, but in themain it was all easy climbing. Gradually the leaves thinnedaround me, and I was aware, from the wind upon my face, that Ihad topped all the trees of the forest. I was determined,however, not to look about me before I had reached the veryhighest point, so I scrambled on until I had got so far that thetopmost branch was bending beneath my weight. There I settledinto a convenient fork, and, balancing myself securely, I foundmyself looking down at a most wonderful panorama of this strangecountry in which we found ourselves.

The sun was just above the western sky-line, and the evening wasa particularly bright and clear one, so that the whole extent ofthe plateau was visible beneath me. It was, as seen from thisheight, of an oval contour, with a breadth of about thirty milesand a width of twenty. Its general shape was that of a shallowfunnel, all the sides sloping down to a considerable lake inthe center. This lake may have been ten miles in circumference,and lay very green and beautiful in the evening light, with athick fringe of reeds at its edges, and with its surface brokenby several yellow sandbanks, which gleamed golden in themellow sunshine. A number of long dark objects, which were toolarge for alligators and too long for canoes, lay upon the edgesof these patches of sand. With my glass I could clearly see thatthey were alive, but what their nature might be I could not imagine.

From the side of the plateau on which we were, slopes ofwoodland, with occasional glades, stretched down for five or sixmiles to the central lake. I could see at my very feet the gladeof the iguanodons, and farther off was a round opening in thetrees which marked the swamp of the pterodactyls. On the sidefacing me, however, the plateau presented a very different aspect. There the basalt cliffs of the outside were reproduced upon theinside, forming an escarpment about two hundred feet high, witha woody slope beneath it. Along the base of these red cliffs,some distance above the ground, I could see a number of darkholes through the glass, which I conjectured to be the mouthsof caves. At the opening of one of these something white wasshimmering, but I was unable to make out what it was. I satcharting the country until the sun had set and it was so darkthat I could no longer distinguish details. Then I climbed downto my companions waiting for me so eagerly at the bottom of thegreat tree. For once I was the hero of the expedition. Alone Ihad thought of it, and alone I had done it; and here was thechart which would save us a month's blind groping amongunknown dangers. Each of them shook me solemnly by the hand.

But before they discussed the details of my map I had to tellthem of my encounter with the ape-man among the branches.

"He has been there all the time," said I.

"How do you know that?" asked Lord John.

"Because I have never been without that feeling that somethingmalevolent was watching us. I mentioned it to you, Professor Challenger."

"Our young friend certainly said something of the kind. He isalso the one among us who is endowed with that Celtic temperamentwhich would make him sensitive to such impressions."

"The whole theory of telepathy----" began Summerlee, filling his pipe.

"Is too vast to be now discussed," said Challenger, with decision. "Tell me, now," he added, with the air of a bishop addressing aSunday-school, "did you happen to observe whether the creaturecould cross its thumb over its palm?"

"No, indeed."

"Had it a tail?"

"No."

"Was the foot prehensile?"

"I do not think it could have made off so fast among the branchesif it could not get a grip with its feet."

"In South America there are, if my memory serves me--you willcheck the observation, Professor Summerlee--some thirty-sixspecies of monkeys, but the anthropoid ape is unknown. It isclear, however, that he exists in this country, and that he isnot the hairy, gorilla-like variety, which is never seen out ofAfrica or the East." (I was inclined to interpolate, as I lookedat him, that I had seen his first cousin in Kensington.) "This isa whiskered and colorless type, the latter characteristic pointingto the fact that he spends his days in arboreal seclusion. The question which we have to face is whether he approaches moreclosely to the ape or the man. In the latter case, he may wellapproximate to what the vulgar have called the `missing link.' The solution of this problem is our immediate duty."

"It is nothing of the sort," said Summerlee, abruptly. "Now that,through the intelligence and activity of Mr. Malone" (I cannot helpquoting the words), "we have got our chart, our one and onlyimmediate duty is to get ourselves safe and sound out of thisawful place."

"The flesh-pots of civilization," groaned Challenger.

"The ink-pots of civilization, sir. It is our task to put onrecord what we have seen, and to leave the further explorationto others. You all agreed as much before Mr. Malone got us the chart."

"Well," said Challenger, "I admit that my mind will be more atease when I am assured that the result of our expedition has beenconveyed to our friends. How we are to get down from this placeI have not as yet an idea. I have never yet encountered anyproblem, however, which my inventive brain was unable to solve,and I promise you that to-morrow I will turn my attention to thequestion of our descent." And so the matter was allowed to rest.

But that evening, by the light of the fire and of a single candle,the first map of the lost world was elaborated. Every detailwhich I had roughly noted from my watch-tower was drawn out inits relative place. Challenger's pencil hovered over the greatblank which marked the lake.

"What shall we call it?" he asked.

"Why should you not take the chance of perpetuating your ownname?" said Summerlee, with his usual touch of acidity.

"I trust, sir, that my name will have other and more personalclaims upon posterity," said Challenger, severely. "Any ignoramuscan hand down his worthless memory by imposing it upon a mountainor a river. I need no such monument."

Summerlee, with a twisted smile, was about to make some freshassault when Lord John hastened to intervene.

"It's up to you, young fellah, to name the lake," said he. "You saw it first, and, by George, if you choose to put `LakeMalone' on it, no one has a better right."

"By all means. Let our young friend give it a name," said Challenger.

"Then, said I, blushing, I dare say, as I said it, "let it benamed Lake Gladys."

"Don't you think the Central Lake would be more descriptive?"remarked Summerlee.

"I should prefer Lake Gladys."

Challenger looked at me sympathetically, and shook his great headin mock disapproval. "Boys will be boys," said he. "Lake Gladyslet it be."