Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan The Lost World

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"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 a Sunday-school, "did you happen to observe whether the creature could 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 branches if it could not get a grip with its feet."
79
"In South America there are, if my memory serves me--you will check the observation, Professor
Summerlee--some thirty-six species of monkeys, but the anthropoid ape is unknown. It is clear, however,
that he exists in this country, and that he is not the hairy, gorilla-like variety, which is never seen out of
Africa or the East." (I was inclined to interpolate, as I looked at him, that I had seen his first cousin in
Kensington.) "This is a whiskered and colorless type, the latter characteristic pointing to the fact that he
spends his days in arboreal seclusion. The question which we have to face is whether he approaches more
closely to the ape or the man. In the latter case, he may well approximate 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 help quoting the words), "we have got our chart, our one and only immediate duty is to get
ourselves safe and sound out of this awful place."
"The flesh-pots of civilization," groaned Challenger.
"The ink-pots of civilization, sir. It is our task to put on record what we have seen, and to leave the further
exploration to others. You all agreed as much before Mr. Malone got us the chart."
"Well," said Challenger, "I admit that my mind will be more at ease when I am assured that the result of our
expedition has been conveyed to our friends. How we are to get down from this place I have not as yet an
idea. I have never yet encountered any problem, however, which my inventive brain was unable to solve, and
I promise you that to-morrow I will turn my attention to the question 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 detail which I had roughly noted from my watch-tower was drawn out in its relative place.
Challenger's pencil hovered over the great blank which marked the lake.
"What shall we call it?" he asked.
"Why should you not take the chance of perpetuating your own name?" said Summerlee, with his usual touch
of acidity.
"I trust, sir, that my name will have other and more personal claims upon posterity," said Challenger,
severely. "Any ignoramus can hand down his worthless memory by imposing it upon a mountain or a river. I
need no such monument."
Summerlee, with a twisted smile, was about to make some fresh assault 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 `Lake Malone' 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 be named 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 head in mock disapproval. "Boys will be boys,"
said he. "Lake Gladys let it be."
80
XII "It was Dreadful in the Forest"
I have said--or perhaps I have not said, for my memory plays me sad tricks these days--that I glowed with
pride when three such men as my comrades thanked me for having saved, or at least greatly helped, the
situation. As the youngster of the party, not merely in years, but in experience, character, knowledge, and all
that goes to make a man, I had been overshadowed from the first. And now I was coming into my own. I
warmed at the thought. Alas! for the pride which goes before a fall! That little glow of self-satisfaction, that
added measure of self-confidence, were to lead me on that very night to the most dreadful experience of my
life, ending with a shock which turns my heart sick when I think of it.
It came about in this way. I had been unduly excited by the adventure of the tree, and sleep seemed to be
impossible. Summerlee was on guard, sitting hunched over our small fire, a quaint, angular figure, his rifle
across his knees and his pointed, goat-like beard wagging with each weary nod of his head. Lord John lay
silent, wrapped in the South American poncho which he wore, while Challenger snored with a roll and rattle
which reverberated through the woods. The full moon was shining brightly, and the air was crisply cold.
What a night for a walk! And then suddenly came the thought, "Why not?" Suppose I stole softly away,
suppose I made my way down to the central lake, suppose I was back at breakfast with some record of the
place-- would I not in that case be thought an even more worthy associate? Then, if Summerlee carried the
day and some means of escape were found, we should return to London with first-hand knowledge of the
central mystery of the plateau, to which I alone, of all men, would have penetrated. I thought of Gladys, with
her "There are heroisms all round us." I seemed to hear her voice as she said it. I thought also of McArdle.
What a three column article for the paper! What a foundation for a career! A correspondentship in the next
great war might be within my reach. I clutched at a gun--my pockets were full of cartridges--and, parting
the thorn bushes at the gate of our zareba, quickly slipped out. My last glance showed me the unconscious
Summerlee, most futile of sentinels, still nodding away like a queer mechanical toy in front of the
smouldering fire.
I had not gone a hundred yards before I deeply repented my rashness. I may have said somewhere in this
chronicle that I am too imaginative to be a really courageous man, but that I have an overpowering fear of
seeming afraid. This was the power which now carried me onwards. I simply could not slink back with
nothing done. Even if my comrades should not have missed me, and should never know of my weakness,
there would still remain some intolerable self-shame in my own soul. And yet I shuddered at the position in
which I found myself, and would have given all I possessed at that moment to have been honorably free of
the whole business.
It was dreadful in the forest. The trees grew so thickly and their foliage spread so widely that I could see [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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