The Lost World.

very Biggest Th

n was in a furious temper. She barred her husband's way like an enraged chicken in fron

e screamed. "You've hur

ackwards wi

safe and soun

used, but no

rry, I didn

madam, that i

ing but scandals from one end of the week to the other. Everyone hati

inen," h

stin, we don't want you here. Do you suppose they don't all talk about you? Where is your dignity? You, a man who should

t yours,

an-a common brawling ruffian-

od, Je

ng, ragi

t! Stool of pe

It was at least seven feet high, and so thin that she could hardly balance upon it. A more absurd object than she presented coc

down!" s

'plea

rge! Let me dow

the study,

" said I, looki

g for you, Jessie. Say 'pl

rute! Plea

n as if she had

s. 'Strange story of high life'-you felt fairly high on that pedestal, did you not? Then a sub-title, 'Glimpse of a singular menage.' He's a fo

y intolerable!

wed with

our little domestic pleasantries. Run away, little woman, and don't fret." He placed a huge hand upon each of her shoulders. "All that you say is perfectly true. I should be a better man if I did what you advise, but I shouldn't be quite George Edward Challenger. There ar

tes before. The Professor closed the door carefully behind us, mo

don't bite it! Cut-and cut with reverence! Now lean back, and listen attentively to whatever I may ca

od feeling upon your part-more, at any rate, than I am accustomed to associate with your profession. In admitting that the fault of the incident lay with you, you gave some evidence of a certain mental detachment and breadth of view which attracted my favorable notice. The sub-species of the human race to which you unfortunately bel

-frog, his head laid back and his eyes half-covered by supercilious lids. Now he suddenly turned himself sideways, and all I could see of him was tangled hair with a re

wish you to understand that nothing I tell you now is to be repeated in any public way unless you have

said I. "Surely a j

he notebook u

d he. "I wish you a

to any conditions. So far as

the world

hen, I p

of h

of h

with doubt in hi

o I know about you

, "you take very great liberties! I h

erested than annoy

alic, gray-eyed, black-haired, with sugg

Irishma

sh I

s,

you are probably aware that two years ago I made a journey to South America-one which will be classical in the scientific history of the world? The object of my journey was to verify some conclusions of Wallace and of Bates, which could only be done by observing

night at a small Indian village at a point where a certain tributary-the name and position of which I withhold-opens into the main river. The natives were Cucama Indians, an amiable but degraded race, with mental powers hardly superior to the average Londoner. I had effected some cures among them upon my way up the river, and had impressed them considerably with my personality, so that I was not surprised to find myself eagerly awaited upon my return. I gathered from their signs that someone had urgent need of my medical services, and I followed th

aple White, Lake Avenue, Detroit, Michigan. It is a name to which I am prepared always to lift my hat. It is not t

to be singularly wanting in merit. There were also some rather commonplace pictures of river scenery, a paint-box, a box of colored chalks, some brushes, that curved bone which lies upon my inkstand, a volume of

dilapidated then as you see it now. Indeed, I can assure you that a first folio of Shakespeare could not be treated with greater reverence than

h a fiercely critical pair of eyes, taking note

re filled with small sketches of Indians and their ways. Then came a picture of a cheerful and corpulent ecclesiastic in a shovel hat, sitting opposite a very thin European, and the inscription: "Lunch with Fra Cristofero at Rosario." Studies of women and babies accounted for several more pages, and then there was an unbroken ser

se are only

such a thing as a true crocodile in South

othing unusual-nothing to j

led se

next page

f feathery vegetation, which sloped upwards and ended in a line of cliffs dark red in color, and curiously ribbed like some basaltic formations which I have seen. They extended in an unbroken wall right across the background. At one

?" he

," said I "but I am not geologist e

is incredible. No one on earth has ever dr

vision of delirium. The head was like that of a fowl, the body that of a bloated lizard, the trailing tail was furnished with upward-turned spikes, and the curved back was edged with a h

?" cried the Professor, rubbing

nstrous-g

e him draw su

n, I shou

st explanation you

r, what i

eature exists. That is actua

had a vision of our doing anothe

d, "that this tiny human figure puzzles me. If it were an Indian we could set it down a

y touch the limit," said he. "You enlarge my view of th

u were going to be angry with this man you would be angry all the time. I conte

russels sprout-what? Well, it is a vegetable ivory palm, and they run to about fifty or sixty feet. Don't you see that the man is put in for a purpose? He couldn't really have stood in front

e beast was-- Why, Charing Cross station wo

ertainly a well-grown specimen,"

s and ascertained that there was nothing more in the book-"a single sketch by a wandering American artist who may have done it under hashish, or

fessor took a book

would interest you. Ah, yes, here it is! The inscription beneath it runs: 'Probable appearance in life of the Juras

. In this reconstructed animal of a dead world there was certain

ainly remarka

t admit that

have seen a picture of the kind and carried it in his me

e." He handed over the one which he had already described as part of the dead man's possessions. It was ab

e does that bone belon

and tried to recall some

ry thick human co

his hand in conte

s a groove upon its surface showing that a great tendon pla

ess that I don't

e the size of a bean out of a pill-box. "So far as I am a judge this human bone is the analogue of the one which you hold in your hand. That will give

in an el

d as if

ts in South America. Even in

y large South American ani

ir or of any other creature known to zoology. It belongs to a very large, a very strong, and, by all analogy, a very fierce

ast deeply

narrative. You can imagine that I could hardly come away from the Amazon without probing deeper into the matter. There were indications as to the direction from which the dead travel

ev

pe or nature, but it is a word of terror along the Amazon. Now all tribes agree as to the direction in which Curupuri lives. It wa

as all gone. This massive man com

hreats of coercion, I got two of them to act as guides. After many adventures which I need not describe, and after traveling a distance which I will not mention, in a direction

photograph-ha

developed films was broken, with disastrous results. Nearly all of them were totally ruined-an irreparable loss. This is one of the few which partially

dull gray landscape, and as I gradually deciphered the details of it I realized that it represented a long and enormously

same place as the pai

sor answered. "I found traces of t

was extremely defective. I could distinctly see the isolated,

ubt of it at

ss, do we not? Now, will you please look at the top o

ormous

n the

e bird,

ded me

rd stands on the tree. It appears to have a co

ndeed, is it a bird. It may interest you to know that I succeeded in shooting that particular sp

Here at last was ta

utched at it as it disappeared in the swirl of the rapids, and part of its wing was left in my hand. I was insensi

portion of the wing of a large bat. It was at least two feet

us bat!" I

at you do not know the elementary fact in comparative anatomy, that the wing of a bird is really the forearm, while the wing of a bat consists of three elongated fingers with membranes between? Now, in this case, the

of knowledge

do not kno

d work to which he ha

oduction of the dimorphodon, or pterodactyl, a flying reptile of the Jurassic period. On the next

he sketch, the photographs, the narrative, and now the actual specimen-the evidence was complete. I said so-I said so warmly, for I felt that the

asm that was roused. "It is colossal. You are a Columbus of science who has discovered a lost world. I'm awfully sorry if I seem

purred with

ir, what did

tyl was more accessible. Being something of a cragsman, I did manage to get half way to the top of that. From that height I had a better idea of the plateau upon the top of the crags. It appeared to be very large;

any other t

t we lay encamped at the base of the cliff w

the American drew? How

herefore, that there is a way up. We know equally that it must be a very difficult one, otherwi

they come t

therefore plutonic. An area, as large perhaps as Sussex, has been lifted up en bloc with all its living contents, and cut off by perpendicular precipices of a hardness which defies erosion from all the rest of the continent. What is the result? Why, the ordinary laws of Nature are suspended. The various checks which influence the

clusive. You have only to lay it

any man, or to seek to prove a fact if my word has been doubted. After the first I have not condescended to show such corroborative proofs as I possess. The subject became hateful to me-I would not speak of it. When men like yourself, who repr

y eye and

aldron, a naturalist of some popular repute, is announced to lecture at eight-thirty at the Zoological Institute's Hall upon 'The Record of the Ages.' I have been specially invited to be present upon the platform, and to move a vote of thanks to the lecturer. While doing so, I shall make it my business, with infinite tact and delicacy, to thr

come?" I as

d. "By all means, come. It will be a comfort to me to know that I have one ally in the hall, however inefficient and ignorant of the subject he may be. I fancy there will be a large audience, for Waldron, though an absolute charlatan, has a considerable popular following. Now, Mr. Malone, I

ditor, you know-will want

a riding-whip. But I leave it to you that nothing of all this appears in print. Very good. Then the Zoological Institute's Hall at ei