Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan The Lost World

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was rapidly growing more shallow. Twice in as many hours we stuck upon the bottom. Finally we pulled the
boats up among the brushwood and spent the night on the bank of the river. In the morning Lord John and I
made our way for a couple of miles through the forest, keeping parallel with the stream; but as it grew ever
shallower we returned and reported, what Professor Challenger had already suspected, that we had reached
the highest point to which the canoes could be brought. We drew them up, therefore, and concealed them
among the bushes, blazing a tree with our axes, so that we should find them again. Then we distributed the
various burdens among us--guns, ammunition, food, a tent, blankets, and the rest--and, shouldering our
packages, we set forth upon the more laborious stage of our journey.
An unfortunate quarrel between our pepper-pots marked the outset of our new stage. Challenger had from
the moment of joining us issued directions to the whole party, much to the evident discontent of Summerlee.
Now, upon his assigning some duty to his fellow-Professor (it was only the carrying of an aneroid
barometer), the matter suddenly came to a head.
"May I ask, sir," said Summerlee, with vicious calm, "in what capacity you take it upon yourself to issue
these orders?"
Challenger glared and bristled.
"I do it, Professor Summerlee, as leader of this expedition."
"I am compelled to tell you, sir, that I do not recognize you in that capacity."
"Indeed!" Challenger bowed with unwieldy sarcasm. "Perhaps you would define my exact position."
"Yes, sir. You are a man whose veracity is upon trial, and this committee is here to try it. You walk, sir, with
your judges."
"Dear me!" said Challenger, seating himself on the side of one of the canoes. "In that case you will, of course,
go on your way, and I will follow at my leisure. If I am not the leader you cannot expect me to lead."
51
Thank heaven that there were two sane men--Lord John Roxton and myself--to prevent the petulance and
folly of our learned Professors from sending us back empty-handed to London. Such arguing and pleading
and explaining before we could get them mollified! Then at last Summerlee, with his sneer and his pipe,
would move forwards, and Challenger would come rolling and grumbling after. By some good fortune we
discovered about this time that both our savants had the very poorest opinion of Dr. Illingworth of Edinburgh.
Thenceforward that was our one safety, and every strained situation was relieved by our introducing the name
of the Scotch zoologist, when both our Professors would form a temporary alliance and friendship in their
detestation and abuse of this common rival.
Advancing in single file along the bank of the stream, we soon found that it narrowed down to a mere brook,
and finally that it lost itself in a great green morass of sponge-like mosses, into which we sank up to our
knees. The place was horribly haunted by clouds of mosquitoes and every form of flying pest, so we were
glad to find solid ground again and to make a circuit among the trees, which enabled us to outflank this
pestilent morass, which droned like an organ in the distance, so loud was it with insect life.
On the second day after leaving our canoes we found that the whole character of the country changed. Our
road was persistently upwards, and as we ascended the woods became thinner and lost their tropical
luxuriance. The huge trees of the alluvial Amazonian plain gave place to the Phoenix and coco palms,
growing in scattered clumps, with thick brushwood between. In the damper hollows the Mauritia palms threw
out their graceful drooping fronds. We traveled entirely by compass, and once or twice there were differences
of opinion between Challenger and the two Indians, when, to quote the Professor's indignant words, the
whole party agreed to "trust the fallacious instincts of undeveloped savages rather than the highest product of
modern European culture." That we were justified in doing so was shown upon the third day, when
Challenger admitted that he recognized several landmarks of his former journey, and in one spot we actually
came upon four fire-blackened stones, which must have marked a camping-place.
The road still ascended, and we crossed a rock-studded slope which took two days to traverse. The
vegetation had again changed, and only the vegetable ivory tree remained, with a great profusion of
wonderful orchids, among which I learned to recognize the rare Nuttonia Vexillaria and the glorious pink and
scarlet blossoms of Cattleya and odontoglossum. Occasional brooks with pebbly bottoms and fern-draped
banks gurgled down the shallow gorges in the hill, and offered good camping-grounds every evening on the
banks of some rock-studded pool, where swarms of little blue-backed fish, about the size and shape of
English trout, gave us a delicious supper.
On the ninth day after leaving the canoes, having done, as I reckon, about a hundred and twenty miles, we
began to emerge from the trees, which had grown smaller until they were mere shrubs. Their place was taken
by an immense wilderness of bamboo, which grew so thickly that we could only penetrate it by cutting a
pathway with the machetes and billhooks of the Indians. It took us a long day, traveling from seven in the
morning till eight at night, with only two breaks of one hour each, to get through this obstacle. Anything
more monotonous and wearying could not be imagined, for, even at the most open places, I could not see
more than ten or twelve yards, while usually my vision was limited to the back of Lord John's cotton jacket in
front of me, and to the yellow wall within a foot of me on either side. From above came one thin knife-edge
of sunshine, and fifteen feet over our heads one saw the tops of the reeds swaying against the deep blue sky. I
do not know what kind of creatures inhabit such a thicket, but several times we heard the plunging of large,
heavy animals quite close to us. From their sounds Lord John judged them to be some form of wild cattle.
Just as night fell we cleared the belt of bamboos, and at once formed our camp, exhausted by the interminable
day.
Early next morning we were again afoot, and found that the character of the country had changed once again.
Behind us was the wall of bamboo, as definite as if it marked the course of a river. In front was an open plain,
sloping slightly upwards and dotted with clumps of tree-ferns, the whole curving before us until it ended in a
long, whale-backed ridge. This we reached about midday, only to find a shallow valley beyond, rising once
again into a gentle incline which led to a low, rounded sky-line. It was here, while we crossed the first of [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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