AAAAAAAAAArrrrrrrrrrtttttttttthhhhhhhhhhuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrr CCCCCCCCCCoooooooooonnnnnnnnnnaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnn DDDDDDDDDDooooooooooyyyyyyyyyylllllllllleeeeeeeeee''''''''''ssssssssss AAAAAAAAAAddddddddddaaaaaaaaaapppppppppptttttttttteeeeeeeeeedddddddddd aaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnndddddddddd iiiiiiiiiilllllllllllllllllllluuuuuuuuuussssssssssttttttttttrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaatttttttttteeeeeeeeeedddddddddd bbbbbbbbbbyyyyyyyyyy LLLLLLLLLLeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee KKKKKKKKKKrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyysssssssssstttttttttteeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkk cccccccccchhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaapppppppppptttttttttteeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrr ooo ooooooonnnnnnnnnneeeeeeeeee Mr. Malone, do you know what would happen if all the debts Mr. Hungerton was the most tactless person upon earth,--a fluffy, in the world were called up at the same time, and payment untidy cockatoo of a man, centered upon his own silly self. I was insisted upon immediately? really think he thought I came round to his house three days a week, not so I could visit with his daughter, Gladys, but so he Well, I should be could lecture me on the failings of the economy. a ruined man, Sir! Young Malone, it is impossible to discuss any serious topic while you are around. I'm late for my meeting anyway! When he left the room I leaned forward. This was the moment I had been waiting for! I was going to propose to my beloved Gladys! I don't understand! A different type of man? Ned, please don't propose. Our friendship has been so Yes! An adventurer. A hero. An explorer. A man who nice! Please don't spoil it! can look Death in the face and have no fear of it. That's the type of man I want to fall in love with and marry. Gladys, how did you know? Is there another man? Women are never caught unaware by these things. No, there isn't another man, just another type of man. Gladys, I can change. I can be a heroic man! A woman like you All this will seem to the reader to have nothing to do with my would inspire me! narrative; and yet there would have been no narrative without it. As I walked through London to work at the Daily Gazette that Perhaps you can and if so we can talk about it evening in 1912, I determined that very night, if possible, I would again. Tonight, however, you are a reporter find the quest which would be worthy of my Gladys! late for evening duty at his newspaper and I don't want your editor, Mr. McArdle, blaming me! I always liked my editor, McArdle, and I rather hoped that he I'm afraid the day for this sort of thing is rather past. liked me. The big blank spaces in the map are all being filled in... Wait a moment --- I might have something. How about The colliery explosion story was excellent. So was the exposing a fraud? Why not try your luck with Professor Southwark fire. You have the true descriptive touch. What did Challenger? He came back from South America last year you want to see me about? claiming he found some strange animals there. Either something wonderful happened--or the man's a champion liar, which is the more likely situation. Could you send me on some mission for the paper? Anything that has adventure and danger in it. I would do my best! Challenger had been misquoted in the I received a note back from Professor Challenger! The press before and it seemed unlikely he Professor Challenger indicating the famous zoologist? Didn't he would talk to me if he knew I was a day and time I would be allowed to break the skull of Blundell, reporter, so I consulted with a friend come to his house to speak to of the Telegraph? who was on the staff of Nature him. As I stood at the door, I was Magazine. He showed me articles the nervous. I had to convince him I professor had written. This gave me was really a student of biology and an idea. I would send a letter to gain his confidence so he would You said it was danger Challenger saying I was a student tell me about his trip to South you were after! Besides, interested in his theories and that I America without letting on that I Blundell probably got wished to meet with him to ask some was one of those journalists he him at the wrong questions. hated so much. moment. I'm sure you'll do better. You have a way with people. I was shown into his office. At the desk sat the notorious So you're the person who What evidence? Professor Challenger... can't understand my theory. What's your question? Well, not the evidence Well, hasn't the discovery of recent evidence as much as the trend changed your thinking? of modern thought and the general scientific point of view... I see... I suppose you are aware that the cranial index is a constant factor? Naturally! And that the germ plasm is different It proves that you liar! You're a vile, crawling journalist, who from the parthenogenetic egg? knows nothing about science! Gibberish! That's what I have been talking to you, sir--scientific gibberish! How dare you lie your way into my home. I have already thrown several of you Why, surely! out of my house. You will be the fourth or fifth! Do you know what that proves? No, please tell me! With that he grabbed me. We did a somersault down the hall and Look here, sir, you can be as abusive as you like. But there out the door landing on the sidewalk. Fortunately there was a is a limit. You will not assault me. I'll not stand for it. policeman nearby. Dear me! You won't stand for it, eh? Well, I think I'm going to throw Stop it! You should be you out of my house just as I did ashamed of yourselves! with your brother journalists! Had enough? You infernal bully! CCCCCCCCCChhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaapppppppppptttttttttteeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrr ttt tttttttwwwwwwwwwwoooooooooo This man attacked me! After having thrown me out of his house, Professor Challenger The professor was in trouble for the same thing invited me back in! last month, too. Do you wish to press charges? Now as to your return to my house after your most justifiable No, I was myself to blame. I expulsion. By admiting this incident was your fault I see that intruded upon him. you have a sense of responsiblity that is rarely found in the Well, that's your right, Sir. journalism profession. The sub-species of the human race to which you unfortunately belong has always been below my mental horizon. Your words brought you suddenly above it. Thank you, I think... As the officer walked away, Professor Challenger mounted his steps. I was surprised when suddenly he turned back to me. Come in, Mr. Malone. I'm not done with you yet! I am going to talk to you about South America. First of all, I wish you to understand that nothing I tell you now is to be repeated in any public way unless you have my express permission. Is that clear? "My story starts during my last trip to South America. On my return I stopped at a native village and the chief asked me to look at a sick man. When they led me to his hut I was Professor, surely a surprised to see he was a white. The natives told me he judicious account---- had stumbled into their village through the woods alone in the last stages of exhaustion. Despite the use of some medicine I had with me, he soon died of a fever without regaining conciousness." My conditions or I will tell you nothing. If you insist. I do. I went through his knapsack. He had very little with him: a Most of the book contains pictures one might sketch while paint-box, a box of colored chalks, a cheap revolver and this... visiting South America. Plants, animals, people-but look at this. page. It looks like a line of A sketchbook? high cliffs topped with vegetation. Yes, I came to find out later this Yes, apparently he was an artist. His was a flat-topped mountain. name, Maple White, was on the cover. What geologists call a plateau. I continued to look through the book and came across this. What do you think? It's some kind of reptile, but the man is too small. That's Mr. White. He sketched himself in to give a scale of heights. Good heavens! Then you think the beast was -- why Charing Cross station would hardly make a home for such a brute! It is certainly a well-grown specimen. What do you believe made him draw such an animal? Compare that drawing with this reference pictures of a Too much gin, I Stegosaurus, a dinosaur. should think! Well, there I believe the creature exists. This this is actually certainly is a very sketched from life. great resemblance! I wasn't totally convinced myself, but interested enough He handed me the photograph. It was fuzzy in spots and in to backtrack White's path till I found the plateau. There I very bad shape, but with the magnifying glass I could still took this photograph. make out some detail. It's the same location It must be some huge bird, but it looks more as the sketch! like a monsterous bat! It is. Now take a close look at what is flying above the cliffs. Now just compare it to this reference picture... "Not just saw it, Mr. Malone. I shot one. I recovered the body and then preserved it to bring back to England for a full examination." A pterodactyl!?! Haven't they been extinct for millions of years? BBBBBBBBBBaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnngggggggggg!!!!!!!!!! For at least 65 million... You're saying you saw a pterodactyl! Surely with that kind of evidence your fellow scientists Tonight there will be a lecture by Professor Summerlee, a must believe your story! naturalist of some popular repute. I have been asked to sit upon the platform and thank the speaker at the end. I think I will take the oppurtunity, with infinite tack and delicacy, to throw out a few The evidence is gone. On the return trip my canoe rolled over remarks of my own which might arouse interest in the audience. and everything was lost! I was only able to save the sketchbook and a few photos. I have the greatest story in And may I science to tell, but am dismissed as a crackpot! I believe that come? By all means. It will be a comfort to know I trapped on top of that plateau by the cliffs are creatures that have at least one ally in the hall, however have not been seen for millions of years. inefficient and ignorant of the subject he may be. But what can be done? I invited my friend from Nature Magazine, Tarp Henry, to join me and we arrived at eight-thirty at the lecture hall of the Zoological Institute. The topic of talk was billed as "The Record of the Ages." Halfway through the lecture the Professor started talking about dinosaurs. This is really intolerable! I must ask you, Professor Challenger, ...that frightful brood of saurians that still to cease these ignorant and unmannerly interruptions! affright our eyes when seen as fossils, but which were fortunately extinct long before the I must in turn ask you to cease to make assertions first apperance of mankind upon this planet. which are not in strict accordance with scientific fact. Question! Dinosaurs have been extinct for 65 million I repeat, which were extinct before years, Challenger, despite your wild and the coming of man... totally unscientific claims. Question! You're the unscientific one. I've seen a living pterodactyl. The fact that I was unable to bring it back does not mean it did not exist. Gentlemen, gentlemen. There is obviously only one way to check the validity of Professor Challengers assertions. An Would a more heroic adventure ever come my way? My chance expedition must be formed to go to South America. Professor to win Gladys! Summerlee, do you wish to be a part of it? I will go. I am Edward I am Lord John Roxton. I Yes, I do! Malone, reporter for have already been up the the Daily Gazette. Amazon and know the ground. Professor Summerlee will need a younger colleague. May I ask for volunteers? Very well. We have our expedition. I was Well, we've taken the jump, you and me, Mr. Malone. Ever been to South America before? stunned by what I had No, I'm afraid I have not, Sir John. I know that you have just done. made several trips there, however. When it was all over Sir It's a huge area. Rain forests the size of Didn't you have some trouble on John Europe. I don't know if there's your last visit? approached prehistoric animals there, but I do know that much of it is totally unexplored. me. You mean the slavers. I hate them. It's totally illegal, yet they raid the Indian villages anyway to get workers for the rubber planations. I hired a private army and put one That reminds me, do you own any firearms? band out of business. Its leader, a scoundrel named Predro Lopez, swore an oath hunt me down and kill me. I'm sure my paper will provide me with anything I need... What happened? Drop by my rooms. I should be able to lend you a rifle and a pistol. A pistol? For Well, I'm here to tell the tale and he isn't. hunting? Oh, I see... For self protection. The slavers are gone, but we still may have river pirates to contend with... River pirates! What had I gotten myself into? CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCChhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaapppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppptttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr TTTTTTTTTTTT TTTTTT TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTThhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Here are the directions I promised you. In return you will Preperations for our expedition were quickly made and soon we swear not to open this sealed package till you reach the found ourselves on the dock ready to board the liner that would outpost of Manaos on the Amazon and not until the time and take us to our adventure in South America. Professor Challenger date written on the outside. Do I have your word? was there to see us off. Oh really, Challenger, all this silliness- Do I have your word? Yes, you do. We arrived two weeks before the agreed upon time to open the We crossed the Atlantic without incident and changed ships instructions. for our trip up the immense Amazon River. Eventally we passed the narrows at Obidos and reached the tiny outpost I can't believe we are just going to sit here until July 15 town of Manaos. waiting to open those directions. Let's just get it over with! He'll never know! I gave my word, Professor Summerlee. Besides it will take two weeks to hire help and buy all our supplies. To join us on the expedition Lord John hired a local guide with a The moment to open the directions soon arrived. sour disposition named Gomez. He also engaged the jolly, good natured African Zambo as our cook. Two Indians from the I don't understand! The papers inside are all blank... nearby Mojo tribe rounded out our little expedition as porters. It's an open admission! We I never intended for you only have to return home to open the envelop, but and report him as the brazen I'm afraid I'm a bit late... imposter he is!