We had believed that the ape-men knew nothing about our hiding place in the brushwood. We were terribly wrong.
The forest around us was completely silent. Not a leaf moved. Everything seemed peaceful. But by then we should have understood how patient and clever those creatures were. They could hide, watch, and wait for exactly the right moment to attack.
Whatever happens to me in the rest of my life, I doubt that I will ever come closer to death than I did that morning. But let me tell the story in the proper order.
We were all exhausted when we woke. The terrible events of the previous day and the lack of food had left us weak. Summerlee was so badly worn out that simply standing was difficult for him.
Yet the old professor still had a stubborn courage that refused to accept defeat.
We held a short council and decided to remain where we were for another hour or two. We needed breakfast, and after that we planned to cross the plateau, go around the central lake, and reach the caves where I had discovered that the Indians lived.
We hoped the Indians we had rescued would speak well of us and that their people would welcome us.
Once we had completed that part of our mission and learned as much as possible about the secrets of Maple White Land, we could finally concentrate on the most important problem—finding a way home.
Even Challenger now admitted that we had achieved what we had originally come here to do. From that point onward, he agreed, our duty was to return to civilization and tell the world about the extraordinary things we had discovered.
We now had time to examine the Indians we had rescued.
They were small but strong, quick-moving men. Their long black hair was tied behind their heads with leather cords, and they wore only simple leather loincloths.
Their faces were smooth and pleasant, with no beards or other facial hair.
Their ears told a sad story. The lower parts had been pierced for ornaments, but the ape-men had apparently torn those ornaments away, leaving the ears ragged and bloody.
We could not understand their language, but they spoke rapidly among themselves. They repeatedly pointed at one another and said a word that sounded like “Accala.” We concluded that this was probably the name of their tribe.
Whenever they looked toward the surrounding forest, however, their expressions changed completely. Fear and hatred appeared on their faces. They would clench their fists, shake them toward the trees, and shout:
“Doda! Doda!”
We assumed that this was their word for the ape-men.
“What do you make of them, Challenger?” Lord John asked. “One thing seems pretty clear to me. That little fellow with the shaved front of his head is some sort of chief.”
There was no doubt about it.
The others treated the young man with great respect and never approached him without showing their submission.
He seemed to be the youngest of the group, yet there was something proud and commanding about him.
When Challenger placed his huge hand on the young man’s head, the Indian reacted as though he had been struck. He sprang away, his dark eyes flashing angrily.
Then he placed a hand on his chest, stood very straight, and repeatedly said:
“Maretas.”
Challenger, however, took no offense. He simply grabbed another Indian by the shoulder and began examining him as though he were a specimen in a university laboratory.
“The physical type of these people is certainly not primitive in the sense you might expect,” he announced. “Their skulls, facial structure, and general proportions place them considerably higher than many South American tribes I have studied.”
He paused proudly.
“How such a people came to exist on this plateau is another question entirely.”
He looked around at us.
“Indeed, the difference between these Indians and the primitive animals that have survived here is so enormous that it is impossible to believe they evolved entirely within this isolated country.”
“Then where the devil did they come from?” asked Lord John.
“That is precisely the question that scientific societies throughout Europe and America will be debating,” Challenger replied.
He drew himself up proudly.
“My own theory, for what it is worth, is that evolution took a highly unusual path here. The conditions of this country allowed ancient forms of life to survive alongside newer ones.”
He waved toward the surrounding wilderness.
“We have already seen animals such as tapirs, great deer, and anteaters living beside reptiles that belong to an entirely different age. Now we have discovered two more remarkable types—the ape-men and these Indians.”
He stroked his beard.
“I believe the ape-men must have come from outside. There may once have been an anthropoid ape somewhere in South America which found its way into this isolated region many ages ago. Over time, it developed into the creatures we have encountered.”
He gave me a meaningful look.
“Some of them, I must admit, possess a physical form which, had it been accompanied by a corresponding intelligence, would have done credit to any human race.”
He continued without noticing my discomfort.
“As for the Indians, I believe they arrived much more recently. Perhaps they were driven here by war or famine. When they encountered these savage creatures, they took refuge in the caves our young friend discovered. They have probably been fighting for survival ever since.”
“That would also explain why their numbers are so small,” he concluded. “The ape-men would naturally regard them as intruders and wage a relentless war against them.”
He looked at us triumphantly.
“Well, gentlemen? Have I solved the mystery, or do any of you see a flaw in my reasoning?”
Summerlee was too exhausted to argue. He merely shook his head vigorously, which seemed to mean that he disagreed with almost everything.
Lord John scratched his thin hair.
“I can’t say much. I’m not in the same class as the Professor.”
I decided to return the conversation to practical matters.
“One of the Indians is missing.”
“He went to fetch water,” said Roxton. “We gave him an empty beef tin, and he went down to the brook.”
“Back to the old camp?”
“No. There’s a stream among those trees. Only a couple of hundred yards away. But he’s taking his time.”
“I’ll go and find him.”
I picked up my rifle and left the others preparing breakfast.
Perhaps it sounds foolish that I would leave the safety of our hiding place even for such a short distance. But remember that we were still several miles from Ape Town. As far as we knew, the creatures had not discovered us.
And with a rifle in my hands, I felt perfectly safe.
I had not yet learned just how clever and powerful they were.
I could hear the faint sound of running water somewhere ahead, but thick bushes and tangled trees blocked my view.
I moved carefully through them until I was completely hidden from my companions.
Then I saw something red lying among the bushes beneath a tree.
As I came closer, I realized with horror that it was the missing Indian.
He was lying on his side with his knees drawn up. His head had been twisted into such an unnatural position that his face seemed to be looking over his own shoulder.
I cried out to warn the others.
Then I ran toward him and bent down.
At that moment, something made me look upward.
Perhaps it was instinct.
Perhaps I heard the faintest movement among the leaves.
Whatever it was, it saved my life.
Two enormous hairy arms were slowly descending from the thick foliage above me.
The arms were covered in reddish hair.
One more second, and those huge hands would have closed around my throat.
I jumped backward.
I was fast, but the creature was faster.
His hands missed my throat, but one caught the back of my neck while the other grabbed my face.
I threw up my arms to protect myself.
The great hand slipped over my face and closed around both my hands.
Then I was lifted completely off the ground.
My head was forced backward.
The pressure on my neck became unbearable.
I struggled desperately, tearing at the creature’s hand and trying to pull it away from my chin.
My vision began to fade.
Then I looked up and saw its face.
It was hideous.
Cold, pale-blue eyes stared directly into mine.
There was something terrifying about those eyes. They seemed to hold me completely under their control.
I could no longer fight.
The creature felt my body going limp.
Its lips pulled back, revealing two white canine teeth.
Then its grip tightened.
My head was forced farther and farther backward.
A pale mist spread across my vision.
Tiny bells seemed to ring in my ears.
Far away, I heard the crack of a rifle.
The creature suddenly dropped me.
Everything went black.
When I opened my eyes again, I was lying on my back in our hiding place.
Someone had already brought water from the brook.
Lord John was sprinkling it over my face, while Challenger and Summerlee supported me. Their usual scientific masks had disappeared. For once, I could see the genuine concern in their faces.
Fortunately, I had not suffered any serious physical injury.
It was the shock that had knocked me unconscious.
Within half an hour, despite my aching head and stiff neck, I was sitting up again and ready to continue.
“You’ve had the escape of your life, young fellah,” Roxton said.
“When I heard you shout and came running, I saw that brute holding you with your head twisted almost off and your legs kicking in the air. I thought we’d lost you.”
“I fired too quickly and missed the beast, but the shot made him drop you. Then he disappeared like lightning.”
Roxton clenched his fists.
“By George! If I had fifty men with rifles, I’d wipe that whole gang off the map and leave this country a cleaner place than we found it.”
It was now obvious that the ape-men had discovered us.
They had been watching us.
During daylight, we might still be able to avoid them. But at night they could easily attack our hiding place.
The sooner we left their territory, the better.
Three sides of our position were surrounded by thick forest. That was exactly where an ambush would be most dangerous.
But the fourth side, sloping toward the lake, was different. There was only low brush, scattered trees, and open ground.
It was also the route I had taken during my earlier journey.
Most importantly, it led directly toward the Indian caves.
So that had to be our path.
We were sorry to leave our old camp behind.
There were still supplies there, but more important than the supplies was Zambo. He was our only connection with the outside world.
Still, we had enough ammunition and all our rifles.
For the moment, we could defend ourselves.
We hoped that once we were safely away from the ape-men, we might return to the camp and restore contact with Zambo.
He had promised faithfully to remain there.
We had no doubt that he would keep his word.
We set out in the early afternoon.
The young chief walked in front and guided us, but he refused angrily to carry anything.
The two surviving Indians followed him, carrying what little equipment we had left.
The four of us came behind them with our rifles loaded and ready.
As soon as we began moving, a tremendous cry suddenly rose from the silent forest behind us.
The ape-men were howling.
Perhaps it was a victory cry.
Perhaps they were mocking us for running away.
We turned and stared into the trees, but there was nothing to see.
Only the dense wall of forest stood behind us.
Yet that long, terrible cry told us exactly how many enemies might be hiding there.
We saw no sign that they were following.
Soon the forest opened into lower scrubland, and we were beyond their immediate reach.
As I walked at the back of the group, I could not help smiling at the appearance of my companions.
Was that really Lord John Roxton?
Could this ragged, dirty man once have sat in the luxurious Albany surrounded by Persian carpets and beautiful paintings?
And was that enormous, battered figure really Professor Challenger, who had once dominated his magnificent study at Enmore Park?
And could that exhausted, unshaven man really be the serious scholar who had stood before the distinguished members of the Zoological Institute?
The three of them looked like the most miserable tramps one could imagine.
We had been on the plateau for only a week or so, but that week had been brutal.
All our spare clothes were back at the camp below.
My three companions had suffered even more than I had because they had been captured by the ape-men.
All three had lost their hats and had tied handkerchiefs around their heads instead.
Their clothes hung from them in torn strips.
Their dirty, unshaven faces were almost impossible to recognize.
Both Challenger and Summerlee were limping badly.
I was dragging my feet from weakness, and my neck was still painfully stiff from the creature’s attack.
We were a truly miserable-looking group.
Our Indian companions kept glancing back at us with expressions of amazement and even fear.
Late that afternoon, we reached the edge of the central lake.
When we came out of the bushes and saw the enormous sheet of water before us, our two Indian companions suddenly cried out with joy.
They pointed toward the lake.
At first I could not understand why they were so excited.
Then I saw them.
A huge fleet of canoes was coming toward us.
They were still several miles away, but they were moving rapidly.
Soon the people in them could see us.
A tremendous shout of joy rose across the water.
The warriors stood up in their boats and waved their paddles and spears.
Then they bent to their work again.
The canoes flew toward the shore.
When they reached the sand, the warriors jumped out and rushed toward us.
They threw themselves onto the ground before the young chief, shouting greetings.
Then an older man pushed through the crowd.
He wore a necklace and bracelet made from large, shining glass beads. A beautiful animal skin, mottled with amber-colored markings, hung over his shoulders.
He ran straight to the young man we had rescued and embraced him with great emotion.
Then he turned toward us and asked several questions.
After that, he approached us with great dignity and embraced each of us in turn.
At his command, the entire tribe knelt or lay flat on the ground before us.
I felt extremely uncomfortable.
I noticed that Roxton and Summerlee felt the same way.
Challenger, however, seemed delighted.
“They may be a less developed people,” he said, stroking his beard, “but their behavior toward their superiors could teach certain supposedly civilized Europeans a lesson.”
He looked around proudly.
“It is fascinating to see how accurate the instincts of natural man can be.”
It soon became obvious that the tribe had not come merely to greet us.
They were preparing for war.
Every man carried a spear—a long bamboo shaft tipped with bone. They also had bows and arrows, along with clubs or crude stone axes.
Their dark, angry eyes kept turning toward the forest behind us.
Whenever they spoke of the ape-men, they repeated the word “Doda.”
We realized that they had come to rescue the young chief’s son, or perhaps to avenge him if he had been killed.
A council was held.
The entire tribe sat in a circle while several warriors spoke.
Finally, the young chief stood and gave a passionate speech.
Even though we could not understand his language, his gestures and expression made his meaning clear.
He pointed toward the forest.
There was no point in going home.
Sooner or later, they would have to fight.
Their people had already been murdered.
The fact that he himself had survived did not change anything.
More of their people would die if they did nothing.
Then he pointed at us.
These strange white men were their friends.
We were powerful fighters, and we hated the ape-men just as much as they did.
Then he raised his hand toward the sky.
We had guns.
To them, our rifles were weapons that commanded thunder and lightning.
“When will we ever have such a chance again?” his gestures seemed to say.
“Let us fight now. We may die, but if we win, our people will be safe.”
“How can we return to our women without shame if we do nothing?”
The warriors listened closely.
When he finished, they roared with approval and waved their weapons in the air.
The old chief came to us and asked several questions, pointing repeatedly toward the forest.
Lord John signaled for him to wait.
Then he turned to us.
“Well, it’s your choice,” he said. “As for me, I’ve got a score to settle with these monkey-folk.”
He grinned.
“If wiping them off the face of the earth is what it takes, I don’t think the earth will complain.”
“I’m going with our little red friends. I’ll see this fight through.”
He looked at me.
“What do you say, young fellah?”
“Of course I’ll come.”
Roxton turned to Challenger.
“And you?”
“I will certainly cooperate.”
“And you, Summerlee?”
Summerlee sighed.
“We seem to have wandered a long way from the purpose of this expedition, Lord John.”
He looked toward the armed tribe.
“I assure you, when I left my university chair in London, I never imagined that I would one day lead a raid of savages against a colony of anthropoid apes.”
“Well, that’s what life has given us,” Roxton said with a smile. “We’re already in the middle of it. So what’s your decision?”
“It is certainly a questionable course of action,” Summerlee said.
He paused.
“But if all of you are going, I don’t see how I can remain behind.”
“Then it’s settled.”
Roxton turned toward the old chief and nodded.
He slapped the side of his rifle.
The old chief clasped each of our hands.
The warriors answered with another great cheer.
It was too late to begin the attack that evening, so the Indians established a rough camp beside the lake.
Fires appeared everywhere.
Smoke drifted through the darkness.
Some warriors disappeared into the jungle and soon returned driving a young iguanodon before them.
We noticed that it had the same dark mark on its shoulder that we had seen on other animals.
At first we had no idea what those marks meant.
Then one of the Indians stepped forward and clearly gave permission for the animal to be killed.
We finally understood.
The great iguanodons were privately owned, just as cattle would be in our own country.
The marks were ownership symbols.
These enormous animals were surprisingly easy to control. They were slow, peaceful plant-eaters with huge bodies but tiny brains.
A child could probably drive one.
Within minutes, the animal had been butchered.
Large pieces of meat were roasting over a dozen fires.
Great armored fish caught from the lake were cooking beside them.
Summerlee lay down on the sand and soon fell asleep.
The rest of us walked along the lake, eager to learn more about this extraordinary country.
Twice we came across patches of blue clay, similar to those we had seen in the pterodactyl swamp.
They were old volcanic vents.
Lord John was fascinated by them.
Challenger, however, was far more interested in something else.
Near the shore was a strange pool of bubbling mud.
Gas was rising through it, forming huge bubbles that burst on the surface.
Challenger immediately became excited.
He pushed a hollow reed into the mud.
Then he laughed like a schoolboy when he discovered that a flame placed at the end of the reed caused a sharp explosion and produced a blue flame at the other end.
His excitement increased when he covered the end with a leather pouch and filled it with the gas.
He released it, and the pouch floated upward.
“An inflammable gas!” Challenger exclaimed.
“And considerably lighter than ordinary air. I would say that it contains a substantial amount of free hydrogen.”
He rubbed his hands together.
“The resources of G. E. C. are not exhausted yet, my young friend.”
“I may still demonstrate how a truly great mind can turn the forces of Nature to its own purposes.”
There was clearly some idea forming in his head.
But he refused to tell me what it was.
For me, however, nothing on the shore was as extraordinary as the lake itself.
Our presence and noise had driven most animals away.
Apart from a few pterodactyls circling high overhead and waiting for scraps, the shore was quiet.
But the lake was alive.
Its rose-colored surface heaved and boiled with enormous creatures.
Huge dark backs appeared from the water.
Long, jagged fins cut through the surface before disappearing again.
Farther out, sandbanks were covered with strange animals.
There were enormous turtles and unfamiliar reptiles.
One huge, flat creature looked like a moving sheet of black, greasy leather as it slowly dragged itself toward the water.
Here and there, long snake-like heads appeared above the surface.
They moved rapidly through the lake, leaving foam around their necks and long twisting wakes behind them.
Then one of the creatures climbed onto a sandbank only a few hundred yards away.
Its body was enormous and barrel-shaped.
Behind its long, snake-like neck were huge flippers.
Challenger and Summerlee, who had now joined us, stared in amazement.
“Plesiosaurus!” Summerlee cried.
“A freshwater plesiosaurus!”
“I never believed I would live to see such a creature.”
He turned toward Challenger.
“We are more fortunate than any zoologists who have ever lived!”
It was not until darkness fell that we could persuade our two scientists to leave the lake.
Even after we had settled down on the shore, we could hear the enormous creatures splashing and breathing in the darkness.
At first light, the camp came alive.
An hour later, we began our historic expedition.
I had often dreamed that one day I might become a war correspondent.
But I could never have imagined reporting on a war like this.
So this was my first report from the battlefield.
During the night, more Indians had arrived from the caves.
By morning, our force had grown to perhaps four or five hundred warriors.
Scouts moved ahead of us.
Behind them marched the main force in a solid column.
We climbed the long slope through the brush country until we reached the edge of the forest.
Then the warriors spread out into a long line of spearmen and archers.
Roxton and Summerlee took the right side.
Challenger and I took the left.
It was an army from the Stone Age marching into battle.
And among them were four modern Europeans carrying some of the finest rifles that gunsmiths in London could produce.
We did not have to wait long.
A shrill, wild cry came from the forest.
Suddenly a group of ape-men burst from the trees.
They carried clubs and stones and charged straight toward the center of our line.
It was a brave attack.
But it was also a foolish one.
The ape-men were powerful, but their short, bowed legs made them slow in open ground.
The Indians were much faster.
The creatures charged forward with open mouths and furious eyes, grabbing desperately at their enemies but constantly missing them.
Arrow after arrow struck their bodies.
One huge ape-man ran past me screaming in pain.
A dozen arrows were sticking from his chest and sides.
I could not bear to watch him suffer, so I shot him in the head.
That was the only rifle shot I fired during the first attack.
The Indians did not need our help.
Almost none of the ape-men who had rushed into the open made it back to the trees.
The real battle began when we entered the forest.
For more than an hour, the fighting was brutal.
Ape-men burst from the bushes carrying enormous clubs.
They smashed into groups of Indians, sometimes knocking three or four men down before the warriors could stab them.
Their blows were terrifying.
One of them struck Summerlee’s rifle and smashed it to pieces.
The next blow was aimed at Summerlee’s head.
An Indian saved him by driving a spear into the creature’s heart.
Other ape-men attacked from the trees.
They threw stones and pieces of wood down at us.
Sometimes they simply dropped from the branches onto our lines and fought with unbelievable strength until we brought them down.
At one point our allies began to lose courage.
The pressure was too much.
Had we not used our rifles, they might have fled.
But their old chief rallied them.
With a great cry, the Indians charged forward again.
The ape-men began to retreat.
Summerlee had no weapon left, but I fired as quickly as I could.
On the opposite side of the battlefield, we could hear Roxton’s rifle firing again and again.
Then everything changed.
The ape-men suddenly panicked.
They screamed and ran in every direction.
Our allies shouted with savage excitement and chased them.
For countless generations, these two races had been enemies.
They had fought, killed, and persecuted each other for longer than anyone could remember.
Now the balance was finally changing.
Man was defeating the ape-men.
The ape-men were too slow to escape.
From every part of the forest came the sounds of the pursuit—the cries of the Indians, the twang of bows, and the heavy crashes as ape-men were dragged from the trees.
I was following the others when Lord John and Challenger came back toward us.
“It’s over,” Roxton said.
“I think we can leave the rest to our friends.”
He glanced toward the forest.
“Perhaps it’s better that we don’t see too much of what happens next.”
Challenger, however, was exhilarated.
His eyes were shining with excitement.
“We have witnessed one of the decisive battles of history!” he declared.
He strutted around proudly.
“Think about what such battles really mean. The conquest of one nation by another is important, of course, but both sides are still human.”
He raised a finger.
“The truly important victories occurred much earlier in history.”
“When primitive humans first fought the great predators and survived. When the cave-dwellers learned to defeat the animals that once ruled them. When elephants first discovered that man could command them.”
He looked toward the battlefield.
“Those were the real conquests—the victories that shaped the future of the world.”
He spread his arms.
“And by the strangest turn of fate, we have now witnessed and helped decide such a battle ourselves.”
“From this day forward, man will rule Maple White Land.”
It required a strong belief in the future to justify the terrible things happening around us.
As we moved through the forest, we found dead ape-men everywhere.
Many had been killed by spears or arrows.
Here and there, groups of dead Indians showed where an ape-man had made a final stand and forced his enemies to pay dearly for victory.
Ahead of us, we could still hear the shouting and roaring.
The ape-men had been pushed back toward Ape Town.
They made a final stand there.
Then they were defeated again.
We arrived just in time to see the end.
About eighty or a hundred male ape-men—the last survivors—had been driven into the same clearing near the cliff where we had recently witnessed the execution of the Indians.
The warriors surrounded them in a wide semicircle.
Within minutes, the battle was finished.
Thirty or forty ape-men died where they stood.
The rest screamed and fought desperately, but the Indians forced them toward the edge.
One after another, they were pushed over the cliff.
Far below were the sharp bamboo stakes where their own prisoners had once been sent to their deaths.
Now the ape-men suffered the same fate.
Challenger’s prediction had come true.
The balance of power in Maple White Land had changed forever.
The male ape-men were almost completely wiped out.
Ape Town was destroyed.
The females and young were driven away and taken into captivity.
After generations of war, the ancient struggle between man and ape had finally come to a bloody end.
For us, the victory had immediate practical benefits.
We could return to our old camp and recover our supplies.
We could also finally communicate with Zambo.
He had been terrified when he saw the enormous number of ape-men falling from the cliff in the distance.
As soon as we reached him, he stared at us with wide eyes.
“Come away, Massas! Come away!” he cried.
“The devil will surely get you if you stay up there!”
“It is the voice of common sense,” Summerlee said firmly.
“We have had more than enough adventures. They are hardly appropriate for men of our age or position.”
He turned toward Challenger.
“And I intend to hold you to your promise.”
“From this moment onward, you must devote all your energy to getting us out of this dreadful country and back to civilization.”