commit 5dd82572d1ad0cb699860f78d757d2d2741d38ac Author: Gustavo Henrique Santos Souza de Miranda Date: Mon May 12 15:01:18 2025 -0300 Commit Inicial diff --git a/The island of dr moreau.txt b/The island of dr moreau.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..66bdf29 --- /dev/null +++ b/The island of dr moreau.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5095 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of The island of Doctor Moreau + +This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online +at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, +you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located +before using this eBook. + +Title: The island of Doctor Moreau + +Author: H. G. Wells + +Release date: October 14, 2004 [eBook #159] + Most recently updated: December 30, 2023 + +Language: English + +Credits: Judith Boss and Andrew Sly + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ISLAND OF DOCTOR MOREAU *** + +[Illustration] + + + + +The Island of Doctor Moreau + +by H. G. Wells + + +Contents + + INTRODUCTION + I. IN THE DINGEY OF THE “LADY VAIN” + II. THE MAN WHO WAS GOING NOWHERE + III. THE STRANGE FACE + IV. AT THE SCHOONER’S RAIL + V. THE MAN WHO HAD NOWHERE TO GO + VI. THE EVIL-LOOKING BOATMEN + VII. THE LOCKED DOOR + VIII. THE CRYING OF THE PUMA + IX. THE THING IN THE FOREST + X. THE CRYING OF THE MAN + XI. THE HUNTING OF THE MAN + XII. THE SAYERS OF THE LAW + XIII. A PARLEY + XIV. DOCTOR MOREAU EXPLAINS + XV. CONCERNING THE BEAST FOLK + XVI. HOW THE BEAST FOLK TASTE BLOOD + XVII. A CATASTROPHE + XVIII. THE FINDING OF MOREAU + XIX. MONTGOMERY’S “BANK HOLIDAY” + XX. ALONE WITH THE BEAST FOLK + XXI. THE REVERSION OF THE BEAST FOLK + XXII. THE MAN ALONE + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +On February the First 1887, the _Lady Vain_ was lost by collision with +a derelict when about the latitude 1° S. and longitude 107° W. + +On January the Fifth, 1888—that is eleven months and four days after—my +uncle, Edward Prendick, a private gentleman, who certainly went aboard +the _Lady Vain_ at Callao, and who had been considered drowned, was +picked up in latitude 5° 3′ S. and longitude 101° W. in a small open +boat of which the name was illegible, but which is supposed to have +belonged to the missing schooner _Ipecacuanha_. He gave such a strange +account of himself that he was supposed demented. Subsequently he +alleged that his mind was a blank from the moment of his escape from +the _Lady Vain_. His case was discussed among psychologists at the time +as a curious instance of the lapse of memory consequent upon physical +and mental stress. The following narrative was found among his papers +by the undersigned, his nephew and heir, but unaccompanied by any +definite request for publication. + +The only island known to exist in the region in which my uncle was +picked up is Noble’s Isle, a small volcanic islet and uninhabited. It +was visited in 1891 by _H. M. S. Scorpion_. A party of sailors then +landed, but found nothing living thereon except certain curious white +moths, some hogs and rabbits, and some rather peculiar rats. So that +this narrative is without confirmation in its most essential +particular. With that understood, there seems no harm in putting this +strange story before the public in accordance, as I believe, with my +uncle’s intentions. There is at least this much in its behalf: my uncle +passed out of human knowledge about latitude 5° S. and longitude 105° +E., and reappeared in the same part of the ocean after a space of +eleven months. In some way he must have lived during the interval. And +it seems that a schooner called the _Ipecacuanha_ with a drunken +captain, John Davies, did start from Africa with a puma and certain +other animals aboard in January, 1887, that the vessel was well known +at several ports in the South Pacific, and that it finally disappeared +from those seas (with a considerable amount of copra aboard), sailing +to its unknown fate from Bayna in December, 1887, a date that tallies +entirely with my uncle’s story. + +CHARLES EDWARD PRENDICK. + + + + +The Island of Doctor Moreau + +(The Story written by Edward Prendick.) + + + + +I. +IN THE DINGEY OF THE “LADY VAIN.” + + +I do not propose to add anything to what has already been written +concerning the loss of the _Lady Vain_. As everyone knows, she collided +with a derelict when ten days out from Callao. The longboat, with seven +of the crew, was picked up eighteen days after by H. M. gunboat +_Myrtle_, and the story of their terrible privations has become quite +as well known as the far more horrible _Medusa_ case. But I have to add +to the published story of the _Lady Vain_ another, possibly as horrible +and far stranger. It has hitherto been supposed that the four men who +were in the dingey perished, but this is incorrect. I have the best of +evidence for this assertion: I was one of the four men. + +But in the first place I must state that there never were _four_ men in +the dingey,—the number was three. Constans, who was “seen by the +captain to jump into the gig,”[1] luckily for us and unluckily for +himself did not reach us. He came down out of the tangle of ropes under +the stays of the smashed bowsprit, some small rope caught his heel as +he let go, and he hung for a moment head downward, and then fell and +struck a block or spar floating in the water. We pulled towards him, +but he never came up. + + [1] _Daily News_, March 17, 1887. + + +I say luckily for us he did not reach us, and I might almost say +luckily for himself; for we had only a small beaker of water and some +soddened ship’s biscuits with us, so sudden had been the alarm, so +unprepared the ship for any disaster. We thought the people on the +launch would be better provisioned (though it seems they were not), and +we tried to hail them. They could not have heard us, and the next +morning when the drizzle cleared,—which was not until past midday,—we +could see nothing of them. We could not stand up to look about us, +because of the pitching of the boat. The two other men who had escaped +so far with me were a man named Helmar, a passenger like myself, and a +seaman whose name I don’t know,—a short sturdy man, with a stammer. + +We drifted famishing, and, after our water had come to an end, +tormented by an intolerable thirst, for eight days altogether. After +the second day the sea subsided slowly to a glassy calm. It is quite +impossible for the ordinary reader to imagine those eight days. He has +not, luckily for himself, anything in his memory to imagine with. After +the first day we said little to one another, and lay in our places in +the boat and stared at the horizon, or watched, with eyes that grew +larger and more haggard every day, the misery and weakness gaining upon +our companions. The sun became pitiless. The water ended on the fourth +day, and we were already thinking strange things and saying them with +our eyes; but it was, I think, the sixth before Helmar gave voice to +the thing we had all been thinking. I remember our voices were dry and +thin, so that we bent towards one another and spared our words. I stood +out against it with all my might, was rather for scuttling the boat and +perishing together among the sharks that followed us; but when Helmar +said that if his proposal was accepted we should have drink, the sailor +came round to him. + +I would not draw lots however, and in the night the sailor whispered to +Helmar again and again, and I sat in the bows with my clasp-knife in my +hand, though I doubt if I had the stuff in me to fight; and in the +morning I agreed to Helmar’s proposal, and we handed halfpence to find +the odd man. The lot fell upon the sailor; but he was the strongest of +us and would not abide by it, and attacked Helmar with his hands. They +grappled together and almost stood up. I crawled along the boat to +them, intending to help Helmar by grasping the sailor’s leg; but the +sailor stumbled with the swaying of the boat, and the two fell upon the +gunwale and rolled overboard together. They sank like stones. I +remember laughing at that, and wondering why I laughed. The laugh +caught me suddenly like a thing from without. + +I lay across one of the thwarts for I know not how long, thinking that +if I had the strength I would drink sea-water and madden myself to die +quickly. And even as I lay there I saw, with no more interest than if +it had been a picture, a sail come up towards me over the sky-line. My +mind must have been wandering, and yet I remember all that happened, +quite distinctly. I remember how my head swayed with the seas, and the +horizon with the sail above it danced up and down; but I also remember +as distinctly that I had a persuasion that I was dead, and that I +thought what a jest it was that they should come too late by such a +little to catch me in my body. + +For an endless period, as it seemed to me, I lay with my head on the +thwart watching the schooner (she was a little ship, schooner-rigged +fore and aft) come up out of the sea. She kept tacking to and fro in a +widening compass, for she was sailing dead into the wind. It never +entered my head to attempt to attract attention, and I do not remember +anything distinctly after the sight of her side until I found myself in +a little cabin aft. There’s a dim half-memory of being lifted up to the +gangway, and of a big round countenance covered with freckles and +surrounded with red hair staring at me over the bulwarks. I also had a +disconnected impression of a dark face, with extraordinary eyes, close +to mine; but that I thought was a nightmare, until I met it again. I +fancy I recollect some stuff being poured in between my teeth; and that +is all. + + + + +II. +THE MAN WHO WAS GOING NOWHERE. + + +The cabin in which I found myself was small and rather untidy. A +youngish man with flaxen hair, a bristly straw-coloured moustache, and +a dropping nether lip, was sitting and holding my wrist. For a minute +we stared at each other without speaking. He had watery grey eyes, +oddly void of expression. Then just overhead came a sound like an iron +bedstead being knocked about, and the low angry growling of some large +animal. At the same time the man spoke. He repeated his question,—“How +do you feel now?” + +I think I said I felt all right. I could not recollect how I had got +there. He must have seen the question in my face, for my voice was +inaccessible to me. + +“You were picked up in a boat, starving. The name on the boat was the +_Lady Vain_, and there were spots of blood on the gunwale.” + +At the same time my eye caught my hand, so thin that it looked like a +dirty skin-purse full of loose bones, and all the business of the boat +came back to me. + +“Have some of this,” said he, and gave me a dose of some scarlet stuff, +iced. + +It tasted like blood, and made me feel stronger. + +“You were in luck,” said he, “to get picked up by a ship with a medical +man aboard.” He spoke with a slobbering articulation, with the ghost of +a lisp. + +“What ship is this?” I said slowly, hoarse from my long silence. + +“It’s a little trader from Arica and Callao. I never asked where she +came from in the beginning,—out of the land of born fools, I guess. I’m +a passenger myself, from Arica. The silly ass who owns her,—he’s +captain too, named Davies,—he’s lost his certificate, or something. You +know the kind of man,—calls the thing the _Ipecacuanha_, of all silly, +infernal names; though when there’s much of a sea without any wind, she +certainly acts according.” + +(Then the noise overhead began again, a snarling growl and the voice of +a human being together. Then another voice, telling some +“Heaven-forsaken idiot” to desist.) + +“You were nearly dead,” said my interlocutor. “It was a very near +thing, indeed. But I’ve put some stuff into you now. Notice your arm’s +sore? Injections. You’ve been insensible for nearly thirty hours.” + +I thought slowly. (I was distracted now by the yelping of a number of +dogs.) “Am I eligible for solid food?” I asked. + +“Thanks to me,” he said. “Even now the mutton is boiling.” + +“Yes,” I said with assurance; “I could eat some mutton.” + +“But,” said he with a momentary hesitation, “you know I’m dying to hear +of how you came to be alone in that boat. _Damn that howling_!” I +thought I detected a certain suspicion in his eyes. + +He suddenly left the cabin, and I heard him in violent controversy with +some one, who seemed to me to talk gibberish in response to him. The +matter sounded as though it ended in blows, but in that I thought my +ears were mistaken. Then he shouted at the dogs, and returned to the +cabin. + +“Well?” said he in the doorway. “You were just beginning to tell me.” + +I told him my name, Edward Prendick, and how I had taken to Natural +History as a relief from the dulness of my comfortable independence. + +He seemed interested in this. “I’ve done some science myself. I did my +Biology at University College,—getting out the ovary of the earthworm +and the radula of the snail, and all that. Lord! It’s ten years ago. +But go on! go on! tell me about the boat.” + +He was evidently satisfied with the frankness of my story, which I told +in concise sentences enough, for I felt horribly weak; and when it was +finished he reverted at once to the topic of Natural History and his +own biological studies. He began to question me closely about Tottenham +Court Road and Gower Street. “Is Caplatzi still flourishing? What a +shop that was!” He had evidently been a very ordinary medical student, +and drifted incontinently to the topic of the music halls. He told me +some anecdotes. + +“Left it all,” he said, “ten years ago. How jolly it all used to be! +But I made a young ass of myself,—played myself out before I was +twenty-one. I daresay it’s all different now. But I must look up that +ass of a cook, and see what he’s done to your mutton.” + +The growling overhead was renewed, so suddenly and with so much savage +anger that it startled me. “What’s that?” I called after him, but the +door had closed. He came back again with the boiled mutton, and I was +so excited by the appetising smell of it that I forgot the noise of the +beast that had troubled me. + +After a day of alternate sleep and feeding I was so far recovered as to +be able to get from my bunk to the scuttle, and see the green seas +trying to keep pace with us. I judged the schooner was running before +the wind. Montgomery—that was the name of the flaxen-haired man—came in +again as I stood there, and I asked him for some clothes. He lent me +some duck things of his own, for those I had worn in the boat had been +thrown overboard. They were rather loose for me, for he was large and +long in his limbs. He told me casually that the captain was three-parts +drunk in his own cabin. As I assumed the clothes, I began asking him +some questions about the destination of the ship. He said the ship was +bound to Hawaii, but that it had to land him first. + +“Where?” said I. + +“It’s an island, where I live. So far as I know, it hasn’t got a name.” + +He stared at me with his nether lip dropping, and looked so wilfully +stupid of a sudden that it came into my head that he desired to avoid +my questions. I had the discretion to ask no more. + + + + +III. +THE STRANGE FACE. + + +We left the cabin and found a man at the companion obstructing our way. +He was standing on the ladder with his back to us, peering over the +combing of the hatchway. He was, I could see, a misshapen man, short, +broad, and clumsy, with a crooked back, a hairy neck, and a head sunk +between his shoulders. He was dressed in dark-blue serge, and had +peculiarly thick, coarse, black hair. I heard the unseen dogs growl +furiously, and forthwith he ducked back,—coming into contact with the +hand I put out to fend him off from myself. He turned with animal +swiftness. + +In some indefinable way the black face thus flashed upon me shocked me +profoundly. It was a singularly deformed one. The facial part +projected, forming something dimly suggestive of a muzzle, and the huge +half-open mouth showed as big white teeth as I had ever seen in a human +mouth. His eyes were blood-shot at the edges, with scarcely a rim of +white round the hazel pupils. There was a curious glow of excitement in +his face. + +“Confound you!” said Montgomery. “Why the devil don’t you get out of +the way?” + +The black-faced man started aside without a word. I went on up the +companion, staring at him instinctively as I did so. Montgomery stayed +at the foot for a moment. “You have no business here, you know,” he +said in a deliberate tone. “Your place is forward.” + +The black-faced man cowered. “They—won’t have me forward.” He spoke +slowly, with a queer, hoarse quality in his voice. + +“Won’t have you forward!” said Montgomery, in a menacing voice. “But I +tell you to go!” He was on the brink of saying something further, then +looked up at me suddenly and followed me up the ladder. + +I had paused half way through the hatchway, looking back, still +astonished beyond measure at the grotesque ugliness of this black-faced +creature. I had never beheld such a repulsive and extraordinary face +before, and yet—if the contradiction is credible—I experienced at the +same time an odd feeling that in some way I _had_ already encountered +exactly the features and gestures that now amazed me. Afterwards it +occurred to me that probably I had seen him as I was lifted aboard; and +yet that scarcely satisfied my suspicion of a previous acquaintance. +Yet how one could have set eyes on so singular a face and yet have +forgotten the precise occasion, passed my imagination. + +Montgomery’s movement to follow me released my attention, and I turned +and looked about me at the flush deck of the little schooner. I was +already half prepared by the sounds I had heard for what I saw. +Certainly I never beheld a deck so dirty. It was littered with scraps +of carrot, shreds of green stuff, and indescribable filth. Fastened by +chains to the mainmast were a number of grisly staghounds, who now +began leaping and barking at me, and by the mizzen a huge puma was +cramped in a little iron cage far too small even to give it turning +room. Farther under the starboard bulwark were some big hutches +containing a number of rabbits, and a solitary llama was squeezed in a +mere box of a cage forward. The dogs were muzzled by leather straps. +The only human being on deck was a gaunt and silent sailor at the +wheel. + +The patched and dirty spankers were tense before the wind, and up aloft +the little ship seemed carrying every sail she had. The sky was clear, +the sun midway down the western sky; long waves, capped by the breeze +with froth, were running with us. We went past the steersman to the +taffrail, and saw the water come foaming under the stern and the +bubbles go dancing and vanishing in her wake. I turned and surveyed the +unsavoury length of the ship. + +“Is this an ocean menagerie?” said I. + +“Looks like it,” said Montgomery. + +“What are these beasts for? Merchandise, curios? Does the captain think +he is going to sell them somewhere in the South Seas?” + +“It looks like it, doesn’t it?” said Montgomery, and turned towards the +wake again. + +Suddenly we heard a yelp and a volley of furious blasphemy from the +companion hatchway, and the deformed man with the black face came up +hurriedly. He was immediately followed by a heavy red-haired man in a +white cap. At the sight of the former the staghounds, who had all tired +of barking at me by this time, became furiously excited, howling and +leaping against their chains. The black hesitated before them, and this +gave the red-haired man time to come up with him and deliver a +tremendous blow between the shoulder-blades. The poor devil went down +like a felled ox, and rolled in the dirt among the furiously excited +dogs. It was lucky for him that they were muzzled. The red-haired man +gave a yawp of exultation and stood staggering, and as it seemed to me +in serious danger of either going backwards down the companion hatchway +or forwards upon his victim. + +So soon as the second man had appeared, Montgomery had started forward. +“Steady on there!” he cried, in a tone of remonstrance. A couple of +sailors appeared on the forecastle. The black-faced man, howling in a +singular voice rolled about under the feet of the dogs. No one +attempted to help him. The brutes did their best to worry him, butting +their muzzles at him. There was a quick dance of their lithe +grey-figured bodies over the clumsy, prostrate figure. The sailors +forward shouted, as though it was admirable sport. Montgomery gave an +angry exclamation, and went striding down the deck, and I followed him. +The black-faced man scrambled up and staggered forward, going and +leaning over the bulwark by the main shrouds, where he remained, +panting and glaring over his shoulder at the dogs. The red-haired man +laughed a satisfied laugh. + +“Look here, Captain,” said Montgomery, with his lisp a little +accentuated, gripping the elbows of the red-haired man, “this won’t +do!” + +I stood behind Montgomery. The captain came half round, and regarded +him with the dull and solemn eyes of a drunken man. “Wha’ won’t do?” he +said, and added, after looking sleepily into Montgomery’s face for a +minute, “Blasted Sawbones!” + +With a sudden movement he shook his arms free, and after two +ineffectual attempts stuck his freckled fists into his side pockets. + +“That man’s a passenger,” said Montgomery. “I’d advise you to keep your +hands off him.” + +“Go to hell!” said the captain, loudly. He suddenly turned and +staggered towards the side. “Do what I like on my own ship,” he said. + +I think Montgomery might have left him then, seeing the brute was +drunk; but he only turned a shade paler, and followed the captain to +the bulwarks. + +“Look you here, Captain,” he said; “that man of mine is not to be +ill-treated. He has been hazed ever since he came aboard.” + +For a minute, alcoholic fumes kept the captain speechless. “Blasted +Sawbones!” was all he considered necessary. + +I could see that Montgomery had one of those slow, pertinacious tempers +that will warm day after day to a white heat, and never again cool to +forgiveness; and I saw too that this quarrel had been some time +growing. “The man’s drunk,” said I, perhaps officiously; “you’ll do no +good.” + +Montgomery gave an ugly twist to his dropping lip. “He’s always drunk. +Do you think that excuses his assaulting his passengers?” + +“My ship,” began the captain, waving his hand unsteadily towards the +cages, “was a clean ship. Look at it now!” It was certainly anything +but clean. “Crew,” continued the captain, “clean, respectable crew.” + +“You agreed to take the beasts.” + +“I wish I’d never set eyes on your infernal island. What the devil—want +beasts for on an island like that? Then, that man of yours—understood +he was a man. He’s a lunatic; and he hadn’t no business aft. Do you +think the whole damned ship belongs to you?” + +“Your sailors began to haze the poor devil as soon as he came aboard.” + +“That’s just what he is—he’s a devil! an ugly devil! My men can’t stand +him. _I_ can’t stand him. None of us can’t stand him. Nor _you_ +either!” + +Montgomery turned away. “_You_ leave that man alone, anyhow,” he said, +nodding his head as he spoke. + +But the captain meant to quarrel now. He raised his voice. “If he comes +this end of the ship again I’ll cut his insides out, I tell you. Cut +out his blasted insides! Who are _you_, to tell _me_ what _I’m_ to do? +I tell you I’m captain of this ship,—captain and owner. I’m the law +here, I tell you,—the law and the prophets. I bargained to take a man +and his attendant to and from Arica, and bring back some animals. I +never bargained to carry a mad devil and a silly Sawbones, a—” + +Well, never mind what he called Montgomery. I saw the latter take a +step forward, and interposed. “He’s drunk,” said I. The captain began +some abuse even fouler than the last. “Shut up!” I said, turning on him +sharply, for I had seen danger in Montgomery’s white face. With that I +brought the downpour on myself. + +However, I was glad to avert what was uncommonly near a scuffle, even +at the price of the captain’s drunken ill-will. I do not think I have +ever heard quite so much vile language come in a continuous stream from +any man’s lips before, though I have frequented eccentric company +enough. I found some of it hard to endure, though I am a mild-tempered +man; but, certainly, when I told the captain to “shut up” I had +forgotten that I was merely a bit of human flotsam, cut off from my +resources and with my fare unpaid; a mere casual dependant on the +bounty, or speculative enterprise, of the ship. He reminded me of it +with considerable vigour; but at any rate I prevented a fight. + + + + +IV. +AT THE SCHOONER’S RAIL. + + +That night land was sighted after sundown, and the schooner hove to. +Montgomery intimated that was his destination. It was too far to see +any details; it seemed to me then simply a low-lying patch of dim blue +in the uncertain blue-grey sea. An almost vertical streak of smoke went +up from it into the sky. The captain was not on deck when it was +sighted. After he had vented his wrath on me he had staggered below, +and I understand he went to sleep on the floor of his own cabin. The +mate practically assumed the command. He was the gaunt, taciturn +individual we had seen at the wheel. Apparently he was in an evil +temper with Montgomery. He took not the slightest notice of either of +us. We dined with him in a sulky silence, after a few ineffectual +efforts on my part to talk. It struck me too that the men regarded my +companion and his animals in a singularly unfriendly manner. I found +Montgomery very reticent about his purpose with these creatures, and +about his destination; and though I was sensible of a growing curiosity +as to both, I did not press him. + +We remained talking on the quarter deck until the sky was thick with +stars. Except for an occasional sound in the yellow-lit forecastle and +a movement of the animals now and then, the night was very still. The +puma lay crouched together, watching us with shining eyes, a black heap +in the corner of its cage. Montgomery produced some cigars. He talked +to me of London in a tone of half-painful reminiscence, asking all +kinds of questions about changes that had taken place. He spoke like a +man who had loved his life there, and had been suddenly and irrevocably +cut off from it. I gossiped as well as I could of this and that. All +the time the strangeness of him was shaping itself in my mind; and as I +talked I peered at his odd, pallid face in the dim light of the +binnacle lantern behind me. Then I looked out at the darkling sea, +where in the dimness his little island was hidden. + +This man, it seemed to me, had come out of Immensity merely to save my +life. To-morrow he would drop over the side, and vanish again out of my +existence. Even had it been under commonplace circumstances, it would +have made me a trifle thoughtful; but in the first place was the +singularity of an educated man living on this unknown little island, +and coupled with that the extraordinary nature of his luggage. I found +myself repeating the captain’s question. What did he want with the +beasts? Why, too, had he pretended they were not his when I had +remarked about them at first? Then, again, in his personal attendant +there was a bizarre quality which had impressed me profoundly. These +circumstances threw a haze of mystery round the man. They laid hold of +my imagination, and hampered my tongue. + +Towards midnight our talk of London died away, and we stood side by +side leaning over the bulwarks and staring dreamily over the silent, +starlit sea, each pursuing his own thoughts. It was the atmosphere for +sentiment, and I began upon my gratitude. + +“If I may say it,” said I, after a time, “you have saved my life.” + +“Chance,” he answered. “Just chance.” + +“I prefer to make my thanks to the accessible agent.” + +“Thank no one. You had the need, and I had the knowledge; and I +injected and fed you much as I might have collected a specimen. I was +bored and wanted something to do. If I’d been jaded that day, or hadn’t +liked your face, well—it’s a curious question where you would have been +now!” + +This damped my mood a little. “At any rate,” I began. + +“It’s a chance, I tell you,” he interrupted, “as everything is in a +man’s life. Only the asses won’t see it! Why am I here now, an outcast +from civilisation, instead of being a happy man enjoying all the +pleasures of London? Simply because eleven years ago—I lost my head for +ten minutes on a foggy night.” + +He stopped. “Yes?” said I. + +“That’s all.” + +We relapsed into silence. Presently he laughed. “There’s something in +this starlight that loosens one’s tongue. I’m an ass, and yet somehow I +would like to tell you.” + +“Whatever you tell me, you may rely upon my keeping to myself—if that’s +it.” + +He was on the point of beginning, and then shook his head, doubtfully. + +“Don’t,” said I. “It is all the same to me. After all, it is better to +keep your secret. There’s nothing gained but a little relief if I +respect your confidence. If I don’t—well?” + +He grunted undecidedly. I felt I had him at a disadvantage, had caught +him in the mood of indiscretion; and to tell the truth I was not +curious to learn what might have driven a young medical student out of +London. I have an imagination. I shrugged my shoulders and turned away. +Over the taffrail leant a silent black figure, watching the stars. It +was Montgomery’s strange attendant. It looked over its shoulder quickly +with my movement, then looked away again. + +It may seem a little thing to you, perhaps, but it came like a sudden +blow to me. The only light near us was a lantern at the wheel. The +creature’s face was turned for one brief instant out of the dimness of +the stern towards this illumination, and I saw that the eyes that +glanced at me shone with a pale-green light. I did not know then that a +reddish luminosity, at least, is not uncommon in human eyes. The thing +came to me as stark inhumanity. That black figure with its eyes of fire +struck down through all my adult thoughts and feelings, and for a +moment the forgotten horrors of childhood came back to my mind. Then +the effect passed as it had come. An uncouth black figure of a man, a +figure of no particular import, hung over the taffrail against the +starlight, and I found Montgomery was speaking to me. + +“I’m thinking of turning in, then,” said he, “if you’ve had enough of +this.” + +I answered him incongruously. We went below, and he wished me +good-night at the door of my cabin. + +That night I had some very unpleasant dreams. The waning moon rose +late. Its light struck a ghostly white beam across my cabin, and made +an ominous shape on the planking by my bunk. Then the staghounds woke, +and began howling and baying; so that I dreamt fitfully, and scarcely +slept until the approach of dawn. + + + + +V. +THE MAN WHO HAD NOWHERE TO GO. + + +In the early morning (it was the second morning after my recovery, and +I believe the fourth after I was picked up), I awoke through an avenue +of tumultuous dreams,—dreams of guns and howling mobs,—and became +sensible of a hoarse shouting above me. I rubbed my eyes and lay +listening to the noise, doubtful for a little while of my whereabouts. +Then came a sudden pattering of bare feet, the sound of heavy objects +being thrown about, a violent creaking and the rattling of chains. I +heard the swish of the water as the ship was suddenly brought round, +and a foamy yellow-green wave flew across the little round window and +left it streaming. I jumped into my clothes and went on deck. + +As I came up the ladder I saw against the flushed sky—for the sun was +just rising—the broad back and red hair of the captain, and over his +shoulder the puma spinning from a tackle rigged on to the mizzen +spanker-boom. + +The poor brute seemed horribly scared, and crouched in the bottom of +its little cage. + +“Overboard with ’em!” bawled the captain. “Overboard with ’em! We’ll +have a clean ship soon of the whole bilin’ of ’em.” + +He stood in my way, so that I had perforce to tap his shoulder to come +on deck. He came round with a start, and staggered back a few paces to +stare at me. It needed no expert eye to tell that the man was still +drunk. + +“Hullo!” said he, stupidly; and then with a light coming into his eyes, +“Why, it’s Mister—Mister?” + +“Prendick,” said I. + +“Prendick be damned!” said he. “Shut-up,—that’s your name. Mister +Shut-up.” + +It was no good answering the brute; but I certainly did not expect his +next move. He held out his hand to the gangway by which Montgomery +stood talking to a massive grey-haired man in dirty-blue flannels, who +had apparently just come aboard. + +“That way, Mister Blasted Shut-up! that way!” roared the captain. + +Montgomery and his companion turned as he spoke. + +“What do you mean?” I said. + +“That way, Mister Blasted Shut-up,—that’s what I mean! Overboard, +Mister Shut-up,—and sharp! We’re cleaning the ship out,—cleaning the +whole blessed ship out; and overboard you go!” + +I stared at him dumfounded. Then it occurred to me that it was exactly +the thing I wanted. The lost prospect of a journey as sole passenger +with this quarrelsome sot was not one to mourn over. I turned towards +Montgomery. + +“Can’t have you,” said Montgomery’s companion, concisely. + +“You can’t have me!” said I, aghast. He had the squarest and most +resolute face I ever set eyes upon. + +“Look here,” I began, turning to the captain. + +“Overboard!” said the captain. “This ship aint for beasts and cannibals +and worse than beasts, any more. Overboard you go, Mister Shut-up. If +they can’t have you, you goes overboard. But, anyhow, you go—with your +friends. I’ve done with this blessed island for evermore, amen! I’ve +had enough of it.” + +“But, Montgomery,” I appealed. + +He distorted his lower lip, and nodded his head hopelessly at the +grey-haired man beside him, to indicate his powerlessness to help me. + +“I’ll see to _you_, presently,” said the captain. + +Then began a curious three-cornered altercation. Alternately I appealed +to one and another of the three men,—first to the grey-haired man to +let me land, and then to the drunken captain to keep me aboard. I even +bawled entreaties to the sailors. Montgomery said never a word, only +shook his head. “You’re going overboard, I tell you,” was the captain’s +refrain. “Law be damned! I’m king here.” At last I must confess my +voice suddenly broke in the middle of a vigorous threat. I felt a gust +of hysterical petulance, and went aft and stared dismally at nothing. + +Meanwhile the sailors progressed rapidly with the task of unshipping +the packages and caged animals. A large launch, with two standing lugs, +lay under the lee of the schooner; and into this the strange assortment +of goods were swung. I did not then see the hands from the island that +were receiving the packages, for the hull of the launch was hidden from +me by the side of the schooner. Neither Montgomery nor his companion +took the slightest notice of me, but busied themselves in assisting and +directing the four or five sailors who were unloading the goods. The +captain went forward interfering rather than assisting. I was +alternately despairful and desperate. Once or twice as I stood waiting +there for things to accomplish themselves, I could not resist an +impulse to laugh at my miserable quandary. I felt all the wretcheder +for the lack of a breakfast. Hunger and a lack of blood-corpuscles take +all the manhood from a man. I perceived pretty clearly that I had not +the stamina either to resist what the captain chose to do to expel me, +or to force myself upon Montgomery and his companion. So I waited +passively upon fate; and the work of transferring Montgomery’s +possessions to the launch went on as if I did not exist. + +Presently that work was finished, and then came a struggle. I was +hauled, resisting weakly enough, to the gangway. Even then I noticed +the oddness of the brown faces of the men who were with Montgomery in +the launch; but the launch was now fully laden, and was shoved off +hastily. A broadening gap of green water appeared under me, and I +pushed back with all my strength to avoid falling headlong. The hands +in the launch shouted derisively, and I heard Montgomery curse at them; +and then the captain, the mate, and one of the seamen helping him, ran +me aft towards the stern. + +The dingey of the _Lady Vain_ had been towing behind; it was half full +of water, had no oars, and was quite unvictualled. I refused to go +aboard her, and flung myself full length on the deck. In the end, they +swung me into her by a rope (for they had no stern ladder), and then +they cut me adrift. I drifted slowly from the schooner. In a kind of +stupor I watched all hands take to the rigging, and slowly but surely +she came round to the wind; the sails fluttered, and then bellied out +as the wind came into them. I stared at her weather-beaten side heeling +steeply towards me; and then she passed out of my range of view. + +I did not turn my head to follow her. At first I could scarcely believe +what had happened. I crouched in the bottom of the dingey, stunned, and +staring blankly at the vacant, oily sea. Then I realised that I was in +that little hell of mine again, now half swamped; and looking back over +the gunwale, I saw the schooner standing away from me, with the +red-haired captain mocking at me over the taffrail, and turning towards +the island saw the launch growing smaller as she approached the beach. + +Abruptly the cruelty of this desertion became clear to me. I had no +means of reaching the land unless I should chance to drift there. I was +still weak, you must remember, from my exposure in the boat; I was +empty and very faint, or I should have had more heart. But as it was I +suddenly began to sob and weep, as I had never done since I was a +little child. The tears ran down my face. In a passion of despair I +struck with my fists at the water in the bottom of the boat, and kicked +savagely at the gunwale. I prayed aloud for God to let me die. + + + + +VI. +THE EVIL-LOOKING BOATMEN. + + +But the islanders, seeing that I was really adrift, took pity on me. I +drifted very slowly to the eastward, approaching the island slantingly; +and presently I saw, with hysterical relief, the launch come round and +return towards me. She was heavily laden, and I could make out as she +drew nearer Montgomery’s white-haired, broad-shouldered companion +sitting cramped up with the dogs and several packing-cases in the stern +sheets. This individual stared fixedly at me without moving or +speaking. The black-faced cripple was glaring at me as fixedly in the +bows near the puma. There were three other men besides,—three strange +brutish-looking fellows, at whom the staghounds were snarling savagely. +Montgomery, who was steering, brought the boat by me, and rising, +caught and fastened my painter to the tiller to tow me, for there was +no room aboard. + +I had recovered from my hysterical phase by this time and answered his +hail, as he approached, bravely enough. I told him the dingey was +nearly swamped, and he reached me a piggin. I was jerked back as the +rope tightened between the boats. For some time I was busy baling. + +It was not until I had got the water under (for the water in the dingey +had been shipped; the boat was perfectly sound) that I had leisure to +look at the people in the launch again. + +The white-haired man I found was still regarding me steadfastly, but +with an expression, as I now fancied, of some perplexity. When my eyes +met his, he looked down at the staghound that sat between his knees. He +was a powerfully-built man, as I have said, with a fine forehead and +rather heavy features; but his eyes had that odd drooping of the skin +above the lids which often comes with advancing years, and the fall of +his heavy mouth at the corners gave him an expression of pugnacious +resolution. He talked to Montgomery in a tone too low for me to hear. + +From him my eyes travelled to his three men; and a strange crew they +were. I saw only their faces, yet there was something in their faces—I +knew not what—that gave me a queer spasm of disgust. I looked steadily +at them, and the impression did not pass, though I failed to see what +had occasioned it. They seemed to me then to be brown men; but their +limbs were oddly swathed in some thin, dirty, white stuff down even to +the fingers and feet: I have never seen men so wrapped up before, and +women so only in the East. They wore turbans too, and thereunder peered +out their elfin faces at me,—faces with protruding lower-jaws and +bright eyes. They had lank black hair, almost like horsehair, and +seemed as they sat to exceed in stature any race of men I have seen. +The white-haired man, who I knew was a good six feet in height, sat a +head below any one of the three. I found afterwards that really none +were taller than myself; but their bodies were abnormally long, and the +thigh-part of the leg short and curiously twisted. At any rate, they +were an amazingly ugly gang, and over the heads of them under the +forward lug peered the black face of the man whose eyes were luminous +in the dark. As I stared at them, they met my gaze; and then first one +and then another turned away from my direct stare, and looked at me in +an odd, furtive manner. It occurred to me that I was perhaps annoying +them, and I turned my attention to the island we were approaching. + +It was low, and covered with thick vegetation,—chiefly a kind of palm, +that was new to me. From one point a thin white thread of vapour rose +slantingly to an immense height, and then frayed out like a down +feather. We were now within the embrace of a broad bay flanked on +either hand by a low promontory. The beach was of dull-grey sand, and +sloped steeply up to a ridge, perhaps sixty or seventy feet above the +sea-level, and irregularly set with trees and undergrowth. Half way up +was a square enclosure of some greyish stone, which I found +subsequently was built partly of coral and partly of pumiceous lava. +Two thatched roofs peeped from within this enclosure. A man stood +awaiting us at the water’s edge. I fancied while we were still far off +that I saw some other and very grotesque-looking creatures scuttle into +the bushes upon the slope; but I saw nothing of these as we drew +nearer. This man was of a moderate size, and with a black negroid face. +He had a large, almost lipless, mouth, extraordinary lank arms, long +thin feet, and bow-legs, and stood with his heavy face thrust forward +staring at us. He was dressed like Montgomery and his white-haired +companion, in jacket and trousers of blue serge. As we came still +nearer, this individual began to run to and fro on the beach, making +the most grotesque movements. + +At a word of command from Montgomery, the four men in the launch sprang +up, and with singularly awkward gestures struck the lugs. Montgomery +steered us round and into a narrow little dock excavated in the beach. +Then the man on the beach hastened towards us. This dock, as I call it, +was really a mere ditch just long enough at this phase of the tide to +take the longboat. I heard the bows ground in the sand, staved the +dingey off the rudder of the big boat with my piggin, and freeing the +painter, landed. The three muffled men, with the clumsiest movements, +scrambled out upon the sand, and forthwith set to landing the cargo, +assisted by the man on the beach. I was struck especially by the +curious movements of the legs of the three swathed and bandaged +boatmen,—not stiff they were, but distorted in some odd way, almost as +if they were jointed in the wrong place. The dogs were still snarling, +and strained at their chains after these men, as the white-haired man +landed with them. The three big fellows spoke to one another in odd +guttural tones, and the man who had waited for us on the beach began +chattering to them excitedly—a foreign language, as I fancied—as they +laid hands on some bales piled near the stern. Somewhere I had heard +such a voice before, and I could not think where. The white-haired man +stood, holding in a tumult of six dogs, and bawling orders over their +din. Montgomery, having unshipped the rudder, landed likewise, and all +set to work at unloading. I was too faint, what with my long fast and +the sun beating down on my bare head, to offer any assistance. + +Presently the white-haired man seemed to recollect my presence, and +came up to me. + +“You look,” said he, “as though you had scarcely breakfasted.” His +little eyes were a brilliant black under his heavy brows. “I must +apologise for that. Now you are our guest, we must make you +comfortable,—though you are uninvited, you know.” He looked keenly into +my face. “Montgomery says you are an educated man, Mr. Prendick; says +you know something of science. May I ask what that signifies?” + +I told him I had spent some years at the Royal College of Science, and +had done some researches in biology under Huxley. He raised his +eyebrows slightly at that. + +“That alters the case a little, Mr. Prendick,” he said, with a trifle +more respect in his manner. “As it happens, we are biologists here. +This is a biological station—of a sort.” His eye rested on the men in +white who were busily hauling the puma, on rollers, towards the walled +yard. “I and Montgomery, at least,” he added. Then, “When you will be +able to get away, I can’t say. We’re off the track to anywhere. We see +a ship once in a twelve-month or so.” + +He left me abruptly, and went up the beach past this group, and I think +entered the enclosure. The other two men were with Montgomery, erecting +a pile of smaller packages on a low-wheeled truck. The llama was still +on the launch with the rabbit hutches; the staghounds were still lashed +to the thwarts. The pile of things completed, all three men laid hold +of the truck and began shoving the ton-weight or so upon it after the +puma. Presently Montgomery left them, and coming back to me held out +his hand. + +“I’m glad,” said he, “for my own part. That captain was a silly ass. +He’d have made things lively for you.” + +“It was you,” said I, “that saved me again.” + +“That depends. You’ll find this island an infernally rum place, I +promise you. I’d watch my goings carefully, if I were you. _He_—” He +hesitated, and seemed to alter his mind about what was on his lips. “I +wish you’d help me with these rabbits,” he said. + +His procedure with the rabbits was singular. I waded in with him, and +helped him lug one of the hutches ashore. No sooner was that done than +he opened the door of it, and tilting the thing on one end turned its +living contents out on the ground. They fell in a struggling heap one +on the top of the other. He clapped his hands, and forthwith they went +off with that hopping run of theirs, fifteen or twenty of them I should +think, up the beach. + +“Increase and multiply, my friends,” said Montgomery. “Replenish the +island. Hitherto we’ve had a certain lack of meat here.” + +As I watched them disappearing, the white-haired man returned with a +brandy-flask and some biscuits. “Something to go on with, Prendick,” +said he, in a far more familiar tone than before. I made no ado, but +set to work on the biscuits at once, while the white-haired man helped +Montgomery to release about a score more of the rabbits. Three big +hutches, however, went up to the house with the puma. The brandy I did +not touch, for I have been an abstainer from my birth. + + + + +VII. +THE LOCKED DOOR. + + +The reader will perhaps understand that at first everything was so +strange about me, and my position was the outcome of such unexpected +adventures, that I had no discernment of the relative strangeness of +this or that thing. I followed the llama up the beach, and was +overtaken by Montgomery, who asked me not to enter the stone enclosure. +I noticed then that the puma in its cage and the pile of packages had +been placed outside the entrance to this quadrangle. + +I turned and saw that the launch had now been unloaded, run out again, +and was being beached, and the white-haired man was walking towards us. +He addressed Montgomery. + +“And now comes the problem of this uninvited guest. What are we to do +with him?” + +“He knows something of science,” said Montgomery. + +“I’m itching to get to work again—with this new stuff,” said the +white-haired man, nodding towards the enclosure. His eyes grew +brighter. + +“I daresay you are,” said Montgomery, in anything but a cordial tone. + +“We can’t send him over there, and we can’t spare the time to build him +a new shanty; and we certainly can’t take him into our confidence just +yet.” + +“I’m in your hands,” said I. I had no idea of what he meant by “over +there.” + +“I’ve been thinking of the same things,” Montgomery answered. “There’s +my room with the outer door—” + +“That’s it,” said the elder man, promptly, looking at Montgomery; and +all three of us went towards the enclosure. “I’m sorry to make a +mystery, Mr. Prendick; but you’ll remember you’re uninvited. Our little +establishment here contains a secret or so, is a kind of Blue-Beard’s +chamber, in fact. Nothing very dreadful, really, to a sane man; but +just now, as we don’t know you—” + +“Decidedly,” said I, “I should be a fool to take offence at any want of +confidence.” + +He twisted his heavy mouth into a faint smile—he was one of those +saturnine people who smile with the corners of the mouth down,—and +bowed his acknowledgment of my complaisance. The main entrance to the +enclosure was passed; it was a heavy wooden gate, framed in iron and +locked, with the cargo of the launch piled outside it, and at the +corner we came to a small doorway I had not previously observed. The +white-haired man produced a bundle of keys from the pocket of his +greasy blue jacket, opened this door, and entered. His keys, and the +elaborate locking-up of the place even while it was still under his +eye, struck me as peculiar. I followed him, and found myself in a small +apartment, plainly but not uncomfortably furnished and with its inner +door, which was slightly ajar, opening into a paved courtyard. This +inner door Montgomery at once closed. A hammock was slung across the +darker corner of the room, and a small unglazed window defended by an +iron bar looked out towards the sea. + +This the white-haired man told me was to be my apartment; and the inner +door, which “for fear of accidents,” he said, he would lock on the +other side, was my limit inward. He called my attention to a convenient +deck-chair before the window, and to an array of old books, chiefly, I +found, surgical works and editions of the Latin and Greek classics +(languages I cannot read with any comfort), on a shelf near the +hammock. He left the room by the outer door, as if to avoid opening the +inner one again. + +“We usually have our meals in here,” said Montgomery, and then, as if +in doubt, went out after the other. “Moreau!” I heard him call, and for +the moment I do not think I noticed. Then as I handled the books on the +shelf it came up in consciousness: Where had I heard the name of Moreau +before? I sat down before the window, took out the biscuits that still +remained to me, and ate them with an excellent appetite. Moreau! + +Through the window I saw one of those unaccountable men in white, +lugging a packing-case along the beach. Presently the window-frame hid +him. Then I heard a key inserted and turned in the lock behind me. +After a little while I heard through the locked door the noise of the +staghounds, that had now been brought up from the beach. They were not +barking, but sniffing and growling in a curious fashion. I could hear +the rapid patter of their feet, and Montgomery’s voice soothing them. + +I was very much impressed by the elaborate secrecy of these two men +regarding the contents of the place, and for some time I was thinking +of that and of the unaccountable familiarity of the name of Moreau; but +so odd is the human memory that I could not then recall that well-known +name in its proper connection. From that my thoughts went to the +indefinable queerness of the deformed man on the beach. I never saw +such a gait, such odd motions as he pulled at the box. I recalled that +none of these men had spoken to me, though most of them I had found +looking at me at one time or another in a peculiarly furtive manner, +quite unlike the frank stare of your unsophisticated savage. Indeed, +they had all seemed remarkably taciturn, and when they did speak, +endowed with very uncanny voices. What was wrong with them? Then I +recalled the eyes of Montgomery’s ungainly attendant. + +Just as I was thinking of him he came in. He was now dressed in white, +and carried a little tray with some coffee and boiled vegetables +thereon. I could hardly repress a shuddering recoil as he came, bending +amiably, and placed the tray before me on the table. Then astonishment +paralysed me. Under his stringy black locks I saw his ear; it jumped +upon me suddenly close to my face. The man had pointed ears, covered +with a fine brown fur! + +“Your breakfast, sair,” he said. + +I stared at his face without attempting to answer him. He turned and +went towards the door, regarding me oddly over his shoulder. I followed +him out with my eyes; and as I did so, by some odd trick of unconscious +cerebration, there came surging into my head the phrase, “The Moreau +Hollows”—was it? “The Moreau—” Ah! It sent my memory back ten years. +“The Moreau Horrors!” The phrase drifted loose in my mind for a moment, +and then I saw it in red lettering on a little buff-coloured pamphlet, +to read which made one shiver and creep. Then I remembered distinctly +all about it. That long-forgotten pamphlet came back with startling +vividness to my mind. I had been a mere lad then, and Moreau was, I +suppose, about fifty,—a prominent and masterful physiologist, +well-known in scientific circles for his extraordinary imagination and +his brutal directness in discussion. + +Was this the same Moreau? He had published some very astonishing facts +in connection with the transfusion of blood, and in addition was known +to be doing valuable work on morbid growths. Then suddenly his career +was closed. He had to leave England. A journalist obtained access to +his laboratory in the capacity of laboratory-assistant, with the +deliberate intention of making sensational exposures; and by the help +of a shocking accident (if it was an accident), his gruesome pamphlet +became notorious. On the day of its publication a wretched dog, flayed +and otherwise mutilated, escaped from Moreau’s house. It was in the +silly season, and a prominent editor, a cousin of the temporary +laboratory-assistant, appealed to the conscience of the nation. It was +not the first time that conscience has turned against the methods of +research. The doctor was simply howled out of the country. It may be +that he deserved to be; but I still think that the tepid support of his +fellow-investigators and his desertion by the great body of scientific +workers was a shameful thing. Yet some of his experiments, by the +journalist’s account, were wantonly cruel. He might perhaps have +purchased his social peace by abandoning his investigations; but he +apparently preferred the latter, as most men would who have once fallen +under the overmastering spell of research. He was unmarried, and had +indeed nothing but his own interest to consider. + +I felt convinced that this must be the same man. Everything pointed to +it. It dawned upon me to what end the puma and the other animals—which +had now been brought with other luggage into the enclosure behind the +house—were destined; and a curious faint odour, the halitus of +something familiar, an odour that had been in the background of my +consciousness hitherto, suddenly came forward into the forefront of my +thoughts. It was the antiseptic odour of the dissecting-room. I heard +the puma growling through the wall, and one of the dogs yelped as +though it had been struck. + +Yet surely, and especially to another scientific man, there was nothing +so horrible in vivisection as to account for this secrecy; and by some +odd leap in my thoughts the pointed ears and luminous eyes of +Montgomery’s attendant came back again before me with the sharpest +definition. I stared before me out at the green sea, frothing under a +freshening breeze, and let these and other strange memories of the last +few days chase one another through my mind. + +What could it all mean? A locked enclosure on a lonely island, a +notorious vivisector, and these crippled and distorted men? + + + + +VIII. +THE CRYING OF THE PUMA. + + +Montgomery interrupted my tangle of mystification and suspicion about +one o’clock, and his grotesque attendant followed him with a tray +bearing bread, some herbs and other eatables, a flask of whiskey, a jug +of water, and three glasses and knives. I glanced askance at this +strange creature, and found him watching me with his queer, restless +eyes. Montgomery said he would lunch with me, but that Moreau was too +preoccupied with some work to come. + +“Moreau!” said I. “I know that name.” + +“The devil you do!” said he. “What an ass I was to mention it to you! I +might have thought. Anyhow, it will give you an inkling of +our—mysteries. Whiskey?” + +“No, thanks; I’m an abstainer.” + +“I wish I’d been. But it’s no use locking the door after the steed is +stolen. It was that infernal stuff which led to my coming here,—that, +and a foggy night. I thought myself in luck at the time, when Moreau +offered to get me off. It’s queer—” + +“Montgomery,” said I, suddenly, as the outer door closed, “why has your +man pointed ears?” + +“Damn!” he said, over his first mouthful of food. He stared at me for a +moment, and then repeated, “Pointed ears?” + +“Little points to them,” said I, as calmly as possible, with a catch in +my breath; “and a fine black fur at the edges?” + +He helped himself to whiskey and water with great deliberation. “I was +under the impression—that his hair covered his ears.” + +“I saw them as he stooped by me to put that coffee you sent to me on +the table. And his eyes shine in the dark.” + +By this time Montgomery had recovered from the surprise of my question. +“I always thought,” he said deliberately, with a certain accentuation +of his flavouring of lisp, “that there _was_ something the matter with +his ears, from the way he covered them. What were they like?” + +I was persuaded from his manner that this ignorance was a pretence. +Still, I could hardly tell the man that I thought him a liar. +“Pointed,” I said; “rather small and furry,—distinctly furry. But the +whole man is one of the strangest beings I ever set eyes on.” + +A sharp, hoarse cry of animal pain came from the enclosure behind us. +Its depth and volume testified to the puma. I saw Montgomery wince. + +“Yes?” he said. + +“Where did you pick up the creature?” + +“San Francisco. He’s an ugly brute, I admit. Half-witted, you know. +Can’t remember where he came from. But I’m used to him, you know. We +both are. How does he strike you?” + +“He’s unnatural,” I said. “There’s something about him—don’t think me +fanciful, but it gives me a nasty little sensation, a tightening of my +muscles, when he comes near me. It’s a touch—of the diabolical, in +fact.” + +Montgomery had stopped eating while I told him this. “Rum!” he said. +“_I_ can’t see it.” He resumed his meal. “I had no idea of it,” he +said, and masticated. “The crew of the schooner must have felt it the +same. Made a dead set at the poor devil. You saw the captain?” + +Suddenly the puma howled again, this time more painfully. Montgomery +swore under his breath. I had half a mind to attack him about the men +on the beach. Then the poor brute within gave vent to a series of +short, sharp cries. + +“Your men on the beach,” said I; “what race are they?” + +“Excellent fellows, aren’t they?” said he, absentmindedly, knitting his +brows as the animal yelled out sharply. + +I said no more. There was another outcry worse than the former. He +looked at me with his dull grey eyes, and then took some more whiskey. +He tried to draw me into a discussion about alcohol, professing to have +saved my life with it. He seemed anxious to lay stress on the fact that +I owed my life to him. I answered him distractedly. + +Presently our meal came to an end; the misshapen monster with the +pointed ears cleared the remains away, and Montgomery left me alone in +the room again. All the time he had been in a state of ill-concealed +irritation at the noise of the vivisected puma. He had spoken of his +odd want of nerve, and left me to the obvious application. + +I found myself that the cries were singularly irritating, and they grew +in depth and intensity as the afternoon wore on. They were painful at +first, but their constant resurgence at last altogether upset my +balance. I flung aside a crib of Horace I had been reading, and began +to clench my fists, to bite my lips, and to pace the room. Presently I +got to stopping my ears with my fingers. + +The emotional appeal of those yells grew upon me steadily, grew at last +to such an exquisite expression of suffering that I could stand it in +that confined room no longer. I stepped out of the door into the +slumberous heat of the late afternoon, and walking past the main +entrance—locked again, I noticed—turned the corner of the wall. + +The crying sounded even louder out of doors. It was as if all the pain +in the world had found a voice. Yet had I known such pain was in the +next room, and had it been dumb, I believe—I have thought since—I could +have stood it well enough. It is when suffering finds a voice and sets +our nerves quivering that this pity comes troubling us. But in spite of +the brilliant sunlight and the green fans of the trees waving in the +soothing sea-breeze, the world was a confusion, blurred with drifting +black and red phantasms, until I was out of earshot of the house in the +chequered wall. + + + + +IX. +THE THING IN THE FOREST. + + +I strode through the undergrowth that clothed the ridge behind the +house, scarcely heeding whither I went; passed on through the shadow of +a thick cluster of straight-stemmed trees beyond it, and so presently +found myself some way on the other side of the ridge, and descending +towards a streamlet that ran through a narrow valley. I paused and +listened. The distance I had come, or the intervening masses of +thicket, deadened any sound that might be coming from the enclosure. +The air was still. Then with a rustle a rabbit emerged, and went +scampering up the slope before me. I hesitated, and sat down in the +edge of the shade. + +The place was a pleasant one. The rivulet was hidden by the luxuriant +vegetation of the banks save at one point, where I caught a triangular +patch of its glittering water. On the farther side I saw through a +bluish haze a tangle of trees and creepers, and above these again the +luminous blue of the sky. Here and there a splash of white or crimson +marked the blooming of some trailing epiphyte. I let my eyes wander +over this scene for a while, and then began to turn over in my mind +again the strange peculiarities of Montgomery’s man. But it was too hot +to think elaborately, and presently I fell into a tranquil state midway +between dozing and waking. + +From this I was aroused, after I know not how long, by a rustling +amidst the greenery on the other side of the stream. For a moment I +could see nothing but the waving summits of the ferns and reeds. Then +suddenly upon the bank of the stream appeared something—at first I +could not distinguish what it was. It bowed its round head to the +water, and began to drink. Then I saw it was a man, going on all-fours +like a beast. He was clothed in bluish cloth, and was of a +copper-coloured hue, with black hair. It seemed that grotesque ugliness +was an invariable character of these islanders. I could hear the suck +of the water at his lips as he drank. + +I leant forward to see him better, and a piece of lava, detached by my +hand, went pattering down the slope. He looked up guiltily, and his +eyes met mine. Forthwith he scrambled to his feet, and stood wiping his +clumsy hand across his mouth and regarding me. His legs were scarcely +half the length of his body. So, staring one another out of +countenance, we remained for perhaps the space of a minute. Then, +stopping to look back once or twice, he slunk off among the bushes to +the right of me, and I heard the swish of the fronds grow faint in the +distance and die away. Long after he had disappeared, I remained +sitting up staring in the direction of his retreat. My drowsy +tranquillity had gone. + +I was startled by a noise behind me, and turning suddenly saw the +flapping white tail of a rabbit vanishing up the slope. I jumped to my +feet. The apparition of this grotesque, half-bestial creature had +suddenly populated the stillness of the afternoon for me. I looked +around me rather nervously, and regretted that I was unarmed. Then I +thought that the man I had just seen had been clothed in bluish cloth, +had not been naked as a savage would have been; and I tried to persuade +myself from that fact that he was after all probably a peaceful +character, that the dull ferocity of his countenance belied him. + +Yet I was greatly disturbed at the apparition. I walked to the left +along the slope, turning my head about and peering this way and that +among the straight stems of the trees. Why should a man go on all-fours +and drink with his lips? Presently I heard an animal wailing again, and +taking it to be the puma, I turned about and walked in a direction +diametrically opposite to the sound. This led me down to the stream, +across which I stepped and pushed my way up through the undergrowth +beyond. + +I was startled by a great patch of vivid scarlet on the ground, and +going up to it found it to be a peculiar fungus, branched and +corrugated like a foliaceous lichen, but deliquescing into slime at the +touch; and then in the shadow of some luxuriant ferns I came upon an +unpleasant thing,—the dead body of a rabbit covered with shining flies, +but still warm and with the head torn off. I stopped aghast at the +sight of the scattered blood. Here at least was one visitor to the +island disposed of! There were no traces of other violence about it. It +looked as though it had been suddenly snatched up and killed; and as I +stared at the little furry body came the difficulty of how the thing +had been done. The vague dread that had been in my mind since I had +seen the inhuman face of the man at the stream grew distincter as I +stood there. I began to realise the hardihood of my expedition among +these unknown people. The thicket about me became altered to my +imagination. Every shadow became something more than a shadow,—became +an ambush; every rustle became a threat. Invisible things seemed +watching me. I resolved to go back to the enclosure on the beach. I +suddenly turned away and thrust myself violently, possibly even +frantically, through the bushes, anxious to get a clear space about me +again. + +I stopped just in time to prevent myself emerging upon an open space. +It was a kind of glade in the forest, made by a fall; seedlings were +already starting up to struggle for the vacant space; and beyond, the +dense growth of stems and twining vines and splashes of fungus and +flowers closed in again. Before me, squatting together upon the fungoid +ruins of a huge fallen tree and still unaware of my approach, were +three grotesque human figures. One was evidently a female; the other +two were men. They were naked, save for swathings of scarlet cloth +about the middle; and their skins were of a dull pinkish-drab colour, +such as I had seen in no savages before. They had fat, heavy, chinless +faces, retreating foreheads, and a scant bristly hair upon their heads. +I never saw such bestial-looking creatures. + +They were talking, or at least one of the men was talking to the other +two, and all three had been too closely interested to heed the rustling +of my approach. They swayed their heads and shoulders from side to +side. The speaker’s words came thick and sloppy, and though I could +hear them distinctly I could not distinguish what he said. He seemed to +me to be reciting some complicated gibberish. Presently his +articulation became shriller, and spreading his hands he rose to his +feet. At that the others began to gibber in unison, also rising to +their feet, spreading their hands and swaying their bodies in rhythm +with their chant. I noticed then the abnormal shortness of their legs, +and their lank, clumsy feet. All three began slowly to circle round, +raising and stamping their feet and waving their arms; a kind of tune +crept into their rhythmic recitation, and a refrain,—“Aloola,” or +“Balloola,” it sounded like. Their eyes began to sparkle, and their +ugly faces to brighten, with an expression of strange pleasure. Saliva +dripped from their lipless mouths. + +Suddenly, as I watched their grotesque and unaccountable gestures, I +perceived clearly for the first time what it was that had offended me, +what had given me the two inconsistent and conflicting impressions of +utter strangeness and yet of the strangest familiarity. The three +creatures engaged in this mysterious rite were human in shape, and yet +human beings with the strangest air about them of some familiar animal. +Each of these creatures, despite its human form, its rag of clothing, +and the rough humanity of its bodily form, had woven into it—into its +movements, into the expression of its countenance, into its whole +presence—some now irresistible suggestion of a hog, a swinish taint, +the unmistakable mark of the beast. + +I stood overcome by this amazing realisation and then the most horrible +questionings came rushing into my mind. They began leaping in the air, +first one and then the other, whooping and grunting. Then one slipped, +and for a moment was on all-fours,—to recover, indeed, forthwith. But +that transitory gleam of the true animalism of these monsters was +enough. + +I turned as noiselessly as possible, and becoming every now and then +rigid with the fear of being discovered, as a branch cracked or a leaf +rustled, I pushed back into the bushes. It was long before I grew +bolder, and dared to move freely. My only idea for the moment was to +get away from these foul beings, and I scarcely noticed that I had +emerged upon a faint pathway amidst the trees. Then suddenly traversing +a little glade, I saw with an unpleasant start two clumsy legs among +the trees, walking with noiseless footsteps parallel with my course, +and perhaps thirty yards away from me. The head and upper part of the +body were hidden by a tangle of creeper. I stopped abruptly, hoping the +creature did not see me. The feet stopped as I did. So nervous was I +that I controlled an impulse to headlong flight with the utmost +difficulty. Then looking hard, I distinguished through the interlacing +network the head and body of the brute I had seen drinking. He moved +his head. There was an emerald flash in his eyes as he glanced at me +from the shadow of the trees, a half-luminous colour that vanished as +he turned his head again. He was motionless for a moment, and then with +a noiseless tread began running through the green confusion. In another +moment he had vanished behind some bushes. I could not see him, but I +felt that he had stopped and was watching me again. + +What on earth was he,—man or beast? What did he want with me? I had no +weapon, not even a stick. Flight would be madness. At any rate the +Thing, whatever it was, lacked the courage to attack me. Setting my +teeth hard, I walked straight towards him. I was anxious not to show +the fear that seemed chilling my backbone. I pushed through a tangle of +tall white-flowered bushes, and saw him twenty paces beyond, looking +over his shoulder at me and hesitating. I advanced a step or two, +looking steadfastly into his eyes. + +“Who are you?” said I. + +He tried to meet my gaze. “No!” he said suddenly, and turning went +bounding away from me through the undergrowth. Then he turned and +stared at me again. His eyes shone brightly out of the dusk under the +trees. + +My heart was in my mouth; but I felt my only chance was bluff, and +walked steadily towards him. He turned again, and vanished into the +dusk. Once more I thought I caught the glint of his eyes, and that was +all. + +For the first time I realised how the lateness of the hour might affect +me. The sun had set some minutes since, the swift dusk of the tropics +was already fading out of the eastern sky, and a pioneer moth fluttered +silently by my head. Unless I would spend the night among the unknown +dangers of the mysterious forest, I must hasten back to the enclosure. +The thought of a return to that pain-haunted refuge was extremely +disagreeable, but still more so was the idea of being overtaken in the +open by darkness and all that darkness might conceal. I gave one more +look into the blue shadows that had swallowed up this odd creature, and +then retraced my way down the slope towards the stream, going as I +judged in the direction from which I had come. + +I walked eagerly, my mind confused with many things, and presently +found myself in a level place among scattered trees. The colourless +clearness that comes after the sunset flush was darkling; the blue sky +above grew momentarily deeper, and the little stars one by one pierced +the attenuated light; the interspaces of the trees, the gaps in the +further vegetation, that had been hazy blue in the daylight, grew black +and mysterious. I pushed on. The colour vanished from the world. The +tree-tops rose against the luminous blue sky in inky silhouette, and +all below that outline melted into one formless blackness. Presently +the trees grew thinner, and the shrubby undergrowth more abundant. Then +there was a desolate space covered with a white sand, and then another +expanse of tangled bushes. I did not remember crossing the sand-opening +before. I began to be tormented by a faint rustling upon my right hand. +I thought at first it was fancy, for whenever I stopped there was +silence, save for the evening breeze in the tree-tops. Then when I +turned to hurry on again there was an echo to my footsteps. + +I turned away from the thickets, keeping to the more open ground, and +endeavouring by sudden turns now and then to surprise something in the +act of creeping upon me. I saw nothing, and nevertheless my sense of +another presence grew steadily. I increased my pace, and after some +time came to a slight ridge, crossed it, and turned sharply, regarding +it steadfastly from the further side. It came out black and clear-cut +against the darkling sky; and presently a shapeless lump heaved up +momentarily against the sky-line and vanished again. I felt assured now +that my tawny-faced antagonist was stalking me once more; and coupled +with that was another unpleasant realisation, that I had lost my way. + +For a time I hurried on hopelessly perplexed, and pursued by that +stealthy approach. Whatever it was, the Thing either lacked the courage +to attack me, or it was waiting to take me at some disadvantage. I kept +studiously to the open. At times I would turn and listen; and presently +I had half persuaded myself that my pursuer had abandoned the chase, or +was a mere creation of my disordered imagination. Then I heard the +sound of the sea. I quickened my footsteps almost into a run, and +immediately there was a stumble in my rear. + +I turned suddenly, and stared at the uncertain trees behind me. One +black shadow seemed to leap into another. I listened, rigid, and heard +nothing but the creep of the blood in my ears. I thought that my nerves +were unstrung, and that my imagination was tricking me, and turned +resolutely towards the sound of the sea again. + +In a minute or so the trees grew thinner, and I emerged upon a bare, +low headland running out into the sombre water. The night was calm and +clear, and the reflection of the growing multitude of the stars +shivered in the tranquil heaving of the sea. Some way out, the wash +upon an irregular band of reef shone with a pallid light of its own. +Westward I saw the zodiacal light mingling with the yellow brilliance +of the evening star. The coast fell away from me to the east, and +westward it was hidden by the shoulder of the cape. Then I recalled the +fact that Moreau’s beach lay to the west. + +A twig snapped behind me, and there was a rustle. I turned, and stood +facing the dark trees. I could see nothing—or else I could see too +much. Every dark form in the dimness had its ominous quality, its +peculiar suggestion of alert watchfulness. So I stood for perhaps a +minute, and then, with an eye to the trees still, turned westward to +cross the headland; and as I moved, one among the lurking shadows moved +to follow me. + +My heart beat quickly. Presently the broad sweep of a bay to the +westward became visible, and I halted again. The noiseless shadow +halted a dozen yards from me. A little point of light shone on the +further bend of the curve, and the grey sweep of the sandy beach lay +faint under the starlight. Perhaps two miles away was that little point +of light. To get to the beach I should have to go through the trees +where the shadows lurked, and down a bushy slope. + +I could see the Thing rather more distinctly now. It was no animal, for +it stood erect. At that I opened my mouth to speak, and found a hoarse +phlegm choked my voice. I tried again, and shouted, “Who is there?” +There was no answer. I advanced a step. The Thing did not move, only +gathered itself together. My foot struck a stone. That gave me an idea. +Without taking my eyes off the black form before me, I stooped and +picked up this lump of rock; but at my motion the Thing turned abruptly +as a dog might have done, and slunk obliquely into the further +darkness. Then I recalled a schoolboy expedient against big dogs, and +twisted the rock into my handkerchief, and gave this a turn round my +wrist. I heard a movement further off among the shadows, as if the +Thing was in retreat. Then suddenly my tense excitement gave way; I +broke into a profuse perspiration and fell a-trembling, with my +adversary routed and this weapon in my hand. + +It was some time before I could summon resolution to go down through +the trees and bushes upon the flank of the headland to the beach. At +last I did it at a run; and as I emerged from the thicket upon the +sand, I heard some other body come crashing after me. At that I +completely lost my head with fear, and began running along the sand. +Forthwith there came the swift patter of soft feet in pursuit. I gave a +wild cry, and redoubled my pace. Some dim, black things about three or +four times the size of rabbits went running or hopping up from the +beach towards the bushes as I passed. + +So long as I live, I shall remember the terror of that chase. I ran +near the water’s edge, and heard every now and then the splash of the +feet that gained upon me. Far away, hopelessly far, was the yellow +light. All the night about us was black and still. Splash, splash, came +the pursuing feet, nearer and nearer. I felt my breath going, for I was +quite out of training; it whooped as I drew it, and I felt a pain like +a knife at my side. I perceived the Thing would come up with me long +before I reached the enclosure, and, desperate and sobbing for my +breath, I wheeled round upon it and struck at it as it came up to +me,—struck with all my strength. The stone came out of the sling of the +handkerchief as I did so. As I turned, the Thing, which had been +running on all-fours, rose to its feet, and the missile fell fair on +its left temple. The skull rang loud, and the animal-man blundered into +me, thrust me back with its hands, and went staggering past me to fall +headlong upon the sand with its face in the water; and there it lay +still. + +I could not bring myself to approach that black heap. I left it there, +with the water rippling round it, under the still stars, and giving it +a wide berth pursued my way towards the yellow glow of the house; and +presently, with a positive effect of relief, came the pitiful moaning +of the puma, the sound that had originally driven me out to explore +this mysterious island. At that, though I was faint and horribly +fatigued, I gathered together all my strength, and began running again +towards the light. I thought I heard a voice calling me. + + + + +X. +THE CRYING OF THE MAN. + + +As I drew near the house I saw that the light shone from the open door +of my room; and then I heard coming from out of the darkness at the +side of that orange oblong of light, the voice of Montgomery shouting, +“Prendick!” I continued running. Presently I heard him again. I replied +by a feeble “Hullo!” and in another moment had staggered up to him. + +“Where have you been?” said he, holding me at arm’s length, so that the +light from the door fell on my face. “We have both been so busy that we +forgot you until about half an hour ago.” He led me into the room and +sat me down in the deck chair. For awhile I was blinded by the light. +“We did not think you would start to explore this island of ours +without telling us,” he said; and then, “I was afraid—But—what—Hullo!” + +My last remaining strength slipped from me, and my head fell forward on +my chest. I think he found a certain satisfaction in giving me brandy. + +“For God’s sake,” said I, “fasten that door.” + +“You’ve been meeting some of our curiosities, eh?” said he. + +He locked the door and turned to me again. He asked me no questions, +but gave me some more brandy and water and pressed me to eat. I was in +a state of collapse. He said something vague about his forgetting to +warn me, and asked me briefly when I left the house and what I had +seen. + +I answered him as briefly, in fragmentary sentences. “Tell me what it +all means,” said I, in a state bordering on hysterics. + +“It’s nothing so very dreadful,” said he. “But I think you have had +about enough for one day.” The puma suddenly gave a sharp yell of pain. +At that he swore under his breath. “I’m damned,” said he, “if this +place is not as bad as Gower Street, with its cats.” + +“Montgomery,” said I, “what was that thing that came after me? Was it a +beast or was it a man?” + +“If you don’t sleep to-night,” he said, “you’ll be off your head +to-morrow.” + +I stood up in front of him. “What was that thing that came after me?” I +asked. + +He looked me squarely in the eyes, and twisted his mouth askew. His +eyes, which had seemed animated a minute before, went dull. “From your +account,” said he, “I’m thinking it was a bogle.” + +I felt a gust of intense irritation, which passed as quickly as it +came. I flung myself into the chair again, and pressed my hands on my +forehead. The puma began once more. + +Montgomery came round behind me and put his hand on my shoulder. “Look +here, Prendick,” he said, “I had no business to let you drift out into +this silly island of ours. But it’s not so bad as you feel, man. Your +nerves are worked to rags. Let me give you something that will make you +sleep. _That_—will keep on for hours yet. You must simply get to sleep, +or I won’t answer for it.” + +I did not reply. I bowed forward, and covered my face with my hands. +Presently he returned with a small measure containing a dark liquid. +This he gave me. I took it unresistingly, and he helped me into the +hammock. + +When I awoke, it was broad day. For a little while I lay flat, staring +at the roof above me. The rafters, I observed, were made out of the +timbers of a ship. Then I turned my head, and saw a meal prepared for +me on the table. I perceived that I was hungry, and prepared to clamber +out of the hammock, which, very politely anticipating my intention, +twisted round and deposited me upon all-fours on the floor. + +I got up and sat down before the food. I had a heavy feeling in my +head, and only the vaguest memory at first of the things that had +happened over night. The morning breeze blew very pleasantly through +the unglazed window, and that and the food contributed to the sense of +animal comfort which I experienced. Presently the door behind me—the +door inward towards the yard of the enclosure—opened. I turned and saw +Montgomery’s face. + +“All right,” said he. “I’m frightfully busy.” And he shut the door. + +Afterwards I discovered that he forgot to re-lock it. Then I recalled +the expression of his face the previous night, and with that the memory +of all I had experienced reconstructed itself before me. Even as that +fear came back to me came a cry from within; but this time it was not +the cry of a puma. I put down the mouthful that hesitated upon my lips, +and listened. Silence, save for the whisper of the morning breeze. I +began to think my ears had deceived me. + +After a long pause I resumed my meal, but with my ears still vigilant. +Presently I heard something else, very faint and low. I sat as if +frozen in my attitude. Though it was faint and low, it moved me more +profoundly than all that I had hitherto heard of the abominations +behind the wall. There was no mistake this time in the quality of the +dim, broken sounds; no doubt at all of their source. For it was +groaning, broken by sobs and gasps of anguish. It was no brute this +time; it was a human being in torment! + +As I realised this I rose, and in three steps had crossed the room, +seized the handle of the door into the yard, and flung it open before +me. + +“Prendick, man! Stop!” cried Montgomery, intervening. + +A startled deerhound yelped and snarled. There was blood, I saw, in the +sink,—brown, and some scarlet—and I smelt the peculiar smell of +carbolic acid. Then through an open doorway beyond, in the dim light of +the shadow, I saw something bound painfully upon a framework, scarred, +red, and bandaged; and then blotting this out appeared the face of old +Moreau, white and terrible. In a moment he had gripped me by the +shoulder with a hand that was smeared red, had twisted me off my feet, +and flung me headlong back into my own room. He lifted me as though I +was a little child. I fell at full length upon the floor, and the door +slammed and shut out the passionate intensity of his face. Then I heard +the key turn in the lock, and Montgomery’s voice in expostulation. + +“Ruin the work of a lifetime,” I heard Moreau say. + +“He does not understand,” said Montgomery. and other things that were +inaudible. + +“I can’t spare the time yet,” said Moreau. + +The rest I did not hear. I picked myself up and stood trembling, my +mind a chaos of the most horrible misgivings. Could it be possible, I +thought, that such a thing as the vivisection of men was carried on +here? The question shot like lightning across a tumultuous sky; and +suddenly the clouded horror of my mind condensed into a vivid +realisation of my own danger. + + + + +XI. +THE HUNTING OF THE MAN. + + +It came before my mind with an unreasonable hope of escape that the +outer door of my room was still open to me. I was convinced now, +absolutely assured, that Moreau had been vivisecting a human being. All +the time since I had heard his name, I had been trying to link in my +mind in some way the grotesque animalism of the islanders with his +abominations; and now I thought I saw it all. The memory of his work on +the transfusion of blood recurred to me. These creatures I had seen +were the victims of some hideous experiment. These sickening scoundrels +had merely intended to keep me back, to fool me with their display of +confidence, and presently to fall upon me with a fate more horrible +than death,—with torture; and after torture the most hideous +degradation it is possible to conceive,—to send me off a lost soul, a +beast, to the rest of their Comus rout. + +I looked round for some weapon. Nothing. Then with an inspiration I +turned over the deck chair, put my foot on the side of it, and tore +away the side rail. It happened that a nail came away with the wood, +and projecting, gave a touch of danger to an otherwise petty weapon. I +heard a step outside, and incontinently flung open the door and found +Montgomery within a yard of it. He meant to lock the outer door! I +raised this nailed stick of mine and cut at his face; but he sprang +back. I hesitated a moment, then turned and fled, round the corner of +the house. “Prendick, man!” I heard his astonished cry, “don’t be a +silly ass, man!” + +Another minute, thought I, and he would have had me locked in, and as +ready as a hospital rabbit for my fate. He emerged behind the corner, +for I heard him shout, “Prendick!” Then he began to run after me, +shouting things as he ran. This time running blindly, I went +northeastward in a direction at right angles to my previous expedition. +Once, as I went running headlong up the beach, I glanced over my +shoulder and saw his attendant with him. I ran furiously up the slope, +over it, then turning eastward along a rocky valley fringed on either +side with jungle I ran for perhaps a mile altogether, my chest +straining, my heart beating in my ears; and then hearing nothing of +Montgomery or his man, and feeling upon the verge of exhaustion, I +doubled sharply back towards the beach as I judged, and lay down in the +shelter of a canebrake. There I remained for a long time, too fearful +to move, and indeed too fearful even to plan a course of action. The +wild scene about me lay sleeping silently under the sun, and the only +sound near me was the thin hum of some small gnats that had discovered +me. Presently I became aware of a drowsy breathing sound, the soughing +of the sea upon the beach. + +After about an hour I heard Montgomery shouting my name, far away to +the north. That set me thinking of my plan of action. As I interpreted +it then, this island was inhabited only by these two vivisectors and +their animalised victims. Some of these no doubt they could press into +their service against me if need arose. I knew both Moreau and +Montgomery carried revolvers; and, save for a feeble bar of deal spiked +with a small nail, the merest mockery of a mace, I was unarmed. + +So I lay still there, until I began to think of food and drink; and at +that thought the real hopelessness of my position came home to me. I +knew no way of getting anything to eat. I was too ignorant of botany to +discover any resort of root or fruit that might lie about me; I had no +means of trapping the few rabbits upon the island. It grew blanker the +more I turned the prospect over. At last in the desperation of my +position, my mind turned to the animal men I had encountered. I tried +to find some hope in what I remembered of them. In turn I recalled each +one I had seen, and tried to draw some augury of assistance from my +memory. + +Then suddenly I heard a staghound bay, and at that realised a new +danger. I took little time to think, or they would have caught me then, +but snatching up my nailed stick, rushed headlong from my hiding-place +towards the sound of the sea. I remember a growth of thorny plants, +with spines that stabbed like pen-knives. I emerged bleeding and with +torn clothes upon the lip of a long creek opening northward. I went +straight into the water without a minute’s hesitation, wading up the +creek, and presently finding myself kneedeep in a little stream. I +scrambled out at last on the westward bank, and with my heart beating +loudly in my ears, crept into a tangle of ferns to await the issue. I +heard the dog (there was only one) draw nearer, and yelp when it came +to the thorns. Then I heard no more, and presently began to think I had +escaped. + +The minutes passed; the silence lengthened out, and at last after an +hour of security my courage began to return to me. By this time I was +no longer very much terrified or very miserable. I had, as it were, +passed the limit of terror and despair. I felt now that my life was +practically lost, and that persuasion made me capable of daring +anything. I had even a certain wish to encounter Moreau face to face; +and as I had waded into the water, I remembered that if I were too hard +pressed at least one path of escape from torment still lay open to +me,—they could not very well prevent my drowning myself. I had half a +mind to drown myself then; but an odd wish to see the whole adventure +out, a queer, impersonal, spectacular interest in myself, restrained +me. I stretched my limbs, sore and painful from the pricks of the spiny +plants, and stared around me at the trees; and, so suddenly that it +seemed to jump out of the green tracery about it, my eyes lit upon a +black face watching me. I saw that it was the simian creature who had +met the launch upon the beach. He was clinging to the oblique stem of a +palm-tree. I gripped my stick, and stood up facing him. He began +chattering. “You, you, you,” was all I could distinguish at first. +Suddenly he dropped from the tree, and in another moment was holding +the fronds apart and staring curiously at me. + +I did not feel the same repugnance towards this creature which I had +experienced in my encounters with the other Beast Men. “You,” he said, +“in the boat.” He was a man, then,—at least as much of a man as +Montgomery’s attendant,—for he could talk. + +“Yes,” I said, “I came in the boat. From the ship.” + +“Oh!” he said, and his bright, restless eyes travelled over me, to my +hands, to the stick I carried, to my feet, to the tattered places in my +coat, and the cuts and scratches I had received from the thorns. He +seemed puzzled at something. His eyes came back to my hands. He held +his own hand out and counted his digits slowly, “One, two, three, four, +five—eigh?” + +I did not grasp his meaning then; afterwards I was to find that a great +proportion of these Beast People had malformed hands, lacking sometimes +even three digits. But guessing this was in some way a greeting, I did +the same thing by way of reply. He grinned with immense satisfaction. +Then his swift roving glance went round again; he made a swift +movement—and vanished. The fern fronds he had stood between came +swishing together. + +I pushed out of the brake after him, and was astonished to find him +swinging cheerfully by one lank arm from a rope of creepers that looped +down from the foliage overhead. His back was to me. + +“Hullo!” said I. + +He came down with a twisting jump, and stood facing me. + +“I say,” said I, “where can I get something to eat?” + +“Eat!” he said. “Eat Man’s food, now.” And his eye went back to the +swing of ropes. “At the huts.” + +“But where are the huts?” + +“Oh!” + +“I’m new, you know.” + +At that he swung round, and set off at a quick walk. All his motions +were curiously rapid. “Come along,” said he. + +I went with him to see the adventure out. I guessed the huts were some +rough shelter where he and some more of these Beast People lived. I +might perhaps find them friendly, find some handle in their minds to +take hold of. I did not know how far they had forgotten their human +heritage. + +My ape-like companion trotted along by my side, with his hands hanging +down and his jaw thrust forward. I wondered what memory he might have +in him. “How long have you been on this island?” said I. + +“How long?” he asked; and after having the question repeated, he held +up three fingers. + +The creature was little better than an idiot. I tried to make out what +he meant by that, and it seems I bored him. After another question or +two he suddenly left my side and went leaping at some fruit that hung +from a tree. He pulled down a handful of prickly husks and went on +eating the contents. I noted this with satisfaction, for here at least +was a hint for feeding. I tried him with some other questions, but his +chattering, prompt responses were as often as not quite at cross +purposes with my question. Some few were appropriate, others quite +parrot-like. + +I was so intent upon these peculiarities that I scarcely noticed the +path we followed. Presently we came to trees, all charred and brown, +and so to a bare place covered with a yellow-white incrustation, across +which a drifting smoke, pungent in whiffs to nose and eyes, went +drifting. On our right, over a shoulder of bare rock, I saw the level +blue of the sea. The path coiled down abruptly into a narrow ravine +between two tumbled and knotty masses of blackish scoriae. Into this we +plunged. + +It was extremely dark, this passage, after the blinding sunlight +reflected from the sulphurous ground. Its walls grew steep, and +approached each other. Blotches of green and crimson drifted across my +eyes. My conductor stopped suddenly. “Home!” said he, and I stood in a +floor of a chasm that was at first absolutely dark to me. I heard some +strange noises, and thrust the knuckles of my left hand into my eyes. I +became aware of a disagreeable odor, like that of a monkey’s cage +ill-cleaned. Beyond, the rock opened again upon a gradual slope of +sunlit greenery, and on either hand the light smote down through narrow +ways into the central gloom. + + + + +XII. +THE SAYERS OF THE LAW. + + +Then something cold touched my hand. I started violently, and saw close +to me a dim pinkish thing, looking more like a flayed child than +anything else in the world. The creature had exactly the mild but +repulsive features of a sloth, the same low forehead and slow gestures. + +As the first shock of the change of light passed, I saw about me more +distinctly. The little sloth-like creature was standing and staring at +me. My conductor had vanished. The place was a narrow passage between +high walls of lava, a crack in the knotted rock, and on either side +interwoven heaps of sea-mat, palm-fans, and reeds leaning against the +rock formed rough and impenetrably dark dens. The winding way up the +ravine between these was scarcely three yards wide, and was disfigured +by lumps of decaying fruit-pulp and other refuse, which accounted for +the disagreeable stench of the place. + +The little pink sloth-creature was still blinking at me when my Ape-man +reappeared at the aperture of the nearest of these dens, and beckoned +me in. As he did so a slouching monster wriggled out of one of the +places, further up this strange street, and stood up in featureless +silhouette against the bright green beyond, staring at me. I hesitated, +having half a mind to bolt the way I had come; and then, determined to +go through with the adventure, I gripped my nailed stick about the +middle and crawled into the little evil-smelling lean-to after my +conductor. + +It was a semi-circular space, shaped like the half of a bee-hive; and +against the rocky wall that formed the inner side of it was a pile of +variegated fruits, cocoa-nuts among others. Some rough vessels of lava +and wood stood about the floor, and one on a rough stool. There was no +fire. In the darkest corner of the hut sat a shapeless mass of darkness +that grunted “Hey!” as I came in, and my Ape-man stood in the dim light +of the doorway and held out a split cocoa-nut to me as I crawled into +the other corner and squatted down. I took it, and began gnawing it, as +serenely as possible, in spite of a certain trepidation and the nearly +intolerable closeness of the den. The little pink sloth-creature stood +in the aperture of the hut, and something else with a drab face and +bright eyes came staring over its shoulder. + +“Hey!” came out of the lump of mystery opposite. “It is a man.” + +“It is a man,” gabbled my conductor, “a man, a man, a five-man, like +me.” + +“Shut up!” said the voice from the dark, and grunted. I gnawed my +cocoa-nut amid an impressive stillness. + +I peered hard into the blackness, but could distinguish nothing. + +“It is a man,” the voice repeated. “He comes to live with us?” + +It was a thick voice, with something in it—a kind of whistling +overtone—that struck me as peculiar; but the English accent was +strangely good. + +The Ape-man looked at me as though he expected something. I perceived +the pause was interrogative. “He comes to live with you,” I said. + +“It is a man. He must learn the Law.” + +I began to distinguish now a deeper blackness in the black, a vague +outline of a hunched-up figure. Then I noticed the opening of the place +was darkened by two more black heads. My hand tightened on my stick. + +The thing in the dark repeated in a louder tone, “Say the words.” I had +missed its last remark. “Not to go on all-fours; that is the Law,” it +repeated in a kind of sing-song. + +I was puzzled. + +“Say the words,” said the Ape-man, repeating, and the figures in the +doorway echoed this, with a threat in the tone of their voices. + +I realised that I had to repeat this idiotic formula; and then began +the insanest ceremony. The voice in the dark began intoning a mad +litany, line by line, and I and the rest to repeat it. As they did so, +they swayed from side to side in the oddest way, and beat their hands +upon their knees; and I followed their example. I could have imagined I +was already dead and in another world. That dark hut, these grotesque +dim figures, just flecked here and there by a glimmer of light, and all +of them swaying in unison and chanting, + +“Not to go on all-fours; that is the Law. Are we not Men? +“Not to suck up Drink; that is the Law. Are we not Men? +“Not to eat Fish or Flesh; that is the Law. Are we not Men? +“Not to claw the Bark of Trees; _that_ is the Law. Are we not Men? +“Not to chase other Men; _that_ is the Law. Are we not Men?” + + +And so from the prohibition of these acts of folly, on to the +prohibition of what I thought then were the maddest, most impossible, +and most indecent things one could well imagine. A kind of rhythmic +fervour fell on all of us; we gabbled and swayed faster and faster, +repeating this amazing Law. Superficially the contagion of these brutes +was upon me, but deep down within me the laughter and disgust struggled +together. We ran through a long list of prohibitions, and then the +chant swung round to a new formula. + +“_His_ is the House of Pain. +“_His_ is the Hand that makes. +“_His_ is the Hand that wounds. +“_His_ is the Hand that heals.” + + +And so on for another long series, mostly quite incomprehensible +gibberish to me about _Him_, whoever he might be. I could have fancied +it was a dream, but never before have I heard chanting in a dream. + +“_His_ is the lightning flash,” we sang. “_His_ is the deep, salt sea.” + +A horrible fancy came into my head that Moreau, after animalising these +men, had infected their dwarfed brains with a kind of deification of +himself. However, I was too keenly aware of white teeth and strong +claws about me to stop my chanting on that account. + +“_His_ are the stars in the sky.” + + +At last that song ended. I saw the Ape-man’s face shining with +perspiration; and my eyes being now accustomed to the darkness, I saw +more distinctly the figure in the corner from which the voice came. It +was the size of a man, but it seemed covered with a dull grey hair +almost like a Skye-terrier. What was it? What were they all? Imagine +yourself surrounded by all the most horrible cripples and maniacs it is +possible to conceive, and you may understand a little of my feelings +with these grotesque caricatures of humanity about me. + +“He is a five-man, a five-man, a five-man—like me,” said the Ape-man. + +I held out my hands. The grey creature in the corner leant forward. + +“Not to run on all-fours; that is the Law. Are we not Men?” he said. + +He put out a strangely distorted talon and gripped my fingers. The +thing was almost like the hoof of a deer produced into claws. I could +have yelled with surprise and pain. His face came forward and peered at +my nails, came forward into the light of the opening of the hut and I +saw with a quivering disgust that it was like the face of neither man +nor beast, but a mere shock of grey hair, with three shadowy +over-archings to mark the eyes and mouth. + +“He has little nails,” said this grisly creature in his hairy beard. +“It is well.” + +He threw my hand down, and instinctively I gripped my stick. + +“Eat roots and herbs; it is His will,” said the Ape-man. + +“I am the Sayer of the Law,” said the grey figure. “Here come all that +be new to learn the Law. I sit in the darkness and say the Law.” + +“It is even so,” said one of the beasts in the doorway. + +“Evil are the punishments of those who break the Law. None escape.” + +“None escape,” said the Beast Folk, glancing furtively at one another. + +“None, none,” said the Ape-man,—“none escape. See! I did a little +thing, a wrong thing, once. I jabbered, jabbered, stopped talking. None +could understand. I am burnt, branded in the hand. He is great. He is +good!” + +“None escape,” said the grey creature in the corner. + +“None escape,” said the Beast People, looking askance at one another. + +“For every one the want that is bad,” said the grey Sayer of the Law. +“What you will want we do not know; we shall know. Some want to follow +things that move, to watch and slink and wait and spring; to kill and +bite, bite deep and rich, sucking the blood. It is bad. ‘Not to chase +other Men; that is the Law. Are we not Men? Not to eat Flesh or Fish; +that is the Law. Are we not Men?’” + +“None escape,” said a dappled brute standing in the doorway. + +“For every one the want is bad,” said the grey Sayer of the Law. “Some +want to go tearing with teeth and hands into the roots of things, +snuffing into the earth. It is bad.” + +“None escape,” said the men in the door. + +“Some go clawing trees; some go scratching at the graves of the dead; +some go fighting with foreheads or feet or claws; some bite suddenly, +none giving occasion; some love uncleanness.” + +“None escape,” said the Ape-man, scratching his calf. + +“None escape,” said the little pink sloth-creature. + +“Punishment is sharp and sure. Therefore learn the Law. Say the words.” + +And incontinently he began again the strange litany of the Law, and +again I and all these creatures began singing and swaying. My head +reeled with this jabbering and the close stench of the place; but I +kept on, trusting to find presently some chance of a new development. + +“Not to go on all-fours; that is the Law. Are we not Men?” + +We were making such a noise that I noticed nothing of a tumult outside, +until some one, who I think was one of the two Swine Men I had seen, +thrust his head over the little pink sloth-creature and shouted +something excitedly, something that I did not catch. Incontinently +those at the opening of the hut vanished; my Ape-man rushed out; the +thing that had sat in the dark followed him (I only observed that it +was big and clumsy, and covered with silvery hair), and I was left +alone. Then before I reached the aperture I heard the yelp of a +staghound. + +In another moment I was standing outside the hovel, my chair-rail in my +hand, every muscle of me quivering. Before me were the clumsy backs of +perhaps a score of these Beast People, their misshapen heads half +hidden by their shoulder-blades. They were gesticulating excitedly. +Other half-animal faces glared interrogation out of the hovels. Looking +in the direction in which they faced, I saw coming through the haze +under the trees beyond the end of the passage of dens the dark figure +and awful white face of Moreau. He was holding the leaping staghound +back, and close behind him came Montgomery revolver in hand. + +For a moment I stood horror-struck. I turned and saw the passage behind +me blocked by another heavy brute, with a huge grey face and twinkling +little eyes, advancing towards me. I looked round and saw to the right +of me and a half-dozen yards in front of me a narrow gap in the wall of +rock through which a ray of light slanted into the shadows. + +“Stop!” cried Moreau as I strode towards this, and then, “Hold him!” + +At that, first one face turned towards me and then others. Their +bestial minds were happily slow. I dashed my shoulder into a clumsy +monster who was turning to see what Moreau meant, and flung him forward +into another. I felt his hands fly round, clutching at me and missing +me. The little pink sloth-creature dashed at me, and I gashed down its +ugly face with the nail in my stick and in another minute was +scrambling up a steep side pathway, a kind of sloping chimney, out of +the ravine. I heard a howl behind me, and cries of “Catch him!” “Hold +him!” and the grey-faced creature appeared behind me and jammed his +huge bulk into the cleft. “Go on! go on!” they howled. I clambered up +the narrow cleft in the rock and came out upon the sulphur on the +westward side of the village of the Beast Men. + +That gap was altogether fortunate for me, for the narrow chimney, +slanting obliquely upward, must have impeded the nearer pursuers. I ran +over the white space and down a steep slope, through a scattered growth +of trees, and came to a low-lying stretch of tall reeds, through which +I pushed into a dark, thick undergrowth that was black and succulent +under foot. As I plunged into the reeds, my foremost pursuers emerged +from the gap. I broke my way through this undergrowth for some minutes. +The air behind me and about me was soon full of threatening cries. I +heard the tumult of my pursuers in the gap up the slope, then the +crashing of the reeds, and every now and then the crackling crash of a +branch. Some of the creatures roared like excited beasts of prey. The +staghound yelped to the left. I heard Moreau and Montgomery shouting in +the same direction. I turned sharply to the right. It seemed to me even +then that I heard Montgomery shouting for me to run for my life. + +Presently the ground gave rich and oozy under my feet; but I was +desperate and went headlong into it, struggled through kneedeep, and so +came to a winding path among tall canes. The noise of my pursuers +passed away to my left. In one place three strange, pink, hopping +animals, about the size of cats, bolted before my footsteps. This +pathway ran up hill, across another open space covered with white +incrustation, and plunged into a canebrake again. Then suddenly it +turned parallel with the edge of a steep-walled gap, which came without +warning, like the ha-ha of an English park,—turned with an unexpected +abruptness. I was still running with all my might, and I never saw this +drop until I was flying headlong through the air. + +I fell on my forearms and head, among thorns, and rose with a torn ear +and bleeding face. I had fallen into a precipitous ravine, rocky and +thorny, full of a hazy mist which drifted about me in wisps, and with a +narrow streamlet from which this mist came meandering down the centre. +I was astonished at this thin fog in the full blaze of daylight; but I +had no time to stand wondering then. I turned to my right, down-stream, +hoping to come to the sea in that direction, and so have my way open to +drown myself. It was only later I found that I had dropped my nailed +stick in my fall. + +Presently the ravine grew narrower for a space, and carelessly I +stepped into the stream. I jumped out again pretty quickly, for the +water was almost boiling. I noticed too there was a thin sulphurous +scum drifting upon its coiling water. Almost immediately came a turn in +the ravine, and the indistinct blue horizon. The nearer sea was +flashing the sun from a myriad facets. I saw my death before me; but I +was hot and panting, with the warm blood oozing out on my face and +running pleasantly through my veins. I felt more than a touch of +exultation too, at having distanced my pursuers. It was not in me then +to go out and drown myself yet. I stared back the way I had come. + +I listened. Save for the hum of the gnats and the chirp of some small +insects that hopped among the thorns, the air was absolutely still. +Then came the yelp of a dog, very faint, and a chattering and +gibbering, the snap of a whip, and voices. They grew louder, then +fainter again. The noise receded up the stream and faded away. For a +while the chase was over; but I knew now how much hope of help for me +lay in the Beast People. + + + + +XIII. +A PARLEY. + + +I turned again and went on down towards the sea. I found the hot stream +broadened out to a shallow, weedy sand, in which an abundance of crabs +and long-bodied, many-legged creatures started from my footfall. I +walked to the very edge of the salt water, and then I felt I was safe. +I turned and stared, arms akimbo, at the thick green behind me, into +which the steamy ravine cut like a smoking gash. But, as I say, I was +too full of excitement and (a true saying, though those who have never +known danger may doubt it) too desperate to die. + +Then it came into my head that there was one chance before me yet. +While Moreau and Montgomery and their bestial rabble chased me through +the island, might I not go round the beach until I came to their +enclosure,—make a flank march upon them, in fact, and then with a rock +lugged out of their loosely-built wall, perhaps, smash in the lock of +the smaller door and see what I could find (knife, pistol, or what not) +to fight them with when they returned? It was at any rate something to +try. + +So I turned to the westward and walked along by the water’s edge. The +setting sun flashed his blinding heat into my eyes. The slight Pacific +tide was running in with a gentle ripple. Presently the shore fell away +southward, and the sun came round upon my right hand. Then suddenly, +far in front of me, I saw first one and then several figures emerging +from the bushes,—Moreau, with his grey staghound, then Montgomery, and +two others. At that I stopped. + +They saw me, and began gesticulating and advancing. I stood watching +them approach. The two Beast Men came running forward to cut me off +from the undergrowth, inland. Montgomery came, running also, but +straight towards me. Moreau followed slower with the dog. + +At last I roused myself from my inaction, and turning seaward walked +straight into the water. The water was very shallow at first. I was +thirty yards out before the waves reached to my waist. Dimly I could +see the intertidal creatures darting away from my feet. + +“What are you doing, man?” cried Montgomery. + +I turned, standing waist deep, and stared at them. Montgomery stood +panting at the margin of the water. His face was bright-red with +exertion, his long flaxen hair blown about his head, and his dropping +nether lip showed his irregular teeth. Moreau was just coming up, his +face pale and firm, and the dog at his hand barked at me. Both men had +heavy whips. Farther up the beach stared the Beast Men. + +“What am I doing? I am going to drown myself,” said I. + +Montgomery and Moreau looked at each other. “Why?” asked Moreau. + +“Because that is better than being tortured by you.” + +“I told you so,” said Montgomery, and Moreau said something in a low +tone. + +“What makes you think I shall torture you?” asked Moreau. + +“What I saw,” I said. “And those—yonder.” + +“Hush!” said Moreau, and held up his hand. + +“I will not,” said I. “They were men: what are they now? I at least +will not be like them.” + +I looked past my interlocutors. Up the beach were M’ling, Montgomery’s +attendant, and one of the white-swathed brutes from the boat. Farther +up, in the shadow of the trees, I saw my little Ape-man, and behind him +some other dim figures. + +“Who are these creatures?” said I, pointing to them and raising my +voice more and more that it might reach them. “They were men, men like +yourselves, whom you have infected with some bestial taint,—men whom +you have enslaved, and whom you still fear. + +“You who listen,” I cried, pointing now to Moreau and shouting past him +to the Beast Men,—“You who listen! Do you not see these men still fear +you, go in dread of you? Why, then, do you fear them? You are many—” + +“For God’s sake,” cried Montgomery, “stop that, Prendick!” + +“Prendick!” cried Moreau. + +They both shouted together, as if to drown my voice; and behind them +lowered the staring faces of the Beast Men, wondering, their deformed +hands hanging down, their shoulders hunched up. They seemed, as I +fancied, to be trying to understand me, to remember, I thought, +something of their human past. + +I went on shouting, I scarcely remember what,—that Moreau and +Montgomery could be killed, that they were not to be feared: that was +the burden of what I put into the heads of the Beast People. I saw the +green-eyed man in the dark rags, who had met me on the evening of my +arrival, come out from among the trees, and others followed him, to +hear me better. At last for want of breath I paused. + +“Listen to me for a moment,” said the steady voice of Moreau; “and then +say what you will.” + +“Well?” said I. + +He coughed, thought, then shouted: “Latin, Prendick! bad Latin, +schoolboy Latin; but try and understand. _Hi non sunt homines; sunt +animalia qui nos habemus_—vivisected. A humanising process. I will +explain. Come ashore.” + +I laughed. “A pretty story,” said I. “They talk, build houses. They +were men. It’s likely I’ll come ashore.” + +“The water just beyond where you stand is deep—and full of sharks.” + +“That’s my way,” said I. “Short and sharp. Presently.” + +“Wait a minute.” He took something out of his pocket that flashed back +the sun, and dropped the object at his feet. “That’s a loaded +revolver,” said he. “Montgomery here will do the same. Now we are going +up the beach until you are satisfied the distance is safe. Then come +and take the revolvers.” + +“Not I! You have a third between you.” + +“I want you to think over things, Prendick. In the first place, I never +asked you to come upon this island. If we vivisected men, we should +import men, not beasts. In the next, we had you drugged last night, had +we wanted to work you any mischief; and in the next, now your first +panic is over and you can think a little, is Montgomery here quite up +to the character you give him? We have chased you for your good. +Because this island is full of inimical phenomena. Besides, why should +we want to shoot you when you have just offered to drown yourself?” + +“Why did you set—your people onto me when I was in the hut?” + +“We felt sure of catching you, and bringing you out of danger. +Afterwards we drew away from the scent, for your good.” + +I mused. It seemed just possible. Then I remembered something again. +“But I saw,” said I, “in the enclosure—” + +“That was the puma.” + +“Look here, Prendick,” said Montgomery, “you’re a silly ass! Come out +of the water and take these revolvers, and talk. We can’t do anything +more than we could do now.” + +I will confess that then, and indeed always, I distrusted and dreaded +Moreau; but Montgomery was a man I felt I understood. + +“Go up the beach,” said I, after thinking, and added, “holding your +hands up.” + +“Can’t do that,” said Montgomery, with an explanatory nod over his +shoulder. “Undignified.” + +“Go up to the trees, then,” said I, “as you please.” + +“It’s a damned silly ceremony,” said Montgomery. + +Both turned and faced the six or seven grotesque creatures, who stood +there in the sunlight, solid, casting shadows, moving, and yet so +incredibly unreal. Montgomery cracked his whip at them, and forthwith +they all turned and fled helter-skelter into the trees; and when +Montgomery and Moreau were at a distance I judged sufficient, I waded +ashore, and picked up and examined the revolvers. To satisfy myself +against the subtlest trickery, I discharged one at a round lump of +lava, and had the satisfaction of seeing the stone pulverised and the +beach splashed with lead. Still I hesitated for a moment. + +“I’ll take the risk,” said I, at last; and with a revolver in each hand +I walked up the beach towards them. + +“That’s better,” said Moreau, without affectation. “As it is, you have +wasted the best part of my day with your confounded imagination.” And +with a touch of contempt which humiliated me, he and Montgomery turned +and went on in silence before me. + +The knot of Beast Men, still wondering, stood back among the trees. I +passed them as serenely as possible. One started to follow me, but +retreated again when Montgomery cracked his whip. The rest stood +silent—watching. They may once have been animals; but I never before +saw an animal trying to think. + + + + +XIV. +DOCTOR MOREAU EXPLAINS. + + +“And now, Prendick, I will explain,” said Doctor Moreau, so soon as we +had eaten and drunk. “I must confess that you are the most dictatorial +guest I ever entertained. I warn you that this is the last I shall do +to oblige you. The next thing you threaten to commit suicide about, I +shan’t do,—even at some personal inconvenience.” + +He sat in my deck chair, a cigar half consumed in his white, +dexterous-looking fingers. The light of the swinging lamp fell on his +white hair; he stared through the little window out at the starlight. I +sat as far away from him as possible, the table between us and the +revolvers to hand. Montgomery was not present. I did not care to be +with the two of them in such a little room. + +“You admit that the vivisected human being, as you called it, is, after +all, only the puma?” said Moreau. He had made me visit that horror in +the inner room, to assure myself of its inhumanity. + +“It is the puma,” I said, “still alive, but so cut and mutilated as I +pray I may never see living flesh again. Of all vile—” + +“Never mind that,” said Moreau; “at least, spare me those youthful +horrors. Montgomery used to be just the same. You admit that it is the +puma. Now be quiet, while I reel off my physiological lecture to you.” + +And forthwith, beginning in the tone of a man supremely bored, but +presently warming a little, he explained his work to me. He was very +simple and convincing. Now and then there was a touch of sarcasm in his +voice. Presently I found myself hot with shame at our mutual positions. + +The creatures I had seen were not men, had never been men. They were +animals, humanised animals,—triumphs of vivisection. + +“You forget all that a skilled vivisector can do with living things,” +said Moreau. “For my own part, I’m puzzled why the things I have done +here have not been done before. Small efforts, of course, have been +made,—amputation, tongue-cutting, excisions. Of course you know a +squint may be induced or cured by surgery? Then in the case of +excisions you have all kinds of secondary changes, pigmentary +disturbances, modifications of the passions, alterations in the +secretion of fatty tissue. I have no doubt you have heard of these +things?” + +“Of course,” said I. “But these foul creatures of yours—” + +“All in good time,” said he, waving his hand at me; “I am only +beginning. Those are trivial cases of alteration. Surgery can do better +things than that. There is building up as well as breaking down and +changing. You have heard, perhaps, of a common surgical operation +resorted to in cases where the nose has been destroyed: a flap of skin +is cut from the forehead, turned down on the nose, and heals in the new +position. This is a kind of grafting in a new position of part of an +animal upon itself. Grafting of freshly obtained material from another +animal is also possible,—the case of teeth, for example. The grafting +of skin and bone is done to facilitate healing: the surgeon places in +the middle of the wound pieces of skin snipped from another animal, or +fragments of bone from a victim freshly killed. Hunter’s +cock-spur—possibly you have heard of that—flourished on the bull’s +neck; and the rhinoceros rats of the Algerian zouaves are also to be +thought of,—monsters manufactured by transferring a slip from the tail +of an ordinary rat to its snout, and allowing it to heal in that +position.” + +“Monsters manufactured!” said I. “Then you mean to tell me—” + +“Yes. These creatures you have seen are animals carven and wrought into +new shapes. To that, to the study of the plasticity of living forms, my +life has been devoted. I have studied for years, gaining in knowledge +as I go. I see you look horrified, and yet I am telling you nothing +new. It all lay in the surface of practical anatomy years ago, but no +one had the temerity to touch it. It is not simply the outward form of +an animal which I can change. The physiology, the chemical rhythm of +the creature, may also be made to undergo an enduring modification,—of +which vaccination and other methods of inoculation with living or dead +matter are examples that will, no doubt, be familiar to you. A similar +operation is the transfusion of blood,—with which subject, indeed, I +began. These are all familiar cases. Less so, and probably far more +extensive, were the operations of those mediaeval practitioners who +made dwarfs and beggar-cripples, show-monsters,—some vestiges of whose +art still remain in the preliminary manipulation of the young +mountebank or contortionist. Victor Hugo gives an account of them in +‘L’Homme qui Rit.’—But perhaps my meaning grows plain now. You begin to +see that it is a possible thing to transplant tissue from one part of +an animal to another, or from one animal to another; to alter its +chemical reactions and methods of growth; to modify the articulations +of its limbs; and, indeed, to change it in its most intimate structure. + +“And yet this extraordinary branch of knowledge has never been sought +as an end, and systematically, by modern investigators until I took it +up! Some such things have been hit upon in the last resort of surgery; +most of the kindred evidence that will recur to your mind has been +demonstrated as it were by accident,—by tyrants, by criminals, by the +breeders of horses and dogs, by all kinds of untrained clumsy-handed +men working for their own immediate ends. I was the first man to take +up this question armed with antiseptic surgery, and with a really +scientific knowledge of the laws of growth. Yet one would imagine it +must have been practised in secret before. Such creatures as the +Siamese Twins—And in the vaults of the Inquisition. No doubt their +chief aim was artistic torture, but some at least of the inquisitors +must have had a touch of scientific curiosity.” + +“But,” said I, “these things—these animals talk!” + +He said that was so, and proceeded to point out that the possibility of +vivisection does not stop at a mere physical metamorphosis. A pig may +be educated. The mental structure is even less determinate than the +bodily. In our growing science of hypnotism we find the promise of a +possibility of superseding old inherent instincts by new suggestions, +grafting upon or replacing the inherited fixed ideas. Very much indeed +of what we call moral education, he said, is such an artificial +modification and perversion of instinct; pugnacity is trained into +courageous self-sacrifice, and suppressed sexuality into religious +emotion. And the great difference between man and monkey is in the +larynx, he continued,—in the incapacity to frame delicately different +sound-symbols by which thought could be sustained. In this I failed to +agree with him, but with a certain incivility he declined to notice my +objection. He repeated that the thing was so, and continued his account +of his work. + +I asked him why he had taken the human form as a model. There seemed to +me then, and there still seems to me now, a strange wickedness for that +choice. + +He confessed that he had chosen that form by chance. “I might just as +well have worked to form sheep into llamas and llamas into sheep. I +suppose there is something in the human form that appeals to the +artistic turn of mind more powerfully than any animal shape can. But +I’ve not confined myself to man-making. Once or twice—” He was silent, +for a minute perhaps. “These years! How they have slipped by! And here +I have wasted a day saving your life, and am now wasting an hour +explaining myself!” + +“But,” said I, “I still do not understand. Where is your justification +for inflicting all this pain? The only thing that could excuse +vivisection to me would be some application—” + +“Precisely,” said he. “But, you see, I am differently constituted. We +are on different platforms. You are a materialist.” + +“I am _not_ a materialist,” I began hotly. + +“In my view—in my view. For it is just this question of pain that parts +us. So long as visible or audible pain turns you sick; so long as your +own pains drive you; so long as pain underlies your propositions about +sin,—so long, I tell you, you are an animal, thinking a little less +obscurely what an animal feels. This pain—” + +I gave an impatient shrug at such sophistry. + +“Oh, but it is such a little thing! A mind truly opened to what science +has to teach must see that it is a little thing. It may be that save in +this little planet, this speck of cosmic dust, invisible long before +the nearest star could be attained—it may be, I say, that nowhere else +does this thing called pain occur. But the laws we feel our way +towards—Why, even on this earth, even among living things, what pain is +there?” + +As he spoke he drew a little penknife from his pocket, opened the +smaller blade, and moved his chair so that I could see his thigh. Then, +choosing the place deliberately, he drove the blade into his leg and +withdrew it. + +“No doubt,” he said, “you have seen that before. It does not hurt a +pin-prick. But what does it show? The capacity for pain is not needed +in the muscle, and it is not placed there,—is but little needed in the +skin, and only here and there over the thigh is a spot capable of +feeling pain. Pain is simply our intrinsic medical adviser to warn us +and stimulate us. Not all living flesh is painful; nor is all nerve, +not even all sensory nerve. There’s no taint of pain, real pain, in the +sensations of the optic nerve. If you wound the optic nerve, you merely +see flashes of light,—just as disease of the auditory nerve merely +means a humming in our ears. Plants do not feel pain, nor the lower +animals; it’s possible that such animals as the starfish and crayfish +do not feel pain at all. Then with men, the more intelligent they +become, the more intelligently they will see after their own welfare, +and the less they will need the goad to keep them out of danger. I +never yet heard of a useless thing that was not ground out of existence +by evolution sooner or later. Did you? And pain gets needless. + +“Then I am a religious man, Prendick, as every sane man must be. It may +be, I fancy, that I have seen more of the ways of this world’s Maker +than you,—for I have sought his laws, in _my_ way, all my life, while +you, I understand, have been collecting butterflies. And I tell you, +pleasure and pain have nothing to do with heaven or hell. Pleasure and +pain—bah! What is your theologian’s ecstasy but Mahomet’s houri in the +dark? This store which men and women set on pleasure and pain, +Prendick, is the mark of the beast upon them,—the mark of the beast +from which they came! Pain, pain and pleasure, they are for us only so +long as we wriggle in the dust. + +“You see, I went on with this research just the way it led me. That is +the only way I ever heard of true research going. I asked a question, +devised some method of obtaining an answer, and got a fresh question. +Was this possible or that possible? You cannot imagine what this means +to an investigator, what an intellectual passion grows upon him! You +cannot imagine the strange, colourless delight of these intellectual +desires! The thing before you is no longer an animal, a +fellow-creature, but a problem! Sympathetic pain,—all I know of it I +remember as a thing I used to suffer from years ago. I wanted—it was +the one thing I wanted—to find out the extreme limit of plasticity in a +living shape.” + +“But,” said I, “the thing is an abomination—” + +“To this day I have never troubled about the ethics of the matter,” he +continued. “The study of Nature makes a man at last as remorseless as +Nature. I have gone on, not heeding anything but the question I was +pursuing; and the material has—dripped into the huts yonder. It is +nearly eleven years since we came here, I and Montgomery and six +Kanakas. I remember the green stillness of the island and the empty +ocean about us, as though it was yesterday. The place seemed waiting +for me. + +“The stores were landed and the house was built. The Kanakas founded +some huts near the ravine. I went to work here upon what I had brought +with me. There were some disagreeable things happened at first. I began +with a sheep, and killed it after a day and a half by a slip of the +scalpel. I took another sheep, and made a thing of pain and fear and +left it bound up to heal. It looked quite human to me when I had +finished it; but when I went to it I was discontented with it. It +remembered me, and was terrified beyond imagination; and it had no more +than the wits of a sheep. The more I looked at it the clumsier it +seemed, until at last I put the monster out of its misery. These +animals without courage, these fear-haunted, pain-driven things, +without a spark of pugnacious energy to face torment,—they are no good +for man-making. + +“Then I took a gorilla I had; and upon that, working with infinite care +and mastering difficulty after difficulty, I made my first man. All the +week, night and day, I moulded him. With him it was chiefly the brain +that needed moulding; much had to be added, much changed. I thought him +a fair specimen of the negroid type when I had finished him, and he lay +bandaged, bound, and motionless before me. It was only when his life +was assured that I left him and came into this room again, and found +Montgomery much as you are. He had heard some of the cries as the thing +grew human,—cries like those that disturbed _you_ so. I didn’t take him +completely into my confidence at first. And the Kanakas too, had +realised something of it. They were scared out of their wits by the +sight of me. I got Montgomery over to me—in a way; but I and he had the +hardest job to prevent the Kanakas deserting. Finally they did; and so +we lost the yacht. I spent many days educating the brute,—altogether I +had him for three or four months. I taught him the rudiments of +English; gave him ideas of counting; even made the thing read the +alphabet. But at that he was slow, though I’ve met with idiots slower. +He began with a clean sheet, mentally; had no memories left in his mind +of what he had been. When his scars were quite healed, and he was no +longer anything but painful and stiff, and able to converse a little, I +took him yonder and introduced him to the Kanakas as an interesting +stowaway. + +“They were horribly afraid of him at first, somehow,—which offended me +rather, for I was conceited about him; but his ways seemed so mild, and +he was so abject, that after a time they received him and took his +education in hand. He was quick to learn, very imitative and adaptive, +and built himself a hovel rather better, it seemed to me, than their +own shanties. There was one among the boys a bit of a missionary, and +he taught the thing to read, or at least to pick out letters, and gave +him some rudimentary ideas of morality; but it seems the beast’s habits +were not all that is desirable. + +“I rested from work for some days after this, and was in a mind to +write an account of the whole affair to wake up English physiology. +Then I came upon the creature squatting up in a tree and gibbering at +two of the Kanakas who had been teasing him. I threatened him, told him +the inhumanity of such a proceeding, aroused his sense of shame, and +came home resolved to do better before I took my work back to England. +I have been doing better. But somehow the things drift back again: the +stubborn beast-flesh grows day by day back again. But I mean to do +better things still. I mean to conquer that. This puma— + +“But that’s the story. All the Kanaka boys are dead now; one fell +overboard of the launch, and one died of a wounded heel that he +poisoned in some way with plant-juice. Three went away in the yacht, +and I suppose and hope were drowned. The other one—was killed. Well, I +have replaced them. Montgomery went on much as you are disposed to do +at first, and then— + +“What became of the other one?” said I, sharply,—“the other Kanaka who +was killed?” + +“The fact is, after I had made a number of human creatures I made a +Thing—” He hesitated. + +“Yes?” said I. + +“It was killed.” + +“I don’t understand,” said I; “do you mean to say—” + +“It killed the Kanaka—yes. It killed several other things that it +caught. We chased it for a couple of days. It only got loose by +accident—I never meant it to get away. It wasn’t finished. It was +purely an experiment. It was a limbless thing, with a horrible face, +that writhed along the ground in a serpentine fashion. It was immensely +strong, and in infuriating pain. It lurked in the woods for some days, +until we hunted it; and then it wriggled into the northern part of the +island, and we divided the party to close in upon it. Montgomery +insisted upon coming with me. The man had a rifle; and when his body +was found, one of the barrels was curved into the shape of an S and +very nearly bitten through. Montgomery shot the thing. After that I +stuck to the ideal of humanity—except for little things.” + +He became silent. I sat in silence watching his face. + +“So for twenty years altogether—counting nine years in England—I have +been going on; and there is still something in everything I do that +defeats me, makes me dissatisfied, challenges me to further effort. +Sometimes I rise above my level, sometimes I fall below it; but always +I fall short of the things I dream. The human shape I can get now, +almost with ease, so that it is lithe and graceful, or thick and +strong; but often there is trouble with the hands and the +claws,—painful things, that I dare not shape too freely. But it is in +the subtle grafting and reshaping one must needs do to the brain that +my trouble lies. The intelligence is often oddly low, with +unaccountable blank ends, unexpected gaps. And least satisfactory of +all is something that I cannot touch, somewhere—I cannot determine +where—in the seat of the emotions. Cravings, instincts, desires that +harm humanity, a strange hidden reservoir to burst forth suddenly and +inundate the whole being of the creature with anger, hate, or fear. +These creatures of mine seemed strange and uncanny to you so soon as +you began to observe them; but to me, just after I make them, they seem +to be indisputably human beings. It’s afterwards, as I observe them, +that the persuasion fades. First one animal trait, then another, creeps +to the surface and stares out at me. But I will conquer yet! Each time +I dip a living creature into the bath of burning pain, I say, ‘This +time I will burn out all the animal; this time I will make a rational +creature of my own!’ After all, what is ten years? Men have been a +hundred thousand in the making.” He thought darkly. “But I am drawing +near the fastness. This puma of mine—” After a silence, “And they +revert. As soon as my hand is taken from them the beast begins to creep +back, begins to assert itself again.” Another long silence. + +“Then you take the things you make into those dens?” said I. + +“They go. I turn them out when I begin to feel the beast in them, and +presently they wander there. They all dread this house and me. There is +a kind of travesty of humanity over there. Montgomery knows about it, +for he interferes in their affairs. He has trained one or two of them +to our service. He’s ashamed of it, but I believe he half likes some of +those beasts. It’s his business, not mine. They only sicken me with a +sense of failure. I take no interest in them. I fancy they follow in +the lines the Kanaka missionary marked out, and have a kind of mockery +of a rational life, poor beasts! There’s something they call the Law. +Sing hymns about ‘all thine.’ They build themselves their dens, gather +fruit, and pull herbs—marry even. But I can see through it all, see +into their very souls, and see there nothing but the souls of beasts, +beasts that perish, anger and the lusts to live and gratify +themselves.—Yet they’re odd; complex, like everything else alive. There +is a kind of upward striving in them, part vanity, part waste sexual +emotion, part waste curiosity. It only mocks me. I have some hope of +this puma. I have worked hard at her head and brain— + +“And now,” said he, standing up after a long gap of silence, during +which we had each pursued our own thoughts, “what do you think? Are you +in fear of me still?” + +I looked at him, and saw but a white-faced, white-haired man, with calm +eyes. Save for his serenity, the touch almost of beauty that resulted +from his set tranquillity and his magnificent build, he might have +passed muster among a hundred other comfortable old gentlemen. Then I +shivered. By way of answer to his second question, I handed him a +revolver with either hand. + +“Keep them,” he said, and snatched at a yawn. He stood up, stared at me +for a moment, and smiled. “You have had two eventful days,” said he. “I +should advise some sleep. I’m glad it’s all clear. Good-night.” He +thought me over for a moment, then went out by the inner door. + +I immediately turned the key in the outer one. I sat down again; sat +for a time in a kind of stagnant mood, so weary, emotionally, mentally, +and physically, that I could not think beyond the point at which he had +left me. The black window stared at me like an eye. At last with an +effort I put out the light and got into the hammock. Very soon I was +asleep. + + + + +XV. +CONCERNING THE BEAST FOLK. + + +I woke early. Moreau’s explanation stood before my mind, clear and +definite, from the moment of my awakening. I got out of the hammock and +went to the door to assure myself that the key was turned. Then I tried +the window-bar, and found it firmly fixed. That these man-like +creatures were in truth only bestial monsters, mere grotesque +travesties of men, filled me with a vague uncertainty of their +possibilities which was far worse than any definite fear. + +A tapping came at the door, and I heard the glutinous accents of M’ling +speaking. I pocketed one of the revolvers (keeping one hand upon it), +and opened to him. + +“Good-morning, sair,” he said, bringing in, in addition to the +customary herb-breakfast, an ill-cooked rabbit. Montgomery followed +him. His roving eye caught the position of my arm and he smiled askew. + +The puma was resting to heal that day; but Moreau, who was singularly +solitary in his habits, did not join us. I talked with Montgomery to +clear my ideas of the way in which the Beast Folk lived. In particular, +I was urgent to know how these inhuman monsters were kept from falling +upon Moreau and Montgomery and from rending one another. He explained +to me that the comparative safety of Moreau and himself was due to the +limited mental scope of these monsters. In spite of their increased +intelligence and the tendency of their animal instincts to reawaken, +they had certain fixed ideas implanted by Moreau in their minds, which +absolutely bounded their imaginations. They were really hypnotised; had +been told that certain things were impossible, and that certain things +were not to be done, and these prohibitions were woven into the texture +of their minds beyond any possibility of disobedience or dispute. + +Certain matters, however, in which old instinct was at war with +Moreau’s convenience, were in a less stable condition. A series of +propositions called the Law (I had already heard them recited) battled +in their minds with the deep-seated, ever-rebellious cravings of their +animal natures. This Law they were ever repeating, I found, and ever +breaking. Both Montgomery and Moreau displayed particular solicitude to +keep them ignorant of the taste of blood; they feared the inevitable +suggestions of that flavour. Montgomery told me that the Law, +especially among the feline Beast People, became oddly weakened about +nightfall; that then the animal was at its strongest; that a spirit of +adventure sprang up in them at the dusk, when they would dare things +they never seemed to dream about by day. To that I owed my stalking by +the Leopard-man, on the night of my arrival. But during these earlier +days of my stay they broke the Law only furtively and after dark; in +the daylight there was a general atmosphere of respect for its +multifarious prohibitions. + +And here perhaps I may give a few general facts about the island and +the Beast People. The island, which was of irregular outline and lay +low upon the wide sea, had a total area, I suppose, of seven or eight +square miles.[2] It was volcanic in origin, and was now fringed on +three sides by coral reefs; some fumaroles to the northward, and a hot +spring, were the only vestiges of the forces that had long since +originated it. Now and then a faint quiver of earthquake would be +sensible, and sometimes the ascent of the spire of smoke would be +rendered tumultuous by gusts of steam; but that was all. The population +of the island, Montgomery informed me, now numbered rather more than +sixty of these strange creations of Moreau’s art, not counting the +smaller monstrosities which lived in the undergrowth and were without +human form. Altogether he had made nearly a hundred and twenty; but +many had died, and others—like the writhing Footless Thing of which he +had told me—had come by violent ends. In answer to my question, +Montgomery said that they actually bore offspring, but that these +generally died. When they lived, Moreau took them and stamped the human +form upon them. There was no evidence of the inheritance of their +acquired human characteristics. The females were less numerous than the +males, and liable to much furtive persecution in spite of the monogamy +the Law enjoined. + + [2]This description corresponds in every respect to Noble’s Isle.—C. + E. P. + + +It would be impossible for me to describe these Beast People in detail; +my eye has had no training in details, and unhappily I cannot sketch. +Most striking, perhaps, in their general appearance was the +disproportion between the legs of these creatures and the length of +their bodies; and yet—so relative is our idea of grace—my eye became +habituated to their forms, and at last I even fell in with their +persuasion that my own long thighs were ungainly. Another point was the +forward carriage of the head and the clumsy and inhuman curvature of +the spine. Even the Ape-man lacked that inward sinuous curve of the +back which makes the human figure so graceful. Most had their shoulders +hunched clumsily, and their short forearms hung weakly at their sides. +Few of them were conspicuously hairy, at least until the end of my time +upon the island. + +The next most obvious deformity was in their faces, almost all of which +were prognathous, malformed about the ears, with large and protuberant +noses, very furry or very bristly hair, and often strangely-coloured or +strangely-placed eyes. None could laugh, though the Ape-man had a +chattering titter. Beyond these general characters their heads had +little in common; each preserved the quality of its particular species: +the human mark distorted but did not hide the leopard, the ox, or the +sow, or other animal or animals, from which the creature had been +moulded. The voices, too, varied exceedingly. The hands were always +malformed; and though some surprised me by their unexpected human +appearance, almost all were deficient in the number of the digits, +clumsy about the finger-nails, and lacking any tactile sensibility. + +The two most formidable Animal Men were my Leopard-man and a creature +made of hyena and swine. Larger than these were the three +bull-creatures who pulled in the boat. Then came the silvery-hairy-man, +who was also the Sayer of the Law, M’ling, and a satyr-like creature of +ape and goat. There were three Swine-men and a Swine-woman, a +mare-rhinoceros-creature, and several other females whose sources I did +not ascertain. There were several wolf-creatures, a bear-bull, and a +Saint-Bernard-man. I have already described the Ape-man, and there was +a particularly hateful (and evil-smelling) old woman made of vixen and +bear, whom I hated from the beginning. She was said to be a passionate +votary of the Law. Smaller creatures were certain dappled youths and my +little sloth-creature. But enough of this catalogue. + +At first I had a shivering horror of the brutes, felt all too keenly +that they were still brutes; but insensibly I became a little +habituated to the idea of them, and moreover I was affected by +Montgomery’s attitude towards them. He had been with them so long that +he had come to regard them as almost normal human beings. His London +days seemed a glorious, impossible past to him. Only once in a year or +so did he go to Africa to deal with Moreau’s agent, a trader in animals +there. He hardly met the finest type of mankind in that seafaring +village of Spanish mongrels. The men aboard-ship, he told me, seemed at +first just as strange to him as the Beast Men seemed to me,—unnaturally +long in the leg, flat in the face, prominent in the forehead, +suspicious, dangerous, and cold-hearted. In fact, he did not like men: +his heart had warmed to me, he thought, because he had saved my life. I +fancied even then that he had a sneaking kindness for some of these +metamorphosed brutes, a vicious sympathy with some of their ways, but +that he attempted to veil it from me at first. + +M’ling, the black-faced man, Montgomery’s attendant, the first of the +Beast Folk I had encountered, did not live with the others across the +island, but in a small kennel at the back of the enclosure. The +creature was scarcely so intelligent as the Ape-man, but far more +docile, and the most human-looking of all the Beast Folk; and +Montgomery had trained it to prepare food, and indeed to discharge all +the trivial domestic offices that were required. It was a complex +trophy of Moreau’s horrible skill,—a bear, tainted with dog and ox, and +one of the most elaborately made of all his creatures. It treated +Montgomery with a strange tenderness and devotion. Sometimes he would +notice it, pat it, call it half-mocking, half-jocular names, and so +make it caper with extraordinary delight; sometimes he would ill-treat +it, especially after he had been at the whiskey, kicking it, beating +it, pelting it with stones or lighted fusees. But whether he treated it +well or ill, it loved nothing so much as to be near him. + +I say I became habituated to the Beast People, that a thousand things +which had seemed unnatural and repulsive speedily became natural and +ordinary to me. I suppose everything in existence takes its colour from +the average hue of our surroundings. Montgomery and Moreau were too +peculiar and individual to keep my general impressions of humanity well +defined. I would see one of the clumsy bovine-creatures who worked the +launch treading heavily through the undergrowth, and find myself +asking, trying hard to recall, how he differed from some really human +yokel trudging home from his mechanical labours; or I would meet the +Fox-bear woman’s vulpine, shifty face, strangely human in its +speculative cunning, and even imagine I had met it before in some city +byway. + +Yet every now and then the beast would flash out upon me beyond doubt +or denial. An ugly-looking man, a hunch-backed human savage to all +appearance, squatting in the aperture of one of the dens, would stretch +his arms and yawn, showing with startling suddenness scissor-edged +incisors and sabre-like canines, keen and brilliant as knives. Or in +some narrow pathway, glancing with a transitory daring into the eyes of +some lithe, white-swathed female figure, I would suddenly see (with a +spasmodic revulsion) that she had slit-like pupils, or glancing down +note the curving nail with which she held her shapeless wrap about her. +It is a curious thing, by the bye, for which I am quite unable to +account, that these weird creatures—the females, I mean—had in the +earlier days of my stay an instinctive sense of their own repulsive +clumsiness, and displayed in consequence a more than human regard for +the decency and decorum of extensive costume. + + + + +XVI. +HOW THE BEAST FOLK TASTE BLOOD. + + +My inexperience as a writer betrays me, and I wander from the thread of +my story. + +After I had breakfasted with Montgomery, he took me across the island +to see the fumarole and the source of the hot spring into whose +scalding waters I had blundered on the previous day. Both of us carried +whips and loaded revolvers. While going through a leafy jungle on our +road thither, we heard a rabbit squealing. We stopped and listened, but +we heard no more; and presently we went on our way, and the incident +dropped out of our minds. Montgomery called my attention to certain +little pink animals with long hind-legs, that went leaping through the +undergrowth. He told me they were creatures made of the offspring of +the Beast People, that Moreau had invented. He had fancied they might +serve for meat, but a rabbit-like habit of devouring their young had +defeated this intention. I had already encountered some of these +creatures,—once during my moonlight flight from the Leopard-man, and +once during my pursuit by Moreau on the previous day. By chance, one +hopping to avoid us leapt into the hole caused by the uprooting of a +wind-blown tree; before it could extricate itself we managed to catch +it. It spat like a cat, scratched and kicked vigorously with its +hind-legs, and made an attempt to bite; but its teeth were too feeble +to inflict more than a painless pinch. It seemed to me rather a pretty +little creature; and as Montgomery stated that it never destroyed the +turf by burrowing, and was very cleanly in its habits, I should imagine +it might prove a convenient substitute for the common rabbit in +gentlemen’s parks. + +We also saw on our way the trunk of a tree barked in long strips and +splintered deeply. Montgomery called my attention to this. “Not to claw +bark of trees, _that_ is the Law,” he said. “Much some of them care for +it!” It was after this, I think, that we met the Satyr and the Ape-man. +The Satyr was a gleam of classical memory on the part of Moreau,—his +face ovine in expression, like the coarser Hebrew type; his voice a +harsh bleat, his nether extremities Satanic. He was gnawing the husk of +a pod-like fruit as he passed us. Both of them saluted Montgomery. + +“Hail,” said they, “to the Other with the Whip!” + +“There’s a Third with a Whip now,” said Montgomery. “So you’d better +mind!” + +“Was he not made?” said the Ape-man. “He said—he said he was made.” + +The Satyr-man looked curiously at me. “The Third with the Whip, he that +walks weeping into the sea, has a thin white face.” + +“He has a thin long whip,” said Montgomery. + +“Yesterday he bled and wept,” said the Satyr. “You never bleed nor +weep. The Master does not bleed or weep.” + +“Ollendorffian beggar!” said Montgomery, “you’ll bleed and weep if you +don’t look out!” + +“He has five fingers, he is a five-man like me,” said the Ape-man. + +“Come along, Prendick,” said Montgomery, taking my arm; and I went on +with him. + +The Satyr and the Ape-man stood watching us and making other remarks to +each other. + +“He says nothing,” said the Satyr. “Men have voices.” + +“Yesterday he asked me of things to eat,” said the Ape-man. “He did not +know.” + +Then they spoke inaudible things, and I heard the Satyr laughing. + +It was on our way back that we came upon the dead rabbit. The red body +of the wretched little beast was rent to pieces, many of the ribs +stripped white, and the backbone indisputably gnawed. + +At that Montgomery stopped. “Good God!” said he, stooping down, and +picking up some of the crushed vertebrae to examine them more closely. +“Good God!” he repeated, “what can this mean?” + +“Some carnivore of yours has remembered its old habits,” I said after a +pause. “This backbone has been bitten through.” + +He stood staring, with his face white and his lip pulled askew. “I +don’t like this,” he said slowly. + +“I saw something of the same kind,” said I, “the first day I came +here.” + +“The devil you did! What was it?” + +“A rabbit with its head twisted off.” + +“The day you came here?” + +“The day I came here. In the undergrowth at the back of the enclosure, +when I went out in the evening. The head was completely wrung off.” + +He gave a long, low whistle. + +“And what is more, I have an idea which of your brutes did the thing. +It’s only a suspicion, you know. Before I came on the rabbit I saw one +of your monsters drinking in the stream.” + +“Sucking his drink?” + +“Yes.” + +“‘Not to suck your drink; that is the Law.’ Much the brutes care for +the Law, eh? when Moreau’s not about!” + +“It was the brute who chased me.” + +“Of course,” said Montgomery; “it’s just the way with carnivores. After +a kill, they drink. It’s the taste of blood, you know.—What was the +brute like?” he continued. “Would you know him again?” He glanced about +us, standing astride over the mess of dead rabbit, his eyes roving +among the shadows and screens of greenery, the lurking-places and +ambuscades of the forest that bounded us in. “The taste of blood,” he +said again. + +He took out his revolver, examined the cartridges in it and replaced +it. Then he began to pull at his dropping lip. + +“I think I should know the brute again,” I said. “I stunned him. He +ought to have a handsome bruise on the forehead of him.” + +“But then we have to _prove_ that he killed the rabbit,” said +Montgomery. “I wish I’d never brought the things here.” + +I should have gone on, but he stayed there thinking over the mangled +rabbit in a puzzle-headed way. As it was, I went to such a distance +that the rabbit’s remains were hidden. + +“Come on!” I said. + +Presently he woke up and came towards me. “You see,” he said, almost in +a whisper, “they are all supposed to have a fixed idea against eating +anything that runs on land. If some brute has by any accident tasted +blood—” + +We went on some way in silence. “I wonder what can have happened,” he +said to himself. Then, after a pause again: “I did a foolish thing the +other day. That servant of mine—I showed him how to skin and cook a +rabbit. It’s odd—I saw him licking his hands—It never occurred to me.” + +Then: “We must put a stop to this. I must tell Moreau.” + +He could think of nothing else on our homeward journey. + +Moreau took the matter even more seriously than Montgomery, and I need +scarcely say that I was affected by their evident consternation. + +“We must make an example,” said Moreau. “I’ve no doubt in my own mind +that the Leopard-man was the sinner. But how can we prove it? I wish, +Montgomery, you had kept your taste for meat in hand, and gone without +these exciting novelties. We may find ourselves in a mess yet, through +it.” + +“I was a silly ass,” said Montgomery. “But the thing’s done now; and +you said I might have them, you know.” + +“We must see to the thing at once,” said Moreau. “I suppose if anything +should turn up, M’ling can take care of himself?” + +“I’m not so sure of M’ling,” said Montgomery. “I think I ought to know +him.” + +In the afternoon, Moreau, Montgomery, myself, and M’ling went across +the island to the huts in the ravine. We three were armed; M’ling +carried the little hatchet he used in chopping firewood, and some coils +of wire. Moreau had a huge cowherd’s horn slung over his shoulder. + +“You will see a gathering of the Beast People,” said Montgomery. “It is +a pretty sight!” + +Moreau said not a word on the way, but the expression of his heavy, +white-fringed face was grimly set. + +We crossed the ravine down which smoked the stream of hot water, and +followed the winding pathway through the canebrakes until we reached a +wide area covered over with a thick, powdery yellow substance which I +believe was sulphur. Above the shoulder of a weedy bank the sea +glittered. We came to a kind of shallow natural amphitheatre, and here +the four of us halted. Then Moreau sounded the horn, and broke the +sleeping stillness of the tropical afternoon. He must have had strong +lungs. The hooting note rose and rose amidst its echoes, to at last an +ear-penetrating intensity. + +“Ah!” said Moreau, letting the curved instrument fall to his side +again. + +Immediately there was a crashing through the yellow canes, and a sound +of voices from the dense green jungle that marked the morass through +which I had run on the previous day. Then at three or four points on +the edge of the sulphurous area appeared the grotesque forms of the +Beast People hurrying towards us. I could not help a creeping horror, +as I perceived first one and then another trot out from the trees or +reeds and come shambling along over the hot dust. But Moreau and +Montgomery stood calmly enough; and, perforce, I stuck beside them. + +First to arrive was the Satyr, strangely unreal for all that he cast a +shadow and tossed the dust with his hoofs. After him from the brake +came a monstrous lout, a thing of horse and rhinoceros, chewing a straw +as it came; then appeared the Swine-woman and two Wolf-women; then the +Fox-bear witch, with her red eyes in her peaked red face, and then +others,—all hurrying eagerly. As they came forward they began to cringe +towards Moreau and chant, quite regardless of one another, fragments of +the latter half of the litany of the Law,—“His is the Hand that wounds; +His is the Hand that heals,” and so forth. As soon as they had +approached within a distance of perhaps thirty yards they halted, and +bowing on knees and elbows began flinging the white dust upon their +heads. + +Imagine the scene if you can! We three blue-clad men, with our +misshapen black-faced attendant, standing in a wide expanse of sunlit +yellow dust under the blazing blue sky, and surrounded by this circle +of crouching and gesticulating monstrosities,—some almost human save in +their subtle expression and gestures, some like cripples, some so +strangely distorted as to resemble nothing but the denizens of our +wildest dreams; and, beyond, the reedy lines of a canebrake in one +direction, a dense tangle of palm-trees on the other, separating us +from the ravine with the huts, and to the north the hazy horizon of the +Pacific Ocean. + +“Sixty-two, sixty-three,” counted Moreau. “There are four more.” + +“I do not see the Leopard-man,” said I. + +Presently Moreau sounded the great horn again, and at the sound of it +all the Beast People writhed and grovelled in the dust. Then, slinking +out of the canebrake, stooping near the ground and trying to join the +dust-throwing circle behind Moreau’s back, came the Leopard-man. The +last of the Beast People to arrive was the little Ape-man. The earlier +animals, hot and weary with their grovelling, shot vicious glances at +him. + +“Cease!” said Moreau, in his firm, loud voice; and the Beast People sat +back upon their hams and rested from their worshipping. + +“Where is the Sayer of the Law?” said Moreau, and the hairy-grey +monster bowed his face in the dust. + +“Say the words!” said Moreau. + +Forthwith all in the kneeling assembly, swaying from side to side and +dashing up the sulphur with their hands,—first the right hand and a +puff of dust, and then the left,—began once more to chant their strange +litany. When they reached, “Not to eat Flesh or Fish, that is the Law,” +Moreau held up his lank white hand. + +“Stop!” he cried, and there fell absolute silence upon them all. + +I think they all knew and dreaded what was coming. I looked round at +their strange faces. When I saw their wincing attitudes and the furtive +dread in their bright eyes, I wondered that I had ever believed them to +be men. + +“That Law has been broken!” said Moreau. + +“None escape,” from the faceless creature with the silvery hair. “None +escape,” repeated the kneeling circle of Beast People. + +“Who is he?” cried Moreau, and looked round at their faces, cracking +his whip. I fancied the Hyena-swine looked dejected, so too did the +Leopard-man. Moreau stopped, facing this creature, who cringed towards +him with the memory and dread of infinite torment. + +“Who is he?” repeated Moreau, in a voice of thunder. + +“Evil is he who breaks the Law,” chanted the Sayer of the Law. + +Moreau looked into the eyes of the Leopard-man, and seemed to be +dragging the very soul out of the creature. + +“Who breaks the Law—” said Moreau, taking his eyes off his victim, and +turning towards us (it seemed to me there was a touch of exultation in +his voice). + +“Goes back to the House of Pain,” they all clamoured,—“goes back to the +House of Pain, O Master!” + +“Back to the House of Pain,—back to the House of Pain,” gabbled the +Ape-man, as though the idea was sweet to him. + +“Do you hear?” said Moreau, turning back to the criminal, “my +friend—Hullo!” + +For the Leopard-man, released from Moreau’s eye, had risen straight +from his knees, and now, with eyes aflame and his huge feline tusks +flashing out from under his curling lips, leapt towards his tormentor. +I am convinced that only the madness of unendurable fear could have +prompted this attack. The whole circle of threescore monsters seemed to +rise about us. I drew my revolver. The two figures collided. I saw +Moreau reeling back from the Leopard-man’s blow. There was a furious +yelling and howling all about us. Every one was moving rapidly. For a +moment I thought it was a general revolt. The furious face of the +Leopard-man flashed by mine, with M’ling close in pursuit. I saw the +yellow eyes of the Hyena-swine blazing with excitement, his attitude as +if he were half resolved to attack me. The Satyr, too, glared at me +over the Hyena-swine’s hunched shoulders. I heard the crack of Moreau’s +pistol, and saw the pink flash dart across the tumult. The whole crowd +seemed to swing round in the direction of the glint of fire, and I too +was swung round by the magnetism of the movement. In another second I +was running, one of a tumultuous shouting crowd, in pursuit of the +escaping Leopard-man. + +That is all I can tell definitely. I saw the Leopard-man strike Moreau, +and then everything spun about me until I was running headlong. M’ling +was ahead, close in pursuit of the fugitive. Behind, their tongues +already lolling out, ran the Wolf-women in great leaping strides. The +Swine folk followed, squealing with excitement, and the two Bull-men in +their swathings of white. Then came Moreau in a cluster of the Beast +People, his wide-brimmed straw hat blown off, his revolver in hand, and +his lank white hair streaming out. The Hyena-swine ran beside me, +keeping pace with me and glancing furtively at me out of his feline +eyes, and the others came pattering and shouting behind us. + +The Leopard-man went bursting his way through the long canes, which +sprang back as he passed, and rattled in M’ling’s face. We others in +the rear found a trampled path for us when we reached the brake. The +chase lay through the brake for perhaps a quarter of a mile, and then +plunged into a dense thicket, which retarded our movements exceedingly, +though we went through it in a crowd together,—fronds flicking into our +faces, ropy creepers catching us under the chin or gripping our ankles, +thorny plants hooking into and tearing cloth and flesh together. + +“He has gone on all-fours through this,” panted Moreau, now just ahead +of me. + +“None escape,” said the Wolf-bear, laughing into my face with the +exultation of hunting. We burst out again among rocks, and saw the +quarry ahead running lightly on all-fours and snarling at us over his +shoulder. At that the Wolf Folk howled with delight. The Thing was +still clothed, and at a distance its face still seemed human; but the +carriage of its four limbs was feline, and the furtive droop of its +shoulder was distinctly that of a hunted animal. It leapt over some +thorny yellow-flowering bushes, and was hidden. M’ling was halfway +across the space. + +Most of us now had lost the first speed of the chase, and had fallen +into a longer and steadier stride. I saw as we traversed the open that +the pursuit was now spreading from a column into a line. The +Hyena-swine still ran close to me, watching me as it ran, every now and +then puckering its muzzle with a snarling laugh. At the edge of the +rocks the Leopard-man, realising that he was making for the projecting +cape upon which he had stalked me on the night of my arrival, had +doubled in the undergrowth; but Montgomery had seen the manoeuvre, and +turned him again. So, panting, tumbling against rocks, torn by +brambles, impeded by ferns and reeds, I helped to pursue the +Leopard-man who had broken the Law, and the Hyena-swine ran, laughing +savagely, by my side. I staggered on, my head reeling and my heart +beating against my ribs, tired almost to death, and yet not daring to +lose sight of the chase lest I should be left alone with this horrible +companion. I staggered on in spite of infinite fatigue and the dense +heat of the tropical afternoon. + +At last the fury of the hunt slackened. We had pinned the wretched +brute into a corner of the island. Moreau, whip in hand, marshalled us +all into an irregular line, and we advanced now slowly, shouting to one +another as we advanced and tightening the cordon about our victim. He +lurked noiseless and invisible in the bushes through which I had run +from him during that midnight pursuit. + +“Steady!” cried Moreau, “steady!” as the ends of the line crept round +the tangle of undergrowth and hemmed the brute in. + +“Ware a rush!” came the voice of Montgomery from beyond the thicket. + +I was on the slope above the bushes; Montgomery and Moreau beat along +the beach beneath. Slowly we pushed in among the fretted network of +branches and leaves. The quarry was silent. + +“Back to the House of Pain, the House of Pain, the House of Pain!” +yelped the voice of the Ape-man, some twenty yards to the right. + +When I heard that, I forgave the poor wretch all the fear he had +inspired in me. I heard the twigs snap and the boughs swish aside +before the heavy tread of the Horse-rhinoceros upon my right. Then +suddenly through a polygon of green, in the half darkness under the +luxuriant growth, I saw the creature we were hunting. I halted. He was +crouched together into the smallest possible compass, his luminous +green eyes turned over his shoulder regarding me. + +It may seem a strange contradiction in me,—I cannot explain the +fact,—but now, seeing the creature there in a perfectly animal +attitude, with the light gleaming in its eyes and its imperfectly human +face distorted with terror, I realised again the fact of its humanity. +In another moment other of its pursuers would see it, and it would be +overpowered and captured, to experience once more the horrible tortures +of the enclosure. Abruptly I slipped out my revolver, aimed between its +terror-struck eyes, and fired. As I did so, the Hyena-swine saw the +Thing, and flung itself upon it with an eager cry, thrusting thirsty +teeth into its neck. All about me the green masses of the thicket were +swaying and cracking as the Beast People came rushing together. One +face and then another appeared. + +“Don’t kill it, Prendick!” cried Moreau. “Don’t kill it!” and I saw him +stooping as he pushed through under the fronds of the big ferns. + +In another moment he had beaten off the Hyena-swine with the handle of +his whip, and he and Montgomery were keeping away the excited +carnivorous Beast People, and particularly M’ling, from the still +quivering body. The hairy-grey Thing came sniffing at the corpse under +my arm. The other animals, in their animal ardour, jostled me to get a +nearer view. + +“Confound you, Prendick!” said Moreau. “I wanted him.” + +“I’m sorry,” said I, though I was not. “It was the impulse of the +moment.” I felt sick with exertion and excitement. Turning, I pushed my +way out of the crowding Beast People and went on alone up the slope +towards the higher part of the headland. Under the shouted directions +of Moreau I heard the three white-swathed Bull-men begin dragging the +victim down towards the water. + +It was easy now for me to be alone. The Beast People manifested a quite +human curiosity about the dead body, and followed it in a thick knot, +sniffing and growling at it as the Bull-men dragged it down the beach. +I went to the headland and watched the bull-men, black against the +evening sky as they carried the weighted dead body out to sea; and like +a wave across my mind came the realisation of the unspeakable +aimlessness of things upon the island. Upon the beach among the rocks +beneath me were the Ape-man, the Hyena-swine, and several other of the +Beast People, standing about Montgomery and Moreau. They were all still +intensely excited, and all overflowing with noisy expressions of their +loyalty to the Law; yet I felt an absolute assurance in my own mind +that the Hyena-swine was implicated in the rabbit-killing. A strange +persuasion came upon me, that, save for the grossness of the line, the +grotesqueness of the forms, I had here before me the whole balance of +human life in miniature, the whole interplay of instinct, reason, and +fate in its simplest form. The Leopard-man had happened to go under: +that was all the difference. Poor brute! + +Poor brutes! I began to see the viler aspect of Moreau’s cruelty. I had +not thought before of the pain and trouble that came to these poor +victims after they had passed from Moreau’s hands. I had shivered only +at the days of actual torment in the enclosure. But now that seemed to +me the lesser part. Before, they had been beasts, their instincts fitly +adapted to their surroundings, and happy as living things may be. Now +they stumbled in the shackles of humanity, lived in a fear that never +died, fretted by a law they could not understand; their mock-human +existence, begun in an agony, was one long internal struggle, one long +dread of Moreau—and for what? It was the wantonness of it that stirred +me. + +Had Moreau had any intelligible object, I could have sympathised at +least a little with him. I am not so squeamish about pain as that. I +could have forgiven him a little even, had his motive been only hate. +But he was so irresponsible, so utterly careless! His curiosity, his +mad, aimless investigations, drove him on; and the Things were thrown +out to live a year or so, to struggle and blunder and suffer, and at +last to die painfully. They were wretched in themselves; the old animal +hate moved them to trouble one another; the Law held them back from a +brief hot struggle and a decisive end to their natural animosities. + +In those days my fear of the Beast People went the way of my personal +fear for Moreau. I fell indeed into a morbid state, deep and enduring, +and alien to fear, which has left permanent scars upon my mind. I must +confess that I lost faith in the sanity of the world when I saw it +suffering the painful disorder of this island. A blind Fate, a vast +pitiless mechanism, seemed to cut and shape the fabric of existence and +I, Moreau (by his passion for research), Montgomery (by his passion for +drink), the Beast People with their instincts and mental restrictions, +were torn and crushed, ruthlessly, inevitably, amid the infinite +complexity of its incessant wheels. But this condition did not come all +at once: I think indeed that I anticipate a little in speaking of it +now. + + + + +XVII. +A CATASTROPHE. + + +Scarcely six weeks passed before I had lost every feeling but dislike +and abhorrence for this infamous experiment of Moreau’s. My one idea +was to get away from these horrible caricatures of my Maker’s image, +back to the sweet and wholesome intercourse of men. My +fellow-creatures, from whom I was thus separated, began to assume +idyllic virtue and beauty in my memory. My first friendship with +Montgomery did not increase. His long separation from humanity, his +secret vice of drunkenness, his evident sympathy with the Beast People, +tainted him to me. Several times I let him go alone among them. I +avoided intercourse with them in every possible way. I spent an +increasing proportion of my time upon the beach, looking for some +liberating sail that never appeared,—until one day there fell upon us +an appalling disaster, which put an altogether different aspect upon my +strange surroundings. + +It was about seven or eight weeks after my landing,—rather more, I +think, though I had not troubled to keep account of the time,—when this +catastrophe occurred. It happened in the early morning—I should think +about six. I had risen and breakfasted early, having been aroused by +the noise of three Beast Men carrying wood into the enclosure. + +After breakfast I went to the open gateway of the enclosure, and stood +there smoking a cigarette and enjoying the freshness of the early +morning. Moreau presently came round the corner of the enclosure and +greeted me. He passed by me, and I heard him behind me unlock and enter +his laboratory. So indurated was I at that time to the abomination of +the place, that I heard without a touch of emotion the puma victim +begin another day of torture. It met its persecutor with a shriek, +almost exactly like that of an angry virago. + +Then suddenly something happened,—I do not know what, to this day. I +heard a short, sharp cry behind me, a fall, and turning saw an awful +face rushing upon me,—not human, not animal, but hellish, brown, seamed +with red branching scars, red drops starting out upon it, and the +lidless eyes ablaze. I threw up my arm to defend myself from the blow +that flung me headlong with a broken forearm; and the great monster, +swathed in lint and with red-stained bandages fluttering about it, +leapt over me and passed. I rolled over and over down the beach, tried +to sit up, and collapsed upon my broken arm. Then Moreau appeared, his +massive white face all the more terrible for the blood that trickled +from his forehead. He carried a revolver in one hand. He scarcely +glanced at me, but rushed off at once in pursuit of the puma. + +I tried the other arm and sat up. The muffled figure in front ran in +great striding leaps along the beach, and Moreau followed her. She +turned her head and saw him, then doubling abruptly made for the +bushes. She gained upon him at every stride. I saw her plunge into +them, and Moreau, running slantingly to intercept her, fired and missed +as she disappeared. Then he too vanished in the green confusion. I +stared after them, and then the pain in my arm flamed up, and with a +groan I staggered to my feet. Montgomery appeared in the doorway, +dressed, and with his revolver in his hand. + +“Great God, Prendick!” he said, not noticing that I was hurt, “that +brute’s loose! Tore the fetter out of the wall! Have you seen them?” +Then sharply, seeing I gripped my arm, “What’s the matter?” + +“I was standing in the doorway,” said I. + +He came forward and took my arm. “Blood on the sleeve,” said he, and +rolled back the flannel. He pocketed his weapon, felt my arm about +painfully, and led me inside. “Your arm is broken,” he said, and then, +“Tell me exactly how it happened—what happened?” + +I told him what I had seen; told him in broken sentences, with gasps of +pain between them, and very dexterously and swiftly he bound my arm +meanwhile. He slung it from my shoulder, stood back and looked at me. + +“You’ll do,” he said. “And now?” + +He thought. Then he went out and locked the gates of the enclosure. He +was absent some time. + +I was chiefly concerned about my arm. The incident seemed merely one +more of many horrible things. I sat down in the deck chair, and I must +admit swore heartily at the island. The first dull feeling of injury in +my arm had already given way to a burning pain when Montgomery +reappeared. His face was rather pale, and he showed more of his lower +gums than ever. + +“I can neither see nor hear anything of him,” he said. “I’ve been +thinking he may want my help.” He stared at me with his expressionless +eyes. “That was a strong brute,” he said. “It simply wrenched its +fetter out of the wall.” He went to the window, then to the door, and +there turned to me. “I shall go after him,” he said. “There’s another +revolver I can leave with you. To tell you the truth, I feel anxious +somehow.” + +He obtained the weapon, and put it ready to my hand on the table; then +went out, leaving a restless contagion in the air. I did not sit long +after he left, but took the revolver in hand and went to the doorway. + +The morning was as still as death. Not a whisper of wind was stirring; +the sea was like polished glass, the sky empty, the beach desolate. In +my half-excited, half-feverish state, this stillness of things +oppressed me. I tried to whistle, and the tune died away. I swore +again,—the second time that morning. Then I went to the corner of the +enclosure and stared inland at the green bush that had swallowed up +Moreau and Montgomery. When would they return, and how? Then far away +up the beach a little grey Beast Man appeared, ran down to the water’s +edge and began splashing about. I strolled back to the doorway, then to +the corner again, and so began pacing to and fro like a sentinel upon +duty. Once I was arrested by the distant voice of Montgomery bawling, +“Coo-ee—Moreau!” My arm became less painful, but very hot. I got +feverish and thirsty. My shadow grew shorter. I watched the distant +figure until it went away again. Would Moreau and Montgomery never +return? Three sea-birds began fighting for some stranded treasure. + +Then from far away behind the enclosure I heard a pistol-shot. A long +silence, and then came another. Then a yelling cry nearer, and another +dismal gap of silence. My unfortunate imagination set to work to +torment me. Then suddenly a shot close by. I went to the corner, +startled, and saw Montgomery,—his face scarlet, his hair disordered, +and the knee of his trousers torn. His face expressed profound +consternation. Behind him slouched the Beast Man, M’ling, and round +M’ling’s jaws were some queer dark stains. + +“Has he come?” said Montgomery. + +“Moreau?” said I. “No.” + +“My God!” The man was panting, almost sobbing. “Go back in,” he said, +taking my arm. “They’re mad. They’re all rushing about mad. What can +have happened? I don’t know. I’ll tell you, when my breath comes. +Where’s some brandy?” + +Montgomery limped before me into the room and sat down in the deck +chair. M’ling flung himself down just outside the doorway and began +panting like a dog. I got Montgomery some brandy-and-water. He sat +staring in front of him at nothing, recovering his breath. After some +minutes he began to tell me what had happened. + +He had followed their track for some way. It was plain enough at first +on account of the crushed and broken bushes, white rags torn from the +puma’s bandages, and occasional smears of blood on the leaves of the +shrubs and undergrowth. He lost the track, however, on the stony ground +beyond the stream where I had seen the Beast Man drinking, and went +wandering aimlessly westward shouting Moreau’s name. Then M’ling had +come to him carrying a light hatchet. M’ling had seen nothing of the +puma affair; had been felling wood, and heard him calling. They went on +shouting together. Two Beast Men came crouching and peering at them +through the undergrowth, with gestures and a furtive carriage that +alarmed Montgomery by their strangeness. He hailed them, and they fled +guiltily. He stopped shouting after that, and after wandering some time +farther in an undecided way, determined to visit the huts. + +He found the ravine deserted. + +Growing more alarmed every minute, he began to retrace his steps. Then +it was he encountered the two Swine-men I had seen dancing on the night +of my arrival; blood-stained they were about the mouth, and intensely +excited. They came crashing through the ferns, and stopped with fierce +faces when they saw him. He cracked his whip in some trepidation, and +forthwith they rushed at him. Never before had a Beast Man dared to do +that. One he shot through the head; M’ling flung himself upon the +other, and the two rolled grappling. M’ling got his brute under and +with his teeth in its throat, and Montgomery shot that too as it +struggled in M’ling’s grip. He had some difficulty in inducing M’ling +to come on with him. Thence they had hurried back to me. On the way, +M’ling had suddenly rushed into a thicket and driven out an under-sized +Ocelot-man, also blood-stained, and lame through a wound in the foot. +This brute had run a little way and then turned savagely at bay, and +Montgomery—with a certain wantonness, I thought—had shot him. + +“What does it all mean?” said I. + +He shook his head, and turned once more to the brandy. + + + + +XVIII. +THE FINDING OF MOREAU. + + +When I saw Montgomery swallow a third dose of brandy, I took it upon +myself to interfere. He was already more than half fuddled. I told him +that some serious thing must have happened to Moreau by this time, or +he would have returned before this, and that it behoved us to ascertain +what that catastrophe was. Montgomery raised some feeble objections, +and at last agreed. We had some food, and then all three of us started. + +It is possibly due to the tension of my mind, at the time, but even now +that start into the hot stillness of the tropical afternoon is a +singularly vivid impression. M’ling went first, his shoulder hunched, +his strange black head moving with quick starts as he peered first on +this side of the way and then on that. He was unarmed; his axe he had +dropped when he encountered the Swine-man. Teeth were _his_ weapons, +when it came to fighting. Montgomery followed with stumbling footsteps, +his hands in his pockets, his face downcast; he was in a state of +muddled sullenness with me on account of the brandy. My left arm was in +a sling (it was lucky it was my left), and I carried my revolver in my +right. Soon we traced a narrow path through the wild luxuriance of the +island, going northwestward; and presently M’ling stopped, and became +rigid with watchfulness. Montgomery almost staggered into him, and then +stopped too. Then, listening intently, we heard coming through the +trees the sound of voices and footsteps approaching us. + +“He is dead,” said a deep, vibrating voice. + +“He is not dead; he is not dead,” jabbered another. + +“We saw, we saw,” said several voices. + +“_Hul_-lo!” suddenly shouted Montgomery, “Hullo, there!” + +“Confound you!” said I, and gripped my pistol. + +There was a silence, then a crashing among the interlacing vegetation, +first here, then there, and then half-a-dozen faces appeared,—strange +faces, lit by a strange light. M’ling made a growling noise in his +throat. I recognised the Ape-man: I had indeed already identified his +voice, and two of the white-swathed brown-featured creatures I had seen +in Montgomery’s boat. With these were the two dappled brutes and that +grey, horribly crooked creature who said the Law, with grey hair +streaming down its cheeks, heavy grey eyebrows, and grey locks pouring +off from a central parting upon its sloping forehead,—a heavy, faceless +thing, with strange red eyes, looking at us curiously from amidst the +green. + +For a space no one spoke. Then Montgomery hiccoughed, “Who—said he was +dead?” + +The Monkey-man looked guiltily at the hairy-grey Thing. “He is dead,” +said this monster. “They saw.” + +There was nothing threatening about this detachment, at any rate. They +seemed awestricken and puzzled. + +“Where is he?” said Montgomery. + +“Beyond,” and the grey creature pointed. + +“Is there a Law now?” asked the Monkey-man. “Is it still to be this and +that? Is he dead indeed?” + +“Is there a Law?” repeated the man in white. “Is there a Law, thou +Other with the Whip?” + +“He is dead,” said the hairy-grey Thing. And they all stood watching +us. + +“Prendick,” said Montgomery, turning his dull eyes to me. “He’s dead, +evidently.” + +I had been standing behind him during this colloquy. I began to see how +things lay with them. I suddenly stepped in front of Montgomery and +lifted up my voice:—“Children of the Law,” I said, “he is _not_ dead!” +M’ling turned his sharp eyes on me. “He has changed his shape; he has +changed his body,” I went on. “For a time you will not see him. He +is—there,” I pointed upward, “where he can watch you. You cannot see +him, but he can see you. Fear the Law!” + +I looked at them squarely. They flinched. + +“He is great, he is good,” said the Ape-man, peering fearfully upward +among the dense trees. + +“And the other Thing?” I demanded. + +“The Thing that bled, and ran screaming and sobbing,—that is dead too,” +said the grey Thing, still regarding me. + +“That’s well,” grunted Montgomery. + +“The Other with the Whip—” began the grey Thing. + +“Well?” said I. + +“Said he was dead.” + +But Montgomery was still sober enough to understand my motive in +denying Moreau’s death. “He is not dead,” he said slowly, “not dead at +all. No more dead than I am.” + +“Some,” said I, “have broken the Law: they will die. Some have died. +Show us now where his old body lies,—the body he cast away because he +had no more need of it.” + +“It is this way, Man who walked in the Sea,” said the grey Thing. + +And with these six creatures guiding us, we went through the tumult of +ferns and creepers and tree-stems towards the northwest. Then came a +yelling, a crashing among the branches, and a little pink homunculus +rushed by us shrieking. Immediately after appeared a monster in +headlong pursuit, blood-bedabbled, who was amongst us almost before he +could stop his career. The grey Thing leapt aside. M’ling, with a +snarl, flew at it, and was struck aside. Montgomery fired and missed, +bowed his head, threw up his arm, and turned to run. I fired, and the +Thing still came on; fired again, point-blank, into its ugly face. I +saw its features vanish in a flash: its face was driven in. Yet it +passed me, gripped Montgomery, and holding him, fell headlong beside +him and pulled him sprawling upon itself in its death-agony. + +I found myself alone with M’ling, the dead brute, and the prostrate +man. Montgomery raised himself slowly and stared in a muddled way at +the shattered Beast Man beside him. It more than half sobered him. He +scrambled to his feet. Then I saw the grey Thing returning cautiously +through the trees. + +“See,” said I, pointing to the dead brute, “is the Law not alive? This +came of breaking the Law.” + +He peered at the body. “He sends the Fire that kills,” said he, in his +deep voice, repeating part of the Ritual. The others gathered round and +stared for a space. + +At last we drew near the westward extremity of the island. We came upon +the gnawed and mutilated body of the puma, its shoulder-bone smashed by +a bullet, and perhaps twenty yards farther found at last what we +sought. Moreau lay face downward in a trampled space in a canebrake. +One hand was almost severed at the wrist and his silvery hair was +dabbled in blood. His head had been battered in by the fetters of the +puma. The broken canes beneath him were smeared with blood. His +revolver we could not find. Montgomery turned him over. Resting at +intervals, and with the help of the seven Beast People (for he was a +heavy man), we carried Moreau back to the enclosure. The night was +darkling. Twice we heard unseen creatures howling and shrieking past +our little band, and once the little pink sloth-creature appeared and +stared at us, and vanished again. But we were not attacked again. At +the gates of the enclosure our company of Beast People left us, M’ling +going with the rest. We locked ourselves in, and then took Moreau’s +mangled body into the yard and laid it upon a pile of brushwood. Then +we went into the laboratory and put an end to all we found living +there. + + + + +XIX. +MONTGOMERY’S “BANK HOLIDAY.” + + +When this was accomplished, and we had washed and eaten, Montgomery and +I went into my little room and seriously discussed our position for the +first time. It was then near midnight. He was almost sober, but greatly +disturbed in his mind. He had been strangely under the influence of +Moreau’s personality: I do not think it had ever occurred to him that +Moreau could die. This disaster was the sudden collapse of the habits +that had become part of his nature in the ten or more monotonous years +he had spent on the island. He talked vaguely, answered my questions +crookedly, wandered into general questions. + +“This silly ass of a world,” he said; “what a muddle it all is! I +haven’t had any life. I wonder when it’s going to begin. Sixteen years +being bullied by nurses and schoolmasters at their own sweet will; five +in London grinding hard at medicine, bad food, shabby lodgings, shabby +clothes, shabby vice, a blunder,—_I_ didn’t know any better,—and +hustled off to this beastly island. Ten years here! What’s it all for, +Prendick? Are we bubbles blown by a baby?” + +It was hard to deal with such ravings. “The thing we have to think of +now,” said I, “is how to get away from this island.” + +“What’s the good of getting away? I’m an outcast. Where am _I_ to join +on? It’s all very well for _you_, Prendick. Poor old Moreau! We can’t +leave him here to have his bones picked. As it is—And besides, what +will become of the decent part of the Beast Folk?” + +“Well,” said I, “that will do to-morrow. I’ve been thinking we might +make the brushwood into a pyre and burn his body—and those other +things. Then what will happen with the Beast Folk?” + +“_I_ don’t know. I suppose those that were made of beasts of prey will +make silly asses of themselves sooner or later. We can’t massacre the +lot—can we? I suppose that’s what _your_ humanity would suggest? But +they’ll change. They are sure to change.” + +He talked thus inconclusively until at last I felt my temper going. + +“Damnation!” he exclaimed at some petulance of mine; “can’t you see I’m +in a worse hole than you are?” And he got up, and went for the brandy. +“Drink!” he said returning, “you logic-chopping, chalky-faced saint of +an atheist, drink!” + +“Not I,” said I, and sat grimly watching his face under the yellow +paraffine flare, as he drank himself into a garrulous misery. + +I have a memory of infinite tedium. He wandered into a maudlin defence +of the Beast People and of M’ling. M’ling, he said, was the only thing +that had ever really cared for him. And suddenly an idea came to him. + +“I’m damned!” said he, staggering to his feet and clutching the brandy +bottle. + +By some flash of intuition I knew what it was he intended. “You don’t +give drink to that beast!” I said, rising and facing him. + +“Beast!” said he. “You’re the beast. He takes his liquor like a +Christian. Come out of the way, Prendick!” + +“For God’s sake,” said I. + +“Get—out of the way!” he roared, and suddenly whipped out his revolver. + +“Very well,” said I, and stood aside, half-minded to fall upon him as +he put his hand upon the latch, but deterred by the thought of my +useless arm. “You’ve made a beast of yourself,—to the beasts you may +go.” + +He flung the doorway open, and stood half facing me between the yellow +lamp-light and the pallid glare of the moon; his eye-sockets were +blotches of black under his stubbly eyebrows. + +“You’re a solemn prig, Prendick, a silly ass! You’re always fearing and +fancying. We’re on the edge of things. I’m bound to cut my throat +to-morrow. I’m going to have a damned Bank Holiday to-night.” He turned +and went out into the moonlight. “M’ling!” he cried; “M’ling, old +friend!” + +Three dim creatures in the silvery light came along the edge of the wan +beach,—one a white-wrapped creature, the other two blotches of +blackness following it. They halted, staring. Then I saw M’ling’s +hunched shoulders as he came round the corner of the house. + +“Drink!” cried Montgomery, “drink, you brutes! Drink and be men! Damme, +I’m the cleverest. Moreau forgot this; this is the last touch. Drink, I +tell you!” And waving the bottle in his hand he started off at a kind +of quick trot to the westward, M’ling ranging himself between him and +the three dim creatures who followed. + +I went to the doorway. They were already indistinct in the mist of the +moonlight before Montgomery halted. I saw him administer a dose of the +raw brandy to M’ling, and saw the five figures melt into one vague +patch. + +“Sing!” I heard Montgomery shout,—“sing all together, ‘Confound old +Prendick!’ That’s right; now again, ‘Confound old Prendick!’” + +The black group broke up into five separate figures, and wound slowly +away from me along the band of shining beach. Each went howling at his +own sweet will, yelping insults at me, or giving whatever other vent +this new inspiration of brandy demanded. Presently I heard Montgomery’s +voice shouting, “Right turn!” and they passed with their shouts and +howls into the blackness of the landward trees. Slowly, very slowly, +they receded into silence. + +The peaceful splendour of the night healed again. The moon was now past +the meridian and travelling down the west. It was at its full, and very +bright riding through the empty blue sky. The shadow of the wall lay, a +yard wide and of inky blackness, at my feet. The eastward sea was a +featureless grey, dark and mysterious; and between the sea and the +shadow the grey sands (of volcanic glass and crystals) flashed and +shone like a beach of diamonds. Behind me the paraffine lamp flared hot +and ruddy. + +Then I shut the door, locked it, and went into the enclosure where +Moreau lay beside his latest victims,—the staghounds and the llama and +some other wretched brutes,—with his massive face calm even after his +terrible death, and with the hard eyes open, staring at the dead white +moon above. I sat down upon the edge of the sink, and with my eyes upon +that ghastly pile of silvery light and ominous shadows began to turn +over my plans. In the morning I would gather some provisions in the +dingey, and after setting fire to the pyre before me, push out into the +desolation of the high sea once more. I felt that for Montgomery there +was no help; that he was, in truth, half akin to these Beast Folk, +unfitted for human kindred. + +I do not know how long I sat there scheming. It must have been an hour +or so. Then my planning was interrupted by the return of Montgomery to +my neighbourhood. I heard a yelling from many throats, a tumult of +exultant cries passing down towards the beach, whooping and howling, +and excited shrieks that seemed to come to a stop near the water’s +edge. The riot rose and fell; I heard heavy blows and the splintering +smash of wood, but it did not trouble me then. A discordant chanting +began. + +My thoughts went back to my means of escape. I got up, brought the +lamp, and went into a shed to look at some kegs I had seen there. Then +I became interested in the contents of some biscuit-tins, and opened +one. I saw something out of the tail of my eye,—a red figure,—and +turned sharply. + +Behind me lay the yard, vividly black-and-white in the moonlight, and +the pile of wood and faggots on which Moreau and his mutilated victims +lay, one over another. They seemed to be gripping one another in one +last revengeful grapple. His wounds gaped, black as night, and the +blood that had dripped lay in black patches upon the sand. Then I saw, +without understanding, the cause of my phantom,—a ruddy glow that came +and danced and went upon the wall opposite. I misinterpreted this, +fancied it was a reflection of my flickering lamp, and turned again to +the stores in the shed. I went on rummaging among them, as well as a +one-armed man could, finding this convenient thing and that, and +putting them aside for to-morrow’s launch. My movements were slow, and +the time passed quickly. Insensibly the daylight crept upon me. + +The chanting died down, giving place to a clamour; then it began again, +and suddenly broke into a tumult. I heard cries of, “More! more!” a +sound like quarrelling, and a sudden wild shriek. The quality of the +sounds changed so greatly that it arrested my attention. I went out +into the yard and listened. Then cutting like a knife across the +confusion came the crack of a revolver. + +I rushed at once through my room to the little doorway. As I did so I +heard some of the packing-cases behind me go sliding down and smash +together with a clatter of glass on the floor of the shed. But I did +not heed these. I flung the door open and looked out. + +Up the beach by the boathouse a bonfire was burning, raining up sparks +into the indistinctness of the dawn. Around this struggled a mass of +black figures. I heard Montgomery call my name. I began to run at once +towards this fire, revolver in hand. I saw the pink tongue of +Montgomery’s pistol lick out once, close to the ground. He was down. I +shouted with all my strength and fired into the air. I heard some one +cry, “The Master!” The knotted black struggle broke into scattering +units, the fire leapt and sank down. The crowd of Beast People fled in +sudden panic before me, up the beach. In my excitement I fired at their +retreating backs as they disappeared among the bushes. Then I turned to +the black heaps upon the ground. + +Montgomery lay on his back, with the hairy-grey Beast-man sprawling +across his body. The brute was dead, but still gripping Montgomery’s +throat with its curving claws. Near by lay M’ling on his face and quite +still, his neck bitten open and the upper part of the smashed +brandy-bottle in his hand. Two other figures lay near the fire,—the one +motionless, the other groaning fitfully, every now and then raising its +head slowly, then dropping it again. + +I caught hold of the grey man and pulled him off Montgomery’s body; his +claws drew down the torn coat reluctantly as I dragged him away. +Montgomery was dark in the face and scarcely breathing. I splashed +sea-water on his face and pillowed his head on my rolled-up coat. +M’ling was dead. The wounded creature by the fire—it was a Wolf-brute +with a bearded grey face—lay, I found, with the fore part of its body +upon the still glowing timber. The wretched thing was injured so +dreadfully that in mercy I blew its brains out at once. The other brute +was one of the Bull-men swathed in white. He too was dead. The rest of +the Beast People had vanished from the beach. + +I went to Montgomery again and knelt beside him, cursing my ignorance +of medicine. The fire beside me had sunk down, and only charred beams +of timber glowing at the central ends and mixed with a grey ash of +brushwood remained. I wondered casually where Montgomery had got his +wood. Then I saw that the dawn was upon us. The sky had grown brighter, +the setting moon was becoming pale and opaque in the luminous blue of +the day. The sky to the eastward was rimmed with red. + +Suddenly I heard a thud and a hissing behind me, and, looking round, +sprang to my feet with a cry of horror. Against the warm dawn great +tumultuous masses of black smoke were boiling up out of the enclosure, +and through their stormy darkness shot flickering threads of blood-red +flame. Then the thatched roof caught. I saw the curving charge of the +flames across the sloping straw. A spurt of fire jetted from the window +of my room. + +I knew at once what had happened. I remembered the crash I had heard. +When I had rushed out to Montgomery’s assistance, I had overturned the +lamp. + +The hopelessness of saving any of the contents of the enclosure stared +me in the face. My mind came back to my plan of flight, and turning +swiftly I looked to see where the two boats lay upon the beach. They +were gone! Two axes lay upon the sands beside me; chips and splinters +were scattered broadcast, and the ashes of the bonfire were blackening +and smoking under the dawn. Montgomery had burnt the boats to revenge +himself upon me and prevent our return to mankind! + +A sudden convulsion of rage shook me. I was almost moved to batter his +foolish head in, as he lay there helpless at my feet. Then suddenly his +hand moved, so feebly, so pitifully, that my wrath vanished. He +groaned, and opened his eyes for a minute. I knelt down beside him and +raised his head. He opened his eyes again, staring silently at the +dawn, and then they met mine. The lids fell. + +“Sorry,” he said presently, with an effort. He seemed trying to think. +“The last,” he murmured, “the last of this silly universe. What a +mess—” + +I listened. His head fell helplessly to one side. I thought some drink +might revive him; but there was neither drink nor vessel in which to +bring drink at hand. He seemed suddenly heavier. My heart went cold. I +bent down to his face, put my hand through the rent in his blouse. He +was dead; and even as he died a line of white heat, the limb of the +sun, rose eastward beyond the projection of the bay, splashing its +radiance across the sky and turning the dark sea into a weltering +tumult of dazzling light. It fell like a glory upon his death-shrunken +face. + +I let his head fall gently upon the rough pillow I had made for him, +and stood up. Before me was the glittering desolation of the sea, the +awful solitude upon which I had already suffered so much; behind me the +island, hushed under the dawn, its Beast People silent and unseen. The +enclosure, with all its provisions and ammunition, burnt noisily, with +sudden gusts of flame, a fitful crackling, and now and then a crash. +The heavy smoke drove up the beach away from me, rolling low over the +distant tree-tops towards the huts in the ravine. Beside me were the +charred vestiges of the boats and these five dead bodies. + +Then out of the bushes came three Beast People, with hunched shoulders, +protruding heads, misshapen hands awkwardly held, and inquisitive, +unfriendly eyes and advanced towards me with hesitating gestures. + + + + +XX. +ALONE WITH THE BEAST FOLK. + + +I faced these people, facing my fate in them, single-handed +now,—literally single-handed, for I had a broken arm. In my pocket was +a revolver with two empty chambers. Among the chips scattered about the +beach lay the two axes that had been used to chop up the boats. The +tide was creeping in behind me. There was nothing for it but courage. I +looked squarely into the faces of the advancing monsters. They avoided +my eyes, and their quivering nostrils investigated the bodies that lay +beyond me on the beach. I took half-a-dozen steps, picked up the +blood-stained whip that lay beneath the body of the Wolf-man, and +cracked it. They stopped and stared at me. + +“Salute!” said I. “Bow down!” + +They hesitated. One bent his knees. I repeated my command, with my +heart in my mouth, and advanced upon them. One knelt, then the other +two. + +I turned and walked towards the dead bodies, keeping my face towards +the three kneeling Beast Men, very much as an actor passing up the +stage faces the audience. + +“They broke the Law,” said I, putting my foot on the Sayer of the Law. +“They have been slain,—even the Sayer of the Law; even the Other with +the Whip. Great is the Law! Come and see.” + +“None escape,” said one of them, advancing and peering. + +“None escape,” said I. “Therefore hear and do as I command.” They stood +up, looking questioningly at one another. + +“Stand there,” said I. + +I picked up the hatchets and swung them by their heads from the sling +of my arm; turned Montgomery over; picked up his revolver still loaded +in two chambers, and bending down to rummage, found half-a-dozen +cartridges in his pocket. + +“Take him,” said I, standing up again and pointing with the whip; “take +him, and carry him out and cast him into the sea.” + +They came forward, evidently still afraid of Montgomery, but still more +afraid of my cracking red whip-lash; and after some fumbling and +hesitation, some whip-cracking and shouting, they lifted him gingerly, +carried him down to the beach, and went splashing into the dazzling +welter of the sea. + +“On!” said I, “on! Carry him far.” + +They went in up to their armpits and stood regarding me. + +“Let go,” said I; and the body of Montgomery vanished with a splash. +Something seemed to tighten across my chest. + +“Good!” said I, with a break in my voice; and they came back, hurrying +and fearful, to the margin of the water, leaving long wakes of black in +the silver. At the water’s edge they stopped, turning and glaring into +the sea as though they presently expected Montgomery to arise therefrom +and exact vengeance. + +“Now these,” said I, pointing to the other bodies. + +They took care not to approach the place where they had thrown +Montgomery into the water, but instead, carried the four dead Beast +People slantingly along the beach for perhaps a hundred yards before +they waded out and cast them away. + +As I watched them disposing of the mangled remains of M’ling, I heard a +light footfall behind me, and turning quickly saw the big Hyena-swine +perhaps a dozen yards away. His head was bent down, his bright eyes +were fixed upon me, his stumpy hands clenched and held close by his +side. He stopped in this crouching attitude when I turned, his eyes a +little averted. + +For a moment we stood eye to eye. I dropped the whip and snatched at +the pistol in my pocket; for I meant to kill this brute, the most +formidable of any left now upon the island, at the first excuse. It may +seem treacherous, but so I was resolved. I was far more afraid of him +than of any other two of the Beast Folk. His continued life was I knew +a threat against mine. + +I was perhaps a dozen seconds collecting myself. Then cried I, “Salute! +Bow down!” + +His teeth flashed upon me in a snarl. “Who are _you_ that I should—” + +Perhaps a little too spasmodically I drew my revolver, aimed quickly +and fired. I heard him yelp, saw him run sideways and turn, knew I had +missed, and clicked back the cock with my thumb for the next shot. But +he was already running headlong, jumping from side to side, and I dared +not risk another miss. Every now and then he looked back at me over his +shoulder. He went slanting along the beach, and vanished beneath the +driving masses of dense smoke that were still pouring out from the +burning enclosure. For some time I stood staring after him. I turned to +my three obedient Beast Folk again and signalled them to drop the body +they still carried. Then I went back to the place by the fire where the +bodies had fallen and kicked the sand until all the brown blood-stains +were absorbed and hidden. + +I dismissed my three serfs with a wave of the hand, and went up the +beach into the thickets. I carried my pistol in my hand, my whip thrust +with the hatchets in the sling of my arm. I was anxious to be alone, to +think out the position in which I was now placed. A dreadful thing that +I was only beginning to realise was, that over all this island there +was now no safe place where I could be alone and secure to rest or +sleep. I had recovered strength amazingly since my landing, but I was +still inclined to be nervous and to break down under any great stress. +I felt that I ought to cross the island and establish myself with the +Beast People, and make myself secure in their confidence. But my heart +failed me. I went back to the beach, and turning eastward past the +burning enclosure, made for a point where a shallow spit of coral sand +ran out towards the reef. Here I could sit down and think, my back to +the sea and my face against any surprise. And there I sat, chin on +knees, the sun beating down upon my head and unspeakable dread in my +mind, plotting how I could live on against the hour of my rescue (if +ever rescue came). I tried to review the whole situation as calmly as I +could, but it was difficult to clear the thing of emotion. + +I began turning over in my mind the reason of Montgomery’s despair. +“They will change,” he said; “they are sure to change.” And Moreau, +what was it that Moreau had said? “The stubborn beast-flesh grows day +by day back again.” Then I came round to the Hyena-swine. I felt sure +that if I did not kill that brute, he would kill me. The Sayer of the +Law was dead: worse luck. They knew now that we of the Whips could be +killed even as they themselves were killed. Were they peering at me +already out of the green masses of ferns and palms over yonder, +watching until I came within their spring? Were they plotting against +me? What was the Hyena-swine telling them? My imagination was running +away with me into a morass of unsubstantial fears. + +My thoughts were disturbed by a crying of sea-birds hurrying towards +some black object that had been stranded by the waves on the beach near +the enclosure. I knew what that object was, but I had not the heart to +go back and drive them off. I began walking along the beach in the +opposite direction, designing to come round the eastward corner of the +island and so approach the ravine of the huts, without traversing the +possible ambuscades of the thickets. + +Perhaps half a mile along the beach I became aware of one of my three +Beast Folk advancing out of the landward bushes towards me. I was now +so nervous with my own imaginings that I immediately drew my revolver. +Even the propitiatory gestures of the creature failed to disarm me. He +hesitated as he approached. + +“Go away!” cried I. + +There was something very suggestive of a dog in the cringing attitude +of the creature. It retreated a little way, very like a dog being sent +home, and stopped, looking at me imploringly with canine brown eyes. + +“Go away,” said I. “Do not come near me.” + +“May I not come near you?” it said. + +“No; go away,” I insisted, and snapped my whip. Then putting my whip in +my teeth, I stooped for a stone, and with that threat drove the +creature away. + +So in solitude I came round by the ravine of the Beast People, and +hiding among the weeds and reeds that separated this crevice from the +sea I watched such of them as appeared, trying to judge from their +gestures and appearance how the death of Moreau and Montgomery and the +destruction of the House of Pain had affected them. I know now the +folly of my cowardice. Had I kept my courage up to the level of the +dawn, had I not allowed it to ebb away in solitary thought, I might +have grasped the vacant sceptre of Moreau and ruled over the Beast +People. As it was I lost the opportunity, and sank to the position of a +mere leader among my fellows. + +Towards noon certain of them came and squatted basking in the hot sand. +The imperious voices of hunger and thirst prevailed over my dread. I +came out of the bushes, and, revolver in hand, walked down towards +these seated figures. One, a Wolf-woman, turned her head and stared at +me, and then the others. None attempted to rise or salute me. I felt +too faint and weary to insist, and I let the moment pass. + +“I want food,” said I, almost apologetically, and drawing near. + +“There is food in the huts,” said an Ox-boar-man, drowsily, and looking +away from me. + +I passed them, and went down into the shadow and odours of the almost +deserted ravine. In an empty hut I feasted on some specked and +half-decayed fruit; and then after I had propped some branches and +sticks about the opening, and placed myself with my face towards it and +my hand upon my revolver, the exhaustion of the last thirty hours +claimed its own, and I fell into a light slumber, hoping that the +flimsy barricade I had erected would cause sufficient noise in its +removal to save me from surprise. + + + + +XXI. +THE REVERSION OF THE BEAST FOLK. + + +In this way I became one among the Beast People in the Island of Doctor +Moreau. When I awoke, it was dark about me. My arm ached in its +bandages. I sat up, wondering at first where I might be. I heard coarse +voices talking outside. Then I saw that my barricade had gone, and that +the opening of the hut stood clear. My revolver was still in my hand. + +I heard something breathing, saw something crouched together close +beside me. I held my breath, trying to see what it was. It began to +move slowly, interminably. Then something soft and warm and moist +passed across my hand. All my muscles contracted. I snatched my hand +away. A cry of alarm began and was stifled in my throat. Then I just +realised what had happened sufficiently to stay my fingers on the +revolver. + +“Who is that?” I said in a hoarse whisper, the revolver still pointed. + +“_I_—Master.” + +“Who are _you?_” + +“They say there is no Master now. But I know, I know. I carried the +bodies into the sea, O Walker in the Sea! the bodies of those you slew. +I am your slave, Master.” + +“Are you the one I met on the beach?” I asked. + +“The same, Master.” + +The Thing was evidently faithful enough, for it might have fallen upon +me as I slept. “It is well,” I said, extending my hand for another +licking kiss. I began to realise what its presence meant, and the tide +of my courage flowed. “Where are the others?” I asked. + +“They are mad; they are fools,” said the Dog-man. “Even now they talk +together beyond there. They say, ‘The Master is dead. The Other with +the Whip is dead. That Other who walked in the Sea is as we are. We +have no Master, no Whips, no House of Pain, any more. There is an end. +We love the Law, and will keep it; but there is no Pain, no Master, no +Whips for ever again.’ So they say. But I know, Master, I know.” + +I felt in the darkness, and patted the Dog-man’s head. “It is well,” I +said again. + +“Presently you will slay them all,” said the Dog-man. + +“Presently,” I answered, “I will slay them all,—after certain days and +certain things have come to pass. Every one of them save those you +spare, every one of them shall be slain.” + +“What the Master wishes to kill, the Master kills,” said the Dog-man +with a certain satisfaction in his voice. + +“And that their sins may grow,” I said, “let them live in their folly +until their time is ripe. Let them not know that I am the Master.” + +“The Master’s will is sweet,” said the Dog-man, with the ready tact of +his canine blood. + +“But one has sinned,” said I. “Him I will kill, whenever I may meet +him. When I say to you, ‘_That is he_,’ see that you fall upon him. And +now I will go to the men and women who are assembled together.” + +For a moment the opening of the hut was blackened by the exit of the +Dog-man. Then I followed and stood up, almost in the exact spot where I +had been when I had heard Moreau and his staghound pursuing me. But now +it was night, and all the miasmatic ravine about me was black; and +beyond, instead of a green, sunlit slope, I saw a red fire, before +which hunched, grotesque figures moved to and fro. Farther were the +thick trees, a bank of darkness, fringed above with the black lace of +the upper branches. The moon was just riding up on the edge of the +ravine, and like a bar across its face drove the spire of vapour that +was for ever streaming from the fumaroles of the island. + +“Walk by me,” said I, nerving myself; and side by side we walked down +the narrow way, taking little heed of the dim Things that peered at us +out of the huts. + +None about the fire attempted to salute me. Most of them disregarded +me, ostentatiously. I looked round for the Hyena-swine, but he was not +there. Altogether, perhaps twenty of the Beast Folk squatted, staring +into the fire or talking to one another. + +“He is dead, he is dead! the Master is dead!” said the voice of the +Ape-man to the right of me. “The House of Pain—there is no House of +Pain!” + +“He is not dead,” said I, in a loud voice. “Even now he watches us!” + +This startled them. Twenty pairs of eyes regarded me. + +“The House of Pain is gone,” said I. “It will come again. The Master +you cannot see; yet even now he listens among you.” + +“True, true!” said the Dog-man. + +They were staggered at my assurance. An animal may be ferocious and +cunning enough, but it takes a real man to tell a lie. + +“The Man with the Bandaged Arm speaks a strange thing,” said one of the +Beast Folk. + +“I tell you it is so,” I said. “The Master and the House of Pain will +come again. Woe be to him who breaks the Law!” + +They looked curiously at one another. With an affectation of +indifference I began to chop idly at the ground in front of me with my +hatchet. They looked, I noticed, at the deep cuts I made in the turf. + +Then the Satyr raised a doubt. I answered him. Then one of the dappled +things objected, and an animated discussion sprang up round the fire. +Every moment I began to feel more convinced of my present security. I +talked now without the catching in my breath, due to the intensity of +my excitement, that had troubled me at first. In the course of about an +hour I had really convinced several of the Beast Folk of the truth of +my assertions, and talked most of the others into a dubious state. I +kept a sharp eye for my enemy the Hyena-swine, but he never appeared. +Every now and then a suspicious movement would startle me, but my +confidence grew rapidly. Then as the moon crept down from the zenith, +one by one the listeners began to yawn (showing the oddest teeth in the +light of the sinking fire), and first one and then another retired +towards the dens in the ravine; and I, dreading the silence and +darkness, went with them, knowing I was safer with several of them than +with one alone. + +In this manner began the longer part of my sojourn upon this Island of +Doctor Moreau. But from that night until the end came, there was but +one thing happened to tell save a series of innumerable small +unpleasant details and the fretting of an incessant uneasiness. So that +I prefer to make no chronicle for that gap of time, to tell only one +cardinal incident of the ten months I spent as an intimate of these +half-humanised brutes. There is much that sticks in my memory that I +could write,—things that I would cheerfully give my right hand to +forget; but they do not help the telling of the story. + +In the retrospect it is strange to remember how soon I fell in with +these monsters’ ways, and gained my confidence again. I had my quarrels +with them of course, and could show some of their teeth-marks still; +but they soon gained a wholesome respect for my trick of throwing +stones and for the bite of my hatchet. And my Saint-Bernard-man’s +loyalty was of infinite service to me. I found their simple scale of +honour was based mainly on the capacity for inflicting trenchant +wounds. Indeed, I may say—without vanity, I hope—that I held something +like pre-eminence among them. One or two, whom in a rare access of high +spirits I had scarred rather badly, bore me a grudge; but it vented +itself chiefly behind my back, and at a safe distance from my missiles, +in grimaces. + +The Hyena-swine avoided me, and I was always on the alert for him. My +inseparable Dog-man hated and dreaded him intensely. I really believe +that was at the root of the brute’s attachment to me. It was soon +evident to me that the former monster had tasted blood, and gone the +way of the Leopard-man. He formed a lair somewhere in the forest, and +became solitary. Once I tried to induce the Beast Folk to hunt him, but +I lacked the authority to make them co-operate for one end. Again and +again I tried to approach his den and come upon him unaware; but always +he was too acute for me, and saw or winded me and got away. He too made +every forest pathway dangerous to me and my ally with his lurking +ambuscades. The Dog-man scarcely dared to leave my side. + +In the first month or so the Beast Folk, compared with their latter +condition, were human enough, and for one or two besides my canine +friend I even conceived a friendly tolerance. The little pink +sloth-creature displayed an odd affection for me, and took to following +me about. The Monkey-man bored me, however; he assumed, on the strength +of his five digits, that he was my equal, and was for ever jabbering at +me,—jabbering the most arrant nonsense. One thing about him entertained +me a little: he had a fantastic trick of coining new words. He had an +idea, I believe, that to gabble about names that meant nothing was the +proper use of speech. He called it “Big Thinks” to distinguish it from +“Little Thinks,” the sane every-day interests of life. If ever I made a +remark he did not understand, he would praise it very much, ask me to +say it again, learn it by heart, and go off repeating it, with a word +wrong here or there, to all the milder of the Beast People. He thought +nothing of what was plain and comprehensible. I invented some very +curious “Big Thinks” for his especial use. I think now that he was the +silliest creature I ever met; he had developed in the most wonderful +way the distinctive silliness of man without losing one jot of the +natural folly of a monkey. + +This, I say, was in the earlier weeks of my solitude among these +brutes. During that time they respected the usage established by the +Law, and behaved with general decorum. Once I found another rabbit torn +to pieces,—by the Hyena-swine, I am assured,—but that was all. It was +about May when I first distinctly perceived a growing difference in +their speech and carriage, a growing coarseness of articulation, a +growing disinclination to talk. My Monkey-man’s jabber multiplied in +volume but grew less and less comprehensible, more and more simian. +Some of the others seemed altogether slipping their hold upon speech, +though they still understood what I said to them at that time. (Can you +imagine language, once clear-cut and exact, softening and guttering, +losing shape and import, becoming mere lumps of sound again?) And they +walked erect with an increasing difficulty. Though they evidently felt +ashamed of themselves, every now and then I would come upon one or +another running on toes and finger-tips, and quite unable to recover +the vertical attitude. They held things more clumsily; drinking by +suction, feeding by gnawing, grew commoner every day. I realised more +keenly than ever what Moreau had told me about the “stubborn +beast-flesh.” They were reverting, and reverting very rapidly. + +Some of them—the pioneers in this, I noticed with some surprise, were +all females—began to disregard the injunction of decency, deliberately +for the most part. Others even attempted public outrages upon the +institution of monogamy. The tradition of the Law was clearly losing +its force. I cannot pursue this disagreeable subject. + +My Dog-man imperceptibly slipped back to the dog again; day by day he +became dumb, quadrupedal, hairy. I scarcely noticed the transition from +the companion on my right hand to the lurching dog at my side. + +As the carelessness and disorganisation increased from day to day, the +lane of dwelling places, at no time very sweet, became so loathsome +that I left it, and going across the island made myself a hovel of +boughs amid the black ruins of Moreau’s enclosure. Some memory of pain, +I found, still made that place the safest from the Beast Folk. + +It would be impossible to detail every step of the lapsing of these +monsters,—to tell how, day by day, the human semblance left them; how +they gave up bandagings and wrappings, abandoned at last every stitch +of clothing; how the hair began to spread over the exposed limbs; how +their foreheads fell away and their faces projected; how the +quasi-human intimacy I had permitted myself with some of them in the +first month of my loneliness became a shuddering horror to recall. + +The change was slow and inevitable. For them and for me it came without +any definite shock. I still went among them in safety, because no jolt +in the downward glide had released the increasing charge of explosive +animalism that ousted the human day by day. But I began to fear that +soon now that shock must come. My Saint-Bernard-brute followed me to +the enclosure every night, and his vigilance enabled me to sleep at +times in something like peace. The little pink sloth-thing became shy +and left me, to crawl back to its natural life once more among the +tree-branches. We were in just the state of equilibrium that would +remain in one of those “Happy Family” cages which animal-tamers +exhibit, if the tamer were to leave it for ever. + +Of course these creatures did not decline into such beasts as the +reader has seen in zoological gardens,—into ordinary bears, wolves, +tigers, oxen, swine, and apes. There was still something strange about +each; in each Moreau had blended this animal with that. One perhaps was +ursine chiefly, another feline chiefly, another bovine chiefly; but +each was tainted with other creatures,—a kind of generalised animalism +appearing through the specific dispositions. And the dwindling shreds +of the humanity still startled me every now and then,—a momentary +recrudescence of speech perhaps, an unexpected dexterity of the +fore-feet, a pitiful attempt to walk erect. + +I too must have undergone strange changes. My clothes hung about me as +yellow rags, through whose rents showed the tanned skin. My hair grew +long, and became matted together. I am told that even now my eyes have +a strange brightness, a swift alertness of movement. + +At first I spent the daylight hours on the southward beach watching for +a ship, hoping and praying for a ship. I counted on the _Ipecacuanha_ +returning as the year wore on; but she never came. Five times I saw +sails, and thrice smoke; but nothing ever touched the island. I always +had a bonfire ready, but no doubt the volcanic reputation of the island +was taken to account for that. + +It was only about September or October that I began to think of making +a raft. By that time my arm had healed, and both my hands were at my +service again. At first, I found my helplessness appalling. I had never +done any carpentry or such-like work in my life, and I spent day after +day in experimental chopping and binding among the trees. I had no +ropes, and could hit on nothing wherewith to make ropes; none of the +abundant creepers seemed limber or strong enough, and with all my +litter of scientific education I could not devise any way of making +them so. I spent more than a fortnight grubbing among the black ruins +of the enclosure and on the beach where the boats had been burnt, +looking for nails and other stray pieces of metal that might prove of +service. Now and then some Beast-creature would watch me, and go +leaping off when I called to it. There came a season of thunder-storms +and heavy rain, which greatly retarded my work; but at last the raft +was completed. + +I was delighted with it. But with a certain lack of practical sense +which has always been my bane, I had made it a mile or more from the +sea; and before I had dragged it down to the beach the thing had fallen +to pieces. Perhaps it is as well that I was saved from launching it; +but at the time my misery at my failure was so acute that for some days +I simply moped on the beach, and stared at the water and thought of +death. + +I did not, however, mean to die, and an incident occurred that warned +me unmistakably of the folly of letting the days pass so,—for each +fresh day was fraught with increasing danger from the Beast People. + +I was lying in the shade of the enclosure wall, staring out to sea, +when I was startled by something cold touching the skin of my heel, and +starting round found the little pink sloth-creature blinking into my +face. He had long since lost speech and active movement, and the lank +hair of the little brute grew thicker every day and his stumpy claws +more askew. He made a moaning noise when he saw he had attracted my +attention, went a little way towards the bushes and looked back at me. + +At first I did not understand, but presently it occurred to me that he +wished me to follow him; and this I did at last,—slowly, for the day +was hot. When we reached the trees he clambered into them, for he could +travel better among their swinging creepers than on the ground. And +suddenly in a trampled space I came upon a ghastly group. My +Saint-Bernard-creature lay on the ground, dead; and near his body +crouched the Hyena-swine, gripping the quivering flesh with its +misshapen claws, gnawing at it, and snarling with delight. As I +approached, the monster lifted its glaring eyes to mine, its lips went +trembling back from its red-stained teeth, and it growled menacingly. +It was not afraid and not ashamed; the last vestige of the human taint +had vanished. I advanced a step farther, stopped, and pulled out my +revolver. At last I had him face to face. + +The brute made no sign of retreat; but its ears went back, its hair +bristled, and its body crouched together. I aimed between the eyes and +fired. As I did so, the Thing rose straight at me in a leap, and I was +knocked over like a ninepin. It clutched at me with its crippled hand, +and struck me in the face. Its spring carried it over me. I fell under +the hind part of its body; but luckily I had hit as I meant, and it had +died even as it leapt. I crawled out from under its unclean weight and +stood up trembling, staring at its quivering body. That danger at least +was over; but this, I knew was only the first of the series of relapses +that must come. + +I burnt both of the bodies on a pyre of brushwood; but after that I saw +that unless I left the island my death was only a question of time. The +Beast People by that time had, with one or two exceptions, left the +ravine and made themselves lairs according to their taste among the +thickets of the island. Few prowled by day, most of them slept, and the +island might have seemed deserted to a new-comer; but at night the air +was hideous with their calls and howling. I had half a mind to make a +massacre of them; to build traps, or fight them with my knife. Had I +possessed sufficient cartridges, I should not have hesitated to begin +the killing. There could now be scarcely a score left of the dangerous +carnivores; the braver of these were already dead. After the death of +this poor dog of mine, my last friend, I too adopted to some extent the +practice of slumbering in the daytime in order to be on my guard at +night. I rebuilt my den in the walls of the enclosure, with such a +narrow opening that anything attempting to enter must necessarily make +a considerable noise. The creatures had lost the art of fire too, and +recovered their fear of it. I turned once more, almost passionately +now, to hammering together stakes and branches to form a raft for my +escape. + +I found a thousand difficulties. I am an extremely unhandy man (my +schooling was over before the days of Slöjd); but most of the +requirements of a raft I met at last in some clumsy, circuitous way or +other, and this time I took care of the strength. The only +insurmountable obstacle was that I had no vessel to contain the water I +should need if I floated forth upon these untravelled seas. I would +have even tried pottery, but the island contained no clay. I used to go +moping about the island trying with all my might to solve this one last +difficulty. Sometimes I would give way to wild outbursts of rage, and +hack and splinter some unlucky tree in my intolerable vexation. But I +could think of nothing. + +And then came a day, a wonderful day, which I spent in ecstasy. I saw a +sail to the southwest, a small sail like that of a little schooner; and +forthwith I lit a great pile of brushwood, and stood by it in the heat +of it, and the heat of the midday sun, watching. All day I watched that +sail, eating or drinking nothing, so that my head reeled; and the +Beasts came and glared at me, and seemed to wonder, and went away. It +was still distant when night came and swallowed it up; and all night I +toiled to keep my blaze bright and high, and the eyes of the Beasts +shone out of the darkness, marvelling. In the dawn the sail was nearer, +and I saw it was the dirty lug-sail of a small boat. But it sailed +strangely. My eyes were weary with watching, and I peered and could not +believe them. Two men were in the boat, sitting low down,—one by the +bows, the other at the rudder. The head was not kept to the wind; it +yawed and fell away. + +As the day grew brighter, I began waving the last rag of my jacket to +them; but they did not notice me, and sat still, facing each other. I +went to the lowest point of the low headland, and gesticulated and +shouted. There was no response, and the boat kept on her aimless +course, making slowly, very slowly, for the bay. Suddenly a great white +bird flew up out of the boat, and neither of the men stirred nor +noticed it; it circled round, and then came sweeping overhead with its +strong wings outspread. + +Then I stopped shouting, and sat down on the headland and rested my +chin on my hands and stared. Slowly, slowly, the boat drove past +towards the west. I would have swum out to it, but something—a cold, +vague fear—kept me back. In the afternoon the tide stranded the boat, +and left it a hundred yards or so to the westward of the ruins of the +enclosure. The men in it were dead, had been dead so long that they +fell to pieces when I tilted the boat on its side and dragged them out. +One had a shock of red hair, like the captain of the _Ipecacuanha_, and +a dirty white cap lay in the bottom of the boat. + +As I stood beside the boat, three of the Beasts came slinking out of +the bushes and sniffing towards me. One of my spasms of disgust came +upon me. I thrust the little boat down the beach and clambered on board +her. Two of the brutes were Wolf-beasts, and came forward with +quivering nostrils and glittering eyes; the third was the horrible +nondescript of bear and bull. When I saw them approaching those +wretched remains, heard them snarling at one another and caught the +gleam of their teeth, a frantic horror succeeded my repulsion. I turned +my back upon them, struck the lug and began paddling out to sea. I +could not bring myself to look behind me. + +I lay, however, between the reef and the island that night, and the +next morning went round to the stream and filled the empty keg aboard +with water. Then, with such patience as I could command, I collected a +quantity of fruit, and waylaid and killed two rabbits with my last +three cartridges. While I was doing this I left the boat moored to an +inward projection of the reef, for fear of the Beast People. + + + + +XXII. +THE MAN ALONE. + + +In the evening I started, and drove out to sea before a gentle wind +from the southwest, slowly, steadily; and the island grew smaller and +smaller, and the lank spire of smoke dwindled to a finer and finer line +against the hot sunset. The ocean rose up around me, hiding that low, +dark patch from my eyes. The daylight, the trailing glory of the sun, +went streaming out of the sky, was drawn aside like some luminous +curtain, and at last I looked into the blue gulf of immensity which the +sunshine hides, and saw the floating hosts of the stars. The sea was +silent, the sky was silent. I was alone with the night and silence. + +So I drifted for three days, eating and drinking sparingly, and +meditating upon all that had happened to me,—not desiring very greatly +then to see men again. One unclean rag was about me, my hair a black +tangle: no doubt my discoverers thought me a madman. + +It is strange, but I felt no desire to return to mankind. I was only +glad to be quit of the foulness of the Beast People. And on the third +day I was picked up by a brig from Apia to San Francisco. Neither the +captain nor the mate would believe my story, judging that solitude and +danger had made me mad; and fearing their opinion might be that of +others, I refrained from telling my adventure further, and professed to +recall nothing that had happened to me between the loss of the _Lady +Vain_ and the time when I was picked up again,—the space of a year. + +I had to act with the utmost circumspection to save myself from the +suspicion of insanity. My memory of the Law, of the two dead sailors, +of the ambuscades of the darkness, of the body in the canebrake, +haunted me; and, unnatural as it seems, with my return to mankind came, +instead of that confidence and sympathy I had expected, a strange +enhancement of the uncertainty and dread I had experienced during my +stay upon the island. No one would believe me; I was almost as queer to +men as I had been to the Beast People. I may have caught something of +the natural wildness of my companions. They say that terror is a +disease, and anyhow I can witness that for several years now a restless +fear has dwelt in my mind,—such a restless fear as a half-tamed lion +cub may feel. + +My trouble took the strangest form. I could not persuade myself that +the men and women I met were not also another Beast People, animals +half wrought into the outward image of human souls, and that they would +presently begin to revert,—to show first this bestial mark and then +that. But I have confided my case to a strangely able man,—a man who +had known Moreau, and seemed half to credit my story; a mental +specialist,—and he has helped me mightily, though I do not expect that +the terror of that island will ever altogether leave me. At most times +it lies far in the back of my mind, a mere distant cloud, a memory, and +a faint distrust; but there are times when the little cloud spreads +until it obscures the whole sky. Then I look about me at my fellow-men; +and I go in fear. I see faces, keen and bright; others dull or +dangerous; others, unsteady, insincere,—none that have the calm +authority of a reasonable soul. I feel as though the animal was surging +up through them; that presently the degradation of the Islanders will +be played over again on a larger scale. I know this is an illusion; +that these seeming men and women about me are indeed men and women,—men +and women for ever, perfectly reasonable creatures, full of human +desires and tender solicitude, emancipated from instinct and the slaves +of no fantastic Law,—beings altogether different from the Beast Folk. +Yet I shrink from them, from their curious glances, their inquiries and +assistance, and long to be away from them and alone. For that reason I +live near the broad free downland, and can escape thither when this +shadow is over my soul; and very sweet is the empty downland then, +under the wind-swept sky. + +When I lived in London the horror was well-nigh insupportable. I could +not get away from men: their voices came through windows; locked doors +were flimsy safeguards. I would go out into the streets to fight with +my delusion, and prowling women would mew after me; furtive, craving +men glance jealously at me; weary, pale workers go coughing by me with +tired eyes and eager paces, like wounded deer dripping blood; old +people, bent and dull, pass murmuring to themselves; and, all +unheeding, a ragged tail of gibing children. Then I would turn aside +into some chapel,—and even there, such was my disturbance, it seemed +that the preacher gibbered “Big Thinks,” even as the Ape-man had done; +or into some library, and there the intent faces over the books seemed +but patient creatures waiting for prey. Particularly nauseous were the +blank, expressionless faces of people in trains and omnibuses; they +seemed no more my fellow-creatures than dead bodies would be, so that I +did not dare to travel unless I was assured of being alone. And even it +seemed that I too was not a reasonable creature, but only an animal +tormented with some strange disorder in its brain which sent it to +wander alone, like a sheep stricken with gid. + +This is a mood, however, that comes to me now, I thank God, more +rarely. I have withdrawn myself from the confusion of cities and +multitudes, and spend my days surrounded by wise books,—bright windows +in this life of ours, lit by the shining souls of men. I see few +strangers, and have but a small household. My days I devote to reading +and to experiments in chemistry, and I spend many of the clear nights +in the study of astronomy. There is—though I do not know how there is +or why there is—a sense of infinite peace and protection in the +glittering hosts of heaven. There it must be, I think, in the vast and +eternal laws of matter, and not in the daily cares and sins and +troubles of men, that whatever is more than animal within us must find +its solace and its hope. I _hope_, or I could not live. + + +And so, in hope and solitude, my story ends. + +EDWARD PRENDICK. + + + + +NOTE. + + +The substance of the chapter entitled “Doctor Moreau explains,” which +contains the essential idea of the story, appeared as a middle article +in the _Saturday Review_ in January, 1895. This is the only portion of +this story that has been previously published, and it has been entirely +recast to adapt it to the narrative form. + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ISLAND OF DOCTOR MOREAU *** + + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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As everyone knows, she collided +with a derelict when ten days out from Callao. The longboat, with seven +of the crew, was picked up eighteen days after by H. M. gunboat +\emph{Myrtle}, and the story of their terrible privations has become quite +as well known as the far more horrible \emph{Medusa} case. But I have to add +to the published story of the \emph{Lady Vain} another, possibly as horrible +and far stranger. It has hitherto been supposed that the four men who +were in the dingey perished, but this is incorrect. I have the best of +evidence for this assertion: I was one of the four men. + +But in the first place I must state that there never were \emph{four} men in +the dingey,—the number was three. Constans, who was “seen by the +captain to jump into the gig,\footnote{\emph{Daily News}, March 17, 1887.} luckily for us and unluckily for +himself did not reach us. He came down out of the tangle of ropes under +the stays of the smashed bowsprit, some small rope caught his heel as +he let go, and he hung for a moment head downward, and then fell and +struck a block or spar floating in the water. We pulled towards him, +but he never came up. + + + + +I say luckily for us he did not reach us, and I might almost say +luckily for himself; for we had only a small beaker of water and some +soddened ship’s biscuits with us, so sudden had been the alarm, so +unprepared the ship for any disaster. We thought the people on the +launch would be better provisioned (though it seems they were not), and +we tried to hail them. They could not have heard us, and the next +morning when the drizzle cleared,—which was not until past midday,—we +could see nothing of them. We could not stand up to look about us, +because of the pitching of the boat. The two other men who had escaped +so far with me were a man named Helmar, a passenger like myself, and a +seaman whose name I don’t know,—a short sturdy man, with a stammer. + +We drifted famishing, and, after our water had come to an end, +tormented by an intolerable thirst, for eight days altogether. After +the second day the sea subsided slowly to a glassy calm. It is quite +impossible for the ordinary reader to imagine those eight days. He has +not, luckily for himself, anything in his memory to imagine with. After +the first day we said little to one another, and lay in our places in +the boat and stared at the horizon, or watched, with eyes that grew +larger and more haggard every day, the misery and weakness gaining upon +our companions. The sun became pitiless. The water ended on the fourth +day, and we were already thinking strange things and saying them with +our eyes; but it was, I think, the sixth before Helmar gave voice to +the thing we had all been thinking. I remember our voices were dry and +thin, so that we bent towards one another and spared our words. I stood +out against it with all my might, was rather for scuttling the boat and +perishing together among the sharks that followed us; but when Helmar +said that if his proposal was accepted we should have drink, the sailor +came round to him. + +I would not draw lots however, and in the night the sailor whispered to +Helmar again and again, and I sat in the bows with my clasp-knife in my +hand, though I doubt if I had the stuff in me to fight; and in the +morning I agreed to Helmar’s proposal, and we handed halfpence to find +the odd man. The lot fell upon the sailor; but he was the strongest of +us and would not abide by it, and attacked Helmar with his hands. They +grappled together and almost stood up. I crawled along the boat to +them, intending to help Helmar by grasping the sailor’s leg; but the +sailor stumbled with the swaying of the boat, and the two fell upon the +gunwale and rolled overboard together. They sank like stones. I +remember laughing at that, and wondering why I laughed. The laugh +caught me suddenly like a thing from without. + +I lay across one of the thwarts for I know not how long, thinking that +if I had the strength I would drink sea-water and madden myself to die +quickly. And even as I lay there I saw, with no more interest than if +it had been a picture, a sail come up towards me over the sky-line. My +mind must have been wandering, and yet I remember all that happened, +quite distinctly. I remember how my head swayed with the seas, and the +horizon with the sail above it danced up and down; but I also remember +as distinctly that I had a persuasion that I was dead, and that I +thought what a jest it was that they should come too late by such a +little to catch me in my body. + +For an endless period, as it seemed to me, I lay with my head on the +thwart watching the schooner (she was a little ship, schooner-rigged +fore and aft) come up out of the sea. She kept tacking to and fro in a +widening compass, for she was sailing dead into the wind. It never +entered my head to attempt to attract attention, and I do not remember +anything distinctly after the sight of her side until I found myself in +a little cabin aft. There’s a dim half-memory of being lifted up to the +gangway, and of a big round countenance covered with freckles and +surrounded with red hair staring at me over the bulwarks. I also had a +disconnected impression of a dark face, with extraordinary eyes, close +to mine; but that I thought was a nightmare, until I met it again. I +fancy I recollect some stuff being poured in between my teeth; and that +is all. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/chapters/Introduction.aux b/chapters/Introduction.aux new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b72a569 --- /dev/null +++ b/chapters/Introduction.aux @@ -0,0 +1,20 @@ +\relax +\@setckpt{chapters/Introduction}{ +\setcounter{page}{4} +\setcounter{equation}{0} +\setcounter{enumi}{0} +\setcounter{enumii}{0} +\setcounter{enumiii}{0} +\setcounter{enumiv}{0} +\setcounter{footnote}{0} +\setcounter{mpfootnote}{0} +\setcounter{part}{0} +\setcounter{chapter}{0} +\setcounter{section}{0} +\setcounter{subsection}{0} +\setcounter{subsubsection}{0} +\setcounter{paragraph}{0} +\setcounter{subparagraph}{0} +\setcounter{figure}{0} +\setcounter{table}{0} +} diff --git a/chapters/Introduction.tex b/chapters/Introduction.tex new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7ea3960 --- /dev/null +++ b/chapters/Introduction.tex @@ -0,0 +1,40 @@ +On February the First 1887, the \emph{Lady Vain} was lost by collision with +a derelict when about the latitude 1° S. and longitude 107° W. + +On January the Fifth, 1888—that is eleven months and four days after—my +uncle, Edward Prendick, a private gentleman, who certainly went aboard +the \emph{Lady Vain} at Callao, and who had been considered drowned, was +picked up in latitude 5° 3' S. and longitude 101° W. in a small open +boat of which the name was illegible, but which is supposed to have +belonged to the missing schooner \emph{Ipecacuanha}. He gave such a strange +account of himself that he was supposed demented. Subsequently he +alleged that his mind was a blank from the moment of his escape from +the \emph{Lady Vain}. His case was discussed among psychologists at the time +as a curious instance of the lapse of memory consequent upon physical +and mental stress. The following narrative was found among his papers +by the undersigned, his nephew and heir, but unaccompanied by any +definite request for publication. + +The only island known to exist in the region in which my uncle was +picked up is Noble’s Isle, a small volcanic islet and uninhabited. It +was visited in 1891 by \emph{H. M. S. Scorpion}. A party of sailors then +landed, but found nothing living thereon except certain curious white +moths, some hogs and rabbits, and some rather peculiar rats. So that +this narrative is without confirmation in its most essential +particular. With that understood, there seems no harm in putting this +strange story before the public in accordance, as I believe, with my +uncle’s intentions. There is at least this much in its behalf: my uncle +passed out of human knowledge about latitude 5° S. and longitude 105° +E., and reappeared in the same part of the ocean after a space of +eleven months. In some way he must have lived during the interval. And +it seems that a schooner called the \emph{Ipecacuanha} with a drunken +captain, John Davies, did start from Africa with a puma and certain +other animals aboard in January, 1887, that the vessel was well known +at several ports in the South Pacific, and that it finally disappeared +from those seas (with a considerable amount of copra aboard), sailing +to its unknown fate from Bayna in December, 1887, a date that tallies +entirely with my uncle’s story. + +\vspace{1cm} + +CHARLES EDWARD PRENDICK. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/main.tex b/main.tex new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3392065 --- /dev/null +++ b/main.tex @@ -0,0 +1,4514 @@ +\documentclass[12pt]{book} + +% Configuração das margens usando o pacote geometry +% a4paper: Define o tamanho do papel como A4 +% top: Margem superior (considerando a margem de segurança de 0.5cm) +% bottom: Margem inferior (considerando a margem de segurança de 0.5cm) +% inner: Margem interna (miolo, considerando margem de segurança de 0.5cm + margem de vinco de 0.7cm = 1.2cm) +% outer: Margem externa (faca, considerando margem de segurança de 0.5cm) +% marginparwidth e marginparsep: Definidos como 0pt para evitar espaço para notas marginais, comum em livros. +\usepackage[papersize={15cm,21cm}, + top=20mm, + bottom=20mm, + inner=12mm, + outer=5mm, + marginparwidth=0pt, + marginparsep=0pt, + ]{geometry} + +% Outros pacotes úteis para um livro +\usepackage{textcomp} +\usepackage{fancyhdr} +\usepackage{emptypage} +\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} % Para caracteres especiais +\usepackage[T1]{fontenc} % Melhor codificação de fonte +\usepackage{ebgaramond} +\renewcommand{\chaptermark}[1]{\markboth{#1}{}} +\setlength{\headheight}{15pt} +% Início do documento +\begin{document} + +\frontmatter + +\thispagestyle{empty} +\begin{titlepage} + \centering + \vspace*{\stretch{1}} + {\Huge\bfseries The Island of Doctor Moreau\par} + \vspace*{4cm} + {\huge H. G. Wells\par} + \vspace*{\stretch{1}} +\end{titlepage} +\thispagestyle{empty} +\vspace*{\stretch{1}} +\begin{center} + \small % Use a smaller font size for this information + + This text is in the public domain.\par % Use \par for a line break + Sourced from Project Gutenberg.\par + www.gutenberg.org\par % Paragraph break after the website (adds more vertical space) + + \vspace{0.5\baselineskip} % Add a small vertical space between blocks of information + + % --- Add font and size information here (Standard in book production) --- + Body text typeface: EB Garamond.\par + Body text size: 12pt. % Use the actual base font size you defined in \documentclass + % ---------------------------------------------------------------------- + +\end{center} +\vspace*{\stretch{1}} +% Sumário +\tableofcontents + +\mainmatter + +\chapter*{INTRODUCTION} +\pagestyle{fancy} +\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{INTRODUCTION} +\cleardoublepage + +\fancyhead[l]{INTRODUCTION} +\fancyhead[r]{\thepage} + +\include{chapters/Introduction} + +\fancyhead[LO]{\nouppercase{\leftmark}} % Página Ímpar: Título (apenas o nome) no lado Esquerdo (interno) +\fancyhead[RE]{\nouppercase{\leftmark}} % Página Par: Título (apenas o nome) no lado Direito (interno) + +\fancyhead[LE]{\thepage} % Página Par: Número da página no lado Esquerdo (Externo) +\fancyhead[RO]{\thepage} +\chapter{IN THE DINGEY OF THE \emph{LADY VAIN}.} + % Página Ímpar: Número da página no lado Direito (Externo) + + +\cleardoublepage +\include{chapters/In the Dingey of Lady Vain} + +\chapter{THE MAN WHO WAS GOING NOWHERE} +\cleardoublepage +The cabin in which I found myself was small and rather untidy. A +youngish man with flaxen hair, a bristly straw-coloured moustache, and +a dropping nether lip, was sitting and holding my wrist. For a minute +we stared at each other without speaking. He had watery grey eyes, +oddly void of expression. Then just overhead came a sound like an iron +bedstead being knocked about, and the low angry growling of some large +animal. At the same time the man spoke. He repeated his question,—“How +do you feel now?” + +I think I said I felt all right. I could not recollect how I had got +there. He must have seen the question in my face, for my voice was +inaccessible to me. + +“You were picked up in a boat, starving. The name on the boat was the +\emph{Lady Vain}, and there were spots of blood on the gunwale.” + +At the same time my eye caught my hand, so thin that it looked like a +dirty skin-purse full of loose bones, and all the business of the boat +came back to me. + +“Have some of this,” said he, and gave me a dose of some scarlet stuff, +iced. + +It tasted like blood, and made me feel stronger. + +“You were in luck,” said he, “to get picked up by a ship with a medical +man aboard.” He spoke with a slobbering articulation, with the ghost of +a lisp. + +“What ship is this?” I said slowly, hoarse from my long silence. + +“It’s a little trader from Arica and Callao. I never asked where she +came from in the beginning,—out of the land of born fools, I guess. I’m +a passenger myself, from Arica. The silly ass who owns her,—he’s +captain too, named Davies,—he’s lost his certificate, or something. You +know the kind of man,—calls the thing the \emph{Ipecacuanha}, of all silly, +infernal names; though when there’s much of a sea without any wind, she +certainly acts according.” + +(Then the noise overhead began again, a snarling growl and the voice of +a human being together. Then another voice, telling some +“Heaven-forsaken idiot” to desist.) + +“You were nearly dead,” said my interlocutor. “It was a very near +thing, indeed. But I’ve put some stuff into you now. Notice your arm’s +sore? Injections. You’ve been insensible for nearly thirty hours.” + +I thought slowly. (I was distracted now by the yelping of a number of +dogs.) “Am I eligible for solid food?” I asked. + +“Thanks to me,” he said. “Even now the mutton is boiling.” + +“Yes,” I said with assurance; “I could eat some mutton.” + +“But,” said he with a momentary hesitation, “you know I’m dying to hear +of how you came to be alone in that boat.\ \emph{Damn that howling}!” I +thought I detected a certain suspicion in his eyes. + +He suddenly left the cabin, and I heard him in violent controversy with +some one, who seemed to me to talk gibberish in response to him. The +matter sounded as though it ended in blows, but in that I thought my +ears were mistaken. Then he shouted at the dogs, and returned to the +cabin. + +“Well?” said he in the doorway. “You were just beginning to tell me.” + +I told him my name, Edward Prendick, and how I had taken to Natural +History as a relief from the dulness of my comfortable independence. + +He seemed interested in this. “I’ve done some science myself. I did my +Biology at University College,—getting out the ovary of the earthworm +and the radula of the snail, and all that. Lord! It’s ten years ago. +But go on! go on! tell me about the boat.” + +He was evidently satisfied with the frankness of my story, which I told +in concise sentences enough, for I felt horribly weak; and when it was +finished he reverted at once to the topic of Natural History and his +own biological studies. He began to question me closely about Tottenham +Court Road and Gower Street. “Is Caplatzi still flourishing? What a +shop that was!” He had evidently been a very ordinary medical student, +and drifted incontinently to the topic of the music halls. He told me +some anecdotes. + +“Left it all,” he said, “ten years ago. How jolly it all used to be! +But I made a young ass of myself,—played myself out before I was +twenty-one. I daresay it’s all different now. But I must look up that +ass of a cook, and see what he’s done to your mutton.” + +The growling overhead was renewed, so suddenly and with so much savage +anger that it startled me. “What’s that?” I called after him, but the +door had closed. He came back again with the boiled mutton, and I was +so excited by the appetising smell of it that I forgot the noise of the +beast that had troubled me. + +After a day of alternate sleep and feeding I was so far recovered as to +be able to get from my bunk to the scuttle, and see the green seas +trying to keep pace with us. I judged the schooner was running before +the wind. Montgomery—that was the name of the flaxen-haired man—came in +again as I stood there, and I asked him for some clothes. He lent me +some duck things of his own, for those I had worn in the boat had been +thrown overboard. They were rather loose for me, for he was large and +long in his limbs. He told me casually that the captain was three-parts +drunk in his own cabin. As I assumed the clothes, I began asking him +some questions about the destination of the ship. He said the ship was +bound to Hawaii, but that it had to land him first. + +“Where?” said I. + +“It’s an island, where I live. So far as I know, it hasn’t got a name.” + +He stared at me with his nether lip dropping, and looked so wilfully +stupid of a sudden that it came into my head that he desired to avoid +my questions. I had the discretion to ask no more. + +\chapter{THE STRANGE FACE} +\cleardoublepage +We left the cabin and found a man at the companion obstructing our way. +He was standing on the ladder with his back to us, peering over the +combing of the hatchway. He was, I could see, a misshapen man, short, +broad, and clumsy, with a crooked back, a hairy neck, and a head sunk +between his shoulders. He was dressed in dark-blue serge, and had +peculiarly thick, coarse, black hair. I heard the unseen dogs growl +furiously, and forthwith he ducked back,—coming into contact with the +hand I put out to fend him off from myself. He turned with animal +swiftness. + +In some indefinable way the black face thus flashed upon me shocked me +profoundly. It was a singularly deformed one. The facial part +projected, forming something dimly suggestive of a muzzle, and the huge +half-open mouth showed as big white teeth as I had ever seen in a human +mouth. His eyes were blood-shot at the edges, with scarcely a rim of +white round the hazel pupils. There was a curious glow of excitement in +his face. + +“Confound you!” said Montgomery. “Why the devil don’t you get out of +the way?” + +The black-faced man started aside without a word. I went on up the +companion, staring at him instinctively as I did so. Montgomery stayed +at the foot for a moment. “You have no business here, you know,” he +said in a deliberate tone. “Your place is forward.” + +The black-faced man cowered. “They—won’t have me forward.” He spoke +slowly, with a queer, hoarse quality in his voice. + +“Won’t have you forward!” said Montgomery, in a menacing voice. “But I +tell you to go!” He was on the brink of saying something further, then +looked up at me suddenly and followed me up the ladder. + +I had paused half way through the hatchway, looking back, still +astonished beyond measure at the grotesque ugliness of this black-faced +creature. I had never beheld such a repulsive and extraordinary face +before, and yet—if the contradiction is credible—I experienced at the +same time an odd feeling that in some way I \emph{had} already encountered +exactly the features and gestures that now amazed me. Afterwards it +occurred to me that probably I had seen him as I was lifted aboard; and +yet that scarcely satisfied my suspicion of a previous acquaintance. +Yet how one could have set eyes on so singular a face and yet have +forgotten the precise occasion, passed my imagination. + +Montgomery’s movement to follow me released my attention, and I turned +and looked about me at the flush deck of the little schooner. I was +already half prepared by the sounds I had heard for what I saw. +Certainly I never beheld a deck so dirty. It was littered with scraps +of carrot, shreds of green stuff, and indescribable filth. Fastened by +chains to the mainmast were a number of grisly staghounds, who now +began leaping and barking at me, and by the mizzen a huge puma was +cramped in a little iron cage far too small even to give it turning +room. Farther under the starboard bulwark were some big hutches +containing a number of rabbits, and a solitary llama was squeezed in a +mere box of a cage forward. The dogs were muzzled by leather straps. +The only human being on deck was a gaunt and silent sailor at the +wheel. + +The patched and dirty spankers were tense before the wind, and up aloft +the little ship seemed carrying every sail she had. The sky was clear, +the sun midway down the western sky; long waves, capped by the breeze +with froth, were running with us. We went past the steersman to the +taffrail, and saw the water come foaming under the stern and the +bubbles go dancing and vanishing in her wake. I turned and surveyed the +unsavoury length of the ship. + +“Is this an ocean menagerie?” said I. + +“Looks like it,” said Montgomery. + +“What are these beasts for? Merchandise, curios? Does the captain think +he is going to sell them somewhere in the South Seas?” + +“It looks like it, doesn’t it?” said Montgomery, and turned towards the +wake again. + +Suddenly we heard a yelp and a volley of furious blasphemy from the +companion hatchway, and the deformed man with the black face came up +hurriedly. He was immediately followed by a heavy red-haired man in a +white cap. At the sight of the former the staghounds, who had all tired +of barking at me by this time, became furiously excited, howling and +leaping against their chains. The black hesitated before them, and this +gave the red-haired man time to come up with him and deliver a +tremendous blow between the shoulder-blades. The poor devil went down +like a felled ox, and rolled in the dirt among the furiously excited +dogs. It was lucky for him that they were muzzled. The red-haired man +gave a yawp of exultation and stood staggering, and as it seemed to me +in serious danger of either going backwards down the companion hatchway +or forwards upon his victim. + +So soon as the second man had appeared, Montgomery had started forward. +“Steady on there!” he cried, in a tone of remonstrance. A couple of +sailors appeared on the forecastle. The black-faced man, howling in a +singular voice rolled about under the feet of the dogs. No one +attempted to help him. The brutes did their best to worry him, butting +their muzzles at him. There was a quick dance of their lithe +grey-figured bodies over the clumsy, prostrate figure. The sailors +forward shouted, as though it was admirable sport. Montgomery gave an +angry exclamation, and went striding down the deck, and I followed him. +The black-faced man scrambled up and staggered forward, going and +leaning over the bulwark by the main shrouds, where he remained, +panting and glaring over his shoulder at the dogs. The red-haired man +laughed a satisfied laugh. + +“Look here, Captain,” said Montgomery, with his lisp a little +accentuated, gripping the elbows of the red-haired man, “this won’t +do!” + +I stood behind Montgomery. The captain came half round, and regarded +him with the dull and solemn eyes of a drunken man. “Wha’ won’t do?” he +said, and added, after looking sleepily into Montgomery’s face for a +minute, “Blasted Sawbones!” + +With a sudden movement he shook his arms free, and after two +ineffectual attempts stuck his freckled fists into his side pockets. + +“That man’s a passenger,” said Montgomery. “I’d advise you to keep your +hands off him.” + +“Go to hell!” said the captain, loudly. He suddenly turned and +staggered towards the side. “Do what I like on my own ship,” he said. + +I think Montgomery might have left him then, seeing the brute was +drunk; but he only turned a shade paler, and followed the captain to +the bulwarks. + +“Look you here, Captain,” he said; “that man of mine is not to be +ill-treated. He has been hazed ever since he came aboard.” + +For a minute, alcoholic fumes kept the captain speechless. “Blasted +Sawbones!” was all he considered necessary. + +I could see that Montgomery had one of those slow, pertinacious tempers +that will warm day after day to a white heat, and never again cool to +forgiveness; and I saw too that this quarrel had been some time +growing. “The man’s drunk,” said I, perhaps officiously; “you’ll do no +good.” + +Montgomery gave an ugly twist to his dropping lip. “He’s always drunk. +Do you think that excuses his assaulting his passengers?” + +“My ship,” began the captain, waving his hand unsteadily towards the +cages, “was a clean ship. Look at it now!” It was certainly anything +but clean. “Crew,” continued the captain, “clean, respectable crew.” + +“You agreed to take the beasts.” + +“I wish I’d never set eyes on your infernal island. What the devil—want +beasts for on an island like that? Then, that man of yours—understood +he was a man. He’s a lunatic; and he hadn’t no business aft. Do you +think the whole damned ship belongs to you?” + +“Your sailors began to haze the poor devil as soon as he came aboard.” + +“That’s just what he is—he’s a devil! an ugly devil! My men can’t stand +him. \emph{I} can’t stand him. None of us can’t stand him. Nor \emph{you} +either!” + +Montgomery turned away. “\emph{You} leave that man alone, anyhow,” he said, +nodding his head as he spoke. + +But the captain meant to quarrel now. He raised his voice. “If he comes +this end of the ship again I’ll cut his insides out, I tell you. Cut +out his blasted insides! Who are \emph{You}, to tell \emph{me}what \emph{I'm}to do? +I tell you I’m captain of this ship,—captain and owner. I’m the law +here, I tell you,—the law and the prophets. I bargained to take a man +and his attendant to and from Arica, and bring back some animals. I +never bargained to carry a mad devil and a silly Sawbones, a—” + +Well, never mind what he called Montgomery. I saw the latter take a +step forward, and interposed. “He’s drunk,” said I. The captain began +some abuse even fouler than the last. “Shut up!” I said, turning on him +sharply, for I had seen danger in Montgomery’s white face. With that I +brought the downpour on myself. + +However, I was glad to avert what was uncommonly near a scuffle, even +at the price of the captain’s drunken ill-will. I do not think I have +ever heard quite so much vile language come in a continuous stream from +any man’s lips before, though I have frequented eccentric company +enough. I found some of it hard to endure, though I am a mild-tempered +man; but, certainly, when I told the captain to “shut up” I had +forgotten that I was merely a bit of human flotsam, cut off from my +resources and with my fare unpaid; a mere casual dependant on the +bounty, or speculative enterprise, of the ship. He reminded me of it +with considerable vigour; but at any rate I prevented a fight. +\chapter{AT THE SCHOONER’S RAIL} +\cleardoublepage +That night land was sighted after sundown, and the schooner hove to. +Montgomery intimated that was his destination. It was too far to see +any details; it seemed to me then simply a low-lying patch of dim blue +in the uncertain blue-grey sea. An almost vertical streak of smoke went +up from it into the sky. The captain was not on deck when it was +sighted. After he had vented his wrath on me he had staggered below, +and I understand he went to sleep on the floor of his own cabin. The +mate practically assumed the command. He was the gaunt, taciturn +individual we had seen at the wheel. Apparently he was in an evil +temper with Montgomery. He took not the slightest notice of either of +us. We dined with him in a sulky silence, after a few ineffectual +efforts on my part to talk. It struck me too that the men regarded my +companion and his animals in a singularly unfriendly manner. I found +Montgomery very reticent about his purpose with these creatures, and +about his destination; and though I was sensible of a growing curiosity +as to both, I did not press him. + +We remained talking on the quarter deck until the sky was thick with +stars. Except for an occasional sound in the yellow-lit forecastle and +a movement of the animals now and then, the night was very still. The +puma lay crouched together, watching us with shining eyes, a black heap +in the corner of its cage. Montgomery produced some cigars. He talked +to me of London in a tone of half-painful reminiscence, asking all +kinds of questions about changes that had taken place. He spoke like a +man who had loved his life there, and had been suddenly and irrevocably +cut off from it. I gossiped as well as I could of this and that. All +the time the strangeness of him was shaping itself in my mind; and as I +talked I peered at his odd, pallid face in the dim light of the +binnacle lantern behind me. Then I looked out at the darkling sea, +where in the dimness his little island was hidden. + +This man, it seemed to me, had come out of Immensity merely to save my +life. To-morrow he would drop over the side, and vanish again out of my +existence. Even had it been under commonplace circumstances, it would +have made me a trifle thoughtful; but in the first place was the +singularity of an educated man living on this unknown little island, +and coupled with that the extraordinary nature of his luggage. I found +myself repeating the captain’s question. What did he want with the +beasts? Why, too, had he pretended they were not his when I had +remarked about them at first? Then, again, in his personal attendant +there was a bizarre quality which had impressed me profoundly. These +circumstances threw a haze of mystery round the man. They laid hold of +my imagination, and hampered my tongue. + +Towards midnight our talk of London died away, and we stood side by +side leaning over the bulwarks and staring dreamily over the silent, +starlit sea, each pursuing his own thoughts. It was the atmosphere for +sentiment, and I began upon my gratitude. + +“If I may say it,” said I, after a time, “you have saved my life.” + +“Chance,” he answered. “Just chance.” + +“I prefer to make my thanks to the accessible agent.” + +“Thank no one. You had the need, and I had the knowledge; and I +injected and fed you much as I might have collected a specimen. I was +bored and wanted something to do. If I’d been jaded that day, or hadn’t +liked your face, well—it’s a curious question where you would have been +now!” + +This damped my mood a little. “At any rate,” I began. + +“It’s a chance, I tell you,” he interrupted, “as everything is in a +man’s life. Only the asses won’t see it! Why am I here now, an outcast +from civilisation, instead of being a happy man enjoying all the +pleasures of London? Simply because eleven years ago—I lost my head for +ten minutes on a foggy night.” + +He stopped. “Yes?” said I. + +“That’s all.” + +We relapsed into silence. Presently he laughed. “There’s something in +this starlight that loosens one’s tongue. I’m an ass, and yet somehow I +would like to tell you.” + +“Whatever you tell me, you may rely upon my keeping to myself—if that’s +it.” + +He was on the point of beginning, and then shook his head, doubtfully. + +“Don’t,” said I. “It is all the same to me. After all, it is better to +keep your secret. There’s nothing gained but a little relief if I +respect your confidence. If I don’t—well?” + +He grunted undecidedly. I felt I had him at a disadvantage, had caught +him in the mood of indiscretion; and to tell the truth I was not +curious to learn what might have driven a young medical student out of +London. I have an imagination. I shrugged my shoulders and turned away. +Over the taffrail leant a silent black figure, watching the stars. It +was Montgomery’s strange attendant. It looked over its shoulder quickly +with my movement, then looked away again. + +It may seem a little thing to you, perhaps, but it came like a sudden +blow to me. The only light near us was a lantern at the wheel. The +creature’s face was turned for one brief instant out of the dimness of +the stern towards this illumination, and I saw that the eyes that +glanced at me shone with a pale-green light. I did not know then that a +reddish luminosity, at least, is not uncommon in human eyes. The thing +came to me as stark inhumanity. That black figure with its eyes of fire +struck down through all my adult thoughts and feelings, and for a +moment the forgotten horrors of childhood came back to my mind. Then +the effect passed as it had come. An uncouth black figure of a man, a +figure of no particular import, hung over the taffrail against the +starlight, and I found Montgomery was speaking to me. + +“I’m thinking of turning in, then,” said he, “if you’ve had enough of +this.” + +I answered him incongruously. We went below, and he wished me +good-night at the door of my cabin. + +That night I had some very unpleasant dreams. The waning moon rose +late. Its light struck a ghostly white beam across my cabin, and made +an ominous shape on the planking by my bunk. Then the staghounds woke, +and began howling and baying; so that I dreamt fitfully, and scarcely +slept until the approach of dawn. + +\chapter{THE MAN WHO HAD NOWHERE TO GO} +\cleardoublepage +In the early morning (it was the second morning after my recovery, and +I believe the fourth after I was picked up), I awoke through an avenue +of tumultuous dreams,—dreams of guns and howling mobs,—and became +sensible of a hoarse shouting above me. I rubbed my eyes and lay +listening to the noise, doubtful for a little while of my whereabouts. +Then came a sudden pattering of bare feet, the sound of heavy objects +being thrown about, a violent creaking and the rattling of chains. I +heard the swish of the water as the ship was suddenly brought round, +and a foamy yellow-green wave flew across the little round window and +left it streaming. I jumped into my clothes and went on deck. + +As I came up the ladder I saw against the flushed sky—for the sun was +just rising—the broad back and red hair of the captain, and over his +shoulder the puma spinning from a tackle rigged on to the mizzen +spanker-boom. + +The poor brute seemed horribly scared, and crouched in the bottom of +its little cage. + +“Overboard with ’em!” bawled the captain. “Overboard with ’em! We’ll +have a clean ship soon of the whole bilin’ of ’em.” + +He stood in my way, so that I had perforce to tap his shoulder to come +on deck. He came round with a start, and staggered back a few paces to +stare at me. It needed no expert eye to tell that the man was still +drunk. + +“Hullo!” said he, stupidly; and then with a light coming into his eyes, +“Why, it’s Mister—Mister?” + +“Prendick,” said I. + +“Prendick be damned!” said he. “Shut-up,—that’s your name. Mister +Shut-up.” + +It was no good answering the brute; but I certainly did not expect his +next move. He held out his hand to the gangway by which Montgomery +stood talking to a massive grey-haired man in dirty-blue flannels, who +had apparently just come aboard. + +“That way, Mister Blasted Shut-up! that way!” roared the captain. + +Montgomery and his companion turned as he spoke. + +“What do you mean?” I said. + +“That way, Mister Blasted Shut-up,—that’s what I mean! Overboard, +Mister Shut-up,—and sharp! We’re cleaning the ship out,—cleaning the +whole blessed ship out; and overboard you go!” + +I stared at him dumfounded. Then it occurred to me that it was exactly +the thing I wanted. The lost prospect of a journey as sole passenger +with this quarrelsome sot was not one to mourn over. I turned towards +Montgomery. + +“Can’t have you,” said Montgomery’s companion, concisely. + +“You can’t have me!” said I, aghast. He had the squarest and most +resolute face I ever set eyes upon. + +“Look here,” I began, turning to the captain. + +“Overboard!” said the captain. “This ship aint for beasts and cannibals +and worse than beasts, any more. Overboard you go, Mister Shut-up. If +they can’t have you, you goes overboard. But, anyhow, you go—with your +friends. I’ve done with this blessed island for evermore, amen! I’ve +had enough of it.” + +“But, Montgomery,” I appealed. + +He distorted his lower lip, and nodded his head hopelessly at the +grey-haired man beside him, to indicate his powerlessness to help me. + +“I’ll see to \emph{you}, presently,” said the captain. + +Then began a curious three-cornered altercation. Alternately I appealed +to one and another of the three men,—first to the grey-haired man to +let me land, and then to the drunken captain to keep me aboard. I even +bawled entreaties to the sailors. Montgomery said never a word, only +shook his head. “You’re going overboard, I tell you,” was the captain’s +refrain. “Law be damned! I’m king here.” At last I must confess my +voice suddenly broke in the middle of a vigorous threat. I felt a gust +of hysterical petulance, and went aft and stared dismally at nothing. + +Meanwhile the sailors progressed rapidly with the task of unshipping +the packages and caged animals. A large launch, with two standing lugs, +lay under the lee of the schooner; and into this the strange assortment +of goods were swung. I did not then see the hands from the island that +were receiving the packages, for the hull of the launch was hidden from +me by the side of the schooner. Neither Montgomery nor his companion +took the slightest notice of me, but busied themselves in assisting and +directing the four or five sailors who were unloading the goods. The +captain went forward interfering rather than assisting. I was +alternately despairful and desperate. Once or twice as I stood waiting +there for things to accomplish themselves, I could not resist an +impulse to laugh at my miserable quandary. I felt all the wretcheder +for the lack of a breakfast. Hunger and a lack of blood-corpuscles take +all the manhood from a man. I perceived pretty clearly that I had not +the stamina either to resist what the captain chose to do to expel me, +or to force myself upon Montgomery and his companion. So I waited +passively upon fate; and the work of transferring Montgomery’s +possessions to the launch went on as if I did not exist. + +Presently that work was finished, and then came a struggle. I was +hauled, resisting weakly enough, to the gangway. Even then I noticed +the oddness of the brown faces of the men who were with Montgomery in +the launch; but the launch was now fully laden, and was shoved off +hastily. A broadening gap of green water appeared under me, and I +pushed back with all my strength to avoid falling headlong. The hands +in the launch shouted derisively, and I heard Montgomery curse at them; +and then the captain, the mate, and one of the seamen helping him, ran +me aft towards the stern. + +The dingey of the \emph{Lady Vain} had been towing behind; it was half full +of water, had no oars, and was quite unvictualled. I refused to go +aboard her, and flung myself full length on the deck. In the end, they +swung me into her by a rope (for they had no stern ladder), and then +they cut me adrift. I drifted slowly from the schooner. In a kind of +stupor I watched all hands take to the rigging, and slowly but surely +she came round to the wind; the sails fluttered, and then bellied out +as the wind came into them. I stared at her weather-beaten side heeling +steeply towards me; and then she passed out of my range of view. + +I did not turn my head to follow her. At first I could scarcely believe +what had happened. I crouched in the bottom of the dingey, stunned, and +staring blankly at the vacant, oily sea. Then I realised that I was in +that little hell of mine again, now half swamped; and looking back over +the gunwale, I saw the schooner standing away from me, with the +red-haired captain mocking at me over the taffrail, and turning towards +the island saw the launch growing smaller as she approached the beach. + +Abruptly the cruelty of this desertion became clear to me. I had no +means of reaching the land unless I should chance to drift there. I was +still weak, you must remember, from my exposure in the boat; I was +empty and very faint, or I should have had more heart. But as it was I +suddenly began to sob and weep, as I had never done since I was a +little child. The tears ran down my face. In a passion of despair I +struck with my fists at the water in the bottom of the boat, and kicked +savagely at the gunwale. I prayed aloud for God to let me die. + + +\chapter{THE EVIL-LOOKING BOATMEN} +\cleardoublepage +But the islanders, seeing that I was really adrift, took pity on me. I +drifted very slowly to the eastward, approaching the island slantingly; +and presently I saw, with hysterical relief, the launch come round and +return towards me. She was heavily laden, and I could make out as she +drew nearer Montgomery’s white-haired, broad-shouldered companion +sitting cramped up with the dogs and several packing-cases in the stern +sheets. This individual stared fixedly at me without moving or +speaking. The black-faced cripple was glaring at me as fixedly in the +bows near the puma. There were three other men besides,—three strange +brutish-looking fellows, at whom the staghounds were snarling savagely. +Montgomery, who was steering, brought the boat by me, and rising, +caught and fastened my painter to the tiller to tow me, for there was +no room aboard. + +I had recovered from my hysterical phase by this time and answered his +hail, as he approached, bravely enough. I told him the dingey was +nearly swamped, and he reached me a piggin. I was jerked back as the +rope tightened between the boats. For some time I was busy baling. + +It was not until I had got the water under (for the water in the dingey +had been shipped; the boat was perfectly sound) that I had leisure to +look at the people in the launch again. + +The white-haired man I found was still regarding me steadfastly, but +with an expression, as I now fancied, of some perplexity. When my eyes +met his, he looked down at the staghound that sat between his knees. He +was a powerfully-built man, as I have said, with a fine forehead and +rather heavy features; but his eyes had that odd drooping of the skin +above the lids which often comes with advancing years, and the fall of +his heavy mouth at the corners gave him an expression of pugnacious +resolution. He talked to Montgomery in a tone too low for me to hear. + +From him my eyes travelled to his three men; and a strange crew they +were. I saw only their faces, yet there was something in their faces—I +knew not what—that gave me a queer spasm of disgust. I looked steadily +at them, and the impression did not pass, though I failed to see what +had occasioned it. They seemed to me then to be brown men; but their +limbs were oddly swathed in some thin, dirty, white stuff down even to +the fingers and feet: I have never seen men so wrapped up before, and +women so only in the East. They wore turbans too, and thereunder peered +out their elfin faces at me,—faces with protruding lower-jaws and +bright eyes. They had lank black hair, almost like horsehair, and +seemed as they sat to exceed in stature any race of men I have seen. +The white-haired man, who I knew was a good six feet in height, sat a +head below any one of the three. I found afterwards that really none +were taller than myself; but their bodies were abnormally long, and the +thigh-part of the leg short and curiously twisted. At any rate, they +were an amazingly ugly gang, and over the heads of them under the +forward lug peered the black face of the man whose eyes were luminous +in the dark. As I stared at them, they met my gaze; and then first one +and then another turned away from my direct stare, and looked at me in +an odd, furtive manner. It occurred to me that I was perhaps annoying +them, and I turned my attention to the island we were approaching. + +It was low, and covered with thick vegetation,—chiefly a kind of palm, +that was new to me. From one point a thin white thread of vapour rose +slantingly to an immense height, and then frayed out like a down +feather. We were now within the embrace of a broad bay flanked on +either hand by a low promontory. The beach was of dull-grey sand, and +sloped steeply up to a ridge, perhaps sixty or seventy feet above the +sea-level, and irregularly set with trees and undergrowth. Half way up +was a square enclosure of some greyish stone, which I found +subsequently was built partly of coral and partly of pumiceous lava. +Two thatched roofs peeped from within this enclosure. A man stood +awaiting us at the water’s edge. I fancied while we were still far off +that I saw some other and very grotesque-looking creatures scuttle into +the bushes upon the slope; but I saw nothing of these as we drew +nearer. This man was of a moderate size, and with a black negroid face. +He had a large, almost lipless, mouth, extraordinary lank arms, long +thin feet, and bow-legs, and stood with his heavy face thrust forward +staring at us. He was dressed like Montgomery and his white-haired +companion, in jacket and trousers of blue serge. As we came still +nearer, this individual began to run to and fro on the beach, making +the most grotesque movements. + +At a word of command from Montgomery, the four men in the launch sprang +up, and with singularly awkward gestures struck the lugs. Montgomery +steered us round and into a narrow little dock excavated in the beach. +Then the man on the beach hastened towards us. This dock, as I call it, +was really a mere ditch just long enough at this phase of the tide to +take the longboat. I heard the bows ground in the sand, staved the +dingey off the rudder of the big boat with my piggin, and freeing the +painter, landed. The three muffled men, with the clumsiest movements, +scrambled out upon the sand, and forthwith set to landing the cargo, +assisted by the man on the beach. I was struck especially by the +curious movements of the legs of the three swathed and bandaged +boatmen,—not stiff they were, but distorted in some odd way, almost as +if they were jointed in the wrong place. The dogs were still snarling, +and strained at their chains after these men, as the white-haired man +landed with them. The three big fellows spoke to one another in odd +guttural tones, and the man who had waited for us on the beach began +chattering to them excitedly—a foreign language, as I fancied—as they +laid hands on some bales piled near the stern. Somewhere I had heard +such a voice before, and I could not think where. The white-haired man +stood, holding in a tumult of six dogs, and bawling orders over their +din. Montgomery, having unshipped the rudder, landed likewise, and all +set to work at unloading. I was too faint, what with my long fast and +the sun beating down on my bare head, to offer any assistance. + +Presently the white-haired man seemed to recollect my presence, and +came up to me. + +“You look,” said he, “as though you had scarcely breakfasted.” His +little eyes were a brilliant black under his heavy brows. “I must +apologise for that. Now you are our guest, we must make you +comfortable,—though you are uninvited, you know.” He looked keenly into +my face. “Montgomery says you are an educated man, Mr. Prendick; says +you know something of science. May I ask what that signifies?” + +I told him I had spent some years at the Royal College of Science, and +had done some researches in biology under Huxley. He raised his +eyebrows slightly at that. + +“That alters the case a little, Mr. Prendick,” he said, with a trifle +more respect in his manner. “As it happens, we are biologists here. +This is a biological station—of a sort.” His eye rested on the men in +white who were busily hauling the puma, on rollers, towards the walled +yard. “I and Montgomery, at least,” he added. Then, “When you will be +able to get away, I can’t say. We’re off the track to anywhere. We see +a ship once in a twelve-month or so.” + +He left me abruptly, and went up the beach past this group, and I think +entered the enclosure. The other two men were with Montgomery, erecting +a pile of smaller packages on a low-wheeled truck. The llama was still +on the launch with the rabbit hutches; the staghounds were still lashed +to the thwarts. The pile of things completed, all three men laid hold +of the truck and began shoving the ton-weight or so upon it after the +puma. Presently Montgomery left them, and coming back to me held out +his hand. + +“I’m glad,” said he, “for my own part. That captain was a silly ass. +He’d have made things lively for you.” + +“It was you,” said I, “that saved me again.” + +“That depends. You’ll find this island an infernally rum place, I +promise you. I’d watch my goings carefully, if I were you. \emph{He}—” He +hesitated, and seemed to alter his mind about what was on his lips. “I +wish you’d help me with these rabbits,” he said. + +His procedure with the rabbits was singular. I waded in with him, and +helped him lug one of the hutches ashore. No sooner was that done than +he opened the door of it, and tilting the thing on one end turned its +living contents out on the ground. They fell in a struggling heap one +on the top of the other. He clapped his hands, and forthwith they went +off with that hopping run of theirs, fifteen or twenty of them I should +think, up the beach. + +“Increase and multiply, my friends,” said Montgomery. “Replenish the +island. Hitherto we’ve had a certain lack of meat here.” + +As I watched them disappearing, the white-haired man returned with a +brandy-flask and some biscuits. “Something to go on with, Prendick,” +said he, in a far more familiar tone than before. I made no ado, but +set to work on the biscuits at once, while the white-haired man helped +Montgomery to release about a score more of the rabbits. Three big +hutches, however, went up to the house with the puma. The brandy I did +not touch, for I have been an abstainer from my birth. + +\chapter{THE LOCKED DOOR} +\cleardoublepage +The reader will perhaps understand that at first everything was so +strange about me, and my position was the outcome of such unexpected +adventures, that I had no discernment of the relative strangeness of +this or that thing. I followed the llama up the beach, and was +overtaken by Montgomery, who asked me not to enter the stone enclosure. +I noticed then that the puma in its cage and the pile of packages had +been placed outside the entrance to this quadrangle. + +I turned and saw that the launch had now been unloaded, run out again, +and was being beached, and the white-haired man was walking towards us. +He addressed Montgomery. + +“And now comes the problem of this uninvited guest. What are we to do +with him?” + +“He knows something of science,” said Montgomery. + +“I’m itching to get to work again—with this new stuff,” said the +white-haired man, nodding towards the enclosure. His eyes grew +brighter. + +“I daresay you are,” said Montgomery, in anything but a cordial tone. + +“We can’t send him over there, and we can’t spare the time to build him +a new shanty; and we certainly can’t take him into our confidence just +yet.” + +“I’m in your hands,” said I. I had no idea of what he meant by “over +there.” + +“I’ve been thinking of the same things,” Montgomery answered. “There’s +my room with the outer door—” + +“That’s it,” said the elder man, promptly, looking at Montgomery; and +all three of us went towards the enclosure. “I’m sorry to make a +mystery, Mr. Prendick; but you’ll remember you’re uninvited. Our little +establishment here contains a secret or so, is a kind of Blue-Beard’s +chamber, in fact. Nothing very dreadful, really, to a sane man; but +just now, as we don’t know you—” + +“Decidedly,” said I, “I should be a fool to take offence at any want of +confidence.” + +He twisted his heavy mouth into a faint smile—he was one of those +saturnine people who smile with the corners of the mouth down,—and +bowed his acknowledgment of my complaisance. The main entrance to the +enclosure was passed; it was a heavy wooden gate, framed in iron and +locked, with the cargo of the launch piled outside it, and at the +corner we came to a small doorway I had not previously observed. The +white-haired man produced a bundle of keys from the pocket of his +greasy blue jacket, opened this door, and entered. His keys, and the +elaborate locking-up of the place even while it was still under his +eye, struck me as peculiar. I followed him, and found myself in a small +apartment, plainly but not uncomfortably furnished and with its inner +door, which was slightly ajar, opening into a paved courtyard. This +inner door Montgomery at once closed. A hammock was slung across the +darker corner of the room, and a small unglazed window defended by an +iron bar looked out towards the sea. + +This the white-haired man told me was to be my apartment; and the inner +door, which “for fear of accidents,” he said, he would lock on the +other side, was my limit inward. He called my attention to a convenient +deck-chair before the window, and to an array of old books, chiefly, I +found, surgical works and editions of the Latin and Greek classics +(languages I cannot read with any comfort), on a shelf near the +hammock. He left the room by the outer door, as if to avoid opening the +inner one again. + +“We usually have our meals in here,” said Montgomery, and then, as if +in doubt, went out after the other. “Moreau!” I heard him call, and for +the moment I do not think I noticed. Then as I handled the books on the +shelf it came up in consciousness: Where had I heard the name of Moreau +before? I sat down before the window, took out the biscuits that still +remained to me, and ate them with an excellent appetite. Moreau! + +Through the window I saw one of those unaccountable men in white, +lugging a packing-case along the beach. Presently the window-frame hid +him. Then I heard a key inserted and turned in the lock behind me. +After a little while I heard through the locked door the noise of the +staghounds, that had now been brought up from the beach. They were not +barking, but sniffing and growling in a curious fashion. I could hear +the rapid patter of their feet, and Montgomery’s voice soothing them. + +I was very much impressed by the elaborate secrecy of these two men +regarding the contents of the place, and for some time I was thinking +of that and of the unaccountable familiarity of the name of Moreau; but +so odd is the human memory that I could not then recall that well-known +name in its proper connection. From that my thoughts went to the +indefinable queerness of the deformed man on the beach. I never saw +such a gait, such odd motions as he pulled at the box. I recalled that +none of these men had spoken to me, though most of them I had found +looking at me at one time or another in a peculiarly furtive manner, +quite unlike the frank stare of your unsophisticated savage. Indeed, +they had all seemed remarkably taciturn, and when they did speak, +endowed with very uncanny voices. What was wrong with them? Then I +recalled the eyes of Montgomery’s ungainly attendant. + +Just as I was thinking of him he came in. He was now dressed in white, +and carried a little tray with some coffee and boiled vegetables +thereon. I could hardly repress a shuddering recoil as he came, bending +amiably, and placed the tray before me on the table. Then astonishment +paralysed me. Under his stringy black locks I saw his ear; it jumped +upon me suddenly close to my face. The man had pointed ears, covered +with a fine brown fur! + +“Your breakfast, sair,” he said. + +I stared at his face without attempting to answer him. He turned and +went towards the door, regarding me oddly over his shoulder. I followed +him out with my eyes; and as I did so, by some odd trick of unconscious +cerebration, there came surging into my head the phrase, “The Moreau +Hollows”—was it? “The Moreau—” Ah! It sent my memory back ten years. +“The Moreau Horrors!” The phrase drifted loose in my mind for a moment, +and then I saw it in red lettering on a little buff-coloured pamphlet, +to read which made one shiver and creep. Then I remembered distinctly +all about it. That long-forgotten pamphlet came back with startling +vividness to my mind. I had been a mere lad then, and Moreau was, I +suppose, about fifty,—a prominent and masterful physiologist, +well-known in scientific circles for his extraordinary imagination and +his brutal directness in discussion. + +Was this the same Moreau? He had published some very astonishing facts +in connection with the transfusion of blood, and in addition was known +to be doing valuable work on morbid growths. Then suddenly his career +was closed. He had to leave England. A journalist obtained access to +his laboratory in the capacity of laboratory-assistant, with the +deliberate intention of making sensational exposures; and by the help +of a shocking accident (if it was an accident), his gruesome pamphlet +became notorious. On the day of its publication a wretched dog, flayed +and otherwise mutilated, escaped from Moreau’s house. It was in the +silly season, and a prominent editor, a cousin of the temporary +laboratory-assistant, appealed to the conscience of the nation. It was +not the first time that conscience has turned against the methods of +research. The doctor was simply howled out of the country. It may be +that he deserved to be; but I still think that the tepid support of his +fellow-investigators and his desertion by the great body of scientific +workers was a shameful thing. Yet some of his experiments, by the +journalist’s account, were wantonly cruel. He might perhaps have +purchased his social peace by abandoning his investigations; but he +apparently preferred the latter, as most men would who have once fallen +under the overmastering spell of research. He was unmarried, and had +indeed nothing but his own interest to consider. + +I felt convinced that this must be the same man. Everything pointed to +it. It dawned upon me to what end the puma and the other animals—which +had now been brought with other luggage into the enclosure behind the +house—were destined; and a curious faint odour, the halitus of +something familiar, an odour that had been in the background of my +consciousness hitherto, suddenly came forward into the forefront of my +thoughts. It was the antiseptic odour of the dissecting-room. I heard +the puma growling through the wall, and one of the dogs yelped as +though it had been struck. + +Yet surely, and especially to another scientific man, there was nothing +so horrible in vivisection as to account for this secrecy; and by some +odd leap in my thoughts the pointed ears and luminous eyes of +Montgomery’s attendant came back again before me with the sharpest +definition. I stared before me out at the green sea, frothing under a +freshening breeze, and let these and other strange memories of the last +few days chase one another through my mind. + +What could it all mean? A locked enclosure on a lonely island, a +notorious vivisector, and these crippled and distorted men? + +\chapter{THE CRYING OF THE PUMA} +\cleardoublepage +Montgomery interrupted my tangle of mystification and suspicion about +one o’clock, and his grotesque attendant followed him with a tray +bearing bread, some herbs and other eatables, a flask of whiskey, a jug +of water, and three glasses and knives. I glanced askance at this +strange creature, and found him watching me with his queer, restless +eyes. Montgomery said he would lunch with me, but that Moreau was too +preoccupied with some work to come. + +“Moreau!” said I. “I know that name.” + +“The devil you do!” said he. “What an ass I was to mention it to you! I +might have thought. Anyhow, it will give you an inkling of +our—mysteries. Whiskey?” + +“No, thanks; I’m an abstainer.” + +“I wish I’d been. But it’s no use locking the door after the steed is +stolen. It was that infernal stuff which led to my coming here,—that, +and a foggy night. I thought myself in luck at the time, when Moreau +offered to get me off. It’s queer—” + +“Montgomery,” said I, suddenly, as the outer door closed, “why has your +man pointed ears?” + +“Damn!” he said, over his first mouthful of food. He stared at me for a +moment, and then repeated, “Pointed ears?” + +“Little points to them,” said I, as calmly as possible, with a catch in +my breath; “and a fine black fur at the edges?” + +He helped himself to whiskey and water with great deliberation. “I was +under the impression—that his hair covered his ears.” + +“I saw them as he stooped by me to put that coffee you sent to me on +the table. And his eyes shine in the dark.” + +By this time Montgomery had recovered from the surprise of my question. +“I always thought,” he said deliberately, with a certain accentuation +of his flavouring of lisp, “that there \emph{was} something the matter with +his ears, from the way he covered them. What were they like?” + +I was persuaded from his manner that this ignorance was a pretence. +Still, I could hardly tell the man that I thought him a liar. +“Pointed,” I said; “rather small and furry,—distinctly furry. But the +whole man is one of the strangest beings I ever set eyes on.” + +A sharp, hoarse cry of animal pain came from the enclosure behind us. +Its depth and volume testified to the puma. I saw Montgomery wince. + +“Yes?” he said. + +“Where did you pick up the creature?” + +“San Francisco. He’s an ugly brute, I admit. Half-witted, you know. +Can’t remember where he came from. But I’m used to him, you know. We +both are. How does he strike you?” + +“He’s unnatural,” I said. “There’s something about him—don’t think me +fanciful, but it gives me a nasty little sensation, a tightening of my +muscles, when he comes near me. It’s a touch—of the diabolical, in +fact.” + +Montgomery had stopped eating while I told him this. “Rum!” he said. +“\emph{I} can’t see it.” He resumed his meal. “I had no idea of it,” he +said, and masticated. “The crew of the schooner must have felt it the +same. Made a dead set at the poor devil. You saw the captain?” + +Suddenly the puma howled again, this time more painfully. Montgomery +swore under his breath. I had half a mind to attack him about the men +on the beach. Then the poor brute within gave vent to a series of +short, sharp cries. + +“Your men on the beach,” said I; “what race are they?” + +“Excellent fellows, aren’t they?” said he, absentmindedly, knitting his +brows as the animal yelled out sharply. + +I said no more. There was another outcry worse than the former. He +looked at me with his dull grey eyes, and then took some more whiskey. +He tried to draw me into a discussion about alcohol, professing to have +saved my life with it. He seemed anxious to lay stress on the fact that +I owed my life to him. I answered him distractedly. + +Presently our meal came to an end; the misshapen monster with the +pointed ears cleared the remains away, and Montgomery left me alone in +the room again. All the time he had been in a state of ill-concealed +irritation at the noise of the vivisected puma. He had spoken of his +odd want of nerve, and left me to the obvious application. + +I found myself that the cries were singularly irritating, and they grew +in depth and intensity as the afternoon wore on. They were painful at +first, but their constant resurgence at last altogether upset my +balance. I flung aside a crib of Horace I had been reading, and began +to clench my fists, to bite my lips, and to pace the room. Presently I +got to stopping my ears with my fingers. + +The emotional appeal of those yells grew upon me steadily, grew at last +to such an exquisite expression of suffering that I could stand it in +that confined room no longer. I stepped out of the door into the +slumberous heat of the late afternoon, and walking past the main +entrance—locked again, I noticed—turned the corner of the wall. + +The crying sounded even louder out of doors. It was as if all the pain +in the world had found a voice. Yet had I known such pain was in the +next room, and had it been dumb, I believe—I have thought since—I could +have stood it well enough. It is when suffering finds a voice and sets +our nerves quivering that this pity comes troubling us. But in spite of +the brilliant sunlight and the green fans of the trees waving in the +soothing sea-breeze, the world was a confusion, blurred with drifting +black and red phantasms, until I was out of earshot of the house in the +chequered wall. + +\chapter{THE THING IN THE FOREST} +\cleardoublepage +I strode through the undergrowth that clothed the ridge behind the +house, scarcely heeding whither I went; passed on through the shadow of +a thick cluster of straight-stemmed trees beyond it, and so presently +found myself some way on the other side of the ridge, and descending +towards a streamlet that ran through a narrow valley. I paused and +listened. The distance I had come, or the intervening masses of +thicket, deadened any sound that might be coming from the enclosure. +The air was still. Then with a rustle a rabbit emerged, and went +scampering up the slope before me. I hesitated, and sat down in the +edge of the shade. + +The place was a pleasant one. The rivulet was hidden by the luxuriant +vegetation of the banks save at one point, where I caught a triangular +patch of its glittering water. On the farther side I saw through a +bluish haze a tangle of trees and creepers, and above these again the +luminous blue of the sky. Here and there a splash of white or crimson +marked the blooming of some trailing epiphyte. I let my eyes wander +over this scene for a while, and then began to turn over in my mind +again the strange peculiarities of Montgomery’s man. But it was too hot +to think elaborately, and presently I fell into a tranquil state midway +between dozing and waking. + +From this I was aroused, after I know not how long, by a rustling +amidst the greenery on the other side of the stream. For a moment I +could see nothing but the waving summits of the ferns and reeds. Then +suddenly upon the bank of the stream appeared something—at first I +could not distinguish what it was. It bowed its round head to the +water, and began to drink. Then I saw it was a man, going on all-fours +like a beast. He was clothed in bluish cloth, and was of a +copper-coloured hue, with black hair. It seemed that grotesque ugliness +was an invariable character of these islanders. I could hear the suck +of the water at his lips as he drank. + +I leant forward to see him better, and a piece of lava, detached by my +hand, went pattering down the slope. He looked up guiltily, and his +eyes met mine. Forthwith he scrambled to his feet, and stood wiping his +clumsy hand across his mouth and regarding me. His legs were scarcely +half the length of his body. So, staring one another out of +countenance, we remained for perhaps the space of a minute. Then, +stopping to look back once or twice, he slunk off among the bushes to +the right of me, and I heard the swish of the fronds grow faint in the +distance and die away. Long after he had disappeared, I remained +sitting up staring in the direction of his retreat. My drowsy +tranquillity had gone. + +I was startled by a noise behind me, and turning suddenly saw the +flapping white tail of a rabbit vanishing up the slope. I jumped to my +feet. The apparition of this grotesque, half-bestial creature had +suddenly populated the stillness of the afternoon for me. I looked +around me rather nervously, and regretted that I was unarmed. Then I +thought that the man I had just seen had been clothed in bluish cloth, +had not been naked as a savage would have been; and I tried to persuade +myself from that fact that he was after all probably a peaceful +character, that the dull ferocity of his countenance belied him. + +Yet I was greatly disturbed at the apparition. I walked to the left +along the slope, turning my head about and peering this way and that +among the straight stems of the trees. Why should a man go on all-fours +and drink with his lips? Presently I heard an animal wailing again, and +taking it to be the puma, I turned about and walked in a direction +diametrically opposite to the sound. This led me down to the stream, +across which I stepped and pushed my way up through the undergrowth +beyond. + +I was startled by a great patch of vivid scarlet on the ground, and +going up to it found it to be a peculiar fungus, branched and +corrugated like a foliaceous lichen, but deliquescing into slime at the +touch; and then in the shadow of some luxuriant ferns I came upon an +unpleasant thing,—the dead body of a rabbit covered with shining flies, +but still warm and with the head torn off. I stopped aghast at the +sight of the scattered blood. Here at least was one visitor to the +island disposed of! There were no traces of other violence about it. It +looked as though it had been suddenly snatched up and killed; and as I +stared at the little furry body came the difficulty of how the thing +had been done. The vague dread that had been in my mind since I had +seen the inhuman face of the man at the stream grew distincter as I +stood there. I began to realise the hardihood of my expedition among +these unknown people. The thicket about me became altered to my +imagination. Every shadow became something more than a shadow,—became +an ambush; every rustle became a threat. Invisible things seemed +watching me. I resolved to go back to the enclosure on the beach. I +suddenly turned away and thrust myself violently, possibly even +frantically, through the bushes, anxious to get a clear space about me +again. + +I stopped just in time to prevent myself emerging upon an open space. +It was a kind of glade in the forest, made by a fall; seedlings were +already starting up to struggle for the vacant space; and beyond, the +dense growth of stems and twining vines and splashes of fungus and +flowers closed in again. Before me, squatting together upon the fungoid +ruins of a huge fallen tree and still unaware of my approach, were +three grotesque human figures. One was evidently a female; the other +two were men. They were naked, save for swathings of scarlet cloth +about the middle; and their skins were of a dull pinkish-drab colour, +such as I had seen in no savages before. They had fat, heavy, chinless +faces, retreating foreheads, and a scant bristly hair upon their heads. +I never saw such bestial-looking creatures. + +They were talking, or at least one of the men was talking to the other +two, and all three had been too closely interested to heed the rustling +of my approach. They swayed their heads and shoulders from side to +side. The speaker’s words came thick and sloppy, and though I could +hear them distinctly I could not distinguish what he said. He seemed to +me to be reciting some complicated gibberish. Presently his +articulation became shriller, and spreading his hands he rose to his +feet. At that the others began to gibber in unison, also rising to +their feet, spreading their hands and swaying their bodies in rhythm +with their chant. I noticed then the abnormal shortness of their legs, +and their lank, clumsy feet. All three began slowly to circle round, +raising and stamping their feet and waving their arms; a kind of tune +crept into their rhythmic recitation, and a refrain,—“Aloola,” or +“Balloola,” it sounded like. Their eyes began to sparkle, and their +ugly faces to brighten, with an expression of strange pleasure. Saliva +dripped from their lipless mouths. + +Suddenly, as I watched their grotesque and unaccountable gestures, I +perceived clearly for the first time what it was that had offended me, +what had given me the two inconsistent and conflicting impressions of +utter strangeness and yet of the strangest familiarity. The three +creatures engaged in this mysterious rite were human in shape, and yet +human beings with the strangest air about them of some familiar animal. +Each of these creatures, despite its human form, its rag of clothing, +and the rough humanity of its bodily form, had woven into it—into its +movements, into the expression of its countenance, into its whole +presence—some now irresistible suggestion of a hog, a swinish taint, +the unmistakable mark of the beast. + +I stood overcome by this amazing realisation and then the most horrible +questionings came rushing into my mind. They began leaping in the air, +first one and then the other, whooping and grunting. Then one slipped, +and for a moment was on all-fours,—to recover, indeed, forthwith. But +that transitory gleam of the true animalism of these monsters was +enough. + +I turned as noiselessly as possible, and becoming every now and then +rigid with the fear of being discovered, as a branch cracked or a leaf +rustled, I pushed back into the bushes. It was long before I grew +bolder, and dared to move freely. My only idea for the moment was to +get away from these foul beings, and I scarcely noticed that I had +emerged upon a faint pathway amidst the trees. Then suddenly traversing +a little glade, I saw with an unpleasant start two clumsy legs among +the trees, walking with noiseless footsteps parallel with my course, +and perhaps thirty yards away from me. The head and upper part of the +body were hidden by a tangle of creeper. I stopped abruptly, hoping the +creature did not see me. The feet stopped as I did. So nervous was I +that I controlled an impulse to headlong flight with the utmost +difficulty. Then looking hard, I distinguished through the interlacing +network the head and body of the brute I had seen drinking. He moved +his head. There was an emerald flash in his eyes as he glanced at me +from the shadow of the trees, a half-luminous colour that vanished as +he turned his head again. He was motionless for a moment, and then with +a noiseless tread began running through the green confusion. In another +moment he had vanished behind some bushes. I could not see him, but I +felt that he had stopped and was watching me again. + +What on earth was he,—man or beast? What did he want with me? I had no +weapon, not even a stick. Flight would be madness. At any rate the +Thing, whatever it was, lacked the courage to attack me. Setting my +teeth hard, I walked straight towards him. I was anxious not to show +the fear that seemed chilling my backbone. I pushed through a tangle of +tall white-flowered bushes, and saw him twenty paces beyond, looking +over his shoulder at me and hesitating. I advanced a step or two, +looking steadfastly into his eyes. + +“Who are you?” said I. + +He tried to meet my gaze. “No!” he said suddenly, and turning went +bounding away from me through the undergrowth. Then he turned and +stared at me again. His eyes shone brightly out of the dusk under the +trees. + +My heart was in my mouth; but I felt my only chance was bluff, and +walked steadily towards him. He turned again, and vanished into the +dusk. Once more I thought I caught the glint of his eyes, and that was +all. + +For the first time I realised how the lateness of the hour might affect +me. The sun had set some minutes since, the swift dusk of the tropics +was already fading out of the eastern sky, and a pioneer moth fluttered +silently by my head. Unless I would spend the night among the unknown +dangers of the mysterious forest, I must hasten back to the enclosure. +The thought of a return to that pain-haunted refuge was extremely +disagreeable, but still more so was the idea of being overtaken in the +open by darkness and all that darkness might conceal. I gave one more +look into the blue shadows that had swallowed up this odd creature, and +then retraced my way down the slope towards the stream, going as I +judged in the direction from which I had come. + +I walked eagerly, my mind confused with many things, and presently +found myself in a level place among scattered trees. The colourless +clearness that comes after the sunset flush was darkling; the blue sky +above grew momentarily deeper, and the little stars one by one pierced +the attenuated light; the interspaces of the trees, the gaps in the +further vegetation, that had been hazy blue in the daylight, grew black +and mysterious. I pushed on. The colour vanished from the world. The +tree-tops rose against the luminous blue sky in inky silhouette, and +all below that outline melted into one formless blackness. Presently +the trees grew thinner, and the shrubby undergrowth more abundant. Then +there was a desolate space covered with a white sand, and then another +expanse of tangled bushes. I did not remember crossing the sand-opening +before. I began to be tormented by a faint rustling upon my right hand. +I thought at first it was fancy, for whenever I stopped there was +silence, save for the evening breeze in the tree-tops. Then when I +turned to hurry on again there was an echo to my footsteps. + +I turned away from the thickets, keeping to the more open ground, and +endeavouring by sudden turns now and then to surprise something in the +act of creeping upon me. I saw nothing, and nevertheless my sense of +another presence grew steadily. I increased my pace, and after some +time came to a slight ridge, crossed it, and turned sharply, regarding +it steadfastly from the further side. It came out black and clear-cut +against the darkling sky; and presently a shapeless lump heaved up +momentarily against the sky-line and vanished again. I felt assured now +that my tawny-faced antagonist was stalking me once more; and coupled +with that was another unpleasant realisation, that I had lost my way. + +For a time I hurried on hopelessly perplexed, and pursued by that +stealthy approach. Whatever it was, the Thing either lacked the courage +to attack me, or it was waiting to take me at some disadvantage. I kept +studiously to the open. At times I would turn and listen; and presently +I had half persuaded myself that my pursuer had abandoned the chase, or +was a mere creation of my disordered imagination. Then I heard the +sound of the sea. I quickened my footsteps almost into a run, and +immediately there was a stumble in my rear. + +I turned suddenly, and stared at the uncertain trees behind me. One +black shadow seemed to leap into another. I listened, rigid, and heard +nothing but the creep of the blood in my ears. I thought that my nerves +were unstrung, and that my imagination was tricking me, and turned +resolutely towards the sound of the sea again. + +In a minute or so the trees grew thinner, and I emerged upon a bare, +low headland running out into the sombre water. The night was calm and +clear, and the reflection of the growing multitude of the stars +shivered in the tranquil heaving of the sea. Some way out, the wash +upon an irregular band of reef shone with a pallid light of its own. +Westward I saw the zodiacal light mingling with the yellow brilliance +of the evening star. The coast fell away from me to the east, and +westward it was hidden by the shoulder of the cape. Then I recalled the +fact that Moreau’s beach lay to the west. + +A twig snapped behind me, and there was a rustle. I turned, and stood +facing the dark trees. I could see nothing—or else I could see too +much. Every dark form in the dimness had its ominous quality, its +peculiar suggestion of alert watchfulness. So I stood for perhaps a +minute, and then, with an eye to the trees still, turned westward to +cross the headland; and as I moved, one among the lurking shadows moved +to follow me. + +My heart beat quickly. Presently the broad sweep of a bay to the +westward became visible, and I halted again. The noiseless shadow +halted a dozen yards from me. A little point of light shone on the +further bend of the curve, and the grey sweep of the sandy beach lay +faint under the starlight. Perhaps two miles away was that little point +of light. To get to the beach I should have to go through the trees +where the shadows lurked, and down a bushy slope. + +I could see the Thing rather more distinctly now. It was no animal, for +it stood erect. At that I opened my mouth to speak, and found a hoarse +phlegm choked my voice. I tried again, and shouted, “Who is there?” +There was no answer. I advanced a step. The Thing did not move, only +gathered itself together. My foot struck a stone. That gave me an idea. +Without taking my eyes off the black form before me, I stooped and +picked up this lump of rock; but at my motion the Thing turned abruptly +as a dog might have done, and slunk obliquely into the further +darkness. Then I recalled a schoolboy expedient against big dogs, and +twisted the rock into my handkerchief, and gave this a turn round my +wrist. I heard a movement further off among the shadows, as if the +Thing was in retreat. Then suddenly my tense excitement gave way; I +broke into a profuse perspiration and fell a-trembling, with my +adversary routed and this weapon in my hand. + +It was some time before I could summon resolution to go down through +the trees and bushes upon the flank of the headland to the beach. At +last I did it at a run; and as I emerged from the thicket upon the +sand, I heard some other body come crashing after me. At that I +completely lost my head with fear, and began running along the sand. +Forthwith there came the swift patter of soft feet in pursuit. I gave a +wild cry, and redoubled my pace. Some dim, black things about three or +four times the size of rabbits went running or hopping up from the +beach towards the bushes as I passed. + +So long as I live, I shall remember the terror of that chase. I ran +near the water’s edge, and heard every now and then the splash of the +feet that gained upon me. Far away, hopelessly far, was the yellow +light. All the night about us was black and still. Splash, splash, came +the pursuing feet, nearer and nearer. I felt my breath going, for I was +quite out of training; it whooped as I drew it, and I felt a pain like +a knife at my side. I perceived the Thing would come up with me long +before I reached the enclosure, and, desperate and sobbing for my +breath, I wheeled round upon it and struck at it as it came up to +me,—struck with all my strength. The stone came out of the sling of the +handkerchief as I did so. As I turned, the Thing, which had been +running on all-fours, rose to its feet, and the missile fell fair on +its left temple. The skull rang loud, and the animal-man blundered into +me, thrust me back with its hands, and went staggering past me to fall +headlong upon the sand with its face in the water; and there it lay +still. + +I could not bring myself to approach that black heap. I left it there, +with the water rippling round it, under the still stars, and giving it +a wide berth pursued my way towards the yellow glow of the house; and +presently, with a positive effect of relief, came the pitiful moaning +of the puma, the sound that had originally driven me out to explore +this mysterious island. At that, though I was faint and horribly +fatigued, I gathered together all my strength, and began running again +towards the light. I thought I heard a voice calling me. +\chapter{THE CRYING OF THE MAN} +\cleardoublepage +As I drew near the house I saw that the light shone from the open door +of my room; and then I heard coming from out of the darkness at the +side of that orange oblong of light, the voice of Montgomery shouting, +“Prendick!” I continued running. Presently I heard him again. I replied +by a feeble “Hullo!” and in another moment had staggered up to him. + +“Where have you been?” said he, holding me at arm’s length, so that the +light from the door fell on my face. “We have both been so busy that we +forgot you until about half an hour ago.” He led me into the room and +sat me down in the deck chair. For awhile I was blinded by the light. +“We did not think you would start to explore this island of ours +without telling us,” he said; and then, “I was afraid—But—what—Hullo!” + +My last remaining strength slipped from me, and my head fell forward on +my chest. I think he found a certain satisfaction in giving me brandy. + +“For God’s sake,” said I, “fasten that door.” + +“You’ve been meeting some of our curiosities, eh?” said he. + +He locked the door and turned to me again. He asked me no questions, +but gave me some more brandy and water and pressed me to eat. I was in +a state of collapse. He said something vague about his forgetting to +warn me, and asked me briefly when I left the house and what I had +seen. + +I answered him as briefly, in fragmentary sentences. “Tell me what it +all means,” said I, in a state bordering on hysterics. + +“It’s nothing so very dreadful,” said he. “But I think you have had +about enough for one day.” The puma suddenly gave a sharp yell of pain. +At that he swore under his breath. “I’m damned,” said he, “if this +place is not as bad as Gower Street, with its cats.” + +“Montgomery,” said I, “what was that thing that came after me? Was it a +beast or was it a man?” + +“If you don’t sleep to-night,” he said, “you’ll be off your head +to-morrow.” + +I stood up in front of him. “What was that thing that came after me?” I +asked. + +He looked me squarely in the eyes, and twisted his mouth askew. His +eyes, which had seemed animated a minute before, went dull. “From your +account,” said he, “I’m thinking it was a bogle.” + +I felt a gust of intense irritation, which passed as quickly as it +came. I flung myself into the chair again, and pressed my hands on my +forehead. The puma began once more. + +Montgomery came round behind me and put his hand on my shoulder. “Look +here, Prendick,” he said, “I had no business to let you drift out into +this silly island of ours. But it’s not so bad as you feel, man. Your +nerves are worked to rags. Let me give you something that will make you +sleep. \emph{That}—will keep on for hours yet. You must simply get to sleep, +or I won’t answer for it.” + +I did not reply. I bowed forward, and covered my face with my hands. +Presently he returned with a small measure containing a dark liquid. +This he gave me. I took it unresistingly, and he helped me into the +hammock. + +When I awoke, it was broad day. For a little while I lay flat, staring +at the roof above me. The rafters, I observed, were made out of the +timbers of a ship. Then I turned my head, and saw a meal prepared for +me on the table. I perceived that I was hungry, and prepared to clamber +out of the hammock, which, very politely anticipating my intention, +twisted round and deposited me upon all-fours on the floor. + +I got up and sat down before the food. I had a heavy feeling in my +head, and only the vaguest memory at first of the things that had +happened over night. The morning breeze blew very pleasantly through +the unglazed window, and that and the food contributed to the sense of +animal comfort which I experienced. Presently the door behind me—the +door inward towards the yard of the enclosure—opened. I turned and saw +Montgomery’s face. + +“All right,” said he. “I’m frightfully busy.” And he shut the door. + +Afterwards I discovered that he forgot to re-lock it. Then I recalled +the expression of his face the previous night, and with that the memory +of all I had experienced reconstructed itself before me. Even as that +fear came back to me came a cry from within; but this time it was not +the cry of a puma. I put down the mouthful that hesitated upon my lips, +and listened. Silence, save for the whisper of the morning breeze. I +began to think my ears had deceived me. + +After a long pause I resumed my meal, but with my ears still vigilant. +Presently I heard something else, very faint and low. I sat as if +frozen in my attitude. Though it was faint and low, it moved me more +profoundly than all that I had hitherto heard of the abominations +behind the wall. There was no mistake this time in the quality of the +dim, broken sounds; no doubt at all of their source. For it was +groaning, broken by sobs and gasps of anguish. It was no brute this +time; it was a human being in torment! + +As I realised this I rose, and in three steps had crossed the room, +seized the handle of the door into the yard, and flung it open before +me. + +“Prendick, man! Stop!” cried Montgomery, intervening. + +A startled deerhound yelped and snarled. There was blood, I saw, in the +sink,—brown, and some scarlet—and I smelt the peculiar smell of +carbolic acid. Then through an open doorway beyond, in the dim light of +the shadow, I saw something bound painfully upon a framework, scarred, +red, and bandaged; and then blotting this out appeared the face of old +Moreau, white and terrible. In a moment he had gripped me by the +shoulder with a hand that was smeared red, had twisted me off my feet, +and flung me headlong back into my own room. He lifted me as though I +was a little child. I fell at full length upon the floor, and the door +slammed and shut out the passionate intensity of his face. Then I heard +the key turn in the lock, and Montgomery’s voice in expostulation. + +“Ruin the work of a lifetime,” I heard Moreau say. + +“He does not understand,” said Montgomery. and other things that were +inaudible. + +“I can’t spare the time yet,” said Moreau. + +The rest I did not hear. I picked myself up and stood trembling, my +mind a chaos of the most horrible misgivings. Could it be possible, I +thought, that such a thing as the vivisection of men was carried on +here? The question shot like lightning across a tumultuous sky; and +suddenly the clouded horror of my mind condensed into a vivid +realisation of my own danger. +\chapter{THE HUNTING OF THE MAN} +\cleardoublepage +It came before my mind with an unreasonable hope of escape that the +outer door of my room was still open to me. I was convinced now, +absolutely assured, that Moreau had been vivisecting a human being. All +the time since I had heard his name, I had been trying to link in my +mind in some way the grotesque animalism of the islanders with his +abominations; and now I thought I saw it all. The memory of his work on +the transfusion of blood recurred to me. These creatures I had seen +were the victims of some hideous experiment. These sickening scoundrels +had merely intended to keep me back, to fool me with their display of +confidence, and presently to fall upon me with a fate more horrible +than death,—with torture; and after torture the most hideous +degradation it is possible to conceive,—to send me off a lost soul, a +beast, to the rest of their Comus rout. + +I looked round for some weapon. Nothing. Then with an inspiration I +turned over the deck chair, put my foot on the side of it, and tore +away the side rail. It happened that a nail came away with the wood, +and projecting, gave a touch of danger to an otherwise petty weapon. I +heard a step outside, and incontinently flung open the door and found +Montgomery within a yard of it. He meant to lock the outer door! I +raised this nailed stick of mine and cut at his face; but he sprang +back. I hesitated a moment, then turned and fled, round the corner of +the house. “Prendick, man!” I heard his astonished cry, “don’t be a +silly ass, man!” + +Another minute, thought I, and he would have had me locked in, and as +ready as a hospital rabbit for my fate. He emerged behind the corner, +for I heard him shout, “Prendick!” Then he began to run after me, +shouting things as he ran. This time running blindly, I went +northeastward in a direction at right angles to my previous expedition. +Once, as I went running headlong up the beach, I glanced over my +shoulder and saw his attendant with him. I ran furiously up the slope, +over it, then turning eastward along a rocky valley fringed on either +side with jungle I ran for perhaps a mile altogether, my chest +straining, my heart beating in my ears; and then hearing nothing of +Montgomery or his man, and feeling upon the verge of exhaustion, I +doubled sharply back towards the beach as I judged, and lay down in the +shelter of a canebrake. There I remained for a long time, too fearful +to move, and indeed too fearful even to plan a course of action. The +wild scene about me lay sleeping silently under the sun, and the only +sound near me was the thin hum of some small gnats that had discovered +me. Presently I became aware of a drowsy breathing sound, the soughing +of the sea upon the beach. + +After about an hour I heard Montgomery shouting my name, far away to +the north. That set me thinking of my plan of action. As I interpreted +it then, this island was inhabited only by these two vivisectors and +their animalised victims. Some of these no doubt they could press into +their service against me if need arose. I knew both Moreau and +Montgomery carried revolvers; and, save for a feeble bar of deal spiked +with a small nail, the merest mockery of a mace, I was unarmed. + +So I lay still there, until I began to think of food and drink; and at +that thought the real hopelessness of my position came home to me. I +knew no way of getting anything to eat. I was too ignorant of botany to +discover any resort of root or fruit that might lie about me; I had no +means of trapping the few rabbits upon the island. It grew blanker the +more I turned the prospect over. At last in the desperation of my +position, my mind turned to the animal men I had encountered. I tried +to find some hope in what I remembered of them. In turn I recalled each +one I had seen, and tried to draw some augury of assistance from my +memory. + +Then suddenly I heard a staghound bay, and at that realised a new +danger. I took little time to think, or they would have caught me then, +but snatching up my nailed stick, rushed headlong from my hiding-place +towards the sound of the sea. I remember a growth of thorny plants, +with spines that stabbed like pen-knives. I emerged bleeding and with +torn clothes upon the lip of a long creek opening northward. I went +straight into the water without a minute’s hesitation, wading up the +creek, and presently finding myself kneedeep in a little stream. I +scrambled out at last on the westward bank, and with my heart beating +loudly in my ears, crept into a tangle of ferns to await the issue. I +heard the dog (there was only one) draw nearer, and yelp when it came +to the thorns. Then I heard no more, and presently began to think I had +escaped. + +The minutes passed; the silence lengthened out, and at last after an +hour of security my courage began to return to me. By this time I was +no longer very much terrified or very miserable. I had, as it were, +passed the limit of terror and despair. I felt now that my life was +practically lost, and that persuasion made me capable of daring +anything. I had even a certain wish to encounter Moreau face to face; +and as I had waded into the water, I remembered that if I were too hard +pressed at least one path of escape from torment still lay open to +me,—they could not very well prevent my drowning myself. I had half a +mind to drown myself then; but an odd wish to see the whole adventure +out, a queer, impersonal, spectacular interest in myself, restrained +me. I stretched my limbs, sore and painful from the pricks of the spiny +plants, and stared around me at the trees; and, so suddenly that it +seemed to jump out of the green tracery about it, my eyes lit upon a +black face watching me. I saw that it was the simian creature who had +met the launch upon the beach. He was clinging to the oblique stem of a +palm-tree. I gripped my stick, and stood up facing him. He began +chattering. “You, you, you,” was all I could distinguish at first. +Suddenly he dropped from the tree, and in another moment was holding +the fronds apart and staring curiously at me. + +I did not feel the same repugnance towards this creature which I had +experienced in my encounters with the other Beast Men. “You,” he said, +“in the boat.” He was a man, then,—at least as much of a man as +Montgomery’s attendant,—for he could talk. + +“Yes,” I said, “I came in the boat. From the ship.” + +“Oh!” he said, and his bright, restless eyes travelled over me, to my +hands, to the stick I carried, to my feet, to the tattered places in my +coat, and the cuts and scratches I had received from the thorns. He +seemed puzzled at something. His eyes came back to my hands. He held +his own hand out and counted his digits slowly, “One, two, three, four, +five—eigh?” + +I did not grasp his meaning then; afterwards I was to find that a great +proportion of these Beast People had malformed hands, lacking sometimes +even three digits. But guessing this was in some way a greeting, I did +the same thing by way of reply. He grinned with immense satisfaction. +Then his swift roving glance went round again; he made a swift +movement—and vanished. The fern fronds he had stood between came +swishing together. + +I pushed out of the brake after him, and was astonished to find him +swinging cheerfully by one lank arm from a rope of creepers that looped +down from the foliage overhead. His back was to me. + +“Hullo!” said I. + +He came down with a twisting jump, and stood facing me. + +“I say,” said I, “where can I get something to eat?” + +“Eat!” he said. “Eat Man’s food, now.” And his eye went back to the +swing of ropes. “At the huts.” + +“But where are the huts?” + +“Oh!” + +“I’m new, you know.” + +At that he swung round, and set off at a quick walk. All his motions +were curiously rapid. “Come along,” said he. + +I went with him to see the adventure out. I guessed the huts were some +rough shelter where he and some more of these Beast People lived. I +might perhaps find them friendly, find some handle in their minds to +take hold of. I did not know how far they had forgotten their human +heritage. + +My ape-like companion trotted along by my side, with his hands hanging +down and his jaw thrust forward. I wondered what memory he might have +in him. “How long have you been on this island?” said I. + +“How long?” he asked; and after having the question repeated, he held +up three fingers. + +The creature was little better than an idiot. I tried to make out what +he meant by that, and it seems I bored him. After another question or +two he suddenly left my side and went leaping at some fruit that hung +from a tree. He pulled down a handful of prickly husks and went on +eating the contents. I noted this with satisfaction, for here at least +was a hint for feeding. I tried him with some other questions, but his +chattering, prompt responses were as often as not quite at cross +purposes with my question. Some few were appropriate, others quite +parrot-like. + +I was so intent upon these peculiarities that I scarcely noticed the +path we followed. Presently we came to trees, all charred and brown, +and so to a bare place covered with a yellow-white incrustation, across +which a drifting smoke, pungent in whiffs to nose and eyes, went +drifting. On our right, over a shoulder of bare rock, I saw the level +blue of the sea. The path coiled down abruptly into a narrow ravine +between two tumbled and knotty masses of blackish scoriae. Into this we +plunged. + +It was extremely dark, this passage, after the blinding sunlight +reflected from the sulphurous ground. Its walls grew steep, and +approached each other. Blotches of green and crimson drifted across my +eyes. My conductor stopped suddenly. “Home!” said he, and I stood in a +floor of a chasm that was at first absolutely dark to me. I heard some +strange noises, and thrust the knuckles of my left hand into my eyes. I +became aware of a disagreeable odor, like that of a monkey’s cage +ill-cleaned. Beyond, the rock opened again upon a gradual slope of +sunlit greenery, and on either hand the light smote down through narrow +ways into the central gloom. + +\chapter{THE SAYERS OF THE LAW} +\cleardoublepage +Then something cold touched my hand. I started violently, and saw close +to me a dim pinkish thing, looking more like a flayed child than +anything else in the world. The creature had exactly the mild but +repulsive features of a sloth, the same low forehead and slow gestures. + +As the first shock of the change of light passed, I saw about me more +distinctly. The little sloth-like creature was standing and staring at +me. My conductor had vanished. The place was a narrow passage between +high walls of lava, a crack in the knotted rock, and on either side +interwoven heaps of sea-mat, palm-fans, and reeds leaning against the +rock formed rough and impenetrably dark dens. The winding way up the +ravine between these was scarcely three yards wide, and was disfigured +by lumps of decaying fruit-pulp and other refuse, which accounted for +the disagreeable stench of the place. + +The little pink sloth-creature was still blinking at me when my Ape-man +reappeared at the aperture of the nearest of these dens, and beckoned +me in. As he did so a slouching monster wriggled out of one of the +places, further up this strange street, and stood up in featureless +silhouette against the bright green beyond, staring at me. I hesitated, +having half a mind to bolt the way I had come; and then, determined to +go through with the adventure, I gripped my nailed stick about the +middle and crawled into the little evil-smelling lean-to after my +conductor. + +It was a semi-circular space, shaped like the half of a bee-hive; and +against the rocky wall that formed the inner side of it was a pile of +variegated fruits, cocoa-nuts among others. Some rough vessels of lava +and wood stood about the floor, and one on a rough stool. There was no +fire. In the darkest corner of the hut sat a shapeless mass of darkness +that grunted “Hey!” as I came in, and my Ape-man stood in the dim light +of the doorway and held out a split cocoa-nut to me as I crawled into +the other corner and squatted down. I took it, and began gnawing it, as +serenely as possible, in spite of a certain trepidation and the nearly +intolerable closeness of the den. The little pink sloth-creature stood +in the aperture of the hut, and something else with a drab face and +bright eyes came staring over its shoulder. + +“Hey!” came out of the lump of mystery opposite. “It is a man.” + +“It is a man,” gabbled my conductor, “a man, a man, a five-man, like +me.” + +“Shut up!” said the voice from the dark, and grunted. I gnawed my +cocoa-nut amid an impressive stillness. + +I peered hard into the blackness, but could distinguish nothing. + +“It is a man,” the voice repeated. “He comes to live with us?” + +It was a thick voice, with something in it—a kind of whistling +overtone—that struck me as peculiar; but the English accent was +strangely good. + +The Ape-man looked at me as though he expected something. I perceived +the pause was interrogative. “He comes to live with you,” I said. + +“It is a man. He must learn the Law.” + +I began to distinguish now a deeper blackness in the black, a vague +outline of a hunched-up figure. Then I noticed the opening of the place +was darkened by two more black heads. My hand tightened on my stick. + +The thing in the dark repeated in a louder tone, “Say the words.” I had +missed its last remark. “Not to go on all-fours; that is the Law,” it +repeated in a kind of sing-song. + +I was puzzled. + +“Say the words,” said the Ape-man, repeating, and the figures in the +doorway echoed this, with a threat in the tone of their voices. + +I realised that I had to repeat this idiotic formula; and then began +the insanest ceremony. The voice in the dark began intoning a mad +litany, line by line, and I and the rest to repeat it. As they did so, +they swayed from side to side in the oddest way, and beat their hands +upon their knees; and I followed their example. I could have imagined I +was already dead and in another world. That dark hut, these grotesque +dim figures, just flecked here and there by a glimmer of light, and all +of them swaying in unison and chanting, + +“Not to go on all-fours; that is the Law. Are we not Men? +“Not to suck up Drink; that is the Law. Are we not Men? +“Not to eat Fish or Flesh; that is the Law. Are we not Men? +“Not to claw the Bark of Trees; \emph{that} is the Law. Are we not Men? +“Not to chase other Men; \emph{that} is the Law. Are we not Men?” + + +And so from the prohibition of these acts of folly, on to the +prohibition of what I thought then were the maddest, most impossible, +and most indecent things one could well imagine. A kind of rhythmic +fervour fell on all of us; we gabbled and swayed faster and faster, +repeating this amazing Law. Superficially the contagion of these brutes +was upon me, but deep down within me the laughter and disgust struggled +together. We ran through a long list of prohibitions, and then the +chant swung round to a new formula. + +“\emph{His} is the House of Pain. +“\emph{His} is the Hand that makes. +“\emph{His} is the Hand that wounds. +“\emph{His} is the Hand that heals.” + + +And so on for another long series, mostly quite incomprehensible +gibberish to me about \emph{Him}, whoever he might be. I could have fancied +it was a dream, but never before have I heard chanting in a dream. + +“\emph{His} is the lightning flash,” we sang. “\emph{His} is the deep, salt sea.” + +A horrible fancy came into my head that Moreau, after animalising these +men, had infected their dwarfed brains with a kind of deification of +himself. However, I was too keenly aware of white teeth and strong +claws about me to stop my chanting on that account. + +“\emph{His} are the stars in the sky.” + + +At last that song ended. I saw the Ape-man’s face shining with +perspiration; and my eyes being now accustomed to the darkness, I saw +more distinctly the figure in the corner from which the voice came. It +was the size of a man, but it seemed covered with a dull grey hair +almost like a Skye-terrier. What was it? What were they all? Imagine +yourself surrounded by all the most horrible cripples and maniacs it is +possible to conceive, and you may understand a little of my feelings +with these grotesque caricatures of humanity about me. + +“He is a five-man, a five-man, a five-man—like me,” said the Ape-man. + +I held out my hands. The grey creature in the corner leant forward. + +“Not to run on all-fours; that is the Law. Are we not Men?” he said. + +He put out a strangely distorted talon and gripped my fingers. The +thing was almost like the hoof of a deer produced into claws. I could +have yelled with surprise and pain. His face came forward and peered at +my nails, came forward into the light of the opening of the hut and I +saw with a quivering disgust that it was like the face of neither man +nor beast, but a mere shock of grey hair, with three shadowy +over-archings to mark the eyes and mouth. + +“He has little nails,” said this grisly creature in his hairy beard. +“It is well.” + +He threw my hand down, and instinctively I gripped my stick. + +“Eat roots and herbs; it is His will,” said the Ape-man. + +“I am the Sayer of the Law,” said the grey figure. “Here come all that +be new to learn the Law. I sit in the darkness and say the Law.” + +“It is even so,” said one of the beasts in the doorway. + +“Evil are the punishments of those who break the Law. None escape.” + +“None escape,” said the Beast Folk, glancing furtively at one another. + +“None, none,” said the Ape-man,—“none escape. See! I did a little +thing, a wrong thing, once. I jabbered, jabbered, stopped talking. None +could understand. I am burnt, branded in the hand. He is great. He is +good!” + +“None escape,” said the grey creature in the corner. + +“None escape,” said the Beast People, looking askance at one another. + +“For every one the want that is bad,” said the grey Sayer of the Law. +“What you will want we do not know; we shall know. Some want to follow +things that move, to watch and slink and wait and spring; to kill and +bite, bite deep and rich, sucking the blood. It is bad. ‘Not to chase +other Men; that is the Law. Are we not Men? Not to eat Flesh or Fish; +that is the Law. Are we not Men?’” + +“None escape,” said a dappled brute standing in the doorway. + +“For every one the want is bad,” said the grey Sayer of the Law. “Some +want to go tearing with teeth and hands into the roots of things, +snuffing into the earth. It is bad.” + +“None escape,” said the men in the door. + +“Some go clawing trees; some go scratching at the graves of the dead; +some go fighting with foreheads or feet or claws; some bite suddenly, +none giving occasion; some love uncleanness.” + +“None escape,” said the Ape-man, scratching his calf. + +“None escape,” said the little pink sloth-creature. + +“Punishment is sharp and sure. Therefore learn the Law. Say the words.” + +And incontinently he began again the strange litany of the Law, and +again I and all these creatures began singing and swaying. My head +reeled with this jabbering and the close stench of the place; but I +kept on, trusting to find presently some chance of a new development. + +“Not to go on all-fours; that is the Law. Are we not Men?” + +We were making such a noise that I noticed nothing of a tumult outside, +until some one, who I think was one of the two Swine Men I had seen, +thrust his head over the little pink sloth-creature and shouted +something excitedly, something that I did not catch. Incontinently +those at the opening of the hut vanished; my Ape-man rushed out; the +thing that had sat in the dark followed him (I only observed that it +was big and clumsy, and covered with silvery hair), and I was left +alone. Then before I reached the aperture I heard the yelp of a +staghound. + +In another moment I was standing outside the hovel, my chair-rail in my +hand, every muscle of me quivering. Before me were the clumsy backs of +perhaps a score of these Beast People, their misshapen heads half +hidden by their shoulder-blades. They were gesticulating excitedly. +Other half-animal faces glared interrogation out of the hovels. Looking +in the direction in which they faced, I saw coming through the haze +under the trees beyond the end of the passage of dens the dark figure +and awful white face of Moreau. He was holding the leaping staghound +back, and close behind him came Montgomery revolver in hand. + +For a moment I stood horror-struck. I turned and saw the passage behind +me blocked by another heavy brute, with a huge grey face and twinkling +little eyes, advancing towards me. I looked round and saw to the right +of me and a half-dozen yards in front of me a narrow gap in the wall of +rock through which a ray of light slanted into the shadows. + +“Stop!” cried Moreau as I strode towards this, and then, “Hold him!” + +At that, first one face turned towards me and then others. Their +bestial minds were happily slow. I dashed my shoulder into a clumsy +monster who was turning to see what Moreau meant, and flung him forward +into another. I felt his hands fly round, clutching at me and missing +me. The little pink sloth-creature dashed at me, and I gashed down its +ugly face with the nail in my stick and in another minute was +scrambling up a steep side pathway, a kind of sloping chimney, out of +the ravine. I heard a howl behind me, and cries of “Catch him!” “Hold +him!” and the grey-faced creature appeared behind me and jammed his +huge bulk into the cleft. “Go on! go on!” they howled. I clambered up +the narrow cleft in the rock and came out upon the sulphur on the +westward side of the village of the Beast Men. + +That gap was altogether fortunate for me, for the narrow chimney, +slanting obliquely upward, must have impeded the nearer pursuers. I ran +over the white space and down a steep slope, through a scattered growth +of trees, and came to a low-lying stretch of tall reeds, through which +I pushed into a dark, thick undergrowth that was black and succulent +under foot. As I plunged into the reeds, my foremost pursuers emerged +from the gap. I broke my way through this undergrowth for some minutes. +The air behind me and about me was soon full of threatening cries. I +heard the tumult of my pursuers in the gap up the slope, then the +crashing of the reeds, and every now and then the crackling crash of a +branch. Some of the creatures roared like excited beasts of prey. The +staghound yelped to the left. I heard Moreau and Montgomery shouting in +the same direction. I turned sharply to the right. It seemed to me even +then that I heard Montgomery shouting for me to run for my life. + +Presently the ground gave rich and oozy under my feet; but I was +desperate and went headlong into it, struggled through kneedeep, and so +came to a winding path among tall canes. The noise of my pursuers +passed away to my left. In one place three strange, pink, hopping +animals, about the size of cats, bolted before my footsteps. This +pathway ran up hill, across another open space covered with white +incrustation, and plunged into a canebrake again. Then suddenly it +turned parallel with the edge of a steep-walled gap, which came without +warning, like the ha-ha of an English park,—turned with an unexpected +abruptness. I was still running with all my might, and I never saw this +drop until I was flying headlong through the air. + +I fell on my forearms and head, among thorns, and rose with a torn ear +and bleeding face. I had fallen into a precipitous ravine, rocky and +thorny, full of a hazy mist which drifted about me in wisps, and with a +narrow streamlet from which this mist came meandering down the centre. +I was astonished at this thin fog in the full blaze of daylight; but I +had no time to stand wondering then. I turned to my right, down-stream, +hoping to come to the sea in that direction, and so have my way open to +drown myself. It was only later I found that I had dropped my nailed +stick in my fall. + +Presently the ravine grew narrower for a space, and carelessly I +stepped into the stream. I jumped out again pretty quickly, for the +water was almost boiling. I noticed too there was a thin sulphurous +scum drifting upon its coiling water. Almost immediately came a turn in +the ravine, and the indistinct blue horizon. The nearer sea was +flashing the sun from a myriad facets. I saw my death before me; but I +was hot and panting, with the warm blood oozing out on my face and +running pleasantly through my veins. I felt more than a touch of +exultation too, at having distanced my pursuers. It was not in me then +to go out and drown myself yet. I stared back the way I had come. + +I listened. Save for the hum of the gnats and the chirp of some small +insects that hopped among the thorns, the air was absolutely still. +Then came the yelp of a dog, very faint, and a chattering and +gibbering, the snap of a whip, and voices. They grew louder, then +fainter again. The noise receded up the stream and faded away. For a +while the chase was over; but I knew now how much hope of help for me +lay in the Beast People. + +\chapter{A PARLEY} +\cleardoublepage +I turned again and went on down towards the sea. I found the hot stream +broadened out to a shallow, weedy sand, in which an abundance of crabs +and long-bodied, many-legged creatures started from my footfall. I +walked to the very edge of the salt water, and then I felt I was safe. +I turned and stared, arms akimbo, at the thick green behind me, into +which the steamy ravine cut like a smoking gash. But, as I say, I was +too full of excitement and (a true saying, though those who have never +known danger may doubt it) too desperate to die. + +Then it came into my head that there was one chance before me yet. +While Moreau and Montgomery and their bestial rabble chased me through +the island, might I not go round the beach until I came to their +enclosure,—make a flank march upon them, in fact, and then with a rock +lugged out of their loosely-built wall, perhaps, smash in the lock of +the smaller door and see what I could find (knife, pistol, or what not) +to fight them with when they returned? It was at any rate something to +try. + +So I turned to the westward and walked along by the water’s edge. The +setting sun flashed his blinding heat into my eyes. The slight Pacific +tide was running in with a gentle ripple. Presently the shore fell away +southward, and the sun came round upon my right hand. Then suddenly, +far in front of me, I saw first one and then several figures emerging +from the bushes,—Moreau, with his grey staghound, then Montgomery, and +two others. At that I stopped. + +They saw me, and began gesticulating and advancing. I stood watching +them approach. The two Beast Men came running forward to cut me off +from the undergrowth, inland. Montgomery came, running also, but +straight towards me. Moreau followed slower with the dog. + +At last I roused myself from my inaction, and turning seaward walked +straight into the water. The water was very shallow at first. I was +thirty yards out before the waves reached to my waist. Dimly I could +see the intertidal creatures darting away from my feet. + +“What are you doing, man?” cried Montgomery. + +I turned, standing waist deep, and stared at them. Montgomery stood +panting at the margin of the water. His face was bright-red with +exertion, his long flaxen hair blown about his head, and his dropping +nether lip showed his irregular teeth. Moreau was just coming up, his +face pale and firm, and the dog at his hand barked at me. Both men had +heavy whips. Farther up the beach stared the Beast Men. + +“What am I doing? I am going to drown myself,” said I. + +Montgomery and Moreau looked at each other. “Why?” asked Moreau. + +“Because that is better than being tortured by you.” + +“I told you so,” said Montgomery, and Moreau said something in a low +tone. + +“What makes you think I shall torture you?” asked Moreau. + +“What I saw,” I said. “And those—yonder.” + +“Hush!” said Moreau, and held up his hand. + +“I will not,” said I. “They were men: what are they now? I at least +will not be like them.” + +I looked past my interlocutors. Up the beach were M’ling, Montgomery’s +attendant, and one of the white-swathed brutes from the boat. Farther +up, in the shadow of the trees, I saw my little Ape-man, and behind him +some other dim figures. + +“Who are these creatures?” said I, pointing to them and raising my +voice more and more that it might reach them. “They were men, men like +yourselves, whom you have infected with some bestial taint,—men whom +you have enslaved, and whom you still fear. + +“You who listen,” I cried, pointing now to Moreau and shouting past him +to the Beast Men,—“You who listen! Do you not see these men still fear +you, go in dread of you? Why, then, do you fear them? You are many—” + +“For God’s sake,” cried Montgomery, “stop that, Prendick!” + +“Prendick!” cried Moreau. + +They both shouted together, as if to drown my voice; and behind them +lowered the staring faces of the Beast Men, wondering, their deformed +hands hanging down, their shoulders hunched up. They seemed, as I +fancied, to be trying to understand me, to remember, I thought, +something of their human past. + +I went on shouting, I scarcely remember what,—that Moreau and +Montgomery could be killed, that they were not to be feared: that was +the burden of what I put into the heads of the Beast People. I saw the +green-eyed man in the dark rags, who had met me on the evening of my +arrival, come out from among the trees, and others followed him, to +hear me better. At last for want of breath I paused. + +“Listen to me for a moment,” said the steady voice of Moreau; “and then +say what you will.” + +“Well?” said I. + +He coughed, thought, then shouted: “Latin, Prendick! bad Latin, +schoolboy Latin; but try and understand. \emph{Hi non sunt homines; sunt +animalia qui nos habemus}—vivisected. A humanising process. I will +explain. Come ashore.” + +I laughed. “A pretty story,” said I. “They talk, build houses. They +were men. It’s likely I’ll come ashore.” + +“The water just beyond where you stand is deep—and full of sharks.” + +“That’s my way,” said I. “Short and sharp. Presently.” + +“Wait a minute.” He took something out of his pocket that flashed back +the sun, and dropped the object at his feet. “That’s a loaded +revolver,” said he. “Montgomery here will do the same. Now we are going +up the beach until you are satisfied the distance is safe. Then come +and take the revolvers.” + +“Not I! You have a third between you.” + +“I want you to think over things, Prendick. In the first place, I never +asked you to come upon this island. If we vivisected men, we should +import men, not beasts. In the next, we had you drugged last night, had +we wanted to work you any mischief; and in the next, now your first +panic is over and you can think a little, is Montgomery here quite up +to the character you give him? We have chased you for your good. +Because this island is full of inimical phenomena. Besides, why should +we want to shoot you when you have just offered to drown yourself?” + +“Why did you set—your people onto me when I was in the hut?” + +“We felt sure of catching you, and bringing you out of danger. +Afterwards we drew away from the scent, for your good.” + +I mused. It seemed just possible. Then I remembered something again. +“But I saw,” said I, “in the enclosure—” + +“That was the puma.” + +“Look here, Prendick,” said Montgomery, “you’re a silly ass! Come out +of the water and take these revolvers, and talk. We can’t do anything +more than we could do now.” + +I will confess that then, and indeed always, I distrusted and dreaded +Moreau; but Montgomery was a man I felt I understood. + +“Go up the beach,” said I, after thinking, and added, “holding your +hands up.” + +“Can’t do that,” said Montgomery, with an explanatory nod over his +shoulder. “Undignified.” + +“Go up to the trees, then,” said I, “as you please.” + +“It’s a damned silly ceremony,” said Montgomery. + +Both turned and faced the six or seven grotesque creatures, who stood +there in the sunlight, solid, casting shadows, moving, and yet so +incredibly unreal. Montgomery cracked his whip at them, and forthwith +they all turned and fled helter-skelter into the trees; and when +Montgomery and Moreau were at a distance I judged sufficient, I waded +ashore, and picked up and examined the revolvers. To satisfy myself +against the subtlest trickery, I discharged one at a round lump of +lava, and had the satisfaction of seeing the stone pulverised and the +beach splashed with lead. Still I hesitated for a moment. + +“I’ll take the risk,” said I, at last; and with a revolver in each hand +I walked up the beach towards them. + +“That’s better,” said Moreau, without affectation. “As it is, you have +wasted the best part of my day with your confounded imagination.” And +with a touch of contempt which humiliated me, he and Montgomery turned +and went on in silence before me. + +The knot of Beast Men, still wondering, stood back among the trees. I +passed them as serenely as possible. One started to follow me, but +retreated again when Montgomery cracked his whip. The rest stood +silent—watching. They may once have been animals; but I never before +saw an animal trying to think. + +\chapter{DOCTOR MOREAU EXPLAINS} +\cleardoublepage +“And now, Prendick, I will explain,” said Doctor Moreau, so soon as we +had eaten and drunk. “I must confess that you are the most dictatorial +guest I ever entertained. I warn you that this is the last I shall do +to oblige you. The next thing you threaten to commit suicide about, I +shan’t do,—even at some personal inconvenience.” + +He sat in my deck chair, a cigar half consumed in his white, +dexterous-looking fingers. The light of the swinging lamp fell on his +white hair; he stared through the little window out at the starlight. I +sat as far away from him as possible, the table between us and the +revolvers to hand. Montgomery was not present. I did not care to be +with the two of them in such a little room. + +“You admit that the vivisected human being, as you called it, is, after +all, only the puma?” said Moreau. He had made me visit that horror in +the inner room, to assure myself of its inhumanity. + +“It is the puma,” I said, “still alive, but so cut and mutilated as I +pray I may never see living flesh again. Of all vile—” + +“Never mind that,” said Moreau; “at least, spare me those youthful +horrors. Montgomery used to be just the same. You admit that it is the +puma. Now be quiet, while I reel off my physiological lecture to you.” + +And forthwith, beginning in the tone of a man supremely bored, but +presently warming a little, he explained his work to me. He was very +simple and convincing. Now and then there was a touch of sarcasm in his +voice. Presently I found myself hot with shame at our mutual positions. + +The creatures I had seen were not men, had never been men. They were +animals, humanised animals,—triumphs of vivisection. + +“You forget all that a skilled vivisector can do with living things,” +said Moreau. “For my own part, I’m puzzled why the things I have done +here have not been done before. Small efforts, of course, have been +made,—amputation, tongue-cutting, excisions. Of course you know a +squint may be induced or cured by surgery? Then in the case of +excisions you have all kinds of secondary changes, pigmentary +disturbances, modifications of the passions, alterations in the +secretion of fatty tissue. I have no doubt you have heard of these +things?” + +“Of course,” said I. “But these foul creatures of yours—” + +“All in good time,” said he, waving his hand at me; “I am only +beginning. Those are trivial cases of alteration. Surgery can do better +things than that. There is building up as well as breaking down and +changing. You have heard, perhaps, of a common surgical operation +resorted to in cases where the nose has been destroyed: a flap of skin +is cut from the forehead, turned down on the nose, and heals in the new +position. This is a kind of grafting in a new position of part of an +animal upon itself. Grafting of freshly obtained material from another +animal is also possible,—the case of teeth, for example. The grafting +of skin and bone is done to facilitate healing: the surgeon places in +the middle of the wound pieces of skin snipped from another animal, or +fragments of bone from a victim freshly killed. Hunter’s +cock-spur—possibly you have heard of that—flourished on the bull’s +neck; and the rhinoceros rats of the Algerian zouaves are also to be +thought of,—monsters manufactured by transferring a slip from the tail +of an ordinary rat to its snout, and allowing it to heal in that +position.” + +“Monsters manufactured!” said I. “Then you mean to tell me—” + +“Yes. These creatures you have seen are animals carven and wrought into +new shapes. To that, to the study of the plasticity of living forms, my +life has been devoted. I have studied for years, gaining in knowledge +as I go. I see you look horrified, and yet I am telling you nothing +new. It all lay in the surface of practical anatomy years ago, but no +one had the temerity to touch it. It is not simply the outward form of +an animal which I can change. The physiology, the chemical rhythm of +the creature, may also be made to undergo an enduring modification,—of +which vaccination and other methods of inoculation with living or dead +matter are examples that will, no doubt, be familiar to you. A similar +operation is the transfusion of blood,—with which subject, indeed, I +began. These are all familiar cases. Less so, and probably far more +extensive, were the operations of those mediaeval practitioners who +made dwarfs and beggar-cripples, show-monsters,—some vestiges of whose +art still remain in the preliminary manipulation of the young +mountebank or contortionist. Victor Hugo gives an account of them in +‘L’Homme qui Rit.’—But perhaps my meaning grows plain now. You begin to +see that it is a possible thing to transplant tissue from one part of +an animal to another, or from one animal to another; to alter its +chemical reactions and methods of growth; to modify the articulations +of its limbs; and, indeed, to change it in its most intimate structure. + +“And yet this extraordinary branch of knowledge has never been sought +as an end, and systematically, by modern investigators until I took it +up! Some such things have been hit upon in the last resort of surgery; +most of the kindred evidence that will recur to your mind has been +demonstrated as it were by accident,—by tyrants, by criminals, by the +breeders of horses and dogs, by all kinds of untrained clumsy-handed +men working for their own immediate ends. I was the first man to take +up this question armed with antiseptic surgery, and with a really +scientific knowledge of the laws of growth. Yet one would imagine it +must have been practised in secret before. Such creatures as the +Siamese Twins—And in the vaults of the Inquisition. No doubt their +chief aim was artistic torture, but some at least of the inquisitors +must have had a touch of scientific curiosity.” + +“But,” said I, “these things—these animals talk!” + +He said that was so, and proceeded to point out that the possibility of +vivisection does not stop at a mere physical metamorphosis. A pig may +be educated. The mental structure is even less determinate than the +bodily. In our growing science of hypnotism we find the promise of a +possibility of superseding old inherent instincts by new suggestions, +grafting upon or replacing the inherited fixed ideas. Very much indeed +of what we call moral education, he said, is such an artificial +modification and perversion of instinct; pugnacity is trained into +courageous self-sacrifice, and suppressed sexuality into religious +emotion. And the great difference between man and monkey is in the +larynx, he continued,—in the incapacity to frame delicately different +sound-symbols by which thought could be sustained. In this I failed to +agree with him, but with a certain incivility he declined to notice my +objection. He repeated that the thing was so, and continued his account +of his work. + +I asked him why he had taken the human form as a model. There seemed to +me then, and there still seems to me now, a strange wickedness for that +choice. + +He confessed that he had chosen that form by chance. “I might just as +well have worked to form sheep into llamas and llamas into sheep. I +suppose there is something in the human form that appeals to the +artistic turn of mind more powerfully than any animal shape can. But +I’ve not confined myself to man-making. Once or twice—” He was silent, +for a minute perhaps. “These years! How they have slipped by! And here +I have wasted a day saving your life, and am now wasting an hour +explaining myself!” + +“But,” said I, “I still do not understand. Where is your justification +for inflicting all this pain? The only thing that could excuse +vivisection to me would be some application—” + +“Precisely,” said he. “But, you see, I am differently constituted. We +are on different platforms. You are a materialist.” + +“I am \emph{not} a materialist,” I began hotly. + +“In my view—in my view. For it is just this question of pain that parts +us. So long as visible or audible pain turns you sick; so long as your +own pains drive you; so long as pain underlies your propositions about +sin,—so long, I tell you, you are an animal, thinking a little less +obscurely what an animal feels. This pain—” + +I gave an impatient shrug at such sophistry. + +“Oh, but it is such a little thing! A mind truly opened to what science +has to teach must see that it is a little thing. It may be that save in +this little planet, this speck of cosmic dust, invisible long before +the nearest star could be attained—it may be, I say, that nowhere else +does this thing called pain occur. But the laws we feel our way +towards—Why, even on this earth, even among living things, what pain is +there?” + +As he spoke he drew a little penknife from his pocket, opened the +smaller blade, and moved his chair so that I could see his thigh. Then, +choosing the place deliberately, he drove the blade into his leg and +withdrew it. + +“No doubt,” he said, “you have seen that before. It does not hurt a +pin-prick. But what does it show? The capacity for pain is not needed +in the muscle, and it is not placed there,—is but little needed in the +skin, and only here and there over the thigh is a spot capable of +feeling pain. Pain is simply our intrinsic medical adviser to warn us +and stimulate us. Not all living flesh is painful; nor is all nerve, +not even all sensory nerve. There’s no taint of pain, real pain, in the +sensations of the optic nerve. If you wound the optic nerve, you merely +see flashes of light,—just as disease of the auditory nerve merely +means a humming in our ears. Plants do not feel pain, nor the lower +animals; it’s possible that such animals as the starfish and crayfish +do not feel pain at all. Then with men, the more intelligent they +become, the more intelligently they will see after their own welfare, +and the less they will need the goad to keep them out of danger. I +never yet heard of a useless thing that was not ground out of existence +by evolution sooner or later. Did you? And pain gets needless. + +“Then I am a religious man, Prendick, as every sane man must be. It may +be, I fancy, that I have seen more of the ways of this world’s Maker +than you,—for I have sought his laws, in \emph{my} way, all my life, while +you, I understand, have been collecting butterflies. And I tell you, +pleasure and pain have nothing to do with heaven or hell. Pleasure and +pain—bah! What is your theologian’s ecstasy but Mahomet’s houri in the +dark? This store which men and women set on pleasure and pain, +Prendick, is the mark of the beast upon them,—the mark of the beast +from which they came! Pain, pain and pleasure, they are for us only so +long as we wriggle in the dust. + +“You see, I went on with this research just the way it led me. That is +the only way I ever heard of true research going. I asked a question, +devised some method of obtaining an answer, and got a fresh question. +Was this possible or that possible? You cannot imagine what this means +to an investigator, what an intellectual passion grows upon him! You +cannot imagine the strange, colourless delight of these intellectual +desires! The thing before you is no longer an animal, a +fellow-creature, but a problem! Sympathetic pain,—all I know of it I +remember as a thing I used to suffer from years ago. I wanted—it was +the one thing I wanted—to find out the extreme limit of plasticity in a +living shape.” + +“But,” said I, “the thing is an abomination—” + +“To this day I have never troubled about the ethics of the matter,” he +continued. “The study of Nature makes a man at last as remorseless as +Nature. I have gone on, not heeding anything but the question I was +pursuing; and the material has—dripped into the huts yonder. It is +nearly eleven years since we came here, I and Montgomery and six +Kanakas. I remember the green stillness of the island and the empty +ocean about us, as though it was yesterday. The place seemed waiting +for me. + +“The stores were landed and the house was built. The Kanakas founded +some huts near the ravine. I went to work here upon what I had brought +with me. There were some disagreeable things happened at first. I began +with a sheep, and killed it after a day and a half by a slip of the +scalpel. I took another sheep, and made a thing of pain and fear and +left it bound up to heal. It looked quite human to me when I had +finished it; but when I went to it I was discontented with it. It +remembered me, and was terrified beyond imagination; and it had no more +than the wits of a sheep. The more I looked at it the clumsier it +seemed, until at last I put the monster out of its misery. These +animals without courage, these fear-haunted, pain-driven things, +without a spark of pugnacious energy to face torment,—they are no good +for man-making. + +“Then I took a gorilla I had; and upon that, working with infinite care +and mastering difficulty after difficulty, I made my first man. All the +week, night and day, I moulded him. With him it was chiefly the brain +that needed moulding; much had to be added, much changed. I thought him +a fair specimen of the negroid type when I had finished him, and he lay +bandaged, bound, and motionless before me. It was only when his life +was assured that I left him and came into this room again, and found +Montgomery much as you are. He had heard some of the cries as the thing +grew human,—cries like those that disturbed \emph{you} so. I didn’t take him +completely into my confidence at first. And the Kanakas too, had +realised something of it. They were scared out of their wits by the +sight of me. I got Montgomery over to me—in a way; but I and he had the +hardest job to prevent the Kanakas deserting. Finally they did; and so +we lost the yacht. I spent many days educating the brute,—altogether I +had him for three or four months. I taught him the rudiments of +English; gave him ideas of counting; even made the thing read the +alphabet. But at that he was slow, though I’ve met with idiots slower. +He began with a clean sheet, mentally; had no memories left in his mind +of what he had been. When his scars were quite healed, and he was no +longer anything but painful and stiff, and able to converse a little, I +took him yonder and introduced him to the Kanakas as an interesting +stowaway. + +“They were horribly afraid of him at first, somehow,—which offended me +rather, for I was conceited about him; but his ways seemed so mild, and +he was so abject, that after a time they received him and took his +education in hand. He was quick to learn, very imitative and adaptive, +and built himself a hovel rather better, it seemed to me, than their +own shanties. There was one among the boys a bit of a missionary, and +he taught the thing to read, or at least to pick out letters, and gave +him some rudimentary ideas of morality; but it seems the beast’s habits +were not all that is desirable. + +“I rested from work for some days after this, and was in a mind to +write an account of the whole affair to wake up English physiology. +Then I came upon the creature squatting up in a tree and gibbering at +two of the Kanakas who had been teasing him. I threatened him, told him +the inhumanity of such a proceeding, aroused his sense of shame, and +came home resolved to do better before I took my work back to England. +I have been doing better. But somehow the things drift back again: the +stubborn beast-flesh grows day by day back again. But I mean to do +better things still. I mean to conquer that. This puma— + +“But that’s the story. All the Kanaka boys are dead now; one fell +overboard of the launch, and one died of a wounded heel that he +poisoned in some way with plant-juice. Three went away in the yacht, +and I suppose and hope were drowned. The other one—was killed. Well, I +have replaced them. Montgomery went on much as you are disposed to do +at first, and then— + +“What became of the other one?” said I, sharply,—“the other Kanaka who +was killed?” + +“The fact is, after I had made a number of human creatures I made a +Thing—” He hesitated. + +“Yes?” said I. + +“It was killed.” + +“I don’t understand,” said I; “do you mean to say—” + +“It killed the Kanaka—yes. It killed several other things that it +caught. We chased it for a couple of days. It only got loose by +accident—I never meant it to get away. It wasn’t finished. It was +purely an experiment. It was a limbless thing, with a horrible face, +that writhed along the ground in a serpentine fashion. It was immensely +strong, and in infuriating pain. It lurked in the woods for some days, +until we hunted it; and then it wriggled into the northern part of the +island, and we divided the party to close in upon it. Montgomery +insisted upon coming with me. The man had a rifle; and when his body +was found, one of the barrels was curved into the shape of an S and +very nearly bitten through. Montgomery shot the thing. After that I +stuck to the ideal of humanity—except for little things.” + +He became silent. I sat in silence watching his face. + +“So for twenty years altogether—counting nine years in England—I have +been going on; and there is still something in everything I do that +defeats me, makes me dissatisfied, challenges me to further effort. +Sometimes I rise above my level, sometimes I fall below it; but always +I fall short of the things I dream. The human shape I can get now, +almost with ease, so that it is lithe and graceful, or thick and +strong; but often there is trouble with the hands and the +claws,—painful things, that I dare not shape too freely. But it is in +the subtle grafting and reshaping one must needs do to the brain that +my trouble lies. The intelligence is often oddly low, with +unaccountable blank ends, unexpected gaps. And least satisfactory of +all is something that I cannot touch, somewhere—I cannot determine +where—in the seat of the emotions. Cravings, instincts, desires that +harm humanity, a strange hidden reservoir to burst forth suddenly and +inundate the whole being of the creature with anger, hate, or fear. +These creatures of mine seemed strange and uncanny to you so soon as +you began to observe them; but to me, just after I make them, they seem +to be indisputably human beings. It’s afterwards, as I observe them, +that the persuasion fades. First one animal trait, then another, creeps +to the surface and stares out at me. But I will conquer yet! Each time +I dip a living creature into the bath of burning pain, I say, ‘This +time I will burn out all the animal; this time I will make a rational +creature of my own!’ After all, what is ten years? Men have been a +hundred thousand in the making.” He thought darkly. “But I am drawing +near the fastness. This puma of mine—” After a silence, “And they +revert. As soon as my hand is taken from them the beast begins to creep +back, begins to assert itself again.” Another long silence. + +“Then you take the things you make into those dens?” said I. + +“They go. I turn them out when I begin to feel the beast in them, and +presently they wander there. They all dread this house and me. There is +a kind of travesty of humanity over there. Montgomery knows about it, +for he interferes in their affairs. He has trained one or two of them +to our service. He’s ashamed of it, but I believe he half likes some of +those beasts. It’s his business, not mine. They only sicken me with a +sense of failure. I take no interest in them. I fancy they follow in +the lines the Kanaka missionary marked out, and have a kind of mockery +of a rational life, poor beasts! There’s something they call the Law. +Sing hymns about ‘all thine.’ They build themselves their dens, gather +fruit, and pull herbs—marry even. But I can see through it all, see +into their very souls, and see there nothing but the souls of beasts, +beasts that perish, anger and the lusts to live and gratify +themselves.—Yet they’re odd; complex, like everything else alive. There +is a kind of upward striving in them, part vanity, part waste sexual +emotion, part waste curiosity. It only mocks me. I have some hope of +this puma. I have worked hard at her head and brain— + +“And now,” said he, standing up after a long gap of silence, during +which we had each pursued our own thoughts, “what do you think? Are you +in fear of me still?” + +I looked at him, and saw but a white-faced, white-haired man, with calm +eyes. Save for his serenity, the touch almost of beauty that resulted +from his set tranquillity and his magnificent build, he might have +passed muster among a hundred other comfortable old gentlemen. Then I +shivered. By way of answer to his second question, I handed him a +revolver with either hand. + +“Keep them,” he said, and snatched at a yawn. He stood up, stared at me +for a moment, and smiled. “You have had two eventful days,” said he. “I +should advise some sleep. I’m glad it’s all clear. Good-night.” He +thought me over for a moment, then went out by the inner door. + +I immediately turned the key in the outer one. I sat down again; sat +for a time in a kind of stagnant mood, so weary, emotionally, mentally, +and physically, that I could not think beyond the point at which he had +left me. The black window stared at me like an eye. At last with an +effort I put out the light and got into the hammock. Very soon I was +asleep. + +\chapter{CONCERNING THE BEAST FOLK} +\cleardoublepage +I woke early. Moreau’s explanation stood before my mind, clear and +definite, from the moment of my awakening. I got out of the hammock and +went to the door to assure myself that the key was turned. Then I tried +the window-bar, and found it firmly fixed. That these man-like +creatures were in truth only bestial monsters, mere grotesque +travesties of men, filled me with a vague uncertainty of their +possibilities which was far worse than any definite fear. + +A tapping came at the door, and I heard the glutinous accents of M’ling +speaking. I pocketed one of the revolvers (keeping one hand upon it), +and opened to him. + +“Good-morning, sair,” he said, bringing in, in addition to the +customary herb-breakfast, an ill-cooked rabbit. Montgomery followed +him. His roving eye caught the position of my arm and he smiled askew. + +The puma was resting to heal that day; but Moreau, who was singularly +solitary in his habits, did not join us. I talked with Montgomery to +clear my ideas of the way in which the Beast Folk lived. In particular, +I was urgent to know how these inhuman monsters were kept from falling +upon Moreau and Montgomery and from rending one another. He explained +to me that the comparative safety of Moreau and himself was due to the +limited mental scope of these monsters. In spite of their increased +intelligence and the tendency of their animal instincts to reawaken, +they had certain fixed ideas implanted by Moreau in their minds, which +absolutely bounded their imaginations. They were really hypnotised; had +been told that certain things were impossible, and that certain things +were not to be done, and these prohibitions were woven into the texture +of their minds beyond any possibility of disobedience or dispute. + +Certain matters, however, in which old instinct was at war with +Moreau’s convenience, were in a less stable condition. A series of +propositions called the Law (I had already heard them recited) battled +in their minds with the deep-seated, ever-rebellious cravings of their +animal natures. This Law they were ever repeating, I found, and ever +breaking. Both Montgomery and Moreau displayed particular solicitude to +keep them ignorant of the taste of blood; they feared the inevitable +suggestions of that flavour. Montgomery told me that the Law, +especially among the feline Beast People, became oddly weakened about +nightfall; that then the animal was at its strongest; that a spirit of +adventure sprang up in them at the dusk, when they would dare things +they never seemed to dream about by day. To that I owed my stalking by +the Leopard-man, on the night of my arrival. But during these earlier +days of my stay they broke the Law only furtively and after dark; in +the daylight there was a general atmosphere of respect for its +multifarious prohibitions. + +And here perhaps I may give a few general facts about the island and +the Beast People. The island, which was of irregular outline and lay +low upon the wide sea, had a total area, I suppose, of seven or eight +square miles.\footnote{This description corresponds in every respect to Noble’s Isle.—C. +E. P.} It was volcanic in origin, and was now fringed on +three sides by coral reefs; some fumaroles to the northward, and a hot +spring, were the only vestiges of the forces that had long since +originated it. Now and then a faint quiver of earthquake would be +sensible, and sometimes the ascent of the spire of smoke would be +rendered tumultuous by gusts of steam; but that was all. The population +of the island, Montgomery informed me, now numbered rather more than +sixty of these strange creations of Moreau’s art, not counting the +smaller monstrosities which lived in the undergrowth and were without +human form. Altogether he had made nearly a hundred and twenty; but +many had died, and others—like the writhing Footless Thing of which he +had told me—had come by violent ends. In answer to my question, +Montgomery said that they actually bore offspring, but that these +generally died. When they lived, Moreau took them and stamped the human +form upon them. There was no evidence of the inheritance of their +acquired human characteristics. The females were less numerous than the +males, and liable to much furtive persecution in spite of the monogamy +the Law enjoined. + + + + +It would be impossible for me to describe these Beast People in detail; +my eye has had no training in details, and unhappily I cannot sketch. +Most striking, perhaps, in their general appearance was the +disproportion between the legs of these creatures and the length of +their bodies; and yet—so relative is our idea of grace—my eye became +habituated to their forms, and at last I even fell in with their +persuasion that my own long thighs were ungainly. Another point was the +forward carriage of the head and the clumsy and inhuman curvature of +the spine. Even the Ape-man lacked that inward sinuous curve of the +back which makes the human figure so graceful. Most had their shoulders +hunched clumsily, and their short forearms hung weakly at their sides. +Few of them were conspicuously hairy, at least until the end of my time +upon the island. + +The next most obvious deformity was in their faces, almost all of which +were prognathous, malformed about the ears, with large and protuberant +noses, very furry or very bristly hair, and often strangely-coloured or +strangely-placed eyes. None could laugh, though the Ape-man had a +chattering titter. Beyond these general characters their heads had +little in common; each preserved the quality of its particular species: +the human mark distorted but did not hide the leopard, the ox, or the +sow, or other animal or animals, from which the creature had been +moulded. The voices, too, varied exceedingly. The hands were always +malformed; and though some surprised me by their unexpected human +appearance, almost all were deficient in the number of the digits, +clumsy about the finger-nails, and lacking any tactile sensibility. + +The two most formidable Animal Men were my Leopard-man and a creature +made of hyena and swine. Larger than these were the three +bull-creatures who pulled in the boat. Then came the silvery-hairy-man, +who was also the Sayer of the Law, M’ling, and a satyr-like creature of +ape and goat. There were three Swine-men and a Swine-woman, a +mare-rhinoceros-creature, and several other females whose sources I did +not ascertain. There were several wolf-creatures, a bear-bull, and a +Saint-Bernard-man. I have already described the Ape-man, and there was +a particularly hateful (and evil-smelling) old woman made of vixen and +bear, whom I hated from the beginning. She was said to be a passionate +votary of the Law. Smaller creatures were certain dappled youths and my +little sloth-creature. But enough of this catalogue. + +At first I had a shivering horror of the brutes, felt all too keenly +that they were still brutes; but insensibly I became a little +habituated to the idea of them, and moreover I was affected by +Montgomery’s attitude towards them. He had been with them so long that +he had come to regard them as almost normal human beings. His London +days seemed a glorious, impossible past to him. Only once in a year or +so did he go to Africa to deal with Moreau’s agent, a trader in animals +there. He hardly met the finest type of mankind in that seafaring +village of Spanish mongrels. The men aboard-ship, he told me, seemed at +first just as strange to him as the Beast Men seemed to me,—unnaturally +long in the leg, flat in the face, prominent in the forehead, +suspicious, dangerous, and cold-hearted. In fact, he did not like men: +his heart had warmed to me, he thought, because he had saved my life. I +fancied even then that he had a sneaking kindness for some of these +metamorphosed brutes, a vicious sympathy with some of their ways, but +that he attempted to veil it from me at first. + +M’ling, the black-faced man, Montgomery’s attendant, the first of the +Beast Folk I had encountered, did not live with the others across the +island, but in a small kennel at the back of the enclosure. The +creature was scarcely so intelligent as the Ape-man, but far more +docile, and the most human-looking of all the Beast Folk; and +Montgomery had trained it to prepare food, and indeed to discharge all +the trivial domestic offices that were required. It was a complex +trophy of Moreau’s horrible skill,—a bear, tainted with dog and ox, and +one of the most elaborately made of all his creatures. It treated +Montgomery with a strange tenderness and devotion. Sometimes he would +notice it, pat it, call it half-mocking, half-jocular names, and so +make it caper with extraordinary delight; sometimes he would ill-treat +it, especially after he had been at the whiskey, kicking it, beating +it, pelting it with stones or lighted fusees. But whether he treated it +well or ill, it loved nothing so much as to be near him. + +I say I became habituated to the Beast People, that a thousand things +which had seemed unnatural and repulsive speedily became natural and +ordinary to me. I suppose everything in existence takes its colour from +the average hue of our surroundings. Montgomery and Moreau were too +peculiar and individual to keep my general impressions of humanity well +defined. I would see one of the clumsy bovine-creatures who worked the +launch treading heavily through the undergrowth, and find myself +asking, trying hard to recall, how he differed from some really human +yokel trudging home from his mechanical labours; or I would meet the +Fox-bear woman’s vulpine, shifty face, strangely human in its +speculative cunning, and even imagine I had met it before in some city +byway. + +Yet every now and then the beast would flash out upon me beyond doubt +or denial. An ugly-looking man, a hunch-backed human savage to all +appearance, squatting in the aperture of one of the dens, would stretch +his arms and yawn, showing with startling suddenness scissor-edged +incisors and sabre-like canines, keen and brilliant as knives. Or in +some narrow pathway, glancing with a transitory daring into the eyes of +some lithe, white-swathed female figure, I would suddenly see (with a +spasmodic revulsion) that she had slit-like pupils, or glancing down +note the curving nail with which she held her shapeless wrap about her. +It is a curious thing, by the bye, for which I am quite unable to +account, that these weird creatures—the females, I mean—had in the +earlier days of my stay an instinctive sense of their own repulsive +clumsiness, and displayed in consequence a more than human regard for +the decency and decorum of extensive costume. + +\chapter{HOW THE BEAST FOLK TASTE BLOOD} +\cleardoublepage +My inexperience as a writer betrays me, and I wander from the thread of +my story. + +After I had breakfasted with Montgomery, he took me across the island +to see the fumarole and the source of the hot spring into whose +scalding waters I had blundered on the previous day. Both of us carried +whips and loaded revolvers. While going through a leafy jungle on our +road thither, we heard a rabbit squealing. We stopped and listened, but +we heard no more; and presently we went on our way, and the incident +dropped out of our minds. Montgomery called my attention to certain +little pink animals with long hind-legs, that went leaping through the +undergrowth. He told me they were creatures made of the offspring of +the Beast People, that Moreau had invented. He had fancied they might +serve for meat, but a rabbit-like habit of devouring their young had +defeated this intention. I had already encountered some of these +creatures,—once during my moonlight flight from the Leopard-man, and +once during my pursuit by Moreau on the previous day. By chance, one +hopping to avoid us leapt into the hole caused by the uprooting of a +wind-blown tree; before it could extricate itself we managed to catch +it. It spat like a cat, scratched and kicked vigorously with its +hind-legs, and made an attempt to bite; but its teeth were too feeble +to inflict more than a painless pinch. It seemed to me rather a pretty +little creature; and as Montgomery stated that it never destroyed the +turf by burrowing, and was very cleanly in its habits, I should imagine +it might prove a convenient substitute for the common rabbit in +gentlemen’s parks. + +We also saw on our way the trunk of a tree barked in long strips and +splintered deeply. Montgomery called my attention to this. “Not to claw +bark of trees,\emph{that} is the Law,” he said. “Much some of them care for +it!” It was after this, I think, that we met the Satyr and the Ape-man. +The Satyr was a gleam of classical memory on the part of Moreau,—his +face ovine in expression, like the coarser Hebrew type; his voice a +harsh bleat, his nether extremities Satanic. He was gnawing the husk of +a pod-like fruit as he passed us. Both of them saluted Montgomery. + +“Hail,” said they, “to the Other with the Whip!” + +“There’s a Third with a Whip now,” said Montgomery. “So you’d better +mind!” + +“Was he not made?” said the Ape-man. “He said—he said he was made.” + +The Satyr-man looked curiously at me. “The Third with the Whip, he that +walks weeping into the sea, has a thin white face.” + +“He has a thin long whip,” said Montgomery. + +“Yesterday he bled and wept,” said the Satyr. “You never bleed nor +weep. The Master does not bleed or weep.” + +“Ollendorffian beggar!” said Montgomery, “you’ll bleed and weep if you +don’t look out!” + +“He has five fingers, he is a five-man like me,” said the Ape-man. + +“Come along, Prendick,” said Montgomery, taking my arm; and I went on +with him. + +The Satyr and the Ape-man stood watching us and making other remarks to +each other. + +“He says nothing,” said the Satyr. “Men have voices.” + +“Yesterday he asked me of things to eat,” said the Ape-man. “He did not +know.” + +Then they spoke inaudible things, and I heard the Satyr laughing. + +It was on our way back that we came upon the dead rabbit. The red body +of the wretched little beast was rent to pieces, many of the ribs +stripped white, and the backbone indisputably gnawed. + +At that Montgomery stopped. “Good God!” said he, stooping down, and +picking up some of the crushed vertebrae to examine them more closely. +“Good God!” he repeated, “what can this mean?” + +“Some carnivore of yours has remembered its old habits,” I said after a +pause. “This backbone has been bitten through.” + +He stood staring, with his face white and his lip pulled askew. “I +don’t like this,” he said slowly. + +“I saw something of the same kind,” said I, “the first day I came +here.” + +“The devil you did! What was it?” + +“A rabbit with its head twisted off.” + +“The day you came here?” + +“The day I came here. In the undergrowth at the back of the enclosure, +when I went out in the evening. The head was completely wrung off.” + +He gave a long, low whistle. + +“And what is more, I have an idea which of your brutes did the thing. +It’s only a suspicion, you know. Before I came on the rabbit I saw one +of your monsters drinking in the stream.” + +“Sucking his drink?” + +“Yes.” + +“‘Not to suck your drink; that is the Law.’ Much the brutes care for +the Law, eh? when Moreau’s not about!” + +“It was the brute who chased me.” + +“Of course,” said Montgomery; “it’s just the way with carnivores. After +a kill, they drink. It’s the taste of blood, you know.—What was the +brute like?” he continued. “Would you know him again?” He glanced about +us, standing astride over the mess of dead rabbit, his eyes roving +among the shadows and screens of greenery, the lurking-places and +ambuscades of the forest that bounded us in. “The taste of blood,” he +said again. + +He took out his revolver, examined the cartridges in it and replaced +it. Then he began to pull at his dropping lip. + +“I think I should know the brute again,” I said. “I stunned him. He +ought to have a handsome bruise on the forehead of him.” + +“But then we have to \emph{prove} that he killed the rabbit,” said +Montgomery. “I wish I’d never brought the things here.” + +I should have gone on, but he stayed there thinking over the mangled +rabbit in a puzzle-headed way. As it was, I went to such a distance +that the rabbit’s remains were hidden. + +“Come on!” I said. + +Presently he woke up and came towards me. “You see,” he said, almost in +a whisper, “they are all supposed to have a fixed idea against eating +anything that runs on land. If some brute has by any accident tasted +blood—” + +We went on some way in silence. “I wonder what can have happened,” he +said to himself. Then, after a pause again: “I did a foolish thing the +other day. That servant of mine—I showed him how to skin and cook a +rabbit. It’s odd—I saw him licking his hands—It never occurred to me.” + +Then: “We must put a stop to this. I must tell Moreau.” + +He could think of nothing else on our homeward journey. + +Moreau took the matter even more seriously than Montgomery, and I need +scarcely say that I was affected by their evident consternation. + +“We must make an example,” said Moreau. “I’ve no doubt in my own mind +that the Leopard-man was the sinner. But how can we prove it? I wish, +Montgomery, you had kept your taste for meat in hand, and gone without +these exciting novelties. We may find ourselves in a mess yet, through +it.” + +“I was a silly ass,” said Montgomery. “But the thing’s done now; and +you said I might have them, you know.” + +“We must see to the thing at once,” said Moreau. “I suppose if anything +should turn up, M’ling can take care of himself?” + +“I’m not so sure of M’ling,” said Montgomery. “I think I ought to know +him.” + +In the afternoon, Moreau, Montgomery, myself, and M’ling went across +the island to the huts in the ravine. We three were armed; M’ling +carried the little hatchet he used in chopping firewood, and some coils +of wire. Moreau had a huge cowherd’s horn slung over his shoulder. + +“You will see a gathering of the Beast People,” said Montgomery. “It is +a pretty sight!” + +Moreau said not a word on the way, but the expression of his heavy, +white-fringed face was grimly set. + +We crossed the ravine down which smoked the stream of hot water, and +followed the winding pathway through the canebrakes until we reached a +wide area covered over with a thick, powdery yellow substance which I +believe was sulphur. Above the shoulder of a weedy bank the sea +glittered. We came to a kind of shallow natural amphitheatre, and here +the four of us halted. Then Moreau sounded the horn, and broke the +sleeping stillness of the tropical afternoon. He must have had strong +lungs. The hooting note rose and rose amidst its echoes, to at last an +ear-penetrating intensity. + +“Ah!” said Moreau, letting the curved instrument fall to his side +again. + +Immediately there was a crashing through the yellow canes, and a sound +of voices from the dense green jungle that marked the morass through +which I had run on the previous day. Then at three or four points on +the edge of the sulphurous area appeared the grotesque forms of the +Beast People hurrying towards us. I could not help a creeping horror, +as I perceived first one and then another trot out from the trees or +reeds and come shambling along over the hot dust. But Moreau and +Montgomery stood calmly enough; and, perforce, I stuck beside them. + +First to arrive was the Satyr, strangely unreal for all that he cast a +shadow and tossed the dust with his hoofs. After him from the brake +came a monstrous lout, a thing of horse and rhinoceros, chewing a straw +as it came; then appeared the Swine-woman and two Wolf-women; then the +Fox-bear witch, with her red eyes in her peaked red face, and then +others,—all hurrying eagerly. As they came forward they began to cringe +towards Moreau and chant, quite regardless of one another, fragments of +the latter half of the litany of the Law,—“His is the Hand that wounds; +His is the Hand that heals,” and so forth. As soon as they had +approached within a distance of perhaps thirty yards they halted, and +bowing on knees and elbows began flinging the white dust upon their +heads. + +Imagine the scene if you can! We three blue-clad men, with our +misshapen black-faced attendant, standing in a wide expanse of sunlit +yellow dust under the blazing blue sky, and surrounded by this circle +of crouching and gesticulating monstrosities,—some almost human save in +their subtle expression and gestures, some like cripples, some so +strangely distorted as to resemble nothing but the denizens of our +wildest dreams; and, beyond, the reedy lines of a canebrake in one +direction, a dense tangle of palm-trees on the other, separating us +from the ravine with the huts, and to the north the hazy horizon of the +Pacific Ocean. + +“Sixty-two, sixty-three,” counted Moreau. “There are four more.” + +“I do not see the Leopard-man,” said I. + +Presently Moreau sounded the great horn again, and at the sound of it +all the Beast People writhed and grovelled in the dust. Then, slinking +out of the canebrake, stooping near the ground and trying to join the +dust-throwing circle behind Moreau’s back, came the Leopard-man. The +last of the Beast People to arrive was the little Ape-man. The earlier +animals, hot and weary with their grovelling, shot vicious glances at +him. + +“Cease!” said Moreau, in his firm, loud voice; and the Beast People sat +back upon their hams and rested from their worshipping. + +“Where is the Sayer of the Law?” said Moreau, and the hairy-grey +monster bowed his face in the dust. + +“Say the words!” said Moreau. + +Forthwith all in the kneeling assembly, swaying from side to side and +dashing up the sulphur with their hands,—first the right hand and a +puff of dust, and then the left,—began once more to chant their strange +litany. When they reached, “Not to eat Flesh or Fish, that is the Law,” +Moreau held up his lank white hand. + +“Stop!” he cried, and there fell absolute silence upon them all. + +I think they all knew and dreaded what was coming. I looked round at +their strange faces. When I saw their wincing attitudes and the furtive +dread in their bright eyes, I wondered that I had ever believed them to +be men. + +“That Law has been broken!” said Moreau. + +“None escape,” from the faceless creature with the silvery hair. “None +escape,” repeated the kneeling circle of Beast People. + +“Who is he?” cried Moreau, and looked round at their faces, cracking +his whip. I fancied the Hyena-swine looked dejected, so too did the +Leopard-man. Moreau stopped, facing this creature, who cringed towards +him with the memory and dread of infinite torment. + +“Who is he?” repeated Moreau, in a voice of thunder. + +“Evil is he who breaks the Law,” chanted the Sayer of the Law. + +Moreau looked into the eyes of the Leopard-man, and seemed to be +dragging the very soul out of the creature. + +“Who breaks the Law—” said Moreau, taking his eyes off his victim, and +turning towards us (it seemed to me there was a touch of exultation in +his voice). + +“Goes back to the House of Pain,” they all clamoured,—“goes back to the +House of Pain, O Master!” + +“Back to the House of Pain,—back to the House of Pain,” gabbled the +Ape-man, as though the idea was sweet to him. + +“Do you hear?” said Moreau, turning back to the criminal, “my +friend—Hullo!” + +For the Leopard-man, released from Moreau’s eye, had risen straight +from his knees, and now, with eyes aflame and his huge feline tusks +flashing out from under his curling lips, leapt towards his tormentor. +I am convinced that only the madness of unendurable fear could have +prompted this attack. The whole circle of threescore monsters seemed to +rise about us. I drew my revolver. The two figures collided. I saw +Moreau reeling back from the Leopard-man’s blow. There was a furious +yelling and howling all about us. Every one was moving rapidly. For a +moment I thought it was a general revolt. The furious face of the +Leopard-man flashed by mine, with M’ling close in pursuit. I saw the +yellow eyes of the Hyena-swine blazing with excitement, his attitude as +if he were half resolved to attack me. The Satyr, too, glared at me +over the Hyena-swine’s hunched shoulders. I heard the crack of Moreau’s +pistol, and saw the pink flash dart across the tumult. The whole crowd +seemed to swing round in the direction of the glint of fire, and I too +was swung round by the magnetism of the movement. In another second I +was running, one of a tumultuous shouting crowd, in pursuit of the +escaping Leopard-man. + +That is all I can tell definitely. I saw the Leopard-man strike Moreau, +and then everything spun about me until I was running headlong. M’ling +was ahead, close in pursuit of the fugitive. Behind, their tongues +already lolling out, ran the Wolf-women in great leaping strides. The +Swine folk followed, squealing with excitement, and the two Bull-men in +their swathings of white. Then came Moreau in a cluster of the Beast +People, his wide-brimmed straw hat blown off, his revolver in hand, and +his lank white hair streaming out. The Hyena-swine ran beside me, +keeping pace with me and glancing furtively at me out of his feline +eyes, and the others came pattering and shouting behind us. + +The Leopard-man went bursting his way through the long canes, which +sprang back as he passed, and rattled in M’ling’s face. We others in +the rear found a trampled path for us when we reached the brake. The +chase lay through the brake for perhaps a quarter of a mile, and then +plunged into a dense thicket, which retarded our movements exceedingly, +though we went through it in a crowd together,—fronds flicking into our +faces, ropy creepers catching us under the chin or gripping our ankles, +thorny plants hooking into and tearing cloth and flesh together. + +“He has gone on all-fours through this,” panted Moreau, now just ahead +of me. + +“None escape,” said the Wolf-bear, laughing into my face with the +exultation of hunting. We burst out again among rocks, and saw the +quarry ahead running lightly on all-fours and snarling at us over his +shoulder. At that the Wolf Folk howled with delight. The Thing was +still clothed, and at a distance its face still seemed human; but the +carriage of its four limbs was feline, and the furtive droop of its +shoulder was distinctly that of a hunted animal. It leapt over some +thorny yellow-flowering bushes, and was hidden. M’ling was halfway +across the space. + +Most of us now had lost the first speed of the chase, and had fallen +into a longer and steadier stride. I saw as we traversed the open that +the pursuit was now spreading from a column into a line. The +Hyena-swine still ran close to me, watching me as it ran, every now and +then puckering its muzzle with a snarling laugh. At the edge of the +rocks the Leopard-man, realising that he was making for the projecting +cape upon which he had stalked me on the night of my arrival, had +doubled in the undergrowth; but Montgomery had seen the manoeuvre, and +turned him again. So, panting, tumbling against rocks, torn by +brambles, impeded by ferns and reeds, I helped to pursue the +Leopard-man who had broken the Law, and the Hyena-swine ran, laughing +savagely, by my side. I staggered on, my head reeling and my heart +beating against my ribs, tired almost to death, and yet not daring to +lose sight of the chase lest I should be left alone with this horrible +companion. I staggered on in spite of infinite fatigue and the dense +heat of the tropical afternoon. + +At last the fury of the hunt slackened. We had pinned the wretched +brute into a corner of the island. Moreau, whip in hand, marshalled us +all into an irregular line, and we advanced now slowly, shouting to one +another as we advanced and tightening the cordon about our victim. He +lurked noiseless and invisible in the bushes through which I had run +from him during that midnight pursuit. + +“Steady!” cried Moreau, “steady!” as the ends of the line crept round +the tangle of undergrowth and hemmed the brute in. + +“Ware a rush!” came the voice of Montgomery from beyond the thicket. + +I was on the slope above the bushes; Montgomery and Moreau beat along +the beach beneath. Slowly we pushed in among the fretted network of +branches and leaves. The quarry was silent. + +“Back to the House of Pain, the House of Pain, the House of Pain!” +yelped the voice of the Ape-man, some twenty yards to the right. + +When I heard that, I forgave the poor wretch all the fear he had +inspired in me. I heard the twigs snap and the boughs swish aside +before the heavy tread of the Horse-rhinoceros upon my right. Then +suddenly through a polygon of green, in the half darkness under the +luxuriant growth, I saw the creature we were hunting. I halted. He was +crouched together into the smallest possible compass, his luminous +green eyes turned over his shoulder regarding me. + +It may seem a strange contradiction in me,—I cannot explain the +fact,—but now, seeing the creature there in a perfectly animal +attitude, with the light gleaming in its eyes and its imperfectly human +face distorted with terror, I realised again the fact of its humanity. +In another moment other of its pursuers would see it, and it would be +overpowered and captured, to experience once more the horrible tortures +of the enclosure. Abruptly I slipped out my revolver, aimed between its +terror-struck eyes, and fired. As I did so, the Hyena-swine saw the +Thing, and flung itself upon it with an eager cry, thrusting thirsty +teeth into its neck. All about me the green masses of the thicket were +swaying and cracking as the Beast People came rushing together. One +face and then another appeared. + +“Don’t kill it, Prendick!” cried Moreau. “Don’t kill it!” and I saw him +stooping as he pushed through under the fronds of the big ferns. + +In another moment he had beaten off the Hyena-swine with the handle of +his whip, and he and Montgomery were keeping away the excited +carnivorous Beast People, and particularly M’ling, from the still +quivering body. The hairy-grey Thing came sniffing at the corpse under +my arm. The other animals, in their animal ardour, jostled me to get a +nearer view. + +“Confound you, Prendick!” said Moreau. “I wanted him.” + +“I’m sorry,” said I, though I was not. “It was the impulse of the +moment.” I felt sick with exertion and excitement. Turning, I pushed my +way out of the crowding Beast People and went on alone up the slope +towards the higher part of the headland. Under the shouted directions +of Moreau I heard the three white-swathed Bull-men begin dragging the +victim down towards the water. + +It was easy now for me to be alone. The Beast People manifested a quite +human curiosity about the dead body, and followed it in a thick knot, +sniffing and growling at it as the Bull-men dragged it down the beach. +I went to the headland and watched the bull-men, black against the +evening sky as they carried the weighted dead body out to sea; and like +a wave across my mind came the realisation of the unspeakable +aimlessness of things upon the island. Upon the beach among the rocks +beneath me were the Ape-man, the Hyena-swine, and several other of the +Beast People, standing about Montgomery and Moreau. They were all still +intensely excited, and all overflowing with noisy expressions of their +loyalty to the Law; yet I felt an absolute assurance in my own mind +that the Hyena-swine was implicated in the rabbit-killing. A strange +persuasion came upon me, that, save for the grossness of the line, the +grotesqueness of the forms, I had here before me the whole balance of +human life in miniature, the whole interplay of instinct, reason, and +fate in its simplest form. The Leopard-man had happened to go under: +that was all the difference. Poor brute! + +Poor brutes! I began to see the viler aspect of Moreau’s cruelty. I had +not thought before of the pain and trouble that came to these poor +victims after they had passed from Moreau’s hands. I had shivered only +at the days of actual torment in the enclosure. But now that seemed to +me the lesser part. Before, they had been beasts, their instincts fitly +adapted to their surroundings, and happy as living things may be. Now +they stumbled in the shackles of humanity, lived in a fear that never +died, fretted by a law they could not understand; their mock-human +existence, begun in an agony, was one long internal struggle, one long +dread of Moreau—and for what? It was the wantonness of it that stirred +me. + +Had Moreau had any intelligible object, I could have sympathised at +least a little with him. I am not so squeamish about pain as that. I +could have forgiven him a little even, had his motive been only hate. +But he was so irresponsible, so utterly careless! His curiosity, his +mad, aimless investigations, drove him on; and the Things were thrown +out to live a year or so, to struggle and blunder and suffer, and at +last to die painfully. They were wretched in themselves; the old animal +hate moved them to trouble one another; the Law held them back from a +brief hot struggle and a decisive end to their natural animosities. + +In those days my fear of the Beast People went the way of my personal +fear for Moreau. I fell indeed into a morbid state, deep and enduring, +and alien to fear, which has left permanent scars upon my mind. I must +confess that I lost faith in the sanity of the world when I saw it +suffering the painful disorder of this island. A blind Fate, a vast +pitiless mechanism, seemed to cut and shape the fabric of existence and +I, Moreau (by his passion for research), Montgomery (by his passion for +drink), the Beast People with their instincts and mental restrictions, +were torn and crushed, ruthlessly, inevitably, amid the infinite +complexity of its incessant wheels. But this condition did not come all +at once: I think indeed that I anticipate a little in speaking of it +now. + +\chapter{A CATASTROPHE} +\cleardoublepage +Scarcely six weeks passed before I had lost every feeling but dislike +and abhorrence for this infamous experiment of Moreau’s. My one idea +was to get away from these horrible caricatures of my Maker’s image, +back to the sweet and wholesome intercourse of men. My +fellow-creatures, from whom I was thus separated, began to assume +idyllic virtue and beauty in my memory. My first friendship with +Montgomery did not increase. His long separation from humanity, his +secret vice of drunkenness, his evident sympathy with the Beast People, +tainted him to me. Several times I let him go alone among them. I +avoided intercourse with them in every possible way. I spent an +increasing proportion of my time upon the beach, looking for some +liberating sail that never appeared,—until one day there fell upon us +an appalling disaster, which put an altogether different aspect upon my +strange surroundings. + +It was about seven or eight weeks after my landing,—rather more, I +think, though I had not troubled to keep account of the time,—when this +catastrophe occurred. It happened in the early morning—I should think +about six. I had risen and breakfasted early, having been aroused by +the noise of three Beast Men carrying wood into the enclosure. + +After breakfast I went to the open gateway of the enclosure, and stood +there smoking a cigarette and enjoying the freshness of the early +morning. Moreau presently came round the corner of the enclosure and +greeted me. He passed by me, and I heard him behind me unlock and enter +his laboratory. So indurated was I at that time to the abomination of +the place, that I heard without a touch of emotion the puma victim +begin another day of torture. It met its persecutor with a shriek, +almost exactly like that of an angry virago. + +Then suddenly something happened,—I do not know what, to this day. I +heard a short, sharp cry behind me, a fall, and turning saw an awful +face rushing upon me,—not human, not animal, but hellish, brown, seamed +with red branching scars, red drops starting out upon it, and the +lidless eyes ablaze. I threw up my arm to defend myself from the blow +that flung me headlong with a broken forearm; and the great monster, +swathed in lint and with red-stained bandages fluttering about it, +leapt over me and passed. I rolled over and over down the beach, tried +to sit up, and collapsed upon my broken arm. Then Moreau appeared, his +massive white face all the more terrible for the blood that trickled +from his forehead. He carried a revolver in one hand. He scarcely +glanced at me, but rushed off at once in pursuit of the puma. + +I tried the other arm and sat up. The muffled figure in front ran in +great striding leaps along the beach, and Moreau followed her. She +turned her head and saw him, then doubling abruptly made for the +bushes. She gained upon him at every stride. I saw her plunge into +them, and Moreau, running slantingly to intercept her, fired and missed +as she disappeared. Then he too vanished in the green confusion. I +stared after them, and then the pain in my arm flamed up, and with a +groan I staggered to my feet. Montgomery appeared in the doorway, +dressed, and with his revolver in his hand. + +“Great God, Prendick!” he said, not noticing that I was hurt, “that +brute’s loose! Tore the fetter out of the wall! Have you seen them?” +Then sharply, seeing I gripped my arm, “What’s the matter?” + +“I was standing in the doorway,” said I. + +He came forward and took my arm. “Blood on the sleeve,” said he, and +rolled back the flannel. He pocketed his weapon, felt my arm about +painfully, and led me inside. “Your arm is broken,” he said, and then, +“Tell me exactly how it happened—what happened?” + +I told him what I had seen; told him in broken sentences, with gasps of +pain between them, and very dexterously and swiftly he bound my arm +meanwhile. He slung it from my shoulder, stood back and looked at me. + +“You’ll do,” he said. “And now?” + +He thought. Then he went out and locked the gates of the enclosure. He +was absent some time. + +I was chiefly concerned about my arm. The incident seemed merely one +more of many horrible things. I sat down in the deck chair, and I must +admit swore heartily at the island. The first dull feeling of injury in +my arm had already given way to a burning pain when Montgomery +reappeared. His face was rather pale, and he showed more of his lower +gums than ever. + +“I can neither see nor hear anything of him,” he said. “I’ve been +thinking he may want my help.” He stared at me with his expressionless +eyes. “That was a strong brute,” he said. “It simply wrenched its +fetter out of the wall.” He went to the window, then to the door, and +there turned to me. “I shall go after him,” he said. “There’s another +revolver I can leave with you. To tell you the truth, I feel anxious +somehow.” + +He obtained the weapon, and put it ready to my hand on the table; then +went out, leaving a restless contagion in the air. I did not sit long +after he left, but took the revolver in hand and went to the doorway. + +The morning was as still as death. Not a whisper of wind was stirring; +the sea was like polished glass, the sky empty, the beach desolate. In +my half-excited, half-feverish state, this stillness of things +oppressed me. I tried to whistle, and the tune died away. I swore +again,—the second time that morning. Then I went to the corner of the +enclosure and stared inland at the green bush that had swallowed up +Moreau and Montgomery. When would they return, and how? Then far away +up the beach a little grey Beast Man appeared, ran down to the water’s +edge and began splashing about. I strolled back to the doorway, then to +the corner again, and so began pacing to and fro like a sentinel upon +duty. Once I was arrested by the distant voice of Montgomery bawling, +“Coo-ee—Moreau!” My arm became less painful, but very hot. I got +feverish and thirsty. My shadow grew shorter. I watched the distant +figure until it went away again. Would Moreau and Montgomery never +return? Three sea-birds began fighting for some stranded treasure. + +Then from far away behind the enclosure I heard a pistol-shot. A long +silence, and then came another. Then a yelling cry nearer, and another +dismal gap of silence. My unfortunate imagination set to work to +torment me. Then suddenly a shot close by. I went to the corner, +startled, and saw Montgomery,—his face scarlet, his hair disordered, +and the knee of his trousers torn. His face expressed profound +consternation. Behind him slouched the Beast Man, M’ling, and round +M’ling’s jaws were some queer dark stains. + +“Has he come?” said Montgomery. + +“Moreau?” said I. “No.” + +“My God!” The man was panting, almost sobbing. “Go back in,” he said, +taking my arm. “They’re mad. They’re all rushing about mad. What can +have happened? I don’t know. I’ll tell you, when my breath comes. +Where’s some brandy?” + +Montgomery limped before me into the room and sat down in the deck +chair. M’ling flung himself down just outside the doorway and began +panting like a dog. I got Montgomery some brandy-and-water. He sat +staring in front of him at nothing, recovering his breath. After some +minutes he began to tell me what had happened. + +He had followed their track for some way. It was plain enough at first +on account of the crushed and broken bushes, white rags torn from the +puma’s bandages, and occasional smears of blood on the leaves of the +shrubs and undergrowth. He lost the track, however, on the stony ground +beyond the stream where I had seen the Beast Man drinking, and went +wandering aimlessly westward shouting Moreau’s name. Then M’ling had +come to him carrying a light hatchet. M’ling had seen nothing of the +puma affair; had been felling wood, and heard him calling. They went on +shouting together. Two Beast Men came crouching and peering at them +through the undergrowth, with gestures and a furtive carriage that +alarmed Montgomery by their strangeness. He hailed them, and they fled +guiltily. He stopped shouting after that, and after wandering some time +farther in an undecided way, determined to visit the huts. + +He found the ravine deserted. + +Growing more alarmed every minute, he began to retrace his steps. Then +it was he encountered the two Swine-men I had seen dancing on the night +of my arrival; blood-stained they were about the mouth, and intensely +excited. They came crashing through the ferns, and stopped with fierce +faces when they saw him. He cracked his whip in some trepidation, and +forthwith they rushed at him. Never before had a Beast Man dared to do +that. One he shot through the head; M’ling flung himself upon the +other, and the two rolled grappling. M’ling got his brute under and +with his teeth in its throat, and Montgomery shot that too as it +struggled in M’ling’s grip. He had some difficulty in inducing M’ling +to come on with him. Thence they had hurried back to me. On the way, +M’ling had suddenly rushed into a thicket and driven out an under-sized +Ocelot-man, also blood-stained, and lame through a wound in the foot. +This brute had run a little way and then turned savagely at bay, and +Montgomery—with a certain wantonness, I thought—had shot him. + +“What does it all mean?” said I. + +He shook his head, and turned once more to the brandy. + +\chapter{THE FINDING OF MOREAU} +\cleardoublepage + +When I saw Montgomery swallow a third dose of brandy, I took it upon +myself to interfere. He was already more than half fuddled. I told him +that some serious thing must have happened to Moreau by this time, or +he would have returned before this, and that it behoved us to ascertain +what that catastrophe was. Montgomery raised some feeble objections, +and at last agreed. We had some food, and then all three of us started. + +It is possibly due to the tension of my mind, at the time, but even now +that start into the hot stillness of the tropical afternoon is a +singularly vivid impression. M’ling went first, his shoulder hunched, +his strange black head moving with quick starts as he peered first on +this side of the way and then on that. He was unarmed; his axe he had +dropped when he encountered the Swine-man. Teeth were \emph{his} weapons, +when it came to fighting. Montgomery followed with stumbling footsteps, +his hands in his pockets, his face downcast; he was in a state of +muddled sullenness with me on account of the brandy. My left arm was in +a sling (it was lucky it was my left), and I carried my revolver in my +right. Soon we traced a narrow path through the wild luxuriance of the +island, going northwestward; and presently M’ling stopped, and became +rigid with watchfulness. Montgomery almost staggered into him, and then +stopped too. Then, listening intently, we heard coming through the +trees the sound of voices and footsteps approaching us. + +“He is dead,” said a deep, vibrating voice. + +“He is not dead; he is not dead,” jabbered another. + +“We saw, we saw,” said several voices. + +“\emph{Hul}-lo!” suddenly shouted Montgomery, “Hullo, there!” + +“Confound you!” said I, and gripped my pistol. + +There was a silence, then a crashing among the interlacing vegetation, +first here, then there, and then half-a-dozen faces appeared,—strange +faces, lit by a strange light. M’ling made a growling noise in his +throat. I recognised the Ape-man: I had indeed already identified his +voice, and two of the white-swathed brown-featured creatures I had seen +in Montgomery’s boat. With these were the two dappled brutes and that +grey, horribly crooked creature who said the Law, with grey hair +streaming down its cheeks, heavy grey eyebrows, and grey locks pouring +off from a central parting upon its sloping forehead,—a heavy, faceless +thing, with strange red eyes, looking at us curiously from amidst the +green. + +For a space no one spoke. Then Montgomery hiccoughed, “Who—said he was +dead?” + +The Monkey-man looked guiltily at the hairy-grey Thing. “He is dead,” +said this monster. “They saw.” + +There was nothing threatening about this detachment, at any rate. They +seemed awestricken and puzzled. + +“Where is he?” said Montgomery. + +“Beyond,” and the grey creature pointed. + +“Is there a Law now?” asked the Monkey-man. “Is it still to be this and +that? Is he dead indeed?” + +“Is there a Law?” repeated the man in white. “Is there a Law, thou +Other with the Whip?” + +“He is dead,” said the hairy-grey Thing. And they all stood watching +us. + +“Prendick,” said Montgomery, turning his dull eyes to me. “He’s dead, +evidently.” + +I had been standing behind him during this colloquy. I began to see how +things lay with them. I suddenly stepped in front of Montgomery and +lifted up my voice:—“Children of the Law,” I said, “he is \emph{not} dead!” +M’ling turned his sharp eyes on me. “He has changed his shape; he has +changed his body,” I went on. “For a time you will not see him. He +is—there,” I pointed upward, “where he can watch you. You cannot see +him, but he can see you. Fear the Law!” + +I looked at them squarely. They flinched. + +“He is great, he is good,” said the Ape-man, peering fearfully upward +among the dense trees. + +“And the other Thing?” I demanded. + +“The Thing that bled, and ran screaming and sobbing,—that is dead too,” +said the grey Thing, still regarding me. + +“That’s well,” grunted Montgomery. + +“The Other with the Whip—” began the grey Thing. + +“Well?” said I. + +“Said he was dead.” + +But Montgomery was still sober enough to understand my motive in +denying Moreau’s death. “He is not dead,” he said slowly, “not dead at +all. No more dead than I am.” + +“Some,” said I, “have broken the Law: they will die. Some have died. +Show us now where his old body lies,—the body he cast away because he +had no more need of it.” + +“It is this way, Man who walked in the Sea,” said the grey Thing. + +And with these six creatures guiding us, we went through the tumult of +ferns and creepers and tree-stems towards the northwest. Then came a +yelling, a crashing among the branches, and a little pink homunculus +rushed by us shrieking. Immediately after appeared a monster in +headlong pursuit, blood-bedabbled, who was amongst us almost before he +could stop his career. The grey Thing leapt aside. M’ling, with a +snarl, flew at it, and was struck aside. Montgomery fired and missed, +bowed his head, threw up his arm, and turned to run. I fired, and the +Thing still came on; fired again, point-blank, into its ugly face. I +saw its features vanish in a flash: its face was driven in. Yet it +passed me, gripped Montgomery, and holding him, fell headlong beside +him and pulled him sprawling upon itself in its death-agony. + +I found myself alone with M’ling, the dead brute, and the prostrate +man. Montgomery raised himself slowly and stared in a muddled way at +the shattered Beast Man beside him. It more than half sobered him. He +scrambled to his feet. Then I saw the grey Thing returning cautiously +through the trees. + +“See,” said I, pointing to the dead brute, “is the Law not alive? This +came of breaking the Law.” + +He peered at the body. “He sends the Fire that kills,” said he, in his +deep voice, repeating part of the Ritual. The others gathered round and +stared for a space. + +At last we drew near the westward extremity of the island. We came upon +the gnawed and mutilated body of the puma, its shoulder-bone smashed by +a bullet, and perhaps twenty yards farther found at last what we +sought. Moreau lay face downward in a trampled space in a canebrake. +One hand was almost severed at the wrist and his silvery hair was +dabbled in blood. His head had been battered in by the fetters of the +puma. The broken canes beneath him were smeared with blood. His +revolver we could not find. Montgomery turned him over. Resting at +intervals, and with the help of the seven Beast People (for he was a +heavy man), we carried Moreau back to the enclosure. The night was +darkling. Twice we heard unseen creatures howling and shrieking past +our little band, and once the little pink sloth-creature appeared and +stared at us, and vanished again. But we were not attacked again. At +the gates of the enclosure our company of Beast People left us, M’ling +going with the rest. We locked ourselves in, and then took Moreau’s +mangled body into the yard and laid it upon a pile of brushwood. Then +we went into the laboratory and put an end to all we found living +there. +\chapter{MONTGOMERY’S \emph{BANK HOLIDAY}} +\cleardoublepage +When this was accomplished, and we had washed and eaten, Montgomery and +I went into my little room and seriously discussed our position for the +first time. It was then near midnight. He was almost sober, but greatly +disturbed in his mind. He had been strangely under the influence of +Moreau’s personality: I do not think it had ever occurred to him that +Moreau could die. This disaster was the sudden collapse of the habits +that had become part of his nature in the ten or more monotonous years +he had spent on the island. He talked vaguely, answered my questions +crookedly, wandered into general questions. + +“This silly ass of a world,” he said; “what a muddle it all is! I +haven’t had any life. I wonder when it’s going to begin. Sixteen years +being bullied by nurses and schoolmasters at their own sweet will; five +in London grinding hard at medicine, bad food, shabby lodgings, shabby +clothes, shabby vice, a blunder,—\emph{I} didn’t know any better,—and +hustled off to this beastly island. Ten years here! What’s it all for, +Prendick? Are we bubbles blown by a baby?” + +It was hard to deal with such ravings. “The thing we have to think of +now,” said I, “is how to get away from this island.” + +“What’s the good of getting away? I’m an outcast. Where am \emph{I} to join +on? It’s all very well for \emph{you}, Prendick. Poor old Moreau! We can’t +leave him here to have his bones picked. As it is—And besides, what +will become of the decent part of the Beast Folk?” + +“Well,” said I, “that will do to-morrow. I’ve been thinking we might +make the brushwood into a pyre and burn his body—and those other +things. Then what will happen with the Beast Folk?” + +“\emph{I} don’t know. I suppose those that were made of beasts of prey will +make silly asses of themselves sooner or later. We can’t massacre the +lot—can we? I suppose that’s what \emph{your} humanity would suggest? But +they’ll change. They are sure to change.” + +He talked thus inconclusively until at last I felt my temper going. + +“Damnation!” he exclaimed at some petulance of mine; “can’t you see I’m +in a worse hole than you are?” And he got up, and went for the brandy. +“Drink!” he said returning, “you logic-chopping, chalky-faced saint of +an atheist, drink!” + +“Not I,” said I, and sat grimly watching his face under the yellow +paraffine flare, as he drank himself into a garrulous misery. + +I have a memory of infinite tedium. He wandered into a maudlin defence +of the Beast People and of M’ling. M’ling, he said, was the only thing +that had ever really cared for him. And suddenly an idea came to him. + +“I’m damned!” said he, staggering to his feet and clutching the brandy +bottle. + +By some flash of intuition I knew what it was he intended. “You don’t +give drink to that beast!” I said, rising and facing him. + +“Beast!” said he. “You’re the beast. He takes his liquor like a +Christian. Come out of the way, Prendick!” + +“For God’s sake,” said I. + +“Get—out of the way!” he roared, and suddenly whipped out his revolver. + +“Very well,” said I, and stood aside, half-minded to fall upon him as +he put his hand upon the latch, but deterred by the thought of my +useless arm. “You’ve made a beast of yourself,—to the beasts you may +go.” + +He flung the doorway open, and stood half facing me between the yellow +lamp-light and the pallid glare of the moon; his eye-sockets were +blotches of black under his stubbly eyebrows. + +“You’re a solemn prig, Prendick, a silly ass! You’re always fearing and +fancying. We’re on the edge of things. I’m bound to cut my throat +to-morrow. I’m going to have a damned Bank Holiday to-night.” He turned +and went out into the moonlight. “M’ling!” he cried; “M’ling, old +friend!” + +Three dim creatures in the silvery light came along the edge of the wan +beach,—one a white-wrapped creature, the other two blotches of +blackness following it. They halted, staring. Then I saw M’ling’s +hunched shoulders as he came round the corner of the house. + +“Drink!” cried Montgomery, “drink, you brutes! Drink and be men! Damme, +I’m the cleverest. Moreau forgot this; this is the last touch. Drink, I +tell you!” And waving the bottle in his hand he started off at a kind +of quick trot to the westward, M’ling ranging himself between him and +the three dim creatures who followed. + +I went to the doorway. They were already indistinct in the mist of the +moonlight before Montgomery halted. I saw him administer a dose of the +raw brandy to M’ling, and saw the five figures melt into one vague +patch. + +“Sing!” I heard Montgomery shout,—“sing all together, ‘Confound old +Prendick!’ That’s right; now again, ‘Confound old Prendick!’” + +The black group broke up into five separate figures, and wound slowly +away from me along the band of shining beach. Each went howling at his +own sweet will, yelping insults at me, or giving whatever other vent +this new inspiration of brandy demanded. Presently I heard Montgomery’s +voice shouting, “Right turn!” and they passed with their shouts and +howls into the blackness of the landward trees. Slowly, very slowly, +they receded into silence. + +The peaceful splendour of the night healed again. The moon was now past +the meridian and travelling down the west. It was at its full, and very +bright riding through the empty blue sky. The shadow of the wall lay, a +yard wide and of inky blackness, at my feet. The eastward sea was a +featureless grey, dark and mysterious; and between the sea and the +shadow the grey sands (of volcanic glass and crystals) flashed and +shone like a beach of diamonds. Behind me the paraffine lamp flared hot +and ruddy. + +Then I shut the door, locked it, and went into the enclosure where +Moreau lay beside his latest victims,—the staghounds and the llama and +some other wretched brutes,—with his massive face calm even after his +terrible death, and with the hard eyes open, staring at the dead white +moon above. I sat down upon the edge of the sink, and with my eyes upon +that ghastly pile of silvery light and ominous shadows began to turn +over my plans. In the morning I would gather some provisions in the +dingey, and after setting fire to the pyre before me, push out into the +desolation of the high sea once more. I felt that for Montgomery there +was no help; that he was, in truth, half akin to these Beast Folk, +unfitted for human kindred. + +I do not know how long I sat there scheming. It must have been an hour +or so. Then my planning was interrupted by the return of Montgomery to +my neighbourhood. I heard a yelling from many throats, a tumult of +exultant cries passing down towards the beach, whooping and howling, +and excited shrieks that seemed to come to a stop near the water’s +edge. The riot rose and fell; I heard heavy blows and the splintering +smash of wood, but it did not trouble me then. A discordant chanting +began. + +My thoughts went back to my means of escape. I got up, brought the +lamp, and went into a shed to look at some kegs I had seen there. Then +I became interested in the contents of some biscuit-tins, and opened +one. I saw something out of the tail of my eye,—a red figure,—and +turned sharply. + +Behind me lay the yard, vividly black-and-white in the moonlight, and +the pile of wood and faggots on which Moreau and his mutilated victims +lay, one over another. They seemed to be gripping one another in one +last revengeful grapple. His wounds gaped, black as night, and the +blood that had dripped lay in black patches upon the sand. Then I saw, +without understanding, the cause of my phantom,—a ruddy glow that came +and danced and went upon the wall opposite. I misinterpreted this, +fancied it was a reflection of my flickering lamp, and turned again to +the stores in the shed. I went on rummaging among them, as well as a +one-armed man could, finding this convenient thing and that, and +putting them aside for to-morrow’s launch. My movements were slow, and +the time passed quickly. Insensibly the daylight crept upon me. + +The chanting died down, giving place to a clamour; then it began again, +and suddenly broke into a tumult. I heard cries of, “More! more!” a +sound like quarrelling, and a sudden wild shriek. The quality of the +sounds changed so greatly that it arrested my attention. I went out +into the yard and listened. Then cutting like a knife across the +confusion came the crack of a revolver. + +I rushed at once through my room to the little doorway. As I did so I +heard some of the packing-cases behind me go sliding down and smash +together with a clatter of glass on the floor of the shed. But I did +not heed these. I flung the door open and looked out. + +Up the beach by the boathouse a bonfire was burning, raining up sparks +into the indistinctness of the dawn. Around this struggled a mass of +black figures. I heard Montgomery call my name. I began to run at once +towards this fire, revolver in hand. I saw the pink tongue of +Montgomery’s pistol lick out once, close to the ground. He was down. I +shouted with all my strength and fired into the air. I heard some one +cry, “The Master!” The knotted black struggle broke into scattering +units, the fire leapt and sank down. The crowd of Beast People fled in +sudden panic before me, up the beach. In my excitement I fired at their +retreating backs as they disappeared among the bushes. Then I turned to +the black heaps upon the ground. + +Montgomery lay on his back, with the hairy-grey Beast-man sprawling +across his body. The brute was dead, but still gripping Montgomery’s +throat with its curving claws. Near by lay M’ling on his face and quite +still, his neck bitten open and the upper part of the smashed +brandy-bottle in his hand. Two other figures lay near the fire,—the one +motionless, the other groaning fitfully, every now and then raising its +head slowly, then dropping it again. + +I caught hold of the grey man and pulled him off Montgomery’s body; his +claws drew down the torn coat reluctantly as I dragged him away. +Montgomery was dark in the face and scarcely breathing. I splashed +sea-water on his face and pillowed his head on my rolled-up coat. +M’ling was dead. The wounded creature by the fire—it was a Wolf-brute +with a bearded grey face—lay, I found, with the fore part of its body +upon the still glowing timber. The wretched thing was injured so +dreadfully that in mercy I blew its brains out at once. The other brute +was one of the Bull-men swathed in white. He too was dead. The rest of +the Beast People had vanished from the beach. + +I went to Montgomery again and knelt beside him, cursing my ignorance +of medicine. The fire beside me had sunk down, and only charred beams +of timber glowing at the central ends and mixed with a grey ash of +brushwood remained. I wondered casually where Montgomery had got his +wood. Then I saw that the dawn was upon us. The sky had grown brighter, +the setting moon was becoming pale and opaque in the luminous blue of +the day. The sky to the eastward was rimmed with red. + +Suddenly I heard a thud and a hissing behind me, and, looking round, +sprang to my feet with a cry of horror. Against the warm dawn great +tumultuous masses of black smoke were boiling up out of the enclosure, +and through their stormy darkness shot flickering threads of blood-red +flame. Then the thatched roof caught. I saw the curving charge of the +flames across the sloping straw. A spurt of fire jetted from the window +of my room. + +I knew at once what had happened. I remembered the crash I had heard. +When I had rushed out to Montgomery’s assistance, I had overturned the +lamp. + +The hopelessness of saving any of the contents of the enclosure stared +me in the face. My mind came back to my plan of flight, and turning +swiftly I looked to see where the two boats lay upon the beach. They +were gone! Two axes lay upon the sands beside me; chips and splinters +were scattered broadcast, and the ashes of the bonfire were blackening +and smoking under the dawn. Montgomery had burnt the boats to revenge +himself upon me and prevent our return to mankind! + +A sudden convulsion of rage shook me. I was almost moved to batter his +foolish head in, as he lay there helpless at my feet. Then suddenly his +hand moved, so feebly, so pitifully, that my wrath vanished. He +groaned, and opened his eyes for a minute. I knelt down beside him and +raised his head. He opened his eyes again, staring silently at the +dawn, and then they met mine. The lids fell. + +“Sorry,” he said presently, with an effort. He seemed trying to think. +“The last,” he murmured, “the last of this silly universe. What a +mess—” + +I listened. His head fell helplessly to one side. I thought some drink +might revive him; but there was neither drink nor vessel in which to +bring drink at hand. He seemed suddenly heavier. My heart went cold. I +bent down to his face, put my hand through the rent in his blouse. He +was dead; and even as he died a line of white heat, the limb of the +sun, rose eastward beyond the projection of the bay, splashing its +radiance across the sky and turning the dark sea into a weltering +tumult of dazzling light. It fell like a glory upon his death-shrunken +face. + +I let his head fall gently upon the rough pillow I had made for him, +and stood up. Before me was the glittering desolation of the sea, the +awful solitude upon which I had already suffered so much; behind me the +island, hushed under the dawn, its Beast People silent and unseen. The +enclosure, with all its provisions and ammunition, burnt noisily, with +sudden gusts of flame, a fitful crackling, and now and then a crash. +The heavy smoke drove up the beach away from me, rolling low over the +distant tree-tops towards the huts in the ravine. Beside me were the +charred vestiges of the boats and these five dead bodies. + +Then out of the bushes came three Beast People, with hunched shoulders, +protruding heads, misshapen hands awkwardly held, and inquisitive, +unfriendly eyes and advanced towards me with hesitating gestures. + +\chapter{ALONE WITH THE BEAST FOLK} +\cleardoublepage +I faced these people, facing my fate in them, single-handed +now,—literally single-handed, for I had a broken arm. In my pocket was +a revolver with two empty chambers. Among the chips scattered about the +beach lay the two axes that had been used to chop up the boats. The +tide was creeping in behind me. There was nothing for it but courage. I +looked squarely into the faces of the advancing monsters. They avoided +my eyes, and their quivering nostrils investigated the bodies that lay +beyond me on the beach. I took half-a-dozen steps, picked up the +blood-stained whip that lay beneath the body of the Wolf-man, and +cracked it. They stopped and stared at me. + +“Salute!” said I. “Bow down!” + +They hesitated. One bent his knees. I repeated my command, with my +heart in my mouth, and advanced upon them. One knelt, then the other +two. + +I turned and walked towards the dead bodies, keeping my face towards +the three kneeling Beast Men, very much as an actor passing up the +stage faces the audience. + +“They broke the Law,” said I, putting my foot on the Sayer of the Law. +“They have been slain,—even the Sayer of the Law; even the Other with +the Whip. Great is the Law! Come and see.” + +“None escape,” said one of them, advancing and peering. + +“None escape,” said I. “Therefore hear and do as I command.” They stood +up, looking questioningly at one another. + +“Stand there,” said I. + +I picked up the hatchets and swung them by their heads from the sling +of my arm; turned Montgomery over; picked up his revolver still loaded +in two chambers, and bending down to rummage, found half-a-dozen +cartridges in his pocket. + +“Take him,” said I, standing up again and pointing with the whip; “take +him, and carry him out and cast him into the sea.” + +They came forward, evidently still afraid of Montgomery, but still more +afraid of my cracking red whip-lash; and after some fumbling and +hesitation, some whip-cracking and shouting, they lifted him gingerly, +carried him down to the beach, and went splashing into the dazzling +welter of the sea. + +“On!” said I, “on! Carry him far.” + +They went in up to their armpits and stood regarding me. + +“Let go,” said I; and the body of Montgomery vanished with a splash. +Something seemed to tighten across my chest. + +“Good!” said I, with a break in my voice; and they came back, hurrying +and fearful, to the margin of the water, leaving long wakes of black in +the silver. At the water’s edge they stopped, turning and glaring into +the sea as though they presently expected Montgomery to arise therefrom +and exact vengeance. + +“Now these,” said I, pointing to the other bodies. + +They took care not to approach the place where they had thrown +Montgomery into the water, but instead, carried the four dead Beast +People slantingly along the beach for perhaps a hundred yards before +they waded out and cast them away. + +As I watched them disposing of the mangled remains of M’ling, I heard a +light footfall behind me, and turning quickly saw the big Hyena-swine +perhaps a dozen yards away. His head was bent down, his bright eyes +were fixed upon me, his stumpy hands clenched and held close by his +side. He stopped in this crouching attitude when I turned, his eyes a +little averted. + +For a moment we stood eye to eye. I dropped the whip and snatched at +the pistol in my pocket; for I meant to kill this brute, the most +formidable of any left now upon the island, at the first excuse. It may +seem treacherous, but so I was resolved. I was far more afraid of him +than of any other two of the Beast Folk. His continued life was I knew +a threat against mine. + +I was perhaps a dozen seconds collecting myself. Then cried I, “Salute! +Bow down!” + +His teeth flashed upon me in a snarl. “Who are \emph{you} that I should—” + +Perhaps a little too spasmodically I drew my revolver, aimed quickly +and fired. I heard him yelp, saw him run sideways and turn, knew I had +missed, and clicked back the cock with my thumb for the next shot. But +he was already running headlong, jumping from side to side, and I dared +not risk another miss. Every now and then he looked back at me over his +shoulder. He went slanting along the beach, and vanished beneath the +driving masses of dense smoke that were still pouring out from the +burning enclosure. For some time I stood staring after him. I turned to +my three obedient Beast Folk again and signalled them to drop the body +they still carried. Then I went back to the place by the fire where the +bodies had fallen and kicked the sand until all the brown blood-stains +were absorbed and hidden. + +I dismissed my three serfs with a wave of the hand, and went up the +beach into the thickets. I carried my pistol in my hand, my whip thrust +with the hatchets in the sling of my arm. I was anxious to be alone, to +think out the position in which I was now placed. A dreadful thing that +I was only beginning to realise was, that over all this island there +was now no safe place where I could be alone and secure to rest or +sleep. I had recovered strength amazingly since my landing, but I was +still inclined to be nervous and to break down under any great stress. +I felt that I ought to cross the island and establish myself with the +Beast People, and make myself secure in their confidence. But my heart +failed me. I went back to the beach, and turning eastward past the +burning enclosure, made for a point where a shallow spit of coral sand +ran out towards the reef. Here I could sit down and think, my back to +the sea and my face against any surprise. And there I sat, chin on +knees, the sun beating down upon my head and unspeakable dread in my +mind, plotting how I could live on against the hour of my rescue (if +ever rescue came). I tried to review the whole situation as calmly as I +could, but it was difficult to clear the thing of emotion. + +I began turning over in my mind the reason of Montgomery’s despair. +“They will change,” he said; “they are sure to change.” And Moreau, +what was it that Moreau had said? “The stubborn beast-flesh grows day +by day back again.” Then I came round to the Hyena-swine. I felt sure +that if I did not kill that brute, he would kill me. The Sayer of the +Law was dead: worse luck. They knew now that we of the Whips could be +killed even as they themselves were killed. Were they peering at me +already out of the green masses of ferns and palms over yonder, +watching until I came within their spring? Were they plotting against +me? What was the Hyena-swine telling them? My imagination was running +away with me into a morass of unsubstantial fears. + +My thoughts were disturbed by a crying of sea-birds hurrying towards +some black object that had been stranded by the waves on the beach near +the enclosure. I knew what that object was, but I had not the heart to +go back and drive them off. I began walking along the beach in the +opposite direction, designing to come round the eastward corner of the +island and so approach the ravine of the huts, without traversing the +possible ambuscades of the thickets. + +Perhaps half a mile along the beach I became aware of one of my three +Beast Folk advancing out of the landward bushes towards me. I was now +so nervous with my own imaginings that I immediately drew my revolver. +Even the propitiatory gestures of the creature failed to disarm me. He +hesitated as he approached. + +“Go away!” cried I. + +There was something very suggestive of a dog in the cringing attitude +of the creature. It retreated a little way, very like a dog being sent +home, and stopped, looking at me imploringly with canine brown eyes. + +“Go away,” said I. “Do not come near me.” + +“May I not come near you?” it said. + +“No; go away,” I insisted, and snapped my whip. Then putting my whip in +my teeth, I stooped for a stone, and with that threat drove the +creature away. + +So in solitude I came round by the ravine of the Beast People, and +hiding among the weeds and reeds that separated this crevice from the +sea I watched such of them as appeared, trying to judge from their +gestures and appearance how the death of Moreau and Montgomery and the +destruction of the House of Pain had affected them. I know now the +folly of my cowardice. Had I kept my courage up to the level of the +dawn, had I not allowed it to ebb away in solitary thought, I might +have grasped the vacant sceptre of Moreau and ruled over the Beast +People. As it was I lost the opportunity, and sank to the position of a +mere leader among my fellows. + +Towards noon certain of them came and squatted basking in the hot sand. +The imperious voices of hunger and thirst prevailed over my dread. I +came out of the bushes, and, revolver in hand, walked down towards +these seated figures. One, a Wolf-woman, turned her head and stared at +me, and then the others. None attempted to rise or salute me. I felt +too faint and weary to insist, and I let the moment pass. + +“I want food,” said I, almost apologetically, and drawing near. + +“There is food in the huts,” said an Ox-boar-man, drowsily, and looking +away from me. + +I passed them, and went down into the shadow and odours of the almost +deserted ravine. In an empty hut I feasted on some specked and +half-decayed fruit; and then after I had propped some branches and +sticks about the opening, and placed myself with my face towards it and +my hand upon my revolver, the exhaustion of the last thirty hours +claimed its own, and I fell into a light slumber, hoping that the +flimsy barricade I had erected would cause sufficient noise in its +removal to save me from surprise. +\chapter{THE REVERSION OF THE BEAST FOLK} +\cleardoublepage +In this way I became one among the Beast People in the Island of Doctor +Moreau. When I awoke, it was dark about me. My arm ached in its +bandages. I sat up, wondering at first where I might be. I heard coarse +voices talking outside. Then I saw that my barricade had gone, and that +the opening of the hut stood clear. My revolver was still in my hand. + +I heard something breathing, saw something crouched together close +beside me. I held my breath, trying to see what it was. It began to +move slowly, interminably. Then something soft and warm and moist +passed across my hand. All my muscles contracted. I snatched my hand +away. A cry of alarm began and was stifled in my throat. Then I just +realised what had happened sufficiently to stay my fingers on the +revolver. + +“Who is that?” I said in a hoarse whisper, the revolver still pointed. + +“\emph{I}—Master.” + +“Who are \emph{you?}” + +“They say there is no Master now. But I know, I know. I carried the +bodies into the sea, O Walker in the Sea! the bodies of those you slew. +I am your slave, Master.” + +“Are you the one I met on the beach?” I asked. + +“The same, Master.” + +The Thing was evidently faithful enough, for it might have fallen upon +me as I slept. “It is well,” I said, extending my hand for another +licking kiss. I began to realise what its presence meant, and the tide +of my courage flowed. “Where are the others?” I asked. + +“They are mad; they are fools,” said the Dog-man. “Even now they talk +together beyond there. They say, ‘The Master is dead. The Other with +the Whip is dead. That Other who walked in the Sea is as we are. We +have no Master, no Whips, no House of Pain, any more. There is an end. +We love the Law, and will keep it; but there is no Pain, no Master, no +Whips for ever again.’ So they say. But I know, Master, I know.” + +I felt in the darkness, and patted the Dog-man’s head. “It is well,” I +said again. + +“Presently you will slay them all,” said the Dog-man. + +“Presently,” I answered, “I will slay them all,—after certain days and +certain things have come to pass. Every one of them save those you +spare, every one of them shall be slain.” + +“What the Master wishes to kill, the Master kills,” said the Dog-man +with a certain satisfaction in his voice. + +“And that their sins may grow,” I said, “let them live in their folly +until their time is ripe. Let them not know that I am the Master.” + +“The Master’s will is sweet,” said the Dog-man, with the ready tact of +his canine blood. + +“But one has sinned,” said I. “Him I will kill, whenever I may meet +him. When I say to you, ‘\emph{That is he},’ see that you fall upon him. And +now I will go to the men and women who are assembled together.” + +For a moment the opening of the hut was blackened by the exit of the +Dog-man. Then I followed and stood up, almost in the exact spot where I +had been when I had heard Moreau and his staghound pursuing me. But now +it was night, and all the miasmatic ravine about me was black; and +beyond, instead of a green, sunlit slope, I saw a red fire, before +which hunched, grotesque figures moved to and fro. Farther were the +thick trees, a bank of darkness, fringed above with the black lace of +the upper branches. The moon was just riding up on the edge of the +ravine, and like a bar across its face drove the spire of vapour that +was for ever streaming from the fumaroles of the island. + +“Walk by me,” said I, nerving myself; and side by side we walked down +the narrow way, taking little heed of the dim Things that peered at us +out of the huts. + +None about the fire attempted to salute me. Most of them disregarded +me, ostentatiously. I looked round for the Hyena-swine, but he was not +there. Altogether, perhaps twenty of the Beast Folk squatted, staring +into the fire or talking to one another. + +“He is dead, he is dead! the Master is dead!” said the voice of the +Ape-man to the right of me. “The House of Pain—there is no House of +Pain!” + +“He is not dead,” said I, in a loud voice. “Even now he watches us!” + +This startled them. Twenty pairs of eyes regarded me. + +“The House of Pain is gone,” said I. “It will come again. The Master +you cannot see; yet even now he listens among you.” + +“True, true!” said the Dog-man. + +They were staggered at my assurance. An animal may be ferocious and +cunning enough, but it takes a real man to tell a lie. + +“The Man with the Bandaged Arm speaks a strange thing,” said one of the +Beast Folk. + +“I tell you it is so,” I said. “The Master and the House of Pain will +come again. Woe be to him who breaks the Law!” + +They looked curiously at one another. With an affectation of +indifference I began to chop idly at the ground in front of me with my +hatchet. They looked, I noticed, at the deep cuts I made in the turf. + +Then the Satyr raised a doubt. I answered him. Then one of the dappled +things objected, and an animated discussion sprang up round the fire. +Every moment I began to feel more convinced of my present security. I +talked now without the catching in my breath, due to the intensity of +my excitement, that had troubled me at first. In the course of about an +hour I had really convinced several of the Beast Folk of the truth of +my assertions, and talked most of the others into a dubious state. I +kept a sharp eye for my enemy the Hyena-swine, but he never appeared. +Every now and then a suspicious movement would startle me, but my +confidence grew rapidly. Then as the moon crept down from the zenith, +one by one the listeners began to yawn (showing the oddest teeth in the +light of the sinking fire), and first one and then another retired +towards the dens in the ravine; and I, dreading the silence and +darkness, went with them, knowing I was safer with several of them than +with one alone. + +In this manner began the longer part of my sojourn upon this Island of +Doctor Moreau. But from that night until the end came, there was but +one thing happened to tell save a series of innumerable small +unpleasant details and the fretting of an incessant uneasiness. So that +I prefer to make no chronicle for that gap of time, to tell only one +cardinal incident of the ten months I spent as an intimate of these +half-humanised brutes. There is much that sticks in my memory that I +could write,—things that I would cheerfully give my right hand to +forget; but they do not help the telling of the story. + +In the retrospect it is strange to remember how soon I fell in with +these monsters’ ways, and gained my confidence again. I had my quarrels +with them of course, and could show some of their teeth-marks still; +but they soon gained a wholesome respect for my trick of throwing +stones and for the bite of my hatchet. And my Saint-Bernard-man’s +loyalty was of infinite service to me. I found their simple scale of +honour was based mainly on the capacity for inflicting trenchant +wounds. Indeed, I may say—without vanity, I hope—that I held something +like pre-eminence among them. One or two, whom in a rare access of high +spirits I had scarred rather badly, bore me a grudge; but it vented +itself chiefly behind my back, and at a safe distance from my missiles, +in grimaces. + +The Hyena-swine avoided me, and I was always on the alert for him. My +inseparable Dog-man hated and dreaded him intensely. I really believe +that was at the root of the brute’s attachment to me. It was soon +evident to me that the former monster had tasted blood, and gone the +way of the Leopard-man. He formed a lair somewhere in the forest, and +became solitary. Once I tried to induce the Beast Folk to hunt him, but +I lacked the authority to make them co-operate for one end. Again and +again I tried to approach his den and come upon him unaware; but always +he was too acute for me, and saw or winded me and got away. He too made +every forest pathway dangerous to me and my ally with his lurking +ambuscades. The Dog-man scarcely dared to leave my side. + +In the first month or so the Beast Folk, compared with their latter +condition, were human enough, and for one or two besides my canine +friend I even conceived a friendly tolerance. The little pink +sloth-creature displayed an odd affection for me, and took to following +me about. The Monkey-man bored me, however; he assumed, on the strength +of his five digits, that he was my equal, and was for ever jabbering at +me,—jabbering the most arrant nonsense. One thing about him entertained +me a little: he had a fantastic trick of coining new words. He had an +idea, I believe, that to gabble about names that meant nothing was the +proper use of speech. He called it “Big Thinks” to distinguish it from +“Little Thinks,” the sane every-day interests of life. If ever I made a +remark he did not understand, he would praise it very much, ask me to +say it again, learn it by heart, and go off repeating it, with a word +wrong here or there, to all the milder of the Beast People. He thought +nothing of what was plain and comprehensible. I invented some very +curious “Big Thinks” for his especial use. I think now that he was the +silliest creature I ever met; he had developed in the most wonderful +way the distinctive silliness of man without losing one jot of the +natural folly of a monkey. + +This, I say, was in the earlier weeks of my solitude among these +brutes. During that time they respected the usage established by the +Law, and behaved with general decorum. Once I found another rabbit torn +to pieces,—by the Hyena-swine, I am assured,—but that was all. It was +about May when I first distinctly perceived a growing difference in +their speech and carriage, a growing coarseness of articulation, a +growing disinclination to talk. My Monkey-man’s jabber multiplied in +volume but grew less and less comprehensible, more and more simian. +Some of the others seemed altogether slipping their hold upon speech, +though they still understood what I said to them at that time. (Can you +imagine language, once clear-cut and exact, softening and guttering, +losing shape and import, becoming mere lumps of sound again?) And they +walked erect with an increasing difficulty. Though they evidently felt +ashamed of themselves, every now and then I would come upon one or +another running on toes and finger-tips, and quite unable to recover +the vertical attitude. They held things more clumsily; drinking by +suction, feeding by gnawing, grew commoner every day. I realised more +keenly than ever what Moreau had told me about the “stubborn +beast-flesh.” They were reverting, and reverting very rapidly. + +Some of them—the pioneers in this, I noticed with some surprise, were +all females—began to disregard the injunction of decency, deliberately +for the most part. Others even attempted public outrages upon the +institution of monogamy. The tradition of the Law was clearly losing +its force. I cannot pursue this disagreeable subject. + +My Dog-man imperceptibly slipped back to the dog again; day by day he +became dumb, quadrupedal, hairy. I scarcely noticed the transition from +the companion on my right hand to the lurching dog at my side. + +As the carelessness and disorganisation increased from day to day, the +lane of dwelling places, at no time very sweet, became so loathsome +that I left it, and going across the island made myself a hovel of +boughs amid the black ruins of Moreau’s enclosure. Some memory of pain, +I found, still made that place the safest from the Beast Folk. + +It would be impossible to detail every step of the lapsing of these +monsters,—to tell how, day by day, the human semblance left them; how +they gave up bandagings and wrappings, abandoned at last every stitch +of clothing; how the hair began to spread over the exposed limbs; how +their foreheads fell away and their faces projected; how the +quasi-human intimacy I had permitted myself with some of them in the +first month of my loneliness became a shuddering horror to recall. + +The change was slow and inevitable. For them and for me it came without +any definite shock. I still went among them in safety, because no jolt +in the downward glide had released the increasing charge of explosive +animalism that ousted the human day by day. But I began to fear that +soon now that shock must come. My Saint-Bernard-brute followed me to +the enclosure every night, and his vigilance enabled me to sleep at +times in something like peace. The little pink sloth-thing became shy +and left me, to crawl back to its natural life once more among the +tree-branches. We were in just the state of equilibrium that would +remain in one of those “Happy Family” cages which animal-tamers +exhibit, if the tamer were to leave it for ever. + +Of course these creatures did not decline into such beasts as the +reader has seen in zoological gardens,—into ordinary bears, wolves, +tigers, oxen, swine, and apes. There was still something strange about +each; in each Moreau had blended this animal with that. One perhaps was +ursine chiefly, another feline chiefly, another bovine chiefly; but +each was tainted with other creatures,—a kind of generalised animalism +appearing through the specific dispositions. And the dwindling shreds +of the humanity still startled me every now and then,—a momentary +recrudescence of speech perhaps, an unexpected dexterity of the +fore-feet, a pitiful attempt to walk erect. + +I too must have undergone strange changes. My clothes hung about me as +yellow rags, through whose rents showed the tanned skin. My hair grew +long, and became matted together. I am told that even now my eyes have +a strange brightness, a swift alertness of movement. + +At first I spent the daylight hours on the southward beach watching for +a ship, hoping and praying for a ship. I counted on the \emph{Ipecacuanha} +returning as the year wore on; but she never came. Five times I saw +sails, and thrice smoke; but nothing ever touched the island. I always +had a bonfire ready, but no doubt the volcanic reputation of the island +was taken to account for that. + +It was only about September or October that I began to think of making +a raft. By that time my arm had healed, and both my hands were at my +service again. At first, I found my helplessness appalling. I had never +done any carpentry or such-like work in my life, and I spent day after +day in experimental chopping and binding among the trees. I had no +ropes, and could hit on nothing wherewith to make ropes; none of the +abundant creepers seemed limber or strong enough, and with all my +litter of scientific education I could not devise any way of making +them so. I spent more than a fortnight grubbing among the black ruins +of the enclosure and on the beach where the boats had been burnt, +looking for nails and other stray pieces of metal that might prove of +service. Now and then some Beast-creature would watch me, and go +leaping off when I called to it. There came a season of thunder-storms +and heavy rain, which greatly retarded my work; but at last the raft +was completed. + +I was delighted with it. But with a certain lack of practical sense +which has always been my bane, I had made it a mile or more from the +sea; and before I had dragged it down to the beach the thing had fallen +to pieces. Perhaps it is as well that I was saved from launching it; +but at the time my misery at my failure was so acute that for some days +I simply moped on the beach, and stared at the water and thought of +death. + +I did not, however, mean to die, and an incident occurred that warned +me unmistakably of the folly of letting the days pass so,—for each +fresh day was fraught with increasing danger from the Beast People. + +I was lying in the shade of the enclosure wall, staring out to sea, +when I was startled by something cold touching the skin of my heel, and +starting round found the little pink sloth-creature blinking into my +face. He had long since lost speech and active movement, and the lank +hair of the little brute grew thicker every day and his stumpy claws +more askew. He made a moaning noise when he saw he had attracted my +attention, went a little way towards the bushes and looked back at me. + +At first I did not understand, but presently it occurred to me that he +wished me to follow him; and this I did at last,—slowly, for the day +was hot. When we reached the trees he clambered into them, for he could +travel better among their swinging creepers than on the ground. And +suddenly in a trampled space I came upon a ghastly group. My +Saint-Bernard-creature lay on the ground, dead; and near his body +crouched the Hyena-swine, gripping the quivering flesh with its +misshapen claws, gnawing at it, and snarling with delight. As I +approached, the monster lifted its glaring eyes to mine, its lips went +trembling back from its red-stained teeth, and it growled menacingly. +It was not afraid and not ashamed; the last vestige of the human taint +had vanished. I advanced a step farther, stopped, and pulled out my +revolver. At last I had him face to face. + +The brute made no sign of retreat; but its ears went back, its hair +bristled, and its body crouched together. I aimed between the eyes and +fired. As I did so, the Thing rose straight at me in a leap, and I was +knocked over like a ninepin. It clutched at me with its crippled hand, +and struck me in the face. Its spring carried it over me. I fell under +the hind part of its body; but luckily I had hit as I meant, and it had +died even as it leapt. I crawled out from under its unclean weight and +stood up trembling, staring at its quivering body. That danger at least +was over; but this, I knew was only the first of the series of relapses +that must come. + +I burnt both of the bodies on a pyre of brushwood; but after that I saw +that unless I left the island my death was only a question of time. The +Beast People by that time had, with one or two exceptions, left the +ravine and made themselves lairs according to their taste among the +thickets of the island. Few prowled by day, most of them slept, and the +island might have seemed deserted to a new-comer; but at night the air +was hideous with their calls and howling. I had half a mind to make a +massacre of them; to build traps, or fight them with my knife. Had I +possessed sufficient cartridges, I should not have hesitated to begin +the killing. There could now be scarcely a score left of the dangerous +carnivores; the braver of these were already dead. After the death of +this poor dog of mine, my last friend, I too adopted to some extent the +practice of slumbering in the daytime in order to be on my guard at +night. I rebuilt my den in the walls of the enclosure, with such a +narrow opening that anything attempting to enter must necessarily make +a considerable noise. The creatures had lost the art of fire too, and +recovered their fear of it. I turned once more, almost passionately +now, to hammering together stakes and branches to form a raft for my +escape. + +I found a thousand difficulties. I am an extremely unhandy man (my +schooling was over before the days of Slöjd); but most of the +requirements of a raft I met at last in some clumsy, circuitous way or +other, and this time I took care of the strength. The only +insurmountable obstacle was that I had no vessel to contain the water I +should need if I floated forth upon these untravelled seas. I would +have even tried pottery, but the island contained no clay. I used to go +moping about the island trying with all my might to solve this one last +difficulty. Sometimes I would give way to wild outbursts of rage, and +hack and splinter some unlucky tree in my intolerable vexation. But I +could think of nothing. + +And then came a day, a wonderful day, which I spent in ecstasy. I saw a +sail to the southwest, a small sail like that of a little schooner; and +forthwith I lit a great pile of brushwood, and stood by it in the heat +of it, and the heat of the midday sun, watching. All day I watched that +sail, eating or drinking nothing, so that my head reeled; and the +Beasts came and glared at me, and seemed to wonder, and went away. It +was still distant when night came and swallowed it up; and all night I +toiled to keep my blaze bright and high, and the eyes of the Beasts +shone out of the darkness, marvelling. In the dawn the sail was nearer, +and I saw it was the dirty lug-sail of a small boat. But it sailed +strangely. My eyes were weary with watching, and I peered and could not +believe them. Two men were in the boat, sitting low down,—one by the +bows, the other at the rudder. The head was not kept to the wind; it +yawed and fell away. + +As the day grew brighter, I began waving the last rag of my jacket to +them; but they did not notice me, and sat still, facing each other. I +went to the lowest point of the low headland, and gesticulated and +shouted. There was no response, and the boat kept on her aimless +course, making slowly, very slowly, for the bay. Suddenly a great white +bird flew up out of the boat, and neither of the men stirred nor +noticed it; it circled round, and then came sweeping overhead with its +strong wings outspread. + +Then I stopped shouting, and sat down on the headland and rested my +chin on my hands and stared. Slowly, slowly, the boat drove past +towards the west. I would have swum out to it, but something—a cold, +vague fear—kept me back. In the afternoon the tide stranded the boat, +and left it a hundred yards or so to the westward of the ruins of the +enclosure. The men in it were dead, had been dead so long that they +fell to pieces when I tilted the boat on its side and dragged them out. +One had a shock of red hair, like the captain of the \emph{Ipecacuanha}, and +a dirty white cap lay in the bottom of the boat. + +As I stood beside the boat, three of the Beasts came slinking out of +the bushes and sniffing towards me. One of my spasms of disgust came +upon me. I thrust the little boat down the beach and clambered on board +her. Two of the brutes were Wolf-beasts, and came forward with +quivering nostrils and glittering eyes; the third was the horrible +nondescript of bear and bull. When I saw them approaching those +wretched remains, heard them snarling at one another and caught the +gleam of their teeth, a frantic horror succeeded my repulsion. I turned +my back upon them, struck the lug and began paddling out to sea. I +could not bring myself to look behind me. + +I lay, however, between the reef and the island that night, and the +next morning went round to the stream and filled the empty keg aboard +with water. Then, with such patience as I could command, I collected a +quantity of fruit, and waylaid and killed two rabbits with my last +three cartridges. While I was doing this I left the boat moored to an +inward projection of the reef, for fear of the Beast People. + +\chapter{THE MAN ALONE} +\cleardoublepage +In the evening I started, and drove out to sea before a gentle wind +from the southwest, slowly, steadily; and the island grew smaller and +smaller, and the lank spire of smoke dwindled to a finer and finer line +against the hot sunset. The ocean rose up around me, hiding that low, +dark patch from my eyes. The daylight, the trailing glory of the sun, +went streaming out of the sky, was drawn aside like some luminous +curtain, and at last I looked into the blue gulf of immensity which the +sunshine hides, and saw the floating hosts of the stars. The sea was +silent, the sky was silent. I was alone with the night and silence. + +So I drifted for three days, eating and drinking sparingly, and +meditating upon all that had happened to me,—not desiring very greatly +then to see men again. One unclean rag was about me, my hair a black +tangle: no doubt my discoverers thought me a madman. + +It is strange, but I felt no desire to return to mankind. I was only +glad to be quit of the foulness of the Beast People. And on the third +day I was picked up by a brig from Apia to San Francisco. Neither the +captain nor the mate would believe my story, judging that solitude and +danger had made me mad; and fearing their opinion might be that of +others, I refrained from telling my adventure further, and professed to +recall nothing that had happened to me between the loss of the \emph{Lady +Vain} and the time when I was picked up again,—the space of a year. + +I had to act with the utmost circumspection to save myself from the +suspicion of insanity. My memory of the Law, of the two dead sailors, +of the ambuscades of the darkness, of the body in the canebrake, +haunted me; and, unnatural as it seems, with my return to mankind came, +instead of that confidence and sympathy I had expected, a strange +enhancement of the uncertainty and dread I had experienced during my +stay upon the island. No one would believe me; I was almost as queer to +men as I had been to the Beast People. I may have caught something of +the natural wildness of my companions. They say that terror is a +disease, and anyhow I can witness that for several years now a restless +fear has dwelt in my mind,—such a restless fear as a half-tamed lion +cub may feel. + +My trouble took the strangest form. I could not persuade myself that +the men and women I met were not also another Beast People, animals +half wrought into the outward image of human souls, and that they would +presently begin to revert,—to show first this bestial mark and then +that. But I have confided my case to a strangely able man,—a man who +had known Moreau, and seemed half to credit my story; a mental +specialist,—and he has helped me mightily, though I do not expect that +the terror of that island will ever altogether leave me. At most times +it lies far in the back of my mind, a mere distant cloud, a memory, and +a faint distrust; but there are times when the little cloud spreads +until it obscures the whole sky. Then I look about me at my fellow-men; +and I go in fear. I see faces, keen and bright; others dull or +dangerous; others, unsteady, insincere,—none that have the calm +authority of a reasonable soul. I feel as though the animal was surging +up through them; that presently the degradation of the Islanders will +be played over again on a larger scale. I know this is an illusion; +that these seeming men and women about me are indeed men and women,—men +and women for ever, perfectly reasonable creatures, full of human +desires and tender solicitude, emancipated from instinct and the slaves +of no fantastic Law,—beings altogether different from the Beast Folk. +Yet I shrink from them, from their curious glances, their inquiries and +assistance, and long to be away from them and alone. For that reason I +live near the broad free downland, and can escape thither when this +shadow is over my soul; and very sweet is the empty downland then, +under the wind-swept sky. + +When I lived in London the horror was well-nigh insupportable. I could +not get away from men: their voices came through windows; locked doors +were flimsy safeguards. I would go out into the streets to fight with +my delusion, and prowling women would mew after me; furtive, craving +men glance jealously at me; weary, pale workers go coughing by me with +tired eyes and eager paces, like wounded deer dripping blood; old +people, bent and dull, pass murmuring to themselves; and, all +unheeding, a ragged tail of gibing children. Then I would turn aside +into some chapel,—and even there, such was my disturbance, it seemed +that the preacher gibbered “Big Thinks,” even as the Ape-man had done; +or into some library, and there the intent faces over the books seemed +but patient creatures waiting for prey. Particularly nauseous were the +blank, expressionless faces of people in trains and omnibuses; they +seemed no more my fellow-creatures than dead bodies would be, so that I +did not dare to travel unless I was assured of being alone. And even it +seemed that I too was not a reasonable creature, but only an animal +tormented with some strange disorder in its brain which sent it to +wander alone, like a sheep stricken with gid. + +This is a mood, however, that comes to me now, I thank God, more +rarely. I have withdrawn myself from the confusion of cities and +multitudes, and spend my days surrounded by wise books,—bright windows +in this life of ours, lit by the shining souls of men. I see few +strangers, and have but a small household. My days I devote to reading +and to experiments in chemistry, and I spend many of the clear nights +in the study of astronomy. There is—though I do not know how there is +or why there is—a sense of infinite peace and protection in the +glittering hosts of heaven. There it must be, I think, in the vast and +eternal laws of matter, and not in the daily cares and sins and +troubles of men, that whatever is more than animal within us must find +its solace and its hope. I \emph{hope}, or I could not live. +\par +And so, in hope and solitude, my story ends. +\par +\vspace*{1cm} +EDWARD PRENDICK. +\cleardoublepage +\thispagestyle{empty} +\vspace*{\stretch{1}} +\centering +NOTE. +\\ + +The substance of the chapter entitled “Doctor Moreau explains,” which +contains the essential idea of the story, appeared as a middle article +in the \emph{Saturday Review} in January, 1895. This is the only portion of +this story that has been previously published, and it has been entirely +recast to adapt it to the narrative form. +\\ +\vspace*{\stretch{1}} + + +\end{document} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/text/I. IN THE DINGEY OF THE LADY VAIN.md b/text/I. IN THE DINGEY OF THE LADY VAIN.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8f56222 --- /dev/null +++ b/text/I. IN THE DINGEY OF THE LADY VAIN.md @@ -0,0 +1,95 @@ +# IN THE DINGEY OF THE “LADY VAIN.” + + +I do not propose to add anything to what has already been written +concerning the loss of the _Lady Vain_. As everyone knows, she collided +with a derelict when ten days out from Callao. The longboat, with seven +of the crew, was picked up eighteen days after by H. M. gunboat +_Myrtle_, and the story of their terrible privations has become quite +as well known as the far more horrible _Medusa_ case. But I have to add +to the published story of the _Lady Vain_ another, possibly as horrible +and far stranger. It has hitherto been supposed that the four men who +were in the dingey perished, but this is incorrect. I have the best of +evidence for this assertion: I was one of the four men. + +But in the first place I must state that there never were _four_ men in +the dingey,—the number was three. Constans, who was “seen by the +captain to jump into the gig,”[1] luckily for us and unluckily for +himself did not reach us. He came down out of the tangle of ropes under +the stays of the smashed bowsprit, some small rope caught his heel as +he let go, and he hung for a moment head downward, and then fell and +struck a block or spar floating in the water. We pulled towards him, +but he never came up. + + [1] _Daily News_, March 17, 1887. + + +I say luckily for us he did not reach us, and I might almost say +luckily for himself; for we had only a small beaker of water and some +soddened ship’s biscuits with us, so sudden had been the alarm, so +unprepared the ship for any disaster. We thought the people on the +launch would be better provisioned (though it seems they were not), and +we tried to hail them. They could not have heard us, and the next +morning when the drizzle cleared,—which was not until past midday,—we +could see nothing of them. We could not stand up to look about us, +because of the pitching of the boat. The two other men who had escaped +so far with me were a man named Helmar, a passenger like myself, and a +seaman whose name I don’t know,—a short sturdy man, with a stammer. + +We drifted famishing, and, after our water had come to an end, +tormented by an intolerable thirst, for eight days altogether. After +the second day the sea subsided slowly to a glassy calm. It is quite +impossible for the ordinary reader to imagine those eight days. He has +not, luckily for himself, anything in his memory to imagine with. After +the first day we said little to one another, and lay in our places in +the boat and stared at the horizon, or watched, with eyes that grew +larger and more haggard every day, the misery and weakness gaining upon +our companions. The sun became pitiless. The water ended on the fourth +day, and we were already thinking strange things and saying them with +our eyes; but it was, I think, the sixth before Helmar gave voice to +the thing we had all been thinking. I remember our voices were dry and +thin, so that we bent towards one another and spared our words. I stood +out against it with all my might, was rather for scuttling the boat and +perishing together among the sharks that followed us; but when Helmar +said that if his proposal was accepted we should have drink, the sailor +came round to him. + +I would not draw lots however, and in the night the sailor whispered to +Helmar again and again, and I sat in the bows with my clasp-knife in my +hand, though I doubt if I had the stuff in me to fight; and in the +morning I agreed to Helmar’s proposal, and we handed halfpence to find +the odd man. The lot fell upon the sailor; but he was the strongest of +us and would not abide by it, and attacked Helmar with his hands. They +grappled together and almost stood up. I crawled along the boat to +them, intending to help Helmar by grasping the sailor’s leg; but the +sailor stumbled with the swaying of the boat, and the two fell upon the +gunwale and rolled overboard together. They sank like stones. I +remember laughing at that, and wondering why I laughed. The laugh +caught me suddenly like a thing from without. + +I lay across one of the thwarts for I know not how long, thinking that +if I had the strength I would drink sea-water and madden myself to die +quickly. And even as I lay there I saw, with no more interest than if +it had been a picture, a sail come up towards me over the sky-line. My +mind must have been wandering, and yet I remember all that happened, +quite distinctly. I remember how my head swayed with the seas, and the +horizon with the sail above it danced up and down; but I also remember +as distinctly that I had a persuasion that I was dead, and that I +thought what a jest it was that they should come too late by such a +little to catch me in my body. + +For an endless period, as it seemed to me, I lay with my head on the +thwart watching the schooner (she was a little ship, schooner-rigged +fore and aft) come up out of the sea. She kept tacking to and fro in a +widening compass, for she was sailing dead into the wind. It never +entered my head to attempt to attract attention, and I do not remember +anything distinctly after the sight of her side until I found myself in +a little cabin aft. There’s a dim half-memory of being lifted up to the +gangway, and of a big round countenance covered with freckles and +surrounded with red hair staring at me over the bulwarks. I also had a +disconnected impression of a dark face, with extraordinary eyes, close +to mine; but that I thought was a nightmare, until I met it again. I +fancy I recollect some stuff being poured in between my teeth; and that +is all. + + diff --git a/text/II. THE MAN WHO WAS GOING NOWHERE..md b/text/II. THE MAN WHO WAS GOING NOWHERE..md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..381ceca --- /dev/null +++ b/text/II. THE MAN WHO WAS GOING NOWHERE..md @@ -0,0 +1,116 @@ +# THE MAN WHO WAS GOING NOWHERE. + + +The cabin in which I found myself was small and rather untidy. A +youngish man with flaxen hair, a bristly straw-coloured moustache, and +a dropping nether lip, was sitting and holding my wrist. For a minute +we stared at each other without speaking. He had watery grey eyes, +oddly void of expression. Then just overhead came a sound like an iron +bedstead being knocked about, and the low angry growling of some large +animal. At the same time the man spoke. He repeated his question,—“How +do you feel now?” + +I think I said I felt all right. I could not recollect how I had got +there. He must have seen the question in my face, for my voice was +inaccessible to me. + +“You were picked up in a boat, starving. The name on the boat was the +_Lady Vain_, and there were spots of blood on the gunwale.” + +At the same time my eye caught my hand, so thin that it looked like a +dirty skin-purse full of loose bones, and all the business of the boat +came back to me. + +“Have some of this,” said he, and gave me a dose of some scarlet stuff, +iced. + +It tasted like blood, and made me feel stronger. + +“You were in luck,” said he, “to get picked up by a ship with a medical +man aboard.” He spoke with a slobbering articulation, with the ghost of +a lisp. + +“What ship is this?” I said slowly, hoarse from my long silence. + +“It’s a little trader from Arica and Callao. I never asked where she +came from in the beginning,—out of the land of born fools, I guess. I’m +a passenger myself, from Arica. The silly ass who owns her,—he’s +captain too, named Davies,—he’s lost his certificate, or something. You +know the kind of man,—calls the thing the _Ipecacuanha_, of all silly, +infernal names; though when there’s much of a sea without any wind, she +certainly acts according.” + +(Then the noise overhead began again, a snarling growl and the voice of +a human being together. Then another voice, telling some +“Heaven-forsaken idiot” to desist.) + +“You were nearly dead,” said my interlocutor. “It was a very near +thing, indeed. But I’ve put some stuff into you now. Notice your arm’s +sore? Injections. You’ve been insensible for nearly thirty hours.” + +I thought slowly. (I was distracted now by the yelping of a number of +dogs.) “Am I eligible for solid food?” I asked. + +“Thanks to me,” he said. “Even now the mutton is boiling.” + +“Yes,” I said with assurance; “I could eat some mutton.” + +“But,” said he with a momentary hesitation, “you know I’m dying to hear +of how you came to be alone in that boat. _Damn that howling_!” I +thought I detected a certain suspicion in his eyes. + +He suddenly left the cabin, and I heard him in violent controversy with +some one, who seemed to me to talk gibberish in response to him. The +matter sounded as though it ended in blows, but in that I thought my +ears were mistaken. Then he shouted at the dogs, and returned to the +cabin. + +“Well?” said he in the doorway. “You were just beginning to tell me.” + +I told him my name, Edward Prendick, and how I had taken to Natural +History as a relief from the dulness of my comfortable independence. + +He seemed interested in this. “I’ve done some science myself. I did my +Biology at University College,—getting out the ovary of the earthworm +and the radula of the snail, and all that. Lord! It’s ten years ago. +But go on! go on! tell me about the boat.” + +He was evidently satisfied with the frankness of my story, which I told +in concise sentences enough, for I felt horribly weak; and when it was +finished he reverted at once to the topic of Natural History and his +own biological studies. He began to question me closely about Tottenham +Court Road and Gower Street. “Is Caplatzi still flourishing? What a +shop that was!” He had evidently been a very ordinary medical student, +and drifted incontinently to the topic of the music halls. He told me +some anecdotes. + +“Left it all,” he said, “ten years ago. How jolly it all used to be! +But I made a young ass of myself,—played myself out before I was +twenty-one. I daresay it’s all different now. But I must look up that +ass of a cook, and see what he’s done to your mutton.” + +The growling overhead was renewed, so suddenly and with so much savage +anger that it startled me. “What’s that?” I called after him, but the +door had closed. He came back again with the boiled mutton, and I was +so excited by the appetising smell of it that I forgot the noise of the +beast that had troubled me. + +After a day of alternate sleep and feeding I was so far recovered as to +be able to get from my bunk to the scuttle, and see the green seas +trying to keep pace with us. I judged the schooner was running before +the wind. Montgomery—that was the name of the flaxen-haired man—came in +again as I stood there, and I asked him for some clothes. He lent me +some duck things of his own, for those I had worn in the boat had been +thrown overboard. They were rather loose for me, for he was large and +long in his limbs. He told me casually that the captain was three-parts +drunk in his own cabin. As I assumed the clothes, I began asking him +some questions about the destination of the ship. He said the ship was +bound to Hawaii, but that it had to land him first. + +“Where?” said I. + +“It’s an island, where I live. So far as I know, it hasn’t got a name.” + +He stared at me with his nether lip dropping, and looked so wilfully +stupid of a sudden that it came into my head that he desired to avoid +my questions. I had the discretion to ask no more. diff --git a/text/III.THE STRANGE FACE.md b/text/III.THE STRANGE FACE.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..101bac4 --- /dev/null +++ b/text/III.THE STRANGE FACE.md @@ -0,0 +1,189 @@ +III. +THE STRANGE FACE. + + +We left the cabin and found a man at the companion obstructing our way. +He was standing on the ladder with his back to us, peering over the +combing of the hatchway. He was, I could see, a misshapen man, short, +broad, and clumsy, with a crooked back, a hairy neck, and a head sunk +between his shoulders. He was dressed in dark-blue serge, and had +peculiarly thick, coarse, black hair. I heard the unseen dogs growl +furiously, and forthwith he ducked back,—coming into contact with the +hand I put out to fend him off from myself. He turned with animal +swiftness. + +In some indefinable way the black face thus flashed upon me shocked me +profoundly. It was a singularly deformed one. The facial part +projected, forming something dimly suggestive of a muzzle, and the huge +half-open mouth showed as big white teeth as I had ever seen in a human +mouth. His eyes were blood-shot at the edges, with scarcely a rim of +white round the hazel pupils. There was a curious glow of excitement in +his face. + +“Confound you!” said Montgomery. “Why the devil don’t you get out of +the way?” + +The black-faced man started aside without a word. I went on up the +companion, staring at him instinctively as I did so. Montgomery stayed +at the foot for a moment. “You have no business here, you know,” he +said in a deliberate tone. “Your place is forward.” + +The black-faced man cowered. “They—won’t have me forward.” He spoke +slowly, with a queer, hoarse quality in his voice. + +“Won’t have you forward!” said Montgomery, in a menacing voice. “But I +tell you to go!” He was on the brink of saying something further, then +looked up at me suddenly and followed me up the ladder. + +I had paused half way through the hatchway, looking back, still +astonished beyond measure at the grotesque ugliness of this black-faced +creature. I had never beheld such a repulsive and extraordinary face +before, and yet—if the contradiction is credible—I experienced at the +same time an odd feeling that in some way I _had_ already encountered +exactly the features and gestures that now amazed me. Afterwards it +occurred to me that probably I had seen him as I was lifted aboard; and +yet that scarcely satisfied my suspicion of a previous acquaintance. +Yet how one could have set eyes on so singular a face and yet have +forgotten the precise occasion, passed my imagination. + +Montgomery’s movement to follow me released my attention, and I turned +and looked about me at the flush deck of the little schooner. I was +already half prepared by the sounds I had heard for what I saw. +Certainly I never beheld a deck so dirty. It was littered with scraps +of carrot, shreds of green stuff, and indescribable filth. Fastened by +chains to the mainmast were a number of grisly staghounds, who now +began leaping and barking at me, and by the mizzen a huge puma was +cramped in a little iron cage far too small even to give it turning +room. Farther under the starboard bulwark were some big hutches +containing a number of rabbits, and a solitary llama was squeezed in a +mere box of a cage forward. The dogs were muzzled by leather straps. +The only human being on deck was a gaunt and silent sailor at the +wheel. + +The patched and dirty spankers were tense before the wind, and up aloft +the little ship seemed carrying every sail she had. The sky was clear, +the sun midway down the western sky; long waves, capped by the breeze +with froth, were running with us. We went past the steersman to the +taffrail, and saw the water come foaming under the stern and the +bubbles go dancing and vanishing in her wake. I turned and surveyed the +unsavoury length of the ship. + +“Is this an ocean menagerie?” said I. + +“Looks like it,” said Montgomery. + +“What are these beasts for? Merchandise, curios? Does the captain think +he is going to sell them somewhere in the South Seas?” + +“It looks like it, doesn’t it?” said Montgomery, and turned towards the +wake again. + +Suddenly we heard a yelp and a volley of furious blasphemy from the +companion hatchway, and the deformed man with the black face came up +hurriedly. He was immediately followed by a heavy red-haired man in a +white cap. At the sight of the former the staghounds, who had all tired +of barking at me by this time, became furiously excited, howling and +leaping against their chains. The black hesitated before them, and this +gave the red-haired man time to come up with him and deliver a +tremendous blow between the shoulder-blades. The poor devil went down +like a felled ox, and rolled in the dirt among the furiously excited +dogs. It was lucky for him that they were muzzled. The red-haired man +gave a yawp of exultation and stood staggering, and as it seemed to me +in serious danger of either going backwards down the companion hatchway +or forwards upon his victim. + +So soon as the second man had appeared, Montgomery had started forward. +“Steady on there!” he cried, in a tone of remonstrance. A couple of +sailors appeared on the forecastle. The black-faced man, howling in a +singular voice rolled about under the feet of the dogs. No one +attempted to help him. The brutes did their best to worry him, butting +their muzzles at him. There was a quick dance of their lithe +grey-figured bodies over the clumsy, prostrate figure. The sailors +forward shouted, as though it was admirable sport. Montgomery gave an +angry exclamation, and went striding down the deck, and I followed him. +The black-faced man scrambled up and staggered forward, going and +leaning over the bulwark by the main shrouds, where he remained, +panting and glaring over his shoulder at the dogs. The red-haired man +laughed a satisfied laugh. + +“Look here, Captain,” said Montgomery, with his lisp a little +accentuated, gripping the elbows of the red-haired man, “this won’t +do!” + +I stood behind Montgomery. The captain came half round, and regarded +him with the dull and solemn eyes of a drunken man. “Wha’ won’t do?” he +said, and added, after looking sleepily into Montgomery’s face for a +minute, “Blasted Sawbones!” + +With a sudden movement he shook his arms free, and after two +ineffectual attempts stuck his freckled fists into his side pockets. + +“That man’s a passenger,” said Montgomery. “I’d advise you to keep your +hands off him.” + +“Go to hell!” said the captain, loudly. He suddenly turned and +staggered towards the side. “Do what I like on my own ship,” he said. + +I think Montgomery might have left him then, seeing the brute was +drunk; but he only turned a shade paler, and followed the captain to +the bulwarks. + +“Look you here, Captain,” he said; “that man of mine is not to be +ill-treated. He has been hazed ever since he came aboard.” + +For a minute, alcoholic fumes kept the captain speechless. “Blasted +Sawbones!” was all he considered necessary. + +I could see that Montgomery had one of those slow, pertinacious tempers +that will warm day after day to a white heat, and never again cool to +forgiveness; and I saw too that this quarrel had been some time +growing. “The man’s drunk,” said I, perhaps officiously; “you’ll do no +good.” + +Montgomery gave an ugly twist to his dropping lip. “He’s always drunk. +Do you think that excuses his assaulting his passengers?” + +“My ship,” began the captain, waving his hand unsteadily towards the +cages, “was a clean ship. Look at it now!” It was certainly anything +but clean. “Crew,” continued the captain, “clean, respectable crew.” + +“You agreed to take the beasts.” + +“I wish I’d never set eyes on your infernal island. What the devil—want +beasts for on an island like that? Then, that man of yours—understood +he was a man. He’s a lunatic; and he hadn’t no business aft. Do you +think the whole damned ship belongs to you?” + +“Your sailors began to haze the poor devil as soon as he came aboard.” + +“That’s just what he is—he’s a devil! an ugly devil! My men can’t stand +him. _I_ can’t stand him. None of us can’t stand him. Nor _you_ +either!” + +Montgomery turned away. “_You_ leave that man alone, anyhow,” he said, +nodding his head as he spoke. + +But the captain meant to quarrel now. He raised his voice. “If he comes +this end of the ship again I’ll cut his insides out, I tell you. Cut +out his blasted insides! Who are _you_, to tell _me_ what _I’m_ to do? +I tell you I’m captain of this ship,—captain and owner. I’m the law +here, I tell you,—the law and the prophets. I bargained to take a man +and his attendant to and from Arica, and bring back some animals. I +never bargained to carry a mad devil and a silly Sawbones, a—” + +Well, never mind what he called Montgomery. I saw the latter take a +step forward, and interposed. “He’s drunk,” said I. The captain began +some abuse even fouler than the last. “Shut up!” I said, turning on him +sharply, for I had seen danger in Montgomery’s white face. With that I +brought the downpour on myself. + +However, I was glad to avert what was uncommonly near a scuffle, even +at the price of the captain’s drunken ill-will. I do not think I have +ever heard quite so much vile language come in a continuous stream from +any man’s lips before, though I have frequented eccentric company +enough. I found some of it hard to endure, though I am a mild-tempered +man; but, certainly, when I told the captain to “shut up” I had +forgotten that I was merely a bit of human flotsam, cut off from my +resources and with my fare unpaid; a mere casual dependant on the +bounty, or speculative enterprise, of the ship. He reminded me of it +with considerable vigour; but at any rate I prevented a fight. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/text/IV. AT THE SCHOONER’S RAIL.md b/text/IV. AT THE SCHOONER’S RAIL.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..32ede72 --- /dev/null +++ b/text/IV. AT THE SCHOONER’S RAIL.md @@ -0,0 +1,121 @@ +# AT THE SCHOONER’S RAIL. + + +That night land was sighted after sundown, and the schooner hove to. +Montgomery intimated that was his destination. It was too far to see +any details; it seemed to me then simply a low-lying patch of dim blue +in the uncertain blue-grey sea. An almost vertical streak of smoke went +up from it into the sky. The captain was not on deck when it was +sighted. After he had vented his wrath on me he had staggered below, +and I understand he went to sleep on the floor of his own cabin. The +mate practically assumed the command. He was the gaunt, taciturn +individual we had seen at the wheel. Apparently he was in an evil +temper with Montgomery. He took not the slightest notice of either of +us. We dined with him in a sulky silence, after a few ineffectual +efforts on my part to talk. It struck me too that the men regarded my +companion and his animals in a singularly unfriendly manner. I found +Montgomery very reticent about his purpose with these creatures, and +about his destination; and though I was sensible of a growing curiosity +as to both, I did not press him. + +We remained talking on the quarter deck until the sky was thick with +stars. Except for an occasional sound in the yellow-lit forecastle and +a movement of the animals now and then, the night was very still. The +puma lay crouched together, watching us with shining eyes, a black heap +in the corner of its cage. Montgomery produced some cigars. He talked +to me of London in a tone of half-painful reminiscence, asking all +kinds of questions about changes that had taken place. He spoke like a +man who had loved his life there, and had been suddenly and irrevocably +cut off from it. I gossiped as well as I could of this and that. All +the time the strangeness of him was shaping itself in my mind; and as I +talked I peered at his odd, pallid face in the dim light of the +binnacle lantern behind me. Then I looked out at the darkling sea, +where in the dimness his little island was hidden. + +This man, it seemed to me, had come out of Immensity merely to save my +life. To-morrow he would drop over the side, and vanish again out of my +existence. Even had it been under commonplace circumstances, it would +have made me a trifle thoughtful; but in the first place was the +singularity of an educated man living on this unknown little island, +and coupled with that the extraordinary nature of his luggage. I found +myself repeating the captain’s question. What did he want with the +beasts? Why, too, had he pretended they were not his when I had +remarked about them at first? Then, again, in his personal attendant +there was a bizarre quality which had impressed me profoundly. These +circumstances threw a haze of mystery round the man. They laid hold of +my imagination, and hampered my tongue. + +Towards midnight our talk of London died away, and we stood side by +side leaning over the bulwarks and staring dreamily over the silent, +starlit sea, each pursuing his own thoughts. It was the atmosphere for +sentiment, and I began upon my gratitude. + +“If I may say it,” said I, after a time, “you have saved my life.” + +“Chance,” he answered. “Just chance.” + +“I prefer to make my thanks to the accessible agent.” + +“Thank no one. You had the need, and I had the knowledge; and I +injected and fed you much as I might have collected a specimen. I was +bored and wanted something to do. If I’d been jaded that day, or hadn’t +liked your face, well—it’s a curious question where you would have been +now!” + +This damped my mood a little. “At any rate,” I began. + +“It’s a chance, I tell you,” he interrupted, “as everything is in a +man’s life. Only the asses won’t see it! Why am I here now, an outcast +from civilisation, instead of being a happy man enjoying all the +pleasures of London? Simply because eleven years ago—I lost my head for +ten minutes on a foggy night.” + +He stopped. “Yes?” said I. + +“That’s all.” + +We relapsed into silence. Presently he laughed. “There’s something in +this starlight that loosens one’s tongue. I’m an ass, and yet somehow I +would like to tell you.” + +“Whatever you tell me, you may rely upon my keeping to myself—if that’s +it.” + +He was on the point of beginning, and then shook his head, doubtfully. + +“Don’t,” said I. “It is all the same to me. After all, it is better to +keep your secret. There’s nothing gained but a little relief if I +respect your confidence. If I don’t—well?” + +He grunted undecidedly. I felt I had him at a disadvantage, had caught +him in the mood of indiscretion; and to tell the truth I was not +curious to learn what might have driven a young medical student out of +London. I have an imagination. I shrugged my shoulders and turned away. +Over the taffrail leant a silent black figure, watching the stars. It +was Montgomery’s strange attendant. It looked over its shoulder quickly +with my movement, then looked away again. + +It may seem a little thing to you, perhaps, but it came like a sudden +blow to me. The only light near us was a lantern at the wheel. The +creature’s face was turned for one brief instant out of the dimness of +the stern towards this illumination, and I saw that the eyes that +glanced at me shone with a pale-green light. I did not know then that a +reddish luminosity, at least, is not uncommon in human eyes. The thing +came to me as stark inhumanity. That black figure with its eyes of fire +struck down through all my adult thoughts and feelings, and for a +moment the forgotten horrors of childhood came back to my mind. Then +the effect passed as it had come. An uncouth black figure of a man, a +figure of no particular import, hung over the taffrail against the +starlight, and I found Montgomery was speaking to me. + +“I’m thinking of turning in, then,” said he, “if you’ve had enough of +this.” + +I answered him incongruously. We went below, and he wished me +good-night at the door of my cabin. + +That night I had some very unpleasant dreams. The waning moon rose +late. Its light struck a ghostly white beam across my cabin, and made +an ominous shape on the planking by my bunk. Then the staghounds woke, +and began howling and baying; so that I dreamt fitfully, and scarcely +slept until the approach of dawn. diff --git a/text/IX. THE THING IN THE FOREST.md b/text/IX. THE THING IN THE FOREST.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c02e185 --- /dev/null +++ b/text/IX. THE THING IN THE FOREST.md @@ -0,0 +1,310 @@ +# THE THING IN THE FOREST. + + +I strode through the undergrowth that clothed the ridge behind the +house, scarcely heeding whither I went; passed on through the shadow of +a thick cluster of straight-stemmed trees beyond it, and so presently +found myself some way on the other side of the ridge, and descending +towards a streamlet that ran through a narrow valley. I paused and +listened. The distance I had come, or the intervening masses of +thicket, deadened any sound that might be coming from the enclosure. +The air was still. Then with a rustle a rabbit emerged, and went +scampering up the slope before me. I hesitated, and sat down in the +edge of the shade. + +The place was a pleasant one. The rivulet was hidden by the luxuriant +vegetation of the banks save at one point, where I caught a triangular +patch of its glittering water. On the farther side I saw through a +bluish haze a tangle of trees and creepers, and above these again the +luminous blue of the sky. Here and there a splash of white or crimson +marked the blooming of some trailing epiphyte. I let my eyes wander +over this scene for a while, and then began to turn over in my mind +again the strange peculiarities of Montgomery’s man. But it was too hot +to think elaborately, and presently I fell into a tranquil state midway +between dozing and waking. + +From this I was aroused, after I know not how long, by a rustling +amidst the greenery on the other side of the stream. For a moment I +could see nothing but the waving summits of the ferns and reeds. Then +suddenly upon the bank of the stream appeared something—at first I +could not distinguish what it was. It bowed its round head to the +water, and began to drink. Then I saw it was a man, going on all-fours +like a beast. He was clothed in bluish cloth, and was of a +copper-coloured hue, with black hair. It seemed that grotesque ugliness +was an invariable character of these islanders. I could hear the suck +of the water at his lips as he drank. + +I leant forward to see him better, and a piece of lava, detached by my +hand, went pattering down the slope. He looked up guiltily, and his +eyes met mine. Forthwith he scrambled to his feet, and stood wiping his +clumsy hand across his mouth and regarding me. His legs were scarcely +half the length of his body. So, staring one another out of +countenance, we remained for perhaps the space of a minute. Then, +stopping to look back once or twice, he slunk off among the bushes to +the right of me, and I heard the swish of the fronds grow faint in the +distance and die away. Long after he had disappeared, I remained +sitting up staring in the direction of his retreat. My drowsy +tranquillity had gone. + +I was startled by a noise behind me, and turning suddenly saw the +flapping white tail of a rabbit vanishing up the slope. I jumped to my +feet. The apparition of this grotesque, half-bestial creature had +suddenly populated the stillness of the afternoon for me. I looked +around me rather nervously, and regretted that I was unarmed. Then I +thought that the man I had just seen had been clothed in bluish cloth, +had not been naked as a savage would have been; and I tried to persuade +myself from that fact that he was after all probably a peaceful +character, that the dull ferocity of his countenance belied him. + +Yet I was greatly disturbed at the apparition. I walked to the left +along the slope, turning my head about and peering this way and that +among the straight stems of the trees. Why should a man go on all-fours +and drink with his lips? Presently I heard an animal wailing again, and +taking it to be the puma, I turned about and walked in a direction +diametrically opposite to the sound. This led me down to the stream, +across which I stepped and pushed my way up through the undergrowth +beyond. + +I was startled by a great patch of vivid scarlet on the ground, and +going up to it found it to be a peculiar fungus, branched and +corrugated like a foliaceous lichen, but deliquescing into slime at the +touch; and then in the shadow of some luxuriant ferns I came upon an +unpleasant thing,—the dead body of a rabbit covered with shining flies, +but still warm and with the head torn off. I stopped aghast at the +sight of the scattered blood. Here at least was one visitor to the +island disposed of! There were no traces of other violence about it. It +looked as though it had been suddenly snatched up and killed; and as I +stared at the little furry body came the difficulty of how the thing +had been done. The vague dread that had been in my mind since I had +seen the inhuman face of the man at the stream grew distincter as I +stood there. I began to realise the hardihood of my expedition among +these unknown people. The thicket about me became altered to my +imagination. Every shadow became something more than a shadow,—became +an ambush; every rustle became a threat. Invisible things seemed +watching me. I resolved to go back to the enclosure on the beach. I +suddenly turned away and thrust myself violently, possibly even +frantically, through the bushes, anxious to get a clear space about me +again. + +I stopped just in time to prevent myself emerging upon an open space. +It was a kind of glade in the forest, made by a fall; seedlings were +already starting up to struggle for the vacant space; and beyond, the +dense growth of stems and twining vines and splashes of fungus and +flowers closed in again. Before me, squatting together upon the fungoid +ruins of a huge fallen tree and still unaware of my approach, were +three grotesque human figures. One was evidently a female; the other +two were men. They were naked, save for swathings of scarlet cloth +about the middle; and their skins were of a dull pinkish-drab colour, +such as I had seen in no savages before. They had fat, heavy, chinless +faces, retreating foreheads, and a scant bristly hair upon their heads. +I never saw such bestial-looking creatures. + +They were talking, or at least one of the men was talking to the other +two, and all three had been too closely interested to heed the rustling +of my approach. They swayed their heads and shoulders from side to +side. The speaker’s words came thick and sloppy, and though I could +hear them distinctly I could not distinguish what he said. He seemed to +me to be reciting some complicated gibberish. Presently his +articulation became shriller, and spreading his hands he rose to his +feet. At that the others began to gibber in unison, also rising to +their feet, spreading their hands and swaying their bodies in rhythm +with their chant. I noticed then the abnormal shortness of their legs, +and their lank, clumsy feet. All three began slowly to circle round, +raising and stamping their feet and waving their arms; a kind of tune +crept into their rhythmic recitation, and a refrain,—“Aloola,” or +“Balloola,” it sounded like. Their eyes began to sparkle, and their +ugly faces to brighten, with an expression of strange pleasure. Saliva +dripped from their lipless mouths. + +Suddenly, as I watched their grotesque and unaccountable gestures, I +perceived clearly for the first time what it was that had offended me, +what had given me the two inconsistent and conflicting impressions of +utter strangeness and yet of the strangest familiarity. The three +creatures engaged in this mysterious rite were human in shape, and yet +human beings with the strangest air about them of some familiar animal. +Each of these creatures, despite its human form, its rag of clothing, +and the rough humanity of its bodily form, had woven into it—into its +movements, into the expression of its countenance, into its whole +presence—some now irresistible suggestion of a hog, a swinish taint, +the unmistakable mark of the beast. + +I stood overcome by this amazing realisation and then the most horrible +questionings came rushing into my mind. They began leaping in the air, +first one and then the other, whooping and grunting. Then one slipped, +and for a moment was on all-fours,—to recover, indeed, forthwith. But +that transitory gleam of the true animalism of these monsters was +enough. + +I turned as noiselessly as possible, and becoming every now and then +rigid with the fear of being discovered, as a branch cracked or a leaf +rustled, I pushed back into the bushes. It was long before I grew +bolder, and dared to move freely. My only idea for the moment was to +get away from these foul beings, and I scarcely noticed that I had +emerged upon a faint pathway amidst the trees. Then suddenly traversing +a little glade, I saw with an unpleasant start two clumsy legs among +the trees, walking with noiseless footsteps parallel with my course, +and perhaps thirty yards away from me. The head and upper part of the +body were hidden by a tangle of creeper. I stopped abruptly, hoping the +creature did not see me. The feet stopped as I did. So nervous was I +that I controlled an impulse to headlong flight with the utmost +difficulty. Then looking hard, I distinguished through the interlacing +network the head and body of the brute I had seen drinking. He moved +his head. There was an emerald flash in his eyes as he glanced at me +from the shadow of the trees, a half-luminous colour that vanished as +he turned his head again. He was motionless for a moment, and then with +a noiseless tread began running through the green confusion. In another +moment he had vanished behind some bushes. I could not see him, but I +felt that he had stopped and was watching me again. + +What on earth was he,—man or beast? What did he want with me? I had no +weapon, not even a stick. Flight would be madness. At any rate the +Thing, whatever it was, lacked the courage to attack me. Setting my +teeth hard, I walked straight towards him. I was anxious not to show +the fear that seemed chilling my backbone. I pushed through a tangle of +tall white-flowered bushes, and saw him twenty paces beyond, looking +over his shoulder at me and hesitating. I advanced a step or two, +looking steadfastly into his eyes. + +“Who are you?” said I. + +He tried to meet my gaze. “No!” he said suddenly, and turning went +bounding away from me through the undergrowth. Then he turned and +stared at me again. His eyes shone brightly out of the dusk under the +trees. + +My heart was in my mouth; but I felt my only chance was bluff, and +walked steadily towards him. He turned again, and vanished into the +dusk. Once more I thought I caught the glint of his eyes, and that was +all. + +For the first time I realised how the lateness of the hour might affect +me. The sun had set some minutes since, the swift dusk of the tropics +was already fading out of the eastern sky, and a pioneer moth fluttered +silently by my head. Unless I would spend the night among the unknown +dangers of the mysterious forest, I must hasten back to the enclosure. +The thought of a return to that pain-haunted refuge was extremely +disagreeable, but still more so was the idea of being overtaken in the +open by darkness and all that darkness might conceal. I gave one more +look into the blue shadows that had swallowed up this odd creature, and +then retraced my way down the slope towards the stream, going as I +judged in the direction from which I had come. + +I walked eagerly, my mind confused with many things, and presently +found myself in a level place among scattered trees. The colourless +clearness that comes after the sunset flush was darkling; the blue sky +above grew momentarily deeper, and the little stars one by one pierced +the attenuated light; the interspaces of the trees, the gaps in the +further vegetation, that had been hazy blue in the daylight, grew black +and mysterious. I pushed on. The colour vanished from the world. The +tree-tops rose against the luminous blue sky in inky silhouette, and +all below that outline melted into one formless blackness. Presently +the trees grew thinner, and the shrubby undergrowth more abundant. Then +there was a desolate space covered with a white sand, and then another +expanse of tangled bushes. I did not remember crossing the sand-opening +before. I began to be tormented by a faint rustling upon my right hand. +I thought at first it was fancy, for whenever I stopped there was +silence, save for the evening breeze in the tree-tops. Then when I +turned to hurry on again there was an echo to my footsteps. + +I turned away from the thickets, keeping to the more open ground, and +endeavouring by sudden turns now and then to surprise something in the +act of creeping upon me. I saw nothing, and nevertheless my sense of +another presence grew steadily. I increased my pace, and after some +time came to a slight ridge, crossed it, and turned sharply, regarding +it steadfastly from the further side. It came out black and clear-cut +against the darkling sky; and presently a shapeless lump heaved up +momentarily against the sky-line and vanished again. I felt assured now +that my tawny-faced antagonist was stalking me once more; and coupled +with that was another unpleasant realisation, that I had lost my way. + +For a time I hurried on hopelessly perplexed, and pursued by that +stealthy approach. Whatever it was, the Thing either lacked the courage +to attack me, or it was waiting to take me at some disadvantage. I kept +studiously to the open. At times I would turn and listen; and presently +I had half persuaded myself that my pursuer had abandoned the chase, or +was a mere creation of my disordered imagination. Then I heard the +sound of the sea. I quickened my footsteps almost into a run, and +immediately there was a stumble in my rear. + +I turned suddenly, and stared at the uncertain trees behind me. One +black shadow seemed to leap into another. I listened, rigid, and heard +nothing but the creep of the blood in my ears. I thought that my nerves +were unstrung, and that my imagination was tricking me, and turned +resolutely towards the sound of the sea again. + +In a minute or so the trees grew thinner, and I emerged upon a bare, +low headland running out into the sombre water. The night was calm and +clear, and the reflection of the growing multitude of the stars +shivered in the tranquil heaving of the sea. Some way out, the wash +upon an irregular band of reef shone with a pallid light of its own. +Westward I saw the zodiacal light mingling with the yellow brilliance +of the evening star. The coast fell away from me to the east, and +westward it was hidden by the shoulder of the cape. Then I recalled the +fact that Moreau’s beach lay to the west. + +A twig snapped behind me, and there was a rustle. I turned, and stood +facing the dark trees. I could see nothing—or else I could see too +much. Every dark form in the dimness had its ominous quality, its +peculiar suggestion of alert watchfulness. So I stood for perhaps a +minute, and then, with an eye to the trees still, turned westward to +cross the headland; and as I moved, one among the lurking shadows moved +to follow me. + +My heart beat quickly. Presently the broad sweep of a bay to the +westward became visible, and I halted again. The noiseless shadow +halted a dozen yards from me. A little point of light shone on the +further bend of the curve, and the grey sweep of the sandy beach lay +faint under the starlight. Perhaps two miles away was that little point +of light. To get to the beach I should have to go through the trees +where the shadows lurked, and down a bushy slope. + +I could see the Thing rather more distinctly now. It was no animal, for +it stood erect. At that I opened my mouth to speak, and found a hoarse +phlegm choked my voice. I tried again, and shouted, “Who is there?” +There was no answer. I advanced a step. The Thing did not move, only +gathered itself together. My foot struck a stone. That gave me an idea. +Without taking my eyes off the black form before me, I stooped and +picked up this lump of rock; but at my motion the Thing turned abruptly +as a dog might have done, and slunk obliquely into the further +darkness. Then I recalled a schoolboy expedient against big dogs, and +twisted the rock into my handkerchief, and gave this a turn round my +wrist. I heard a movement further off among the shadows, as if the +Thing was in retreat. Then suddenly my tense excitement gave way; I +broke into a profuse perspiration and fell a-trembling, with my +adversary routed and this weapon in my hand. + +It was some time before I could summon resolution to go down through +the trees and bushes upon the flank of the headland to the beach. At +last I did it at a run; and as I emerged from the thicket upon the +sand, I heard some other body come crashing after me. At that I +completely lost my head with fear, and began running along the sand. +Forthwith there came the swift patter of soft feet in pursuit. I gave a +wild cry, and redoubled my pace. Some dim, black things about three or +four times the size of rabbits went running or hopping up from the +beach towards the bushes as I passed. + +So long as I live, I shall remember the terror of that chase. I ran +near the water’s edge, and heard every now and then the splash of the +feet that gained upon me. Far away, hopelessly far, was the yellow +light. All the night about us was black and still. Splash, splash, came +the pursuing feet, nearer and nearer. I felt my breath going, for I was +quite out of training; it whooped as I drew it, and I felt a pain like +a knife at my side. I perceived the Thing would come up with me long +before I reached the enclosure, and, desperate and sobbing for my +breath, I wheeled round upon it and struck at it as it came up to +me,—struck with all my strength. The stone came out of the sling of the +handkerchief as I did so. As I turned, the Thing, which had been +running on all-fours, rose to its feet, and the missile fell fair on +its left temple. The skull rang loud, and the animal-man blundered into +me, thrust me back with its hands, and went staggering past me to fall +headlong upon the sand with its face in the water; and there it lay +still. + +I could not bring myself to approach that black heap. I left it there, +with the water rippling round it, under the still stars, and giving it +a wide berth pursued my way towards the yellow glow of the house; and +presently, with a positive effect of relief, came the pitiful moaning +of the puma, the sound that had originally driven me out to explore +this mysterious island. At that, though I was faint and horribly +fatigued, I gathered together all my strength, and began running again +towards the light. I thought I heard a voice calling me. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/text/Introduction.md b/text/Introduction.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..11d296c --- /dev/null +++ b/text/Introduction.md @@ -0,0 +1,48 @@ +# INTRODUCTION. + + +On February the First 1887, the _Lady Vain_ was lost by collision with +a derelict when about the latitude 1° S. and longitude 107° W. + +On January the Fifth, 1888—that is eleven months and four days after—my +uncle, Edward Prendick, a private gentleman, who certainly went aboard +the _Lady Vain_ at Callao, and who had been considered drowned, was +picked up in latitude 5° 3′ S. and longitude 101° W. in a small open +boat of which the name was illegible, but which is supposed to have +belonged to the missing schooner _Ipecacuanha_. He gave such a strange +account of himself that he was supposed demented. Subsequently he +alleged that his mind was a blank from the moment of his escape from +the _Lady Vain_. His case was discussed among psychologists at the time +as a curious instance of the lapse of memory consequent upon physical +and mental stress. The following narrative was found among his papers +by the undersigned, his nephew and heir, but unaccompanied by any +definite request for publication. + +The only island known to exist in the region in which my uncle was +picked up is Noble’s Isle, a small volcanic islet and uninhabited. It +was visited in 1891 by _H. M. S. Scorpion_. A party of sailors then +landed, but found nothing living thereon except certain curious white +moths, some hogs and rabbits, and some rather peculiar rats. So that +this narrative is without confirmation in its most essential +particular. With that understood, there seems no harm in putting this +strange story before the public in accordance, as I believe, with my +uncle’s intentions. There is at least this much in its behalf: my uncle +passed out of human knowledge about latitude 5° S. and longitude 105° +E., and reappeared in the same part of the ocean after a space of +eleven months. In some way he must have lived during the interval. And +it seems that a schooner called the _Ipecacuanha_ with a drunken +captain, John Davies, did start from Africa with a puma and certain +other animals aboard in January, 1887, that the vessel was well known +at several ports in the South Pacific, and that it finally disappeared +from those seas (with a considerable amount of copra aboard), sailing +to its unknown fate from Bayna in December, 1887, a date that tallies +entirely with my uncle’s story. + +CHARLES EDWARD PRENDICK. + + + + +The Island of Doctor Moreau + +(The Story written by Edward Prendick.) diff --git a/text/V. THE MAN WHO HAD NOWHERE TO GO.md b/text/V. THE MAN WHO HAD NOWHERE TO GO.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4229e9e --- /dev/null +++ b/text/V. THE MAN WHO HAD NOWHERE TO GO.md @@ -0,0 +1,144 @@ +V. +# THE MAN WHO HAD NOWHERE TO GO. + + +In the early morning (it was the second morning after my recovery, and +I believe the fourth after I was picked up), I awoke through an avenue +of tumultuous dreams,—dreams of guns and howling mobs,—and became +sensible of a hoarse shouting above me. I rubbed my eyes and lay +listening to the noise, doubtful for a little while of my whereabouts. +Then came a sudden pattering of bare feet, the sound of heavy objects +being thrown about, a violent creaking and the rattling of chains. I +heard the swish of the water as the ship was suddenly brought round, +and a foamy yellow-green wave flew across the little round window and +left it streaming. I jumped into my clothes and went on deck. + +As I came up the ladder I saw against the flushed sky—for the sun was +just rising—the broad back and red hair of the captain, and over his +shoulder the puma spinning from a tackle rigged on to the mizzen +spanker-boom. + +The poor brute seemed horribly scared, and crouched in the bottom of +its little cage. + +“Overboard with ’em!” bawled the captain. “Overboard with ’em! We’ll +have a clean ship soon of the whole bilin’ of ’em.” + +He stood in my way, so that I had perforce to tap his shoulder to come +on deck. He came round with a start, and staggered back a few paces to +stare at me. It needed no expert eye to tell that the man was still +drunk. + +“Hullo!” said he, stupidly; and then with a light coming into his eyes, +“Why, it’s Mister—Mister?” + +“Prendick,” said I. + +“Prendick be damned!” said he. “Shut-up,—that’s your name. Mister +Shut-up.” + +It was no good answering the brute; but I certainly did not expect his +next move. He held out his hand to the gangway by which Montgomery +stood talking to a massive grey-haired man in dirty-blue flannels, who +had apparently just come aboard. + +“That way, Mister Blasted Shut-up! that way!” roared the captain. + +Montgomery and his companion turned as he spoke. + +“What do you mean?” I said. + +“That way, Mister Blasted Shut-up,—that’s what I mean! Overboard, +Mister Shut-up,—and sharp! We’re cleaning the ship out,—cleaning the +whole blessed ship out; and overboard you go!” + +I stared at him dumfounded. Then it occurred to me that it was exactly +the thing I wanted. The lost prospect of a journey as sole passenger +with this quarrelsome sot was not one to mourn over. I turned towards +Montgomery. + +“Can’t have you,” said Montgomery’s companion, concisely. + +“You can’t have me!” said I, aghast. He had the squarest and most +resolute face I ever set eyes upon. + +“Look here,” I began, turning to the captain. + +“Overboard!” said the captain. “This ship aint for beasts and cannibals +and worse than beasts, any more. Overboard you go, Mister Shut-up. If +they can’t have you, you goes overboard. But, anyhow, you go—with your +friends. I’ve done with this blessed island for evermore, amen! I’ve +had enough of it.” + +“But, Montgomery,” I appealed. + +He distorted his lower lip, and nodded his head hopelessly at the +grey-haired man beside him, to indicate his powerlessness to help me. + +“I’ll see to _you_, presently,” said the captain. + +Then began a curious three-cornered altercation. Alternately I appealed +to one and another of the three men,—first to the grey-haired man to +let me land, and then to the drunken captain to keep me aboard. I even +bawled entreaties to the sailors. Montgomery said never a word, only +shook his head. “You’re going overboard, I tell you,” was the captain’s +refrain. “Law be damned! I’m king here.” At last I must confess my +voice suddenly broke in the middle of a vigorous threat. I felt a gust +of hysterical petulance, and went aft and stared dismally at nothing. + +Meanwhile the sailors progressed rapidly with the task of unshipping +the packages and caged animals. A large launch, with two standing lugs, +lay under the lee of the schooner; and into this the strange assortment +of goods were swung. I did not then see the hands from the island that +were receiving the packages, for the hull of the launch was hidden from +me by the side of the schooner. Neither Montgomery nor his companion +took the slightest notice of me, but busied themselves in assisting and +directing the four or five sailors who were unloading the goods. The +captain went forward interfering rather than assisting. I was +alternately despairful and desperate. Once or twice as I stood waiting +there for things to accomplish themselves, I could not resist an +impulse to laugh at my miserable quandary. I felt all the wretcheder +for the lack of a breakfast. Hunger and a lack of blood-corpuscles take +all the manhood from a man. I perceived pretty clearly that I had not +the stamina either to resist what the captain chose to do to expel me, +or to force myself upon Montgomery and his companion. So I waited +passively upon fate; and the work of transferring Montgomery’s +possessions to the launch went on as if I did not exist. + +Presently that work was finished, and then came a struggle. I was +hauled, resisting weakly enough, to the gangway. Even then I noticed +the oddness of the brown faces of the men who were with Montgomery in +the launch; but the launch was now fully laden, and was shoved off +hastily. A broadening gap of green water appeared under me, and I +pushed back with all my strength to avoid falling headlong. The hands +in the launch shouted derisively, and I heard Montgomery curse at them; +and then the captain, the mate, and one of the seamen helping him, ran +me aft towards the stern. + +The dingey of the _Lady Vain_ had been towing behind; it was half full +of water, had no oars, and was quite unvictualled. I refused to go +aboard her, and flung myself full length on the deck. In the end, they +swung me into her by a rope (for they had no stern ladder), and then +they cut me adrift. I drifted slowly from the schooner. In a kind of +stupor I watched all hands take to the rigging, and slowly but surely +she came round to the wind; the sails fluttered, and then bellied out +as the wind came into them. I stared at her weather-beaten side heeling +steeply towards me; and then she passed out of my range of view. + +I did not turn my head to follow her. At first I could scarcely believe +what had happened. I crouched in the bottom of the dingey, stunned, and +staring blankly at the vacant, oily sea. Then I realised that I was in +that little hell of mine again, now half swamped; and looking back over +the gunwale, I saw the schooner standing away from me, with the +red-haired captain mocking at me over the taffrail, and turning towards +the island saw the launch growing smaller as she approached the beach. + +Abruptly the cruelty of this desertion became clear to me. I had no +means of reaching the land unless I should chance to drift there. I was +still weak, you must remember, from my exposure in the boat; I was +empty and very faint, or I should have had more heart. But as it was I +suddenly began to sob and weep, as I had never done since I was a +little child. The tears ran down my face. In a passion of despair I +struck with my fists at the water in the bottom of the boat, and kicked +savagely at the gunwale. I prayed aloud for God to let me die. + diff --git a/text/VI. THE EVIL-LOOKING BOATMEN.md b/text/VI. THE EVIL-LOOKING BOATMEN.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..007eb4c --- /dev/null +++ b/text/VI. THE EVIL-LOOKING BOATMEN.md @@ -0,0 +1,161 @@ +# THE EVIL-LOOKING BOATMEN. + + +But the islanders, seeing that I was really adrift, took pity on me. I +drifted very slowly to the eastward, approaching the island slantingly; +and presently I saw, with hysterical relief, the launch come round and +return towards me. She was heavily laden, and I could make out as she +drew nearer Montgomery’s white-haired, broad-shouldered companion +sitting cramped up with the dogs and several packing-cases in the stern +sheets. This individual stared fixedly at me without moving or +speaking. The black-faced cripple was glaring at me as fixedly in the +bows near the puma. There were three other men besides,—three strange +brutish-looking fellows, at whom the staghounds were snarling savagely. +Montgomery, who was steering, brought the boat by me, and rising, +caught and fastened my painter to the tiller to tow me, for there was +no room aboard. + +I had recovered from my hysterical phase by this time and answered his +hail, as he approached, bravely enough. I told him the dingey was +nearly swamped, and he reached me a piggin. I was jerked back as the +rope tightened between the boats. For some time I was busy baling. + +It was not until I had got the water under (for the water in the dingey +had been shipped; the boat was perfectly sound) that I had leisure to +look at the people in the launch again. + +The white-haired man I found was still regarding me steadfastly, but +with an expression, as I now fancied, of some perplexity. When my eyes +met his, he looked down at the staghound that sat between his knees. He +was a powerfully-built man, as I have said, with a fine forehead and +rather heavy features; but his eyes had that odd drooping of the skin +above the lids which often comes with advancing years, and the fall of +his heavy mouth at the corners gave him an expression of pugnacious +resolution. He talked to Montgomery in a tone too low for me to hear. + +From him my eyes travelled to his three men; and a strange crew they +were. I saw only their faces, yet there was something in their faces—I +knew not what—that gave me a queer spasm of disgust. I looked steadily +at them, and the impression did not pass, though I failed to see what +had occasioned it. They seemed to me then to be brown men; but their +limbs were oddly swathed in some thin, dirty, white stuff down even to +the fingers and feet: I have never seen men so wrapped up before, and +women so only in the East. They wore turbans too, and thereunder peered +out their elfin faces at me,—faces with protruding lower-jaws and +bright eyes. They had lank black hair, almost like horsehair, and +seemed as they sat to exceed in stature any race of men I have seen. +The white-haired man, who I knew was a good six feet in height, sat a +head below any one of the three. I found afterwards that really none +were taller than myself; but their bodies were abnormally long, and the +thigh-part of the leg short and curiously twisted. At any rate, they +were an amazingly ugly gang, and over the heads of them under the +forward lug peered the black face of the man whose eyes were luminous +in the dark. As I stared at them, they met my gaze; and then first one +and then another turned away from my direct stare, and looked at me in +an odd, furtive manner. It occurred to me that I was perhaps annoying +them, and I turned my attention to the island we were approaching. + +It was low, and covered with thick vegetation,—chiefly a kind of palm, +that was new to me. From one point a thin white thread of vapour rose +slantingly to an immense height, and then frayed out like a down +feather. We were now within the embrace of a broad bay flanked on +either hand by a low promontory. The beach was of dull-grey sand, and +sloped steeply up to a ridge, perhaps sixty or seventy feet above the +sea-level, and irregularly set with trees and undergrowth. Half way up +was a square enclosure of some greyish stone, which I found +subsequently was built partly of coral and partly of pumiceous lava. +Two thatched roofs peeped from within this enclosure. A man stood +awaiting us at the water’s edge. I fancied while we were still far off +that I saw some other and very grotesque-looking creatures scuttle into +the bushes upon the slope; but I saw nothing of these as we drew +nearer. This man was of a moderate size, and with a black negroid face. +He had a large, almost lipless, mouth, extraordinary lank arms, long +thin feet, and bow-legs, and stood with his heavy face thrust forward +staring at us. He was dressed like Montgomery and his white-haired +companion, in jacket and trousers of blue serge. As we came still +nearer, this individual began to run to and fro on the beach, making +the most grotesque movements. + +At a word of command from Montgomery, the four men in the launch sprang +up, and with singularly awkward gestures struck the lugs. Montgomery +steered us round and into a narrow little dock excavated in the beach. +Then the man on the beach hastened towards us. This dock, as I call it, +was really a mere ditch just long enough at this phase of the tide to +take the longboat. I heard the bows ground in the sand, staved the +dingey off the rudder of the big boat with my piggin, and freeing the +painter, landed. The three muffled men, with the clumsiest movements, +scrambled out upon the sand, and forthwith set to landing the cargo, +assisted by the man on the beach. I was struck especially by the +curious movements of the legs of the three swathed and bandaged +boatmen,—not stiff they were, but distorted in some odd way, almost as +if they were jointed in the wrong place. The dogs were still snarling, +and strained at their chains after these men, as the white-haired man +landed with them. The three big fellows spoke to one another in odd +guttural tones, and the man who had waited for us on the beach began +chattering to them excitedly—a foreign language, as I fancied—as they +laid hands on some bales piled near the stern. Somewhere I had heard +such a voice before, and I could not think where. The white-haired man +stood, holding in a tumult of six dogs, and bawling orders over their +din. Montgomery, having unshipped the rudder, landed likewise, and all +set to work at unloading. I was too faint, what with my long fast and +the sun beating down on my bare head, to offer any assistance. + +Presently the white-haired man seemed to recollect my presence, and +came up to me. + +“You look,” said he, “as though you had scarcely breakfasted.” His +little eyes were a brilliant black under his heavy brows. “I must +apologise for that. Now you are our guest, we must make you +comfortable,—though you are uninvited, you know.” He looked keenly into +my face. “Montgomery says you are an educated man, Mr. Prendick; says +you know something of science. May I ask what that signifies?” + +I told him I had spent some years at the Royal College of Science, and +had done some researches in biology under Huxley. He raised his +eyebrows slightly at that. + +“That alters the case a little, Mr. Prendick,” he said, with a trifle +more respect in his manner. “As it happens, we are biologists here. +This is a biological station—of a sort.” His eye rested on the men in +white who were busily hauling the puma, on rollers, towards the walled +yard. “I and Montgomery, at least,” he added. Then, “When you will be +able to get away, I can’t say. We’re off the track to anywhere. We see +a ship once in a twelve-month or so.” + +He left me abruptly, and went up the beach past this group, and I think +entered the enclosure. The other two men were with Montgomery, erecting +a pile of smaller packages on a low-wheeled truck. The llama was still +on the launch with the rabbit hutches; the staghounds were still lashed +to the thwarts. The pile of things completed, all three men laid hold +of the truck and began shoving the ton-weight or so upon it after the +puma. Presently Montgomery left them, and coming back to me held out +his hand. + +“I’m glad,” said he, “for my own part. That captain was a silly ass. +He’d have made things lively for you.” + +“It was you,” said I, “that saved me again.” + +“That depends. You’ll find this island an infernally rum place, I +promise you. I’d watch my goings carefully, if I were you. _He_—” He +hesitated, and seemed to alter his mind about what was on his lips. “I +wish you’d help me with these rabbits,” he said. + +His procedure with the rabbits was singular. I waded in with him, and +helped him lug one of the hutches ashore. No sooner was that done than +he opened the door of it, and tilting the thing on one end turned its +living contents out on the ground. They fell in a struggling heap one +on the top of the other. He clapped his hands, and forthwith they went +off with that hopping run of theirs, fifteen or twenty of them I should +think, up the beach. + +“Increase and multiply, my friends,” said Montgomery. “Replenish the +island. Hitherto we’ve had a certain lack of meat here.” + +As I watched them disappearing, the white-haired man returned with a +brandy-flask and some biscuits. “Something to go on with, Prendick,” +said he, in a far more familiar tone than before. I made no ado, but +set to work on the biscuits at once, while the white-haired man helped +Montgomery to release about a score more of the rabbits. Three big +hutches, however, went up to the house with the puma. The brandy I did +not touch, for I have been an abstainer from my birth. diff --git a/text/VII. THE LOCKED DOOR.md b/text/VII. THE LOCKED DOOR.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5e3c30f --- /dev/null +++ b/text/VII. THE LOCKED DOOR.md @@ -0,0 +1,167 @@ + +# THE LOCKED DOOR. + + +The reader will perhaps understand that at first everything was so +strange about me, and my position was the outcome of such unexpected +adventures, that I had no discernment of the relative strangeness of +this or that thing. I followed the llama up the beach, and was +overtaken by Montgomery, who asked me not to enter the stone enclosure. +I noticed then that the puma in its cage and the pile of packages had +been placed outside the entrance to this quadrangle. + +I turned and saw that the launch had now been unloaded, run out again, +and was being beached, and the white-haired man was walking towards us. +He addressed Montgomery. + +“And now comes the problem of this uninvited guest. What are we to do +with him?” + +“He knows something of science,” said Montgomery. + +“I’m itching to get to work again—with this new stuff,” said the +white-haired man, nodding towards the enclosure. His eyes grew +brighter. + +“I daresay you are,” said Montgomery, in anything but a cordial tone. + +“We can’t send him over there, and we can’t spare the time to build him +a new shanty; and we certainly can’t take him into our confidence just +yet.” + +“I’m in your hands,” said I. I had no idea of what he meant by “over +there.” + +“I’ve been thinking of the same things,” Montgomery answered. “There’s +my room with the outer door—” + +“That’s it,” said the elder man, promptly, looking at Montgomery; and +all three of us went towards the enclosure. “I’m sorry to make a +mystery, Mr. Prendick; but you’ll remember you’re uninvited. Our little +establishment here contains a secret or so, is a kind of Blue-Beard’s +chamber, in fact. Nothing very dreadful, really, to a sane man; but +just now, as we don’t know you—” + +“Decidedly,” said I, “I should be a fool to take offence at any want of +confidence.” + +He twisted his heavy mouth into a faint smile—he was one of those +saturnine people who smile with the corners of the mouth down,—and +bowed his acknowledgment of my complaisance. The main entrance to the +enclosure was passed; it was a heavy wooden gate, framed in iron and +locked, with the cargo of the launch piled outside it, and at the +corner we came to a small doorway I had not previously observed. The +white-haired man produced a bundle of keys from the pocket of his +greasy blue jacket, opened this door, and entered. His keys, and the +elaborate locking-up of the place even while it was still under his +eye, struck me as peculiar. I followed him, and found myself in a small +apartment, plainly but not uncomfortably furnished and with its inner +door, which was slightly ajar, opening into a paved courtyard. This +inner door Montgomery at once closed. A hammock was slung across the +darker corner of the room, and a small unglazed window defended by an +iron bar looked out towards the sea. + +This the white-haired man told me was to be my apartment; and the inner +door, which “for fear of accidents,” he said, he would lock on the +other side, was my limit inward. He called my attention to a convenient +deck-chair before the window, and to an array of old books, chiefly, I +found, surgical works and editions of the Latin and Greek classics +(languages I cannot read with any comfort), on a shelf near the +hammock. He left the room by the outer door, as if to avoid opening the +inner one again. + +“We usually have our meals in here,” said Montgomery, and then, as if +in doubt, went out after the other. “Moreau!” I heard him call, and for +the moment I do not think I noticed. Then as I handled the books on the +shelf it came up in consciousness: Where had I heard the name of Moreau +before? I sat down before the window, took out the biscuits that still +remained to me, and ate them with an excellent appetite. Moreau! + +Through the window I saw one of those unaccountable men in white, +lugging a packing-case along the beach. Presently the window-frame hid +him. Then I heard a key inserted and turned in the lock behind me. +After a little while I heard through the locked door the noise of the +staghounds, that had now been brought up from the beach. They were not +barking, but sniffing and growling in a curious fashion. I could hear +the rapid patter of their feet, and Montgomery’s voice soothing them. + +I was very much impressed by the elaborate secrecy of these two men +regarding the contents of the place, and for some time I was thinking +of that and of the unaccountable familiarity of the name of Moreau; but +so odd is the human memory that I could not then recall that well-known +name in its proper connection. From that my thoughts went to the +indefinable queerness of the deformed man on the beach. I never saw +such a gait, such odd motions as he pulled at the box. I recalled that +none of these men had spoken to me, though most of them I had found +looking at me at one time or another in a peculiarly furtive manner, +quite unlike the frank stare of your unsophisticated savage. Indeed, +they had all seemed remarkably taciturn, and when they did speak, +endowed with very uncanny voices. What was wrong with them? Then I +recalled the eyes of Montgomery’s ungainly attendant. + +Just as I was thinking of him he came in. He was now dressed in white, +and carried a little tray with some coffee and boiled vegetables +thereon. I could hardly repress a shuddering recoil as he came, bending +amiably, and placed the tray before me on the table. Then astonishment +paralysed me. Under his stringy black locks I saw his ear; it jumped +upon me suddenly close to my face. The man had pointed ears, covered +with a fine brown fur! + +“Your breakfast, sair,” he said. + +I stared at his face without attempting to answer him. He turned and +went towards the door, regarding me oddly over his shoulder. I followed +him out with my eyes; and as I did so, by some odd trick of unconscious +cerebration, there came surging into my head the phrase, “The Moreau +Hollows”—was it? “The Moreau—” Ah! It sent my memory back ten years. +“The Moreau Horrors!” The phrase drifted loose in my mind for a moment, +and then I saw it in red lettering on a little buff-coloured pamphlet, +to read which made one shiver and creep. Then I remembered distinctly +all about it. That long-forgotten pamphlet came back with startling +vividness to my mind. I had been a mere lad then, and Moreau was, I +suppose, about fifty,—a prominent and masterful physiologist, +well-known in scientific circles for his extraordinary imagination and +his brutal directness in discussion. + +Was this the same Moreau? He had published some very astonishing facts +in connection with the transfusion of blood, and in addition was known +to be doing valuable work on morbid growths. Then suddenly his career +was closed. He had to leave England. A journalist obtained access to +his laboratory in the capacity of laboratory-assistant, with the +deliberate intention of making sensational exposures; and by the help +of a shocking accident (if it was an accident), his gruesome pamphlet +became notorious. On the day of its publication a wretched dog, flayed +and otherwise mutilated, escaped from Moreau’s house. It was in the +silly season, and a prominent editor, a cousin of the temporary +laboratory-assistant, appealed to the conscience of the nation. It was +not the first time that conscience has turned against the methods of +research. The doctor was simply howled out of the country. It may be +that he deserved to be; but I still think that the tepid support of his +fellow-investigators and his desertion by the great body of scientific +workers was a shameful thing. Yet some of his experiments, by the +journalist’s account, were wantonly cruel. He might perhaps have +purchased his social peace by abandoning his investigations; but he +apparently preferred the latter, as most men would who have once fallen +under the overmastering spell of research. He was unmarried, and had +indeed nothing but his own interest to consider. + +I felt convinced that this must be the same man. Everything pointed to +it. It dawned upon me to what end the puma and the other animals—which +had now been brought with other luggage into the enclosure behind the +house—were destined; and a curious faint odour, the halitus of +something familiar, an odour that had been in the background of my +consciousness hitherto, suddenly came forward into the forefront of my +thoughts. It was the antiseptic odour of the dissecting-room. I heard +the puma growling through the wall, and one of the dogs yelped as +though it had been struck. + +Yet surely, and especially to another scientific man, there was nothing +so horrible in vivisection as to account for this secrecy; and by some +odd leap in my thoughts the pointed ears and luminous eyes of +Montgomery’s attendant came back again before me with the sharpest +definition. I stared before me out at the green sea, frothing under a +freshening breeze, and let these and other strange memories of the last +few days chase one another through my mind. + +What could it all mean? A locked enclosure on a lonely island, a +notorious vivisector, and these crippled and distorted men? diff --git a/text/VIII. THE CRYING OF THE PUMA.md b/text/VIII. THE CRYING OF THE PUMA.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..030a116 --- /dev/null +++ b/text/VIII. THE CRYING OF THE PUMA.md @@ -0,0 +1,115 @@ + +# THE CRYING OF THE PUMA. + + +Montgomery interrupted my tangle of mystification and suspicion about +one o’clock, and his grotesque attendant followed him with a tray +bearing bread, some herbs and other eatables, a flask of whiskey, a jug +of water, and three glasses and knives. I glanced askance at this +strange creature, and found him watching me with his queer, restless +eyes. Montgomery said he would lunch with me, but that Moreau was too +preoccupied with some work to come. + +“Moreau!” said I. “I know that name.” + +“The devil you do!” said he. “What an ass I was to mention it to you! I +might have thought. Anyhow, it will give you an inkling of +our—mysteries. Whiskey?” + +“No, thanks; I’m an abstainer.” + +“I wish I’d been. But it’s no use locking the door after the steed is +stolen. It was that infernal stuff which led to my coming here,—that, +and a foggy night. I thought myself in luck at the time, when Moreau +offered to get me off. It’s queer—” + +“Montgomery,” said I, suddenly, as the outer door closed, “why has your +man pointed ears?” + +“Damn!” he said, over his first mouthful of food. He stared at me for a +moment, and then repeated, “Pointed ears?” + +“Little points to them,” said I, as calmly as possible, with a catch in +my breath; “and a fine black fur at the edges?” + +He helped himself to whiskey and water with great deliberation. “I was +under the impression—that his hair covered his ears.” + +“I saw them as he stooped by me to put that coffee you sent to me on +the table. And his eyes shine in the dark.” + +By this time Montgomery had recovered from the surprise of my question. +“I always thought,” he said deliberately, with a certain accentuation +of his flavouring of lisp, “that there _was_ something the matter with +his ears, from the way he covered them. What were they like?” + +I was persuaded from his manner that this ignorance was a pretence. +Still, I could hardly tell the man that I thought him a liar. +“Pointed,” I said; “rather small and furry,—distinctly furry. But the +whole man is one of the strangest beings I ever set eyes on.” + +A sharp, hoarse cry of animal pain came from the enclosure behind us. +Its depth and volume testified to the puma. I saw Montgomery wince. + +“Yes?” he said. + +“Where did you pick up the creature?” + +“San Francisco. He’s an ugly brute, I admit. Half-witted, you know. +Can’t remember where he came from. But I’m used to him, you know. We +both are. How does he strike you?” + +“He’s unnatural,” I said. “There’s something about him—don’t think me +fanciful, but it gives me a nasty little sensation, a tightening of my +muscles, when he comes near me. It’s a touch—of the diabolical, in +fact.” + +Montgomery had stopped eating while I told him this. “Rum!” he said. +“_I_ can’t see it.” He resumed his meal. “I had no idea of it,” he +said, and masticated. “The crew of the schooner must have felt it the +same. Made a dead set at the poor devil. You saw the captain?” + +Suddenly the puma howled again, this time more painfully. Montgomery +swore under his breath. I had half a mind to attack him about the men +on the beach. Then the poor brute within gave vent to a series of +short, sharp cries. + +“Your men on the beach,” said I; “what race are they?” + +“Excellent fellows, aren’t they?” said he, absentmindedly, knitting his +brows as the animal yelled out sharply. + +I said no more. There was another outcry worse than the former. He +looked at me with his dull grey eyes, and then took some more whiskey. +He tried to draw me into a discussion about alcohol, professing to have +saved my life with it. He seemed anxious to lay stress on the fact that +I owed my life to him. I answered him distractedly. + +Presently our meal came to an end; the misshapen monster with the +pointed ears cleared the remains away, and Montgomery left me alone in +the room again. All the time he had been in a state of ill-concealed +irritation at the noise of the vivisected puma. He had spoken of his +odd want of nerve, and left me to the obvious application. + +I found myself that the cries were singularly irritating, and they grew +in depth and intensity as the afternoon wore on. They were painful at +first, but their constant resurgence at last altogether upset my +balance. I flung aside a crib of Horace I had been reading, and began +to clench my fists, to bite my lips, and to pace the room. Presently I +got to stopping my ears with my fingers. + +The emotional appeal of those yells grew upon me steadily, grew at last +to such an exquisite expression of suffering that I could stand it in +that confined room no longer. I stepped out of the door into the +slumberous heat of the late afternoon, and walking past the main +entrance—locked again, I noticed—turned the corner of the wall. + +The crying sounded even louder out of doors. It was as if all the pain +in the world had found a voice. Yet had I known such pain was in the +next room, and had it been dumb, I believe—I have thought since—I could +have stood it well enough. It is when suffering finds a voice and sets +our nerves quivering that this pity comes troubling us. But in spite of +the brilliant sunlight and the green fans of the trees waving in the +soothing sea-breeze, the world was a confusion, blurred with drifting +black and red phantasms, until I was out of earshot of the house in the +chequered wall. diff --git a/text/X. THE CRYING OF THE MAN.md b/text/X. THE CRYING OF THE MAN.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a46bfd7 --- /dev/null +++ b/text/X. THE CRYING OF THE MAN.md @@ -0,0 +1,131 @@ +# THE CRYING OF THE MAN. + + +As I drew near the house I saw that the light shone from the open door +of my room; and then I heard coming from out of the darkness at the +side of that orange oblong of light, the voice of Montgomery shouting, +“Prendick!” I continued running. Presently I heard him again. I replied +by a feeble “Hullo!” and in another moment had staggered up to him. + +“Where have you been?” said he, holding me at arm’s length, so that the +light from the door fell on my face. “We have both been so busy that we +forgot you until about half an hour ago.” He led me into the room and +sat me down in the deck chair. For awhile I was blinded by the light. +“We did not think you would start to explore this island of ours +without telling us,” he said; and then, “I was afraid—But—what—Hullo!” + +My last remaining strength slipped from me, and my head fell forward on +my chest. I think he found a certain satisfaction in giving me brandy. + +“For God’s sake,” said I, “fasten that door.” + +“You’ve been meeting some of our curiosities, eh?” said he. + +He locked the door and turned to me again. He asked me no questions, +but gave me some more brandy and water and pressed me to eat. I was in +a state of collapse. He said something vague about his forgetting to +warn me, and asked me briefly when I left the house and what I had +seen. + +I answered him as briefly, in fragmentary sentences. “Tell me what it +all means,” said I, in a state bordering on hysterics. + +“It’s nothing so very dreadful,” said he. “But I think you have had +about enough for one day.” The puma suddenly gave a sharp yell of pain. +At that he swore under his breath. “I’m damned,” said he, “if this +place is not as bad as Gower Street, with its cats.” + +“Montgomery,” said I, “what was that thing that came after me? Was it a +beast or was it a man?” + +“If you don’t sleep to-night,” he said, “you’ll be off your head +to-morrow.” + +I stood up in front of him. “What was that thing that came after me?” I +asked. + +He looked me squarely in the eyes, and twisted his mouth askew. His +eyes, which had seemed animated a minute before, went dull. “From your +account,” said he, “I’m thinking it was a bogle.” + +I felt a gust of intense irritation, which passed as quickly as it +came. I flung myself into the chair again, and pressed my hands on my +forehead. The puma began once more. + +Montgomery came round behind me and put his hand on my shoulder. “Look +here, Prendick,” he said, “I had no business to let you drift out into +this silly island of ours. But it’s not so bad as you feel, man. Your +nerves are worked to rags. Let me give you something that will make you +sleep. _That_—will keep on for hours yet. You must simply get to sleep, +or I won’t answer for it.” + +I did not reply. I bowed forward, and covered my face with my hands. +Presently he returned with a small measure containing a dark liquid. +This he gave me. I took it unresistingly, and he helped me into the +hammock. + +When I awoke, it was broad day. For a little while I lay flat, staring +at the roof above me. The rafters, I observed, were made out of the +timbers of a ship. Then I turned my head, and saw a meal prepared for +me on the table. I perceived that I was hungry, and prepared to clamber +out of the hammock, which, very politely anticipating my intention, +twisted round and deposited me upon all-fours on the floor. + +I got up and sat down before the food. I had a heavy feeling in my +head, and only the vaguest memory at first of the things that had +happened over night. The morning breeze blew very pleasantly through +the unglazed window, and that and the food contributed to the sense of +animal comfort which I experienced. Presently the door behind me—the +door inward towards the yard of the enclosure—opened. I turned and saw +Montgomery’s face. + +“All right,” said he. “I’m frightfully busy.” And he shut the door. + +Afterwards I discovered that he forgot to re-lock it. Then I recalled +the expression of his face the previous night, and with that the memory +of all I had experienced reconstructed itself before me. Even as that +fear came back to me came a cry from within; but this time it was not +the cry of a puma. I put down the mouthful that hesitated upon my lips, +and listened. Silence, save for the whisper of the morning breeze. I +began to think my ears had deceived me. + +After a long pause I resumed my meal, but with my ears still vigilant. +Presently I heard something else, very faint and low. I sat as if +frozen in my attitude. Though it was faint and low, it moved me more +profoundly than all that I had hitherto heard of the abominations +behind the wall. There was no mistake this time in the quality of the +dim, broken sounds; no doubt at all of their source. For it was +groaning, broken by sobs and gasps of anguish. It was no brute this +time; it was a human being in torment! + +As I realised this I rose, and in three steps had crossed the room, +seized the handle of the door into the yard, and flung it open before +me. + +“Prendick, man! Stop!” cried Montgomery, intervening. + +A startled deerhound yelped and snarled. There was blood, I saw, in the +sink,—brown, and some scarlet—and I smelt the peculiar smell of +carbolic acid. Then through an open doorway beyond, in the dim light of +the shadow, I saw something bound painfully upon a framework, scarred, +red, and bandaged; and then blotting this out appeared the face of old +Moreau, white and terrible. In a moment he had gripped me by the +shoulder with a hand that was smeared red, had twisted me off my feet, +and flung me headlong back into my own room. He lifted me as though I +was a little child. I fell at full length upon the floor, and the door +slammed and shut out the passionate intensity of his face. Then I heard +the key turn in the lock, and Montgomery’s voice in expostulation. + +“Ruin the work of a lifetime,” I heard Moreau say. + +“He does not understand,” said Montgomery. and other things that were +inaudible. + +“I can’t spare the time yet,” said Moreau. + +The rest I did not hear. I picked myself up and stood trembling, my +mind a chaos of the most horrible misgivings. Could it be possible, I +thought, that such a thing as the vivisection of men was carried on +here? The question shot like lightning across a tumultuous sky; and +suddenly the clouded horror of my mind condensed into a vivid +realisation of my own danger. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/text/XI. THE HUNTING OF THE MAN.md b/text/XI. THE HUNTING OF THE MAN.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dfefa65 --- /dev/null +++ b/text/XI. THE HUNTING OF THE MAN.md @@ -0,0 +1,188 @@ +# THE HUNTING OF THE MAN. + + +It came before my mind with an unreasonable hope of escape that the +outer door of my room was still open to me. I was convinced now, +absolutely assured, that Moreau had been vivisecting a human being. All +the time since I had heard his name, I had been trying to link in my +mind in some way the grotesque animalism of the islanders with his +abominations; and now I thought I saw it all. The memory of his work on +the transfusion of blood recurred to me. These creatures I had seen +were the victims of some hideous experiment. These sickening scoundrels +had merely intended to keep me back, to fool me with their display of +confidence, and presently to fall upon me with a fate more horrible +than death,—with torture; and after torture the most hideous +degradation it is possible to conceive,—to send me off a lost soul, a +beast, to the rest of their Comus rout. + +I looked round for some weapon. Nothing. Then with an inspiration I +turned over the deck chair, put my foot on the side of it, and tore +away the side rail. It happened that a nail came away with the wood, +and projecting, gave a touch of danger to an otherwise petty weapon. I +heard a step outside, and incontinently flung open the door and found +Montgomery within a yard of it. He meant to lock the outer door! I +raised this nailed stick of mine and cut at his face; but he sprang +back. I hesitated a moment, then turned and fled, round the corner of +the house. “Prendick, man!” I heard his astonished cry, “don’t be a +silly ass, man!” + +Another minute, thought I, and he would have had me locked in, and as +ready as a hospital rabbit for my fate. He emerged behind the corner, +for I heard him shout, “Prendick!” Then he began to run after me, +shouting things as he ran. This time running blindly, I went +northeastward in a direction at right angles to my previous expedition. +Once, as I went running headlong up the beach, I glanced over my +shoulder and saw his attendant with him. I ran furiously up the slope, +over it, then turning eastward along a rocky valley fringed on either +side with jungle I ran for perhaps a mile altogether, my chest +straining, my heart beating in my ears; and then hearing nothing of +Montgomery or his man, and feeling upon the verge of exhaustion, I +doubled sharply back towards the beach as I judged, and lay down in the +shelter of a canebrake. There I remained for a long time, too fearful +to move, and indeed too fearful even to plan a course of action. The +wild scene about me lay sleeping silently under the sun, and the only +sound near me was the thin hum of some small gnats that had discovered +me. Presently I became aware of a drowsy breathing sound, the soughing +of the sea upon the beach. + +After about an hour I heard Montgomery shouting my name, far away to +the north. That set me thinking of my plan of action. As I interpreted +it then, this island was inhabited only by these two vivisectors and +their animalised victims. Some of these no doubt they could press into +their service against me if need arose. I knew both Moreau and +Montgomery carried revolvers; and, save for a feeble bar of deal spiked +with a small nail, the merest mockery of a mace, I was unarmed. + +So I lay still there, until I began to think of food and drink; and at +that thought the real hopelessness of my position came home to me. I +knew no way of getting anything to eat. I was too ignorant of botany to +discover any resort of root or fruit that might lie about me; I had no +means of trapping the few rabbits upon the island. It grew blanker the +more I turned the prospect over. At last in the desperation of my +position, my mind turned to the animal men I had encountered. I tried +to find some hope in what I remembered of them. In turn I recalled each +one I had seen, and tried to draw some augury of assistance from my +memory. + +Then suddenly I heard a staghound bay, and at that realised a new +danger. I took little time to think, or they would have caught me then, +but snatching up my nailed stick, rushed headlong from my hiding-place +towards the sound of the sea. I remember a growth of thorny plants, +with spines that stabbed like pen-knives. I emerged bleeding and with +torn clothes upon the lip of a long creek opening northward. I went +straight into the water without a minute’s hesitation, wading up the +creek, and presently finding myself kneedeep in a little stream. I +scrambled out at last on the westward bank, and with my heart beating +loudly in my ears, crept into a tangle of ferns to await the issue. I +heard the dog (there was only one) draw nearer, and yelp when it came +to the thorns. Then I heard no more, and presently began to think I had +escaped. + +The minutes passed; the silence lengthened out, and at last after an +hour of security my courage began to return to me. By this time I was +no longer very much terrified or very miserable. I had, as it were, +passed the limit of terror and despair. I felt now that my life was +practically lost, and that persuasion made me capable of daring +anything. I had even a certain wish to encounter Moreau face to face; +and as I had waded into the water, I remembered that if I were too hard +pressed at least one path of escape from torment still lay open to +me,—they could not very well prevent my drowning myself. I had half a +mind to drown myself then; but an odd wish to see the whole adventure +out, a queer, impersonal, spectacular interest in myself, restrained +me. I stretched my limbs, sore and painful from the pricks of the spiny +plants, and stared around me at the trees; and, so suddenly that it +seemed to jump out of the green tracery about it, my eyes lit upon a +black face watching me. I saw that it was the simian creature who had +met the launch upon the beach. He was clinging to the oblique stem of a +palm-tree. I gripped my stick, and stood up facing him. He began +chattering. “You, you, you,” was all I could distinguish at first. +Suddenly he dropped from the tree, and in another moment was holding +the fronds apart and staring curiously at me. + +I did not feel the same repugnance towards this creature which I had +experienced in my encounters with the other Beast Men. “You,” he said, +“in the boat.” He was a man, then,—at least as much of a man as +Montgomery’s attendant,—for he could talk. + +“Yes,” I said, “I came in the boat. From the ship.” + +“Oh!” he said, and his bright, restless eyes travelled over me, to my +hands, to the stick I carried, to my feet, to the tattered places in my +coat, and the cuts and scratches I had received from the thorns. He +seemed puzzled at something. His eyes came back to my hands. He held +his own hand out and counted his digits slowly, “One, two, three, four, +five—eigh?” + +I did not grasp his meaning then; afterwards I was to find that a great +proportion of these Beast People had malformed hands, lacking sometimes +even three digits. But guessing this was in some way a greeting, I did +the same thing by way of reply. He grinned with immense satisfaction. +Then his swift roving glance went round again; he made a swift +movement—and vanished. The fern fronds he had stood between came +swishing together. + +I pushed out of the brake after him, and was astonished to find him +swinging cheerfully by one lank arm from a rope of creepers that looped +down from the foliage overhead. His back was to me. + +“Hullo!” said I. + +He came down with a twisting jump, and stood facing me. + +“I say,” said I, “where can I get something to eat?” + +“Eat!” he said. “Eat Man’s food, now.” And his eye went back to the +swing of ropes. “At the huts.” + +“But where are the huts?” + +“Oh!” + +“I’m new, you know.” + +At that he swung round, and set off at a quick walk. All his motions +were curiously rapid. “Come along,” said he. + +I went with him to see the adventure out. I guessed the huts were some +rough shelter where he and some more of these Beast People lived. I +might perhaps find them friendly, find some handle in their minds to +take hold of. I did not know how far they had forgotten their human +heritage. + +My ape-like companion trotted along by my side, with his hands hanging +down and his jaw thrust forward. I wondered what memory he might have +in him. “How long have you been on this island?” said I. + +“How long?” he asked; and after having the question repeated, he held +up three fingers. + +The creature was little better than an idiot. I tried to make out what +he meant by that, and it seems I bored him. After another question or +two he suddenly left my side and went leaping at some fruit that hung +from a tree. He pulled down a handful of prickly husks and went on +eating the contents. I noted this with satisfaction, for here at least +was a hint for feeding. I tried him with some other questions, but his +chattering, prompt responses were as often as not quite at cross +purposes with my question. Some few were appropriate, others quite +parrot-like. + +I was so intent upon these peculiarities that I scarcely noticed the +path we followed. Presently we came to trees, all charred and brown, +and so to a bare place covered with a yellow-white incrustation, across +which a drifting smoke, pungent in whiffs to nose and eyes, went +drifting. On our right, over a shoulder of bare rock, I saw the level +blue of the sea. The path coiled down abruptly into a narrow ravine +between two tumbled and knotty masses of blackish scoriae. Into this we +plunged. + +It was extremely dark, this passage, after the blinding sunlight +reflected from the sulphurous ground. Its walls grew steep, and +approached each other. Blotches of green and crimson drifted across my +eyes. My conductor stopped suddenly. “Home!” said he, and I stood in a +floor of a chasm that was at first absolutely dark to me. I heard some +strange noises, and thrust the knuckles of my left hand into my eyes. I +became aware of a disagreeable odor, like that of a monkey’s cage +ill-cleaned. Beyond, the rock opened again upon a gradual slope of +sunlit greenery, and on either hand the light smote down through narrow +ways into the central gloom. + diff --git a/text/XII. THE SAYERS OF THE LAW.md b/text/XII. THE SAYERS OF THE LAW.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8b1a30e --- /dev/null +++ b/text/XII. THE SAYERS OF THE LAW.md @@ -0,0 +1,297 @@ +XII. +# THE SAYERS OF THE LAW. + + +Then something cold touched my hand. I started violently, and saw close +to me a dim pinkish thing, looking more like a flayed child than +anything else in the world. The creature had exactly the mild but +repulsive features of a sloth, the same low forehead and slow gestures. + +As the first shock of the change of light passed, I saw about me more +distinctly. The little sloth-like creature was standing and staring at +me. My conductor had vanished. The place was a narrow passage between +high walls of lava, a crack in the knotted rock, and on either side +interwoven heaps of sea-mat, palm-fans, and reeds leaning against the +rock formed rough and impenetrably dark dens. The winding way up the +ravine between these was scarcely three yards wide, and was disfigured +by lumps of decaying fruit-pulp and other refuse, which accounted for +the disagreeable stench of the place. + +The little pink sloth-creature was still blinking at me when my Ape-man +reappeared at the aperture of the nearest of these dens, and beckoned +me in. As he did so a slouching monster wriggled out of one of the +places, further up this strange street, and stood up in featureless +silhouette against the bright green beyond, staring at me. I hesitated, +having half a mind to bolt the way I had come; and then, determined to +go through with the adventure, I gripped my nailed stick about the +middle and crawled into the little evil-smelling lean-to after my +conductor. + +It was a semi-circular space, shaped like the half of a bee-hive; and +against the rocky wall that formed the inner side of it was a pile of +variegated fruits, cocoa-nuts among others. Some rough vessels of lava +and wood stood about the floor, and one on a rough stool. There was no +fire. In the darkest corner of the hut sat a shapeless mass of darkness +that grunted “Hey!” as I came in, and my Ape-man stood in the dim light +of the doorway and held out a split cocoa-nut to me as I crawled into +the other corner and squatted down. I took it, and began gnawing it, as +serenely as possible, in spite of a certain trepidation and the nearly +intolerable closeness of the den. The little pink sloth-creature stood +in the aperture of the hut, and something else with a drab face and +bright eyes came staring over its shoulder. + +“Hey!” came out of the lump of mystery opposite. “It is a man.” + +“It is a man,” gabbled my conductor, “a man, a man, a five-man, like +me.” + +“Shut up!” said the voice from the dark, and grunted. I gnawed my +cocoa-nut amid an impressive stillness. + +I peered hard into the blackness, but could distinguish nothing. + +“It is a man,” the voice repeated. “He comes to live with us?” + +It was a thick voice, with something in it—a kind of whistling +overtone—that struck me as peculiar; but the English accent was +strangely good. + +The Ape-man looked at me as though he expected something. I perceived +the pause was interrogative. “He comes to live with you,” I said. + +“It is a man. He must learn the Law.” + +I began to distinguish now a deeper blackness in the black, a vague +outline of a hunched-up figure. Then I noticed the opening of the place +was darkened by two more black heads. My hand tightened on my stick. + +The thing in the dark repeated in a louder tone, “Say the words.” I had +missed its last remark. “Not to go on all-fours; that is the Law,” it +repeated in a kind of sing-song. + +I was puzzled. + +“Say the words,” said the Ape-man, repeating, and the figures in the +doorway echoed this, with a threat in the tone of their voices. + +I realised that I had to repeat this idiotic formula; and then began +the insanest ceremony. The voice in the dark began intoning a mad +litany, line by line, and I and the rest to repeat it. As they did so, +they swayed from side to side in the oddest way, and beat their hands +upon their knees; and I followed their example. I could have imagined I +was already dead and in another world. That dark hut, these grotesque +dim figures, just flecked here and there by a glimmer of light, and all +of them swaying in unison and chanting, + +“Not to go on all-fours; that is the Law. Are we not Men? +“Not to suck up Drink; that is the Law. Are we not Men? +“Not to eat Fish or Flesh; that is the Law. Are we not Men? +“Not to claw the Bark of Trees; _that_ is the Law. Are we not Men? +“Not to chase other Men; _that_ is the Law. Are we not Men?” + + +And so from the prohibition of these acts of folly, on to the +prohibition of what I thought then were the maddest, most impossible, +and most indecent things one could well imagine. A kind of rhythmic +fervour fell on all of us; we gabbled and swayed faster and faster, +repeating this amazing Law. Superficially the contagion of these brutes +was upon me, but deep down within me the laughter and disgust struggled +together. We ran through a long list of prohibitions, and then the +chant swung round to a new formula. + +“_His_ is the House of Pain. +“_His_ is the Hand that makes. +“_His_ is the Hand that wounds. +“_His_ is the Hand that heals.” + + +And so on for another long series, mostly quite incomprehensible +gibberish to me about _Him_, whoever he might be. I could have fancied +it was a dream, but never before have I heard chanting in a dream. + +“_His_ is the lightning flash,” we sang. “_His_ is the deep, salt sea.” + +A horrible fancy came into my head that Moreau, after animalising these +men, had infected their dwarfed brains with a kind of deification of +himself. However, I was too keenly aware of white teeth and strong +claws about me to stop my chanting on that account. + +“_His_ are the stars in the sky.” + + +At last that song ended. I saw the Ape-man’s face shining with +perspiration; and my eyes being now accustomed to the darkness, I saw +more distinctly the figure in the corner from which the voice came. It +was the size of a man, but it seemed covered with a dull grey hair +almost like a Skye-terrier. What was it? What were they all? Imagine +yourself surrounded by all the most horrible cripples and maniacs it is +possible to conceive, and you may understand a little of my feelings +with these grotesque caricatures of humanity about me. + +“He is a five-man, a five-man, a five-man—like me,” said the Ape-man. + +I held out my hands. The grey creature in the corner leant forward. + +“Not to run on all-fours; that is the Law. Are we not Men?” he said. + +He put out a strangely distorted talon and gripped my fingers. The +thing was almost like the hoof of a deer produced into claws. I could +have yelled with surprise and pain. His face came forward and peered at +my nails, came forward into the light of the opening of the hut and I +saw with a quivering disgust that it was like the face of neither man +nor beast, but a mere shock of grey hair, with three shadowy +over-archings to mark the eyes and mouth. + +“He has little nails,” said this grisly creature in his hairy beard. +“It is well.” + +He threw my hand down, and instinctively I gripped my stick. + +“Eat roots and herbs; it is His will,” said the Ape-man. + +“I am the Sayer of the Law,” said the grey figure. “Here come all that +be new to learn the Law. I sit in the darkness and say the Law.” + +“It is even so,” said one of the beasts in the doorway. + +“Evil are the punishments of those who break the Law. None escape.” + +“None escape,” said the Beast Folk, glancing furtively at one another. + +“None, none,” said the Ape-man,—“none escape. See! I did a little +thing, a wrong thing, once. I jabbered, jabbered, stopped talking. None +could understand. I am burnt, branded in the hand. He is great. He is +good!” + +“None escape,” said the grey creature in the corner. + +“None escape,” said the Beast People, looking askance at one another. + +“For every one the want that is bad,” said the grey Sayer of the Law. +“What you will want we do not know; we shall know. Some want to follow +things that move, to watch and slink and wait and spring; to kill and +bite, bite deep and rich, sucking the blood. It is bad. ‘Not to chase +other Men; that is the Law. Are we not Men? Not to eat Flesh or Fish; +that is the Law. Are we not Men?’” + +“None escape,” said a dappled brute standing in the doorway. + +“For every one the want is bad,” said the grey Sayer of the Law. “Some +want to go tearing with teeth and hands into the roots of things, +snuffing into the earth. It is bad.” + +“None escape,” said the men in the door. + +“Some go clawing trees; some go scratching at the graves of the dead; +some go fighting with foreheads or feet or claws; some bite suddenly, +none giving occasion; some love uncleanness.” + +“None escape,” said the Ape-man, scratching his calf. + +“None escape,” said the little pink sloth-creature. + +“Punishment is sharp and sure. Therefore learn the Law. Say the words.” + +And incontinently he began again the strange litany of the Law, and +again I and all these creatures began singing and swaying. My head +reeled with this jabbering and the close stench of the place; but I +kept on, trusting to find presently some chance of a new development. + +“Not to go on all-fours; that is the Law. Are we not Men?” + +We were making such a noise that I noticed nothing of a tumult outside, +until some one, who I think was one of the two Swine Men I had seen, +thrust his head over the little pink sloth-creature and shouted +something excitedly, something that I did not catch. Incontinently +those at the opening of the hut vanished; my Ape-man rushed out; the +thing that had sat in the dark followed him (I only observed that it +was big and clumsy, and covered with silvery hair), and I was left +alone. Then before I reached the aperture I heard the yelp of a +staghound. + +In another moment I was standing outside the hovel, my chair-rail in my +hand, every muscle of me quivering. Before me were the clumsy backs of +perhaps a score of these Beast People, their misshapen heads half +hidden by their shoulder-blades. They were gesticulating excitedly. +Other half-animal faces glared interrogation out of the hovels. Looking +in the direction in which they faced, I saw coming through the haze +under the trees beyond the end of the passage of dens the dark figure +and awful white face of Moreau. He was holding the leaping staghound +back, and close behind him came Montgomery revolver in hand. + +For a moment I stood horror-struck. I turned and saw the passage behind +me blocked by another heavy brute, with a huge grey face and twinkling +little eyes, advancing towards me. I looked round and saw to the right +of me and a half-dozen yards in front of me a narrow gap in the wall of +rock through which a ray of light slanted into the shadows. + +“Stop!” cried Moreau as I strode towards this, and then, “Hold him!” + +At that, first one face turned towards me and then others. Their +bestial minds were happily slow. I dashed my shoulder into a clumsy +monster who was turning to see what Moreau meant, and flung him forward +into another. I felt his hands fly round, clutching at me and missing +me. The little pink sloth-creature dashed at me, and I gashed down its +ugly face with the nail in my stick and in another minute was +scrambling up a steep side pathway, a kind of sloping chimney, out of +the ravine. I heard a howl behind me, and cries of “Catch him!” “Hold +him!” and the grey-faced creature appeared behind me and jammed his +huge bulk into the cleft. “Go on! go on!” they howled. I clambered up +the narrow cleft in the rock and came out upon the sulphur on the +westward side of the village of the Beast Men. + +That gap was altogether fortunate for me, for the narrow chimney, +slanting obliquely upward, must have impeded the nearer pursuers. I ran +over the white space and down a steep slope, through a scattered growth +of trees, and came to a low-lying stretch of tall reeds, through which +I pushed into a dark, thick undergrowth that was black and succulent +under foot. As I plunged into the reeds, my foremost pursuers emerged +from the gap. I broke my way through this undergrowth for some minutes. +The air behind me and about me was soon full of threatening cries. I +heard the tumult of my pursuers in the gap up the slope, then the +crashing of the reeds, and every now and then the crackling crash of a +branch. Some of the creatures roared like excited beasts of prey. The +staghound yelped to the left. I heard Moreau and Montgomery shouting in +the same direction. I turned sharply to the right. It seemed to me even +then that I heard Montgomery shouting for me to run for my life. + +Presently the ground gave rich and oozy under my feet; but I was +desperate and went headlong into it, struggled through kneedeep, and so +came to a winding path among tall canes. The noise of my pursuers +passed away to my left. In one place three strange, pink, hopping +animals, about the size of cats, bolted before my footsteps. This +pathway ran up hill, across another open space covered with white +incrustation, and plunged into a canebrake again. Then suddenly it +turned parallel with the edge of a steep-walled gap, which came without +warning, like the ha-ha of an English park,—turned with an unexpected +abruptness. I was still running with all my might, and I never saw this +drop until I was flying headlong through the air. + +I fell on my forearms and head, among thorns, and rose with a torn ear +and bleeding face. I had fallen into a precipitous ravine, rocky and +thorny, full of a hazy mist which drifted about me in wisps, and with a +narrow streamlet from which this mist came meandering down the centre. +I was astonished at this thin fog in the full blaze of daylight; but I +had no time to stand wondering then. I turned to my right, down-stream, +hoping to come to the sea in that direction, and so have my way open to +drown myself. It was only later I found that I had dropped my nailed +stick in my fall. + +Presently the ravine grew narrower for a space, and carelessly I +stepped into the stream. I jumped out again pretty quickly, for the +water was almost boiling. I noticed too there was a thin sulphurous +scum drifting upon its coiling water. Almost immediately came a turn in +the ravine, and the indistinct blue horizon. The nearer sea was +flashing the sun from a myriad facets. I saw my death before me; but I +was hot and panting, with the warm blood oozing out on my face and +running pleasantly through my veins. I felt more than a touch of +exultation too, at having distanced my pursuers. It was not in me then +to go out and drown myself yet. I stared back the way I had come. + +I listened. Save for the hum of the gnats and the chirp of some small +insects that hopped among the thorns, the air was absolutely still. +Then came the yelp of a dog, very faint, and a chattering and +gibbering, the snap of a whip, and voices. They grew louder, then +fainter again. The noise receded up the stream and faded away. For a +while the chase was over; but I knew now how much hope of help for me +lay in the Beast People. diff --git a/text/XIII. A PARLEY.MD b/text/XIII. A PARLEY.MD new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f83a85d --- /dev/null +++ b/text/XIII. A PARLEY.MD @@ -0,0 +1,181 @@ +# A PARLEY. + + +I turned again and went on down towards the sea. I found the hot stream +broadened out to a shallow, weedy sand, in which an abundance of crabs +and long-bodied, many-legged creatures started from my footfall. I +walked to the very edge of the salt water, and then I felt I was safe. +I turned and stared, arms akimbo, at the thick green behind me, into +which the steamy ravine cut like a smoking gash. But, as I say, I was +too full of excitement and (a true saying, though those who have never +known danger may doubt it) too desperate to die. + +Then it came into my head that there was one chance before me yet. +While Moreau and Montgomery and their bestial rabble chased me through +the island, might I not go round the beach until I came to their +enclosure,—make a flank march upon them, in fact, and then with a rock +lugged out of their loosely-built wall, perhaps, smash in the lock of +the smaller door and see what I could find (knife, pistol, or what not) +to fight them with when they returned? It was at any rate something to +try. + +So I turned to the westward and walked along by the water’s edge. The +setting sun flashed his blinding heat into my eyes. The slight Pacific +tide was running in with a gentle ripple. Presently the shore fell away +southward, and the sun came round upon my right hand. Then suddenly, +far in front of me, I saw first one and then several figures emerging +from the bushes,—Moreau, with his grey staghound, then Montgomery, and +two others. At that I stopped. + +They saw me, and began gesticulating and advancing. I stood watching +them approach. The two Beast Men came running forward to cut me off +from the undergrowth, inland. Montgomery came, running also, but +straight towards me. Moreau followed slower with the dog. + +At last I roused myself from my inaction, and turning seaward walked +straight into the water. The water was very shallow at first. I was +thirty yards out before the waves reached to my waist. Dimly I could +see the intertidal creatures darting away from my feet. + +“What are you doing, man?” cried Montgomery. + +I turned, standing waist deep, and stared at them. Montgomery stood +panting at the margin of the water. His face was bright-red with +exertion, his long flaxen hair blown about his head, and his dropping +nether lip showed his irregular teeth. Moreau was just coming up, his +face pale and firm, and the dog at his hand barked at me. Both men had +heavy whips. Farther up the beach stared the Beast Men. + +“What am I doing? I am going to drown myself,” said I. + +Montgomery and Moreau looked at each other. “Why?” asked Moreau. + +“Because that is better than being tortured by you.” + +“I told you so,” said Montgomery, and Moreau said something in a low +tone. + +“What makes you think I shall torture you?” asked Moreau. + +“What I saw,” I said. “And those—yonder.” + +“Hush!” said Moreau, and held up his hand. + +“I will not,” said I. “They were men: what are they now? I at least +will not be like them.” + +I looked past my interlocutors. Up the beach were M’ling, Montgomery’s +attendant, and one of the white-swathed brutes from the boat. Farther +up, in the shadow of the trees, I saw my little Ape-man, and behind him +some other dim figures. + +“Who are these creatures?” said I, pointing to them and raising my +voice more and more that it might reach them. “They were men, men like +yourselves, whom you have infected with some bestial taint,—men whom +you have enslaved, and whom you still fear. + +“You who listen,” I cried, pointing now to Moreau and shouting past him +to the Beast Men,—“You who listen! Do you not see these men still fear +you, go in dread of you? Why, then, do you fear them? You are many—” + +“For God’s sake,” cried Montgomery, “stop that, Prendick!” + +“Prendick!” cried Moreau. + +They both shouted together, as if to drown my voice; and behind them +lowered the staring faces of the Beast Men, wondering, their deformed +hands hanging down, their shoulders hunched up. They seemed, as I +fancied, to be trying to understand me, to remember, I thought, +something of their human past. + +I went on shouting, I scarcely remember what,—that Moreau and +Montgomery could be killed, that they were not to be feared: that was +the burden of what I put into the heads of the Beast People. I saw the +green-eyed man in the dark rags, who had met me on the evening of my +arrival, come out from among the trees, and others followed him, to +hear me better. At last for want of breath I paused. + +“Listen to me for a moment,” said the steady voice of Moreau; “and then +say what you will.” + +“Well?” said I. + +He coughed, thought, then shouted: “Latin, Prendick! bad Latin, +schoolboy Latin; but try and understand. _Hi non sunt homines; sunt +animalia qui nos habemus_—vivisected. A humanising process. I will +explain. Come ashore.” + +I laughed. “A pretty story,” said I. “They talk, build houses. They +were men. It’s likely I’ll come ashore.” + +“The water just beyond where you stand is deep—and full of sharks.” + +“That’s my way,” said I. “Short and sharp. Presently.” + +“Wait a minute.” He took something out of his pocket that flashed back +the sun, and dropped the object at his feet. “That’s a loaded +revolver,” said he. “Montgomery here will do the same. Now we are going +up the beach until you are satisfied the distance is safe. Then come +and take the revolvers.” + +“Not I! You have a third between you.” + +“I want you to think over things, Prendick. In the first place, I never +asked you to come upon this island. If we vivisected men, we should +import men, not beasts. In the next, we had you drugged last night, had +we wanted to work you any mischief; and in the next, now your first +panic is over and you can think a little, is Montgomery here quite up +to the character you give him? We have chased you for your good. +Because this island is full of inimical phenomena. Besides, why should +we want to shoot you when you have just offered to drown yourself?” + +“Why did you set—your people onto me when I was in the hut?” + +“We felt sure of catching you, and bringing you out of danger. +Afterwards we drew away from the scent, for your good.” + +I mused. It seemed just possible. Then I remembered something again. +“But I saw,” said I, “in the enclosure—” + +“That was the puma.” + +“Look here, Prendick,” said Montgomery, “you’re a silly ass! Come out +of the water and take these revolvers, and talk. We can’t do anything +more than we could do now.” + +I will confess that then, and indeed always, I distrusted and dreaded +Moreau; but Montgomery was a man I felt I understood. + +“Go up the beach,” said I, after thinking, and added, “holding your +hands up.” + +“Can’t do that,” said Montgomery, with an explanatory nod over his +shoulder. “Undignified.” + +“Go up to the trees, then,” said I, “as you please.” + +“It’s a damned silly ceremony,” said Montgomery. + +Both turned and faced the six or seven grotesque creatures, who stood +there in the sunlight, solid, casting shadows, moving, and yet so +incredibly unreal. Montgomery cracked his whip at them, and forthwith +they all turned and fled helter-skelter into the trees; and when +Montgomery and Moreau were at a distance I judged sufficient, I waded +ashore, and picked up and examined the revolvers. To satisfy myself +against the subtlest trickery, I discharged one at a round lump of +lava, and had the satisfaction of seeing the stone pulverised and the +beach splashed with lead. Still I hesitated for a moment. + +“I’ll take the risk,” said I, at last; and with a revolver in each hand +I walked up the beach towards them. + +“That’s better,” said Moreau, without affectation. “As it is, you have +wasted the best part of my day with your confounded imagination.” And +with a touch of contempt which humiliated me, he and Montgomery turned +and went on in silence before me. + +The knot of Beast Men, still wondering, stood back among the trees. I +passed them as serenely as possible. One started to follow me, but +retreated again when Montgomery cracked his whip. The rest stood +silent—watching. They may once have been animals; but I never before +saw an animal trying to think. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/text/XIV. DOCTOR MOREAU EXPLAINS.md b/text/XIV. DOCTOR MOREAU EXPLAINS.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..47aa92c --- /dev/null +++ b/text/XIV. DOCTOR MOREAU EXPLAINS.md @@ -0,0 +1,376 @@ +# DOCTOR MOREAU EXPLAINS. + + +“And now, Prendick, I will explain,” said Doctor Moreau, so soon as we +had eaten and drunk. “I must confess that you are the most dictatorial +guest I ever entertained. I warn you that this is the last I shall do +to oblige you. The next thing you threaten to commit suicide about, I +shan’t do,—even at some personal inconvenience.” + +He sat in my deck chair, a cigar half consumed in his white, +dexterous-looking fingers. The light of the swinging lamp fell on his +white hair; he stared through the little window out at the starlight. I +sat as far away from him as possible, the table between us and the +revolvers to hand. Montgomery was not present. I did not care to be +with the two of them in such a little room. + +“You admit that the vivisected human being, as you called it, is, after +all, only the puma?” said Moreau. He had made me visit that horror in +the inner room, to assure myself of its inhumanity. + +“It is the puma,” I said, “still alive, but so cut and mutilated as I +pray I may never see living flesh again. Of all vile—” + +“Never mind that,” said Moreau; “at least, spare me those youthful +horrors. Montgomery used to be just the same. You admit that it is the +puma. Now be quiet, while I reel off my physiological lecture to you.” + +And forthwith, beginning in the tone of a man supremely bored, but +presently warming a little, he explained his work to me. He was very +simple and convincing. Now and then there was a touch of sarcasm in his +voice. Presently I found myself hot with shame at our mutual positions. + +The creatures I had seen were not men, had never been men. They were +animals, humanised animals,—triumphs of vivisection. + +“You forget all that a skilled vivisector can do with living things,” +said Moreau. “For my own part, I’m puzzled why the things I have done +here have not been done before. Small efforts, of course, have been +made,—amputation, tongue-cutting, excisions. Of course you know a +squint may be induced or cured by surgery? Then in the case of +excisions you have all kinds of secondary changes, pigmentary +disturbances, modifications of the passions, alterations in the +secretion of fatty tissue. I have no doubt you have heard of these +things?” + +“Of course,” said I. “But these foul creatures of yours—” + +“All in good time,” said he, waving his hand at me; “I am only +beginning. Those are trivial cases of alteration. Surgery can do better +things than that. There is building up as well as breaking down and +changing. You have heard, perhaps, of a common surgical operation +resorted to in cases where the nose has been destroyed: a flap of skin +is cut from the forehead, turned down on the nose, and heals in the new +position. This is a kind of grafting in a new position of part of an +animal upon itself. Grafting of freshly obtained material from another +animal is also possible,—the case of teeth, for example. The grafting +of skin and bone is done to facilitate healing: the surgeon places in +the middle of the wound pieces of skin snipped from another animal, or +fragments of bone from a victim freshly killed. Hunter’s +cock-spur—possibly you have heard of that—flourished on the bull’s +neck; and the rhinoceros rats of the Algerian zouaves are also to be +thought of,—monsters manufactured by transferring a slip from the tail +of an ordinary rat to its snout, and allowing it to heal in that +position.” + +“Monsters manufactured!” said I. “Then you mean to tell me—” + +“Yes. These creatures you have seen are animals carven and wrought into +new shapes. To that, to the study of the plasticity of living forms, my +life has been devoted. I have studied for years, gaining in knowledge +as I go. I see you look horrified, and yet I am telling you nothing +new. It all lay in the surface of practical anatomy years ago, but no +one had the temerity to touch it. It is not simply the outward form of +an animal which I can change. The physiology, the chemical rhythm of +the creature, may also be made to undergo an enduring modification,—of +which vaccination and other methods of inoculation with living or dead +matter are examples that will, no doubt, be familiar to you. A similar +operation is the transfusion of blood,—with which subject, indeed, I +began. These are all familiar cases. Less so, and probably far more +extensive, were the operations of those mediaeval practitioners who +made dwarfs and beggar-cripples, show-monsters,—some vestiges of whose +art still remain in the preliminary manipulation of the young +mountebank or contortionist. Victor Hugo gives an account of them in +‘L’Homme qui Rit.’—But perhaps my meaning grows plain now. You begin to +see that it is a possible thing to transplant tissue from one part of +an animal to another, or from one animal to another; to alter its +chemical reactions and methods of growth; to modify the articulations +of its limbs; and, indeed, to change it in its most intimate structure. + +“And yet this extraordinary branch of knowledge has never been sought +as an end, and systematically, by modern investigators until I took it +up! Some such things have been hit upon in the last resort of surgery; +most of the kindred evidence that will recur to your mind has been +demonstrated as it were by accident,—by tyrants, by criminals, by the +breeders of horses and dogs, by all kinds of untrained clumsy-handed +men working for their own immediate ends. I was the first man to take +up this question armed with antiseptic surgery, and with a really +scientific knowledge of the laws of growth. Yet one would imagine it +must have been practised in secret before. Such creatures as the +Siamese Twins—And in the vaults of the Inquisition. No doubt their +chief aim was artistic torture, but some at least of the inquisitors +must have had a touch of scientific curiosity.” + +“But,” said I, “these things—these animals talk!” + +He said that was so, and proceeded to point out that the possibility of +vivisection does not stop at a mere physical metamorphosis. A pig may +be educated. The mental structure is even less determinate than the +bodily. In our growing science of hypnotism we find the promise of a +possibility of superseding old inherent instincts by new suggestions, +grafting upon or replacing the inherited fixed ideas. Very much indeed +of what we call moral education, he said, is such an artificial +modification and perversion of instinct; pugnacity is trained into +courageous self-sacrifice, and suppressed sexuality into religious +emotion. And the great difference between man and monkey is in the +larynx, he continued,—in the incapacity to frame delicately different +sound-symbols by which thought could be sustained. In this I failed to +agree with him, but with a certain incivility he declined to notice my +objection. He repeated that the thing was so, and continued his account +of his work. + +I asked him why he had taken the human form as a model. There seemed to +me then, and there still seems to me now, a strange wickedness for that +choice. + +He confessed that he had chosen that form by chance. “I might just as +well have worked to form sheep into llamas and llamas into sheep. I +suppose there is something in the human form that appeals to the +artistic turn of mind more powerfully than any animal shape can. But +I’ve not confined myself to man-making. Once or twice—” He was silent, +for a minute perhaps. “These years! How they have slipped by! And here +I have wasted a day saving your life, and am now wasting an hour +explaining myself!” + +“But,” said I, “I still do not understand. Where is your justification +for inflicting all this pain? The only thing that could excuse +vivisection to me would be some application—” + +“Precisely,” said he. “But, you see, I am differently constituted. We +are on different platforms. You are a materialist.” + +“I am _not_ a materialist,” I began hotly. + +“In my view—in my view. For it is just this question of pain that parts +us. So long as visible or audible pain turns you sick; so long as your +own pains drive you; so long as pain underlies your propositions about +sin,—so long, I tell you, you are an animal, thinking a little less +obscurely what an animal feels. This pain—” + +I gave an impatient shrug at such sophistry. + +“Oh, but it is such a little thing! A mind truly opened to what science +has to teach must see that it is a little thing. It may be that save in +this little planet, this speck of cosmic dust, invisible long before +the nearest star could be attained—it may be, I say, that nowhere else +does this thing called pain occur. But the laws we feel our way +towards—Why, even on this earth, even among living things, what pain is +there?” + +As he spoke he drew a little penknife from his pocket, opened the +smaller blade, and moved his chair so that I could see his thigh. Then, +choosing the place deliberately, he drove the blade into his leg and +withdrew it. + +“No doubt,” he said, “you have seen that before. It does not hurt a +pin-prick. But what does it show? The capacity for pain is not needed +in the muscle, and it is not placed there,—is but little needed in the +skin, and only here and there over the thigh is a spot capable of +feeling pain. Pain is simply our intrinsic medical adviser to warn us +and stimulate us. Not all living flesh is painful; nor is all nerve, +not even all sensory nerve. There’s no taint of pain, real pain, in the +sensations of the optic nerve. If you wound the optic nerve, you merely +see flashes of light,—just as disease of the auditory nerve merely +means a humming in our ears. Plants do not feel pain, nor the lower +animals; it’s possible that such animals as the starfish and crayfish +do not feel pain at all. Then with men, the more intelligent they +become, the more intelligently they will see after their own welfare, +and the less they will need the goad to keep them out of danger. I +never yet heard of a useless thing that was not ground out of existence +by evolution sooner or later. Did you? And pain gets needless. + +“Then I am a religious man, Prendick, as every sane man must be. It may +be, I fancy, that I have seen more of the ways of this world’s Maker +than you,—for I have sought his laws, in _my_ way, all my life, while +you, I understand, have been collecting butterflies. And I tell you, +pleasure and pain have nothing to do with heaven or hell. Pleasure and +pain—bah! What is your theologian’s ecstasy but Mahomet’s houri in the +dark? This store which men and women set on pleasure and pain, +Prendick, is the mark of the beast upon them,—the mark of the beast +from which they came! Pain, pain and pleasure, they are for us only so +long as we wriggle in the dust. + +“You see, I went on with this research just the way it led me. That is +the only way I ever heard of true research going. I asked a question, +devised some method of obtaining an answer, and got a fresh question. +Was this possible or that possible? You cannot imagine what this means +to an investigator, what an intellectual passion grows upon him! You +cannot imagine the strange, colourless delight of these intellectual +desires! The thing before you is no longer an animal, a +fellow-creature, but a problem! Sympathetic pain,—all I know of it I +remember as a thing I used to suffer from years ago. I wanted—it was +the one thing I wanted—to find out the extreme limit of plasticity in a +living shape.” + +“But,” said I, “the thing is an abomination—” + +“To this day I have never troubled about the ethics of the matter,” he +continued. “The study of Nature makes a man at last as remorseless as +Nature. I have gone on, not heeding anything but the question I was +pursuing; and the material has—dripped into the huts yonder. It is +nearly eleven years since we came here, I and Montgomery and six +Kanakas. I remember the green stillness of the island and the empty +ocean about us, as though it was yesterday. The place seemed waiting +for me. + +“The stores were landed and the house was built. The Kanakas founded +some huts near the ravine. I went to work here upon what I had brought +with me. There were some disagreeable things happened at first. I began +with a sheep, and killed it after a day and a half by a slip of the +scalpel. I took another sheep, and made a thing of pain and fear and +left it bound up to heal. It looked quite human to me when I had +finished it; but when I went to it I was discontented with it. It +remembered me, and was terrified beyond imagination; and it had no more +than the wits of a sheep. The more I looked at it the clumsier it +seemed, until at last I put the monster out of its misery. These +animals without courage, these fear-haunted, pain-driven things, +without a spark of pugnacious energy to face torment,—they are no good +for man-making. + +“Then I took a gorilla I had; and upon that, working with infinite care +and mastering difficulty after difficulty, I made my first man. All the +week, night and day, I moulded him. With him it was chiefly the brain +that needed moulding; much had to be added, much changed. I thought him +a fair specimen of the negroid type when I had finished him, and he lay +bandaged, bound, and motionless before me. It was only when his life +was assured that I left him and came into this room again, and found +Montgomery much as you are. He had heard some of the cries as the thing +grew human,—cries like those that disturbed _you_ so. I didn’t take him +completely into my confidence at first. And the Kanakas too, had +realised something of it. They were scared out of their wits by the +sight of me. I got Montgomery over to me—in a way; but I and he had the +hardest job to prevent the Kanakas deserting. Finally they did; and so +we lost the yacht. I spent many days educating the brute,—altogether I +had him for three or four months. I taught him the rudiments of +English; gave him ideas of counting; even made the thing read the +alphabet. But at that he was slow, though I’ve met with idiots slower. +He began with a clean sheet, mentally; had no memories left in his mind +of what he had been. When his scars were quite healed, and he was no +longer anything but painful and stiff, and able to converse a little, I +took him yonder and introduced him to the Kanakas as an interesting +stowaway. + +“They were horribly afraid of him at first, somehow,—which offended me +rather, for I was conceited about him; but his ways seemed so mild, and +he was so abject, that after a time they received him and took his +education in hand. He was quick to learn, very imitative and adaptive, +and built himself a hovel rather better, it seemed to me, than their +own shanties. There was one among the boys a bit of a missionary, and +he taught the thing to read, or at least to pick out letters, and gave +him some rudimentary ideas of morality; but it seems the beast’s habits +were not all that is desirable. + +“I rested from work for some days after this, and was in a mind to +write an account of the whole affair to wake up English physiology. +Then I came upon the creature squatting up in a tree and gibbering at +two of the Kanakas who had been teasing him. I threatened him, told him +the inhumanity of such a proceeding, aroused his sense of shame, and +came home resolved to do better before I took my work back to England. +I have been doing better. But somehow the things drift back again: the +stubborn beast-flesh grows day by day back again. But I mean to do +better things still. I mean to conquer that. This puma— + +“But that’s the story. All the Kanaka boys are dead now; one fell +overboard of the launch, and one died of a wounded heel that he +poisoned in some way with plant-juice. Three went away in the yacht, +and I suppose and hope were drowned. The other one—was killed. Well, I +have replaced them. Montgomery went on much as you are disposed to do +at first, and then— + +“What became of the other one?” said I, sharply,—“the other Kanaka who +was killed?” + +“The fact is, after I had made a number of human creatures I made a +Thing—” He hesitated. + +“Yes?” said I. + +“It was killed.” + +“I don’t understand,” said I; “do you mean to say—” + +“It killed the Kanaka—yes. It killed several other things that it +caught. We chased it for a couple of days. It only got loose by +accident—I never meant it to get away. It wasn’t finished. It was +purely an experiment. It was a limbless thing, with a horrible face, +that writhed along the ground in a serpentine fashion. It was immensely +strong, and in infuriating pain. It lurked in the woods for some days, +until we hunted it; and then it wriggled into the northern part of the +island, and we divided the party to close in upon it. Montgomery +insisted upon coming with me. The man had a rifle; and when his body +was found, one of the barrels was curved into the shape of an S and +very nearly bitten through. Montgomery shot the thing. After that I +stuck to the ideal of humanity—except for little things.” + +He became silent. I sat in silence watching his face. + +“So for twenty years altogether—counting nine years in England—I have +been going on; and there is still something in everything I do that +defeats me, makes me dissatisfied, challenges me to further effort. +Sometimes I rise above my level, sometimes I fall below it; but always +I fall short of the things I dream. The human shape I can get now, +almost with ease, so that it is lithe and graceful, or thick and +strong; but often there is trouble with the hands and the +claws,—painful things, that I dare not shape too freely. But it is in +the subtle grafting and reshaping one must needs do to the brain that +my trouble lies. The intelligence is often oddly low, with +unaccountable blank ends, unexpected gaps. And least satisfactory of +all is something that I cannot touch, somewhere—I cannot determine +where—in the seat of the emotions. Cravings, instincts, desires that +harm humanity, a strange hidden reservoir to burst forth suddenly and +inundate the whole being of the creature with anger, hate, or fear. +These creatures of mine seemed strange and uncanny to you so soon as +you began to observe them; but to me, just after I make them, they seem +to be indisputably human beings. It’s afterwards, as I observe them, +that the persuasion fades. First one animal trait, then another, creeps +to the surface and stares out at me. But I will conquer yet! Each time +I dip a living creature into the bath of burning pain, I say, ‘This +time I will burn out all the animal; this time I will make a rational +creature of my own!’ After all, what is ten years? Men have been a +hundred thousand in the making.” He thought darkly. “But I am drawing +near the fastness. This puma of mine—” After a silence, “And they +revert. As soon as my hand is taken from them the beast begins to creep +back, begins to assert itself again.” Another long silence. + +“Then you take the things you make into those dens?” said I. + +“They go. I turn them out when I begin to feel the beast in them, and +presently they wander there. They all dread this house and me. There is +a kind of travesty of humanity over there. Montgomery knows about it, +for he interferes in their affairs. He has trained one or two of them +to our service. He’s ashamed of it, but I believe he half likes some of +those beasts. It’s his business, not mine. They only sicken me with a +sense of failure. I take no interest in them. I fancy they follow in +the lines the Kanaka missionary marked out, and have a kind of mockery +of a rational life, poor beasts! There’s something they call the Law. +Sing hymns about ‘all thine.’ They build themselves their dens, gather +fruit, and pull herbs—marry even. But I can see through it all, see +into their very souls, and see there nothing but the souls of beasts, +beasts that perish, anger and the lusts to live and gratify +themselves.—Yet they’re odd; complex, like everything else alive. There +is a kind of upward striving in them, part vanity, part waste sexual +emotion, part waste curiosity. It only mocks me. I have some hope of +this puma. I have worked hard at her head and brain— + +“And now,” said he, standing up after a long gap of silence, during +which we had each pursued our own thoughts, “what do you think? Are you +in fear of me still?” + +I looked at him, and saw but a white-faced, white-haired man, with calm +eyes. Save for his serenity, the touch almost of beauty that resulted +from his set tranquillity and his magnificent build, he might have +passed muster among a hundred other comfortable old gentlemen. Then I +shivered. By way of answer to his second question, I handed him a +revolver with either hand. + +“Keep them,” he said, and snatched at a yawn. He stood up, stared at me +for a moment, and smiled. “You have had two eventful days,” said he. “I +should advise some sleep. I’m glad it’s all clear. Good-night.” He +thought me over for a moment, then went out by the inner door. + +I immediately turned the key in the outer one. I sat down again; sat +for a time in a kind of stagnant mood, so weary, emotionally, mentally, +and physically, that I could not think beyond the point at which he had +left me. The black window stared at me like an eye. At last with an +effort I put out the light and got into the hammock. Very soon I was +asleep. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/text/XIX. MONTGOMERY’S BANK HOLIDAY.md b/text/XIX. MONTGOMERY’S BANK HOLIDAY.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cb64b10 --- /dev/null +++ b/text/XIX. MONTGOMERY’S BANK HOLIDAY.md @@ -0,0 +1,263 @@ +# MONTGOMERY’S “BANK HOLIDAY.” + + +When this was accomplished, and we had washed and eaten, Montgomery and +I went into my little room and seriously discussed our position for the +first time. It was then near midnight. He was almost sober, but greatly +disturbed in his mind. He had been strangely under the influence of +Moreau’s personality: I do not think it had ever occurred to him that +Moreau could die. This disaster was the sudden collapse of the habits +that had become part of his nature in the ten or more monotonous years +he had spent on the island. He talked vaguely, answered my questions +crookedly, wandered into general questions. + +“This silly ass of a world,” he said; “what a muddle it all is! I +haven’t had any life. I wonder when it’s going to begin. Sixteen years +being bullied by nurses and schoolmasters at their own sweet will; five +in London grinding hard at medicine, bad food, shabby lodgings, shabby +clothes, shabby vice, a blunder,—_I_ didn’t know any better,—and +hustled off to this beastly island. Ten years here! What’s it all for, +Prendick? Are we bubbles blown by a baby?” + +It was hard to deal with such ravings. “The thing we have to think of +now,” said I, “is how to get away from this island.” + +“What’s the good of getting away? I’m an outcast. Where am _I_ to join +on? It’s all very well for _you_, Prendick. Poor old Moreau! We can’t +leave him here to have his bones picked. As it is—And besides, what +will become of the decent part of the Beast Folk?” + +“Well,” said I, “that will do to-morrow. I’ve been thinking we might +make the brushwood into a pyre and burn his body—and those other +things. Then what will happen with the Beast Folk?” + +“_I_ don’t know. I suppose those that were made of beasts of prey will +make silly asses of themselves sooner or later. We can’t massacre the +lot—can we? I suppose that’s what _your_ humanity would suggest? But +they’ll change. They are sure to change.” + +He talked thus inconclusively until at last I felt my temper going. + +“Damnation!” he exclaimed at some petulance of mine; “can’t you see I’m +in a worse hole than you are?” And he got up, and went for the brandy. +“Drink!” he said returning, “you logic-chopping, chalky-faced saint of +an atheist, drink!” + +“Not I,” said I, and sat grimly watching his face under the yellow +paraffine flare, as he drank himself into a garrulous misery. + +I have a memory of infinite tedium. He wandered into a maudlin defence +of the Beast People and of M’ling. M’ling, he said, was the only thing +that had ever really cared for him. And suddenly an idea came to him. + +“I’m damned!” said he, staggering to his feet and clutching the brandy +bottle. + +By some flash of intuition I knew what it was he intended. “You don’t +give drink to that beast!” I said, rising and facing him. + +“Beast!” said he. “You’re the beast. He takes his liquor like a +Christian. Come out of the way, Prendick!” + +“For God’s sake,” said I. + +“Get—out of the way!” he roared, and suddenly whipped out his revolver. + +“Very well,” said I, and stood aside, half-minded to fall upon him as +he put his hand upon the latch, but deterred by the thought of my +useless arm. “You’ve made a beast of yourself,—to the beasts you may +go.” + +He flung the doorway open, and stood half facing me between the yellow +lamp-light and the pallid glare of the moon; his eye-sockets were +blotches of black under his stubbly eyebrows. + +“You’re a solemn prig, Prendick, a silly ass! You’re always fearing and +fancying. We’re on the edge of things. I’m bound to cut my throat +to-morrow. I’m going to have a damned Bank Holiday to-night.” He turned +and went out into the moonlight. “M’ling!” he cried; “M’ling, old +friend!” + +Three dim creatures in the silvery light came along the edge of the wan +beach,—one a white-wrapped creature, the other two blotches of +blackness following it. They halted, staring. Then I saw M’ling’s +hunched shoulders as he came round the corner of the house. + +“Drink!” cried Montgomery, “drink, you brutes! Drink and be men! Damme, +I’m the cleverest. Moreau forgot this; this is the last touch. Drink, I +tell you!” And waving the bottle in his hand he started off at a kind +of quick trot to the westward, M’ling ranging himself between him and +the three dim creatures who followed. + +I went to the doorway. They were already indistinct in the mist of the +moonlight before Montgomery halted. I saw him administer a dose of the +raw brandy to M’ling, and saw the five figures melt into one vague +patch. + +“Sing!” I heard Montgomery shout,—“sing all together, ‘Confound old +Prendick!’ That’s right; now again, ‘Confound old Prendick!’” + +The black group broke up into five separate figures, and wound slowly +away from me along the band of shining beach. Each went howling at his +own sweet will, yelping insults at me, or giving whatever other vent +this new inspiration of brandy demanded. Presently I heard Montgomery’s +voice shouting, “Right turn!” and they passed with their shouts and +howls into the blackness of the landward trees. Slowly, very slowly, +they receded into silence. + +The peaceful splendour of the night healed again. The moon was now past +the meridian and travelling down the west. It was at its full, and very +bright riding through the empty blue sky. The shadow of the wall lay, a +yard wide and of inky blackness, at my feet. The eastward sea was a +featureless grey, dark and mysterious; and between the sea and the +shadow the grey sands (of volcanic glass and crystals) flashed and +shone like a beach of diamonds. Behind me the paraffine lamp flared hot +and ruddy. + +Then I shut the door, locked it, and went into the enclosure where +Moreau lay beside his latest victims,—the staghounds and the llama and +some other wretched brutes,—with his massive face calm even after his +terrible death, and with the hard eyes open, staring at the dead white +moon above. I sat down upon the edge of the sink, and with my eyes upon +that ghastly pile of silvery light and ominous shadows began to turn +over my plans. In the morning I would gather some provisions in the +dingey, and after setting fire to the pyre before me, push out into the +desolation of the high sea once more. I felt that for Montgomery there +was no help; that he was, in truth, half akin to these Beast Folk, +unfitted for human kindred. + +I do not know how long I sat there scheming. It must have been an hour +or so. Then my planning was interrupted by the return of Montgomery to +my neighbourhood. I heard a yelling from many throats, a tumult of +exultant cries passing down towards the beach, whooping and howling, +and excited shrieks that seemed to come to a stop near the water’s +edge. The riot rose and fell; I heard heavy blows and the splintering +smash of wood, but it did not trouble me then. A discordant chanting +began. + +My thoughts went back to my means of escape. I got up, brought the +lamp, and went into a shed to look at some kegs I had seen there. Then +I became interested in the contents of some biscuit-tins, and opened +one. I saw something out of the tail of my eye,—a red figure,—and +turned sharply. + +Behind me lay the yard, vividly black-and-white in the moonlight, and +the pile of wood and faggots on which Moreau and his mutilated victims +lay, one over another. They seemed to be gripping one another in one +last revengeful grapple. His wounds gaped, black as night, and the +blood that had dripped lay in black patches upon the sand. Then I saw, +without understanding, the cause of my phantom,—a ruddy glow that came +and danced and went upon the wall opposite. I misinterpreted this, +fancied it was a reflection of my flickering lamp, and turned again to +the stores in the shed. I went on rummaging among them, as well as a +one-armed man could, finding this convenient thing and that, and +putting them aside for to-morrow’s launch. My movements were slow, and +the time passed quickly. Insensibly the daylight crept upon me. + +The chanting died down, giving place to a clamour; then it began again, +and suddenly broke into a tumult. I heard cries of, “More! more!” a +sound like quarrelling, and a sudden wild shriek. The quality of the +sounds changed so greatly that it arrested my attention. I went out +into the yard and listened. Then cutting like a knife across the +confusion came the crack of a revolver. + +I rushed at once through my room to the little doorway. As I did so I +heard some of the packing-cases behind me go sliding down and smash +together with a clatter of glass on the floor of the shed. But I did +not heed these. I flung the door open and looked out. + +Up the beach by the boathouse a bonfire was burning, raining up sparks +into the indistinctness of the dawn. Around this struggled a mass of +black figures. I heard Montgomery call my name. I began to run at once +towards this fire, revolver in hand. I saw the pink tongue of +Montgomery’s pistol lick out once, close to the ground. He was down. I +shouted with all my strength and fired into the air. I heard some one +cry, “The Master!” The knotted black struggle broke into scattering +units, the fire leapt and sank down. The crowd of Beast People fled in +sudden panic before me, up the beach. In my excitement I fired at their +retreating backs as they disappeared among the bushes. Then I turned to +the black heaps upon the ground. + +Montgomery lay on his back, with the hairy-grey Beast-man sprawling +across his body. The brute was dead, but still gripping Montgomery’s +throat with its curving claws. Near by lay M’ling on his face and quite +still, his neck bitten open and the upper part of the smashed +brandy-bottle in his hand. Two other figures lay near the fire,—the one +motionless, the other groaning fitfully, every now and then raising its +head slowly, then dropping it again. + +I caught hold of the grey man and pulled him off Montgomery’s body; his +claws drew down the torn coat reluctantly as I dragged him away. +Montgomery was dark in the face and scarcely breathing. I splashed +sea-water on his face and pillowed his head on my rolled-up coat. +M’ling was dead. The wounded creature by the fire—it was a Wolf-brute +with a bearded grey face—lay, I found, with the fore part of its body +upon the still glowing timber. The wretched thing was injured so +dreadfully that in mercy I blew its brains out at once. The other brute +was one of the Bull-men swathed in white. He too was dead. The rest of +the Beast People had vanished from the beach. + +I went to Montgomery again and knelt beside him, cursing my ignorance +of medicine. The fire beside me had sunk down, and only charred beams +of timber glowing at the central ends and mixed with a grey ash of +brushwood remained. I wondered casually where Montgomery had got his +wood. Then I saw that the dawn was upon us. The sky had grown brighter, +the setting moon was becoming pale and opaque in the luminous blue of +the day. The sky to the eastward was rimmed with red. + +Suddenly I heard a thud and a hissing behind me, and, looking round, +sprang to my feet with a cry of horror. Against the warm dawn great +tumultuous masses of black smoke were boiling up out of the enclosure, +and through their stormy darkness shot flickering threads of blood-red +flame. Then the thatched roof caught. I saw the curving charge of the +flames across the sloping straw. A spurt of fire jetted from the window +of my room. + +I knew at once what had happened. I remembered the crash I had heard. +When I had rushed out to Montgomery’s assistance, I had overturned the +lamp. + +The hopelessness of saving any of the contents of the enclosure stared +me in the face. My mind came back to my plan of flight, and turning +swiftly I looked to see where the two boats lay upon the beach. They +were gone! Two axes lay upon the sands beside me; chips and splinters +were scattered broadcast, and the ashes of the bonfire were blackening +and smoking under the dawn. Montgomery had burnt the boats to revenge +himself upon me and prevent our return to mankind! + +A sudden convulsion of rage shook me. I was almost moved to batter his +foolish head in, as he lay there helpless at my feet. Then suddenly his +hand moved, so feebly, so pitifully, that my wrath vanished. He +groaned, and opened his eyes for a minute. I knelt down beside him and +raised his head. He opened his eyes again, staring silently at the +dawn, and then they met mine. The lids fell. + +“Sorry,” he said presently, with an effort. He seemed trying to think. +“The last,” he murmured, “the last of this silly universe. What a +mess—” + +I listened. His head fell helplessly to one side. I thought some drink +might revive him; but there was neither drink nor vessel in which to +bring drink at hand. He seemed suddenly heavier. My heart went cold. I +bent down to his face, put my hand through the rent in his blouse. He +was dead; and even as he died a line of white heat, the limb of the +sun, rose eastward beyond the projection of the bay, splashing its +radiance across the sky and turning the dark sea into a weltering +tumult of dazzling light. It fell like a glory upon his death-shrunken +face. + +I let his head fall gently upon the rough pillow I had made for him, +and stood up. Before me was the glittering desolation of the sea, the +awful solitude upon which I had already suffered so much; behind me the +island, hushed under the dawn, its Beast People silent and unseen. The +enclosure, with all its provisions and ammunition, burnt noisily, with +sudden gusts of flame, a fitful crackling, and now and then a crash. +The heavy smoke drove up the beach away from me, rolling low over the +distant tree-tops towards the huts in the ravine. Beside me were the +charred vestiges of the boats and these five dead bodies. + +Then out of the bushes came three Beast People, with hunched shoulders, +protruding heads, misshapen hands awkwardly held, and inquisitive, +unfriendly eyes and advanced towards me with hesitating gestures. + + diff --git a/text/XV. CONCERNING THE BEAST FOLK.md b/text/XV. CONCERNING THE BEAST FOLK.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cabc35f --- /dev/null +++ b/text/XV. CONCERNING THE BEAST FOLK.md @@ -0,0 +1,176 @@ +# CONCERNING THE BEAST FOLK. + + +I woke early. Moreau’s explanation stood before my mind, clear and +definite, from the moment of my awakening. I got out of the hammock and +went to the door to assure myself that the key was turned. Then I tried +the window-bar, and found it firmly fixed. That these man-like +creatures were in truth only bestial monsters, mere grotesque +travesties of men, filled me with a vague uncertainty of their +possibilities which was far worse than any definite fear. + +A tapping came at the door, and I heard the glutinous accents of M’ling +speaking. I pocketed one of the revolvers (keeping one hand upon it), +and opened to him. + +“Good-morning, sair,” he said, bringing in, in addition to the +customary herb-breakfast, an ill-cooked rabbit. Montgomery followed +him. His roving eye caught the position of my arm and he smiled askew. + +The puma was resting to heal that day; but Moreau, who was singularly +solitary in his habits, did not join us. I talked with Montgomery to +clear my ideas of the way in which the Beast Folk lived. In particular, +I was urgent to know how these inhuman monsters were kept from falling +upon Moreau and Montgomery and from rending one another. He explained +to me that the comparative safety of Moreau and himself was due to the +limited mental scope of these monsters. In spite of their increased +intelligence and the tendency of their animal instincts to reawaken, +they had certain fixed ideas implanted by Moreau in their minds, which +absolutely bounded their imaginations. They were really hypnotised; had +been told that certain things were impossible, and that certain things +were not to be done, and these prohibitions were woven into the texture +of their minds beyond any possibility of disobedience or dispute. + +Certain matters, however, in which old instinct was at war with +Moreau’s convenience, were in a less stable condition. A series of +propositions called the Law (I had already heard them recited) battled +in their minds with the deep-seated, ever-rebellious cravings of their +animal natures. This Law they were ever repeating, I found, and ever +breaking. Both Montgomery and Moreau displayed particular solicitude to +keep them ignorant of the taste of blood; they feared the inevitable +suggestions of that flavour. Montgomery told me that the Law, +especially among the feline Beast People, became oddly weakened about +nightfall; that then the animal was at its strongest; that a spirit of +adventure sprang up in them at the dusk, when they would dare things +they never seemed to dream about by day. To that I owed my stalking by +the Leopard-man, on the night of my arrival. But during these earlier +days of my stay they broke the Law only furtively and after dark; in +the daylight there was a general atmosphere of respect for its +multifarious prohibitions. + +And here perhaps I may give a few general facts about the island and +the Beast People. The island, which was of irregular outline and lay +low upon the wide sea, had a total area, I suppose, of seven or eight +square miles.[2] It was volcanic in origin, and was now fringed on +three sides by coral reefs; some fumaroles to the northward, and a hot +spring, were the only vestiges of the forces that had long since +originated it. Now and then a faint quiver of earthquake would be +sensible, and sometimes the ascent of the spire of smoke would be +rendered tumultuous by gusts of steam; but that was all. The population +of the island, Montgomery informed me, now numbered rather more than +sixty of these strange creations of Moreau’s art, not counting the +smaller monstrosities which lived in the undergrowth and were without +human form. Altogether he had made nearly a hundred and twenty; but +many had died, and others—like the writhing Footless Thing of which he +had told me—had come by violent ends. In answer to my question, +Montgomery said that they actually bore offspring, but that these +generally died. When they lived, Moreau took them and stamped the human +form upon them. There was no evidence of the inheritance of their +acquired human characteristics. The females were less numerous than the +males, and liable to much furtive persecution in spite of the monogamy +the Law enjoined. + + [2]This description corresponds in every respect to Noble’s Isle.—C. + E. P. + + +It would be impossible for me to describe these Beast People in detail; +my eye has had no training in details, and unhappily I cannot sketch. +Most striking, perhaps, in their general appearance was the +disproportion between the legs of these creatures and the length of +their bodies; and yet—so relative is our idea of grace—my eye became +habituated to their forms, and at last I even fell in with their +persuasion that my own long thighs were ungainly. Another point was the +forward carriage of the head and the clumsy and inhuman curvature of +the spine. Even the Ape-man lacked that inward sinuous curve of the +back which makes the human figure so graceful. Most had their shoulders +hunched clumsily, and their short forearms hung weakly at their sides. +Few of them were conspicuously hairy, at least until the end of my time +upon the island. + +The next most obvious deformity was in their faces, almost all of which +were prognathous, malformed about the ears, with large and protuberant +noses, very furry or very bristly hair, and often strangely-coloured or +strangely-placed eyes. None could laugh, though the Ape-man had a +chattering titter. Beyond these general characters their heads had +little in common; each preserved the quality of its particular species: +the human mark distorted but did not hide the leopard, the ox, or the +sow, or other animal or animals, from which the creature had been +moulded. The voices, too, varied exceedingly. The hands were always +malformed; and though some surprised me by their unexpected human +appearance, almost all were deficient in the number of the digits, +clumsy about the finger-nails, and lacking any tactile sensibility. + +The two most formidable Animal Men were my Leopard-man and a creature +made of hyena and swine. Larger than these were the three +bull-creatures who pulled in the boat. Then came the silvery-hairy-man, +who was also the Sayer of the Law, M’ling, and a satyr-like creature of +ape and goat. There were three Swine-men and a Swine-woman, a +mare-rhinoceros-creature, and several other females whose sources I did +not ascertain. There were several wolf-creatures, a bear-bull, and a +Saint-Bernard-man. I have already described the Ape-man, and there was +a particularly hateful (and evil-smelling) old woman made of vixen and +bear, whom I hated from the beginning. She was said to be a passionate +votary of the Law. Smaller creatures were certain dappled youths and my +little sloth-creature. But enough of this catalogue. + +At first I had a shivering horror of the brutes, felt all too keenly +that they were still brutes; but insensibly I became a little +habituated to the idea of them, and moreover I was affected by +Montgomery’s attitude towards them. He had been with them so long that +he had come to regard them as almost normal human beings. His London +days seemed a glorious, impossible past to him. Only once in a year or +so did he go to Africa to deal with Moreau’s agent, a trader in animals +there. He hardly met the finest type of mankind in that seafaring +village of Spanish mongrels. The men aboard-ship, he told me, seemed at +first just as strange to him as the Beast Men seemed to me,—unnaturally +long in the leg, flat in the face, prominent in the forehead, +suspicious, dangerous, and cold-hearted. In fact, he did not like men: +his heart had warmed to me, he thought, because he had saved my life. I +fancied even then that he had a sneaking kindness for some of these +metamorphosed brutes, a vicious sympathy with some of their ways, but +that he attempted to veil it from me at first. + +M’ling, the black-faced man, Montgomery’s attendant, the first of the +Beast Folk I had encountered, did not live with the others across the +island, but in a small kennel at the back of the enclosure. The +creature was scarcely so intelligent as the Ape-man, but far more +docile, and the most human-looking of all the Beast Folk; and +Montgomery had trained it to prepare food, and indeed to discharge all +the trivial domestic offices that were required. It was a complex +trophy of Moreau’s horrible skill,—a bear, tainted with dog and ox, and +one of the most elaborately made of all his creatures. It treated +Montgomery with a strange tenderness and devotion. Sometimes he would +notice it, pat it, call it half-mocking, half-jocular names, and so +make it caper with extraordinary delight; sometimes he would ill-treat +it, especially after he had been at the whiskey, kicking it, beating +it, pelting it with stones or lighted fusees. But whether he treated it +well or ill, it loved nothing so much as to be near him. + +I say I became habituated to the Beast People, that a thousand things +which had seemed unnatural and repulsive speedily became natural and +ordinary to me. I suppose everything in existence takes its colour from +the average hue of our surroundings. Montgomery and Moreau were too +peculiar and individual to keep my general impressions of humanity well +defined. I would see one of the clumsy bovine-creatures who worked the +launch treading heavily through the undergrowth, and find myself +asking, trying hard to recall, how he differed from some really human +yokel trudging home from his mechanical labours; or I would meet the +Fox-bear woman’s vulpine, shifty face, strangely human in its +speculative cunning, and even imagine I had met it before in some city +byway. + +Yet every now and then the beast would flash out upon me beyond doubt +or denial. An ugly-looking man, a hunch-backed human savage to all +appearance, squatting in the aperture of one of the dens, would stretch +his arms and yawn, showing with startling suddenness scissor-edged +incisors and sabre-like canines, keen and brilliant as knives. Or in +some narrow pathway, glancing with a transitory daring into the eyes of +some lithe, white-swathed female figure, I would suddenly see (with a +spasmodic revulsion) that she had slit-like pupils, or glancing down +note the curving nail with which she held her shapeless wrap about her. +It is a curious thing, by the bye, for which I am quite unable to +account, that these weird creatures—the females, I mean—had in the +earlier days of my stay an instinctive sense of their own repulsive +clumsiness, and displayed in consequence a more than human regard for +the decency and decorum of extensive costume. diff --git a/text/XVI. HOW THE BEAST FOLK TASTE BLOOD.md b/text/XVI. HOW THE BEAST FOLK TASTE BLOOD.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1bd9eb0 --- /dev/null +++ b/text/XVI. HOW THE BEAST FOLK TASTE BLOOD.md @@ -0,0 +1,468 @@ +# HOW THE BEAST FOLK TASTE BLOOD. + + +My inexperience as a writer betrays me, and I wander from the thread of +my story. + +After I had breakfasted with Montgomery, he took me across the island +to see the fumarole and the source of the hot spring into whose +scalding waters I had blundered on the previous day. Both of us carried +whips and loaded revolvers. While going through a leafy jungle on our +road thither, we heard a rabbit squealing. We stopped and listened, but +we heard no more; and presently we went on our way, and the incident +dropped out of our minds. Montgomery called my attention to certain +little pink animals with long hind-legs, that went leaping through the +undergrowth. He told me they were creatures made of the offspring of +the Beast People, that Moreau had invented. He had fancied they might +serve for meat, but a rabbit-like habit of devouring their young had +defeated this intention. I had already encountered some of these +creatures,—once during my moonlight flight from the Leopard-man, and +once during my pursuit by Moreau on the previous day. By chance, one +hopping to avoid us leapt into the hole caused by the uprooting of a +wind-blown tree; before it could extricate itself we managed to catch +it. It spat like a cat, scratched and kicked vigorously with its +hind-legs, and made an attempt to bite; but its teeth were too feeble +to inflict more than a painless pinch. It seemed to me rather a pretty +little creature; and as Montgomery stated that it never destroyed the +turf by burrowing, and was very cleanly in its habits, I should imagine +it might prove a convenient substitute for the common rabbit in +gentlemen’s parks. + +We also saw on our way the trunk of a tree barked in long strips and +splintered deeply. Montgomery called my attention to this. “Not to claw +bark of trees, _that_ is the Law,” he said. “Much some of them care for +it!” It was after this, I think, that we met the Satyr and the Ape-man. +The Satyr was a gleam of classical memory on the part of Moreau,—his +face ovine in expression, like the coarser Hebrew type; his voice a +harsh bleat, his nether extremities Satanic. He was gnawing the husk of +a pod-like fruit as he passed us. Both of them saluted Montgomery. + +“Hail,” said they, “to the Other with the Whip!” + +“There’s a Third with a Whip now,” said Montgomery. “So you’d better +mind!” + +“Was he not made?” said the Ape-man. “He said—he said he was made.” + +The Satyr-man looked curiously at me. “The Third with the Whip, he that +walks weeping into the sea, has a thin white face.” + +“He has a thin long whip,” said Montgomery. + +“Yesterday he bled and wept,” said the Satyr. “You never bleed nor +weep. The Master does not bleed or weep.” + +“Ollendorffian beggar!” said Montgomery, “you’ll bleed and weep if you +don’t look out!” + +“He has five fingers, he is a five-man like me,” said the Ape-man. + +“Come along, Prendick,” said Montgomery, taking my arm; and I went on +with him. + +The Satyr and the Ape-man stood watching us and making other remarks to +each other. + +“He says nothing,” said the Satyr. “Men have voices.” + +“Yesterday he asked me of things to eat,” said the Ape-man. “He did not +know.” + +Then they spoke inaudible things, and I heard the Satyr laughing. + +It was on our way back that we came upon the dead rabbit. The red body +of the wretched little beast was rent to pieces, many of the ribs +stripped white, and the backbone indisputably gnawed. + +At that Montgomery stopped. “Good God!” said he, stooping down, and +picking up some of the crushed vertebrae to examine them more closely. +“Good God!” he repeated, “what can this mean?” + +“Some carnivore of yours has remembered its old habits,” I said after a +pause. “This backbone has been bitten through.” + +He stood staring, with his face white and his lip pulled askew. “I +don’t like this,” he said slowly. + +“I saw something of the same kind,” said I, “the first day I came +here.” + +“The devil you did! What was it?” + +“A rabbit with its head twisted off.” + +“The day you came here?” + +“The day I came here. In the undergrowth at the back of the enclosure, +when I went out in the evening. The head was completely wrung off.” + +He gave a long, low whistle. + +“And what is more, I have an idea which of your brutes did the thing. +It’s only a suspicion, you know. Before I came on the rabbit I saw one +of your monsters drinking in the stream.” + +“Sucking his drink?” + +“Yes.” + +“‘Not to suck your drink; that is the Law.’ Much the brutes care for +the Law, eh? when Moreau’s not about!” + +“It was the brute who chased me.” + +“Of course,” said Montgomery; “it’s just the way with carnivores. After +a kill, they drink. It’s the taste of blood, you know.—What was the +brute like?” he continued. “Would you know him again?” He glanced about +us, standing astride over the mess of dead rabbit, his eyes roving +among the shadows and screens of greenery, the lurking-places and +ambuscades of the forest that bounded us in. “The taste of blood,” he +said again. + +He took out his revolver, examined the cartridges in it and replaced +it. Then he began to pull at his dropping lip. + +“I think I should know the brute again,” I said. “I stunned him. He +ought to have a handsome bruise on the forehead of him.” + +“But then we have to _prove_ that he killed the rabbit,” said +Montgomery. “I wish I’d never brought the things here.” + +I should have gone on, but he stayed there thinking over the mangled +rabbit in a puzzle-headed way. As it was, I went to such a distance +that the rabbit’s remains were hidden. + +“Come on!” I said. + +Presently he woke up and came towards me. “You see,” he said, almost in +a whisper, “they are all supposed to have a fixed idea against eating +anything that runs on land. If some brute has by any accident tasted +blood—” + +We went on some way in silence. “I wonder what can have happened,” he +said to himself. Then, after a pause again: “I did a foolish thing the +other day. That servant of mine—I showed him how to skin and cook a +rabbit. It’s odd—I saw him licking his hands—It never occurred to me.” + +Then: “We must put a stop to this. I must tell Moreau.” + +He could think of nothing else on our homeward journey. + +Moreau took the matter even more seriously than Montgomery, and I need +scarcely say that I was affected by their evident consternation. + +“We must make an example,” said Moreau. “I’ve no doubt in my own mind +that the Leopard-man was the sinner. But how can we prove it? I wish, +Montgomery, you had kept your taste for meat in hand, and gone without +these exciting novelties. We may find ourselves in a mess yet, through +it.” + +“I was a silly ass,” said Montgomery. “But the thing’s done now; and +you said I might have them, you know.” + +“We must see to the thing at once,” said Moreau. “I suppose if anything +should turn up, M’ling can take care of himself?” + +“I’m not so sure of M’ling,” said Montgomery. “I think I ought to know +him.” + +In the afternoon, Moreau, Montgomery, myself, and M’ling went across +the island to the huts in the ravine. We three were armed; M’ling +carried the little hatchet he used in chopping firewood, and some coils +of wire. Moreau had a huge cowherd’s horn slung over his shoulder. + +“You will see a gathering of the Beast People,” said Montgomery. “It is +a pretty sight!” + +Moreau said not a word on the way, but the expression of his heavy, +white-fringed face was grimly set. + +We crossed the ravine down which smoked the stream of hot water, and +followed the winding pathway through the canebrakes until we reached a +wide area covered over with a thick, powdery yellow substance which I +believe was sulphur. Above the shoulder of a weedy bank the sea +glittered. We came to a kind of shallow natural amphitheatre, and here +the four of us halted. Then Moreau sounded the horn, and broke the +sleeping stillness of the tropical afternoon. He must have had strong +lungs. The hooting note rose and rose amidst its echoes, to at last an +ear-penetrating intensity. + +“Ah!” said Moreau, letting the curved instrument fall to his side +again. + +Immediately there was a crashing through the yellow canes, and a sound +of voices from the dense green jungle that marked the morass through +which I had run on the previous day. Then at three or four points on +the edge of the sulphurous area appeared the grotesque forms of the +Beast People hurrying towards us. I could not help a creeping horror, +as I perceived first one and then another trot out from the trees or +reeds and come shambling along over the hot dust. But Moreau and +Montgomery stood calmly enough; and, perforce, I stuck beside them. + +First to arrive was the Satyr, strangely unreal for all that he cast a +shadow and tossed the dust with his hoofs. After him from the brake +came a monstrous lout, a thing of horse and rhinoceros, chewing a straw +as it came; then appeared the Swine-woman and two Wolf-women; then the +Fox-bear witch, with her red eyes in her peaked red face, and then +others,—all hurrying eagerly. As they came forward they began to cringe +towards Moreau and chant, quite regardless of one another, fragments of +the latter half of the litany of the Law,—“His is the Hand that wounds; +His is the Hand that heals,” and so forth. As soon as they had +approached within a distance of perhaps thirty yards they halted, and +bowing on knees and elbows began flinging the white dust upon their +heads. + +Imagine the scene if you can! We three blue-clad men, with our +misshapen black-faced attendant, standing in a wide expanse of sunlit +yellow dust under the blazing blue sky, and surrounded by this circle +of crouching and gesticulating monstrosities,—some almost human save in +their subtle expression and gestures, some like cripples, some so +strangely distorted as to resemble nothing but the denizens of our +wildest dreams; and, beyond, the reedy lines of a canebrake in one +direction, a dense tangle of palm-trees on the other, separating us +from the ravine with the huts, and to the north the hazy horizon of the +Pacific Ocean. + +“Sixty-two, sixty-three,” counted Moreau. “There are four more.” + +“I do not see the Leopard-man,” said I. + +Presently Moreau sounded the great horn again, and at the sound of it +all the Beast People writhed and grovelled in the dust. Then, slinking +out of the canebrake, stooping near the ground and trying to join the +dust-throwing circle behind Moreau’s back, came the Leopard-man. The +last of the Beast People to arrive was the little Ape-man. The earlier +animals, hot and weary with their grovelling, shot vicious glances at +him. + +“Cease!” said Moreau, in his firm, loud voice; and the Beast People sat +back upon their hams and rested from their worshipping. + +“Where is the Sayer of the Law?” said Moreau, and the hairy-grey +monster bowed his face in the dust. + +“Say the words!” said Moreau. + +Forthwith all in the kneeling assembly, swaying from side to side and +dashing up the sulphur with their hands,—first the right hand and a +puff of dust, and then the left,—began once more to chant their strange +litany. When they reached, “Not to eat Flesh or Fish, that is the Law,” +Moreau held up his lank white hand. + +“Stop!” he cried, and there fell absolute silence upon them all. + +I think they all knew and dreaded what was coming. I looked round at +their strange faces. When I saw their wincing attitudes and the furtive +dread in their bright eyes, I wondered that I had ever believed them to +be men. + +“That Law has been broken!” said Moreau. + +“None escape,” from the faceless creature with the silvery hair. “None +escape,” repeated the kneeling circle of Beast People. + +“Who is he?” cried Moreau, and looked round at their faces, cracking +his whip. I fancied the Hyena-swine looked dejected, so too did the +Leopard-man. Moreau stopped, facing this creature, who cringed towards +him with the memory and dread of infinite torment. + +“Who is he?” repeated Moreau, in a voice of thunder. + +“Evil is he who breaks the Law,” chanted the Sayer of the Law. + +Moreau looked into the eyes of the Leopard-man, and seemed to be +dragging the very soul out of the creature. + +“Who breaks the Law—” said Moreau, taking his eyes off his victim, and +turning towards us (it seemed to me there was a touch of exultation in +his voice). + +“Goes back to the House of Pain,” they all clamoured,—“goes back to the +House of Pain, O Master!” + +“Back to the House of Pain,—back to the House of Pain,” gabbled the +Ape-man, as though the idea was sweet to him. + +“Do you hear?” said Moreau, turning back to the criminal, “my +friend—Hullo!” + +For the Leopard-man, released from Moreau’s eye, had risen straight +from his knees, and now, with eyes aflame and his huge feline tusks +flashing out from under his curling lips, leapt towards his tormentor. +I am convinced that only the madness of unendurable fear could have +prompted this attack. The whole circle of threescore monsters seemed to +rise about us. I drew my revolver. The two figures collided. I saw +Moreau reeling back from the Leopard-man’s blow. There was a furious +yelling and howling all about us. Every one was moving rapidly. For a +moment I thought it was a general revolt. The furious face of the +Leopard-man flashed by mine, with M’ling close in pursuit. I saw the +yellow eyes of the Hyena-swine blazing with excitement, his attitude as +if he were half resolved to attack me. The Satyr, too, glared at me +over the Hyena-swine’s hunched shoulders. I heard the crack of Moreau’s +pistol, and saw the pink flash dart across the tumult. The whole crowd +seemed to swing round in the direction of the glint of fire, and I too +was swung round by the magnetism of the movement. In another second I +was running, one of a tumultuous shouting crowd, in pursuit of the +escaping Leopard-man. + +That is all I can tell definitely. I saw the Leopard-man strike Moreau, +and then everything spun about me until I was running headlong. M’ling +was ahead, close in pursuit of the fugitive. Behind, their tongues +already lolling out, ran the Wolf-women in great leaping strides. The +Swine folk followed, squealing with excitement, and the two Bull-men in +their swathings of white. Then came Moreau in a cluster of the Beast +People, his wide-brimmed straw hat blown off, his revolver in hand, and +his lank white hair streaming out. The Hyena-swine ran beside me, +keeping pace with me and glancing furtively at me out of his feline +eyes, and the others came pattering and shouting behind us. + +The Leopard-man went bursting his way through the long canes, which +sprang back as he passed, and rattled in M’ling’s face. We others in +the rear found a trampled path for us when we reached the brake. The +chase lay through the brake for perhaps a quarter of a mile, and then +plunged into a dense thicket, which retarded our movements exceedingly, +though we went through it in a crowd together,—fronds flicking into our +faces, ropy creepers catching us under the chin or gripping our ankles, +thorny plants hooking into and tearing cloth and flesh together. + +“He has gone on all-fours through this,” panted Moreau, now just ahead +of me. + +“None escape,” said the Wolf-bear, laughing into my face with the +exultation of hunting. We burst out again among rocks, and saw the +quarry ahead running lightly on all-fours and snarling at us over his +shoulder. At that the Wolf Folk howled with delight. The Thing was +still clothed, and at a distance its face still seemed human; but the +carriage of its four limbs was feline, and the furtive droop of its +shoulder was distinctly that of a hunted animal. It leapt over some +thorny yellow-flowering bushes, and was hidden. M’ling was halfway +across the space. + +Most of us now had lost the first speed of the chase, and had fallen +into a longer and steadier stride. I saw as we traversed the open that +the pursuit was now spreading from a column into a line. The +Hyena-swine still ran close to me, watching me as it ran, every now and +then puckering its muzzle with a snarling laugh. At the edge of the +rocks the Leopard-man, realising that he was making for the projecting +cape upon which he had stalked me on the night of my arrival, had +doubled in the undergrowth; but Montgomery had seen the manoeuvre, and +turned him again. So, panting, tumbling against rocks, torn by +brambles, impeded by ferns and reeds, I helped to pursue the +Leopard-man who had broken the Law, and the Hyena-swine ran, laughing +savagely, by my side. I staggered on, my head reeling and my heart +beating against my ribs, tired almost to death, and yet not daring to +lose sight of the chase lest I should be left alone with this horrible +companion. I staggered on in spite of infinite fatigue and the dense +heat of the tropical afternoon. + +At last the fury of the hunt slackened. We had pinned the wretched +brute into a corner of the island. Moreau, whip in hand, marshalled us +all into an irregular line, and we advanced now slowly, shouting to one +another as we advanced and tightening the cordon about our victim. He +lurked noiseless and invisible in the bushes through which I had run +from him during that midnight pursuit. + +“Steady!” cried Moreau, “steady!” as the ends of the line crept round +the tangle of undergrowth and hemmed the brute in. + +“Ware a rush!” came the voice of Montgomery from beyond the thicket. + +I was on the slope above the bushes; Montgomery and Moreau beat along +the beach beneath. Slowly we pushed in among the fretted network of +branches and leaves. The quarry was silent. + +“Back to the House of Pain, the House of Pain, the House of Pain!” +yelped the voice of the Ape-man, some twenty yards to the right. + +When I heard that, I forgave the poor wretch all the fear he had +inspired in me. I heard the twigs snap and the boughs swish aside +before the heavy tread of the Horse-rhinoceros upon my right. Then +suddenly through a polygon of green, in the half darkness under the +luxuriant growth, I saw the creature we were hunting. I halted. He was +crouched together into the smallest possible compass, his luminous +green eyes turned over his shoulder regarding me. + +It may seem a strange contradiction in me,—I cannot explain the +fact,—but now, seeing the creature there in a perfectly animal +attitude, with the light gleaming in its eyes and its imperfectly human +face distorted with terror, I realised again the fact of its humanity. +In another moment other of its pursuers would see it, and it would be +overpowered and captured, to experience once more the horrible tortures +of the enclosure. Abruptly I slipped out my revolver, aimed between its +terror-struck eyes, and fired. As I did so, the Hyena-swine saw the +Thing, and flung itself upon it with an eager cry, thrusting thirsty +teeth into its neck. All about me the green masses of the thicket were +swaying and cracking as the Beast People came rushing together. One +face and then another appeared. + +“Don’t kill it, Prendick!” cried Moreau. “Don’t kill it!” and I saw him +stooping as he pushed through under the fronds of the big ferns. + +In another moment he had beaten off the Hyena-swine with the handle of +his whip, and he and Montgomery were keeping away the excited +carnivorous Beast People, and particularly M’ling, from the still +quivering body. The hairy-grey Thing came sniffing at the corpse under +my arm. The other animals, in their animal ardour, jostled me to get a +nearer view. + +“Confound you, Prendick!” said Moreau. “I wanted him.” + +“I’m sorry,” said I, though I was not. “It was the impulse of the +moment.” I felt sick with exertion and excitement. Turning, I pushed my +way out of the crowding Beast People and went on alone up the slope +towards the higher part of the headland. Under the shouted directions +of Moreau I heard the three white-swathed Bull-men begin dragging the +victim down towards the water. + +It was easy now for me to be alone. The Beast People manifested a quite +human curiosity about the dead body, and followed it in a thick knot, +sniffing and growling at it as the Bull-men dragged it down the beach. +I went to the headland and watched the bull-men, black against the +evening sky as they carried the weighted dead body out to sea; and like +a wave across my mind came the realisation of the unspeakable +aimlessness of things upon the island. Upon the beach among the rocks +beneath me were the Ape-man, the Hyena-swine, and several other of the +Beast People, standing about Montgomery and Moreau. They were all still +intensely excited, and all overflowing with noisy expressions of their +loyalty to the Law; yet I felt an absolute assurance in my own mind +that the Hyena-swine was implicated in the rabbit-killing. A strange +persuasion came upon me, that, save for the grossness of the line, the +grotesqueness of the forms, I had here before me the whole balance of +human life in miniature, the whole interplay of instinct, reason, and +fate in its simplest form. The Leopard-man had happened to go under: +that was all the difference. Poor brute! + +Poor brutes! I began to see the viler aspect of Moreau’s cruelty. I had +not thought before of the pain and trouble that came to these poor +victims after they had passed from Moreau’s hands. I had shivered only +at the days of actual torment in the enclosure. But now that seemed to +me the lesser part. Before, they had been beasts, their instincts fitly +adapted to their surroundings, and happy as living things may be. Now +they stumbled in the shackles of humanity, lived in a fear that never +died, fretted by a law they could not understand; their mock-human +existence, begun in an agony, was one long internal struggle, one long +dread of Moreau—and for what? It was the wantonness of it that stirred +me. + +Had Moreau had any intelligible object, I could have sympathised at +least a little with him. I am not so squeamish about pain as that. I +could have forgiven him a little even, had his motive been only hate. +But he was so irresponsible, so utterly careless! His curiosity, his +mad, aimless investigations, drove him on; and the Things were thrown +out to live a year or so, to struggle and blunder and suffer, and at +last to die painfully. They were wretched in themselves; the old animal +hate moved them to trouble one another; the Law held them back from a +brief hot struggle and a decisive end to their natural animosities. + +In those days my fear of the Beast People went the way of my personal +fear for Moreau. I fell indeed into a morbid state, deep and enduring, +and alien to fear, which has left permanent scars upon my mind. I must +confess that I lost faith in the sanity of the world when I saw it +suffering the painful disorder of this island. A blind Fate, a vast +pitiless mechanism, seemed to cut and shape the fabric of existence and +I, Moreau (by his passion for research), Montgomery (by his passion for +drink), the Beast People with their instincts and mental restrictions, +were torn and crushed, ruthlessly, inevitably, amid the infinite +complexity of its incessant wheels. But this condition did not come all +at once: I think indeed that I anticipate a little in speaking of it +now. diff --git a/text/XVII. A CATASTROPHE.md b/text/XVII. A CATASTROPHE.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ab4d91e --- /dev/null +++ b/text/XVII. A CATASTROPHE.md @@ -0,0 +1,170 @@ +# A CATASTROPHE. + + +Scarcely six weeks passed before I had lost every feeling but dislike +and abhorrence for this infamous experiment of Moreau’s. My one idea +was to get away from these horrible caricatures of my Maker’s image, +back to the sweet and wholesome intercourse of men. My +fellow-creatures, from whom I was thus separated, began to assume +idyllic virtue and beauty in my memory. My first friendship with +Montgomery did not increase. His long separation from humanity, his +secret vice of drunkenness, his evident sympathy with the Beast People, +tainted him to me. Several times I let him go alone among them. I +avoided intercourse with them in every possible way. I spent an +increasing proportion of my time upon the beach, looking for some +liberating sail that never appeared,—until one day there fell upon us +an appalling disaster, which put an altogether different aspect upon my +strange surroundings. + +It was about seven or eight weeks after my landing,—rather more, I +think, though I had not troubled to keep account of the time,—when this +catastrophe occurred. It happened in the early morning—I should think +about six. I had risen and breakfasted early, having been aroused by +the noise of three Beast Men carrying wood into the enclosure. + +After breakfast I went to the open gateway of the enclosure, and stood +there smoking a cigarette and enjoying the freshness of the early +morning. Moreau presently came round the corner of the enclosure and +greeted me. He passed by me, and I heard him behind me unlock and enter +his laboratory. So indurated was I at that time to the abomination of +the place, that I heard without a touch of emotion the puma victim +begin another day of torture. It met its persecutor with a shriek, +almost exactly like that of an angry virago. + +Then suddenly something happened,—I do not know what, to this day. I +heard a short, sharp cry behind me, a fall, and turning saw an awful +face rushing upon me,—not human, not animal, but hellish, brown, seamed +with red branching scars, red drops starting out upon it, and the +lidless eyes ablaze. I threw up my arm to defend myself from the blow +that flung me headlong with a broken forearm; and the great monster, +swathed in lint and with red-stained bandages fluttering about it, +leapt over me and passed. I rolled over and over down the beach, tried +to sit up, and collapsed upon my broken arm. Then Moreau appeared, his +massive white face all the more terrible for the blood that trickled +from his forehead. He carried a revolver in one hand. He scarcely +glanced at me, but rushed off at once in pursuit of the puma. + +I tried the other arm and sat up. The muffled figure in front ran in +great striding leaps along the beach, and Moreau followed her. She +turned her head and saw him, then doubling abruptly made for the +bushes. She gained upon him at every stride. I saw her plunge into +them, and Moreau, running slantingly to intercept her, fired and missed +as she disappeared. Then he too vanished in the green confusion. I +stared after them, and then the pain in my arm flamed up, and with a +groan I staggered to my feet. Montgomery appeared in the doorway, +dressed, and with his revolver in his hand. + +“Great God, Prendick!” he said, not noticing that I was hurt, “that +brute’s loose! Tore the fetter out of the wall! Have you seen them?” +Then sharply, seeing I gripped my arm, “What’s the matter?” + +“I was standing in the doorway,” said I. + +He came forward and took my arm. “Blood on the sleeve,” said he, and +rolled back the flannel. He pocketed his weapon, felt my arm about +painfully, and led me inside. “Your arm is broken,” he said, and then, +“Tell me exactly how it happened—what happened?” + +I told him what I had seen; told him in broken sentences, with gasps of +pain between them, and very dexterously and swiftly he bound my arm +meanwhile. He slung it from my shoulder, stood back and looked at me. + +“You’ll do,” he said. “And now?” + +He thought. Then he went out and locked the gates of the enclosure. He +was absent some time. + +I was chiefly concerned about my arm. The incident seemed merely one +more of many horrible things. I sat down in the deck chair, and I must +admit swore heartily at the island. The first dull feeling of injury in +my arm had already given way to a burning pain when Montgomery +reappeared. His face was rather pale, and he showed more of his lower +gums than ever. + +“I can neither see nor hear anything of him,” he said. “I’ve been +thinking he may want my help.” He stared at me with his expressionless +eyes. “That was a strong brute,” he said. “It simply wrenched its +fetter out of the wall.” He went to the window, then to the door, and +there turned to me. “I shall go after him,” he said. “There’s another +revolver I can leave with you. To tell you the truth, I feel anxious +somehow.” + +He obtained the weapon, and put it ready to my hand on the table; then +went out, leaving a restless contagion in the air. I did not sit long +after he left, but took the revolver in hand and went to the doorway. + +The morning was as still as death. Not a whisper of wind was stirring; +the sea was like polished glass, the sky empty, the beach desolate. In +my half-excited, half-feverish state, this stillness of things +oppressed me. I tried to whistle, and the tune died away. I swore +again,—the second time that morning. Then I went to the corner of the +enclosure and stared inland at the green bush that had swallowed up +Moreau and Montgomery. When would they return, and how? Then far away +up the beach a little grey Beast Man appeared, ran down to the water’s +edge and began splashing about. I strolled back to the doorway, then to +the corner again, and so began pacing to and fro like a sentinel upon +duty. Once I was arrested by the distant voice of Montgomery bawling, +“Coo-ee—Moreau!” My arm became less painful, but very hot. I got +feverish and thirsty. My shadow grew shorter. I watched the distant +figure until it went away again. Would Moreau and Montgomery never +return? Three sea-birds began fighting for some stranded treasure. + +Then from far away behind the enclosure I heard a pistol-shot. A long +silence, and then came another. Then a yelling cry nearer, and another +dismal gap of silence. My unfortunate imagination set to work to +torment me. Then suddenly a shot close by. I went to the corner, +startled, and saw Montgomery,—his face scarlet, his hair disordered, +and the knee of his trousers torn. His face expressed profound +consternation. Behind him slouched the Beast Man, M’ling, and round +M’ling’s jaws were some queer dark stains. + +“Has he come?” said Montgomery. + +“Moreau?” said I. “No.” + +“My God!” The man was panting, almost sobbing. “Go back in,” he said, +taking my arm. “They’re mad. They’re all rushing about mad. What can +have happened? I don’t know. I’ll tell you, when my breath comes. +Where’s some brandy?” + +Montgomery limped before me into the room and sat down in the deck +chair. M’ling flung himself down just outside the doorway and began +panting like a dog. I got Montgomery some brandy-and-water. He sat +staring in front of him at nothing, recovering his breath. After some +minutes he began to tell me what had happened. + +He had followed their track for some way. It was plain enough at first +on account of the crushed and broken bushes, white rags torn from the +puma’s bandages, and occasional smears of blood on the leaves of the +shrubs and undergrowth. He lost the track, however, on the stony ground +beyond the stream where I had seen the Beast Man drinking, and went +wandering aimlessly westward shouting Moreau’s name. Then M’ling had +come to him carrying a light hatchet. M’ling had seen nothing of the +puma affair; had been felling wood, and heard him calling. They went on +shouting together. Two Beast Men came crouching and peering at them +through the undergrowth, with gestures and a furtive carriage that +alarmed Montgomery by their strangeness. He hailed them, and they fled +guiltily. He stopped shouting after that, and after wandering some time +farther in an undecided way, determined to visit the huts. + +He found the ravine deserted. + +Growing more alarmed every minute, he began to retrace his steps. Then +it was he encountered the two Swine-men I had seen dancing on the night +of my arrival; blood-stained they were about the mouth, and intensely +excited. They came crashing through the ferns, and stopped with fierce +faces when they saw him. He cracked his whip in some trepidation, and +forthwith they rushed at him. Never before had a Beast Man dared to do +that. One he shot through the head; M’ling flung himself upon the +other, and the two rolled grappling. M’ling got his brute under and +with his teeth in its throat, and Montgomery shot that too as it +struggled in M’ling’s grip. He had some difficulty in inducing M’ling +to come on with him. Thence they had hurried back to me. On the way, +M’ling had suddenly rushed into a thicket and driven out an under-sized +Ocelot-man, also blood-stained, and lame through a wound in the foot. +This brute had run a little way and then turned savagely at bay, and +Montgomery—with a certain wantonness, I thought—had shot him. + +“What does it all mean?” said I. + +He shook his head, and turned once more to the brandy. diff --git a/text/XVIII. THE FINDING OF MOREAU.md b/text/XVIII. THE FINDING OF MOREAU.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d7636f --- /dev/null +++ b/text/XVIII. THE FINDING OF MOREAU.md @@ -0,0 +1,153 @@ +# THE FINDING OF MOREAU. + + +When I saw Montgomery swallow a third dose of brandy, I took it upon +myself to interfere. He was already more than half fuddled. I told him +that some serious thing must have happened to Moreau by this time, or +he would have returned before this, and that it behoved us to ascertain +what that catastrophe was. Montgomery raised some feeble objections, +and at last agreed. We had some food, and then all three of us started. + +It is possibly due to the tension of my mind, at the time, but even now +that start into the hot stillness of the tropical afternoon is a +singularly vivid impression. M’ling went first, his shoulder hunched, +his strange black head moving with quick starts as he peered first on +this side of the way and then on that. He was unarmed; his axe he had +dropped when he encountered the Swine-man. Teeth were _his_ weapons, +when it came to fighting. Montgomery followed with stumbling footsteps, +his hands in his pockets, his face downcast; he was in a state of +muddled sullenness with me on account of the brandy. My left arm was in +a sling (it was lucky it was my left), and I carried my revolver in my +right. Soon we traced a narrow path through the wild luxuriance of the +island, going northwestward; and presently M’ling stopped, and became +rigid with watchfulness. Montgomery almost staggered into him, and then +stopped too. Then, listening intently, we heard coming through the +trees the sound of voices and footsteps approaching us. + +“He is dead,” said a deep, vibrating voice. + +“He is not dead; he is not dead,” jabbered another. + +“We saw, we saw,” said several voices. + +“_Hul_-lo!” suddenly shouted Montgomery, “Hullo, there!” + +“Confound you!” said I, and gripped my pistol. + +There was a silence, then a crashing among the interlacing vegetation, +first here, then there, and then half-a-dozen faces appeared,—strange +faces, lit by a strange light. M’ling made a growling noise in his +throat. I recognised the Ape-man: I had indeed already identified his +voice, and two of the white-swathed brown-featured creatures I had seen +in Montgomery’s boat. With these were the two dappled brutes and that +grey, horribly crooked creature who said the Law, with grey hair +streaming down its cheeks, heavy grey eyebrows, and grey locks pouring +off from a central parting upon its sloping forehead,—a heavy, faceless +thing, with strange red eyes, looking at us curiously from amidst the +green. + +For a space no one spoke. Then Montgomery hiccoughed, “Who—said he was +dead?” + +The Monkey-man looked guiltily at the hairy-grey Thing. “He is dead,” +said this monster. “They saw.” + +There was nothing threatening about this detachment, at any rate. They +seemed awestricken and puzzled. + +“Where is he?” said Montgomery. + +“Beyond,” and the grey creature pointed. + +“Is there a Law now?” asked the Monkey-man. “Is it still to be this and +that? Is he dead indeed?” + +“Is there a Law?” repeated the man in white. “Is there a Law, thou +Other with the Whip?” + +“He is dead,” said the hairy-grey Thing. And they all stood watching +us. + +“Prendick,” said Montgomery, turning his dull eyes to me. “He’s dead, +evidently.” + +I had been standing behind him during this colloquy. I began to see how +things lay with them. I suddenly stepped in front of Montgomery and +lifted up my voice:—“Children of the Law,” I said, “he is _not_ dead!” +M’ling turned his sharp eyes on me. “He has changed his shape; he has +changed his body,” I went on. “For a time you will not see him. He +is—there,” I pointed upward, “where he can watch you. You cannot see +him, but he can see you. Fear the Law!” + +I looked at them squarely. They flinched. + +“He is great, he is good,” said the Ape-man, peering fearfully upward +among the dense trees. + +“And the other Thing?” I demanded. + +“The Thing that bled, and ran screaming and sobbing,—that is dead too,” +said the grey Thing, still regarding me. + +“That’s well,” grunted Montgomery. + +“The Other with the Whip—” began the grey Thing. + +“Well?” said I. + +“Said he was dead.” + +But Montgomery was still sober enough to understand my motive in +denying Moreau’s death. “He is not dead,” he said slowly, “not dead at +all. No more dead than I am.” + +“Some,” said I, “have broken the Law: they will die. Some have died. +Show us now where his old body lies,—the body he cast away because he +had no more need of it.” + +“It is this way, Man who walked in the Sea,” said the grey Thing. + +And with these six creatures guiding us, we went through the tumult of +ferns and creepers and tree-stems towards the northwest. Then came a +yelling, a crashing among the branches, and a little pink homunculus +rushed by us shrieking. Immediately after appeared a monster in +headlong pursuit, blood-bedabbled, who was amongst us almost before he +could stop his career. The grey Thing leapt aside. M’ling, with a +snarl, flew at it, and was struck aside. Montgomery fired and missed, +bowed his head, threw up his arm, and turned to run. I fired, and the +Thing still came on; fired again, point-blank, into its ugly face. I +saw its features vanish in a flash: its face was driven in. Yet it +passed me, gripped Montgomery, and holding him, fell headlong beside +him and pulled him sprawling upon itself in its death-agony. + +I found myself alone with M’ling, the dead brute, and the prostrate +man. Montgomery raised himself slowly and stared in a muddled way at +the shattered Beast Man beside him. It more than half sobered him. He +scrambled to his feet. Then I saw the grey Thing returning cautiously +through the trees. + +“See,” said I, pointing to the dead brute, “is the Law not alive? This +came of breaking the Law.” + +He peered at the body. “He sends the Fire that kills,” said he, in his +deep voice, repeating part of the Ritual. The others gathered round and +stared for a space. + +At last we drew near the westward extremity of the island. We came upon +the gnawed and mutilated body of the puma, its shoulder-bone smashed by +a bullet, and perhaps twenty yards farther found at last what we +sought. Moreau lay face downward in a trampled space in a canebrake. +One hand was almost severed at the wrist and his silvery hair was +dabbled in blood. His head had been battered in by the fetters of the +puma. The broken canes beneath him were smeared with blood. His +revolver we could not find. Montgomery turned him over. Resting at +intervals, and with the help of the seven Beast People (for he was a +heavy man), we carried Moreau back to the enclosure. The night was +darkling. Twice we heard unseen creatures howling and shrieking past +our little band, and once the little pink sloth-creature appeared and +stared at us, and vanished again. But we were not attacked again. At +the gates of the enclosure our company of Beast People left us, M’ling +going with the rest. We locked ourselves in, and then took Moreau’s +mangled body into the yard and laid it upon a pile of brushwood. Then +we went into the laboratory and put an end to all we found living +there. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/text/XX. ALONE WITH THE BEAST FOLK.md b/text/XX. ALONE WITH THE BEAST FOLK.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9e7bdc9 --- /dev/null +++ b/text/XX. ALONE WITH THE BEAST FOLK.md @@ -0,0 +1,191 @@ +# ALONE WITH THE BEAST FOLK. + + +I faced these people, facing my fate in them, single-handed +now,—literally single-handed, for I had a broken arm. In my pocket was +a revolver with two empty chambers. Among the chips scattered about the +beach lay the two axes that had been used to chop up the boats. The +tide was creeping in behind me. There was nothing for it but courage. I +looked squarely into the faces of the advancing monsters. They avoided +my eyes, and their quivering nostrils investigated the bodies that lay +beyond me on the beach. I took half-a-dozen steps, picked up the +blood-stained whip that lay beneath the body of the Wolf-man, and +cracked it. They stopped and stared at me. + +“Salute!” said I. “Bow down!” + +They hesitated. One bent his knees. I repeated my command, with my +heart in my mouth, and advanced upon them. One knelt, then the other +two. + +I turned and walked towards the dead bodies, keeping my face towards +the three kneeling Beast Men, very much as an actor passing up the +stage faces the audience. + +“They broke the Law,” said I, putting my foot on the Sayer of the Law. +“They have been slain,—even the Sayer of the Law; even the Other with +the Whip. Great is the Law! Come and see.” + +“None escape,” said one of them, advancing and peering. + +“None escape,” said I. “Therefore hear and do as I command.” They stood +up, looking questioningly at one another. + +“Stand there,” said I. + +I picked up the hatchets and swung them by their heads from the sling +of my arm; turned Montgomery over; picked up his revolver still loaded +in two chambers, and bending down to rummage, found half-a-dozen +cartridges in his pocket. + +“Take him,” said I, standing up again and pointing with the whip; “take +him, and carry him out and cast him into the sea.” + +They came forward, evidently still afraid of Montgomery, but still more +afraid of my cracking red whip-lash; and after some fumbling and +hesitation, some whip-cracking and shouting, they lifted him gingerly, +carried him down to the beach, and went splashing into the dazzling +welter of the sea. + +“On!” said I, “on! Carry him far.” + +They went in up to their armpits and stood regarding me. + +“Let go,” said I; and the body of Montgomery vanished with a splash. +Something seemed to tighten across my chest. + +“Good!” said I, with a break in my voice; and they came back, hurrying +and fearful, to the margin of the water, leaving long wakes of black in +the silver. At the water’s edge they stopped, turning and glaring into +the sea as though they presently expected Montgomery to arise therefrom +and exact vengeance. + +“Now these,” said I, pointing to the other bodies. + +They took care not to approach the place where they had thrown +Montgomery into the water, but instead, carried the four dead Beast +People slantingly along the beach for perhaps a hundred yards before +they waded out and cast them away. + +As I watched them disposing of the mangled remains of M’ling, I heard a +light footfall behind me, and turning quickly saw the big Hyena-swine +perhaps a dozen yards away. His head was bent down, his bright eyes +were fixed upon me, his stumpy hands clenched and held close by his +side. He stopped in this crouching attitude when I turned, his eyes a +little averted. + +For a moment we stood eye to eye. I dropped the whip and snatched at +the pistol in my pocket; for I meant to kill this brute, the most +formidable of any left now upon the island, at the first excuse. It may +seem treacherous, but so I was resolved. I was far more afraid of him +than of any other two of the Beast Folk. His continued life was I knew +a threat against mine. + +I was perhaps a dozen seconds collecting myself. Then cried I, “Salute! +Bow down!” + +His teeth flashed upon me in a snarl. “Who are _you_ that I should—” + +Perhaps a little too spasmodically I drew my revolver, aimed quickly +and fired. I heard him yelp, saw him run sideways and turn, knew I had +missed, and clicked back the cock with my thumb for the next shot. But +he was already running headlong, jumping from side to side, and I dared +not risk another miss. Every now and then he looked back at me over his +shoulder. He went slanting along the beach, and vanished beneath the +driving masses of dense smoke that were still pouring out from the +burning enclosure. For some time I stood staring after him. I turned to +my three obedient Beast Folk again and signalled them to drop the body +they still carried. Then I went back to the place by the fire where the +bodies had fallen and kicked the sand until all the brown blood-stains +were absorbed and hidden. + +I dismissed my three serfs with a wave of the hand, and went up the +beach into the thickets. I carried my pistol in my hand, my whip thrust +with the hatchets in the sling of my arm. I was anxious to be alone, to +think out the position in which I was now placed. A dreadful thing that +I was only beginning to realise was, that over all this island there +was now no safe place where I could be alone and secure to rest or +sleep. I had recovered strength amazingly since my landing, but I was +still inclined to be nervous and to break down under any great stress. +I felt that I ought to cross the island and establish myself with the +Beast People, and make myself secure in their confidence. But my heart +failed me. I went back to the beach, and turning eastward past the +burning enclosure, made for a point where a shallow spit of coral sand +ran out towards the reef. Here I could sit down and think, my back to +the sea and my face against any surprise. And there I sat, chin on +knees, the sun beating down upon my head and unspeakable dread in my +mind, plotting how I could live on against the hour of my rescue (if +ever rescue came). I tried to review the whole situation as calmly as I +could, but it was difficult to clear the thing of emotion. + +I began turning over in my mind the reason of Montgomery’s despair. +“They will change,” he said; “they are sure to change.” And Moreau, +what was it that Moreau had said? “The stubborn beast-flesh grows day +by day back again.” Then I came round to the Hyena-swine. I felt sure +that if I did not kill that brute, he would kill me. The Sayer of the +Law was dead: worse luck. They knew now that we of the Whips could be +killed even as they themselves were killed. Were they peering at me +already out of the green masses of ferns and palms over yonder, +watching until I came within their spring? Were they plotting against +me? What was the Hyena-swine telling them? My imagination was running +away with me into a morass of unsubstantial fears. + +My thoughts were disturbed by a crying of sea-birds hurrying towards +some black object that had been stranded by the waves on the beach near +the enclosure. I knew what that object was, but I had not the heart to +go back and drive them off. I began walking along the beach in the +opposite direction, designing to come round the eastward corner of the +island and so approach the ravine of the huts, without traversing the +possible ambuscades of the thickets. + +Perhaps half a mile along the beach I became aware of one of my three +Beast Folk advancing out of the landward bushes towards me. I was now +so nervous with my own imaginings that I immediately drew my revolver. +Even the propitiatory gestures of the creature failed to disarm me. He +hesitated as he approached. + +“Go away!” cried I. + +There was something very suggestive of a dog in the cringing attitude +of the creature. It retreated a little way, very like a dog being sent +home, and stopped, looking at me imploringly with canine brown eyes. + +“Go away,” said I. “Do not come near me.” + +“May I not come near you?” it said. + +“No; go away,” I insisted, and snapped my whip. Then putting my whip in +my teeth, I stooped for a stone, and with that threat drove the +creature away. + +So in solitude I came round by the ravine of the Beast People, and +hiding among the weeds and reeds that separated this crevice from the +sea I watched such of them as appeared, trying to judge from their +gestures and appearance how the death of Moreau and Montgomery and the +destruction of the House of Pain had affected them. I know now the +folly of my cowardice. Had I kept my courage up to the level of the +dawn, had I not allowed it to ebb away in solitary thought, I might +have grasped the vacant sceptre of Moreau and ruled over the Beast +People. As it was I lost the opportunity, and sank to the position of a +mere leader among my fellows. + +Towards noon certain of them came and squatted basking in the hot sand. +The imperious voices of hunger and thirst prevailed over my dread. I +came out of the bushes, and, revolver in hand, walked down towards +these seated figures. One, a Wolf-woman, turned her head and stared at +me, and then the others. None attempted to rise or salute me. I felt +too faint and weary to insist, and I let the moment pass. + +“I want food,” said I, almost apologetically, and drawing near. + +“There is food in the huts,” said an Ox-boar-man, drowsily, and looking +away from me. + +I passed them, and went down into the shadow and odours of the almost +deserted ravine. In an empty hut I feasted on some specked and +half-decayed fruit; and then after I had propped some branches and +sticks about the opening, and placed myself with my face towards it and +my hand upon my revolver, the exhaustion of the last thirty hours +claimed its own, and I fell into a light slumber, hoping that the +flimsy barricade I had erected would cause sufficient noise in its +removal to save me from surprise. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/text/XXI. THE REVERSION OF THE BEAST FOLK.md b/text/XXI. THE REVERSION OF THE BEAST FOLK.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6b8ec1e --- /dev/null +++ b/text/XXI. THE REVERSION OF THE BEAST FOLK.md @@ -0,0 +1,405 @@ +# THE REVERSION OF THE BEAST FOLK. + + +In this way I became one among the Beast People in the Island of Doctor +Moreau. When I awoke, it was dark about me. My arm ached in its +bandages. I sat up, wondering at first where I might be. I heard coarse +voices talking outside. Then I saw that my barricade had gone, and that +the opening of the hut stood clear. My revolver was still in my hand. + +I heard something breathing, saw something crouched together close +beside me. I held my breath, trying to see what it was. It began to +move slowly, interminably. Then something soft and warm and moist +passed across my hand. All my muscles contracted. I snatched my hand +away. A cry of alarm began and was stifled in my throat. Then I just +realised what had happened sufficiently to stay my fingers on the +revolver. + +“Who is that?” I said in a hoarse whisper, the revolver still pointed. + +“_I_—Master.” + +“Who are _you?_” + +“They say there is no Master now. But I know, I know. I carried the +bodies into the sea, O Walker in the Sea! the bodies of those you slew. +I am your slave, Master.” + +“Are you the one I met on the beach?” I asked. + +“The same, Master.” + +The Thing was evidently faithful enough, for it might have fallen upon +me as I slept. “It is well,” I said, extending my hand for another +licking kiss. I began to realise what its presence meant, and the tide +of my courage flowed. “Where are the others?” I asked. + +“They are mad; they are fools,” said the Dog-man. “Even now they talk +together beyond there. They say, ‘The Master is dead. The Other with +the Whip is dead. That Other who walked in the Sea is as we are. We +have no Master, no Whips, no House of Pain, any more. There is an end. +We love the Law, and will keep it; but there is no Pain, no Master, no +Whips for ever again.’ So they say. But I know, Master, I know.” + +I felt in the darkness, and patted the Dog-man’s head. “It is well,” I +said again. + +“Presently you will slay them all,” said the Dog-man. + +“Presently,” I answered, “I will slay them all,—after certain days and +certain things have come to pass. Every one of them save those you +spare, every one of them shall be slain.” + +“What the Master wishes to kill, the Master kills,” said the Dog-man +with a certain satisfaction in his voice. + +“And that their sins may grow,” I said, “let them live in their folly +until their time is ripe. Let them not know that I am the Master.” + +“The Master’s will is sweet,” said the Dog-man, with the ready tact of +his canine blood. + +“But one has sinned,” said I. “Him I will kill, whenever I may meet +him. When I say to you, ‘_That is he_,’ see that you fall upon him. And +now I will go to the men and women who are assembled together.” + +For a moment the opening of the hut was blackened by the exit of the +Dog-man. Then I followed and stood up, almost in the exact spot where I +had been when I had heard Moreau and his staghound pursuing me. But now +it was night, and all the miasmatic ravine about me was black; and +beyond, instead of a green, sunlit slope, I saw a red fire, before +which hunched, grotesque figures moved to and fro. Farther were the +thick trees, a bank of darkness, fringed above with the black lace of +the upper branches. The moon was just riding up on the edge of the +ravine, and like a bar across its face drove the spire of vapour that +was for ever streaming from the fumaroles of the island. + +“Walk by me,” said I, nerving myself; and side by side we walked down +the narrow way, taking little heed of the dim Things that peered at us +out of the huts. + +None about the fire attempted to salute me. Most of them disregarded +me, ostentatiously. I looked round for the Hyena-swine, but he was not +there. Altogether, perhaps twenty of the Beast Folk squatted, staring +into the fire or talking to one another. + +“He is dead, he is dead! the Master is dead!” said the voice of the +Ape-man to the right of me. “The House of Pain—there is no House of +Pain!” + +“He is not dead,” said I, in a loud voice. “Even now he watches us!” + +This startled them. Twenty pairs of eyes regarded me. + +“The House of Pain is gone,” said I. “It will come again. The Master +you cannot see; yet even now he listens among you.” + +“True, true!” said the Dog-man. + +They were staggered at my assurance. An animal may be ferocious and +cunning enough, but it takes a real man to tell a lie. + +“The Man with the Bandaged Arm speaks a strange thing,” said one of the +Beast Folk. + +“I tell you it is so,” I said. “The Master and the House of Pain will +come again. Woe be to him who breaks the Law!” + +They looked curiously at one another. With an affectation of +indifference I began to chop idly at the ground in front of me with my +hatchet. They looked, I noticed, at the deep cuts I made in the turf. + +Then the Satyr raised a doubt. I answered him. Then one of the dappled +things objected, and an animated discussion sprang up round the fire. +Every moment I began to feel more convinced of my present security. I +talked now without the catching in my breath, due to the intensity of +my excitement, that had troubled me at first. In the course of about an +hour I had really convinced several of the Beast Folk of the truth of +my assertions, and talked most of the others into a dubious state. I +kept a sharp eye for my enemy the Hyena-swine, but he never appeared. +Every now and then a suspicious movement would startle me, but my +confidence grew rapidly. Then as the moon crept down from the zenith, +one by one the listeners began to yawn (showing the oddest teeth in the +light of the sinking fire), and first one and then another retired +towards the dens in the ravine; and I, dreading the silence and +darkness, went with them, knowing I was safer with several of them than +with one alone. + +In this manner began the longer part of my sojourn upon this Island of +Doctor Moreau. But from that night until the end came, there was but +one thing happened to tell save a series of innumerable small +unpleasant details and the fretting of an incessant uneasiness. So that +I prefer to make no chronicle for that gap of time, to tell only one +cardinal incident of the ten months I spent as an intimate of these +half-humanised brutes. There is much that sticks in my memory that I +could write,—things that I would cheerfully give my right hand to +forget; but they do not help the telling of the story. + +In the retrospect it is strange to remember how soon I fell in with +these monsters’ ways, and gained my confidence again. I had my quarrels +with them of course, and could show some of their teeth-marks still; +but they soon gained a wholesome respect for my trick of throwing +stones and for the bite of my hatchet. And my Saint-Bernard-man’s +loyalty was of infinite service to me. I found their simple scale of +honour was based mainly on the capacity for inflicting trenchant +wounds. Indeed, I may say—without vanity, I hope—that I held something +like pre-eminence among them. One or two, whom in a rare access of high +spirits I had scarred rather badly, bore me a grudge; but it vented +itself chiefly behind my back, and at a safe distance from my missiles, +in grimaces. + +The Hyena-swine avoided me, and I was always on the alert for him. My +inseparable Dog-man hated and dreaded him intensely. I really believe +that was at the root of the brute’s attachment to me. It was soon +evident to me that the former monster had tasted blood, and gone the +way of the Leopard-man. He formed a lair somewhere in the forest, and +became solitary. Once I tried to induce the Beast Folk to hunt him, but +I lacked the authority to make them co-operate for one end. Again and +again I tried to approach his den and come upon him unaware; but always +he was too acute for me, and saw or winded me and got away. He too made +every forest pathway dangerous to me and my ally with his lurking +ambuscades. The Dog-man scarcely dared to leave my side. + +In the first month or so the Beast Folk, compared with their latter +condition, were human enough, and for one or two besides my canine +friend I even conceived a friendly tolerance. The little pink +sloth-creature displayed an odd affection for me, and took to following +me about. The Monkey-man bored me, however; he assumed, on the strength +of his five digits, that he was my equal, and was for ever jabbering at +me,—jabbering the most arrant nonsense. One thing about him entertained +me a little: he had a fantastic trick of coining new words. He had an +idea, I believe, that to gabble about names that meant nothing was the +proper use of speech. He called it “Big Thinks” to distinguish it from +“Little Thinks,” the sane every-day interests of life. If ever I made a +remark he did not understand, he would praise it very much, ask me to +say it again, learn it by heart, and go off repeating it, with a word +wrong here or there, to all the milder of the Beast People. He thought +nothing of what was plain and comprehensible. I invented some very +curious “Big Thinks” for his especial use. I think now that he was the +silliest creature I ever met; he had developed in the most wonderful +way the distinctive silliness of man without losing one jot of the +natural folly of a monkey. + +This, I say, was in the earlier weeks of my solitude among these +brutes. During that time they respected the usage established by the +Law, and behaved with general decorum. Once I found another rabbit torn +to pieces,—by the Hyena-swine, I am assured,—but that was all. It was +about May when I first distinctly perceived a growing difference in +their speech and carriage, a growing coarseness of articulation, a +growing disinclination to talk. My Monkey-man’s jabber multiplied in +volume but grew less and less comprehensible, more and more simian. +Some of the others seemed altogether slipping their hold upon speech, +though they still understood what I said to them at that time. (Can you +imagine language, once clear-cut and exact, softening and guttering, +losing shape and import, becoming mere lumps of sound again?) And they +walked erect with an increasing difficulty. Though they evidently felt +ashamed of themselves, every now and then I would come upon one or +another running on toes and finger-tips, and quite unable to recover +the vertical attitude. They held things more clumsily; drinking by +suction, feeding by gnawing, grew commoner every day. I realised more +keenly than ever what Moreau had told me about the “stubborn +beast-flesh.” They were reverting, and reverting very rapidly. + +Some of them—the pioneers in this, I noticed with some surprise, were +all females—began to disregard the injunction of decency, deliberately +for the most part. Others even attempted public outrages upon the +institution of monogamy. The tradition of the Law was clearly losing +its force. I cannot pursue this disagreeable subject. + +My Dog-man imperceptibly slipped back to the dog again; day by day he +became dumb, quadrupedal, hairy. I scarcely noticed the transition from +the companion on my right hand to the lurching dog at my side. + +As the carelessness and disorganisation increased from day to day, the +lane of dwelling places, at no time very sweet, became so loathsome +that I left it, and going across the island made myself a hovel of +boughs amid the black ruins of Moreau’s enclosure. Some memory of pain, +I found, still made that place the safest from the Beast Folk. + +It would be impossible to detail every step of the lapsing of these +monsters,—to tell how, day by day, the human semblance left them; how +they gave up bandagings and wrappings, abandoned at last every stitch +of clothing; how the hair began to spread over the exposed limbs; how +their foreheads fell away and their faces projected; how the +quasi-human intimacy I had permitted myself with some of them in the +first month of my loneliness became a shuddering horror to recall. + +The change was slow and inevitable. For them and for me it came without +any definite shock. I still went among them in safety, because no jolt +in the downward glide had released the increasing charge of explosive +animalism that ousted the human day by day. But I began to fear that +soon now that shock must come. My Saint-Bernard-brute followed me to +the enclosure every night, and his vigilance enabled me to sleep at +times in something like peace. The little pink sloth-thing became shy +and left me, to crawl back to its natural life once more among the +tree-branches. We were in just the state of equilibrium that would +remain in one of those “Happy Family” cages which animal-tamers +exhibit, if the tamer were to leave it for ever. + +Of course these creatures did not decline into such beasts as the +reader has seen in zoological gardens,—into ordinary bears, wolves, +tigers, oxen, swine, and apes. There was still something strange about +each; in each Moreau had blended this animal with that. One perhaps was +ursine chiefly, another feline chiefly, another bovine chiefly; but +each was tainted with other creatures,—a kind of generalised animalism +appearing through the specific dispositions. And the dwindling shreds +of the humanity still startled me every now and then,—a momentary +recrudescence of speech perhaps, an unexpected dexterity of the +fore-feet, a pitiful attempt to walk erect. + +I too must have undergone strange changes. My clothes hung about me as +yellow rags, through whose rents showed the tanned skin. My hair grew +long, and became matted together. I am told that even now my eyes have +a strange brightness, a swift alertness of movement. + +At first I spent the daylight hours on the southward beach watching for +a ship, hoping and praying for a ship. I counted on the _Ipecacuanha_ +returning as the year wore on; but she never came. Five times I saw +sails, and thrice smoke; but nothing ever touched the island. I always +had a bonfire ready, but no doubt the volcanic reputation of the island +was taken to account for that. + +It was only about September or October that I began to think of making +a raft. By that time my arm had healed, and both my hands were at my +service again. At first, I found my helplessness appalling. I had never +done any carpentry or such-like work in my life, and I spent day after +day in experimental chopping and binding among the trees. I had no +ropes, and could hit on nothing wherewith to make ropes; none of the +abundant creepers seemed limber or strong enough, and with all my +litter of scientific education I could not devise any way of making +them so. I spent more than a fortnight grubbing among the black ruins +of the enclosure and on the beach where the boats had been burnt, +looking for nails and other stray pieces of metal that might prove of +service. Now and then some Beast-creature would watch me, and go +leaping off when I called to it. There came a season of thunder-storms +and heavy rain, which greatly retarded my work; but at last the raft +was completed. + +I was delighted with it. But with a certain lack of practical sense +which has always been my bane, I had made it a mile or more from the +sea; and before I had dragged it down to the beach the thing had fallen +to pieces. Perhaps it is as well that I was saved from launching it; +but at the time my misery at my failure was so acute that for some days +I simply moped on the beach, and stared at the water and thought of +death. + +I did not, however, mean to die, and an incident occurred that warned +me unmistakably of the folly of letting the days pass so,—for each +fresh day was fraught with increasing danger from the Beast People. + +I was lying in the shade of the enclosure wall, staring out to sea, +when I was startled by something cold touching the skin of my heel, and +starting round found the little pink sloth-creature blinking into my +face. He had long since lost speech and active movement, and the lank +hair of the little brute grew thicker every day and his stumpy claws +more askew. He made a moaning noise when he saw he had attracted my +attention, went a little way towards the bushes and looked back at me. + +At first I did not understand, but presently it occurred to me that he +wished me to follow him; and this I did at last,—slowly, for the day +was hot. When we reached the trees he clambered into them, for he could +travel better among their swinging creepers than on the ground. And +suddenly in a trampled space I came upon a ghastly group. My +Saint-Bernard-creature lay on the ground, dead; and near his body +crouched the Hyena-swine, gripping the quivering flesh with its +misshapen claws, gnawing at it, and snarling with delight. As I +approached, the monster lifted its glaring eyes to mine, its lips went +trembling back from its red-stained teeth, and it growled menacingly. +It was not afraid and not ashamed; the last vestige of the human taint +had vanished. I advanced a step farther, stopped, and pulled out my +revolver. At last I had him face to face. + +The brute made no sign of retreat; but its ears went back, its hair +bristled, and its body crouched together. I aimed between the eyes and +fired. As I did so, the Thing rose straight at me in a leap, and I was +knocked over like a ninepin. It clutched at me with its crippled hand, +and struck me in the face. Its spring carried it over me. I fell under +the hind part of its body; but luckily I had hit as I meant, and it had +died even as it leapt. I crawled out from under its unclean weight and +stood up trembling, staring at its quivering body. That danger at least +was over; but this, I knew was only the first of the series of relapses +that must come. + +I burnt both of the bodies on a pyre of brushwood; but after that I saw +that unless I left the island my death was only a question of time. The +Beast People by that time had, with one or two exceptions, left the +ravine and made themselves lairs according to their taste among the +thickets of the island. Few prowled by day, most of them slept, and the +island might have seemed deserted to a new-comer; but at night the air +was hideous with their calls and howling. I had half a mind to make a +massacre of them; to build traps, or fight them with my knife. Had I +possessed sufficient cartridges, I should not have hesitated to begin +the killing. There could now be scarcely a score left of the dangerous +carnivores; the braver of these were already dead. After the death of +this poor dog of mine, my last friend, I too adopted to some extent the +practice of slumbering in the daytime in order to be on my guard at +night. I rebuilt my den in the walls of the enclosure, with such a +narrow opening that anything attempting to enter must necessarily make +a considerable noise. The creatures had lost the art of fire too, and +recovered their fear of it. I turned once more, almost passionately +now, to hammering together stakes and branches to form a raft for my +escape. + +I found a thousand difficulties. I am an extremely unhandy man (my +schooling was over before the days of Slöjd); but most of the +requirements of a raft I met at last in some clumsy, circuitous way or +other, and this time I took care of the strength. The only +insurmountable obstacle was that I had no vessel to contain the water I +should need if I floated forth upon these untravelled seas. I would +have even tried pottery, but the island contained no clay. I used to go +moping about the island trying with all my might to solve this one last +difficulty. Sometimes I would give way to wild outbursts of rage, and +hack and splinter some unlucky tree in my intolerable vexation. But I +could think of nothing. + +And then came a day, a wonderful day, which I spent in ecstasy. I saw a +sail to the southwest, a small sail like that of a little schooner; and +forthwith I lit a great pile of brushwood, and stood by it in the heat +of it, and the heat of the midday sun, watching. All day I watched that +sail, eating or drinking nothing, so that my head reeled; and the +Beasts came and glared at me, and seemed to wonder, and went away. It +was still distant when night came and swallowed it up; and all night I +toiled to keep my blaze bright and high, and the eyes of the Beasts +shone out of the darkness, marvelling. In the dawn the sail was nearer, +and I saw it was the dirty lug-sail of a small boat. But it sailed +strangely. My eyes were weary with watching, and I peered and could not +believe them. Two men were in the boat, sitting low down,—one by the +bows, the other at the rudder. The head was not kept to the wind; it +yawed and fell away. + +As the day grew brighter, I began waving the last rag of my jacket to +them; but they did not notice me, and sat still, facing each other. I +went to the lowest point of the low headland, and gesticulated and +shouted. There was no response, and the boat kept on her aimless +course, making slowly, very slowly, for the bay. Suddenly a great white +bird flew up out of the boat, and neither of the men stirred nor +noticed it; it circled round, and then came sweeping overhead with its +strong wings outspread. + +Then I stopped shouting, and sat down on the headland and rested my +chin on my hands and stared. Slowly, slowly, the boat drove past +towards the west. I would have swum out to it, but something—a cold, +vague fear—kept me back. In the afternoon the tide stranded the boat, +and left it a hundred yards or so to the westward of the ruins of the +enclosure. The men in it were dead, had been dead so long that they +fell to pieces when I tilted the boat on its side and dragged them out. +One had a shock of red hair, like the captain of the _Ipecacuanha_, and +a dirty white cap lay in the bottom of the boat. + +As I stood beside the boat, three of the Beasts came slinking out of +the bushes and sniffing towards me. One of my spasms of disgust came +upon me. I thrust the little boat down the beach and clambered on board +her. Two of the brutes were Wolf-beasts, and came forward with +quivering nostrils and glittering eyes; the third was the horrible +nondescript of bear and bull. When I saw them approaching those +wretched remains, heard them snarling at one another and caught the +gleam of their teeth, a frantic horror succeeded my repulsion. I turned +my back upon them, struck the lug and began paddling out to sea. I +could not bring myself to look behind me. + +I lay, however, between the reef and the island that night, and the +next morning went round to the stream and filled the empty keg aboard +with water. Then, with such patience as I could command, I collected a +quantity of fruit, and waylaid and killed two rabbits with my last +three cartridges. While I was doing this I left the boat moored to an +inward projection of the reef, for fear of the Beast People. diff --git a/text/XXII. THE MAN ALONE.md b/text/XXII. THE MAN ALONE.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..77d7194 --- /dev/null +++ b/text/XXII. THE MAN ALONE.md @@ -0,0 +1,115 @@ + +# THE MAN ALONE. + + +In the evening I started, and drove out to sea before a gentle wind +from the southwest, slowly, steadily; and the island grew smaller and +smaller, and the lank spire of smoke dwindled to a finer and finer line +against the hot sunset. The ocean rose up around me, hiding that low, +dark patch from my eyes. The daylight, the trailing glory of the sun, +went streaming out of the sky, was drawn aside like some luminous +curtain, and at last I looked into the blue gulf of immensity which the +sunshine hides, and saw the floating hosts of the stars. The sea was +silent, the sky was silent. I was alone with the night and silence. + +So I drifted for three days, eating and drinking sparingly, and +meditating upon all that had happened to me,—not desiring very greatly +then to see men again. One unclean rag was about me, my hair a black +tangle: no doubt my discoverers thought me a madman. + +It is strange, but I felt no desire to return to mankind. I was only +glad to be quit of the foulness of the Beast People. And on the third +day I was picked up by a brig from Apia to San Francisco. Neither the +captain nor the mate would believe my story, judging that solitude and +danger had made me mad; and fearing their opinion might be that of +others, I refrained from telling my adventure further, and professed to +recall nothing that had happened to me between the loss of the _Lady +Vain_ and the time when I was picked up again,—the space of a year. + +I had to act with the utmost circumspection to save myself from the +suspicion of insanity. My memory of the Law, of the two dead sailors, +of the ambuscades of the darkness, of the body in the canebrake, +haunted me; and, unnatural as it seems, with my return to mankind came, +instead of that confidence and sympathy I had expected, a strange +enhancement of the uncertainty and dread I had experienced during my +stay upon the island. No one would believe me; I was almost as queer to +men as I had been to the Beast People. I may have caught something of +the natural wildness of my companions. They say that terror is a +disease, and anyhow I can witness that for several years now a restless +fear has dwelt in my mind,—such a restless fear as a half-tamed lion +cub may feel. + +My trouble took the strangest form. I could not persuade myself that +the men and women I met were not also another Beast People, animals +half wrought into the outward image of human souls, and that they would +presently begin to revert,—to show first this bestial mark and then +that. But I have confided my case to a strangely able man,—a man who +had known Moreau, and seemed half to credit my story; a mental +specialist,—and he has helped me mightily, though I do not expect that +the terror of that island will ever altogether leave me. At most times +it lies far in the back of my mind, a mere distant cloud, a memory, and +a faint distrust; but there are times when the little cloud spreads +until it obscures the whole sky. Then I look about me at my fellow-men; +and I go in fear. I see faces, keen and bright; others dull or +dangerous; others, unsteady, insincere,—none that have the calm +authority of a reasonable soul. I feel as though the animal was surging +up through them; that presently the degradation of the Islanders will +be played over again on a larger scale. I know this is an illusion; +that these seeming men and women about me are indeed men and women,—men +and women for ever, perfectly reasonable creatures, full of human +desires and tender solicitude, emancipated from instinct and the slaves +of no fantastic Law,—beings altogether different from the Beast Folk. +Yet I shrink from them, from their curious glances, their inquiries and +assistance, and long to be away from them and alone. For that reason I +live near the broad free downland, and can escape thither when this +shadow is over my soul; and very sweet is the empty downland then, +under the wind-swept sky. + +When I lived in London the horror was well-nigh insupportable. I could +not get away from men: their voices came through windows; locked doors +were flimsy safeguards. I would go out into the streets to fight with +my delusion, and prowling women would mew after me; furtive, craving +men glance jealously at me; weary, pale workers go coughing by me with +tired eyes and eager paces, like wounded deer dripping blood; old +people, bent and dull, pass murmuring to themselves; and, all +unheeding, a ragged tail of gibing children. Then I would turn aside +into some chapel,—and even there, such was my disturbance, it seemed +that the preacher gibbered “Big Thinks,” even as the Ape-man had done; +or into some library, and there the intent faces over the books seemed +but patient creatures waiting for prey. Particularly nauseous were the +blank, expressionless faces of people in trains and omnibuses; they +seemed no more my fellow-creatures than dead bodies would be, so that I +did not dare to travel unless I was assured of being alone. And even it +seemed that I too was not a reasonable creature, but only an animal +tormented with some strange disorder in its brain which sent it to +wander alone, like a sheep stricken with gid. + +This is a mood, however, that comes to me now, I thank God, more +rarely. I have withdrawn myself from the confusion of cities and +multitudes, and spend my days surrounded by wise books,—bright windows +in this life of ours, lit by the shining souls of men. I see few +strangers, and have but a small household. My days I devote to reading +and to experiments in chemistry, and I spend many of the clear nights +in the study of astronomy. There is—though I do not know how there is +or why there is—a sense of infinite peace and protection in the +glittering hosts of heaven. There it must be, I think, in the vast and +eternal laws of matter, and not in the daily cares and sins and +troubles of men, that whatever is more than animal within us must find +its solace and its hope. I _hope_, or I could not live. + + +And so, in hope and solitude, my story ends. + +EDWARD PRENDICK. + + + + +NOTE. + + +The substance of the chapter entitled “Doctor Moreau explains,” which +contains the essential idea of the story, appeared as a middle article +in the _Saturday Review_ in January, 1895. This is the only portion of +this story that has been previously published, and it has been entirely +recast to adapt it to the narrative form.