est

self in Enmore Park once more. In my aching head the one thought was throbbing that there really was truth in this man's story, that it was of tremendous consequence, and that it would work up into inc

to? I'm thinking, young man, you have been in

ttle differe

it is! What

d we had a chat. But I got nothing

s bearings. I'll have a leaderette on him to-morrow that will raise a blister. Just give me the material and I will engage to brand the fellow for ever. Professor M

n't do t

y n

is not a f

you really believe this stuff of his about ma

hink he makes any claims of that kind. Bu

en's sake, man

and on condition that I didn't." I condensed into a few s

ked deeply

any paper will want to report it, for Waldron has been reported already a dozen times, and no one is aware that Challenger will speak. We

to whom I gave some account of my adventures. He listened with a sceptical smile on h

pon enormous discoveries and then lose their evidence. Leave that to the novelist

America

ver ex

is sketc

er's sket

he drew t

e he did.

n, the pho

hotographs. By your own adm

eroda

. He put the pteroda

hen, the

r the occasion. If you are clever and know your business

all, I had been premature in my acquies

e to the meet

y looked

ts to settle with him. I should say he is about the best-hated man in London. If the medic

him the justice to hear

fair. All right. I'm yo

it became evident to us as soon as we had taken our seats that a youthful and even boyish spirit was abroad in the gallery and the back portions of the hall. Looking behind me, I could see rows of faces of the familiar medical student type. Apparently the great hospitals had each sent down their contingent. The behavior of the au

onate inquiries from all parts of the hall as to the exact state of his poor toe, which caused him obvious embarrassment. The greatest demonstration of all, however, was at the entrance of my new acquaintance, Professor Challenger, when he passed down to take his place at the extreme end of the front row of the platform.

distance. There was an offensive tone in it, perhaps, and yet in the main it struck me as mere riotous outcry, the noisy reception of one who amused and interested them, rather than of one they disliked or despised. Challenger smiled with weary and tolerant contempt, as a kindly man would meet the yapping of a litter of puppies. He sat sl

eservoir through a non-conducting pipe, which could by the least effort be opened. Professor Murray made several profound remarks to his white tie and to the water-carafe upon the table, with a humorous, twinkling aside to the silver candlestick upon his right. Then he sat down, and Mr. Waldron, the famous popular lecturer, rose amid a general murmur of applause. He was a stern, gaunt man, with

e drama of life. On the origin of life itself he was discreetly vague. That the germs of it could hardly have survived the original roasting was, he declared, fairly certain. Therefore it had come later. Had it built itself out of the cooling, inorganic elements of the globe? Very likely. Had the germs of it arrived from outside upon a meteor? It was hardly conceivable. On the whole, the wisest man was the least dogmatic upon t

gentleman in the red tie who cried "No, no," and who presumably claimed to have been hatched out of an egg, would wait upon him after the lecture, he would be glad to see such a curiosity. (Laughter.) It was strange to think that the climax of all the age-long process of Nature had been the creation of that gentleman in the red tie. But had the process stopped? Was this gentleman to be taken as the final type-t

y upon their margins, the overcrowded lagoons, the tendency of the sea creatures to take refuge upon the mud-flats, the abundance of food awaiting them, their consequent enormous growth. "Hence, ladies and gentlemen," he

med a voice fro

s interjection appeared to him so absurd that he was at a loss how to deal with it. So looks the Shakespearean who is confronted by a rancid Baconian, or the astronome

oomed the voi

ntil his eyes fell upon the figure of Challenger, who leaned back in his chair

ssor Challenger," and amid laughter he renewed his lecture

ience began to anticipate it and to roar with delight when it came. The packed benches of students joined in, and every time Challenger's beard opened, before any sound could come forth, there was a yell of "Question!" from a hundred voices, and an answering

the platform. "I must ask you, Professor Challenger,

at seeing the high gods on Olympus quarrelling among themselve

id, "to cease to make assertions which are n

h his hands and bleating excitedly. "Professor Challenger-personal-views-later," were the solid peaks above his clouds of inaudible mutter. The interrupter bowed, smiled, stroked his beard, and relapsed into his chair. Wald

thread of the argument had been rudely broken, and the audience was restless and expectant. Waldron sat down, and, after a chirrup from the

esult behind it. I put forward this obvious reflection, not out of any desire to disparage Mr. Waldron in particular, but that you may not lose your sense of proportion and mistake the acolyte for the high priest." (At this point Mr. Waldron whispered to the chairman, who half rose and said something severely to his water-carafe.) "But enough of this!" (Loud and prolonged cheers.) "Let me pass to some subject of wider interest. What is the particular point upon which I, as an original investigator, have challenged our lecturer's accuracy? It is upon the permanence of certain types of animal life upon the earth. I do not speak upon this subject as an amateur, nor, I may add, as a popular lecturer, but I speak as one whose scientific conscience compels him to adhere closely to facts, when I say that Mr. Waldron is very wrong in supposing that because he has never himself seen a so-called prehistoric animal, therefore these creatures no longer exist. They are indeed, as he has said, our ancestors, but they are, if I may use the expression, our contemporary ancestors, who can still be found with all their hideous and formidable characteristics if one has but the energy and hardihood to seek their haunts. Creatures which were supposed to be Jurassic, monsters who would hunt down and devour our largest and fiercest mammals, still exist." (Cries of "Bosh!" "Prove it!" "How do YOU know?" "Question!") "How do I know, you ask me? I know because I have visited their secret haun

eniors seemed to have caught the prevailing spirit as badly as the students, and I saw white-bearded men rising and shaking their fists at the obdurate Professor. The whole great audience seethed and simmered like a boiling pot. The Professor took a step for

of their equally foolish seniors-cannot affect the matter. I claim that I have opened a new field of science. You dispute it." (Cheers.) "Then

e withered aspect of a theologian. He wished, he said, to ask Professor Challenger whether the results to which he had

lenger answere

to have made discoveries in those regions which had been overlooked by Wa

hat larger river; that Mr. Summerlee might be interested to know that with the Orinoco, which communicated with it, some fifty thous

lay in the fact that any assertion about the former could be tested, while about the latter it could not. He would be obliged

wn, but would be prepared to give it with proper precautions to a committee chosen from

"Yes, I will."

y right, however, since Mr. Summerlee goes to check my statement that I should have one or more with him who may check his. I will n

ery opportunity of which she spoke? Gladys would have told me to go. I had sprung to my feet. I was speaking, and yet I had prepared no words. Tarp Henry, my companion, was plucking at my skirts and I heard him whispering, "Sit down, Malo

man," I kept repeatin

!" cried th

reporter of the Daily Gazette. I claim

sir?" the chairman a

the Amazon, I know all the ground, and have s

rse, world-famous," said the chairman; "at the same time it would certa

ted, as representatives of this meeting, to accompany Professor Summerlee up

ly before it. As I emerged from the hall I was conscious for a moment of a rush of laughing students-down the pavement, and of an arm wielding a heavy umbrella, which rose and fell in the midst of them. Then, amid a

lf looking into the humorous, masterful eyes of the tall, thin m

just over the road, in the Albany. Perhaps you would have the kindness to spare m