Chapter 15 15. Our eyes see real spectacle

The victory of the Indians over the apes brought changes in our lives.We have since become masters of the plateau, for the natives look upon us with fear and at the same time appreciate us for supporting their struggle against the enemy with our strange strength.They didn't seem to intend to help us leave. From their gestures, we understood that there was once a passage through which people could walk down the plateau.There can be no doubt that the Ape-man and the Indian came at different times by this passage, as did Mepuo White and his companions.But there was an earthquake a few years ago, and the top of the passage collapsed.

The surviving ape-men were driven across the plateau, and they were arranged to live next to the Indian caves and work for the Indians. After that battle, two days later, we and our allies made our way back across the plateau, and camped at the foot of their cliffs.They let us live in caves, but we wanted to be free.We saw their caves; the place is wonderful, though whether the caves were man-made or natural we never found out. The cave was about eighty feet above the ground, and long stone steps led from the ground to the opening, each step so narrow and steep that no large animal could climb it.Inside the cave is warm and dry, and the gray walls are decorated with images representing the various animals of the plateau.

On the third day after we had camped near the Indian's cave, Challenger and Somerley went down to the lake, where, with the help of the natives, they caught the large reptile for taxidermy.Lord John and I remained in camp, while a group of Indians was busy on the grassy slope before the cave.Suddenly there was a loud scream, and men, women, and children from all directions ran up the steps frantically and got into the cave. Looking up, we could see them waving their arms on the rocks, telling us to come to them, and the two of us grabbed our guns and ran out to see what the hell was going on.We saw a group of twelve or fifteen Indians running.Two of those horrible animals that had come to our tent and nearly caught me on the way back from the lake were after the Indians.They resemble creepy frogs and are larger than the largest elephants.We never see them in daylight, their skin gleaming in the sun.

In an instant, they attacked the Indians.Their method is to jump up and down, put all their weight on one of them, crush him flat, and then jump on the other.The Indians couldn't help it, these monsters ran faster than them.Our rifles aren't much use either.At a distance of two hundred yards we fired bullet after bullet at the beast, but to no avail.As best we could, the flash and roar of the rifles stopped them for a minute, giving the locals and us time to reach the stairs leading to the cave.But when the explosive bullets of the twentieth century were useless, the poisoned arrows of the natives did, and they were too slow.When the monster reached the stone steps, it was confronted with a rain of arrows.Finally, the toxicity broke out, and the two beasts lay motionless on the ground.

Each of us was desperately trying to figure out a way to get back into the outside world, and the Indians weren't going to do anything to help us get out.In all other respects they were our friends, and they would give each of us a red wife and a cave for our own use.They intend to make us forget about our own people and live forever on the plateau.We felt that our plan of going down must be kept secret, and we had reason to fear that they might prevent us by force. Despite the danger of a dinosaur attack (not so much during the day), we went to our old camp twice in the past three weeks to see the black people still waiting at the bottom of the cliff, I sat on the cliff and watched for a long time Great Plains, would like to see us pleading for help, but I see no one.

"Now they're coming soon, Mr. Malone, and the Indians will be back with ropes before next week is over," thus cried our good Zambo joyfully. On my way back from my second trip to the old camp, at a point a mile or so from the pterodactyl swamp, I saw something strange coming towards me.It was a man walking in a cage of bent rattan, and as I approached I was surprised to find that it was Lord John Ruxton.When he saw me, he came out from under the cage and walked towards me laughing. "All right, lad," he said. "What are you doing?" I asked. "Look at my 'friends,' pterosaurs," he said.

"why?" "Funny animal, don't you think? Pretty rough with the owner, you may remember. So I made this cage. I wanted to get a pup for Challenger. It was one of my missions here. No." , I don't need you for company, I'm safe in the cage and you aren't. I'll be back at camp when the sun goes down." He turned and left, and I let him continue walking in that weird cage alone. If Lord John's behavior was strange at this moment, Challenger's was even more so.He seemed to have a special interest in Indian women, and often saw a dozen or so Indian girls following him behind him.As for Sommerli, he was absorbed in the life of birds and insects on the plateau, and busy collecting specimens.

Challenger went out by himself every morning, and when he came back his face was always very solemn.One day he took us down to his hidden workshop to see his mysterious plans.His Indian girl followed him. This place is a small clearing in the woods.On the ground there was a ground puff of the kind I have described, and on the ground there was a huge bag, no doubt helped by the Indian girl, with a small opening at the end of the bag, and Challenger began to blow the puff to the ground. It inflates.Soon the bag swelled and seemed to run upwards, and Challenger had to tie the rope holding it to a nearby tree trunk.Half an hour later, a large air pocket had formed.Challenger stood smiling, stroking his beard, and Summerley was the first to break the silence.

"Do you want us to ride in that thing, Challenger?" he said in a sour voice. "My dear Sommerli, first I want to show you its power." "I would never ride in that thing," said Somerley firmly. "I don't think you would support such madness, Lord John?" "I want to see if it works?" he said. "Look, then," Challenger said. "As you all know, we can't climb down, and there's no access. We also can't make any kind of bridge to get us back to the pinnacle we came from. When I saw that ground jet, I thought of balloons .Here you see, I built one."

At this time, the air bag was inflated so much. The whole idea pleased Lord John. "Smart old guy, eh?" he whispered to me, then louder to Challenger, "how's the pod?" "The pod is my next step. My plan is how to make the balloon and tie it firmly. Today I will show you its lift." As he said this, he wound the master rope three times around his arm, and with his knife cut the few strings that held the balloon. Never before has our expedition experienced greater danger.The balloon shot into the sky at an astonishing speed, and in an instant Challenger's feet left the ground and was carried up by the balloon.I quickly stretched out my arms to wrap around his rising waist, and I was brought up myself.Lord John put his arms around my legs, but I felt he too was off the ground.In an instant, a picture appeared in my mind. Several explorers were flying like a bunch of sausages on the land they had surveyed.But fortunately, the rope is not strong enough, although the lift of this airship seems to be infinite.There was a strange noise, and we all fell to the ground with ropes all over our bodies.When we were able to stand up, we saw a small black dot far away in the dark blue sky.

"Excellent!" exclaimed Challenger, rubbing his arms. "A very successful demonstration! I did not expect such a success. Gentlemen. I guarantee that within a week, the second balloon will be ready and you can expect the first stage of the journey home to be safe ,cozy." Till now I have written down the whole experience as it happened, and I will now close my account.We came down safely, though in a way that never occurred to us, and we were all right, and in six weeks or two months we would be in London. Just the evening after our adventure with Challenger's homemade balloon, luck struck.One man from whom we got signs of sympathy for our intention to go back was the young chief whose life we ​​had saved.He alone did not want to leave us in strange lands against our will.He came down to our little camp that evening, handed me a piece of bark, and pointed solemnly to the row of caves above him.He put his finger to his lips, made a sign that it was a secret, and went away. We took this piece of bark before the fire, and studied it carefully together.Inside the bark there is a graph made of lines, which I reproduce here: "I believe whatever it is, it's important to us," I said. "I could see it in his face when he gave it." "I must have guessed it," cried Lord John. "Look here! How many marks are there on the paper? Eighteen. Well, there are eighteen openings at the foot of the hill above us." "He pointed up at the cave when he gave it to me," I said. "Okay, here is the picture of the cave, a map. And there is a fork here. What is the fork for? It seems to be a mark for the cave that is much deeper than the other caves." "A cave you can walk through," I called. "I believe our young friend has solved the mystery," said Challenger. "If the cave were to go through, and come out at this corresponding point at the other end, we should not be more than a hundred feet below." "Well, our rope is longer than a hundred feet!" I cried. "What about the Indians in the cave?" asked Somerley. "There's no Indian in any hole over our heads," I said. "It's all used as a warehouse. Let's go up immediately and see what's going on?" Each of us took a torch and went up the steps into the hole marked on the map.The hole is empty.The torches were only lit when we were far away from the entrance of the cave.We hurried along the passage eagerly, but soon a stone wall appeared before us.The access is broken. We stood and watched, looking at this unexpected obstacle. Lord John looked at the map. "The seventeenth one from the right and the second one from the left is this hole," he said. I looked at the mark, and suddenly I cried out with joy. "I think I see our mistake. Follow me, follow me! The hole marks a fork, and we walked through it in the dark before we lit our torches." Sure enough, as I said.We went back, found the fork in the road, and went down another passage.Suddenly, in the darkness, we saw a dim red light ahead of us, and we ran towards the red light. "The moon!" cried Lord John. "We're coming, guys! We're coming!" It was indeed that full moon, and the exit on the cliff was not as big as a window, but it was enough for us.It's not too difficult to go down. With the help of our rope, we can go down.We happily returned to our tents to prepare for the next night. Next day, when night fell, we were ready for departure; we got our things on the steps, and stood looking back at the marvelous place. Two hours later, we, with all our luggage, were back at the foot of the cliff.Challenger's luggage was our only difficulty, and we left it where we came down, and set off at once to find Zambo's tent, where we arrived early in the morning.Much to our surprise.There were a dozen fires on the plain.The rescuers had arrived, twenty Indians from the river, with rope and everything that could be needed to make the bridge.At least when we started our journey back to the Amazon that day, we had no trouble carrying our luggage. That's it, I end this report.My dear Mr. McArdle, I hope to hold your hand soon.