Section 11

"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 — "
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How the Beast Folk taste Blood.

He 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 home-
ward 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 Js done now ; and you said I
might have them, you know."

"We must see to the thing at once," said

The Island of Doctor Moreau.

Moreau. "I suppose if anything should turn
up, M'ling can take care of himself? "

" I 'm not so sure of M'ling," said Mont-
gomery. "I think I ought to know him."

In the afternoon, Moreau, Montgomery, my-
self, 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 chop-
ping 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 wind-
ing 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
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How the Beast Folk taste Blood.

halted. Then Moreau sounded the horn, and
broke the sleeping stillness of the tropical after-
noon. 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 rhi-
noceros, chewing a straw as it came ; then ap-

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peared 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 ges-
ticulating 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
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How the Beast Folk taste Blood.

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, sway-
ing from side to side and dashing up the sulphur
with their hands, — first the right hand and

The Island of Doctor Moreau.

a puff of dust, and then the left, — began once
more to chant their strange litany. When they
reached, "Not to eat Flesh or Fowl, 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 fur-
tive 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," re-
peated the kneeling circle of Beast People.

"Who is he?" cried Moreau, and looked
round at their faces, cracking his whip. I fan-
cied the Hyena-swine looked dejected, so too
did the Leopard-man. Moreau stopped, feeing
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.

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How the Beast Folk taste Blood.

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 to-
wards 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 flash-
ing 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
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The Island of Doctor Moreau.

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 re-
solved 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 every-
thing spun about me until I was running head-
long. 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
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How the Beast Folk taste Blood.

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, laugh-
ing into my face with the exultation of hunting.
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The Island of Doctor Moreau.

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
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 col-
umn 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 pro-
jecting 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, im-
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How the Beast Folk taste Blood.

peded 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 after-
noon.

At last the fury of the hunt slackened. We
had pinned the wretched brute into a corner
of the island. Moreau, whip in hand, mar-
shalled us all into an irregular line, and we ad-
vanced 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 Mont-
gomery from beyond the thicket.

I was on the slope above the bushes ; Mont-
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The Island of Doctor Moreau.

gomery and Moreau beat along the beach be-
neath. 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 im-
perfectly 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,
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How the Beast Folk taste Blood.

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 particu-
larly 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.

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The Island of Doctor Moreau.

"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 vic-
tim 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 un-
speakable aimlessness of things upon the island.
Upon the beach among the rocks beneath me
were the Ape-man, the Hyena-swine, and sev-
eral 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
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How the Beast Folk taste Blood.

the Hyena-swine was implicated in the rabbit-
killing. A strange persuasion came upon me,
that, save for the grossness of the line, the gro-
tesqueness 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 differ-
ence. 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 inter-
nal struggle, one long dread of Moreau — and
for what? It was the wantonness of it that
stirred me.