Section 12

12 j

The Island of Doctor Moreau.

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 irre-
sponsible, 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 per-
manent 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

How the Beast Folk taste Blood.

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 antici-
pate a little in speaking of it now.

179

XVII.

A CATASTROPHE.

OCARCELY six weeks passed before I

o

lost every feeling but dislike and abhor-

rence for this infamous experiment of Moreau's.
My one idea was to get away from these horri-
ble 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
1 80

A Catastrophe.

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
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The Island of Doctor Moreau.

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.
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A Catastrophe.

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 door-
way, dressed, and with his revolver in his hand.

" Great God, Prendick ! " he said, not notic-
ing 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 Js 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 '11 do," he said. « And now ? "

He thought. Then he went out and locked
the gates of the enclosure. He was absent some
time.

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The Island of Doctor Moreau.

I was chiefly concerned about my arm. Tl
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
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.
184

A Catastrophe.

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 deso-
late. 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 — Mor-eau ! " 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

185

The Island of Doctor Moreau.

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 consterna-
tion. 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, tak-
ing my arm. "They're mad. They're all
rushing about mad. What can have happened ?
I don't know. I '11 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
186

A Catastrophe.

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 under-
growth. He lost the track, however, on the
stony ground beyond the stream where I had
seen the Beast Man drinking, and went wander-
ing 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
catling. 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

The Island of Doctor Moreau.

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 trepida-
tion, 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 him-
self upon the other, and the two rolled grap-
pling. 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 wan-
tonness, I thought — had shot him.

" What does it all mean ? " said I.

He shook his head, and turned once more to
the brandy.

1 88

XVIII.

THE FINDING OF MOREAU.

\ 17 HEN 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 objec-
tions, 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 shoul-
der 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 bis weapons, when it
189

The Island of Doctor Moreau.

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 stag-
gered into him, and then stopped too. Then,
listening intently, we heard coming through the
trees the sound of voices and footsteps approach-
ing 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-\Q \ " suddenly shouted Montgomery,.
"Hul-lo, 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
190

The Finding of Moreau.

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 slop-
ing forehead, — a heavy, faceless thing, with
strange red eyes, looking at us curiously from
amidst the green.

For a space no one spoke. Then Mont-
gomery 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 awe-
stricken and puzzled.

" Where is he ? " said Montgomery.

"Beyond," and the grey creature pointed.

" Is there a Law now ? " asked the Monkey -
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The Island of Doctor Moreau.

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 Mont-
gomery 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.

192

The Finding of Moreau.

« 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
13 193

The Island of Doctor Moreau.

shrieking. Immediately after appeared a feral
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.