Section 13

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 return-
ing 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,
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The Finding of Moreau.

repeating part of the Ritual. The others gath-
ered 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

The Island of Doctor Moreau.

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 labora-
tory and put an end to all we found living
there.

XIX.

MONTGOMERY'S "BANK HOLIDAY."

"117 HEN 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 monoto-
nous years he had spent on the island. He
talked vaguely, answered my questions crook-
edly, wandered into general questions.

" This silly ass of a world," he said ; "what
a muddle it all is ! I have n'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,
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The Island of Doctor Moreau.

shabby clothes, shabby vice, a blunder, — /
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 / 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 that brush-
wood into a pyre and burn his body — and
those other things. Then what will happen
with the Beast Folk ? "

" /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 '11 change.
They are sure to change."
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Montgomery's " Bank Holiday."

He talked thus inconclusively until at last I
felt my temper going.

" Damnation ! ' ' he exclaimed at some petu-
lance 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.
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The Island of Doctor Moreau.

" 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 eye-
brows.

"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 black-
ness following it. They halted, staring. Then
I saw M'ling' s hunched shoulders as he came
round the corner of the house.
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Montgomery's " Bank Holiday."

" 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 him-
self 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 Mont-
gomery's voice shouting, "Right turn!" and
they passed with their shouts and howls into the

201

The Island of Doctor Moreau.

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 east-
ward sea was a featureless grey, dark and mys-
terious ; 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,
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Montgomery's u Bank Holiday."

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 schem-
ing. 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, whoop-
ing 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 con-
tents 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-
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The Island of Doctor Moreau.

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 revenge-
ful 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
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Montgomery's " Bank Holiday."

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.

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The Island of Doctor Moreau.

Montgomery lay on his back, with the hairy-
grey Beast-man sprawling across his body.
The brute was dead, but still gripping Mont-
gomery'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.
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Montgomery's u Bank Holiday."

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 east-
ward 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 slop-
ing 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.
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The Island of Doctor Moreau.

The hopelessness of saving any of the con-
tents 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 sud-
denly 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 — "

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Montgomery's " Bank Holiday."

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 un-
seen. 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. Be-
14 209

The Island of Doctor Moreau.

side me were the charred vestiges of the boats
and these four 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 to-
wards me with hesitating gestures.