I’ll admit that I’ve certain qualifications for the task. I was mixed up in the affair from the very beginning, I was in the thick of it all through, and I was triumphantly1 “in at the death.” Very fortunately, too, the gaps that I cannot supply from my own knowledge are amply covered by Sir Eustace Pedler’s diary, of which he has kindly2 begged me to make use.
I’d always longed for adventures. You see, my life had such a dreadful sameness. My father, Professor Beddingfeld, was one of England’s greatest living authorities on Primitive4 Man. He really was a genius—every one admits that. His mind dwelt in Palaeolithic times, and the inconvenience of life for him was that his body inhabited the modern world. Papa did not care for modern man—even Neolithic5 Man he despised as a mere6 herder of cattle, and he did not rise to enthusiasm until he reached the Mousterian period.
Unfortunately one cannot entirely7 dispense8 with modern men. One is forced to have some kind of truck with butchers and bakers9 and milkmen and greengrocers. Therefore, Papa being immersed in the past, Mamma having died when I was a baby, it fell to me to undertake the practical side of living. Frankly10, I hate Palaeolithic Man, be he Aurignacian, Mousterian, Chellian, or anything else, and though I typed and revised most of Papa’s Neanderthal Man and his Ancestors, Neanderthal men themselves fill me with loathing12, and I always reflect what a fortunate circumstance it was that they became extinct in remote ages.
I do not know whether Papa guessed my feelings on the subject, probably not, and in any case he would not have been interested. The opinion of other people never interested him in the slightest degree. I think it was really a sign of his greatness. In the same way, he lived quite detached from the necessities of daily life. He ate what was put before him in an exemplary fashion, but seemed mildly pained when the question of paying for it arose. We never seemed to have any money. His celebrity13 was not of the kind that brought in a cash return. Although he was a fellow of almost every important society, and had rows of letters after his name, the general public scarcely knew of his existence, and his long learned books, though adding signally to the sum-total of human knowledge, had no attraction for the masses. Only on one occasion did he leap into the public gaze. He had read a paper before some society on the subject of the young of the chimpanzee. The young of the human race show some anthropoid14 features, whereas the young of the chimpanzee approach more nearly to the human than the adult chimpanzee does. That seems to show that whereas our ancestors were more Simian15 than we are, the chimpanzee’s were of a higher type than the present species—in other words, the chimpanzee is a degenerate16. That enterprising newspaper, the Daily Budget, being hard up for something spicy17, immediately brought itself out with large headlines. “We are not descended18 from monkeys, but are monkeys descended from us? Eminent19 Professor says chimpanzees are decadent20 humans.” Shortly afterwards a reporter called to see Papa, and endeavoured to induce him to write a series of popular articles on the theory. I have seldom seen Papa so angry. He turned the reporter out of the house with scant21 ceremony, much to my secret sorrow, as we were particularly short of money at the moment. In fact, for a moment I meditated22 running after the young man and informing him that my father had changed his mind and would send the articles in question. I could easily have written them myself, and the probabilities were that Papa would never have learnt of the transaction, not being a reader of the Daily Budget. However, I rejected this course as being too risky23, so I merely put on my best hat and went sadly down the village to interview our justly irate24 grocer.
The reporter from the Daily Budget was the only young man who ever came to our house. There were times when I envied Emily, our little servant, who “walked out” whenever occasion offered with a large sailor to whom she was affianced. In between times, to “keep her hand in” as she expressed it, she walked out with the greengrocer’s young man, and the chemist’s assistant. I reflected sadly that I had no one to “keep my hand in” with. All Papa’s friends were aged25 Professors—usually with long beards. It is true that Professor Peterson once clasped me affectionately and said I had a “neat little waist” and then tried to kiss me. The phrase alone dated him hopelessly. No self-respecting female has had a “neat little waist” since I was in my cradle.
I yearned26 for adventure, for love, for romance, and I seemed condemned27 to an existence of drab utility. The village possessed28 a lending library, full of tattered29 works of fiction, and I enjoyed perils30 and love-making at second hand, and went to sleep dreaming of stern, silent Rhodesians, and of strong men who always “felled their opponent with a single blow.” There was no one in the village who even looked as though he could “fell” an opponent, with a single blow or with several.
There was the Kinema too, with a weekly episode of “The Perils of Pamela.” Pamela was a magnificent young woman. Nothing daunted31 her. She fell out of aeroplanes, adventured in submarines, climbed skyscrapers32 and crept about in the Underworld without turning a hair. She was not really clever, the Master Criminal of the Underworld caught her each time, but as he seemed loath11 to knock her on the head in a simple way, and always doomed33 her to death in a sewer-gas chamber34 or by some new and marvellous means, the hero was always able to rescue her at the beginning of the following week’s episode. I used to come out with my head in a delirious35 whirl—and then I would get home and find a notice from the Gas Company threatening to cut us off if the outstanding account was not paid!
And yet, though I did not suspect it, every moment was bringing adventure nearer to me.
It is possible that there are many people in the world who have never heard of the finding of an antique skull36 at the Broken Hill Mine in Northern Rhodesia. I came down one morning to find Papa excited to the point of apoplexy. He poured out the whole story to me.
“You understand, Anne? There are undoubtedly37 certain resemblances to the Java skull, but superficial—superficial only. No, here we have what I have always maintained—the ancestral form of the Neanderthal race. You grant that the Gibraltar skull is the most primitive of the Neanderthal skulls38 found? Why? The cradle of the race was in Africa. They passed to Europe——”
“Not marmalade on kippers, papa,” I said hastily, arresting my parent’s absent-minded hand. “Yes, you were saying?”
“They passed to Europe on——”
Here he broke down with a bad fit of choking, the result of an immoderate mouthful of kipper-bones.
“But we must start at once,” he declared, as he rose to his feet at the conclusion of the meal. “There is no time to be lost. We must be on the spot—there are doubtless incalculable finds to be found in the neighbourhood. I shall be interested to note whether the implements39 are typical of the Mousterian period—there will be the remains40 of the primitive ox, I should say, but not those of the woolly rhinoceros41. Yes, a little army will be starting soon. We must get ahead of them. You will write to Cook’s to-aay, Anne?”
“What about money, papa?” I hinted delicately.
He turned a reproachful eye upon me.
“Your point of view always depresses me, my child. We must not be sordid42. No, no, in the cause of science one must not be sordid.”
“I feel Cook’s might be sordid, papa.”
Papa looked pained.
“My dear Anne, you will pay them in ready money.”
“I haven’t got any ready money.”
“My child, I really cannot be bothered with these vulgar money details. The bank—I had something from the Manager yesterday, saying I had twenty-seven pounds.”
“Ah, I have it! Write to my publishers.”
I acquiesced46 doubtfully, Papa’s books bringing in more glory than money. I liked the idea of going to Rhodesia immensely. “Stern silent men,” I murmured to myself in an ecstasy47. Then something in my parent’s appearance struck me as unusual.
“You have odd boots on, papa,” I said. “Take off the brown one and put on the other black one. And don’t forget your muffler. It’s a very cold day.”
In a few minutes Papa stalked off, correctly booted and well mufflered.
He returned late that evening, and, to my dismay, I saw his muffler and overcoat were missing.
“Dear me, Anne, you are quite right. I took them off to go into the cavern48. One gets so dirty there.”
I nodded feelingly, remembering an occasion when Papa had returned literally49 plastered from head to foot with rich Pleiocene clay.
Our principal reason for settling in Little Hampsly had been the neighbourhood of Hampsly Cavern, a buried cave rich in deposits of the Aurignacian culture. We had a tiny Museum in the village, and the curator and Papa spent most of their days messing about underground and bringing to light portions of woolly rhinoceros and cave bear.
Papa coughed badly all the evening, and the following morning I saw he had a temperature and sent for the doctor.
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1
triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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narrate
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| v.讲，叙述 | |
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primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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neolithic
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| adj.新石器时代的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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dispense
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| vt.分配，分发；配(药)，发(药)；实施 | |
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bakers
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| n.面包师( baker的名词复数 )；面包店；面包店店主；十三 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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loath
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| adj.不愿意的；勉强的 | |
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loathing
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| n.厌恶，憎恨v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的现在分词)；极不喜欢 | |
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13
celebrity
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| n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望 | |
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anthropoid
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| adj.像人类的，类人猿的；n.类人猿；像猿的人 | |
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simian
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| adj.似猿猴的；n.类人猿，猴 | |
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degenerate
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| v.退步，堕落；adj.退步的，堕落的；n.堕落者 | |
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spicy
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| adj.加香料的；辛辣的，有风味的 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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decadent
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| adj.颓废的，衰落的，堕落的 | |
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scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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meditated
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| 深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 )； 内心策划，考虑 | |
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risky
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| adj.有风险的，冒险的 | |
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irate
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| adj.发怒的，生气 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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yearned
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| 渴望，切盼，向往( yearn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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28
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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tattered
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| adj.破旧的，衣衫破的 | |
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perils
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| 极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境） | |
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daunted
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| 使（某人）气馁，威吓( daunt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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skyscrapers
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| n.摩天大楼 | |
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doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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delirious
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| adj.不省人事的，神智昏迷的 | |
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skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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skulls
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| 颅骨( skull的名词复数 )； 脑袋； 脑子； 脑瓜 | |
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implements
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| n.工具( implement的名词复数 )；家具；手段；[法律]履行（契约等）v.实现( implement的第三人称单数 )；执行；贯彻；使生效 | |
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40
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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rhinoceros
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| n.犀牛 | |
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42
sordid
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| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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exasperated
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| adj.恼怒的 | |
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overdraft
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| n.透支，透支额 | |
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acquiesced
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| v.默认，默许( acquiesce的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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47
ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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cavern
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| n.洞穴，大山洞 | |
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49
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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50
pneumonia
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| n.肺炎 | |
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