THEN something cold touched my hand. I started violently, and saw close to me a dim pinkish thing, looking more like a flayed1 child than anything else in the world. The creature had exactly the mild but repulsive2 features of a sloth3, the same low forehead and slow gestures.
As the first shock of the change of light passed, I saw about me more distinctly. The little sloth-like creature was standing4 and staring at me. My conductor had vanished. The place was a narrow passage between high walls of lava5, a crack in the knotted rock, and on either side interwoven heaps of sea-mat, palm-fans, and reeds leaning against the rock formed rough and impenetrably dark dens7. The winding8 way up the ravine between these was scarcely three yards wide, and was disfigured by lumps of decaying fruit-pulp and other refuse, which accounted for the disagreeable stench of the place.
The little pink sloth-creature was still blinking at me when my Ape-man reappeared at the aperture9 of the nearest of these dens, and beckoned10 me in. As he did so a slouching monster wriggled11 out of one of the places, further up this strange street, and stood up in featureless silhouette12 against the bright green beyond, staring at me. I hesitated, having half a mind to bolt the way I had come; and then, determined13 to go through with the adventure, I gripped my nailed stick about the middle and crawled into the little evil-smelling lean-to after my conductor.
It was a semi-circular space, shaped like the half of a bee-hive; and against the rocky wall that formed the inner side of it was a pile of variegated14 fruits, cocoa-nuts among others. Some rough vessels15 of lava and wood stood about the floor, and one on a rough stool. There was no fire. In the darkest corner of the hut sat a shapeless mass of darkness that grunted16 "Hey!" as I came in, and my Ape-man stood in the dim light of the doorway17 and held out a split cocoa-nut to me as I crawled into the other corner and squatted18 down. I took it, and began gnawing19 it, as serenely20 as possible, in spite of a certain trepidation21 and the nearly intolerable closeness of the den6. The little pink sloth-creature stood in the aperture of the hut, and something else with a drab face and bright eyes came staring over its shoulder.
"Hey!" came out of the lump of mystery opposite. "It is a man."
"It is a man," gabbled my conductor, "a man, a man, a five-man, like me."
"Shut up!" said the voice from the dark, and grunted. I gnawed22 my cocoa-nut amid an impressive stillness.
I peered hard into the blackness, but could distinguish nothing.
"It is a man," the voice repeated. "He comes to live with us?"
It was a thick voice, with something in it--a kind of whistling overtone--that struck me as peculiar23; but the English accent was strangely good.
The Ape-man looked at me as though he expected something. I perceived the pause was interrogative. "He comes to live with you," I said.
"It is a man. He must learn the Law."
I began to distinguish now a deeper blackness in the black, a vague outline of a hunched-up figure. Then I noticed the opening of the place was darkened by two more black heads. My hand tightened24 on my stick.
The thing in the dark repeated in a louder tone, "Say the words." I had missed its last remark. "Not to go on all-fours; that is the Law," it repeated in a kind of sing-song.
I was puzzled.
"Say the words," said the Ape-man, repeating, and the figures in the doorway echoed this, with a threat in the tone of their voices.
I realised that I had to repeat this idiotic25 formula; and then began the insanest ceremony. The voice in the dark began intoning a mad litany, line by line, and I and the rest to repeat it. As they did so, they swayed from side to side in the oddest way, and beat their hands upon their knees; and I followed their example. I could have imagined I was already dead and in another world. That dark hut, these grotesque26 dim figures, just flecked here and there by a glimmer27 of light, and all of them swaying in unison28 and chanting,
"Not to go on all-fours; that is the Law. Are we not Men?
"Not to suck up Drink; that is the Law. Are we not Men?
"Not to eat Fish or Flesh; that is the Law. Are we not Men?
"Not to claw the Bark of Trees; that is the Law. Are we not Men?
"Not to chase other Men; that is the Law. Are we not Men?"
And so from the prohibition29 of these acts of folly30, on to the prohibition of what I thought then were the maddest, most impossible, and most indecent things one could well imagine. A kind of rhythmic31 fervour fell on all of us; we gabbled and swayed faster and faster, repeating this amazing Law. Superficially the contagion32 of these brutes34 was upon me, but deep down within me the laughter and disgust struggled together. We ran through a long list of prohibitions35, and then the chant swung round to a new formula.
"_His_ is the House of Pain.
"_His_ is the Hand that makes.
"_His_ is the Hand that wounds.
"_His_ is the Hand that heals."
And so on for another long series, mostly quite incomprehensible gibberish to me about _Him_, whoever he might be. I could have fancied it was a dream, but never before have I heard chanting in a dream.
"_His_ is the lightning flash," we sang. "_His_ is the deep, salt sea."
A horrible fancy came into my head that Moreau, after animalising these men, had infected their dwarfed36 brains with a kind of deification of himself. However, I was too keenly aware of white teeth and strong claws about me to stop my chanting on that account.
"_His_ are the stars in the sky."
At last that song ended. I saw the Ape-man's face shining with perspiration37; and my eyes being now accustomed to the darkness, I saw more distinctly the figure in the corner from which the voice came. It was the size of a man, but it seemed covered with a dull grey hair almost like a Skye-terrier. What was it? What were they all? Imagine yourself surrounded by all the most horrible cripples and maniacs38 it is possible to conceive, and you may understand a little of my feelings with these grotesque caricatures of humanity about me.
"He is a five-man, a five-man, a five-man--like me," said the Ape-man.
I held out my hands. The grey creature in the corner leant forward.
"Not to run on all-fours; that is the Law. Are we not Men?" he said.
He put out a strangely distorted talon39 and gripped my fingers. The thing was almost like the hoof40 of a deer produced into claws. I could have yelled with surprise and pain. His face came forward and peered at my nails, came forward into the light of the opening of the hut and I saw with a quivering disgust that it was like the face of neither man nor beast, but a mere41 shock of grey hair, with three shadowy over-archings to mark the eyes and mouth.
"He has little nails," said this grisly creature in his hairy beard. "It is well."
He threw my hand down, and instinctively42 I gripped my stick.
"Eat roots and herbs; it is His will," said the Ape-man.
"I am the Sayer of the Law," said the grey figure. "Here come all that be new to learn the Law. I sit in the darkness and say the Law."
"It is even so," said one of the beasts in the doorway.
"Evil are the punishments of those who break the Law. None escape."
"None escape," said the Beast Folk, glancing furtively43 at one another.
"None, none," said the Ape-man,--"none escape. See! I did a little thing, a wrong thing, once. I jabbered44, jabbered, stopped talking. None could understand. I am burnt, branded in the hand. He is great. He is good!"
"None escape," said the grey creature in the corner.
"None escape," said the Beast People, looking askance at one another.
"For every one the want that is bad," said the grey Sayer of the Law. "What you will want we do not know; we shall know. Some want to follow things that move, to watch and slink and wait and spring; to kill and bite, bite deep and rich, sucking the blood. It is bad. 'Not to chase other Men; that is the Law. Are we not Men? Not to eat Flesh or Fish; that is the Law. Are we not Men?'"
"None escape," said a dappled brute33 standing in the doorway.
"For every one the want is bad," said the grey Sayer of the Law. "Some want to go tearing with teeth and hands into the roots of things, snuffing into the earth. It is bad."
"None escape," said the men in the door.
"Some go clawing trees; some go scratching at the graves of the dead; some go fighting with foreheads or feet or claws; some bite suddenly, none giving occasion; some love uncleanness."
"None escape," said the Ape-man, scratching his calf45.
"None escape," said the little pink sloth-creature.
"Punishment is sharp and sure. Therefore learn the Law. Say the words."
And incontinently he began again the strange litany of the Law, and again I and all these creatures began singing and swaying. My head reeled with this jabbering46 and the close stench of the place; but I kept on, trusting to find presently some chance of a new development.
"Not to go on all-fours; that is the Law. Are we not Men?"
We were making such a noise that I noticed nothing of a tumult47 outside, until some one, who I think was one of the two Swine Men I had seen, thrust his head over the little pink sloth-creature and shouted something excitedly, something that I did not catch. Incontinently those at the opening of the hut vanished; my Ape-man rushed out; the thing that had sat in the dark followed him (I only observed that it was big and clumsy, and covered with silvery hair), and I was left alone. Then before I reached the aperture I heard the yelp48 of a staghound.
In another moment I was standing outside the hovel, my chair-rail in my hand, every muscle of me quivering. Before me were the clumsy backs of perhaps a score of these Beast People, their misshapen heads half hidden by their shoulder-blades. They were gesticulating excitedly. Other half-animal faces glared interrogation out of the hovels. Looking in the direction in which they faced, I saw coming through the haze49 under the trees beyond the end of the passage of dens the dark figure and awful white face of Moreau. He was holding the leaping staghound back, and close behind him came Montgomery revolver in hand.
For a moment I stood horror-struck. I turned and saw the passage behind me blocked by another heavy brute, with a huge grey face and twinkling little eyes, advancing towards me. I looked round and saw to the right of me and a half-dozen yards in front of me a narrow gap in the wall of rock through which a ray of light slanted50 into the shadows.
"Stop!" cried Moreau as I strode towards this, and then, "Hold him!"
At that, first one face turned towards me and then others. Their bestial51 minds were happily slow. I dashed my shoulder into a clumsy monster who was turning to see what Moreau meant, and flung him forward into another. I felt his hands fly round, clutching at me and missing me. The little pink sloth-creature dashed at me, and I gashed52 down its ugly face with the nail in my stick and in another minute was scrambling53 up a steep side pathway, a kind of sloping chimney, out of the ravine. I heard a howl behind me, and cries of "Catch him!" "Hold him!" and the grey-faced creature appeared behind me and jammed his huge bulk into the cleft54. "Go on! go on!" they howled. I clambered up the narrow cleft in the rock and came out upon the sulphur on the westward55 side of the village of the Beast Men.
That gap was altogether fortunate for me, for the narrow chimney, slanting56 obliquely57 upward, must have impeded58 the nearer pursuers. I ran over the white space and down a steep slope, through a scattered59 growth of trees, and came to a low-lying stretch of tall reeds, through which I pushed into a dark, thick undergrowth that was black and succulent under foot. As I plunged60 into the reeds, my foremost pursuers emerged from the gap. I broke my way through this undergrowth for some minutes. The air behind me and about me was soon full of threatening cries. I heard the tumult of my pursuers in the gap up the slope, then the crashing of the reeds, and every now and then the crackling crash of a branch. Some of the creatures roared like excited beasts of prey61. The staghound yelped62 to the left. I heard Moreau and Montgomery shouting in the same direction. I turned sharply to the right. It seemed to me even then that I heard Montgomery shouting for me to run for my life.
Presently the ground gave rich and oozy63 under my feet; but I was desperate and went headlong into it, struggled through kneedeep, and so came to a winding path among tall canes64. The noise of my pursuers passed away to my left. In one place three strange, pink, hopping65 animals, about the size of cats, bolted before my footsteps. This pathway ran up hill, across another open space covered with white incrustation, and plunged into a canebrake again. Then suddenly it turned parallel with the edge of a steep-walled gap, which came without warning, like the ha-ha of an English park,--turned with an unexpected abruptness66. I was still running with all my might, and I never saw this drop until I was flying headlong through the air.
I fell on my forearms and head, among thorns, and rose with a torn ear and bleeding face. I had fallen into a precipitous ravine, rocky and thorny67, full of a hazy68 mist which drifted about me in wisps, and with a narrow streamlet from which this mist came meandering69 down the centre. I was astonished at this thin fog in the full blaze of daylight; but I had no time to stand wondering then. I turned to my right, down-stream, hoping to come to the sea in that direction, and so have my way open to drown myself. It was only later I found that I had dropped my nailed stick in my fall.
Presently the ravine grew narrower for a space, and carelessly I stepped into the stream. I jumped out again pretty quickly, for the water was almost boiling. I noticed too there was a thin sulphurous scum drifting upon its coiling water. Almost immediately came a turn in the ravine, and the indistinct blue horizon. The nearer sea was flashing the sun from a myriad70 facets71. I saw my death before me; but I was hot and panting, with the warm blood oozing72 out on my face and running pleasantly through my veins73. I felt more than a touch of exultation74 too, at having distanced my pursuers. It was not in me then to go out and drown myself yet. I stared back the way I had come.
I listened. Save for the hum of the gnats75 and the chirp76 of some small insects that hopped77 among the thorns, the air was absolutely still. Then came the yelp of a dog, very faint, and a chattering78 and gibbering, the snap of a whip, and voices. They grew louder, then fainter again. The noise receded79 up the stream and faded away. For a while the chase was over; but I knew now how much hope of help for me lay in the Beast People.
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1
flayed
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| v.痛打( flay的过去式和过去分词 )；把…打得皮开肉绽；剥（通常指动物）的皮；严厉批评 | |
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repulsive
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| adj.排斥的，使人反感的 | |
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sloth
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| n.[动]树懒；懒惰，懒散 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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lava
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| n.熔岩，火山岩 | |
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den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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dens
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| n.牙齿，齿状部分；兽窝( den的名词复数 )；窝点；休息室；书斋 | |
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winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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aperture
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| n.孔，隙，窄的缺口 | |
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beckoned
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| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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wriggled
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| v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的过去式和过去分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等） | |
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silhouette
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| n.黑色半身侧面影，影子，轮廓；v.描绘成侧面影，照出影子来，仅仅显出轮廓 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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variegated
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| adj.斑驳的，杂色的 | |
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vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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squatted
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的过去式和过去分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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gnawing
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| a.痛苦的，折磨人的 | |
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serenely
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| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
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trepidation
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| n.惊恐，惶恐 | |
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gnawed
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| 咬( gnaw的过去式和过去分词 )； （长时间） 折磨某人； （使）苦恼； （长时间）危害某事物 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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tightened
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| 收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧 | |
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idiotic
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| adj.白痴的 | |
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grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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unison
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| n.步调一致，行动一致 | |
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prohibition
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| n.禁止；禁令，禁律 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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rhythmic
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| adj.有节奏的，有韵律的 | |
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contagion
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| n.(通过接触的疾病)传染；蔓延 | |
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brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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brutes
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| 兽( brute的名词复数 )； 畜生； 残酷无情的人； 兽性 | |
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prohibitions
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| 禁令，禁律( prohibition的名词复数 )； 禁酒； 禁例 | |
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dwarfed
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| vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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perspiration
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| n.汗水；出汗 | |
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38
maniacs
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| n.疯子（maniac的复数形式） | |
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talon
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| n.爪；（如爪般的）手指；爪状物 | |
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hoof
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| n.(马，牛等的)蹄 | |
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41
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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43
furtively
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| adv. 偷偷地, 暗中地 | |
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44
jabbered
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| v.急切而含混不清地说( jabber的过去式和过去分词 )；急促兴奋地说话 | |
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45
calf
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| n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮 | |
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46
jabbering
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| v.急切而含混不清地说( jabber的现在分词 )；急促兴奋地说话；结结巴巴 | |
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47
tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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48
yelp
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| vi.狗吠 | |
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49
haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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50
slanted
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| 有偏见的； 倾斜的 | |
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51
bestial
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| adj.残忍的；野蛮的 | |
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52
gashed
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| v.划伤，割破( gash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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53
scrambling
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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54
cleft
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| n.裂缝；adj.裂开的 | |
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55
westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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56
slanting
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| 倾斜的，歪斜的 | |
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57
obliquely
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| adv.斜； 倾斜； 间接； 不光明正大 | |
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58
impeded
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| 阻碍，妨碍，阻止( impede的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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59
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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60
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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61
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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62
yelped
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| v.发出短而尖的叫声( yelp的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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63
oozy
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| adj.软泥的 | |
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64
canes
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| n.（某些植物，如竹或甘蔗的）茎( cane的名词复数 )；（用于制作家具等的）竹竿；竹杖 | |
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65
hopping
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| n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式 | |
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66
abruptness
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| n. 突然，唐突 | |
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thorny
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| adj.多刺的，棘手的 | |
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68
hazy
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| adj.有薄雾的，朦胧的；不肯定的，模糊的 | |
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69
meandering
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| 蜿蜒的河流，漫步，聊天 | |
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myriad
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| adj.无数的；n.无数，极大数量 | |
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71
facets
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| n.（宝石或首饰的）小平面( facet的名词复数 )；（事物的）面；方面 | |
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72
oozing
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| v.（浓液等）慢慢地冒出，渗出( ooze的现在分词 )；使（液体）缓缓流出；（浓液）渗出，慢慢流出 | |
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73
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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74
exultation
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| n.狂喜，得意 | |
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gnats
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| n.叮人小虫( gnat的名词复数 ) | |
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76
chirp
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| v.(尤指鸟)唧唧喳喳的叫 | |
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hopped
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| 跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花 | |
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78
chattering
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| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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receded
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的过去式和过去分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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