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09 - The Island of Dr Moreau - H G Wells · Classic Adventure Books Library

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Nine the thing in the forest. I strode through the undergrowth that closed the
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ridge behind the house, scarcely heating. Whither I went passed on through the
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shadow of a thick cluster of straight stem trees beyond it, and so presently
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found myself some way on the other side of the ridge, and descending towards
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a streamlet that ran through a narrow valley. I paused and listened the distance
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I had come, or the intervening masses of thicket deadened any sound that might
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be coming from the enclosure. The air was still. Then, with a
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rustle, a rabbit emerged and went scampering up the slope before me. I
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hesitated and sat down in the edge of the shade. The place was a
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pleasant one. The rivulet was hidden by the luxuriant vegetation of the banks,
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save at one point, where I caught a triangular patch of its glittering water.
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On the farther side, I saw, through a bluish haze a tangle
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of trees and creepers, and above these again the luminous blue of the sky.
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Here and there a splash of white or crimson marked the blooming of some
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trailing epiphyte. I let my eyes wander over this scene for a while,
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and then began to turn over in my mind again the strange peculiarities of Montgomery's
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man. But it was too hot to think elaborately, and presently I fell
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into a tranquil state midway between dozing and waking. From this, I was
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aroused, after I know not how long, by a rustling amidst the greenery
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on the other side of the stream. For a moment I could see nothing
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but the waving summit of the ferns and reeds. Then suddenly, upon the
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bank of the stream appeared something. At first I could not distinguish what it
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was. It bowed its round head to the water and began to drink.
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Then I saw it was a man, going on all fours like a beast.
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He was clothed in bluish cloth and was of a copper colored hue,
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with black hair. It seemed that grotesque ugliness was an invariable character of these
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islanders. I could hear the suck of the water at his lips as he
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drank. I leant forward to see him better, and a piece of lava
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detached by my hand went pattering down the slope. He looked up guiltily,
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and his eyes met mine. Forthwith he scrambled to his feet and stood,
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wiping his clumsy hand across his mouth and regarding me. His legs were scarcely
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half the length of his body, so staring one another out of countenance,
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we remained for perhaps the space of a minute, then stopping to look back
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once or twice. He slunk off among the bushes to the right of me,
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and I heard the swish of the franz grow faint in the distance and
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die away. Long after he had disappeared, I remained sitting up, staring
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in the direction of his retreat. My drowsy tranquility had gone. I was
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startled by a noise behind me, and turning, suddenly saw the flapping white
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tail of a rabbit vanishing up the slope. I jumped to my feet.
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The apparition of this grotesque, half bestial creature had suddenly populated the stillness of
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the afternoon for me. I looked round me rather nervously, and regretted that
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I was unarmed. Then I thought that the man I had just seen had
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been clothed in bluish cloth, had not been naked, as a savage would
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have been. And I tried to persuade myself from that fact that he was,
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after all properly a peaceful character, that the dull ferocity of his countenance
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belied him. Yet I was greatly disturbed at the apparition. I walked to
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the left along the slope, turning my head about and peering this way and
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that among the straight stems of the trees. Why should a man go on
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all fours and drink with his lips? Presently I heard an animal wailing again,
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and, taking it to be the puma, I turned about and walked
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in a direction diametrically opposite to the sound. This led me down to the
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stream, across which I stepped and pushed my way up through the undergrowth.
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Beyond. I was startled by a great patch of vivid scarlet on the ground,
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and going up to it, found it to be a peculiar fungus,
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branched and corrugated like a fallacious lichen, but deliquescing into slime at the touch.
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And then, and in the shadow of some luxuriant ferns, I came
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upon an unpleasant thing, the dead body of a rabbit, covered with shining
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flies, but still warm, and with a head torn off. I stopped,
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aghast at the sight of the scattered blood. Here, at least was
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one visitor to the island disposed of. There were no traces of other violence
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about it. It looked as though it had been suddenly snatched up and killed.
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And as I stared at the little furry body came the difficulty of how
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the thing had been done. The vague dread that had been in my mind
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since I had seen the inhuman face of the man at the stream grew distinct.
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As I stood there, I began to realize the hardihood of my expedition
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among these unknown people. The thicket about me became altered. To my imagination,
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every shadow became something more than shadow, became an ambush, Every rustle
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became a threat. Invisible things seemed watching me. I resolved to go back
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to the enclosure on the beach. I suddenly turned away and thrust myself violently,
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possibly even frantically, through the bushes, anxious to get a clear space
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about me again. I stopped just in time to prevent myself emerging upon an
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open space. It was a kind of glade in the forest made by a
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fall. Seedlings were already starting up to struggle for the vacant space, and
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beyond the dense growth of stems and twining vines and splashes of fungus and flowers
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closed in again before me, squatting together upon the fungoid ruins of a huge
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fallen tree, and still unaware of my approach, with three grotesque human figures.
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One was evidently a female, the other two were men. They were
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naked save for swathings of scarlet cloth about the middle, and their skins were
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of a dull, pinkish drab color, such as I had seen in nose
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savages before. They had fat, heavy, chinless faces, retreating foreheads,
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and a scant, bristly hair upon their heads. I never saw such bestial
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looking creatures. They were talking, or at least one of the men was
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talking to the other two, and all three had been too closely interested to
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heed the rustling of my approach. They swayed their heads and shoulders from side
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to side. The speaker's words came thick and sloppy, and though I could
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hear them distinctly, I could not distinguish what he said. He seemed to
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me to be reciting some complicated gibberish. Presently, his articulation became shriller,
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and spreading his hands, he rose to his feet. At that the others
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began to gibber in unison, also rising to their feet, spreading their hands
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and swaying their bodies in rhythm with their chant. I noticed then the abnormal
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shortness of their legs and their lank, clumsy feet. All three began slowly
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to circle round, raising and stamping their feet and waving their arms. A
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kind of tune crept into their rhythmic recitation, and a refrain, ah lu
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la or bah lu la. It sounded like their eyes began to sparkle,
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and their ugly faces to brighten with an expression of strange pleasure. Saliva tripped
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from their lipless mouths. Suddenly, as I watched their grotesque and unaccountable gestures,
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I perceived clearly for the first time what it was that had offended me,
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what had given me the two inconsistent and conflicting impressions of utter strangeness and
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yet of the strangest familiarity. The three creatures engaged in this mysterious right were
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human in shape, and yet human beings with the strangest air about them of
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some familiar animal. Each of these creatures, despite its human form, its
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rag of clothing, and the rough humanity of its bodily form, had woven
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into it, into its movements, into the expression of its countenance, into
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its whole presence, some now irresistible suggestion of a hog, a swinish taint,
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the unmistakable mark of the beast. I stood overcome by this amazing realization,
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and then the most horrible questionings came rushing into my mind. They began
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leaping in the air, first one and then the other, whooping and grunting.
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Then one slipped, and for a moment was on all fours to recover,
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indeed forthwith. But the transitory gleam of the true animalism of these monsters
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was enough. I turned as noiselessly as possible, and becoming every now and
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then rigid with the fear of being discovered as a branch cracked or a leaf
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rustled, I pushed back into the bushes. It was long before I grew
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bolder and dared to move freely. My only idea for the moment was to
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get away from these foul beings, and I scarcely noticed that I had emerged
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upon a faint pathway amidst the trees. Then, suddenly traversing her little glade,
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I saw with an unpleasant start, two clumsy legs among the trees,
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walking with noiseless footsteps, parallel with my course, and perhaps thirty yards away
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from me. The head and upper part of the body were hidden by a
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tangle of creeper. I stopped abruptly, hoping the creature did not see me.
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The feet stopped as I did. So nervous was I that I controlled
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an impulse to headlong flight with the utmost difficulty. Then, looking hard,
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I distinguished through the interlacing net work the head and body of the brute I
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had seen drinking. He moved his head. There was an emerald flash in
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his eyes as he glanced at me from the shadow of the trees, a
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half luminous color that vanished as he turned his head again. He was motionless
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for a moment, and then with a noiseless tread, began running through the
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green confusion. In another moment, he had vanished behind some bushes. I
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could not see him, but I felt that he had stopped and was watching
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me again. What on earth was he? Man or beast? What did
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he want with me? I had no weapon, not even a stick flight
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would be madness. At any rate, the thing, whatever it was,
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lacked the courage to attack me. Setting my teeth hard, I walked straight
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towards him. I was anxious not to show the fear that seemed chilling my
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backbone. I pushed through a tangle of tall, white flowered bushes and saw
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him twenty paces beyond, looking over his shoulder at me, and hesitating,
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I advanced a step or two, looking steadfastly into his eyes. Who are
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you, said I He tried to meet my gaze. No, he said
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suddenly, and turning, went bounding away from me through the undergrowth. Then
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he turned and stared at me again, his eyes shone brightly out of the
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dusk under the trees. My heart was in my mouth, but I felt
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my only chance was bluff and walked steadily towards him. He turned again and
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vanished into the dusk. Once more, I thought, I caught the glint
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of his eyes, and that was all. For the first time, I
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realized how the lateness of the hour might affect me. The sun had set
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some minutes since the swift dusk of the tropics was already fading out of the
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eastern sky, and a pioneer mouth fluttered silently by my head. Unless I
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would spend the night among the unknown dangers of the mysterious forest, I must
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hasten back to the enclosure. The thought of a returned to that pain haunted
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refuge was extremely disagreeable, But still more so was the idea of being overtaken
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in the open by darkness and all that darkness might conceal. I gave one
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more look into the blue shadows that had swallowed up this odd creature, and
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then retraced my way down the slope towards the stream, going as I judged
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in the direction from which I had come. I walked eagerly, my mind
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confused with many things, and presently found myself in a level place among scattered
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trees. The colorless clearness that comes after the sunset flush was darkling. The
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blue sky above grew momentarily deeper, and the little stars, one by one
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pierced the attenuated light the interspaces of the trees, The gaps in the further
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vegetation that had been hazy blue in the daylight grew black and mysterious. I
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pushed on the color vanished from the world. The tree tops rose against the
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luminous blue sky and gui silhouette, and all below that outline melted into one
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formless blackness. Presently, the trees grew thinner and the shrubby undergrowth more abundant.
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Then there was a desolate space covered with a white sand, and then
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another expanse of tangled bushes. I did not remember crossing the sand opening before
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I began to be tormented by a faint rustling upon my right hand. I
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thought at first it was fancy, for whenever I stopped there was silence,
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save for the evening breeze in the tree tops. Then when I turned to
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hurry on again, there was an echo to my footsteps. I turned away
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from the thickets, keeping to the more open ground and endeavoring by sudden turns
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now, and then, to surprise, something in the act of creeping upon
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me. I saw nothing, and nevertheless, my sense of another presence grew
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steadily. I increased my pace, and after some time to a slight ridge,
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crossed it and turned sharply, regarding it steadfastly from the further side.
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It came out black in clear cut against the darkening sky, and presently a
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shapeless lump heaved up momentarily against the sky line and vanished again. I felt
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assured now that my tawny faced antagonist was stalking me once more, and coupled
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with that was another unpleasant realization that I had lost my way for a time.
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I heard on hopelessly, perplexed and pursued by that stealthy approach. Whatever
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it was, the thing either lacked the courage to attack me, or it
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was waiting to take me at some disadvantage. I kept studiously to the open.
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At times I would turn and listen, and presently I had half persuaded
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myself that my pursuer had abandoned the chase, or was a mere creation of
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my disordered imagination. Then I heard the sound of the sea. I quickened
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my footsteps almost into a run, and immediately there was a stumble in my
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rear. I turned suddenly and stared at the uncertain trees behind me. One
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black shadow seemed to leap into another. I listened rigid and heard nothing but
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the creep of the blood in my ears. I thought that my nerves were
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unstrung, and that my imagination was tricking me, and turned resolutely towards the
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sounds of the sea again in a minute or so, the trees grew thinner,
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and I emerged upon a bare, low headland running out into the somber
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water. The night was calm and clear, and the reflection of the growing
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multitude of the stars shivered in the tranquil heaving of the sea. Some Way
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out the wash, upon an irregular band of reef shone with the pallid light
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of its own. Westward, I saw the zodiacal light mingling with the yellow
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brilliance of the evening star. The coast fell away from me to the east
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and westward. It was hidden by the shoulder of the cape. Then I
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recalled the fact that Moreau's beach lay to the west. A twig snapped behind
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me, and there was a rustle. I turned and stood facing the dark
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trees. I could see nothing, or else I could see too much.
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Every dark form in the dimness had its ominous quality, its peculiar suggestion of
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alert watchfulness. So I stood for perhaps a minute, and then, with
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an eye to the tree, still turned westward to cross the headland, And
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as I moved, one among the lurking shadows moved to follow me. My
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heart beat quickly. Presently, the broad sweep of a bay to the westward
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became visible, and I halted again. The noiseless shadow halted. A dozen
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yards from me. A little point of light shone on the further bend of
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the curve, and the gray sweep of the sandy beach lay faint under the
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starlight. Perhaps two miles away was that little point of light. To get
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to the beach, I should have to go through the trees where the shadows
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lurked, and down a bushy slope. I could see the thing rather more
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distinctly. Now it was no animal, for it stood erect. At that.
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I opened my mouth to speak and found a hoarse phlam choked my voice.
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I tried again and shouted, who is there? There was no answer.
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I advanced a step. The thing did not move, only gathered its
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together. My foot struck a stone that gave me an idea. Without taking
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my eyes off the black form before me, I stooped and picked up this
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lump of rock. But at my motion the thing turned abruptly as a dog
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might have done, and slunk obliquely into the further darkness. Then I recalled
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a schoolboy expedient against big dogs, and twisted the rock into my handkerchief and
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gave this a turn round my wrist. I heard a movement further off among
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the shadows, as if the thing was in retreat. Then suddenly my tense
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excitement gave way. I broke into a profuse perspiration and fell a trembling,
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with my adversary routed and this weapon in my hand. It was some time
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before I could summon resolution to go down through the trees and bushes upon the
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flank of the headland to the beach. I did it at a run,
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and as I emerged from the thicket upon the sand, I heard some other
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body come crashing after me. At that I completely lost my head with fear,
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and again running along the sand forthwith there came the swift patter of soft
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feet in pursuit. I gave a wild cry and redoubled my pace. Some
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dim black things, about three or four times the size of rabbits, went
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running or harping up from the beach towards the bushes as I passed. So
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long as I live, I shall remember the terror of that chase. I
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ran near the water's edge, and heard every now and then the splash of
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the feet that gained upon me far away hopelessly far was the yellow light.
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All the night about us was black and still. Splash, splash came the
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pursuing feet, nearer and nearer. I felt my breath going, for I
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was quite out of training. It whooped as I drew it, and I
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felt a pain like a knife at my side. I perceived the thing would
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come up with me long before I reached the enclosure, and desperate and sobbing
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for my breath, I wheeled round upon it and struck at it as it
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came up to me. Struck with all my strength, The stone came out
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of the sling of the handkerchief as I did so. As I turned,
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the thing, which had been running on all fours, rose to its feet,
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and the missile fell fair on its left temple. The skull rang loud,
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and the animal man blundered into me, thrust me back with its hands,
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and went staggering past me to fall headlong upon the sand, with its
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face in the water. And there it lay still. I could not bring
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myself to approach that black heap. I left it there, with the water
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rippling round it, under the still stars, and giving it a wide berth,
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pursued my way towards the yellow glow of the house, and presently,
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with a positive effect of relief, came the pitiful moaning of the puma,
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the sound that had originally driven me out to explore this mysterious island, and
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that that though I was faint and horribly fatigued, I gathered together all my
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strength and began running again towards the light. I thought I heard a voice calling me