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10 - The Island of Dr Moreau - H G Wells · Classic Science Fiction Books

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  Speaker 1: Ten the crying of the man. As I drew near
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  Speaker 1: the house, I saw that the light shone from the
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  Speaker 1: open door of my room. And then I heard, coming
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  Speaker 1: from out of the darkness at the side of that
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  Speaker 1: orange oblong of light, the voice of Montgomery, shouting prindic.
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  Speaker 1: I continued running. Presently I heard him again. I replied
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  Speaker 1: by a feeble hello, and in another moment had staggered
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  Speaker 1: up to him. Where have you been, said he, holding
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  Speaker 1: me at arm's length so that the light from the
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  Speaker 1: door fell on my face. We have both been so
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  Speaker 1: busy that we forgot you until about half an hour ago.
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  Speaker 1: He led me into the room and sat me down
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  Speaker 1: in the deck chair. For a while I was blinded
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  Speaker 1: by the light. We did not think you had thought
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  Speaker 1: to explore the island of ours without telling of he said.
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  Speaker 1: And then I afraid, but what hallo? My last remaining
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  Speaker 1: strength slipped from me, and my head fell forward on
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  Speaker 1: my chest. I think he found a certain satisfaction in
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  Speaker 1: giving me brandy. For God's sake, said I fasten the door.
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  Speaker 1: You've been meeting some of our curiosity, they said he.
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  Speaker 1: He locked the door and turned to me again. He
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  Speaker 1: asked me no questions but gave me some more brandy
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  Speaker 1: and water and pressed me to eat. I was in
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  Speaker 1: a state of collapse. He said something vague about forgetting
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  Speaker 1: to warn me, and asked me briefly when I left
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  Speaker 1: the house and what I had seen. I answered him
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  Speaker 1: as briefly, in fragmentary sentences. Tell me what it all means,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: said I, in a state bordering on hysterics. It's nothing
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  Speaker 1: so dreadful, said he. But I think you have had
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  Speaker 1: but enough for one day. The puma suddenly gave a
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  Speaker 1: sharp yell of pain. At that, he swore under his breath.
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  Speaker 1: I'm damned, said he. If this playeth not, it badeth
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  Speaker 1: Gareth dreat with its cat. Montgomery said I, what was
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  Speaker 1: that thing that came after me? Was it a beast?
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  Speaker 1: Or was it a man? If you don't sleep to night,
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  Speaker 1: he said, you'll be off your head to morrow. I
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  Speaker 1: stood up in front of him. What was that thing
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  Speaker 1: that came after me? I asked. He looked me squarely
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  Speaker 1: in the eyes and twisted his mouth askew. His eyes,
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  Speaker 1: which had seemed animated a minute before, went dull from
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  Speaker 1: your account, said he. I'm thinking it was a bogul.
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  Speaker 1: I felt a gust of intense irritation, which passed as
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  Speaker 1: quickly as it came. I flung myself into the chair
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  Speaker 1: again and pressed my hands on my forehead. The puma
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  Speaker 1: began once more. Montgomery came round behind me and put
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  Speaker 1: his hand on my shoulder. Look here, Prindick, he said,
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  Speaker 1: I had no bithness to let you drift out into
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  Speaker 1: the thilly island of our earth. But it's not so
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  Speaker 1: bad as you feel. Man your nerve. I'll work to rags.
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  Speaker 1: Let me give you something that will make you sleep,
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  Speaker 1: that will keep on for hours. Yet you must simply
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  Speaker 1: get to sleep, or I won't answer for it, I reply.
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  Speaker 1: I bowed forward and covered my face with my hands.
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  Speaker 1: Presently he returned with a small measure containing a dark liquid.
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  Speaker 1: This he gave me. I took it unresistingly, and he
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  Speaker 1: helped me into the hammock. When I awoke, it was
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  Speaker 1: broad day. For a little while, I lay flat, staring
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  Speaker 1: at the roof above me. The rafters, I observed, were
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  Speaker 1: made out of the timbers of a ship. Then I
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  Speaker 1: turned my head and saw a meal prepared for me
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  Speaker 1: on the table. I perceived that I was hungry and
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  Speaker 1: prepared to clamber out of the hammock, which very politely,
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  Speaker 1: anticipating my intention, twisted round and deposited me upon all
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  Speaker 1: fours on the floor. I got up and sat down
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  Speaker 1: before the food. I had a heavy feeling in my head,
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  Speaker 1: and only the vaguest memory at first to the things
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  Speaker 1: that happened over night. The morning breeze blew very pleasantly
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  Speaker 1: through the unglazed window, and that in the food contributed
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  Speaker 1: to the sense of animal comfort which I experienced presently.
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  Speaker 1: The door behind me, the door inward towards the yard
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  Speaker 1: at the enclosure opened. I turned and saw Montgomery's face
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  Speaker 1: all right, said he I'm frightfully busy, and he shut
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  Speaker 1: the door. Afterwards I discovered that he forgot to relock it.
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  Speaker 1: Then I recalled the expression of his face the previous night,
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  Speaker 1: and with that the memory of all I had experienced
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  Speaker 1: reconstructed itself before me. Even as that fear came back
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  Speaker 1: to me, came a cry from within, But this time
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  Speaker 1: it was not the cry of a puma. I put
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  Speaker 1: down the mouthful that hesitated upon my lips and listened silence,
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  Speaker 1: save for the whisper of the morning breeze. I began
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  Speaker 1: to think my ears had deceived me. After a long pause,
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  Speaker 1: I resumed my meal, but with my ears still vigilant,
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  Speaker 1: Presently I heard something else, very faint and low. I
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  Speaker 1: sat as if frozen in my attitude. Though it was
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  Speaker 1: faint and low, it moved me more profoundly than all
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  Speaker 1: that I had hitherto heard of the abominations behind the wall.
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  Speaker 1: There was no mistake this time in the quality of
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  Speaker 1: the dim broken sounds, no doubt at all of their source,
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  Speaker 1: for it was groaning, broken by sobs and gasps of anguish.
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  Speaker 1: It was no brute this time, it was a human
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  Speaker 1: being in torment. As I realized this, I rose, and
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  Speaker 1: in three steps had crossed the room, seized the handle
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  Speaker 1: of the door into the yard, and flung it open
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  Speaker 1: before me. Prindick Man stop, cried, Montgomery, intervening, a startled
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  Speaker 1: deer hound yelped and snarled. There was blood I saw
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  Speaker 1: in the sink, brown and some scarlet, and I smelt
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  Speaker 1: the peculiar smell of carbolic acid. Then through an open
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  Speaker 1: doorway beyond, in the dim light of the shadow, I
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  Speaker 1: saw something bound painfully upon a framework, scarred red and bandaged.
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  Speaker 1: And then, blotting this out, appeared the face of old Moreau,
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  Speaker 1: white and terrible. In a moment, he had gripped me
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  Speaker 1: by the shoulder with a hand that was smeared red,
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  Speaker 1: had twisted me off my feet and flung me headlong
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  Speaker 1: back into my own room. He lived did me as
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  Speaker 1: though I was a little child. I fell at full
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  Speaker 1: length upon the floor, and the door slammed and shut
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  Speaker 1: out the passionate intensity of his face. Then I heard
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  Speaker 1: the key turn in the lock, and Montgomery's voice in expostulation,
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  Speaker 1: ruin the work of a lifetime. I heard Moreau say
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  Speaker 1: he does not understand, said Montgomery, and other things that
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  Speaker 1: were inaudible. I can't spare the time yet, said Moreau.
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  Speaker 1: The rest I did not hear. I picked myself up
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  Speaker 1: and stood trembling, my mind a chaos of the most
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  Speaker 1: horrible misgivings. Could it be possible? I thought, that's such
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  Speaker 1: a thing as vivisection of men was carried on here.
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  Speaker 1: The question shot like lightning across a tumultuous sky, and
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  Speaker 1: suddenly the clouded horror of my mind condensed into a
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  Speaker 1: vivid realization of my own danger.