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The Island of Doctor Moreau Chapter 17 - A Catastrophe · The H. G. Wells Library

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  Speaker 1: Section eighteen of the Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by
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  Speaker 1: Tom Hare, seventeen a catastrophe. Scarcely six weeks passed before
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  Speaker 1: I had lost every feeling but dislike and abhorrence for
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  Speaker 1: this infamous experiment of Moreause. My one idea was to
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  Speaker 1: get away from these horrible caricatures of my maker's image,
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  Speaker 1: back to the sweet and wholesome intercourse of men. My
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  Speaker 1: fellow creatures from whom I was thus separated, began to
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  Speaker 1: assume idylic virtue and beauty. In my memory, my first
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  Speaker 1: friendship with Montgomery did not increase. His long separation from humanity,
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  Speaker 1: his secret vice of drunkenness, his evident sympathy with the
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  Speaker 1: beast people tainted in to me. Several times I let
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  Speaker 1: him go alone among them. I avoided intercourse with them
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  Speaker 1: in every possible way, in an increasing proportion of my
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  Speaker 1: time upon the beach, looking for some liberating sail that
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  Speaker 1: never appeared, until one day there fell upon us an
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  Speaker 1: appalling disaster which put an altogether different aspect upon my
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  Speaker 1: strange surroundings. It was about seven or eight weeks after
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  Speaker 1: my landing rather more I think, though I had not
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  Speaker 1: trouble to keep account of the time when this catastrophe occurred.
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  Speaker 1: It happened in the early morning, I should think about six.
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  Speaker 1: I had risen and breakfasted early, having been aroused by
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  Speaker 1: the noise of three beast men carrying wood into the enclosure.
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  Speaker 1: After breakfast, I went to the open gateway of the
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  Speaker 1: enclosure and stood there, smoking a cigarette and enjoying the
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  Speaker 1: freshness of the early morning. Moreau presently came round the
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  Speaker 1: corner of the enclosure and greeted me. He passed by me,
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  Speaker 1: and I heard him behind me a lock and into
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  Speaker 1: his lapeboratory. So indurated was I at that time to
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  Speaker 1: the abomination of the place that I heard, without a
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  Speaker 1: touch of emotion, the puma victim begin another day of torture.
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  Speaker 1: It met its persecutor with a shriek almost exactly like
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  Speaker 1: that of an angry virago. Then suddenly something happened. I
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  Speaker 1: do not know what to this day. I heard a short,
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  Speaker 1: sharp cry behind me, a fall, and turning saw an
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  Speaker 1: awful face rushing upon me, not human, not animal, but hellish,
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  Speaker 1: brown seamed with red branching scars, red drops starting out
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  Speaker 1: upon it, and the lidless eyes ablaze. I threw up
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  Speaker 1: my arm to defend myself from the blow that flung
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  Speaker 1: me headlong with a broken forearm, and the great monster,
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  Speaker 1: swathed in lint and with red stained bandages fluttering about
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  Speaker 1: it leaped over me and passed. I rolled over and
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  Speaker 1: over down the beach, tried to sit up, and collapsed
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  Speaker 1: upon my broken arm. Then Moreau appeared, his massive white
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  Speaker 1: face all the more terrible for the blood that trickled
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  Speaker 1: from his forehead. He carried a revolver in one hand.
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  Speaker 1: He scarcely glanced at me, but rushed off at once
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  Speaker 1: in pursuit of the puma. I tried the other arm
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  Speaker 1: and sat up. The muffled figure in front ran in
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  Speaker 1: great striding leaps along the beach, and Moreau followed her.
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  Speaker 1: She turned her head and saw him, then, doubling, abruptly,
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  Speaker 1: made for the bushes. She gained upon him at every stride.
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  Speaker 1: I saw her plunge into them, and Moreau, running slantingly
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  Speaker 1: to intercept her, fired and missed as she disappeared. Then
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  Speaker 1: he too vanished in the green confusion. I stared after them,
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  Speaker 1: and then the pain and my arm flamed up and
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  Speaker 1: with a groan. I staggered to my feet. Montgomery appeared
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  Speaker 1: in the doorway, dressed and with his revolver in his hand.
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  Speaker 1: Great God, prendick, he said, not noticing that I was
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  Speaker 1: hurt that bruth Louth tore the fetter out of the wall.
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  Speaker 1: Have you seen them? Then? Sharply seeing, I gripped my arm.
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  Speaker 1: What's the matter? I was standing in the doorway, said I.
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  Speaker 1: He came forward and took my arm. Blood on the leave,
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  Speaker 1: said he, and rolled back the flannel. He pocketed his weapon,
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  Speaker 1: felt my arm about painfully, and led me inside. Your
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  Speaker 1: arm is broken, he said, And then tell me exactly
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  Speaker 1: how it happened. What happened? I told him what I
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  Speaker 1: had seen, told him in broken sentences, with gasps of
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  Speaker 1: pain between them, and very dexterously and swiftly he bound
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  Speaker 1: my arm. Meanwhile, he slung it from my shoulder, stood
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  Speaker 1: back and looked at me. You'll do, he said, and
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  Speaker 1: now he thought. Then he went out and locked the
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  Speaker 1: gates of the enclosure. He was absent some time. I
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  Speaker 1: was chiefly concerned about my arm. The incident seen merely
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  Speaker 1: one more of many horrible things. I sat down in
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  Speaker 1: the deck chair and I must admit, swore heartily at
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  Speaker 1: the island. The first all feeling of injury in my
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  Speaker 1: arm had already given way to a burning pain. When
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  Speaker 1: Montgomery reappeared, his face was rather pale, and he showed
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  Speaker 1: more of his lower gums than ever. I can neither
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  Speaker 1: thie nor hear anything of him, he said, I've been
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  Speaker 1: thinking he may want my help. He stared at me
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  Speaker 1: with his expressionless eyes. That was a strong brute, he said.
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  Speaker 1: It simply wrenched its fetter out of the wall. He
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  Speaker 1: went to the window, then to the door, and there
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  Speaker 1: turned to me. I shall go after him. He said
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  Speaker 1: that another revolver I can leave with you to tell
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  Speaker 1: you the truth. I feel anxious somehow. He obtained the
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  Speaker 1: weapon and put it ready to my hand on the table,
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  Speaker 1: then went out, leaving a restless contagion in the air.
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  Speaker 1: I did not sit long after he left, but took
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  Speaker 1: the revolver in hand and went to the doorway. The
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  Speaker 1: morning was as still as death. Not a whisper of
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  Speaker 1: wind was stirring. The sea was like polished glass, the
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  Speaker 1: sky empty, the beach desolate. In my half excited, half
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  Speaker 1: feverish state, the stillness of things oppressed me. I tried
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  Speaker 1: to whistle, and the tune died away. I swore again
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  Speaker 1: the second time that morning. Then I went to the
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  Speaker 1: corner of the enclosure and stared inland at the green
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  Speaker 1: bush that had swallowed up Moreau and Montgomery. When would
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  Speaker 1: they return? And howl? Then, far away up the beach,
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  Speaker 1: a little gray beast man appeared, ran down to the
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  Speaker 1: water's edge and began splashing about. I strolled back to
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  Speaker 1: the doorway, then to the corner again, and so began
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  Speaker 1: pacing to and fro, like a sentinel upon duty. Once
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  Speaker 1: I was arrested by the distant voice of Montgomery, bawling
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  Speaker 1: Couie Moreau. My arm became less painful but very hot.
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  Speaker 1: I got feverish and thirsty. My shadow grew shorter. I
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  Speaker 1: watched the distant figure until it went away again. Would
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  Speaker 1: Moreau and Montgomery never return? Three sea birds began fighting
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  Speaker 1: for some stranded treasure. Then, from far away behind the enclosure,
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  Speaker 1: I heard a pistol shot, a long silence, and then
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  Speaker 1: came another, Then a yelling cry nearer, and another dismal
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  Speaker 1: gap of silence. My unfortunate imagination set to work to
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  Speaker 1: torment me. Then suddenly a shot close by I went
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  Speaker 1: to the corner, startled, and saw Montgomery, his face scarlet,
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  Speaker 1: his hair disordered, and the knee of his trousers torn.
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  Speaker 1: His face expressed profound consternation. Behind him slouched the beast man,
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  Speaker 1: imbling and round imbling's jars were some queer dark stains.
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  Speaker 1: Hath he come? Said Montgomery. Moreau said, I no, my god.
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  Speaker 1: The man was panting, almost sobbing. Go back in, he said,
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  Speaker 1: taking my arm. They're mad. They're all rustling about mad.
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  Speaker 1: What can have happened? I don't know. I'll tell you
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  Speaker 1: when my breath comes. Where thum brandy. Montgomery limped before
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  Speaker 1: me into the room and sat down in the deck chair.
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  Speaker 1: Emilyin flung himself down just outside the doorway and began
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  Speaker 1: panting like a dog. I got Montgomery some brandy and water.
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  Speaker 1: He sat staring in front of him at nothing, recovering
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  Speaker 1: his breath. After some minutes he began to tell me
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  Speaker 1: what had happened. He had followed their track for some way.
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  Speaker 1: It was plain enough at first, on account of the
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  Speaker 1: crushed and broken bushes, white rags torn from the puma's bandages,
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  Speaker 1: and occasional smears of blood. The leaves of the shrubs
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  Speaker 1: and undergrowth. He lost track, however, on the stony ground
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  Speaker 1: beyond the stream where I had seen the beast man drinking,
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  Speaker 1: and when wandering aimlessly westward shouting Moreau's name, then Imling
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  Speaker 1: had come to him carrying a light hatchet. Imling had
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  Speaker 1: seen nothing of the puma affair, had been felling wood
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  Speaker 1: and heard him calling. They went on shouting together. Two
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  Speaker 1: beast men came, crouching and peering at them through the undergrowth,
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  Speaker 1: with gestures and a furtive carriage that alarmed Montgomery by
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  Speaker 1: their strangeness. He hailed them, and they fled guiltily. He
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  Speaker 1: stopped shouting after that, and, after wandering some time farther
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  Speaker 1: in an undecided way, determined to visit the huts. He
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  Speaker 1: found the ravine deserted, Growing more alarmed every minute, he
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  Speaker 1: began to retrace his steps. Then it was he encountered
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  Speaker 1: the two swine men I had seen dancing on the
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  Speaker 1: night of my arrival. Blood Stained, they were about the
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  Speaker 1: mouth and intensely excited. They came crashing through the ferns
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  Speaker 1: and stopped with fierce faces when they saw him. He
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  Speaker 1: cracked his whip in some trepidation, and forthwith they rushed
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  Speaker 1: at him. Never before had a beast man dared to
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  Speaker 1: do that. One he shot through the head, Imling flung
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  Speaker 1: himself upon the other, and the two rolled grappling. Imling
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  Speaker 1: got his brute under and with his teeth in its throat,
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  Speaker 1: and Montgomery shot that too, as it struggled in Imling's grip.
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  Speaker 1: He had some difficulty in inducing Imling to come on
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  Speaker 1: with him. Thence they had hurried back to me. On
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  Speaker 1: the way, Imling had suddenly rushed into a thicket and
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  Speaker 1: driven out an undersized ocelot man, also blood stained and
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  Speaker 1: lame through a wound in the foot. This brute had
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  Speaker 1: run a little way and then turned savagely at Bay
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  Speaker 1: and Montgomery with a certain wantonness I thought had shot him.
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  Speaker 1: What does it all mean? Said I. He shook his
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  Speaker 1: head and turned once more to the brandy. End of
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  Speaker 1: Section eighteen