IX. THE THING IN THE FOREST.
I STRODE through the undergrowth that clothed the ridge behind the house,scarcely heeding whither I went; passed on through the shadow of a thickcluster of straight-stemmed trees beyond it, and so presently foundmyself some way on the other side of the ridge, and descending towardsa streamlet that ran through a narrow valley. I paused and listened.The distance I had come, or the intervening masses of thicket,deadened any sound that might be coming from the enclosure.The air was still. Then with a rustle a rabbit emerged, and wentscampering up the slope before me. I hesitated, and sat down in the edgeof the shade.
The place was a pleasant one. The rivulet was hiddenby the luxuriant vegetation of the banks save at one point,where I caught a triangular patch of its glittering water.On the farther side I saw through a bluish haze a tangle of treesand creepers, and above these again the luminous blue of the sky.Here and there a splash of white or crimson marked the blooming of sometrailing epiphyte. I let my eyes wander over this scene for a while,and then began to turn over in my mind again the strange peculiaritiesof Montgomery's man. But it was too hot to think elaborately,and presently I fell into a tranquil state midway between dozingand waking.
From this I was aroused, after I know not how long, by arustling amidst the greenery on the other side of the stream.For a moment I could see nothing but the waving summits ofthe ferns and reeds. Then suddenly upon the bank of the streamappeared something--at first I could not distinguish what it was.It bowed its round head to the water, and began to drink.Then I saw it was a man, going on all-fours like a beast. He was clothedin bluish cloth, and was of a copper-coloured hue, with black hair.It seemed that grotesque ugliness was an invariable character ofthese islanders. I could hear the suck of the water at his lips ashe drank.
I leant forward to see him better, and a piece of lava, detached bymy hand, went pattering down the slope. He looked up guiltily,and his eyes met mine. Forthwith he scrambled to his feet,and stood wiping his clumsy hand across his mouth and regarding me.His legs were scarcely half the length of his body.So, staring one another out of countenance, we remained for perhapsthe space of a minute. Then, stopping to look back once or twice,he slunk off among the bushes to the right of me, and I heardthe swish of the fronds grow faint in the distance and die away.Long after he had disappeared, I remained sitting up staringin the direction of his retreat. My drowsy tranquillityhad gone.
I was startled by a noise behind me, and turning suddenly sawthe flapping white tail of a rabbit vanishing up the slope.I jumped to my feet. The apparition of this grotesque, half-bestialcreature had suddenly populated the stillness of the afternoon for me.I looked around me rather nervously, and regretted that I was unarmed.Then I thought that the man I had just seen had been clothedin bluish cloth, had not been naked as a savage would have been;and I tried to persuade myself from that fact that he was after allprobably a peaceful character, that the dull ferocity of his countenancebelied him.
Yet I was greatly disturbed at the apparition. I walkedto the left along the slope, turning my head about and peeringthis way and that among the straight stems of the trees.Why should a man go on all-fours and drink with his lips? Presently Iheard an animal wailing again, and taking it to be the puma, I turnedabout and walked in a direction diametrically opposite to the sound.This led me down to the stream, across which I stepped and pushedmy way up through the undergrowth beyond.
I was startled by a great patch of vivid scarlet on the ground,and going up to it found it to be a peculiar fungus, branched andcorrugated like a foliaceous lichen, but deliquescing into slimeat the touch; and then in the shadow of some luxuriant ferns Icame upon an unpleasant thing,--the dead body of a rabbit coveredwith shining flies, but still warm and with the head torn off.I stopped aghast at the sight of the scattered blood.Here at least was one visitor to the island disposed of!There were no traces of other violence about it. It looked as though ithad been suddenly snatched up and killed; and as I stared at the littlefurry body came the difficulty of how the thing had been done.The vague dread that had been in my mind since I had seen the inhumanface of the man at the stream grew distincter as I stood there.I began to realise the hardihood of my expedition among theseunknown people. The thicket about me became altered to my imagination.Every shadow became something more than a shadow,--became an ambush;every rustle became a threat. Invisible things seemed watching me.I resolved to go back to the enclosure on the beach. I suddenlyturned away and thrust myself violently, possibly even frantically,through the bushes, anxious to get a clear space about meagain.
I stopped just in time to prevent myself emerging upon an open space.It was a kind of glade in the forest, made by a fall; seedlings werealready starting up to struggle for the vacant space; and beyond,the dense growth of stems and twining vines and splashes of fungusand flowers closed in again. Before me, squatting together uponthe fungoid ruins of a huge fallen tree and still unaware of my approach,were three grotesque human figures. One was evidently a female;the other two were men. They were naked, save for swathingsof scarlet cloth about the middle; and their skins were of a dullpinkish-drab colour, such as I had seen in no savages before.They had fat, heavy, chinless faces, retreating foreheads,and a scant bristly hair upon their heads. I never saw suchbestial-looking creatures.
They were talking, or at least one of the men was talking to the other two,and all three had been too closely interested to heed the rustling ofmy approach. They swayed their heads and shoulders from side to side.The speaker's words came thick and sloppy, and though I couldhear them distinctly I could not distinguish what he said.He seemed to me to be reciting some complicated gibberish.Presently his articulation became shriller, and spreading his handshe rose to his feet. At that the others began to gibber in unison,also rising to their feet, spreading their hands and swaying theirbodies in rhythm with their chant. I noticed then the abnormalshortness of their legs, and their lank, clumsy feet. All three beganslowly to circle round, raising and stamping their feet and wavingtheir arms; a kind of tune crept into their rhythmic recitation,and a refrain,--"Aloola," or "Balloola," it sounded like.Their eyes began to sparkle, and their ugly faces to brighten,with an expression of strange pleasure. Saliva dripped from theirlipless mouths.
Suddenly, as I watched their grotesque and unaccountable gestures,I perceived clearly for the first time what it was that had offended me,what had given me the two inconsistent and conflicting impressionsof utter strangeness and yet of the strangest familiarity.The three creatures engaged in this mysterious rite were human in shape,and yet human beings with the strangest air about them of somefamiliar animal. Each of these creatures, despite its human form,its rag of clothing, and the rough humanity of its bodily form,had woven into it--into its movements, into the expression ofits countenance, into its whole presence--some now irresistiblesuggestion of a hog, a swinish taint, the unmistakable mark ofthe beast.
I stood overcome by this amazing realisation and then the most horriblequestionings came rushing into my mind. They began leaping in the air,first one and then the other, whooping and grunting. Then one slipped,and for a moment was on all-fours,--to recover, indeed, forthwith.But that transitory gleam of the true animalism of these monsterswas enough.
I turned as noiselessly as possible, and becoming every nowand then rigid with the fear of being discovered, as a branchcracked or a leaf rustled, I pushed back into the bushes.It was long before I grew bolder, and dared to move freely.My only idea for the moment was to get away from these foul beings, and Iscarcely noticed that I had emerged upon a faint pathway amidst the trees.Then suddenly traversing a little glade, I saw with an unpleasant starttwo clumsy legs among the trees, walking with noiseless footstepsparallel with my course, and perhaps thirty yards away from me.The head and upper part of the body were hidden by a tangle of creeper.I stopped abruptly, hoping the creature did not see me.The feet stopped as I did. So nervous was I that I controlledan impulse to headlong flight with
the utmost difficulty.Then looking hard, I distinguished through the interlacing networkthe head and body of the brute I had seen drinking. He moved his head.There was an emerald flash in his eyes as he glanced at me fromthe shadow of the trees, a half-luminous colour that vanished ashe turned his head again. He was motionless for a moment, and thenwith a noiseless tread began running through the green confusion.In another moment he had vanished behind some bushes.I could not see him, but I felt that he had stopped and was watching meagain.
What on earth was he,--man or beast? What did he want with me?I had no weapon, not even a stick. Flight would be madness.At any rate the Thing, whatever it was, lacked the courage to attack me.Setting my teeth hard, I walked straight towards him.I was anxious not to show the fear that seemed chilling my backbone.I pushed through a tangle of tall white-flowered bushes,and saw him twenty paces beyond, looking over his shoulder at meand hesitating. I advanced a step or two, looking steadfastly intohis eyes.
"Who are you?" said I.
He tried to meet my gaze. "No!" he said suddenly, and turning wentbounding away from me through the undergrowth. Then he turnedand stared at me again. His eyes shone brightly out of the duskunder the trees.
My heart was in my mouth; but I felt my only chance was bluff,and walked steadily towards him. He turned again, and vanishedinto the dusk. Once more I thought I caught the glint of his eyes,and that was all.
For the first time I realised how the lateness of the hourmight affect me. The sun had set some minutes since, the swiftdusk of the tropics was already fading out of the eastern sky,and a pioneer moth fluttered silently by my head. Unless I wouldspend the night among the unknown dangers of the mysterious forest,I must hasten back to the enclosure. The thought of a returnto that pain-haunted refuge was extremely disagreeable, but stillmore so was the idea of being overtaken in the open by darknessand all that darkness might conceal. I gave one more lookinto the blue shadows that had swallowed up this odd creature,and then retraced my way down the slope towards the stream,going as I judged in the direction from which I had come.
I walked eagerly, my mind confused with many things,and presently found myself in a level place among scattered trees.The colourless clearness that comes after the sunset flushwas darkling; the blue sky above grew momentarily deeper,and the little stars one by one pierced the attenuated light;the interspaces of the trees, the gaps in the further vegetation,that had been hazy blue in the daylight, grew black and mysterious.I pushed on. The colour vanished from the world.The tree-tops rose against the luminous blue sky in inky silhouette,and all below that outline melted into one formless blackness.Presently the trees grew thinner, and the shrubby undergrowthmore abundant. Then there was a desolate space covered witha white sand, and then another expanse of tangled bushes.I did not remember crossing the sand-opening before.I began to be tormented by a faint rustling upon my right hand.I thought at first it was fancy, for whenever I stopped therewas silence, save for the evening breeze in the tree-tops.Then when I turned to hurry on again there was an echo tomy footsteps.
I turned away from the thickets, keeping to the more open ground,and endeavouring by sudden turns now and then to surprise somethingin the act of creeping upon me. I saw nothing, and neverthelessmy sense of another presence grew steadily. I increased my pace,and after some time came to a slight ridge, crossed it, and turned sharply,regarding it steadfastly from the further side. It came out blackand clear-cut against the darkling sky; and presently a shapelesslump heaved up momentarily against the sky-line and vanished again.I felt assured now that my tawny-faced antagonist was stalking meonce more; and coupled with that was another unpleasant realisation,that I had lost my way.
For a time I hurried on hopelessly perplexed, and pursued by thatstealthy approach. Whatever it was, the Thing either lacked the courageto attack me, or it was waiting to take me at some disadvantage.I kept studiously to the open. At times I would turn and listen;and presently I had half persuaded myself that my pursuer had abandonedthe chase, or was a mere creation of my disordered imagination.Then I heard the sound of the sea. I quickened my footstepsalmost into a run, and immediately there was a stumble inmy rear.
I turned suddenly, and stared at the uncertain trees behind me.One black shadow seemed to leap into another. I listened,rigid, and heard nothing but the creep of the blood in my ears.I thought that my nerves were unstrung, and that my imaginationwas tricking me, and turned resolutely towards the sound of thesea again.
In a minute or so the trees grew thinner, and I emerged upona bare, low headland running out into the sombre water.The night was calm and clear, and the reflection of the growingmultitude of the stars shivered in the tranquil heaving of the sea.Some way out, the wash upon an irregular band of reef shonewith a pallid light of its own. Westward I saw the zodiacallight mingling with the yellow brilliance of the evening star.The coast fell away from me to the east, and westward it was hiddenby the shoulder of the cape. Then I recalled the fact that Moreau'sbeach lay to the west.
A twig snapped behind me, and there was a rustle. I turned, and stoodfacing the dark trees. I could see nothing--or else I could see too much.Every dark form in the dimness had its ominous quality, its peculiarsuggestion of alert watchfulness. So I stood for perhaps a minute,and then, with an eye to the trees still, turned westward to crossthe headland; and as I moved, one among the lurking shadows movedto follow me.
My heart beat quickly. Presently the broad sweep of a bayto the westward became visible, and I halted again.The noiseless shadow halted a dozen yards from me.A little point of light shone on the further bend of the curve,and the grey sweep of the sandy beach lay faint under the starlight.Perhaps two miles away was that little point of light.To get to the beach I should have to go through the trees where theshadows lurked, and down a bushy slope.
I could see the Thing rather more distinctly now. It was no animal,for it stood erect. At that I opened my mouth to speak, and founda hoarse phlegm choked my voice. I tried again, and shouted,"Who is there?" There was no answer. I advanced a step.The Thing did not move, only gathered itself together. My footstruck a stone. That gave me an idea. Without taking my eyes offthe black form before me, I stooped and picked up this lump of rock;but at my motion the Thing turned abruptly as a dog might have done,and slunk obliquely into the further darkness. Then I recalleda schoolboy expedient against big dogs, and twisted the rock intomy handkerchief, and gave this a turn round my wrist. I heard a movementfurther off among the shadows, as if the Thing was in retreat.Then suddenly my tense excitement gave way; I broke into a profuseperspiration and fell a-trembling, with my adversary routed and thisweapon in my hand.
It was some time before I could summon resolution to go down throughthe trees and bushes upon the flank of the headland to the beach.At last I did it at a run; and as I emerged from the thicketupon the sand, I heard some other body come crashing after me.At that I completely lost my head with fear, and began runningalong the sand. Forthwith there came the swift patter of softfeet in pursuit. I gave a wild cry, and redoubled my pace.Some dim, black things about three or four times the size of rabbitswent running or hopping up from the beach towards the bushes asI passed.
So long as I live, I shall remember the terror of that chase.I ran near the water's edge, and heard every now and then the splashof the feet that gained upon me. Far away, hopelessly far,was the yellow light. All the night about us was black and still.Splash, splash, came the pursuing feet, nearer and nearer.I felt my breath going, for I was quite out of training; it whoopedas I drew it, and I felt a pain like a knife at my side. I perceivedthe Thing would come up with me long before I reached the enclosure,and, desperate and sobbing for my breath, I wheeled round upon itand struck at it as it came up to me,--struck with all my strength.The stone came out of the sling of the handkerchief as I did so.As I turned, the Thing, which had been running on all-fours,rose to its feet, and the missile fell fair on its left temple.The skull rang loud, and the animal-m
an blundered into me,thrust me back with its hands, and went staggering past me to fallheadlong upon the sand with its face in the water; and there it laystill.
I could not bring myself to approach that black heap. I leftit there, with the water rippling round it, under the still stars,and giving it a wide berth pursued my way towards the yellow glowof the house; and presently, with a positive effect of relief,came the pitiful moaning of the puma, the sound that hadoriginally driven me out to explore this mysterious island.At that, though I was faint and horribly fatigued, I gatheredtogether all my strength, and began running again towards the light.I thought I heard a voice calling me.