{"id":809,"date":"2026-06-19T10:09:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T15:09:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aflorebooks.com\/?post_type=digital-library&p=809"},"modified":"2026-06-27T16:21:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T21:21:37","slug":"chapter-2","status":"publish","type":"digital-library","link":"https:\/\/aflorebooks.com\/es\/digital-library\/the-lost-world\/chapter-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 2: Try Your Luck with Professor Challenger"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
10\u201315 minutes<\/div>\n\n
2.324 words<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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I always liked McArdle, the crabbed, old, round-backed, red-headed news editor, and I rather hoped that he liked me. Of course, Beaumont was the real boss; but he lived in the rarefied atmosphere of some Olympian height from which he could distinguish nothing smaller than an international crisis or a split in the Cabinet. Sometimes we saw him passing in lonely majesty to his inner sanctum, with his eyes staring vaguely and his mind hovering over the Balkans or the Persian Gulf. He was above and beyond us. But McArdle was his first lieutenant, and it was he that we knew. The old man nodded as I entered the room, and he pushed his spectacles far up on his bald forehead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, Mr. Malone, from all I hear, you seem to be doing very well,\u201d said he in his kindly Scotch accent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I thanked him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe colliery explosion was excellent. So was the Southwark fire. You have the true descreeptive touch. What did you want to see me about?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo ask a favour.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He looked alarmed, and his eyes shunned mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTut, tut! What is it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo you think, sir, that you could possibly send me on some mission for the paper? I would do my best to put it through and get you some good copy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat sort of meesion had you in your mind, Mr. Malone?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, sir, anything that had adventure and danger in it. I really would do my very best. The more difficult it was, the better it would suit me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou seem very anxious to lose your life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo justify my life, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDear me, Mr. Malone, this is very\u2014very exalted. I\u2019m afraid the day for this sort of thing is rather past. The expense of the \u2018special meesion\u2019 business hardly justifies the result, and, of course, in any case it would only be an experienced man with a name that would command public confidence who would get such an order. The big blank spaces in the map are all being filled in, and there\u2019s no room for romance anywhere. Wait a bit, though!\u201d he added, with a sudden smile upon his face. \u201cTalking of the blank spaces of the map gives me an idea. What about exposing a fraud\u2014a modern Munchausen\u2014and making him rideeculous? You could show him up as the liar that he is! Eh, man, it would be fine. How does it appeal to you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnything\u2014anywhere\u2014I care nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McArdle was plunged in thought for some minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wonder whether you could get on friendly\u2014or at least on talking terms with the fellow,\u201d he said, at last. \u201cYou seem to have a sort of genius for establishing relations with people\u2014seempathy, I suppose, or animal magnetism, or youthful vitality, or something. I am conscious of it myself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou are very good, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo why should you not try your luck with Professor Challenger, of Enmore Park?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I dare say I looked a little startled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChallenger!\u201d I cried. \u201cProfessor Challenger, the famous zoologist! Wasn\u2019t he the man who broke the skull of Blundell, of the Telegraph<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The news editor smiled grimly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo you mind? Didn\u2019t you say it was adventures you were after?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is all in the way of business, sir,\u201d I answered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cExactly. I don\u2019t suppose he can always be so violent as that. I\u2019m thinking that Blundell got him at the wrong moment, maybe, or in the wrong fashion. You may have better luck, or more tact in handling him. There\u2019s something in your line there, I am sure, and the Gazette<\/em> should work it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI really know nothing about him,\u201d said I. \u201cI only remember his name in connection with the police court proceedings, for striking Blundell.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have a few notes for your guidance, Mr. Malone. I\u2019ve had my eye on the Professor for some little time.\u201d He took a paper from a drawer. \u201cHere is a summary of his record. I give it you briefly:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201c\u2018Challenger, George Edward. Born<\/em>: Largs, N. B., 1863. Educ<\/em>.: Largs Academy; Edinburgh University. British Museum Assistant, 1892. Assistant-Keeper of Comparative Anthropology Department, 1893. Resigned after acrimonious correspondence same year. Winner of Crayston Medal for Zoological Research. Foreign Member of\u2019\u2014well, quite a lot of things, about two inches of small type\u2014\u2018Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Belge, American Academy of Sciences, La Plata, etc., etc. Ex-President Palaeontological Society. Section H, British Association\u2019\u2014so on, so on!\u2014\u2018Publications<\/em>: \u201cSome Observations Upon a Series of Kalmuck Skulls\u201d; \u201cOutlines of Vertebrate Evolution\u201d; and numerous papers, including \u201cThe underlying fallacy of Weismannism,\u201d which caused heated discussion at the Zoological Congress of Vienna. Recreations<\/em>: Walking, Alpine climbing. Address<\/em>: Enmore Park, Kensington, W.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere, take it with you. I\u2019ve nothing more for you tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I pocketed the slip of paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne moment, sir,\u201d I said, as I realised that it was a pink bald head, and not a red face, which was fronting me. \u201cI am not very clear yet why I am to interview this gentleman. What has he done?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The face flashed back again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWent to South America on a solitary expedeetion two years ago. Came back last year. Had undoubtedly been to South America, but refused to say exactly where. Began to tell his adventures in a vague way, but somebody started to pick holes, and he just shut up like an oyster. Something wonderful happened\u2014or the man\u2019s a champion liar, which is the more probable supposeetion. Had some damaged photographs, said to be fakes. Got so touchy that he assaults anyone who asks questions, and heaves reporters doun the stairs. In my opinion he\u2019s just a homicidal megalomaniac with a turn for science. That\u2019s your man, Mr. Malone. Now, off you run, and see what you can make of him. You\u2019re big enough to look after yourself. Anyway, you are all safe. Employers\u2019 Liability Act, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A grinning red face turned once more into a pink oval, fringed with gingery fluff; the interview was at an end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I walked across to the Savage Club, but instead of turning into it I leaned upon the railings of Adelphi Terrace and gazed thoughtfully for a long time at the brown, oily river. I can always think most sanely and clearly in the open air. I took out the list of Professor Challenger\u2019s exploits, and I read it over under the electric lamp. Then I had what I can only regard as an inspiration. As a Pressman, I felt sure from what I had been told that I could never hope to get into touch with this cantankerous Professor. But these recriminations, twice mentioned in his skeleton biography, could only mean that he was a fanatic in science. Was there not an exposed margin there upon which he might be accessible? I would try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I entered the club. It was just after eleven, and the big room was fairly full, though the rush had not yet set in. I noticed a tall, thin, angular man seated in an armchair by the fire. He turned as I drew my chair up to him. It was the man of all others whom I should have chosen\u2014Tarp Henry, of the staff of Nature<\/em>, a thin, dry, leathery creature, who was full, to those who knew him, of kindly humanity. I plunged instantly into my subject.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat do you know of Professor Challenger?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChallenger?\u201d He gathered his brows in scientific disapproval. \u201cChallenger was the man who came with some cock-and-bull story from South America.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat story?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, it was rank nonsense about some queer animals he had discovered. I believe he has retracted since. Anyhow, he has suppressed it all. He gave an interview to Reuter\u2019s, and there was such a howl that he saw it wouldn\u2019t do. It was a discreditable business. There were one or two folk who were inclined to take him seriously, but he soon choked them off.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, by his insufferable rudeness and impossible behaviour. There was poor old Wadley, of the Zoological Institute. Wadley sent a message: \u2018The President of the Zoological Institute presents his compliments to Professor Challenger, and would take it as a personal favour if he would do them the honour to come to their next meeting.\u2019 The answer was unprintable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t say?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, a bowdlerised version of it would run: \u2018Professor Challenger presents his compliments to the President of the Zoological Institute, and would take it as a personal favour if he would go to the devil.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGood Lord!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes, I expect that\u2019s what old Wadley said. I remember his wail at the meeting, which began: \u2018In fifty years experience of scientific intercourse\u2014\u2019 It quite broke the old man up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnything more about Challenger?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, I\u2019m a bacteriologist, you know. I live in a nine-hundred-diameter microscope. I can hardly claim to take serious notice of anything that I can see with my naked eye. I\u2019m a frontiersman from the extreme edge of the Knowable, and I feel quite out of place when I leave my study and come into touch with all you great, rough, hulking creatures. I\u2019m too detached to talk scandal, and yet at scientific conversazioni I have<\/em> heard something of Challenger, for he is one of those men whom nobody can ignore. He\u2019s as clever as they make \u2019em\u2014a full-charged battery of force and vitality, but a quarrelsome, ill-conditioned faddist, and unscrupulous at that. He had gone the length of faking some photographs over the South American business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou say he is a faddist. What is his particular fad?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe has a thousand, but the latest is something about Weismann and Evolution. He had a fearful row about it in Vienna, I believe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCan\u2019t you tell me the point?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot at the moment, but a translation of the proceedings exists. We have it filed at the office. Would you care to come?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just what I want. I have to interview the fellow, and I need some lead up to him. It\u2019s really awfully good of you to give me a lift. I\u2019ll go with you now, if it is not too late.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Half an hour later I was seated in the newspaper office with a huge tome in front of me, which had been opened at the article \u201cWeismann versus<\/em> Darwin,\u201d with the subheading, \u201cSpirited Protest at Vienna. Lively Proceedings.\u201d My scientific education having been somewhat neglected, I was unable to follow the whole argument, but it was evident that the English Professor had handled his subject in a very aggressive fashion, and had thoroughly annoyed his Continental colleagues. \u201cProtests,\u201d \u201cUproar,\u201d and \u201cGeneral appeal to the Chairman\u201d were three of the first brackets which caught my eye. Most of the matter might have been written in Chinese for any definite meaning that it conveyed to my brain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wish you could translate it into English for me,\u201d I said, pathetically, to my helpmate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, it is a translation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThen I\u2019d better try my luck with the original.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is certainly rather deep for a layman.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf I could only get a single good, meaty sentence which seemed to convey some sort of definite human idea, it would serve my turn. Ah, yes, this one will do. I seem in a vague way almost to understand it. I\u2019ll copy it out. This shall be my link with the terrible Professor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNothing else I can do?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, yes; I propose to write to him. If I could frame the letter here, and use your address it would give atmosphere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll have the fellow round here making a row and breaking the furniture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, no; you\u2019ll see the letter\u2014nothing contentious, I assure you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, that\u2019s my chair and desk. You\u2019ll find paper there. I\u2019d like to censor it before it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It took some doing, but I flatter myself that it wasn\u2019t such a bad job when it was finished. I read it aloud to the critical bacteriologist with some pride in my handiwork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDear Professor Challenger,\u201d it said, \u201cAs a humble student of Nature, I have always taken the most profound interest in your speculations as to the differences between Darwin and Weismann. I have recently had occasion to refresh my memory by rereading\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou infernal liar!\u201d murmured Tarp Henry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2014by rereading your masterly address at Vienna. That lucid and admirable statement seems to be the last word in the matter. There is one sentence in it, however\u2014namely: \u2018I protest strongly against the insufferable and entirely dogmatic assertion that each separate id<\/em> is a microcosm possessed of an historical architecture elaborated slowly through the series of generations.\u2019 Have you no desire, in view of later research, to modify this statement? Do you not think that it is over-accentuated? With your permission, I would ask the favour of an interview, as I feel strongly upon the subject, and have certain suggestions which I could only elaborate in a personal conversation. With your consent, I trust to have the honour of calling at eleven o\u2019clock the day after tomorrow (Wednesday) morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI remain, sir, with assurances of profound respect, yours very truly,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEdward D. Malone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow\u2019s that?\u201d I asked, triumphantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell if your conscience can stand it\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt has never failed me yet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut what do you mean to do?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo get there. Once I am in his room I may see some opening. I may even go the length of open confession. If he is a sportsman he will be tickled.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTickled, indeed! He\u2019s much more likely to do the tickling. Chain mail, or an American football suit\u2014that\u2019s what you\u2019ll want. Well, goodbye. I\u2019ll have the answer for you here on Wednesday morning\u2014if he ever deigns to answer you. He is a violent, dangerous, cantankerous character, hated by everyone who comes across him, and the butt of the students, so far as they dare take a liberty with him. Perhaps it would be best for you if you never heard from the fellow at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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