{"id":65,"date":"2021-04-06T16:00:31","date_gmt":"2021-04-06T20:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/doctormoreau\/?post_type=chapter&p=65"},"modified":"2022-02-02T09:31:30","modified_gmt":"2022-02-02T14:31:30","slug":"chapter-18-the-finding-of-moreau","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/doctormoreau\/chapter\/chapter-18-the-finding-of-moreau\/","title":{"raw":"Chapter 18: The Finding of Moreau","rendered":"Chapter 18: The Finding of Moreau"},"content":{"raw":"When I saw Montgomery swallow a third dose of brandy, I took it upon myself to interfere. He was already more than half fuddled. I told him that some serious thing must have happened to Moreau by this time, or he would have returned before this, and that it behoved us to ascertain what that catastrophe was. Montgomery raised some feeble objections, and at last agreed. We had some food, and then all three of us started.\r\n\r\nIt is possibly due to the tension of my mind, at the time, but even now that start into the hot stillness of the tropical afternoon is a singularly vivid impression. M\u2019ling went first, his shoulder hunched, his strange black head moving with quick starts as he peered first on this side of the way and then on that. He was unarmed; his axe he had dropped when he encountered the Swine-man. Teeth were his<\/i>weapons, when it came to fighting. Montgomery followed with stumbling footsteps, his hands in his pockets, his face downcast; he was in a state of muddled sullenness with me on account of the brandy. My left arm was in a sling (it was lucky it was my left), and I carried my revolver in my right. Soon we traced a narrow path through the wild luxuriance of the island, going northwestward; and presently M\u2019ling stopped, and became rigid with watchfulness. Montgomery almost staggered into him, and then stopped too. Then, listening intently, we heard coming through the trees the sound of voices and footsteps approaching us.\r\n\r\n\u201cHe is dead,\u201d said a deep, vibrating voice.\r\n\r\n\u201cHe is not dead; he is not dead,\u201d jabbered another.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe saw, we saw,\u201d said several voices.\r\n\r\n\u201cHullo!\u201d suddenly shouted Montgomery, \u201cHullo, there!\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cConfound you!\u201d said I, and gripped my pistol.\r\n\r\nThere was a silence, then a crashing among the interlacing vegetation, first here, then there, and then half-a-dozen faces appeared,\u2014strange faces, lit by a strange light. M\u2019ling made a growling noise in his throat. I recognised the Ape-man: I had indeed already identified his voice, and two of the white-swathed brown-featured creatures I had seen in Montgomery\u2019s boat. With these were the two dappled brutes and that grey, horribly crooked creature who said the Law, with grey hair streaming down its cheeks, heavy grey eyebrows, and grey locks pouring off from a central parting upon its sloping forehead,\u2014a heavy, faceless thing, with strange red eyes, looking at us curiously from amidst the green.\r\n\r\nFor a space no one spoke. Then Montgomery hiccoughed, \u201cWho\u2014said he was dead?\u201d\r\n\r\nThe Monkey-man looked guiltily at the hairy-grey Thing. \u201cHe is dead,\u201d said this monster. \u201cThey saw.\u201d\r\n\r\nThere was nothing threatening about this detachment, at any rate. They seemed awestricken and puzzled.\r\n\r\n\u201cWhere is he?\u201d said Montgomery.\r\n\r\n\u201cBeyond,\u201d and the grey creature pointed.\r\n\r\n\u201cIs there a Law now?\u201d asked the Monkey-man. \u201cIs it still to be this and that? Is he dead indeed?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cIs there a Law?\u201d repeated the man in white. \u201cIs there a Law, thou Other with the Whip?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cHe is dead,\u201d said the hairy-grey Thing. And they all stood watching us.\r\n\r\n\u201cPrendick,\u201d said Montgomery, turning his dull eyes to me. \u201cHe\u2019s dead, evidently.\u201d\r\n\r\nI had been standing behind him during this colloquy. I began to see how things lay with them. I suddenly stepped in front of Montgomery and lifted up my voice:\u2014\u201cChildren of the Law,\u201d I said, \u201che is not<\/i> dead!\u201d M\u2019ling turned his sharp eyes on me. \u201cHe has changed his shape; he has changed his body,\u201d I went on. \u201cFor a time you will not see him. He is\u2014there,\u201d I pointed upward, \u201cwhere he can watch you. You cannot see him, but he can see you. Fear the Law!\u201d\r\n\r\nI looked at them squarely. They flinched.\r\n\r\n\u201cHe is great, he is good,\u201d said the Ape-man, peering fearfully upward among the dense trees.\r\n\r\n\u201cAnd the other Thing?\u201d I demanded.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe Thing that bled, and ran screaming and sobbing,\u2014that is dead too,\u201d said the grey Thing, still regarding me.\r\n\r\n\u201cThat\u2019s well,\u201d grunted Montgomery.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe Other with the Whip\u2014\u201d began the grey Thing.\r\n\r\n\u201cWell?\u201d said I.\r\n\r\n\u201cSaid he was dead.\u201d\r\n\r\nBut Montgomery was still sober enough to understand my motive in denying Moreau\u2019s death. \u201cHe is not dead,\u201d he said slowly, \u201cnot dead at all. No more dead than I am.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cSome,\u201d said I, \u201chave broken the Law: they will die. Some have died. Show us now where his old body lies,\u2014the body he cast away because he had no more need of it.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cIt is this way, Man who walked in the Sea,\u201d said the grey Thing.\r\n\r\nAnd with these six creatures guiding us, we went through the tumult of ferns and creepers and tree-stems towards the northwest. Then came a yelling, a crashing among the branches, and a little pink homunculus rushed by us shrieking. Immediately after appeared a monster in headlong pursuit, blood-bedabbled, who was amongst us almost before he could stop his career. The grey Thing leapt aside. M\u2019ling, with a snarl, flew at it, and was struck aside. Montgomery fired and missed, bowed his head, threw up his arm, and turned to run. I fired, and the Thing still came on; fired again, point-blank, into its ugly face. I saw its features vanish in a flash: its face was driven in. Yet it passed me, gripped Montgomery, and holding him, fell headlong beside him and pulled him sprawling upon itself in its death-agony.\r\n\r\nI found myself alone with M\u2019ling, the dead brute, and the prostrate man. Montgomery raised himself slowly and stared in a muddled way at the shattered Beast Man beside him. It more than half sobered him. He scrambled to his feet. Then I saw the grey Thing returning cautiously through the trees.\r\n\r\n\u201cSee,\u201d said I, pointing to the dead brute, \u201cis the Law not alive? This came of breaking the Law.\u201d\r\n\r\nHe peered at the body. \u201cHe sends the Fire that kills,\u201d said he, in his deep voice, repeating part of the Ritual. The others gathered round and stared for a space.\r\n\r\nAt last we drew near the westward extremity of the island. We came upon the gnawed and mutilated body of the puma, its shoulder-bone smashed by a bullet, and perhaps twenty yards farther found at last what we sought. Moreau lay face downward in a trampled space in a canebrake. One hand was almost severed at the wrist and his silvery hair was dabbled in blood. His head had been battered in by the fetters of the puma. The broken canes beneath him were smeared with blood. His revolver we could not find. Montgomery turned him over. Resting at intervals, and with the help of the seven Beast People (for he was a heavy man), we carried Moreau back to the enclosure. The night was darkling. Twice we heard unseen creatures howling and shrieking past our little band, and once the little pink sloth-creature appeared and stared at us, and vanished again. But we were not attacked again. At the gates of the enclosure our company of Beast People left us, M\u2019ling going with the rest. We locked ourselves in, and then took Moreau\u2019s mangled body into the yard and laid it upon a pile of brushwood. Then we went into the laboratory and put an end to all we found living there.","rendered":"

When I saw Montgomery swallow a third dose of brandy, I took it upon myself to interfere. He was already more than half fuddled. I told him that some serious thing must have happened to Moreau by this time, or he would have returned before this, and that it behoved us to ascertain what that catastrophe was. Montgomery raised some feeble objections, and at last agreed. We had some food, and then all three of us started.<\/p>\n

It is possibly due to the tension of my mind, at the time, but even now that start into the hot stillness of the tropical afternoon is a singularly vivid impression. M\u2019ling went first, his shoulder hunched, his strange black head moving with quick starts as he peered first on this side of the way and then on that. He was unarmed; his axe he had dropped when he encountered the Swine-man. Teeth were his<\/i>weapons, when it came to fighting. Montgomery followed with stumbling footsteps, his hands in his pockets, his face downcast; he was in a state of muddled sullenness with me on account of the brandy. My left arm was in a sling (it was lucky it was my left), and I carried my revolver in my right. Soon we traced a narrow path through the wild luxuriance of the island, going northwestward; and presently M\u2019ling stopped, and became rigid with watchfulness. Montgomery almost staggered into him, and then stopped too. Then, listening intently, we heard coming through the trees the sound of voices and footsteps approaching us.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is dead,\u201d said a deep, vibrating voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is not dead; he is not dead,\u201d jabbered another.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw, we saw,\u201d said several voices.<\/p>\n

\u201cHullo!\u201d suddenly shouted Montgomery, \u201cHullo, there!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cConfound you!\u201d said I, and gripped my pistol.<\/p>\n

There was a silence, then a crashing among the interlacing vegetation, first here, then there, and then half-a-dozen faces appeared,\u2014strange faces, lit by a strange light. M\u2019ling made a growling noise in his throat. I recognised the Ape-man: I had indeed already identified his voice, and two of the white-swathed brown-featured creatures I had seen in Montgomery\u2019s boat. With these were the two dappled brutes and that grey, horribly crooked creature who said the Law, with grey hair streaming down its cheeks, heavy grey eyebrows, and grey locks pouring off from a central parting upon its sloping forehead,\u2014a heavy, faceless thing, with strange red eyes, looking at us curiously from amidst the green.<\/p>\n

For a space no one spoke. Then Montgomery hiccoughed, \u201cWho\u2014said he was dead?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Monkey-man looked guiltily at the hairy-grey Thing. \u201cHe is dead,\u201d said this monster. \u201cThey saw.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was nothing threatening about this detachment, at any rate. They seemed awestricken and puzzled.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere is he?\u201d said Montgomery.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeyond,\u201d and the grey creature pointed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs there a Law now?\u201d asked the Monkey-man. \u201cIs it still to be this and that? Is he dead indeed?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs there a Law?\u201d repeated the man in white. \u201cIs there a Law, thou Other with the Whip?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is dead,\u201d said the hairy-grey Thing. And they all stood watching us.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrendick,\u201d said Montgomery, turning his dull eyes to me. \u201cHe\u2019s dead, evidently.\u201d<\/p>\n

I had been standing behind him during this colloquy. I began to see how things lay with them. I suddenly stepped in front of Montgomery and lifted up my voice:\u2014\u201cChildren of the Law,\u201d I said, \u201che is not<\/i> dead!\u201d M\u2019ling turned his sharp eyes on me. \u201cHe has changed his shape; he has changed his body,\u201d I went on. \u201cFor a time you will not see him. He is\u2014there,\u201d I pointed upward, \u201cwhere he can watch you. You cannot see him, but he can see you. Fear the Law!\u201d<\/p>\n

I looked at them squarely. They flinched.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is great, he is good,\u201d said the Ape-man, peering fearfully upward among the dense trees.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the other Thing?\u201d I demanded.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Thing that bled, and ran screaming and sobbing,\u2014that is dead too,\u201d said the grey Thing, still regarding me.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s well,\u201d grunted Montgomery.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Other with the Whip\u2014\u201d began the grey Thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell?\u201d said I.<\/p>\n

\u201cSaid he was dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Montgomery was still sober enough to understand my motive in denying Moreau\u2019s death. \u201cHe is not dead,\u201d he said slowly, \u201cnot dead at all. No more dead than I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSome,\u201d said I, \u201chave broken the Law: they will die. Some have died. Show us now where his old body lies,\u2014the body he cast away because he had no more need of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is this way, Man who walked in the Sea,\u201d said the grey Thing.<\/p>\n

And with these six creatures guiding us, we went through the tumult of ferns and creepers and tree-stems towards the northwest. Then came a yelling, a crashing among the branches, and a little pink homunculus rushed by us shrieking. Immediately after appeared a monster in headlong pursuit, blood-bedabbled, who was amongst us almost before he could stop his career. The grey Thing leapt aside. M\u2019ling, with a snarl, flew at it, and was struck aside. Montgomery fired and missed, bowed his head, threw up his arm, and turned to run. I fired, and the Thing still came on; fired again, point-blank, into its ugly face. I saw its features vanish in a flash: its face was driven in. Yet it passed me, gripped Montgomery, and holding him, fell headlong beside him and pulled him sprawling upon itself in its death-agony.<\/p>\n

I found myself alone with M\u2019ling, the dead brute, and the prostrate man. Montgomery raised himself slowly and stared in a muddled way at the shattered Beast Man beside him. It more than half sobered him. He scrambled to his feet. Then I saw the grey Thing returning cautiously through the trees.<\/p>\n

\u201cSee,\u201d said I, pointing to the dead brute, \u201cis the Law not alive? This came of breaking the Law.\u201d<\/p>\n

He peered at the body. \u201cHe sends the Fire that kills,\u201d said he, in his deep voice, repeating part of the Ritual. The others gathered round and stared for a space.<\/p>\n

At last we drew near the westward extremity of the island. We came upon the gnawed and mutilated body of the puma, its shoulder-bone smashed by a bullet, and perhaps twenty yards farther found at last what we sought. Moreau lay face downward in a trampled space in a canebrake. One hand was almost severed at the wrist and his silvery hair was dabbled in blood. His head had been battered in by the fetters of the puma. The broken canes beneath him were smeared with blood. His revolver we could not find. Montgomery turned him over. Resting at intervals, and with the help of the seven Beast People (for he was a heavy man), we carried Moreau back to the enclosure. The night was darkling. Twice we heard unseen creatures howling and shrieking past our little band, and once the little pink sloth-creature appeared and stared at us, and vanished again. But we were not attacked again. At the gates of the enclosure our company of Beast People left us, M\u2019ling going with the rest. We locked ourselves in, and then took Moreau\u2019s mangled body into the yard and laid it upon a pile of brushwood. Then we went into the laboratory and put an end to all we found living there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":251,"menu_order":19,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[48],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-65","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/doctormoreau\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/65","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/doctormoreau\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/doctormoreau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/doctormoreau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/251"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/doctormoreau\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/65\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/doctormoreau\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/65\/revisions\/66"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/doctormoreau\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/doctormoreau\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/65\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/doctormoreau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/doctormoreau\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=65"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/doctormoreau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=65"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/doctormoreau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=65"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}