him down as I
first saw him, with his quaint personality and his queer little tricks
of speech and of thought. It was only the need of getting in the
account of my meeting which drew me at last from his company. I left
him seated amid his pink radiance, oiling the lock of his favorite
rifle, while he still chuckled to himself at the thought of the
adventures which awaited us. It was very clear to me that if dangers
lay before us I could not in all England have found a cooler head or a
braver spirit with which to share them.

That night, wearied as I was after the wonderful happenings of the day,
I sat late with McArdle, the news editor, explaining to him the whole
situation, which he thought important enough to bring next morning
before the notice of Sir George Beaumont, the chief. It was agreed
that I should write home full accounts of my adventures in the shape of
successive letters to McArdle, and that these should either be edited
for the Gazette as they arrived, or held back to be published later,
according to the wishes of Professor Challenger, since we could not yet
know what conditions he might attach to those directions which should
guide us to the unknown land. In response to a telephone inquiry, we
received nothing more definite than a fulmination against the Press,
ending up with the remark that if we would notify our boat he would
hand us any directions which he might think it proper to give us at the
moment of starting. A second question from us failed to elicit any
answer at all, save a plaintive bleat from his wife to the effect that
her husband was in a very violent temper already, and that she hoped we
would do nothing to make it worse. A third attempt, later in the day,
provoked a terrific crash, and a subsequent message from the Central
Exchange that Professor Challenger's receiver had been shattered.
After that we abandoned all attempt at communication.

And now my patient readers, I can address you directly no longer. From
now onwards (if, indeed, any continuation of this narrative should ever
reach you) it can only be through the paper which I represent. In the
hands of the editor I leave this account of the events which have led
up to one of the most remarkable expeditions of all time, so that if I
never return to England there shall be some record as to how the affair
came about. I am writing these last lines in the saloon of the Booth
liner Francisca, and they will go back by the pil