rmin!" I cried.

Professor Challenger raised his great eyebrows in protest, and placed a
soothing paw upon my shoulder.

"You should cultivate the scientific eye and the detached scientific
mind," said he. "To a man of philosophic temperament like myself the
blood-tick, with its lancet-like proboscis and its distending stomach,
is as beautiful a work of Nature as the peacock or, for that matter,
the aurora borealis. It pains me to hear you speak of it in so
unappreciative a fashion. No doubt, with due diligence, we can secure
some other specimen."

"There can be no doubt of that," said Summerlee, grimly, "for one has
just disappeared behind your shirt-collar."

Challenger sprang into the air bellowing like a bull, and tore
frantically at his coat and shirt to get them off. Summerlee and I
laughed so that we could hardly help him. At last we exposed that
monstrous torso (fifty-four inches, by the tailor's tape). His body
was all matted with black hair, out of which jungle we picked the
wandering tick before it had bitten him. But the bushes round were
full of the horrible pests, and it was clear that we must shift our
camp.

But first of all it was necessary to make our arrangements with the
faithful negro, who appeared presently on the pinnacle with a number of
tins of cocoa and biscuits, which he tossed over to us. Of the stores
which remained below he was ordered to retain as much as would keep him
for two months. The Indians were to have the remainder as a reward for
their services and as payment for taking our letters back to the
Amazon. Some hours later we saw them in single file far out upon the
plain, each with a bundle on his head, making their way back along the
path we had come. Zambo occupied our little tent at the base of the
pinnacle, and there he remained, our one link with the world below.

And now we had to decide upon our immediate movements. We shifted our
position from among the tick-laden bushes until we came to a small
clearing thickly surrounded by trees upon all sides. There were some
flat slabs of rock in the center, with an excellent well close by, and
there we sat in cleanly comfort while we made our first plans for the
invasion of this new country. Birds were calling among the
foliage--especially one with a peculiar whooping cry which was new to
us--but beyond these sounds there were no signs of life.

Our first care was to make some sort of list of our own stores, so tha