e ever has since the world began, and you
suggest leaving it before we have acquired more than the most
superficial knowledge of it or of its contents. I expected better
things of you, Professor Summerlee."

"You must remember," said Summerlee, sourly, "that I have a large class
in London who are at present at the mercy of an extremely inefficient
locum tenens. This makes my situation different from yours, Professor
Challenger, since, so far as I know, you have never been entrusted with
any responsible educational work."

"Quite so," said Challenger. "I have felt it to be a sacrilege to
divert a brain which is capable of the highest original research to any
lesser object. That is why I have sternly set my face against any
proffered scholastic appointment."

"For example?" asked Summerlee, with a sneer; but Lord John hastened to
change the conversation.

"I must say," said he, "that I think it would be a mighty poor thing to
go back to London before I know a great deal more of this place than I
do at present."

"I could never dare to walk into the back office of my paper and face
old McArdle," said I. (You will excuse the frankness of this report,
will you not, sir?) "He'd never forgive me for leaving such
unexhausted copy behind me. Besides, so far as I can see it is not
worth discussing, since we can't get down, even if we wanted."

"Our young friend makes up for many obvious mental lacunae by some
measure of primitive common sense," remarked Challenger. "The
interests of his deplorable profession are immaterial to us; but, as he
observes, we cannot get down in any case, so it is a waste of energy to
discuss it."

"It is a waste of energy to do anything else," growled Summerlee from
behind his pipe. "Let me remind you that we came here upon a perfectly
definite mission, entrusted to us at the meeting of the Zoological
Institute in London. That mission was to test the truth of Professor
Challenger's statements. Those statements, as I am bound to admit, we
are now in a position to endorse. Our ostensible work is therefore
done. As to the detail which remains to be worked out upon this
plateau, it is so enormous that only a large expedition, with a very
special equipment, could hope to cope with it. Should we attempt to do
so ourselves, the only possible result must be that we shall never
return with the important contribution to science which we have already
gained. Professor Challenger has devise