The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells Read Free Book Online Page A

fear of being discovered, as a branch
cracked or a leaf rustled, I pushed back into the bushes.
It was long before I grew bolder, and dared to move freely.
My only idea for the moment was to get away from these foul beings, and I
scarcely noticed that I had emerged upon a faint pathway amidst the trees.
Then suddenly traversing a little glade, I saw with an unpleasant start
two clumsy legs among the trees, walking with noiseless footsteps
parallel with my course, and perhaps thirty yards away from me.
The head and upper part of the body were hidden by a tangle of creeper.
I stopped abruptly, hoping the creature did not see me.
The feet stopped as I did. So nervous was I that I controlled
an impulse to headlong flight with the utmost difficulty.
Then looking hard, I distinguished through the interlacing network
the head and body of the brute I had seen drinking. He moved his head.
There was an emerald flash in his eyes as he glanced at me from
the shadow of the trees, a half-luminous colour that vanished as
he turned his head again. He was motionless for a moment, and then
with a noiseless tread began running through the green confusion.
In another moment he had vanished behind some bushes.
I could not see him, but I felt that he had stopped and was watching me
again.
    What on earth was he,—man or beast? What did he want with me?
I had no weapon, not even a stick. Flight would be madness.
At any rate the Thing, whatever it was, lacked the courage to attack me.
Setting my teeth hard, I walked straight towards him.
I was anxious not to show the fear that seemed chilling my backbone.
I pushed through a tangle of tall white-flowered bushes,
and saw him twenty paces beyond, looking over his shoulder at me
and hesitating. I advanced a step or two, looking steadfastly into
his eyes.
    "Who are you?" said I.
    He tried to meet my gaze. "No!" he said suddenly, and turning went
bounding away from me through the undergrowth. Then he turned
and stared at me again. His eyes shone brightly out of the dusk
under the trees.
    My heart was in my mouth; but I felt my only chance was bluff,
and walked steadily towards him. He turned again, and vanished
into the dusk. Once more I thought I caught the glint of his eyes,
and that was all.
    For the first time I realised how the lateness of the hour
might affect me. The sun had set some minutes since, the swift
dusk of the tropics was already fading out of the eastern sky,
and a pioneer moth fluttered silently by my head. Unless I would
spend the night among the unknown dangers of the mysterious forest,
I must hasten back to the enclosure. The thought of a return
to that pain-haunted refuge was extremely disagreeable, but still
more so was the idea of being overtaken in the open by darkness
and all that darkness might conceal. I gave one more look
into the blue shadows that had swallowed up this odd creature,
and then retraced my way down the slope towards the stream,
going as I judged in the direction from which I had come.
    I walked eagerly, my mind confused with many things,
and presently found myself in a level place among scattered trees.
The colourless clearness that comes after the sunset flush
was darkling; the blue sky above grew momentarily deeper,
and the little stars one by one pierced the attenuated light;
the interspaces of the trees, the gaps in the further vegetation,
that had been hazy blue in the daylight, grew black and mysterious.
I pushed on. The colour vanished from the world.
The tree-tops rose against the luminous blue sky in inky silhouette,
and all below that outline melted into one formless blackness.
Presently the trees grew thinner, and the shrubby undergrowth
more abundant. Then there was a desolate space covered with
a white sand, and then another expanse of tangled bushes.
I did not remember crossing the sand-opening before.
I began to be tormented by a faint rustling upon my right hand.
I thought at first it was fancy, for whenever I stopped there
was silence, save for