The Lost World
Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930)
Doyle's 1912 adventure, the first outing for Professor Challenger and the ancestor of every dinosaur story since. Ed Malone, a young reporter eager to prove himself, talks his way onto an expedition to a plateau in the South American interior where Challenger claims extinct creatures still live. With him go a sceptical professor, a big-game hunter and a half-Indian guide; what they find is pterodactyls, a lake of monsters, and a war between ape-men and a lost race of humans. Years after killing off Sherlock Holmes, Conan Doyle made himself another immortal character — and invented the adventure-into-the-unknown template.
Text sourced from Project Gutenberg (public domain in the United States); the Project Gutenberg trademark and license text have been removed on import. Public-domain status determined by the author's death year + 50 years rule.
Table of Contents
- 001 "There Are Heroisms All Round Us" Mr. 2507 words
- 002 "I wonder whether you could get on friendly--or at least on talking… 2514 words
- 003 I could not lie to a lady. 2665 words
- 004 All this he boomed forth like a professor addressing his class. 2538 words
- 005 "Never." "Curupuri is the spirit of the woods, something terrible… 2540 words
- 006 "But the American poet?" "He never existed." "I saw his sketch-book."… 2822 words
- 007 All this is from my hurried notes taken at the time, which give… 2508 words
- 008 "My paper will see to that." "Can you shoot?" "About average… 2567 words
- 009 Lord John Roxton has some points in common with Professor Summerlee… 2665 words
- 010 It was August 2nd when we snapped our last link with the outer world… 2529 words
- 011 It was indeed a wonderful place. 2514 words
- 012 That night we pitched our camp immediately under the cliff--a most wild and desolate spot. 2554 words
- 013 "It's blocked!" said he. Clustering behind him we saw in the yellow… 2587 words
- 014 "This is indeed curious," said the creaking voice of Professor Summerlee. 2524 words
- 015 To-morrow (or to-day, rather, for it is already dawn as I write) we… 2505 words
- 016 I looked at my comrades. Lord John was standing at gaze with his… 2504 words
- 017 "It was a bluish soil. It looked like clay." "Exactly. A volcanic… 2650 words
- 018 We saw many small animals, such as porcupines, a scaly ant-eater, and… 2630 words
- 019 "It is nothing of the sort," said Summerlee, abruptly. 2507 words
- 020 My attention was soon drawn away from these distant sights and… 2535 words
- 021 I was so stunned by this sudden shock that for a time I must have nearly lost my reason. 2719 words
- 022 "Well, now, young fellah, I'll tell you what will surprise you. 2546 words
- 023 "Shoot into the thick of them! 2502 words
- 024 I could hear the murmur of our brook somewhere ahead of me, but there… 2522 words
- 025 There was nothing which we could see upon the shore which seemed to… 2596 words
- 026 We had little time to watch them, however, for in an instant they had… 2613 words
- 027 He put one hand in the front of his ragged jacket and pointed proudly with the other. 2555 words
- 028 The excitement which had been caused through those parts of South… 2576 words
- 029 "LORD JOHN ROXTON: 'Is this fellow calling me a liar?' (Uproar.) "THE CHAIRMAN: 'Order! 2518 words
- 030 "What do you mean?" she said. 1032 words