Evening star., 1912-07-21
THE LOST WORLD

carried the 1Our heroes away upon us crest.
| Good for you, Mach "If the audience had
done less than justice, surely it made ample
amends. Everyone was on his feet. Every
one was moving, shouting, gesticulating. A
dense crowd of cheering men was round the
| four travellers. Up with them, Up with
| them! cried hundred voices. In moment
| four figures shot up above the crowd. In
| vain they strove to break loose. They were
| held in their lofty places of honor. 1t would
| have been hard to let them down if it had
| been wished, so dense was the crowd around
them. Regent Street! Regent Street.
| sounded the voices. There was a swirl in the
packed multitude, and a slow current, bear
| ing the four upon their shoulders, made for
| the door.
"Out in the street the scene was extraor
| binary. An assemblage of not less than
hundred thousand people was waiting. The
| ose-packed throng extended from the other
side of the Langham Hotel to Oxford Circus.
A roar of acclamation greeted the four ad
venturers as they appeared high above the
heads of the people under the vivid electric
lamps outside the hall A procession! A
procession! was the cry. In dense pha-
| lanx blocking the streets from side to side,
| the crowd set forth, taking the route of
Regent-st., Pail Mall St James s-st., and
Piccadilly. The whole central traffic of
London was held up, and many collisions
| were reported between the demonstrators
upon the one side, and the police and taxi
| cabmen on the other.
FINALLY, it was not until after midnight
| that the four travellers were released at the
| entrance to Lord Roxtons chambers in the
| Albany, and that the exuberant crowd, hav-
ing sung They Are Jolly Good Fellows in
chorus, concluded their program with God
| Save the King So ended one of the most
| remarkable evenings that London has seen
| for a considerable time"
! 60 far my friend Macdona, and it may be
taken as fairly accurate, if florid, ac-
| count of the proceedings As to the main
| incident, it was bewidering surprise to the
audience: but not, need hardly say, to us.
The reader will remember how | met Lord
Roxton upon the very occasion when, in his
protective crinoline, he had gone to bring
the devils chick" as he called it, for Pro-
| fessor Challenger. | have limited also at the
trouble which the professors baggage gave
us when we left the plateau, and had | de-
scribed our voyage might have said good
deal of the worry we had to coax with putnd
fish the appetite of our filthy companion.
If | have not said much about it before, it
was, of course, that the professors earnest
uSSilS NetS pOSSlJlS vi lllC
answerable argument which we carried should
be allowed to leak out until the moment
came when his enemies were to be confuted.
One word as to the fate of the London
pterodactyl. Nothing can be said to be GER
| tain upon this point. There IS the evidence
of two frightened women that it perched
upon the roof of the Queens Hall and re-
manned there like diabolical statue for
some hours. The next day it came out in the
evening papers that Private Miles, of the
Coldstream Guards. on duty outside Marl-
| borough House, had deserted his post with
| out leave and was therefore courtmartialed.
Private Miles account that he dropped his
rifle and took to his heels down the Mall be-
cause on looking up he had suddenly seen
the devil between him and the moon, was
not accepted by the court, and yet it may
have direct bearing upon the point at issue.
| The only other evidence which | can adduce
| Is from the log of the SIS. Friesland Dutch
| American liner which asserts that at nine
next morning, Start Point being at the time
ten miles upon their starboard quarter, they
were passed by something between flying
goat and a monstrous bat, which was head
ing at a prodigious pace south and west. If
its homing instinct led it upon the right line,
there can be no doubt that somewhere out in
the wastes of the Atlantic the last European
pterodactyl found its end.
A ND Gladys oh my Gladys!- Gladys