plane forced down on plateau in foothills[110]. Nobody hurt and perhaps can repair it. We will transfer things to other three planes. You can’t imagine anything like this. Highest peaks must go over thirty-five thousand feet. Atwood will work with theodolite while Carroll and I will go up[111]. Possibly pre-Cambrian slate[112] with other strata mixed in. Queer skyline effects – regular sections of cubes clinging to highest peaks[113]. Like land of mystery in a dream or gateway to forbidden world. Wish you were here to study[114].”
Though it was sleeping-time, not one of us went to bed. We were sorry, of course, about the damaged aeroplane. But it will be fixed easily, of course. Then, at 11 P.M., came another call from Lake:
“Up with Carroll over highest foothills. Frightful to climb, and hard to go at this altitude. But it’s worth it. Main summits exceed Himalayas, and very queer. Range looks like pre-Cambrian slate, with plain signs of many other strata. Odd formations on slopes of highest mountains. Great low square blocks with exactly vertical sides, and rectangular lines of low, vertical ramparts, like the old Asian castles. Impressive from distance. Carroll thought they were formed of smaller separate pieces, but that is probably an illusion.
Parts, especially upper parts, seem lighter than any visible strata on slopes. If you fly near you can see many cave-mouths, some unusually regular in outline, square or semicircular. You must come and investigate. I saw rampart squarely on top of one peak. Height seems about thirty thousand to thirty-five thousand feet. I am up twenty-one thousand, five hundred myself, in devilish, gnawing cold. Wind whistles and pipes, but no danger to fly.”
We replied that we will join Lake as soon as he sends a plane. It was obvious now that the character of the expedition changed. So it was possible that there is no need in eastward flight, after all, this season.
Lake called me later. He decided to let the camp stay where damaged plane landed. The ice sheet was very thin, with dark ground visible here and there. Lake spoke of the majesty of the whole scene, and the queer state of his sensations. The height of the five tallest peaks was from thirty thousand to thirty-four thousand feet. The camp lay a little more than five miles from the higher foothills. Lake was clearly afraid of windstorms from the mountains. I traced a note of subconscious alarm in his words. He asked us to hurry to come to this strange region. He was going to rest now, after a continuous day’s work.
In the morning we came to an agreement. One of Lake’s planes will come to my base for Pabodie, the five men, and myself, as well as for all the fuel it could carry. Pabodie and I were preparing to close our base for a short or long period. Some of our conical tents were already reinforced by blocks of hard snow. Now we decided to complete the job and to make a permanent base. I sent a message that Pabodie and I will be ready for the northwestward journey after one day’s work and one night’s rest.
But we stopped after 4 P.M. because Lake began to send the most extraordinary and excited messages. He resolved to do some local boring as part of the expedition’s general program. In three hours young Gedney – the acting foreman[115] – rushed into the camp with the shocking news.
They struck a cave. The layer was not more than seven or eight feet deep. But it extended off in all directions. Its roof and floor were equipped with large stalactites and stalagmites. The most important things were shells and bones. This mix contained representatives of many Cretaceous[116], Eocene[117], and other animal species. It would take a year[118] for the greatest paleontologist to count or classify them. Mollusks, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and early mammals – great and small, known and unknown. No wonder Gedney ran back to the camp. No wonder everyone else dropped work and ran headlong to a new-found gateway to secrets of inner earth and vanished ages.
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