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Contents

CHAPTER

I "THERE ARE HEROISMS ALL ROUND US" II "TRY YOUR LUCK WITH PROFESSOR CHALLENGER" III "HE IS A PERFECTLY IMPOSSIBLE PERSON" IV "IT'S JUST THE VERY BIGGEST THING IN THE WORLD" V "QUESTION!" VI "I WAS THE FLAIL OF THE LORD" VII "TO-MORROW WE DISAPPEAR INTO THE UNKNOWN" VIII "THE OUTLYING PICKETS OF THE NEW WORLD" IX "WHO COULD HAVE FORESEEN IT?" X "THE MOST WONDERFUL THINGS HAVE HAPPENED" XI "FOR ONCE I WAS THE HERO" XII "IT WAS DREADFUL IN THE FOREST" XIII "A SIGHT I SHALL NEVER FORGET" XIV "THOSE WERE THE REAL CONQUESTS" XV "OUR EYES HAVE SEEN GREAT WONDERS" XVI "A PROCESSION! A PROCESSION!"

THE LOST WORLD

The Lost World

CHAPTER I

"There Are Heroisms All Round Us"

Mr Hungerton, her father, really was the most tactless person uponearth,--a fluffy, feathery, untidy cockatoo of a ood-natured, but absolutely centered upon his own silly self Ifanything could have driven ht of such a father-in-law I am convinced that he reallybelieved in his heart that I came round to the Chestnuts three days aweek for the pleasure of his company, and very especially to hear hisviews upon bi anauthority

For an hour orI listened to his ood, the token value of silver, thedepreciation of the rupee, and the true standards of exchange

"Suppose," he cried with feeble violence, "that all the debts in theworld were called up simultaneously, and immediate payment insistedupon,--what under our present conditions would happen then?"

I gave the self-evident answer that I should be a ruined man, uponwhich he jumped from his chair, reproved me for my habitual levity,which made it impossible for him to discuss any reasonable subject inmy presence, and bounced off out of the roo