[00:00.55]Chapter nine.
[00:02.43]A tunnel to freedom.
[00:06.05]There isn't much left to tell of our time on the plateau.
[00:10.90]The princess and her people did turn out to be cave dwellers.
[00:15.93]They led us up to their homes by a steep narrow staircase, cut into the cliff face.
[00:24.84]There they lived in snug little caverns, safe from apemen.
[00:31.81]We were treated kindly.
[00:35.28]The cave people fed us and tended our wounds.
[00:41.58]When we were fit again, we were free to go where we pleased.
[00:47.92]Lord John and Summerly and I were determined to find a way down from the plateau.
[00:55.92]We explored the cave system with its many tunnels and shafts, hoping that one of them would lead us back to the outside world.
[01:08.08]But we had no luck.
[01:11.32]We always had to turn back because of a dead end or a rock fall.
[01:18.90]Only Challenger wandered far from the caves.
[01:23.92]We often asked him where he'd been, but he only smiled an infuriating secret smile and said, to visit my friends, the pterodactiles.
[01:39.14]A little band of cave dwellers always went with him on his mysterious trips.
[01:47.02]For some reason, they seemed to have taken to the professor.
[01:52.65]They followed him everywhere.
[01:58.61]One day, Challenger told us, I have found the answer.
[02:05.15]I have found a way down from the plateau.
[02:10.31]He led us down to the pool of boiling mud.
[02:15.56]Here is my great invention, he told us smugly.
[02:22.34]Over the bubbling mud, he had spread a huge piece of iguanodon skin.
[02:32.23]The gas rising from the pool was inflating it, so it swelled up like a huge balloon.
[02:42.89]It was tied down with ropes, but as the balloon got bigger and bigger, it jerked and tugged at the ropes like a living thing trying to escape.
[02:56.84]See, said the professor.
[03:00.41]My balloon will act like a parachute.
[03:06.27]We can hold onto the ropes and float down the side of the cliffs.
[03:14.25]Are you completely mad?
[03:18.73]asked Summerly.
[03:20.97]Do you want to kill us all, you idiot?
[03:28.96]Lord John was more polite.
[03:33.74]It's a very clever idea, he said.
[03:39.29]But is it strong enough?
[03:43.77]I'll show you, roared the professor, glaring at Summerly for being rude about his invention.
[03:53.81]He looped one rope three times round his arms, then slashed at the others with a knife to free the balloon.
[04:02.50]Instantly, the gas-filled skin shot into the air, dragging the professor with it.
[04:10.05]As his feet left the ground, I just had time to throw my arms around his waist.
[04:17.74]I tried to pull him down, but the balloon was too strong.
[04:24.53]It whipped me into the air too.
[04:28.40]Help!
[04:30.64]I yelled, clinging on desperately to the professor.
[04:38.11]It felt as if my arms were being ripped from their sockets.
[04:46.17]Lord John flung himself at me and grabbed my feet.
[04:51.86]For a second, I felt myself being pulled down.
[04:57.35]Then the balloon jerked us upwards again.
[05:02.28]I can't hold you, he gasped.
[05:07.19]He was standing on tiptoe.
[05:10.58]Soon we'd all be whisked into the sky like a string of sausages.
[05:19.30]But suddenly, there was a crack.
[05:23.99]The rope had snapped.
[05:27.93]We tumbled onto the ground in a heap with coils of rope all over us.
[05:36.13]As we staggered to our feet, we saw the balloon soaring away into the blue sky.
[05:43.97]Soon it was just a speck in the distance.
[05:49.93]I was rubbing my sore arms, but the professor was dancing about in triumph.
[05:57.60]Splendid!
[05:59.94]he roared.
[06:02.63]That was a total success.
[06:09.19]All I need is a stronger rope.
[06:12.89]I shall begin making a second balloon immediately.
[06:22.00]The professor's mad balloon invention made it even more urgent for us to find another way down from the plateau.
[06:32.86]It was the princess who gave us a clue.
[06:38.73]Proudly, she showed us the walls of their caves.
[06:45.58]They were covered in beautiful paintings of the plateau creatures, leaping gazelle and great lumbering iguanadons.
[06:59.49]There were also many strange marks.
[07:04.12]Was it some kind of primitive writing?
[07:09.56]The princess tried to explain, but we couldn't understand her language.
[07:19.41]It looks like a street map, I said.
[07:24.30]You are right, young man, said Summerly, studying the marks closely.
[07:33.10]I believe this is a map of the entire cave system.
[07:40.22]And look, he said, excitedly, pointing out a long sloping line.
[07:48.62]This is a passage we haven't explored.
[07:53.64]It seems to go much further than the rest.
[07:59.59]Away down, said Lord John.
[08:04.21]I'll bet on it.
[08:09.48]And that is how we found our way back.
[08:13.96]It was clear that the cave dwellers didn't want us to leave.
[08:20.82]And I admit, I was going to miss them too.
[08:26.87]They had been good friends to us.
[08:31.83]Without their help, we couldn't have survived on that plateau.
[08:40.14]But they were so fond of the professor, we were afraid they might try to stop us.
[08:49.30]Lord John, Summerly, the professor and I set out secretly just before dawn, before they were all awake.
[09:00.43]We crept into the long passage with ropes made of creepers and blazing torches to light our way.
[09:11.74]Challenger was loaded down with specimens to take back to London.
[09:19.42]I tried to help him by carrying one of his boxes, but he snatched it back.
[09:27.34]I'll carry that, he said rudely.
[09:32.77]Why, what's inside?
[09:35.73]I asked him.
[09:39.01]My most precious specimen, said that maddening man, smiling into his beard.
[09:50.08]We passed through bat-filled caves, huge as cathedrals, slithered down shafts and crawled through narrow tunnels.
[10:01.23]Then Lord John cried, look, sunlight.
[10:08.77]We came out not far up the plateau walls.
[10:14.24]It was a simple matter to lower ourselves down on ropes.
[10:20.31]Challenger stayed until last to make sure his specimens reached the ground safely.
[10:28.79]We got the box down all right, the one that contained his most precious specimen.
[10:37.70]But then disaster struck.
[10:44.30]He was lowering the rest of his specimens when the rope broke.
[10:51.39]His bags fell and were shattered on rocks at the bottom of the cliffs.
[10:59.49]I thought the professor would throw a tantrum.
[11:04.32]Most of his evidence that he'd worked so hard to collect was gone.
[11:14.57]But he amazed us all by keeping calm.
[11:20.11]I still have the specimen that matters, he said, hugging that mysterious box to his chest.
[11:32.50]We rested until the cool of the evening, then we set out again.
[11:40.25]I turned around to look at the plateau.
[11:45.58]It was fiery red in the setting sun.
[11:50.50]It looked magnificent, mysterious, soaring up into the sky.
[12:02.50]I'll never forget this place, I murmured to myself.
[12:10.18]How could I with all the incredible things we'd seen, all our adventures, and all we'd suffered?
[12:23.15]Are you coming, young fellow?
[12:27.08]boomed Challenger.
[12:31.84]I took one last look, then turned my back on the lost world forever, and hurried to catch up with my friends.