CHAPTER XI
"For once I was the Hero"
Lord John Roxton was right when he thought that some specially toxicquality might lie in the bite of the horrible creatures which hadattacked us. On the morning after our first adventure upon theplateau, both Summerlee and I were in great pain and fever, whileChallenger's knee was so bruised that he could hardly limp. We kept toour camp all day, therefore, Lord John busying himself, with such helpas we could give him, in raising the height and thickness of the thornywalls which were our only defense. I remember that during the wholelong day I was haunted by the feeling that we were closely observed,though by whom or whence I could give no guess.
So strong was the impression that I told Professor Challenger of it,who put it down to the cerebral excitement caused by my fever. Againand again I glanced round swiftly, with the conviction that I was aboutto see something, but only to meet the dark tangle of our hedge or thesolemn and cavernous gloom of the great trees which arched above ourheads. And yet the feeling grew ever stronger in my own mind thatsomething observant and something malevolent was at our very elbow. Ithought of the Indian superstition of the Curupuri--the dreadful,lurking spirit of the woods--and I could have imagined that histerrible presence haunted those who had invaded his most remote andsacred retreat.
That night (our third in Maple White Land) we had an experience whichleft a fearful impression upon our minds, and made us thankful thatLord John had worked so hard in making our retreat impregnable. Wewere all sleeping round our dying fire when we were aroused--or,rather, I should say, shot out of our slumbers--by a succession of themost frightful cries and screams to which I have ever listened. I knowno sound to which I could compare this amazing tumult, which seemed tocome from some spot within a few hundred yards of our camp. It was asear-splitting as any whistle of a railway-engine; but whereas thewhistle is a clear, mechanical, sharp-edged sound, this was far deeperin volume and vibrant with the uttermost strain of agony and horror.We clapped our hands to our ears to shut out that nerve-shaking appeal.A cold sweat broke out over my body, and my heart turned sick at themisery of it. All the woes of tortured life, all its stupendousindictment of high heaven, its innumerable sorrows, seemed to becentered and condensed into that one dreadful, agonized cry. And then,under this high-pitched, ringing sound there was another, moreintermittent, a low, deep-chested laugh, a growling, throaty gurgle ofmerriment which formed a grotesque accompaniment to the shriek withwhich it was blended. For three or four minutes on end the fearsomeduet continued, while all the foliage rustled with the rising ofstartled birds. Then it shut off as suddenly as it began. For a longtime we sat in horrified silence. Then Lord John threw a bundle oftwigs upon the fire, and their red glare lit up the intent faces of mycompanions and flickered over the great boughs above our heads.
"What was it?" I whispered.
"We shall know in the morning," said Lord John. "It was close tous--not farther than the glade."
"We have been privileged to overhear a prehistoric tragedy, the sort ofdrama which occurred among the reeds upon the border of some Jurassiclagoon, when the greater dragon pinned the lesser among the slime,"said Challenger, with more solemnity than I had ever heard in hisvoice. "It was surely well for man that he came late in the order ofcreation. There were powers abroad in earlier days which no courageand no mechanism of his could have met. What could his sling, histhrowing-stick, or his arrow avail him against such forces as have beenloose to-night? Even with a modern rifle it would be all odds on themonster."
"I think I should back my little friend," said Lord John, caressing hisExpress. "But the beast would certainly have a good sporting chance."
Summerlee raised his hand.
"Hush!" he cried. "Surely I hear something?"
From the utter silence there emerged a deep, regular pat-pat. It wasthe tread of some animal--the rhythm of soft but heavy pads placedcautiously upon the ground. It stole slowly round the camp, and thenhalted near our gateway. There was a low, sibilant rise and fall--thebreathing of the creature. Only our feeble hedge separated us fromthis horror of the night. Each of us had seized his rifle, and LordJohn had pulled out a small bush to make an embrasure in the hedge.
"By George!" he whispered. "I think I can see it!"
I stooped and peered over his shoulder through the gap. Yes, I couldsee it, too. In the deep shadow of the tree there was a deeper shadowyet, black, inchoate, vague--a crouching form full of savage vigor andmenace. It was no higher than a horse, but the dim outline suggestedvast bulk and strength. That hissing pant, as regular and full-volumedas the exhaust of an engine, spoke of a monstrous organism. Once, asit moved, I thought I saw the glint of two terrible, greenish eyes.There was an uneasy rustling, as if it were crawling slowly forward.
"I believe it is going to spring!" said I, cocking my rifle.
"Don't fire! Don't fire!" whispered Lord John. "The crash of a gun inthis silent night would be heard for miles. Keep it as a last card."
"If it gets over the hedge we're done," said Summerlee, and his voicecrackled into a nervous laugh as he spoke.
"No, it must not get over," cried Lord John; "but hold your fire to thelast. Perhaps I can make something of the fellow. I'll chance it,anyhow."
It was as brave an act as ever I saw a man do. He stooped to the fire,picked up a blazing branch, and slipped in an instant through asallyport which he had made in our gateway. The thing moved forwardwith a dreadful snarl. Lord John never hesitated, but, running towardsit with a quick, light step, he dashed the flaming wood into thebrute's face. For one moment I had a vision of a horrible mask like agiant toad's, of a warty, leprous skin, and of a loose mouth allbeslobbered with fresh blood. The next, there was a crash in theunderwood and our dreadful visitor was gone.
"I thought he wouldn't face the fire," said Lord John, laughing, as hecame back and threw his branch among the faggots.
"You should not have taken such a risk!" we all cried.
"There was nothin' else to be done. If he had got among us we shouldhave shot each other in tryin' to down him. On the other hand, if wehad fired through the hedge and wounded him he would soon have been onthe top of us--to say nothin' of giving ourselves away. On the whole,I think that we are jolly well out of it. What was he, then?"
Our learned men looked at each other with some hesitation.
"Personally, I am unable to classify the creature with any certainty,"said Summerlee, lighting his pipe from the fire.
"In refusing to commit yourself you are but showing a proper scientificreserve," said Challenger, with massive condescension. "I am notmyself prepared to go farther than to say in general terms that we havealmost certainly been in contact to-night with some form of carnivorousdinosaur. I have already expressed my anticipation that something ofthe sort might exist upon this plateau."
"We have to bear in mind," remarked Summerlee, "that there are manyprehistoric forms which have never come down to us. It would be rashto suppose that we can give a name to all that we are likely to meet."
"Exactly. A rough classification may be the best that we can attempt.To-morrow some further evidence may help us to an identification.Meantime we can only renew our interrupted slumbers."
"But not without a sentinel," said Lord John, with decision. "We can'tafford to take chances in a country like this. Two-hour spells in thefuture, for each of us."
"Then I'll just finish my pipe in starting the first one," saidProfessor Summerlee; and from that time onwards we never trustedourselves again without a watchman.
In the morning it was not long before we discovered the source of thehideous uproar which had aroused us in the night. The iguanodon gladewas the scene of a horrible butchery. From the pools of blood and theenormous lumps of flesh scattered in every direction over the greensward we imagined at first that a number of animals had been killed,but on examining the remains more closely we discovered that
all thiscarnage came from one of these unwieldy monsters, which had beenliterally torn to pieces by some creature not larger, perhaps, but farmore ferocious, than itself.
Our two professors sat in absorbed argument, examining piece afterpiece, which showed the marks of savage teeth and of enormous claws.
"Our judgment must still be in abeyance," said Professor Challenger,with a huge slab of whitish-colored flesh across his knee. "Theindications would be consistent with the presence of a saber-toothedtiger, such as are still found among the breccia of our caverns; butthe creature actually seen was undoubtedly of a larger and morereptilian character. Personally, I should pronounce for allosaurus."
"Or megalosaurus," said Summerlee.
"Exactly. Any one of the larger carnivorous dinosaurs would meet thecase. Among them are to be found all the most terrible types of animallife that have ever cursed the earth or blessed a museum." He laughedsonorously at his own conceit, for, though he had little sense ofhumor, the crudest pleasantry from his own lips moved him always toroars of appreciation.
"The less noise the better," said Lord Roxton, curtly. "We don't knowwho or what may be near us. If this fellah comes back for hisbreakfast and catches us here we won't have so much to laugh at. Bythe way, what is this mark upon the iguanodon's hide?"
On the dull, scaly, slate-colored skin somewhere above the shoulder,there was a singular black circle of some substance which looked likeasphalt. None of us could suggest what it meant, though Summerlee wasof opinion that he had seen something similar upon one of the youngones two days before. Challenger said nothing, but looked pompous andpuffy, as if he could if he would, so that finally Lord John asked hisopinion direct.
"If your lordship will graciously permit me to open my mouth, I shallbe happy to express my sentiments," said he, with elaborate sarcasm."I am not in the habit of being taken to task in the fashion whichseems to be customary with your lordship. I was not aware that it wasnecessary to ask your permission before smiling at a harmlesspleasantry."
It was not until he had received his apology that our touchy friendwould suffer himself to be appeased. When at last his ruffled feelingswere at ease, he addressed us at some length from his seat upon afallen tree, speaking, as his habit was, as if he were imparting mostprecious information to a class of a thousand.
"With regard to the marking," said he, "I am inclined to agree with myfriend and colleague, Professor Summerlee, that the stains are fromasphalt. As this plateau is, in its very nature, highly volcanic, andas asphalt is a substance which one associates with Plutonic forces, Icannot doubt that it exists in the free liquid state, and that thecreatures may have come in contact with it. A much more importantproblem is the question as to the existence of the carnivorous monsterwhich has left its traces in this glade. We know roughly that thisplateau is not larger than an average English county. Within thisconfined space a certain number of creatures, mostly types which havepassed away in the world below, have lived together for innumerableyears. Now, it is very clear to me that in so long a period one wouldhave expected that the carnivorous creatures, multiplying unchecked,would have exhausted their food supply and have been compelled toeither modify their flesh-eating habits or die of hunger. This we seehas not been so. We can only imagine, therefore, that the balance ofNature is preserved by some check which limits the numbers of theseferocious creatures. One of the many interesting problems, therefore,which await our solution is to discover what that check may be and howit operates. I venture to trust that we may have some futureopportunity for the closer study of the carnivorous dinosaurs."
"And I venture to trust we may not," I observed.
The Professor only raised his great eyebrows, as the schoolmaster meetsthe irrelevant observation of the naughty boy.
"Perhaps Professor Summerlee may have an observation to make," he said,and the two savants ascended together into some rarefied scientificatmosphere, where the possibilities of a modification of the birth-ratewere weighed against the decline of the food supply as a check in thestruggle for existence.
That morning we mapped out a small portion of the plateau, avoiding theswamp of the pterodactyls, and keeping to the east of our brook insteadof to the west. In that direction the country was still thicklywooded, with so much undergrowth that our progress was very slow.
I have dwelt up to now upon the terrors of Maple White Land; but therewas another side to the subject, for all that morning we wandered amonglovely flowers--mostly, as I observed, white or yellow in color, thesebeing, as our professors explained, the primitive flower-shades. Inmany places the ground was absolutely covered with them, and as wewalked ankle-deep on that wonderful yielding carpet, the scent wasalmost intoxicating in its sweetness and intensity. The homely Englishbee buzzed everywhere around us. Many of the trees under which wepassed had their branches bowed down with fruit, some of which were offamiliar sorts, while other varieties were new. By observing which ofthem were pecked by the birds we avoided all danger of poison and addeda delicious variety to our food reserve. In the jungle which wetraversed were numerous hard-trodden paths made by the wild beasts, andin the more marshy places we saw a profusion of strange footmarks,including many of the iguanodon. Once in a grove we observed severalof these great creatures grazing, and Lord John, with his glass, wasable to report that they also were spotted with asphalt, though in adifferent place to the one which we had examined in the morning. Whatthis phenomenon meant we could not imagine.
We saw many small animals, such as porcupines, a scaly ant-eater, and awild pig, piebald in color and with long curved tusks. Once, through abreak in the trees, we saw a clear shoulder of green hill some distanceaway, and across this a large dun-colored animal was traveling at aconsiderable pace. It passed so swiftly that we were unable to saywhat it was; but if it were a deer, as was claimed by Lord John, itmust have been as large as those monstrous Irish elk which are stilldug up from time to time in the bogs of my native land.
Ever since the mysterious visit which had been paid to our camp wealways returned to it with some misgivings. However, on this occasionwe found everything in order.
That evening we had a grand discussion upon our present situation andfuture plans, which I must describe at some length, as it led to a newdeparture by which we were enabled to gain a more complete knowledge ofMaple White Land than might have come in many weeks of exploring. Itwas Summerlee who opened the debate. All day he had been querulous inmanner, and now some remark of Lord John's as to what we should do onthe morrow brought all his bitterness to a head.
"What we ought to be doing to-day, to-morrow, and all the time," saidhe, "is finding some way out of the trap into which we have fallen.You are all turning your brains towards getting into this country. Isay that we should be scheming how to get out of it."
"I am surprised, sir," boomed Challenger, stroking his majestic beard,"that any man of science should commit himself to so ignoble asentiment. You are in a land which offers such an inducement to theambitious naturalist as none ever has since the world began, and yousuggest leaving it before we have acquired more than the mostsuperficial knowledge of it or of its contents. I expected betterthings of you, Professor Summerlee."
"You must remember," said Summerlee, sourly, "that I have a large classin London who are at present at the mercy of an extremely inefficientlocum tenens. This makes my situation different from yours, ProfessorChallenger, since, so far as I know, you have never been entrusted withany responsible educational work."
"Quite so," said Challenger. "I have felt it to be a sacrilege todivert a brain which is capable of the highest original research to anylesser object. That is why I have sternly set my face against anyproffered scholastic appointment."
"For example?" asked Summerlee, with a sneer; but Lord John hastened tochange the conversation.
"I must say," said he, "that I think it would be a mighty poor thing togo back to London before I know a great deal more of this place than Ido at pres
ent."
"I could never dare to walk into the back office of my paper and faceold McArdle," said I. (You will excuse the frankness of this report,will you not, sir?) "He'd never forgive me for leaving suchunexhausted copy behind me. Besides, so far as I can see it is notworth discussing, since we can't get down, even if we wanted."
"Our young friend makes up for many obvious mental lacunae by somemeasure of primitive common sense," remarked Challenger. "Theinterests of his deplorable profession are immaterial to us; but, as heobserves, we cannot get down in any case, so it is a waste of energy todiscuss it."
"It is a waste of energy to do anything else," growled Summerlee frombehind his pipe. "Let me remind you that we came here upon a perfectlydefinite mission, entrusted to us at the meeting of the ZoologicalInstitute in London. That mission was to test the truth of ProfessorChallenger's statements. Those statements, as I am bound to admit, weare now in a position to endorse. Our ostensible work is thereforedone. As to the detail which remains to be worked out upon thisplateau, it is so enormous that only a large expedition, with a veryspecial equipment, could hope to cope with it. Should we attempt to doso ourselves, the only possible result must be that we shall neverreturn with the important contribution to science which we have alreadygained. Professor Challenger has devised means for getting us on tothis plateau when it appeared to be inaccessible; I think that weshould now call upon him to use the same ingenuity in getting us backto the world from which we came."
I confess that as Summerlee stated his view it struck me as altogetherreasonable. Even Challenger was affected by the consideration that hisenemies would never stand confuted if the confirmation of hisstatements should never reach those who had doubted them.
"The problem of the descent is at first sight a formidable one," saidhe, "and yet I cannot doubt that the intellect can solve it. I amprepared to agree with our colleague that a protracted stay in MapleWhite Land is at present inadvisable, and that the question of ourreturn will soon have to be faced. I absolutely refuse to leave,however, until we have made at least a superficial examination of thiscountry, and are able to take back with us something in the nature of achart."
Professor Summerlee gave a snort of impatience.
"We have spent two long days in exploration," said he, "and we are nowiser as to the actual geography of the place than when we started. Itis clear that it is all thickly wooded, and it would take months topenetrate it and to learn the relations of one part to another. Ifthere were some central peak it would be different, but it all slopesdownwards, so far as we can see. The farther we go the less likely itis that we will get any general view."
It was at that moment that I had my inspiration. My eyes chanced tolight upon the enormous gnarled trunk of the gingko tree which cast itshuge branches over us. Surely, if its bole exceeded that of allothers, its height must do the same. If the rim of the plateau wasindeed the highest point, then why should this mighty tree not prove tobe a watchtower which commanded the whole country? Now, ever since Iran wild as a lad in Ireland I have been a bold and skilledtree-climber. My comrades might be my masters on the rocks, but I knewthat I would be supreme among those branches. Could I only get my legson to the lowest of the giant off-shoots, then it would be strangeindeed if I could not make my way to the top. My comrades weredelighted at my idea.
"Our young friend," said Challenger, bunching up the red apples of hischeeks, "is capable of acrobatic exertions which would be impossible toa man of a more solid, though possibly of a more commanding,appearance. I applaud his resolution."
"By George, young fellah, you've put your hand on it!" said Lord John,clapping me on the back. "How we never came to think of it before Ican't imagine! There's not more than an hour of daylight left, but ifyou take your notebook you may be able to get some rough sketch of theplace. If we put these three ammunition cases under the branch, I willsoon hoist you on to it."
He stood on the boxes while I faced the trunk, and was gently raisingme when Challenger sprang forward and gave me such a thrust with hishuge hand that he fairly shot me into the tree. With both armsclasping the branch, I scrambled hard with my feet until I had worked,first my body, and then my knees, onto it. There were three excellentoff-shoots, like huge rungs of a ladder, above my head, and a tangle ofconvenient branches beyond, so that I clambered onwards with such speedthat I soon lost sight of the ground and had nothing but foliagebeneath me. Now and then I encountered a check, and once I had to shinup a creeper for eight or ten feet, but I made excellent progress, andthe booming of Challenger's voice seemed to be a great distance beneathme. The tree was, however, enormous, and, looking upwards, I could seeno thinning of the leaves above my head. There was some thick,bush-like clump which seemed to be a parasite upon a branch up which Iwas swarming. I leaned my head round it in order to see what wasbeyond, and I nearly fell out of the tree in my surprise and horror atwhat I saw.
A face was gazing into mine--at the distance of only a foot or two.The creature that owned it had been crouching behind the parasite, andhad looked round it at the same instant that I did. It was a humanface--or at least it was far more human than any monkey's that I haveever seen. It was long, whitish, and blotched with pimples, the noseflattened, and the lower jaw projecting, with a bristle of coarsewhiskers round the chin. The eyes, which were under thick and heavybrows, were bestial and ferocious, and as it opened its mouth to snarlwhat sounded like a curse at me I observed that it had curved, sharpcanine teeth. For an instant I read hatred and menace in the evileyes. Then, as quick as a flash, came an expression of overpoweringfear. There was a crash of broken boughs as it dived wildly down intothe tangle of green. I caught a glimpse of a hairy body like that of areddish pig, and then it was gone amid a swirl of leaves and branches.
"What's the matter?" shouted Roxton from below. "Anything wrong withyou?"
"Did you see it?" I cried, with my arms round the branch and all mynerves tingling.
"We heard a row, as if your foot had slipped. What was it?"
I was so shocked at the sudden and strange appearance of this ape-manthat I hesitated whether I should not climb down again and tell myexperience to my companions. But I was already so far up the greattree that it seemed a humiliation to return without having carried outmy mission.
After a long pause, therefore, to recover my breath and my courage, Icontinued my ascent. Once I put my weight upon a rotten branch andswung for a few seconds by my hands, but in the main it was all easyclimbing. Gradually the leaves thinned around me, and I was aware,from the wind upon my face, that I had topped all the trees of theforest. I was determined, however, not to look about me before I hadreached the very highest point, so I scrambled on until I had got sofar that the topmost branch was bending beneath my weight. There Isettled into a convenient fork, and, balancing myself securely, I foundmyself looking down at a most wonderful panorama of this strangecountry in which we found ourselves.
The sun was just above the western sky-line, and the evening was aparticularly bright and clear one, so that the whole extent of theplateau was visible beneath me. It was, as seen from this height, ofan oval contour, with a breadth of about thirty miles and a width oftwenty. Its general shape was that of a shallow funnel, all the sidessloping down to a considerable lake in the center. This lake may havebeen ten miles in circumference, and lay very green and beautiful inthe evening light, with a thick fringe of reeds at its edges, and withits surface broken by several yellow sandbanks, which gleamed golden inthe mellow sunshine. A number of long dark objects, which were toolarge for alligators and too long for canoes, lay upon the edges ofthese patches of sand. With my glass I could clearly see that theywere alive, but what their nature might be I could not imagine.
From the side of the plateau on which we were, slopes of woodland, withoccasional glades, stretched down for five or six miles to the centrallake. I could see at my very feet the glade of the iguanodons, andfarther off was a round opening in th
e trees which marked the swamp ofthe pterodactyls. On the side facing me, however, the plateaupresented a very different aspect. There the basalt cliffs of theoutside were reproduced upon the inside, forming an escarpment abouttwo hundred feet high, with a woody slope beneath it. Along the baseof these red cliffs, some distance above the ground, I could see anumber of dark holes through the glass, which I conjectured to be themouths of caves. At the opening of one of these something white wasshimmering, but I was unable to make out what it was. I sat chartingthe country until the sun had set and it was so dark that I could nolonger distinguish details. Then I climbed down to my companionswaiting for me so eagerly at the bottom of the great tree. For once Iwas the hero of the expedition. Alone I had thought of it, and alone Ihad done it; and here was the chart which would save us a month's blindgroping among unknown dangers. Each of them shook me solemnly by thehand.
But before they discussed the details of my map I had to tell them ofmy encounter with the ape-man among the branches.
"He has been there all the time," said I.
"How do you know that?" asked Lord John.
"Because I have never been without that feeling that somethingmalevolent was watching us. I mentioned it to you, ProfessorChallenger."
"Our young friend certainly said something of the kind. He is also theone among us who is endowed with that Celtic temperament which wouldmake him sensitive to such impressions."
"The whole theory of telepathy----" began Summerlee, filling his pipe.
"Is too vast to be now discussed," said Challenger, with decision."Tell me, now," he added, with the air of a bishop addressing aSunday-school, "did you happen to observe whether the creature couldcross its thumb over its palm?"
"No, indeed."
"Had it a tail?"
"No."
"Was the foot prehensile?"
"I do not think it could have made off so fast among the branches if itcould not get a grip with its feet."
"In South America there are, if my memory serves me--you will check theobservation, Professor Summerlee--some thirty-six species of monkeys,but the anthropoid ape is unknown. It is clear, however, that heexists in this country, and that he is not the hairy, gorilla-likevariety, which is never seen out of Africa or the East." (I wasinclined to interpolate, as I looked at him, that I had seen his firstcousin in Kensington.) "This is a whiskered and colorless type, thelatter characteristic pointing to the fact that he spends his days inarboreal seclusion. The question which we have to face is whether heapproaches more closely to the ape or the man. In the latter case, hemay well approximate to what the vulgar have called the 'missing link.'The solution of this problem is our immediate duty."
"It is nothing of the sort," said Summerlee, abruptly. "Now that,through the intelligence and activity of Mr. Malone" (I cannot helpquoting the words), "we have got our chart, our one and only immediateduty is to get ourselves safe and sound out of this awful place."
"The flesh-pots of civilization," groaned Challenger.
"The ink-pots of civilization, sir. It is our task to put on recordwhat we have seen, and to leave the further exploration to others. Youall agreed as much before Mr. Malone got us the chart."
"Well," said Challenger, "I admit that my mind will be more at easewhen I am assured that the result of our expedition has been conveyedto our friends. How we are to get down from this place I have not asyet an idea. I have never yet encountered any problem, however, whichmy inventive brain was unable to solve, and I promise you thatto-morrow I will turn my attention to the question of our descent."And so the matter was allowed to rest.
But that evening, by the light of the fire and of a single candle, thefirst map of the lost world was elaborated. Every detail which I hadroughly noted from my watch-tower was drawn out in its relative place.Challenger's pencil hovered over the great blank which marked the lake.
"What shall we call it?" he asked.
"Why should you not take the chance of perpetuating your own name?"said Summerlee, with his usual touch of acidity.
"I trust, sir, that my name will have other and more personal claimsupon posterity," said Challenger, severely. "Any ignoramus can handdown his worthless memory by imposing it upon a mountain or a river. Ineed no such monument."
Summerlee, with a twisted smile, was about to make some fresh assaultwhen Lord John hastened to intervene.
"It's up to you, young fellah, to name the lake," said he. "You saw itfirst, and, by George, if you choose to put 'Lake Malone' on it, no onehas a better right."
"By all means. Let our young friend give it a name," said Challenger.
"Then," said I, blushing, I dare say, as I said it, "let it be namedLake Gladys."
"Don't you think the Central Lake would be more descriptive?" remarkedSummerlee.
"I should prefer Lake Gladys."
Challenger looked at me sympathetically, and shook his great head inmock disapproval. "Boys will be boys," said he. "Lake Gladys let itbe."
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