How much longer will you struggle before you realize you can never do it?
No longer, my dear Mendoza, because I have done it.
It still lives.
Look. Look for yourself.
Incredible.
You see?
I used sufficient radium to tear it to shreds,
and yet I have been able to keep it alive.
You must stop at once.
Destroy your slides. Burn your notes.
Are you ill?
You must listen to me before it is too late.
When I discovered this gigantic radium deposit,
I thought first of you, of Dr. Thorkel, my teacher,
of Dr. Thorkel, the great biologist.
I sent for you to counsel me.
I began to imagine, here in the jungle,
the Thorkel Institute, a palace of healing to which all might come.
Are we then country doctors?
You do not realize what we have here.
In our very hands we have the cosmic force of creation itself.
In our very hands we can shape life,
take it apart, put it together again.
Mold it like putty.
But what you are doing is mad.
It is diabolic.
You are tampering with powers reserved to God.
That is good.
That is very good.
That is just what I am doing.
Well, I will not permit it.
Are you forgetting who is master and who is pupil?
No, and therefore, I beg you to renounce this great evil.
You would interfere with my work?
I must. All this is mine, and I forbid it.
You forbid.
Certainly Grossmith can take over your lectures.
I'm not concerned about that, but...
Dr. Thorkel would not have sent for me to join him unless it were something
of the utmost importance.
You know Dr. Thorkel only by reputation.
I worked with him one winter at the Institute.
He's a very strange man,
abnormally secretive about his experiments.
And now that, for two years, he has buried himself
in a camp in the Amazon jungle,
who knows what his mental state may be.
Dr. Thorkel may be eccentric,
but he is also the greatest living biologist.
I shall be glad to help him if I can.
I still wish you were not going.
But, Mr. Stockton, we have already come 10,000 miles.
Please make an effort to grasp our situation.
I can grasp it without any effort.
Your Dr. Hardy couldn't stand this altitude,
and I'm the only other mineralogist this side of Lima.
The answer's still no.
We were warned that any of the usual ways of offering you work would fail.
Who did me that favor?
We naturally went to the Consul.
What did he say?
As American consul, he merely admitted you were on an extended vacation.
But as your friend,
he now admits he's only been doing you harm in buying up your IOUs.
You pick up things quick, don't you?
So, now, Mr. Stockton, which would you rather do,
go to jail, or go to work?
No.
I couldn't rent these mules to my mother.
I'd like to help you.
We do not need your help.
But we did hire these mules by cable, more than a month ago.
Too bad.
Since then, I bought them.
I'm a mining man and I got use for them.
Will you please listen while I endeavor to explain?
Sure.
I am a biologist.
Sure, a bug hunter.
Dr. Alexander Thorkel, whom we are on our way to join,
is also a bug... A biologist. He's been doing field work
for the last two years in his camp on the Karana River.
That's a tough country, and a long time to chase butterflies.
You don't seem to realize
that Dr. Thorkel is the greatest living authority on organic molecular structure.
I guess there's nothing like learning a trade.
You got me. Now let's see you get him.
Do you want more money for your mules?
I suppose you're a doc, too.
If it isn't money, what is it you want?
I want to go along.
Oh, but this is most irregular.
Dr. Thorkel sent for three selected people, and three only.
Suit yourself.
If the mules go, I go.
Mr. Doctor Thorkel.
What is it?
The people is come.
Good.
Where is Dr. Thorkel?
Did you see on the trail a horse with spots?
No. No kind of a horse.
He is gone.
Tipo.
My dog, he must not get lost, too.
Then tie him up. Is Dr. Thorkel not here?
He is come right now.
Dr. Bulfinch, you honor me in coming.
The honor is mine in being asked to join you, Dr. Thorkel.
You must be Dr. Robinson.
You were very brave to come.
I was glad to.
Dr. Hardy, you look rather younger than I expected.
Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not Dr. Hardy. I'm Bill Stockton.
Dr. Hardy became ill, so we enlisted Mr. Stockton's services.
I am sure you are well-qualified.
My past was well looked into.
Funny sort of dump to find way down here in the woods.
I don't recall a fourth.
Hello, Doc.
Mr. Baker owns and operates the mules.
He insisted on coming to look after them.
It was very kind of you to help us.
Dr. Bulfinch, your last work on the molecular structure of organic tissue
convinced me that no one was so fitted to collaborate
with me at this stage of my labors.
I am twice honored.
You can only imagine how welcome you are
when I explain to you that I sent for you
because my eyes will no longer permit me to use the microscope.
Shocking.
Couldn't something be done for them if you went back to specialists?
No. I must stay here till my work is done.
Now, are you altogether too fatigued to attack our first problem at once?
Of course not.
Ready.
We will call this specimen A.
Now, please, Dr. Bulfinch.
Bill, you must do your part. I brought you.
I'm responsible for you.
You ought to have a herd of sheep or nine children,
then you could really worry.
Progressive deterioration,
even disintegration of structure.
Very good.
Mr. Stockton. Quickly.
Please. You can't refuse.
I would if it was any further to walk.
Hmm.
Odd-looking cells.
I am not interested in your opinion on cell structure.
Tell me if you see anything there you do know about.
Sure I do.
Iron crystals.
Oh, forgive me if I seem overwrought,
but what you have just told me
proves the theory on which my work has been based for the past two years.
And your eyes, young man,
have given me the clue to my only error.
These eyes, what a handicap.
How they've held me back these many months.
And what a journey they've caused you, my friends.
No, Dr. Thorkel. What a privilege.
Now, you must pardon my returning to my work.
I have some processes under way which require my constant attention.
I shall hope tomorrow morning to find a moment to bid you all farewell.
If not, please accept now every expression of my esteem and gratitude.
Goodbye.
Are you attempting to intimate that you summoned me,
Dr. Rupert Bulfinch, 10,000 miles just for this?
I am not intimating, Dr. Bulfinch.
I'm merely stating a fact.
At a very critical period in my work,
you were able to give me the benefit of your trained sight.
I do not, however, require further assistance.
Now you must permit me to return to my work.
It is most absorbing.
Goodbye.
I tell you, I will not be treated this way.
I will not be treated like an errand boy.
If I were in your position, Dr. Bulfinch,
I wouldn't stir a step from here until Dr. Thorkel had given me
an adequate explanation.
I can scarcely descend to the indignity of bickering with him.
That's right.
He doesn't want us here, so the thing to do is to be on our way.
Can't you even get mad about it?
What's the use?
Do you realize that after coming all this way,
we haven't the faintest idea even of what Dr. Thorkel is working on?
Maybe you haven't, but I have.
Well, is it a secret?
Not anymore.
It's a mine, just like I always figured.
Nonsense.
Well, have it your own way, Doc,
but somebody's been mining here off and on
ever since the Incas built that wall.
Oh, Steve, you're just dreaming.
Whatever it is Dr. Thorkel is doing here, it's certainly not mining.
You two are sure hard to convince.
Deep.
Mr. Stockton.
Where did these come from?
From the ore dump behind Thorkel's house.
This is not mineral.
These are bits of bone.
Dicotylinae.
What?
Native wild pig.
I will ask you to attest that the specimens are of recent origin.
Must have been an awful young pig.
Dr. Robinson, you are to be congratulated.
You have been present at the identification of a species of midget pig
hitherto unknown to science.
An animal exactly four inches long at maturity.
I shall call it Dicotylinae bulfinchi.
You are quick to take credit, Dr. Bulfinch.
May I see the evidence?
Undeniably a very small pig.
Undeniably an absolutely new species.
Strange how absorbed man has always been in the size of things.
As a biologist, you should remember that size represents the chief difference
among mammals.
In all essentials, a mouse and a whale are identical.
In any event, I am delighted you were slow in setting out this morning.
It gives me an opportunity to pay my respects once more before you depart.
We are not departing.
But I do not wish you here.
The discourtesy, not to mention the outright deceit
with which you have treated me,
relieves me completely of any obligation to consider your wishes.
I have only one comment to make.
If you remain here another hour, you do so at your own peril.
Pinto.
That's my horse, Pinto.
He has come back.
Pedro.
But that is Pinto.
Nonsense. Remain here.
Sure sounded like a horse to me.
Whoa, boy.
Steady, Pinto.
Whoa, boy. Whoa.
Steady, boy.
Whoa, boy.
You think maybe it is the ghost of Pinto that he catch?
Nobody here knows a better answer.
No, Pedro, I very much fear Dr. Thorkel only imagines he has something in that box.
What Doc means is your boss is cutting up paper dolls.
What can he be doing in that house?
What is it that none of us may see,
not even Pedro?
How long you been here?
Five, six month.
Ever since I come down here with the rats.
What rats?
Four dozen rats, three dozen chicken,
fourteen dog, not counting Tipo,
seven cat, besides Satanas.
What happened to all this zoo?
I don't know.
Except for five chicken, they all go in the house with Mr. Doctor.
I see nothing so very unusual in a biologist using animals in his experiments.
What kind of tricks do you suppose he plays with them, Doc?
I don't know.
But Satanas...
Every day she get more fat.
Let's pack up and get out of here.
Hey, Steve. Come back here.
What's up?
Here, hold this.
Say, what is this?
What do you suppose it might be?
I know what it is. It's pitchblende.
The stuff that radium comes from?
Uranium ore...
They'll hear you.
This is the one you exposed at 10 feet.
Completely fogged.
Dr. Robinson, this ore contains an unprecedented proportion of radium.
We'd better hurry.
Dr. Robinson and I have reconsidered the situation,
and we've decided to remain here to care for Dr. Thorkel.
You're important other places.
I think Bill and me ought to stay.
Oh, but we are better-equipped for the task.
And after all, he is a fellow scientist.
Why don't we quit trying to double-cross each other?
What a pity you recognized the ore.
The same to you.
But I guess a few million bucks split four ways ain't bad.
But it isn't just money to us.
We're thinking how important it is to clinical and research laboratories.
Sure, with your names up over the front door in big letters.
Quiet. Here comes Pedro.
I see no reason why we should conduct ourselves like conspirators.
We have nothing to conceal.
We merely must decide whether we shall permit a madman
to retain in his keeping something of such consequence to humanity.
He's out there fiddling with the windlass.
Now's the time.
Pinto. He was here.
No horse is in here now.
He sure brought plenty of spare specs.
His notebook.
That is Pinto.
He's not here, Pedro. That came from outside.
So...
Dr. Thorkel actually does believe he's been able to reduce the size of a horse.
Bandits. Thieves.
What are you doing in my house?
You have no right even to be in my camp.
You are merely my employees, whom I've discharged
and instructed to leave.
Now you break into my laboratory.
Get out! Get out instantly!
We're your friends, Doc.
We only want to help you.
I know what kind of friends you are.
I know what you want.
You've broken in here to learn what I am doing
so that you can share in the importance of my work.
But I will not permit it, and no one can share, and I do not need help.
My notes!
Can't we lock him up somewhere?
I'm sorry.
I realize I have been hasty.
I've been working so hard
that perhaps I've lost sight of the true values.
Will you forgive me, my friends,
if, as a penance, I explain to you
what it is that I have been trying to achieve?
I give you my word.
I, for one, will take no dishonorable advantage of your confidence.
Thank you.
All those who, in the past, dug here for gold died
without knowing they had uncovered something of far greater value.
A deposit of the richest radium-bearing ore known to man.
I see you are already aware of that.
How much have you mined so far?
So far, I have extracted nothing but the usefulness of the radium.
This tube is my conducting channel.
The concentrator hangs down that shaft in proximity to the main deposit.
With it I gather and conduct, under my control,
the immense radioactive force of nature itself.
Impossible.
Impossible?
Once, Benjamin Franklin, with a kite, drew lightning from the storm.
In my crude way, I am likewise drawing the cosmic force
from the bosom of the Earth.
Then what do you do with it?
I will show you.
This is my condenser.
Come.
You will note that it is similar in design to the instruments used
in hospitals to attack cancer tissue.
Though immeasurably more powerful,
I am able to employ it with such delicacy as to treat the wing
of a butterfly without injury.
If you'll examine it closely, you will note the simplicity of construction.
Pinto.
Pedro. Come here.
Come, Pedro. I want you to see this, too.
You must not be impatient.
They are in the cellar, but you cannot see them
until they regain consciousness.
I can hear Dr. Bulfinch saying, "Impossible,"
when he awakens to find himself fully dressed in a pocket handkerchief.
You may be right.
It is nearly time.
No.
No, you must not frighten them.
Come, my little friends. There is nothing here to alarm you.
Vocal chords quite unimpaired.
That's a very good sign.
Have you no temperature?
Dr. Bulfinch, would you be good enough to take the pulse of your companions?
As with all little creatures,
the first instinct is for escape.
Well, there's the stairway.
Run if you like.
No, these mice are not for you. At least, not yet.
Muscular coordination, perfect.
Reflex actions, perfect.
Physical structure, perfect.
There's no need to hide.
I have shut out the cat.
See, I am sitting down.
I threaten nothing.
Come on out where I can see you.
I'd like to look at you.
How fearful you are.
You've changed in more than size.
Have you forgotten breaking in to steal my discoveries?
Have you so soon lost all your interest?
Where is your scientific spirit?
Ah!
Come closer.
Have no fear.
What is the matter?
Can you not speak?
Yes, I can speak.
And a fine, natural voice, too.
But come, are you not curious?
Have you no questions to ask?
Only one.
Why does Providence permit the existence of such a monstrosity?
Marvelous. Exactly in character.
Brain and nervous system have come through undamaged.
Now, my little friends, it will be necessary to again check
your various weights and sizes.
But first, you will forgive me if I am so rude as to resort to a stimulant.
Excuse me.
But during the period of your transition,
I have not had one hour, not one moment's sleep.
You should be proud.
I have been able to alter the size of many organisms,
but you are the first specimens to survive the ordeal by more than a few hours.
You should be proud, I repeat,
because it was your assistance.
You gave me the clue to my only error.
It was the iron crystals,
identifying the iron crystals.
Now I can control life absolutely.
Satanas!
That is my dog.
Sure is a fine dog.
Tipo?
He is magnificent.
Tipo.
Tipo, I am me, Pedro.
Tipo, look at me. I am Pedro.
Tipo, don't you remember when we're hunting?
You know?
He is my dog, but who is Pedro?
You've been very quiet.
That is good.
Now, come out.
I want to look at you again.
I will grant it is theoretically possible to break down organic tissue
by subjecting it to radioactivity,
but Dr. Thorkel is wrong about everything else.
A radioactive field cannot be channelized.
He is absolutely wrong.
You may be right, Dr. Bulfinch.
Perhaps you are not small at all.
Perhaps everything else is big.
My little friends, I am very proud of you.
You are most resourceful.
Now, come back. We must resume the examinations.
Remain here.
I shall reason with him.
Come right in, Dr. Bulfinch.
I shall be glad to take you first.
I most certainly shall not come in.
What?
Already a mutiny?
I demand that you send for the mules and have us transported back to civilization.
In a saddlebag?
What an undignified position for the great Dr. Bulfinch.
In any event, the mules have already been sent back to civilization.
Then we're to consider ourselves your prisoners?
Suppose we consider you self-invited guests in my laboratory.
So we are prisoners.
Prisoners in Cyclops' cave.
Cyclops?
Is that a reflection on my vision?
No, on your intellect.
Cyclops, too, thought size and strength were sufficient.
He was a very ignorant fellow.
While Ulysses possessed a very superior mind.
Well, look out, Ulysses.
There's a hen about to peck you.
Go away, you ridiculous fowl.
Enough of this foolishness. Come here.
Dr. Thorkel, I will not, under any circumstances,
cooperate with you in any manner whatever.
Come here at once. This is an order.
I will not. I will not.
Dr. Thorkel, I warn you.
I will not tolerate this outrage.
Calm yourself, Professor.
I am surprised that a figure of your scientific attainments
should be guilty of such emotional outbursts.
So, you will be the one to tell the world of my work.
Of your crimes.
You will find the world far away for legs as short as yours.
A little straighter, please.
Thank you, Doctor.
Dr. Thorkel, I demand your attention.
Exactly 13 and one-quarter inches.
Now, Doctor, hop up on the scale.
Ah, thank you.
I see you anticipated my wishes.
It certainly was not my intention.
So, something has gone wrong.
You are surprised.
Be quiet.
Then the great mind is not infallible after all.
Stand here.
I will not.
Stand here.
I will not.
Most unfortunate.
Well, Doctor, what mistake have you made?
It is nature who is making the mistake.
You are developing exactly as if you were a young organism
instead of a mature one.
You are beginning to grow.
To grow?
How fast?
So far, your growth is barely perceptible.
Later, it may accelerate.
And later, there will come a reckoning.
I am well aware of that fact.
And it is that which is most unfortunate.
What are you going to do?
As you and your fellows develop toward normal size,
you will again interfere with my work,
and that is something which I cannot permit.
So, you would spy on me.
You'd better come back.
You'll never live half an hour in the jungle.
Say, ain't that the canoe you was telling us about?
Sure. Come on. She'll ride us clean out of this country.
Kind of big, ain't she?
She was very small canoe.
I paddle him like that.
Well, now what do we do?
Well, anything's okay by me,
just so long as we stay away from that screwball doctor.
We can't go on like this, being afraid of everything.
This canoe's our only chance to get away.
Oh, I will push him in myself.
She is very big.
You're supposed to be an engineer.
There must be some way to get it into the water.
You're supposed to be a scientist. What do you suggest?
Well, people move houses, lots of heavy things.
Don't you use levers and windlasses?
Fine company.
Just when everything was rolling.
Wish we had more wood.
Well, there's the woodpile.
Help yourself.
Got any bright ideas about this?
Could you get the wood if I keep his attention this way?
Sister, I'm beginning to admire that scientific mind.
Not too far.
Get the wood.
Shake.
Don't mind if I do.
Now! Let him have it.
That croc wasn't so tough.
Sure. He'll never come back.
You know what I think?
When we get the canoe launched, we'll rig up a sail.
With a sail and a rudder, we could go anywhere.
Sure!
Quick. The cave.
No, no, no. My dog, he follow us.
In the grass.
Stay here.
Tipo, he will follow me.
Tipo.
I know you're here.
What ingenuity.
You make me very proud of you.
So, you're determined to hide from me.
Now's our chance.
Hurry, Bill, before he gets back.
What's the matter with you?
Dr. Bulfinch and Pedro stopped running, didn't they?
Well, here's where I stop.
What are you gonna do?
I don't know yet, but I'm staying here.
I'm going to kill him, somehow.
Anyway, I'm through running.
Take care of her, Steve.
You can do that yourself, Bill.
I'm staying with you.
You don't suppose I'm gonna wander away alone, do you, at my size?
What makes you think he's gonna go to bed when he comes in?
Remember how tired he looked?
He's plenty sleepy.
I hope you're right.
Now, right a hair.
Hold it.
There we are.
Right in his ear.
Look out, Bill!
So, you have come back.
You are here.
You would dare attack me?
Well, you've made a great mistake, do you understand?
Dr. Bulfinch understood because I told him before he died.
Now I will tell you because you too are going to die.
You are growing.
Soon you will become full-sized again.
If you had stayed in hiding, you might have been safe.
But now it is too late.
You are shut up in this room and you will never get out.
Because first I will find you.
I will find you.
Do you understand? I will find you!
And when I find you, I will destroy you.
I will not wait for you to grow to full size again.
I will destroy you now!
You're acting like a fool.
A blind fool.
So, my little friends,
you really wage war on me, hey?
Now you can call me Cyclops
because I have one good eye.
Now, here's our trouble in a nutshell.
If we try to tell everything that happened to us,
they'll lock us up in a padded cell.
Then we wouldn't have no more mine than a jaybird.
So remember, what happened to us down there just didn't happen.
Scat.
Say, did you see that?
Now, listen, haven't you two been in enough trouble lately?