"This place draws quite a crowd." "It means the water can't be too bad." "Yeah it's the only bar in town." "I guess we scared off the regulars." "If it's us or them, I vote for us." "More Raptors huh?" "At least seven or eight not too long ago." "Well let's hope they've gone somewhere to sleep it off." "I'll get the others." "It's like polished glass." "A couple of months ago, this place must have been... pounding with crystal clear water." "Stop it, you're making me thirsty." "Hey remember, whatever water we have has... to last until we find another source so." "Then why don't we just head back to the tree house?" "Because I think we're close to finding a way off the plateau." "These rocks are from an earlier geological period then the surrounding territory." "Which means?" "If there is a rift in the valley that leads off the plateau... then this is where it's likely to be." "Roxton!" " Any luck?" " Yeah... we found a watering hole." "A place a girl can get a decent martini?" "If you like them very dry... small, brackish and frequented by raptors." "That's charming." "At least we can tank up enough to keep looking." "How is it?" "It's not the best but it hasn't killed me yet." "Heads up everybody, we've got company." "This way." "They're on both sides!" "Back against the wall!" "At the dawn of the last century..." "A band of explorers searched for a prehistoric world..." "Driven by ambition" "Secret desires" "A thirst for adventure" "And seeking the ultimate story." "They are befriended by an untamed beauty" "Stranded in a strange and savage land" "Each day is a desperate search for a way out ... of the Lost World" "Any bright ideas?" "Yeah, learn to fly." "Somebody get up top and give me some cover!" "Hurry up!" "Come on Roxton!" "Thanks Malone." "My name is Ana Pizarro it is a pleasure to meet you." "Ned, Ned Malone." "The pleasure, Miss Pizarro, is all mine." "Ned I hate to interrupt but... could you ask Miss Pizarro if she's got anything to drink?" "Yes... it appears we missed last call downstairs." "There is just a trickle, I am afraid." "Follow me." "When exactly did your ancestors leave Spain?" "In the year of our Lord fifteen hundred and four." "And was it an official expedition?" "So many questions, Señor Malone, you exhaust me." "I'll make you a deal." "Help me get back to my pueblo... and I'll show you the way my ancestors got here from the Amazon." "So you do know a way off?" "Where there is a way in there is a way out." "See?" "I told you Malone the way off the... plateau would be in this part of the world." "That's great, that's amazing." "Yeah, took the words right out of my mouth." "But I will need your assistance though." "Help me get home and I will show you the route." " When do we start?" " Now please." "Yes this spring attracts far too many predators." "Lead the way." " Allow me." " Thank you." "I can't wait to taste the sweet revenge... when the Zoological Society has to eat its bitter words." "I can see it now, it will be a victory for you to savor." "How about you Malone, will you relish the fame of being a chronicler of the Lost World?" "I hope to publish a few articles." "A few articles!" "Malone you gotta think big, I see books, lecture tours, tea with the King." "Oh, we will join those immortal few... who have witnessed and recorded history." "Our work will survive long after we've gone." "We must stop now." "There's still enough daylight left." "We should stop when we lose the sun." "No, no, no I must pray." "We can continue after but I must pray now." "Señor Malone would you like to keep watch?" "Ah, Of course." "Ah the ever-chivalrous Ned Malone." "You don't want her out in the jungle alone do you?" "She is your ticket out of here." "I must cleanse myself in preparation for my prayers." "Horse bones." "Looks like they were all dumped here." "They were, by horsemen." " Horsemen?" " More like warriors... very fierce, very territorial." "We're on their land." "and they don't exactly welcome visitors." "This is not from a horse." "It's a ceremonial cup made from a human skull." "They use it to drink the blood of their enemies." "I hate to see what they use for brandy snifters." "This isn't a joke Roxton, look around you." "This is a horsemen's killing ground." "And they don't take very many prisoners if you know what I mean." "There are a lot of rough folks on this plateau." "They're the last you'd pick as neighbors." "Miss Pizarro... you think she's lying about her pueblo?" "I think she's lying about everything." "Where exactly are we going?" "Another two days walk through the valley." "Is that how you came here?" "No, we can't get back that way." "This is horsemen territory and you're leading us straight into the heart of it?" "That's were my home is." "They wouldn't let outsiders live here." "Not for four days let alone four hundred years." "Our pueblo is in the steep cliffs." "We're very well protected and we have no grazing areas so they leave us alone." "We're not well protected here." "Don't worry... the horsemen are taking their horses to the higher meadows for water." "We can get through without being seen." "You know what they do to their enemies?" "What?" "Drag them from the back of their ponies... until their legs fall off or they die." "If the route off wasn't a risk we would have found it long ago." "We're nearly halfway there, let's keep going." "All this talk, we must move." "You see what I see?" "We better warn the others." "Challenger!" "Challenger!" "What is it?" "A horsemen scouting party not far behind." "We must move quickly." "Four men on horseback, we'll never outrun them." "Well maybe they have not yet seen us?" "We're not that lucky." " We'll make for the jungle." " We'll never get there in time." "We must do something." "We'll make our stand here, check your weapons." "What do you want?" "Give us the witch." "Friend of yours?" "That's not funny." "She stole our water." "We're all a bit dry but if you're thirsty we'll spot you a pint." "She stole the water from our parents now she steals it from us." "What's he talking about?" "Are you accusing Ana of causing the drought?" "She must die so the rain will come." "Give it to us and you can go." "And if we don't?" "You will all die." "I had a funny feeling he'd say that." "They will kill me." "We're just passing through, we don't want to fight." "All who travel with the witch have died." "We can wait for you to die too." "Then we'll kill her." "Well that was too easy." "Where do you think they're going?" "To get reinforcements." "They don't like you very much, do they?" "Like you said, the horsemen do not like trespassers." "What did he mean by you stole the water from their families?" "They are superstitious." "Our pueblo is near a river which is their main water source." "Every time there is a drought they blame us." "So what do we do?" "Well if we're all agreed we won't give Ana up." "We've only three choices." "Now we can turn around and go home." " If they let us." " True enough." "We can stay here and die of thirst... or we can get to Ana's pueblo before the horsemen get us." "We must move now." "Run!" "Take cover!" "They're riderless!" "It's just a decoy!" "Hold your fire for the real attack!" "Ana!" "Go." "Everyone all right?" "Yeah." "Thank you Ned, you saved my life." "If it wasn't for Veronica I wouldn't have been around to do it." "Then I'm forever in your debt Veronica" "I hope I find a chance to repay you." "Thanks, it's okay." "Ana's friends will no doubt be back." "Well let's keep moving." "That was a stupid thing you did back there, you could have been killed." "Good throw." "Next time I might not be around." "You don't know anything about Ana." "Neither do you." "Why do you dislike her so much?" "I don't trust her, she's up to something." "Why, why do you say that?" "Her story doesn't add up." "Really?" "Well who do you think she is?" "I don't have all the answers... but if you weren't so infatuated with her..." "What!" "Why else are you following her around with your tongue hanging out?" "Maybe you're just jealous because I'm ... paying attention to Ana and not you." "I'm concerned, I'm not jealous." "I appreciate your concern but..." "I can take care of myself." "You've never been off the plateau?" "Not even for supplies or to visit relatives?" "I have lived here my whole life." "And you know nothing of Europe or the outside world?" "Just stories that have been passed down of ..." "Isabella and Ferdinand and Columbus." "The automobile?" "The airplane?" "What are these things?" "Aren't you curious?" "No." "But why not?" "Have you ever heard of Menendez Pelayo?" " The Illuminati?" " Who?" "Spanish mystics who believe they can communicate ... with God in private ... find him in themselves." "Yes, well we still believe that." " You're descended from them?" " Yes after they were convicted of heresy by the Inquisition... we had to flee Spain under threat of death." "And they ended up on the plateau?" "Searching for their own utopia, a new Eden." "Ah, it's a pity they got stuck here." "Wait!" "No, no this was beyond their deepest prayers." "They found a home." "If we leave here we will be killed." "By whom?" "In Spain people who believe what... we believe are burned at the stake." "Ana... things have changed a little bit in the last four hundred years." "We don't burn people for their religious beliefs anymore." "It's the twentieth century." "Hmm, this may be so, but if there is one think I have learned in my life... people mistrust the unfamiliar." "Veronica, give the girl some privacy." "Here let me give you a hand..." "Oh no thank you, I don't want to be any trouble." "No trouble, it will give us a chance to get to know each other." "Thank you." "You and I have a lot in common you know." " Really?" " Yes, we both grew up on the plateau... both about the same age." "We're both alone." "What a remarkable series of coincidences." "Yeah, I'll say, so how do you explain the fact that I've never heard of you, or your people?" "What exactly are you troubled by?" "I don't like you giving my friend Malone so much grief." "Malone seems grief-stricken to you?" "I think he's old enough to decide these things himself." "It is good?" "It'll do." "And me, will I do?" "I want to thank you for saving my life." "But Ana, you, you've already done that." "If there is anyway I can repay you." "You're first watch Ned." "Between horsemen and wild beasties, you'll want to keep your wits about you." "There's something I don't understand." "You seem to like me yet." "are you afraid of me señor Malone?" "It's complicated." "Only if you make it that way." "Life is a wonderful gift, except when you are lonely then mere hours seem like an eternity." "Don't spend the rest of your life alone Ned." "I've got to go keep watch." "If you feel like leaving this life instead of ... waiting for the next let me know, huh?" "Any sign of our friends?" "I heard a couple of raptors but no sign of the horsemen." "Oh you know, sometimes I ... think it might be nice to be back in civilized society... where dying of boredom is the most constant danger." "Do you think that world even remembers us anymore?" "You're thinking of that girl you left behind." "I thought you realized you didn't belong in that world anymore." "What choice do I have?" "Everyone must all think we're dead by now." "You always have a choice." "Even if Gladys is still waiting for me..." "I'm not the same man who left." "If you're asking my advice I'd say... what do you really want." "I have seen the way Ana looks at you." "Ah, she's just grateful." "How youth is wasted on the young." "You know if I was your age on the ... adventure of a lifetime with a beautiful woman like that looking at me." "I know what I'd be doing." "Still, you're a writer Ned not a doer." " That's not true." " Of course... the world will be a richer place for you having ... sat on the sidelines and recorded your observations." "Great, put that on my gravestone." "He was a writer not a doer." "Nooo!" "Ana!" " Malone?" " What happened?" " She..." " Are you alright?" "I am fine." "Her face it was... it was old." "You were... it was... ancient." "Calm down Malone." "I saw it!" "Do not worry, you have not gone mad Ned." "How did you do that?" "Your eyes have not deceived you." "Friends, I am afraid I have been less than truthful." "That's the first honest thing she's said so far." "I am not descended from the Spanish explorers who... came here four hundred years ago." "I am a survivor of that expedition." "I think I liked it better when you were lying." "We came in search of and found..." "Ponce de León's fountain of youth." "That's ridiculous." "Well maybe not Veronica." "The discovery was hinted at in ancient Spanish texts." "Oh it exists, I assure you." "The fountain is in a cave on the other side of the valley." "For centuries the horsemen had been kept at bay, but... the drought has made them desperate." "As were we, we went in search of drinking water, they killed the rest of the search party." "You don't really expect us to believe this ... story?" "I could believe it." "I saw it." "She washed her face and it..." "Here let me show you," "I have not yet finished bathing." "I'll take a gallon to go." "I escaped with just the elixir I am carrying." "I must get back to the fountain otherwise I will die." "Help me make it to the fountain, I will... give you the gift of eternal youth." "Of course... and what about the way off the plateau?" "All tunnels from the plateau were buried in lava long ago." "So there is no way off?" "There is just the plateau... and the fountain of youth." "Ponce de León's fountain of youth." "Time to get going." "To where exactly?" "Well, the fountain of course!" "If it exists." "You must believe me." "I am sorry Ned." "Veronica was right, I didn't know who you were." "But I am just as I appear." "Once we get to the fountain we need never have to change." "Roxton, talk sense to them." "She showed us the proof." "We saw it with our own eyes." "Maybe it's a trick of some sort, maybe there is something in the water." "Yes!" "Exactly, something that makes you young again." "It's not worth the risk." "Why don't I drop by in say twenty years... time and see how you feel then?" "Eternal youth won't do you any good ... when the horsemen are sipping from your skull." "Well the horsemen seemed to have moved off away from us." "It's true." "And it is just a half a day." "Seems like too good a chance to miss." "Coming Ned?" "Another story of a lifetime." "Bring back a bottle for me." "I'm going back to the treehouse with Veronica." "Huh, your short life." "So tell me Marguerite eternal youth?" " Won't it get boring?" " ha" "A question only a man could ask." "And why is that?" "Because men get more valuable with age." "Hmmm, and women?" "And women, for every year... every wrinkle drops your stock a little lower." "Oh, is it really all that bad?" "Don't you know anything?" "I mean, take our little Ana here." "When Malone thought she was 22 years old he was all over her." "Now she's just another washed up four hundred year old ... where's sweet Ned?" "Wait up!" "I don't need your protection." "I know that." "Tell me... you weren't the least bit interested in the fountain of youth?" "All right." "I'm not the least bit interested in the fountain of youth." "Did you see Ana?" "She's a slave to the water of the fountain." "Just like an opium addict." "It's not exactly the same." "Are you sorry you're not going with her, because it's fine with me." "No, she said she was one thing... she turned out to be something else." "You saw just what you wanted to see." "Maybe I did." "So the only reason you're not going is because you're in a snit?" "It's not the only reason." "Oh?" "What if Challenger's right." "What if I'm a watcher not a doer." " Well that's a choice, right?" " That's right what's the point of living forever if you're... going to be a non-participant?" "Aren't you afraid of growing old?" "What's wrong with growing up?" "If you're going to come with me stay close, move fast and be quiet." "We just might get past the horsemen without being killed." "What is it?" "Raptors I think, been following close the last hour or so." "What the hell are raptors doing trailing us?" "Do you think they can smell our water?" "More likely they smell dinner." "We have not far to go." "The fountain is in a cave half way up this mountain." "Then let's go." "Raptors can't chase us up the mountain." "Forget raptors, looks like our friends haven't given up after all." "Come on!" "Give us the witch." "Over there!" "If they want the water witch, let's just give her to them!" "Look out Marguerite!" " Ah!" " Challenger!" "Roxton, it's deep." "Marguerite!" "We've got to get him out of here, he won't survive the battle." "Ana, come here!" "Would you slow down." "What's the rush?" "What's wrong Malone, growing old?" "At this pace we'll be back to the treehouse before you know it." "What's wrong with that?" "How is he?" "It is not good." "It's nicked the anterior tibial artery." "I won't last long." "Oh no old boy, you're not checking out on us now." "We'll think of something." "You better think fast." "He's out again." "Hang in there old boy... we'll fix you up as good as new." "We must keep moving." "The horsemen will not... be slowed down for long." " Ana's right." " And it'll kill Challenger to move." " Oh my God." " There is one thing." "Did you see that?" "It's sealed the wound." "Your water will heal him?" "If I have enough, yes." "It will repair the tissues, reverse the damages... of age and yes heal the wound." "I can give him the rest but I must get to the cave." "I cannot survive with the water from the fountain." "Save him." "We'll get you to your cave." "Well, now what?" "That is all there is left." "Then we'll carry him to the fountain." "Put me down!" "I don't believe it." "My wound... it's healed." "How did you do this?" "The water?" "From your fountain?" "The last of it." "Oh!" "thank you." "I... why..." "I don't have the words." "Please, just get me to the fountain immediately." "Yes!" "Yes, of course!" "That water is the greatest scientific discovery of our age." "It will transform the world." "To tell you the truth it is not... the world I am concerned about right now." "Then let's go, together we will make history." "Well come on Marguerite, we can't afford to lose our fearless leaders." "I have never felt more alive." "How old did he say he was again?" "Well, he didn't." "The rheumatism in my shoulder is gone." "Imagine millions of cranky old people ... running around trying to make up for lost time." "Imagine never growing old at all." "I get tired just thinking about it." "How long have you got?" "We must hurry Challenger." "You used all your water to save me?" "I will get you to that fountain on time." "Look out! I wonder what set that off?" "Come on." "Without my bath I'm afraid I'm not a very pretty sight." "Will you make it?" "I hope so." "Horsemen above us." " How many?" " Three, four, I don't know." "Is there a way around?" "There are sheer cliffs on either side." "We don't have to go around." "What do you suggest?" "We go straight through them." "Yeah, right, you and whose army?" "I don't need an army." "Where is he going?" "Now he's got the gift of eternal youth, he's off to get himself killed." "Come on!" "Welcome to Christmas." "And a happy new year." "I did it!" "The way is clear." "Ana." "We are going to make it." "I think we found it." "Come on, soon we'll both be young again forever." "There it is ... the cave to the fountain of youth." "Here it is." "Oh, can you hear it?" "What a beautiful sound." "We have done it." "Thank you, Challenger." "Ana?" "From dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." "Where is the witch?" "Turned to dust." " Give us back the water." " There is no water." "Rain." "See, she was a witch." "Whatever she was she certainly had your number." "I'm not the only one." "Marguerite wanted to bottle the fountain of youth and sell it." "Well, I still think it's a good idea." "Why don't you ask Challenger?" "He's ... the only one who got to benefit from the fountain of youth." "Oh really?" "She gave you some of her water?" "Ana?" "Only to heal my leg." "She saved my life." "And you were young again?" "Oh yes." "And able to take advantage of your newfound youth?" "Oh yes." "So how was it?" "You should have been there." "It didn't last long." "What's the matter Challenger, your leg?" "Oh, the Rheumatism in my shoulder is playing up again." "So it was better when you were younger?" "Better ..." "it's hard to say." "Older sure hurts more." "*"