Prendick remains on the island for seven or eight weeks. He regularly hears cries of pain indicating that Moreau is continuing his experiments on the puma. Unexpectedly, one morning, the puma escapes; as it flees, it knocks Prendick down, breaking his arm. Prendick watches as the puma flees into the woods, pursued by Moreau. Montgomery tends to Prendick’s injury, explaining that the puma broke the chains that were designed to hold it. Then Montgomery goes to help Moreau.

After some time, Montgomery returns to the compound in distress. He explains that he tried unsuccessfully to locate Moreau and noticed that the Beast People he encountered seemed to be behaving strangely. Montgomery found that the village where the Beast People live was deserted; the Beast People he encountered were not obedient to him and threatened to attack him. Montgomery killed several of them and wondered why they are behaving so strangely.

Prendick persuades Montgomery that they must go back out and find Moreau: “it behoved us to ascertain what the catastrophe was” (102). Prendick, Montgomery and M’ling head out into the woods. From a distance, they hear several Beast People arguing amongst themselves about whether someone (presumably Moreau) is dead.