[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
had come over the carvings in this part of the passage. We realized, of
course, the great decadence of the Old Ones sculpture at the time of the
tunneling, and had
file:///D|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry/...0-%20At%20the%20Mountains%20of%
20Madness.txt (47 of 55) [2/24/2004 10:44:36 PM]
file:///D|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry/Desktop/New%20Folder/H.%20P.%20Lov
ecraft%20-%20At%20the%20Mountains%20of%20Madness.txt indeed noticed the
inferior workmanship of the arabesques in the stretches behind us. But now, in
this deeper section beyond the cavern, there was a sudden difference wholly
transcending explanation - a difference in basic nature as well as in mere
quality, and involving so profound and calamitous a degradation of skill that
nothing in the hitherto observed rate of decline could have led one to expect
it.
This new and degenerate work was coarse, bold, and wholly lacking in delicacy
of detail. It was countersunk with exaggerated depth in bands following the
same general line as the sparse car-touches of the earlier sections, but the
height of the reliefs did not reach the level of the general surface. Danforth
had the idea that it was a second carving - a sort of palimpsest formed after
the obliteration of a previous design. In nature it was wholly decorative and
conventional, and consisted of crude spirals and angles roughly following the
quintile mathematical tradition of the Old Ones, yet seemingly more like a
parody than a perpetuation of that tradition. We could not get it out of our
minds that some subtly but profoundly alien element had been added to the
aesthetic feeling behind the technique - an alien element, Danforth guessed,
that was responsible for the laborious substitution. It was like, yet
disturbingly unlike, what we had come to recognize as the Old Ones art; and I
was persistently reminded of such hybrid things as the ungainly Palmyrene
sculptures fashioned in the Roman manner. That others had recently noticed
this belt of carving was hinted by the presence of a used flashlight battery
on the floor in front of one of the most characteristic cartouches.
Since we could not afford to spend any considerable time in study, we resumed
our advance after a cursory look; though frequently casting beams over the
walls to see if any further decorative changes developed. Nothing of the sort
was perceived, though the carvings were in places rather sparse because of the
numerous mouths of smooth-floored lateral tunnels. We saw and heard fewer
penguins, but thought we caught a vague suspicion of an infinitely distant
chorus of them somewhere deep within the earth. The new and inexplicable odor
was abominably strong, and we could detect scarcely a sign of that other
nameless scent. Puffs of visible vapor ahead bespoke increasing contrasts in
temperature, and the relative nearness of the sunless sea cliffs of the great
abyss. Then, quite unexpectedly, we saw certain obstructions on the polished
floor ahead - obstructions which were quite definitely not penguins - and
turned on our second torch after making sure that the objects were quite
stationary.
XI
Still another time have I come to a place where it is very difficult to
proceed.
I ought to be hardened by this stage; but there are some experiences and
intimations which scar too deeply to permit of healing, and leave only such an
added sensitiveness that memory reinspires all the original horror. We saw, as
I
have said, certain obstructions on the polished floor ahead; and I may add
that our nostrils were assailed almost simultaneously by a very curious
intensification of the strange prevailing fetor, now quite plainly mixed with
Page 56
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
the nameless stench of those others which had gone before. The light of the
second torch left no doubt of what the obstructions were, and we dared
approach them only because we could see, even from a distance, that they were
quite as past all harming power as had been the six similar specimens
unearthed from the monstrous star-mounded graves at poor Lake s camp.
They were, indeed, as lacking - in completeness as most of those we had
unearthed - though it grew plain from the thick, dark green pool gathering
around them that their incompleteness was of infinitely greater recency. There
seemed to be only four of them, whereas Lake s bulletins would have suggested
no less than eight as forming the group which had preceded us. To find them in
this state was wholly unexpected, and we wondered what sort of monstrous
struggle had occurred down here in the dark.
Penguins, attacked in a body, retaliate savagely with their beaks, and our
ears now made certain the existence of a rookery far beyond. Had those others
disturbed such a place and aroused murderous pursuit? The obstructions did not
suggest it, for penguins beaks against the tough tissues Lake had dissected
could hardly account for the terrible damage our approaching glance was
file:///D|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry/...0-%20At%20the%20Mountains%20of%
20Madness.txt (48 of 55) [2/24/2004 10:44:36 PM]
file:///D|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry/Desktop/New%20Folder/H.%20P.%20Lov
ecraft%20-%20At%20the%20Mountains%20of%20Madness.txt beginning to make out.
Besides, the huge blind birds we had seen appeared to be singularly peaceful.
Had there, then, been a struggle among those others, and were the absent four
responsible? If so, where were they? Were they close at hand and likely to
form an immediate menace to us? We glanced anxiously at some of the
smooth-floored lateral passages as we continued our slow and frankly reluctant
approach.
Whatever the conflict was, it had clearly been that which had frightened the
penguins into their unaccustomed wandering. It must, then, have arisen near
that faintly heard rookery in the incalculable gulf beyond, since there were
no signs that any birds had normally dwelt here. Perhaps, we reflected, there
had been a hideous running fight, with the weaker party seeking to get back to
the cached sledges when their pursuers finished them. One could picture the
demoniac fray between namelessly monstrous entities as it surged out of the
black abyss with great clouds of frantic penguins squawking and scurrying
ahead.
I say that we approached those sprawling and incomplete obstructions slowly
and reluctantly. Would to Heaven we had never approached them at all, but had
run back at top speed out of that blasphemous tunnel with the greasily smooth
floors and the degenerate murals aping and mocking the things they had
superseded-run back, before we had seen what we did see, and before our minds
were burned with something which will never let us breathe easily again!
Both of our torches were turned on the prostrate objects, so that we soon
realized the dominant factor in their incompleteness. Mauled, compressed,
twisted, and ruptured as they were, their chief common injury was total
decapitation. From each one the tentacled starfish head had been removed; and
as we drew near we saw that the manner of removal looked more like some
hellish tearing or suction than like any ordinary form of cleavage. Their
noisome dark-green ichor formed a large, spreading pOOl; but its stench was
half overshadowed by the newer and stranger stench, here more pungent than at [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl ocenkijessi.opx.pl
had come over the carvings in this part of the passage. We realized, of
course, the great decadence of the Old Ones sculpture at the time of the
tunneling, and had
file:///D|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry/...0-%20At%20the%20Mountains%20of%
20Madness.txt (47 of 55) [2/24/2004 10:44:36 PM]
file:///D|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry/Desktop/New%20Folder/H.%20P.%20Lov
ecraft%20-%20At%20the%20Mountains%20of%20Madness.txt indeed noticed the
inferior workmanship of the arabesques in the stretches behind us. But now, in
this deeper section beyond the cavern, there was a sudden difference wholly
transcending explanation - a difference in basic nature as well as in mere
quality, and involving so profound and calamitous a degradation of skill that
nothing in the hitherto observed rate of decline could have led one to expect
it.
This new and degenerate work was coarse, bold, and wholly lacking in delicacy
of detail. It was countersunk with exaggerated depth in bands following the
same general line as the sparse car-touches of the earlier sections, but the
height of the reliefs did not reach the level of the general surface. Danforth
had the idea that it was a second carving - a sort of palimpsest formed after
the obliteration of a previous design. In nature it was wholly decorative and
conventional, and consisted of crude spirals and angles roughly following the
quintile mathematical tradition of the Old Ones, yet seemingly more like a
parody than a perpetuation of that tradition. We could not get it out of our
minds that some subtly but profoundly alien element had been added to the
aesthetic feeling behind the technique - an alien element, Danforth guessed,
that was responsible for the laborious substitution. It was like, yet
disturbingly unlike, what we had come to recognize as the Old Ones art; and I
was persistently reminded of such hybrid things as the ungainly Palmyrene
sculptures fashioned in the Roman manner. That others had recently noticed
this belt of carving was hinted by the presence of a used flashlight battery
on the floor in front of one of the most characteristic cartouches.
Since we could not afford to spend any considerable time in study, we resumed
our advance after a cursory look; though frequently casting beams over the
walls to see if any further decorative changes developed. Nothing of the sort
was perceived, though the carvings were in places rather sparse because of the
numerous mouths of smooth-floored lateral tunnels. We saw and heard fewer
penguins, but thought we caught a vague suspicion of an infinitely distant
chorus of them somewhere deep within the earth. The new and inexplicable odor
was abominably strong, and we could detect scarcely a sign of that other
nameless scent. Puffs of visible vapor ahead bespoke increasing contrasts in
temperature, and the relative nearness of the sunless sea cliffs of the great
abyss. Then, quite unexpectedly, we saw certain obstructions on the polished
floor ahead - obstructions which were quite definitely not penguins - and
turned on our second torch after making sure that the objects were quite
stationary.
XI
Still another time have I come to a place where it is very difficult to
proceed.
I ought to be hardened by this stage; but there are some experiences and
intimations which scar too deeply to permit of healing, and leave only such an
added sensitiveness that memory reinspires all the original horror. We saw, as
I
have said, certain obstructions on the polished floor ahead; and I may add
that our nostrils were assailed almost simultaneously by a very curious
intensification of the strange prevailing fetor, now quite plainly mixed with
Page 56
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
the nameless stench of those others which had gone before. The light of the
second torch left no doubt of what the obstructions were, and we dared
approach them only because we could see, even from a distance, that they were
quite as past all harming power as had been the six similar specimens
unearthed from the monstrous star-mounded graves at poor Lake s camp.
They were, indeed, as lacking - in completeness as most of those we had
unearthed - though it grew plain from the thick, dark green pool gathering
around them that their incompleteness was of infinitely greater recency. There
seemed to be only four of them, whereas Lake s bulletins would have suggested
no less than eight as forming the group which had preceded us. To find them in
this state was wholly unexpected, and we wondered what sort of monstrous
struggle had occurred down here in the dark.
Penguins, attacked in a body, retaliate savagely with their beaks, and our
ears now made certain the existence of a rookery far beyond. Had those others
disturbed such a place and aroused murderous pursuit? The obstructions did not
suggest it, for penguins beaks against the tough tissues Lake had dissected
could hardly account for the terrible damage our approaching glance was
file:///D|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry/...0-%20At%20the%20Mountains%20of%
20Madness.txt (48 of 55) [2/24/2004 10:44:36 PM]
file:///D|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry/Desktop/New%20Folder/H.%20P.%20Lov
ecraft%20-%20At%20the%20Mountains%20of%20Madness.txt beginning to make out.
Besides, the huge blind birds we had seen appeared to be singularly peaceful.
Had there, then, been a struggle among those others, and were the absent four
responsible? If so, where were they? Were they close at hand and likely to
form an immediate menace to us? We glanced anxiously at some of the
smooth-floored lateral passages as we continued our slow and frankly reluctant
approach.
Whatever the conflict was, it had clearly been that which had frightened the
penguins into their unaccustomed wandering. It must, then, have arisen near
that faintly heard rookery in the incalculable gulf beyond, since there were
no signs that any birds had normally dwelt here. Perhaps, we reflected, there
had been a hideous running fight, with the weaker party seeking to get back to
the cached sledges when their pursuers finished them. One could picture the
demoniac fray between namelessly monstrous entities as it surged out of the
black abyss with great clouds of frantic penguins squawking and scurrying
ahead.
I say that we approached those sprawling and incomplete obstructions slowly
and reluctantly. Would to Heaven we had never approached them at all, but had
run back at top speed out of that blasphemous tunnel with the greasily smooth
floors and the degenerate murals aping and mocking the things they had
superseded-run back, before we had seen what we did see, and before our minds
were burned with something which will never let us breathe easily again!
Both of our torches were turned on the prostrate objects, so that we soon
realized the dominant factor in their incompleteness. Mauled, compressed,
twisted, and ruptured as they were, their chief common injury was total
decapitation. From each one the tentacled starfish head had been removed; and
as we drew near we saw that the manner of removal looked more like some
hellish tearing or suction than like any ordinary form of cleavage. Their
noisome dark-green ichor formed a large, spreading pOOl; but its stench was
half overshadowed by the newer and stranger stench, here more pungent than at [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]