酷兔英语
    当前位置:
  1. 首页
  2. 文章
  3. 娱乐英语
  4. 原版小说
  5. 正文

When the World Shook-Part14_H.Rider Haggard(1856-1925)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

0 收藏 0 分享 0 赞

章节正文
文章总共2页


"If they were meteorites," he said, "of which a shower struck

the earth in some past geological age, all life must have been



destroyed by them and their remains ought to exist at the bottom

of the holes. To me they look more like the effect of high



explosives, but that, of course, is impossible, though I don't

know what else could have caused such craters."



Then he went back to his work, for nothing that had to do with

antiquity interested Bickley very much. The present and its



problems were enough for him, he would say, who neither had lived

in the past nor expected to have any share in the future.



As I remained curious I made an opportunity to scramble to the

bottom of one of these craters, taking with me some of the



natives with their wooden tools. Here I found a good deal of soil

either washed down from the surface or resulting from the



decomposition of the rock, though oddly enough in it nothing

grew. I directed them to dig. After a while to my astonishment



there appeared a corner of a great worked stone quite unlike that

of the crater, indeed it seemed to me to be a marble. Further



examination showed that this block was most beautifully carved in

bas-relief, apparently with a design of leaves and flowers. In



the disturbed soil also I picked up a life-sized marble hand of a

woman exquisitely finished and apparently broken from a statue



that might have been the work of one of the great Greek

sculptors. Moreover, on the third finger of this hand was a



representation of a ring whereof, unfortunately, the bezel had

been destroyed.



I put the hand in my pocket, but as darkness was coming on, I

could not pursue the research and disinter the block. When I



wished to return the next day, I was informed politely by Marama

that it would not be safe for me to do so as the priests of Oro



declared that if I sought to meddle with the "buried things the

god would grow angry and bring disaster on me."



When I persisted he said that at least I must go alone since no

native would accompany me, and added earnestly that he prayed me



not to go. So to my great regret and disappointment I was obliged

to give up the idea.



Chapter VIII

Bastin Attempts the Martyr's Crown



That carved stone and the marble hand took a great hold of my

imagination. What did they mean? How could they have come to the



bottom of that hole, unless indeed they were part of some

building and its ornaments which had been destroyed in the



neighbourhood? The stone of which we had only uncovered a corner

seemed far too big to have been carried there from any ship; it



must have weighed several tons. Besides, ships do not carry such

things about the world, and none had visited this island during



the last two centuries at any rate, or local tradition would have

recorded so wonderful a fact. Were there, then, once edifices



covered with elegantcarvingstanding on this place, and were

they adorned with lovely statues that would not have disgraced



the best period of Greek art? The thing was incredible except on

the supposition that these were relics of an utterly lost



civilisation.

Bickley was as much puzzled as myself. All he could say was



that the world was infinitely old and many things might have

happened in it whereof we had no record. Even Bastin was excited



for a little while, but as his imagination was represented by

zero, all he could say was:



"I suppose someone left them there, and anyhow it doesn't

matter much, does it?"



But I, who have certain leanings towards the ancient and

mysterious, could not be put off in this fashion. I remembered



that unapproachable mountain in the midst of the lake and that on

it appeared to be something which looked like ruins as seen from



the top of the cliff through glasses. At any rate this was a

point, that I might clear up.



Saying nothing to anybody, one morning I slipped away and

walked to the edge of the lake, a distance of five or six miles



over rough country. Having arrived there I perceived that the




文章总共2页
文章标签:名著  

章节正文
Copyright © 2023 Qeto All rights reserved.
商务合作 | 联系我们 | 关于我们 | 版权声明 | 隐私条款 | 如果智培

京ICP备05059198号-1 京公网安备 11011202003401号