章节正文
"This is ridiculous," broke in Bastin. "Can a dog talk?"
"Everything can talk, if you understand its language, Bastin.
But keep a good heart, Humphrey, for the bold seeker finds in the
end. Oh! foolish man, do you not understand that all is yours if
you have but the soul to conceive and the will to grasp? All,
all, below, between, above! Even I know that, I who have so much
to learn."
So she spoke and became suddenly magnificent. Her face which
had been but that of a super-lovely woman, took on grandeur. Her
bosom swelled; her presence radiated some subtle power, much as
her hair radiated light.
In a moment it was gone and she was smiling and jesting.
"Will you come, Strangers, where Tommy was not afraid to go,
down to the Under-world? Or will you stay here in the sun?
Perhaps you will do better to stay here in the sun, for the
Under-world has terrors for weak hearts that were born but
yesterday, and feeble feet may stumble in the dark."
"I shall take my electric torch," said Bastin with decision,
"and I advise you fellows to do the same. I always hated cellars,
and the catacombs at Rome are worse, though full of sacred
interest."
Then we started, Tommy frisking on ahead in a most provoking
way as though he were bored by a visit to a strange house and
going home, and Yva gliding forward with a smile upon her face
that was half mystic and half mischievous. We passed the remains
of the machines, and Bickley asked her what they were.
"Carriages in which once we travelled through the skies, until
we found a better way, and that the uninstructed used till the
end," she answered carelessly, leaving me wondering what on earth
she meant.
We came to the statue and the sepulchre beneath without
trouble, for the glint of her hair, and I may add of Tommy's
back, were quite sufficient to guide us through the gloom. The
crystal coffins were still there, for Bastin flashed his torch
and we saw them, but the boxes of radium had gone.
"Let that light die," she said to Bastin. "Humphrey, give me
your right hand and give your left to Bickley. Let Bastin cling
to him and fear nothing."
We passed to the end of the tomb and stood against what
appeared to be a rock wall, all close together, as she directed.
"Fear nothing," she said again, but next second I was never
more full of fear in my life, for we were whirling downwards at a
speed that would have made an American elevatorattendant turn
pale.
"Don't choke me," I heard Bickley say to Bastin, and the
latter's murmured reply of:
"I never could bear these moving staircases and tubelifts. They
always make me feel sick."
I admit that for my part I also felt rather sick and clung
tightly to the hand of the Glittering Lady. She, however, placed
her other hand upon my shoulder, saying in a low voice:
"Did I not tell you to have no fear?"
Then I felt comforted, for somehow I knew that it was not her
desire to harm and much less to destroy me. Also Tommy was seated
quite at his ease with his head resting against my leg, and his
absence of alarm was reassuring. The only stoic of the party was
Bickley. I have no doubt that he was quite as frightened as we
were, but rather than show it he would have died.
"I presume this machinery is pneumatic," he began when suddenly
and without shock, we arrived at the end of our journey. How far
we had fallen I am sure I do not know, but I should judge from
the awful speed at which we travelled, that it must have been
several thousand feet, probably four or five.
"Everything seems steady now," remarked Bastin, "so I suppose
this luggage lift has stopped. The odd thing is that I can't see
anything of it. There ought to be a shaft, but we seem to be
standing on a level floor."
"The odd thing is," said Bickley, "that we can see at all.
Where the devil does the light come from thousands of feet
underground?"
"I don't know," answered Bastin, "unless there is natural gas
here, as I am told there is at a town called Medicine Hat in
Canada."
"Natural gas be blowed," said Bickley. "It is more like
moonlight magnified ten times."
So it was. The whole place was filled with a soft radiance,
equal to that of the sun at noon, but gentler and without heat.
"Where does it come from?" I whispered to Yva.
"Oh!" she replied, as I thought evasively. "It is the light of
the Under-world which we know how to use. The earth is full of
light, which is not wonderful, is it, seeing that its heart is
fire? Now look about you."
I looked and leant on her harder than ever, since amazement
made me weak. We were in some vast place whereof the roof seemed
almost as far off as the sky at night. At least all that I could
make out was a dim and distant arch which might have been one of
cloud. For the rest, in every direction stretched vastness,
illuminated far as the eye could reach by the soft light of which
I have spoken, that is, probably for several miles. But this
vastness was not empty. On the contrary it was occupied by a
great city. There were streets much wider than Piccadilly, all
bordered by houses, though these, I observed, were roofless, very
fine houses, some of them, built of white stone or marble. There
were roadways and pavements worn by the passage of feet. There,
farther on, were market-places or public squares, and there,
lastly, was a huge central enclosure one or two hundred acres in
extent, which was filled with majestic buildings that looked like
palaces, or town-halls; and, in the midst of them all, a vast
temple with courts and a central dome. For here, notwithstanding
the lack of necessity, its builders seemed to have adhered to the
Over-world tradition, and had roofed their fane.
And now came the terror. All of this enormous city was dead.
Had it stood upon the moon it could not have been more dead. None
paced its streets; none looked from its window-places. None
trafficked in its markets, none worshipped in its temple. Swept,
garnished, lighted, practically untouched by the hand of Time,
here where no rains fell and no winds blew, it was yet a howling
wilderness. For what wilderness is there to equal that which once
has been the busy haunt of men? Let those who have stood among
the buried cities of Central Asia, or of Anarajapura in Ceylon,
or even amid the ruins of Salamis on the coast of Cyprus, answer
the question. But here was something infinitely more awful. A
huge human haunt in the bowels of the earth utterly devoid of
human beings, and yet as perfect as on the day when these ceased
to be.
"I do not care for underground localities," remarked Bastin,
his gruff voice echoing strangely in that terrible silence, "but
it does seem a pity that all these fine buildings should be
wasted. I suppose their inhabitants left them in search of fresh
air."
"Why did they leave them?" I asked of Yva.
"Because death took them," she answered solemnly. "Even those
who live a thousand years die at last, and if they have no
children, with them dies the race."
"Then were you the last of your people?" I asked.
"Inquire of my father," she replied, and led the way through
the massive arch of a great building.
It led into a walled courtyard in the centre of which was a
plain cupola of marble with a gate of some pale metal that
looked like platinum mixed with gold. This gate stood open.
Within it was the statue of a woman beautifully executed in white
marble and set in a niche of some black stone. The figure was
draped as though to conceal the shape, and the face was stern and
majestic rather than beautiful. The eyes of the statue were
cunningly made of some enamel which gave them a strange and
lifelike appearance. They stared upwards" target="_blank" title="ad.=upward">upwards as though looking away
from the earth and its concerns. The arms were outstretched. In
the right hand was a cup of black marble, in the left a similar
cup of white marble. From each of these cups trickled a thin
stream of sparkling water, which two streams met and mingled at a
distance of about three feet beneath the cups. Then they fell
into a metal basin which, although it must have been quite a foot
thick, was cut right through by their constantimpact, and
apparently vanished down some pipe beneath. Out of this metal
basin Tommy, who gambolled into the place ahead of us, began to
drink in a greedy and demonstrative fashion.
"The Life-water?" I said, looking at our guide.
She nodded and asked in her turn:
"What is the statue and what does it signify, Humphrey?"
I hesitated, but Bastin answered:
"Just a rather ugly woman who hid up her figure because it was
bad. Probably she was a relation of the artist who wished to have
her likeness done and sat for nothing."
"The goddess of Health," suggested Bickley. "Her proportions
are perfect; a robust, a thoroughlynormal woman."
"Now, Humphrey," said Yva.
I stared at the work and had not an idea. Then it flashed on me
with such suddenness and certainity that I am convinced the
answer to the riddle was passed to me from her and did not
originate in my own mind.
"It seems quite easy," I said in a superior tone. "The figure
symbolises Life and is draped because we only see the face of
Life, the rest is hidden. The arms are bare because Life is real
and active. One cup is black and one is white because Life brings
both good and evil gifts; that is why the streams mingle, to be
lost beneath in the darkness of death. The features are stern and
even terrifying rather than lovely, because such is the aspect of
Life. The eyes look upward and far away from present things,
because the real life is not here."
"Of course one may say anything," said Bastin, "but I don't
understand all that."
"Imagination goes a long way," broke in Bickley, who was vexed
that he had not thought of this interpretation himself. But Yva
said:
"I begin to think that you are quite clever, Humphrey. I wonder
whence the truth came to you, for such is the meaning of the
figure and the cups. Had I told it to you myself, it could not
have been better said," and she glanced at me out of the corners
of her eyes. "Now, Strangers, will you drink? Once that gate was
guarded, and only at a great price or as a great reward were
certain of the Highest Blood given the freedom of this fountain
which might touch no common lips. Indeed it was one of the causes
of our last war, for all the world which was, desired this water
which now is lapped by a stranger's hound."
"I suppose there is nothing medicinal in it?" said Bastin.
"Once when I was very thirsty, I made a mistake and drank three
tumblers of something of the sort in the dark, thinking that it
was Apollinaris, and I don't want to do it again."
"Just the sort of thing you would do," said Bickley. "But, Lady
Yva, what are the properties of this water?"
"It is very health-giving," she answered, "and if drunk
continually, not less than once each thirty days, it wards off
sickness, lessens hunger and postpones death for many, many
years. That is why those of the High Blood endured so long and
became the rulers of the world, and that, as I have said, is the
greatest of the reasons why the peoples who dwelt in the ancient
outer countries and never wished to die, made war upon them, to
win this secret fountain. Have no fear, O Bastin, for see, I will
pledge you in this water."
Then she lifted a strange-looking, shallow, metal cup whereof
the handles were formed of twisted serpents, that lay in the
"Everything can talk, if you understand its language, Bastin.
But keep a good heart, Humphrey, for the bold seeker finds in the
end. Oh! foolish man, do you not understand that all is yours if
you have but the soul to conceive and the will to grasp? All,
all, below, between, above! Even I know that, I who have so much
to learn."
So she spoke and became suddenly magnificent. Her face which
had been but that of a super-lovely woman, took on grandeur. Her
bosom swelled; her presence radiated some subtle power, much as
her hair radiated light.
In a moment it was gone and she was smiling and jesting.
"Will you come, Strangers, where Tommy was not afraid to go,
down to the Under-world? Or will you stay here in the sun?
Perhaps you will do better to stay here in the sun, for the
Under-world has terrors for weak hearts that were born but
yesterday, and feeble feet may stumble in the dark."
"I shall take my electric torch," said Bastin with decision,
"and I advise you fellows to do the same. I always hated cellars,
and the catacombs at Rome are worse, though full of sacred
interest."
Then we started, Tommy frisking on ahead in a most provoking
way as though he were bored by a visit to a strange house and
going home, and Yva gliding forward with a smile upon her face
that was half mystic and half mischievous. We passed the remains
of the machines, and Bickley asked her what they were.
"Carriages in which once we travelled through the skies, until
we found a better way, and that the uninstructed used till the
end," she answered carelessly, leaving me wondering what on earth
she meant.
We came to the statue and the sepulchre beneath without
trouble, for the glint of her hair, and I may add of Tommy's
back, were quite sufficient to guide us through the gloom. The
crystal coffins were still there, for Bastin flashed his torch
and we saw them, but the boxes of radium had gone.
"Let that light die," she said to Bastin. "Humphrey, give me
your right hand and give your left to Bickley. Let Bastin cling
to him and fear nothing."
We passed to the end of the tomb and stood against what
appeared to be a rock wall, all close together, as she directed.
"Fear nothing," she said again, but next second I was never
more full of fear in my life, for we were whirling downwards at a
speed that would have made an American elevatorattendant turn
pale.
"Don't choke me," I heard Bickley say to Bastin, and the
latter's murmured reply of:
"I never could bear these moving staircases and tubelifts. They
always make me feel sick."
I admit that for my part I also felt rather sick and clung
tightly to the hand of the Glittering Lady. She, however, placed
her other hand upon my shoulder, saying in a low voice:
"Did I not tell you to have no fear?"
Then I felt comforted, for somehow I knew that it was not her
desire to harm and much less to destroy me. Also Tommy was seated
quite at his ease with his head resting against my leg, and his
absence of alarm was reassuring. The only stoic of the party was
Bickley. I have no doubt that he was quite as frightened as we
were, but rather than show it he would have died.
"I presume this machinery is pneumatic," he began when suddenly
and without shock, we arrived at the end of our journey. How far
we had fallen I am sure I do not know, but I should judge from
the awful speed at which we travelled, that it must have been
several thousand feet, probably four or five.
"Everything seems steady now," remarked Bastin, "so I suppose
this luggage lift has stopped. The odd thing is that I can't see
anything of it. There ought to be a shaft, but we seem to be
standing on a level floor."
"The odd thing is," said Bickley, "that we can see at all.
Where the devil does the light come from thousands of feet
underground?"
"I don't know," answered Bastin, "unless there is natural gas
here, as I am told there is at a town called Medicine Hat in
Canada."
"Natural gas be blowed," said Bickley. "It is more like
moonlight magnified ten times."
So it was. The whole place was filled with a soft radiance,
equal to that of the sun at noon, but gentler and without heat.
"Where does it come from?" I whispered to Yva.
"Oh!" she replied, as I thought evasively. "It is the light of
the Under-world which we know how to use. The earth is full of
light, which is not wonderful, is it, seeing that its heart is
fire? Now look about you."
I looked and leant on her harder than ever, since amazement
made me weak. We were in some vast place whereof the roof seemed
almost as far off as the sky at night. At least all that I could
make out was a dim and distant arch which might have been one of
cloud. For the rest, in every direction stretched vastness,
illuminated far as the eye could reach by the soft light of which
I have spoken, that is, probably for several miles. But this
vastness was not empty. On the contrary it was occupied by a
great city. There were streets much wider than Piccadilly, all
bordered by houses, though these, I observed, were roofless, very
fine houses, some of them, built of white stone or marble. There
were roadways and pavements worn by the passage of feet. There,
farther on, were market-places or public squares, and there,
lastly, was a huge central enclosure one or two hundred acres in
extent, which was filled with majestic buildings that looked like
palaces, or town-halls; and, in the midst of them all, a vast
temple with courts and a central dome. For here, notwithstanding
the lack of necessity, its builders seemed to have adhered to the
Over-world tradition, and had roofed their fane.
And now came the terror. All of this enormous city was dead.
Had it stood upon the moon it could not have been more dead. None
paced its streets; none looked from its window-places. None
trafficked in its markets, none worshipped in its temple. Swept,
garnished, lighted, practically untouched by the hand of Time,
here where no rains fell and no winds blew, it was yet a howling
wilderness. For what wilderness is there to equal that which once
has been the busy haunt of men? Let those who have stood among
the buried cities of Central Asia, or of Anarajapura in Ceylon,
or even amid the ruins of Salamis on the coast of Cyprus, answer
the question. But here was something infinitely more awful. A
huge human haunt in the bowels of the earth utterly devoid of
human beings, and yet as perfect as on the day when these ceased
to be.
"I do not care for underground localities," remarked Bastin,
his gruff voice echoing strangely in that terrible silence, "but
it does seem a pity that all these fine buildings should be
wasted. I suppose their inhabitants left them in search of fresh
air."
"Why did they leave them?" I asked of Yva.
"Because death took them," she answered solemnly. "Even those
who live a thousand years die at last, and if they have no
children, with them dies the race."
"Then were you the last of your people?" I asked.
"Inquire of my father," she replied, and led the way through
the massive arch of a great building.
It led into a walled courtyard in the centre of which was a
plain cupola of marble with a gate of some pale metal that
looked like platinum mixed with gold. This gate stood open.
Within it was the statue of a woman beautifully executed in white
marble and set in a niche of some black stone. The figure was
draped as though to conceal the shape, and the face was stern and
majestic rather than beautiful. The eyes of the statue were
cunningly made of some enamel which gave them a strange and
lifelike appearance. They stared upwards" target="_blank" title="ad.=upward">upwards as though looking away
from the earth and its concerns. The arms were outstretched. In
the right hand was a cup of black marble, in the left a similar
cup of white marble. From each of these cups trickled a thin
stream of sparkling water, which two streams met and mingled at a
distance of about three feet beneath the cups. Then they fell
into a metal basin which, although it must have been quite a foot
thick, was cut right through by their constantimpact, and
apparently vanished down some pipe beneath. Out of this metal
basin Tommy, who gambolled into the place ahead of us, began to
drink in a greedy and demonstrative fashion.
"The Life-water?" I said, looking at our guide.
She nodded and asked in her turn:
"What is the statue and what does it signify, Humphrey?"
I hesitated, but Bastin answered:
"Just a rather ugly woman who hid up her figure because it was
bad. Probably she was a relation of the artist who wished to have
her likeness done and sat for nothing."
"The goddess of Health," suggested Bickley. "Her proportions
are perfect; a robust, a thoroughlynormal woman."
"Now, Humphrey," said Yva.
I stared at the work and had not an idea. Then it flashed on me
with such suddenness and certainity that I am convinced the
answer to the riddle was passed to me from her and did not
originate in my own mind.
"It seems quite easy," I said in a superior tone. "The figure
symbolises Life and is draped because we only see the face of
Life, the rest is hidden. The arms are bare because Life is real
and active. One cup is black and one is white because Life brings
both good and evil gifts; that is why the streams mingle, to be
lost beneath in the darkness of death. The features are stern and
even terrifying rather than lovely, because such is the aspect of
Life. The eyes look upward and far away from present things,
because the real life is not here."
"Of course one may say anything," said Bastin, "but I don't
understand all that."
"Imagination goes a long way," broke in Bickley, who was vexed
that he had not thought of this interpretation himself. But Yva
said:
"I begin to think that you are quite clever, Humphrey. I wonder
whence the truth came to you, for such is the meaning of the
figure and the cups. Had I told it to you myself, it could not
have been better said," and she glanced at me out of the corners
of her eyes. "Now, Strangers, will you drink? Once that gate was
guarded, and only at a great price or as a great reward were
certain of the Highest Blood given the freedom of this fountain
which might touch no common lips. Indeed it was one of the causes
of our last war, for all the world which was, desired this water
which now is lapped by a stranger's hound."
"I suppose there is nothing medicinal in it?" said Bastin.
"Once when I was very thirsty, I made a mistake and drank three
tumblers of something of the sort in the dark, thinking that it
was Apollinaris, and I don't want to do it again."
"Just the sort of thing you would do," said Bickley. "But, Lady
Yva, what are the properties of this water?"
"It is very health-giving," she answered, "and if drunk
continually, not less than once each thirty days, it wards off
sickness, lessens hunger and postpones death for many, many
years. That is why those of the High Blood endured so long and
became the rulers of the world, and that, as I have said, is the
greatest of the reasons why the peoples who dwelt in the ancient
outer countries and never wished to die, made war upon them, to
win this secret fountain. Have no fear, O Bastin, for see, I will
pledge you in this water."
Then she lifted a strange-looking, shallow, metal cup whereof
the handles were formed of twisted serpents, that lay in the
- conceive [kən´si:v]
v.设想；表达；怀孕 (初中英语单词) - magnificent [mæg´nifisənt] a.壮丽的；豪华的 (初中英语单词)
- feeble [´fi:bəl] a.虚弱的，无力的 (初中英语单词)
- stumble [´stʌmbəl] v.摔倒；失足；弄错 (初中英语单词)
- advise [əd´vaiz] vt.忠告；建议；通知 (初中英语单词)
- statue [´stætʃu:] n.塑像，雕像 (初中英语单词)
- attendant [ə´tendənt] n.随员 a.伴随的 (初中英语单词)
- spoken [´spəukən] speak的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
- contrary [´kɔntrəri] a.相反的 n.相反 (初中英语单词)
- marble [´mɑ:bəl] n.大理石 a.大理石的 (初中英语单词)
- tradition [trə´diʃən] n.传统；惯例；传说 (初中英语单词)
- terror [´terə] n.恐怖；惊骇 (初中英语单词)
- enormous [i´nɔ:məs] a.巨大地，很，极 (初中英语单词)
- temple [´tempəl] n.庙宇；寺院；太阳穴 (初中英语单词)
- wilderness [´wildənis] n.荒地，荒野 (初中英语单词)
- strangely [´streindʒli] ad.奇怪地；陌生地 (初中英语单词)
- conceal [kən´si:l] vt.藏；隐瞒 (初中英语单词)
- constant [´kɔnstənt] a.坚定的；坚贞的 (初中英语单词)
- greedy [´gri:di] a.贪婪的；馋的 (初中英语单词)
- goddess [´gɔdis] n.女神 (初中英语单词)
- thoroughly [´θʌrəli] ad.完全地，彻底地 (初中英语单词)
- normal [´nɔ:məl] a.正规的 n.正常状态 (初中英语单词)
- hidden [´hid(ə)n] hide 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
- mingle [´miŋgəl] v.(使)混合；交往 (初中英语单词)
- aspect [´æspekt] n.面貌；神色；方向 (初中英语单词)
- upward [´ʌpwəd] a.&ad.向上(的)；以上 (初中英语单词)
- reward [ri´wɔ:d] n.&v.报答；报酬；奖赏 (初中英语单词)
- hunger [´hʌŋgə] n.饥饿；渴望 (初中英语单词)
- fountain [´fauntin] n.泉水；源泉；根源 (初中英语单词)
- shallow [´ʃæləu] a.肤浅的；表面的 (初中英语单词)
- carelessly [´kɛəlisli] ad.粗心地；疏忽地 (高中英语单词)
- elevator [´eliveitə] n.电梯；升降机 (高中英语单词)
- saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
- presume [pri´zju:m] v.假定；推测；以为 (高中英语单词)
- luggage [´lʌgidʒ] n.行李；皮箱 (高中英语单词)
- seeing [si:iŋ] see的现在分词 n.视觉 (高中英语单词)
- majestic [mə´dʒestik] a.雄伟的；崇高的 (高中英语单词)
- underground [,ʌndə´graund] ad.&a.地下(的) (高中英语单词)
- solemnly [´sɔləmli] ad.严肃地，庄严地 (高中英语单词)
- massive [´mæsiv] a.厚实的；魁伟的 (高中英语单词)
- courtyard [´kɔ:tjɑ:d] n.院子，庭院 (高中英语单词)
- signify [´signifai] vt.表示 vi.有重要性 (高中英语单词)
- likeness [´laiknis] n.相似；肖像；外表 (高中英语单词)
- riddle [´ridl] n.谜(语) v.解(谜等) (高中英语单词)
- interpretation [in,tə:pri´teiʃən] n.解释；翻译；表演 (高中英语单词)
- grandeur [´grændʒə] n.伟大；富丽；壮观 (英语四级单词)
- mischievous [´mistʃivəs] a.有害的；淘气的 (英语四级单词)
- downwards [´daunwədz] ad.向下，以下 (英语四级单词)
- whereof [weər´ɔv] ad.关于什么；关于那事 (英语四级单词)
- infinitely [´infinitli] ad.无限地；无穷地 (英语四级单词)
- beautifully [´bju:tifəli] ad.美丽地；优美地 (英语四级单词)
- enamel [i´næm(ə)l] n.搪瓷；珐琅 (英语四级单词)
- upwards [´ʌpwədz] ad.=upward (英语四级单词)
- mystic [´mistik] a.神秘的；难以理解的 (英语六级单词)
- enclosure [in´kləuʒə] n.包围；围墙；封入物 (英语六级单词)
- untouched [ʌn´tʌtʃt] a.原样的；未触动过的 (英语六级单词)
- devoid [di´vɔid] a.无...的，缺...的 (英语六级单词)
- platinum [´plætinəm] n.白金 (英语六级单词)
- outstretched [,aut´stretʃt] a.扩张的；伸长的 (英语六级单词)
- impact [´impækt] n.影响，作用；冲击 (英语六级单词)
- robust [rəu´bʌst] a.强建的；茁壮的 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:名著
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