gulliver of mars-第34章
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rned out; the morning's haze developed a strong mist ere the afternoon was half gone; through which it was impossible to see more than twenty yards。 My hill loomed gigantic for a time with a tantalising appearance of being only a mile or two ahead; then wavered; became visionary; and finally disap… peared as completely as though the forest mist had drunk it up bodily。
There was still the road to guide me; a fairly well… beaten track twining through the glades; but even the best of highways are difficult in fog; and this one was compli… cated by various side paths; made probably by hunters or bark…cutters; and without compass or guide marks it was necessary to advance with extreme caution; or get helplessly mazed。
An hour's steady tramping brought me nowhere in particu… lar; and stopping for a minute to consider; I picked a few wild fruit; such as my wood…cutter friend had eaten; from an overhanging bush; and in so doing slipped; the soil having now become damp; and in falling broke a branch off。 The incident was only important from what follows。 Picking myself up; perhaps a little shaken by the jolt; I set off again upon what seemed the plain road; and being by this time displeased by my surroundings; determined to make a push for 〃civilization〃 before the rapidly gathering darkness set… tled down。
Hands in pockets and collar up; I marched forward at a good round pace for an hour; constantly straining eyes for a sight of the hill and ears for some indications of living beings in the deathly hush of the shrouded woods; and at the end of that time; feeling sure habitations must now be near; arrived at what looked like a little open space; some… how seeming rather familiar in its vague outlines。
Where had I seen such a place before? Sauntering round the margin; a bush with a broken branch sud… denly attracted my attentiona broken bush with a long slide in the mud below it; and the stamp of Navy boots in the soft turf! I glared at those signs for a moment; then with an exclamation of chagrin recognised them only too wellit was the bush whence I had picked the fruit; and the mark of my fall。 An hour's hard walking round some accursed woodland track had brought me exactly back to the point I had started fromI was lost!
It really seemed to get twenty per cent darker as I made that abominable discovery; and the position dawned in all its uncomfortable intensity。 There was nothing for it but to start off again; this time judging my direction only by a light breath of air drifting the mist tangles before it; and therein I made a great mistake; for the breeze had shifted several points from the quarter whence it blew in the morning。
Knowing nothing of this; I went forward with as much lightheartedness as could be managed; humming a song to myself; and carefully putting aside thoughts of warmth and supper; while the dusk increased and the great forest vegetation seemed to grow ranker and closer at every step
Another disconcerting thing was that the ground sloped gradually downwards; not upwards as it should have done; till it seemed the path lay across the flats of a forest…covered plain; which did not conform to my wish of striking a road on the foot…hills of the mountain。 However; I plodded on; drawing some small comfort from the fact that as darkness came the mist rose from the ground and appeared to con… dense in a ghostly curtain twenty feet overhead; where it hung between me and a clear night sky; presently illum… ined by starlight with the strangest effect。
Tired; footsore; and dejected; I struggled on a little further。 Oh for a cab; I laughed bitterly to myself。 Oh for even the humble necessary omnibus of civilisation。 Oh for the humblest tuck…shop where a mug of hot coffee and a snack could be had by a homeless wanderer; and as I thought and plodded savagely on; collar up; hands in pockets; through the black tangles of that endless wood; suddenly the sound of wailing children caught my ear!
It was the softest; saddest music ever mortal listened to。 It was as though scores of babes in pain were dropping to sleep on their mothers' breasts; and all hushing their sor… rows with one accord in a common melancholy chorus。 I stood spell…bound at that elfin wailing; the first sound to break the deathly stillness of the road for an hour or more; and my blood tingled as I listened to it。 Nevertheless; here was what I was looking for; where there were weeping children there must be habitations; and shelter; andsplendid thought!supper。 Poor little babes! their crying was the deadliest; sweetest thing in sorrows I ever listened to。 If it was cholicwhy; I knew a little of medicine; and in gratitude for that prospective supper; I had a soul big enough to cure a thousand; and if they were in disgrace; and by some quaint Martian fashion had suffered simul… taneous punishment for baby offences; I would plead for them。
In fact; I fairly set off at the run towards the sobbing; in the black; wet; night air ahead; and; tripping as I ran; looked down and saw in the filtering starlight that the forest grass had given place to an ancient roadway; paved with moss…grown flag…stones; such as they still used in Seth。
Without stopping to think what that might mean I hur… ried on; the wailing now right ahead; a tremulous tumult of gentle grief rising and falling on the night air like the sound of a sea after a storm; and so; presently; in a minute or two; came upon a ruined archway spanning the lonely road; held together by great masses of black…fingered creep… ers; gaunt and ghostly in the shadows; an extraordinary and unexpected vision; and as I stopped with a jerk under that forbidding gateway and glared at its tumbled masonry and great portals hanging rotten at their hinges; suddenly the truth flashed upon me。 I had taken the forbidden road after all。 I was in the ancient; ghost…haunted city of Queen Yang!
CHAPTER XV
The dark forest seemed to shut behind as I entered the gateway of the deserted Hither town; against which my wood…cutter friend had warned me; while inside the soft mist hung in the starlight like grey drapery over endless vistas of ruins。 What was I to do? Without all was black and cheerless; inside there was at least shelter。 Wet and cold; my courage was not to be put down by the stories of a silly savage; I would go on whatever happened。 Besides; the soft sound of crying; now apparently all about; seemed companionable; and I had heard so much of ghosts of late; the sharp edge of fear at their presence was wearing off。
So in I went: up a broad; decayed street; its flagstones heaved everywhere by the roots of gnarled trees; and finding nothing save ruin; tried to rest under a wall。 But the night air was chilly and the shelter poor; so out I came again; with the wailing in the shadows so close about now that I stopped; and mustering up courage called aloud:
〃Hullo; you who weep there in the dark; are you living or dead?〃 And after a minute from the hollows of the empty hearths around came the sad little responsive echo:
〃Are you living or dead?〃 It was very delusive and un… satisfactory; and I was wondering what to do next when a slant of warmer wind came up behind me under the mist; and immediately little tongues of blue flame blossomed with… out visible cause in every darksome crevice; pale flickers of miasmic light rising pallid from every lurking nook and corner in the black desolation as though a thousand lamps were lit by unseen fingers; and; knee high; floated out into the thoroughfare where they oscillated gently in airy grace; and then; forming into procession; began drifting be… fore the tepid air towards the city centre。 At once I thought of what the woodcutter had seen; but was too wet and sulky by this time to care。 The fascination of the place was on me; and dropping into rear of the march; I went forward with it。 By this time the wailing had stopped; though now and then it seemed a dark form moved in the empty door… ways on either hand; while the mist; parting into gossamers before the wind; took marvellously human forms in every alley and lane we passed。
Thus I; a sodden giant; led by those elfin torches; paced through the city until we came to an open sq