His face caught something of my dismay. He stood up and stared about him at the scrub that fenced us in and rose about us, straining upward in a passion of growth. He put a dubious1 hand to his lips. He spoke2 with a sudden lack of assurance. "I think," he said slowly, "we left it ... somewhere ... about _there_."
He pointed3 a hesitating finger that wavered in an arc.
"I'm not sure." His look of consternation4 deepened. "Anyhow," he said, with his eyes on me, "it can't be far."
We had both stood up. We made unmeaning ejaculations, our eyes sought in the twining, thickening jungle round about us.
All about us on the sunlit slopes frothed and swayed the darting5 shrubs6, the swelling8 cactus9, the creeping lichens10, and wherever the shade remained the snow-drifts lingered. North, south, east, and west spread an identical monotony of unfamiliar11 forms. And somewhere, buried already among this tangled12 confusion, was our sphere, our home, our only provision, our only hope of escape from this fantastic wilderness13 of ephemeral growths into which we had come.
"I think after all," he said, pointing suddenly, "it might be over there."
"No," I said. "We have turned in a curve. See! here is the mark of my heels. It's clear the thing must be more to the eastward14, much more. No--the sphere must be over there."
"I _think_," said Cavor, "I kept the sun upon my right all the time."
"Every leap, it seems to me," I said, "my shadow flew before me."
We stared into one another's eyes. The area of the crater15 had become enormously vast to our imaginations, the growing thickets16 already impenetrably dense18.
"Good heavens! What fools we have been!"
"It's evident that we must find it again," said Cavor, "and that soon. The sun grows stronger. We should be fainting with the heat already if it wasn't so dry. And ... I'm hungry."
I stared at him. I had not suspected this aspect of the matter before. But it came to me at once--a positive craving19. "Yes," I said with emphasis. "I am hungry too."
He stood up with a look of active resolution. "Certainly we must find the sphere."
As calmly as possible we surveyed the interminable reefs and thickets that formed the floor of the crater, each of us weighing in silence the chances of our finding the sphere before we were overtaken by heat and hunger.
"It can't be fifty yards from here," said Cavor, with indecisive gestures. "The only thing is to beat round about until we come upon it."
"That is all we can do," I said, without any alacrity20 to begin our hunt. "I wish this confounded spike21 bush did not grow so fast!"
"That's just it," said Cavor. "But it was lying on a bank of snow."
I stared about me in the vain hope of recognising some knoll22 or shrub7 that had been near the sphere. But everywhere was a confusing sameness, everywhere the aspiring23 bushes, the distending24 fungi25, the dwindling26 snow banks, steadily27 and inevitably28 changed. The sun scorched29 and stung, the faintness of an unaccountable hunger mingled30 with our infinite perplexity. And even as we stood there, confused and lost amidst unprecedented31 things, we became aware for the first time of a sound upon the moon other than the air of the growing plants, the faint sighing of the wind, or those that we ourselves had made.
Boom.... Boom.... Boom.
It came from beneath our feet, a sound in the earth. We seemed to hear it with our feet as much as with our ears. Its dull resonance32 was muffled33 by distance, thick with the quality of intervening substance. No sound that I can imagine could have astonished us more, or have changed more completely the quality of things about us. For this sound, rich, slow, and deliberate, seemed to us as though it could be nothing but the striking of some gigantic buried clock.
Boom.... Boom.... Boom.
Sound suggestive of still cloisters34, of sleepless35 nights in crowded cities, of vigils and the awaited hour, of all that is orderly and methodical in life, booming out pregnant and mysterious in this fantastic desert! To the eye everything was unchanged: the desolation of bushes and cacti36 waving silently in the wind, stretched unbroken to the distant cliffs, the still dark sky was empty overhead, and the hot sun hung and burned. And through it all, a warning, a threat, throbbed37 this enigma39 of sound.
Boom.... Boom.... Boom....
We questioned one another in faint and faded voices.
"A clock?"
"Like a clock!"
"What is it?"
"What can it be?"
"Count," was Cavor's belated suggestion, and at that word the striking ceased.
The silence, the rhythmic40 disappointment of the silence, came as a fresh shock. For a moment one could doubt whether one had ever heard a sound. Or whether it might not still be going on. Had I indeed heard a sound?
I felt the pressure of Cavor's hand upon my arm. He spoke in an undertone, as though he feared to wake some sleeping thing. "Let us keep together," he whispered, "and look for the sphere. We must get back to the sphere. This is beyond our understanding."
"Which way shall we go?"
He hesitated. An intense persuasion41 of presences, of unseen things about us and near us, dominated our minds. What could they be? Where could they be? Was this arid42 desolation, alternately frozen and scorched, only the outer rind and mask of some subterranean43 world? And if so, what sort of world? What sort of inhabitants might it not presently disgorge upon us?
And then, stabbing the aching stillness as vivid and sudden as an unexpected thunderclap, came a clang and rattle44 as though great gates of metal had suddenly been flung apart.
It arrested our steps. We stood gaping45 helplessly. Then Cavor stole towards me.
"I do not understand!" he whispered close to my face. He waved his hand vaguely46 skyward, the vague suggestion of still vaguer thoughts.
"A hiding-place! If anything came..."
I looked about us. I nodded my head in assent47 to him.
We started off, moving stealthily with the most exaggerated precautions against noise. We went towards a thicket17 of scrub. A clangour like hammers flung about a boiler48 hastened our steps. "We must crawl," whispered Cavor.
The lower leaves of the bayonet plants, already overshadowed by the newer ones above, were beginning to wilt49 and shrivel so that we could thrust our way in among the thickening stems without serious injury. A stab in the face or arm we did not heed50. At the heart of the thicket I stopped, and stared panting into Cavor's face.
"Subterranean," he whispered. "Below."
"They may come out."
"We must find the sphere!"
"Yes," I said; "but how?"
"Crawl till we come to it."
"But if we don't?"
"Keep hidden. See what they are like."
"We will keep together," said I.
He thought. "Which way shall we go?"
"We must take our chance."
We peered this way and that. Then very circumspectly51, we began to crawl through the lower jungle, making, so far as we could judge, a circuit, halting now at every waving fungus52, at every sound, intent only on the sphere from which we had so foolishly emerged. Ever and again from out of the earth beneath us came concussions53, beatings, strange, inexplicable54, mechanical sounds; and once, and then again, we thought we heard something, a faint rattle and tumult55, borne to us through the air. But fearful as we were we dared essay no vantage-point to survey the crater. For long we saw nothing of the beings whose sounds were so abundant and insistent56. But for the faintness of our hunger and the drying of our throats that crawling would have had the quality of a very vivid dream. It was so absolutely unreal. The only element with any touch of reality was these sounds.
Picture it to yourself! About us the dream-like jungle, with the silent bayonet leaves darting overhead, and the silent, vivid, sun-splashed lichens under our hands and knees, waving with the vigour57 of their growth as a carpet waves when the wind gets beneath it. Ever and again one of the bladder fungi, bulging58 and distending under the sun, loomed59 upon us. Ever and again some novel shape in vivid colour obtruded60. The very cells that built up these plants were as large as my thumb, like beads61 of coloured glass. And all these things were saturated62 in the unmitigated glare of the sun, were seen against a sky that was bluish black and spangled still, in spite of the sunlight, with a few surviving stars. Strange! the very forms and texture63 of the stones were strange. It was all strange, the feeling of one's body was unprecedented, every other movement ended in a surprise. The breath sucked thin in one's throat, the blood flowed through one's ears in a throbbing64 tide--thud, thud, thud, thud....
And ever and again came gusts65 of turmoil66, hammering, the clanging and throb38 of machinery67, and presently--the bellowing68 of great beasts!
1 dubious | |
adj.怀疑的,无把握的;有问题的,靠不住的 | |
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2 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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3 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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4 consternation | |
n.大为吃惊,惊骇 | |
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5 darting | |
v.投掷,投射( dart的现在分词 );向前冲,飞奔 | |
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6 shrubs | |
灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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7 shrub | |
n.灌木,灌木丛 | |
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8 swelling | |
n.肿胀 | |
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9 cactus | |
n.仙人掌 | |
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10 lichens | |
n.地衣( lichen的名词复数 ) | |
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11 unfamiliar | |
adj.陌生的,不熟悉的 | |
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12 tangled | |
adj. 纠缠的,紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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13 wilderness | |
n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等,荒漠 | |
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14 eastward | |
adv.向东;adj.向东的;n.东方,东部 | |
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15 crater | |
n.火山口,弹坑 | |
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16 thickets | |
n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 );丛状物 | |
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17 thicket | |
n.灌木丛,树林 | |
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18 dense | |
a.密集的,稠密的,浓密的;密度大的 | |
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19 craving | |
n.渴望,热望 | |
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20 alacrity | |
n.敏捷,轻快,乐意 | |
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21 spike | |
n.长钉,钉鞋;v.以大钉钉牢,使...失效 | |
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22 knoll | |
n.小山,小丘 | |
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23 aspiring | |
adj.有志气的;有抱负的;高耸的v.渴望;追求 | |
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24 distending | |
v.(使)膨胀,肿胀( distend的现在分词 ) | |
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25 fungi | |
n.真菌,霉菌 | |
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26 dwindling | |
adj.逐渐减少的v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的现在分词 ) | |
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27 steadily | |
adv.稳定地;不变地;持续地 | |
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28 inevitably | |
adv.不可避免地;必然发生地 | |
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29 scorched | |
烧焦,烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 ); 使(植物)枯萎,把…晒枯; 高速行驶; 枯焦 | |
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30 mingled | |
混合,混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 ); 混进,与…交往[联系] | |
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31 unprecedented | |
adj.无前例的,新奇的 | |
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32 resonance | |
n.洪亮;共鸣;共振 | |
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33 muffled | |
adj.(声音)被隔的;听不太清的;(衣服)裹严的;蒙住的v.压抑,捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 );用厚厚的衣帽包着(自己) | |
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34 cloisters | |
n.(学院、修道院、教堂等建筑的)走廊( cloister的名词复数 );回廊;修道院的生活;隐居v.隐退,使与世隔绝( cloister的第三人称单数 ) | |
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35 sleepless | |
adj.不睡眠的,睡不著的,不休息的 | |
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36 cacti | |
n.(复)仙人掌 | |
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37 throbbed | |
抽痛( throb的过去式和过去分词 ); (心脏、脉搏等)跳动 | |
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38 throb | |
v.震颤,颤动;(急速强烈地)跳动,搏动 | |
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39 enigma | |
n.谜,谜一样的人或事 | |
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40 rhythmic | |
adj.有节奏的,有韵律的 | |
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41 persuasion | |
n.劝说;说服;持有某种信仰的宗派 | |
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42 arid | |
adj.干旱的;(土地)贫瘠的 | |
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43 subterranean | |
adj.地下的,地表下的 | |
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44 rattle | |
v.飞奔,碰响;激怒;n.碰撞声;拨浪鼓 | |
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45 gaping | |
adj.口的;张口的;敞口的;多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 );张开,张大 | |
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46 vaguely | |
adv.含糊地,暖昧地 | |
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47 assent | |
v.批准,认可;n.批准,认可 | |
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48 boiler | |
n.锅炉;煮器(壶,锅等) | |
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49 wilt | |
v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎;(指人)疲倦,衰弱 | |
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50 heed | |
v.注意,留意;n.注意,留心 | |
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51 circumspectly | |
adv.慎重地,留心地 | |
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52 fungus | |
n.真菌,真菌类植物 | |
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53 concussions | |
n.震荡( concussion的名词复数 );脑震荡;冲击;震动 | |
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54 inexplicable | |
adj.无法解释的,难理解的 | |
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55 tumult | |
n.喧哗;激动,混乱;吵闹 | |
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56 insistent | |
adj.迫切的,坚持的 | |
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57 vigour | |
(=vigor)n.智力,体力,精力 | |
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58 bulging | |
膨胀; 凸出(部); 打气; 折皱 | |
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59 loomed | |
v.隐约出现,阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 );隐约出现,阴森地逼近 | |
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60 obtruded | |
v.强行向前,强行,强迫( obtrude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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61 beads | |
n.(空心)小珠子( bead的名词复数 );水珠;珠子项链 | |
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62 saturated | |
a.饱和的,充满的 | |
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63 texture | |
n.(织物)质地;(材料)构造;结构;肌理 | |
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64 throbbing | |
a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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65 gusts | |
一阵强风( gust的名词复数 ); (怒、笑等的)爆发; (感情的)迸发; 发作 | |
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66 turmoil | |
n.骚乱,混乱,动乱 | |
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67 machinery | |
n.(总称)机械,机器;机构 | |
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68 bellowing | |
v.发出吼叫声,咆哮(尤指因痛苦)( bellow的现在分词 );(愤怒地)说出(某事),大叫 | |
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