“‘I would like to see the stone,’ she said. ‘Charles, you stay here with Thora.’ We passed through the outer court silently — and stood before the rock. She touched it, drew back her hand as I had; thrust it forward again resolutely1 and held it there. She seemed to be listening. Then she turned to me.
“‘David,’ said my wife, and the wistfulness in her voice hurt me —‘David, would you be very, very disappointed if we went from here — without trying to find out any more about it — would you?’
“Walter, I never wanted anything so much in my life as I wanted to learn what that rock concealed2. Nevertheless, I tried to master my desire, and I answered —‘Edith, not a bit if you want us to do it.’
“She read my struggle in my eyes. She turned back toward the grey rock. I saw a shiver pass through her. I felt a tinge3 of remorse4 and pity!
“‘Edith,’ I exclaimed, ‘we’ll go!’
“She looked at me again. ‘Science is a jealous mistress,’ she quoted. ‘No, after all it may be just fancy. At any rate, you can’t run away. No! But, Dave, I’m going to stay too!’
“And there was no changing her decision. As we neared the others she laid a hand on my arm.
“‘Dave,’ she said, ‘if there should be something — well — inexplicable5 tonight — something that seems — too dangerous — will you promise to go back to our own islet tomorrow, if we can — and wait until the natives return?’
“I promised eagerly — the desire to stay and see what came with the night was like a fire within me.
“We picked a place about five hundred feet away from the steps leading into the outer court.
“The spot we had selected was well hidden. We could not be seen, and yet we had a clear view of the stairs and the gateway6. We settled down just before dusk to wait for whatever might come. I was nearest the giant steps; next me Edith; then Thora, and last Stanton.
“Night fell. After a time the eastern sky began to lighten, and we knew that the moon was rising; grew lighter7 still, and the orb8 peeped over the sea; swam into full sight. I glanced at Edith and then at Thora. My wife was intently listening. Thora sat, as she had since we had placed ourselves, elbows on knees, her hands covering her face.
“And then from the moonlight flooding us there dripped down on me a great drowsiness9. Sleep seemed to seep10 from the rays and fall upon my eyes, closing them — closing them inexorably. Edith’s hand in mine relaxed. Stanton’s head fell upon his breast and his body swayed drunkenly. I tried to rise — to fight against the profound desire for slumber11 that pressed on me.
“And as I fought, Thora raised her head as though listening; and turned toward the gateway. There was infinite despair in her face — and expectancy12. I tried again to rise — and a surge of sleep rushed over me. Dimly, as I sank within it, I heard a crystalline chiming; raised my lids once more with a supreme13 effort.
“Thora, bathed in light, was standing14 at the top of the stairs.
“Sleep took me for its very own — swept me into the heart of oblivion!
“Dawn was breaking when I wakened. Recollection rushed back; I thrust a panic-stricken hand out toward Edith; touched her and my heart gave a great leap of thankfulness. She stirred, sat up, rubbing dazed eyes. Stanton lay on his side, back toward us, head in arms.
“Edith looked at me laughingly. ‘Heavens! What sleep!’ she said. Memory came to her.
“‘What happened?’ she whispered. ‘What made us sleep like that?’
“Stanton awoke.
“‘What’s the matter!’ he exclaimed. ‘You look as though you’ve been seeing ghosts.’
“Edith caught my hands.
“‘Where’s Thora?’ she cried. Before I could answer she had run out into the open, calling.
“‘Thora was taken,’ was all I could say to Stanton, ‘together we went to my wife, now standing beside the great stone steps, looking up fearfully at the gateway into the terraces. There I told them what I had seen before sleep had drowned me. And together then we ran up the stairs, through the court and to the grey rock.
“The slab16 was closed as it had been the day before, nor was there trace of its having opened. No trace? Even as I thought this Edith dropped to her knees before it and reached toward something lying at its foot. It was a little piece of gay silk. I knew it for part of the kerchief Thora wore about her hair. She lifted the fragment. It had been cut from the kerchief as though by a razor-edge; a few threads ran from it — down toward the base of the slab; ran on to the base of the grey rock and — under it!
“The grey rock was a door! And it had opened and Thora had passed through it!
“I think that for the next few minutes we all were a little insane. We beat upon that portal with our hands, with stones and sticks. At last reason came back to us.
“Goodwin, during the next two hours we tried every way in our power to force entrance through the slab. The rock resisted our drills. We tried explosions at the base with charges covered by rock. They made not the slightest impression on the surface, expending17 their force, of course, upon the slighter resistance of their coverings.
“Afternoon found us hopeless. Night was coming on and we would have to decide our course of action. I wanted to go to Ponape for help. But Edith objected that this would take hours and after we had reached there it would be impossible to persuade our men to return with us that night, if at all. What then was left? Clearly only one of two choices: to go back to our camp, wait for our men, and on their return try to persuade them to go with us to Nan–Tauach. But this would mean the abandonment of Thora for at least two days. We could not do it; it would have been too cowardly.
“The other choice was to wait where we were for night to come; to wait for the rock to open as it had the night before, and to make a sortie through it for Thora before it could close again.
“Our path lay clear before us. We had to spend that night on Nan–Tauach!
“We had, of course, discussed the sleep phenomena18 very fully15. If our theory that lights, sounds, and Thora’s disappearance19 were linked with secret religious rites20 of the natives, the logical inference was that the slumber had been produced by them, perhaps by vapours — you know as well as I, what extraordinary knowledge these Pacific peoples have of such things. Or the sleep might have been simply a coincidence and produced by emanations either gaseous21 or from plants, natural causes which had happened to coincide in their effects with the other manifestations22. We made some rough and ready but effective respirators.
“As dusk fell we looked over our weapons. Edith was an excellent shot with both rifle and pistol. We had decided23 that my wife was to remain in the hiding-place. Stanton would take up a station on the far side of the stairway and I would place myself opposite him on the side near Edith. The place I picked out was less than two hundred feet from her, and I could reassure24 myself now and then as to her safety as it looked down upon the hollow wherein she crouched25. From our respective stations Stanton and I could command the gateway entrance. His position gave him also a glimpse of the outer courtyard.
“A faint glow in the sky heralded26 the moon. Stanton and I took our places. The moon dawn increased rapidly; the disk swam up, and in a moment it was shining in full radiance upon ruins and sea.
“As it rose there came a curious little sighing sound from the inner terrace. Stanton straightened up and stared intently through the gateway, rifle ready.
“‘Stanton, what do you see?’ I called cautiously. He waved a silencing hand. I turned my head to look at Edith. A shock ran through me. She lay upon her side. Her face, grotesque27 with its nose and mouth covered by the respirator, was turned full toward the moon. She was again in deepest sleep!
“As I turned again to call to Stanton, my eyes swept the head of the steps and stopped, fascinated. For the moonlight had thickened. It seemed to be — curdled28 — there; and through it ran little gleams and veins29 of shimmering30 white fire. A languor31 passed through me. It was not the ineffable32 drowsiness of the preceding night. It was a sapping of all will to move. I tried to cry out to Stanton. I had not even the will to move my lips. Goodwin — I could not even move my eyes!
“Stanton was in the range of my fixed33 vision. I watched him leap up the steps and move toward the gateway. The curdled radiance seemed to await him. He stepped into it — and was lost to my sight.
“For a dozen heart beats there was silence. Then a rain of tinklings that set the pulses racing34 with joy and at once checked them with tiny fingers of ice — and ringing through them Stanton’s voice from the courtyard — a great cry — a scream — filled with ecstasy35 insupportable and horror unimaginable! And once more there was silence. I strove to burst the bonds that held me. I could not. Even my eyelids36 were fixed. Within them my eyes, dry and aching, burned.
“Then Goodwin — I first saw the — inexplicable! The crystalline music swelled37. Where I sat I could take in the gateway and its basalt portals, rough and broken, rising to the top of the wall forty feet above, shattered, ruined portals — unclimbable. From this gateway an intenser light began to flow. It grew, it gushed38, and out of it walked Stanton.
“Stanton! But — God! What a vision!”
A deep tremor39 shook him. I waited — waited.
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1
resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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2
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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3
tinge
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| vt.(较淡)着色于，染色；使带有…气息；n.淡淡色彩，些微的气息 | |
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4
remorse
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| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
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5
inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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6
gateway
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| n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法 | |
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7
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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8
orb
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| n.太阳；星球；v.弄圆；成球形 | |
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9
drowsiness
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| n.睡意；嗜睡 | |
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10
seep
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| v.渗出，渗漏；n.渗漏，小泉，水（油）坑 | |
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11
slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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12
expectancy
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| n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额 | |
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13
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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14
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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15
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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16
slab
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| n.平板，厚的切片；v.切成厚板，以平板盖上 | |
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17
expending
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| v.花费( expend的现在分词 )；使用（钱等）做某事；用光；耗尽 | |
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18
phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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19
disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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20
rites
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| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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21
gaseous
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| adj.气体的，气态的 | |
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22
manifestations
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| n.表示，显示（manifestation的复数形式） | |
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23
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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24
reassure
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| v.使放心，使消除疑虑 | |
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25
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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26
heralded
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| v.预示( herald的过去式和过去分词 )；宣布（好或重要） | |
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27
grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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28
curdled
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| v.（使）凝结( curdle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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29
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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30
shimmering
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| v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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31
languor
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| n.无精力，倦怠 | |
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32
ineffable
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| adj.无法表达的，不可言喻的 | |
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33
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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34
racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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35
ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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36
eyelids
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| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
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37
swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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38
gushed
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| v.喷，涌( gush的过去式和过去分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话 | |
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39
tremor
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| n.震动，颤动，战栗，兴奋，地震 | |
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