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- Артур Конан Дойл
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- Tales of Terror and Mystery
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- Стр. 49/137
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In
the
blaze
of
the
gun
I
caught
a
glimpse
of
a
great
shaggy
mass
,
something
with
rough
and
bristling
hair
of
a
withered
grey
colour
,
fading
away
to
white
in
its
lower
parts
,
the
huge
body
supported
upon
short
,
thick
,
curving
legs
.
I
had
just
that
glance
,
and
then
I
heard
the
rattle
of
the
stones
as
the
creature
tore
down
into
its
burrow
.
In
an
instant
,
with
a
triumphant
revulsion
of
feeling
,
I
had
cast
my
fears
to
the
wind
,
and
uncovering
my
powerful
lantern
,
with
my
rifle
in
my
hand
,
I
sprang
down
from
my
rock
and
rushed
after
the
monster
down
the
old
Roman
shaft
.
My
splendid
lamp
cast
a
brilliant
flood
of
vivid
light
in
front
of
me
,
very
different
from
the
yellow
glimmer
which
had
aided
me
down
the
same
passage
only
twelve
days
before
.
As
I
ran
,
I
saw
the
great
beast
lurching
along
before
me
,
its
huge
bulk
filling
up
the
whole
space
from
wall
to
wall
.
Its
hair
looked
like
coarse
faded
oakum
,
and
hung
down
in
long
,
dense
masses
which
swayed
as
it
moved
.
It
was
like
an
enormous
unclipped
sheep
in
its
fleece
,
but
in
size
it
was
far
larger
than
the
largest
elephant
,
and
its
breadth
seemed
to
be
nearly
as
great
as
its
height
.
It
fills
me
with
amazement
now
to
think
that
I
should
have
dared
to
follow
such
a
horror
into
the
bowels
of
the
earth
,
but
when
one
’
s
blood
is
up
,
and
when
one
’
s
quarry
seems
to
be
flying
,
the
old
primeval
hunting
-
spirit
awakes
and
prudence
is
cast
to
the
wind
.
Rifle
in
hand
,
I
ran
at
the
top
of
my
speed
upon
the
trail
of
the
monster
.
I
had
seen
that
the
creature
was
swift
.
Now
I
was
to
find
out
to
my
cost
that
it
was
also
very
cunning
.
I
had
imagined
that
it
was
in
panic
flight
,
and
that
I
had
only
to
pursue
it
.
The
idea
that
it
might
turn
upon
me
never
entered
my
excited
brain
.
I
have
already
explained
that
the
passage
down
which
I
was
racing
opened
into
a
great
central
cave
.
Into
this
I
rushed
,
fearful
lest
I
should
lose
all
trace
of
the
beast
.
But
he
had
turned
upon
his
own
traces
,
and
in
a
moment
we
were
face
to
face
.
That
picture
,
seen
in
the
brilliant
white
light
of
the
lantern
,
is
etched
for
ever
upon
my
brain
.
He
had
reared
up
on
his
hind
legs
as
a
bear
would
do
,
and
stood
above
me
,
enormous
,
menacing
—
such
a
creature
as
no
nightmare
had
ever
brought
to
my
imagination
.
I
have
said
that
he
reared
like
a
bear
,
and
there
was
something
bear
-
like
—
if
one
could
conceive
a
bear
which
was
ten
-
fold
the
bulk
of
any
bear
seen
upon
earth
—
in
his
whole
pose
and
attitude
,
in
his
great
crooked
forelegs
with
their
ivory
-
white
claws
,
in
his
rugged
skin
,
and
in
his
red
,
gaping
mouth
,
fringed
with
monstrous
fangs
.
Only
in
one
point
did
he
differ
from
the
bear
,
or
from
any
other
creature
which
walks
the
earth
,
and
even
at
that
supreme
moment
a
shudder
of
horror
passed
over
me
as
I
observed
that
the
eyes
which
glistened
in
the
glow
of
my
lantern
were
huge
,
projecting
bulbs
,
white
and
sightless
.
For
a
moment
his
great
paws
swung
over
my
head
.
The
next
he
fell
forward
upon
me
,
I
and
my
broken
lantern
crashed
to
the
earth
,
and
I
remember
no
more
.
When
I
came
to
myself
I
was
back
in
the
farm
-
house
of
the
Allertons
.
Two
days
had
passed
since
my
terrible
adventure
in
the
Blue
John
Gap
.
It
seems
that
I
had
lain
all
night
in
the
cave
insensible
from
concussion
of
the
brain
,
with
my
left
arm
and
two
ribs
badly
fractured
.
In
the
morning
my
note
had
been
found
,
a
search
party
of
a
dozen
farmers
assembled
,
and
I
had
been
tracked
down
and
carried
back
to
my
bedroom
,
where
I
had
lain
in
high
delirium
ever
since
.
There
was
,
it
seems
,
no
sign
of
the
creature
,
and
no
bloodstain
which
would
show
that
my
bullet
had
found
him
as
he
passed
.
Save
for
my
own
plight
and
the
marks
upon
the
mud
,
there
was
nothing
to
prove
that
what
I
said
was
true
.
Six
weeks
have
now
elapsed
,
and
I
am
able
to
sit
out
once
more
in
the
sunshine
.
Just
opposite
me
is
the
steep
hillside
,
grey
with
shaly
rock
,
and
yonder
on
its
flank
is
the
dark
cleft
which
marks
the
opening
of
the
Blue
John
Gap
.
But
it
is
no
longer
a
source
of
terror
.
Never
again
through
that
ill
-
omened
tunnel
shall
any
strange
shape
flit
out
into
the
world
of
men
.
The
educated
and
the
scientific
,
the
Dr
.
Johnsons
and
the
like
,
may
smile
at
my
narrative
,
but
the
poorer
folk
of
the
countryside
had
never
a
doubt
as
to
its
truth
.
On
the
day
after
my
recovering
consciousness
they
assembled
in
their
hundreds
round
the
Blue
John
Gap
.
As
the
Castleton
Courier
said
:
"
It
was
useless
for
our
correspondent
,
or
for
any
of
the
adventurous
gentlemen
who
had
come
from
Matlock
,
Buxton
,
and
other
parts
,
to
offer
to
descend
,
to
explore
the
cave
to
the
end
,
and
to
finally
test
the
extraordinary
narrative
of
Dr
.
James
Hardcastle
.
The
country
people
had
taken
the
matter
into
their
own
hands
,
and
from
an
early
hour
of
the
morning
they
had
worked
hard
in
stopping
up
the
entrance
of
the
tunnel
.
There
is
a
sharp
slope
where
the
shaft
begins
,
and
great
boulders
,
rolled
along
by
many
willing
hands
,
were
thrust
down
it
until
the
Gap
was
absolutely
sealed
.
So
ends
the
episode
which
has
caused
such
excitement
throughout
the
country
.
Local
opinion
is
fiercely
divided
upon
the
subject
.
On
the
one
hand
are
those
who
point
to
Dr
.
Hardcastle
’
s
impaired
health
,
and
to
the
possibility
of
cerebral
lesions
of
tubercular
origin
giving
rise
to
strange
hallucinations
.
Some
idee
fixe
,
according
to
these
gentlemen
,
caused
the
doctor
to
wander
down
the
tunnel
,
and
a
fall
among
the
rocks
was
sufficient
to
account
for
his
injuries
.
On
the
other
hand
,
a
legend
of
a
strange
creature
in
the
Gap
has
existed
for
some
months
back
,
and
the
farmers
look
upon
Dr
.
Hardcastle
’
s
narrative
and
his
personal
injuries
as
a
final
corroboration
.
So
the
matter
stands
,
and
so
the
matter
will
continue
to
stand
,
for
no
definite
solution
seems
to
us
to
be
now
possible
.
It
transcends
human
wit
to
give
any
scientific
explanation
which
could
cover
the
alleged
facts
.
"
