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- Генри Хаггард
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- Копи царя Соломона
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- Стр. 136/166
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It
was
a
ghastly
sight
.
There
at
the
end
of
the
long
stone
table
,
holding
in
his
skeleton
fingers
a
great
white
spear
,
sat
Death
himself
,
shaped
in
the
form
of
a
colossal
human
skeleton
,
fifteen
feet
or
more
in
height
.
High
above
his
head
he
held
the
spear
,
as
though
in
the
act
to
strike
;
one
bony
hand
rested
on
the
stone
table
before
him
,
in
the
position
a
man
assumes
on
rising
from
his
seat
,
whilst
his
frame
was
bent
forward
so
that
the
vertebræ
of
the
neck
and
the
grinning
,
gleaming
skull
projected
towards
us
,
and
fixed
its
hollow
eye-places
upon
us
,
the
jaws
a
little
open
,
as
though
it
were
about
to
speak
.
"
Great
heavens
!
"
said
I
faintly
,
at
last
,
"
what
can
it
be
?
"
"
And
what
are
those
things
?
"
asked
Good
,
pointing
to
the
white
company
round
the
table
.
"
And
what
on
earth
is
that
thing
?
"
said
Sir
Henry
,
pointing
to
the
brown
creature
seated
on
the
table
.
"
Hee
!
hee
!
hee
!
"
laughed
Gagool
.
"
To
those
who
enter
the
Hall
of
the
Dead
,
evil
comes
.
Hee
!
hee
!
hee
!
ha
!
ha
!
"
"
Come
,
Incubu
,
brave
in
battle
,
come
and
see
him
thou
slewest
;
"
and
the
old
creature
caught
Curtis
'
coat
in
her
skinny
fingers
,
and
led
him
away
towards
the
table
.
We
followed
.
Presently
she
stopped
and
pointed
at
the
brown
object
seated
on
the
table
.
Sir
Henry
looked
,
and
started
back
with
an
exclamation
;
and
no
wonder
,
for
there
,
quite
naked
,
the
head
which
Curtis
'
battle-axe
had
shorn
from
the
body
resting
on
its
knees
,
was
the
gaunt
corpse
of
Twala
,
the
last
king
of
the
Kukuanas
.
Yes
,
there
,
the
head
perched
upon
the
knees
,
it
sat
in
all
its
ugliness
,
the
vertebræ
projecting
a
full
inch
above
the
level
of
the
shrunken
flesh
of
the
neck
,
for
all
the
world
like
a
black
double
of
Hamilton
Tighe
.
Over
the
surface
of
the
corpse
there
was
gathered
a
thin
glassy
film
,
that
made
its
appearance
yet
more
appalling
,
for
which
we
were
,
at
the
moment
,
quite
unable
to
account
,
till
presently
we
observed
that
from
the
roof
of
the
chamber
the
water
fell
steadily
,
drip
!
drop
!
drip
!
on
to
the
neck
of
the
corpse
,
whence
it
ran
down
over
the
entire
surface
,
and
finally
escaped
into
the
rock
through
a
tiny
hole
in
the
table
.
Then
I
guessed
what
the
film
was
--
Twala
's
body
was
being
transformed
into
a
stalactite
.
A
look
at
the
white
forms
seated
on
the
stone
bench
which
ran
round
that
ghastly
board
confirmed
this
view
.
They
were
human
bodies
indeed
,
or
rather
they
had
been
human
;
now
they
were
stalactites
.
This
was
the
way
in
which
the
Kukuana
people
had
from
time
immemorial
preserved
their
royal
dead
.
They
petrified
them
.
What
the
exact
system
might
be
,
if
there
was
any
,
beyond
the
placing
of
them
for
a
long
period
of
years
under
the
drip
,
I
never
discovered
,
but
there
they
sat
,
iced
over
and
preserved
for
ever
by
the
siliceous
fluid
.
Anything
more
awe-inspiring
than
the
spectacle
of
this
long
line
of
departed
royalties
(
there
were
twenty-seven
of
them
,
the
last
being
Ignosi
's
father
)
,
wrapped
,
each
of
them
,
in
a
shroud
of
ice-like
spar
,
through
which
the
features
could
be
dimly
discovered
,
and
seated
round
that
inhospitable
board
,
with
Death
himself
for
a
host
,
it
is
impossible
to
imagine
.
That
the
practice
of
thus
preserving
their
kings
must
have
been
an
ancient
one
is
evident
from
the
number
,
which
,
allowing
for
an
average
reign
of
fifteen
years
,
supposing
that
every
king
who
reigned
was
placed
here
--
an
improbable
thing
,
as
some
are
sure
to
have
perished
in
battle
far
from
home
--
would
fix
the
date
of
its
commencement
at
four
and
a
quarter
centuries
back
.
