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- Говард Лавкрафт
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- Стр. 12/13
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The
dimensions
of
the
hole
were
fully
in
proportion
with
those
of
the
columns
--
an
ordinary
house
would
have
been
lost
in
it
,
and
any
average
public
building
could
easily
have
been
moved
in
and
out
.
It
was
so
vast
a
surface
that
only
by
moving
the
eye
could
one
trace
its
boundaries
...
so
vast
,
so
hideously
black
,
and
so
aromatically
stinking
.
Directly
in
front
of
this
yawning
Polyphemus-door
the
things
were
throwing
objects
--
evidently
sacrifices
or
religious
offerings
,
to
judge
by
their
gestures
.
Khephren
was
their
leader
;
sneering
King
Khephren
or
the
guide
Abdul
Reis
,
crowned
with
a
golden
pshent
and
intoning
endless
formulae
with
the
hollow
voice
of
the
dead
.
By
his
side
knelt
beautiful
Queen
Nitocris
,
whom
I
saw
in
profile
for
a
moment
,
noting
that
the
right
half
of
her
face
was
eaten
away
by
rats
or
other
ghouls
.
And
I
shut
my
eyes
again
when
I
saw
what
objects
were
being
thrown
as
offerings
to
the
fetid
aperture
or
its
possible
local
deity
.
It
occurred
to
me
that
,
judging
from
the
elaborateness
of
this
worship
,
the
concealed
deity
must
be
one
of
considerable
importance
.
Was
it
Osiris
or
Isis
,
Horus
or
Anubis
,
or
some
vast
unknown
God
of
the
Dead
still
more
central
and
supreme
?
There
is
a
legend
that
terrible
altars
and
colossi
were
reared
to
an
Unknown
One
before
ever
the
known
gods
were
worshipped
...
And
now
,
as
I
steeled
myself
to
watch
the
rapt
and
sepulchral
adorations
of
those
nameless
things
,
a
thought
of
escape
flashed
upon
me
.
The
hall
was
dim
,
and
the
columns
heavy
with
shadow
.
With
every
creature
of
that
nightmare
throng
absorbed
in
shocking
raptures
,
it
might
be
barely
possible
for
me
to
creep
past
to
the
far-away
end
of
one
of
the
staircases
and
ascend
unseen
;
trusting
to
Fate
and
skill
to
deliver
me
from
the
upper
reaches
.
Where
I
was
,
I
neither
knew
nor
seriously
reflected
upon
--
and
for
a
moment
it
struck
me
as
amusing
to
plan
a
serious
escape
from
that
which
I
knew
to
be
a
dream
.
Was
I
in
some
hidden
and
unsuspected
lower
realm
of
Khephren
's
gateway
temple
--
that
temple
which
generations
have
persistently
called
the
Temple
of
the
Sphinx
?
I
could
not
conjecture
,
but
I
resolved
to
ascend
to
life
and
consciousness
if
wit
and
muscle
could
carry
me
.
Wriggling
flat
on
my
stomach
,
I
began
the
anxious
journey
toward
the
foot
of
the
left-hand
staircase
,
which
seemed
the
more
accessible
of
the
two
.
I
can
not
describe
the
incidents
and
sensations
of
that
crawl
,
but
they
may
be
guessed
when
one
reflects
on
what
I
had
to
watch
steadily
in
that
malign
,
wind-blown
torchlight
in
order
to
avoid
detection
.
The
bottom
of
the
staircase
was
,
as
I
have
said
,
far
away
in
shadow
,
as
it
had
to
be
to
rise
without
a
bend
to
the
dizzy
parapeted
landing
above
the
titanic
aperture
.
This
placed
the
last
stages
of
my
crawl
at
some
distance
from
the
noisome
herd
,
though
the
spectacle
chilled
me
even
when
quite
remote
at
my
right
.
At
length
I
succeeded
in
reaching
the
steps
and
began
to
climb
;
keeping
close
to
the
wall
,
on
which
I
observed
decorations
of
the
most
hideous
sort
,
and
relying
for
safety
on
the
absorbed
,
ecstatic
interest
with
which
the
monstrosities
watched
the
foul-breezed
aperture
and
the
impious
objects
of
nourishment
they
had
flung
on
the
pavement
before
it
.
Though
the
staircase
was
huge
and
steep
,
fashioned
of
vast
porphyry
blocks
as
if
for
the
feet
of
a
giant
,
the
ascent
seemed
virtually
interminable
.
Dread
of
discovery
and
the
pain
which
renewed
exercise
had
brought
to
my
wounds
combined
to
make
that
upward
crawl
a
thing
of
agonizing
memory
.
I
had
intended
,
on
reaching
the
landing
,
to
climb
immediately
onward
along
whatever
upper
staircase
might
mount
from
there
;
stopping
for
no
last
look
at
the
carrion
abominations
that
pawed
and
genuflected
some
seventy
or
eighty
feet
below
--
yet
a
sudden
repetition
of
that
thunderous
corpse-gurgle
and
death-rattle
chorus
,
coming
as
I
had
nearly
gained
the
top
of
the
flight
and
showing
by
its
ceremonial
rhythm
that
it
was
not
an
alarm
of
my
discovery
,
caused
me
to
pause
and
peer
cautiously
over
the
parapet
.
The
monstrosities
were
hailing
something
which
had
poked
itself
out
of
the
nauseous
aperture
to
seize
the
hellish
fare
proffered
it
.
It
was
something
quite
ponderous
,
even
as
seen
from
my
height
;
something
yellowish
and
hairy
,
and
endowed
with
a
sort
of
nervous
motion
.
It
was
as
large
,
perhaps
,
as
a
good-sized
hippopotamus
,
but
very
curiously
shaped
.
It
seemed
to
have
no
neck
,
but
five
separate
shaggy
heads
springing
in
a
row
from
a
roughly
cylindrical
trunk
;
the
first
very
small
,
the
second
good-sized
,
the
third
and
fourth
equal
and
largest
of
all
,
and
the
fifth
rather
small
,
though
not
so
small
as
the
first
.
Out
of
these
heads
darted
curious
rigid
tentacles
which
seized
ravenously
on
the
excessively
great
quantities
of
unmentionable
food
placed
before
the
aperture
.
Once
in
a
while
the
thing
would
leap
up
,
and
occasionally
it
would
retreat
into
its
den
in
a
very
odd
manner
.
Its
locomotion
was
so
inexplicable
that
I
stared
in
fascination
,
wishing
it
would
emerge
farther
from
the
cavernous
lair
beneath
me
.
Then
it
did
emerge
...
it
did
emerge
,
and
at
the
sight
I
turned
and
fled
into
the
darkness
up
the
higher
staircase
that
rose
behind
me
;
fled
unknowingly
up
incredible
steps
and
ladders
and
inclined
planes
to
which
no
human
sight
or
logic
guided
me
,
and
which
I
must
ever
relegate
to
the
world
of
dreams
for
want
of
any
confirmation
.
It
must
have
been
a
dream
,
or
the
dawn
would
never
have
found
me
breathing
on
the
sands
of
Gizeh
before
the
sardonic
dawn-flushed
face
of
the
Great
Sphinx
