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- Говард Лавкрафт
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- Зов Ктулху
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- Стр. 6/13
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Then
the
men
,
having
reached
a
spot
where
the
trees
were
thinner
,
came
suddenly
in
sight
of
the
spectacle
itself
.
Four
of
them
reeled
,
one
fainted
,
and
two
were
shaken
into
a
frantic
cry
which
the
mad
cacophony
of
the
orgy
fortunately
deadened
.
Legrasse
dashed
swamp
water
on
the
face
of
the
fainting
man
,
and
all
stood
trembling
and
nearly
hypnotised
with
horror
.
In
a
natural
glade
of
the
swamp
stood
a
grassy
island
of
perhaps
an
acre
's
extent
,
clear
of
trees
and
tolerably
dry
.
On
this
now
leaped
and
twisted
a
more
indescribable
horde
of
human
abnormality
than
any
but
a
Sime
or
an
Angarola
could
paint
.
Void
of
clothing
,
this
hybrid
spawn
were
braying
,
bellowing
,
and
writhing
about
a
monstrous
ring-shaped
bonfire
;
in
the
centre
of
which
,
revealed
by
occasional
rifts
in
the
curtain
of
flame
,
stood
a
great
granite
monolith
some
eight
feet
in
height
;
on
top
of
which
,
incongruous
in
its
diminutiveness
,
rested
the
noxious
carven
statuette
.
From
a
wide
circle
of
ten
scaffolds
set
up
at
regular
intervals
with
the
flame-girt
monolith
as
a
centre
hung
,
head
downward
,
the
oddly
marred
bodies
of
the
helpless
squatters
who
had
disappeared
.
It
was
inside
this
circle
that
the
ring
of
worshippers
jumped
and
roared
,
the
general
direction
of
the
mass
motion
being
from
left
to
right
in
endless
Bacchanal
between
the
ring
of
bodies
and
the
ring
of
fire
.
It
may
have
been
only
imagination
and
it
may
have
been
only
echoes
which
induced
one
of
the
men
,
an
excitable
Spaniard
,
to
fancy
he
heard
antiphonal
responses
to
the
ritual
from
some
far
and
unillumined
spot
deeper
within
the
wood
of
ancient
legendry
and
horror
.
This
man
,
Joseph
D.
Galvez
,
I
later
met
and
questioned
;
and
he
proved
distractingly
imaginative
.
He
indeed
went
so
far
as
to
hint
of
the
faint
beating
of
great
wings
,
and
of
a
glimpse
of
shining
eyes
and
a
mountainous
white
bulk
beyond
the
remotest
trees
--
but
I
suppose
he
had
been
hearing
too
much
native
superstition
.
Actually
,
the
horrified
pause
of
the
men
was
of
comparatively
brief
duration
.
Duty
came
first
;
and
although
there
must
have
been
nearly
a
hundred
mongrel
celebrants
in
the
throng
,
the
police
relied
on
their
firearms
and
plunged
determinedly
into
the
nauseous
rout
.
For
five
minutes
the
resultant
din
and
chaos
were
beyond
description
.
Wild
blows
were
struck
,
shots
were
fired
,
and
escapes
were
made
;
but
in
the
end
Legrasse
was
able
to
count
some
forty-seven
sullen
prisoners
,
whom
he
forced
to
dress
in
haste
and
fall
into
line
between
two
rows
of
policemen
.
Five
of
the
worshippers
lay
dead
,
and
two
severely
wounded
ones
were
carried
away
on
improvised
stretchers
by
their
fellow-prisoners
.
The
image
on
the
monolith
,
of
course
,
was
carefully
removed
and
carried
back
by
Legrasse
.
Examined
at
headquarters
after
a
trip
of
intense
strain
and
weariness
,
the
prisoners
all
proved
to
be
men
of
a
very
low
,
mixed-blooded
,
and
mentally
aberrant
type
.
Most
were
seamen
,
and
a
sprinkling
of
Negroes
and
mulattoes
,
largely
West
Indians
or
Brava
Portuguese
from
the
Cape
Verde
Islands
,
gave
a
colouring
of
voodooism
to
the
heterogeneous
cult
.
But
before
many
questions
were
asked
,
it
became
manifest
that
something
far
deeper
and
older
than
Negro
fetichism
was
involved
.
Degraded
and
ignorant
as
they
were
,
the
creatures
held
with
surprising
consistency
to
the
central
idea
of
their
loathsome
faith
.
They
worshipped
,
so
they
said
,
the
Great
Old
Ones
who
lived
ages
before
there
were
any
men
,
and
who
came
to
the
young
world
out
of
the
sky
.
Those
Old
Ones
were
gone
now
,
inside
the
earth
and
under
the
sea
;
but
their
dead
bodies
had
told
their
secrets
in
dreams
to
the
first
men
,
who
formed
a
cult
which
had
never
died
.
This
was
that
cult
,
and
the
prisoners
said
it
had
always
existed
and
always
would
exist
,
hidden
in
distant
wastes
and
dark
places
all
over
the
world
until
the
time
when
the
great
priest
Cthulhu
,
from
his
dark
house
in
the
mighty
city
of
R'lyeh
under
the
waters
,
should
rise
and
bring
the
earth
again
beneath
his
sway
.
Some
day
he
would
call
,
when
the
stars
were
ready
,
and
the
secret
cult
would
always
be
waiting
to
liberate
him
.
Meanwhile
no
more
must
be
told
.
There
was
a
secret
which
even
torture
could
not
extract
.
Mankind
was
not
absolutely
alone
among
the
conscious
things
of
earth
,
for
shapes
came
out
of
the
dark
to
visit
the
faithful
few
.
But
these
were
not
the
Great
Old
Ones
.
No
man
had
ever
seen
the
Old
Ones
.
The
carven
idol
was
great
Cthulhu
,
but
none
might
say
whether
or
not
the
others
were
precisely
like
him
.
No
one
could
read
the
old
writing
now
,
but
things
were
told
by
word
of
mouth
.
The
chanted
ritual
was
not
the
secret
--
that
was
never
spoken
aloud
,
only
whispered
.
The
chant
meant
only
this
:
"
In
his
house
at
R'lyeh
dead
Cthulhu
waits
dreaming
.
"
