-
Главная
-
- Книги
-
- Авторы
-
- Говард Лавкрафт
-
- Хребты безумия
-
- Стр. 21/38
Для того чтобы воспользоваться озвучкой предложений, необходимо
Войти или зарегистрироваться
Озвучка предложений доступна при наличии PRO-доступа
Купить PRO-доступ
Heaped
debris
made
the
entrance
to
the
vast
left-hand
building
doubly
easy
,
yet
for
a
moment
we
hesitated
before
taking
advantage
of
the
long-wished
chance
.
For
though
we
had
penetrated
into
this
tangle
of
archaic
mystery
,
it
required
fresh
resolution
to
carry
us
actually
inside
a
complete
and
surviving
building
of
a
fabulous
elder
world
whose
nature
was
becoming
more
and
more
hideously
plain
to
us
.
In
the
end
,
however
,
we
made
the
plunge
,
and
scrambled
up
over
the
rubble
into
the
gaping
embrasure
.
The
floor
beyond
was
of
great
slate
slabs
,
and
seemed
to
form
the
outlet
of
a
long
,
high
corridor
with
sculptured
walls
.
Observing
the
many
inner
archways
which
led
off
from
it
,
and
realizing
the
probable
complexity
of
the
nest
of
apartments
within
,
we
decided
that
we
must
begin
our
system
of
hare-and-hound
trail
blazing
.
Hitherto
our
compasses
,
together
with
frequent
glimpses
of
the
vast
mountain
range
between
the
towers
in
our
rear
,
had
been
enough
to
prevent
our
losing
our
way
;
but
from
now
on
,
the
artificial
substitute
would
be
necessary
.
Accordingly
we
reduced
our
extra
paper
to
shreds
of
suitable
size
,
placed
these
in
a
bag
to
be
carried
by
Danforth
,
and
prepared
to
use
them
as
economically
as
safety
would
allow
.
This
method
would
probably
gain
us
immunity
from
straying
,
since
there
did
not
appear
to
be
any
strong
air
currents
inside
the
primordial
masonry
.
If
such
should
develop
,
or
if
our
paper
supply
should
give
out
,
we
could
of
course
fall
back
on
the
more
secure
though
more
tedious
and
retarding
method
of
rock
chipping
.
Just
how
extensive
a
territory
we
had
opened
up
,
it
was
impossible
to
guess
without
a
trial
.
The
close
and
frequent
connection
of
the
different
buildings
made
it
likely
that
we
might
cross
from
one
to
another
on
bridges
underneath
the
ice
,
except
where
impeded
by
local
collapses
and
geologic
rifts
,
for
very
little
glaciation
seemed
to
have
entered
the
massive
constructions
.
Almost
all
the
areas
of
transparent
ice
had
revealed
the
submerged
windows
as
tightly
shuttered
,
as
if
the
town
had
been
left
in
that
uniform
state
until
the
glacial
sheet
came
to
crystallize
the
lower
part
for
all
succeeding
time
.
Indeed
,
one
gained
a
curious
impression
that
this
place
had
been
deliberately
closed
and
deserted
in
some
dim
,
bygone
aeon
,
rather
than
overwhelmed
by
any
sudden
calamity
or
even
gradual
decay
.
Had
the
coming
of
the
ice
been
foreseen
,
and
had
a
nameless
population
left
en
masse
to
seek
a
less
doomed
abode
?
The
precise
physiographic
conditions
attending
the
formation
of
the
ice
sheet
at
this
point
would
have
to
wait
for
later
solution
.
It
had
not
,
very
plainly
,
been
a
grinding
drive
.
Perhaps
the
pressure
of
accumulated
snows
had
been
responsible
,
and
perhaps
some
flood
from
the
river
,
or
from
the
bursting
of
some
ancient
glacial
dam
in
the
great
range
,
had
helped
to
create
the
special
state
now
observable
.
Imagination
could
conceive
almost
anything
in
connection
with
this
place
.
It
would
be
cumbrous
to
give
a
detailed
,
consecutive
account
of
our
wanderings
inside
that
cavernous
,
aeon-dead
honeycomb
of
primal
masonry
--
that
monstrous
lair
of
elder
secrets
which
now
echoed
for
the
first
time
,
after
uncounted
epochs
,
to
the
tread
of
human
feet
.
This
is
especially
true
because
so
much
of
the
horrible
drama
and
revelation
came
from
a
mere
study
of
the
omnipresent
mural
carvings
.
Our
flashlight
photographs
of
those
carvings
will
do
much
toward
proving
the
truth
of
what
we
are
now
disclosing
,
and
it
is
lamentable
that
we
had
not
a
larger
film
supply
with
us
.
As
it
was
,
we
made
crude
notebook
sketches
of
certain
salient
features
after
all
our
films
were
used
up
.
The
building
which
we
had
entered
was
one
of
great
size
and
elaborateness
,
and
gave
us
an
impressive
notion
of
the
architecture
of
that
nameless
geologic
past
.
The
inner
partitions
were
less
massive
than
the
outer
walls
,
but
on
the
lower
levels
were
excellently
preserved
.
Labyrinthine
complexity
,
involving
curiously
irregular
difference
in
floor
levels
,
characterized
the
entire
arrangement
;
and
we
should
certainly
have
been
lost
at
the
very
outset
but
for
the
trail
of
torn
paper
left
behind
us
.
We
decided
to
explore
the
more
decrepit
upper
parts
first
of
all
,
hence
climbed
aloft
in
the
maze
for
a
distance
of
some
one
hundred
feet
,
to
where
the
topmost
tier
of
chambers
yawned
snowily
and
ruinously
open
to
the
polar
sky
.
Ascent
was
effected
over
the
steep
,
transversely
ribbed
stone
ramps
or
inclined
planes
which
everywhere
served
in
lieu
of
stairs
.
The
rooms
we
encountered
were
of
all
imaginable
shapes
and
proportions
,
ranging
from
five-pointed
stars
to
triangles
and
perfect
cubes
.
It
might
be
safe
to
say
that
their
general
average
was
about
30
x
30
feet
in
floor
area
,
and
20
feet
in
height
,
though
many
larger
apartments
existed
.
After
thoroughly
examining
the
upper
regions
and
the
glacial
level
,
we
descended
,
story
by
story
,
into
the
submerged
part
,
where
indeed
we
soon
saw
we
were
in
a
continuous
maze
of
connected
chambers
and
passages
probably
leading
over
unlimited
areas
outside
this
particular
building
.
The
Cyclopean
massiveness
and
gigantism
of
everything
about
us
became
curiously
oppressive
;
and
there
was
something
vaguely
but
deeply
unhuman
in
all
the
contours
,
dimensions
,
proportions
,
decorations
,
and
constructional
nuances
of
the
blasphemously
archaic
stonework
.
We
soon
realized
,
from
what
the
carvings
revealed
,
that
this
monstrous
city
was
many
million
years
old
.
We
can
not
yet
explain
the
engineering
principles
used
in
the
anomalous
balancing
and
adjustment
of
the
vast
rock
masses
,
though
the
function
of
the
arch
was
clearly
much
relied
on
.
The
rooms
we
visited
were
wholly
bare
of
all
portable
contents
,
a
circumstance
which
sustained
our
belief
in
the
city
's
deliberate
desertion
.
The
prime
decorative
feature
was
the
almost
universal
system
of
mural
sculpture
,
which
tended
to
run
in
continuous
horizontal
bands
three
feet
wide
and
arranged
from
floor
to
ceiling
in
alternation
with
bands
of
equal
width
given
over
to
geometrical
arabesques
.
There
were
exceptions
to
this
rule
of
arrangement
,
but
its
preponderance
was
overwhelming
.
Often
,
however
,
a
series
of
smooth
cartouches
containing
oddly
patterned
groups
of
dots
would
be
sunk
along
one
of
the
arabesque
bands
.
The
technique
,
we
soon
saw
,
was
mature
,
accomplished
,
and
aesthetically
evolved
to
the
highest
degree
of
civilized
mastery
,
though
utterly
alien
in
every
detail
to
any
known
art
tradition
of
the
human
race
.
In
delicacy
of
execution
no
sculpture
I
have
ever
seen
could
approach
it
.
The
minutest
details
of
elaborate
vegetation
,
or
of
animal
life
,
were
rendered
with
astonishing
vividness
despite
the
bold
scale
of
the
carvings
;
whilst
the
conventional
designs
were
marvels
of
skillful
intricacy
.
The
arabesques
displayed
a
profound
use
of
mathematical
principles
,
and
were
made
up
of
obscurely
symmetrical
curves
and
angles
based
on
the
quantity
of
five
.
The
pictorial
bands
followed
a
highly
formalized
tradition
,
and
involved
a
peculiar
treatment
of
perspective
,
but
had
an
artistic
force
that
moved
us
profoundly
,
notwithstanding
the
intervening
gulf
of
vast
geologic
periods
.
Their
method
of
design
hinged
on
a
singular
juxtaposition
of
the
cross
section
with
the
two-dimensional
silhouette
,
and
embodied
an
analytical
psychology
beyond
that
of
any
known
race
of
antiquity
.
It
is
useless
to
try
to
compare
this
art
with
any
represented
in
our
museums
.
Those
who
see
our
photographs
will
probably
find
its
closest
analogue
in
certain
grotesque
conceptions
of
the
most
daring
futurists
.
