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05 - Baron Trump's Marvellous Underground Journey - Ingersoll Lockwood · Daily Classic Sci Fi Books

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  Speaker 1: Chapter five. Up and still up, and through the quarries
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  Speaker 1: of the demons, How the cattle kept the trail, and
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  Speaker 1: how we came at last upon the brink of the
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  Speaker 1: Giant's well. The terraces are safely passed. Beginning of the
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  Speaker 1: descent into the well itself. All difficulties overcome we reached
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  Speaker 1: the edge of Polyphemus's funnel. Generally speaking, people with very
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  Speaker 1: large heads are fitted out by nature with a pair
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  Speaker 1: of rather pipe stemy legs. But such was not my case.
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  Speaker 1: I was blessed with legs of the sturdiest sort, and
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  Speaker 1: found no difficulty in keeping pace with my new four
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  Speaker 1: footed friends, who, to my delight, were not long in
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  Speaker 1: convincing me that they had been there before. Not for
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  Speaker 1: an instant did they halt at any fork in the path,
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  Speaker 1: but kept continually on the move, often passing over stretches
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  Speaker 1: of ground where there was no trail visible, but coming
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  Speaker 1: upon it again with unfailing accuracy. Once only they halted,
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  Speaker 1: and that was to slake their thirst at a mountain
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  Speaker 1: rill vulgar and I followed their example. It was only
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  Speaker 1: too evident to me that they had in mind a
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  Speaker 1: certain grazing ground, and were resolved to be satisfied with
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  Speaker 1: no other, so I let them have their own way.
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  Speaker 1: For as it was still up up up, I felt
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  Speaker 1: that it was perfectly safe to follow their lead. At last,
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  Speaker 1: the mountain side began to take on quite another character.
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  Speaker 1: The gorges grew narrower, and at times overhanging rocks shut
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  Speaker 1: out the sunlight almost entirely. We were entering a region
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  Speaker 1: of peculiar wildness, of fantastic grandeur. I had often read
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  Speaker 1: of what travelers termed the quarries of the demons in
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  Speaker 1: the Northern Urals, but never till now had I the
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  Speaker 1: faintest notion of what the expression meant. Imagine to yourself
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  Speaker 1: the usual look of ruin and devastation around and about
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  Speaker 1: a quarry worked by human hands. Then, in your thoughts,
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  Speaker 1: conceive every chip to be a block, and every block
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  Speaker 1: a mass. Add four times at size to every slab
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  Speaker 1: and post and pecument, and then turn a mighty torrent
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  Speaker 1: through the place, and roll and twist and lift them
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  Speaker 1: up in wild confusion, end on end and on each other.
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  Speaker 1: Piled to these wild waters have builded fantastic portals to temples,
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  Speaker 1: more fantastic and arched. Wild gorges with roofs of rock,
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  Speaker 1: which seemed to hang so lightly that a breath or
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  Speaker 1: footfall might bring them down with terrible crash. And then,
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  Speaker 1: dear friends, you may succeed in getting a faint idea
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  Speaker 1: of the wild and awful grandeur of the scene which
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  Speaker 1: now lay spread out before me. Would the cattle that
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  Speaker 1: had now led Bulgar and me so safely up the
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  Speaker 1: mountain side? Know where to find an entrance to this
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  Speaker 1: wilderness of broken rock? And what was more important, still,
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  Speaker 1: would they, when once engaged within its winding courts and corridors,
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  Speaker 1: its darkened maze of wall and parapet, its streets and
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  Speaker 1: plazas roughly paved as if by demon hands, impatient of
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  Speaker 1: the task, know how to find their way out again.
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  Speaker 1: Dear friends, man has always been too distrustful of his
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  Speaker 1: four footed companions. They have much that they might tell us,
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  Speaker 1: had they but speech to tell it with. I have
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  Speaker 1: often trusted them when it would have seemed fool hearty
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  Speaker 1: to you. At never once have I had cause to
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  Speaker 1: repent of doing so. So. Vulgar and I, with stout hearts,
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  Speaker 1: followed straight after these silent guides. Although I must confess
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  Speaker 1: my legs were beginning to feel the terrible strain I
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  Speaker 1: had put them to, but I resolved to push on
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  Speaker 1: a head at least until we had cleared the demon's quarry,
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  Speaker 1: and then to bring my little herd to a halt
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  Speaker 1: and pass the rest of the day in the night
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  Speaker 1: season in well earned repose. Once within the quarry, however,
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  Speaker 1: all sense of fatigue vanished, and my thankful mind entranced
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  Speaker 1: and fascinated by the deep silence, The awful grandeur, the
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  Speaker 1: mysterious lights and shadows of the place lent me new strength.
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  Speaker 1: At length we had traversed this city of silence and gloom,
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  Speaker 1: and once again we emerged into the full glory of
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  Speaker 1: the afternoon sun. Suddenly, my little drove of cattle, with
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  Speaker 1: playful tossing of their heads, broke into a run, Bulgar
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  Speaker 1: and I at their heels. However, it was a mad race,
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  Speaker 1: But dear friends, when it ended, I took off my
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  Speaker 1: fur cap and tossed it high into the air with
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  Speaker 1: a wild cry of joy, and Bulgar broke out in
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  Speaker 1: a string of yelps and barks. For look, ye, the
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  Speaker 1: cattle were grazing away for dear life there in front
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  Speaker 1: of me, and as their breath reached my keen nostrils
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  Speaker 1: recognized the odor of Juliana's herbs, which she had bound
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  Speaker 1: on my hard head. Yes, we stood almost upon the
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  Speaker 1: brink of the giant's well, but I was too tired
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  Speaker 1: to take another step farther, too tired, in fact, to eat,
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  Speaker 1: although I had a stalk of dried fruit in my pockets,
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  Speaker 1: and noticed that the nests of the wild fowl were
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  Speaker 1: well supplied with eggs. Having unloosened the tackle from the
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  Speaker 1: back of the good beast that had carried it up
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  Speaker 1: the mountain for me, I threw myself on the ground
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  Speaker 1: and was soon fast asleep, with my faithful Bulgar boiled
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  Speaker 1: up close against my breast. In the morning, the cattle
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  Speaker 1: were nowhere to be seen, but I didn't trouble myself
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  Speaker 1: about them, for I knew that old Juliana would be
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  Speaker 1: sent up after them the moment they were missed. After
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  Speaker 1: a hearty breakfast on half a dozen roasted eggs of
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  Speaker 1: the wild fowl with some dried fruit and winter green berries,
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  Speaker 1: Vulgar and I advanced to the edge of the Giant's well,
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  Speaker 1: or rather to the edge of the vast terraces of
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  Speaker 1: rock leading down to it, each of which was from
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  Speaker 1: thirty to fifty feet in share height. Before I go
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  Speaker 1: any further, dear friends, I must beg you to remember
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  Speaker 1: that I am an expert in the use of tackle,
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  Speaker 1: there being no not, noose or splice known to a
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  Speaker 1: sailor which I didn't have at my fingers ends, in
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  Speaker 1: fact not to be wondered at when you take into
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  Speaker 1: consideration the thousands of miles which I have traveled on water.
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  Speaker 1: Nor would I have you shake your heads and look
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  Speaker 1: only half persuaded when I go on describing our descent
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  Speaker 1: into the giant's well, For of course you'll be asking
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  Speaker 1: yourselves how I succeeded in giving the tackle down when
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  Speaker 1: there was no one left at the other end to
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  Speaker 1: and tie it. No, then that that was the smallest
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  Speaker 1: of my troubles, For as any sailor will tell you,
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  Speaker 1: you only need to tie your line in what is
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  Speaker 1: known as a fool's knot to one end of which
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  Speaker 1: you make fast and mere cord. The moment you have
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  Speaker 1: reached the bottom, a sharp tug at the cord unties
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  Speaker 1: the fool's knot, and your tackle falls down after you.
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  Speaker 1: My method was to lower bulgar down first, and then
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  Speaker 1: let myself down after him. In this way we proceeded
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  Speaker 1: from parapet to parapet, until at last we stood upon
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  Speaker 1: the very edge of the vast well, the existence of
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  Speaker 1: which had been so mysteriously hinted at in Don Fome's manuscript.
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  Speaker 1: Its mouth was probably fifty feet in width, and by
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  Speaker 1: straining my eyes, I satisfied myself of the existence of
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  Speaker 1: a shelf of rock on one side as nearly as
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  Speaker 1: I could judge, about seventy five feet down. It was
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  Speaker 1: a goodly stretch, and would require every foot of my rope.
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  Speaker 1: You will not smile, I'm sure when I tell you
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  Speaker 1: that I pressed Bulgar to my breast and kissed him
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  Speaker 1: fondly before lowering away. He returned my caresses, and by
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  Speaker 1: his joyous yelp, gave me to understand that he had
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  Speaker 1: perfect faith in his little master. In a few moments
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  Speaker 1: I had joined him on this narrow shelf of rock.
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  Speaker 1: Below us now was darkness. But think you I hesitated.
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  Speaker 1: I knew that my eyes would soon become accustomed to
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  Speaker 1: the gloom. And I also knew that when my eyes failed,
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  Speaker 1: Bulgar's keener ones were there to help me out. I
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  Speaker 1: rigged my tackle now with extra care, for I was
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  Speaker 1: really lowering my little brother on a sort of trip
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  Speaker 1: of discovery. He was soon out of sight. And then,
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  Speaker 1: in spite of my calmness, I drew a quick breath,
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  Speaker 1: and my heart started upward a barley corner or so.
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  Speaker 1: But harp, his quick, sharp bark comes plainly up to me.
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  Speaker 1: It means that he has landed upon a safe shell
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  Speaker 1: or ledge. And the next moment my legs encircled the
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  Speaker 1: rope and I began to glide noiselessly down in to
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  Speaker 1: the stilly depths, his glad voice ringing in my ears.
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  Speaker 1: Again and again did I send my wise and watchful
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  Speaker 1: little brother down ahead of me, until at last, standing
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  Speaker 1: there and looking up, naught remained to me of the
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  Speaker 1: mighty outside world, but a bright silver spack, like a
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  Speaker 1: tiny ray of light streaming through a pin hole in
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  Speaker 1: the curtains of your chamber. But stop, have we reached
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  Speaker 1: the bottom of the Giant's well, For with a trial plummet,
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  Speaker 1: I find that the walls are no longer sheer. They
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  Speaker 1: slope inward and gently too, almost so much so that
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  Speaker 1: I hardly need a line to continue my descent. Lighting
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  Speaker 1: one of my little tapers. I make my way cautiously
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  Speaker 1: around the edge. In half an hour I find myself
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  Speaker 1: back at the starting place. The curve to the path
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  Speaker 1: has always been the same, while my trial plummet at
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  Speaker 1: all times has indicated the same slope to the rocky basin.
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  Speaker 1: And then, for the first time, two certain words made
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  Speaker 1: use of by that learned master of Master's don fum
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  Speaker 1: till then mystery to me stood out before my eyes,
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  Speaker 1: as if written with a pen upon those black walls
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  Speaker 1: thousands of feet below the great world of light, which
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  Speaker 1: I had quitted a few hours before. Those words were
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  Speaker 1: Polyphemus's funnel. Yes, there could be no doubt of it.
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  Speaker 1: I had reached the bottom of the giant's well. I
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  Speaker 1: stood upon the edge of Polyphemus's funnel. End of Chapter
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  Speaker 1: five