Kitabı oku: «The Call of Cthulhu / Зов Ктулху», sayfa 20

Lake insisted on a westward – or rather, northwestward – trip before our shift to the new base. He was very interested in that triangular marking in the slate. He was strangely convinced that the marking was the print of some bulky, unknown, and unclassifiable organism of advanced evolution. But these fragments, with their odd marking, were five hundred million – a thousand million years old.

II

Boring journey of January 11th to 18th with Pabodie and five others had brought up more and more of the Archaean slate; and even I was interested in evident fossil markings in that unbelievably ancient stratum. These markings were of very primitive life forms. However I decided not to accompany the northwestward party despite Lake’s plea for my geological advice. While they were gone, I would remain at the base with Pabodie and five men and work out final plans for the eastward shift.

Lake’s expedition into the unknown sent out reports from the shortwave transmitters on the planes. The start was made January 22nd at 4 a. m., and the first wireless message we received came only two hours later, when Lake spoke of descending and starting an ice-melting and boring at a point some three hundred miles away from us. Six hours after a second message told of the frantic work. Three hours later a brief bulletin announced the resumption of the flight. I saw that Lake was extremely excited, and that I could do nothing to check the risk of the whole expedition’s success.

Then, in about an hour and a half more, came that excited message from Lake’s plane, which almost reversed my sentiments:

“10:05 p. m. On the wing. After snowstorm, appeared mountain range ahead higher than any hitherto seen.May equal Himalayas ¹³⁷. Probable Latitude 76° 15’, Longitude 113° 10’ E. Two smoking cones. All peaks black and bare of snow. Strong wind impedes navigation.”

After that Pabodie, the men and I stood by the receiver. Thought of these titanic mountains seven hundred miles away inflamed our deepest sense of adventure. In half an hour Lake called us again:

“The plane forced down on plateau in foothills, but nobody hurt and perhaps can repair. We will transfer things to other three planes. You can’t imagine anything like this. Highest peaks must go over thirty-five thousand feet. Atwood will work withtheodolite ¹³⁸ while Carroll and I will go up. Possibly pre-Cambrian slate ¹³⁹ with other strata mixed in. Queer skyline effects – regular sections of cubes clinging to highest peaks. Like land of mystery in a dream or gateway to forbidden world. Wish you were here ¹⁴⁰ to study.”

Though it was sleeping-time, not one of us went to bed. We were sorry, of course, about the damaged aeroplane, but hoped it could be easily fixed. Then, at 11 p. m., came another call from Lake:

“Up with Carroll over highest foothills. Frightful to climb, and hard to go at this altitude, but it’s worth it. Main summits exceed Himalayas, and very queer. Range looks like pre-Cambrian slate, with plain signs of many other strata. Odd formations on slopes of highest mountains. Great low square blocks with exactly vertical sides, and rectangular lines of low, vertical ramparts, like the old Asian castles. Impressive from distance. Carroll thought they were formed of smaller separate pieces, but that is probably an illusion.