登陆注册
15479300000027

第27章 Chapter 11(1)

The Mooncalf Pastures SO we two poor terrestrial castaways, lost in that wild-growing moon jungle, crawled in terror before the sounds that had come upon us. We crawled, as it seemed, a long time before we saw either Selenite or mooncalf, though we heard the bellowing and gruntulous noises of these latter continually drawing nearer to us. We crawled through stony ravines, over snow slopes, amidst fungi that ripped like thin bladders at our thrust, emitting a watery humour, over a perfect pavement of things like puff-balls, and beneath interminable thickets of scrub. And ever more helplessly our eyes sought for our abandoned sphere. The noise of the mooncalves would at times be a vast flat calf-like sound, at times it rose to an amazed and wrathy bellowing, and again it would become a clogged bestial sound, as though these unseen creatures had sought to eat and bellow at the same time.

Our first view was but an inadequate transitory glimpse, yet none the less disturbing because it was incomplete. Cavor was crawling in front at the time, and he first was aware of their proximity. He stopped dead, arresting me with a single gesture.

A crackling and smashing of the scrub appeared to be advancing directly upon us, and then, as we squatted close and endeavoured to judge of the nearness and direction of this noise, there came a terrific bellow behind us, so close and vehement that the tops of the bayonet scrub bent before it, and one felt the breath of it hot and moist. And, turning about, we saw indistinctly through a crowd of swaying stems the mooncalf's shining sides, and the long line of its back loomed out against the sky.

Of course it is hard for me now to say how much I saw at that time, because my impressions were corrected by subsequent observation. First of all impressions was its enormous size; the girth of its body was some fourscore feet, its length perhaps two hundred. Its sides rose and fell with its laboured breathing. I perceived that its gigantic, flabby body lay along the ground, and that its skin was of a corrugated white, dappling into blackness along the backbone. But of its feet we saw nothing. I think also that we saw then the profile at least of the almost brainless head, with its fat-encumbered neck, its slobbering omnivorous mouth, its little nostrils, and tight shut eyes. (For the mooncalf invariably shuts its eyes in the presence of the sun.) We had a glimpse of a vast red pit as it opened its mouth to bleat and bellow again; we had a breath from the pit, and then the monster heeled over like a ship, dragged forward along the ground, creasing all its leathery skin, rolled again, and so wallowed past us, smashing a path amidst the scrub, and was speedily hidden from our eyes by the dense interlacings beyond. Another appeared more distantly, and then another, and then, as though he was guiding these animated lumps of provender to their pasture, a Selenite came momentarily into ken. My grip upon Cavor's foot became convulsive at the sight of him, and we remained motionless and peering long after he had passed out of our range.

By contrast with the mooncalves he seemed a trivial being, a mere ant, scarcely five feet high. He was, wearing garments of some leathery substance, so that no portion of his actual body appeared, but of this, of course, we were entirely ignorant. He presented himself, therefore, as a compact, bristling creature, having much of the quality of a complicated insect, with whip-like tentacles and a clanging arm projecting from his shining cylindrical body case. The form of his head was hidden by his enormous many-spiked helmet - we discovered afterwards that he used the spikes for prodding refractory mooncalves - and a pair of goggles of darkened glass, set very much at the side, gave a bird-like quality to the metallic apparatus that covered his face. His arms did not project beyond his body case, and he carried himself upon short legs that, wrapped though they were in warm coverings, seemed to our terrestrial eyes inordinately flimsy. They had very short thighs, very long shanks, and little feet.

In spite of his heavy-looking clothing, he was progressing with what would be, from the terrestrial point of view, very considerable strides, and his clanging arm was busy. The quality of his motion during the instant of his passing suggested haste and a certain anger, and soon after we had lost sight of him we heard the bellow of a mooncalf change abruptly into a short, sharp squeal followed by the scuffle of its acceleration. And gradually that bellowing receded, and then came to an end, as if the pastures sought had been attained.

We listened. For a space the moon world was still. But it was some time before we resumed our crawling search for the vanished sphere.

When next we saw mooncalves they were some little distance away from us in a place of tumbled rocks. The less vertical surfaces of the rocks were thick with a speckled green plant growing in dense mossy clumps, upon which these creatures were browsing. We stopped at the edge of the reeds amidst which we were crawling at the sight of them, peering out at then and looking round for a second glimpse of a Selenite. They lay against their food like stupendous slugs, huge, greasy hulls, eating greedily and noisily, with a sort of sobbing avidity. They seemed monsters of mere fatness, clumsy and overwhelmed to a degree that would make a Smithfield ox seem a model of agility. Their busy, writhing, chewing mouths, and eyes closed, together with the appetising sound of their munching, made up an effect of animal enjoyment that was singularly stimulating to our empty frames.

"Hogs!" said Cavor, with unusual passion. "Dis- gusting hogs!" and after one glare of angry envy crawled off through the bushes to our right. I stayed long enough to see that the speckled plant was quite hopeless for human nourishment, then crawled after him, nibbling a quill of it between my teeth.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 窃一方净土

    窃一方净土

    公务猿穿越的真实的海贼王,金融专家穿越的帝王。古今中多少人在潜规则中挣扎……自己也当君临天下,坐拥金山美女,指点大好河山……而机会自从那一次潜规则开始……
  • 超级梦境师

    超级梦境师

    当张越醒来的时候,发现自己来到了一个奇异的世界。这个世界和地球的二十一世纪几乎一样,但是却多了一种神奇的职业,梦境师。强大的梦境师可以穿越现实与梦境之中,杀人于千里之外。当张越成为梦境师后,又会发生什么呢?
  • 异僵

    异僵

    一只僵尸穿越到异界后,看他如何利用后裔来制霸天下
  • 穿越火线的兄弟

    穿越火线的兄弟

    续写穿越火线兄弟同患难,有福不一定同享,但是有难必定同当
  • 网游之佳人翩翩

    网游之佳人翩翩

    云朵,B大里小有名气的美女,多才多艺活波开朗热爱网游,初中入坑游戏后因升学暂停网游生涯。步入大学后回归幻世再续前缘。现是风华绝代服务器中赫赫有名的大神级玩家,并且自认为是个美艳无双英俊潇洒风流倜傥的大暖男!优点众多会操作会撩妹人好多金并且单身,拥有无数迷妹,但唯一不足的是性别,她是个姑娘。身为大神的她建立小号来到另一个玩家爆满的服务器风起天阑参加昔日好友的婚礼,颇受GM照顾,刷怪时偶然接到奇遇任务,又独得大神们的恩宠,虽然周围大神环绕,却碍于自己等级太低而拜倒在各位大神丰神俊朗的外表之下。小号的生活也很美好,然而当她的身份别揭穿,当繁华落尽褪去现实的虚化,可知翩翩公子是佳人,良人便是故人来
  • 怪物大师同人——最后一次任务

    怪物大师同人——最后一次任务

    玖熙黑兰卡斯达毒素发作?!玖熙替茉香承受布诺的致命一击?!玖熙突然消失,生死未卜......和玖熙的最后一次任务......他们能否抓住机会?——玖熙,拜托你醒过来吧......
  • 光锥侠

    光锥侠

    在距离地球6000万公里外的一颗火红色的行星,隐藏着一个天大的秘密。无意间的“破壳而出”,将杨烨与蒲宇哲两人联系在一起,跨越亿万光年的水晶,来自遥远太空的智能生命,这一切的一切又究竟会给地球带来怎样的变化。杨烨看着手中捧着的水晶圆锥,微微一笑,轻声说:“Iamlightconeman.”“我并不认为自己与别人有什么不同,但我希望这世界能有我存留过的痕迹。”深邃迷人的星空下,一名身材颀长,眼睛中闪烁着智慧光芒的青年这样说道。两人的相遇仿佛是走在一条单行的轨道上,冥冥中早已注定。
  • 灵鼠

    灵鼠

    他是一只鼠,不错,是一只鼠,一只前所未有的,化作人的灵异老鼠......
  • 魔鬼终结者:猎魔人

    魔鬼终结者:猎魔人

    “喂你相信一个杀手可以拥有爱情吗”也许这本书可以叫做观《城市猎人》有感可以叫做观《龙族》有感也和Watch_Dogs有着脱不开的关系谁都无法准确预言自己的生命而我只想把这些美丽而凄凉的东西记录下来P.S本来只是想叫猎魔人的但已经重名了就换成了8个字==类似于韩剧的剧情希望大家会喜欢
  • 地下十八层

    地下十八层

    缺德事情做多了,鬼也不会放过你,你也将被肮脏东西纠缠一辈子,死后还将下18层地狱!