登陆注册
15682500000003

第3章

He stopped abruptly; rose from his chair, gazed intently toward the north.I followed his gaze.Far, far away the moon had broken through the clouds.Almost on the hori-zon, you could see the faint luminescence of it upon the smooth sea.The distant patch of light quivered and shook.

The clouds thickened again and it was gone.The ship raced on southward, swiftly.

Throckmartin dropped into his chair.He lighted a cigar-ette with a hand that trembled; then turned to me with abrupt resolution.

"Goodwin," he said."I do need help.If ever man needed it, I do.Goodwin--can you imagine yourself in another world, alien, unfamiliar, a world of terror, whose unknown joy is its greatest terror of all; you all alone there, a stranger! As such a man would need help, so I need--"He paused abruptly and arose; the cigarette dropped from his fingers.The moon had again broken through the clouds, and this time much nearer.Not a mile away was the patch of light that it threw upon the waves.Back of it, to the rim of the sea was a lane of moonlight; a gigantic gleaming ser-pent racing over the edge of the world straight and surely toward the ship.

Throckmartin stiffened to it as a pointer does to a hidden covey.To me from him pulsed a thrill of horror--but horror tinged with an unfamiliar, an infernal joy.It came to me and passed away--leaving me trembling with its shock of bitter sweet.

He bent forward, all his soul in his eyes.The moon path swept closer, closer still.It was now less than half a mile away.From it the ship fled--almost as though pursued.

Down upon it, swift and straight, a radiant torrent cleaving the waves, raced the moon stream.

"Good God!" breathed Throckmartin, and if ever the words were a prayer and an invocation they were.

And then, for the first time--I saw--IT!

The moon path stretched to the horizon and was bor-dered by darkness.It was as though the clouds above had been parted to form a lane-drawn aside like curtains or as the waters of the Red Sea were held back to let the hosts of Israel through.On each side of the stream was the black shadow cast by the folds of the high canopies And straight as a road between the opaque walls gleamed, shimmered, and danced the shining, racing, rapids of the moonlightFar, it seemed immeasurably far, along this stream of silver fire I sensed, rather than saw, something coming.It drew first into sight as a deeper glow within the light.On and on it swept toward us--an opalescent mistiness that sped with the suggestion of some winged creature in arrowed flight.Dimly there crept into my mind memory of the Dyak legend of the winged messenger of Buddha--the Akla bird whose feathers are woven of the moon rays, whose heart is a living opal, whose wings in flight echo the crystal clear music of the white stars--but whose beak is of frozen flame and shreds the souls of unbelievers.

Closer it drew and now there came to me sweet, insistent tinklings--like pizzicati on violins of glass; crystal clear;diamonds melting into sounds!

Now the Thing was close to the end of the white path;close up to the barrier of darkness still between the ship and the sparkling head of the moon stream.Now it beat up against that barrier as a bird against the bars of its cage.It whirled with shimmering plumes, with swirls of lacy light, with spirals of living vapour.It held within it odd, un-familiar gleams as of shifting mother-of-pearl.Coruscations and glittering atoms drifted through it as though it drew them from the rays that bathed it.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 绝世人皇

    绝世人皇

    大荒莽莽,江水滔滔。古林莽莽绵延不知何几万里,漓江滔滔贯穿古往今来。这片富饶、无垠的大地,养育了无数的生命、蕴育了辉煌的文明、留下了无尽的传奇。这点点滴滴,汇聚成一首赞歌,一首绝伦的大荒歌!莽莽大荒,炎黄为歌。惶惶天威,莫可奈何。吾族血脉,一脉相传。不灭薪火,血染青天……
  • 台湾郑氏始末

    台湾郑氏始末

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 穿越之王爷请往一边靠

    穿越之王爷请往一边靠

    慕容雪的生活就是一整套的杯具。穿越就算了,又是个普普通通的平民,平民也就算了,还要为了维持家中生计嫁到一个傻子家!这也就算了,问题是后面来的侍卫口口称公主是怎么一回事儿?慕容雪立志要做一朵强悍一点儿的花儿,却就折在了皇帝的游园会上。“朕看雪儿聪明懂事,不如嫁给邻国和亲可好?”慕容雪笑笑,皇上你真是太有眼光,等我嫁过去,就别指望你们会有好日子过!刁蛮王爷云云,都去泪奔吧!
  • 破晓侦探社

    破晓侦探社

    武界十大传奇高手中最神秘的神影,在进入幽魔海域秘境后,从此消失匿迹无人知其去向。同年九月,在华夏京华市的一条偏僻巷子里,出现了一家名为破晓的侦探社。破晓侦探社公告:世界没有本社解决不了的案子!
  • 符法天下

    符法天下

    茅山弟子和苗疆仙娘之后。离奇的身世和绝阴之体会给这个平凡的安凡带来怎么不平凡的际遇。一符降魔,一符除仙。万物符生,万物符灭
  • 一块魔石

    一块魔石

    小时候,魔石在我们的手上,长大了,魔石在我们心里!一部欧·亨利式的儿童文学,给了我们多少含泪的微笑!我拿到了一个孩子写的随笔。他的随笔整整记了两年,足有三万字。我一口气读完了它,他那真实而丰富的情感、复杂而细腻的内心世界深深地打动了我。他是一个跟随进城务工的父母而来到了城市上学的孩子,一个现实版的没见过任何世面的山里娃,忽然有一天他被带到了城市的大街上,他变得无所适从,找不到回家的路。现实观念、经济差距、家庭教育、同伴相处、师生之间、青春萌动、现实残酷等,无一不在他的身上显示出冲突的困惑,谁来帮助他走出困惑?这是值得我们每一个人思考的问题。故事的结局还算是完美的,符合善良的人们的阅读情感,但这又包含着多少含泪的微笑。感谢这位孩子的日记,他是这篇小说真正的作者。
  • 破界止戈

    破界止戈

    他被父封印万年后重新出世应劫,继父宏愿救一世之人。他豪言:这一世英名我不要,只求换来红颜一笑。让止戈带你遨游一个精彩世界~
  • 上官复兴录

    上官复兴录

    上官家族是华夏南方的一个古老部族,源于隋唐,兴于近现代,二十年前不知什么原因,家族没落,上官文博作为家族第二十二代上官浩云之子,一路乘风破浪,把整个华夏和家族带至世界巅峰,一路走来,美女,权利斗争,种陷阱纷至沓来,上官文博将怎样面对,请读友敬请关注!
  • 无尽宇宙之神

    无尽宇宙之神

    一群网游爱好者在一款网游升到满级后成为一群真正的神。探索无尽宇宙,成为星球之主。无尽的宇宙里究竟有多少未知的事情?
  • 女主驾到:女配靠边站

    女主驾到:女配靠边站

    一朝穿越,然而却发现自己拿的是女配文里的女主剧本?而且还不是一本女配文,而是好多本女配文?带着金大腿的女配们一方唱罢我登场,然而正牌女主莫妄只想说:女主驾到,女配靠边站!