登陆注册
4718300000006

第6章

He rubbed his eyes. The riddle of his surroundings was confusing but his mind was quite clear--evidently his sleep had benefited him. He was not in a bed at all as he understood the word, but Iying naked on a very soft and yielding mattress, in a trough of dark glass. The mattress was partly transparent, a fact he observed with a strange sense of insecurity, and below it was a mirror reflecting him greyly. About his arm--and he saw with a shock that his skin was strangIy dry and yellow--was bound a curious apparatus of rubber, bound so cunningly that it seemed to pass into his skin above and below. And this strange bed was placed in a case of greenish coloured glass (as it seemed to him), a bar in the white framework of which had first arrested his attention. In the corner of the case was a stand of glittering and delicately made apparatus, for the most part quite strange appliances, though a maximum and minimum thermometer was recognisable.

The slightly greenish tint of the glass-like substance which surrounded him on every hand obscured what lay behind, but he perceived it was a vast apartment of splendid appearance, and with a very large and simple white archway facing him. Close to the walls of the cage were articles of furniture, a table covered with a silvery cloth, silvery like the side of a fish, a couple of graceful chairs, and on the table a number of dishes with substances piled on them, a bottle and two glasses. He realised that he was intensely hungry.

He could see no human being, and after a period of hesitation scrambled off the translucent mattress and tried to stand on the clean white floor of his little apartment. He had miscalculated his strength, however, and staggered and put his hand against the glasslike pane before him to steady himself. For a moment it resisted his hand, bending outward like a distended bladder, then it broke with a slight report and vanished--a pricked bubble. He reeled out into the general space of the hall, greatly astonished. He caught at the table to save himself, knocking one of the glasses to the floor--it rang but did not break--and sat down in one of the armchairs.

When he had a little recovered he filled the remaining glass from the bottle and drank--a colourless liquid it was, but not water, with a pleasing faint aroma and taste and a quality of immediate support and stimulus. He put down the vessel and looked about him.

The apartment lost none of its size and magnificence now that the greenish transparency that had intervened was removed. The archway he saw led to a flight of steps, going downward without the intermediation of a door, to a spacious transverse passage.

This passage ran between polished pillars of some white-veined substance of deep ultramarine, and along it came the sound of human movements and voices and a deep undeviating droning note. He sat, now fully awake, listening alertly, forgetting the viands in his attention.

Then with a shock he remembered that he was naked, and casting about him for covering, saw a long black robe thrown on one of the chairs beside him.

This he wrapped about him and sat down again, trembling.

His mind was still a surging perplexity. Clearly he had slept. and had been removed in his sleep. But here? And who were those people, the distant crowd beyond the deep blue pillars? Boscastle? He poured out and partially drank another glass of the colourless fluid.

What was this place?--this place that to his senses seemed subtly quivering like a thing alive? He looked about him at the clean and beautiful form of the apartment, unstained by ornament, and saw that the roof was broken in one place by a circular shaft full of light, and, as he looked, a steady, sweeping shadow blotted it out and passed, and came again and passed.

"Beat, beat," that sweeping shadow had a note of its own in the subdued tumult that filled the air.

He would have called out, but only a little sound came into his throat. Then he stood up, and, with the uncertain steps of a drunkard, made his way towards the archway. He staggered down the steps, tripped on the corner of the black cloak he had wrapped about himself, and saved himself by catching at one of the blue pillars.

The passage ran down a cool vista of blue and purple, and ended remotely in a railed space like a balcony, brightly lit and projecting into a space of haze, a space like the interior of some gigantic building.

Beyond and remote were vast and vague architectural forms. The tumult of voices rose now loud and clear, and on the balcony and with their backs to him, gesticulating and apparently in animated conversation, were three figures, richly dressed in loose and easy garments of bright soft colourings. The noise of a great multitude of people poured up over the balcony, and once it seemed the top of a banner passed, and once some brightly coloured object, a pale blue cap or garment thrown up into the air perhaps, flashed athwart the space and fell. The shouts sounded like English, there was a reiteration of "Wake!" He heard some indistinct shrill cry, and abruptly the three men began laughing.

"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed one--a red-haired man in a short purple robe. "When the Sleeper wakes--__When!__

He turned his eyes full of merriment along the passage.

His face changed, the whole man changed, became rigid. The other two turned swiftly at his exclamation and stood motionless. Their faces assumed an expression of consternation, an expression that deepened into awe.

Suddenly Graham's knees bent beneath him, his arm against the pillar collapsed limply, he staggered forward and fell upon his face.

THE SOUND OF A TUMULT

同类推荐
  • 医方考

    医方考

    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。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 释门归敬仪护法记

    释门归敬仪护法记

    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。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 寿世传真

    寿世传真

    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。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 兰闺恨

    兰闺恨

    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。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 青囊秘诀

    青囊秘诀

    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。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 无心王妃倾国色

    无心王妃倾国色

    风华绝代,倾国无双。她一身男装纵横江湖朝堂沙场天下。作为江湖第一大帮的一哥,最强国大秦的病弱丞相,算命的说她命里注定与爱无缘。嗯,江湖第一大帮首席长老,大秦隐世的齐王殿下,表示不服。于是,上穷碧落下黄泉,他追她到山河永诀。十年后,素手倾天的第一王妃回眸轻笑:“对面的夫君看过来。”【已完结,原名《无心谋后》】
  • 海外寄霓君

    海外寄霓君

    本书讲述了朱湘于1927年留学美国,1930年没有拿到学位就回国了。他在美国期间,给妻子刘霓君写了90封情书,每一封信都有编号。在这些情书中,他写谋生之艰辛,为钱所困的尴尬,更多的是如水的柔情,有日常生活的关照叮咛,夫妻间的体贴呵护。读之温暖。
  • 青梅竹马甜蜜一生

    青梅竹马甜蜜一生

    【中短篇《原来我最想简单爱你》已完结~】两年前她因故出国,音讯全无。两年后回归,初次再见,他霸道地将她搂进怀里,自此以后一步一步陷进爱她的圈子。“季柠檬,我不介意你再依赖我一点。”“季柠檬,我允许你待在我的怀里一辈子。”“季柠檬,我绝不允许你离开我的身边!”得知她喜欢过的人,他彻底黑了脸,猛地将她壁咚在墙上,“季柠檬!你的眼光真是太差了!”季柠檬抬起无辜的美眸,“所以我会喜欢上你?”迟少杰:“......我是说以前!”【青梅竹马√】【男女主身心干净√】【绝不弃文√】
  • 超忆大师

    超忆大师

    一次意外,让一位华裔少年有了读取死人记忆的能力。那些纷繁复杂的记忆,将改变这个孩子的一生,也让他经历了许多精彩的故事,最后逐渐成为了传奇超忆大师。《噬骨法医》发布,请移步支持!
  • 泪重华

    泪重华

    都城的花,开了又落。又是你,掠过我心上。为你,我杀人无数;为你,我叛变师门;成魔成仙我不在乎,我只在乎和你生死与共。
  • 重生之蜀山混元

    重生之蜀山混元

    重生为太乙混元祖师,从此五台派崛起,峨眉、佛门联手打压,试看主人公如何面对艰难险阻,重振上清截教万仙来朝的无边气运!
  • 腹黑大竹马甜宠青梅哪里逃

    腹黑大竹马甜宠青梅哪里逃

    NAINAI的谁能告诉我这是个啥,慕睿满眼放光盯着沐一多“小多儿~我是你老公啊!”“切,我不要你,看的都腻了”漫漫长路上某大神与他的小青梅斗智斗勇。『强强联手』『甜宠无虐』欢迎入坑!记得好看就加入书架(⊙o⊙)哦!
  • 毓老师说易经(全3册)

    毓老师说易经(全3册)

    《毓老师说易经》根据毓老自1993年至2000年讲授《易经》课程内容整理而成。毓老认为,《大易》与《春秋》弄明白,中国思想左右逢源!读《易经》的目的有三:一、自强不息,厚德载物;二、智周万物,道济天下;三、裁成天地之道,辅相天地之宜。《易经》是智海,绝非假话,是智慧的产物。书有古今,智慧无古今。以古人智慧,启发今人的智慧,把人生问题解答明白,就能明白一切。《毓老师说易经》告诉我们,要懂用脑,读完一篇,真得其好处。以一公式,可以推演很多。多读书,存肥料。读书,懂用道理简单,做到可难。
  • 桓都异能录

    桓都异能录

    《山海经》中记载着四种神木“扶桑”“建木”“若木”“寻木”,神木带给人类形形色色的异能,却也掀起了血雨腥风。而四神木之外,神秘的桓木究竟是何物?一个偶然觉醒的懒散少年,又将如何一步步靠近真相,探寻异能的根源、神木的本质。
  • 我爱你,我有罪

    我爱你,我有罪

    唐小染说:我的执念太深,如果我活着,却不能够拥抱你,我会疯的。每个人都有执念,唐小染的执念就是沈慕衍。唐小染太执着,执着就变成了执念。而执念,伤人又伤己。沈慕衍说:那个女人死了好,我们去喝一杯庆祝。醉酒的他,却问好友:我是不是错过了什么很重要的东西?“是,你错过了这个世界上唯一一个只因为你是沈慕衍而爱你的傻瓜!”--情节虚构,请勿模仿