H. P. Lovecraft The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath

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happened he was back in his familiar room at the inn at Dylath-Leen, and the
stealthy, friendly cats were pouring out of the window in streams. The old
leader from Ulthar was the last to leave, and as Carter shook his paw he said
he would be able to get home by cockcrow. When dawn came, Carter went
downstairs and learned that a week had elapsed since his capture and leaving.
There was still nearly a fortnight to wait for the ship bound toward Oriab,
and during that time he said what he could against the black galleys and their
infamous ways. Most of the townsfolk believed him; yet so fond were the
jewellers of great rubies that none would wholly promise to cease trafficking
with the wide-mouthed merchants. If aught of evil ever befalls Dylath-Leen
through such traffick, it will not be his fault.
In about a week the desiderate ship put in by the black wale and tall
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%20by%20H_%20P_%20Lovecraft.txt lighthouse, and Carter was glad to see that
she was a barque of wholesome men, with painted sides and yellow lateen sails
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and a grey captain in silken robes.
Her cargo was the fragrant resin of Oriab's inner groves, and the delicate
pottery baked by the artists of Bahama, and the strange little figures carved
from Ngranek's ancient lava. For this they were paid in the wool of Ulthar and
the iridescent textiles of Hatheg and the ivory that the black men carve
across the river in Parg. Carter made arrangements with the captain to go to
Baharna and was told that the voyage would take ten days. And during his week
of waiting he talked much with that captain of Ngranek, and was told that very
few had seen the carven face thereon; but that most travellers are content to
learn its legends from old people and lava-gatherers and image-makers in
Baharna and afterward say in their far homes that they have indeed beheld it.
The captain was not even sure that any person now living had beheld that
carven face, for the wrong side of Ngranek is very difficult and barren and
sinister, and there are rumours of caves near the peak wherein dwell the
night-gaunts. But the captain did not wish to say just what a night-gaunt
might be like, since such cattle are known to haunt most persistently the
dreams of those who think too often of them. Then Carter asked that captain
about unknown Kadath in the cold waste, and the marvellous sunset city, but of
these the good man could truly tell nothing.
Carter sailed out of Dylath-Leen one early morning when the tide turned, and
saw the first rays of sunrise on the thin angular towers of that dismal basalt
town.
And for two days they sailed eastward in sight of green coasts, and saw often
the pleasant fishing towns that climbed up steeply with their red roofs and
chimney-pots from old dreaming wharves and beaches where nets lay drying. But
on the third day they turned sharply south where the roll of water was
stronger, and soon passed from sight of any land. On the fifth day the sailors
were nervous, but the captain apologized for their fears, saying that the ship
was about to pass over the weedy walls and broken columns of a sunken city too
old for memory, and that when the water was clear one could see so many moving
shadows in that deep place that simple folk disliked it. He admitted,
moreover, that many ships had been lost in that part of the sea; having been
hailed when quite close to it, but never seen again.
That night the moon was very bright, and one could see a great way down in the
water. There was so little wind that the ship could not move much, and the
ocean was very calm. Looking over the rail Carter saw many fathoms deep the
dome of the great temple, and in front of it an avenue of unnatural sphinxes
leading to what was once a public square. Dolphins sported merrily in and out
of the ruins, and porpoises revelled clumsily here and there, sometimes coming
to the surface and leaping clear out of the sea. As the ship drifted on a
little the floor of the ocean rose in hills, and one could clearly mark the
lines of ancient climbing streets and the washed-down walls of myriad little
houses.
Then the suburbs appeared, and finally a great lone building on a hill, of
simpler architecture than the other structures, and in much better repair. It
was dark and low and covered four sides of a square, with a tower at each
corner, a paved court in the centre, and small curious round windows all over [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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