Part 25 (1/2)

”Come,” said the guide, ”let us proceed.”

And we moved onward.

Now I perceived many such heads about us, all resting upright on the stony floor. Some were silent, others were shouting, others still were whispering and endeavoring to attract my attention. As we hurried on I saw more and more of these abnormal creatures. Some were in rows, resting against each other, leaving barely room for us to pa.s.s between, but at last, much to my relief, we left them behind us.

But I found that I had no cause for congratulation, when I felt myself clutched by a powerful hand--a hand as large as that of a man fifty feet in height. I looked about expecting to see a gigantic being, but instead beheld a shrunken pigmy. The whole man seemed but a single hand--a Brobdingnag hand affixed to the body of a Liliputian.

”Do not struggle,” said the guide; ”listen to what he wishes to impart.”

I leaned over, placing my ear close to the mouth of the monstrosity.

”Back, back, go thou back,” it whispered.

”What have I to fear?” I asked.

”Back, I say, back to earth, or--”

”Or what?” I said.

”Then go on; on to your destiny, unhappy man,” he answered, and the hand loosed its grasp.

My guide drew me onward.

Then, from about us, huge hands arose; on all sides they waved in the air; some were closed and were shaken as clenched fists, others moved aimlessly with spread fingers, others still pointed to the pa.s.sage we had traversed, and in a confusion of whispers I heard from the pigmy figures a babble of cries, ”Back, back, go thou back.” Again I hesitated, the strain upon my nerves was becoming unbearable; I glanced backward and saw a swarm of misshaped diminutive forms, each holding up a monstrous arm and hand. The pa.s.sage behind us was closed against retreat. Every form possessed but one hand, the other and the entire body seemingly had been drawn into this abnormal member. While I thus meditated, momentarily, as by a single thought each hand closed, excepting the index finger, and in unison each finger pointed towards the open way in front, and like shafts from a thousand bows I felt the voices whiz past me, and then from the rear came the reverberation as a complex echo, ”Then go on; on to your destiny, unhappy man.”

Instinctively I sprang forward, and had it not been for the restraining hand of my guide would have rushed wildly into pa.s.sages that might have ended my misery, for G.o.d only knows what those unseen corridors contained. I was aware of that which lay behind, and was only intent on escaping from the horrid figures already pa.s.sed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ”EACH FINGER POINTED TOWARDS THE OPEN WAY IN FRONT.”]

”Hold,” whispered the guide; ”as you value your life, stop.”

And then exerting a power that I could not withstand, he held me a struggling prisoner.

”Listen,” he said, ”have you not observed that these creatures do not seek to harm you? Have not all of them spoken kindly, have any offered violence?”

”No,” I replied, ”but they are horrible.”

”That they realize; but fearing that you will prove to be as weak as they have been, and will become as they are now, they warn you back.

However, I say to you, if you have courage sufficient, you need have no fear. Come, rely on me, and do not be surprised at anything that appears.”

Again we went forward. I realized now my utter helplessness. I became indifferent again; I could neither retrace my footsteps alone, nor guide them forward in the path I was to pursue. I submissively relied on my guide, and as stoical as he appeared to be, I moved onward to new scenes.

We came to a great chamber which, as we halted on its edge, seemed to be a prodigious amphitheater. In its center a rostrum-like stone of a hundred feet in diameter, flat and circular on the top, reared itself about twelve feet above the floor, and to the base of this rostrum the floor of the room sloped evenly. The amphitheater was fully a thousand feet in diameter, of great height, and the floor was literally alive with grotesque beings. Imagination could not depict an abnormal human form that did not exhibit itself to my startled gaze. One peculiarity now presented itself to my mind; each abnormal part seemed to be created at the expense of the remainder of the body. Thus, to my right I beheld a single leg, fully twelve feet in height, surmounted by a puny human form, which on this leg, hopped ludicrously away. I saw close behind this huge limb a great ear attached to a small head and body; then a nose so large that the figure to which it was attached was forced to hold the face upward, in order to prevent the misshaped organ from rubbing on the stony floor. Here a gigantic forehead rested on a shrunken face and body, and there a pair of enormous feet were walking, seemingly attached to the body of a child, and yet the face was that of a man. If an artist were to attempt to create as many revolting figures as possible, each with some member out of proportion to the rest of the body, he could not add one form to those upon this floor. And yet, I again observed that each exaggerated organ seemed to have drawn itself into existence by absorbing the remainder of the body. We stood on the edge of this great room, and I pondered the scene before my eyes. At length my guide broke the silence:

”You must cross this floor; no other pa.s.sage is known. Mark well my words, heed my advice.”

”This is the Drunkards' Den. These men are lost to themselves and to the world. Every member of this a.s.sembly once pa.s.sed onward as you are now doing, in charge of a guide. They failed to reach the goal to which you aspire, and retreating, reached this chamber, to become victims to the drink habit. Some of these creatures have been here for ages, others only for a short period.”

”Why are they so distorted?” I asked.