_III_
THE HOUSE IN THE ARENA
And so, after a time, I came to the mountains. Then, the course of myjourney was altered, and I began to move along their bases, until, allat once, I saw that I had come opposite to a vast rift, opening into themountains. Through this, I was borne, moving at no great speed. Oneither side of me, huge, scarped walls of rocklike substance rose sheer.Far overhead, I discerned a thin ribbon of red, where the mouth of thechasm opened, among inaccessible peaks. Within, was gloom, deep andsomber, and chilly silence. For a while, I went onward steadily, andthen, at last, I saw, ahead, a deep, red glow, that told me I was nearupon the further opening of the gorge.
A minute came and went, and I was at the exit of the chasm, staring outupon an enormous amphitheatre of mountains. Yet, of the mountains, andthe terrible grandeur of the place, I recked nothing; for I wasconfounded with amazement to behold, at a distance of several miles andoccupying the center of the arena, a stupendous structure builtapparently of green jade. Yet, in itself, it was not the discovery ofthe building that had so astonished me; but the fact, which became everymoment more apparent, that in no particular, save in color and itsenormous size, did the lonely structure vary from this house in whichI live.
For a while, I continued to stare, fixedly. Even then, I could scarcelybelieve that I saw aright. In my mind, a question formed, reiteratingincessantly: 'What does it mean?' 'What does it mean?' and I was unableto make answer, even out of the depths of my imagination. I seemedcapable only of wonder and fear. For a time longer, I gazed, notingcontinually some fresh point of resemblance that attracted me. At last,wearied and sorely puzzled, I turned from it, to view the rest of thestrange place on to which I had intruded.
Hitherto, I had been so engrossed in my scrutiny of the House, that Ihad given only a cursory glance 'round. Now, as I looked, I began torealize upon what sort of a place I had come. The arena, for so I havetermed it, appeared a perfect circle of about ten to twelve miles indiameter, the House, as I have mentioned before, standing in the center.The surface of the place, like to that of the Plain, had a peculiar,misty appearance, that was yet not mist.
From a rapid survey, my glance passed quickly upward along the slopesof the circling mountains. How silent they were. I think that this sameabominable stillness was more trying to me than anything that I had sofar seen or imagined. I was looking up, now, at the great crags,towering so loftily. Up there, the impalpable redness gave a blurredappearance to everything.
And then, as I peered, curiously, a new terror came to me; for away upamong the dim peaks to my right, I had descried a vast shape ofblackness, giantlike. It grew upon my sight. It had an enormous equinehead, with gigantic ears, and seemed to peer steadfastly down into thearena. There was that about the pose that gave me the impression of aneternal watchfulness--of having warded that dismal place, throughunknown eternities. Slowly, the monster became plainer to me; and then,suddenly, my gaze sprang from it to something further off and higheramong the crags. For a long minute, I gazed, fearfully. I was strangelyconscious of something not altogether unfamiliar--as though somethingstirred in the back of my mind. The thing was black, and had fourgrotesque arms. The features showed indistinctly, 'round the neck, Imade out several light-colored objects. Slowly, the details came to me,and I realized, coldly, that they were skulls. Further down the body wasanother circling belt, showing less dark against the black trunk. Then,even as I puzzled to know what the thing was, a memory slid into mymind, and straightway, I knew that I was looking at a monstrousrepresentation of Kali, the Hindu goddess of death.
Other remembrances of my old student days drifted into my thoughts. Myglance fell back upon the huge beast-headed Thing. Simultaneously, Irecognized it for the ancient Egyptian god Set, or Seth, the Destroyerof Souls. With the knowledge, there came a great sweep ofquestioning--'Two of the--!' I stopped, and endeavored to think. Thingsbeyond my imagination peered into my frightened mind. I saw, obscurely.'The old gods of mythology!' I tried to comprehend to what it was allpointing. My gaze dwelt, flickeringly, between the two. 'If--'
An idea came swiftly, and I turned, and glanced rapidly upward,searching the gloomy crags, away to my left. Something loomed out undera great peak, a shape of greyness. I wondered I had not seen it earlier,and then remembered I had not yet viewed that portion. I saw it moreplainly now. It was, as I have said, grey. It had a tremendous head; butno eyes. That part of its face was blank.
Now, I saw that there were other things up among the mountains. Furtheroff, reclining on a lofty ledge, I made out a livid mass, irregular andghoulish. It seemed without form, save for an unclean, half-animal face,that looked out, vilely, from somewhere about its middle. And then I sawothers--there were hundreds of them. They seemed to grow out of theshadows. Several I recognized almost immediately as mythologicaldeities; others were strange to me, utterly strange, beyond the power ofa human mind to conceive.
On each side, I looked, and saw more, continually. The mountains werefull of strange things--Beast-gods, and Horrors so atrocious and bestialthat possibility and decency deny any further attempt to describe them.And I--I was filled with a terrible sense of overwhelming horror andfear and repugnance; yet, spite of these, I wondered exceedingly. Wasthere then, after all, something in the old heathen worship, somethingmore than the mere deifying of men, animals, and elements? The thoughtgripped me--was there?
Later, a question repeated itself. What were they, those Beast-gods,and the others? At first, they had appeared to me just sculpturedMonsters placed indiscriminately among the inaccessible peaks andprecipices of the surrounding mountains. Now, as I scrutinized them withgreater intentness, my mind began to reach out to fresh conclusions.There was something about them, an indescribable sort of silent vitalitythat suggested, to my broadening consciousness, a state oflife-in-death--a something that was by no means life, as we understandit; but rather an inhuman form of existence, that well might be likenedto a deathless trance--a condition in which it was possible to imaginetheir continuing, eternally. 'Immortal!' the word rose in my thoughtsunbidden; and, straightway, I grew to wondering whether this might bethe immortality of the gods.
And then, in the midst of my wondering and musing, something happened.Until then, I had been staying just within the shadow of the exit of thegreat rift. Now, without volition on my part, I drifted out of thesemi-darkness and began to move slowly across the arena--toward theHouse. At this, I gave up all thoughts of those prodigious Shapes aboveme--and could only stare, frightenedly, at the tremendous structuretoward which I was being conveyed so remorselessly. Yet, though Isearched earnestly, I could discover nothing that I had not alreadyseen, and so became gradually calmer.
Presently, I had reached a point more than halfway between the Houseand the gorge. All around was spread the stark loneliness of the place,and the unbroken silence. Steadily, I neared the great building. Then,all at once, something caught my vision, something that came 'round oneof the huge buttresses of the House, and so into full view. It was agigantic thing, and moved with a curious lope, going almost upright,after the manner of a man. It was quite unclothed, and had a remarkableluminous appearance. Yet it was the face that attracted and frightenedme the most. It was the face of a swine.
Silently, intently, I watched this horrible creature, and forgot myfear, momentarily, in my interest in its movements. It was making itsway, cumbrously 'round the building, stopping as it came to each windowto peer in and shake at the bars, with which--as in this house--theywere protected; and whenever it came to a door, it would push at it,fingering the fastening stealthily. Evidently, it was searching for aningress into the House.
I had come now to within less than a quarter of a mile of the greatstructure, and still I was compelled forward. Abruptly, the Thing turnedand gazed hideously in my direction. It opened its mouth, and, for thefirst time, the stillness of that abominable place was broken, by adeep, booming note that sent an added thrill of apprehension through me.Then, immediately, I became aw
are that it was coming toward me, swiftlyand silently. In an instant, it had covered half the distance that laybetween. And still, I was borne helplessly to meet it. Only a hundredyards, and the brutish ferocity of the giant face numbed me with afeeling of unmitigated horror. I could have screamed, in the supremenessof my fear; and then, in the very moment of my extremity and despair, Ibecame conscious that I was looking down upon the arena, from a rapidlyincreasing height. I was rising, rising. In an inconceivably shortwhile, I had reached an altitude of many hundred feet. Beneath me, thespot that I had just left, was occupied by the foul Swine-creature. Ithad gone down on all fours and was snuffing and rooting, like averitable hog, at the surface of the arena. A moment and it rose to itsfeet, clutching upward, with an expression of desire upon its face suchas I have never seen in this world.
Continually, I mounted higher. A few minutes, it seemed, and I hadrisen above the great mountains--floating, alone, afar in the redness.At a tremendous distance below, the arena showed, dimly; with the mightyHouse looking no larger than a tiny spot of green. The Swine-thing wasno longer visible.
Presently, I passed over the mountains, out above the huge breadth ofthe plain. Far away, on its surface, in the direction of the ring-shapedsun, there showed a confused blur. I looked toward it, indifferently. Itreminded me, somewhat, of the first glimpse I had caught of themountain-amphitheatre.
With a sense of weariness, I glanced upward at the immense ring offire. What a strange thing it was! Then, as I stared, out from the darkcenter, there spurted a sudden flare of extraordinary vivid fire.Compared with the size of the black center, it was as naught; yet, initself, stupendous. With awakened interest, I watched it carefully,noting its strange boiling and glowing. Then, in a moment, the wholething grew dim and unreal, and so passed out of sight. Much amazed, Iglanced down to the Plain from which I was still rising. Thus, Ireceived a fresh surprise. The Plain--everything had vanished, and onlya sea of red mist was spread far below me. Gradually as I stared thisgrew remote, and died away into a dim far mystery of red against anunfathomable night. A while, and even this had gone, and I was wrappedin an impalpable, lightless gloom.