"Dunsany, Lord - Hashish Man, The" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dunsany Lord)

he sang, and sometimes he wrote his name on a marble wall.
Then he sat down on a step and ate his dinner. After a
while he grew tired of the city, and came back up the
street. As he reached the gate of green copper three men on
camels appeared.
"I could do nothing. I was only a consciousness,
invisible, wandering: my body was in Europe. The sailor
fought well with his fists, but he was over-powered and
bound with ropes, and led away through the Desert.
"I followed for as long as I could stay, and found that
they were going by the way of the Desert round the Hills of
Hap towards Utnar Vehi, and then I knew that the camel men
belonged to Thuba Mleen.
"I work in an insurance office all day, and I hope you
won't forget me if ever you want to insure -- life, fire, or
motor -- but that's no part of my story. I was desperately
anxious to get back to my flat, though it is not good to
take hashish two days running; but I wanted to see what they
would do to the poor fellow, for I had heard bad rumours
about Thuba Mleen. When at last I got away I had a letter
to write; then I rang for my servant, and told him that I
must not be disturbed, though I left my door unlocked in
case of accidents. After that I made up a good fire, and
sat down and partook of the pot of dreams. I was going to
the palace of Thuba Mleen.
"I was kept back longer than usual by noises in the
street, but suddenly I was up above the town; the European
countries rushed by beneath me, and there appeared the thin
white palace spires of horrible Thuba Mleen. I found him
presently at the end of a little narrow room. A curtain of
red leather hung behind him, on which all the names of God,
written in Yannish, were worked with a golden thread. Three
windows were small and high. The Emperor seemed no more
than about twenty, and looked small and weak. No smiles
came on his nasty yellow face, though he tittered
continually. As I looked from his low forehead to his
quivering under lip, I became aware that there was some
horror about him, though I was not able to perceive what it
was. And then I saw it -- the man never blinked; and though
later on I watched those eyes for a blink, it never happened
once.
"And then I followed the Emperor's rapt glance, and I saw
the sailor lying on the floor, alive but hideously rent, and
the royal torturers were at work all round him. They had
torn long strips from him, but had not detached them, and
they were torturing the ends of them far away from the
sailor." The man that I met at dinner told me many things
which I must omit. "The sailor was groaning softly, and
every time he groaned Thuba Mleen tittered. I had no sense
of smell, but I could hear and see, and I do not know which