"A. E. Merritt - The Moon Pool" - читать интересную книгу автора (Merritt A. E)

literally three rectangles. The first rectangle is the sea-wall, built up of
monolithsЧhewn and squared, twenty feet wide at the top. To get to the gateway
in the sea-wall you pass along the canal marked on the map between Nan-Tauach
and the islet named Tau. The entrance to the canal is hidden by dense thickets
of mangroves; once through these the way is clear. The steps lead up from the
landing of the sea-gate through the entrance to the courtyard.
"This courtyard is surrounded by another basalt wall, rectangular, following
with mathematical exactness the march of the outer barricades. The sea-wall is
from thirty to forty feet highЧoriginally it must have been much higher, but
there has been subsidence in parts. The wall of the first enclosure is fifteen
feet across the top and its height varies from twenty to fifty feetЧhere, too,
the gradual sinking of the land has caused portions of it to fall.
"Within this courtyard is the second enclosure. Its terrace, of the same basalt
as the outer walls, is about twenty feet high. Entrance is gained to it by many
breaches which time has made in its stonework. This is the inner court, the
heart of Nan-Tauach! There lies the great central vault with which is associated
the one name of living being that has come to us out of the mists of the past.
The natives say it was the treasure-house of Chau-te-leur, a mighty king who
reigned long 'before their fathers.' As Chau is the ancient Ponapean word both
for sun and king, the name means, without doubt, 'place of the sun king.' It is
a memory of a dynastic name of the race that ruled the Pacific continent, now
vanishedЧjust as the rulers of ancient Crete took the name of Minos and the
rulers of Egypt the name of Pharaoh.
"And opposite this place of the sun king is the moon rock that hides the Moon
Pool.
"It was Stanton who discovered the moon rock. We had been inspecting the inner
courtyard; Edith and Thora were getting together our lunch. I came out of the
vault of Chau-te-leur to find Stanton before a part of the terrace studying it
wonderingly.
"'What do you make of this?' he asked me as I came up. He pointed to the wall. I
followed his finger and saw a slab of stone about fifteen feet high and ten
wide. At first all I noticed was the exquisite nicety with which its edges
joined the blocks about it. Then I realized that its colour was subtly
differentЧtinged with grey and of a smooth, peculiarЧdeadness.
"'Looks more like calcite than basalt,' I said. I touched it and withdrew my
hand quickly for at the contact every nerve in my arm tingled as though a shock
of frozen electricity had passed through it. It was not cold as we know cold. It
was a chill forceЧthe phrase I have usedЧfrozen electricityЧdescribes it better
than anything else. Stanton looked at me oddly.
"'So you felt it too,' he said. 'I was wondering whether I was developing
hallucinations like Thora. Notice, by the way, that the blocks beside it are
quite warm beneath the sun.'
"We examined the slab eagerly. Its edges were cut as though by an engraver of
jewels. They fitted against the neighbouring blocks in almost a hair-line. Its
base was slightly curved, and fitted as closely as top and sides upon the huge
stones on which it rested. And then we noted that these stones had been hollowed
to follow the line of the grey stone's foot. There was a semicircular depression
running from one side of the slab to the other. It was as though the grey rock
stood in the centre of a shallow cupЧrevealing half, covering half. Something
about this hollow attracted me. I reached down and felt it. Goodwin, although