"Andre Norton - Here Abide Monsters" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

e of his face, where it had scraped gravel, was raw, but that was minor. Th
ey could have been killed. Looking about him now, with eyes entirely aware,
he wet his lips with the tip of his tongue.
Killed-if they had been going any faster-slammed up against these trees. B
ut where-where did the trees come from?
They were huge, giants, and the underbrush beneath them was thin as if thei
r mighty roofing overhead of leaves and branches kept any weaker growth fro
m developing. The jeep was trapped between the one against which its nose w
as stuck, and a log of a fallen giant behind it, boxed in neatly so there w
as no hope of getting it out. Impossible, but that was the way it was.
Nick moved slowly around the machine, ran his hands across the top of the l
og, dislodging moss and fallen leaves. It was very apparent that this had b
een here, half sunk in the mucky soil, for a long, long time. But-there was
the jeep-and-where was the road?
"Please-" Linda had edged around on the seat and was looking at him, her
eyes very wide and frightened. "Please-where are we-what-happened?" She
cuddled Lung against her. Now and then the small dog whined. He was shi
vering.
"I don't know," Nick answered slowly. Only he suspected what was so frighten
ing he did not want to face the fact that it might be the truth.
"But-there's no road." Linda turned her head from side to side, searching. "
We were just driving along and then-Where is this?" Her voice slid up the sc
ale; Nick judged she was close to panic.
He was not far from that himself. But they had to hold on, to lose control w
ould do no good. He hurried back to climb into the jeep.
"You-you know-!" She did have her voice under control now, was watching
him narrowly. "What has happened? If you know-tell me!"
But he still hated to face what must be the truth. "I don't know," he said ca
refully. "It is only a guess." He hesitated. Those trees there were certainly
good evidence. What more did he want? They were out of the Cut-Off, in such
woods as had not been seen in this part of the country for two hundred years
or more when the first settlers had attacked the great forests to carve out m
astery of the land.
"Did your friends know anything about the history of the Cut-Off?" he be
gan. How could you explain to anyone what might have happened, something
so bizarre, so improbable?
"No." Linda cradled Lung in her arms, murmuring soothingly to him now and
again. Her one-word reply was uncompromising. It was apparent she wanted
the truth, or what he thought might be the truth.
"Well, the Cut-Off has a history of disappearances- running back as long as
records were kept around here-"
("Around here." But surely this "here" was not the "here" of a short time ago
.)
"The last time it happened was in 1955, two men going out to the lake to fish
. But before that there were others. That's why the Cut-Off wasn't in use. No
t until they built the new freeway and closed off the other road in."
"Disappearances to where?" Linda demanded sharply.
"That's it, nobody knows-knew. There are places ..." Nick paused again. Wo
uld she believe him? She had to believe the evidence now before them at le
ast. "Places where people do disappear-like the Bermuda Triangle-a whole f