Moon

rd unnoticed by either of u

e said, "can I see y

was going to spe

range thing that has happened to Olaf. Veree strange. An' th

ke you. His name it was Marakinoff. I take him to Ponape an' the natives there they will not take him to the Nan-Matal where he wish to go-no! So I take him. We leave in a boat, wit' much instru

this, Da Costa?" I asked. "N

s head vehemently

martin while you were

he answered but the pallor h

hy was he afraid to speak? My anxiety deepened and later I s

, or damned-otherwise. Considering what you did for me,

r. Upon the excitement and manifest dread of the natives, when we sought among them for carriers and workmen to accompany us, I will no

d. We piled her long-boat up with my instruments and food and camping equipment. The Suwarna took us around to Metalanim Harbour, and there, wi

wn into the depths, and turned at last into the canal that Throckmartin, on his map, had marked as that which, running

bstance; an alien silence that clung and stifled and still stood aloof from us-the living. It was a stillness, such as mig

uch intensity as this. Larry felt it and I saw him look at me askance. If Olaf, sitting in the bow, felt it,

k basalt blocks, cyclopean, towering fifty feet or more, br

h a cold, mathematical nicety that filled me with vague awe, slipped by. Through breaks I caught glimpses of dark ruins and of great fallen stones

bastions came murmurs-forbidding, strangely sinister. And now we were through, floating on a little open space of shadow-filled water. Before us lifted the gateway of Nan-Tauach, gigantic, broken, incredibly old; shat

deed; and from each side of it marched the high walls that were the Dweller's pathway. None of us spoke as

xt?" ask

me low tones. "We'll climb the wall here and take a flash abo

nodded. With the greatest difficult

hire sea, lay dozens of islets, none of them covering more than two square miles

few great birds that hovered here and there

n enormous basalt-sided open cube, and within it two other open cubes. The enclosure between the first and second wall was stone paved, with here and there a br

he Russian can

im, too? Whatever had happened, there was no trace of him below us or on any of the islets with

whether the grey stone is really here. After that we will set up camp,

ed with a dread that O'Keefe's analysis might be true. Would we find the moving slab and, if so, would it be as Throckmartin had described? If so, then even Larry would have to admit that here was something that theories of gases and l

pass that gloriously dreadful apparition he called the Dweller. At its base was the curious, seemi

n, unimaginable vistas, hide? It had cost the world of science Throckmartin's great brain-as it had cost Throckmartin those he loved. It had drawn me to it in search of Throckmartin-and its

ay bey

nd arm, oddly unfamiliar and as oddly unpleasant; as of electric contact holding the very essence of cold.

p toward the top of the grey stone. I followed the gesture and saw, above the moon doo

door's key

answered Larry. "If we c

ise," I replied. "And we've none too

ow but a short hour to sundown I bade them leave me and make their search. They went off

st extent any light directed upon them. I had found them most useful in making spectroscopic analysis of luminous vapours, and I knew that

n the rock. And as the ray streams through the seven globes described by Throckmartin would be too weak to energize the Pool, we could enter the chamber free from any fear of encountering its t

for the analysis of certain light manifestations and the testing o

turned. They reported signs of a camp at least ten days old beside the northern wall o

I saw him take out his automatic and look it over. He was more thoughtful than I had ever seen him. Once he went into the tent, rummaged about a

Larry and Olaf shouldered each a short ladder that was part of my equipment, and, with our electric flas

slab. I saw faint gleams pass over it as of fleeting phosphorescence-but s

irst signs of its opening-if open it should. The Becquerels were set within three-inch tr

ng the second ladder, rapidly fixed the other in its place. Then, with O'Keefe watchful on his perch, I on min

re beginning to glow o

e condenser began to thicken and increase, and as they did so the seven small circles waxed like stars growing ou

, sighing murmur and then

-the ston

wn the ladder. Agai

ended anguish and pity, of rage and despair-and the sou

e earliest misty dawn. But of Olaf I could see-nothing! And even as I stood, gaping, from behind me came the sharp crack of a rifle; the glass of th

n to pivot slowly, slo

y staggered under the impact of a body that had flung itself straight at his throat. He reeled at the lip of the shallow cup at the base of the slab, slipp

ry raised a fist, brought it down upon the temple of the man who had grappled with him and rose from the twitching body un

oonlit square of ruined Nan-Tauach. It was barred by a

us. There was no mark of juncture with the shining walls

ay, Doc, we're right in the pew we've been heading for-so why worry?" He grinned at

noff!"

could see it. It was clearly Russian, and just as clea

the straight lips with their more than suggestion of latent cruelty, and the strong lines of the j

n on my thoughts. "He must have been watching us o

magazine pistols and a knife. "He got one of my bullets through his right forearm, too," he said. "

nd was a slight one, and Larry s

" he asked, suddenly. "And do you sup

Olaf's not outside! He

aw dr

ou say!" he

shriek when the sto

And then this wildcat jumped me-" He paused and his eyes widened. "Which w

nly one wa

hand stretched his long legs and raced away. I looked down at the Russian. H

ed his shoulder without a word, and the two of us set off down the corridor after O'Keefe. Marakinoff was g

the walls an illusive aspect of distance and depth; rendering them in a peculiarly weird way-spacious. The passage turned, twisted, ran down, turned again. It came to

cry from Lar

la

and through it I glimpsed a dim, shifting luminosity as of mist filled with rainbows. We reached the portal and I looked into a

And down upon this pool staring upward like a gigantic eye, fell seven pillars of phantom light-one of them amethyst, one of rose, another of white, a fourth of blue, and three of emerald, of silver, and of amber. They fel

hand down into the water. And as he did so he moaned and lurched against the little body that lay before him. Instantly the form moved-and slipped over the verge into the blue. Huldricks

ke came a cry f

d the Russian. "Dra

lders and toppled him backward, where he lay whimpering and sobbing. And as I rushed behind Marakinoff I saw Larry lean ove

ose dead face and fixed, terror-filled eyes looked straight into mine; and ever sinkin

ther, and where had

n was firs

y medical kit that I had gripped unconsciously and carried with

ed up the sailor's sleeves half-way to the shoulder. The arms were white with somewhat of that weird semitranslucence that I had seen on Throckmartin's breast wh

his heart can do

uch as oil or gasoline dropped on water does-only far more rapidly. And as it spread it drew a sparkling film over the marbled flesh and little wisps of vapour rose from it. The Norseman's mighty chest heaved with agony. His hands clenched. The Russian gave a gr

d contemplated us-a

eed him. Yes." He turned to Larry. "You have a poonch like a mule kick, my young friend," he said. "Some time you pay me f

said. The Russian nodded, betrayi

ou?" h

Corps," replied Larry, saluting. "And

f's face

otanist?" he qu

. Your work, for an American, is most excellent; surprising. But you are wrong in your

conclusions from the fossil Cycadeoidea I knew to be m

ou? What in damnation kind of a place and

is it?" exclaim

ed him with that irrita

ou must learn that only the fact is important-not you, not me, not this"-he pointed to Huldricksson

isen stiffly to his feet and stood with Larry's ar

th mine yndling-here-" His voice broke. "I thought maybe she was not dead," he went on. "And I saw that"-he pointed to the Moon Pool-"and I thought I would bathe her face and she might live again. And when I dipped my hands withi