Another eon.
So far away it seemed a distant star, the lone traveler through the
infinite Void discerned a dull red glow. Larger and larger it grew as
he soared toward it with lightning velocity.
And now it seemed a great mass of flameless fire, shedding its cold
rays for millions of miles. With every second it grew in size until it
was come to inconceivable proportion. And then it seemed to shrivel up,
and turn ashen and wrinkled, and become as a dead and crumbling sun.
But suddenly the husk burst open, and the wayfarer described, dimly at
first, what seemed the outermost rim of some gorgeous, primeval world.
Awhile it was as though he were watching it from afar off; but he
traversed thousands of leagues in as many seconds, and swiftly it took
definite shape as he flew nearer and yet nearer.
And then his journey through illimitable space was at an end, and he
had alighted upon this unknown world, and was wandering through a dense
jungle of some marvelous fungus that attained a wondrous height.
Seemingly without his own volition, he at length found himself lying on
a verdant mound overlooking a vast tropical morass that reached off on
all sides into endless vista.
And while he lay there he witnessed in that untracked wilderness a
diabolical spectacle appalling as hell itself!
Grisly, indescribable Things--satyrs and ogres and demons and
fiends--appeared in countless numbers, and held orgies that were
Madness intensified. Now they were reveling and cavorting in wanton
abandon; anon battling among themselves in murderous ferocity.
After a time he viewed a sight still more horrible. Off to the right,
he saw a monstrous snake’s head, as huge as the body of a hippopotamus,
rise up from the swamp and gaze on ravenously at the riotous revel.
An instant later the licentious carousal was become wildest terror. The
forest was alive with frightful reptiles--gigantic, stupendous things
that passed the extent of all imagination. Down they swooped upon their
terrified prey, their enormous, slippery bodies undulating in great
writhing leaps.
The horde of unearthly Things, disporting in hellish debauchery a
moment before, were swiftly swallowed up by the serpents. Left in
possession of the swamp, they flopped about venomously for a time,
demolishing and laying waste all about them.
They then fell upon one another in unspeakable combat, wriggling and
squirming slimily together, their repulsive, green-black lengths
intertwined like enormous angle worms. And they killed and devoured
each other, until at last there was left but one hideous, swollen
monster.
It leaped and dashed about, lashing its great tail furiously, tearing
down giant trees as though they were weeds. And as the young man
watched, the incredible thing seemed to swell larger and larger. And
then he saw it stop suddenly in its Brobdingnagian gambol and rigidly
poise its hideous head. And he looked straight into its horrifying eyes!
They were fixed steadily upon him. But a moment it staid thus; then its
head dropped, and he saw its mammoth body undulating swiftly toward him
through the swamp.
He strove to cry out, but could utter no sound. He tried to move, but
his body was as lead.
On came the thing with frightful rapidity; parts of its writhing length
now sinking in the quagmire, now towering high above it. Now he could
see that massive head swinging from side to side. Now only a dark,
slimy greenish mass, describing an arch above the swamp, showed its
location.
Now it was close upon him. Its vast head swooped up a scant distance
away. Its fulsome eyes blazed upon him with a furious fire. Its great
drooping jaws swung open. They bristled with venomous fangs.
The monster gathered itself in a dozen gigantic coils and lept through
the air--
“GOD!” he shrieked.
“There, there,” soothed a tender voice. “Don’t excite yourself. You’ll
be all right presently. Just remain quiet, that’s all.”
A cool hand was laid gently upon his brow. He looked up at the young
nurse who sat beside his cot.
Without saying a word, he stared for quite a long time at her face,
until her cheeks were as crimson as the ribbon at her throat. When at
length he spoke, he was half laughing, half sobbing, and the syntax of
his utterance would scarcely have delighted a professor of English at
Harvard University.
“Well, I’ve been, girl,” said he. “Got a round trip ticket. But never,
never again. What’d you run away for? Yep, I’ve had my fill; no more
metaphysics. _Phew!_ Such reptiles! Big as this room, some of ’em.
I looked three years, and it ran me crazy. _Ugh!_ those snakes and
lizards. Hired detectives, too, but it was no use. And I thought it was
all sunshine and flowers and sweet music. You won’t run away again,
will you? Could you get me a little brandy, Lily May? I’m feeling a bit
faint.”