Into the Moon Pool
"Goodwin," Throckmartin on at last, "I can him only as a thing of light. He light; was with light; overflowed with it. A cloud through and around him in swirls, tentacles, luminescent, spirals.
"His with a too great to be by man, and was with misery. It was as though it had been by the hand of God and the hand of Satan, together and in harmony. You have that seal upon my own. But you have it in the that Stanton it. The were wide open and fixed, as though upon some of and heaven!
"The light that and him had a nucleus, a core—something shaped—that and changed, itself, through and him and again. And as its passed through him Stanton's whole radiance. As the moved, there moved above it, still and always, seven of seven colors, like seven little moons.
"Then Stanton was lifted—levitated—up the and to its top. The from the moonlight, the music fainter. I again to move. The were now from my and they to my eyes.
"I have said my was fixed. It was. But from the side, peripherally, it took in a part of the of the enclosure. Ages to pass and a along it. Soon into the that was Stanton. Far away he was—on the wall. But still I see the around and through him; than saw his the seven moons. A of notes, and he had passed. And all the time, as though from some opened well of light, the and sent out that the moonrays, yet to be a part of them.
"At last the moon the horizon. There came a louder of sound; the second, and last, of Stanton, like an echo of his first! Again the soft from the terrace. Then—utter silence!
"The light faded; the moon was setting and with a life and power to move returned to me. I a for the steps, up them, through the and to the rock. It was closed—as I it would be. But did I it or did I hear, through it as though from a shouting?
"I ran to Edith. At my touch she wakened; looked at me wanderingly; herself on a hand.
"'Dave!' she said, 'I slept—after all.' She saw the on my and to her feet. 'Dave!' she cried. 'What is it? Where's Charles?'
"I a fire I spoke. Then I told her. And for the of that night we sat the flames, arms around each other—like two children."
Abruptly Throckmartin his hands out to me appealingly.
"Walter, old friend!" he cried. "Don't look at me as though I were mad. It's truth, truth. Wait—" I him as well as I could. After a little time he took up his story.
"Never," he said, "did man welcome the sun as we did that morning. A soon as it had we to the courtyard. The I had Stanton were black and silent. The were as they had been. The was in its place. In the at its was—nothing. Nothing—nothing was there on the of Stanton—not a trace.
"What were we to do? Precisely the same that had us there the night good now—and good. We not these two; not go as long as there was the of them—and yet for love of each other how we remain? I loved my wife,—how much I until that day; and she loved me as deeply.
"'It takes only one each night,' she pleaded. 'Beloved, let it take me.'
"I wept, Walter. We wept.
"'We will meet it together,' she said. And it was thus at last that we it."
"That took great indeed, Throckmartin," I interrupted. He looked at me eagerly.
"You do then?" he exclaimed.
"I believe," I said. He pressed my hand with a that nearly it.
"Now," he told me. "I do not fear. If I—fail, you will with help?"
I promised.
"We talked it over carefully," he on, "bringing to all our power of analysis and of calm, scientific thought. We the time in the phenomena. Although the at the very moment of moonrise, five minutes had passed its full and the from the terrace. I in memory over the of the night before. At least ten minutes had the and the of the moonlight in the courtyard. And this for at least ten minutes more the of the notes. Indeed, more than an hour must have elapsed, I calculated, the moment the moon above the and the of the tinklings.
"'Edith!' I cried. 'I think I have it! The opens five minutes after upon the moonrise. But or it is that comes through it must wait until the moon has higher, or else it must come from a distance. The thing to do is not to wait for it, but to it it out the door. We will go into the early. You will take your and pistol and where you can the opening—if the open. The it opens I will enter. It's our best chance, Edith. I think it's our only one.'
"My wife strongly. She wanted to go with me. But I her that it was for her to without, prepared to help me if I were again into the open by what the rock.
"At the half-hour we into the court. I took my place at the of the rock. Edith a twenty away; her rifle-barrel over it so that it would the opening.
"The minutes by. The and through the of the I the sky lighten. With the the of the place intensified. It deepened; unbearably—expectant. The moon rose, the quarter, the half, then up into full like a great bubble.
"Its upon the me and upon the I have seven little circles of light out. They gleamed, glimmered, brighter—shone. The me with them, of over its surface and then—it as though on a pivot, as it moved!
"With a word to Edith I myself through the opening. A me. It with the same radiance. Down it I raced. The passage abruptly, passed to the of the and then once more downward.
"The passage ended. Before me was a high arch. It to open into space; a space with lambent, coruscating, many-coloured as I watched. I passed through the and stopped in awe!
"In of me was a pool. It was circular, twenty wide. Around it ran a low, lip of stone. Its water was blue. The with its was like a great upward.
"Upon it seven of radiance. They upon the like torrents; they were like of light from a floor.
"One was the pink of the pearl; one of the aurora's green; a third a white; the fourth the in mother-of-pearl; a of amber; a of amethyst; a of silver. Such are the of the seven lights that upon the Moon Pool. I closer, awestricken. The did not the depths. They played upon the surface and there to diffuse, to melt into it. The Pool them?
"Through the water of to dart, and of incandescence. And far, I a movement, a shifting as of a slowly rising.
"I looked upward, the to their source. Far above were seven globes, and it was from these that the poured. Even as I their grew. They were like seven set high in some heaven. Slowly their increased, and with it the of the seven from them.
"I my away and at the Pool. It had milky, opalescent. The into it to be it; it was alive with sparklings, scintillations, glimmerings. And the I had from its was larger, nearer!
"A of up from its surface. It the of the and there for a moment. The to it, sending through it little corpuscles, spiralings. The the rays, was by them, substance. Another into the shaft, and there, moved toward the and with it. And now other arose, here and there, too fast to be counted; in the of the light streams; and into each other.
"Thicker and still they until over the surface of the Pool was a of stronger; it life from the seven upon it; to it from the darting, of the Pool. Into its centre was the from the depths. And the glowed, throbbed—began to send out and tendrils—
"There me was That which had walked with Stanton, which had taken Thora—the thing I had come to find!
"My brain into action. My hand up the pistol and I after into the core.
"As I fired, it and shook; again. I a second into the and another idea to me took at one of the in the roof. From I came the that this Dweller in the Pool—from the came its strength. If I them I check its forming. I again and again. If I the I did no damage. The little in their with the in the mist, troubled. That was all.
"But up from the Pool like little bells, like of glass, the sounds—their higher, all their lost, angry.
"And out from the Inexplicable a spiral.
"It me above the heart; itself around me. There through me a and horror. Every of me with and with despair. There was nothing in it. But it was as though the of and the of good had together me. The pistol from my hand.
"So I while the Pool and sparkled; the of light more and the Thing that me and strengthened. Its had shape—but a shape that my and brain not define. It was as though a being of another should assume what it might of semblance, but was not able to that what saw was but a part of it. It was neither man woman; it was and androgynous. Even as I its it changed. And still the and terror me. Only in a little of my brain something untouched; something that itself and watched. Was it the soul? I have believed—and yet—
"Over the of the there out seven little lights. Each was the colour of the which it rested. I now that the Dweller was—complete!
"I a scream. It was Edith's voice. It came to me that she had the and me. I every into a effort. I myself free from the and it back. I to catch Edith, and as I did so slipped—fell.
"The shape above the Pool swiftly—and into it Edith, arms to me from it! God!
"She herself its splendour," he whispered. "It its self around her. The jubilantly. The light her, ran through and around her as it had with Stanton; and upon her face—the look!
"But her had taken her to the very of the Moon Pool. She tottered; she fell—with the still her, still and around and through her—into the Moon Pool! She sank, and with her went—the Dweller!
"I myself to the brink. Far was a shining, many-coloured cloud descending; out of it Edith's face, disappearing; her up at me—and she vanished!
"'Edith!' I again. 'Edith, come to me!'
"And then a upon me. I through the and out into the courtyard. Reason had left me. When it returned I was out at sea in our from civilization. A day later I was up by the in which I came to Port Moresby.
"I have a plan; you must it, Goodwin—" He upon his berth. I over him. Exhaustion and the of telling his had been too much for him. He slept like the dead.
All that night I over him. When I to my room to a little sleep myself. But my was haunted.
The next day the was unabated. Throckmartin came to me at lunch. He had much of his old alertness.
"Come to my cabin," he said. There, he his shirt from him. "Something is happening," he said. "The mark is smaller." It was as he said.
"I'm escaping," he jubilantly, "Just let me to Melbourne safely, and then we'll see who'll win! For, Walter, I'm not at all sure that Edith is dead—as we know death—nor that the others are. There is something there—some great mystery."
And all that day he talked to me of his plans.
"There's a natural explanation, of course," he said. "My is that the moon is of some to the action of moon rays; as the metal is to sun rays. The little circles over the top are, without doubt, its agency. When the light them they the that opens the slab, just as you can open doors with sun or electric light by an of selenium-cells. Apparently it takes the of the full moon to do this and to the Dweller in the Pool. We will try a of the of the moon upon these circles to see that will open the rock. If it we will be able to the Pool without from—from—what emanates.
"Look, here on the are their locations. I have this in for you in the event—of something happening—to me. And if I lose—you'll come after us, Goodwin, with help—won't you?"
And again I promised.
A little later he of sleepiness.
"But it's just weariness," he said. "Not at all like that other drowsiness. It's an hour till still," he at last. "Wake me up a good fifteen minutes before."
He upon the berth. I sat thinking. I came to myself with a start. I had myself in my preoccupation. What time was it? I looked at my watch and jumped to the port-hole. It was full moonlight; the had been up for an hour. I over to Throckmartin and him by the shoulder.
"Up, quick, man!" I cried. He rose sleepily. His shirt open at the and I looked, in amazement, at the white around his chest. Even under the electric light it softly, as though little of light were in it.
Throckmartin only half-awake. He looked at his breast, saw the cincture, and smiled.
"Yes," he said drowsily, "it's coming—to take me to Edith! Well, I'm glad."
"Throckmartin!" I cried. "Wake up! Fight!"
"Fight!" he said. "No use; come after us!"
He to the port and the curtain. The moon a path of light to the ship. Under its the around his and brighter; little rays; to writhe.
The lights out in the cabin; also the ship, for I above.
Throckmartin still at the open port. Over his I saw a along the moon path toward us. Through the window a radiance. It Throckmartin to it, him in a of opalescence. Light through and from him. The with murmurings—
A of over me, me in blackness. When came back, the lights were again brightly.
But of Throckmartin there was no trace!
