The Moon Pool by Abraham Merritt
page 22 of 402 (05%)
page 22 of 402 (05%)
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deep-breasted, moulded on the old Viking lines. Her sixty years had
slipped from her. She looked like some ancient priestess of Odin. "She stood there, her eyes wide, brilliant, staring. She thrust her head forward toward Nan-Tauach, regarding the moving lights; she listened. Suddenly she raised her arms and made a curious gesture to the moon. It was--an archaic--movement; she seemed to drag it from remote antiquity--yet in it was a strange suggestion of power, Twice she repeated this gesture and--the tinklings died away! She turned to us. "'Go!' she said, and her voice seemed to come from far distances. 'Go from here--and quickly! Go while you may. It has called--' She pointed to the islet. 'It knows you are here. It waits!' she wailed. 'It beckons--the--the--" "She fell at Edith's feet, and over the lagoon came again the tinklings, now with a quicker note of jubilance--almost of triumph. "We watched beside her throughout the night. The sounds from Nan-Tauach continued until about an hour before moon-set. In the morning Thora awoke, none the worse, apparently. She had had bad dreams, she said. She could not remember what they were--except that they had warned her of danger. She was oddly sullen, and throughout the morning her gaze returned again and again half-fascinatedly, half-wonderingly to the neighbouring isle. "That afternoon the natives returned. And that night on Nan-Tauach the silence was unbroken nor were there lights nor sign of life. |
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