Хребты безумия

           Ashehadsaid,theiredgeswerecrumbledandroundedfromuntoldaeonsofsavageweathering;buttheirpreternaturalsolidityandtoughmaterialhadsavedthemfromobliteration. Manyparts,especiallythoseclosesttotheslopes,seemedidenticalinsubstancewiththesurroundingrocksurface. ThewholearrangementlookedliketheruinsofMacchuPicchuintheAndes,ortheprimalfoundationwallsofKishasdugupbytheOxfordFieldMuseumExpeditionin1929;andbothDanforthandIobtainedthatoccasionalimpressionofseparateCyclopeanblockswhichLakehadattributedtohisflight-companionCarroll. Howtoaccountforsuchthingsinthisplacewasfranklybeyondme,andIfeltqueerlyhumbledasageologist. Igneousformationsoftenhavestrangeregularities—likethefamousGiants’CausewayinIreland—butthisstupendousrange,despiteLake’soriginalsuspicionofsmokingcones,wasaboveallelsenonvolcanicinevidentstructure. 

           Thecuriouscavemouths,nearwhichtheoddformationsseemedmostabundant,presentedanotheralbeitalesserpuzzlebecauseoftheirregularityofoutline. Theywere,asLake’sbulletinhadsaid,oftenapproximatelysquareorsemicircular;asifthenaturalorificeshadbeenshapedtogreatersymmetrybysomemagichand. Theirnumerousnessandwidedistributionwereremarkable,andsuggestedthatthewholeregionwashoneycombedwithtunnelsdissolvedoutoflimestonestrata. Suchglimpsesaswesecureddidnotextendfarwithinthecaverns,butwesawthattheywereapparentlyclearofstalactitesandstalagmites. Outside,thosepartsofthemountainslopesadjoiningtheaperturesseemedinvariablysmoothandregular;andDanforththoughtthattheslightcracksandpittingsoftheweatheringtendedtowardunusualpatterns.