Крижаний сфінкс
Chapter XVI. Tsalal Island
Therewasnowateranywhere;buteverywhereabsolute,awfuldrought.
Nevertheless,Huntwalkedonrapidly,withoutshowinganyhesitation.Itseemedasthoughhewasledbyanaturalinstinct,“abee’sflight,”aswesayinAmerica.Iknownotwhatpresentimentinducedustofollowhimasthebestofguides,aChingachgook,aRenard-Subtil.Andwhynot?Wasnothethefellow-countrymanofFenimoreCooper’sheroes?
But,ImustrepeatthatwehadnotbeforeoureyesthatfabulouslandwhichArthurPymdescribed.Thesoilweweretreadinghadbeenravaged,wrecked,tornbyconvulsion.Itwasblack,acinderyblack,asthoughithadbeenvomitedfromtheearthundertheactionofPlutonianforces;itsuggestedthatsomeappallingandirresistiblecataclysmhadoverturnedthewholeofitssurface.
Notoneoftheanimalsmentionedinthenarrativewastobeseen,andeventhepenguinswhichaboundintheAntarcticregionshadfledfromthisuninhabitableland.Itssternsilenceandsolitudemadeitahideousdesert.Nohumanbeingwastobeseeneitheronthecoastorintheinterior.DidanychanceoffindingWilliamGuyandthesurvivorsoftheJaneexistinthemidstofthissceneofdesolation?
IlookedatCaptainLenGuy.Hispaleface,dimeyes,andknitbrowtoldtooplainlythathopewasbeginningtodiewithinhisbreast.
