[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
her. Stretching across the river was a network of rusty wire, THE REMAINS OF
A
REINFORCED CONCRETE BRIDGE.
There was no doubt of this. On each bank was a large, moss-grown block of
stone, which the doctor knew could be nothing else than the old abutments.
Seemingly there had been only a single span.
The woman brought the log to the shore, and examined the bridge closely.
Instinctively she felt that the structure argued a high degree of
intelligence, very likely human. A little hesitation, and then she beached her
log, ascended the bank, and looked upon the bridge from above.
A narrow road met her eyes. Once it might have been twice as wide, but now the
thicket encroached until there was barely room enough, judged the doctor, for
a single vehicle to pass. Its surface was badly broken up apparently it had
been concrete and grass grew in every crack. Nevertheless, it was a bona-fide
road.
For the first time in a long while, Rolla was temporarily off her guard. The
doctor was able to impress her with the idea of "Follow this road!" and to his
intense gratification the woman started away from the river at once.
Soon the novelty of the thing wore off enough for her to concern herself with
fresh food. She discovered plenty of berries, also three kinds of nuts; all
were strange to her, yet she ate them without question, and suffered nothing
as a result, so far as the doctor could see.
The sun was less than an hour from the horizon when the road, after passing
over a slight rise, swung in a wide arc through the woods and thus unveiled a
most extraordinary landscape. It was all the more incredible because so
utterly out of keeping with what Rolla had just passed through. She had been
in the wilderness; now
A vast city lay before her. Not a hundred yards away stood a low, square
building of some plain, gray stone. Beyond this stretched block upon
block mile upon mile rather of bona-fide residences, stores and much larger
buildings.
It is true that the whole place was badly overgrown with all sorts of
vegetation;
yet, from that slight elevation, there was no doubt that this place was, or
had been, a great metropolis.
Presently it became clear that "had been" was the correct term. Nothing but
wild life appeared. Rolla looked closely for any signs of human occupancy, but
saw none. To all appearances the place was deserted; and it was just as easy
to say that it had been so for ten centuries as for one.
"There seems no good reason why I should not go farther," commented Rolla
aloud, to boost her courage. "Perchance I shall find the magic stone in this
queer place."
It speaks well for her self-confidence that, despite the total strangeness of
Page 41
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
the whole affair a city was as far out of her line as aviation to a miner she
went forward with very little hesitation. None of the wild creatures that
scuttled from her sight alarmed her at all; the only things she looked at
closely were such bees as she met. The insects ignored her altogether, except
to keep a respectful distance. "These masters," observed Rolla with
satisfaction, "know nothing of me. I shall not obey them till they threaten
me." But there was no threatening.
For the most part the buildings were in ruins. Here and there a structure
showed very little damage by the elements. In more than one case the roof was
quite intact. Clearly the materials used were exceptional, or else the place
had not been deserted very long. The doctor held to the latter opinion,
especially after seeing a certain brown-haired dog running to hide behind a
heap of stones.
"It was a dog!" the doctor felt sure. To Rolla, however, the animal was even
more significant. She exclaimed about it in a way which confirmed the
doctor's guess. On she went at a faster rate, plainly excited and hopeful of
seeing something further that she could recognize.
She found it in a hurry. Reaching the end of one block of the ruins, she
turned the corner and started to follow the cross street. Whereupon she
stopped short, to gaze in consternation at a line of something whitish which
stretched from one side of the "street" to the other.
It was a line of human skeletons.
There were perhaps two hundred in the lot, piled one on top of the other, and
forming a low barrier across the pavement. To Rolla the thing was simply
terrible, and totally without explanation. To the people on the earth, it
suggested a formation of troops, shot down in their tracks and left where they
had fallen. The doctor would have given a year of his life if only Rolla had
had the courage to examine the bones; there might have been bullet-holes, or
other evidence of how they had met their death.
The Sanusian chose rather to back carefully away from the spot. She walked
hurriedly up the street she had just left, and before going another block came [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl freetocraft.keep.pl
her. Stretching across the river was a network of rusty wire, THE REMAINS OF
A
REINFORCED CONCRETE BRIDGE.
There was no doubt of this. On each bank was a large, moss-grown block of
stone, which the doctor knew could be nothing else than the old abutments.
Seemingly there had been only a single span.
The woman brought the log to the shore, and examined the bridge closely.
Instinctively she felt that the structure argued a high degree of
intelligence, very likely human. A little hesitation, and then she beached her
log, ascended the bank, and looked upon the bridge from above.
A narrow road met her eyes. Once it might have been twice as wide, but now the
thicket encroached until there was barely room enough, judged the doctor, for
a single vehicle to pass. Its surface was badly broken up apparently it had
been concrete and grass grew in every crack. Nevertheless, it was a bona-fide
road.
For the first time in a long while, Rolla was temporarily off her guard. The
doctor was able to impress her with the idea of "Follow this road!" and to his
intense gratification the woman started away from the river at once.
Soon the novelty of the thing wore off enough for her to concern herself with
fresh food. She discovered plenty of berries, also three kinds of nuts; all
were strange to her, yet she ate them without question, and suffered nothing
as a result, so far as the doctor could see.
The sun was less than an hour from the horizon when the road, after passing
over a slight rise, swung in a wide arc through the woods and thus unveiled a
most extraordinary landscape. It was all the more incredible because so
utterly out of keeping with what Rolla had just passed through. She had been
in the wilderness; now
A vast city lay before her. Not a hundred yards away stood a low, square
building of some plain, gray stone. Beyond this stretched block upon
block mile upon mile rather of bona-fide residences, stores and much larger
buildings.
It is true that the whole place was badly overgrown with all sorts of
vegetation;
yet, from that slight elevation, there was no doubt that this place was, or
had been, a great metropolis.
Presently it became clear that "had been" was the correct term. Nothing but
wild life appeared. Rolla looked closely for any signs of human occupancy, but
saw none. To all appearances the place was deserted; and it was just as easy
to say that it had been so for ten centuries as for one.
"There seems no good reason why I should not go farther," commented Rolla
aloud, to boost her courage. "Perchance I shall find the magic stone in this
queer place."
It speaks well for her self-confidence that, despite the total strangeness of
Page 41
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
the whole affair a city was as far out of her line as aviation to a miner she
went forward with very little hesitation. None of the wild creatures that
scuttled from her sight alarmed her at all; the only things she looked at
closely were such bees as she met. The insects ignored her altogether, except
to keep a respectful distance. "These masters," observed Rolla with
satisfaction, "know nothing of me. I shall not obey them till they threaten
me." But there was no threatening.
For the most part the buildings were in ruins. Here and there a structure
showed very little damage by the elements. In more than one case the roof was
quite intact. Clearly the materials used were exceptional, or else the place
had not been deserted very long. The doctor held to the latter opinion,
especially after seeing a certain brown-haired dog running to hide behind a
heap of stones.
"It was a dog!" the doctor felt sure. To Rolla, however, the animal was even
more significant. She exclaimed about it in a way which confirmed the
doctor's guess. On she went at a faster rate, plainly excited and hopeful of
seeing something further that she could recognize.
She found it in a hurry. Reaching the end of one block of the ruins, she
turned the corner and started to follow the cross street. Whereupon she
stopped short, to gaze in consternation at a line of something whitish which
stretched from one side of the "street" to the other.
It was a line of human skeletons.
There were perhaps two hundred in the lot, piled one on top of the other, and
forming a low barrier across the pavement. To Rolla the thing was simply
terrible, and totally without explanation. To the people on the earth, it
suggested a formation of troops, shot down in their tracks and left where they
had fallen. The doctor would have given a year of his life if only Rolla had
had the courage to examine the bones; there might have been bullet-holes, or
other evidence of how they had met their death.
The Sanusian chose rather to back carefully away from the spot. She walked
hurriedly up the street she had just left, and before going another block came [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]