classes ::: H_P_Lovecraft, Fiction, Horror, chapter,
children :::
branches :::
see also :::

Instances - Classes - See Also - Object in Names
Definitions - Quotes - Chapters


object:1f.lovecraft - The Beast in the Cave
author class:H P Lovecraft
subject class:Fiction
genre class:Horror
class:chapter


The horrible conclusion which had been gradually obtruding itself upon
my confused and reluctant mind was now an awful certainty. I was lost,
completely, hopelessly lost in the vast and labyrinthine recesses of
the Mammoth Cave. Turn as I might, in no direction could my straining
vision seize on any object capable of serving as a guidepost to set me
on the outward path. That nevermore should I behold the blessed light
of day, or scan the pleasant hills and dales of the beautiful world
outside, my reason could no longer entertain the slightest unbelief.
Hope had departed. Yet, indoctrinated as I was by a life of
philosophical study, I derived no small measure of satisfaction from my
unimpassioned demeanour; for although I had frequently read of the wild
frenzies into which were thrown the victims of similar situations, I
experienced none of these, but stood quiet as soon as I clearly
realised the loss of my bearings.
Nor did the thought that I had probably wandered beyond the utmost
limits of an ordinary search cause me to abandon my composure even for
a moment. If I must die, I reflected, then was this terrible yet
majestic cavern as welcome a sepulchre as that which any churchyard
might afford; a conception which carried with it more of tranquility
than of despair.
Starving would prove my ultimate fate; of this I was certain. Some, I
knew, had gone mad under circumstances such as these, but I felt that
this end would not be mine. My disaster was the result of no fault save
my own, since unbeknown to the guide I had separated myself from the
regular party of sightseers; and, wandering for over an hour in
forbidden avenues of the cave, had found myself unable to retrace the
devious windings which I had pursued since forsaking my companions.
Already my torch had begun to expire; soon I would be enveloped by the
total and almost palpable blackness of the bowels of the earth. As I
stood in the waning, unsteady light, I idly wondered over the exact
circumstances of my coming end. I remembered the accounts which I had
heard of the colony of consumptives, who, taking their residence in
this gigantic grotto to find health from the apparently salubrious air
of the underground world, with its steady, uniform temperature, pure
air, and peaceful quiet, had found, instead, death in strange and
ghastly form. I had seen the sad remains of their ill-made cottages as
I passed them by with the party, and had wondered what unnatural
influence a long sojourn in this immense and silent cavern would exert
upon one as healthy and as vigorous as I. Now, I grimly told myself, my
opportunity for settling this point had arrived, provided that want of
food should not bring me too speedy a departure from this life.
As the last fitful rays of my torch faded into obscurity, I resolved to
leave no stone unturned, no possible means of escape neglected; so
summoning all the powers possessed by my lungs, I set up a series of
loud shoutings, in the vain hope of attracting the attention of the
guide by my clamour. Yet, as I called, I believed in my heart that my
cries were to no purpose, and that my voice, magnified and reflected by
the numberless ramparts of the black maze about me, fell upon no ears
save my own. All at once, however, my attention was fixed with a start
as I fancied that I heard the sound of soft approaching steps on the
rocky floor of the cavern. Was my deliverance about to be accomplished
so soon? Had, then, all my horrible apprehensions been for naught, and
was the guide, having marked my unwarranted absence from the party,
following my course and seeking me out in this limestone labyrinth?
Whilst these joyful queries arose in my brain, I was on the point of
renewing my cries, in order that my discovery might come the sooner,
when in an instant my delight was turned to horror as I listened; for
my ever acute ear, now sharpened in even greater degree by the complete
silence of the cave, bore to my benumbed understanding the unexpected
and dreadful knowledge that these footfalls were not like those of any
mortal man. In the unearthly stillness of this subterranean region, the
tread of the booted guide would have sounded like a series of sharp and
incisive blows. These impacts were soft, and stealthy, as of the padded
paws of some feline. Besides, at times, when I listened carefully, I
seemed to trace the falls of four instead of two feet.
I was now convinced that I had by my cries aroused and attracted some
wild beast, perhaps a mountain lion which had accidentally strayed
within the cave. Perhaps, I considered, the Almighty had chosen for me
a swifter and more merciful death than that of hunger. Yet the instinct
of self-preservation, never wholly dormant, was stirred in my breast,
and though escape from the oncoming peril might but spare me for a
sterner and more lingering end, I determined nevertheless to part with
my life at as high a price as I could command. Strange as it may seem,
my mind conceived of no intent on the part of the visitor save that of
hostility. Accordingly, I became very quiet, in the hope that the
unknown beast would, in the absence of a guiding sound, lose its
direction as had I, and thus pass me by. But this hope was not destined
for realisation, for the strange footfalls steadily advanced, the
animal evidently having obtained my scent, which in an atmosphere so
absolutely free from all distracting influences as is that of the cave,
could doubtless be followed at great distance.
Seeing therefore that I must be armed for defence against an uncanny
and unseen attack in the dark, I grouped about me the largest of the
fragments of rock which were strown upon all parts of the floor of the
cavern in the vicinity, and, grasping one in each hand for immediate
use, awaited with resignation the inevitable result. Meanwhile the
hideous pattering of the paws drew near. Certainly, the conduct of the
creature was exceedingly strange. Most of the time, the tread seemed to
be that of a quadruped, walking with a singular lack of unison betwixt
hind and fore feet, yet at brief and infrequent intervals I fancied
that but two feet were engaged in the process of locomotion. I wondered
what species of animal was to confront me; it must, I thought, be some
unfortunate beast who had paid for its curiosity to investigate one of
the entrances of the fearful grotto with a lifelong confinement in its
interminable recesses. It doubtless obtained as food the eyeless fish,
bats, and rats of the cave, as well as some of the ordinary fish that
are wafted in at every freshet of Green River, which communicates in
some occult manner with the waters of the cave. I occupied my terrible
vigil with grotesque conjectures of what alterations cave life might
have wrought in the physical structure of the beast, remembering the
awful appearances ascribed by local tradition to the consumptives who
had died after long residence in the cavern. Then I remembered with a
start that, even should I succeed in killing my antagonist, I should
never behold its form, as my torch had long since been extinct, and I
was entirely unprovided with matches. The tension on my brain now
became frightful. My disordered fancy conjured up hideous and fearsome
shapes from the sinister darkness that surrounded me, and that actually
seemed to press upon my body. Nearer, nearer, the dreadful footfalls
approached. It seemed that I must give vent to a piercing scream, yet
had I been sufficiently irresolute to attempt such a thing, my voice
could scarce have responded. I was petrified, rooted to the spot. I
doubted if my right arm would allow me to hurl its missile at the
oncoming thing when the crucial moment should arrive. Now the steady
pat, pat, of the steps was close at hand; now, very close. I could hear
the laboured breathing of the animal, and terror-struck as I was, I
realised that it must have come from a considerable distance, and was
correspondingly fatigued. Suddenly the spell broke. My right hand,
guided by my ever trustworthy sense of hearing, threw with full force
the sharp-angled bit of limestone which it contained, toward that point
in the darkness from which emanated the breathing and pattering, and,
wonderful to relate, it nearly reached its goal, for I heard the thing
jump, landing at a distance away, where it seemed to pause.
Having readjusted my aim, I discharged my second missile, this time
most effectively, for with a flood of joy I listened as the creature
fell in what sounded like a complete collapse, and evidently remained
prone and unmoving. Almost overpowered by the great relief which rushed
over me, I reeled back against the wall. The breathing continued, in
heavy, gasping inhalations and expirations, whence I realised that I
had no more than wounded the creature. And now all desire to examine
the thing ceased. At last something allied to groundless,
superstitious, fear had entered my brain, and I did not approach the
body, nor did I continue to cast stones at it in order to complete the
extinction of its life. Instead, I ran at full speed in what was, as
nearly as I could estimate in my frenzied condition, the direction from
which I had come. Suddenly I heard a sound, or rather, a regular
succession of sounds. In another instant they had resolved themselves
into a series of sharp, metallic clicks. This time there was no doubt.
It was the guide. And then I shouted, yelled, screamed, even shrieked
with joy as I beheld in the vaulted arches above the faint and
glimmering effulgence which I knew to be the reflected light of an
approaching torch. I ran to meet the flare, and before I could
completely understand what had occurred, was lying upon the ground at
the feet of the guide, embracing his boots, and gibbering, despite my
boasted reserve, in a most meaningless and idiotic manner, pouring out
my terrible story, and at the same time overwhelming my auditor with
protestations of gratitude. At length I awoke to something like my
normal consciousness. The guide had noted my absence upon the arrival
of the party at the entrance of the cave, and had, from his own
intuitive sense of direction, proceeded to make a thorough canvass of
the by-passages just ahead of where he had last spoken to me, locating
my whereabouts after a quest of about four hours.
By the time he had related this to me, I, emboldened by his torch and
his company, began to reflect upon the strange beast which I had
wounded but a short distance back in the darkness, and suggested that
we ascertain, by the rushlight’s aid, what manner of creature was my
victim. Accordingly I retraced my steps, this time with a courage born
of companionship, to the scene of my terrible experience. Soon we
descried a white object upon the floor, an object whiter even than the
gleaming limestone itself. Cautiously advancing, we gave vent to a
simultaneous ejaculation of wonderment, for of all the unnatural
monsters either of us had in our lifetimes beheld, this was in
surpassing degree the strangest. It appeared to be an anthropoid ape of
large proportions, escaped, perhaps, from some itinerant menagerie. Its
hair was snow-white, a thing due no doubt to the bleaching action of a
long existence within the inky confines of the cave, but it was also
surprisingly thin, being indeed largely absent save on the head, where
it was of such length and abundance that it fell over the shoulders in
considerable profusion. The face was turned away from us, as the
creature lay almost directly upon it. The inclination of the limbs was
very singular, explaining, however, the alternation in their use which
I had before noted, whereby the beast used sometimes all four, and on
other occasions but two for its progress. From the tips of the fingers
or toes long nail-like claws extended. The hands or feet were not
prehensile, a fact that I ascribed to that long residence in the cave
which, as I before mentioned, seemed evident from the all-pervading and
almost unearthly whiteness so characteristic of the whole anatomy. No
tail seemed to be present.
The respiration had now grown very feeble, and the guide had drawn his
pistol with the evident intent of despatching the creature, when a
sudden sound emitted by the latter caused the weapon to fall unused.
The sound was of a nature difficult to describe. It was not like the
normal note of any known species of simian, and I wondered if this
unnatural quality were not the result of a long-continued and complete
silence, broken by the sensations produced by the advent of the light,
a thing which the beast could not have seen since its first entrance
into the cave. The sound, which I might feebly attempt to classify as a
kind of deep-toned chattering, was faintly continued. All at once a
fleeting spasm of energy seemed to pass through the frame of the beast.
The paws went through a convulsive motion, and the limbs contracted.
With a jerk, the white body rolled over so that its face was turned in
our direction. For a moment I was so struck with horror at the eyes
thus revealed that I noted nothing else. They were black, those eyes,
deep, jetty black, in hideous contrast to the snow-white hair and
flesh. Like those of other cave denizens, they were deeply sunken in
their orbits, and were entirely destitute of iris. As I looked more
closely, I saw that they were set in a face less prognathous than that
of the average ape, and infinitely more hairy. The nose was quite
distinct.
As we gazed upon the uncanny sight presented to our vision, the thick
lips opened, and several sounds issued from them, after which the thing
relaxed in death.
The guide clutched my coat-sleeve and trembled so violently that the
light shook fitfully, casting weird, moving shadows on the walls about
us.
I made no motion, but stood rigidly still, my horrified eyes fixed upon
the floor ahead.
Then fear left, and wonder, awe, compassion, and reverence succeeded in
its place, for the sounds uttered by the stricken figure that lay
stretched out on the limestone had told us the awesome truth. The
creature I had killed, the strange beast of the unfathomed cave was, or
had at one time been, a MAN!!!
Return to “The Beast in the Cave”


questions, comments, suggestions/feedback, take-down requests, contribute, etc
contact me @ integralyogin@gmail.com or via the comments below
or join the integral discord server (chatrooms)
if the page you visited was empty, it may be noted and I will try to fill it out. cheers



--- OBJECT INSTANCES [0]


--- PRIMARY CLASS


chapter

--- SEE ALSO


--- SIMILAR TITLES [0]


1f.lovecraft - The Beast in the Cave
select ::: Being, God, injunctions, media, place, powers, subjects,
favorite ::: cwsa, everyday, grade, mcw, memcards (table), project, project 0001, Savitri, the Temple of Sages, three js, whiteboard,
temp ::: consecration, experiments, knowledge, meditation, psychometrics, remember, responsibility, temp, the Bad, the God object, the Good, the most important, the Ring, the source of inspirations, the Stack, the Tarot, the Word, top priority, whiteboard,

--- DICTIONARIES (in Dictionaries, in Quotes, in Chapters)



--- QUOTES [0 / 0 - 0 / 0] (in Dictionaries, in Quotes, in Chapters)



KEYS (10k)


NEW FULL DB (2.4M)


*** NEWFULLDB 2.4M ***


--- IN CHAPTERS (in Dictionaries, in Quotes, in Chapters)



0

   1 Fiction






change font "color":
change "background-color":
change "font-family":
change "padding": 99657 site hits