Dagon-I Monster

[00:16.20]I am writing this under an appreciable mental strain [00:20.68]Since by tonight I shall be no more [00:24.47]Penniless, and at the end of my supply of the drug [00:28.00]Which alone makes life endurable [00:30.65]I can bear the torture no longer [00:32.44] [00:35.88]And shall cast myself from this garret window [00:38.50]Into the squalid street below. [00:41.79]Do not think from my slavery to morphine [00:44.28]That I am a weakling or a degenerate. [00:47.57]When you have read these hastily scrawled pages you may guess [00:51.16]Though never fully realise [00:53.21]Why it is that I must have forgetfulness or death [00:59.92] [01:01.32]It was in one of the most open [01:03.47]And least frequented parts of the broad Pacific [01:06.87]That the packet of which [01:07.66]I was supercargo fell a victim to the German sea-raider. [01:11.95]The great war was then at its very beginning [01:15.55]And the ocean forces of the Hun [01:17.00]Had not completely sunk to their later degradation [01:20.20]So that our vessel was made a legitimate prize [01:23.24]Whilst we of her crew were treated with all the fairness [01:25.73]And consideration due us as naval prisoners [01:28.48] [01:29.84]So liberal, indeed, was the discipline of our captors [01:33.08]That five days after we were taken [01:34.89]I managed to escape alone in a small boat [01:38.52]With water and provisions for a good length of time [01:42.11]When I finally found myself adrift and free [01:46.04]I had but little idea of my surroundings [01:51.24]Never a competent navigator [01:52.89]I could only guess vaguely by the sun and stars [01:55.68]That I was somewhat south of the equator [01:58.56] [01:59.46]Of the longitude I knew nothing [02:02.46]And no island or coast-line was in sight [02:07.01]The weather kept fair, and for uncounted days [02:10.66]I drifted aimlessly beneath the scorching sun [02:13.50]Waiting either for some passing ship [02:16.24]Or to be cast on the shores of some habitable land [02:20.68]But neither ship nor land appeared [02:25.82]And I began to despair in my solitude [02:28.13]Upon the heaving vastnesses of unbroken blue [02:32.89] [02:34.28]The change happened whilst I slept [02:38.16]Its details I shall never know; for my slumber [02:40.60]Though troubled and dream-infested, was continuous. [02:44.70]When at last I awaked [02:47.03]It was to discover myself half sucked [02:49.89]Into a slimy expanse of hellish black mire [02:53.77]Which extended about me [02:56.02]In monotonous undulations as far as I could see [02:59.47]And in which my boat lay grounded some distance away [03:03.36] [03:07.07]Though one might well imagine that my first sensation would be of wonder [03:10.66]I was in reality more horrified than astonished [03:16.84]For there was in the air and in the rotting soil a sinister quality [03:21.83]Which chilled me to the very core [03:25.25]The region was putrid with the carcasses of decaying fish [03:29.09]And of other less describable things [03:32.07]Which I saw protruding from the nasty mud of the unending plain [03:37.36] [03:43.83]Perhaps I should not hope to convey in mere words [03:47.01]The unutterable hideousness [03:49.00]That can dwell in absolute silence and barren immensity [03:54.98]There was nothing within hearing [03:57.38]And nothing in sight save a vast reach of black slime [04:06.35]The sun was blazing down from a sky [04:09.40]Which seemed to me almost black in its cloudless cruelty [04:13.09]As though reflecting the inky marsh beneath my feet [04:15.87] [04:17.57]As I crawled into the stranded boat I realised [04:21.53]That only one theory could explain my position [04:24.91]Through some unprecedented volcanic upheaval [04:27.85]A portion of the ocean floor must have been thrown to the surface [04:32.63]Exposing regions which for innumerable millions of years [04:37.16]Had lain hidden under unfathomable watery depths [04:40.94] [04:42.31]So great was the extent of the new land which had risen beneath me [04:46.40]That I could not detect the faintest noise of the surging ocean [04:51.68]Strain my ears as I might [04:54.57]Nor were there any sea-fowl to prey upon the dead things [04:58.40]For several hours I sat thinking or brooding in the boat [05:02.04]Which lay upon its side [05:03.73]And afforded a slight shade as the sun moved across the heavens [05:07.62]As the day progressed, the ground lost some of its stickiness [05:13.45]And seemed likely to dry sufficiently [05:15.61]For travelling purposes in a short time. [05:19.02]That night I slept but little [05:22.65]And the next day I made for myself a pack containing food and water [05:27.90]On the third morning I found the soil dry enough to walk upon with ease [05:27.95] [05:32.19]The odour of the fish was maddening [05:35.53]But I was too much concerned with graver things to mind so slight an evil [05:40.66]And set out boldly for an unknown goal [05:46.54]All day I forged steadily westward [05:49.58]Guided by a far-away hummock [05:51.53]Which rose higher than any other elevation on the rolling desert [05:54.63] [05:56.47]That night I encamped [05:58.56]And on the following day still travelled toward the hummock [06:02.66]Though that object seemed scarcely nearer than when I had first espied it [06:08.10]By the fourth evening I attained the base of the mound [06:12.18]Which turned out to be much higher than it had appeared from a distance [06:16.57]An intervening valley setting it out in sharper relief from the general surface [06:21.71]Too weary to ascend, I slept in the shadow of the hill [06:27.49]I know not why my dreams were so wild that night [06:32.33]But ere the waning and fantastically gibbous moon [06:36.16]Had risen far above the eastern plain [06:39.26]I was awake in a cold perspiration, determined to sleep no more. [06:43.10] [06:44.90]Such visions as I had experienced were too much for me to endure again. [06:49.48]And in the glow of the moon I saw how unwise I had been to travel by day. [06:55.28]Without the glare of the parching sun [06:57.48]My journey would have cost me less energy; indeed [07:02.41]I now felt quite able to perform the ascent which had deterred me at sunset [07:07.74]Picking up my pack, I started for the crest of the eminence [07:13.23]I have said that the unbroken monotony of the rolling plain [07:17.02]Was a source of vague horror to me [07:19.71]But I think my horror was greater when I gained the summit of the mound [07:24.01]And looked down the other side into an immeasurable pit [07:30.72]Whose black recesses the moon had not yet soared high enough to illumine [07:36.50]I felt myself on the edge of the world [07:41.09]Peering over the rim into a fathomless chaos of eternal night [07:45.73] [07:47.77]As the moon climbed higher in the sky [07:50.88]I began to see that the slopes of the valley [07:52.97]Were not quite so perpendicular as I had imagined [07:56.06]Ledges and outcroppings of rock afforded [08:00.14]Fairly easy foot-holds for a descent [08:02.64]Whilst after a drop of a few hundred feet [08:06.13]The declivity became very gradual [08:08.78] [08:09.97]Urged on by an impulse which I cannot definitely analyse [08:13.85]I scrambled with difficulty down the rocks [08:16.95]And stood on the gentler slope beneath [08:22.33]All at once my attention was captured by a vast [08:27.16]And singular object on the opposite slope [08:30.10]Which rose steeply about an hundred yards ahead of me [08:34.08]An object that gleamed whitely [08:37.93]In the newly bestowed rays of the ascending moon [08:41.08] [08:42.82]That it was merely a gigantic piece of stone [08:47.46]I soon assured myself [08:49.81]But I was conscious of a distinct impression [08:52.79]That its contour and position were not altogether the work of Nature [09:00.27]A closer scrutiny filled me with sensations I cannot express [09:05.34]For despite its enormous magnitude [09:08.89]And its position in an abyss which had yawned at the bottom of the sea [09:13.23]Since the world was young [09:15.57]I perceived beyond a doubt that the strange object [09:18.72]Was a well-shaped monolith [09:20.71]Whose massive bulk had known the workmanship [09:23.79]And perhaps the worship of living and thinking creatures [09:30.12] [09:35.82]Dazed and frightened [09:37.96]Yet not without a certain thrill of the scientist’s delight [09:41.77]I examined my surroundings more closely [09:45.51]The moon, now near the zenith [09:48.98]Shone weirdly and vividly above the towering steeps that hemmed in the chasm [09:56.04]And revealed the fact that a far-flung body of water flowed at the bottom [10:00.53]Winding out of sight in both directions [10:03.33]And almost lapping my feet as I stood on the slope [10:07.56]Across the chasm, the wavelets washed the base of the Cyclopean monolith [10:14.30]On whose surface I could now trace both inscriptions and crude sculptures [10:21.70]The writing was in a system of hieroglyphics unknown to me [10:25.29]And unlike anything I had ever seen in books [10:29.19] [10:29.55]Consisting for the most part of conventionalised aquatic symbols [10:36.10]Several characters obviously represented marine things [10:39.28]Which are unknown to the modern world [10:41.73]But whose decomposing forms I had observed on the ocean-risen plain [10:50.36]It was the pictorial carving, however [10:53.41]That did most to hold me spellbound [10:56.10]Plainly visible across the intervening water [10:59.31]On account of their enormous size [11:01.17] [11:03.06]I think that these things were supposed to depict men— [11:06.72]At least a certain sort of men [11:11.08]Though the creatures were shewn disporting like fishes [11:14.71]In the waters of some marine grotto [11:16.87]Or paying homage at some monolithic shrine [11:20.47]Which appeared to be under the waves as well [11:24.37]Of their faces and forms I dare not speak in detail [11:29.41]For the mere remembrance makes me grow faint [11:34.45] [11:35.14]They were damnably human in general outline [11:37.79]Despite webbed hands and feet [11:39.93]Shockingly wide and flabby lips, glassy [11:43.78]Bulging eyes, and other features less pleasant to recall [11:48.57]Curiously enough, they seemed to have been chiselled badly [11:52.22]Out of proportion with their scenic background [11:55.47]For one of the creatures [11:56.41]Was shewn in the act of killing a whale represented as [12:00.17]But little larger than himself [12:02.97]I remarked, as I say, their grotesqueness and strange size [12:06.59]But in a moment decided that they were merely [12:09.80]The imaginary gods of some primitive fishing or seafaring tribe [12:15.20]Awestruck at this unexpected glimpse into a past [12:18.50]Beyond the conception of the most daring anthropologist [12:23.03]I stood musing whilst the moon cast queer reflections [12:28.93]On the silent channel before me [12:39.56] [12:54.57]Then suddenly I saw it [12:58.10]With only a slight churning to mark its rise to the surface [13:02.31]The thing slid into view above the dark waters [13:07.11]Vast, and loathsome [13:10.36]It darted like a stupendous monster of nightmares to the monolith [13:15.35]About which it flung its gigantic scaly arms [13:19.55]The while it bowed its hideous head [13:22.69]And gave vent to certain measured sounds [13:27.53] [13:31.62]I think I went mad then [13:40.25]Of my frantic ascent of the slope and cliff [13:42.99]And of my delirious journey back to the stranded boat [13:47.26]I remember little [13:49.37]I believe I sang a great deal [13:51.03]And laughed oddly when I was unable to sing [13:54.81]I have indistinct recollections of a great storm [13:57.79]Some time after I reached the boat [14:00.89]At any rate I know that [14:02.89]I heard peals of thunder and other tones [14:04.89]Which Nature utters only in her wildest moods [14:11.63] [14:17.87]When I came out of the shadows I was in a San Francisco hospital [14:21.70]Brought thither by the captain of the American ship [14:25.00]Which had picked up my boat in mid-ocean [14:29.33]In my delirium I had said much [14:32.37]But found that my words had been given scant attention [14:37.01]Of any land upheaval in the Pacific, my rescuers knew nothing [14:41.96]Nor did I deem it necessary to insist upon a thing [14:45.70]Which I knew they could not believe [14:49.68]Once I sought out a celebrated ethnologist [14:53.52]And amused him with peculiar questions [14:56.26]Regarding the ancient Philistine legend of Dagon the Fish-God [15:03.09]But soon perceiving that he was hopelessly conventional [15:07.29]I did not press my inquiries [15:09.68] [15:12.17]It is at night, especially when the moon is gibbous and waning [15:17.81]That I see the thing. I tried morphine [15:23.00]But the drug has given only transient surcease [15:27.94]And has drawn me into its clutches as a hopeless slave [15:33.56]So now I am to end it all [15:38.75]Having written a full account for the information [15:42.35]Or the contemptuous amusement of my fellow-men [15:46.64]I Often ask myself if it could not all have been a pure phantasm— [15:54.32]A mere freak of fever as I lay sun-stricken [15:58.81]And raving in the open boat [16:00.57]After my escape from the German man-of-war [16:04.80]This I ask myself [16:10.43]But ever does there come before me a hideously vivid vision in reply [16:16.47]I cannot think of the deep sea without shuddering at the nameless things [16:22.84]That may at this very moment [16:24.99]Be crawling and floundering on its slimy bed [16:29.62] [16:31.07]Worshipping their ancient stone idols [16:34.81]And carving their own detestable likenesses [16:39.15]On submarine obelisks of water-soaked granite [16:43.67]I dream of a day when they may rise above the billows [16:48.97]To drag down in their reeking talons the remnants of puny [16:53.25]War-exhausted mankind—of a day when the land shall sink [17:01.09]And the dark ocean floor shall ascend amidst universal pandemonium [17:08.21]The end is near. I hear a noise against the door [17:15.34]As of some immense slippery body lumbering against it [17:18.53]It shall not find me. [17:21.27]God, that hand! [17:23.42]The window! The window!