The curious new fetor which had supplemented the nameless scent was
excessively pungent here; so much so that it destroyed all trace of the
other. Something about this whole place, with its polished and almost
glistening floor, struck us as more vaguely baffling and horrible than
any of the monstrous things we have previously encountered. The regularity of the passage immediately ahead, prevented all
confusion as to the right course amidst this plethora of equally great
cave mouths. Nevertheless we resolved to resume our paper trail blazing
if any further complexity should develop; for dust tracks, of course,
could no longer be expected. Upon resuming our direct progress we cast a beam of torchlight over the
tunnel walls--and stopped short in amazement at the supremely radical
change which had come over the carvings in this part of the passage. We realized, of course, the great decadence of the Old Ones' sculpture
at the time of the tunneling, and had indeed noticed the inferior
workmanship of the arabesques in the stretches behind us. But now, in this deeper section beyond the cavern, there was a sudden
difference wholly transcending explanation--a difference in basic
nature as well as in mere quality, and involving so profound and
calamitous a degradation of skill that nothing in the hitherto observed
rate of decline could have led one to expect it. This new and degenerate work was coarse, bold, and wholly lacking in
delicacy of detail. It was countersunk with exaggerated depth in bands
following the same general line as the sparse cartouches of the earlier
sections, but the height of the reliefs did not reach the level of the
general surface. Danforth had the idea that it was a second carving--a sort of
palimpsest formed after the obliteration of a previous design. In
nature it was wholly decorative and conventional, and consisted of
crude spirals and angles roughly following the quintile mathematical
tradition of the Old Ones, yet seeming more like a parody than a
perpetuation of that tradition. Since we could not afford to spend any considerable time in study, we
resumed our advance after a cursory look. We saw and heard fewer penguins, but thought we caught a vague
suspicion of an infinitely distant chorus of them somewhere deep within
the earth. The new and inexplicable odor was abominably strong, and we
could detect scarcely a sign of that other nameless scent. Puffs of visible vapor ahead bespoke increasing contrasts in
temperature, and the relative nearness of the sunless sea cliffs of the
great abyss. Then, quite unexpectedly, we saw certain obstructions on
the polished floor ahead--obstructions which were quite definitely not
penguins--and turned on our second torch after making sure that the
objects were quite stationary. XI. Still another time have I come to a place where it is very difficult
to proceed. I ought to be hardened by this stage; but there are some
experiences and intimations which scar too deeply to permit of healing,
and leave only such added sensitiveness that memory re-inspired all the
original horror. We saw, as I have said, certain obstructions on the polished
floor ahead; and I may add that our nostrils were assailed almost
simultaneously by a very curious intensification of the strange,
prevailing fetor, now quite plainly mixed with the nameless stench of
those others which had gone before us. The light of the second torch left no doubt of what the obstructions
were, and we dared approach them only because we could see, even from
a distance, that they were quite as past all harming power as had been
the six similar specimens unearthed from the monstrous star-mounded
graves at poor Lake's camp. They were, indeed, as lacking in completeness as most of those we
had unearthed--though it grew plain from the thick, dark-green pool
gathering around them that their incompleteness was of infinitely
greater recency. There seemed to be only four of them, whereas Lake's
bulletins would have suggested no less than eight as forming the
group which had preceded us. To find them in this state was wholly
unexpected, and we wondered what sort of monstrous struggle had
occurred down here in the dark. Penguins, attacked in a body, retaliate savagely with their beaks; and
our ears now made certain the existence of a rookery far beyond. Had
those others disturbed such a place and aroused murderous pursuit? The
obstructions did not suggest it, for penguin beaks against the tough
tissues Lake had dissected could hardly account for the terrible damage
our approaching glance was beginning to make out. Besides, the huge
blind birds we had seen appeared to be singularly peaceful. Had there, then, been a struggle among those others, and were the
absent four responsible? If so, where were they? Were they close at
hand and likely to form an immediate menace to us? We glanced anxiously
at some of the smooth-floored lateral passages as we continued our slow
and frankly reluctant approach. Whatever the conflict was, it had clearly been that which had
frightened the penguins into their unaccustomed wandering. It must,
then, have arisen near that faintly heard rookery in the incalculable
gulf beyond, since there were no signs that any birds had normally
dwelt here. Perhaps, we reflected, there had been a hideous running fight, with
the weaker party seeking to get back to the cached sledges when their
pursuers finished them. One could picture the demonic fray between
namelessly monstrous entities as it surged out of the black abyss with
great clouds of frantic penguins squawking and scurrying ahead. I say that we approached those sprawling and incomplete obstructions
slowly and reluctantly. Would to Heaven we had never approached them at
all, but had run back at top speed out of that blasphemous tunnel with
the greasily smooth floors and the degenerate murals aping and mocking
the things they had superseded--run back, before we had seen what we
did see, and before our minds were burned with something which will
never let us breathe easily again! *       *       *       *       *

Both of our torches were turned on the prostrate objects, so that we
soon realized the dominant factor in their incompleteness. Mauled,
compressed, twisted, and ruptured as they were, their chief common
injury was total decapitation. From each one the tentacled starfish head had been removed; and as
we drew near we saw that the manner of removal looked more like some
hellish tearing or suction than like any ordinary form of cleavage. Their noisome dark-green ichor formed a large, spreading pool; but its
stench was half overshadowed by that newer and stranger stench, here
more pungent than at any other point along our route.