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voice coming from somewhere close to us, but whence we could not tell, said
slowly:
"Who are ye who thus approach the dwelling in the cliff? " I
"I am he whom ye have been told to expect," said Nikola.
"Welcome!" said the same passionless voice. Then, after a pause: "Go forward
to yonder open space and wait."
All the time that the voice was speaking I had been carefully listening in
the hope of being able to discover whence it came, but my exertions were
useless. One moment it seemed to sound from my right, the next from my left.
It had also a quaint metallic ring that made it still more difficult to
detect its origin. To properly explain my meaning, I might say that it was
like the echo of a voice the original of which could not be heard.
The effect produced was most peculiar.
When the voice had finished Nikola moved forward in the direction indicated,
and I followed him.
Arriving at the place, we stood in the centre of the open space and waited.
For nearly ten minutes we looked about us wondering what would happen next.
There was nothing to be seen in the valley save the green grass and the big
rocks, and nothing to be heard but the icy wind sighing through the grass and
the occasional note of a bird. Then from among the rocks to our right
appeared one of the most extraordinary figures I have ever seen in my life.
He was little more than three feet in height, his shoulders were abnormally
broad, his legs bowed so that he could only walk on the sides of his feet,
while his head was so big as to be out of all proportion to his body. He was
attired in Chinese dress, even to the extent of a pigtail and a little round
hat.
Dr. Nikola Returns
Chapter XIII. The Monastery
94
Waddling towards us he said in a shrill falsetto :
"Will your Excellencies be honourably pleased to follow me? "
Thereupon he turned upon his heel and preceded us up the valley for nearly a
hundred yards. Then, wheeling round to see that we were close behind him, he
marched towards what looked like a hole in the cliff and disappeared within.
We followed to find him standing in a large cave, bowing on the sand as if in
welcome.
On either side in rows were at least a dozen dwarfs, dressed in exactly the
same fashion, and every one as small and ugly as himself. They held torches
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in their hands, and as soon as they saw that we were following, they set off
up the cave, headed by the little fellow who had come to meet us.
When we had penetrated into what, seemed the bowels of the earth, we left the
narrow passage and found ourselves confronted by a broad stone staircase
which wound upwards in spiral form. The procession of dwarfs again preceded
us, still without noise. It was a weird performance, and had it not been for
the reek of the torches, and the fluttering of bats' wings as the brutes were
disturbed by the flames and smoke, I should have been inclined to imagine it
part of some extraordinary dream; indeed, more than once I felt an impulse to
touch the stone wall in order to convince myself by its rough surface that I
really was awake. I could see that Nikola was fully alive to all that was
passing, and I noticed that he had adopted a demeanour consistent with the
aged and important position he was supposed to be filling. Up and up the
stairs wound, twisting and twining this way and that, till it almost made me
giddy trying to remember how far we had come; indeed, my legs were nearly
giving way under me, when we came to a halt before a large door at the top of
the stairs.
This was thrown open, and our party filed through. From the level of the
doorway a dozen more steps conducted us to the floor above, and here we came
to a second stop. On looking about us we discovered that we were in an
enormous hall of almost cathedral proportions. The raftered roof towered up
for more than a hundred feet above our heads; to right and left were arches
of strange design, while at the further end was an exquisite window, the
glass of which was stained bloodred. The whole place was wrapt in
semidarkness, and though it had the appearance of a place of worship, I could
distinguish no altar or anything to signify that it was used for sacred
purposes.
As we reached the top the dwarf, who had met us in the valley and headed the
procession up the stairs, signed to his followers to fall back on either hand
and then led the way to a small square of masonry at the top of two steps and
placed in the centre of the hall. Arriving there, he signed to us to take up
our positions upon it, and himself mounted guard beside us.
For fully ten minutes we remained standing there, looking towards the
bloodred window, and waiting for what would happen next. The silence was most
unpleasant, and I had to exercise all my powers of selfcontrol to prevent
myself from allowing some sign of nervousness to escape me.
Then, without any warning, a sound of softest music greeted our ears, which
gradually rose from the faintest pianissimo to the crashing chords of a
barbaric march. It continued for nearly five minutes, until two doors, one on
either side of what might be termed the chancel, opened, and a procession of
men passed out. I call them men for the reason that I have no right to
presume that they were anything else, but there was nothing in their
appearance to support that theory. Each was attired in a long, black gown
which reached to his feet, his hands were hidden in enormous sleeves, and his
head was wrapped in a thick veil, thrown back to cover the poll and
shoulders, with two round holes left for the eyes.
One after another they filed out and took up their positions in regular order
on either side of us, all facing towards the window.
When the last had entered, and the doors were closed again, service
commenced. The semidarkness, through which the great red window glared like
an evil eye, the rows of weird, black figures, the mysterious wailing
Dr. Nikola Returns
Chapter XIII. The Monastery
95
chant and the recollection of the extraordinary character I had heard given
to the place and its inmates, only increased the feeling of awe that
possessed me.
When for nearly a quarter of an hour the monks had knelt at their devotions,
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