Philip Van Doren Stern (ed) (41 page)

"To
judge
from
the
size
of
the
place,
this
Palace
of
Green
Porcelain had
a
great
deal
more
in
it
than
a
Gallery
of
Palaeontology;
possibly historical
galleries;
it
might
be,
even
a
library!
To
me,
at
least
in
my present
circumstances,
these
would
be
vastly
more
interesting
than this
spectacle
of
old-time
geology
in
decay.
Exploring,
I
found
another short
gallery
running
transversely
to
the
first.
This
appeared
to
be devoted
to
minerals,
and
the
sight
of
a
block
of
sulphur
set
my
mind running
on
gunpowder.
But
I
could
find
no
saltpetre;
indeed,
no nitrates
of
any
kind.
Doubtless
they
had
deliquesced
ages
ago.
Yet
the sulphur
hung
in
my
mind,
and
set
up
a
train
of
thinking.
As
for
the rest
of
the
contents
of
that
gallery,
though
on
the
whole
they
were the
best
preserved
of
all
I
saw,
I
had
little
interest.
I
am
no
specialist in
mineralogy,
and
I
went
on
down
a
very
ruinous
aisle
running
parallel
to
the
first
hall
I
had
entered.
Apparently
this
section
had
been devoted
to
natural
history,
but
everything
had
long
since
passed
out of
recognition.
A
few
shrivelled
and
blackened
vestiges
of
what
had once
been
stuffed
animals,
desiccated
mummies
in
jars
that
had
once held
spirit,
a
brown
dust
of
departed
plants;
that
was
all!
I
was
sorry for
that,
because
I
should
have
been
glad
to
trace
the
patent
readjustments
by
which
the
conquest
of
animated
nature
had
been
attained. Then
we
came
to
a
gallery
of
simply
colossal
proportions,
but
singularly
ill-lit,
the
floor
of
it
running
downward
at
a
slight
angle
from
the end
at
which
I
entered.
At
intervals
white
globes
hung
from
the ceiling—many
of
them
cracked
and
smashed—which
suggested
that originally
the
place
had
been
artificially
lit.
Here
I
was
more
in
my element,
for
rising
on
either
side
of
me
were
the
huge
bulks
of
big machines,
all
greatly
corroded
and
many
broken
down,
but
some
still fairly
complete.
You
know
I
have
a
certain
weakness
for
mechanism, and
I
was
inclined
to
linger
among
these;
the
more
so
as
for
the
most part
they
had
the
interest
of
puzzles,
and
I
could
make
only
the vaguest
guesses
at
what
they
were
for.
I
fancied
that
if
I
could
solve their
puzzles
I
should
find
myself
in
possession
of
powers
that
might be
of
use
against
the
Morlocks.

"Suddenly
Weena
came
very
close
to
my
side.
So
suddenly
that
she startled
me.
Had
it
not
been
for
her
I
do
not
think
I
should
have noticed
that
the
floor
of
the
gallery
sloped
at
all.
¹
The
end
I
had
come in
at
was
quite
above
ground,
and
was
lit
by
rare
slit-like
windows.
As you
went
down
the
length,
the
ground
came
up
against
these
windows,
until
at
last
there
was
a
pit
like
the
'area'
of
a
London
house before
each,
and
only
a
narrow
line
of
daylight
at
the
top.
I
went slowly
along,
puzzling
about
the
machines,
and
had
been
too
intent upon
them
to
notice
the
gradual
diminution
of
the
light,
until Weena's
increasing
apprehensions
drew
my
attention.
Then
I
saw that
the
gallery
ran
down
at
last
into
a
thick
darkness.
I
hesitated,
and then,
as
I
looked
round
me,
I
saw
that
the
dust
was
less
abundant
and its
surface
less
even.
Further
away
towards
the
dimness,
it
appeared
to be
broken
by
a
number
of
small
narrow
footprints.
My
sense
of
the immediate
presence
of
the
Morlocks
revived
at
that.
I
felt
that
I
was wasting
my
time
in
this
academic
examination
of
machinery.
I
called to
mind
that
it
was
already
far
advanced
in
the
afternoon,
and
that I
had
still
no
weapon,
no
refuge,
and
no
means
of
making
a
fire.
And