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Title: The temple
Author: H. P. Lovecraft
Illustrator: Andrew Brosnatch
Release date: October 22, 2026 [eBook #79842]
Language: English
Original publication: Indianapolis, IN: Popular Fiction Publishing Company, 1925
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/79842
Credits: Greg Weeks and Mary Meehan
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TEMPLE ***
The Temple
By H. P. Lovecraft
_Author of "The Hound," "The Rats in the Walls," etc._
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Weird Tales, September, 1925.]
_[Manuscript found on the coast of Yucatan.]_
On August 20, 1917, I, Karl Heinrich, Graf von Altberg-Ehrenstein,
Lieutenant-Commander in the Imperial German Navy and in charge of the
submarine U-29, deposit this bottle and record in the Atlantic Ocean
at a point to me unknown but probably about N. Latitude 20 degrees, W.
Longitude 35 degrees, where my ship lies disabled on the ocean floor.
I do so because of my desire to set certain unusual facts before the
public; a thing I shall not in all probability survive to accomplish
in person, since the circumstances surrounding me are as menacing as
they are extraordinary, and involve not only the hopeless crippling of
the U-29, but the impairment of my iron German will in a manner most
disastrous.
On the afternoon of June 18, as reported by wireless to the U-61,
bound for Kiel, we torpedoed the British freighter _Victory_, New York
to Liverpool, in N. Latitude 45 degrees 16 minutes, W. Longitude 28
degrees 34 minutes; permitting the crew to leave in boats in order to
obtain a good cinema view for the admiralty records. The ship sank
quite picturesquely, bow first, the stern rising high out of the water
whilst the hull shot down perpendicularly to the bottom of the sea. Our
camera missed nothing, and I regret that so fine a reel of film should
never reach Berlin. After that we sank the life-boats with our guns and
submerged.
When we rose to the surface about sunset a seaman's body was found
on the deck, hands gripping the railing in curious fashion. The poor
fellow was young, rather dark, and very handsome; probably an Italian
or Greek, and undoubtedly of the _Victory's_ crew. He had evidently
sought refuge on the very ship which had been forced to destroy his
own--one more victim of the unjust war of aggression which the English
pig-dogs are waging upon the Fatherland. Our men searched him for
souvenirs, and found in his coat pocket a very odd bit of ivory carved
to represent a youth's head crowned with laurel. My fellow-officer,
Lieutenant Klenze, believed that the thing was of great age and
artistic value, so took it from the men for himself. How it had ever
come into the possession of a common sailor neither he nor I could
imagine.
As the dead man was thrown overboard there occurred two incidents which
created much disturbance amongst the crew. The fellow's eyes had been
closed; but in the dragging of his body to the rail they were jarred
open, and many seemed to entertain a queer delusion that they gazed
steadily and mockingly at Schmidt and Zimmer, who were bent over the
corpse. Then Boatswain Müller, an elderly man who would have known
better had he not been a superstitious Alsatian swine, became so
excited by this impression that he watched the body in the water; and
swore that after it sank a little it drew its limbs into a swimming
position and sped away to the south under the waves. Klenze and I did
not like these displays of peasant ignorance, and severely reprimanded
the men, particularly Müller.
The next day a very troublesome situation was created by the
indisposition of some of the crew. They were evidently suffering from
the nervous strain of our long voyage, and had had bad dreams. Several
seemed quite dazed and stupid; and after satisfying myself that they
were not feigning their weakness, I excused them from their duties.
The sea was rather rough, so we descended to a depth where the waves
were less troublesome. Here we were comparatively calm, despite a
somewhat puzzling southward current which we could not identify from
our oceanographic charts. The moans of the sick men were decidedly
annoying; but since they did not appear to demoralize the rest of the
crew, we did not resort to extreme measures. It was our plan to remain
where we were and intercept the liner _Dacia_, mentioned in information
from agents in New York.
* * * * *
In the early evening we rose to the surface, and found the sea less
heavy. The smoke of a battleship was on the northern horizon, but our
distance and ability to submerge made us safe. What worried us more
was the talk of Boatswain Müller, which grew wilder as night came on.
He was in a detestably childish state, and babbled of some illusion of
dead bodies drifting past the undersea portholes; bodies which looked
at him intensely, and which he recognized in spite of bloating as
having seen dying during some of our victorious German exploits. And
he said that the young man we had found and tossed overboard was their
leader. This was very gruesome and abnormal, so we confined Müller in
irons and had him soundly whipped. The men were not pleased at his
punishment, but discipline was necessary. We also denied the request
of a delegation headed by Seaman Zimmer, that the curious carved ivory
head be cast into the sea.
On June 20, Seamen Bohm and Schmidt, who had been ill the day before,
became violently insane. I regretted that no physician was included
in our complement of officers, since German lives are precious; but
the constant ravings of the two concerning a terrible curse were
most subversive of discipline, so drastic steps were taken. The crew
accepted the event in a sullen fashion, but it seemed to quiet Müller;
who thereafter gave us no trouble. In the evening we released him, and
he went about his duties silently.
* * * * *
In the week that followed we were all very nervous, watching for the
_Dacia_. The tension was aggravated by the disappearance of Müller and
Zimmer, who undoubtedly committed suicide as a result of the fears
which had seemed to harass them, though they were not observed in the
act of jumping overboard. I was rather glad to be rid of Müller, for
even his silence had unfavorably affected the crew. Everyone seemed
inclined to be silent now, as though holding a secret fear. Many were
ill, but none made a disturbance. Lieutenant Klenze chafed under the
strain, and was annoyed by the merest trifles--such as the school of
dolphins which gathered about the U-29 in increasing numbers, and the
growing intensity of that southward current which was not on our chart.
It at length became apparent that we had missed the _Dacia_ altogether.
Such failures are not uncommon, and we were more pleased than
disappointed; since our return to Wilhelmshaven was now in order. At
noon June 28 we turned northeastward, and despite some rather comical
entanglements with the unusual masses of dolphins were soon under way.
The explosion in the engine room at 2 P.M. was wholly a surprize. No
defect in the machinery or carelessness in the men had been noticed,
yet without warning the ship was racked from end to end with a colossal
shock. Lieutenant Klenze hurried to the engine room, finding the
fuel-tank and most of the mechanism shattered, and Engineers Raabe and
Schneider instantly killed. Our situation had suddenly become grave
indeed; for though the chemical air regenerators were intact, and
though we could use the devices for raising and submerging the ship and
opening the hatches as long as compressed air and storage batteries
might hold out, we were powerless to propel or guide the submarine.
To seek rescue in the life-boats would be to deliver ourselves into
the hands of enemies unreasonably embittered against our great German
nation, and our wireless had failed ever since the _Victory_ affair to
put us in touch with a fellow U-boat of the Imperial Navy.
From the hour of the accident till July 2 we drifted constantly to the
south, almost without plans and encountering no vessel. Dolphins still
encircled the U-29, a somewhat remarkable circumstance considering the
distance we had covered. On the morning of July 2 we sighted a warship
flying American colors, and the men became very restless in their
desire to surrender. Finally Lieutenant Klenze had to shoot a seaman
named Traube, who urged this un-German act with especial violence. This
quieted the crew for the time, and we submerged unseen.
The next afternoon a dense flock of sea-birds appeared from the south,
and the ocean began to heave ominously. Closing our hatches, we
awaited developments until we realized that we must either submerge
or be swamped in the mounting waves. Our air pressure and electricity
were diminishing, and we wished to avoid all unnecessary use of our
slender mechanical resources; but in this case there was no choice. We
did not descend far, and when after several hours the sea was calmer,
we decided to return to the surface. Here, however, a new trouble
developed; for the ship failed to respond to our direction in spite of
all that the mechanics could do. As the men grew more frightened at
this undersea imprisonment, some of them began to mutter again about
Lieutenant Klenze's ivory image, but the sight of an automatic pistol
calmed them. We kept the poor devils as busy as we could, tinkering at
the machinery even when we knew it was useless.
* * * * *
Klenze and I usually slept at different times; and it was during my
sleep, about 5 A.M., July 4, that the general mutiny broke loose.
The six remaining pigs of seamen, suspecting that we were lost, had
suddenly burst into a mad fury at our refusal to surrender to the
Yankee battleship two days before; and were in a delirium of cursing
and destruction. They roared like the animals they were, and broke
instruments and furniture indiscriminately; screaming about such
nonsense as the curse of the ivory image and the dark dead youth who
looked at them and swam away. Lieutenant Klenze seemed paralyzed and
inefficient, as one might expect of a soft, womanish Rhinelander.
I shot all six men, for it was necessary, and made sure that none
remained alive.
We expelled the bodies through the double hatches and were alone in the
U-29. Klenze seemed very nervous, and drank heavily. It was decided
that we remain alive as long as possible, using the large stock of
provisions and chemical supply of oxygen, none of which had suffered
from the crazy antics of those swine-hound seamen. Our compasses, depth
gages, and other delicate instruments were ruined; so that henceforth
our only reckoning would be guess-work, based on our watches, the
calendar, and our apparent drift as judged by any objects we might spy
through the portholes or from the conning tower. Fortunately we had
storage batteries still capable of long use, both for interior lighting
and for the searchlight. We often cast a beam around the ship, but saw
only dolphins, swimming parallel to our own drifting course. I was
scientifically interested in those dolphins; for though the ordinary
_Delphinus delphis_ is a cetacean mammal, unable to subsist without
air, I watched one of the swimmers closely for two hours, and did not
see him alter his submerged condition.
With the passage of time Klenze and I decided that we were still
drifting south, meanwhile sinking deeper and deeper. We noted the
marine fauna and flora, and read much on the subject in the books I
had carried with me for spare moments. I could not help observing,
however, the inferior scientific knowledge of my companion. His mind
was not Prussian, but given to imaginings and speculations which have
no value. The fact of our coming death affected him curiously, and he
would frequently pray in remorse over the men, women, and children we
had sent to the bottom; forgetting that all things are noble which
serve the German state. After a time he became noticeably unbalanced,
gazing for hours at his ivory image and weaving fanciful stories of the
lost and forgotten things under the sea. Sometimes, as a psychological
experiment, I would lead him on in these wanderings, and listen to his
endless poetical quotations and tales of sunken ships. I was very sorry
for him, for I dislike to see a German suffer; but he was not a good
man to die with. For myself I was proud, knowing how the Fatherland
would revere my memory and how my sons would be taught to be men like
me.
On August 9, we espied the ocean floor, and sent a powerful beam from
the searchlight over it. It was a vast undulating plain, mostly covered
with seaweed, and strown with the shells of small mollusks. Here and
there were slimy objects of puzzling contour, draped with weeds and
encrusted with barnacles, which Klenze declared must be ancient ships
lying in their graves. He was puzzled by one thing, a peak of solid
matter, protruding above the ocean bed nearly four feet at its apex;
about two feet thick, with flat sides and smooth upper surfaces which
met at a very obtuse angle. I called the peak a bit of outcropping
rock, but Klenze thought he saw carvings on it. After a while he
began to shudder, and turned away from the scene as if frightened;
yet could give no explanation save that he was overcome with the
vastness, darkness, remoteness, antiquity, and mystery of the oceanic
abysses. His mind was tired, but I am always a German, and was quick
to notice two things: that the U-29 was standing the deep-sea pressure
splendidly, and that the peculiar dolphins were still about us, even at
a depth where the existence of high organisms is considered impossible
by most naturalists. That I had previously overestimated our depth, I
was sure; but none the less we must still be deep enough to make these
phenomena remarkable. Our southward speed, as gaged by the ocean floor,
was about as I had estimated from the organisms passed at higher levels.
* * * * *
It was at 3:15 P.M., August 12, that poor Klenze went wholly mad. He
had been in the conning tower using the searchlight when I saw him
bound into the library compartment where I sat reading, and his face
at once betrayed him. I will repeat here what he said, underlining the
words he emphasized: "_He_ is calling! _He_ is calling! I hear him! We
must go!" As he spoke he took his ivory image from the table, pocketed
it, and seized my arm in an effort to drag me up the companionway to
the deck. In a moment I understood that he meant to open the hatch
and plunge with me into the water outside, a vagary of suicidal and
homicidal mania for which I was scarcely prepared. As I hung back and
attempted to soothe him he grew more violent, saying: "Come now--do
not wait until later; it is better to repent and be forgiven than to
defy and be condemned." Then I tried the opposite of the soothing plan,
and told him he was mad--pitifully demented. But he was unmoved, and
cried: "If I am mad, it is mercy! May the gods pity the man who in his
callousness can remain sane to the hideous end! Come and be mad whilst
_he_ still calls with mercy!"
This outburst seemed to relieve a pressure in his brain; for as he
finished he grew much milder, asking me to let him depart alone if
I would not accompany him. My course at once became clear. He was
a German, but only a Rhinelander and a commoner; and he was now a
potentially dangerous madman. By complying with his suicidal request I
could immediately free myself from one who was no longer a companion
but a menace. I asked him to give me the ivory image before he went,
but this request brought from him such uncanny laughter that I did not
repeat it. Then I asked him if he wished to leave any keepsake or lock
of hair for his family in Germany in case I should be rescued, but
again he gave me that strange laugh. So as he climbed the ladder I went
to the levers and allowing proper time-intervals operated the machinery
which sent him to his death. After I saw that he was no longer in
the boat I threw the searchlight around the water in an effort to
obtain a last glimpse of him; since I wished to ascertain whether the
water-pressure would flatten him as it theoretically should, or whether
the body would be unaffected, like those extraordinary dolphins. I did
not, however, succeed in finding my late companion, for the dolphins
were massed thickly and obscuringly about the conning tower.
That evening I regretted that I had not taken the ivory image
surreptitiously from poor Klenze's pocket as he left, for the memory of
it fascinated me. I could not forget the youthful, beautiful head with
its leafy crown, though I am not by nature an artist. I was also sorry
that I had no one with whom to converse. Klenze, though not my mental
equal, was much better than no one. I did not sleep well that night,
and wondered exactly when the end would come. Surely, I had little
enough chance of rescue.
The next day I ascended to the conning tower and commenced the
customary searchlight explorations. Northward the view was much the
same as it had been all the four days since we had sighted the bottom,
but I perceived that the drifting of the U-29 was less rapid. As I
swung the beam around to the south, I noticed that the ocean floor
ahead fell away in a marked declivity, and bore curiously regular
blocks of stone in certain places, disposed as if in accordance with
definite patterns. The boat did not at once descend to match the
greater ocean depth, so I was soon forced to adjust the searchlight to
cast a sharply downward beam. Owing to the abruptness of the change a
wire was disconnected, which necessitated a delay of many minutes for
repairs; but at length the light streamed on again, flooding the marine
valley below me.
I am not given to emotion of any kind, but my amazement was very great
when I saw what lay revealed in that electrical glow. And yet as one
reared in the best _kultur_ of Prussia I should not have been amazed,
for geology and tradition alike tell us of great transpositions in
oceanic and continental areas. What I saw was an extended and elaborate
array of ruined edifices; all of magnificent though unclassified
architecture, and in various stages of preservation. Most appeared to
be of marble, gleaming whitely in the rays of the searchlight, and the
general plan was of a large city at the bottom of a narrow valley, with
numerous isolated temples and villas on the steep slopes above. Roofs
were fallen and columns were broken, but there still remained an air of
immemorially ancient splendor which nothing could efface.
* * * * *
Confronted at last with the Atlantis I had formerly deemed largely a
myth, I was the most eager of explorers. At the bottom of that valley
a river once had flowed; for as I examined the scene more closely I
beheld the remains of stone and marble bridges and sea-walls, and
terraces and embankments once verdant and beautiful. In my enthusiasm
I became nearly as idiotic and sentimental as poor Klenze, and was
very tardy in noticing that the southward current had ceased at last,
allowing the U-29 to settle slowly down upon the sunken city as an
airplane settles upon a town of the upper earth. I was slow, too, in
realizing that the school of unusual dolphins had vanished.
In about two hours the boat rested in a paved plaza close to the rocky
wall of the valley. On one side I could view the entire city as it
sloped from the plaza down to the old river-bank; on the other side,
in startling proximity, I was confronted by the richly ornate and
perfectly preserved facade of a great building, evidently a temple,
hollowed from the solid rock. Of the original workmanship of this
titanic thing I can only make conjectures. The facade, of immense
magnitude, apparently covers a continuous hollow recess; for its
windows are many and widely distributed. In the center yawns a great
open door, reached by an impressive flight of steps, and surrounded by
exquisite carvings like the figures of Bacchanals in relief. Foremost
of all are the great columns and frieze, both decorated with sculptures
of inexpressible beauty; obviously portraying idealized pastoral
scenes and processions of priests and priestesses bearing strange
ceremonial devices in adoration of a radiant god. The art is of the
most phenomenal perfection, largely Hellenic in idea, yet strangely
individual. It imparts an impression of terrible antiquity, as though
it were the remotest rather than the immediate ancestor of Greek art.
Nor can I doubt that every detail of this massive product was fashioned
from the virgin hillside rock of our planet. It is palpably a part of
the valley wall, though how the vast interior was ever excavated I
cannot imagine. Perhaps a cavern or series of caverns furnished the
nucleus. Neither age nor submersion has corroded the pristine grandeur
of this awful fane--for fane indeed it must be--and today after
thousands of years it rests untarnished and inviolate in the endless
night and silence of an ocean chasm.
I cannot reckon the number of hours I spent in gazing at the sunken
city with its buildings, arches, statues, and bridges, and the colossal
temple with its beauty and mystery. Though I knew that death was near,
my curiosity was consuming; and I threw the searchlight's beam about
in eager quest. The shaft of light permitted me to learn many details,
but refused to show anything within the gaping door of the rock-hewn
temple; and after a time I turned off the current, conscious of the
need of conserving power. The rays were now perceptibly dimmer than
they had been during the weeks of drifting. And as if sharpened by the
coming deprivation of light, my desire to explore the watery secrets
grew. I, a German, should be the first to tread those eon-forgotten
ways!
I produced and examined a deep-sea diving suit of jointed metal, and
experimented with the portable light and air regenerator. Though I
should have trouble in managing the double hatches alone, I believed I
could overcome all obstacles with my scientific skill and actually walk
about the dead city in person.
On August 16 I effected an exit from the U-29, and laboriously made my
way through the ruined and mud-choked streets to the ancient river.
I found no skeletons or other human remains, but gleaned a wealth of
archeological lore from sculptures and coins. Of this I cannot now
speak save to utter my awe at a culture in the full noon of glory when
cave-dwellers roamed Europe and the Nile flowed unwatched to the sea.
Others, guided by this manuscript if it shall ever be found, must
unfold the mysteries at which I can only hint. I returned to the boat
as my electric batteries grew feeble, resolved to explore the rock
temple on the following day.
On the 17th, as my impulse to search out the mystery of the temple
waxed still more insistent, a great disappointment befell me; for I
found that the materials needed to replenish the portable light had
perished in the mutiny of those pigs in July. My rage was unbounded,
yet my German sense forbade me to venture unprepared into an utterly
black interior which might prove the lair of some indescribable marine
monster or a labyrinth of passages from whose windings I could never
extricate myself. All I could do was to turn on the waning searchlight
of the U-29, and with its aid walk up the temple steps and study the
exterior carvings. The shaft of light entered the door at an upward
angle, and I peered in to see if I could glimpse anything, but all in
vain. Not even the roof was visible; and though I took a step or two
inside after testing the floor with a staff, I dared not go farther.
Moreover, for the first time in my life I experienced the emotion of
dread. I began to realize how some of poor Klenze's moods had arisen,
for as the temple drew me more and more, I feared its aqueous abysses
with a blind and mounting terror. Returning to the submarine, I turned
off the lights and sat thinking in the dark. Electricity must now be
saved for emergencies.
* * * * *
Saturday the 18th I spent in total darkness, tormented by thoughts
and memories that threatened to overcome my German will. Klenze had
gone mad and perished before reaching this sinister remnant of a past
unwholesomely remote, and had advised me to go with him. Was, indeed,
Fate preserving my reason only to draw me irresistibly to an end more
horrible and unthinkable than any man has dreamed of? Clearly, my
nerves were sorely taxed, and I must cast off these impressions of
weaker men.
I could not sleep Saturday night, and turned on the lights regardless
of the future. It was annoying that the electricity should not last
out the air and provisions. I revived my thoughts of euthanasia, and
examined my automatic pistol. Toward morning I must have dropped asleep
with the lights on, for I awoke in darkness yesterday afternoon to
find the batteries dead. I struck several matches in succession, and
desperately regretted the improvidence which had caused us long ago to
use up the few candles we carried.
After the fading of the last match I dared to waste, I sat very quietly
without a light. As I considered the inevitable end my mind ran over
preceding events, and developed a hitherto dormant impression which
would have caused a weaker and more superstitious man to shudder. _The
head of the radiant god in the sculptures on the rock temple is the
same as that carven bit of ivory which the dead sailor brought from the
sea and which poor Klenze carried back into the sea._
I was a little dazed by this coincidence, but did not become terrified.
It is only the inferior thinker who hastens to explain the singular
and the complex by the primitive short cut of supernaturalism. The
coincidence was strange, but I was too sound a reasoner to connect
circumstances which admit of no logical connection, or to associate
in any uncanny fashion the disastrous events which had led from the
_Victory_ affair to my present plight. Feeling the need of more rest,
I took a sedative and secured some more sleep. My nervous condition
was reflected in my dreams, for I seemed to hear the cries of drowning
persons, and to see dead faces pressing against the portholes of the
boat. And among the dead faces was the living, mocking face of the
youth with the ivory image.
* * * * *
I must be careful how I record my awakening today, for I am unstrung,
and much hallucination is necessarily mixed with fact. Psychologically
my case is most interesting, and I regret that it cannot be observed
scientifically by a competent German authority. Upon opening my eyes
my first sensation was an overmastering desire to visit the rock
temple; a desire which grew every instant, yet which I automatically
sought to resist through some emotion of fear which operated in the
reverse direction. Next there came to me the impression of _light_
amidst the darkness of dead batteries, and I seemed to see a sort of
phosphorescent glow in the water through the porthole which opened
toward the temple. This aroused my curiosity, for I knew of no
deep-sea organism capable of emitting such luminosity. But before I
could investigate there came a third impression which because of its
irrationality caused me to doubt the objectivity of anything my senses
might record. It was an aural delusion; a sensation of rhythmic,
melodic sound as of some wild yet beautiful chant or choral hymn,
coming from the outside through the absolutely sound-proof hull of the
U-29. Convinced of my psychological and nervous abnormality, I lighted
some matches and poured a stiff dose of sodium bromide solution, which
seemed to calm me to the extent of dispelling the illusion of sound.
But the phosphorescence remained, and I had difficulty in repressing
a childish impulse to go to the porthole and seek its source. It
was horribly realistic, and I could soon distinguish by its aid the
familiar objects around me, as well as the empty sodium bromide glass
of which I had had no former visual impression in its present location.
This last circumstance made me ponder, and I crossed the room and
touched the glass. It was indeed in the place where I had seemed
to see it. Now I knew that the light was either real or part of an
hallucination so fixed and consistent that I could not hope to dispel
it, so abandoning all resistance I ascended to the conning tower to
look for the luminous agency. Might it not actually be another U-boat,
offering possibilities of rescue?
It is well that the reader accept nothing which follows as objective
truth, for since the events transcend natural law, they are necessarily
the subjective and unreal creations of my overtaxed mind. When I
attained the conning tower I found the sea in general far less
luminous than I had expected. There was no animal or vegetable
phosphorescence about, and the city that sloped down to the river
was invisible in blackness. What I did see was not spectacular, not
grotesque or terrifying, yet it removed my last vestige of trust in my
consciousness. _For the door and windows of the undersea temple hewn
from the rocky hill were vividly aglow with a flickering radiance, as
from a mighty alter-flame far within._
Later incidents are chaotic. As I stared at the uncannily lighted door
and windows, I became subject to the most extravagant visions--visions
so extravagant that I cannot even relate them. I fancied that I
discerned objects in the temple; objects both stationary and moving;
and seemed to hear again the unreal chant that had floated to me when
first I awaked. And over all rose thoughts and fears which centered in
the youth from the sea and the ivory image whose carving was duplicated
on the frieze and columns of the temple before me. I thought of poor
Klenze, and wondered where his body rested with the image he had
carried back into the sea. He had warned me of something, and I had not
heeded--but he was a soft-headed Rhinelander who went mad at troubles a
Prussian could bear with ease.
* * * * *
The rest is very simple. My impulse to visit and enter the temple has
now become an inexplicable and imperious command which ultimately
cannot be denied. My own German will no longer controls my acts, and
volition is henceforward possible only in minor matters. Such madness
it was which drove Klenze to his death, bareheaded and unprotected
in the ocean; but I am a Prussian and man of sense, and will use to
the last what little will I have. When first I saw that I must go,
I prepared my diving suit, helmet, and air regenerator for instant
donning; and immediately commenced to write this hurried chronicle
in the hope that it may some day reach the world. I shall seal the
manuscript in a bottle and entrust it to the sea as I leave the U-29
for ever.
I have no fear, not even from the prophecies of the madman Klenze. What
I have seen cannot be true, and I know that this madness of my own will
at most lead only to suffocation when my air is gone. The light in the
temple is a sheer delusion, and I shall die calmly, like a German, in
the black and forgotten depths. This demoniac laughter which I hear as
I write comes only from my own weakening brain. So I will carefully don
my diving suit and walk boldly up the steps into that primal shrine;
that silent secret of unfathomed waters and uncounted years.
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TEMPLE ***
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