For some minutes they marched through the
streets of the Mahovisal. There was no cheering; it was a holy,
awesome occasion. Chick could sense the undercurrent of the
staring thousands, the reverence and the piety. It was the Day of
the Prophet. They were staring at a miracle.
The column turned a corner. For the first time Watson was
staggered by sheer immensity; for the first time he felt what it
might be to see with the eyes of an insect. Had he been an ant
looking up at the columns of Karnak, he would still have been out
of proportion. It was immense, colossal, beyond man. It was of the
omnipotent--the pillared portal of the Temple of the Bell.
Such a building a genius might dream of, in a moment of
unhampered, inspired imagination. It was stupendous. The pillars
were hexagonal in shape, and in diameter each of about the size of
an ordinary house. Dropping from an immense height, it seemed as
if they had originally poured out in the form of molten metal from
immense bell-like flares that fell from the vaulted architrave.
Such was the design.
Chick got the impression that the top of the structure, somehow,
was not supported by the foundation, but rather the reverse--the
floor was suspended from the ceiling. It was the work of the
Titans--so high and stupendous that at the first instant Watson
felt numb with insignificance. What chance had he against men of
such colossal conception.
Pages:
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348