Chapter 15: The Noise In The Night

And Now, I Come To The Strangest Of All The Strange Happenings That Have Befallen Me In This House Of Mysteries. It Occurred Quite Lately--Within The Month; And I Have Little Doubt But That What I Saw Was In Reality The End Of All Things. However, To My Story.

I Do Not Know How It Is; But, Up To The Present, I Have Never Been Able To Write These Things Down, Directly They Happened. It Is As Though I Have To Wait A Time, Recovering My Just Balance, And Digesting--As It Were--The Things I Have Heard Or Seen. No Doubt, This Is As It Should Be; For, By Waiting, I See The Incidents More Truly, And Write Of Them In A Calmer And More Judicial Frame Of Mind. This By The Way.

It Is Now The End Of November. My Story Relates To What Happened In The First Week Of The Month.

It Was Night, About Eleven O’clock. Pepper And I Kept One Another Company In The Study--That Great, Old Room Of Mine, Where I Read And Work. I Was Reading, Curiously Enough, The Bible. I Have Begun, In These Later Days, To Take A Growing Interest In That Great And Ancient Book. Suddenly, A Distinct Tremor Shook The House, And There Came A Faint And Distant, Whirring Buzz, That Grew Rapidly Into A Far, Muffled Screaming. It Reminded Me, In A Queer, Gigantic Way, Of The Noise That A Clock Makes, When The Catch Is Released, And It Is Allowed To Run Down. The Sound Appeared To Come From Some Remote Height--Somewhere Up In The Night. There Was No Repetition Of The Shock. I Looked Across At Pepper. He Was Sleeping Peacefully.

Gradually, The Whirring Noise Decreased, And There Came A Long Silence.

All At Once, A Glow Lit Up The End Window, Which Protrudes Far Out From The Side Of The House, So That, From It, One May Look Both East And West. I Felt Puzzled, And, After A Moment’s Hesitation, Walked Across The Room, And Pulled Aside The Blind. As I Did So, I Saw The Sun Rise, From Behind The Horizon. It Rose With A Steady, Perceptible Movement. I Could See It Travel Upward. In A Minute, It Seemed, It Had Reached The Tops Of The Trees, Through Which I Had Watched It. Up, Up--It Was Broad Daylight Now. Behind Me, I Was Conscious Of A Sharp, Mosquito-Like Buzzing. I Glanced ‘Round, And Knew That It Came From The Clock. Even As I Looked, It Marked Off An Hour. The Minute Hand Was Moving ‘Round The Dial, Faster Than An Ordinary Second-Hand. The Hour Hand Moved Quickly From Space To Space. I Had A Numb Sense Of Astonishment. A Moment Later, So It Seemed, The Two Candles Went Out, Almost Together. I Turned Swiftly Back To The Window; For I Had Seen The Shadow Of The Window-Frames, Traveling Along The Floor Toward Me, As Though A Great Lamp Had Been Carried Up Past The Window.

I Saw Now, That The Sun Had Risen High Into The Heavens, And Was Still Visibly Moving. It Passed Above The House, With An Extraordinary Sailing Kind Of Motion. As The Window Came Into Shadow, I Saw Another Extraordinary Thing. The Fine-Weather Clouds Were Not Passing, Easily, Across The Sky--They Were Scampering, As Though A Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Wind Blew. As They Passed, They Changed Their Shapes A Thousand Times A Minute, As Though Writhing With A Strange Life; And So Were Gone. And, Presently, Others Came, And Whisked Away Likewise.

To The West, I Saw The Sun, Drop With An Incredible, Smooth, Swift Motion. Eastward, The Shadows Of Every Seen Thing Crept Toward The Coming Greyness. And The Movement Of The Shadows Was Visible To Me--A Stealthy, Writhing Creep Of The Shadows Of The Wind-Stirred Trees. It Was A Strange Sight.

Quickly, The Room Began To Darken. The Sun Slid Down To The Horizon, And Seemed, As It Were, To Disappear From My Sight, Almost With A Jerk. Through The Greyness Of The Swift Evening, I Saw The Silver Crescent Of The Moon, Falling Out Of The Southern Sky, Toward The West. The Evening Seemed To Merge Into An Almost Instant Night. Above Me, The Many Constellations Passed In A Strange, ‘Noiseless’ Circling, Westward. The Moon Fell Through That Last Thousand Fathoms Of The Night-Gulf, And There Was Only The Starlight...

About This Time, The Buzzing In The Corner Ceased; Telling Me That The Clock Had Run Down. A Few Minutes Passed, And I Saw The Eastward Sky Lighten. A Grey, Sullen Morning Spread Through All The Darkness, And Hid The March Of The Stars. Overhead, There Moved, With A Heavy, Everlasting Rolling, A Vast, Seamless Sky Of Grey Clouds--A Cloud-Sky That Would Have Seemed Motionless, Through All The Length Of An Ordinary Earth-Day. The Sun Was Hidden From Me; But, From Moment To Moment, The World Would Brighten And Darken, Brighten And Darken, Beneath Waves Of Subtle Light And Shadow...

The Light Shifted Ever Westward, And The Night Fell Upon The Earth. A Vast Rain Seemed To Come With It, And A Wind Of A Most Extraordinary Loudness--As Though The Howling Of A Nightlong Gale, Were Packed Into The Space Of No More Than A Minute.

This Noise Passed, Almost Immediately, And The Clouds Broke; So That, Once More, I Could See The Sky. The Stars Were Flying Westward, With Astounding Speed. It Came To Me Now, For The First Time, That, Though The Noise Of The Wind Had Passed, Yet A Constant ‘Blurred’ Sound Was In My Ears. Now That I Noticed It, I Was Aware That It Had Been With Me All The Time. It Was The World-Noise.

And Then, Even As I Grasped At So Much Comprehension, There Came The Eastward Light. No More Than A Few Heartbeats, And The Sun Rose, Swiftly. Through The Trees, I Saw It, And Then It Was Above The Trees. Up--Up, It Soared And All The World Was Light. It Passed, With A Swift, Steady Swing To Its Highest Altitude, And Fell Thence, Westward. I Saw The Day Roll Visibly Over My Head. A Few Light Clouds Flittered Northward, And Vanished. The Sun Went Down With One Swift, Clear Plunge, And There Was About Me, For A Few Seconds, The Darker Growing Grey Of The Gloaming.

Southward And Westward, The Moon Was Sinking Rapidly. The Night Had Come, Already. A Minute It Seemed, And The Moon Fell Those Remaining Fathoms Of Dark Sky. Another Minute, Or So, And The Eastward Sky Glowed With The Coming Dawn. The Sun Leapt Upon Me With A Frightening Abruptness, And Soared Ever More Swiftly Toward The Zenith. Then, Suddenly, A Fresh Thing Came To My Sight. A Black Thundercloud Rushed Up Out Of The South, And Seemed To Leap All The Arc Of The Sky, In A Single Instant. As It Came, I Saw That Its Advancing Edge Flapped, Like A Monstrous Black Cloth In The Heaven, Twirling And Undulating Rapidly, With A Horrid Suggestiveness. In An Instant, All The Air Was Full Of Rain, And A Hundred Lightning Flashes Seemed To Flood Downward, As It Were In One Great Shower. In The Same Second Of Time, The World-Noise Was Drowned In The Roar Of The Wind, And Then My Ears Ached, Under The Stunning Impact Of The Thunder.

And, In The Midst Of This Storm, The Night Came; And Then, Within The Space Of Another Minute, The Storm Had Passed, And There Was Only The Constant ‘Blur’ Of The World-Noise On My Hearing. Overhead, The Stars Were Sliding Quickly Westward; And Something, Mayhaps The Particular Speed To Which They Had Attained, Brought Home To Me, For The First Time, A Keen Realization Of The Knowledge That It Was The World That Revolved. I Seemed To See, Suddenly, The World--A Vast, Dark Mass--Revolving Visibly Against The Stars.

The Dawn And The Sun Seemed To Come Together, So Greatly Had The Speed Of The World-Revolution Increased. The Sun Drove Up, In One Long, Steady Curve; Passed Its Highest Point, And Swept Down Into The Western Sky, And Disappeared. I Was Scarcely Conscious Of Evening, So Brief Was It. Then I Was Watching The Flying Constellations, And The Westward Hastening Moon. In But A Space Of Seconds, So It Seemed, It Was Sliding Swiftly Downward Through The Night-Blue, And Then Was Gone. And, Almost Directly, Came The Morning.

And Now There Seemed To Come A Strange Acceleration. The Sun Made One Clean, Clear Sweep Through The Sky, And Disappeared Behind The Westward Horizon, And The Night Came And Went With A Like Haste.

As The Succeeding Day, Opened And Closed Upon The World, I Was Aware Of A Sweat Of Snow, Suddenly Upon The Earth. The Night Came, And, Almost Immediately, The Day. In The Brief Leap Of The Sun, I Saw That The Snow Had Vanished; And Then, Once More, It Was Night.

Thus Matters Were; And, Even After The Many Incredible Things That I Have Seen, I Experienced All The Time A Most Profound Awe. To See The Sun Rise And Set, Within A Space Of Time To Be Measured By Seconds; To Watch (After A Little) The Moon Leap--A Pale, And Ever Growing Orb--Up Into The Night Sky, And Glide, With A Strange Swiftness, Through The Vast Arc Of Blue; And, Presently, To See The Sun Follow, Springing Out Of The Eastern Sky, As Though In Chase; And Then Again The Night, With The Swift And Ghostly Passing Of Starry Constellations, Was All Too Much To View Believingly. Yet, So It Was--The Day Slipping From Dawn To Dusk, And The Night Sliding Swiftly Into Day, Ever Rapidly And More Rapidly.

The Last Three Passages Of The Sun Had Shown Me A Snow-Covered Earth, Which, At Night, Had Seemed, For A Few Seconds, Incredibly Weird Under The Fast-Shifting Light Of The Soaring And Falling Moon. Now, However, For A Little Space, The Sky Was Hidden, By A Sea Of Swaying, Leaden-White Clouds, Which Lightened And Blackened, Alternately, With The Passage Of Day And Night.

The Clouds Rippled And Vanished, And There Was Once More Before Me, The Vision Of The Swiftly Leaping Sun, And Nights That Came And Went Like Shadows.