Then up he came in glory from his ocean-bed, and flooded the earth
with warmth and light. I sat there in the boat listening to the gentle
lapping of the water and watched him rise, till presently the slight
drift of the boat brought the odd-shaped rock, or peak, at the end of
the promontory which we had weathered with so much peril, between me
and the majestic sight, and blotted it from my view. I still continued,
however, to stare at the rock, absently enough, till presently it became
edged with the fire of the growing light behind it, and then I started,
as well I might, for I perceived that the top of the peak, which was
about eighty feet high by one hundred and fifty feet thick at its base,
was shaped like a negro's head and face, whereon was stamped a most
fiendish and terrifying expression. There was no doubt about it; there
were the thick lips, the fat cheeks, and the squat nose standing out
with startling clearness against the flaming background. There, too, was
the round skull, washed into shape perhaps by thousands of years of
wind and weather, and, to complete the resemblance, there was a scrubby
growth of weeds or lichen upon it, which against the sun looked for all
the world like the wool on a colossal negro's head.
Pages:
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126