The Beast in the Cave

by H. P. Lovecraft

　　The horrible conclusion which had been gradually obtruding itself upon myconfused and reluctant mind was now an awful certainty. I was lost, completely,hopelessly lost in the vast and labyrinthine recess of the Mammoth Cave. Turn asI might, In no direction could my straining vision seize on any object capableof serving as a guidepost to set me on the outward path. That nevermore should Ibehold the blessed light of day, or scan the pleasant bills and dales of thebeautiful world outside, my reason could no longer entertain the slightestunbelief. Hope had departed. Yet, indoctrinated as I was by a life ofphilosophical study, I derived no small measure of satisfaction from myunimpassioned demeanour; for although I had frequently read of the wild frenziesinto which were thrown the victims of similar situation, I experienced none ofthese, but stood quiet as soon as I clearly realised the loss of my bearings.Nor did the thought that I had probably wandered beyond the utmost limits ofan ordinary search cause me to abandon my composure even for a moment. If I mustdie, I reflected, then was this terrible yet majestic cavern as welcome asepulchre as that which any churchyard might afford, a conception which carriedwith it more of tranquillity than of despair.Starving would prove my ultimate fate; of this I was certain. Some, I knew,had gone mad under circumstances such as these, but I felt that this end wouldnot be mine. My disaster was the result of no fault save my own, since unknownto the guide I had separated myself from the regular party of sightseers; and,wandering for over an hour in forbidden avenues of the cave, had found myselfunable to retrace the devious windings which I had pursued since forsaking mycompanions.Already my torch had begun to expire; soon I would be enveloped by the totaland almost palpable blackness of the bowels of the earth. As I stood in thewaning, unsteady light, I idly wondered over the exact circumstances of mycoming end. I remembered the accounts which I had heard of the colony ofconsumptives, who, taking their residence in this gigantic grotto to find healthfrom the apparently salubrious air of the underground world, with its steady,uniform temperature, pure air, and peaceful quiet, had found, instead, death instrange and ghastly form. I had seen the sad remains of their ill-made cottagesas I passed them by with the party, and had wondered what unnatural influence along sojourn in this immense and silent cavern would exert upon one as healthyand vigorous as I. Now, I grimly told myself, my opportunity for settling thispoint had arrived, provided that want of food should not bring me too speedy adeparture from this life.As the last fitful rays of my torch faded into obscurity, I resolved toleave no stone unturned, no possible means of escape neglected; so, summoningall the powers possessed by my lungs, I set up a series of loud shoutings, inthe vain hope of attracting the attention of the guide by my clamour. Yet, as Icalled, I believed in my heart that my cries were to no purpose, and that myvoice, magnified and reflected by the numberless ramparts of the black mazeabout me, fell upon no ears save my own.All at once, however, my attention was fixed with a start as I fancied thatI heard the sound of soft approaching steps on the rocky floor of the cavern.Was my deliverance about to be accomplished so soon? Had, then, all myhorrible apprehensions been for naught, and was the guide, having marked myunwarranted absence from the party, following my course and seeking me out inthis limestone labyrinth? Whilst these joyful queries arose in my brain, I wason the point of renewing my cries, in order that my discovery might come thesooner, when in an instant my delight was turned to horror as I listened; for myever acute ear, now sharpened in even greater degree by the complete silence ofthe cave, bore to my benumbed understanding the unexpected and dreadfulknowledge that these footfalls were not like those of any mortal man. In theunearthly stillness of this subterranean region, the tread of the booted guidewould have sounded like a series of sharp and incisive blows. These impacts weresoft, and stealthy, as of the paws of some feline. Besides, when I listenedcarefully, I seemed to trace the falls of four instead of two feet.I was now convinced that I had by my own cries aroused and attracted somewild beast, perhaps a mountain lion which had accidentally strayed within thecave. Perhaps, I considered, the Almighty had chosen for me a swifter and moremerciful death than that of hunger; yet the instinct of self-preservation, neverwholly dormant, was stirred in my breast, and though escape from the on-comingperil might but spare me for a sterner and more lingering end, I determinednevertheless to part with my life at as high a price as I could command. Strangeas it may seem, my mind conceived of no intent on the part of the visitor savethat of hostility. Accordingly, I became very quiet, In the hope that theunknown beast would, In the absence of a guiding sound, lose its direction ashad I, and thus pass me by. But this hope was not destined for realisation, forthe strange footfalls steadily advanced, the animal evidently having obtained myscent, which in an atmosphere so absolutely free from all distracting influencesas is that of the cave, could doubtless be followed at great distance. Seeing therefore that I must be armed for defense against an uncanny andunseen attack in the dark, I groped about me the largest of the fragments ofrock which were strewn upon all parts of the floor of the cavern In thevicinity, and grasping one in each hand for immediate use, awaited withresignation the inevitable result. Meanwhile the hideous pattering of the pawsdrew near. Certainly, the conduct of the creature was exceedingly strange. Mostof the time, the tread seemed to be that of a quadruped, walking with a singularlack of unison betwixt hind and fore feet, yet at brief and infrequent intervalsI fancied that but two feet were engaged in the process of locomotion. Iwondered what species of animal was to confront me; it must, I thought, be someunfortunate beast who had paid for its curiosity to investigate one of theentrances of the fearful grotto with a life-long confinement in its interminablerecesses. It doubtless obtained as food the eyeless fish, bats and rats of thecave, as well as some of the ordinary fish that are wafted in at every freshetof Green River, which communicates in some occult manner with the waters of thecave. I occupied my terrible vigil with grotesque conjectures of what alterationcave life might have wrought In the physical structure of the beast, rememberingthe awful appearances ascribed by local tradition to the consumptives who haddied after long residence in the cave. Then I remembered with a start that, evenshould I succeed in felling my antagonist, I should never behold its form, as mytorch had long since been extinct, and I was entirely unprovided with matches.The tension on my brain now became frightful. My disordered fancy conjured uphideous and fearsome shapes from the sinister darkness that surrounded me, andthat actually seemed to press upon my body. Nearer, nearer, the dreadfulfootfalls approached. It seemed that I must give vent to a piercing scream, yethad I been sufficiently irresolute to attempt such a thing, my voice couldscarce have responded. I was petrified, rooted to the spot. I doubted if myright arm would allow me to hurl its missile at the oncoming thing when thecrucial moment should arrive. Now the steady pat, pat, of the steps was close athand; now very close. I could hear the laboured breathing of the animal, andterror-struck as I was, I realised that it must have come from a considerabledistance, and was correspondingly fatigued. Suddenly the spell broke. My righthand, guided by my ever trustworthy sense of hearing, threw with full force thesharp-angled bit of limestone which it contained, toward that point in thedarkness from which emanated the breathing and pattering, and, wonderful torelate, it nearly reached its goal, for I heard the thing jump landing at adistance away, where it seemed to pause.Having readjusted my aim, I discharged my second missile, this time moateffectively, for with a flood of joy I listened as the creature fell in whatsounded like a complete collapse and evidently remained prone and unmoving.Almost overpowered by the great relief which rushed over me, I reeled backagainst the wall. The breathing continued, in heavy, gasping inhalation. andexpirations, whence I realised that I had no more than wounded the creature. Andnow all desire to examine the thing ceased. At last something allied togroundless, superstitious fear had entered my brain, and I did not approach thebody, nor did I continue to cast stones at it in order to complete theextinction of its life. Instead, I ran at full speed in what was, as nearly as Icould estimate in my frenzied condition, the direction from which I had come.Suddenly I heard a sound or rather, a regular succession of sounds. In anotherInstant they had resolved themselves into a series of sharp, metallic clicks.This time there was no doubt. It was the guide. And then I shouted, yelled,screamed, even shrieked with joy as I beheld in the vaulted arches above thefaint and glimmering effulgence which I knew to be the reflected light of anapproaching torch. I ran to meet the flare, and before I could completelyunderstand what had occurred, was lying upon the ground at the feet of theguide, embracing his boots and gibbering. despite my boasted reserve, in a mostmeaningless and idiotic manner, pouring out my terrible story, and at the sametime overwhelming my auditor with protestations of gratitude. At length, I awoketo something like my normal consciousness. The guide had noted my absence uponthe arrival of the party at the entrance of the cave, and had, from his ownintuitive sense of direction, proceeded to make a thorough canvass ofby-passages just ahead of where he had last spoken to me, locating mywhereabouts after a quest of about four hours.By the time he had related this to me, I, emboldened by his torch and hiscompany, began to reflect upon the strange beast which I had wounded but a shortdistance back in the darkness, and suggested that we ascertain, by theflashlight's aid, what manner of creature was my victim. Accordingly I retracedmy steps, this time with a courage born of companionship, to the scene of myterrible experience. Soon we descried a white object upon the floor, an objectwhiter even than the gleaming limestone itself. Cautiously advancing, we gavevent to a simultaneous ejaculation of wonderment, for of all the unnaturalmonsters either of us had in our lifetimes beheld, this was in surpassing degreethe strangest. It appeared to be an anthropoid ape of large proportions,escaped, perhaps, from some itinerant menagerie. Its hair was snow-white, athing due no doubt to the bleaching action of a long existence within the inkyconfines of the cave, but it was also surprisingly thin, being indeed largelyabsent save on the head, where it was of such length and abundance that it fellover the shoulders in considerable profusion. The face was turned away from us,as the creature lay almost directly upon it. The inclination of the limbs wasvery singular, explaining, however, the alternation in their use which I badbefore noted, whereby the beast used sometimes all four, and on other occasionsbut two for its progress. From the tips of the fingers or toes, long rat-likeclaws extended. The hands or feet were not prehensile, a fact that I ascribed tothat long residence in the cave which, as I before mentioned, seemed evidentfrom the all-pervading and almost unearthly whiteness so characteristic of thewhole anatomy. No tail seemed to be present.The respiration had now grown very feeble, and the guide had drawn hispistol with the evident intent of despatching the creature, when a sudden soundemitted by the latter caused the weapon to fall unused. The sound was of anature difficult to describe. It was not like the normal note of any knownspecies of simian, and I wonder if this unnatural quality were not the result ofa long continued and complete silence, broken by the sensations produced by theadvent of the light, a thing which the beast could not have seen since its firstentrance into the cave. The sound, which I might feebly attempt to classify as akind of deep-tone chattering, was faintly continued.All at once a fleeting spasm of energy seemed to pass through the frame ofthe beast. The paws went through a convulsive motion, and the limbs contracted.With a jerk, the white body rolled over so that its face was turned in ourdirection. For a moment I was so struck with horror at the eyes thus revealedthat I noted nothing else. They were black, those eyes, deep jetty black, inhideous contrast to the snow-white hair and flesh. Like those of other cavedenizens, they were deeply sunken in their orbits, and were entirely destituteof iris. As I looked more closely, I saw that they were set in a face lessprognathous than that of the average ape, and infinitely less hairy. The nosewas quite distinct. As we gazed upon the uncanny sight presented to our vision,the thick lips opened, and several sounds issued from them, after which thething relaxed in death.The guide clutched my coatsleeve and trembled so violently that the lightshook fitfully, casting weird moving shadows on the walls.I made no motion, but stood rigidly still, my horrified eyes fixed upon thefloor ahead.The fear left, and wonder, awe, compassion, and reverence succeeded in itsplace, for the sounds uttered by the stricken figure that lay stretched out onthe limestone had told us the awesome truth. The creature I had killed, thestrange beast of the unfathomed cave, was, or had at one time been a MAN!!!