Chapter LVI

by William Somerset Maugham

　　Then two years more went by, or perhaps three, for time passesimperceptibly in Tahiti, and it is hard to keep count of it;but at last a message was brought to Dr. Coutras thatStrickland was dying. Ata had waylaid the cart that took themail into Papeete, and besought the man who drove it to go atonce to the doctor. But the doctor was out when the summonscame, and it was evening when he received it. It wasimpossible to start at so late an hour, and so it was not tillnext day soon after dawn that he set out. He arrived atTaravao, and for the last time tramped the seven kilometresthat led to Ata's house. The path was overgrown, and it wasclear that for years now it had remained all but untrodden.It was not easy to find the way. Sometimes he had to stumblealong the bed of the stream, and sometimes he had to pushthrough shrubs, dense and thorny; often he was obliged toclimb over rocks in order to avoid the hornet-nests that hungon the trees over his head. The silence was intense.It was with a sigh of relief that at last he came upon thelittle unpainted house, extraordinarily bedraggled now,and unkempt; but here too was the same intolerable silence.He walked up, and a little boy, playing unconcernedly in thesunshine, started at his approach and fled quickly away:to him the stranger was the enemy. Dr. Coutras had a sense thatthe child was stealthily watching him from behind a tree.The door was wide open. He called out, but no one answered.He stepped in. He knocked at a door, but again there was noanswer. He turned the handle and entered. The stench thatassailed him turned him horribly sick. He put hishandkerchief to his nose and forced himself to go in. Thelight was dim, and after the brilliant sunshine for a while hecould see nothing. Then he gave a start. He could not makeout where he was. He seemed on a sudden to have entered amagic world. He had a vague impression of a great primevalforest and of naked people walking beneath the trees. Then hesaw that there were paintings on the walls."Mon Dieu, I hope the sun hasn't affected me," he muttered.A slight movement attracted his attention, and he saw that Atawas lying on the floor, sobbing quietly."Ata," he called. "Ata."She took no notice. Again the beastly stench almost made himfaint, and he lit a cheroot. His eyes grew accustomed to thedarkness, and now he was seized by an overwhelming sensationas he stared at the painted walls. He knew nothing ofpictures, but there was something about these thatextraordinarily affected him. From floor to ceiling the wallswere covered with a strange and elaborate composition. It wasindescribably wonderful and mysterious. It took his breath away.It filled him with an emotion which he could notunderstand or analyse. He felt the awe and the delight whicha man might feel who watched the beginning of a world. It wastremendous, sensual, passionate; and yet there was somethinghorrible there, too, something which made him afraid. It wasthe work of a man who had delved into the hidden depths ofnature and had discovered secrets which were beautiful andfearful too. It was the work of a man who knew things whichit is unholy for men to know. There was something primevalthere and terrible. It was not human. It brought to his mindvague recollections of black magic. It was beautiful and obscene."Mon Dieu, this is genius."The words were wrung from him, and he did not know he had spoken.Then his eyes fell on the bed of mats in the corner, and hewent up, and he saw the dreadful, mutilated, ghastly objectwhich had been Strickland. He was dead. Dr. Coutras made aneffort of will and bent over that battered horror. Then hestarted violently, and terror blazed in his heart, for he feltthat someone was behind him. It was Ata. He had not heardher get up. She was standing at his elbow, looking at whathe looked at."Good Heavens, my nerves are all distraught," he said."You nearly frightened me out of my wits."He looked again at the poor dead thing that had been man, andthen he started back in dismay."But he was blind.""Yes; he had been blind for nearly a year."