Chapter 13 CHAPTER TWELVE THE PEOPLE OF THE LAWS

I don't know what cold thing touched my hand.I was startled suddenly and saw a vague red thing next to me.It looked more like a flayed child than any other creature in the world.The monster had the mild, indifferent features of a sloth, the same low brow, the same sluggish movements.The sudden discomfort caused by the change of light at the beginning was over, and I could see everything around me more clearly.The little sloth-like monster stood there, staring at me.My guide is long gone. 【① Sloth: A mammal native to South America that lives on tree branches and moves slowly. 】 This place is a narrow passage between the high lava walls, a gap in the condensed rock in which the lava flows down, intertwined on both sides with a pile of clams, palm leaves and clasps on the rock. The reeds formed this crude, impenetrable, dark cave.Between the rock walls, the path winding up the ravine, less than three yards wide, was disfigured by piles of rotting wild fruit pulp and other rubbish, which prompted the The place produces a disgusting stench.

The little pink sloth-like monster was still blinking at me.At this time, my ape-like companion (let's call him an ape-man) appeared again in the gap closest to the cave, and beckoned me to go in.At this moment, a monster with its head hanging down crawled out from a place further up the path, stood up, stared at me, and appeared against the dazzling green background in the distance. A featureless black silhouette.I hesitated--with a touch of running away--and then resolved to risk it to the end.Holding the mace in the middle, I followed my guide into the small, foul-smelling, sloping hole.

This semicircular open space is shaped like half a beehive.Against the stone wall which formed the inner wall of the cave, there was a heap of wild fruits, coconuts, and other things of various colors.Crude vessels of lava and wood lay here and there, and a pot stood on a crude stool.There was no fire in the hole.In one of the darkest corners of the hut, there was an indistinguishable black mass sitting. When I walked in, I could only hear this thing humming: "Dark!".The ape-man stood in the dim light of the doorway, and when I crept into another corner and squatted down, he handed me a split coconut.I took it and began nibbling as leisurely as I could, even though I was convulsed with nervousness and the cavern was almost unbearably stuffy.That little pink sloth-like monster stood in the crack of the cave; besides, there was something else with a hazel face and shining eyes, staring sideways at me.

"Hi," the mysterious bunch on the opposite side yelled again. "It's a man! It's a man!" said my guide hastily—"a man, a man, a living being, like me." "Shut up!" said the voice in the darkness, and began to hum.In haunting silence, I gnaw on a coconut.I tried my best to peek into the darkness, but I couldn't make out anything. "This is a man," repeated the voice, "is he here to live with us?" It was a deep voice, with something in it, a hissing whistling tone, which struck me as strange, but his accent was strangely good.

The ape-man looked at me as if expecting something.I perceive this pause as awaiting my answer. "He's come here to live with you," I said. "He's a man. He must know the law." Gradually I could now make out a darker shadow in the darkness, the vague outline of a hunched-shouldered figure.I noticed again that the opening of the cave was obscured by two other heads.I gripped the stick more tightly.The something in the darkness repeated louder, "Recite the Creed." I missed its last words. "Don't walk on all fours; it's the law"—it repeated monotonously.

Monk Zhang Er was completely confused. "Recite the creed," said the ape-man, and repeated it, and the men at the door sang, all with a tinge of menace in their tones.I realized that I, too, had to sing this stupid, idiot creed over and over again.Then, another insane ritual began. The voice in the dark began to chant line after line an enchanted litany, which I and the rest repeated.As they sang, they swayed from side to side and slapped their hands on their knees.I also learn from them.The sight made it possible for me to think that I was dead, already in another life.The dark huts, these strange vague figures, here and there dappled by flashes of light, all swaying from side to side in unison, singing together:

"Don't walk on all fours; it's the law. Aren't we human? "Don't sip water; it's the law. Aren't we human? "Don't eat animal meat or fish; it's the law. Aren't we human? "Don't scratch the bark with your claws; it's the law. Are we not men? "Don't chase other people; it's the law. Aren't we human?" And so, from banning these follies, to banning what I thought should be banned at the time, was the most insane, most indecent thing that could ever be imagined. A cadenced, rhythmic fervor fell upon us all; we chanted faster and faster, swaying from side to side, repeating the astonishing law.Outwardly, the sentiments of these orcs were contagious to me too, but deep within me there was a mixture of ridicule and disgust.

We recited a long list of prohibitions, and then the chanted chant shifted to a new format: "The Chamber of Punishment is his. "The hand that created was His. "The wounded hand was his. "His hand is the healing hand."① 【① In early art, a hand protruding from the cloud was often used to represent God or God, and it was mostly used in prayer.Here is Moreau using this metaphor to deceive the orcs. 】 And there's a long list of other things to say about this him, mostly very inexplicable and nonsensical to me.I might well have imagined it to be a dream, but I had never heard hymns chanted in a dream before.

"The lightning is his," we sing, "and the deep salt sea is his." A terrifying image suddenly appeared in my mind. After Morrow turned these people into animals, he had spread a concept of deifying himself in their atrophied brains.However, I am constantly aware of the white teeth and claws around me, so I dare not stop singing the hymn. "The stars in the sky are his." The hymn is finally over.I saw the ape-man's face glisten with sweat.By this time my eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness, and I could see more clearly the figure of the voice coming from the corner.The figure was about the same height as a man, but it seemed to be covered with dark gray hair, almost like a long-haired and short-legged foxhound (aka).What is that?What are they?If you yourself have been surrounded by the most horrible cripples, cripples, madmen, and lunatics imaginable, you may understand a little how I feel when I am surrounded by these strange, almost human-like monsters.

"He's a five-man, a five-man, a five-man: like me," said the ape-man. I hold out my hand.The gray monster in the corner, leaning forward. "Don't run on all fours; it's the law. Aren't we human?" he said.He reached out with a grotesquely misshapen claw and grabbed my finger.The so-called hand was almost like a deer's hoof turned into a claw.I was literally terrified and howling in pain.He stuck his face forward and stared at my nails.He stepped forward again into the light of the hut opening, and I saw, shuddering with nausea, that it was neither a human face nor an animal face, but just a pile of shaggy, gray In the middle of the hair, there are three vague and terrible holes, marking the eyes and mouth.

"His nails are short," murmured the hideous-looking monster, puffing out his furry beard, "very good." He dropped my hand, and I stood up and grabbed the stick. "Eat roots and blades—that is his will," said the Ape-Man. "I am the one who recites the law," said the pale figure. "Everyone who comes here is a novice, to learn the law. I sit in the dark and recite the law." "Exactly," said an orc at the door. "Evil is the punishment for those who break the law. No one escapes." "No one can escape," said the orcs, looking furtively at each other. "No one, no one," said the Ape-Man. "No one can escape. Be careful! Once I did a little thing, a wrong thing. I squeaked like a monkey, and stopped talking. No one understood. And my Hands are branded with fire. He is great, he is good!" "No one can escape," said the grey-haired monster in the corner. "No one can escape," the orcs said, looking at each other sideways. "Lust is evil to everyone," said the gray-haired monster who spoke the law. "What you want, we don't know, but we'll know. Some people want to stalk moving things, stare, slip away, wait, jump, kill, bite, bite deeply and tastefully, Suck blood, it's evil. Don't chase other people, that's the law. Aren't we human? Don't eat animal meat or fish, that's the law. Aren't we human?" "No one can escape," said a brindle orc standing in the doorway. "Lust is evil to everyone," said the gray-haired monster who spoke the law. "Some people want to use their teeth, hands and feet to penetrate the roots of things, dig their noses into the soil, and go to some places to pull things,?? This is evil." "No one can escape," said the orcs at the door. "There are some who scratch trees; some go to dig the graves of the dead with their claws; some fight with foreheads or feet or claws; some bite suddenly and without reason; some like to dirty dirty." "No one can escape," said the Ape, scratching his calf. "No one can escape," said the little pink sloth-like monster. "Punishment is harsh and severe, sure. So study the law, and memorize the creed," Then he couldn't help but started singing that strange legal litany again, so me and all these orcs started singing and shaking too.I was dizzy and dizzy from the squeaking chants and the stink of the place, but I kept going, trusting that I would have a chance to see a new development in a while. "Don't walk on all fours, that's the law. Aren't we human?" We made such a din, if it wasn't for a man - I think it was one of the four piggies I saw once - poking his head out of the little sloth-like monster and yelling excitedly Saying something I didn't understand, I didn't notice the commotion outside at all.Those who were at the entrance of the cave couldn't help but disappeared, and the ape-man rushed out, and the monster sitting in the dark followed him--I could only see this monster was tall, clumsy, and covered in blood. They are all long silver-white hairs,—I was left here alone. Later, before I reached the entrance, I heard a deerhound barking. In a blink of an eye, I was already standing outside the small cave, With a mace in his hand, every muscle in his body trembled.In front of me were the clumsy backs of about a dozen orcs, their ugly deformed heads half-shrunk in their shoulder blades.There they were gesticulating excitedly.Outside the small hole, other semi-animal faces flashed questioning expressions.Looking in the direction they were facing, I saw, through the misty mist under the woods at the end of the hut path, come the dark figure of Moreau and the terrible white face.He tugged back the stag hound that was running eastward.Montgomery was at his heels, gun in hand. For a moment, I stood there trembling with fear. Turning around, I saw that the path behind me was blocked by another big orc with a gray face and bright eyes, and he was walking towards me step by step.I looked round, and saw, about six yards ahead of me to my right, a slit in the stone wall, through which a ray of light slanted down into the gloom. As I strode toward the narrow gap, Moreau shouted, "Stop!" and then, "Grab him!" At the cry, first one face, and then the other faces turned to me.But thankfully, their bestial minds were too slow to react. I slammed my shoulder into a hulking monster who was turning to ask what Moreau meant, so that he fell forward and into another orc.I felt his hands flying around, trying to grab me, but he couldn't.That little sloth-like pink monster rushed towards me, I chopped it over, and cut a deep gash in its face with a nail from a mace. A steep side road climbed up.The path looked like a sloping chimney jutting out of a deep ravine. Behind me I heard dogs howling and men shouting, "Grab him!" "Stop him!" The grey-faced monster flashed behind me, and I saw his huge body squeezed into the gap. "Follow, chase!" they howled. I climbed up the narrow crack between the stones, and finally climbed out, standing on the sulfur rock on the west side of the orc village. This chasm was very fortunate for me, for the narrow path, which sloped upwards, must have been a hindrance to the approaching pursuers.I ran across a white clearing, down a steep hill, through sparse and scattered woods, and came to a clump of low creeping reeds.I went through the reeds and got into a thick, black undergrowth that was black and wet underfoot.When I got into the reeds, the first pursuer behind me emerged from the slit.It took me several minutes, slogging my way through the bushes.The air behind and around was soon filled with threatening shouts. I heard the sound of pursuers scrambling in the crevices on the steep slope, and after a while they rushed into the reeds, and the sound of breaking branches and leaves came from time to time.Some monsters roared like hunted beasts in great excitement.The deerhound barks to the left.I heard the shouts of Moreau and Montgomery also going to the left.I turned quickly and alertly to the right and ran.Even later in my life I seemed to hear Montgomery's cry for me. After a while, the ground sank, and my feet were oily like soft mud, but I ran straight in regardless of life and death, struggling in the knee-deep mud, and came to the tall vines like this. On a winding and winding path among the bushes.The chaotic sounds of the pursuers coaxed past me to my left.in one place.Three strange hopping pink animals, about the size of a cat, jumped away before my feet.This path leading to the mountain passed through another open space covered with a white hard shell, and then stretched into a vine bush. Then the path took an unexpected sharp turn and ran parallel to the edge of a steep gorge with rocky walls on both sides, and went in one direction, but there was no dark wall like the hollows in English parks. Or a warning sign like a hidden fence.At that time, I was still running desperately, and I didn't see the cliff that suddenly appeared at the end of the path. Suddenly, I fell headfirst into the air like a green onion. I landed on my forearms and head first, among the thorns.When he stood up, one ear was cut off and his face was bleeding.I originally fell into a precipitous mountain stream with cliffs on both sides. The mountains are rugged and thorny, and the misty smoke drifts around me one by one.It is from this small river that the mist emerges.I was amazed at the thin clouds that appeared in the bright sun, but I had no time to stand there and marvel then.I turned down the creek and turned to the right, hoping to follow this direction to the sea, so that I could find a way to drown myself.After walking for a while, I realized that when I fell into the mountain stream, I lost the mace. After a while, the gap in the canyon became narrower and narrower.I waded into the stream without hesitation, but I quickly jumped out of it again, for the water was almost boiling.I noticed, too, that there was a thin film of sulphurous scum floating on the swirling surface.Almost there, the canyon turned another bend, and the misty blue sea was in sight.The sea, which is getting closer and closer, shines with the brilliance of the sun like the small mirrors of countless gems.I could see my death was imminent.I was hot and panting, hot blood oozing from my injured face and bubbling in the veins all over my body.Having lost my pursuers, I felt a little ecstatic again.I hadn't come out of the canyon to drown my own guts then. I stared back at the road I had come.I listen.Except for the buzzing of mosquitoes flying around in the bushes and the chirping of some small insects, there is no sound.Then came the faint barking of a dog, chattering and babbling, the snapping of a whip, and a confusion of sounds.These voices became louder and louder for a while, and gradually faded away for a while.The jumble of voices went up the stream and disappeared.After a while, I thought, The chase is over, but now it's clear to me how much hope I have of being rescued among these orcs!