The Moon Pool | Page 8

fifteen feet across the top and its
height varies from twenty to fifty feet--here, too, the gradual sinking of
the land has caused portions of it to fall.
"Within this courtyard is the second enclosure. Its terrace, of the same
basalt as the outer walls, is about twenty feet high. Entrance is gained
to it by many breaches which time has made in its stonework. This is
the inner court, the heart of Nan-Tauach! There lies the great central
vault with which is associated the one name of living being that has
come to us out of the mists of the past. The natives say it was the
treasure-house of Chau-te-leur, a mighty king who reigned long 'before
their fathers.' As Chan is the ancient Ponapean word both for sun and
king, the name means, without doubt, 'place of the sun king.' It is a
memory of a dynastic name of the race that ruled the Pacific continent,
now vanished--just as the rulers of ancient Crete took the name of
Minos and the rulers of Egypt the name of Pharaoh.
"And opposite this place of the sun king is the moon rock that hides the
Moon Pool.
"It was Stanton who discovered the moon rock. We had been inspecting
the inner courtyard; Edith and Thora were getting together our lunch. I
came out of the vault of Chau-te-leur to find Stanton before a part of
the terrace studying it wonderingly.
"'What do you make of this?' he asked me as I came up. He pointed to
the wall. I followed his finger and saw a slab of stone about fifteen feet
high and ten wide. At first all I noticed was the exquisite nicety with
which its edges joined the blocks about it. Then I realized that its
colour was subtly different--tinged with grey and of a smooth,
peculiar--deadness.
"'Looks more like calcite than basalt,' I said. I touched it and withdrew
my hand quickly for at the contact every nerve in my arm tingled as

though a shock of frozen electricity had passed through it. It was not
cold as we know cold. It was a chill force--the phrase I have
used--frozen electricity--describes it better than anything else. Stanton
looked at me oddly.
"'So you felt it too,' he said. 'I was wondering whether I was developing
hallucinations like Thora. Notice, by the way, that the blocks beside it
are quite warm beneath the sun.'
"We examined the slab eagerly. Its edges were cut as though by an
engraver of jewels. They fitted against the neighbouring blocks in
almost a hair-line. Its base was slightly curved, and fitted as closely as
top and sides upon the huge stones on which it rested. And then we
noted that these stones had been hollowed to follow the line of the grey
stone's foot. There was a semicircular depression running from one side
of the slab to the other. It was as though the grey rock stood in the
centre of a shallow cup--revealing half, covering half. Something about
this hollow attracted me. I reached down and felt it. Goodwin, although
the balance of the stones that formed it, like all the stones of the
courtyard, were rough and age-worn--this was as smooth, as even
surfaced as though it had just left the hands of the polisher.
"'It's a door!' exclaimed Stanton. 'It swings around in that little cup.
That's what makes the hollow so smooth.'
"'Maybe you're right,' I replied. 'But how the devil can we open it?'
"We went over the slab again--pressing upon its edges, thrusting
against its sides. During one of those efforts I happened to look up--and
cried out. A foot above and on each side of the corner of the grey rock's
lintel was a slight convexity, visible only from the angle at which my
gaze struck it.
"We carried with us a small scaling-ladder and up this I went. The
bosses were apparently nothing more than chiseled curvatures in the
stone. I laid my hand on the one I was examining, and drew it back
sharply. In my palm, at the base of my thumb, I had felt the same shock
that I had in touching the slab below. I put my hand back. The

impression came from a spot not more than an inch wide. I went
carefully over the entire convexity, and six times more the chill ran
through my arm. There were seven circles an inch wide in the curved
place, each of which communicated the precise sensation I have
described. The convexity on the opposite side of the slab gave exactly
the same results. But no amount of touching or of pressing these spots
singly or in any combination gave the slightest promise of motion to
the slab itself.
"'And yet--they're what open