Зов Ктулху / The Call of Cthulhu. Уровень 2

In the morning we came to an agreement. One of Lake’s planes will come to my base for Pabodie, the five men, and myself, as well as for all the fuel it could carry. Pabodie and I were preparing to close our base for a short or long period. Some of our conical tents were already reinforced by blocks of hard snow. Now we decided to complete the job and to make a permanent base. I sent a message that Pabodie and I will be ready for the northwestward journey after one day’s work and one night’s rest.

But we stopped after 4 P.M. because Lake began to send the most extraordinary and excited messages. He resolved to do some local boring as part of the expedition’s general program. In three hours young Gedney – the acting foreman[115 - young Gedney – the acting foreman – юный Гедни, руководивший работами] – rushed into the camp with the shocking news.

They struck a cave. The layer was not more than seven or eight feet deep. But it extended off in all directions. Its roof and floor were equipped with large stalactites and stalagmites. The most important things were shells and bones. This mix contained representatives of many Cretaceous[116 - Cretaceous – меловой период, последний период мезозойской эры; начался около 145 млн. лет назад, закончился 66 млн. лет назад.], Eocene[117 - Eocene – эоцен, вторая геологическая эпоха палеогенового периода; начался около 56 млн. лет назад и закончился 33,9 млн. лет назад.], and other animal species. It would take a year[118 - It would take a year – Понадобился бы целый год] for the greatest paleontologist to count or classify them. Mollusks, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and early mammals – great and small, known and unknown. No wonder Gedney ran back to the camp. No wonder everyone else dropped work and ran headlong to a new-found gateway to secrets of inner earth and vanished ages.