"Hop-Frog..." - читать интересную книгу автора (Poe Edgar Allan)

"It must be," said the king: and the council arose hurriedly (as
it was growing late), to put in execution the scheme of Hop-Frog.
His mode of equipping the party as ourang-outangs was very simple,
but effective enough for his purposes. The animals in question had, at
the epoch of my story, very rarely been seen in any part of the
civilized world; and as the imitations made by the dwarf were
sufficiently beast-like and more than sufficiently hideous, their
truthfulness to nature was thus thought to be secured.
The king and his ministers were first encased in tight-fitting
stockinet shirts and drawers. They were then saturated with tar. At
this stage of the process, some one of the party suggested feathers;
but the suggestion was at once overruled by the dwarf, who soon
convinced the eight, by ocular demonstration, that the hair of such
a brute as the ourang-outang was much more efficiently represented
by flu. A thick coating of the latter was accordingly plastered upon
the coating of tar. A long chain was now procured. First, it was
passed about the waist of the king, and tied, then about another of
the party, and also tied; then about all successively, in the same
manner. When this chaining arrangement was complete, and the party
stood as far apart from each other as possible, they formed a
circle; and to make all things appear natural, Hop-Frog passed the
residue of the chain in two diameters, at right angles, across the
circle, after the fashion adopted, at the present day, by those who
capture Chimpanzees, or other large apes, in Borneo.
The grand saloon in which the masquerade was to take place, was a
circular room, very lofty, and receiving the light of the sun only
through a single window at top. At night (the season for which the
apartment was especially designed) it was illuminated principally by a
large chandelier, depending by a chain from the centre of the
sky-light, and lowered, or elevated, by means of a counter-balance
as usual; but (in order not to look unsightly) this latter passed
outside the cupola and over the roof.
The arrangements of the room had been left to Trippetta's
superintendence; but, in some particulars, it seems, she had been
guided by the calmer judgment of her friend the dwarf. At his
suggestion it was that, on this occasion, the chandelier was
removed. Its waxen drippings (which, in weather so warm, it was
quite impossible to prevent) would have been seriously detrimental
to the rich dresses of the guests, who, on account of the crowded
state of the saloon, could not all be expected to keep from out its
centre; that is to say, from under the chandelier. Additional
sconces were set in various parts of the hall, out of the war, and a
flambeau, emitting sweet odor, was placed in the right hand of each of
the Caryatides that stood against the wall- some fifty or sixty
altogether.
The eight ourang-outangs, taking Hop-Frog's advice, waited patiently
until midnight (when the room was thoroughly filled with masqueraders)
before making their appearance. No sooner had the clock ceased
striking, however, than they rushed, or rather rolled in, all
together- for the impediments of their chains caused most of the party