（外文电子版资料）Fritz Leiber - The Hound.pdfVIP

The Hound The Hound Fritz Leiber David Lashley huddled the skimpy blankets around him and dully watched the cold light of an early spring morning seep through the window and stiffen in his room. He could not recall the exact nature of the terror against which he had fought his way into wakefulness, except that it had been in some way gigantic and had brought back to him the fear-ridden helplessness of childhood. It had lurked near him all night, and finally it had crouched over him and thrust down toward his face. The radiator whined dismally with the first push of steam from the basement, and he shivered in response. He thought that his shivering was an ironically humorous recognition of the fact that his room was never warm except when he was out of it. But there was more to it than that. The penetrating whine had touched something in his mind without being quite able to dislodge it and bring it into consciousness. The mounting rumble of city traffic, together with the hoarse panting of a locomotive in the railroad yards, mingled themselves with the nearer sound, intensifying its disturbing tug at hidden fears. For a few moments he lay inert, listening. There was an unpleasant stench, too, in the room, he noticed, but that was nothing to be surprised at. He had experienced before the strange olfactory illusions that are part of the aftermath of sinus trouble and flu. Then he heard his mother moving around laboriously in the kitchen, and that stung him into action. file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruiswi...ocumenten/spaar/Fritz%20Leiber%20-%20The%20Hound.html (1 of 22)23-2-2006 17:18:51 The Hound Have you caught another cold? she a