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Speaker 1: The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allanpoe. I was sick,

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sick unto death with that long agony. And when they

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at length unbound me and I was permitted to sit,

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I felt that my senses were leaving me. The sentence,

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the dread sentence of death, was the last of distinct

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axcenuation which reached my ears. After that, the sound of

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the inquisitorial voices seemed merge in one dreamy, indeterminate hum.

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It conveyed to my soul the idea of revolution, perhaps

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from its association and fancy with the burr of a

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mill wheel. This only for a brief period, For presently

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I heard no more. Yet for a while I saw,

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but with how terrible an exaggeration, I saw the lips

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of the black robe judges. They appeared to me white,

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whiter than the sheet upon which I traced these words,

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and thin even to grotesqueness. Thin with the intensity of

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their expression of firmness, of immovable resolution, of stern contempt

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of human torture. I saw that the decrees of what

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to me was fate were still issuing from those lips.

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I saw them, writhe with a deadly locution, I saw

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them fashion the syllables of my name, and I shuddered,

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because no sound succeeded. I saw, too, for a few

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moments of delirious horror, the soft and nearly imperceptible waving

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of the sable draperies which enwrapped the walls of the apartment.

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And then my vision fell upon the seven tall candles

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upon the table. At first they wore the aspect of charity,

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and seemed white and slender angels who would save me.

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But then all at once there came a most deadly

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nausea over my spirit, and I felt every fiber in

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my frame thrill, as if I had touched the wire

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of a galvanic battery. While the angel forms became meaningless

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specters with heads of flame, and I saw that from

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them there would be no help. And then there stole

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into my fancy, like a rich musical note, the thought

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of what sweet rest there must be in the grave.

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The thought came gently and stealthily, and it seemed long

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before it attained full appreciation. But just as my spirit

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came at length properly to feel and entertain it, the

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figures of the judges vanished, as if magically from before me.

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The tall candles sank into nothingness. Their flames went out utterly.

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The blackness of darkness supervened. All sensations appeared, swallowed up

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in a mad, rushing descent, as of the soul into hades.

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Then silence and stillness night were the universe. I had swooned,

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But still will not say that all of consciousness was lost.

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Who if there remained, I will not attempt to define

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or even to describe. Yet all was not lost in

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the deepest slumber, No in delirium, no in a swoon,

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No in death, no even in the grave. All is

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not lost. Else there is no immortality for man. Arousing

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from the most profound of slumbers, we break the gossamer

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web of some dream. Yet in a second afterward, so

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frail may that web have been, we remember not that

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we have dreamed. In the return to life from the swoon,

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there are two stages, first that of the sense of

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mental or spiritual, secondly, that of the sense of physical existence.

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It seems probable that, if upon reaching the second stage,

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we could recall the impressions of the first, we should

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find these impressions eloquent in memories of the gulf beyond,

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And that gulf is what how at least shall we

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distinguish its shadows from those of the tomb. But if

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the impressions of what I have termed the first stage

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are not at will recalled, yet after long interval, do

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they not come unbidden while we marvel? Whence they come?

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He who has never swooned? Is not he who finds

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strange palaces and wildly familiar faces in coals that glow.

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Is not he who beholds, floating in mid air the

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sad visions that the many may not view. Is not

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he who ponders over the perfume of some novel flower.

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Is not he whose brain grows bewildered with the meaning

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of some musical cadence which has never before arrested his attention.

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Amid frequent and thoughtful endeavors to remember, amid earnest struggles

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to regather some token of the state of seeming nothingness

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into which my soul had lapsed, there have been moments

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when I have dreamed of success. There have been brief,

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very brief periods when I have conjured up remembrances which

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the lucid reason of a later epochsures me could have

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had reference only to that condition of seeming unconsciousness. These

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shadows of memory tell indistinctly of tall figures that lifted

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and bore me in silence, down, down, still down, till

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a hideous dizziness oppressed me at the mere idea of

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the interminableness of the descent. They tell also of a

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vague horror at my heart on account of that heart's

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unnatural stillness. Then comes a sense of sudden motionlessness throughout

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all things, as if those who bore me a ghastly

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train had outrun in their descent the limits of the limitless,

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and paused from the wearisomeness of their toil. After this

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I call to mind flatness and dampness, And then all

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is madness, the madness of a memory which busies itself

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among forbidden things. Very suddenly there came back to my

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soul motion and sound, the tumultuous motion of my heart,

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and in my ears the sound of its beating. Then

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a pause in which all is blank. Then again sound

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and motion, and touch, a tingling sensation pervading my frame.

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Then the mere consciousness of existence without thought, a condition

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which lasted long. Then very suddenly thought and shuddering terror,

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an earnest endeavor to comprehend my true state. Then a

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strong desire to lapse into insensibility, then a rushing reverval

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of soul and a successful effort to move, And now

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a full memory of the trial of the judges, of

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the sable draperies, of the sentence, of the sickness of

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the swoon, then entire forgetfulness of all that followed, of

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all that a later day and much earnestness of endeavor

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have enabled me vaguely to recall. So far I had

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not opened my eyes. I felt that I lay upon

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my back unbound. I reached out my hand and it

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fell heavily upon something damp and hard. There I suffered

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it to remain for many minutes, while I strove to

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imagine where and what I could be. I longed, yet

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dared not employ my vision. I dreaded the first glance

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at objects around me. It was not that I feared

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to look upon things horrible, but that I grew aghast

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lest there should be nothing to see at length. With

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the wild desperation at heart, I quickly unclosed my eyes.

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My worst thoughts than were confirmed. The blackness of eternal

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night encompassed me. I struggled for breath. The intensity of

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the darkness seemed to oppress and stifle me. The atmosphere

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was intolerably close. I still lay quietly and made effort

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to exercise my reason. I brought to mind the inquisitorial proceedings,

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and attempted from that point to deduce my real condition.

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The sentence had passed, and it appeared to me that

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a very long interval of time had since elapsed. Yet

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not for a moment did I suppose myself actually dead.

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Such a supposition, notwithstanding what we read in fiction, is

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altogether inconsistent with real existence. But where and in what

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state was I? The condemned to death I knew perished

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usually at the auto's de fay, and one of these

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had been held on the very night of the day

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of my trial. Had I been remanded to my dungeon

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to await the next sacrifice, which would not take place

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for many months, This I at once saw could not be.

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Victims had been in immediate demand. Moreover, my dungeon, as

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well as all the condemned cells at Toledo, had stone floors,

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and the light was not altogether excluded. A fearful idea

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now suddenly drove the blood in torrents upon my heart,

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and for a brief period I once more relapsed into insensibility.

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Upon recovering, I at once started to my feet, trembling

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convulsively in every fiber. I thrust my arms wildly above

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and around me in all directions. I felt nothing, yet

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dreaded to move a step lest I should be impeded

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by the walls of a tomb. Perspiration burst from every

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pore and stood in cold, big beads upon my forehead.

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The agony of suspense grew at length intolerable, and I

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cautiously moved forward, with my arms extended and my eyes

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straining from their sockets, in the hope of catching some

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faint ray of light. I proceeded for many paces, but

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still all was blackness and vacancy. I breathed more freely.

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It seemed evident that mine was not at least the

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most hideous of fates. And now, as I still continued

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to step cautiously onward, there came thronging upon my recollection

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a thousand vague rumors of the horrors of Toledo, of

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the dungeons. There had been strange things, narrated fables. I

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had always deemed them, But yet strange and too ghastly

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to repeat save in a whisper. Was I left to

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perish of starvation in this subterranean world of darkness? Or

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what fate, perhaps even more fearful, awaited me? That the

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result would be death, and a death of more than

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customary bitterness. I knew too well the character of my

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judges to doubt the mode in the hour were all

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that occupied or distracted me? My outstretched hands at length

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encountered some solid obstruction. It was a wall, seemingly of

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stone masonry, very smooth, slimy, and cold. I followed it up,

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stepping with all the careful distrust with which certain antique

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narratives had inspired me. This process, however, afforded me no

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means of ascertaining the dimensions of my dungeon, as I

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might make its circuit, and returned to the point whence

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I set out, without being aware of the fact, so

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perfectly uniform seemed the wall. I therefore sought the knife

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which had been in my pocket, which led into the

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inquisitorial chamber, but it was gone. My clothes had been

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exchanged for a wrapper of coarse surge. I had thought

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of forcing the blade in some minute crevice of the masonry,

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so as to identify my point of departure. The difficulty, nevertheless,

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was but trivial, although in the disorder of my fancy

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it seemed at first insuperable. I tore apart of the

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hem from the robe and placed the fragmented full length

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and at right angles to the wall. In groping my

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way around the prison. I could not fail to encounter

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this rag upon completing the circuit, so at least, I thought.

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But I had not counted upon the extent of the dungeon,

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or upon my own weakness. The ground was moist and slippery.

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I staggered onward for some time. When I stumbled and fell.

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My excessive fatigue induced me to remain prostrate, and sleep

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soon overtook me. As I lay, Upon awaking and stretching

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forth an arm I found beside me a loaf and

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a pitcher with water. I was too much exhausted to

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reflect upon this circumstance, but ate and drank with avidity.

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Shortly afterwards I resumed my tour round the prison, and

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with much toil, came at last upon the fragment of

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the search up to the period when I had fell,

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I had counted fifty two paces, and upon resuming my walk,

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I had counted forty eight more. When I arrived at

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the rag there were and all then a hundred paces,

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and admitting two paces to the yard, I presumed the

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dungeon to be fifty yards in circuit. I had met, however,

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with many angles in the wall, and thus I could

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form no guess at the shape of the vault. For vaults,

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I could not help supposing it to be. I had

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little object, certainly no hope in these researches, but a

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vague curiosity prompted me to continue them. Quitting the wall,

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I resolved to cross the area of the enclosure. At first,

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I proceeded with extreme caution, for the floor, although seemingly

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of solid material, was treacherous with slime. At length, however,

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I took courage and did not hesitate to step firmly,

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endeavoring to cross in as direct a line as possible.

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I had advanced some ten or twelve paces in this

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manner when the remnant of the torn hem of my

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robe became entangled between my legs. I stepped on it

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and fell violently on my face. In the confusion, attending

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my fall, I did not immediately apprehend a somewhat startling circumstance, which, yet,

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in a few seconds afterward, and while I lay prostrate,

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arrested my attention. It was this My chin rested upon

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the floor of the prison, but my lips and the

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upper portion of my head, although seemingly at a less

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elevation than my chin, touched nothing. At the same time,

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my fore had seen bathed in a clammy vapor, and

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the peculiar smell of the cayed fungus arose to my nostrils.

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I put forward my arm and shuddered to find that

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I had fallen at the very brink of a circular pit,

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whose extent, of course, I had no means of ascertaining

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at the moment. Groping about the masonry just below the margin,

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I succeeded in dislodging a small fragment and let it

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fall into the abyss. For many seconds, I hearkened to

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its reverberations as it dashed against the side of the

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chasm in its descent. At length there was a sullen

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plunge into water, succeeded by loud echoes. At the same

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moment there came a sound resembling the quick opening and

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as rapid closing of a door overhead, while a faint

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gleam of light flashed suddenly through the gloom, and as

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suddenly faded away. I saw clearly the doom which had

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been prepared for me, and congratulated myself upon the timely

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accident by which I had escaped another step before my fall,

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and the world had seen me no more, And the

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death just avoided was of that very character which I

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had regarded as fabulous and frivolous in the tales respecting

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the Inquisition. To the victims of its tyranny. There was

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the choice of death with its direst physical agonies, or

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00:18:30,279 --> 00:18:34,200
death with its most hideous to moral horrors. I had

237
00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:40,039
been reserved for the latter By long suffering. My nerves

238
00:18:40,039 --> 00:18:43,240
had been unstrung until I trembled at the sound of

239
00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:47,960
my own voice, and had become in every respect a

240
00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:51,640
fitting subject for the species of torture which awaited me.

241
00:18:52,880 --> 00:18:56,240
Shaking in every limb, I groped my way back to

242
00:18:56,319 --> 00:19:00,839
the wall, resolving there to perish rather than risk the

243
00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:05,359
terrors of the wells of which my imagination now pictured

244
00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:11,039
many in various positions about the dungeon. In other conditions

245
00:19:11,039 --> 00:19:14,240
of mind, I might have had courage to end my

246
00:19:14,319 --> 00:19:17,839
misery at once by a plunge into one of these abysses.

247
00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:23,359
But now I was the veriest of cowards. Neither could

248
00:19:23,359 --> 00:19:25,880
I forget what I have read of these pits, that

249
00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:29,960
the sudden extinction of life formed no part of their

250
00:19:30,039 --> 00:19:34,960
most horrible plan. Agitation of spirit kept me awake for

251
00:19:35,079 --> 00:19:41,279
many long hours, but at length I again slumbered. Upon arousing,

252
00:19:41,839 --> 00:19:45,519
I found by my side, as before, a loaf and

253
00:19:45,559 --> 00:19:49,960
a pitcher of water. A burning thirst consumed me, and

254
00:19:50,039 --> 00:19:53,160
I emptied the vessel at a drought. It must have

255
00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:57,039
been drugged, for scarcely had I drunk. Before it became

256
00:19:57,160 --> 00:20:03,279
irresistibly drowsy. A deep sleep fell upon me, a sleep

257
00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:08,160
like that of death. How long it lasted, of course,

258
00:20:08,799 --> 00:20:14,519
I know not. But when once again I unclosed my eyes,

259
00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:20,160
the objects around me were visible by a wild, sulfurous luster,

260
00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:24,200
the origin of which I could not at first determine.

261
00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:28,200
I was enabled to see the extent and aspect of

262
00:20:28,279 --> 00:20:32,480
the prison. In its size, I have been greatly mistaken.

263
00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:36,839
The whole circuit of its walls did not exceed twenty

264
00:20:36,839 --> 00:20:42,119
five yards. For some minutes. This fact occasioned me a

265
00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:46,160
world of vain trouble. Vain indeed, for what could be

266
00:20:46,240 --> 00:20:51,039
of less importance under the terrible circumstances which environed me

267
00:20:51,759 --> 00:20:55,200
than the mere dimensions of my dungeon. But my soul

268
00:20:55,559 --> 00:20:59,200
took a wild interest in trifles, and I busied myself

269
00:20:59,440 --> 00:21:02,640
in endeavored to account for the error I had committed

270
00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:06,599
in my measurement. The truth at length flashed upon me.

271
00:21:07,599 --> 00:21:11,400
In my first attempt at exploration, I had counted fifty

272
00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:15,440
two paces up to the period when I fell. I

273
00:21:15,559 --> 00:21:18,799
must then have been within a pace or two of

274
00:21:18,839 --> 00:21:23,599
the fragment of search. In fact, I had nearly performed

275
00:21:23,599 --> 00:21:28,000
the circuit of the vault. I then slept, and upon

276
00:21:28,079 --> 00:21:33,759
awaking I must have returned upon my steps, thus supposing

277
00:21:33,799 --> 00:21:38,720
the circuit nearly double what it actually was. My confusion

278
00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:42,680
of mind prevented me from observing that I began my

279
00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:45,920
tour with the wall to the left and ended it

280
00:21:46,359 --> 00:21:50,319
with the wall to the right. I had been deceived too,

281
00:21:51,039 --> 00:21:54,839
in respect to the shape of the enclosure. In feeling

282
00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:58,839
my way, I had found many angles, and thus deduced

283
00:21:58,839 --> 00:22:03,519
an idea of great irregularity. So potent is the effect

284
00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:07,759
of total darkness upon one arousing from a fardier sleep.

285
00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:13,359
The angles were simply those of a few slight depressions

286
00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:18,640
or niches at odd intervals. The general shape of the

287
00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:23,640
prison was square. What I had taken for masonry seemed

288
00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:27,720
now to be iron or some other metal, in huge

289
00:22:27,799 --> 00:22:34,759
plates whose sutures or joints occasioned the depression. The entire

290
00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:39,960
surface of this metallic enclosure was rudely daubed in all

291
00:22:40,039 --> 00:22:45,200
the hideous and repulsive devices to which the Charnel superstition

292
00:22:45,319 --> 00:22:50,319
of the monks has given rise. The figures of fiends

293
00:22:50,359 --> 00:22:55,480
and aspects of menace, with skeleton forms and other more

294
00:22:55,559 --> 00:23:03,200
really fearful images overspread and disfigure the walls. I observed

295
00:23:03,359 --> 00:23:08,799
that the outlines of these monstrosities were sufficiently distinct, but

296
00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:13,079
that the colors seemed faded and blurred, as if from

297
00:23:13,119 --> 00:23:19,160
the effects of a damp atmosphere. I now noticed the floor, too,

298
00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:23,839
which was of stone. In the center yawned the circular

299
00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:27,519
pit from whose jaws I had escaped, but it was

300
00:23:27,559 --> 00:23:32,319
the only one in the dungeon. All this I saw indistinctly,

301
00:23:32,799 --> 00:23:36,960
and by much effort, for my personal condition had been

302
00:23:37,039 --> 00:23:42,279
greatly changed during slumber. I now lay upon my back

303
00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:46,519
and at full length on a species of low framework

304
00:23:46,599 --> 00:23:51,000
of wood. To this I was securely bound by a

305
00:23:51,039 --> 00:23:57,720
long strap resembling a surcingle. It passed in many convolutions

306
00:23:57,759 --> 00:24:01,759
about my limbs and body, leaving at liberty only my

307
00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:05,880
head and my left arm, to such extent that I could,

308
00:24:06,519 --> 00:24:11,000
by dint of much exertion, supply myself with food from

309
00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:14,279
an earthen dish, which lay by my side on the floor.

310
00:24:15,599 --> 00:24:20,400
I saw to my horror that the picture had been removed,

311
00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:24,200
I say to my horror, for I was consumed with

312
00:24:24,319 --> 00:24:29,400
intolerable thirst. This thirst, it appeared to be the design

313
00:24:29,799 --> 00:24:33,519
of my persecutors to stimulate, for the food in the

314
00:24:33,599 --> 00:24:40,319
dish was meat pungently seasoned. Looking upward, I surveyed the

315
00:24:40,359 --> 00:24:44,599
ceiling of my prison. It was some thirty or forty

316
00:24:44,599 --> 00:24:50,400
feet overhead, and constructed much as the side walls. In

317
00:24:50,440 --> 00:24:54,519
one of its panels, a very singular figure riveted my

318
00:24:54,599 --> 00:24:59,400
whole attention. It was the painted figure of Time, as

319
00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:03,279
he is common represented, save that in lieu of a

320
00:25:03,359 --> 00:25:08,599
scythe He held what, at a casual glance I supposed

321
00:25:08,799 --> 00:25:12,359
to be the pictured image of a huge pendulum, such

322
00:25:12,359 --> 00:25:17,000
as we see on antique clocks. There was something, however,

323
00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:20,559
in the appearance of this machine, which caused me to

324
00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:25,039
regard it more attentively. While I gazed directly upward at it,

325
00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:29,799
for its position was immediately over my own, I fancied

326
00:25:30,119 --> 00:25:34,519
that I saw it in motion. In an instant afterward,

327
00:25:34,799 --> 00:25:39,480
the fancy was confirmed. Its sweep was brief and of

328
00:25:39,559 --> 00:25:45,240
course slow. I watched it for some minutes, somewhat in fear,

329
00:25:46,079 --> 00:25:51,039
but more in wonder. Wearied at length with observing its

330
00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:54,559
dull movement, I turned my eyes upon the other objects

331
00:25:54,599 --> 00:25:59,319
in the cell. A slight noise attracted my notice, and

332
00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:03,880
looking to the floor, I saw several enormous rats traversing it.

333
00:26:04,839 --> 00:26:08,160
They had issued from the well, which lay chest within

334
00:26:08,319 --> 00:26:13,759
view to my right. Even then, while I gazed, they

335
00:26:13,759 --> 00:26:19,000
came up in troops, hurriedly, with ravenous eyes, allured by

336
00:26:19,039 --> 00:26:23,319
the scent of the meet. From this it required much

337
00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:27,599
effort and attention to scare them away. It might have

338
00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:31,799
been half an hour, perhaps even an hour, for I

339
00:26:31,839 --> 00:26:36,079
could take but imperfect note of time. Before I again

340
00:26:36,559 --> 00:26:41,920
cast my eyes upward. What I then saw confounded and

341
00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:46,559
amazed me. The sweep of the pendulum had increased in

342
00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:51,799
extent by nearly a yard. As a natural consequence, its

343
00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:56,599
velocity was also much greater. But what mainly this served

344
00:26:56,640 --> 00:27:02,559
me was the idea that had been perceptibly descended. I

345
00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:06,839
now observed with what horror. It is needless to say

346
00:27:07,880 --> 00:27:11,960
that its nether extremity was formed of a crescent of

347
00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:16,680
glittering steel, about a foot in length from horn to horn,

348
00:27:17,519 --> 00:27:22,400
the horns upward, and the under edge evidently as keen

349
00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:26,839
as that of a razor. Like a razor, also, it

350
00:27:26,920 --> 00:27:30,720
seemed massy and heavy, tapering from the edge into a

351
00:27:30,839 --> 00:27:35,759
solid and broad structure. Above it was appended to a

352
00:27:35,799 --> 00:27:39,960
weighty rod of brass, and the hole hissed as it

353
00:27:40,079 --> 00:27:43,839
swung through the air. I could no longer doubt the

354
00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:49,240
doom prepared for me by Monkish ingenuity in torture. My

355
00:27:49,400 --> 00:27:54,519
cognizance of the pit had become known to the inquisitorial agents,

356
00:27:55,039 --> 00:27:58,519
the pits whose horrors had been destined for so bold

357
00:27:58,599 --> 00:28:03,559
a recuissant as myself, the pit typical of hell, and

358
00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:07,960
regarded by rumor as the ultimate fuel of all their punishments.

359
00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:11,680
The plunge into this pit, I had avoided by the

360
00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:16,119
merest of accidents. I knew that surprise or entrapment into

361
00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:21,119
torment formed an important portion of all the grotesquery of

362
00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:25,720
these dungeon deaths. Having failed to fall, it was no

363
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:29,279
part of the demon plan to hurrow me into the abyss,

364
00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:35,519
and thus there being no alternative, a different and a

365
00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:41,519
milder destruction awaited me. Milder. I half smiled in my

366
00:28:41,599 --> 00:28:45,559
agony as I thought of such application of such a term.

367
00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:50,359
What boots it to tell of the long, long hours

368
00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:54,359
of horror more than mortal, during which I counted the

369
00:28:54,440 --> 00:29:01,720
rushing vibrations of the steel inch by inch, line by line,

370
00:29:02,519 --> 00:29:07,119
with the descent only appreciable at intervals that seemed ages

371
00:29:08,119 --> 00:29:13,680
down and still down. It came days passed. It might

372
00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:17,799
have been that many days past. Ere it sweat so

373
00:29:18,079 --> 00:29:22,319
closely over me as to fan me with its acrid breath.

374
00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:27,759
The odor of the sharp steel forced itself into my nostrils.

375
00:29:28,599 --> 00:29:32,680
I prayed, I wearied Heaven with my prayer for its

376
00:29:32,759 --> 00:29:37,599
more speedy descent. I grew frantically mad, and struggled to

377
00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:41,799
force myself upward against the sweep of the fearful scimitar.

378
00:29:43,119 --> 00:29:47,519
And then I fell suddenly calm, and lay smiling at

379
00:29:47,559 --> 00:29:51,559
the glittering death as a child at some rare bauble.

380
00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:57,240
There was another interval of utter insensibility. It was brief,

381
00:29:58,079 --> 00:30:02,240
for upon against lap sing into life, there had been

382
00:30:02,279 --> 00:30:06,720
no perceptible descent in the pendulum. But it might have

383
00:30:06,759 --> 00:30:10,200
been long, for I knew there were demons who took

384
00:30:10,359 --> 00:30:13,960
note of my swoon, and who could have arrested the

385
00:30:14,079 --> 00:30:19,559
vibration at pleasure. Upon my recovery, too, I felt very,

386
00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:25,960
oh inexpressibly sick and weak, as if through long inanition.

387
00:30:27,279 --> 00:30:31,359
Even amid the agonies of that period, the human nature

388
00:30:31,920 --> 00:30:37,680
craved food with painful effort. I outstretched my left arm

389
00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:42,599
as far as my bonds permitted, and took possession of

390
00:30:42,640 --> 00:30:46,880
the small remnant which had been spared me by the rats.

391
00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:50,319
As I put a portion of it within my lips,

392
00:30:50,759 --> 00:30:54,200
there rushed to my mind a half formed thought of joy,

393
00:30:55,359 --> 00:30:59,880
of hope. Yet what business had I with hope? It was,

394
00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:05,359
as I say, a half formed thought. Man has many

395
00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:09,319
such which are never completed. I felt that it was

396
00:31:09,359 --> 00:31:13,839
of joy of hope, but felt also that it had

397
00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:18,759
perished in its formation. In vain. I struggled to perfect

398
00:31:18,799 --> 00:31:25,440
it to regain it. Long suffering had nearly annihilated all

399
00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:30,640
my ordinary powers of mine. I was an imbecile, an idiot.

400
00:31:31,519 --> 00:31:34,519
The vibration of the pendulum was at right angles to

401
00:31:34,599 --> 00:31:38,440
my length. I saw that the crescent was designed to

402
00:31:38,519 --> 00:31:41,799
cross the region of the heart. It would fray the

403
00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:45,240
serg of my robe. It would return and repeat its

404
00:31:45,279 --> 00:31:54,039
operations again and again. Notwithstanding terrifically wide sweep some thirty

405
00:31:54,079 --> 00:31:57,640
feet or more, and the hissing vigor of its descent

406
00:31:58,440 --> 00:32:02,839
sufficient to sunder them these very walls of iron. Still,

407
00:32:03,119 --> 00:32:06,039
the fraying of my robe would be all that, for

408
00:32:06,160 --> 00:32:11,440
several minutes it would accomplish. And at this thought I paused.

409
00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:15,720
I dared not go farther than this reflection. I dwelt

410
00:32:15,799 --> 00:32:21,440
upon it with a pertinacity of attention, as if in

411
00:32:21,519 --> 00:32:25,839
so dwelling I could rest here the descent of the steel.

412
00:32:27,279 --> 00:32:30,319
I forced myself to ponder upon the sound of the

413
00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:35,160
crescent as it should pass across the garment, Upon the

414
00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:39,799
peculiar thrilling sensation which the friction of cloth produces on

415
00:32:39,839 --> 00:32:45,519
the nerves. I pondered upon all this frivolity until my

416
00:32:45,720 --> 00:32:51,279
teeth were on edge down steadily down it crept. I

417
00:32:51,319 --> 00:32:55,119
took a frenzied pleasure in contrasting its downward with its

418
00:32:55,240 --> 00:33:00,920
lateral velocity to the right, to the left, far and wide,

419
00:33:01,599 --> 00:33:04,839
with the shriek of a damned spirit to my heart,

420
00:33:05,119 --> 00:33:09,240
with the stealthy pace of the tiger. I alternately laughed

421
00:33:09,279 --> 00:33:15,559
and howled as the one or the other idea grew predominant, down, certainly,

422
00:33:15,960 --> 00:33:21,279
relentlessly down, it vibrated within three inches of my bosom.

423
00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:27,559
I struggled violently, furiously to free my left arm. This

424
00:33:27,759 --> 00:33:31,400
was free only from the elbow to the hand. I

425
00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:34,799
could reach the ladder from the platter beside me to

426
00:33:34,920 --> 00:33:39,400
my mouth with great effort. But no farther could I

427
00:33:39,440 --> 00:33:42,799
have broken the fastenings above the elbow. I would have

428
00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:46,880
seized and attempted to arrest the pendulum. I might as

429
00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:53,440
well have attempted to arrest an avalanche. Down still, unceasingly, still,

430
00:33:53,559 --> 00:33:59,240
inevitably down, I gasped and struggled at each vibration. I

431
00:33:59,319 --> 00:34:04,039
shrunk con vulsively at its every sweep. My eyes followed

432
00:34:04,039 --> 00:34:07,839
its outward or upward whirls with the eagerness of the

433
00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:13,400
most unmeaning despair. They closed themselves spasmodically at the descent.

434
00:34:14,079 --> 00:34:18,320
Although death would have been a relief, oh how unspeakable.

435
00:34:19,360 --> 00:34:23,039
Still I quivered in every nerve to think how slight

436
00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:27,480
a sinking of the machinery would precipate that keen glistening

437
00:34:27,519 --> 00:34:31,840
axe upon my bosom. It was hope that prompted the

438
00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:37,000
nerve to quiver, the frame to shrink. It was hope,

439
00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:41,440
the hope that triumphs on the rack that whispers to

440
00:34:41,559 --> 00:34:45,360
the death condemned. Even in the dungeons of the inquisition,

441
00:34:47,159 --> 00:34:50,320
I saw that some ten or twelve vibrations would bring

442
00:34:50,400 --> 00:34:53,920
the steel in actual contact with my robe. And with

443
00:34:54,039 --> 00:34:57,880
this observation, there suddenly came over my spirit all the

444
00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:04,119
keen collected calmess of despair. For the first time during

445
00:35:04,159 --> 00:35:08,800
many hours or perhaps days, I thought it now occurred

446
00:35:08,840 --> 00:35:13,000
to me that the bandage or surcingle which enveloped me

447
00:35:13,719 --> 00:35:19,320
was unique. I was tied by no separate cord. The

448
00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:23,519
first stroke of the razorlike crescent athwart any position of

449
00:35:23,599 --> 00:35:27,519
the band would so detach it that it might be

450
00:35:27,679 --> 00:35:30,840
unwound from my person by means of my left hand.

451
00:35:31,760 --> 00:35:35,039
But how fearful in that case, the proximity of the

452
00:35:35,079 --> 00:35:40,920
steel the result of the slightest struggle, how deadly was

453
00:35:40,920 --> 00:35:45,639
it likely? Moreover, that the minions of the torturer had

454
00:35:45,679 --> 00:35:50,719
not foreseen and provided for this possibility? Was it probable

455
00:35:50,960 --> 00:35:53,800
that the bandage crossed my bosom in the track of

456
00:35:53,840 --> 00:35:58,280
the pendulum, dreading to find my feint, and, as it

457
00:35:58,360 --> 00:36:02,960
seemed my last hope. Frustrated, I so far elevated my

458
00:36:03,119 --> 00:36:06,440
head as to obtain a distinct view of my breast.

459
00:36:07,159 --> 00:36:11,440
The surcingle enveloped my limbs and body close in all

460
00:36:11,519 --> 00:36:17,039
directions save in the path of the destroying crescent. Scarcely

461
00:36:17,079 --> 00:36:20,039
had I dropped my head back into its original position,

462
00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:24,000
where there flashed upon my mind what I cannot better

463
00:36:24,079 --> 00:36:28,079
describe than as the unformed half of that idea of

464
00:36:28,159 --> 00:36:33,360
deliverance to which I have previously alluded, and of which

465
00:36:33,679 --> 00:36:38,960
amiody only floated indeterminately through my brain when I raised

466
00:36:39,039 --> 00:36:44,119
food to my burning lips. The whole thought was now present, feeble,

467
00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:50,920
scarcely sane, scarcely definite, but still entire. I proceeded at once,

468
00:36:51,480 --> 00:36:55,039
with the nervous energy of despair, to attempt its execution.

469
00:36:56,119 --> 00:37:00,079
For many hours, the immediate vicinity of the low framework

470
00:37:00,159 --> 00:37:04,519
upon which I lay had been literally swarming with rats.

471
00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:10,599
They were wild, bold, ravenous, their red eyes glaring upon

472
00:37:10,679 --> 00:37:13,880
me as if they waited but for motionlessness on my

473
00:37:14,039 --> 00:37:18,280
part to make me their prey to what food? I

474
00:37:18,400 --> 00:37:22,360
thought have they been accustomed in the well they had

475
00:37:22,400 --> 00:37:25,880
devoured in spite of all my efforts to prevent them,

476
00:37:25,960 --> 00:37:29,519
all but a small remnant of the contents of the dish.

477
00:37:29,920 --> 00:37:34,199
I had fallen into an habitual sea saw or wave

478
00:37:34,239 --> 00:37:38,639
of the hand about the platter, and at length the

479
00:37:38,719 --> 00:37:44,079
unconscious uniformity of the movement deprived it of effect. In

480
00:37:44,199 --> 00:37:48,280
their veracity, the vermin frequently fastened their sharp fangs in

481
00:37:48,360 --> 00:37:52,360
my fingers. With the particles of the oily and spicy

482
00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:56,679
viand which now remained, I thoroughly rubbed the bandage wherever

483
00:37:56,719 --> 00:38:00,639
I could reach it. Then, raising my hand from the floor,

484
00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:05,719
I lay breathlessly still. At first, the ravenous animals were

485
00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:10,000
startled and terrified at the change. At the cessation of movement,

486
00:38:10,800 --> 00:38:15,280
they shrank alarmedly back. Many sought the well. But this

487
00:38:16,159 --> 00:38:19,280
was only for a moment. I had not counted in

488
00:38:19,440 --> 00:38:24,039
vain upon their veracity, Observing that I remained without motion,

489
00:38:24,800 --> 00:38:27,480
one or two of the boldness, leaped upon the framework

490
00:38:27,800 --> 00:38:31,239
and smelt at the surcingle. This seemed to signal for

491
00:38:31,320 --> 00:38:34,880
a general rush forth from the well. They hurried in

492
00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:38,920
fresh troops. They clung to the wood, they overran it,

493
00:38:39,280 --> 00:38:43,360
and leaped in hundreds upon my person. The measured movement

494
00:38:43,599 --> 00:38:48,599
of the pendulum disturbed them, not at all, avoiding its strokes,

495
00:38:48,920 --> 00:38:54,079
they busied themselves with the anointed bandage. They pressed. They

496
00:38:54,159 --> 00:38:59,400
swarmed upon me in ever accumulating heaps. They writhed upon

497
00:38:59,480 --> 00:39:03,559
my throat, Their cold lips sought my own. I was

498
00:39:03,639 --> 00:39:09,000
half stifled by their thronging pressure. Disgust for which the

499
00:39:09,039 --> 00:39:14,000
world has no name, swelled my bosom and chilled with

500
00:39:14,079 --> 00:39:18,559
the heavy clamminess my heart. Yet one minute and I

501
00:39:18,639 --> 00:39:22,920
felt that the struggle would be over. Plainly I perceived

502
00:39:22,920 --> 00:39:26,599
the loosening of the bandage. I knew that in more

503
00:39:26,719 --> 00:39:30,800
than one place it must already be severed with a

504
00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:35,159
more than human resolution. I lay still, Nor had I

505
00:39:35,360 --> 00:39:38,880
erred in my calculations, nor had I endured in vain.

506
00:39:40,079 --> 00:39:43,920
I at length felt that I was free. The surcingle

507
00:39:44,159 --> 00:39:47,360
hung in ribbons from my body, but the stroke of

508
00:39:47,360 --> 00:39:51,320
the pendulum already pressed upon my bosom. It had divided

509
00:39:51,320 --> 00:39:53,760
the serve to the robe, it had cut through the

510
00:39:53,760 --> 00:39:58,000
linen beneath twice. Again it swung, and a sharp sense

511
00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:01,719
of pain shot through every nerve. But the moment of

512
00:40:01,840 --> 00:40:05,199
escape had arrived. At a wave of my hand. My

513
00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:11,840
deliverers hurried tumultuously away with the steady movement, cautious, sidelong,

514
00:40:12,320 --> 00:40:16,079
shrinking and slow, I slid from the embrace of the

515
00:40:16,119 --> 00:40:19,840
bandage and beyond the reach of the scimitar. For the moment,

516
00:40:20,440 --> 00:40:25,159
at least I was free. Free, and in the grasp

517
00:40:25,280 --> 00:40:28,760
of the inquisition. I had scarcely stepped from my wooden

518
00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:31,599
bed of horror upon the stone floor of the prison.

519
00:40:32,199 --> 00:40:35,360
When the motion of the hellish machine ceased, and I

520
00:40:35,400 --> 00:40:39,599
beheld drawn up by some invisible force through the ceiling.

521
00:40:40,360 --> 00:40:43,239
This was a lesson which I took desperately to heart.

522
00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:49,880
My every motion was undoubtedly watched. Free, I had but

523
00:40:50,079 --> 00:40:53,760
escaped death in one form of agony, to be delivered

524
00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:57,480
unto worse than death in some other. With that thought,

525
00:40:57,760 --> 00:41:01,199
I rolled my eaves nervously around on the barriers of

526
00:41:01,360 --> 00:41:06,440
iron that hemmed me in something unusual, some change which

527
00:41:06,920 --> 00:41:11,880
at first I could not appreciate. Distinctly, it was obvious

528
00:41:12,239 --> 00:41:16,519
had taken place in the apartment. For many minutes of

529
00:41:16,559 --> 00:41:20,800
a dreamy and trembling abstraction, I busied myself in vain

530
00:41:21,320 --> 00:41:27,079
unconnected conjecture. During this period I became aware for the

531
00:41:27,119 --> 00:41:31,239
first time of the origin of the sulfurous light which

532
00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:35,920
illumined the cell. It proceeded from a fissure about half

533
00:41:35,960 --> 00:41:40,079
an inch in width extending entirely around the prison at

534
00:41:40,159 --> 00:41:44,320
the base of the walls, which thus appeared and were

535
00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:50,239
completely separated from the floor. I endeavored, but of course

536
00:41:50,280 --> 00:41:54,719
in vain, to look through the aperture. As I arose

537
00:41:54,760 --> 00:41:58,199
from the attempt, the mystery of the alteration in the

538
00:41:58,320 --> 00:42:02,920
chamber broke at once. Upon my understanding. I have observed

539
00:42:02,960 --> 00:42:06,599
that although the outlines of the figures upon the walls

540
00:42:07,119 --> 00:42:11,800
were sufficiently distinct, yet the colors seemed blurred and indefinite.

541
00:42:12,360 --> 00:42:16,920
These colors had now assumed and were momentarily assuming a

542
00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:22,079
startling and most intense brilliancy that gave to the spectral

543
00:42:22,119 --> 00:42:26,000
and fiendish portraitures, an aspect that might have thrilled even

544
00:42:26,119 --> 00:42:30,039
firmer nerves than my own. Demon eyes of a wild

545
00:42:30,119 --> 00:42:34,559
and ghastly vivacity glared upon me in a thousand directions

546
00:42:35,039 --> 00:42:38,599
where none had been visible before, and gleamed with a

547
00:42:38,679 --> 00:42:41,440
lurid luster of a fire that I could not force

548
00:42:41,519 --> 00:42:47,000
my imagination to regard as unreal. Unreal. Even while I breathed,

549
00:42:47,280 --> 00:42:49,800
there came to my nostrils the breath of the vapor

550
00:42:49,840 --> 00:42:54,880
of heated iron. A suffocating odor pervaded the prison. A

551
00:42:54,960 --> 00:42:58,880
deeper glow settled each moment in the eyes that glared

552
00:42:58,920 --> 00:43:04,280
at my agonies, A richer tint of crimson diffuse itself

553
00:43:04,320 --> 00:43:09,039
over the pictured horrors of blood. I panted, I gasped

554
00:43:09,039 --> 00:43:12,320
for breath. There could be no doubt of the design

555
00:43:12,360 --> 00:43:20,519
of my tormentors, Oh, most unrelenting, Oh most ammoniac of men.

556
00:43:20,800 --> 00:43:23,639
I shrank from the glowing metal to the center of

557
00:43:23,679 --> 00:43:28,119
the cell. Amid the thought of the fiery destruction that

558
00:43:28,239 --> 00:43:31,880
impended the idea of the coolness of the well came

559
00:43:31,960 --> 00:43:36,440
over my soul like balm. I rushed to its deadly brink.

560
00:43:37,239 --> 00:43:41,079
I threw my straining vision below. The glare from the

561
00:43:41,199 --> 00:43:47,000
enkindled roof illumined its inmost recesses. Yet for a wild

562
00:43:47,039 --> 00:43:50,960
moment did my spirit refuse to comprehend the meaning of

563
00:43:51,000 --> 00:43:55,320
what I saw at length. It forced, it wrestled its

564
00:43:55,360 --> 00:43:59,760
way into my soul. It burned itself, and upon my shuddering,

565
00:44:01,559 --> 00:44:08,079
oh for a voice to speak, Oh horror, Oh, any horror.

566
00:44:08,079 --> 00:44:12,440
But this with a shriek, I rushed from the margin

567
00:44:12,840 --> 00:44:16,960
and buried my face in my hands, weeping bitterly. The

568
00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:21,159
heat rapidly increased, and once again I looked up, shuddering.

569
00:44:21,320 --> 00:44:24,360
As with the fit of the aigu, there had been

570
00:44:24,400 --> 00:44:28,039
a second change in the cell, and now the change

571
00:44:28,119 --> 00:44:32,159
was obviously in the form as before. It was in

572
00:44:32,239 --> 00:44:37,679
vain that I at first endeavored to appreciate or understand

573
00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:41,480
what was taking place. But not long was I left

574
00:44:41,519 --> 00:44:46,000
in doubt. The inquisitorial vengeance had been hurried by my

575
00:44:46,079 --> 00:44:49,280
two fold escape, and there was to be no more

576
00:44:49,360 --> 00:44:54,679
dallying with the King of terrors. The room had been square,

577
00:44:55,679 --> 00:44:58,440
I saw that two of its iron angles were now acute,

578
00:44:59,119 --> 00:45:04,760
two kansek quenty obtuse. The fearful difference quickly increased with

579
00:45:04,840 --> 00:45:09,199
a low rumbling or moaning sound. In an instant the

580
00:45:09,239 --> 00:45:13,320
apartment had shifted its form into that of a lozenge.

581
00:45:13,440 --> 00:45:17,760
But the alteration stopped not here. I neither hoped nor

582
00:45:17,840 --> 00:45:21,559
desired it to stop. I could have clasped the red

583
00:45:21,599 --> 00:45:26,000
walls to my bosom as a garment of eternal peace. Death,

584
00:45:26,599 --> 00:45:31,000
I said, any death, but that of the pit. Fool

585
00:45:31,840 --> 00:45:34,760
might I have not known that into the pit it

586
00:45:34,880 --> 00:45:37,360
was the object of the burning iron to urge me.

587
00:45:38,320 --> 00:45:42,760
Could I resist its glow? Or if even that could

588
00:45:42,760 --> 00:45:47,880
I withstand its pressure? And now, flatter and flatter grew

589
00:45:47,880 --> 00:45:51,280
the lozenge with a rapidity that left me no time

590
00:45:51,360 --> 00:45:56,719
for contemplation. Its center, and of course its greatest width,

591
00:45:57,119 --> 00:46:01,199
came chest over the yawning gulf. I shrank back, but

592
00:46:01,280 --> 00:46:06,239
the closing walls pressed me resistlessly onward at length. For

593
00:46:06,440 --> 00:46:10,000
my seared and writhing body, there was no longer an

594
00:46:10,079 --> 00:46:12,880
inch of foothold on the firm floor of the prison.

595
00:46:14,119 --> 00:46:17,400
I struggled no more, but the agony of my soul

596
00:46:17,559 --> 00:46:22,880
found vent in one loud, long and final scream of despair.

597
00:46:23,920 --> 00:46:27,599
I felt that I tottered upon the brink. I averted

598
00:46:27,639 --> 00:46:32,639
my eyes. There was a discorned hum of human voices.

599
00:46:33,599 --> 00:46:37,760
There was a loud blast as of many trumpets. There

600
00:46:37,840 --> 00:46:42,079
was a harsh grating as of a thousand thunders. The

601
00:46:42,119 --> 00:46:47,400
fiery walls rushed back an outstretched arm caught my own

602
00:46:47,440 --> 00:46:52,679
as I fell fainting into the abyss. It was that

603
00:46:53,079 --> 00:46:58,480
of General Lassalle. The French army had entered Toledo. The

604
00:46:58,480 --> 00:47:04,440
Inquisition was in the hands of its enemies, and of

605
00:47:04,480 --> 00:47:06,280
the pit and the pendulum.