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Speaker 1: A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama,

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looking down into the swift water twenty feet below. The

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man's hands were behind his back, the wrists bound with

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a rope. A rope closely and jurgled his neck. It

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was attached to a stout cross temper above his head,

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and the slight fell to the level of his knees.

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Some loose boards laid upon the sleepers, supporting the metals

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of the railway, supplied a footing for him and his executioners.

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Two private soldiers of the Federal Army, directed by a

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sergeant who in civil life may have been a deputy

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share at a short remove upon the same temporary platform

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was an officer in the uniform of his rank. Armed

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he was a captain. A sentinel at each end of

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the bridge stood with his rifle in the position known

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as support, that is to say, vertical in front of

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the left shoulder, the hammer resting on the forearm thrown

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straight across the chest, a formal and unnatural position enforcing

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an erect carriage of the body. Did not appear to

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be the duty of these two men to know what

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was occurring at the center of the bridge. They merely

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blockaded the two ends of the foot planking that traversed it.

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Beyond one of the sentinels, Nobody was in sight. The

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railroad ran straight away into a forest for a hundred yards,

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then curving was lost to view. Doubtless there was an outpost.

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Farther along the other bank of the stream was open ground,

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a gentle acclivity topped with a stock aid of vertical

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tree trunks, loop holed for rifles with a single embrasure

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through which protruded the muzzle of a brass cannon. Commanding

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the bridge midway of the slope between bridge and the

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fort were the spectators, A single company of infantry in

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line at parade, rest the buds of the rivals on

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the ground, the barrels inclining slightly backward against the right shoulder,

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the hands crossed upon the stock. A lieutenant stood in

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the right of the lane, the point of his sword

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upon the ground, his left hand resting upon his right.

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Excepting the group of four at the center of the bridge,

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not a man moved. The company faced the bridge, staring

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stonily motionless. The sentinels facing the banks of the stream

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might have been statutes to adorn the bridge. The captain

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stood with folded arms, silent, observing the work of his subordinates,

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but making no sign. Death is a dignitary who, when

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he comes announced, is to be received with formal manifestations

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of respect, even by those most familiar with him. In

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the code of military etiquette, silence and fixity, or forms

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of deference. The man who was engaged in being hanged

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was apparently about thirty five years of age. He was

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a civilian, if one might judge from his habboit, which

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is that of a planter. His features were good, a

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straight nose, firm mouth, broad forehead from which his long

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dark hair was calmed, straight back, falling behind his ears

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to the collar of his well fitting frock coat. He

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wore a mustache and appointed beard, but no whiskers. His

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eyes were large and dark gray, and had a kindly

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expression which one would hardly have expected in one whose

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neck was in the hemp. The Liberal Military Code makes

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provision for hanging many kinds of persons, and gentlemen were

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not excluded. The preparations being completed, the two private soldiers

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stepped aside, and each drew away the plank upon which

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he had been standing. The sergeant turned to the captain

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saluted and moved himself immediately behind that officer, who in

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turned moved apart one's space. These movements left the condemned

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man and the sergeant standing on the two ends of

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the same plank, which spanned three of the crossed eyes

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of the bridge. The end upon which the civilian stood

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almost but not quite reached to fourth. This plank had

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been held in place by the weight of the captain.

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It was now held by that of the sergeant. At

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a signal from the farmer, the latter would step aside,

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the plank would tilt, and the condemned man go down

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between the two ties. The arrangement commended itself to his

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judgment as simple and effective. His face had not been covered,

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nor his eyes bandage. He looked a moment at his

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unsteadfast footing, then let his gaze wander to the swirling

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waters of the stream racing madly beneath his feet. A

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piece of dancing driftwood caught his attention, and his eyes

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followed it down the stream. How slowly it appeared to move,

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What a sluggish stream. He closed his eyes in order

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to fix his last thoughts upon his wife and children.

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The water touched to gold by the early sun. The

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brooding midst upon the back at some distance down the stream,

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the fort, the soldiers, the piece of drift, all had

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distracted him, And now he became conscious of a new disturbance.

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Striking through the thought of his dear ones was a

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sharp sound which he could neither I nor understand, A

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distinct metallic percussion, like the stroke of a blacksmith's hammer

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upon the anvil. It had the same ringing quality. He

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wondered what it was, and whether immeasurably distant or nearby,

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it seemed both. Its occurrence was regular, but as slow

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as the tolling of a death knell. He awaited each

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stroke with impatience, and he knew not why apprehension the

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interval of silence who progressively longer The delays became maddening.

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With their greatest infrequency, the sounds increased in strength and sharpness.

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They hurt his ears like the thrust of a knife.

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He would shriek. What he heard was the ticking of

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his watch. He unclosed his eyes and saw again the

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water below him. If I could free my hands, he thought,

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I might throw off the noose and spring into the stream.

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By diving, I could evade the bullets, and, swimming vigorously,

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reached the bank. Take to the woods and get away. Home.

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My home, thank God, is as yet outside their lives.

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My wife and little ones are still beyond the invader's

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father's advance. As these thoughts, which have hereto be set

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down in words, were flashed into the dune'sman's brain rather

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than evolved from it, the captain nodded to the sergeant,

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and the sergeant stepped aside. Peyton Farquhar was a well

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tonew planter of an old and highly respected Alabama family.

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Being a slave owner, and like the other slave owners,

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a politician, it was naturally an original secessionist and artly

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devoted to the Southern cause. Circumstances of an imperious nature,

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which it is unnecessary to relate here, had prevented him

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from taking service with the Gallot army that had fought

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the disastrous campaign's ending with the fall of Corinth, and

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he chafed under the inglorious restraint, longing for the release

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of his energies, the larger life of the soldier, the

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opportunity for distinction. That opportunity he felt would come as

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it comes to all in war time. Meanwhile, he did

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what he could. No service was too humble for him

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to perform, an aid of the South, no adventure too

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perilous for him to undertake, if consistent with the character

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of a civilian who was at heart a soldier, and who,

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in good faith and without too much qualification, assented to

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at least a part of the frankly villainous dictum that

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all is fair in love and war. One evening, while

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Farkhar and his wife were sitting on a rustic bench

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near the entrance to his grounds, a gray clad soldier

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rode up to the gate and asked for a drink

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of water. Missus Farquhar was only too happy to serve

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him with her own white ends. While she was fetching

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the water, her husband approached the dusty horseman and inquired

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eagerly for news from the front. The Yanks are repairing

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the railroad, said the man, and are getting ready for

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another advance. They have reached the ale Creek bridge, put

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it in order, and built a stockade on the north bank.

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The commandant has issued an order which is posted everywhere,

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declaring that any civilian caught interfering with the railroad its bridges,

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tunnels or drains will be summarily hanged. I saw the order.

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How far is it to the al Creek bridge, Farkhar asked,

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Or about thirty miles? Is there no force on this

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side of the creek, only a picket post half a

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mile out on the railroad, and a single sentinel in

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this end of the bridge. Suppose a man, a civilian,

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and a student of hanging should elude the picket post

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and perhaps get the better of the sentinel, said Farquhar, smiling.

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What would he accomplish? The soldier reflected, I was there

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a month ago, he replied. I observed that the flood

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of last winter had lodged a great quantity of driftwood

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against the wooden pier at this end of the bridge.

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It is now drying, would burn like tow. The lady

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had now brought the water, which the soldier drank. He

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thanked her, ceremoniously bowed to her husband, and rode away.

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An hour later, after nightfall, he repassed the plantation, going

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northward in the direction from which he had come. He

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was a Federal scout. As Peyton Farquhar fell straight downwards

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through the bridge, he lost some consciousness, and was as

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one already dead from this date. He was awakened ages later,

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it seemed to him, by the pain of a sharp

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pressure upon his throat, followed by a sense of suffocation. Keen,

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poignant agony seemed to shoot from his neck downward through

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every fiber of his body and limbs. These pains appeared

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to flash along well defined lines of ramification, and to

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beat with an inconceivably rapid curiosity. They seemed like streams

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of pulsating fire, heating him to an intolerable temperature. As

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to his head, he was conscious of nothing but a

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feeling of fullness, of congestion. These sensations were unaccompanied by thought.

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The intellectual part of his nature was already effaced. He

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had power only to feel, and feeling was torment. He

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was conscious of motion, unencompassed in a luminous cloud from

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which he was now merely the fiery heart without material substance.

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He swung through unthinkable arcs of oscillation, like a vast pendulum. Then,

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all at once, with terrible suddenness, the light about him

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shot upward with the noise of a loud splash. A

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fightful roaring was in his ears, and all was cold

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and dark. The power of thought was restored. He knew

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that the rope had broken and he had fallen into

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the stream. There was no additional strigulation. The noose about

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his neck was already suffocating him, and kept the water

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from his lungs. To dive. Of hanging at the bottom

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of a river, the idea seemed to him ludicrous. He

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opened his eyes in the darkness and saw above him

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a gleam of light. But how distance, how inaccessible. He

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was still singing, for the light became fainter and fainter,

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until it was a mere glimmer. Then it began to

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grow and brighten, and he knew that he was rising

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toward the surface. Knew it with reluctance, for he was

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now very comfortable to be hanged and drowned. He thought,

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that is not so bad. But I do not wish

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to be shot. No, I will not be shot. That

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is not fair. He was not conscious of an effort,

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but a sharp pain in his wrist appraised him that

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he was trying to free his hands. He gave the

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struggle his attention, as an idler might observe the feet

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of a juggler without interest in the outcome. What splendid effort,

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what magnificent, what superhuman strength? Ah, that was a fine endeavor. Bravo.

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The card fell away, His arms parted and floated upward,

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the hands dimly seen on each side in the growing light.

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He watched them with a new interest as first one

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and then the other pulsed upon the noose at his neck.

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They tore it away and thrust it fiercely aside, his

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undulations resembling those of a water snake. Put it back,

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Put it back, he thought. He shouted these words to

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his hands, for the undoing of the news had been

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succeeded by the direst that he had yet experienced. His

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neck ached horribly, his brain was on fire. His heart,

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which had been fluttering faintly, gave a great leap, trying

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to force itself out at his mouth. His whole body

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was racked and wretched with an insupportable anguish. But his

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disobedient hands gave no heed to the command. They beat

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the water vigorously, with quick downward strokes, forcing him to

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the surface. He felt his head emerge. His eyes were

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blinded by the sunlight. His chest expended convulsively and with

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a supreme and crowning agony. His lungs engulfed a great

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dropped of air, which instantly he expelled in a shriek.

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He was now in full possession of his physical senses.

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They were, indeed preternaturally keen and alert. Something in the

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awful disturbance of his organic system had so exalted and

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refined them that they made record of things ever before perceived.

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He felt the ripples upon his face, and heard their

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separate sounds as they struck. He looked at the forest

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on the bank of the stream, saw the individual trees,

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the leaves and the veining of each leaf. Saw the

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very insectives upon them, the locusts, the brilliant bodied flies,

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the gray spiders stretching their webs from twig to twig.

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He noted the prismatic colors in all the dewdrops upon

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a million blades of grass, the humming of the gnats

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that danked above the eddies of the stream, the beating

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of the dragonfly wings, the strokes of the water spider's

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legs like oars which had lifted their boat. All these

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made audible music. A fish slid along beneath his eyes,

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and he heard the rush of his body parting the water.

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He had come to the surface, facing down on the stream.

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In a moment, the visible whorls seemed to wheel slowly

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round himself the pivotal point, and he saw the bridge,

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the fort, the two soldiers upon the bridge, the captain,

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the sergeant, the two privates, his executioners. They were in

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silhouette against the blue sky. They shouted and gestillated, pointing

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at him. The captain has drawn his pistol, but did

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not fire. The others were unarmed. Their movements were grotesque

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and horrible, their forms gigantic. Suddenly he heard a sharp report,

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and something struck the water smartly, within a few inches

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of his head, splattering his face with spray. He heard

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a second report, and saw one of the sentinels with

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his rifle at his shoulder, a light cloud of blue

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smoke rising from the muzzle. The man in the water

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saw the eye of the man on the bridge. Gazing

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into his own through the sights of the rifle, he

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observed that it was a gray eye eye, and remembered

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having read that gray eyes were keenest and that all

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famous marksmen had them. Nevertheless, this one had missed a

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countless swirl, had called Farquhar and turned him half around.

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He was again looking into the forest on the bank

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opposite the fort. The sound of a clear, high voice

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in a monotonous sing song now rang out behind him

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and came across the water with a distinctness that pierced

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and subdued all other sounds, even the beating of the

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ripples in his ear. Although no soldier, he had frequented

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camps enough to know the dread significance of that deliberate, drawling,

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aspirated chant. The lieutenant on shore was taking a part

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in the morning's work, how coldly and piteously, with what

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an even calm intonation, presaging and enforcing tranquility in the men,

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With what accurately measured intervals fell those cruel words Attention company, soldiers,

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Arms ready, aim fire. Farquard dived, dived as deeply as

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he could. The water roared in his ears like the

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voice of niagra. Yet he heard the dull thunder of

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the volley, and rising again toward the surface, met shining

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bits of metal, singularly flattened, oscillating slowly downward. Some of

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them touched him on the face and hands, and fell away,

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continuing their descent. One lodge between his collar and his neck.

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It was uncomfortably warm, and he snatched it out. As

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he rose to the surface, gasping for breath, he saw

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that he had been a long time under water. He

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was perceptibly furthered downstream nearer to safety. The soldiers had

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almost finished reloading the metal ramrods flashed all at once

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in the sunshine as they were drawn from the barrels,

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turned in the air, and threw rust into their sockets.

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The two sentinels fired again, independently and ineffectually. The hunted

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man saw all this over his shoulder. He was now

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swimming vigorously with the current. His brain was as energetic

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as his arms and legs, he thought, with the rapidity

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of lightning. The officer, he reasoned, will not make that

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Martinette's era a second time. It is as easy to

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dodge a folly as a single shot. He has probably

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already given the command to fire at will God help me?

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I cannot dodge them all. An appalling splash within two

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yards of him was followed by a loud, rushing sound

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which seemed to travel back through the air to the fort,

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and died in an explosion which stirred the very river

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to his steps. A rising sheet of water curved over him,

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fell down upon him, blinded him, and strangled him. The

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cannon had taken a hand in the game. As he

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shook his head free from the commotion of the smitten water,

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he heard the deflected shot humming through the air ahead,

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and in an instant it was cracking and smashing the

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branches in the forest beyond. They will not do that again,

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he thought, The next time, they will use a charge

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of grape. I must keep my eye upon the gun.

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The smoke will apprise me. The report arrives too late.

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It lags behind the missile. That is a good gun.

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Suddenly he felt himself whirled around and round, spinning like

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a top. The water, the banks, the forests, the now

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distant bridge, fort, and men all were commingled and blurred.

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Objects were represented by their colors, only circular horizontal streaks

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of color. That was all he saw. It had been

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caught in aforetex and was being whirled on with a

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velocity of advance and gyration that made him giddy and sick.

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In a few moments, he was flung upon the gravel

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at the foot of the left bank of the stream,

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the southern bag and behind the projecting points, which concealed

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him from his enemies. The sudden arrest of his motion,

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the abrasion of one of his hands on the gravel,

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restored him, and he wept with delight. He dug his

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fingers into the sand, threw it over himself in handfuls,

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and audibly blessed it. It looked like diamonds, rubies, emeralds.

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He could think of nothing beautiful which it did not resemble.

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The trees upon the banks were giant garden plants. He

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noted a definite order in their arrangement, inhaled the fragrance

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of their blooms. A strange rosette light shone through the

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branches among their trunks, and the wind made in their

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branches the music of harps. He had no wish to

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00:20:47,079 --> 00:20:51,039
perfect his escape, was content to remain in that enchanting

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spot until we taken. A whist and a rattle of

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grape shot among the branches high above his head roused

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him from the stream. The baffled cannoneer had fired him

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a random farewell. He sprang to his feet, rushed up

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the sloping bank, and plunged into the forest. All that day,

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he traveled, laying his course by the rounding sun. The

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forest seemed interminable. Nowhere did he discover a break in it,

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not even a woodsman road. He had not known that

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he lived in so wild a region. There was something

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uncanny in the revelation. By nightfall, he was fatigued, footsore,

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and famished. Thought of his wife and children urged him on.

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At last he found a road which led him to

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what he knew to be the right direction, and was

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as wide and straight as the city street. Yet it

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seemed untraveled. No fields boarded it, no dwelling anywhere, not

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so much as the barking of a dog suggested human habitation.

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The black bodies of the trees formed a straight wall

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on both sides, terminating on the horizon in a point

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like a diagram, in a lesson in perspective. Overhead, as

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he looked up through this rift in the woods, shone

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great golden stars, looking unfamiliar and grouped in strange constellations.

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He was sure they were arranged in some order which

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had a secret and malign significance. The wood on either

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side was full of singular noises, among which once twice

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again he distinctly heard whispers in an unknown tongue. His

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neck was in pain, and lifting his hand to it,

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he found it horribly swollen. He knew that it had

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a circle of black where the rope had bruised it.

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Eli's eyes felt congested, could no longer close them. His

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tongue was swollen with thirst. He relieved his fever by

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thrusting it forward from between his teeth into the cold air.

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How softly the turf had carpeted the untraveled avenue. He

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could no longer feel the roadway beneath his feet. Doubtless

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by his suffering, he had fallen asleep while walking. For

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now he sees another scene, Perhaps he had merely recovered

355
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from a delirium. He stands at the gate of his

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own home. All is as he left it, all bright

357
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and beautiful in the morning sunshine. He must have traveled

358
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the entire night. As he pushes open the gate and

359
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passes up the wide white walk, he sees a flutter

360
00:23:24,640 --> 00:23:29,160
of female garments. His wife, looking fresh and cool and sweet,

361
00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:32,880
steps down from the veranda to meet him. At the

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bottom of the steps, she stands waiting with a smile

363
00:23:36,079 --> 00:23:40,960
of inefftable joy an attitude of matchless grace and dignity,

364
00:23:41,599 --> 00:23:46,480
and how beautiful she is. He springs forward with extended arms.

365
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As he is about to clasp her, he feels a

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stunning blow upon the back of his neck. A blinding

367
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white light glazes all about him, with a sound like

368
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the shock of a cannon. The gnaws darkness and silence.

369
00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:06,359
Peyton Farquhar was dead, his body with a broken neck,

370
00:24:06,759 --> 00:24:10,599
swung gently from side to side beneath the tempers of

371
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the Isle Creek Bridge. End of story.