Speaker 1: Fear by Gui de Moupissan. We went up on deck
Speaker 1: after dinner. Before us, the Mediterranean lay without a ripple
Speaker 1: and shimmered in the moonlight. The great ship glided on,
Speaker 1: casting upward to the star studded sky, A long serpent
Speaker 1: of black smoke behind us. The dazzling white water, stirred
Speaker 1: by the rapid progress of the heavy bark and beaten
Speaker 1: by the propeller, foamed, seemed to Writhe gave off so
Speaker 1: much brilliancy that one could have called it boiling moonlight.
Speaker 1: There were six or eight of us, silent with admiration,
Speaker 1: and gazing toward far away Africa, whither we were going.
Speaker 1: The commandant, who was smoking a cigar with us, brusquely
Speaker 1: resumed the conversation begun at dinner. Yes, I was afraid.
Speaker 1: Then my ship remained for six hours on that rock,
Speaker 1: beaten by the wind and with a great hole in
Speaker 1: the side. Luckily we were picked up toward evening by
Speaker 1: an English color which sighted us. Then a tall man
Speaker 1: of sunburned face and grave demeanor, one of those men
Speaker 1: who have evidently traveled unknown in far away lands, whose
Speaker 1: calm eyes seems to preserve in its depths something of
Speaker 1: the foreign scenes. It is observed a man that you
Speaker 1: are sure is impregnated with courage, spoke for the first time.
Speaker 1: You say, Commandant, that you are afraid. I beg to
Speaker 1: disagree with you. You are in error as to the
Speaker 1: meaning of the word and the nature of the sensation
Speaker 1: that you experienced. An energetic man is never afraid in
Speaker 1: the presence of urgent danger. He is excited, aroused, full
Speaker 1: of anxiety. But fear is something quite different. The commandant
Speaker 1: laughed and answered, bah, I assure you that I was afraid.
Speaker 1: Then the man of the tanned countenance addressed us deliberately
Speaker 1: as follows. Permit me to explain fear and the bold
Speaker 1: as men may feel, fear is something horrible, an atrocious sensation,
Speaker 1: a sort of decomposition of the soul, a terrible spasm
Speaker 1: of brain and heart, the very memory of which brings
Speaker 1: a shudder of anguish. But when one is brave, he
Speaker 1: feels it neither under fire, nor in the presence of
Speaker 1: sure death, nor in the face of any well known danger.
Speaker 1: It springs up under certain abnormal conditions, under certain mysterious influences,
Speaker 1: in the presence of vague peril. Real fear is a
Speaker 1: sort of reminiscence of fantastic terror of the past. A
Speaker 1: man who believes in ghosts and imagines he sees a
Speaker 1: specter in the darkness must feel terror in all its horror.
Speaker 1: As for me, I was overwhelmed with fear in broad
Speaker 1: daylight about ten years ago, and again one December night
Speaker 1: last winter. Nevertheless, I have gone through many dangers, many
Speaker 1: adventures which seem to promise death. I have often been
Speaker 1: battle I have been left for dead by thieves in America.
Speaker 1: I was condemned as an insurgent to be hanged and
Speaker 1: off the coast of China. Have been thrown into the
Speaker 1: sea from the deck of a ship. Each time I
Speaker 1: thought I was lost, I at once decided upon my
Speaker 1: course of action without regret or weakness. That is not fear.
Speaker 1: I have felt it in Africa, and yet it is
Speaker 1: a child of the North. The sunlight banishes it like
Speaker 1: the mist. Consider this fact, gentlemen. Among the Orientals, life
Speaker 1: has no value. Resignation is natural. The nights are clear
Speaker 1: and empty of the somber spirit of unrest which haunts
Speaker 1: the brain in cooler lands. In the Orient, panic is known,
Speaker 1: but not fear. Well, then here is the incident that
Speaker 1: befell me in Africa. I was crossing the Great Sands
Speaker 1: to the south of Onargla. It is one of the
Speaker 1: most curious districts in the world. You have seen the solid,
Speaker 1: con tenuous sand of the endless ocean strands. Well, imagine
Speaker 1: the ocean itself turned to sand in the midst of
Speaker 1: a storm. Imagine a silent tempest with motionless billows of
Speaker 1: yellow dust. They are high as mountains, these uneven varied surges,
Speaker 1: rising exactly like unchained billows, but still larger and stratified
Speaker 1: like watered silk. On this wild, silent and motionless sea,
Speaker 1: the consuming rays of the tropical sun are poured piteously
Speaker 1: and directly. You have to climb these streaks of red
Speaker 1: hot ash, descend again on the other side. Climb again, climb, climb,
Speaker 1: without halt, without repose, without shade. The horses cough, sink
Speaker 1: to their knees, and slide down the sides of these
Speaker 1: remarkable hills. We were a couple of friends, followed by
Speaker 1: eight spahis and four camels with their drivers. We were
Speaker 1: no longer talking, overcome by heat, fatigue, and a thirst
Speaker 1: such as had produced this burning desert. Suddenly one of
Speaker 1: our men uttered a cry. We all halted, surprised by
Speaker 1: the unsolved phenomenon known only to travelers in these trackless wastes.
Speaker 1: Somewhere near us, in an indeterminable direction, a drum was rolling,
Speaker 1: the mysterious drum of the sands. It was beating distinctly,
Speaker 1: now with greater residence, and again feebler, ceasing, then resuming
Speaker 1: its uncanny roll. The Arabs, terrified, stared at one another,
Speaker 1: and one said, in his language, death is upon us.
Speaker 1: As he spoke, my companion, my friend, almost my brother,
Speaker 1: dropped from his horse, falling face downward on the sand,
Speaker 1: overcome by a sunstroke. And for two hours, while I
Speaker 1: tried in vain to save him, this weird drum filled
Speaker 1: my ears with its monotonous, intermittent and incomprehensible tone, and
Speaker 1: I felt lay hold of my bones fear, real fear,
Speaker 1: hideous fear, in the presence of this beloved corpse, in
Speaker 1: this hole, scorched by the sun, surrounded by four mountains
Speaker 1: of sand, and two hundred leagues from any French settlement,
Speaker 1: while echo assailed our ears with this furious drum beat.
Speaker 1: On that day I realized what fear was. But since
Speaker 1: then I have had another and still more vivid experience,
Speaker 1: the commandant interrupted the speaker. I beg your pardon, but
Speaker 1: what was the drum? The traveler replied, I cannot say.
Speaker 1: No one knows. Our officers are often surprised by this
Speaker 1: singular noise and attribute it generally to the echo produced
Speaker 1: by a hail of grains of sand blown by the
Speaker 1: winds against the dry and brittle leaves of weeds. For
Speaker 1: it has always been noticed that the phenomenon occurs in
Speaker 1: proximity to little plants burned by the sun and hardest parchment.
Speaker 1: This sound seems to have been magnified, multiplied, and swelled
Speaker 1: beyond measure in its progress through the valleys of sand,
Speaker 1: and the drum therefore might be considered a sort of
Speaker 1: sound mirage, nothing more. But I did not know that
Speaker 1: until later. I shall proceed to my second instance. It
Speaker 1: was last winter in a forest of the northeast of France.
Speaker 1: The sky was so overcast that night came two hours
Speaker 1: earlier than usual. My guide was a peasant who walked
Speaker 1: beside me along the narrow road under the vault of
Speaker 1: fir trees, through which the wind and its fury howled
Speaker 1: between the tree tops. I saw the fleeting clouds, which
Speaker 1: seemed to hasten, as if to escape some object of terror. Sometimes,
Speaker 1: in a fierce gust of wind, the whole forest bowed
Speaker 1: in the same direction with a groan of pain, and
Speaker 1: a chill laid hold of me despite my rapid pace
Speaker 1: and heavy clothing. We were to sup and sleep at
Speaker 1: an old gamekeeper's house not much farther on I had
Speaker 1: come out for hunting. My guides sometimes raised his eyes
Speaker 1: and murmured ugly weather. Then he told me about the
Speaker 1: people among whom we were to spend the night. The
Speaker 1: father had killed a poacher two years before, and since
Speaker 1: then had been gloomy and behaved as though haunted by
Speaker 1: a memory. His two sons were married and lived with him.
Speaker 1: The darkness was profound. I could see nothing before me
Speaker 1: nor around me, and the mass of overhanging, interlaced trees
Speaker 1: rubbed together, filling the night with an incessant whispering. Finally
Speaker 1: I saw a light, and soon my companion was knocking
Speaker 1: upon a door. Sharp woman's voices answered us. Then a
Speaker 1: man's voice, a choking voice, asked, who goes there? My
Speaker 1: guide gave his name. We entered and beheld a memorable picture.
Speaker 1: An old man with white hair, wild eyes, and a
Speaker 1: loaded gun in his hands, stood waiting for us in
Speaker 1: the middle of the kitchen, while two stalwart youths armed
Speaker 1: with axes guarded the door. In the somber corners, I
Speaker 1: distinguished two women kneeling with faces to the wall. Matters
Speaker 1: were explained, and the old man stood his gun against
Speaker 1: the wall at the same time, ordering that a room
Speaker 1: be prepared for me. Then, as the women did not stir,
Speaker 1: look you, monsieur, said he two years ago this night
Speaker 1: I killed a man, and last year he came back
Speaker 1: to haunt me. I expect him again to night. Then
Speaker 1: he added, in a tone that made me smile. And
Speaker 1: so we are somewhat excited. I reassured him as best
Speaker 1: I could. Happy to have arrived on that particular evening
Speaker 1: and to witness this superstitious terror. I told stories and
Speaker 1: almost succeeded in calming the whole household. Near the fireplace
Speaker 1: slept an old dog, mustached and almost blind, with his
Speaker 1: head between his paws, such a dog as reminds you
Speaker 1: of people you have known. Outside, the raging storm was
Speaker 1: beating against the little house, and suddenly through a a
Speaker 1: pane of glass, a sort of peep window placed near
Speaker 1: the door, I saw, in a brilliant flash of lightning
Speaker 1: a whole mass of trees thrashed by the wind. In
Speaker 1: spite of my efforts, I realized that terror was laying
Speaker 1: hold of these people, and each time that I ceased
Speaker 1: to speak, all ears listened for distant sounds. Annoyted these
Speaker 1: foolish fears, I was about to retire to my bed
Speaker 1: when the old gamekeeper suddenly leaped from his chair, seized
Speaker 1: his gun, and stammered wildly, there he is, there he is,
Speaker 1: I hear him. The two women again sank upon their
Speaker 1: knees in the corner and hid their faces, while the
Speaker 1: suns took up the axes. I was going to try
Speaker 1: to pacify them once more, when the sleeping dog awakened suddenly,
Speaker 1: and raising his head and stretching his neck, looked the
Speaker 1: fire with his dim eyes, and uttered one of those
Speaker 1: mournful howls which make travelers shudder in the darkness and
Speaker 1: solitude of the country. All eyes were focused upon him
Speaker 1: now as he rose upon his front feet, as though
Speaker 1: haunted by a vision, and began to howl at something invisible, unknown,
Speaker 1: and doubtless horrible, for he was bristling all over. The gamekeeper,
Speaker 1: with livid face, cried, he sends him, he sends him.
Speaker 1: He was there when I killed him. The two women, terrified,
Speaker 1: began to wail in concert with a dog. In spite
Speaker 1: of myself, cold chills ran down my spine. This vision
Speaker 1: of the animal at such a time and place, in
Speaker 1: the midst of these startled people, was something frightful to witness.
Speaker 1: Then for an hour the dog howled without stirring. He
Speaker 1: howled as though in the anguish of a nightmare, and fear,
Speaker 1: horrible fear came over me. Fear of what How can
Speaker 1: I say? It was fear, and that is all I know.
Speaker 1: We remained motionless and pale, expecting something awful to happen.
Speaker 1: Our ears were strained, and our hearts beat loudly, while
Speaker 1: the slightest noise startled us. Then the beast began to
Speaker 1: walk around the room, sniffing at the walls and growling constantly.
Speaker 1: His maneuvers were driving us mad. Then the countryman who
Speaker 1: brought me thither, in a paroxysm of rage, seized the
Speaker 1: dog and carrying him to a door which opened into
Speaker 1: a small court thrust him forth. The noise was suppressed,
Speaker 1: and we were left plunged in a silence still more terrible.
Speaker 1: Then suddenly we all started. Some one was gliding along
Speaker 1: the outside wall toward the forest. Then he seemed to
Speaker 1: be feeling of the door with a trembling hand. Then
Speaker 1: for two minutes nothing was heard, and we almost lost
Speaker 1: our minds. Then he returned, still feeling along the wall,
Speaker 1: and scratched lightly upon the door, as a child might
Speaker 1: do with his finger nails. Suddenly a face appeared behind
Speaker 1: the glass of the peep window, a white face with
Speaker 1: eyes shining like those of the cat tribe. A sound
Speaker 1: was heard, and indistinct plaintive murmur. Then there was a
Speaker 1: formidable burst of noise in the kitchen. The old gamekeeper
Speaker 1: had fired, and the two suns at once rushed forward
Speaker 1: and barricaded the window with a great table, reinforcing it
Speaker 1: with the buffet. I swear to you that at the
Speaker 1: shock of the gun's discharge, which I did not expect,
Speaker 1: such an anguish laid hold of my heart, my soul,
Speaker 1: and my very body that I felt myself about to fall,
Speaker 1: about to die from fear. We remained there until dawn
Speaker 1: unable to move in short, seized by an indescribable numbness
Speaker 1: of the brain. No one dared to remove the barricade
Speaker 1: until a thin ray of sunlight appeared through a crack
Speaker 1: in the back room. At the base of the wall
Speaker 1: and under the window, we found the old dog lying dead,
Speaker 1: his skull shattered by a ball. He had escaped from
Speaker 1: the little court by digging a hole under a fence.
Speaker 1: The dark visaged man became silent. Then he added, and
Speaker 1: yet on that night I incur no danger. But I
Speaker 1: should rather again pass through all the hours in which
Speaker 1: I have confronted the most terrible perils than the one
Speaker 1: minute when that gun was discharged at the bearded head
Speaker 1: in the window.