1
00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:06,200
Speaker 1: A Man with Two Lives by Ambrose Bierce. Here is

2
00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:10,519
a queer story of David William Duck, related by himself.

3
00:00:11,759 --> 00:00:15,720
Duck is an old man living in Aurora, Illinois, where

4
00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:21,039
he is universally respected. He is commonly known, however, as

5
00:00:21,199 --> 00:00:26,079
Dead Duck. In the autumn of eighteen sixty six, I

6
00:00:26,239 --> 00:00:30,839
was a private soldier in the eighteenth Infantry. My company

7
00:00:30,960 --> 00:00:34,679
was one of those stationed at Fort phil Kearney, commanded

8
00:00:34,719 --> 00:00:38,880
by Colonel Carrington. The country is more or less familiar

9
00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:42,320
with the history of that garrison, particularly with the slaughter

10
00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:46,000
by the Sioux of a detachment of eighty one men

11
00:00:46,039 --> 00:00:51,200
in officers, no one escaping through disobedience of orders by

12
00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:57,799
its commander, the brave but reckless Captain Fetterman. When that occurred,

13
00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:01,520
I was trying to make my way with important dispatches

14
00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:06,400
to Fort C. F. Smith on the Big Horn, as

15
00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:10,200
the country swarmed with hostile Indians. I traveled by night

16
00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:15,120
and concealed myself as best I could before daybreak. The

17
00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:18,079
better to do so, I went afoot, armed with a

18
00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:21,879
Henry rifle and carrying three days rations in my haversack.

19
00:01:23,359 --> 00:01:26,640
For my second place of concealment. I chose what seemed

20
00:01:26,719 --> 00:01:30,640
in the darkness a narrow canyon leading through a range

21
00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:36,239
of rocky hills. It contained many large boulders detached from

22
00:01:36,319 --> 00:01:40,040
the slopes of the hills. Behind one of these, in

23
00:01:40,079 --> 00:01:43,519
a clump of sagebrush, I made my bed for the day,

24
00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:48,200
and soon fell asleep. It seemed as if I had

25
00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:51,680
hardly closed my eyes, though in fact it was nearly

26
00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:55,200
midday when I was awakened by the report of a rifle,

27
00:01:55,719 --> 00:02:00,040
the bullet striking the boulder just above my body. The

28
00:02:00,079 --> 00:02:03,760
band of Indians had trailed me and had me nearly surrounded.

29
00:02:04,519 --> 00:02:07,120
The shot had been fired with an execrable aim by

30
00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:09,520
a fellow who had caught sight of me from the

31
00:02:09,599 --> 00:02:14,280
hillside above. The smoke of his rifle betrayed him, and

32
00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:17,120
I was no sooner on my feet than he was

33
00:02:17,199 --> 00:02:21,560
off his and rolling down the declivity. Then I ran,

34
00:02:21,639 --> 00:02:25,199
in a stooped posture, dodging among the clumps of sagebrush,

35
00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:30,199
in a storm of bullets from invisible enemies. The rascals

36
00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:34,080
did not rise and pursue, which I thought rather queer,

37
00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:37,319
for they must have known by my trail that they

38
00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:41,840
had to deal with only one man. The reason for

39
00:02:41,879 --> 00:02:46,240
their inaction was soon made clear. I had not gone

40
00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:49,120
a hundred yards before I reached the limit of my run.

41
00:02:49,879 --> 00:02:52,560
The head of the gulch, which I had mistaken for

42
00:02:52,639 --> 00:02:57,000
a canyon. It terminated in a concave breast of rock,

43
00:02:57,599 --> 00:03:02,840
nearly vertical and destitute of vegitation. In the cul de sac,

44
00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:06,759
I was caught like a bear in a pen. Pursuit

45
00:03:07,039 --> 00:03:11,400
was needless. They had only to wait. They waited for

46
00:03:11,439 --> 00:03:15,080
two days and nights, crouching behind a rock topping with

47
00:03:15,159 --> 00:03:18,680
a growth of mesquite, and with a cliff at my back,

48
00:03:19,199 --> 00:03:23,800
suffering agonies of thirst and absolute hopelessness of deliverance. I

49
00:03:23,919 --> 00:03:27,759
fought the fellows at long range, firing occasionally at the

50
00:03:27,759 --> 00:03:32,439
smoke of their rifles, as they did at that of mine.

51
00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:35,240
Of course, I dare not close my eyes at night,

52
00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:40,879
and lack of sleep was a keen torture. I remember

53
00:03:40,919 --> 00:03:43,800
the morning of the third day, which I knew was

54
00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:49,039
to be my last. I remember rather indistinctly that, in

55
00:03:49,080 --> 00:03:52,759
my depression and delirium, I sprang out into the open

56
00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:56,879
and began firing my repeating rifle without seeing anybody to

57
00:03:56,960 --> 00:04:00,840
fire at. And I remember no more of that fight.

58
00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:05,680
The next thing that I recollect was by pulling myself

59
00:04:05,719 --> 00:04:09,080
out of a river just at nightfall. I had not

60
00:04:09,159 --> 00:04:12,719
a rag of clothing and knew nothing of my whereabouts.

61
00:04:13,319 --> 00:04:17,319
But all that night I traveled cold and footsore toward

62
00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:22,240
the north. At daybreak I found myself at Fort C. F. Smith,

63
00:04:22,879 --> 00:04:28,079
my destination, but without my dispatches. The first man that

64
00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:31,800
I met was a sergeant named William Briscoe, whom I

65
00:04:31,879 --> 00:04:36,439
knew very well. You can fancy his astonishment at seeing

66
00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:40,319
me in that condition, and my own at his asking

67
00:04:40,639 --> 00:04:45,800
who the devil I was? Dave Duck, I answered, who

68
00:04:45,879 --> 00:04:50,920
should I be? He startled like an owl. You do

69
00:04:51,199 --> 00:04:54,120
look it, he said, and I observed that he drew

70
00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:59,079
a little away from me. What's up? He added? I

71
00:04:59,199 --> 00:05:01,399
told him what it had happened to me the day before.

72
00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:07,319
He heard me through, still staring. Then he said, my

73
00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:10,959
dear fellow, if you were Dave Duck, I ought to

74
00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:15,000
inform you that I buried you two months ago. I

75
00:05:15,199 --> 00:05:18,360
was out with a small scouting party and found your

76
00:05:18,399 --> 00:05:23,360
body full of bullet holes and newly scalped, somewhat mutilated.

77
00:05:23,399 --> 00:05:27,160
Otherwise too, I'm sorry to say write where you say

78
00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:30,920
you made your fight come to my tent, and I'll

79
00:05:30,959 --> 00:05:33,959
show you your clothing and some letters that I took

80
00:05:33,959 --> 00:05:40,439
from your person. The commandant has your dispatches. He performed

81
00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:44,480
that promise. He showed me the clothing, which I resolutely

82
00:05:44,519 --> 00:05:48,759
put on, the letters, which I put into my pocket.

83
00:05:49,079 --> 00:05:52,240
He made no objection, then took me to the commandant,

84
00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:56,839
who heard my story and coldly ordered Briscoe to take

85
00:05:56,920 --> 00:06:02,600
me to the guardhouse. On the way, I said, Bill Briscoe,

86
00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:05,399
did you really and truly bury the dead body that

87
00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:10,800
you found in these togs? Sure, he answered, just as

88
00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:15,120
I told you. It was Dave Duck. All right. Most

89
00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:19,360
of us knew him, and now you damn imposted you'd

90
00:06:19,360 --> 00:06:22,879
better tell me who you are. I'd give something to know,

91
00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:27,079
I said. A week later, I escaped from the guard

92
00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:29,839
house and got out of the country as fast as

93
00:06:29,879 --> 00:06:34,199
I could. Twice I have been back seeking for the

94
00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:37,680
faithful Spot in the hills, but unable to find it.

95
00:06:40,120 --> 00:06:43,839
The End of a Man with Two Lives by Ambrose

96
00:06:43,879 --> 00:06:44,240
Bierce