Sept. 27, 2024

The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe

The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe

From time to time I will perform a classic Poe just for you, my friends. Enjoy it! Get Cool Merchandise https://weeklyspooky.storenvy.com/ Contact Us/Submit a Story twitter.com/WeeklySpooky facebook.com/WeeklySpooky https://gmail.com/ Music by Ray...

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🎥 Produced by: Daniel Wilder
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One of my favorite memories of scaring myself as a

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child was getting a compilation book of Edgar Allan Poe's

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stories from my elementary school library. It brought me so

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much fear and so much excitement. I remember running home

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from school with that book in my backpack as the

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sky was dark and a storm was coming. I was

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in my childhood living room, but I wasn't alone. I

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had a pizza and the books of Poe. Every so

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often I'll bring you a tale of Poe, and I

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hope it gives you that scary fun sense, just the

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same as it does for me. So listen to these

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words from our sponsors, and when the clock strikes midnight,

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the story will begin. The Pit and the Pendulum by

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Edgar Allan Poe Impia tortum long as hic turba for

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us sanguinese in aqui non setiata aluit so speak nunc

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patria fracto, nunc fons antro mors ube dyrefut vita salus

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patent quatrain composed for the gates of a market to

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be erected upon the site of the Jacobin clubhouse at Paris.

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I was sick, sick unto death with that long agony,

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And when they at length unbound me and I was

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permitted to sit, I felt that my senses were leaving me.

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The sentence, the dread sentence of death, was the last

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of distinct accentuation which reached my ears. After that, the

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sound of the inquisitorial voices seemed merged in one dreamy,

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indeterminate hum. It conveyed to my soul the idea of revolution,

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perhaps from its association and fancy with the burr of

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

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I heard no one. 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 robed 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 enrapid 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, slender angels who would save me. But

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then all at once there came a most deadly nausea

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over my spirit, and I felt every fiber in my

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frame thrill, as if I had touched the wire of

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a galvanic battery. While the angel forms became meaningless specters

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with heads of flame, and I saw that from them

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there would be no help. And then there stole into

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

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what sweet rest there must be in the grave. The

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thought came gently and stealthily, and it seemed long before

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it attained full appreciation. But just as my spirit came

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at length properly to feel and entertain it, the figures

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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 and night were the universe. I

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had swooned. But still will not say that all of

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consciousness was lost. What of it there remained, I will

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not attempt to define or even describe. Yet all was

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not lost in the deepest slumber, No in delirium, no

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in a swoon, No in death, no even in the grave.

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

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Arousing from the most profound of slumbers, we break the

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

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so frail may that web have been, we remember not

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that we have dreamed. In the return to life from

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the swoon, there are two stages, first that of the

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sense of mental or spiritual, secondly that of the sense

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of physical existence. It seems probable that, if upon reaching

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the second stage we could recall the impressions of the first,

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we should find these impressions eloquent in memories of the

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gulf beyond. And that gulf is what, How at least

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shall we distinguish its shadows from those of the tomb.

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But if the impressions of what I have termed the

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first stage are not at will recalled, yet after long interval,

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do 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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in 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 epoch assures me could

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have had reference only to that condition of seeming unconsciousness.

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These shadows of memory tell indistinctly of tall figures that

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

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till a hideous dizziness oppressed me at the mere idea

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of the interminableness of the descent. They tell also of

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a vague horror at my heart on account of that

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heart's unnatural stillness. Then comes a sense of sudden motionlessness

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throughout all things, as if those who bore me a

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ghastly train had outrun in their descent the limits of

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the limitless, and paused from the wearisomeness of their toil.

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After this I call to mind flatness and dampness. And

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then all is madness, the madness of a memory which

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busies itself among forbidden things. Very suddenly there came back

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to my soul. Motion and sound, the tumultuous motion of

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the heart, and in my ears the sound of its beating.

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Then a pause in which all is blank. Then again

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sound 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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and earnest endeavor to comprehend my true state. Then a

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strong desire to lapse into insensibility, then a rushing revival

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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 latter day and much earnestness of endeavor

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have enabled me to vaguely recall. So far I have

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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 to employ my vision. I dreaded the first

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glance at objects around me. It was not that I

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feared to look upon things horrible, but that I grew

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aghast lest there should be nothing to see. At length,

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with a wild desperation at heart, I quickly unclosed my eyes.

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My worst thoughts then 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 mine the inquisitorial

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proceedings 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 Ottos Daffi, and one of these had

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been held on the very night of the day of

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my trial. Had I been remanded to my dungeon to

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await the next sacrifice, which would not take place for

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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 light was not altogether excluded. A fearful idea now

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suddenly drove the blood in torrents upon my heart, and

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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 and 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 return 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 when 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 insupperable. I tore a part of

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the hem from the robe and placed the fragment at

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full length and at right angles to the wall. Engroping

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my way around the prison, I could not fail to

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encounter this rag upon completing the circuit, so at least,

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I thought. But I had not counted upon the extent

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of the dungeon, or upon my own weakness. The ground

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was moist and slippery. I staggered onward for some time.

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When I stumbled and fell. My excessive fatigue induced me

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to remain prostrate, and sleep soon overtook me. As I lay.

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Upon awaking and stretching forth an arm I found beside

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me a loaf and a pitcher with water. I was

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too much exhausted to reflect upon my circumstance, but ate

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and drank with avidity. Shortly after I resumed my tour

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around the prison, and with much toil, came at last

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upon the fragment of the surge. Up to the period

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when I fell, I had counted fifty two paces, and

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upon resuming my walk, I had counted forty eight more.

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When I arrived at the rag, there were in all

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then a hundred paces, and admitting two paces to the yard,

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I presumed the dungeon to be fifty yards in circuit.

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I had met, however, with many angles in the wall,

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and thus I could form no guess at the shape

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of the vault. For vault, I could not help supposing

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it to be. I had little object, certainly no hope

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in these researches, but a vague curiosity prompted me to

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continue them. Quitting the wall, I resolved to cross the

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area of the enclosure. At first, I proceeded with extreme caution,

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for the floor, although seemingly of solid material, was treacherous

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with slime. At length. However, I took courage and did

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not hesitate to step firmly, endeavoring to cross in as

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direct a line as possible. I had advanced some ten

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or twelve paces in this manner when the remnant of

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00:17:40.920 --> 00:17:44.960
the torn hem of my robe became entangled between my legs.

224
00:17:45.720 --> 00:17:49.079
I stepped on it and fell violently on my face.

225
00:17:50.480 --> 00:17:54.079
In the confusion attending my fall, I did not immediately

226
00:17:54.119 --> 00:17:58.640
apprehend a somewhat startling circumstance, which Yet in a few

227
00:17:58.759 --> 00:18:03.160
seconds afterward, and while I still lay prostrate, arrested my attention.

228
00:18:04.039 --> 00:18:07.200
It was this My chin rested upon the floor of

229
00:18:07.240 --> 00:18:09.920
the prison, but my lips and the upper portion of

230
00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:13.839
my head, although seemingly at a less elevation than the chin,

231
00:18:14.119 --> 00:18:17.880
touched nothing. At the same time, my forehead seemed bathed

232
00:18:17.960 --> 00:18:21.200
in a clammy vapor, and the peculiar smell of decayed

233
00:18:21.279 --> 00:18:25.480
fungus arose to my nostrils. I put forward my arm

234
00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:28.039
and shuddered to find that I had fallen at the

235
00:18:28.160 --> 00:18:32.519
very brink of a circular pit, whose extent, of course,

236
00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:37.720
I had no means of ascertaining at the moment. Groping

237
00:18:37.799 --> 00:18:41.240
about the masonry just below the margin, I succeeded in

238
00:18:41.319 --> 00:18:45.000
dislodging a small fragment and let it fall into the abyss.

239
00:18:46.200 --> 00:18:49.720
For many seconds, I hearkened to its reverberations as it

240
00:18:49.839 --> 00:18:52.599
dashed against the sides of the chasm in its descent.

241
00:18:53.519 --> 00:18:58.119
At length, there was a sullen plunge into water, succeeded

242
00:18:58.200 --> 00:19:01.839
by loud echoes. At the same moment, there came a

243
00:19:01.960 --> 00:19:05.400
sound resembling the quick opening and as rapid closing of

244
00:19:05.480 --> 00:19:09.000
a door overhead. While a faint gleam of light flashed

245
00:19:09.079 --> 00:19:14.880
suddenly through the gloom, and as suddenly faded away, I

246
00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:18.400
saw clearly the doom which had been prepared for me,

247
00:19:19.240 --> 00:19:23.480
and congratulated myself upon the timely accident by which I

248
00:19:23.559 --> 00:19:28.079
had escaped another step before my fall, and the world

249
00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:31.920
had seen me no more, and the death just avoided.

250
00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:36.119
Was that very character which I had regarded as fabulous

251
00:19:36.839 --> 00:19:41.200
and frivolous in the tales respecting the Inquisition. To the

252
00:19:41.319 --> 00:19:44.480
victims of its tyranny. There was the choice of death,

253
00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:49.079
with its direst physical agonies, or death with its most

254
00:19:49.200 --> 00:19:53.119
hideous moral horrors. I had been reserved for the latter

255
00:19:53.920 --> 00:19:57.559
By long suffering. My nerves had been unstrung until I

256
00:19:57.720 --> 00:20:00.319
trembled at the sound of my own voice, and had

257
00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:04.079
become in every respect a fitting subject for the specters

258
00:20:04.160 --> 00:20:08.799
of torture which awaited me. Shaking in every limb, I

259
00:20:08.920 --> 00:20:12.319
groped my way back to the wall, resolving there to

260
00:20:12.480 --> 00:20:16.160
perish rather than risk the terrors of the wells of

261
00:20:16.279 --> 00:20:20.519
which my imagination now pictured many in various positions about

262
00:20:20.559 --> 00:20:24.400
the dungeon. In other conditions of mind, I might have

263
00:20:24.480 --> 00:20:27.920
had courage to end my misery at once by a

264
00:20:28.039 --> 00:20:31.400
plunge into one of these abysses. But now I was

265
00:20:31.519 --> 00:20:35.039
the veriest of cowards. Neither could I forget what I

266
00:20:35.119 --> 00:20:38.839
had read about these pits, that the sudden extinction of

267
00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:43.720
life formed no part of their most horrible plan. Agitation

268
00:20:43.880 --> 00:20:47.319
of spirit kept me awake for many long hours, but

269
00:20:47.440 --> 00:20:52.359
at length I again slumbered. Upon arousing, I found my side,

270
00:20:52.759 --> 00:20:57.079
as before, a loaf and a pitcher of water. A

271
00:20:57.200 --> 00:21:00.640
burning thirst consumed me, and I emptied the vessel at

272
00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:05.000
a draft. It must have been drugged, for scarcely had

273
00:21:05.039 --> 00:21:10.559
I drunk before I became irresistibly drowsy. A deep sleep

274
00:21:10.759 --> 00:21:15.039
fell upon me, a sleep like that of death. How

275
00:21:15.160 --> 00:21:18.480
long it lasted, of course, I know not. But when

276
00:21:18.680 --> 00:21:22.799
once again I unclosed my eyes, the objects around me

277
00:21:23.359 --> 00:21:28.200
were visible by a wild, sulfurious luster, the origin of

278
00:21:28.279 --> 00:21:31.440
which I could not at first determine. I was enabled

279
00:21:31.480 --> 00:21:35.279
to see the extent and aspect of the prison. In

280
00:21:35.400 --> 00:21:39.519
its size I had been greatly mistaken. The whole circuit

281
00:21:39.559 --> 00:21:43.039
of its walls did not exceed twenty five yards. For

282
00:21:43.200 --> 00:21:46.960
some minutes, this fact occasioned me a world of vain trouble.

283
00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:51.680
Vain indeed, for what could be of less importance under

284
00:21:51.759 --> 00:21:57.160
the terrible circumstances which environed me than the mere dimensions

285
00:21:57.799 --> 00:22:01.960
of my dungeon. But my soul took a wild interest

286
00:22:02.039 --> 00:22:05.680
in trifles, and I busied myself in endeavors to account

287
00:22:05.720 --> 00:22:09.200
for the error I had committed in my measurement. The

288
00:22:09.319 --> 00:22:13.039
truth at length flashed upon me. In my first attempt

289
00:22:13.079 --> 00:22:17.200
at exploration, I had counted fifty two paces up to

290
00:22:17.319 --> 00:22:20.599
the period when I fell. I must have then been

291
00:22:20.680 --> 00:22:23.440
within a pace or two of the fragment of surge.

292
00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:27.160
In fact, I had nearly performed the circuit from the vault.

293
00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:31.759
I then slept, and upon awaking I must have returned

294
00:22:31.839 --> 00:22:35.480
upon my steps, thus supposing the circuit nearly double what

295
00:22:35.559 --> 00:22:39.799
it actually was. My confusion of mind prevented me from

296
00:22:39.839 --> 00:22:43.079
observing that I began my tour with the wall to

297
00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:46.400
the left and ended it with the wall to the right.

298
00:22:47.720 --> 00:22:51.440
I had been deceived too, in respect to the shape

299
00:22:51.480 --> 00:22:55.359
of the enclosure. In feeling my way, I had found

300
00:22:55.480 --> 00:22:59.640
many angles, and thus deduced an idea of great irregularity.

301
00:23:00.119 --> 00:23:03.359
So potent is the effect of total darkness upon one

302
00:23:03.480 --> 00:23:07.599
arousing from lethargy or sleep. The angles were simply those

303
00:23:07.680 --> 00:23:11.480
of a few slight depressions or niches at odd intervals.

304
00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:17.039
The general shape of the prison was square. What I

305
00:23:17.119 --> 00:23:20.839
had taken for masonry seemed now to be iron or

306
00:23:21.000 --> 00:23:25.119
some other metal, in huge plates whose sutures or joints

307
00:23:25.200 --> 00:23:29.960
occasioned the depression. The entire surface of this metallic enclosure

308
00:23:30.319 --> 00:23:33.880
was rudely daubed in all the hideous and repulsive devices

309
00:23:33.960 --> 00:23:38.000
to which the Charnel superstition of the monks has given rise.

310
00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:43.160
The figures of fiends and aspects of menace, with skeleton

311
00:23:43.279 --> 00:23:48.039
forms and other more really fearful images overspread and disfigured

312
00:23:48.079 --> 00:23:52.559
the walls. I observed that the outlines of these monstrosities

313
00:23:52.759 --> 00:23:57.880
were sufficiently distinct, but that the colors seemed faded and blurred,

314
00:23:58.319 --> 00:24:01.720
as if from the effects of a damp atmosphere. I

315
00:24:01.880 --> 00:24:05.599
now noticed the floor, too, which was of stone. In

316
00:24:05.720 --> 00:24:09.079
the center yawned the circular pit from whose jaws I

317
00:24:09.160 --> 00:24:12.880
had escaped, but it was the only one in the dungeon.

318
00:24:13.880 --> 00:24:17.640
All this I saw indistinctly, and by much effort, for

319
00:24:17.799 --> 00:24:21.880
my personal condition had been greatly changed during slumber. I

320
00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:25.759
now lay upon my back and at full length on

321
00:24:25.880 --> 00:24:29.559
a species of low framework of wood. To this I

322
00:24:29.720 --> 00:24:33.480
was securely bound by a long strap resembling a surcingle.

323
00:24:34.240 --> 00:24:37.599
It passed in many convolutions around my limbs and body,

324
00:24:38.039 --> 00:24:41.720
leaving at liberty only my head and my left arm,

325
00:24:41.839 --> 00:24:44.640
to such an extent that I could, by dint of

326
00:24:44.759 --> 00:24:48.440
much exertion, supply myself with food from an earthen dish,

327
00:24:48.759 --> 00:24:52.039
which lay by my side on the floor. I saw

328
00:24:52.559 --> 00:24:56.000
to my horror that the pitcher had been removed, I

329
00:24:56.160 --> 00:24:59.759
say to my horror, for I was consumed with intolerable

330
00:24:59.799 --> 00:25:03.440
thing thirst. This thirst, it appeared to be the design

331
00:25:03.519 --> 00:25:06.799
of my persecutors to stimulate. For the food in the

332
00:25:06.880 --> 00:25:11.920
dish was meat pungently seasoned. Looking upward, I surveyed the

333
00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:15.279
ceiling of my prison. It was some thirty or forty

334
00:25:15.359 --> 00:25:19.759
feet overhead, and constructed much as the side walls. In

335
00:25:19.880 --> 00:25:23.440
one of its panels, a very singular figure riveted my

336
00:25:23.599 --> 00:25:27.839
whole attention. It was the painted figure of Time, as

337
00:25:27.880 --> 00:25:31.640
he is commonly represented, save that in lieu of a

338
00:25:31.759 --> 00:25:36.079
scythe He held what, at a casual glance I supposed

339
00:25:36.119 --> 00:25:40.240
to be the pictured image of a huge pendulum, such

340
00:25:40.279 --> 00:25:44.400
as we see on antique clocks. There was something, however,

341
00:25:44.880 --> 00:25:47.920
in the appearance of this machine, which caused me to

342
00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:52.400
regard it more attentively. While I gazed directly upward at it,

343
00:25:53.279 --> 00:25:57.160
for its position was immediately over my own, I fancied

344
00:25:57.200 --> 00:26:00.960
that I saw it in motion. In an instant afterward,

345
00:26:01.039 --> 00:26:05.119
the fancy was confirmed. Its sweep was brief and of

346
00:26:05.279 --> 00:26:11.000
course slow. I watched it for some minutes, somewhat in fear,

347
00:26:11.640 --> 00:26:15.839
but more in wonder. Wearied at length with observing its

348
00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:19.240
dull movement, I turned my eyes upon the other objects

349
00:26:19.279 --> 00:26:22.680
in the cell. A slight noise attracted my notice, and

350
00:26:22.839 --> 00:26:26.640
looking to the floor, I saw several enormous rats traversing it.

351
00:26:27.559 --> 00:26:30.079
They had issued from the well, which lay just within

352
00:26:30.240 --> 00:26:34.359
view to my right. Even then, while I gazed, they

353
00:26:34.440 --> 00:26:38.880
came up in troops, hurriedly, with ravenous eyes, allured by

354
00:26:38.960 --> 00:26:42.519
the scent of the meat. From this it required much

355
00:26:42.599 --> 00:26:46.359
effort and attention to scare them away. It might have

356
00:26:46.440 --> 00:26:50.119
been half an hour, perhaps even an hour, for I

357
00:26:50.240 --> 00:26:54.079
could take but imperfect note of time. Before I again

358
00:26:54.400 --> 00:26:59.440
cast my eyes upward. What I saw then confounded and

359
00:26:59.640 --> 00:27:03.519
amazed me. The sweep of the pendulum had increased in

360
00:27:03.640 --> 00:27:07.720
extent by nearly a yard. As a natural consequence, its

361
00:27:07.799 --> 00:27:12.640
velocity was also much greater. But what mainly disturbed me

362
00:27:13.200 --> 00:27:17.559
was the idea that it had perceptibly descended I now

363
00:27:17.680 --> 00:27:21.319
observed with what horror. It is needless to say that

364
00:27:21.480 --> 00:27:25.400
its nether extremity was formed of a crescent of glistening steel,

365
00:27:26.079 --> 00:27:29.799
about a foot in length from horn to horn, the

366
00:27:29.920 --> 00:27:33.519
horns upward, and the under edge evidently as keen as

367
00:27:33.599 --> 00:27:37.400
that of a razor. Like a razor, also, it seemed

368
00:27:37.480 --> 00:27:41.359
massy and heavy, tapering from the edge into a solid

369
00:27:41.440 --> 00:27:45.480
and broad structure. Above it was appended to a weighty

370
00:27:45.599 --> 00:27:49.799
rod of brass, and the whole hissed as it swung

371
00:27:50.400 --> 00:27:54.559
through the air. I could no longer doubt the doom

372
00:27:54.720 --> 00:27:59.440
prepared for me by Monkish ingenuity and torture. My cognizance

373
00:27:59.519 --> 00:28:03.079
of the pit had become known to the inquisitorial agents,

374
00:28:03.759 --> 00:28:07.480
the pit whose horrors had been destined for so bold

375
00:28:07.559 --> 00:28:12.400
a recusant as myself, the pit typical of Hell, as

376
00:28:12.480 --> 00:28:17.279
the ultimathuel of all their punishments. The plunge into this

377
00:28:17.519 --> 00:28:20.559
pit I had avoided by the merest of accidents, And

378
00:28:20.680 --> 00:28:24.359
I knew that surprise or entrapment into torment formed an

379
00:28:24.400 --> 00:28:28.599
important portion of all the grotesquerie of these dungeon deaths.

380
00:28:29.519 --> 00:28:32.079
Having failed to fall, it was no part of the

381
00:28:32.160 --> 00:28:35.759
demon plan to hurl me into the abyss, and thus

382
00:28:36.519 --> 00:28:41.759
there being no alternative, a different and milder destruction awaited me.

383
00:28:42.799 --> 00:28:47.000
Milder I half smiled in my agony as I thought

384
00:28:47.039 --> 00:28:51.279
of such application of such a term. What boots it

385
00:28:51.400 --> 00:28:54.759
to tell of the long, long hours of horror more

386
00:28:54.880 --> 00:28:58.720
than mortal, during which I counted the rushing oscillations of

387
00:28:58.799 --> 00:29:04.480
the steel, inch by inch, line by line, with a

388
00:29:04.559 --> 00:29:10.519
descent only appreciable at intervals that seemed ages down and

389
00:29:10.759 --> 00:29:14.839
still down. It came days passed. It might have been

390
00:29:14.920 --> 00:29:18.400
that many days past ere it swept so closely over

391
00:29:18.519 --> 00:29:21.880
me as to fan me with its acrid breath. The

392
00:29:22.039 --> 00:29:25.880
odor of the sharp steel forced itself into my nostrils.

393
00:29:26.200 --> 00:29:29.240
I prayed, I wearied Heaven with my prayer for its

394
00:29:29.319 --> 00:29:33.440
more speedy descent. I grew frantically mad and struggled to

395
00:29:33.519 --> 00:29:36.920
force myself upward against the sweep of the fearful scimitar.

396
00:29:38.359 --> 00:29:46.000
And then I fell suddenly calm, and lay smiling at

397
00:29:46.039 --> 00:29:51.079
the glittering death as a child. At some rare bauble.

398
00:29:53.000 --> 00:29:57.200
There was another interval of utter insensibility. It was brief,

399
00:29:57.359 --> 00:30:00.640
for upon again lapsing into life, there had been no

400
00:30:00.839 --> 00:30:04.839
perceptible descent in the pendulum. But it might have been long,

401
00:30:05.559 --> 00:30:08.680
for I knew there were demons who took note of

402
00:30:08.799 --> 00:30:12.240
my swoon, and who could have arrested the vibration at pleasure.

403
00:30:13.359 --> 00:30:19.400
Upon my recovery, too, I felt very, oh inexpressibly sick

404
00:30:20.079 --> 00:30:24.920
and weak, as if through long inanition, Even amid the

405
00:30:25.039 --> 00:30:29.559
agonies of that period, the human nature craved food with

406
00:30:29.759 --> 00:30:32.960
painful effort. I outstretched my left arm as far as

407
00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:36.519
my bounds permitted, and took possession of the small remnant

408
00:30:36.960 --> 00:30:40.039
which had been spared me by the rats. As I

409
00:30:40.119 --> 00:30:42.960
put a portion of it within my lips, there rushed

410
00:30:43.000 --> 00:30:47.039
to my mind a half formed thought of joy, of hope.

411
00:30:48.240 --> 00:30:51.440
Yet what business had I with hope? It was, as

412
00:30:51.519 --> 00:30:55.440
I say, a half formed thought. Man has many such

413
00:30:55.680 --> 00:30:59.440
which are never completed. I felt that it was of joy,

414
00:30:59.759 --> 00:31:03.240
of hope. But I felt also that it had perished

415
00:31:03.279 --> 00:31:07.519
in its formation in vain. I struggled to perfect to

416
00:31:07.640 --> 00:31:12.160
regain it. Long suffering had nearly annihilated all my ordinary

417
00:31:12.279 --> 00:31:17.559
powers of mind, I was an imbecile, an idiot. The

418
00:31:17.720 --> 00:31:20.759
vibration of the pendulum was at right angles to my length.

419
00:31:21.599 --> 00:31:24.440
I saw that the crescent was designed to cross the

420
00:31:24.519 --> 00:31:27.960
region of the heart. It would fray the surge of

421
00:31:28.039 --> 00:31:32.880
my robe. It would return and repeat its operations again

422
00:31:33.839 --> 00:31:39.559
and again. Notwithstanding its terrifically wide sweep some thirty feet

423
00:31:39.640 --> 00:31:43.200
or more, and the hissing vigor of its descent sufficient

424
00:31:43.279 --> 00:31:46.960
to sunder these very walls of iron. Still, the fraying

425
00:31:47.039 --> 00:31:49.799
of my robe would be all that for several minutes

426
00:31:49.839 --> 00:31:55.240
it would accomplish. And at this thought I paused. I

427
00:31:55.440 --> 00:31:59.480
dared not go further than this reflection. I dwelt upon

428
00:31:59.559 --> 00:32:02.839
it with a pertinacity of attention, as if in so

429
00:32:03.119 --> 00:32:06.720
dwelling I could arrest here the descent of the steel.

430
00:32:07.599 --> 00:32:10.039
I forced myself to ponder upon the sound of the

431
00:32:10.119 --> 00:32:13.799
crescent as it should pass across the garment, Upon the

432
00:32:13.920 --> 00:32:18.359
peculiar thrilling sensation which the friction of cloth produces on

433
00:32:18.480 --> 00:32:23.119
the nerves. I pondered upon all this frivolity until my

434
00:32:23.279 --> 00:32:32.079
teeth were on edge. Down steadily down it crept. I

435
00:32:32.200 --> 00:32:35.920
took a frenzied pleasure in contrasting its downward, with its

436
00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:41.960
lateral velocity, to the right, to the left, far and wide,

437
00:32:42.559 --> 00:32:44.960
with the shriek of a damned spirit to my heart,

438
00:32:45.359 --> 00:32:49.599
with the stealthy pace of the tiger, I alternately laughed

439
00:32:49.680 --> 00:32:56.440
and howled as the one or the other idea grew predominant, down, certainly,

440
00:32:57.000 --> 00:33:01.160
relentlessly down. It vibrated within three inches of my bosom.

441
00:33:01.960 --> 00:33:06.519
I struggled violently, furiously to free my left arm. This

442
00:33:06.839 --> 00:33:09.720
was free only from the elbow to the hand. I

443
00:33:09.799 --> 00:33:12.880
could reach the ladder from the platter beside me to

444
00:33:13.119 --> 00:33:17.240
my mouth with great effort. But no farther could I

445
00:33:17.359 --> 00:33:20.480
have broken the fastenings above the elbow. I would have

446
00:33:20.599 --> 00:33:23.519
seized and attempted to arrest the pendulum. I might as

447
00:33:23.559 --> 00:33:29.640
well have attempted to arrest an avalanche. Down, still, unceasingly, still,

448
00:33:29.759 --> 00:33:34.720
inevitably down, I gasped and struggled at each vibration. I

449
00:33:34.880 --> 00:33:39.119
shrunk convulsively at its every sweep. My eyes followed its

450
00:33:39.160 --> 00:33:42.400
outward or upward whirls with the eagerness of the most

451
00:33:42.559 --> 00:33:48.640
unmeaning despair. They closed themselves spasmodically at the descent. Although

452
00:33:48.839 --> 00:33:54.359
death would have been a relief, Oh how unspeakable. Still,

453
00:33:54.480 --> 00:33:57.160
I quivered in every nerve to think how slight a

454
00:33:57.279 --> 00:34:02.559
sinking of the machinery would precipitate that keen, glistening axe

455
00:34:02.960 --> 00:34:07.359
upon my bosom. It was hope that prompted the nerve

456
00:34:07.480 --> 00:34:10.840
to quiver, the frame to shrink. It was hope, the

457
00:34:11.000 --> 00:34:14.199
hope that triumphs on the rack that whispers to the

458
00:34:14.280 --> 00:34:18.320
death condemned. Even in the dungeons of the inquisition, I

459
00:34:18.480 --> 00:34:21.320
saw that some ten or twelve vibrations would bring the

460
00:34:21.400 --> 00:34:26.800
steel in actual contact with my robe. And with this observation,

461
00:34:27.000 --> 00:34:30.679
there suddenly came over my spirit all the keen collected

462
00:34:30.840 --> 00:34:35.039
calmness of despair. For the first time during many hours

463
00:34:35.159 --> 00:34:39.400
or perhaps days, I thought, it now occurred to me

464
00:34:39.760 --> 00:34:44.840
that the bandage or surcingle which enveloped me was unique.

465
00:34:45.960 --> 00:34:49.840
I was tied by no separate cord. The first stroke

466
00:34:49.920 --> 00:34:52.800
of the razor like crescent athwart any portion of the

467
00:34:52.880 --> 00:34:56.320
band would so detach it that it might be unwound

468
00:34:56.400 --> 00:35:00.360
from my person by means of my left hand. But

469
00:35:00.519 --> 00:35:03.360
how fearful in that case the proximity of the steel

470
00:35:03.800 --> 00:35:09.679
the result of the slightest struggle, How deadly was it likely? Moreover,

471
00:35:09.840 --> 00:35:12.719
that the minions of the torturer had not foreseen and

472
00:35:12.880 --> 00:35:16.760
provided for this possibility. Was it probable that the bandage

473
00:35:16.840 --> 00:35:20.800
crossed my bosom in the track of the pendulum. Dreading

474
00:35:20.880 --> 00:35:25.639
defined my feint, and, as it seemed, my last hope. Frustrated,

475
00:35:26.119 --> 00:35:28.559
I so far elevated my head as to obtain a

476
00:35:28.679 --> 00:35:33.119
distinct view of my breast. The surcingle enveloped my limbs

477
00:35:33.239 --> 00:35:37.039
and body close in all directions save in the path

478
00:35:37.400 --> 00:35:41.199
of the destroying crescent. Scarcely had I dropped my head

479
00:35:41.320 --> 00:35:44.639
back into its original position, when there flashed upon my

480
00:35:44.840 --> 00:35:48.239
mind what I cannot better describe than as the unformed

481
00:35:48.320 --> 00:35:51.079
half of that idea of which deliverance to which I

482
00:35:51.159 --> 00:35:55.800
have previously alluded, and of which amity only floated indeterminately

483
00:35:55.920 --> 00:35:59.320
through my brain when I raised food to my burning lips.

484
00:36:00.039 --> 00:36:05.760
The whole thought was now present, feeble, scarcely sane, scarcely definite,

485
00:36:06.199 --> 00:36:10.519
but still entire. I proceeded at once, with the nervous

486
00:36:10.679 --> 00:36:15.880
energy of despair, to attempt its execution. For many hours,

487
00:36:15.960 --> 00:36:18.920
the immediate vicinity of the low framework upon which I

488
00:36:19.079 --> 00:36:25.960
lay had been literally swarming with rats. They were wild, bold, ravenous,

489
00:36:26.519 --> 00:36:29.360
Their red eyes glaring upon me as if they waited

490
00:36:29.440 --> 00:36:32.679
but for the motionlessness on my part, to make me

491
00:36:32.840 --> 00:36:37.480
their prey to what food? I thought, have they been accustomed?

492
00:36:37.880 --> 00:36:41.400
In the well they had devoured in spite of all

493
00:36:41.519 --> 00:36:44.599
my efforts to prevent them, all but a small remnant

494
00:36:44.719 --> 00:36:47.840
of the contents of the dish. I had fallen into

495
00:36:47.880 --> 00:36:51.000
an habitual see saw or wave of the hand about

496
00:36:51.039 --> 00:36:55.320
the platter, And at length the unconscious uniformity of the

497
00:36:55.440 --> 00:37:00.400
movement deprived it of effect. In their veracity, the vermin

498
00:37:00.480 --> 00:37:04.719
frequently fastened their sharp fangs in my fingers. With the

499
00:37:04.800 --> 00:37:08.159
particles of the oily and spicy viand which now remained,

500
00:37:08.519 --> 00:37:12.119
I thoroughly rubbed the bandage wherever I could reach it. Then,

501
00:37:12.719 --> 00:37:16.400
raising my hand from the floor, I lay breathlessly still.

502
00:37:17.639 --> 00:37:20.880
At first the ravenous animals were startled and terrified at

503
00:37:20.920 --> 00:37:25.639
the change. At the cessation of movement, they shrank alarmedly back.

504
00:37:26.199 --> 00:37:29.360
Many sought the well. But this was only for a moment.

505
00:37:30.039 --> 00:37:33.840
I had not counted in vain upon their veracity. Observing

506
00:37:33.920 --> 00:37:36.800
that I remained without motion, one or two of the

507
00:37:36.880 --> 00:37:40.880
boldest leaped upon the framework and smelt at the surcigal.

508
00:37:41.840 --> 00:37:45.280
This seemed the signal for a general rush forth from

509
00:37:45.320 --> 00:37:48.519
the well. They hurried in fresh troops. They clung to

510
00:37:48.599 --> 00:37:51.960
the wood, they overran it, and leaped in hundreds upon

511
00:37:52.079 --> 00:37:55.760
my person. The measured movement of the pendulum disturbed them.

512
00:37:55.840 --> 00:37:59.559
Not at all avoiding its strokes, they busied themselves with

513
00:37:59.599 --> 00:38:03.840
the annoyinted bandage they pressed. They swarmed upon me, in

514
00:38:03.960 --> 00:38:08.320
ever accumulating heaps. They writhed upon my throat. Their cold

515
00:38:08.400 --> 00:38:11.639
lips sought my own. I was half stifled by their

516
00:38:11.719 --> 00:38:15.159
thronging pressure. Disgust for which the world has no name,

517
00:38:15.639 --> 00:38:19.119
swelled my bosom and chilled with a heavy clamminess my heart.

518
00:38:20.119 --> 00:38:23.320
Yet one minute and I felt that the struggle would

519
00:38:23.360 --> 00:38:27.400
be over. Plainly I perceived the loosening of the bandage.

520
00:38:27.880 --> 00:38:30.119
I knew that in more than one place it must

521
00:38:30.199 --> 00:38:34.159
be already severed with a more than human resolution. I

522
00:38:34.320 --> 00:38:38.239
lay still. Nor had I erred in my calculations, nor

523
00:38:38.320 --> 00:38:41.079
had I endured in vain. I at length felt that

524
00:38:41.239 --> 00:38:45.480
I was free. The surcingle hung in ribbons from my body.

525
00:38:46.639 --> 00:38:49.800
But the stroke of the pendulum already pressed upon my bosom.

526
00:38:50.360 --> 00:38:53.000
It had divided the surge of the robe. It had

527
00:38:53.039 --> 00:38:55.920
cut through the linen beneath twice again it swung in

528
00:38:56.000 --> 00:38:59.400
a sharp sense of pain shot through every nerve. But

529
00:38:59.519 --> 00:39:03.280
the moment of escape had arrived. At a wave of

530
00:39:03.400 --> 00:39:09.679
my hand. My deliverers hurried tumultuously away with a steady movement, cautious, sidelong,

531
00:39:09.840 --> 00:39:12.840
shrinking and slow, I slid from the embrace of the

532
00:39:12.920 --> 00:39:16.400
bandage and beyond the reach of the scimitar. For the

533
00:39:16.519 --> 00:39:20.960
moment at least I was free. Free, and in the

534
00:39:21.079 --> 00:39:24.320
grasp of the inquisition. I had scarcely stepped from my

535
00:39:24.440 --> 00:39:27.400
wooden bed of horror upon the stone floor of the prison.

536
00:39:27.639 --> 00:39:30.719
When the motion of the hellish machine ceased, and I

537
00:39:30.840 --> 00:39:35.400
beheld it drawn up by some invisible force through the ceiling.

538
00:39:36.119 --> 00:39:39.079
This was a lesson which I took desperately to heart.

539
00:39:39.960 --> 00:39:44.719
My every motion was undoubtedly watched. Free, I had but

540
00:39:44.960 --> 00:39:47.880
escaped death in one form of agony, to be delivered

541
00:39:47.960 --> 00:39:51.199
unto worse than death in some other. With that thought,

542
00:39:51.920 --> 00:39:54.880
I rolled my eyes nervously around on the barriers of

543
00:39:55.000 --> 00:40:00.239
iron that hemmed me in something unusual, some change which

544
00:40:00.280 --> 00:40:04.679
at first I could not appreciate. Distinctly, it was obvious

545
00:40:05.400 --> 00:40:08.639
had taken place in the apartment for many minutes of

546
00:40:08.719 --> 00:40:12.960
a dreamy and trembling abstraction, I busied myself in vain

547
00:40:13.159 --> 00:40:17.400
unconnected conjecture. During this period I became aware for the

548
00:40:17.480 --> 00:40:21.280
first time of the origin of the sulfurious light which

549
00:40:21.280 --> 00:40:25.920
illuminated the cell. It proceeded from a fissure about half

550
00:40:25.960 --> 00:40:29.400
an inch in width extending entirely around the prison at

551
00:40:29.440 --> 00:40:32.119
the base of the walls, which thus appeared and were

552
00:40:32.199 --> 00:40:35.920
completely separated from the floor. I endeavored, but of course

553
00:40:36.079 --> 00:40:40.000
in vain, to look through the aperture. As I arose

554
00:40:40.079 --> 00:40:42.800
from the attempt, the mystery of the alteration in the

555
00:40:42.880 --> 00:40:47.559
chamber broke at once upon my understanding. I have observed

556
00:40:47.639 --> 00:40:50.960
that although the outlines of the figures upon the walls

557
00:40:51.000 --> 00:40:55.480
were sufficiently distinct, yet the colors seemed blurred and indefinite.

558
00:40:55.960 --> 00:41:00.840
These colors had now assumed and were momentarily assuming a

559
00:41:01.000 --> 00:41:04.920
startling and most intense brilliancy that gave to the spectral

560
00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:08.400
and fiendish portraitures, an aspect that might have thrilled even

561
00:41:08.559 --> 00:41:13.159
firmer nerves than my own. Demon eyes of a wild

562
00:41:13.320 --> 00:41:17.400
and ghastly vivacity glared upon me in a thousand directions

563
00:41:17.880 --> 00:41:21.360
where none had been visible before, and gleamed with the

564
00:41:21.440 --> 00:41:24.079
lurid luster of a fire that I could not force

565
00:41:24.159 --> 00:41:30.000
my imagination to regard as unreal, unreal. Even while I breathed,

566
00:41:30.079 --> 00:41:32.519
there came to my nostrils the breath of the vapor

567
00:41:32.599 --> 00:41:36.760
of heated iron. A suffocating odor pervaded the prison. A

568
00:41:36.880 --> 00:41:39.800
deeper glow settled each moment in the eyes that glared

569
00:41:39.840 --> 00:41:43.679
at my agonies. A richer tint of crimson diffused itself

570
00:41:43.880 --> 00:41:48.360
over the pictured horrors of blood. I panted, I gasped

571
00:41:48.440 --> 00:41:51.320
for breath. There could be no doubt of the design

572
00:41:51.400 --> 00:41:56.639
of my tormentors, Oh most unrelenting, oh most demoniac of men.

573
00:41:57.599 --> 00:41:59.760
I shrank from the glowing metal to the center of

574
00:41:59.800 --> 00:42:03.079
the cell. Amid the thought of the fiery destruction that

575
00:42:03.199 --> 00:42:06.559
impended the idea of the coolness of the well came

576
00:42:06.599 --> 00:42:10.679
over my soul like a bone. I rushed to its

577
00:42:10.760 --> 00:42:15.239
deadly brink. I threw my straining vision below. The glare

578
00:42:15.320 --> 00:42:20.480
from the enkindled roof illuminated its inmost recesses. Yet for

579
00:42:20.599 --> 00:42:24.440
a wild moment did my spirit refuse to comprehend the

580
00:42:24.599 --> 00:42:27.800
meaning of what I saw. At length, it forced, it

581
00:42:27.920 --> 00:42:30.960
wrestled its way into my soul. It burned itself in

582
00:42:31.119 --> 00:42:35.000
upon my shuddering reason, Oh for a voice to speak,

583
00:42:35.360 --> 00:42:39.800
Oh horror, Oh, any horror. But this with a shriek,

584
00:42:40.079 --> 00:42:42.719
I rushed from the margin and buried my face and

585
00:42:42.800 --> 00:42:48.599
my hands, weeping bitterly. The heat rapidly increased, and once

586
00:42:48.679 --> 00:42:51.800
again I looked up, shuddering, as with a fit of

587
00:42:51.880 --> 00:42:55.199
the AGUEU. There had been a second change in the cell,

588
00:42:55.480 --> 00:42:59.599
and now the change was obviously in the form as before.

589
00:43:00.119 --> 00:43:02.599
It was in vain that I at first endeavored to

590
00:43:02.719 --> 00:43:06.639
appreciate or understand what was taking place. But not long

591
00:43:06.880 --> 00:43:10.159
was I left in doubt. The inquisitorial vengeance had been

592
00:43:10.239 --> 00:43:13.519
hurried by my twofold escape, and there was to be

593
00:43:13.679 --> 00:43:17.360
no more dallying with the King of terrors. The room

594
00:43:17.480 --> 00:43:20.400
had been square. I saw that two of its iron

595
00:43:20.480 --> 00:43:26.320
angles were now acute, two consequently obtuse. The fearful difference

596
00:43:26.440 --> 00:43:30.119
quickly increased with a low rumbling or moaning sound. In

597
00:43:30.199 --> 00:43:33.280
an instant, the apartment had shifted its form into that

598
00:43:33.880 --> 00:43:37.920
of a lozenge. But the alteration stopped. Not there I

599
00:43:38.079 --> 00:43:41.199
neither hoped nor desired it to stop. I could have

600
00:43:41.320 --> 00:43:43.920
clasped the red walls to my bosom as a garment

601
00:43:44.039 --> 00:43:48.880
of eternal peace. Death, I said, any death, but that

602
00:43:49.280 --> 00:43:53.480
of the pit. Fool Might I not have known that

603
00:43:53.679 --> 00:43:56.360
into the pit it was the object of the burning

604
00:43:56.440 --> 00:43:59.840
iron to urge me. Could I resist its glow? Or

605
00:44:00.039 --> 00:44:02.800
if even that, could I withstand its pressure? And now,

606
00:44:03.199 --> 00:44:06.559
flatter and flatter grew the lozenge with a rapidity that

607
00:44:06.719 --> 00:44:10.559
left me no time for contemplation. Its center, and of

608
00:44:10.679 --> 00:44:14.000
course its greatest width, came just over the yawning gulf.

609
00:44:14.599 --> 00:44:19.840
I shrank back, but the closing walls pressed me resistlessly onward,

610
00:44:20.719 --> 00:44:23.360
at length from my seared and writhing body. There was

611
00:44:23.440 --> 00:44:26.360
no longer an inch of foothold on the firm floor

612
00:44:26.480 --> 00:44:30.400
of the prison. I struggled no more, but the agony

613
00:44:30.480 --> 00:44:34.719
of my soul found vent in one loud, long and

614
00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.800
final scream of despair. I felt that I tottered upon

615
00:44:39.920 --> 00:44:43.880
the brink. I averted my eyes. There was a discordant

616
00:44:43.960 --> 00:44:48.039
hum of human voices. There was a loud blast, as

617
00:44:48.119 --> 00:44:51.039
of many trumpets. There was a harsh grating, as of

618
00:44:51.119 --> 00:44:55.559
a thousand thunders. The fiery walls rushed back. An outstretched

619
00:44:55.719 --> 00:44:59.760
arm caught my own as I fell, fainting into the abyss.

620
00:45:01.079 --> 00:45:04.920
It was that of General Lassalle. The French army had

621
00:45:05.039 --> 00:45:11.039
entered Toledo, the Inquisition was in the hands of its enemies.