1 00:01:02,196 --> 00:01:03,663 True. 2 00:01:03,697 --> 00:01:05,665 Nervous 3 00:01:05,699 --> 00:01:09,396 very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am... 4 00:01:09,436 --> 00:01:12,599 but why will you say that I am mad? 5 00:01:12,639 --> 00:01:15,608 The disease had sharpened my senses... 6 00:01:15,642 --> 00:01:17,769 not destroyed, not dulled them. 7 00:01:17,811 --> 00:01:22,771 Above all was the sense of hearing acute. 8 00:01:22,816 --> 00:01:26,183 I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. 9 00:01:26,220 --> 00:01:29,246 I heard many things in hell. 10 00:01:29,289 --> 00:01:32,349 How, then, am I mad? 11 00:01:32,392 --> 00:01:35,020 Hearken and observe how healthily... 12 00:01:35,062 --> 00:01:39,021 how calmly I can tell you the whole story. 13 00:01:39,066 --> 00:01:41,034 It is impossible to say... 14 00:01:41,068 --> 00:01:43,696 how first the idea entered my brain... 15 00:01:43,737 --> 00:01:48,037 but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. 16 00:01:48,075 --> 00:01:51,044 Object there was none. Passion there was none. 17 00:01:51,078 --> 00:01:53,706 I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. 18 00:01:53,747 --> 00:01:58,081 He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. 19 00:01:58,118 --> 00:02:03,146 I I think it was his eye. 20 00:02:03,190 --> 00:02:05,522 Yes, it was this. 21 00:02:05,559 --> 00:02:08,790 One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture... 22 00:02:08,829 --> 00:02:12,765 a pale blue eye with a film over it. 23 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:16,463 Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold. 24 00:02:16,503 --> 00:02:19,097 And so, by degrees, very gradually... 25 00:02:19,139 --> 00:02:24,167 I made up my mind to take the life of the old man... 26 00:02:24,211 --> 00:02:28,477 and thus to rid myself of the eye forever. 27 00:02:28,515 --> 00:02:32,747 Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. 28 00:02:32,786 --> 00:02:36,745 Well, madmen know nothing, but you should have seen me. 29 00:02:36,790 --> 00:02:39,350 You should have seen how wisely I proceeded... 30 00:02:39,393 --> 00:02:41,657 with what caution, with what foresight. 31 00:02:41,695 --> 00:02:43,663 I was never kinder to the old man... 32 00:02:43,697 --> 00:02:47,827 than during the whole week before I killed him. 33 00:02:47,868 --> 00:02:51,360 And every night, about midnight... 34 00:02:51,405 --> 00:02:54,533 I turned the latch of his door... 35 00:02:54,575 --> 00:02:58,875 and I opened it, oh, so gently. 36 00:02:58,912 --> 00:03:01,039 And then, when I had made an opening... 37 00:03:01,081 --> 00:03:02,708 sufficient for my head... 38 00:03:02,749 --> 00:03:05,217 I put in a dark lantern... 39 00:03:05,252 --> 00:03:09,211 all closed, closed so that no light shone out... 40 00:03:09,256 --> 00:03:11,986 and then I thrust in my head. 41 00:03:12,025 --> 00:03:14,493 Oh, you would have laughed to see... 42 00:03:14,528 --> 00:03:16,996 how cunningly I thrust it in. 43 00:03:17,030 --> 00:03:22,161 I moved it very slowly very, very slowly... 44 00:03:22,202 --> 00:03:26,161 so that I might not disturb the old man's sleep. 45 00:03:26,206 --> 00:03:28,674 It took me an hour... 46 00:03:28,709 --> 00:03:31,303 to place my whole head within the opening... 47 00:03:31,345 --> 00:03:35,782 so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed. 48 00:03:35,816 --> 00:03:39,183 Now, would a madman have been so wise as this? 49 00:03:39,219 --> 00:03:42,848 And then, when my head was well in the room... 50 00:03:42,890 --> 00:03:49,523 I undid the lantern cautiously, oh, so cautiously. 51 00:03:49,563 --> 00:03:52,031 I undid it just so much... 52 00:03:52,065 --> 00:03:56,229 that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye. 53 00:03:56,270 --> 00:04:01,071 This I did for 7 long nights, every night at midnight. 54 00:04:01,108 --> 00:04:06,239 But I found the eye always closed... 55 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:08,680 and so it was impossible to do the work... 56 00:04:08,715 --> 00:04:12,310 for it was not the old man who vexed me... 57 00:04:12,352 --> 00:04:14,047 but his evil eye. 58 00:04:14,087 --> 00:04:16,954 And every morning, when the day broke... 59 00:04:16,990 --> 00:04:19,458 I I went boldly into the chamber... 60 00:04:19,493 --> 00:04:21,518 and spoke courageously to him... 61 00:04:21,561 --> 00:04:24,291 calling him by name in a hearty tone... 62 00:04:24,331 --> 00:04:26,925 and inquiring how he had passed the night. 63 00:04:26,967 --> 00:04:28,434 So, you see, he would have been... 64 00:04:28,468 --> 00:04:30,936 a very profound old man indeed... 65 00:04:30,971 --> 00:04:34,372 to suspect that every night, just at 12:oo... 66 00:04:34,408 --> 00:04:37,309 I looked in upon him while he slept. 67 00:04:37,344 --> 00:04:40,177 Upon the eighth night... 68 00:04:40,213 --> 00:04:45,674 I was more than usually cautious in opening the door. 69 00:04:45,719 --> 00:04:50,679 A watch's minute hand moves more quickly than did mine. 70 00:04:50,724 --> 00:04:52,191 Never before that night... 71 00:04:52,225 --> 00:04:54,193 had I felt the extent of my own powers. 72 00:04:54,227 --> 00:04:57,628 I I could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph. 73 00:04:57,664 --> 00:04:59,359 I had my head in the room... 74 00:04:59,399 --> 00:05:01,890 and was about to open the lantern... 75 00:05:01,935 --> 00:05:05,371 when my thumb slipped on the tin fastening... 76 00:05:05,405 --> 00:05:07,202 and the old man sprang up in the bed... 77 00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:09,731 crying out, "Who's there?" 78 00:05:12,512 --> 00:05:15,606 I kept quite still and said nothing. 79 00:05:15,649 --> 00:05:20,677 For a whole hour, I did not move a muscle. 80 00:05:20,721 --> 00:05:24,122 And in the meantime, I did not hear him lie down. 81 00:05:24,157 --> 00:05:27,524 He was still sitting up in the bed listening. 82 00:05:27,561 --> 00:05:29,722 Presently I heard a slight groan... 83 00:05:29,763 --> 00:05:36,396 and I knew it was the groan of long, drawn out mortal terror. 84 00:05:36,436 --> 00:05:40,099 It was not a groan of pain or of grief. Oh, no. 85 00:05:40,140 --> 00:05:43,109 No, it was the low, stifled sound that arises... 86 00:05:43,143 --> 00:05:47,671 from the bottom of the soul when overcharged with awe. 87 00:05:47,714 --> 00:05:50,649 I knew the sound well. 88 00:05:50,684 --> 00:05:53,448 Many a night just at midnight, when all the world slept... 89 00:05:53,487 --> 00:05:55,512 it had welled up from my own bosom... 90 00:05:55,555 --> 00:05:57,182 deepening with its dreadful echo... 91 00:05:57,224 --> 00:06:01,718 the terrors that that distracted me. 92 00:06:01,762 --> 00:06:04,356 I say I knew it well. 93 00:06:04,398 --> 00:06:07,026 I I knew what the old man felt... 94 00:06:07,067 --> 00:06:11,128 and I pitied him, although I chuckled at heart. 95 00:06:11,171 --> 00:06:13,469 I I knew that he had been lying awake... 96 00:06:13,507 --> 00:06:15,475 ever since the first slight noise... 97 00:06:15,509 --> 00:06:17,602 when he had turned in the bed. 98 00:06:17,644 --> 00:06:19,839 His fears had been ever since growing upon him. 99 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:22,348 He had been trying to fancy them causeless... 100 00:06:22,382 --> 00:06:23,679 but could not. 101 00:06:23,717 --> 00:06:25,480 He had been saying to himself... 102 00:06:25,519 --> 00:06:27,987 "It's nothing but the wind in the chimney." 103 00:06:28,021 --> 00:06:30,649 "It's only a mouse crossing the floor." 104 00:06:30,690 --> 00:06:34,649 "It is merely a cricket which has made a single chirp." 105 00:06:34,694 --> 00:06:36,161 Yes. 106 00:06:36,196 --> 00:06:38,664 Yes, he had been trying to comfort himself... 107 00:06:38,698 --> 00:06:40,666 with these suppositions... 108 00:06:40,700 --> 00:06:43,396 but he had found it all in vain... 109 00:06:43,437 --> 00:06:46,668 because death, in approaching him... 110 00:06:46,706 --> 00:06:51,507 had stalked with his black shadow before him... 111 00:06:51,545 --> 00:06:53,979 and enveloped the victim. 112 00:06:54,014 --> 00:06:58,383 He felt the presence of my head within the room. 113 00:06:58,418 --> 00:07:01,148 When I had waited a long time, very patiently... 114 00:07:01,188 --> 00:07:05,921 without hearing him lie down, I resolved to open a little... 115 00:07:05,959 --> 00:07:09,986 a very, very little crevice in the lantern. 116 00:07:10,030 --> 00:07:11,224 So I opened it... 117 00:07:11,264 --> 00:07:13,732 oh, you cannot imagine how stealthily... 118 00:07:13,767 --> 00:07:17,066 until at length, a single dim ray... 119 00:07:17,104 --> 00:07:18,696 like the thread of a spider... 120 00:07:18,738 --> 00:07:22,196 shot from out the crevice and full upon the vulture eye. 121 00:07:22,242 --> 00:07:23,937 It was open. 122 00:07:23,977 --> 00:07:25,877 Wide, wide open. 123 00:07:25,912 --> 00:07:28,779 And I grew furious as I gazed upon it. 124 00:07:28,815 --> 00:07:32,649 I saw it with perfect distinctness, all a dull blue... 125 00:07:32,686 --> 00:07:34,483 with a hideous veil over it... 126 00:07:34,521 --> 00:07:37,251 that chilled the very marrow of my bones. 127 00:07:37,290 --> 00:07:39,758 But I could see nothing else... 128 00:07:39,793 --> 00:07:41,761 of the old man's face or person... 129 00:07:41,795 --> 00:07:45,253 for I had directed the ray, as if by instinct... 130 00:07:45,298 --> 00:07:48,597 precisely on the damned spot. 131 00:07:48,635 --> 00:07:52,833 Now, have I not told you... 132 00:07:52,873 --> 00:07:54,568 that what you mistake for madness... 133 00:07:54,608 --> 00:07:57,839 is but overacuteness of the senses? 134 00:07:57,878 --> 00:08:00,506 Now, I say, there came to my ears... 135 00:08:00,547 --> 00:08:04,176 a low, dull, quick sound... 136 00:08:04,217 --> 00:08:09,348 such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. 137 00:08:09,389 --> 00:08:11,755 I knew that sound well, too. 138 00:08:11,791 --> 00:08:16,421 It was the beating of the old man's heart. 139 00:08:16,463 --> 00:08:19,489 It increased my fury as the beating of a drum... 140 00:08:19,533 --> 00:08:22,195 stimulates the soldier to courage... 141 00:08:22,235 --> 00:08:25,762 but even yet, I refrained and kept still. 142 00:08:25,805 --> 00:08:27,932 I scarcely breathed. 143 00:08:27,974 --> 00:08:32,035 Meantime, the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. 144 00:08:32,078 --> 00:08:34,410 It grew quicker and quicker and quicker... 145 00:08:34,447 --> 00:08:37,211 and louder and louder every instant. 146 00:08:37,250 --> 00:08:39,718 The old man's terror must have been extreme. 147 00:08:39,753 --> 00:08:42,620 It grew louder, I say louder every moment. 148 00:08:42,656 --> 00:08:45,124 Do you mark me well? 149 00:08:45,158 --> 00:08:48,594 I have told you that I am nervous. So I am. 150 00:08:48,628 --> 00:08:50,619 And now, at the dead hour of the night... 151 00:08:50,664 --> 00:08:53,155 amid the dreadful silence of this old house... 152 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:55,327 so strange a noise as this excited me... 153 00:08:55,368 --> 00:08:57,029 to uncontrollable terror. 154 00:08:57,070 --> 00:09:01,734 Yet for some minutes longer, I refrained and stood still. 155 00:09:01,775 --> 00:09:05,074 But the beating grew louder and louder. 156 00:09:05,111 --> 00:09:07,375 I thought the heart must burst. 157 00:09:07,414 --> 00:09:10,474 And now a new anxiety seized me 158 00:09:10,517 --> 00:09:12,985 the sound would be heard by a neighbor. 159 00:09:13,019 --> 00:09:15,283 The old man's hour had come. 160 00:09:15,322 --> 00:09:16,619 With a loud yell... 161 00:09:16,656 --> 00:09:19,318 I threw the lantern and leapt into the room. 162 00:09:19,359 --> 00:09:23,159 He shrieked... once, only once. 163 00:09:23,196 --> 00:09:24,993 In an instant, I dragged him to the floor... 164 00:09:25,031 --> 00:09:27,932 and pulled the heavy bed over him. 165 00:09:27,968 --> 00:09:33,804 I then smiled gaily to find the deed so far done. 166 00:09:33,840 --> 00:09:39,301 For many minutes, the heart beat on with a muffled sound. 167 00:09:39,346 --> 00:09:41,507 Still, this did not vex me. 168 00:09:41,548 --> 00:09:44,244 It would not be heard through the wall. 169 00:09:44,284 --> 00:09:47,651 And then, at last... 170 00:09:47,687 --> 00:09:50,053 it ceased. 171 00:09:50,090 --> 00:09:53,719 The old man was dead. 172 00:09:53,760 --> 00:09:57,890 I removed the bed and examined the corpse. 173 00:09:57,931 --> 00:10:03,164 Yes. Yes, he was stone, stone dead. 174 00:10:03,203 --> 00:10:05,831 I placed my hand upon the heart... 175 00:10:05,872 --> 00:10:07,965 and held it there for many minutes. 176 00:10:08,008 --> 00:10:10,875 There was no pulsation. 177 00:10:10,910 --> 00:10:13,902 He was stone dead. 178 00:10:13,947 --> 00:10:17,110 His eye would trouble me no more. 179 00:10:17,150 --> 00:10:22,349 Now, if you still think me mad... 180 00:10:22,389 --> 00:10:24,357 you will think so no longer... 181 00:10:24,391 --> 00:10:27,690 when I describe the wise precautions I took... 182 00:10:27,727 --> 00:10:30,821 for the concealment of the body. 183 00:10:30,864 --> 00:10:33,526 First I I dismembered the corpse. 184 00:10:33,566 --> 00:10:37,297 I cut off the head and then the arms and the legs. 185 00:10:37,337 --> 00:10:42,001 I then took up 3 planks from the flooring of the chamber... 186 00:10:42,042 --> 00:10:45,341 and I deposited all beneath the floor. 187 00:10:45,378 --> 00:10:48,506 I then replaced the boards so cleverly, so cunningly... 188 00:10:48,548 --> 00:10:51,847 that no human eye, not even his... 189 00:10:51,885 --> 00:10:54,410 could have detected anything wrong. 190 00:10:54,454 --> 00:10:56,149 There was nothing to wash out 191 00:10:56,189 --> 00:10:57,884 no stain of any kind... 192 00:10:57,924 --> 00:10:59,414 no blood spot whatsoever. 193 00:10:59,459 --> 00:11:01,689 I had been too wary for that. 194 00:11:01,728 --> 00:11:05,687 A tub had caught it all. 195 00:11:05,732 --> 00:11:09,930 And then, when I had made an end of these labors... 196 00:11:09,969 --> 00:11:13,564 it was 4:oo... 197 00:11:13,606 --> 00:11:17,337 still dark as midnight. 198 00:11:17,377 --> 00:11:19,845 As the bell sounded... 199 00:11:19,879 --> 00:11:23,508 there came a knocking at the street door. 200 00:11:23,550 --> 00:11:26,986 I I went down to open it with a light heart... 201 00:11:27,020 --> 00:11:29,887 for what had I now to fear? 202 00:11:29,923 --> 00:11:34,758 There entered 3 men who introduced themselves... 203 00:11:34,794 --> 00:11:38,195 with perfect suavity as officers of the police. 204 00:11:38,231 --> 00:11:41,291 A shriek had been heard by a neighbor during the night. 205 00:11:41,334 --> 00:11:43,802 Suspicion of foul play had been aroused... 206 00:11:43,837 --> 00:11:45,464 and they, the officers... 207 00:11:45,505 --> 00:11:48,303 had been dispatched to search the premises. 208 00:11:48,341 --> 00:11:51,242 I smiled, for what had I to fear? 209 00:11:51,277 --> 00:11:52,801 I bade the gentlemen welcome. 210 00:11:52,846 --> 00:11:55,815 The shriek, I said, was my own in a dream. 211 00:11:55,849 --> 00:11:59,546 The old man, I mentioned, was absent in the country. 212 00:11:59,586 --> 00:12:02,714 I took my visitors all over the house... 213 00:12:02,756 --> 00:12:05,554 and I bade them search and search well. 214 00:12:05,592 --> 00:12:10,962 I led them, at length, to his chamber. 215 00:12:10,997 --> 00:12:16,902 I showed them his treasures, secure, undisturbed. 216 00:12:16,936 --> 00:12:19,097 In the enthusiasm of my confidence... 217 00:12:19,139 --> 00:12:21,505 I brought chairs into the room... 218 00:12:21,541 --> 00:12:24,669 and desired them here to rest from their fatigues... 219 00:12:24,711 --> 00:12:26,178 while I myself... 220 00:12:26,212 --> 00:12:29,272 in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph... 221 00:12:29,315 --> 00:12:33,308 placed my own feet upon the very spot... 222 00:12:33,353 --> 00:12:37,084 beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim. 223 00:12:37,123 --> 00:12:40,991 The officers were satisfied. My manner had convinced them. 224 00:12:41,027 --> 00:12:43,188 I was singularly at ease. 225 00:12:43,229 --> 00:12:46,357 They sat, and while I answered cheerily... 226 00:12:46,399 --> 00:12:48,594 they chatted familiar things. 227 00:12:48,635 --> 00:12:53,698 But ere long, I felt myself getting pale... 228 00:12:53,740 --> 00:12:55,708 and I wished them gone. 229 00:12:55,742 --> 00:13:00,270 My head ached, and I fancied a ringing in my ears. 230 00:13:00,313 --> 00:13:02,975 But still they sat and they chatted. 231 00:13:03,016 --> 00:13:05,883 The ringing became more distinct. 232 00:13:05,919 --> 00:13:08,353 I talked more freely to get rid of the feeling... 233 00:13:08,388 --> 00:13:11,118 but it continued and gained definitiveness... 234 00:13:11,157 --> 00:13:13,455 until at length I I found that the noise was... 235 00:13:13,493 --> 00:13:15,825 not within my ears. 236 00:13:15,862 --> 00:13:18,160 It was a low, dull, quick sound... 237 00:13:18,198 --> 00:13:22,157 such a such a sound as a watch makes... 238 00:13:22,202 --> 00:13:24,693 when enveloped in cotton. 239 00:13:26,372 --> 00:13:30,308 I gasped for breath, yet the officers heard it not. 240 00:13:30,343 --> 00:13:32,777 I talked more quickly, more vehemently... 241 00:13:32,812 --> 00:13:35,144 but the noise steadily increased. 242 00:13:35,181 --> 00:13:37,809 I arose, and I argued about trifles... 243 00:13:37,851 --> 00:13:40,115 but the noise increased steadily. 244 00:13:40,153 --> 00:13:42,178 Why would they not be gone? 245 00:13:42,222 --> 00:13:45,714 I paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides... 246 00:13:45,758 --> 00:13:49,956 as if excited to fury by the observation of the men... 247 00:13:49,996 --> 00:13:51,793 but the noise steadily increased. 248 00:13:51,831 --> 00:13:54,197 Oh, God. What could I do? 249 00:13:54,234 --> 00:13:57,863 I foamed, I raved, I swore. 250 00:13:57,904 --> 00:14:01,567 I swung the chair by which I had been sitting... 251 00:14:01,608 --> 00:14:03,803 grated it upon the boards. 252 00:14:03,843 --> 00:14:05,936 But the noise rose above all. 253 00:14:05,979 --> 00:14:09,312 It it grew louder, louder... 254 00:14:09,349 --> 00:14:12,944 and still the men chatted pleasantly and smiled. 255 00:14:12,986 --> 00:14:15,216 Was it possible that they heard not? 256 00:14:15,255 --> 00:14:19,692 Oh, almighty God, no. No, they heard. 257 00:14:19,726 --> 00:14:21,387 They suspected. 258 00:14:21,427 --> 00:14:23,156 They knew. 259 00:14:23,196 --> 00:14:25,892 They were making a mockery of my horror. 260 00:14:25,932 --> 00:14:29,333 I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer. 261 00:14:29,369 --> 00:14:32,065 I felt that I must scream or die. 262 00:14:32,105 --> 00:14:37,543 And now, again. Hark. Louder. Louder. Louder. Louder. 263 00:14:37,577 --> 00:14:41,274 Villains, dissemble no more. 264 00:14:41,314 --> 00:14:43,305 I admit the deed. 265 00:14:43,349 --> 00:14:45,408 Tear up the planks. Here. 266 00:14:45,451 --> 00:14:51,720 It is the beating of his hideous heart. 267 00:15:18,351 --> 00:15:21,809 During the dread reign of cholera in New York... 268 00:15:21,854 --> 00:15:24,846 I had accepted the invitation of a relative... 269 00:15:24,891 --> 00:15:26,825 to spend a fortnight with him here... 270 00:15:26,859 --> 00:15:30,761 in the retirement of his cottage on the banks of the Hudson. 271 00:15:30,797 --> 00:15:33,493 We should have passed the time pleasantly enough... 272 00:15:33,533 --> 00:15:35,831 but for the fearful news... 273 00:15:35,868 --> 00:15:39,167 which reached us every morning from the populous city. 274 00:15:39,205 --> 00:15:42,663 Not a day elapsed which did not bring us intelligence... 275 00:15:42,709 --> 00:15:45,234 of the decease of some acquaintance. 276 00:15:45,278 --> 00:15:48,145 We trembled at the approach of every messenger. 277 00:15:48,181 --> 00:15:50,172 The very air from the city... 278 00:15:50,216 --> 00:15:53,185 seemed to us redolent with death. 279 00:15:53,219 --> 00:15:57,212 I could neither speak, think, nor dream of anything else. 280 00:15:57,256 --> 00:16:00,521 My host was of a less excitable temperament. 281 00:16:00,560 --> 00:16:03,859 To the realities of terror he was sufficiently alive... 282 00:16:03,896 --> 00:16:07,093 but of its shadows, he had no apprehension. 283 00:16:07,133 --> 00:16:08,725 I was not so fortunate... 284 00:16:08,768 --> 00:16:11,168 and the palsying fears of evil and death... 285 00:16:11,204 --> 00:16:13,900 had taken possession of my soul. 286 00:16:13,940 --> 00:16:16,909 My state of mind had been well primed... 287 00:16:16,943 --> 00:16:20,970 for the terrifying incident which soon took place. 288 00:16:21,014 --> 00:16:24,916 Near the close of an exceedingly warm day... 289 00:16:24,951 --> 00:16:27,419 I was alone, sitting with a book in hand... 290 00:16:27,453 --> 00:16:29,921 at this window commanding... 291 00:16:29,956 --> 00:16:32,083 through a long vista of the riverbanks... 292 00:16:32,125 --> 00:16:34,252 a view of a distant hill... 293 00:16:34,293 --> 00:16:36,420 the face of which nearest my position... 294 00:16:36,462 --> 00:16:38,930 had been denuded, by a landslide... 295 00:16:38,965 --> 00:16:41,934 of the principal portion of its trees. 296 00:16:41,968 --> 00:16:44,436 My thoughts had been long wandering... 297 00:16:44,470 --> 00:16:46,097 from the volume before me... 298 00:16:46,139 --> 00:16:49,939 to the gloom and desolation of the neighboring city. 299 00:16:49,976 --> 00:16:53,104 Uplifting my eyes from the page... 300 00:16:53,146 --> 00:16:58,448 they fell upon the naked face of the hill and upon an object: 301 00:16:58,484 --> 00:17:03,444 Upon some living monster of hideous conformation... 302 00:17:03,489 --> 00:17:05,957 which, very rapidly, made its way... 303 00:17:05,992 --> 00:17:08,119 from the summit to the bottom... 304 00:17:08,161 --> 00:17:11,790 disappearing finally in the dense forest below. 305 00:17:11,831 --> 00:17:14,732 As this creature first came in sight... 306 00:17:14,767 --> 00:17:17,736 I doubted my own sanity, and many minutes passed... 307 00:17:17,770 --> 00:17:20,238 before I succeeded in convincing myself... 308 00:17:20,273 --> 00:17:22,707 that I was neither mad nor in a dream. 309 00:17:22,742 --> 00:17:25,267 Estimating the size of the creature... 310 00:17:25,311 --> 00:17:27,779 I concluded it to be far larger... 311 00:17:27,814 --> 00:17:30,544 than any ship of the line in existence. 312 00:17:30,583 --> 00:17:32,414 I say "ship of the line"... 313 00:17:32,452 --> 00:17:35,853 because the shape of the monster suggested the idea. 314 00:17:35,888 --> 00:17:38,652 The hull of one of our battleships might convey... 315 00:17:38,691 --> 00:17:41,751 a very tolerable conception of the general outline. 316 00:17:41,794 --> 00:17:44,820 The mouth of the animal was situated... 317 00:17:44,864 --> 00:17:49,961 at the end of a tube some 6o or 7o feet in length... 318 00:17:50,002 --> 00:17:53,233 and about as thick as the body of an ordinary elephant. 319 00:17:53,272 --> 00:17:54,933 Near the root of this trunk... 320 00:17:54,974 --> 00:17:57,943 was an immense quantity of black, shaggy hair... 321 00:17:57,977 --> 00:17:59,945 more than could have been supplied... 322 00:17:59,979 --> 00:18:01,947 by the coats of a score of buffalo. 323 00:18:01,981 --> 00:18:06,441 And projecting from this hair downwardly and laterally... 324 00:18:06,486 --> 00:18:08,954 sprang two gleaming tusks... 325 00:18:08,988 --> 00:18:12,389 not unlike that of the wild boar... 326 00:18:12,425 --> 00:18:16,191 but of infinitely greater dimension. 327 00:18:16,229 --> 00:18:18,891 The body was fashioned like a wedge... 328 00:18:18,931 --> 00:18:20,796 with a point toward the earth. 329 00:18:20,833 --> 00:18:23,734 From it there were outspread two pairs of wings 330 00:18:23,770 --> 00:18:27,729 each wing nearly 1oo yards in length... 331 00:18:27,774 --> 00:18:29,742 one pair being placed above the other... 332 00:18:29,776 --> 00:18:33,109 and all thickly covered with metal scales... 333 00:18:33,146 --> 00:18:38,379 each scale apparently some 1o or 12 feet in diameter. 334 00:18:38,417 --> 00:18:42,945 But the chief peculiarity of this horrible thing... 335 00:18:42,989 --> 00:18:46,152 was the representation of a death's head... 336 00:18:46,192 --> 00:18:49,684 which covered nearly the whole surface of its breast... 337 00:18:49,729 --> 00:18:53,187 and which was as accurately traced in glaring white... 338 00:18:53,232 --> 00:18:55,291 upon the dark ground of the body... 339 00:18:55,334 --> 00:19:00,601 as if it had been carefully designed by an artist. 340 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:02,801 While I regarded this terrifying animal 341 00:19:02,842 --> 00:19:05,572 and more especially, the appearance on its breast 342 00:19:05,611 --> 00:19:08,102 with a feeling of horror and awe... 343 00:19:08,147 --> 00:19:12,379 I perceived the huge jaws at the extremity of the trunk... 344 00:19:12,418 --> 00:19:15,285 suddenly expand themselves. 345 00:19:15,321 --> 00:19:17,789 And from them, there proceeded a sound... 346 00:19:17,824 --> 00:19:21,555 so loud and so expressive of woe... 347 00:19:21,594 --> 00:19:24,995 that it struck upon my nerves like a knell. 348 00:19:25,031 --> 00:19:27,932 And as the monster disappeared at the foot of the hill... 349 00:19:27,967 --> 00:19:31,596 I fell, almost fainting, to the floor. 350 00:19:35,274 --> 00:19:37,242 Upon recovering... 351 00:19:37,276 --> 00:19:39,904 my first impulse was to inform my friend... 352 00:19:39,946 --> 00:19:41,914 of what I had seen and heard. 353 00:19:41,948 --> 00:19:43,745 And I can scarcely explain... 354 00:19:43,783 --> 00:19:46,081 what feeling of repugnance it was which... 355 00:19:46,118 --> 00:19:48,450 in the end, operated to prevent me. 356 00:19:48,487 --> 00:19:50,455 At length, one evening... 357 00:19:50,489 --> 00:19:53,583 some 3 or 4 days after the occurrence... 358 00:19:53,626 --> 00:19:55,924 we were sitting together in this room... 359 00:19:55,962 --> 00:19:58,430 in which I had seen the apparition 360 00:19:58,464 --> 00:20:01,592 I occupying the same seat at the same window... 361 00:20:01,634 --> 00:20:04,933 and he lounging in this chair nearby. 362 00:20:04,971 --> 00:20:07,940 The association of the place and time... 363 00:20:07,974 --> 00:20:11,205 suddenly impelled me to give him an account of the phenomenon. 364 00:20:11,244 --> 00:20:13,212 He heard me to the end. 365 00:20:13,246 --> 00:20:15,237 At first, he laughed heartily... 366 00:20:15,281 --> 00:20:19,445 and then he lapsed into an excessively grave demeanor... 367 00:20:19,485 --> 00:20:22,943 as if my insanity was a thing beyond suspicion. 368 00:20:22,989 --> 00:20:24,957 At this instant, 369 00:20:24,991 --> 00:20:28,688 I again had a distinct view of the monster... 370 00:20:28,728 --> 00:20:31,561 to which, with a shout of absolute terror... 371 00:20:31,597 --> 00:20:33,394 I now directed his attention. 372 00:20:33,432 --> 00:20:34,922 "Look. Look." 373 00:20:34,967 --> 00:20:39,700 He looked eagerly but maintained that he saw nothing... 374 00:20:39,739 --> 00:20:42,572 although I designated minutely the course of the creature... 375 00:20:42,608 --> 00:20:46,772 as it made its way down the naked face of the hill. 376 00:20:46,812 --> 00:20:48,803 I was now immeasurably alarmed... 377 00:20:48,848 --> 00:20:51,476 for I considered the vision either as an omen of my death... 378 00:20:51,517 --> 00:20:55,385 or worse, as a forerunner of an attack of madness. 379 00:20:55,421 --> 00:20:59,187 I threw myself passionately back in the window seat... 380 00:20:59,225 --> 00:21:03,423 and for some moments, I buried my face in my hands. 381 00:21:03,462 --> 00:21:05,453 My host, however... 382 00:21:05,498 --> 00:21:09,127 had in some degree resumed the calmness of his demeanor... 383 00:21:09,168 --> 00:21:11,762 and questioned me very rigorously... 384 00:21:11,804 --> 00:21:16,332 in respect to the conformation of the visionary creature. 385 00:21:16,375 --> 00:21:19,401 When I had fully satisfied him on this head... 386 00:21:19,445 --> 00:21:23,677 he sighed deeply, as if relieved of some intolerable burden... 387 00:21:23,716 --> 00:21:26,184 and then he stepped to the bookcase... 388 00:21:26,218 --> 00:21:29,676 and brought forth one of the ordinary synopses... 389 00:21:29,722 --> 00:21:32,691 of natural history. 390 00:21:32,725 --> 00:21:36,786 He then requested me to exchange seats with him. 391 00:21:36,829 --> 00:21:39,263 He took my place at the window and... 392 00:21:39,298 --> 00:21:42,426 opening the book, resumed his discourse. 393 00:21:42,468 --> 00:21:44,936 "But for your minuteness," he said... 394 00:21:44,971 --> 00:21:46,598 "in describing the monster... 395 00:21:46,639 --> 00:21:48,266 "I might never have had it in my power... 396 00:21:48,307 --> 00:21:50,275 "to demonstrate to you what it was. 397 00:21:50,309 --> 00:21:51,606 "In the first place... 398 00:21:51,644 --> 00:21:54,272 "let me read to you a schoolboy account... 399 00:21:54,313 --> 00:21:58,773 "of the genus Sphinx of the family Crepuscularia... 400 00:21:58,818 --> 00:22:02,219 "of the class of Insecta, or insects. 401 00:22:02,254 --> 00:22:04,279 "The account runs thus: 402 00:22:04,323 --> 00:22:08,282 "'4 membranous wings covered with little colored scales... 403 00:22:08,327 --> 00:22:10,295 "'of metallic appearance: 404 00:22:10,329 --> 00:22:12,354 "'Mouth forming a rolled tube... 405 00:22:12,398 --> 00:22:15,231 "'produced by an elongation of the jaws... 406 00:22:15,267 --> 00:22:18,065 "'upon the sides of which are found... 407 00:22:18,104 --> 00:22:21,733 "'the rudiments of mandibles and downy palpae: 408 00:22:21,774 --> 00:22:23,742 "'Abdomen pointed. 409 00:22:23,776 --> 00:22:25,744 "'The death's headed 410 00:22:25,778 --> 00:22:29,236 "'The death's headed sphinx has occasioned much terror... 411 00:22:29,281 --> 00:22:30,908 "'among the unlearned... 412 00:22:30,950 --> 00:22:35,250 "'by the melancholy kind of cry which it utters... 413 00:22:35,287 --> 00:22:38,085 "'and the insignia of death... 414 00:22:38,124 --> 00:22:40,422 which it wears upon its corselet."' 415 00:22:40,459 --> 00:22:42,757 He closed the book and leaned back in the seat... 416 00:22:42,795 --> 00:22:44,763 placing himself accurately in the position... 417 00:22:44,797 --> 00:22:47,265 which I had occupied at the moment... 418 00:22:47,299 --> 00:22:49,233 of beholding the monster. 419 00:22:49,268 --> 00:22:51,930 "Ah, there it is," he exclaimed. 420 00:22:51,971 --> 00:22:54,940 "It is reascending the face of the hill... 421 00:22:54,974 --> 00:22:58,603 "and a very remarkable creature I admit it to be. 422 00:22:58,644 --> 00:23:01,943 "Still, it is by no means so large... 423 00:23:01,981 --> 00:23:05,280 "or so distant as you had imagined it. 424 00:23:05,317 --> 00:23:07,285 "For the fact is... 425 00:23:07,319 --> 00:23:11,221 "that as it wriggles its way up this thread... 426 00:23:11,257 --> 00:23:14,715 "which some spider has wrought along the window sash... 427 00:23:14,760 --> 00:23:18,218 "I find it to be about 1/16 of an inch... 428 00:23:18,264 --> 00:23:20,391 "in its extreme length... 429 00:23:20,433 --> 00:23:26,895 "and also about 1/16 of an inch distant... 430 00:23:26,939 --> 00:23:30,431 from the pupil of my eye." 431 00:23:53,966 --> 00:23:56,935 The thousand injuries of Fortunato... 432 00:23:56,969 --> 00:23:59,267 I had borne as best I could... 433 00:23:59,305 --> 00:24:02,433 but when he ventured upon insult... 434 00:24:02,475 --> 00:24:04,636 I vowed revenge. 435 00:24:04,677 --> 00:24:07,339 Now, you, who so well know the nature of my soul... 436 00:24:07,379 --> 00:24:08,937 will not suppose, however... 437 00:24:08,981 --> 00:24:12,109 that I gave utterance to a threat. 438 00:24:12,151 --> 00:24:15,052 At length, I would be avenged. 439 00:24:15,087 --> 00:24:19,183 I would not only punish, but punish with impunity. 440 00:24:19,225 --> 00:24:22,251 It must be understood that neither by word nor deed... 441 00:24:22,294 --> 00:24:26,993 had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will. 442 00:24:27,032 --> 00:24:29,865 I continued to smile in his face... 443 00:24:29,902 --> 00:24:33,394 but he did not perceive that my smile now... 444 00:24:33,439 --> 00:24:37,136 was at the thought of his immolation. 445 00:24:37,176 --> 00:24:39,770 He had a weak point, this Fortunato... 446 00:24:39,812 --> 00:24:42,940 although in other regards, he was a man to be respected... 447 00:24:42,982 --> 00:24:44,643 and even feared. 448 00:24:44,683 --> 00:24:48,949 He prided himself in his connoisseurship of wine. 449 00:24:48,988 --> 00:24:51,923 I was skillful in the Italian vintages myself... 450 00:24:51,957 --> 00:24:54,289 and bought largely whenever I could. 451 00:24:54,326 --> 00:24:57,261 It was about dusk one evening... 452 00:24:57,296 --> 00:25:00,857 during the supreme madness of the carnival season... 453 00:25:00,900 --> 00:25:02,800 that I encountered my friend. 454 00:25:02,835 --> 00:25:05,599 He accosted me with excessive warmth... 455 00:25:05,638 --> 00:25:07,503 for he had been drinking much. 456 00:25:07,540 --> 00:25:10,600 The man wore the costume of a jester. 457 00:25:10,643 --> 00:25:11,871 He had on tights... 458 00:25:11,911 --> 00:25:15,779 and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells. 459 00:25:15,814 --> 00:25:18,783 I was so pleased to see him that I thought... 460 00:25:18,817 --> 00:25:21,786 I should never have done with wringing his hand. 461 00:25:21,820 --> 00:25:23,788 I said to him, "My dear Fortunato... 462 00:25:23,822 --> 00:25:25,289 "you are luckily met. 463 00:25:25,324 --> 00:25:27,918 "How remarkably well you are looking today. 464 00:25:27,960 --> 00:25:32,420 "Oh, I have received a keg of what passes for Amontillado... 465 00:25:32,464 --> 00:25:35,024 and I have my doubts." 466 00:25:35,067 --> 00:25:36,898 "How?" said he. 467 00:25:36,936 --> 00:25:40,235 "Amontillado? A cask? Lmpossible. 468 00:25:40,272 --> 00:25:42,365 And in the middle of the carnival?" 469 00:25:42,408 --> 00:25:44,399 "Well, I have my doubts... 470 00:25:44,443 --> 00:25:47,742 "and I was silly enough to pay the full Amontillado price... 471 00:25:47,780 --> 00:25:49,907 "without consulting you in the matter. 472 00:25:49,949 --> 00:25:51,416 "You were not to be found... 473 00:25:51,450 --> 00:25:53,645 and I was fearful of losing a bargain." 474 00:25:53,686 --> 00:25:56,678 "Amontillado? Amontillado?" 475 00:25:56,722 --> 00:25:57,882 "Yes. 476 00:25:57,923 --> 00:26:01,415 "As you are engaged, I am on my way to meet Luchesi. 477 00:26:01,460 --> 00:26:04,429 "If anyone has a critical turn, it is he. 478 00:26:04,463 --> 00:26:05,987 He will tell me." 479 00:26:06,031 --> 00:26:10,365 "Luchesi cannot tell Amontillado from sherry." 480 00:26:10,402 --> 00:26:13,371 "And yet some fools will have it... 481 00:26:13,405 --> 00:26:15,839 that his taste is a match for your own." 482 00:26:15,874 --> 00:26:19,173 "Come. Let us go to your vault." 483 00:26:19,211 --> 00:26:24,205 "Oh, my friend, no, I will not impose upon your good nature. 484 00:26:24,250 --> 00:26:28,118 I perceive you have an engagement. Luchesi" 485 00:26:28,153 --> 00:26:30,849 "I have no engagement. Come." 486 00:26:30,889 --> 00:26:32,379 "My friend, no. 487 00:26:32,424 --> 00:26:34,051 "It is not the engagement... 488 00:26:34,093 --> 00:26:38,393 "but the severe cold with which I perceive you are afflicted. 489 00:26:38,430 --> 00:26:40,398 "The vaults are insufferably damp. 490 00:26:40,432 --> 00:26:42,127 They are encrusted with mold." 491 00:26:42,167 --> 00:26:44,397 "Let us go nevertheless. 492 00:26:44,436 --> 00:26:46,404 "The cold is merely nothing. Ha. 493 00:26:46,438 --> 00:26:49,407 "Amontillado? You have been imposed upon. 494 00:26:49,441 --> 00:26:51,409 "As for Luchesi... 495 00:26:51,443 --> 00:26:55,402 he cannot distinguish sherry from Amontillado." 496 00:26:55,447 --> 00:26:59,406 Thus speaking, Fortunato possessed himself of my arm. 497 00:26:59,451 --> 00:27:01,919 I, putting on a mask of black silk... 498 00:27:01,954 --> 00:27:04,923 and drawing a cape closely about my person... 499 00:27:04,957 --> 00:27:07,425 suffered him to hurry me to my palazzo. 500 00:27:07,459 --> 00:27:08,926 Oh, there were no attendants at home. 501 00:27:08,961 --> 00:27:10,861 They had absconded to make merry... 502 00:27:10,896 --> 00:27:12,693 in honor of the time. 503 00:27:12,731 --> 00:27:15,859 I took from their sconces two torches... 504 00:27:15,901 --> 00:27:17,869 and, giving one to Fortunato... 505 00:27:17,903 --> 00:27:20,201 bowed him through several suites of rooms... 506 00:27:20,239 --> 00:27:23,208 to the archways that led into the vaults. 507 00:27:23,242 --> 00:27:26,370 I passed down a long and winding staircase... 508 00:27:26,412 --> 00:27:29,381 requesting him to be cautious as he followed. 509 00:27:29,415 --> 00:27:32,384 We came at length to the foot of the descent... 510 00:27:32,418 --> 00:27:34,386 and stood together on the damp ground... 511 00:27:34,420 --> 00:27:39,221 of the catacombs of the Montresors my family. 512 00:27:39,258 --> 00:27:41,726 The gait of my friend was unsteady... 513 00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:45,355 and the bells on his jester's cap jingled... 514 00:27:45,397 --> 00:27:46,864 as he strode. 515 00:27:46,899 --> 00:27:48,867 "Where is the cask?" 516 00:27:48,901 --> 00:27:53,395 "It is farther on, but observe the white webwork... 517 00:27:53,439 --> 00:27:56,636 which gleams from these cavern walls." 518 00:27:56,675 --> 00:27:57,835 "Mold?" 519 00:27:58,977 --> 00:28:00,945 "Mold. Mold, yes. 520 00:28:00,979 --> 00:28:02,970 How long have you had that cough?" 521 00:28:04,516 --> 00:28:06,984 My poor friend found it impossible to reply... 522 00:28:07,019 --> 00:28:08,486 for many minutes. 523 00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:10,215 "It is nothing, nothing." 524 00:28:10,255 --> 00:28:13,850 "Come, we will go back. Your health is precious. 525 00:28:13,892 --> 00:28:16,861 "You are rich, respected, admired, beloved. 526 00:28:16,895 --> 00:28:20,023 "You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter. 527 00:28:20,065 --> 00:28:21,362 "We will go back. 528 00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:24,198 "You will be ill, and I cannot be responsible. 529 00:28:24,236 --> 00:28:26,568 Besides, there is Luchesi." 530 00:28:26,605 --> 00:28:30,063 "Enough, enough. The cough is a mere nothing. 531 00:28:30,109 --> 00:28:35,513 It will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough." 532 00:28:35,547 --> 00:28:38,015 "True, true. 533 00:28:38,050 --> 00:28:40,018 "And, indeed... 534 00:28:40,052 --> 00:28:43,886 "I had no intention of alarming you unnecessarily... 535 00:28:43,922 --> 00:28:47,380 "but you should use all proper caution. 536 00:28:47,426 --> 00:28:51,726 A draught of this Medoc will defend us against the damp." 537 00:28:51,764 --> 00:28:54,062 Here I knocked off the neck of a bottle... 538 00:28:54,099 --> 00:28:56,397 which I drew from a long row of its fellows... 539 00:28:56,435 --> 00:28:57,902 that lay upon the mold. 540 00:28:57,936 --> 00:29:01,736 "Drink," I said, presenting him the wine. 541 00:29:01,774 --> 00:29:05,904 He raised it to his lips with a sneer. 542 00:29:05,944 --> 00:29:08,742 He paused and nodded to me familiarly... 543 00:29:08,781 --> 00:29:11,909 while his bells jingled. 544 00:29:11,950 --> 00:29:17,946 "I drink to the buried that repose around us." 545 00:29:17,990 --> 00:29:21,221 "And I to your long life." 546 00:29:21,260 --> 00:29:26,357 Yes, he again took my arm, and we proceeded. 547 00:29:26,398 --> 00:29:30,858 The wine sparkled in his eyes, and the bells jingled. 548 00:29:30,903 --> 00:29:33,701 My own fancy grew warm with the Medoc. 549 00:29:33,739 --> 00:29:37,368 We had passed through walls of piled bones... 550 00:29:37,409 --> 00:29:40,708 with casks and puncheons intermingling... 551 00:29:40,746 --> 00:29:43,874 into the inmost recesses of the catacombs. 552 00:29:43,916 --> 00:29:46,384 I paused again, and this time made bold... 553 00:29:46,418 --> 00:29:48,750 to seize Fortunato by an arm. 554 00:29:48,787 --> 00:29:51,381 "The mold you see? It increases. 555 00:29:51,423 --> 00:29:54,881 "It hangs like moss upon the vaults. 556 00:29:54,927 --> 00:29:56,895 "We are below the river's bed. 557 00:29:56,929 --> 00:30:01,389 "The drops of moisture trickle among the bones. 558 00:30:01,433 --> 00:30:04,061 "Come, we will go back ere it is too late. 559 00:30:04,102 --> 00:30:05,399 Your cough" 560 00:30:05,437 --> 00:30:08,406 "It is nothing. Let us go on. 561 00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:12,672 Let us proceed to the Amontillado." 562 00:30:12,711 --> 00:30:15,145 "Be it so." 563 00:30:15,180 --> 00:30:17,080 He leaned heavily upon my arm. 564 00:30:17,115 --> 00:30:20,414 We continued our route in search of the Amontillado. 565 00:30:20,452 --> 00:30:22,920 We passed through a range of low arches 566 00:30:22,955 --> 00:30:24,582 descended, passed on. 567 00:30:24,623 --> 00:30:28,218 And descending again, arrived at a deep crypt... 568 00:30:28,260 --> 00:30:30,751 in which the foulness of the air... 569 00:30:30,796 --> 00:30:35,256 caused our torches to glow rather than flame. 570 00:30:35,300 --> 00:30:37,928 At the most remote end of the crypt... 571 00:30:37,970 --> 00:30:41,428 there appeared another room, less spacious. 572 00:30:41,473 --> 00:30:43,941 Its walls had been lined with human remains... 573 00:30:43,976 --> 00:30:46,444 piled to the vault overhead... 574 00:30:46,478 --> 00:30:49,276 in the fashion of the great Catacombs of Paris. 575 00:30:49,314 --> 00:30:51,441 3 sides of this interior crypt... 576 00:30:51,483 --> 00:30:53,951 were still ormented in this manner. 577 00:30:53,986 --> 00:30:57,945 From the fourth, the bones had been thrown down... 578 00:30:57,990 --> 00:31:00,788 and lay in a mound upon the earth. 579 00:31:00,826 --> 00:31:02,794 Within the wall thus exposed... 580 00:31:02,828 --> 00:31:05,126 by the displacing of the bones... 581 00:31:05,163 --> 00:31:08,963 we perceived a still interior recess 582 00:31:09,001 --> 00:31:11,902 in depth about 4 feet, in width 3... 583 00:31:11,937 --> 00:31:13,905 in height 6 or 7 584 00:31:13,939 --> 00:31:18,000 cut into the solid granite. 585 00:31:18,043 --> 00:31:21,911 "Proceed. Herein is the Amontillado. 586 00:31:21,947 --> 00:31:23,881 As for Luchesi" 587 00:31:23,916 --> 00:31:26,316 "He is an ignoramus." 588 00:31:26,351 --> 00:31:28,911 He stepped unsteadily forward... 589 00:31:28,954 --> 00:31:31,422 while I followed immediately at his heels. 590 00:31:31,456 --> 00:31:35,085 In an instant he had reached the extremity of the niche... 591 00:31:35,127 --> 00:31:39,257 and finding his progress arrested by the rock... 592 00:31:39,298 --> 00:31:42,096 stood stupidly bewildered. 593 00:31:42,134 --> 00:31:44,602 In the surface of the granite... 594 00:31:44,636 --> 00:31:48,436 there happened to be two iron staples. 595 00:31:48,473 --> 00:31:53,775 From one depended a short chain: From the other a padlock. 596 00:31:53,812 --> 00:31:56,781 It was but the work of a few seconds... 597 00:31:56,815 --> 00:32:01,275 to throw the links about his waist and secure them. 598 00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:04,949 He was too much astounded to resist. 599 00:32:04,990 --> 00:32:09,051 Withdrawing the key, I stepped back from the recess. 600 00:32:09,094 --> 00:32:12,894 "Pass your hand over the wall, Fortunato. 601 00:32:12,931 --> 00:32:15,900 "You cannot help but feel the mold. 602 00:32:15,934 --> 00:32:19,062 "Indeed, it is very damp. 603 00:32:19,104 --> 00:32:22,904 "Once more, let me implore you to return. 604 00:32:22,941 --> 00:32:27,571 "No? Then I must positively leave you... 605 00:32:27,613 --> 00:32:29,581 "but I must first render you... 606 00:32:29,615 --> 00:32:32,584 all the little attentions in my power." 607 00:32:32,618 --> 00:32:34,483 "The Amontillado." 608 00:32:34,519 --> 00:32:38,114 "True. The Amontillado." 609 00:32:38,156 --> 00:32:40,124 As I said these words, I busied myself... 610 00:32:40,158 --> 00:32:43,127 among the pile of bones of which I have spoken. 611 00:32:43,161 --> 00:32:45,129 Throwing them aside... 612 00:32:45,163 --> 00:32:50,123 I soon uncovered a quantity of building stone and mortar. 613 00:32:50,168 --> 00:32:52,932 With these materials and with the aid of a trowel... 614 00:32:52,971 --> 00:32:59,467 I began vigorously to wall up the entrance of the niche. 615 00:32:59,511 --> 00:33:02,947 I scarcely laid the first tier of the masonry... 616 00:33:02,981 --> 00:33:07,782 when I discovered that the intoxication of Fortunato... 617 00:33:07,819 --> 00:33:10,287 had in a great measure worn off. 618 00:33:10,322 --> 00:33:12,722 The earliest indication I had of this was... 619 00:33:12,758 --> 00:33:16,888 a low, moaning cry from the depth of the recess. 620 00:33:16,928 --> 00:33:20,386 It was not the cry of a drunken man. 621 00:33:20,432 --> 00:33:23,731 Then there was a long and obstinate silence. 622 00:33:23,769 --> 00:33:26,567 I laid the second tier and the third and the fourth... 623 00:33:26,605 --> 00:33:31,235 and then I heard the furious vibrations of the chain. 624 00:33:31,276 --> 00:33:33,904 The noise lasted for several minutes during which... 625 00:33:33,945 --> 00:33:38,405 that I might hearken to it with the more satisfaction... 626 00:33:38,450 --> 00:33:43,911 I ceased my labors and sat down upon the bones. 627 00:33:43,955 --> 00:33:46,082 When at last the clanking subsided... 628 00:33:46,124 --> 00:33:47,591 I resumed the trowel... 629 00:33:47,626 --> 00:33:49,594 and finished without interruption... 630 00:33:49,628 --> 00:33:53,428 the fifth, the sixth, and the seventh tier. 631 00:33:53,465 --> 00:33:57,925 The wall was now nearly upon a level with my breast. 632 00:33:57,969 --> 00:34:02,770 I again paused and, holding the torch over the mason work... 633 00:34:02,808 --> 00:34:07,006 threw a few feeble rays upon the figure within. 634 00:34:07,045 --> 00:34:11,880 A succession of loud and shrill screams... 635 00:34:11,917 --> 00:34:14,545 bursting suddenly from the throat of the chained form... 636 00:34:14,586 --> 00:34:17,384 seemed to thrust me violently back. 637 00:34:17,422 --> 00:34:20,880 For a brief moment I hesitated, I trembled. 638 00:34:20,926 --> 00:34:24,384 Then I placed my hand upon the solid fabric... 639 00:34:24,429 --> 00:34:28,229 of the catacombs and felt satisfied. 640 00:34:28,266 --> 00:34:30,063 I reapproached the wall. 641 00:34:30,102 --> 00:34:33,071 I replied to the yells of him who clamored. 642 00:34:33,105 --> 00:34:35,733 I reechoed, I aided... 643 00:34:35,774 --> 00:34:39,073 I surpassed them in volume and in strength. 644 00:34:39,111 --> 00:34:43,445 I did this, and the clamorer grew still. 645 00:34:43,482 --> 00:34:45,746 It was now midnight... 646 00:34:45,784 --> 00:34:48,252 and my task was drawing to a close. 647 00:34:48,286 --> 00:34:51,744 I had completed the eighth, the ninth, and the tenth tier. 648 00:34:51,790 --> 00:34:55,419 I had finished a portion of the last the 11th. 649 00:34:55,460 --> 00:34:58,258 There remained but a single stone... 650 00:34:58,296 --> 00:35:00,764 to be fitted and plastered in. 651 00:35:00,799 --> 00:35:03,427 I struggled with its weight. 652 00:35:03,468 --> 00:35:07,404 I placed it partially in its destined position. 653 00:35:07,439 --> 00:35:11,705 But now there came from out the niche... 654 00:35:11,743 --> 00:35:14,712 a low laugh that erected the hairs... 655 00:35:14,746 --> 00:35:16,771 upon the back of my neck. 656 00:35:19,785 --> 00:35:23,881 "A very good joke indeed an excellent jest. 657 00:35:23,922 --> 00:35:27,881 "We will have many a rich laugh about it at the palazzo... 658 00:35:27,926 --> 00:35:29,621 over our wine." 659 00:35:31,096 --> 00:35:32,825 "The Amontillado?" 660 00:35:34,633 --> 00:35:37,568 "Yes, the Amontillado. 661 00:35:37,602 --> 00:35:39,900 "But is it not getting late? 662 00:35:39,938 --> 00:35:42,907 "Will they not be waiting for us at the palazzo 663 00:35:42,941 --> 00:35:45,409 "the Lady Fortunato and the rest? 664 00:35:45,443 --> 00:35:47,308 Let us be gone." 665 00:35:47,345 --> 00:35:50,644 "Yes, let us be gone." 666 00:35:50,682 --> 00:35:55,312 "For the love of God, Montresor." 667 00:35:55,353 --> 00:36:00,154 "Yes, for the love of God, Fortunato." 668 00:36:00,192 --> 00:36:04,754 But to these words I hearkened in vain for a reply. 669 00:36:04,796 --> 00:36:06,423 I grew impatient. 670 00:36:06,464 --> 00:36:11,458 I called aloud, "Fortunato? Fortunato?" 671 00:36:11,503 --> 00:36:12,868 No answer still. 672 00:36:12,904 --> 00:36:16,032 I thrust a torch through the remaining aperture... 673 00:36:16,074 --> 00:36:18,372 and let it fall within. 674 00:36:18,410 --> 00:36:22,870 There came forth in return only a jingling of the bells. 675 00:36:22,914 --> 00:36:26,042 My heart grew sick... 676 00:36:26,084 --> 00:36:29,542 on account of the dampness of the catacombs. 677 00:36:29,588 --> 00:36:31,715 I hastened to make an end of my labor. 678 00:36:31,756 --> 00:36:35,886 I forced the last stone into its position. 679 00:36:35,927 --> 00:36:37,895 I plastered it up. 680 00:36:37,929 --> 00:36:39,726 Against the new masonry... 681 00:36:39,764 --> 00:36:43,530 I erected the old rampart of bones. 682 00:36:43,568 --> 00:36:49,234 For the half of a century, no mortal has disturbed them. 683 00:36:49,274 --> 00:36:52,266 /n pace requ/escat. 684 00:37:34,419 --> 00:37:40,380 I was sick sick unto death with that long agony. 685 00:37:40,425 --> 00:37:43,724 I felt that my senses were leaving me. 686 00:37:43,762 --> 00:37:46,230 The dread sentence of death... 687 00:37:46,264 --> 00:37:50,223 was the last distinct phrase which reached my ears. 688 00:37:50,268 --> 00:37:54,398 After that, the voices of the Inquisition judges... 689 00:37:54,439 --> 00:37:59,399 seemed to merge in one dreamy, indeterminate hum. 690 00:37:59,444 --> 00:38:03,403 I saw the lips of the black robed judges 691 00:38:03,448 --> 00:38:06,417 white and thin even to grotesqueness... 692 00:38:06,451 --> 00:38:09,420 writhing with their deadly locution 693 00:38:09,454 --> 00:38:12,184 fashioning the syllables of my name... 694 00:38:12,223 --> 00:38:16,353 and the decree of death by torture. 695 00:38:16,394 --> 00:38:20,353 And then the blackness loomed close up against my skin... 696 00:38:20,398 --> 00:38:23,856 snuffing out even the evil whiteness... 697 00:38:23,902 --> 00:38:25,870 of those damning lips... 698 00:38:25,904 --> 00:38:28,372 driving all sensibility into retreat... 699 00:38:28,406 --> 00:38:33,708 in a mad rushing descent as of the soul into Hades. 700 00:38:33,745 --> 00:38:40,878 Then silence and stillness and night were the universe. 701 00:38:40,919 --> 00:38:43,387 I had swooned... 702 00:38:43,421 --> 00:38:46,879 yet shadows of memory reflect dimly... 703 00:38:46,925 --> 00:38:49,393 upon the inner walls of my mind 704 00:38:49,427 --> 00:38:51,395 shadows of tall figures... 705 00:38:51,429 --> 00:38:54,887 that lifted and bore me down, down... 706 00:38:54,933 --> 00:38:59,893 to a place of flatness and dampness and silence. 707 00:38:59,938 --> 00:39:04,898 Silence... and all is madness. 708 00:39:04,943 --> 00:39:07,571 I would not open my eyes. 709 00:39:07,612 --> 00:39:10,581 I felt that I lay upon my back unbound. 710 00:39:10,615 --> 00:39:12,515 I reached out my hand... 711 00:39:12,550 --> 00:39:16,850 and it fell heavily upon something damp and hard. 712 00:39:16,888 --> 00:39:20,346 I longed, yet dared not to employ my vision. 713 00:39:20,392 --> 00:39:23,361 It was not that I feared to look upon things horrible... 714 00:39:23,395 --> 00:39:25,863 but that I grew aghast... 715 00:39:25,897 --> 00:39:28,695 lest there should be nothing to see. 716 00:39:28,733 --> 00:39:32,191 At length, with a wild desperation at heart... 717 00:39:32,237 --> 00:39:34,467 I quickly unclosed my eyes. 718 00:39:34,506 --> 00:39:37,703 My worst thoughts were confirmed. 719 00:39:37,742 --> 00:39:41,701 The blackness of eternal night encompassed me. 720 00:39:41,746 --> 00:39:43,714 I struggled for breath. 721 00:39:43,748 --> 00:39:47,206 The intensity of the darkness seemed to oppress and stifle me. 722 00:39:47,252 --> 00:39:49,220 Perspiration burst from every pore... 723 00:39:49,254 --> 00:39:54,214 and stood in big cold beads upon my forehead. 724 00:39:54,259 --> 00:39:57,228 I thrust my arms wildly above and around me 725 00:39:57,262 --> 00:39:59,230 clawing, grasping... 726 00:39:59,264 --> 00:40:02,722 reaching for something either damnable or saving... 727 00:40:02,767 --> 00:40:05,395 but something. 728 00:40:05,437 --> 00:40:07,735 Nothing. 729 00:40:07,772 --> 00:40:13,142 The agony of suspense grew intolerable, so I arose. 730 00:40:13,178 --> 00:40:16,147 Cautiously, I stepped forward... 731 00:40:16,181 --> 00:40:18,649 my eyes straining from their sockets... 732 00:40:18,683 --> 00:40:21,914 in hope of catching some faint ray of light. 733 00:40:21,953 --> 00:40:25,912 But the blackness was still a disguise. 734 00:40:25,957 --> 00:40:28,926 Until finally, a wall 735 00:40:28,960 --> 00:40:33,420 smooth, slimy, cold a wall. 736 00:40:33,465 --> 00:40:35,433 I followed it up... 737 00:40:35,467 --> 00:40:37,935 stepping with all that careful distrust... 738 00:40:37,969 --> 00:40:41,097 inspired by the thousand vague rumors... 739 00:40:41,139 --> 00:40:43,937 of the horrors of Toledo. 740 00:40:43,975 --> 00:40:46,273 Finally I took courage. 741 00:40:46,311 --> 00:40:48,279 I resolved to quit the wall... 742 00:40:48,313 --> 00:40:50,440 and to cross the enclosure... 743 00:40:50,482 --> 00:40:53,940 in as direct a line as possible. 744 00:40:53,985 --> 00:40:56,783 The floor was treacherous with slime. 745 00:40:56,821 --> 00:40:58,288 I advanced cautiously... 746 00:40:58,323 --> 00:41:00,951 some 1o or 12 paces in this manner... 747 00:41:00,992 --> 00:41:02,960 when suddenly I stumbled... 748 00:41:02,994 --> 00:41:05,792 and fell violently on my face. 749 00:41:07,298 --> 00:41:10,267 In the confusion attending my fall... 750 00:41:10,301 --> 00:41:12,701 I did not immediately apprehend... 751 00:41:12,737 --> 00:41:15,205 a somewhat startling circumstance. 752 00:41:15,240 --> 00:41:16,707 It was this: 753 00:41:16,741 --> 00:41:19,904 My chin rested upon the floor of the prison... 754 00:41:19,944 --> 00:41:22,913 but my lips and the upper portion of my head... 755 00:41:22,947 --> 00:41:25,916 touched nothing. 756 00:41:25,950 --> 00:41:29,408 At the same time, my forehead seemed bathed... 757 00:41:29,454 --> 00:41:31,422 in a clammy vapor... 758 00:41:31,456 --> 00:41:33,924 and the peculiar smell of decayed fungus... 759 00:41:33,958 --> 00:41:35,755 arose to my nostrils. 760 00:41:35,793 --> 00:41:42,255 I had fallen at the very brink of a circular pit. 761 00:41:42,300 --> 00:41:45,269 Groping about the masonry just below the margin... 762 00:41:45,303 --> 00:41:47,931 I succeeded in dislodging a small fragment... 763 00:41:47,972 --> 00:41:50,440 and let it fall into the abyss. 764 00:41:50,475 --> 00:41:52,272 Many seconds I waited... 765 00:41:52,310 --> 00:41:54,778 and hearkened to its reverberations... 766 00:41:54,812 --> 00:41:57,940 as it dashed against the sides of the chasm in its descent. 767 00:41:57,982 --> 00:42:00,951 At length there was a sullen plunge into water... 768 00:42:00,985 --> 00:42:03,453 succeeded by loud echoes. 769 00:42:03,488 --> 00:42:06,457 At the same moment, there came a sound... 770 00:42:06,491 --> 00:42:09,949 resembling a quick opening of a door overhead... 771 00:42:09,994 --> 00:42:12,224 while a faint gleam of light... 772 00:42:12,263 --> 00:42:14,731 flashed suddenly through the gloom... 773 00:42:14,766 --> 00:42:17,860 and as suddenly faded away. 774 00:42:17,902 --> 00:42:19,802 Shaking in every limb... 775 00:42:19,837 --> 00:42:22,465 I groped my way back to the wall... 776 00:42:22,507 --> 00:42:24,975 resolving there to perish... 777 00:42:25,009 --> 00:42:29,810 rather than risk the terrors of the pit. 778 00:42:29,847 --> 00:42:33,305 Agitation of spirit kept me awake for many long hours... 779 00:42:33,351 --> 00:42:36,479 but at length I fell into a deep slumber. 780 00:42:36,521 --> 00:42:41,481 Upon arousing, I found that objects around me were visible. 781 00:42:41,526 --> 00:42:44,825 A wild sulfurous luster 782 00:42:44,862 --> 00:42:46,830 by that I was enabled to see... 783 00:42:46,864 --> 00:42:48,991 the extent and aspect of the prison. 784 00:42:49,033 --> 00:42:51,661 What I had taken for masonry... 785 00:42:51,703 --> 00:42:55,833 seemed now to be iron in huge plates. 786 00:42:55,873 --> 00:43:00,503 Figures of hideous fiends in aspects of menace... 787 00:43:00,545 --> 00:43:02,012 with skeleton forms... 788 00:43:02,046 --> 00:43:04,674 overspread and disfigured the walls. 789 00:43:04,716 --> 00:43:06,843 In the center of the floor... 790 00:43:06,884 --> 00:43:12,618 yawned the circular pit from whose jaws I had escaped. 791 00:43:12,657 --> 00:43:14,454 Then I realized... 792 00:43:14,492 --> 00:43:19,452 that I was securely bound to a low framework of wood. 793 00:43:19,497 --> 00:43:22,955 Strapping passed in many convolutions about my body... 794 00:43:23,001 --> 00:43:26,129 leaving at liberty only my head and my left arm... 795 00:43:26,170 --> 00:43:29,139 so that only with much exertion... 796 00:43:29,173 --> 00:43:32,472 could I supply myself with food from an earthen dish... 797 00:43:32,510 --> 00:43:34,478 which lay by my side on the floor. 798 00:43:34,512 --> 00:43:38,949 The food in the dish was meat, pungently seasoned. 799 00:43:38,983 --> 00:43:40,974 Looking upward... 800 00:43:41,019 --> 00:43:44,477 I surveyed the ceiling of my prison. 801 00:43:44,522 --> 00:43:48,481 It was some 3o or 4o feet overhead... 802 00:43:48,526 --> 00:43:49,993 and suspended therefrom was... 803 00:43:50,028 --> 00:43:52,997 what appeared to be a huge pendulum... 804 00:43:53,031 --> 00:43:56,489 such as one might see on antique clocks. 805 00:43:56,534 --> 00:43:58,161 While I gazed at it... 806 00:43:58,202 --> 00:44:02,662 I fancied that I saw it move ever so slightly. 807 00:44:02,707 --> 00:44:06,165 I watched it for some for some minutes... 808 00:44:06,210 --> 00:44:10,510 somewhat in fear, but more in wonder. 809 00:44:10,548 --> 00:44:12,948 Then a noise attracted my notice... 810 00:44:12,984 --> 00:44:19,287 and looking to the floor, I saw several enormous rats. 811 00:44:19,324 --> 00:44:23,124 They had issued from the pit with ravenous eyes... 812 00:44:23,161 --> 00:44:25,322 lured by the scent of the meat. 813 00:44:25,363 --> 00:44:27,331 It required much effort and attention... 814 00:44:27,365 --> 00:44:29,799 to scare them away from the food. 815 00:44:29,834 --> 00:44:32,302 When I again cast my eyes upward... 816 00:44:32,337 --> 00:44:34,805 what I saw confounded and amazed me. 817 00:44:34,839 --> 00:44:37,307 The sweep of the pendulum had increased in extent... 818 00:44:37,342 --> 00:44:39,310 by nearly a yard. 819 00:44:39,344 --> 00:44:42,472 But what mainly disturbed me was the idea... 820 00:44:42,513 --> 00:44:46,472 that it had perceptibly descended. 821 00:44:46,517 --> 00:44:48,485 I now observed 822 00:44:48,519 --> 00:44:51,647 with what horror it is needless to say 823 00:44:51,689 --> 00:44:57,992 that its lower extremity was a crescent of glittering steel... 824 00:44:58,029 --> 00:45:00,998 about a foot in length from horn to horn 825 00:45:01,032 --> 00:45:02,499 the horns upward... 826 00:45:02,533 --> 00:45:08,335 and the under edge evidently as keen as that of a razor. 827 00:45:08,373 --> 00:45:11,604 And it hissed as it swung through the air. 828 00:45:11,642 --> 00:45:13,007 Inch by inch... 829 00:45:13,044 --> 00:45:17,276 with a descent only appreciable at intervals that seemed ages... 830 00:45:17,315 --> 00:45:19,783 down and still down it came. 831 00:45:19,817 --> 00:45:22,445 Days passed ere it swept so closely over me... 832 00:45:22,487 --> 00:45:24,955 as to fan me with its acrid breath. 833 00:45:24,989 --> 00:45:27,287 I prayed for its more speedy descent. 834 00:45:27,325 --> 00:45:28,952 I grew frantically mad... 835 00:45:28,993 --> 00:45:31,291 and struggled to force myself upward... 836 00:45:31,329 --> 00:45:35,288 against the sweep of the fearful scimitar. 837 00:45:35,333 --> 00:45:38,962 And then suddenly I fell calm... 838 00:45:39,003 --> 00:45:42,803 and lay smiling at the glittering death... 839 00:45:42,840 --> 00:45:47,300 as a child would at some rare bauble. 840 00:45:47,345 --> 00:45:52,305 I saw that the crescent was designed to cross... 841 00:45:52,350 --> 00:45:55,649 the region of my heart. 842 00:45:55,686 --> 00:45:57,813 It would fray the serge of my garment. 843 00:45:57,855 --> 00:45:59,823 It would return and repeat its operations... 844 00:45:59,857 --> 00:46:00,983 again and again... 845 00:46:01,025 --> 00:46:03,653 but the fraying of my garment would be all that... 846 00:46:03,694 --> 00:46:06,060 for several minutes, it would accomplish. 847 00:46:06,097 --> 00:46:08,657 To the right, to the left, far and wide... 848 00:46:08,699 --> 00:46:10,496 down, steadily down it crept... 849 00:46:10,535 --> 00:46:12,935 with the shriek of a damned spirit: 850 00:46:12,970 --> 00:46:16,929 To my heart with the stealthy pace of the tiger. 851 00:46:16,974 --> 00:46:19,272 I alternately laughed and howled... 852 00:46:19,310 --> 00:46:23,804 as the odor of the sharp steel forced itself into my nostrils. 853 00:46:23,848 --> 00:46:26,146 Down, relentlessly down... 854 00:46:26,184 --> 00:46:30,484 it vibrated finally within 3 inches of my bosom. 855 00:46:30,521 --> 00:46:33,183 1o or 12 sweeps would bring the steel... 856 00:46:33,224 --> 00:46:36,625 in actual contact with my clothing. 857 00:46:36,661 --> 00:46:38,629 And then, with this observation... 858 00:46:38,663 --> 00:46:40,961 there suddenly came over my spirit... 859 00:46:40,998 --> 00:46:46,459 all the keen, collected calmness of despair. 860 00:46:46,504 --> 00:46:51,464 For the first time in many hours or perhaps days... 861 00:46:51,509 --> 00:46:55,468 I thought I thought of the rats. 862 00:46:55,513 --> 00:46:58,311 They had been literally swarming around... 863 00:46:58,349 --> 00:47:00,647 the low framework upon which I lay. 864 00:47:00,685 --> 00:47:02,653 They were wild, bold, and ravenous... 865 00:47:02,687 --> 00:47:04,314 their red eyes glaring upon me... 866 00:47:04,355 --> 00:47:07,324 as if they waited for motionlessness on my part... 867 00:47:07,358 --> 00:47:08,950 to make me their prey. 868 00:47:08,993 --> 00:47:10,358 "What food," I thought... 869 00:47:10,394 --> 00:47:12,589 "have they been accustomed to in the pit?" 870 00:47:12,630 --> 00:47:13,927 They had devoured... 871 00:47:13,965 --> 00:47:15,523 in spite of all my efforts to prevent them... 872 00:47:15,566 --> 00:47:18,330 all but a small remnant of the contents of the dish. 873 00:47:18,369 --> 00:47:21,930 Although my plan was scarcely sane... 874 00:47:21,973 --> 00:47:24,771 I proceeded at once to attempt its execution. 875 00:47:24,809 --> 00:47:27,437 With the particles of the oily and spicy meat... 876 00:47:27,478 --> 00:47:28,604 which now remained... 877 00:47:28,646 --> 00:47:30,773 I thoroughly rubbed the restraining binding... 878 00:47:30,815 --> 00:47:32,840 wherever I could reach it. 879 00:47:32,884 --> 00:47:36,945 Then I lay breathlessly still. 880 00:47:36,988 --> 00:47:39,456 At first the ravenous animals were startled... 881 00:47:39,490 --> 00:47:41,458 and terrified at the change. 882 00:47:41,492 --> 00:47:44,620 Observing, however, that I remained without motion... 883 00:47:44,662 --> 00:47:47,290 one or two of the boldest leapt upon the framework... 884 00:47:47,331 --> 00:47:49,299 and smelt at my bonds. 885 00:47:49,333 --> 00:47:52,302 This seemed the signal for a general rush. 886 00:47:52,336 --> 00:47:54,861 They leapt in hundreds upon my person. 887 00:47:54,906 --> 00:47:57,136 The measured movement of the pendulum... 888 00:47:57,174 --> 00:47:58,869 disturbed them not at all. 889 00:47:58,910 --> 00:48:00,309 Avoiding its strokes... 890 00:48:00,344 --> 00:48:03,973 they busied themselves gnawing the anointed bindings. 891 00:48:04,015 --> 00:48:05,312 They pressed... 892 00:48:05,349 --> 00:48:08,477 they swarmed upon me in ever accumulating heaps. 893 00:48:08,519 --> 00:48:12,922 They writhed upon my throat. Their cold lips sought my own. 894 00:48:12,957 --> 00:48:16,916 I was half stifled by their thronging pressure. 895 00:48:16,961 --> 00:48:21,762 Disgust for which the world has no name swelled my bosom... 896 00:48:21,799 --> 00:48:26,429 and chilled with a heavy clamminess my heart. 897 00:48:26,470 --> 00:48:30,429 Yet one minute, and I felt that the struggle would be over. 898 00:48:30,474 --> 00:48:33,443 Plainly I perceived the loosening of the strapping. 899 00:48:33,477 --> 00:48:35,775 I knew that in more than one place... 900 00:48:35,813 --> 00:48:37,610 it must be already severed. 901 00:48:37,648 --> 00:48:41,106 With a more than human resolution... 902 00:48:41,152 --> 00:48:45,282 I lay still. 903 00:48:45,323 --> 00:48:48,292 Nor had I erred in my calculations... 904 00:48:48,326 --> 00:48:50,954 nor had I endured in vain. 905 00:48:50,995 --> 00:48:55,455 I at last felt that I was free. 906 00:48:55,499 --> 00:48:59,458 But the stroke of the pendulum already pressed upon my bosom. 907 00:48:59,503 --> 00:49:01,971 It had divided the serge of my garment. 908 00:49:02,006 --> 00:49:03,974 Twice again it swung... 909 00:49:04,008 --> 00:49:08,809 and a sharp sense of pain shot through every nerve... 910 00:49:08,846 --> 00:49:11,076 but the moment of escape had arrived. 911 00:49:11,115 --> 00:49:12,742 At a wave of my hand... 912 00:49:12,783 --> 00:49:15,581 my deliverers hurried tumultuously away. 913 00:49:15,620 --> 00:49:17,247 With a steady movement... 914 00:49:17,288 --> 00:49:20,746 I slid from the embrace of the bindings... 915 00:49:20,791 --> 00:49:23,225 and beyond the reach of the scimitar. 916 00:49:23,260 --> 00:49:26,627 I was free free. 917 00:49:29,133 --> 00:49:33,433 But still in the grasp of the Inquisition. 918 00:49:33,471 --> 00:49:36,599 I had scarcely stepped from my wooden bed of horror... 919 00:49:36,641 --> 00:49:39,269 when the motion of the hellish machine ceased... 920 00:49:39,310 --> 00:49:41,778 and I beheld it drawn up. 921 00:49:41,812 --> 00:49:44,781 My very motion was undoubtedly watched. 922 00:49:44,815 --> 00:49:46,442 Free. 923 00:49:46,484 --> 00:49:50,443 I had but escaped death in one form of agony... 924 00:49:50,488 --> 00:49:54,948 to be delivered unto worse than death in some other. 925 00:49:54,992 --> 00:49:57,961 With that thought, I rolled my eyes nervously... 926 00:49:57,995 --> 00:50:00,964 on the barriers of iron that hemmed me in. 927 00:50:00,998 --> 00:50:04,297 I observed that the figures of the fiends upon the walls... 928 00:50:04,335 --> 00:50:08,465 had now assumed a startling and most intense brilliancy. 929 00:50:08,506 --> 00:50:11,475 Demon eyes of a wild and ghastly vivacity... 930 00:50:11,509 --> 00:50:14,774 glared upon me from a thousand directions. 931 00:50:14,812 --> 00:50:17,474 It was unreal. 932 00:50:17,515 --> 00:50:20,484 While I breathed, there came to my nostrils... 933 00:50:20,518 --> 00:50:24,477 the breath of the vapor of heated iron. 934 00:50:24,522 --> 00:50:26,990 A suffocating odor pervaded the prison. 935 00:50:27,024 --> 00:50:29,492 I panted, I gasped for breath. 936 00:50:29,527 --> 00:50:33,486 I shrank from the burning metal to the center of the cell. 937 00:50:33,531 --> 00:50:36,500 Amid the thought of the fiery destruction that impended... 938 00:50:36,534 --> 00:50:39,002 the idea of the coolness of the pit... 939 00:50:39,036 --> 00:50:42,494 came over my soul like balm. 940 00:50:42,540 --> 00:50:44,337 I rushed to its deadly brink. 941 00:50:44,375 --> 00:50:47,242 I threw my straining eyes below. 942 00:50:47,278 --> 00:50:49,838 The glare from the enkindled roof... 943 00:50:49,880 --> 00:50:52,007 illuminated its inmost recesses. 944 00:50:52,049 --> 00:50:54,517 Yet, for a wild moment, did my spirit refuse... 945 00:50:54,552 --> 00:50:57,521 to comprehend the meaning of what I saw. 946 00:50:57,555 --> 00:51:01,514 At length it forced, it burned its way into my soul. 947 00:51:01,559 --> 00:51:03,186 Oh, for a voice to speak. 948 00:51:03,227 --> 00:51:06,492 Oh, horror. Oh, any horror but this. 949 00:51:06,530 --> 00:51:10,796 The heat increased rapidly, and once again I looked up. 950 00:51:10,835 --> 00:51:13,303 There had been a second change in the cell... 951 00:51:13,337 --> 00:51:16,465 and now the change was obviously in the form. 952 00:51:16,507 --> 00:51:18,134 The room had been square. 953 00:51:18,175 --> 00:51:20,473 The fearful difference quickly increased... 954 00:51:20,511 --> 00:51:22,979 with a low, rumbling sound. 955 00:51:23,013 --> 00:51:25,481 The apartment was shifting its form... 956 00:51:25,516 --> 00:51:27,746 into that of a rectangle. 957 00:51:27,785 --> 00:51:29,980 "Death," I screamed... 958 00:51:30,020 --> 00:51:32,921 "Any death but that of the pit." 959 00:51:32,957 --> 00:51:34,822 Fool. 960 00:51:34,859 --> 00:51:37,327 Might I not have known that into the pit... 961 00:51:37,361 --> 00:51:40,762 was the object of the burning iron to urge me? 962 00:51:40,798 --> 00:51:43,995 And now closer and closer grew the walls. 963 00:51:44,034 --> 00:51:45,331 I shrank back... 964 00:51:45,369 --> 00:51:48,668 but the closing walls pressed me resistlessly onward. 965 00:51:48,706 --> 00:51:51,504 At length, for my seared and writhing body... 966 00:51:51,542 --> 00:51:53,840 there was no longer an inch of foothold... 967 00:51:53,878 --> 00:51:56,039 on the firm floor of the prison. 968 00:51:56,080 --> 00:51:58,014 I struggled no more... 969 00:51:58,048 --> 00:52:00,016 but the agony of my soul found vent... 970 00:52:00,050 --> 00:52:06,512 in one long, loud, and final scream of despair. 971 00:52:06,557 --> 00:52:08,650 I felt that I tottered upon the brink. 972 00:52:08,692 --> 00:52:09,852 Then suddenly... 973 00:52:09,894 --> 00:52:13,159 there was a discordant hum of human voices. 974 00:52:13,197 --> 00:52:16,132 There was a loud blast as of many trumpets. 975 00:52:16,167 --> 00:52:18,465 The fiery walls rushed back. 976 00:52:18,502 --> 00:52:20,800 An outstretched arm caught my own... 977 00:52:20,838 --> 00:52:23,807 as I fell fainting into the abyss. 978 00:52:23,841 --> 00:52:26,139 It was that of General LaSalle. 979 00:52:26,177 --> 00:52:29,635 The French army had entered Toledo. 980 00:52:29,680 --> 00:52:36,813 The Inquisition is in the hands of its enemies.