Show BOOKS IN BRIEF how prisoner used rats to cheat death by ELIZABETH C JAMES T phe HE prisoner opened his eyes to I 1 blackness fears fe a rs shook him as he thought of the inquisition judges feeling painfully about him he discovered that his clothes had been changed while he was unconscious and he now wore an unfamiliar robe thus does edgar allen alien poe set the stage in the pit and the pendulum what manner of place was this perhaps he w was as dead and this was eternity perhaps he was entombed alive panic seized him he must know the size and shape of his cautiously hs he felt his way until he found the wall ripping a piece from his bis ro robe b e to mark the starting place he began to creep ep along al ng counting the paces A circuit elizabeth of 50 yards indicated james that at it could not be a tomb now he would cross the cell boldly he started away from the wall but his feet tripped in the robe and he tell fell prone taut he lay A queer sensation stole over him for his head seemed to be touching nothing to be in space reaching beaching out he found a well or pit pit almost swooning he recalled stories of the inquisition luisi tion pits which the people in toledo had lately heard some time later and with an efort ort his benumbed mind saw that the prison was now lighted he saw TURBULENT LIFE the life of poe foe Is more turbulent than any story that he wrote scores of 0 biographers have attempted to reveal something 0 of the he spirit of this lonely and passionate man although poe foe died in his fortieth year he left literary criticism that is ex excellent cellen t and anil shot short stories and poems that are unexcelled u cued for sheer artistry later biographers have stated that poes foes reputation was worse than poe foe his difficulties at the university of virginia and at west point and his being disinherited by his foster father gave him a name tor for recklessness when he was very young which the events of his later life did nothing to offset poe foe lived from 1809 until 1849 attaining a literary fame in europe as well as in america walls of metal a stone floor and a high ceiling cel ling in the middle of 0 the floor yawned dawned the pit how strange he felt he could not move lying on his back he was bound to a wooden bench beach pendulum appears from the pit crept rats th the e prisoner on er looked about him for some weapon only his arm was tree free from the elbow down so that he c could 0 uld reach the plate of food on t the h e floor As the rats crept toward rd the plate he waved them away again a noise this one sounded like steam looking upward he saw the silver object to be a pendulum that dropped slowly with each stroke then he divined the cunning of his captors A blade of steel was descending slowly toward him with days of mental torture and hours of physical torture his death would be slow and horrible time passed but he could not reckon how much his mind alternated between fascination and insanity sometimes he laughed sometimes he cried sometimes he shrieked now the blade was only a yard above him then two feet above then one foot rats save life only inches separated them then desire for life surged through him so that he cried to heaven for help grasping the scraps of food he smeared the meat over his bonds bond s as far as he could reach using ev ery drop of grease then he lay still theratus The rats had not before seen him ying lying so they watched crept closer then jumped onto the bench they were over his body in a flash voraciously they gnawed and chewed the bands of cloth greedily they tore it trying to get the last drop of food the pendulum swung in long arcs even closer there was a pressure as the knife cut his robe he did not dare move yet seconds passed and he knew that his robe was cut through As the blade reached the height of its arc he lunged with all his force and fell free the pendulum stopped and swiftly rose to the ceiling the prisoner lay as one lifeless waiting tor for the next mode of death he did not wait long the walls changed color revealing hideous pictures which might have come from hell oppressive heat choked him as he saw that the walls were being heated and were cor coming together so that the cell was growing smaller their purpose was clear to push him into the pit A crash sounded the walls jerked away as with thunder an arm clutched him the french had conquered his enemies he was saved 8 0 bell syndicate W service |