Show BOOKS IN prisoner used ta sed rats to cheat death by ELIZABETH C JAMES Tb phe HE prisoner opened his eyes to blackness lackness fears 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 conscious and he now wore an unfamiliar robe thus does edgar allen alien poe set the stage in the pit and the pendulum what manner ot of place was this perhaps he was dead and this was eternity perhaps he was entombed alive panic seized him he must know the size and shape of his prison cautiously he felt his way until he found the wall ripping a piece from his robe to mark the starting place he began to creep along count elizabeth me ing the paces A cir james auit cu ot of SO 50 yards indicated that 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 fell prone taut he lay A queer sensation stole over him for his head seemed to be touching nothing to be in space reaching out he found a well or pit pit almost swoon ing he recalled stories of the inquisition pits which the people in toledo toledo had lately heard some time later and with an effort his benumbed mind saw that the prison was now lighted he saw walls of metal a stone floor and ana a high ceiling in the middle of 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 pendulum appears from the pit crept rats the prisoner looked about him for some weapon only his bis arm was free from the elbow down so that he could reach the plate of food on the floor As the rats crept toward 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 in sanity he laughed and 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 as far as he could reach using every drop of grease then he lay still the rats had not before seen him 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 greed ily 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 are arc he lunged with all his force and fell tree free the pendulum stopped and swiftly ly rose to the ceiling the prisoner sonok lay as one lifeless waiting for forab next mode of death w 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 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 Q beja syndicate service |