What time was it, I wondered? What day of the week? What month of the
year? And the year--was it of the era of our Lord?
My beard was gray at first. Now it had whitened. It had grown broad
and long.... Thus do beards and hair grow on the bodies of the dead,
I thought. The flesh seemed to have left my hands. Through the dry
darkened skin that covered them I could feel brittle knotted bones....
Was the sun setting? It was growing dark in my bedroom-prison. Only a
faltering light was now making its way through the grated window. And
the water rushed foaming, whirling along, black and green, around my
corpse ... softened the latter seemed ... mushy, gluey, loathesome....
* * * * * * * * *
Yes, night was coming on.... Again the Living Men entered to visit me
... the father and the son I mean.... The grandfather was not with
them.... He was out of sight and hearing.... They came and stood at my
bedside, looking at me for a long time, visibly preoccupied, visibly
alarmed....
They went away again, and still without a word. On the tripod
candlestick, the candelabrum of the three crossed lances, three candles
were burning brightly now ... three points of flame for the three long
shafts.... Darkness was creeping down the chasm.... The water was
moaning black in the on-coming night.
* * * * * * * * *
Ho! Ho-ho! What was that? Torches in my chamber! And voices shouting!
Ah no! Not in my chamber ... down there, along the stream ... up on
the cliffs, above the chasm.... Down there, of course! What could I
have been thinking of?
Torches on the brink of the abyss.... Faces peering into the black
void.... Uniforms! Red trousers, blue coats.... And a stretcher.... A
good idea! A good idea!... Of course! Of course! For me, for me!
Voices calling. An oath or two. A voice louder than the others bidding
these be silent. I heard everything distinctly. Yes, every word.
“But I see him, I tell you! Look, there he is! Down in that hole! Gotta
get down there someway!”
“Watch your step, boy! What a hole!”
“What the hell! I done worse places than this before.... The Devil
roast my soul! Stinks a bit, this fellow! Whew!”
“Aw go on, what are you giving us!”
“But I say, Sergeant, he’s rotten!”
“What do you mean, rotten! Can’t have been there more than twelve
hours!”
“All right.... I can’t say how long he’s been here.... But I know
rotten beef when I smell it.... Guess it’s from being in the water!
Say, just chuck that piece of canvas down.... We’ll pass it under him
and draw up the four corners.... This is no man ... just soup! Easier
to spoon him up with a ladle!”
“Damn it, man ... what have you found? Somebody else? Take a squint at
him.... We’ve got to get the right man! What’s he got in his pockets?”
“Sticky damn mess! Whew! But here we are! Our man, all right! Yes!
Identification card! Other stuff with his name on it! And here’s his
revolver! Our man, Sergeant, no doubt of that. How about that rag!
Sending it down?”
“When you get him ready, you give the word and we’ll haul up!”
“Righto! One, two, three, and you pull!... Well, I’ll be damned!”
“What’s worrying you now?”
“Why this here corpse! Weighs about an ounce and a half!”
“What’s that? Lord, if he’s as far gone as that.... Say, give a look
around! Maybe you’ve left some on the rocks, a leg or an arm, or
something!”
“No! Got everything, Sergeant, head and all! All right at the other
end?”
“All right here!”
“Well then up she goes!” ...
“And now we’re off....”
* * * * * * * * *
“Hey, don’t shake the thing so much when you walk!”
“Oh rats! Hell of a lot this bird cares whether there’s springs on his
hearse!” ...
* * * * * * * * *