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9 | The Project Gutenberg Etext of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
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13 | [This was the #1 rated Twilight Zone epidose of all time]
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46 | An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge
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47 | </para>
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48 |
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49 | <para>
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50 | by Ambrose Bierce
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338 | </para>
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339 | </gutblurb>
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340 |
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341 | <markupblurb>
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342 | Marked up by John Hanna Feb 2000
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343 | Validated against gutbook1.dtd using MSXML Feb 2000
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344 | Checked FB Feb 2000
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345 | </markupblurb>
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346 |
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347 | <book>
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348 | <acknowledge>A project of the HTML Writrs Guild and Project Gutenberg. Markup by an anonymous Project Gutenberg Volunteer, Markup by John Hanna Feb 2000</acknowledge>
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349 | <frontmatter>
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350 | <titlepage>
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351 | <title>AN OCCURRENCE AT OWL CREEK BRIDGE</title>
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352 | <para>by</para>
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353 | <author>Ambrose Bierce</author>
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354 | <para>
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355 | THE MILLENNIUM FULCRUM EDITION, 1988
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356 | </para>
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357 | </titlepage>
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358 | </frontmatter>
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359 | <bookbody>
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360 | <part>
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361 |
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362 | <chapter>
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363 | <title>I</title>
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364 | <para>
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365 | A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama,
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366 | looking down into the swift water twenty feet below. The
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367 | man's hands were behind his back, the wrists bound with a
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368 | cord. A rope closely encircled his neck. It was attached to
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369 | a stout cross-timber above his head and the slack feel to the
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370 | level of his knees. Some loose boards laid upon the ties
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371 | supporting the rails of the railway supplied a footing for
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372 | him and his executioners -- two private soldiers of the
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373 | Federal army, directed by a sergeant who in civil life may
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374 | have been a deputy sheriff. At a short remove upon the same
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375 | temporary platform was an officer in the uniform of his rank,
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376 | armed. He was a captain. A sentinel at each end of the
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377 | bridge stood with his rifle in the position known as
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378 | "support," that is to say, vertical in front of the left
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379 | shoulder, the hammer resting on the forearm thrown straight
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380 | across the chest -- a formal and unnatural position,
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381 | enforcing an erect carriage of the body. It did not appear
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382 | to be the duty of these two men to know what was occurring at
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383 | the center of the bridge; they merely blockaded the two ends
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384 | of the foot planking that traversed it.
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385 | </para>
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386 |
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387 | <para>
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388 | Beyond one of the sentinels nobody was in sight; the railroad
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389 | ran straight away into a forest for a hundred yards, then,
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390 | curving, was lost to view. Doubtless there was an outpost
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391 | farther along. The other bank of the stream was open ground
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392 | -- a gentle slope topped with a stockade of vertical tree
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393 | trunks, loopholed for rifles, with a single embrasure
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394 | through which protruded the muzzle of a brass cannon
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395 | commanding the bridge. Midway up the slope between the
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396 | bridge and fort were the spectators -- a single company of
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397 | infantry in line, at "parade rest," the butts of their rifles
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398 | on the ground, the barrels inclining slightly backward
|
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399 | against the right shoulder, the hands crossed upon the stock.
|
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400 | A lieutenant stood at the right of the line, the point
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401 | of his sword upon the ground, his left hand resting upon his
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402 | right. Excepting the group of four at the center of the
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403 | bridge, not a man moved. The company faced the bridge,
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404 | staring stonily, motionless. The sentinels, facing the
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405 | banks of the stream, might have been statues to adorn the
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406 | bridge. The captain stood with folded arms, silent,
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407 | observing the work of his subordinates, but making no sign.
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408 | Death is a dignitary who when he comes announced is to be
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409 | received with formal manifestations of respect, even by those
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410 | most familiar with him. In the code of military etiquette
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411 | silence and fixity are forms of deference.
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412 | </para>
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413 |
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414 | <para>
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415 | The man who was engaged in being hanged was apparently about
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416 | thirty-five years of age. He was a civilian, if one might
|
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417 | judge from his habit, which was that of a planter. His
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418 | features were good -- a straight nose, firm mouth, broad
|
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419 | forehead, from which his long, dark hair was combed straight
|
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420 | back, falling behind his ears to the collar of his well
|
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421 | fitting frock coat. He wore a moustache and pointed beard,
|
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422 | but no whiskers; his eyes were large and dark gray, and had a
|
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423 | kindly expression which one would hardly have expected in one
|
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424 | whose neck was in the hemp. Evidently this was no vulgar
|
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425 | assassin. The liberal military code makes provision for
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426 | hanging many kinds of persons, and gentlemen are not
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427 | excluded.
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428 | </para>
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429 |
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430 | <para>
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431 | The preparations being complete, the two private soldiers
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432 | stepped aside and each drew away the plank upon which he had
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433 | been standing. The sergeant turned to the captain, saluted
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434 | and placed himself immediately behind that officer, who in
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435 | turn moved apart one pace. These movements left the
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436 | condemned man and the sergeant standing on the two ends of
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437 | the same plank, which spanned three of the cross-ties of the
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438 | bridge. The end upon which the civilian stood almost, but
|
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439 | not quite, reached a fourth. This plank had been held in
|
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440 | place by the weight of the captain; it was now held by that
|
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441 | of the sergeant. At a signal from the former the latter
|
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442 | would step aside, the plank would tilt and the condemned man
|
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443 | go down between two ties. The arrangement commended itself
|
---|
444 | to his judgement as simple and effective. His face had not
|
---|
445 | been covered nor his eyes bandaged. He looked a moment at
|
---|
446 | his "unsteadfast footing," then let his gaze wander to the
|
---|
447 | swirling water of the stream racing madly beneath his feet.
|
---|
448 | A piece of dancing driftwood caught his attention and his
|
---|
449 | eyes followed it down the current. How slowly it appeared
|
---|
450 | to move! What a sluggish stream!
|
---|
451 | </para>
|
---|
452 |
|
---|
453 | <para>
|
---|
454 | He closed his eyes in order to fix his last thoughts upon his
|
---|
455 | wife and children. The water, touched to gold by the early
|
---|
456 | sun, the brooding mists under the banks at some distance down
|
---|
457 | the stream, the fort, the soldiers, the piece of drift -- all
|
---|
458 | had distracted him. And now he became conscious of a new
|
---|
459 | disturbance. Striking through the thought of his dear
|
---|
460 | ones was sound which he could neither ignore nor understand,
|
---|
461 | a sharp, distinct, metallic percussion like the stroke of a
|
---|
462 | blacksmith's hammer upon the anvil; it had the same ringing
|
---|
463 | quality. He wondered what it was, and whether immeasurably
|
---|
464 | distant or near by -- it seemed both. Its recurrence was
|
---|
465 | regular, but as slow as the tolling of a death knell. He
|
---|
466 | awaited each new stroke with impatience and -- he knew not
|
---|
467 | why -- apprehension. The intervals of silence grew
|
---|
468 | progressively longer; the delays became maddening. With
|
---|
469 | their greater infrequency the sounds increased in strength
|
---|
470 | and sharpness. They hurt his ear like the trust of a knife;
|
---|
471 | he feared he would shriek. What he heard was the ticking of
|
---|
472 | his watch.
|
---|
473 | </para>
|
---|
474 |
|
---|
475 | <para>
|
---|
476 | He unclosed his eyes and saw again the water below him. "If
|
---|
477 | I could free my hands," he thought, "I might throw off the
|
---|
478 | noose and spring into the stream. By diving I could evade
|
---|
479 | the bullets and, swimming vigorously, reach the bank, take
|
---|
480 | to the woods and get away home. My home, thank God, is as
|
---|
481 | yet outside their lines; my wife and little ones are still
|
---|
482 | beyond the invader's farthest advance."
|
---|
483 | </para>
|
---|
484 |
|
---|
485 | <para>
|
---|
486 | As these thoughts, which have here to be set down in words,
|
---|
487 | were flashed into the doomed man's brain rather than evolved
|
---|
488 | from it the captain nodded to the sergeant. The sergeant
|
---|
489 | stepped aside.
|
---|
490 | </para>
|
---|
491 | </chapter>
|
---|
492 |
|
---|
493 | <chapter>
|
---|
494 | <title>II</title>
|
---|
495 | <para>
|
---|
496 | Peyton Fahrquhar was a well to do planter, of an old and
|
---|
497 | highly respected Alabama family. Being a slave owner and
|
---|
498 | like other slave owners a politician, he was naturally an
|
---|
499 | original secessionist and ardently devoted to the Southern
|
---|
500 | cause. Circumstances of an imperious nature, which it is
|
---|
501 | unnecessary to relate here, had prevented him from taking
|
---|
502 | service with that gallant army which had fought the
|
---|
503 | disastrous campaigns ending with the fall of Corinth, and he
|
---|
504 | chafed under the inglorious restraint, longing for the
|
---|
505 | release of his energies, the larger life of the soldier, the
|
---|
506 | opportunity for distinction. That opportunity, he felt,
|
---|
507 | would come, as it comes to all in wartime. Meanwhile he
|
---|
508 | did what he could. No service was too humble for him to
|
---|
509 | perform in the aid of the South, no adventure to perilous for
|
---|
510 | him to undertake if consistent with the character of a
|
---|
511 | civilian who was at heart a soldier, and who in good faith
|
---|
512 | and without too much qualification assented to at least a
|
---|
513 | part of the frankly villainous dictum that all is fair in
|
---|
514 | love and war.
|
---|
515 | </para>
|
---|
516 |
|
---|
517 | <para>
|
---|
518 | One evening while Fahrquhar and his wife were sitting on a
|
---|
519 | rustic bench near the entrance to his grounds, a gray-clad
|
---|
520 | soldier rode up to the gate and asked for a drink of water.
|
---|
521 | Mrs. Fahrquhar was only too happy to serve him with her own
|
---|
522 | white hands. While she was fetching the water her husband
|
---|
523 | approached the dusty horseman and inquired eagerly for news
|
---|
524 | from the front.
|
---|
525 | </para>
|
---|
526 |
|
---|
527 | <para>
|
---|
528 | "The Yanks are repairing the railroads," said the man, "and
|
---|
529 | are getting ready for another advance. They have reached the
|
---|
530 | Owl Creek bridge, put it in order and built a stockade on the
|
---|
531 | north bank. The commandant has issued an order, which is
|
---|
532 | posted everywhere, declaring that any civilian caught
|
---|
533 | interfering with the railroad, its bridges, tunnels, or
|
---|
534 | trains will be summarily hanged. I saw the order."
|
---|
535 | </para>
|
---|
536 |
|
---|
537 | <para>
|
---|
538 | "How far is it to the Owl Creek bridge?" Fahrquhar asked.
|
---|
539 | </para>
|
---|
540 |
|
---|
541 | <para>
|
---|
542 | "About thirty miles."
|
---|
543 | </para>
|
---|
544 |
|
---|
545 | <para>
|
---|
546 | "Is there no force on this side of the creek?"
|
---|
547 | </para>
|
---|
548 |
|
---|
549 | <para>
|
---|
550 | "Only a picket post half a mile out, on the railroad, and a
|
---|
551 | single sentinel at this end of the bridge."
|
---|
552 | </para>
|
---|
553 |
|
---|
554 | <para>
|
---|
555 | "Suppose a man -- a civilian and student of hanging --
|
---|
556 | should elude the picket post and perhaps get the better of
|
---|
557 | the sentinel," said Fahrquhar, smiling, "what could he
|
---|
558 | accomplish?"
|
---|
559 | </para>
|
---|
560 |
|
---|
561 | <para>
|
---|
562 | The soldier reflected. "I was there a month ago," he
|
---|
563 | replied. "I observed that the flood of last winter had
|
---|
564 | lodged a great quantity of driftwood against the wooden pier
|
---|
565 | at this end of the bridge. It is now dry and would burn like
|
---|
566 | tinder."
|
---|
567 | </para>
|
---|
568 |
|
---|
569 | <para>
|
---|
570 | The lady had now brought the water, which the soldier drank.
|
---|
571 | He thanked her ceremoniously, bowed to her husband and rode
|
---|
572 | away. An hour later, after nightfall, he repassed the
|
---|
573 | plantation, going northward in the direction from which he
|
---|
574 | had come. He was a Federal scout.
|
---|
575 | </para>
|
---|
576 | </chapter>
|
---|
577 |
|
---|
578 | <chapter>
|
---|
579 | <title>III</title>
|
---|
580 | <para>
|
---|
581 | As Peyton Fahrquhar fell straight downward through the
|
---|
582 | bridge he lost consciousness and was as one already dead.
|
---|
583 | From this state he was awakened -- ages later, it seemed to
|
---|
584 | him -- by the pain of a sharp pressure upon his throat,
|
---|
585 | followed by a sense of suffocation. Keen, poignant agonies
|
---|
586 | seemed to shoot from his neck downward through every fiber of
|
---|
587 | his body and limbs. These pains appeared to flash along well
|
---|
588 | defined lines of ramification and to beat with an
|
---|
589 | inconceivably rapid periodicity. They seemed like streams of
|
---|
590 | pulsating fire heating him to an intolerable temperature. As
|
---|
591 | to his head, he was conscious of nothing but a feeling of
|
---|
592 | fullness -- of congestion. These sensations were
|
---|
593 | unaccompanied by thought. The intellectual part of his
|
---|
594 | nature was already effaced; he had power only to feel, and
|
---|
595 | feeling was torment. He was conscious of motion.
|
---|
596 | Encompassed in a luminous cloud, of which he was now merely
|
---|
597 | the fiery heart, without material substance, he swung
|
---|
598 | through unthinkable arcs of oscillation, like a vast
|
---|
599 | pendulum. Then all at once, with terrible suddenness, the
|
---|
600 | light about him shot upward with the noise of a loud splash;
|
---|
601 | a frightful roaring was in his ears, and all was cold and
|
---|
602 | dark. The power of thought was restored; he knew that the
|
---|
603 | rope had broken and he had fallen into the stream. There was
|
---|
604 | no additional strangulation; the noose about his neck
|
---|
605 | was already suffocating him and kept the water from his
|
---|
606 | lungs. To die of hanging at the bottom of a river! -- the
|
---|
607 | idea seemed to him ludicrous. He opened his eyes in the
|
---|
608 | darkness and saw above him a gleam of light, but how distant,
|
---|
609 | how inaccessible! He was still sinking, for the light became
|
---|
610 | fainter and fainter until it was a mere glimmer. Then it
|
---|
611 | began to grow and brighten, and he knew that he was rising
|
---|
612 | toward the surface -- knew it with reluctance, for he was now
|
---|
613 | very comfortable. "To be hanged and drowned," he thought,
|
---|
614 | "that is not so bad; but I do not wish to be shot. No; I
|
---|
615 | will not be shot; that is not fair."
|
---|
616 | </para>
|
---|
617 |
|
---|
618 | <para>
|
---|
619 | He was not conscious of an effort, but a sharp pain in his
|
---|
620 | wrist apprised him that he was trying to free his hands. He
|
---|
621 | gave the struggle his attention, as an idler might observe
|
---|
622 | the feat of a juggler, without interest in the outcome. What
|
---|
623 | splendid effort! -- what magnificent, what superhuman
|
---|
624 | strength! Ah, that was a fine endeavor! Bravo! The cord
|
---|
625 | fell away; his arms parted and floated upward, the hands
|
---|
626 | dimly seen on each side in the growing light. He watched
|
---|
627 | them with a new interest as first one and then the other
|
---|
628 | pounced upon the noose at his neck. They tore it away and
|
---|
629 | thrust it fiercely aside, its undulations resembling those of
|
---|
630 | a water snake. "Put it back, put it back!" He thought he
|
---|
631 | shouted these words to his hands, for the undoing of the
|
---|
632 | noose had been succeeded by the direst pang that he had yet
|
---|
633 | experienced. His neck ached horribly; his brain was on fire,
|
---|
634 | his heart, which had been fluttering faintly, gave a great
|
---|
635 | leap, trying to force itself out at his mouth. His whole
|
---|
636 | body was racked and wrenched with an insupportable anguish!
|
---|
637 | But his disobedient hands gave no heed to the command. They
|
---|
638 | beat the water vigorously with quick, downward strokes,
|
---|
639 | forcing him to the surface. He felt his head emerge; his
|
---|
640 | eyes were blinded by the sunlight; his chest expanded
|
---|
641 | convulsively, and with a supreme and crowning agony his lungs
|
---|
642 | engulfed a great draught of air, which instantly he expelled
|
---|
643 | in a shriek!
|
---|
644 | </para>
|
---|
645 |
|
---|
646 | <para>
|
---|
647 | He was now in full possession of his physical senses. They
|
---|
648 | were, indeed, preternaturally keen and alert. Something in
|
---|
649 | the awful disturbance of his organic system had so exalted
|
---|
650 | and refined them that they made record of things never before
|
---|
651 | perceived. He felt the ripples upon his face and heard their
|
---|
652 | separate sounds as they struck. He looked at the forest on
|
---|
653 | the bank of the stream, saw the individual trees, the leaves
|
---|
654 | and the veining of each leaf -- he saw the very insects upon
|
---|
655 | them: the locusts, the brilliant bodied flies, the gray
|
---|
656 | spiders stretching their webs from twig to twig. He noted
|
---|
657 | the prismatic colors in all the dewdrops upon a million
|
---|
658 | blades of grass. The humming of the gnats that danced above
|
---|
659 | the eddies of the stream, the beating of the dragon flies'
|
---|
660 | wings, the strokes of the water spiders' legs, like oars
|
---|
661 | which had lifted their boat -- all these made audible
|
---|
662 | music. A fish slid along beneath his eyes and he heard the
|
---|
663 | rush of its body parting the water.
|
---|
664 | </para>
|
---|
665 |
|
---|
666 | <para>
|
---|
667 | He had come to the surface facing down the stream; in a
|
---|
668 | moment the visible world seemed to wheel slowly round,
|
---|
669 | himself the pivotal point, and he saw the bridge, the fort,
|
---|
670 | the soldiers upon the bridge, the captain, the sergeant, the
|
---|
671 | two privates, his executioners. They were in silhouette
|
---|
672 | against the blue sky. They shouted and gesticulated,
|
---|
673 | pointing at him. The captain had drawn his pistol, but did
|
---|
674 | not fire; the others were unarmed. Their movements were
|
---|
675 | grotesque and horrible, their forms gigantic.
|
---|
676 | </para>
|
---|
677 |
|
---|
678 | <para>
|
---|
679 | Suddenly he heard a sharp report and something struck the
|
---|
680 | water smartly within a few inches of his head, spattering his
|
---|
681 | face with spray. He heard a second report, and saw one of
|
---|
682 | the sentinels with his rifle at his shoulder, a light cloud
|
---|
683 | of blue smoke rising from the muzzle. The man in the water
|
---|
684 | saw the eye of the man on the bridge gazing into his own
|
---|
685 | through the sights of the rifle. He observed that it was a
|
---|
686 | gray eye and remembered having read that gray eyes were
|
---|
687 | keenest, and that all famous marksmen had them.
|
---|
688 | Nevertheless, this one had missed.
|
---|
689 | </para>
|
---|
690 |
|
---|
691 | <para>
|
---|
692 | A counter-swirl had caught Fahrquhar and turned him half
|
---|
693 | round; he was again looking at the forest on the bank
|
---|
694 | opposite the fort. The sound of a clear, high voice in a
|
---|
695 | monotonous singsong now rang out behind him and came across
|
---|
696 | the water with a distinctness that pierced and subdued all
|
---|
697 | other sounds, even the beating of the ripples in his ears.
|
---|
698 | Although no soldier, he had frequented camps enough to know
|
---|
699 | the dread significance of that deliberate, drawling,
|
---|
700 | aspirated chant; the lieutenant on shore was taking a part in
|
---|
701 | the morning's work. How coldly and pitilessly -- with what
|
---|
702 | an even, calm intonation, presaging, and enforcing
|
---|
703 | tranquility in the men -- with what accurately measured
|
---|
704 | interval fell those cruel words:
|
---|
705 | </para>
|
---|
706 |
|
---|
707 | <para>
|
---|
708 | "Company! . . . Attention! . . . Shoulder arms! . . . Ready!
|
---|
709 | . . . Aim! . . . Fire!"
|
---|
710 | </para>
|
---|
711 |
|
---|
712 | <para>
|
---|
713 | Fahrquhar dived -- dived as deeply as he could. The water
|
---|
714 | roared in his ears like the voice of Niagara, yet he heard
|
---|
715 | the dull thunder of the volley and, rising again toward the
|
---|
716 | surface, met shining bits of metal, singularly flattened,
|
---|
717 | oscillating slowly downward. Some of them touched him on the
|
---|
718 | face and hands, then fell away, continuing their descent.
|
---|
719 | One lodged between his collar and neck; it was uncomfortably
|
---|
720 | warm and he snatched it out.
|
---|
721 | </para>
|
---|
722 |
|
---|
723 | <para>
|
---|
724 | As he rose to the surface, gasping for breath, he saw that he
|
---|
725 | had been a long time under water; he was perceptibly farther
|
---|
726 | downstream -- nearer to safety. The soldiers had almost
|
---|
727 | finished reloading; the metal ramrods flashed all at once in
|
---|
728 | the sunshine as they were drawn from the barrels,
|
---|
729 | turned in the air, and thrust into their sockets. The two
|
---|
730 | sentinels fired again, independently and ineffectually.
|
---|
731 | </para>
|
---|
732 |
|
---|
733 | <para>
|
---|
734 | The hunted man saw all this over his shoulder; he was now
|
---|
735 | swimming vigorously with the current. His brain was as
|
---|
736 | energetic as his arms and legs; he thought with the rapidity
|
---|
737 | of lightning:
|
---|
738 | </para>
|
---|
739 |
|
---|
740 | <para>
|
---|
741 | "The officer," he reasoned, "will not make that martinet's
|
---|
742 | error a second time. It is as easy to dodge a volley as a
|
---|
743 | single shot. He has probably already given the command to
|
---|
744 | fire at will. God help me, I cannot dodge them all!"
|
---|
745 | </para>
|
---|
746 |
|
---|
747 | <para>
|
---|
748 | An appalling splash within two yards of him was followed by a
|
---|
749 | loud, rushing sound, DIMINUENDO, which seemed to travel back
|
---|
750 | through the air to the fort and died in an explosion which
|
---|
751 | stirred the very river to its deeps! A rising sheet of water
|
---|
752 | curved over him, fell down upon him, blinded him, strangled
|
---|
753 | him! The cannon had taken an hand in the game. As he shook
|
---|
754 | his head free from the commotion of the smitten water he
|
---|
755 | heard the deflected shot humming through the air ahead, and
|
---|
756 | in an instant it was cracking and smashing the branches in
|
---|
757 | the forest beyond.
|
---|
758 | </para>
|
---|
759 |
|
---|
760 | <para>
|
---|
761 | "They will not do that again," he thought; "the next time
|
---|
762 | they will use a charge of grape. I must keep my eye upon
|
---|
763 | the gun; the smoke will apprise me -- the report arrives too
|
---|
764 | late; it lags behind the missile. That is a good gun."
|
---|
765 | </para>
|
---|
766 |
|
---|
767 | <para>
|
---|
768 | Suddenly he felt himself whirled round and round -- spinning
|
---|
769 | like a top. The water, the banks, the forests, the now
|
---|
770 | distant bridge, fort and men, all were commingled and
|
---|
771 | blurred. Objects were represented by their colors only;
|
---|
772 | circular horizontal streaks of color -- that was all he saw.
|
---|
773 | He had been caught in a vortex and was being whirled on with
|
---|
774 | a velocity of advance and gyration that made him giddy and
|
---|
775 | sick. In few moments he was flung upon the gravel at the
|
---|
776 | foot of the left bank of the stream -- the southern bank --
|
---|
777 | and behind a projecting point which concealed him from his
|
---|
778 | enemies. The sudden arrest of his motion, the abrasion of
|
---|
779 | one of his hands on the gravel, restored him, and he wept
|
---|
780 | with delight. He dug his fingers into the sand, threw it
|
---|
781 | over himself in handfuls and audibly blessed it. It looked
|
---|
782 | like diamonds, rubies, emeralds; he could think of nothing
|
---|
783 | beautiful which it did not resemble. The trees upon the bank
|
---|
784 | were giant garden plants; he noted a definite order in their
|
---|
785 | arrangement, inhaled the fragrance of their blooms. A
|
---|
786 | strange roseate light shone through the spaces among their
|
---|
787 | trunks and the wind made in their branches the music of
|
---|
788 | AEolian harps. He had not wish to perfect his escape -- he
|
---|
789 | was content to remain in that enchanting spot until retaken.
|
---|
790 | </para>
|
---|
791 |
|
---|
792 | <para>
|
---|
793 | A whiz and a rattle of grapeshot among the branches high
|
---|
794 | above his head roused him from his dream. The baffled
|
---|
795 | cannoneer had fired him a random farewell. He sprang
|
---|
796 | to his feet, rushed up the sloping bank, and plunged into the
|
---|
797 | forest.
|
---|
798 | </para>
|
---|
799 |
|
---|
800 | <para>
|
---|
801 | All that day he traveled, laying his course by the rounding
|
---|
802 | sun. The forest seemed interminable; nowhere did he
|
---|
803 | discover a break in it, not even a woodman's road. He had
|
---|
804 | not known that he lived in so wild a region. There was
|
---|
805 | something uncanny in the revelation.
|
---|
806 | </para>
|
---|
807 |
|
---|
808 | <para>
|
---|
809 | By nightfall he was fatigued, footsore, famished. The
|
---|
810 | thought of his wife and children urged him on. At last he
|
---|
811 | found a road which led him in what he knew to be the right
|
---|
812 | direction. It was as wide and straight as a city street, yet
|
---|
813 | it seemed untraveled. No fields bordered it, no dwelling
|
---|
814 | anywhere. Not so much as the barking of a dog suggested
|
---|
815 | human habitation. The black bodies of the trees formed a
|
---|
816 | straight wall on both sides, terminating on the horizon in a
|
---|
817 | point, like a diagram in a lesson in perspective. Overhead,
|
---|
818 | as he looked up through this rift in the wood, shone great
|
---|
819 | golden stars looking unfamiliar and grouped in strange
|
---|
820 | constellations. He was sure they were arranged in some order
|
---|
821 | which had a secret and malign significance. The wood on
|
---|
822 | either side was full of singular noises, among which -- once,
|
---|
823 | twice, and again -- he distinctly heard whispers in an
|
---|
824 | unknown tongue.
|
---|
825 | </para>
|
---|
826 |
|
---|
827 | <para>
|
---|
828 | His neck was in pain and lifting his hand to it found it
|
---|
829 | horribly swollen. He knew that it had a circle of black
|
---|
830 | where the rope had bruised it. His eyes felt congested; he
|
---|
831 | could no longer close them. His tongue was swollen with
|
---|
832 | thirst; he relieved its fever by thrusting it forward from
|
---|
833 | between his teeth into the cold air. How softly the turf had
|
---|
834 | carpeted the untraveled avenue -- he could no longer feel the
|
---|
835 | roadway beneath his feet!
|
---|
836 | </para>
|
---|
837 |
|
---|
838 | <para>
|
---|
839 | Doubtless, despite his suffering, he had fallen asleep while
|
---|
840 | walking, for now he sees another scene -- perhaps he has
|
---|
841 | merely recovered from a delirium. He stands at the gate of
|
---|
842 | his own home. All is as he left it, and all bright and
|
---|
843 | beautiful in the morning sunshine. He must have traveled the
|
---|
844 | entire night. As he pushes open the gate and passes up the
|
---|
845 | wide white walk, he sees a flutter of female garments; his
|
---|
846 | wife, looking fresh and cool and sweet, steps down from the
|
---|
847 | veranda to meet him. At the bottom of the steps she stands
|
---|
848 | waiting, with a smile of ineffable joy, an attitude of
|
---|
849 | matchless grace and dignity. Ah, how beautiful she is! He
|
---|
850 | springs forwards with extended arms. As he is about to clasp
|
---|
851 | her he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck; a
|
---|
852 | blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like
|
---|
853 | the shock of a cannon -- then all is darkness and silence!
|
---|
854 | </para>
|
---|
855 |
|
---|
856 | <para>
|
---|
857 | Peyton Fahrquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck,
|
---|
858 | swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the
|
---|
859 | Owl Creek bridge.
|
---|
860 | </para>
|
---|
861 |
|
---|
862 | <para>
|
---|
863 | End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
|
---|
864 | </para>
|
---|
865 | </chapter>
|
---|
866 | </part>
|
---|
867 | </bookbody>
|
---|
868 | </book>
|
---|
869 | </gutbook>
|
---|