A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder James De Mille

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for this I would have burst through them and fled to the boat; but as
long as he was away I felt bound to wait; and though I longed to fly,
I could not for his sake. The boat seemed to be a haven of rest. I
longed to be in her once more, and drift away, even if it should be to
my death. Nature was here less terrible than man; and it seemed better
to drown in the waters, to perish amid rocks and whirlpools, than to
linger here amid such horrors as these. These people were not like
human beings. The vilest and lowest savages that I had ever seen were
not so odious as these. A herd of monkeys would be far more congenial,
a flock of wolves less abhorrent. They had the caricature of the human
form; they were the lowest of humanity; their speech was a mockery of
language; their faces devilish, their kindness a cunning pretence; and
most hideous of all was the nightmare hag that prepared the cannibal
repast.
I could not begin hostilities, for I had to wait for Agnew; so I stood
and looked, and then walked away for a little distance. They followed
me closely, with eager words and gesticulations, though as yet no one
touched me or threatened me. Their tone seemed rather one of
persuasion. After a few paces I stood still, with all of them around
me. The horrible repast showed plainly all that was in store for us.
They received us kindly and fed us well only to devote us to the most
abhorrent of deaths. Agnew, in his mad confidence, was only insuring
his own doom. He was putting himself completely in the power of
devils, who were incapable of pity and strangers to humanity. To make
friends with such fiends was impossible, and I felt sure that our only
plan was to rule by terror--to seize, to slay, to conquer. But still I
had to wait for him, and did not dare to resort to violence while he
was absent; so I waited, while the savages gathered round me,
contenting themselves with guarding me, and neither touching me nor
threatening me. And all this time the hag went on, intent on her
preparation of the horrible repast.
While standing there looking, listening, waiting for Agnew, I noticed
many things. Far away the volcanoes blazed, and the northern sky was
red with a lurid light. There, too, higher up, the moon was shining
overhead, the sky was gleaming with stars; and all over the heavens
there shone the lustre of the aurora australis, brighter than any I
had ever seen--surpassing the moon and illuminating all. It lighted up
the haggard faces of the devils around me, and it again seemed to me
as though I had died and gone to the land of woe--an iron land, a land