A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder James De Mille
A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder James De Mille
A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder James De Mille
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35<br />
terror <strong>in</strong> my heart, I waited for death.<br />
The moments passed, and death delayed to come. The awful plunge was<br />
still put off; and though I rema<strong>in</strong>ed on my knees and waited long,<br />
still the end came not. The waters seemed still, the boat motionless.<br />
It was borne upon the surface of a vast stream as smooth as glass; but<br />
who could tell how deep that stream was, or how wide? At length I rose<br />
from my knees and sank down upon the seat of the boat, and tried to<br />
peer through the gloom. In va<strong>in</strong>. Noth<strong>in</strong>g was visible. It was the very<br />
blackness of darkness. I listened, but heard noth<strong>in</strong>g save a deep,<br />
dull, dron<strong>in</strong>g sound, which seemed to fill all the air and make it<br />
all tremulous with its vibrations. I tried to collect my thoughts. I<br />
recalled that old theory which had been <strong>in</strong> my m<strong>in</strong>d before this, and<br />
which I had mentioned to Agnew. This was the notion that at each pole<br />
there is a vast open<strong>in</strong>g; that <strong>in</strong>to one of them all the waters of the<br />
ocean pour themselves, and, after pass<strong>in</strong>g through the earth, come out<br />
at the other pole, to pass about its surface <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>numerable streams.<br />
It was a wild fancy, which I had laughed at under other circumstances,<br />
but which now occurred to me once more, when I was overwhelmed<br />
with despair, and my m<strong>in</strong>d was weakened by the horrors which I had<br />
experienced; and I had a vague fear that I had been drawn <strong>in</strong>to the<br />
very channel through which the ocean waters flowed <strong>in</strong> their course to<br />
that terrific, that unparalleled abyss. Still, there was as yet no<br />
sign whatever of anyth<strong>in</strong>g like a descent, for the boat was on even<br />
keel, and perfectly level as before, and it was impossible for me to<br />
tell whether I was mov<strong>in</strong>g swiftly or slowly, or stand<strong>in</strong>g perfectly<br />
still; for <strong>in</strong> that darkness there were no visible objects by which<br />
I could f<strong>in</strong>d out the rate of my progress; and as those who go up <strong>in</strong><br />
balloons are utterly <strong>in</strong>sensible of motion, so was I on those calm<br />
but swift waters.<br />
At length there came <strong>in</strong>to view someth<strong>in</strong>g which arrested my attention<br />
and engrossed all my thoughts. It was fa<strong>in</strong>t glow that at first caught<br />
my gaze; and, on turn<strong>in</strong>g to see it better, I saw a round red spot<br />
glow<strong>in</strong>g like fire. I had not seen this before. It looked like the moon<br />
when it rises from beh<strong>in</strong>d clouds, and glows red and lurid from the<br />
horizon; and so this glowed, but not with the steady light of the<br />
moon, for the light was fitful, and sometimes flashed <strong>in</strong>to a baleful<br />
brightness, which soon subsided <strong>in</strong>to a dimmer lustre. New alarm arose<br />
with<strong>in</strong> me, for this new sight suggested someth<strong>in</strong>g more terrible than<br />
anyth<strong>in</strong>g that I had thus far thought of. This, then, I thought, was to