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and a pitcher with water. I was too much exhausted to reflect upon
this circumstance, but ate and drank with avidity. Shortly afterward, I
resumed my tour around the prison, and with much toil came at last upon
the fragment of the serge. Up to the period when I fell I had counted
fifty-two paces, and upon resuming my walk, I had counted forty-eight
more;--when I arrived at the rag. There were in all, then, a hundred
paces; and, admitting two paces to the yard, I presumed the dungeon to
be fifty yards in circuit. I had met, however, with many angles in the
wall, and thus I could form no guess at the shape of the vault; for
vault I could not help supposing it to be.
I had little object--certainly no hope these researches; but a vague
curiosity prompted me to continue them. Quitting the wall, I resolved
to cross the area of the enclosure. At first I proceeded with extreme
caution, for the floor, although seemingly of solid material, was
treacherous with slime. At length, however, I took courage, and did not
hesitate to step firmly; endeavoring to cross in as direct a line as
possible. I had advanced some ten or twelve paces in this manner, when
the remnant of the torn hem of my robe became entangled between my legs.
I stepped on it, and fell violently on my face.
In the confusion attending my fall, I did not immediately apprehend a
somewhat startling circumstance, which yet, in a few seconds afterward,
and while I still lay prostrate, arrested my attention. It was this--my
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