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outlines of these monstrosities were sufficiently distinct, but that
the colors seemed faded and blurred, as if from the effects of a damp
atmosphere. I now noticed the floor, too, which was of stone. In the
centre yawned the circular pit from whose jaws I had escaped; but it was
the only one in the dungeon.
All this I saw indistinctly and by much effort: for my personal
condition had been greatly changed during slumber. I now lay upon my
back, and at full length, on a species of low framework of wood. To this
I was securely bound by a long strap resembling a surcingle. It passed
in many convolutions about my limbs and body, leaving at liberty only
my head, and my left arm to such extent that I could, by dint of much
exertion, supply myself with food from an earthen dish which lay by
my side on the floor. I saw, to my horror, that the pitcher had been
removed. I say to my horror; for I was consumed with intolerable thirst.
This thirst it appeared to be the design of my persecutors to stimulate:
for the food in the dish was meat pungently seasoned.
Looking upward, I surveyed the ceiling of my prison. It was some thirty
or forty feet overhead, and constructed much as the side walls. In one
of its panels a very singular figure riveted my whole attention. It was
the painted figure of Time as he is commonly represented, save that, in
lieu of a scythe, he held what, at a casual glance, I supposed to be
the pictured image of a huge pendulum such as we see on antique clocks.
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