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against the sweep of the fearful scimitar. And then I fell suddenly
calm, and lay smiling at the glittering death, as a child at some rare
bauble.
There was another interval of utter insensibility; it was brief; for,
upon again lapsing into life there had been no perceptible descent in
the pendulum. But it might have been long; for I knew there were demons
who took note of my swoon, and who could have arrested the vibration at
pleasure. Upon my recovery, too, I felt very--oh, inexpressibly sick
and weak, as if through long inanition. Even amid the agonies of that
period, the human nature craved food. With painful effort I outstretched
my left arm as far as my bonds permitted, and took possession of the
small remnant which had been spared me by the rats. As I put a portion
of it within my lips, there rushed to my mind a half formed thought of
joy--of hope. Yet what business had I with hope? It was, as I say, a
half formed thought--man has many such which are never completed. I felt
that it was of joy--of hope; but felt also that it had perished in its
formation. In vain I struggled to perfect--to regain it. Long suffering
had nearly annihilated all my ordinary powers of mind. I was an
imbecile--an idiot.
The vibration of the pendulum was at right angles to my length. I saw
that the crescent was designed to cross the region of the heart.
It would fray the serge of my robe--it would return and repeat its
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