And now, as I still continued to step cautiously onward,
there came
thronging upon my recollection a
thousand vague rumors of the horrors of Toledo. Of the dungeons there had been strange things nar- rated—fables
I
had always deemed them—but yet strange, and too ghastly to
repeat, save in a whisper. Was
I left to perish of starvation in this subterranean world of darkness; or
what fate, perhaps even more fearful, awaited me? That the result would be
death, and a death of more than
customary bitterness, I
knew too
well the character of my judges
to doubt. The mode and
the hour were all that occupied or distracted me.
My outstretched hands at length encountered some solid obstruction. It
was
a
wall,
seemingly of
stone masonry—very smooth,
slimy, and
cold. I followed it up; stepping with all the careful distrust with which certain antique narratives had inspired me. This process,
however, afforded me no means of ascertaining the
dimensions of my dungeon; as
I might make its circuit, and return to the point whence I
set out, without being
aware of the fact; so perfectly uniform seemed the wall. I therefore sought the knife which had been in my pocket, when led into the inquisitorial chamber; but
it was gone; my clothes
had
been
exchanged for a wrapper of
coarse
serge.
I had thought
of
forcing
the
blade
in
some minute crevice of the masonry, so
as to identify my point of departure.
The difficulty, nevertheless, was but trivial; although, in the disorder of my fancy, it seemed at
first insuperable. I
tore a part of the hem from
the robe and placed the
fragment at full length, and
at right angles to the wall. In groping my way around the
prison, I could not fail to encounter this rag upon completing the circuit. So, at least
I thought: but I had not
counted upon the extent of the dungeon, or
upon
my own weakness. The ground was moist and slippery. I staggered onward for some time, when I stumbled and
fell. My excessive
fatigue induced me to remain pros- trate; and sleep
soon overtook me as I lay.
Upon awaking, and stretching forth an arm, I found beside
me
a loaf 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 ad-
vanced 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 chin rested upon the floor of the prison, but
my lips and
the upper portion of my head,
although seemingly at
a less elevation than the
chin,
touched nothing.
At the same time my forehead seemed bathed in
a clammy va- por, and the
peculiar smell of decayed fungus arose to my nostrils. I put forward my arm, and shuddered to
find
that
I had fallen at the very brink
of a circular pit, whose extent, of course, I had
no means of
ascer- taining at the moment. Groping about the masonry just
below
the
mar- gin, I succeeded in
dislodging a small fragment, and
let it fall into the abyss.
For
many
seconds I hearkened to its reverberations as
it dashed against the sides of the chasm in its descent; at length
there
was
a sullen plunge into water, succeeded by loud
echoes. At the same moment there came a sound resembling the quick opening, and as rapid closing
of a door
overhead, while
a faint gleam
of light flashed suddenly through the
gloom, and as suddenly faded away.
I saw clearly
the doom which had been
prepared for me, and congratulated
myself upon the timely accident by
which I had
escaped. Another step before my fall, and
the world had seen me no more. And the
death
just avoided, was of that very character which I had regarded as
fabulous and frivolous in the tales respecting the
Inquisition. To the victims of its tyranny, there was the choice of death with its direst physical agonies, or death with its most hideous moral
horrors. I had been reserved for the latter. By long
suffering
my nerves
had been
unstrung,
until I trembled at the
sound of my own voice,
and had become
in every respect a
fitting subject for the species
of torture which awaited me.
Shaking in every limb, I groped my
way
back to the
wall;
resolving there
to perish rather
than risk the terrors of the wells, of which
my ima- gination now
pictured many
in various positions about the dungeon. In
other conditions of
mind
I might have
had
courage to end my misery
at once by a plunge into one of these abysses;
but
now
I was the veriest
of cowards. Neither
could I forget what
I had read of these
pits—that the sudden extinction of life formed no
part of their most horrible plan.
Agitation of
spirit kept me awake for many long
hours; but at length
I again slumbered. Upon arousing, I found by
my side, as before, a loaf and a pitcher of water. A burning thirst
consumed me, and I emptied the vessel at a draught. It must have been
drugged; for scarcely had I drunk, before
I became
irresistibly drowsy. A
deep sleep fell
upon
me—a sleep
like that of death. How
long
it lasted
of course, I know
not;
but
when,
once again, I unclosed my eyes, the objects
around me were visible.
By a wild
sulphurous lustre,
the origin of which
I could not at first determine, I was enabled to
see the extent and aspect of the prison.
In its size I had been greatly mistaken. The whole circuit of its walls
did not
exceed twenty-five yards. For some minutes this fact occasioned me
a world of vain trouble; vain indeed! for
what
could
be of less importance, under the
terrible circumstances which
environed me, then the mere
dimensions of my dungeon? But
my soul took a wild
interest in trifles, and I busied myself
in endeavors to
account for the error I had committed in
my measurement. The truth at
length flashed upon me. In my first
attempt at exploration I
had counted fifty-two paces, up to the period when I fell; I must then have been within a
pace or two
of the fragment of serge; in fact,
I had nearly performed the circuit of the vault. I then
slept,
and
upon awaking, I must
have returned
upon
my steps—thus supposing the circuit nearly double what it actually was. My confusion of
mind
prevented me from observing that I began my tour with
the wall to the left, and ended it with the wall to the right.
I had been
deceived, too,
in
respect to
the
shape
of the enclosure. In
feeling my way I had found many
angles,
and
thus
deduced an
idea
of great
irregularity; so potent is the effect
of total
darkness upon one arousing from lethargy or sleep! The angles
were
simply
those
of a few slight depressions, or
niches, at
odd intervals. The general shape of the prison
was square. What I had taken for
masonry seemed now to be iron, or some other metal, in huge plates, whose sutures or joints occasioned the depression. The entire
surface
of this metallic enclosure was rudely daubed in
all the hideous and repulsive devices to which the charnel superstition of
the monks has given rise. The figures of fiends in aspects
of menace, with skeleton forms, and other
more
really
fearful
images,
over- spread and disfigured the
walls.
I observed that the 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.