Graham's Magazine, Vol. XVIII, No. 4, April 1841Various
General
Graham's Magazine, Vol. XVIII, No. 4, April 1841
Various
Literature -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals
Returning home from some sailors’ frolic on the night, or rather in the
morning of the murder, he found his prisoner occupying his own bed-room,
into which he had broken from a closet adjoining, where he had been, as
it was thought, securely confined. The beast, razor in hand, and fully
lathered, was sitting before a looking-glass, attempting the operation
of shaving, in which he had no doubt previously watched his master
through the key-hole of the closet. Terrified at the sight of so
dangerous a weapon in the possession of an animal so ferocious, and so
well able to use it, the man, for some moments, was at a loss what to
do. He had been accustomed, however, to quiet the creature, even in its
fiercest moods, by the use of a strong wagoner’s whip, and to this he
now resorted. Upon sight of it, the Ourang-Outang sprang at once through
the door of the chamber, down the stairs, and thence, through a window,
unfortunately open, into the street.
The Frenchman followed in despair—the ape, razor still in hand,
occasionally stopping to look back and gesticulate at his pursuer, until
the latter had nearly come up with him. He then again made off. In this
manner the chase continued for a long time. The streets were profoundly
quiet, as it was nearly three o’clock in the morning. In passing down an
alley in the rear of the Rue Morgue, the fugitive’s attention was
arrested by a light (the only one apparent except those of the
town-lamps) gleaming from the open window of Madame L’Espanaye’s
chamber, in the fourth story of her house. Rushing to the building, he
perceived the lightning-rod, clambered up with inconceivable agility,
grasped the shutter, which was thrown fully back against the wall, and,
by its means swung himself directly upon the head-board of the bed. The
whole feat did not occupy a minute. The shutter was kicked open again by
the Ourang-Outang as he entered the room.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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