The Automaton Ear, and Other SketchesMcLandburgh, Florence
Science
The Automaton Ear, and Other Sketches
McLandburgh, Florence
American fiction -- 19th century; Short stories, American
Monk had not stirred from his room all day. The feverish sleep into
which he had fallen fled from him before noon, and now he stood at his
window looking out into the blackness. A clammy air blew against his
face. He stretched out his hand and drew it back suddenly, as if he had
touched the dead. It was cold and moist. He rubbed it violently against
his clothes, as though he could not wipe off the dampness. A tremor
seized upon him. Hark! was that the dripping of water? No. A sickly
smile played over his countenance. He went to the table and tapped
lightly with his fingers, as he had done before. In another moment the
taps were answered, and he involuntarily counted as they came,
one—two—three—four—five—six—seven—then all was silent. He made the call
a second time, he tried it over and over, and at each response it ticked
seven times, never more, never less, but seven times clearly,
distinctly. Suddenly he sprang up, and through shut teeth hissed,—
“The seventh day, by Heaven! But I’ll cheat you—I’ll not kill him!”
He darted noiselessly down the stairs, and struck out through the woods.
In half an hour he emerged on the edge of a clearing, a dozen yards from
a chopper’s cabin. Creeping stealthily to the door he shook it, then
after a moment’s irresolution cried out,—
“Peters! Peters! look out for Shiflet. He has sworn to murder you
to-night.”
Without waiting for a reply he sprang away, and was quickly lost among
the trees.
A moment afterward a tall form arose out of the shadow of a stump near
the cabin, and passed rapidly in an opposite direction.
At the summit of the hill east of Agatha, a steep precipice is formed by
a great, bare, projecting rock. From the valley, its outline resembles
an enormous face in profile, and they call it “The Devil’s Head.” The
full moon rendered the unbroken mass of cloud translucent, producing a
peculiar sinister effect. The mist still blew through the air, but in
the zenith there was a dull ashen hue, and the surrounding cloud was the
color of earth. The far-off hills loomed up majestic, terrible, against
the gloom; nearer objects were strangely magnified in the tawny light.
At the foot of this phantom crag, on a terrace, is the ore-bank and
blackened coal-shed. Below rose the metal-stack, from whose stone hearth
a waste of sand sloped gently to the creek. The furnace squatted grim
and black. Its blood-shot eye was shut; its gaping throat uttered no
sigh, no groan; its throbbing pulse was stilled—the fierce, struggling
monster was dead. The only bright spot in all the valley was the yellow
circle made by the watchman’s lantern in the coal-shed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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