The Knickerbocker, Vol. 22, No. 3, September 1843Various
General
The Knickerbocker, Vol. 22, No. 3, September 1843
Various
Periodicals
'What was to be done? My patience was exhausted. Danger itself
could no longer detain me; and I told CLARKE I was determined to
make toward the village, or whatever the place was, from whence,
dangerous and doubtful as they were, these various sounds
proceeded. Finding me resolute, he was very earnest to have led
the way; and when I would not permit him, he grasped me by the
hand, and told me that if there were pitfalls and gulfs, and if
I did go down, unless he should have strength enough to save me,
we would go down together.'
Cautiously and slowly, step by step, they pursue their way,
alternately catching and losing a dancing light in the distance,
which they imagine to proceed from some mansion, apparently a large
one, which they at length reach, only to find it dark, still, and
closed. Searching on the outside, however, they come to a large open
gate, which they enter, and after feeling their way for a short
distance, arrive at a door that evidently belongs to an out-house or
detached building. It is shut, but the key has been inadvertently
left in the lock. Fatigued, shelterless, and bruised, they have
little hesitation in profiting by the accident. A noisome effluvia
assails them on entering, which at first almost drives them back;
but growing less the longer they continue, they accept the shelter,
and grope their way behind some barrels and lumber, where they find
straw, upon which they rest their drenched and weary limbs. They are
scarcely nestled together, before they again hear the yelping of
a cur, and the same dismal howls and shrill whistling signals, by
which their imaginations had previously been wrought up; together
with the voices of men, in coarse, rude and savage words, denoting
anger and anxiety for the perpetration of some dark purpose, in
keeping with the fierce and threatening sounds: 'They approached.
One of them had a lantern. He came up to the door; and finding it
open, boisterously shut it; with a broad and bitter curse against
the carelessness of some man, whose name he pronounced, for leaving
it open; and eternally damning others for being so long in doing
their business. We were now locked in; and we soon heard no more
of the voices.' In spite of these alarms, however, fear at length
gives place to fatigue; but their rest is of short duration.
TREVOR'S brief slumber is disturbed by his companion, whom he finds
'shaking in the most violent agitation he ever beheld in any human
being,' and who only replies with a groan to his question of 'What
is the matter?' Awakened from his own wild slumbers, and strongly
partaking of his companion's sensations, TREVOR yet endeavors to
rouse him to speech and recollection, by asking again: 'What have
you heard?--what ails you?' 'It was some time before he could utter
an articulate sound. At last, shaking more violently as he spoke,
and with inexpressible horror in his voice, he gasping said: '_A
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