The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition: Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five VolumesPoe, Edgar Allan
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The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition: Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes
Poe, Edgar Allan
American fiction -- 19th century; Fantasy fiction; Horror tales, American; Indexes; Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849; Short stories
Here my friend, about whose madness I now saw, or fancied that I
saw, certain indications of method, removed the peg which marked
the spot where the beetle fell, to a spot about three inches to
the westward of its former position. Taking, now, the tape
measure from the nearest point of the trunk to the peg, as
before, and continuing the extension in a straight line to the
distance of fifty feet, a spot was indicated, removed, by several
yards, from the point at which we had been digging.
Around the new position a circle, somewhat larger than in the
former instance, was now described, and we again set to work with
the spades. I was dreadfully weary, but, scarcely understanding
what had occasioned the change in my thoughts, I felt no longer
any great aversion from the labor imposed. I had become most
unaccountably interested—nay, even excited. Perhaps there was
something, amid all the extravagant demeanor of Legrand—some air
of forethought, or of deliberation, which impressed me. I dug
eagerly, and now and then caught myself actually looking, with
something that very much resembled expectation, for the fancied
treasure, the vision of which had demented my unfortunate
companion. At a period when such vagaries of thought most fully
possessed me, and when we had been at work perhaps an hour and a
half, we were again interrupted by the violent howlings of the
dog. His uneasiness, in the first instance, had been, evidently,
but the result of playfulness or caprice, but he now assumed a
bitter and serious tone. Upon Jupiter’s again attempting to
muzzle him, he made furious resistance, and, leaping into the
hole, tore up the mould frantically with his claws. In a few
seconds he had uncovered a mass of human bones, forming two
complete skeletons, intermingled with several buttons of metal,
and what appeared to be the dust of decayed woollen. One or two
strokes of a spade upturned the blade of a large Spanish knife,
and, as we dug farther, three or four loose pieces of gold and
silver coin came to light.
At sight of these the joy of Jupiter could scarcely be
restrained, but the countenance of his master wore an air of
extreme disappointment. He urged us, however, to continue our
exertions, and the words were hardly uttered when I stumbled and
fell forward, having caught the toe of my boot in a large ring of
iron that lay half buried in the loose earth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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