The Works of Edgar Allan Poe โ Volume 2 by Edgar Allan Poe (books for 6 year olds to read themselves txt) ๐
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- Author: Edgar Allan Poe
Read book online ยซThe Works of Edgar Allan Poe โ Volume 2 by Edgar Allan Poe (books for 6 year olds to read themselves txt) ๐ยป. Author - Edgar Allan Poe
The gait of my friend was unsteady, and the bells upon his cap jingled as he strode.
โThe pipe,โ said he.
โIt is farther on,โ said I; โbut observe the white web-work which gleams from these cavern walls.โ
He turned towards me, and looked into my eyes with two filmy orbs that distilled the rheum of intoxication.
โNitre?โ he asked, at length.
โNitre,โ I replied. โHow long have you had that cough?โ
โUgh! ugh! ugh!โugh! ugh! ugh!โugh! ugh! ugh!โugh! ugh! ugh!โugh! ugh! ugh!โ
My poor friend found it impossible to reply for many minutes.
โIt is nothing,โ he said, at last.
โCome,โ I said, with decision, โwe will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter. We will go back; you will be ill, and I cannot be responsible. Besides, there is Luchesiโโ
โEnough,โ he said; โthe cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough.โ
โTrueโtrue,โ I replied; โand, indeed, I had no intention of alarming you unnecessarilyโbut you should use all proper caution. A draught of this Medoc will defend us from the damps.โ
Here I knocked off the neck of a bottle which I drew from a long row of its fellows that lay upon the mould.
โDrink,โ I said, presenting him the wine.
He raised it to his lips with a leer. He paused and nodded to me familiarly, while his bells jingled.
โI drink,โ he said, โto the buried that repose around us.โ
โAnd I to your long life.โ
He again took my arm, and we proceeded.
โThese vaults,โ he said, โare extensive.โ
โThe Montresors,โ I replied, โwere a great and numerous family.โ
โI forget your arms.โ
โA huge human foot dโor, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel.โ
โAnd the motto?โ
โNemo me impune lacessit.โ
โGood!โ he said.
The wine sparkled in his eyes and the bells jingled. My own fancy grew warm with the Medoc. We had passed through walls of piled bones, with casks and puncheons intermingling, into the inmost recesses of the catacombs. I paused again, and this time I made bold to seize Fortunato by an arm above the elbow.
โThe nitre!โ I said: โsee, it increases. It hangs like moss upon the vaults. We are below the riverโs bed. The drops of moisture trickle among the bones. Come, we will go back ere it is too late. Your coughโโ
โIt is nothing,โ he said; โlet us go on. But first, another draught of the Medoc.โ
I broke and reached him a flagon of De Grรขve. He emptied it at a breath. His eyes flashed with a fierce light. He laughed and threw the bottle upwards with a gesticulation I did not understand.
I looked at him in surprise. He repeated the movementโa grotesque one.
โYou do not comprehend?โ he said.
โNot I,โ I replied.
โThen you are not of the brotherhood.โ
โHow?โ
โYou are not of the masons.โ
โYes, yes,โ I said, โyes, yes.โ
โYou? Impossible! A mason?โ
โA mason,โ I replied.
โA sign,โ he said.
โIt is this,โ I answered, producing a trowel from beneath the folds of my roquelaire.
โYou jest,โ he exclaimed, recoiling a few paces. โBut let us proceed to the Amontillado.โ
โBe it so,โ I said, replacing the tool beneath the cloak, and again offering him my arm. He leaned upon it heavily. We continued our route in search of the Amontillado. We passed through a range of low arches, descended, passed on, and descending again, arrived at a deep crypt, in which the foulness of the air caused our flambeaux rather to glow than flame.
At the most remote end of the crypt there appeared another less spacious. Its walls had been lined with human remains, piled to the vault overhead, in the fashion of the great catacombs of Paris. Three sides of this interior crypt were still ornamented in this manner. From the fourth the bones had been thrown down, and lay promiscuously upon the earth, forming at one point a mound of some size. Within the wall thus exposed by the displacing of the bones, we perceived a still interior recess, in depth about four feet, in width three, in height six or seven. It seemed to have been constructed for no especial use in itself, but formed merely the interval between two of the colossal supports of the roof of the catacombs, and was backed by one of their circumscribing walls of solid granite.
It was in vain that Fortunato, uplifting his dull torch, endeavored to pry into the depths of the recess. Its termination the feeble light did not enable us to see.
โProceed,โ I said; โherein is the Amontillado. As for Luchesiโโ
โHe is an ignoramus,โ interrupted my friend, as he stepped unsteadily forward, while I followed immediately at his heels. In an instant he had reached the extremity of the niche, and finding his progress arrested by the rock, stood stupidly bewildered. A moment more and I had fettered him to the granite. In its surface were two iron staples, distant from each other about two feet, horizontally. From one of these depended a short chain, from the other a padlock. Throwing the links about his waist, it was but the work of a few seconds to secure it. He was too much astounded to resist. Withdrawing the key I stepped back from the recess.
โPass your hand,โ I said, โover the wall; you cannot help feeling the nitre. Indeed it is very damp. Once more let me implore you to return. No? Then I must positively leave you. But I must first render you all the little attentions in my power.โ
โThe Amontillado!โ ejaculated my friend, not yet recovered from his astonishment.
โTrue,โ I replied; โthe Amontillado.โ
As I said these words I busied myself among the pile of bones of which I have before spoken. Throwing them aside, I soon uncovered a quantity of building stone and mortar. With these materials
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